PETER JAMES AWARDED HONORARY PLATINUM PRIZE AT SPECSAVERS BESTSELLER AWARDS

Peter James received an Honorary Platinum Award last night at the Specsavers Bestseller Awards, powered by Nielsen Book. The event was held at the May Fair Hotel in London and presented by the BBC’s Mariella Frostrup. The awards celebrate the outstanding sales of books in the UK retail trade, based on the Nielsen data. As the best-selling author of the Roy Grace series, Peter’s honorary Platinum prize recognises his considerable achievements, selling over five million copies in the UK over ten years. He will also enter the Nielsen 21st Century Hall of Fame for bestselling authors.

In a heartfelt speech, Peter thanked the significant people in his life, his publisher Pan MacMillan, and the Awards. He also spoke about the importance of engaging a wider audience with reading and encouraging new readership. 

Published in paperback in October 2017 NEED YOU DEAD, the thirteenth instalment in the Roy Grace crime series, reached #1 in The Sunday Times and topped the ebook bestseller chart. The newest addition to the tantalising series, DEAD IF YOU DON’T will be published by Pan Macmillan this May. Roy Grace’s latest case is set to be the most difficult of his career after a teenage boy is kidnapped from a football stadium on match day. His father receives a ransom demand but as a covert police operation to find his son unfolds, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace starts to realize that not all is what it seems . . . Peter has talked about DEAD IF YOU DON’T with a number of papers and radio shows, including interviews with The Argus and BBC Radio Sussex & Surrey.

In October 2018 Peter’s stunning new standalone ABSOLUTE PROOF will hit the shelves in the UK, with rights already being snapped up around the world, so watch this space and Peter’s website for more news!

On 8 February, the Theatre Royal in Brighton will host “An Evening with Peter James”, where Peter will talk about his career, his inspiration and his bestselling novels. He will also be discussing his writing career at The Dead Good Evening event at the Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing on 15 February in aid of Care for Veterans.

Peter James is an international bestselling thriller writer. He is a New York Times bestseller, as well achieving multiple Sunday Times No 1s, and his work is published in 37 languages. He has won numerous awards, most recently the coveted 2016 CWA Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence, and he was publicly voted by WH Smith – Britain's biggest bookselling chain – The Best Crime Author of All Time. In 2017 Orion launched a programme to re-issue all his backlist chillers, starting with the 20th anniversary edition of THE TRUTH, with a new foreword by the author, and audio editions for the first time.

Visit Peter’s website

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Praise for Peter James:

‘Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business’ – Lee Child

‘One of the most consistently readable crime writers.’ – Daily Mail

‘A master plotter.’ – The Bookseller

 Praise for NEED YOU DEAD:

‘James’s superior 13th novel … This skilful twister shows why James was awarded the 2016 CWA Diamond Dagger.’ — Publishers Weekly Starred Review

‘Peter James has the knack of ensnaring readers with his fully imagined characters and original plots. He writes in a way that makes his stories seem not just interesting but also realistic. His plots and characters are based on detailed and scrupulous research, which means that a good deal of fact underpins his fiction.’ — Literary Review

‘James has never forgotten how to make the pages fly. If a supercharged procedural is what you crave, fasten your seat belt.’ — Kirkus Reviews

‘With Peter James there’s always another layer of mystery to peel away.’ —Dayton Daily News

A STUNNING STORY SPANNING CENTURIES: THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY BY GREGORY NORMINTON IS PUBLISHED TODAY

Gregory Norminton’s THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY, a novel deeply rooted in place, is published today by Fourth Estate in hardback, ebook and audiobook. Gregory read an extract from the dazzling novel at a packed launch at Daunt Books’ in Holland Park last night. The paperback will follow in September 2018.

In December, Robert Macfarlane selected THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY as his book of the year for Resurgence magazine, calling it ‘a powerful meditation on the damages – and the good – we have wrought, and will wreak, on the living world.’ George Monbiot also commented on its importance in addressing environmental issues, saying, ‘it's brilliant. The best treatment of climate change in fiction I've come across. A powerful, essential novel.’

This weekend The Guardian’s M. John Harrison praised the novel for being ‘satisfyingly Alan Garnereseque…. …. reminiscent of Will Self’s THE BOOK OF DAVE or Russell Hoban’s RIDDLEY WALKER’, and in the TLS Jay Griffiths describes it as ‘profound and powerful, its prose moving to poetry. Gregory Norminton writes in language scraped down to its bleached bones – but how exquisitely he makes those bones sing.’

Set on one Roman road in three time periods over three thousand years, THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY is a breathtakingly original novel that challenges our dearly held assumptions about civilisation.

An ancient British boy, discovering a terrorist plot, must betray his brother to save his tribe. In the twenty-first century, two people – one traumatised by war, another by divorce – clash over the use and meaning of a landscape. In the distant future, a gang of feral children struggles to reach safety in a broken world. Their stories are linked by one ancient road, the ‘Devil’s Highway’ in the heart of England: the site of human struggles that resemble one another more than they differ.

In March, Gregory will be speaking alongside Rachel Lichtenstein about place in writing at a special event hosted by The Manchester Writing School at Manchester Met and the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.

Visit Gregory’s website here.

Follow Gregory on Twitter here.

Gregory Norminton is a novelist, actor, playwright, and environmental activist, born in 1976. He is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Manchester Writing School. He has published five novels including SERIOUS THINGS and THE SHIP FOOLS, and two short story collections. Several short stories and dramatisations have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. His most recent collection, THE GHOST WHO BLED was released by Comma Press last year.

Praise for THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY

‘Satisfyingly Alan Garnereseque…. …. reminiscent of Will Self’s THE BOOK OF DAVE or Russell Hoban’s RIDDLEY WALKER’ – M. John Harrison, The Guardian

 ‘It's brilliant. The best treatment of climate change in fiction I've come across. A powerful, essential novel.’ – George Monbiot

'A big, ambitious, beautifully written book that examines, with immense sympathy and generosity, one of the greatest of all themes, place, and our complex, fraught relationship with it.' – Neel Mukherjee

‘Norminton's novel is intriguing, a cautionary examination of man's capacity for violence and the effect on the world around him.’ – SciFi Now Magazine

‘It’s a brilliant deep-time meditation on how landscapes hold – and conceal – meanings. The novel’s stories are set across three points in time, but always in the same place (a Roman road – the highway of the title – crossing southern England). It’s a powerful meditation on the damages – and the good – we have wrought, and will wreak, on the living world.’ – Robert Macfarlane, Resurgence & Ecologist, Books of the Year

 ‘THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY is held together by place, by the persistence and frailty of the natural world, and by the havoc wreaked on it by its human inhabitants. Spanning three civilisations and their conflictual relationship with the world in which they live, the novel is also a deeply human examination of the cruelties people inflict on one another, through war and need, and of the eventual possibility of love, the only defence against the destructive force of fire.’ – Charles Lambert author of Two Dark Tales

‘This is a work of staggering imagination, of unflinching acuity, powerful, poetic and profound. Telling the story of climate breakdown through language breakdown, it magnifies the meaning of loss, portraying a devastated culture without history or literature, whose language is down to its bleached bones and yet – how those bones sing.’ – Jay Griffiths, author of Wild: An Elemental Journey

‘Impressively binds three compelling tales of different times, to one piece of land, with sinews of poetry, history and a viscerally energetic imagination’ – Laline Paull, author of The Bees

‘A striking and dazzlingly poetic meditation on the resonance of place, conflict and kinship. . . . Norminton's skilfully-wrought novel is a memorable and thought-provoking read’ – Liz Jensen, author of The Rapture

CHRISTOPHER NICHOLSON’S CAPTIVATING AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS LONGLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2017

Christopher Nicholson’s AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS, a contemplative journey to discover the last snows in the Scottish Highlands, has been longlisted for the 2017 Highland Book Prize. AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS, published by September Publishing in 2017, was also one of six books shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature last year. The judging panel described the book as ‘lyrical and elegaic’.

The Highland Book Prize is an annual prize established in 2017 to promote high quality published works that recognise the Highlands for its strong cultural heritage and its magnificent landscape. Presented by the Highland Society of London and facilitated by Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre, the prize aims to bring recognition to literature created in or about the Highlands, and is open to fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

The shortlist will be announced in April. The winner will be revealed in May at the Ullapool Book Festival and will receive £1000 and a writing retreat at Moniack Mhor.

As the summer draws to a close, a few snow beds – some as big as icebergs – survive in the Scottish Highlands. Christopher Nicholson's AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS is both a celebration of these great, icy relics and an intensely personal meditation on their significance. A book to delight all those interested in mountains and snow, full of vivid description and anecdote, it explores the meanings of nature, beauty and mortality in the twenty-first century. Chris Townsend of Outdoors Magazine describes it as ‘Superb’ and ‘Destined to be come a classic of mountain literature.’

Christopher Nicholson is the author of three novels, including THE ELEPHANT KEEPER (Fourth Estate, 2009), shortlisted for the Costa Prize in 2009. In 2011 the novel was adapted for BBC Radio 4 and shortlisted for the Encore Award. His novel WINTER, about Thomas Hardy’s later life and the young actress who became his last muse, was published in 2014 by Fourth Estate and dramatized for BBC Radio as TESS IN WINTER. He has lived near Shaftesbury in Dorset for the past thirty years.

AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS was selected by The Telegraph as one of the best Christmas books for armchair travellers in December.

Visit Christopher’s website or follow him on Twitter.

Praise for AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS:

‘Destined to become a classic of mountain literature. Superb.’ – Chris Townsend, Outdoors

‘Lyrical and elegaic, this debut is a tender account of an unusual fascination with the remaining snows of the Scottish Highlands. Nicholson offers us a wry, self-aware take on the relationship between humans and the changed (and changing) natural world.’ – Boardman Tasker

‘It’s a long while since I read a book that made me laugh and cry within just a few pages … A wrong-footing marvel of a book … touching both death’s void, and love, and the beauty of the natural world at one and the same time and in a way that is all the more powerful for its restraint.’ – Books from Scotland

‘A beautiful book about love and loss, fragility and chance, the wide world and the near world . . . full of intense light and colour, extraordinary glimpses, moving insights and subtle humour.' – Richard Kerridge, author of Cold Blood

‘This is a startlingly beautiful book… There’s a sense of quiet resilience and hope throughout, the renewal of life even in the blinding awareness of one’s own fragility…AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS is at once haunting, moving, silent, and profoundly beautiful. An essential read for chionophiles and lovers of good landscape and nature writing.’ – Alex Roddie, The Great Outdoors

‘A glorious little book, beautifully produced’ – Michael Kerr, The Telegraph, The best Christmas books for armchair travellers

CITY WITHOUT STARS published today!

‘Too gripping to put down’ – Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express S Magazine

CITY WITHOUT STARS, the epic follow up to Tim Baker’s sensational debut, FEVER CITY is published by Faber today. FEVER CITY was shortlisted for the CWA’s John Creasey New Blood Dagger award, and nominated for the Private Eye Writers of America’s 2017 Shamus Award.

A tale of corruption, cartels and crime, CITY WITHOUT STARS,  explores Mexico’s criminal underworld and the secrets that lurk there.

In Ciudad Real, Mexico, a deadly war between rival cartels is erupting, and hundreds of female sweat-shop workers are being murdered. As his police superiors start shutting down his investigation, Fuentes suspects most of his colleagues are on the payroll of narco kingpin, El Santo. Meanwhile, despairing union activist, Pilar, decides to take social justice into her own hands. But if she wants to stop the killings, she’s going to have to ignore all her instincts and accept the help of Fuentes. When the name of Mexico’s saintly orphan rescuer, Padre Márcio, keeps resurfacing, Pilar and Fuentes begin to realise how deep the cover-up goes.

Be sure to check out the blog tour which has already begun, with Raven Crime Reads calling CITY WITHOUT STARS:

‘An intense, emotive and completely absorbing read, suffused with a violent energy, and with an unrelenting pace to its narrative. It heightens the reader’s senses and imagination throughout, completely enveloping the reader in this corrupt and violent society, with instances of intense human frailty and moments of strength, underpinned by precise description, and flurries of dark humour.’

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Born in Sydney, Tim Baker lived in Rome and Madrid before moving to Paris, where he wrote about jazz. He has worked on film projects in India, China, Mexico, Brazil and Australia, and currently lives in the South of France with his wife, their son, and two rescue animals, a dog and a cat.

Praise for CITY WITHOUT STARS

'Beautifully plotted, with excellent characterisation and a highly developed social conscience, CITY WITHOUT STARS is an intelligent thriller that moves at a breath-taking pace.' Nicholas Searle, author of THE GOOD LIAR

'One of those books that just won't let you go ... An exhilarating and kaleidoscopic novel that will also break your heart.' Stav Sherez author of A DARK REDEMPTION and THE INTRUSIONS

‘Intricately plotted…a fascinating, immersive page-turning read’ – Purity Brown, Crime Fiction Lovers

Praise for FEVER CITY:

‘[A] remarkable first novel …inspired writing, memorable characters and an exhilarating, all but overpowering story.’ – Patrick Anderson, Washington Post

‘Ambitious debut… a bare knuckle take… a noirish storm of corruption, violence and depravity…’ —The New York Times, USA

An inventive take on the great American conspiracy theory...’ —The Sunday Times, Crime Club Newsletter January Picks 2016

‘Sprawling, ambitious and atmospheric…this debut author is the natural successor to such hallowed crime writers as Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy.’—Stylist UK

'Tim Baker paints a lurid, sinister portrait of mid-century America, skilfully layering fact and fiction in a way that will forever change the way you think about the Kennedy assassination. An impressive debut.' – Peter Swanson

SISONKE MSIMANG’S ‘FIERCE’ MEMOIR OF EXILE, POLITICS AND HOME TO BE PUBLISHED BY WORLD EDITIONS & TEXT BOOKS

World Editions have beaten off competition to win rights to Sisonke Msimang’s debut ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY, a ‘frank, fierce and insightful book’ inspired by the author’s global upbringing. World Editions publisher Judith Uyterlinde bought World English Language rights (excluding Southern Africa and ANZ) from Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann and will publish in the UK and the US in September 2018. Michael Heyward of Text Publishing also won an auction for ANZ rights and will publish in Australia in August 2018. Translation rights are handled by Blake Friedmann.

ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY is already a bestseller in South Africa, published by Jonathan Ball, who won an earlier multi-publisher auction there. It featured in Quartz and Books Live ‘best of’ lists as one of the most popular South African books of 2017.

Sisonke is an acclaimed writer, journalist and political commentator. Her TED Talk on storytelling and what to do when a story moves you has been viewed more than one million times.

ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY is a memoir of ‘soul and survival’, of a young girl’s path to womanhood, and from displacement to engagement, via many homes.  From her peripatetic childhood in a family of political exiles – from Zambia to Kenya to Canada and beyond – the book tracks formative moments in her personal and political life, including the euphoria at return to the new South Africa, the disillusionment at new political elites, and the ugly face of racism and xenophobia. ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY is also an intimate story, a testament to family bonds and sisterhood.

Taiye Selasi selected ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY in The Guardian as one of her favourite reads of 2017. She described it as ‘my favourite kind of memoir, so lyrical and dreamlike that it reads like a novel. It’s an artful meditation on exile and return, womanhood and motherhood unfolding against the backdrop of post-apartheid South African politics. Graça Machel writes, ‘Brutally and uncompromisingly honest, Sisonke’s beautifully crafted storytelling enriches the already extraordinary pool of young African women writers of our time.’

Judith Uyterlinde says, ‘We are thrilled to be publishing ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY.  Sisonke has an incredibly strong voice – the voice of a new generation of World Citizens. She tells a unique story that has it all: it’s intelligent, honest, moving, compelling, funny, philosophical and, above all, inspiring. The comparison with writers as Arundhati Roy and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is no exaggeration. Sisonke Msimang truly is an important author – I just love her book from the bottom of my heart.’

Michael Heyward says: 'ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY is more than Sisonke Msimang’s inspiring story – it’s a bracingly honest and powerfully written account of politics and culture, family and love which describes the life of a wanderer who now calls Australia home. We have no doubt about the contribution that Sisonke can make to the Australian conversation and could not be more thrilled to be publishing her remarkable book.'
 

More Praise for ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY

‘A lyrical and admirably subtle exploration of how elusive our place in the world is ... a reader’s delight.’ – Eusebius McKaiser

‘Sisonke Msimang kindles a new fire in our store of memoir, a fire that will warm and singe and sear for a long, long while.’ – Njabulo S. Ndebele, author of Fools and Other Stories and The Cry of Winnie Mandela

‘A brave and intimate journey. Msimang delivers a deep call for fierce courage in the face of hypocrisy and compassion when faced with our shared humanity.’ – Yewande Omotoso, author of Bom Boy and The Woman Next Door

‘If you appreciate the dance between memory, fiction, history and nostalgia (with a dash of vulnerability for good measure), ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY is highly recommended.’ – Anthambile Masola, Mail & Guardian

‘ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRY is a chronicle of a coming of age, for both a woman and a young democracy. Sisonke Msimang is one of the celebrated voices commenting on the South African present – often humorously, sometimes deeply movingly.’ – Essays of Africa

 
See Sisonke’s website

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