Showing results by publisher "Orion" in All Categories

There's a city far away.... My parents often spoke of it as if it had always been there and always would be. I had seen it in paintings, I had read of it in stories, the richest, most powerful place on earth...the centre of everything. It drew people from every corner of the empire and beyond, hungry for wealth and power, or in some case, more wealth and more power. They were dazzled by its brightness. And like moths drawn to a candle...many were burnt alive by its fire.... Tumanbay.

Every life is made up of thousands of moments. Moments that make us who we are. But what if those moments don't happen the way we think they should? What if you got on the wrong bus, or didn't speak to the right person at a party, or stayed in the wrong guest house on holiday? Would you miss your chance at happiness? Or would happiness find you eventually, when the moment was right? Meet Matthew and Myrtle.

Maddy Hamilton is at sea with her life. Her world was turned upside down when she discovered a message on her boyfriend's phone from a woman who was definitely not her. Then, when she thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, her boss delivered a second blow - there were cutbacks at work and Maddy was one of the unlucky ones. Six weeks after the break up, Maddy moves into Maxwell House to live by herself for the first time in 36 years. Lonely, heartbroken, and in desperate need of something, she finds a very unruly, very unloved patch of garden.

1952. In the fragile atmosphere of post-war Paris, Sophie Bernot is training as a heart surgeon. A young woman in a man's world, Sophie is determined to bury her past and forge her medical career, whatever the costs. Across the channel, Sebastian Ogilvie is burning with ambition for his first architectural project. As his schemes lead him to France, and to a chance encounter with Sophie, his future seems full of promise.

The Persian War is over, and an unaccustomed decade of peace has come to ancient Athens. Philocles, an aspiring comic playwright, is making his living as a writer for hire, but this year is the highlight of his career - he has a play in a drama competition at a prestigious festival. The last thing he wants to find on his doorstep the day before is a dead body. Just who is this dead man? Is it just a robbery gone wrong? With the play that could make his name on the horizon, Philocles must find out who this man is, why he has been murdered - and why the corpse was in his doorway.

The three Cadogan children, Jessica, Kirsty and Patrick, haven't spoken to each other for three years. An argument after their mother's death was the latest excuse to blame one another for their family's troubles in a long, unhappy series that's lasted almost a decade. When their father, Gerry, dies, they are given instructions as to where he wants his ashes to be scattered. But first they must together drive his old camper van up the country to the Scottish Isle of Islay.

The rules are simple. Choose the most significant moments from your relationship - one for each hour in the day. You'd probably pick when you first met, right? And the instant you knew for sure it was love? Maybe even the time you watched the sunrise after your first night together?

Amy, Anne, Kate and Jane were best friends at school. But now, as they approach their 60th birthdays, their lives have taken them in different directions. Successful, dissatisfied, seeking something different in equal measure, they know that life is not always easy. So when Amy invites the other three to her beautiful villa in Majorca for a long celebratory reunion weekend, each of them is drawn by curiosity...and each has a reason for wanting to get away from home for a while.

In remotest Wales, Joseph Carillo recruited young, lonely women to join his community and adopt his erratic views. Blue's mother was one of them. But when the Black House goes up in flames, Blue escapes to freedom and never stops running. Twenty years later, when Blue's old dormmate commits suicide, Blue receives a strange call. She has been awarded sole custody of Natasha's daughter. But things don't add up. The girls haven't spoken since the night of the fire.

Like half of all the young women living in the Scottish town Clydebankin early 1911, Ellen works at the sewing machine factory. So does her big sister, Bridget, Bridget's fiancé Malcolm, and her new friend Sadie, who has come to work at the factory after the death of her father. For Sadie, the factory is a way to make ends meet, but Ellen has sewing in her veins. She is even making Bridget's wedding dress on her beloved sewing machine. But after the excitement of the wedding dies down, everything changes.

Tumanbay: Once the most magnificent city on Earth - now the dark heart of an empire that lies in ruins. Occupied by the fanatical forces of the mysterious cult of Maya, corpses hang from the gallows, and citizens are flogged for next to nothing. Barakat, leader of the Inquisition, leads the purge. Gregor, former spymaster to the Sultan, lives in fear. Madu, heir to the throne, is opiated and installed as a puppet ruler. And Qulan, the great general, rots in prison. But the history of Tumanbay shows that those who can rise to power can just as easily fall.

A family enjoy their last holiday at a much-loved beach hut. The tide brings in an old face - and a new temptation - while a writer's retreat is shaken up by a surprise arrival. The simple pleasures of the seaside compete with the Instagram dream, a couple's future is turned upside down and a celebratory evening takes a stormy turn. And as the sun sets, an unexpected romance is simmering....

It is 1950 and Kitty Longthorne is now a Sister at Manchester's Park Hospital, and as busy as ever. With dizzying numbers of children with polio being admitted to the children's ward, a sharp uptick of major trauma from road accidents and growing political and racial conflict affecting her patients and staff, there's no shortage of drama at the hospital. But Kitty is determined that everyone is treated with respect.

Nora is done with dating, but still dreams of finding the one. So when a handsome stranger comes to her rescue one night and vanishes leaving only a business card, it's like a scene out of a movie... It doesn't take long for the two to 'bump' into each other again, and Nora falls for the perfect-on-paper Gabe. Only a few weeks later, he invites her to Sicily, and she cannot believe her luck!

Everyone in the village loves Joni Blackwood. She is beautiful and bold, and it's no surprise to anyone when on the annual village bonfire, she is crowned 'queen' of the festivities. After all, despite fierce competition from the charity-giving and churchgoing mothers in the village, she has won this honour five years in a row.

'Very twisty!' READER REVIEW 'I had to remember to breathe it was so gripping' READER REVIEW 'Absolutely loved it. A must-read!' READER REVIEW There's no good time to discover a dead body. But in the middle of your wedding day has to be the worst time ever. For Jenny Hislop, her wedding in her...

London, 1930s. Years after she first fled to South Shields, Cathy is known by everyone as the landlady of the Robin Hood pub. But Cathy has a secret from her life before - a daughter, June, whom she had to leave behind. After all these years, can June accept her? Cathy's friend Sofia faces her own dilemma. Encountering a man from her past, Sofia is given the opportunity to return to her hometown, Naples. It would mean escaping her own troubles in the Sixteen Streets... if only she dares take the chance.

'Captivating, emotional and unputdownable! Isabel Ashdown's writing is literally mesmerizing' Reader review 'Kept me guessing until the end' Reader review A Plane Crashes. A Family Shatters. The Lies Multiply. One summer morning, a private plane crashes onto the Gale family's hilltop campsite...

Paris, 1926. A young dancer Ray Cohen arrives from London to compete at the Exhibition Paris. He is led astray by Hugo, a charismatic dancer born of the streets, who introduces him to the city's nightlife and a beautiful stranger called Hannah Lindt. His life is forever changed. London, 1941. With the heroic Raymond de Guise away fighting in North Africa, his beloved wife Nancy must balance her new position - as Head of Housekeeping at the Buckingham Hotel - with her duties as a new mother to their child.

All Jay wants is to start again, to set himself up in a small, quiet town where no one knows him. Because here, no one will let him forget what they think he did the day his neighbour died in Flat 401. He just needs to keep doing what he's always done: treat people with kindness and respect, and try to stay out of trouble. But when a threatening note makes its way into the hostel he's forced to call home - Everyone is going to know what you really did - his hope for a fresh start begins to crumble.