Straight Man

WHATEVER HAPPENS. Niamh and Ruairidh Macfarlane co-own the Hebridean company Ranish Tweed. On a business trip to Paris to promote their luxury brand, Niamh learns of Ruairidh's affair, and then looks on as he and his lover are killed by a car bomb. She returns home to Lewis, bereft. I'LL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU. Niamh begins to look back on her life with Ruairidh, desperate to identify anyone who may have held a grudge against him. The French police, meanwhile, have ruled out terrorism, and ruled in murder - and sent Detective Sylvie Braque to shadow their prime suspect: Niamh. I'LL KEEP YOU SAFE, NO MATTER WHAT. As one woman works back through her memories, and the other moves forward with her investigation, the two draw ever closer to a deadly enemy with their own, murderous, designs.

Discover the weird and wonderful world of Maudlin Towers - brilliantly written and illustrated throughout by Chris Priestley in this striking and funny package. Mildew and Sponge don't think much of Maudlin Towers, the blackened, gloom-laden, gargoyle-infested monstrosity that is their school. But when a meteorite crash-lands in the school grounds, things become even stranger than they have ever been before! Not only do a group of schoolgirls and their teacher turn up needing somewhere to stay, but further investigation of the meteorite soon proves that it might be a spaceship. Could aliens be hiding in the school grounds somewhere? (You might have spotted them already!) Plus, has anyone noticed a giant eyeball floating about the place? Most importantly, can Mildew and Sponge save the day - and the school - once more? This hugely funny, deliciously creepy and action-packed series is perfect for 8+ readers who like their mysteries with a twist. Fans of Lemony Snicket and Chris Riddell will love Maudlin Towers. Have you read all of Mildew and Sponge's adventures?

This is a richly inventive new collection of stories from Ali Smith, author of How to be both, winner of the Baileys Womens Prize and the Costa Novel Award and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Why are books so very powerful? What do the books weve read over our lives - our own personal libraries - make of us? What does the unravelling of our tradition of public libraries, so hard-won but now in jeopardy, say about us? The stories in Ali Smiths new collection are about what we do with books and what they do with us: how they travel with us; how they shock us, change us, challenge us, banish time while making us older, wiser and ageless all at once; how they remind us to pay attention to the world we make. Public libraries are places of joy, freedom, community and discovery - and right now they are under threat from funding cuts and widespread closures across the UK and further afield. With this brilliantly inventive collection, Ali Smith joins the campaign to save our public libraries and celebrate their true place in our culture and history.

In the continuing tale of their life together James shows the many ways in which Bob has been his protector and guardian angel through times of illness, hardship, even life-threatening danger. .

This is the life and times of T.S.Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields - a feminist leader ahead of her times. It is also the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a world of sexual extremes - even of sexual assassinations. It is a novel rich with "lunacy and sorrow"; yet the dark, violent events of the story do not undermine a comedy both ribald and robust. It provides almost cheerful, even hilarious evidence of its famous last line: "In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases".