She’s attractive, opinionated and kind. But she’s a slave – a definitive non-starter as a son of a plantation owner in South Carolina in 1860. Yet, Lawrence cannot help himself and as he spends more time with her, his feelings continue to grow. However, there are other problems for Lawrence. He has been groomed to take over the Havers End plantation, but Lawrence has a deep uneasiness about becoming a slave owner. His position is not helped by his volatile relationship with his father, Edward and what the consequences will be if Edward finds out about his relationship with Jasmine. There are also concerns over his eldest sister, Belvedere Rossiter, and her growing friendship with a rebellious slave, Donald Archer. While Lawrence loathes Donald, Belvedere has an opposing view. Lawrence’s biggest dilemma is - does he choose to be the dutiful son or risk everything to be with Jasmine?

    The name Peiper will always be linked to the Malmédy Massacre, the death of Belgian civilians and more than seventy American soldiers, but there is still a myth around Peiper. Why was a twenty-nine year old Waffen-SS officer chosen to lead the German spearhead unit during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944? Peiper was a special leader within the one of the most elite Waffen-SS divisions, the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler. Peiper was charismatic and extreme loyal to his unit. His men trusted him as a leader, even under the most extreme conditions. In Germany he was a well-known war hero. It was a logical decision that Peiper became the commander of the spearhead unit, but there were other factors leading to this decision: tactical considerations, a we-know-what-to-expect-principle, and Peiper was lucky that he was still alive and serving in the Waffen-SS.

    In the spring of 1665, England is recovering from a terrible winter, yet the country has other severe problems to face as the sun finally returns. The King, Charles II, had been welcomed back as a saviour on his restoration five years before, but is now resented by increasing numbers of his own people. And in March, the King declares war on the Dutch, England’s great seagoing trade rivals… Worse news comes to Restoration London, though, when there is an outbreak of the plague in April. This is terrible news in particular for the wealthy young physician and merchant Henry Raven, who believes that the outbreak is not natural but has been caused by an old enemy plotting his revenge against the city of London. Henry Raven, together with his friends from the Royal Society, Dr William Croone and Robert Hooke, organize the city’s fight against the spread of the disease. Raven’s delectable young mistress, Molly Titchen, is a precocious seventeen-year-old actress at the new King’s theatre in Drury Lane who is torn between her devotion to Henry Raven, and her love of strutting the stage in breeches parts. When Molly gives a bed for the night to one sick young actor, her kind action is misunderstood by Raven who believes that she has been unfaithful to him. Then Molly falls on hard times herself, and is aided not by her jealous lover, but by a strange Moorish apothecary, and a mysterious Frenchman, Philippe Desargues, Comte de Mésanger... Henry Raven has other problems to trouble his mind too, apart from his fight against the plague and his wish to save his relationship with Molly. Firstly, a close childhood friend, Esther Linney, has disappeared from her cottage on the estate of Raven’s family home in Dorset, Salwayash Manor, and gone to London. Raven’s sister Catherine asks her brother to find Esther in London, and discover why she left Dorset in such mysterious circumstances. Raven also has to deal with the fact that his sister has clearly fallen in love with their wealthy neighbour, the recently widowed Ralph Warboys, who is a handsome man yet one with a haunted past. And then strange events unfold in the quiet Dorset countryside when two young girls are found dead in suspicious circumstances... As the plague rages through London, Raven finds himself having to defend Esther Linney against a charge of witchcraft, while also trying to save Molly from an implacable enemy. But his greatest challenge is to discover the secrets of an old family curse, and to unmask a cruel murderer…

    

    Before their old master died, her family lived in comfortable servants' quarters beside a garden where birdsong echoed through the day. But the new young master turned them out, and now Olive, her parents, and her five-year-old brother Jimmy are struggling to get by. In their cold and desolate tenement, Olive sings to Jimmy about the birds of the garden, trying to cling to hope. Things go from bad to worse when Father succumbs to consumption. Without his job at the docks, the family can't get by. They try to survive on the streets, but it's an impossible task for a destitute mother and her two small children. Olive embarks on a journey of loss and survival in the brutal setting of Victorian London. She has to survive the deaths of loved ones, the appalling conditions in the slums of Old Nichol, and worst of all, the horrors of a match factory and the deadly diseases lurking inside. But one bright thread runs through her story: a kind and handsome boy who gives her bread and whistles just like a nightingale. Might he be the thread by which she can pull herself back up into a better life?

    King Alfred has been forced to flee from his winter court in Cippinhamm by Guthrum, self-styled King of the Danelaw and East Anglia, part of the great invasion force by the horde that will become known as the Vikings. Driven into the swamps of Somersetshire, Alfred spends a miserable winter at Athelney before finally feeling that the time is right to call the fyrd, the Saxon call to arms summoning the men of Westseaxe to rally to their King to drive the Danish invaders from their lands. Answering that call is young Titus of Cissanbyrig, a youth with an unusual name to go along with his unusual size and strength. Despite only being fourteen and that his village is under the control of Wulfhere, Ealdorman of Wiltshire who has sided with Guthrum, Titus decides to leave the only home he’s ever known, joining the call issued by the Lord of Wilton more than a dozen miles away, one of the nobles of Wiltshire who has remained faithful to the King. What drives Titus from his home is the enmity of his father, who blames him for Titus’ mother’s death in childbirth because of his size, but while he will never know it, the truth is more complex. Ultimately what sends young Titus on his first steps towards his destiny is his deep-seated, insistent belief that he’s not meant for a life behind the plow but for the sword, a conviction that has been passed to him across almost a millennium of time and distance, to a dusty Roman province in Spain, passed down by the man who was the first of his line, Titus Pomponius Pullus, Centurion of Rome. The Titus Chronicles-Eagle and Wyvern is the first of a new series by the author of the international bestselling Marching With Caesar series.

    May 1813. Under covering fire from their navy on Lake Ontario, U.S. troops storm ashore at Niagara. Captain John MacLea and his reformed company of militia fight desperately but they and the other defenders are overwhelmed and forced to retreat.The American force is mightier than it has ever been, spearheaded by Colonel Peter Beauregard, a ruthless spy-master, and James Boydell, a Canadian captain, former friend of MacLea's, and traitor to his country.As the invading army closes in, and with no time left, the hope of an entire army, and all of its men, rests on the shoulders of the most unexpected of people. Failure is not an option. They must succeed, or face total defeat. A brutal, moving action-adventure thriller, steeped in intricate historical research, perfect for fans of Adrian Goldsworthy, Bernard Cornwell and Simon Scarrow.

    There has never been a satisfactory explanation. This book, although a novel, is based on the personal experiences of the author, a Lynx helicopter pilot and many other true stories that have never been fully told before. So, how do you counter your own weapon system when it’s turned against you? The Falklands War posed just this problem. January 1982 and the Exocet sea skimming missile is a killer. The British should know, they co-developed it with the French. However, the Argentinians have them as well. Marcel Bertrand a French missile expert, who has been made redundant, is recruited to help them. 2 April 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands. Soon after, Lieutenant Jon Hunt flies his Lynx helicopter from HMS Prometheus with a Special Forces team to covertly infiltrate the Argentinian Air base at Rio Grande. His mission is to persuade Marcel who has been kept in the dark about the invasion, to agree to work for them. Once Jon explains the truth about the invasion Marcel and his girlfriend Maria agree to help and manage to modify the missiles warheads with a software update so that they won’t explode. As the war hots up, Argentina desperately tries to make their missiles more effective and the British try just as desperately to develop countermeasures. While down south, Jon Hunt discovers what it’s really like to fly in combat. Eventually Marcel and Maria find themselves in the Islands just as the British are closing in. A rescue attempt to get them out is led by Jon which culminates in a desperate encounter in the mountains surrounding Port Stanley just as the final fight for the Islands takes place around them. This is the first in a series of modern naval adventures, following the career of Lieutenant Jonathon Hunt through the turbulent modern military times of the last three decades

    He lives a loveless existence at Darkcliffe Manor, in the Scottish Marches. When his father offers sanctuary to a desperate orphan, his world is turned upside down. Brenna Curwen is everything he should not want, soft, gentle, unsuited to life at the edge of lawlessness. He doesn’t need another mouth to feed or soul to protect for he has a future of duty and misery to face. Seaton shuns her until he notices that Brenna has hair like spun gold and amber eyes that see into his soul. But he is not alone in noticing her, and a rival, every bit as ruthless as he is, aims to seduce Brenna. Meanwhile, King James begins to stamp his authority on the Marches, once and for all. Amidst the turmoil of a way of life under siege, Seaton must confront a terrible choice between his heart and his head. If he gets it wrong, he will lose everything.Orphaned Brenna Curwen, with nowhere else to turn, is given shelter by an old admirer of her mother’s - Machar Bannerman, Laird of Darkcliffe Manor. But her protector is not what he seems, and if she is to survive in his crumbling tower house on the edge of the moors, she must find a way to deal not just with him, but also his three bastard sons. The worst of them is Seaton, more a savage than a gentleman, who makes it clear from the start that he resents her presence. As danger comes calling, so does a ruthless suitor, and Brenna has no one to turn to for protection save mistrustful, surly, beast of a man - Seaton Bannerman. Immerse yourself in the desolate beauty of the Scottish moors, as Seaton’s Choice takes you on a journey of savage passions, of old rivalries curdling into fresh violence, of evil plotting and power-hungry clans. Can love blossom in a mire of murder, mayhem and destruction?Extract from Seaton’s ChoiceThe young man reached a door and thrust it open without knocking. He held it for her to enter. Brenna walked into a surprisingly bright room with large windows, a study from the looks of all the books lined along the walls. There were curios of all kinds, crowded in - stuffed animals in bell jars, metal implements, swords and guns mounted on the walls. It had the feel of an educated mind behind it, one quite different from the brute of a man standing beside her. The dark lout persisted in staring at her without saying anything, and it was unnerving. The room was stuffy from a blazing fire in the hearth, and her face grew hot under his gaze. ‘What do you stare at, Sir,’ she said, tremulously, not quite catching his eye.‘You,’ he spat.‘Please do not, for I do not like it.’‘But I do, so I will keep doing it,’ he said, bringing his face closer to hers.Footsteps sounded, coming closer. The man took hold of her arm in a tight grip. ‘Whoever you are and whatever you are after, take this advice. Watch yourself around Laird Bannerman. He has the cunning of a thousand foxes, and a black heart to boot, and I fear you do not have the guile to manage him.’His eyes held hers, and for an instant, there was almost a hint of concern in his gaze. Brenna could feel his breath on her face, the tang of whisky carried with it. She glanced at his mouth, closer now, and held her breath.‘Seaton, unhand her, now.’ Brenna turned to see an older man staring at them with a livid look on his face. The man let go of her arm, and it felt as though the flesh still burned where he had touched her.

    A devastating discovery. From the bestselling author of Miss Appleby's Academy comes a gritty and emotional family saga. London, 1944. A young man is killed in an air-raid, leaving a wife and two children - and a secret. After the tragedy, Ailsa, Margaret and Luke are persuaded by to return to the north east. Despite their grief and bitterness, they find a new life there. But it isn't long before the past catches up with them, and they must confront the secret the family left behind.

    Deputy Marshal Harold Stampede. But the outlaw has managed to break out and take a dozen hardened convicts with him as they sweep a path of violence across Southern Arizona. The leader of the gang has sworn an oath to kill the deputy marshal for shooting dead his partner, Jimmy So-Fast. And Marshal One-Eyed Jack Black intends to do whatever he can to stop him and protect the citizens of Cochise County – all this, while an unsuspecting killer is on the loose in Peirce City during the lawmen’s absence.

    Along the way Sinclair finds himself braving typhoons, treacherous seas and an insane shipmate.And when a fogbound collision threatens to pollute the shores of the British Isles, the race is on to prevent an ecological disaster – before they all go down with the ship.For Sinclair these three years are set to be the most thrilling of his life so far – a rollercoaster ride of blood, sweat and fire.IN THE BLOOD is a rip-roaring, page-turning adventure story following Peter Sinclair during the early years of his maritime career.

    He was 47 years old. During his time on the ground he kept a diary. Humorous, authentic and sad, it is a warts and all account of infantry soldiering in a hot and dangerous place. This is his storty.

     As the German Blitzkrieg rolls across France, the British Army is forced to retreat back to the coast. It seems, as the net tightens around the surrounded divisions, that only a miracle can save them from destruction. As the Royal Navy attempts to rescue the men from the beaches, the British rearguard is locked in a vicious struggle to prevent the Germans from breaking through. Jack and his section, after weeks of brutal action, are forced to struggle on against the relentless enemy, the men standing together as they fight their way back to the blood soaked beaches, where their only hope of salvation lies beneath the smoke filled skies of Dunkirk. This is the first novel in a new series by Stuart Minor.