Anne Marlow

It is 1955 and a 15-year-old girl, seeking adventure, escapes the greyness of post-war London for the cobbles, sunshine and romance of an ancient Catalan city.

As the years pass and the girl becomes a woman, she returns again and again to Girona and to her lover, the enigmatic José Tarres. She meets captivating characters and hears about visions, a strangely wealthy priest, a fabulous garden owned by a Frenchwoman...

The rich priest was none other than the Abbé Saunière of Rennes-le-Château, and the mysteries surrounding him are at the very heart of the modern Grail legend. The people she has known for so many years, including José, belong to a secret society that guards Saunière's legacy. Now they ask her to be their messenger. It is time, they say, to present some of their closely guarded secrets to the world.

Paint a still-life like Vincent Van Gogh! Create a cubist collage like Pablo Picasso! Make a polka-dot pumpkin like Yayoi Kusama! This book will make YOU an artist as you explore 25 different art techniques - from cave painting to contemporary performance - inspired by ground-breaking artists from around the world. And discover famous masterpieces with photographs of real works of art!

Pick up your pencils, collect your collage materials and find out more about some of world's best-known creatives in this fact-filled book full of step-by-step activities that are easy to try at home. Including information about tools, materials and basic art theory, this imaginative book is jam-packed with ideas for aspiring artists everywhere.

A family-led vision of what carers of people with dementia need and want to know. Supporting families and carers in their day-to-day life with dementia, this unique resource combines real stories from families with expert responses and advice for specific issues and concerns.

This resource is based on the real stories and real questions brought to the Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline, peer support groups and clinical networks. Including questions around diagnosis, peer support, balancing risks, care transitions and end of life planning, the chapters are devised to support you, and give you the tools to live better, when dementia enters your life.

A dazzling, ambitious debut collection from a young talent, these critically acclaimed stories dip into the shadows and spotlights of life. From the pale waking hours to the darkling places, Clown's Shoes introduces a cast of lost characters trying to find their way, and asking whether everyone really does come salting home in the end?

Since the Devil visited the glove maker, she has found herself in the asylum counting out days instead of stitches. At the dog track, hidden amongst the rowdy punters, a woman bets on underdogs, life, and love. Onstage, a desperate mother performs a nightly striptease, whilst, in a small Welsh town, a young Korean immigrant tells her secrets to the sway of the sea.

The people who populate the exciting and intriguing world of Clown's Shoes have stories that enthral the imagination.

Inspired by the woods around his home, the mighty forests that support our life on Earth, and the Ted Hughes poem which gives this book its title, My Heart Was a Tree is a celebration, and Sir Michael Morpurgo's love letter to trees.

There are stories from an ancient olive remembering Odysseus and Penelope, and from a eucalyptus that gave shelter to a koala; from a piece of driftwood that was made into a chair, and from a tiny sapling carried by a refugee as a reminder of home - these are poems and stories that will amuse, move and energise families and readers of all ages to appreciate the beauty and wonder of trees.

Kathryna never knew her father. He died a hero in World War II before she took her first breath. Now, as war returns, Kathryna faces a new generation of grief and discovers a quiet calling.

Determined not to let others suffer in silence, she begins with a simple gesture: a cup of tea, a quiet conversation, and an open door.

Her home becomes a quiet refuge for Yulia, a young nurse and newlywed whose world collapsed in a heartbeat. For Ana, the resilient wife who loved through war. And for Natalia, a mother and partner who returned from Berlin to contribute, only to face destruction.

Within Kathryna’s modest home, sorrow finds a voice, strength is shared in silence, and healing begins. As word spreads, her home becomes a haven for the broken-hearted. Together, they carry invisible wounds and begin to plant hope in barren soil.

Fifty-two weeks. That's all the time Mona has left to learn about beauty before she loses her eyesight forever.

Fifty-two works of art. Every Wednesday, Mona's grandfather picks her up after school and takes her to see a great work of art.

Fifty-two chapters. Together, on their visit to Paris' museums, Mona and her grandfather will experience enchantment and sadness.

Above all, they will grow ever closer and learn to lean on each other. From Botticelli to Basquiat, Mona will discover not only the power of art, but also the meaning of generosity, doubt, melancholy, and loss.

When Betty Farmer married double agent Eddie Chapman, Agent Zigzag, she knew her life would never be ordinary. Yet even before her marriage to Eddie, her life involved incendiary bombs, serial killers, film roles and love affairs with flying aces. After her marriage she coped with Eddie's mistresses, his criminal activities, separations and personal traumas. Coming from humble origins, Betty would, in time, own a beauty business, a health farm and a castle in Ireland, become the friend and confidante of film stars and an African president, and the honoured guest of Middle Eastern royalty. In an age where women were still very much second-class, she became a perfect example of what, in spite of everything, was possible.

Much has been written about Eddie Chapman, films have been made, television programmes produced. Yet alongside Eddie for most of his extraordinary life was an equally extraordinary woman: Mrs Zigzag. This book tells the story of the Chapmans' often fraught but ultimately loving relationship for the first time.

Three women arrive in Girona, North East Spain, to attend a New Age workshop based on the mysteries of that ancient city. They have never met before. What do they have in common? They discover that they are all grandmothers who know little about psychic or spiritual worlds.

What do they want? To keep a good face on things; 'things' being quite a lot of difficult issues... What do they really want? Life change? Reclaiming their dreams? What do they get? The Holy Grail. And all they were looking for was a way out of sudden old age...

Following her classic Girona trilogy, Patrice Chaplin returns to the enchanted city for a new adventure.

From Cotswolds farmland to London fish markets, society ballrooms to icy gutters, this is a tale of prejudice and ambition, power and passion, and one couple's struggle to overcome all obstacles and carve out a life of their own.

At the age of nineteen, Yolande of Aragon is sent away from everything she knows to marry the Duke of Anjou, cousin of King Charles VI. Arranged to form an alliance between the two warring kingdoms, their union becomes not only a great love story, but also sets in motion events which will change the course of history.

'There was no one in the room. Blinds and curtains were closed; the light of the skies, if any, was shut out. … Only the fire was alive, consuming its life-for what? Then the door opened and as Claudia came with hurried steps into the fire's glow, two open letters in her hand, the telephone began ringing. She shut the door and turned up the lights.'

Claudia Heseltine returns to this moment three times in a series of parallel narratives. As the novel presses the re-set button, she accepts each invitation, one by telephone, two by letter, to a specific social event, and in doing so her life goes down a different path with its own possibilities and achievements, sorrows, and disappointments. This is an inventive novel, published in 1931, which contemplates the consequences of a single decision.

Linnet O'Neill, heir apparent to Emma Harte, is determined to bring the Harte empire into the twenty-first century. But she and her mother Paula, head of the dynasty, lock horns. When Paula falls dangerously ill, Linnet is suddenly alone at the helm, just as her great-grandmother Emma once was. Linnet finds herself following in the footsteps of the original woman of substance as she battles to save what Emma created – upsetting her sister Tessa, who believes herself to be the rightful heir, in the process. When grief and heartbreak strike the family, all of Emma's great-granddaughters are tested to the limit as the extraordinary story of the Harte family takes another astonishing turn. 

Little Charles always knew that, one day, he would have a big job to do. As the son of Queen Elizabeth II, he was a prince and, in the future, he was to inherit the throne of the United Kingdom. As a young man, he developed a passion for one cause; the environment. This inspiring book features presents a detailed profile of the Charles's life, from little prince to grown-up king.

First published in 1778, this novel of manners tells the story of Evelina, a young woman raised in rural obscurity who is thrust into London’s fashionable society at the age of eighteen. There, she experiences a sequence of humorous events that teach her how quickly she must learn to navigate social snobbery and veiled aggression. As an innocent young woman, she deals with embarrassing relations, being beautiful in an image-conscious world, and falling in love with the wonderfully eligible Lord Orville.

The early 1800's. Jesse Constam, a highly respected spice merchant, lives in fashionable Gower Street. Saved from poverty himself, he rescues two children from the gutter. Jesse's intervention changes their lives forever. The fate of Abel Lackland and Lilith Lucas and their families become inextricably entwined as they are destined for the vastly different worlds of medicine and the theatre. Book 1 of series.

It was around 1926 that Marjorie ‘Malachi’ Whitaker wrote her first short story. Described as Bradford’s Chekhov, her stories are concerned with everyday life, are mostly set in Yorkshire and often concentrate on the gender dynamics between men and women.

Eighty years ago, at the end of May 1921, Katherine Mansfield came to Switzerland, to live at the Chalet des Sapins in Montana (now Crans-Montana) in Switzerland. She was 32 and seriously ill with tuberculosis. The next few months were to be the most fruitful period of her life; she did not have much time left to her. The Montana Stories is a new edition compiled and edited by Persephone Books of everything Katherine Mansfield wrote between July 1921 and the end of January 1922 when she went to Paris for medical treatment. For completeness there are also the two stories and an unfinished fragment that she wrote after she left Montana and before her death in January 1923. She had of course written many short stories before, and had published two volumes of these, but as a collection The Montana Stories has a unique quality which inevitably owes something to her ill-health.

Clara is the beloved daughter of a devoted, though authoritarian father and an imperious, devout Catholic mother. Set against the backdrop of the First World War, Clara experiences the vagaries of adolescence and, faced with the first tragedy of her adult life, she realises that neither parents, nor faith can protect her from change.

This novel, which continues the adventures of the Whiteoaks, tells of young Finch's desperate struggle into manhood. Out of Finch's agonizing search for self a new drama emerges that profoundly affects the destiny of all the Whiteoaks.  Book 2 of series.

You probably remember the story of the bear who found the piano in the woods and grew up to become a huge star. He played his music in front of millions of adoring fans and all of his wildest dreams came true. But now, the audiences are smaller, the pianos less grand, and the applause is dying away. So Bear decides to retire.

Back in the woods, he is sad that his dream is over but he soon has something to distract him: Little Bear! The final book in the trilogy shows that while fame and fortune might be temporary, the best songs stay in your heart forever.

One day, a young bear stumbles upon something he has never seen before in the forest. As time passes, he teaches himself how to play the strange instrument, and eventually the beautiful sounds are heard by a father and son who are picnicking in the woods.

The bear goes with them on an incredible journey to New York, where his piano playing makes him a huge star. He has fame, fortune and all the music in the world, but he misses the friends and family he has left behind.

The first book in the trilogy.

Hector and his dog Hugo have made music together through good times, bad times and even some crazy times. But when Hugo learns to play the fiddle and gets the chance to play with Bear’s Big Band, Hector’s jealousy gets the better of him. Can Hector swallow his pride and learn to be happy for his friend?

Set in New Orleans with a new cast of animal musicians, the second book in the trilogy teaches that friendship, like good music, lasts forever.

A collection of smart and entertaining fictional essays from one of the world's most celebrated authors. Chilling and witty, prescient and personal, delectable and tart, these highly imaginative tales tackle a broad range of subjects, reflecting the times we live in with deadly accuracy and knife-edge precision.

With her husband in a coma and her daughter becoming increasingly distant, Helen seeks out companionship from her other relatives—the ones who are dead and gone. Helen begins to unearth buried family secrets, including the tragic story of her mysterious grandmother.

Witty, heartbreaking, shocking, satirical: the short story can excite or sadden, entice or repulse. The one thing it can never be is dull. These stories written by women, on the theme of loss, are selected and introduced by Victoria Hislop, one of the nation's favourite novelists.

Rosemary Ackland began writing her diary in 1945, aged just fifteen. For the next fifty-eight years, through happiness and heartache, she continued to write. Even after the tragic onset of Motor Neurone disease, which left her mute and immobile, and during her last days, as her husband Joss helped her hold a pen, her diary was still an outlet - in fact, then more than ever.

Mr Baldwin's retirement is something of a disappointment to him. His boredom, his wife’s dismay at the quiet orderliness of her life being destroyed and their growing tension with each other slowly grows, until one day they go for a country walk and discover Weldon Valley. Their lives change forever when they see a house for sale and decide to move there.

Born in 1905, Daisy Goodwill drifts through the chapters of childhood, marriage, widowhood, remarriage, motherhood and old age. Daisy attempts to find a way to tell her own story within a novel that is itself about the limitations of autobiography.

In 1915, two spirited Australian sisters join the war effort as nurses, escaping the confines of their father's dairy farm. But nothing could have prepared them for what they confront, yet they find courage in the face of extreme danger and become the friends they never were before.

It is 1940. France has fallen, the war could go either way and everyone must do their bit. Young copy writer Catrin Cole is drafted into the Ministry of Information to help write women in propaganda films - something that the men aren't very good at.

Kitty Fisher escapes to her great-grandfather's remote cabin in America, after a devastating revelation forces her to flee London. There, on the shores of Lake Akanabee, she discovers a spectacular jewelled pendant that will lead her to an extraordinary, long-buried family secret.

England, September 1939; Lily Shepherd boards a cruise liner for a new life in Australia and is plunged into a world of cocktails, jazz and glamorous friends. But six-weeks later the world is at war, the cruise liner docks, and life will never be the same again.

Connie Carter has lost everyone and everything dear to her. Leaving her home in New York, she moves to a run-down Irish mansion, hoping to heal her shattered heart and in search of answers. All she knows about Ludlow is that her late husband spent all their money on the house – without ever mentioning it to her. Now Connie needs to know why.

The town of Rossmore is a special place, full of character and charm. But a new bypass has been proposed and the people are divided. The road will go right through Whitehorn Woods and the well dedicated to St Ann, thought by some to have spiritual properties. The decision rests on Neddy Nolan - the most honest man in Rossmore. A man determined to do the right thing...

Kate Fordham fled to Spain to start a new life. But fate is about to bring her face-to-face with her greatest fear. Five centuries ago, a message was hidden in the Alhambra's walls. There it has lain, undisturbed by the tides of history – until Kate discovers it. Born of love in a time of desperation and danger, Kate's discovery will be the catalyst that changes her life.