LUCY MANGAN’S MEMOIR, BOOKWORM, PUBLISHED BY SQUARE PEG

An enchanting memoir on childhood reading, BOOKWORM by Lucy Mangan, is published in hardback and ebook today by Square Peg. Lucy revisits childhood favourites in this immersive read, reflecting on what these stories meant as a young reader, and how these meanings have changed over time. Jacqueline Wilson has praised BOOKWORM as ‘passionate, witty, informed, and gloriously opinionated'. 

When Lucy Mangan was little, stories were everything. They opened up new worlds and cast light on all the complexities she encountered in this one.

She was whisked away to Narnia, Kirrin Island, and Wonderland. She ventured down rabbit holes and womble burrows into midnight gardens and chocolate factories. She wandered the countryside with Milly-Molly-Mandy, and played by the tracks with the Railway Children. With CHARLOTTE’S WEB she discovered Death and with Judy Blume it was Boys. No wonder she only left the house for her weekly trip to the library or to spend her pocket money on amassing her own at home.

In BOOKWORM, Lucy revisits her childhood reading with wit, love and gratitude. She relives our best-loved books, their extraordinary creators, and looks at the thousand subtle ways they shape our lives. She also disinters a few forgotten treasures to inspire the next generation of bookworms and set them on their way. Bringing the favourite characters of our collective childhoods back to life – prompting endless re-readings, rediscoveries, and, inevitably, fierce debate – Lucy brilliantly uses them to tell her own story, that of a born, and unrepentant, bookworm.

Lucy Mangan is a journalist and a writer for the Guardian. She has written for most major women’s magazines, including Grazia, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan, and has a weekly column in Stylist magazine. She was named Columnist of the Year at PPA Awards in 2013. Her works include MY FAMILY AND OTHER DISASTERS, HOPSCOTCH AND HANDBAGS: The Essential Guide to Being a Girl, and THE RELUCTANT BRIDE. A commemoration of 50 years of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, INSIDE CHARLIE'S CHOCOLATE FACTORY was published by Puffin UK/US in 2014.

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Praise for BOOKWORM:

‘Throughout BOOKWORM [Mangan] artfully evokes that peculiar magic of reading as a child…Deliciously unrepentant, Mangan’s BOOKWORM makes a timely case not just for how vital reading is, but also for rereading books as a child, and how reading remains consoling, fortifying and, sometimes, magical.’ — Helen Davies, The Times

‘A wonderful romp through the pages of childhood, illuminated by wisdom, humour and enthusiasm.’ — Bernard Cornwell

‘Absolutely gorgeous. I felt like this was written just for me, and I think everyone will feel this way.’ — Jenny Colgan

'Beautiful and moving... It will kickstart a cascade of nostalgia for countless people' — Marian Keyes

‘Mangan is writing to and for her fellow book junkies, the ones who can’t leave the house without a book (or three) in their bag, for whom even the thought of doing so brings them out in a cold sweat. BOOKWORM invites us to relive and re-evaluate our own childhood reading, and has the good manners to entertain us along the way.’ — Claire Hennessy, Headstuff

‘What a treat! If you remember reading any of these for the first time, or just identify as a bookworm in general this book is such a delight…I can’t think of a better tribute to the power of reading…an ideal gift for any bookworm you know.’ — Bee Reader

TEMPLAR SILKS by Elizabeth Chadwick published today by Sphere

Elizabeth Chadwick’s glorious new adventure is published today by Sphere in hardback, ebook and audiobook, narrated by Jonathan Keeble. TEMPLAR SILKS marks an exciting return to the character of William Marshal, England’s greatest medieval knight, following him across continents, from England to Jerusalem, as from his deathbed he recalls a crucial journey to the Holy City, and the peril and heartbreak he found there.

William Marshal was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman who served five English kings, eulogised by Stephen Langton as the ‘best knight that ever lived’. Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels about him are widely praised, and her vivid depiction of this extraordinary man in books like THE GREATEST KNIGHT has made him one of her best-loved characters. Fulfilling a vow he had made while on crusade – the subject of this thrilling new novel – William Marshal was invested into the order of the Knights Templar on his deathbed in1219. He was buried in the Temple Church in London, where his tomb can still be seen.

Elizabeth Chadwick’s bestselling standalones THE GREATEST KNIGHT and THE SCARLET LION also feature this compelling historical figure, while characters around William feature in other novels – among them his father John Marshal in A PLACE BEYOND COURAGE and his daughter Mahelt (also called Maud) in TO DEFY A KING, which won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Novel of the Year Award in 2011.

US rights to TEMPLAR SILKS have been sold to Shana Drehs of Sourcebooks, with German rights going to Blanvalet and Czech rights to Euromedia, with option publishers elsewhere including Portugal, Poland, Russia and Latvia. Her work is published in 24 languages and has sold more than a million copies in the UK alone.

A sacred promise. A perilous journey. A deadly entanglement.

Lying on his deathbed, William Marshal, regent of England, sends a trusted friend on a journey to bring him the silk Templar burial shrouds that he has kept hidden since returning from the Holy Land thirty years ago.  It is time to fulfil his Templar vows and become one of their order for eternity.

While he waits, William vividly recalls his long-ago pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his brother Ancel, and their sacred mission to bear the cloak of their dead young lord to Christ's tomb in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Their journey is fraught with uncertainty and danger, but it is in Jerusalem, the holiest and most dangerous of cities, that William becomes entangled with the mercurial Paschia de Riveri, concubine of the highest churchman in the land. He has travelled a long and risky road to save his soul, but now the greatest danger he faces is losing his heart.

Elizabeth Chadwick won a Betty Trask Award for THE WILD HUNT, her first novel, and has been shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Award several times, winning in 2011 for TO DEFY A KING. THE SCARLET LION was selected by Historical Novel Society founder Richard Lee as one of his 'Ten Landmark Historical Novels of the Last Decade'.

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Praise for TEMPLAR SILKS:

‘A great example of historical fiction done well… brilliantly written…the whole story sits together with ease with a real feeling of authenticity…This book feels like a fair representation of a man who is remembered as the backbone of early English history.’ — The Bookbag

‘Nobody in my opinion brings the medieval world to life in full colour like Elizabeth Chadwick…a gloriously exciting depiction of some of medieval Europe’s danger spots, where peril lay around almost every corner and in every town…Elizabeth Chadwick has such a gift in the way she surrounds her reader in the past.’ — For Winter Nights 

Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick:

‘This is historical fiction at its best.’ — The Bookseller

‘An author who makes historical fiction come gloriously alive.’ —The Times

‘Picking up an Elizabeth Chadwick novel is like having a Bentley draw up at your door: you know you are in for a sumptuous ride.’ — Daily Telegraph

‘I rank Elizabeth Chadwick with such historical novelist stars as Dorothy Dunnett and Anya Seton.’ – Sharon Kay Penman

‘One of Elizabeth Chadwick’s strengths is her stunning grasp of historical detail…Her characters are beguiling and the story is intriguing and very enjoyable.’ — Barbara Erskine

THE MISSING LIST BY CLARE BEST ACQUIRED BY LINEN PRESS

Linen Press has acquired UK and Commonwealth Rights, for prize-winning poet Clare Best’s powerful memoir THE MISSING LIST, from Hattie Grunewald at Blake Friedmann.

Andrew O'Hagan has called it ‘a tapestry of time – brightly coloured, beautifully orchestrated, emotionally pure.’

Clare’s memoir, THE MISSING LIST, is poised at the approaching death of a father who may never acknowledge or resolve family secrets that brought her untold distress in her childhood and into her adult life. His silence could leave her emotionally adrift, searching for freedom from the past, and an ending. Runner-up in the Mslexia Memoir Competition 2015, the writing is layered and delicate, exploring memory and reflection, illusion and reality, lies and truth. Crafted from ‘a collection of off-cuts’, the book binds together parts of Clare’s own journal, tape-recordings of her father talking about his life, and family scenes from Super 8 home movie footage which her father filmed. She says that writing her story was ‘the most difficult thing I’ve done.’

With five poetry publications to her name, Clare has won and been shortlisted for numerous poetry prizes including the Bridport and Seamus Heaney. She has been published in anthologies from Bloodaxe, Bloomsbury, Emma Press, HappenStance, Five Leaves Press and Frogmore Press amongst others. She teaches creative writing for the Open University and for the Autobiography and Life Writing Programme in Brighton. She led the ‘Tools for Writing’ workshops for life prisoners at HMP Shepton Mallet (Outside In project, 2004) and was writer in residence at Woodlands Organic Farm from 2006 to 2008 and at the University of Brighton in 2015.

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THE PEARLER’S WIFE Roxane Dhand’s stunning debut out today

An arranged marriage, an alien country and buried secrets: Maisie Porter has much to learn in Roxane Dhand’s sensational debut THE PEARLER’S WIFE, published in trade paperback, audio and ebook by Bantam Australia today. Kate Forsyth author of BITTER GREENS called THE PEARLER’S WIFE ‘an assured debut novel ... a sweeping romance set in a little-known corner of Australian history ... a story full of tension, drama and romance.’

UK readers will be able to grab a copy of this tale of forbidden love on March 22 when it will be released in paperback and ebook by Harper Impulse. Rights for the heart-wrenching tale have also been bought in Italy by Piemme Edizioni and Lithuania by Baltos Lankos.

It is 1912, and Maisie Porter stands on the deck of the SS Oceanic as England fades from view. Her destination is Buccaneer Bay in Australia’s far north-west. Her purpose: marriage to her cousin Maitland, a wealthy pearling magnate – and a man she has never met.

Also on board is William Cooper, the Royal Navy’s top man. Following a directive from the Australian government, he and eleven other ‘white’ divers have been hired to replace the predominantly Asian pearling crews. However, Maitland and his fellow merchants have no intention of employing the costly Englishmen for long . . .

Maisie arrives in her new country to a surprisingly cool reception. Already confused by her hastily arranged marriage, she is shocked at Maitland’s callous behaviour towards her – while finding herself increasingly drawn to the intriguing Cooper.

But Maisie’s new husband is harbouring secrets – deadly secrets. And when Cooper and the divers sail out to harvest the pearl shell, they are in great danger – and not just from the unpredictable and perilous ocean . . .

Roxane Dhand was born in Kent and entertained her sisters with imaginative stories from a young age. She studied English and French at London University, and in 1978 she moved to Switzerland, where she began her professional career in public relations. Back in England and many years later on, she taught French in both the maintained and private sectors. Now retired, she is finally able to indulge her passion for storytelling. THE PEARLER'S WIFE is her first novel.

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DEON MEYER’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED NOVEL FEVER PUBLISHED IN PAPERBACK TODAY!

Deon Meyer’s ‘compelling, action-packed’ post-apocalyptic novel FEVER is published in paperback in the UK today by Hodder. In this Number One bestseller, a father and son’s relationship is put to the test as they attempt to salvage civilisation in a world decimated by a deadly pandemic. FEVER has won international praise since it was first published around the world, with Stephen King comparing it to his own novel THE STAND. TV rights to FEVER have also been optioned to UK independent production company Sid Gentle.

FEVER was a number one bestseller in South Africa after its release by Tafelberg in 2016 in Afrikaans as KOORS and again in 2017 when Jonathan Ball published the English edition translated by K.L. Seegers. Across the Atlantic, it has found a home in Canada with House of Anansi and in the USA with Grove Atlantic. FEVER has also been published in France by Le Seuil, in Germany by Aufbau and Holland by A. W. Bruna, among others. The Dutch edition leaped into the Top 20 in the Netherlands, where Deon was selected as the national Crime and Thriller Week’s Author and commissioned to write a special novella – DE VROUW IN DE BLAUWE MANTEL (THE WOMAN IN THE BLUE CLOAK),

In July 2017, FEVER was shortlisted for the prestigious Nielsen Bookseller’s Choice Award, Meyer’s third title to be nominated for the award. His ground-breaking novel SEVEN DAYS won the award in 2012.

Nico Storm and his father drive across a desolate South Africa, constantly alert for feral dogs, motorcycle gangs, nuclear contamination. They are among the few survivors of a virus that has killed most of the world's population. Young as he is, Nico realises that his superb marksmanship and cool head mean he is destined to be his father's protector.

But Willem Storm, though not a fighter, is a man with a vision. He is searching for a place that can become a refuge, a beacon of light and hope in a dark and hopeless world, a community that survivors will rebuild from the ruins. And so Amanzi is born.

FEVER is the epic, searing story of a group of people determined to carve a city out of chaos.

Deon Meyer’s work has been published in over 27 countries. In 2016, he was the second bestselling author in South Africa in any language, after J.K. Rowling. He won the Deutsche Krimi Preis 2009 for BLOOD SAFARI, the Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière 2003 for DEAD BEFORE DYING and Le Prix Mystère de la Critique 2004 for DEAD AT DAYBREAK, which was adapted for an Afrikaans M-Net TV series (SA). THIRTEEN HOURS was the winner of the Barry Award in the Best Thriller category 2011 and was shortlisted for the Macavity Best Mystery Novel Award. He has been shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger three times and many of his books have been optioned for film. DEAD BEFORE DYING was filmed for a 6-part TV series, titled CAPE TOWN, featuring his character Mat Joubert.

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Praise for FEVER:

‘FEVER by Deon Meyer is reminiscent of THE STAND and THE PASSAGE. Great stuff.’ — Stephen King

‘Wonderful writing... It is a crime thriller, but it's far more... absorbing, emotional and atmospheric... There are shades of Cormac McCarthy’s superb THE ROAD, but FEVER grips even more.’ — Marcel Berlins, The Times Book of the Month

‘This is less a mystery than a thought-provoking, post-apocalyptic examination of the human condition …With its stunning final revelation, this is a remarkable literary achievement.’ — Booklist Starred Review

‘Compelling, action-packed and fraught with emotion. At its heart it is a powerful exploration of humanity at its best and worst and bears favourable comparison with landmarks of the genre such as Stephen King's The Stand and Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Simply stunning.’ — Daily Express

‘FEVER explores human relationships and resourcefulness and is also a poignant meditation on the love that rises from catastrophe: the love of a parent for a child, a child for his hero, a people for their country and the love of life’ — Foyles