Books published by Muswell Press

A travel writing classic, available for the first time in 20 years. The inspiration behind the Sunday Times bestseller A Theatre for Dreamers. Introduction by Polly Samson. 'These are blissful reissues that will bring Grecian heat and light to your life, and much more besides'Editor's Travel Choice. The Bookseller

A highly personal collection of poems written by Virginia McKenna, the star of Born Free, recollecting the people, places and animals that have inspired her.

Sarah has given up her career and moved to the countryside to bring up her two young children, while her husband works long hours in London. Alone, she explores the fields and the woods near her home and discovers a lake, a memorial bench for a boy who drowned in mysterious circumstances, and Finn, a beautiful troubled teenager who plays truant from school. As Sarah pieces the mystery together, an uncomfortable attraction between Sarah and Finn builds. She knows that this blossoming relationship is wrong but the chemistry between them is difficult to resist. Their relationship reaches a climax over one hot summer, threatening to destroy everything that she holds dear. Woven into Sarah's story are the voices of two other women connected to her family - Maggie, the RAF nurse, and Flavia, the Italian girl. As their stories unfold, a secret is revealed, binding Sarah and Finn in a way that they would never guess. The Water Garden is about family secrets, guilt, and redemption. It tells the story of a 30-year old full-time mother who becomes attracted to a troubled teenage boy. The novel looks at the challenges of balancing a woman's loyalty towards, and love for, her family, with her loyalty to herself. It considers motherhood in a unique way, exploring it in extreme circumstances: there are few stories about relationships between wives/mothers and teenage boys. The story is sometimes uncomfortable to read - and is meant to be, challenging social norms and expectations.

The impact of traumatic childhood experience reverberates into the grown-up world of Frank, Alice and Henry - children from three families suffering the fall-out from their early life. Frank, a working-class boy abused by his step-father, Alice, physically disabled and frustrated, Henry, the less clever son of wealthy ambitious parents. From a rundown estate in Eastleigh, a small town in Darlington and an affluent Cotswold home, each character grapples with the life fate has handed them. Until by chance they all come together in adulthood, the repercussions are explosive. Spanning 30 years the scope of this novel is ambitious and the writing beautifully honed. Character and sense of place are masterfully achieved.

The first in the Muswell Classic Espionage Series. The original modern secret agent and one of the models for James Bond. Available for the first time in 10 years. 'The astonishing story of Sidney Reilly, perhaps the most flamboyant and mysterious British spy of all times' Sunday Telegraph

Three years after establishing their British microbrewery in the heart of French wine country, Tommy and Rose Barnes are planning on modernising and diversifying with calamitous results. The sequel to A Beer in the Loire, shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason's food and drink award

A wonderfully compelling novel about desire, loneliness and the impact of time on relationships from the author of Paris Mon Amour. 'Vividly passionate...Thrillingly stylish' Daisy Buchanan

Introducing Detective DI Garibaldi, a country-music loving, self-educated detective, and the only cop in the Metropolitan Police who can't drive a car.

In the small town of Wharton, Connecticut, lives are beginning to unravel. A husband betrays his wife. A son struggles with addiction. A widow misses her late spouse. At the heart of these interlinking stories is one couple: Freddie and Greg Tyler. Greg has just been diagnosed with a brutal form of cancer. He intends to handle this the way he has faced everything else: through grit and determination. But can he successfully overcome his illness? How will the Freddie and their daughter cope if he doesn't? How do the other residents of Wharton learn to live with loss and find happiness again? Celebrating the grace in everyday life, this powerful debut immerses the reader in a community of friends, family, and neighbours and identifies the ways that love and forgiveness can help us survive even the most difficult of life's challenges.

When a foreign worker is found dead in a Singapore back street, few people care. Even the police dismiss the killing as another underclass slaying. Then more victims turn up, all killed with the same weapon and Singapore must come to grips with its first serial killer in decades. The murderer must be stopped.

Introducing Detective Inspector Stanley Low in his first British case. He's brilliant, he's bipolar. Singapore doesn't want him, and he doesn't want to be in London. He is the wrong face in the wrong place, but he is the right man for the job. London is about to meet the bloody foreigner who won't walk away.

Detective Inspector Stanley Low - belligerent, bipolar and brilliant. A Chinese-Singaporean, educated in London, with a food in both cities. His mission, to eradicate violent crime wherever he finds it. Low is having a bad day. His bipolar disorder is ruining another session with his psychiatrist, and when a murdered prostitute and a dead expatriate are discovered at Singapore's most prestigious hotel in the glamorous Marina Sins Bay, he is plunged back into the sordid underworld he was desperate to leave behind. Low goes undercover returning to a world that the city refuses to acknowledge; a world of gambling addiction, crime syndicates, international money launderers, immoral celebrities and corrupt politicians, all living in Asia's cleanest metropolis. Marina Sins Bay may be the sparkling embodiment of the island's devotion to economic prosperity, yet a corrupt underworld lies within the 'Monaco' of Asia. As Inspector Low gets closer to the unpalatable truth, he will demand answers to questions that society has chosen to ignore for too long.

This is a wonderfully compelling novel which looks unflinchingly at the power of sexual attraction and what can happen when people give into their desires. A page-turning portrait of a contemporary marriage where all is not quite as perfect as it seems.

'Masterful...A thrilling journey behind the frontlines of the battle to save Africa's wildlife' Julian Rademeyer, author of Killing for ProfitLeading politician and anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain turns the spotlight on to Rhino poaching in South Africa in a An epic tale of corruption, collusion and courage

Sarah has given up her career to raise her children in the countryside, while her husband works long hours in London. Alone, she explores the fields and the woods near her home and discovers an enchanting lake, a memorial bench for a boy who drowned in mysterious circumstances, and Finn, a beautiful troubled teenager who plays truant from school. As Sarah pieces the mystery together, an uncomfortable attraction between her and Finn builds, climaxing over one hot summer, threatening to destroy everything that she holds dear. Woven into Sarah's story are the voices of the older generation - Maggie, the RAF nurse and Flavia, the Italian girl. As their stories unfold, a secret is revealed, binding Sarah and Finn in a way that they would never guess.

'Bruce-Lockhart ramps up the tension and the result is a read-at-a-sitting page-turner.' Best Crime Thrillers, Guardian. 'This impressive debut is written with huge verve' The Daily Mail.

A travel writing classic, available for the first time in 20 years.The inspiration behind the Sunday Times bestseller A Theatre for Dreamers, in paperback April '21. New introduction by Polly Samson. 'These are blissful reissues that will bring Grecian heat and light to your life, and much more besides'Editor's Travel Choice. The Bookseller

The latest title in the "Queer Classics" series, this novel moves between the 1970s and the early 2000s. 'Gruesome and touching,' "The Gay Times"

These evocative stories shine a light on the lives of young Iranians who are questioning their sexuality and identity in a culture where queerness is legal but not widely accepted.

'David Reynolds is the perfect man for the road'. The ObserverBill Bryson's The Lost Continent meets Steinbeck's Travels with Charley. A candid, humorous and perceptive eye on the US as it heads into election year. From Ocean City, Maryland to San Francisco, Reynolds traverses the US and observes Trump's America, and the Americans' way of

An enthralling story of love and betrayal, set in the darkest days of World War II. Weaving superbly between 1999 and 1944, between Britain and the Italian Alps.

Spring 1855 and Virginian farmer John Dickinson has a dangerous secret that will lead to a tragic decision. Rich in character and incident, this is an extraordinary, epic novel with echoes of The Underground Railroad and BarbaraKingsolver's Prodigal Summer

Standing on a tube platform, a young office-worker sees a dreadful accident. On reflection she realises that what she has witnessed may well be something much more sinister. She begins to investigate, not realising that in doing so she will become as much the hunted as the hunter.