Showing results by publisher "Isis Publishing Ltd" in Literary Fiction

Crime is a man's business, so they say, though not according to Queenie Dove. A self-proclaimed genius when it comes to thieving and escape, she reckons she's done pretty well. Yes, she had a tough childhood in London's East End. But she survived the Blitz, learned how to get by on her wits, and soon graduated from shoplifting to more glamorous crimes. Daring, clever and sexy, she thrived in the Soho of the Krays and the clubs of Mayfair, fell wildly in love, and got away with it all. Or did she? For beneath Queenie's vivacious, unrepentant account lies another story....

It is 1841. Patty Clare is married to John Clare: peasant poet, genius, and madman. Travelling home one day, Patty is shocked to find her husband sitting at the side of the road, having absconded from a lunatic asylum. Delighted to see him, she is devastated when it becomes clear that John's mental health has deteriorated, and he now thinks himself married twice: to both Patty and his childhood sweetheart. Patty still loves John deeply but he seems lost to her, obsessed with the idealised memory of another woman. She finds herself consumed with jealousy and struggling to cope with her unruly family.

George Worth is a grumpy lifestyle columnist. He hates fashion, mobile phones, computers and Young People. At night he goes home to a borrowed Labrador and feelings of guilt about his dead wife. Justin Smith is a Young Person. A bright newcomer, he’s always on his mobile to his girlfriend, surfing the Net and keeping abreast of the latest trends. Then comes the day when Justin’s girlfriend throws him out and he finds himself having to share a flat with George. As the women around them watch and wonder, both men start to work out what really matters among the distractions of modern life.

Owen Ithell’s sense of self is rooted in his long, vivid visits to his grandparents’ small farm in the Welsh hills. As an adult he moves away from the country and meets Mel, with whom he has children. He believes he has found happiness. But following a car accident, in which his daughter is killed and he loses a hand, the course of his life is changed for ever. In his despair, he resolves to reconnect with both his past and the natural world.

John Motram has the chance of a lifetime. A cell biologist convinced that the Black Death was not caused by bubonic plague but by an unknown virus, he is asked to examine preserved bodies buried under the ancient abbey at Dryburgh. However, Motram’s excavations end up in disaster when he first becomes violent and then dangerously ill after entering the secret tomb.

In an unspecified time and location, an unnamed boy is living what he feels to be an idyllic life in the faded and peeling lido where his father is a lifeguard. He idolises his father - never more so than when he saves the life of a suicidal man. The arrest of his sister Lilly later that summer brings the halcyon days to an abrupt end, however, and his family is torn apart, with Lilly sent to jail and the boy sent to a boardinghouse for dysfunctional boys: The Fell.

Evan Cadwallader comes across the almost dead body of a young woman while panning for gold at his inherited claim in the foothills of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Having carried her back to his cottage, he nurses her back to health, gradually piecing together the story of her life. Evan is torn between his growing feelings for Addie and the pull of his claim, but as the gold begins to flow, they draw ever closer to each other. Then one day when Evan returns to the cottage, he finds it ransacked and Addie gone.

1922. When the Turkish Army occupies Smyrna, Zoë Haggitiris escapes with her family, only to lose everything. Alone in a sea of desperate strangers, her life is touched, for a moment, by a young English boy, Tom Collyer, also lost, before the compassion of a stranger leads her into a new life. Years later when war breaks out, Tom finds himself in Greece, and in the chaos of the British retreat, fate will lead him back to Zoë. But he will discover that the war will not end so easily for either of them.

When Sam falls in love with Deptford thug Derek, and Anne’s best friend Kathleen takes her own life, they discover they are linked not just by a world of drugs and revenge - they also share the friendship of the uncanny and enigmatic Deborah. Seamstress, sailor, storyteller and self-proclaimed centenarian immortal, Deborah slowly reveals to Anne and Sam her improbable, fantastical life, a history of hidden Deptford and ultimately the solution to their crises.

David Tompkins thinks it is a splendid idea to open a tea garden at his Kentish cottage. His wife, Germayne, is not so sure. The local villagers are divided on the matter, and not necessarily supportive, particularly Mr Perch at the Dolphin, who sees it as direct competition to Mrs Perch's own tea garden. It doesn’t bode well when the official opening coincides with a break in the beautiful weather.

To strangers that pass her on the streets of Lahore, Mona Ahmed lives a life to be envied. Married to wealthy businessman Bilal, with happily married children, she seems to want for nothing. But behind the gilded exterior lies a past of secrets and heartbreak. While they may have weathered the storm of Mona's infidelity, with Bilal embracing the child born out of that secret love affair, their marriage remains shaky. Each day has the same slow, regular rhythm. . .until the first message arrives, and everything in Mona's life changes in an instant.

Actress Charlotte has it all: a starring role in a West End show, a glittering social life and an equally high-flying boyfriend. But when her perfect existence abruptly falls apart, she retreats to her hometown on the North Yorkshire coast, finding a summer job in the local bookshop. Greg, the grumpy, old-fashioned manager of Seaswept Books, is alarmed by Charlotte's attempts to revitalise the tired-looking bookshop. But when she discovers his secret passion for amateur dramatics, an unlikely friendship blossoms.

Orphaned heiress Miss Curtis, daughter of a successful mine owner, is the belle of Melbourne. Despite being inundated with suitors, she marries the penniless Randolph Villiers, against the advice of her friends. Mr Villiers proceeds to fritter away his wife's fortune on gambling and riotous living, while Mrs Villiers, too proud to admit her mistake in marrying him, suffers in silence.

Troubled ex-journalist Luke Seymour discovers an incredible untapped talent after being recruited by The Nostalgia Club – an eccentric group of time travellers who meet in the back room of an Edinburgh pub. Honing his newly discovered – and dangerously addictive – time travel skills, Luke learns the secrets of the club's members, battles to solve the mystery of their missing leader, and plunges ever deeper into his own history – where the terrible mistake that scarred his life is waiting …

Robin Edmund Blake is halfway through his life. Born in 1986 as Halley’s Comet crossed our skies, he is destined to go out with it when it returns in 2061. Until then he can't die. He has proof. And until then, he can account for every day and every pound and penny he makes in his lucrative but dull job in the City of London. His future is mapped out, he has a plan to be forever remembered, and he even has Gemma to share it with. But when Robin's sick father has one accident too many, the plan starts to unravel.

Alice Einstein - known as "Malice" to her former schoolfriends—likes to tell herself stories. There's a good one she's workshopping about how, despite once being a critically acclaimed literary novelist, she's ended up blocked and uninspired, living in her timid, conflict-averse sister Liesl's spare room. But then Liesl sends her an SOS worthy of a thriller novel. The horror! The horror! Sam is back. Sam, Liesl's wealthy ex-husband, vanished ten years ago, leaving her a chunk of money but no explanation.