Books published by Pan Macmillan

Smithfield, settled on the fringes of Roman London, was once a place of revelry. Jesters and crowds flocked for the medieval St Bartholomew's Day celebrations, tournaments were plentiful and it became the location of London's most famous meat market. Yet in Tudor England, Smithfield had another, more sinister use: the public execution of heretics.Spanning the reigns of British history's most remarkable dynasty, The Burning Time is a vivid insight into an era in which what was orthodoxy one year might be dangerous heresy the next. The first martyrs were Catholics, who cleaved to Rome in defiance of Henry VIII's break with the papacy. But with the accession of Henry's daughter Mary - soon to be nicknamed 'Bloody Mary' - the charge of heresy was levelled against devout Protestants, who chose to burn rather than recant. At the centre of Virginia Rounding's vivid account of this extraordinary period are two very different characters. The first is Richard Rich, Thomas Cromwell's protege, who, almost uniquely, remained in a position of great power, influence and wealth under three Tudor monarchs, and who helped send many devout men and women to their deaths. The second is John Deane, Rector of St Bartholomew's, who was able, somehow, to navigate the treacherous waters of changing dogma and help others to survive. The Burning Time is their story, but it is also the story of the hundreds of men and women who were put to the fire for their faith. It is a gripping insight into a time when people were willing to die, and to kill, in the name of religion.

You can't choose your family Megan and her husband Jack have finally found stability in their lives. But the threat of Megan's troubled son Billy is never far from their minds. Billy's release from the local asylum is imminent and it should be a time for celebration. Sadly, Megan and Jack know all too well what Billy is capable of . . . Can you choose who you love? Sarah and Billy were inseparable as children, before Billy committed a devastating crime. While Billy has been shut away from the world, he has fixated on one thing: Sarah. Sarah knows there's only one way she can keep her family safe and it means forsaking true love. Sometimes love is dangerous Twins Theresa and Terrence Crompton are used to getting their own way. But with the threat of war looming, the tides of fortune are turning. Forces are at work to unearth a secret that will shake the very roots of the tight-knit community . . . Will Sarah have a chance at a future, and what will become of Jack and Megan? One thing's for sure: revenge will be sweet.A gripping page-turner from Mary Wood, Tomorrow Brings Sorrow is the third in her Breckton Novels series, and a devastating tale of heartbreak and fortitude on the brink of war.

Danielle Steel proves she is the world's favourite storyteller with Against All Odds, a powerful story of a mother's unconditional love.Style. Success. Secrets. Kate Madison's stylish boutique has been a big success in New York, supporting her and her four kids since her husband's untimely death. Now, her children have grown up and are ready to forge lives of their own. Isabelle, a dedicated attorney, falls for a client in a criminal case. She tells herself she can make a life with him - but can she? Julie, a young designer, meets a man who seems too good to be true. She gives up her job and moves to LA to be at his side, ignoring the danger signs. Justin is a struggling writer who pushes his partner for children before they're financially or emotionally ready. And Willie, the youngest, makes a choice that shocks them all . . . For Kate - loving, supportive and outspoken - the hardest lesson will be that she can't protect her children from their choices, but can only love them as they make them.

In 1946, Alice Quigley returns to her childhood home on Penny Lane, having lost three sisters and her house in Bootle to the bombs that fell over Liverpool. Estranged from her husband Dan, who suffered from two strokes triggered during the Blitz, she finds comfort in living closer to her remaining sister, Nellie, and a cast of new neighbours. But they too have problems of their own: Vera Corcoran fears for her life at the hands of an abusive husband and Olga Konstantinov fled Russia to seek a new life in Britain. But even though the bombs have stopped falling, tremors still rock the family when Alice's reviled mother is kicked out of Nellie's home and seeks vengeance. Despised by her daughters, Elsie Stewart was a cruel mother and forced their father to an early grave. Alice is desperate to start a family of her own and be a much better example to her own children. But will this be with the man she's married to? And when visions from the past resurface, she soon uncovers a dark secret that her mother has kept hidden for so long . . .

Funny, feisty and all-too-true, A Not Quite Perfect Family by Claire Sandy is for anyone who loves their family so much they'd just like a weekend away from them.Fern Carlile has a lot on her plate. It's a good thing she loves her big, imperfectly perfect family, because she's the one who washes their pants, de-fleas the dog and runs her own business. A hearty meal is the one thing that brings the Carliles together - but over the course of a year, the various courses also pull them apart.Around the table sits an eight-year-old militant feminist, a pair of teenage accidental parents, and a cantankerous OAP. Fern's husband needs an extra seat for his spectacular midlife crisis.Will Fern's marriage be over by the time coffee is served? Perhaps she'll give in and have the hot new dish that looks so tempting. Decisions, decisions . . .

Weatherley Parade is the compelling saga of the lives and loves of the Weatherley family, spanning the years 1902 to 1940. The story begins with Arthur Weatherley returning - tired and broken - from the Boer War to his wife and three children, and closes with his grandchildren facing the Battle of Britain. In the years between are births and death, public triumphs and private tragedies, all wrought against a backdrop of British history. As the Weatherley's lives are marked by infidelity, alcoholism, and scandal, Edwardian England fades into the First World War and the young men and women - damaged by war and caught in the wake of a rapidly changing society - strive for a future in the shadow of the rise of Nazi Germany . . .A sumptuous, multi-generational saga and immaculately rendered period piece, Weatherley Parade's sprawling cast of children and eccentrics is full of all the charm and character of Just William.

Felicity - Stands By is a delightful, charming set of short stories by Richmal Crompton, following the adventures (and misadventures) of a young woman, Miss Norma Felicity Montague Harborough. Having finished school, Felicity returns to the family seat to live with her grandfather Sir Digby, sufferer of the infamous Harborough gout and the Harborough temper. Always well-meaning and often hapless, Felicity sets about to organize and matchmaker those around her: including rescuing her friend Sheila from the affections (and affectations) of local poet Marmaduke Eltham; joining travelling band 'The Oranges'; and saving some rather important political papers from the clutches of a thief. Her escapades are a series of witty, warm and entertaining vignettes, sure to enchant anyone who loved the bestselling Just William series.

The quartet at the heart of this delightful novel are the four Gainsborough siblings: beautiful but vain Lorna, ultra-sensitive Adrian, nature-loving Laurence and thoughtful, strange little Jenifer. We join them in 1900 - four happy children at the heart of a loving family, idolizing their strikingly beautiful mother, shrinking from their emotionally damaged Aunt Lena and ill-tempered governess, Miss Marchant. As their world widens on the journey to adulthood - through the advent of the motor car, the horrors of the First World War, the trials and tribulations of unrequited love and unfulfilled dreams - they must fight to keep that happiness. But with Lorna compelled to make everyone love her, Adrian's artistic genius crippled by over-sensitivity to criticism, and Laurence so intent on success in business that he forgets to really live, will Jenifer's clear-sighted pragmatism be enough to save them?A beautiful exploration of love and family, Quartet has a vivid cast of characters worthy of Elizabeth Gaskell and paints a wonderful, affectionate portrait of childhood to rival Richmal Crompton's Just William.

Frost at Morning is the heartbreaking story of four young children who, deserted by their parents, have been sent off to a vicarage that takes in children as paying guests.There's Philip, a sensitive boy whose father has remarried and gained a more preferable stepson; anxious little Monica, with a mother spiralling towards alcoholism; adopted Geraldine, whose desperate desire be loved actively repels people; and beautiful, vain Angela, who is ignored by her eccentric novelist mother. Left to themselves they grow to depend on one another and, as they leave the vicarage and return to their fractured homes, it becomes clear that a bond has formed that will hold them forever. . .As the years pass, their adult lives connect and intertwine, and the damage inflicted by their childhoods creeps ever closer to the surface. Can they build themselves anew? Or will happiness elude them forever?An exquisitely written and poignant story, Richmal Crompton's Frost at Morning is a wonderful exploration of childhood and an evocative portrait of interwar Britain.

It is the summer of 1892 and fifteen-year-old Tilly Pound has come to Linden Rise - the holiday cottage of the genteel but dysfunctional Culverton family - to work as a housemaid. She starts as just another member of 'the help' but, as the years pass and the 19th century judders its unwieldy way into the 20th, this tough and resourceful young woman becomes an anchor in a fragmenting world.Mr and Mrs Culverton are trapped in a loveless marriage, rocked by his obvious infidelities and marked by her helplessness and fragility. Their children are raising themselves until Tilly arrives, and it remains to be seen whether her lively good sense can change their lives for the better . . . A beautifully written, razor-sharp saga that paints a vivid portrait of the fraught and nuanced relationships between parents and their children, Linden Rise is full of the charming child characters that Richmal Crompton always evokes so beautifully.

When Julia Gideon is widowed during the Second World War with five children to look after, she is left to manage Westover House with insufficient means for its upkeep. Urged by her solicitor brother to downsize and turn the family home into flats, she reluctantly agrees. However, as her new tenants move in it soon becomes clear that the manor house cannot contain the fiery personalities that are now living under its roof . . .From the hard up Godfrey and his wife Cynthia, who must share a flat with his brother Hubert and the uncouth Trixie; to Julia's elderly aunts, Letitia and Lucy, who aspire to very different lives in their old age; and the faux-French Mrs Pollock whose overbearing presence in her daughter Ann-Marie's life is protective to the point of suffocation - life is anything but simple at Westover. As heated relationships simmer away and family feuds break through to the surface, Richmal Crompton's Westover is a keenly observed study of what happens when domestic life doesn't run so smoothly . . .

The Space between the Stars by Anne Corlett is an enthralling novel of love, the choices we make, and what it means to be human. It's also a dramatic road-trip across the stars, as a woman journeys across a plague-ravaged universe to the place she once called home, and the man she once loved.How far would you travel to find your way home?Jamie Allenby wakes, alone, and realizes her fever has broken. But could everyone she knows be dead? Months earlier, Jamie had left her partner Daniel, mourning the miscarriage of their baby. She'd just had to get away, so took a job on a distant planet. Then the virus hit. Jamie survived as it swept through our far-flung colonies. Now she feels desperate and isolated, until she receives a garbled message from Earth. If someone from her past is still alive - perhaps Daniel - she knows she must find a way to return. She meets others seeking Earth, and their ill-matched group will travel across space to achieve their dream. But they'll clash with survivors intent on repeating humanity's past mistakes, threatening their precious fresh start. Jamie will also get a second chance at happiness. But can she escape her troubled past, to embrace a hopeful future?

Featuring several mass-murdering authors, two fraternal writers at the head of a football-hooligan ring and a poet who crafts his lines in the air with sky writing, Roberto Bolano's Nazi Literature in the Americas details the lives of a rich cast of characters from one of the most extraordinary imaginations in world literature. Written with sharp wit and virtuosic flair, this encyclopaedic group of fictional pan-American authors is the terrifyingly humorous and remarkably inventive masterpiece which made Bolano famous throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

'Shh, new vicar might be listening . . .'As the newly appointed Vicar of Helmsley, David was looking forward to working in this picturesque market town, set in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside. Admittedly the vicarage, which dated back to the twelfth century, was extremely cold and damp. And not all of his parishioners were impressed by his new-fangled ways. But with the help of the irrepressible Father Bert, a retired cleric and one-time Tail End Charlie, David set about winning over the townsfolk.There was Lord Feversham, the local landowner who at times bore an unnerving resemblance to Henry VIII; fiery Ted, a retired chef who had fought with the Polish Free Army; Frank the singing shepherd, still working as he approached eighty, and redoubtable countrywoman Eva. All had stories of hardship and sacrifice, friendship and love. Charming and moving, Shepherd of Another Flock is a must-read for fans of authors like Gervase Phinn, James Herriot and Amanda Owen.

Dieting stops now.Clinical nutritionist and health blogger Jessica Sepel is fast becoming one of Australia's most sought out wellness and lifestyle advocates.Living the Healthy Life is her practical and holistic 8-week plan to healing your life, body, nutrition and your relationship with food.Expanding on her philosophy from The Healthy Life, Jess guide will teach you how to quit fad dieting forever, give yourself the freedom to stop the guilt surrounding food, and to overcome body stress and anxiety. She explores the benefits of sleeping more, nourishing your cleansing functions and optimising your thyroid function. Jess shares more meal plans tailored to balance your hormones, increase energy levels and nutritional advice for vegans. Including helpful tips for eating out, snacks on-the-go, mindfulness and positivity, you'll have everything you need to heal your life.Packed with over 200 new recipes that prove healthy eating can be fun, simple and delicious.

Whip-smart, hilarious and unapologetically honest, The State of Grace by Rachael Lucas is a heart-warming story of one girl trying to work out where she fits in, and whether she even wants to.Sometimes I feel like everyone else was handed a copy of the rules for life and mine got lost. Grace is autistic and has her own way of looking at the world. She's got a horse and a best friend who understand her, and that's pretty much all she needs. But when Grace kisses Gabe and things start to change at home, the world doesn't make much sense to her any more. Suddenly everything threatens to fall apart, and it's up to Grace to fix it on her own.

Winner of the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry PrizeRichard Osmond's debut collection Useful Verses follows in the tradition of the best nature writing, being as much about the human world as the natural, the present as the past: Osmond, a professional forager, has a deep knowledge of flora and fauna as they appear in both natural and human history, as they are depicted in both folklore and herbal - but he views them through a wholly contemporary lens. Chamomile is discussed through quantum physics, ants through social media, wood sorrel through online gambling, and mugwort through a traffic cone. In each case, Osmond offers an arresting and new perspective, and makes that hidden world that lives and breathes beside us vividly part of our own. This is a fiercely inventive, darkly witty and brilliantly observed debut from a voice unlike any other you have read before - and as far from any quaint and conservative notion of 'nature poetry' as it is possible to get.

A warm and comforting read, set against the nation's favourite holiday camp, from bestselling author of The Woolworths Girls'Molly Missons gazed around in awe. So this was Butlin's. Whitewashed buildings, bordered by rhododendrons, gave a cheerful feeling to a world still recovering from six years of war. The Skegness holiday camp covered a vast area, much larger than Molly expected to see.'Molly Missons hasn't had the best of times recently. Having lost her parents, now some dubious long-lost family have darkened her door - attempting to steal her home and livelihood... After a horrendous ordeal, Molly applies for a job as a Butlin's Aunty. When she receives news that she has got the job, she immediately leaves her small home town - in search of a new life in Skegness.Molly finds true friendship in Freda, Bunty and Plum. But the biggest shock is discovering that star of the silver screen, Johnny Johnson, is working at Butlin's as head of the entertainment team. Johnny takes an instant liking to Molly and she begins to shed the shackles of her recent traumas. Will Johnny be just the distraction Molly needs - or is he too good be to be true?

On a seemingly normal day at the exclusive Reform Club, Phileas Fogg, a gentleman of great wealth and exacting tastes, makes an extraordinary GBP20,000 wager; he will perform an impossible feat and circumnavigate the globe in just eighty days. Accompanied only by his new French valet, the steady Passepartout, he sets off on a thrilling journey. Adventure, chaos and romance ensue as the daring pair harness the new power of steam to escape their ever-increasing enemies and beat the clock.The exciting adventures of Fogg and Passepartout in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days will entertain modern readers as much as they did the Victorians, and are accompanied here by an afterword from John Grant.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

The richness of Oscar Wilde's way with words and ideas is given full range in this sparkling collection of short stories written between 1887 and 1891. From the comic tales of The Canterville Ghost and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime to the marvelous fairy stories and fantasies of The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince and The Star Child, we are treated to the extravagance and dexterity of Wilde's exceptional wit, in stories that will appeal to both adults and children. Beautifully illustrated by Charles Robinson and Walter Crane, this Macmillan Collector's Library edition of The Happy Prince & Other Stories also features an afterword by author David Stuart Davies.Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Mole and Rat have a pleasant life by the river, where they talk, boat and wile away the days. The wise and private Mr Badger lives sedately in the Wild Woods, content in his solitude. Then there's Mr Toad - wealthy, impulsive and utterly obsessed with motor cars, he's always getting into scrapes and can't survive without the help of his friends.One of the most celebrated works of classic literature for children, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame remains a timeless tale of camaraderie, loyalty and bravery more than a hundred years after its first publication. With sixteen gorgeous colour illustrations by the celebrated Arthur Rackham, and an afterword by author David Stuart Davies.

Whether he's getting into adventures with his band of Outlaws, or driving his family crazy, there's never a dull minute with William Brown around!This bumper edition features 8 Meet Just William stories from the "e;voice of William"e; Martin Jarvis, with illustrations by Tony Ross. Includes: William's Birthday, The Christmas Truce, William Leads a Better Life, William and the Musician, William and the Hidden Treasure, William and the Snowman, Violet Elizabeth Runs Away and William Goes Shopping.Meet Just William is perfect for newly confident readers.

Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be is full of honest advice about the big, bad and beautiful things that growing up is all about: from mental health to families to first love, and everything in between. Gemma Cairney is an important advocate for young people and between her life experiences and her personal insight from her time as Radio 1's resident agony aunt on The Surgery, she is perfectly placed to offer hope and a huge comforting cuddle to young people questioning what life's all about or dealing with hard times.

Shortlisted for The Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards 2017Longlisted for the 2017 Desmond Elliott Prize'Alan McMonagle possesses a style that is all his own and I found his first novel compelling from start to finish. Read it.' Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher BoyIthaca, the ferociously funny and unbelievably poignant debut novel from Alan McMonagle, combines a fiercely emotional story with crackling prose.Summer 2009, and eleven-year-old Jason Lowry is preoccupied with thoughts of the Da he has never known. In the meantime, his vodka-swilling, swings-from-the-hip Ma is busy entertaining her latest boyfriend and indulging her fondness for joyriding.Jason escapes to the Swamp: a mysteriously rising pool of fetid water on the outskirts of the town. There, he meets the girl, a being as lost as himself. Together, they conjure exotic adventures - from ancient Egypt to the search for Ithaca, home of Odysseus. But what begin as innocent flights of fancy soon become forays into hazardous territory; the girl is a dangerous (and very committed) partner in crime.

'Rousing storytelling and satisfying intrigue . . . an engaging, well-crafted sci-fi drama.' - SFXDoes the biggest threat lie within?In the far future, humanity has left Earth to create a glorious empire. Now this interstellar network of worlds faces disaster - but can three individuals save their people?The empire's outposts are utterly dependent on each other for resources, a safeguard against war, and a way its rulers can exert control. This relies on extra-dimensional pathways between the stars, connecting worlds. But 'The Flow' is changing course, which could plunge every colony into fatal isolation.A scientist will risk his life to inform the empire's ruler. A scion of a Merchant House stumbles upon conspirators seeking power. And the new Empress of the Interdependency must battle lies, rebellion and treason. Yet as they work to save a civilization on the brink of collapse, others have very different plans . . . The Collapsing Empire is an exciting space opera from John Scalzi.

This feisty collection of brand-new poems is a celebration of the achievements of women and girls throughout history. It includes poems about Malala Yousafzai, Rosa Parks, Margaret Hamilton, Ada Lovelace, Helen Keller, Mary Shelley, Edith Cavell and many more.

The Wedding Girls is a heartwarming story of love and friendship in the East End, by Kate Thompson, the bestselling author of Secrets of the Singer Girls.If a wedding marks the first day of the rest of your life, then the story starts with the dress.It's 1936 and the streets of London's East End are grimy and brutal, but in one corner of Bethnal Green it is forever Hollywood . . . Herbie Taylor's photography studio is nestled in the heart of bustling Green Street. Tomboy Stella and troubled Winnie work in Herbie's studio; their best friend and hopeless romantic Kitty works next door as an apprentice dressmaker. All life passes through the studio, wishing to capture that perfect moment in time.Kitty works tirelessly to create magical bridal gowns, but with each stitch she wonders if she'll ever get a chance to wear a white dress. Stella and Winnie sprinkle a dusting of Hollywood glamour over happy newly-weds, but secretly dream of escaping the East End . . .Community is strong on Green Street, but can it stand the ultimate test? As clouds of war brew on the horizon, danger looms over the East End. Will the Wedding Girls find their happy ever afters, before it's too late?

Danielle Steel tackles major political scandal and a power crisis in the White House in her gripping bestseller, Dangerous Games.TV journalist Alix Phillips is always willing to put herself on the frontline for her job. All that matters is getting the story.After a personal tragedy, only her beloved mother and daughter are allowed to get close. And her cameraman, Ben. Neither of them fears death - it's love that is more terrifying.When Alix's boss suspects a major political scandal in the White House involving the Vice-President, he sends Alix to uncover the truth. This story could blow the corridors of power wide open, and this time Alix is feeling the heat. But when Alix receives some shocking news, she must make a decision about where real happiness lies. Those she loves are at risk.For someone who was never scared, Alix now realizes that the time has come to play some very dangerous games.

In the Roman Empire no one is safe from the sting of betrayal: man, woman - or child.As a boy, Nero's royal heritage becomes a threat to his very life, first when the mad emperor Caligula tries to drown him, then when his great aunt attempts to secure her own son's inheritance. Faced with shocking acts of treachery, young Nero is dealt a harsh lesson: it is better to be cruel than dead.While Nero idealizes the artistic and athletic principles of Greece, his very survival rests on his ability to navigate the sea of vipers that is Rome. Most lethal of all is his own mother, Agrippina, whose only goal is to control the empire. But as her machinations earn her son a title he is both tempted and terrified to assume, Nero's determination to escape her thrall will shape him into the man he was fated to become - an Emperor who became legendary.With impeccable research and captivating prose, The Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George is the story of a boy's ruthless ascension to the throne. From innocent youth to infamous ruler, his is an epic tale of the lengths to which man will go in the ultimate quest for power and survival.

A war that could turn friends into enemies, lovers into fighters . . .Summer 1935. In Margaret Pemberton's Beneath the Cypress Tree best friends Kate Shelton, Ella Tetley and Daphne St. Maur are on the cusp of a new life, having graduated with Classics degrees. Kate is desperate to start work on an archaeological dig straightaway and she is thrilled to be given a position at the famous Knossos palace site in Crete. However, she doesn't bargain for working with gruff site director Lewis Sinclair - nor for her own complex feelings towards him.In Yorkshire, Ella's family expect her to marry Sam, her steady friend who is training to be a doctor, but Ella too feels pulled to the Mediterranean by the promise of freedom. When she meets Christos, life as a country GP's wife seems even less appealing . . . Daphne however throws herself into London's high society, falling madly in love with diplomat and heir Sholto Hertford - but then his work brings them to Crete, and Daphne becomes enchanted by the island as well.Meanwhile, the threat of war rumbles on, as reports of Hitler's rapid expansion across Europe become impossible to ignore. It seems that nothing can touch the perfect, glittering sea and snow-capped mountains, but Kate, Ella and Daphne know that the island haven they now call home will never be the same again.