Simon Amstell did his first stand-up gig at the age of 13. His parents had just divorced and puberty was confusing. Trying to be funny solved everything.

Both Joseph K in The Trial and K in The Castle are victims of anonymous governing forces beyond their control. Both are atomized, estranged and rootless citizens deceived by authoritarian power. Whereas Joseph K is relentlessly hunted down for a crime that remains nameless, K ceaselessly attempts to enter the castle, and so belong somewhere. Both novels may be read as powerful allegories of totalitarian government.

When Eva and Adam fall into bed one Friday night, tired and happy after drinks with friends, they have their whole lives ahead of them. But their story ends on page twelve.

The London winter of 1947. As cold as St Petersburg during the Revolution. The Karenins keep their vodka under the layers of snow in their suburban garden, in bottles entombed like their Russian past. But when a young Frenchwoman arrives to work as a companion to the aged ‘Monsieur Ka’ he begins to tell his story…

The Amazons are ruled by their queen, Hippolyta, and live on the farthest edges of the earth, fierce warrior women who ride to battle like men.
In Greece, the age of heroes has just begun. The hero, Hercules, has twelve labours to complete, set for him by the Greek Admete, and destined to be the subject of song for thousands of years to come.

How Joe Roberts does what he does is a mystery. He has a brain that seems able to outperform a computer. To a games company like Venstrom that promises big profits if his abilities can be properly exploited. So they send Nicole Nevinson to track him down and make him an offer too good to refuse.

But Venstrom aren’t the only people interested in Joe. His current boss, a shady businessman, is already making serious money out of Joe’s talents and isn’t going to let him go without a fight. And then there are other forces, with still darker intentions, who have their own plans for him.

Across the ranchlands and cities of his home state, Rory Yates’s discipline and law-enforcement skills have carried him far: from local highway patrolman to the honorable rank of Texas Ranger. He arrives in his hometown to find a horrifying crime scene and a scathing accusation: he is named a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife, Anne, a devoted teacher whose only controversial act was ending her marriage to a Ranger.

Forever and a Day is the story of the birth of a legend, in the brutal underworld of the French Riviera, taking readers into the very beginning of James Bond’s illustrious career and the formation of his identity.

***

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.

Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall. . . .

Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso.

Subsequent to getting left at the altar, Kenzie Gifford escapes to San Francisco to begin her life once again, decided never to adore again. She’s made new companions and has a great job in the workplace of her cousin’s chocolate processing plant. The main persistent issue for her is Dr. Micah Fisher, who demands to seek after her regardless of her consistent dismissal.

Judith Gladstone came to San Francisco after her folks kicked the bucket to locate her last living relative, an auntie she has never met. Rather she has fallen head over heels in affection with Caleb Coulter, her companion’s sibling. Caleb has vowed to enable Judith to discover her auntie, yet she can tell he thinks about her just as a companion and she battles to conceal her emotions.

On her approach to San Francisco to discover her sibling, Caleb, who disappeared three months prior, Camriann Coulter meets Judith and Kenzie, who both have their own riddles to comprehend in the blasting West Coast city. The ladies choose to help one another, including staying together and working at Kenzie’s cousin’s chocolate manufacturing plant.

In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the joyous news that Elizabeth I is the new queen, yet one woman hears the tidings with utter dread. She is Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, and she knows that Elizabeth’s ambitious leap to the throne will draw her husband back to the center of the glamorous Tudor court, where he was born to be.

Elizabeth’s excited triumph is short-lived. She has inherited a bankrupt country where treason is rampant and foreign war a certainty. Her faithful advisors warns her that she will survive only if she marries a strong prince to govern the rebellious country, but the one man Elizabeth desires is her childhood friend, the ambitious Robert Dudley.