Sian Thomas

Aristotle was an extraordinary thinker, perhaps the greatest in history. Yet he was preoccupied by an ordinary question: how to be happy. His deepest belief was that we can all be happy in a meaningful, sustained way - and he led by example. 

In this handbook to his timeless teachings, Professor Edith Hall shows how ancient thinking is precisely what we need today, even if you don't know your Odyssey from your Iliad. In ten practical lessons we come to understand more about our own characters and how to make good decisions. We learn how to do well in an interview, how to choose a partner and life-long friends, and how to face death or bereavement. 

A vulnerable boy hangs himself inside a young offenders' centre. A teenage girl is found dead of a heroin overdose. Then, after dealing with these two cases, Coroner Harry Marshall suddenly dies, apparently from natural causes. Jenny Cooper is his replacement and she is puzzled by Marshall's strange behaviour just before his death. X rated, contains offensive language and explicit sex.

When her father dies nobly in battie, fourteen-year-old Thirrin Freer Strong-in-the-Arm Lindenshield becomes Queen of the Icemark, a tiny kingdom forever caught between dangerous neighbours. But she bears a heavy burden. Thirrin must not only win the respect of her people but also raise an army to protect them from the most formidable threat of invasion that her nation has ever known - and do so before the end of the winter snows. Resourcefully, she goes in search of new allies from far beyond her borders. With her friend Oskan Witch's Son at her side she journeys across the Land-of-the-Ghosts to the frozen Hub of the World. She meets the most incredible creatures: vampires, wolf-folk and most wondrous of all, the giant Snow Leopards. But can she persuade them to unite, and rally to The Cry of the Icemark? 

After being jilted by her fiance, Jane (Jinx) Kingsley goes into a coma. When she awakes she remembers nothing, but she is told that she attempted suicide, and finds herself facing a murder charge.

Good Friday 1612. In Lancaster Castle two notorious witches await trial and certain death, while the beautiful and wealthy Alice Nutter rides to their defence. Elsewhere a Jesuit priest and former Gunpowder plotter makes his way from France to a place he believes will offer him sanctuary. But how safe can anyone be in Witch Country?

Five young women have been savagely murdered during civil conflict in Sierre Leone. Although three young soldiers confess to the killings, Reuters correspondent, Connie Burns, believs the real killer is a foreign mercenary.As she searches for the killer she endangers herself and is forced to flee the country, but even rural Dorset is no longer safe!

When her mother dies, eight-year-old Eve is sent to live with her grandparents in rural Wales. Now an adult expecting her first child she reflects on her life, the secrets in her family and the disappearance of a local girl. Richard & Judy Bookclub

Dame Maggie Smith, is one of Britain's best-loved actors. From her days as a West End star of comedy, to her recent roles in Downton Abbey and Harry Potter, she remains an enigmatic figure. This absorbing biography allows an insight into the real Maggie Smith.

Rupert Campbell-Black is consumed by one obsession: that Love Rat, his adored grey horse, be proclaimed champion stallion. But when Gala, a grieving but ravishing Zimbabwean widow moves to his racing empire at Penscombe as carer for Rupert's wayward father, Rupert finds himself dangerously tempted. X rated, explicit sexual content.

The body of a dead man is discovered in a cemetery in Bristol, the sign of the cross gouged into his flesh. At first it seems to coroner Jenny Cooper that it's suicide. Then a young priest arrives, entreating Jenny to hold an inquest into the death of Eva Donaldson, a political campaigner whose past life continued to haunt her.

Vera has been brought up in Britain, but her parents were refugees from the Ukraine. Since her mother's death her eighty-year-old father has been keen to support fellow Ukrainians. He marries a young, brassy immigrant who is determined to be kept in the luxury she craves!

Jane Shaw was working as a volunteer in Chelsea’s famous Physic Garden when she earned a placement to work on an organic garden in Greece. Nicknamed 'Alcatraz' by the outgoing assistant, the plot was devoid of creature comforts, perched on a remote hillside that was tropical in summer and freezing in winter.

Andriy, Irina, Tomasz, Vola, Emmanuel and two Chinese girls all live in two caravans in Kent. They are here to pick strawberries, but for immigrants with a Russian gang-leader England is not a green and pleasant land. When Irina is kidnapped, Andriy sets off in search for her.

Georgie Sinclair’s husband has walked out and her sixteen-year-old son is busy surfing born-again websites. Georgie befriends her neighbour, an elderly Jewish émigré, and soon finds herself coming to the assistance of her new friend when she is admitted to hospital. The friendship leads her to unravel a wartime mystery. X rated, contains offensive language and explicit sex.