THE LIBRARY

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Welcome to my library. One day, I hope to have a physical library with a comfy spot for me and my pot that isn’t just some random trophy that my owner discovered in a cupboard at work one day. Still, better a virtual library than no library at all!

The United States is moving west on a righteous and noble quest of manifest destiny…or is it? For this is actually a world of chaos, turmoil, bloodshed and cruelty. This is the world of Judge Holden and the Glanton Gang.

08/03/2023

How much influence does the West India Lobby have on government policy? Tad suspected lots; but he is now missing and Henry Corsham is determined to find his old friend.

14/01/2023

In 1914, Paul Bäumer and his classmates enlist in the army and march off to war, with the words of their aged and patriotic schoolmaster ringing in their ears. An older soldier, Katczinsky, takes them all under his wing, and much like the ‘Pals battalions’ in the British Army, the group shares a close bond of comradeship that even the carnage of the First World War cannot break.

12/11/2022

There is something not quite right about Lord Ruthven. He exudes wealth, intelligence and authority, and many find themselves drawn to him. But his background is unknown and those that get too close are often victims of misfortune.

31/10/2022

Non-fiction: Known for their fiery tempers and insatiable lust for power, the Plantagenets ruled England for nearly 250 years. From the ferocious Henry II to bad King John, and from the divisive Edward II to vengeful Richard II, Dan Jones charts England’s longest reigning dynasty (so far), whose legacy can still be seen today.

26/10/2022

The year is 1540 and Matthew Shardlake crosses paths with Lord Cromwell again, this time to investigate rumours that a long lost weapon has been re-discovered by a London alchemist.

09/10/2022

We know the story of Achilles. We know the story of Hector. We know the story of Agamemnon. This is the story of Briseis.

10/07/2022

“Yet ideals become tainted and although men may act from the finest motives, temptation and harsh reality transform or defeat good intentions.”

06/06/2022

Amidst the chaos and destruction of a besieged Saint-Malo in 1944, Marie-Laure awaits a visitor she hopes will not come.

13/05/2022

Revenge has been around for thousands of years. Hugo Hamlin has not only commercialised it but exports it to clients across the world.

09/04/2022

Al-Andalus is in its death throes. Abu al-Hasan Ali, the ageing Sultan of Gharnatah, is a fierce warrior but the Spanish are tightening the noose around his domain. In the palace complex, known as the Red Hill, officials continuously jostle for power, from the corridors and bathhouses to the harem, while Thomas Berrington, a surgeon and healer trusted by the Sultan himself, treats all who require his services.

27/03/2022

Hasan Saeed is struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife and continues to write letters to her, even after he remarries. Despite this, his business, Saeed & Sons, continues to thrive; the future his parents had worked tirelessly for since leaving India – one of hope and opportunity – seems to have come true for him and his family. But in post-colonial Uganda, nothing is guaranteed, and Hasan’s life is about to be ripped apart in so many ways.

06/03/2022

Non-fiction: Europe, 1933-34: A confident and somewhat naïve eighteen-year-old abandons his studies to walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople.

13/02/2022

Mahmood Mattan is a talented but by no means perfect man. A former merchant seaman and occasional petty thief, he is a multi-lingual risk-taker with a particular flair for poker. He has seen so much of the world, from Dar es Salaam to Rio de Janeiro, but it is Cardiff’s Tiger Bay that we pick up his story.  He stands accused of the murder of a shopkeeper, and despite flimsy and circumstantial evidence his prospects are not good.

28/01/2022

Taking us back to 1537, we are brought into a world in turmoil – politically, spiritually, socially and economically. The King is at odds with the Pope and Robin Singleton, the royal commissioner dispatched by Thomas Cromwell himself to the monastery of Scarnsea, has been brutally decapitated. In response, the chief minister sends Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer of Lincoln’s Inn, to investigate quickly as the opposition to reform grows. 

14/01/2022

Christmas is a time for celebration. A time for being with the ones we love. Not for Ebenezer Scrooge, who has neither loved ones nor a desire to celebrate. For Scrooge, 25^th December is an inconvenience; a day that he pays a full day’s labour to his clerk, Bob Cratchit, for no work.

31/12/2021