Beautiful Books For Under The Tree
From moving memoirs to historical whodunnits, there’s a gorgeous gift for everyone on your list among our bestselling paperbacks. Follow the links to shop on Amazon. Or find them online at Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.
Sometimes, a snake is just a snake. And sometimes…
First-century Rome. Senator Gaius Lucius Nerva is taken ill at a dinner party and dies a few days later. His heartbroken wife, Flavia, is told it was a natural death. But Calidus, Nerva’s recently freed slave, suspects otherwise.
His enquiries lead him to rub shoulders with the ‘great and good’ of Rome; including the ruthless and mercurial Emperor Nero, and his former lover, Julia Eusabia, who seems intent on luring him away from his wife and daughter.
This racy historical whodunnit brings to life the sights, smells and sounds of ancient Rome, with sharp humour and a Christie-style finale to boot.
The remarkable autobiography of a Holocaust survivor.
Aron Goldfarb was fifteen years old when he was ripped from his bed in Poland and forced to enter a Jewish work camp. Watching helplessly as Nazis murdered his friends and family, he and his brother, Abe, made their courageous escape. With astonishing bravery and an unshakeable will to survive, the brothers hid together in underground holes on an estate controlled by the Gestapo.
In this moving testament to the strength of human endurance and the power of relationships, co-written with acclaimed author Graham Diamond, Goldfarb tells his unbelievable tale.
The highly anticipated follow-up to the sweeping historical thriller The Blue.
As Genevieve Sturbridge, a Huguenot living in Spitalfields, struggles to keep her silk design business afloat, she must face the fact that London in 1764 is very much a man’s world.
Then one day she receives an invitation from an important artist. Grasping at the promise of a better life, she dares to hope her luck is about to change. But she soon learns that while fame and fortune are there for the taking, such high stakes spur rivalries that darken to sabotage and blackmail — even murder.
Genevieve begins to suspect that her own secret past, mired in conspiracy and betrayal, has more to do with her entrée into London society than her talent.
Family secrets, changelings, and fairies you wouldn’t want to meet on a dark night.
Jess Morgan’s life has always been chaotic. But when a startling new reality cannot be denied, her single mum’s alcoholism and violent boyfriend become the least of her worries.
She is linked to a world where humans – ‘hot-bloods’ – are treated as disposable entertainment.
Everything she believed about herself is a lie. Everything is about to change.
‘Sue Bentley’s dark, sensual, magical story will catch you in the gut, move your heart and set your imagination on fire. It’s unmissable.’ Thea Bennett, Radio Times
‘A highly recommended read for Austen fans everywhere and, particularly, for all of us who share a passion for the enduring Mr. Darcy.’ – Marilyn Brant, New York Times bestselling author
For some, Colin Firth emerging from a lake in that clinging wet shirt is one of the most iconic moments in television. What is it about the two-hundred-year-old hero that we so ardently admire and love?
Dr Malcolm examines Jane Austen’s influences in creating Darcy’s potent mix of brooding Gothic hero, aristocratic elitist and romantic Regency man of action. She investigates how he paved the way for later characters like Heathcliff, Rochester and even Dracula, and what his impact has been on popular culture over the past two centuries.
You are not who you think you are.
Alana Fulton is the beloved only child of wealthy American parents. In the final stages of a PhD at the University of Cambridge, her future is bright and assured. Then comes the anonymous note. Suddenly, everything in her life – including her sense of self – is under assault.
As Alana flees unknown pursuers and mounting danger, all that is familiar crumbles away. In time, it becomes clear to Alana why she’s being pursued; and she must ask herself where her loyalties and her future lie.
The Secret of Karabakh is a fascinating, compelling blend of all-action narrative and political history. Perfect for fans of The Da Vinci Code.
‘Achingly believable’ – Publishers Weekly
The year is 1911 when twenty-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground.
The invitation to Coney Island is unwelcome. Peggy would much rather spend the summer working at the Moonrise Bookstore than keeping up appearances with New York City socialites and her snobbish, controlling family.
But soon it transpires that the hedonism of Coney Island affords Peggy the freedom she has been yearning for. And it’s not long before she finds herself falling for a troubled pier-side artist, whom the Batternberg patriarchs would surely disapprove of. Disapprove they may but hidden behind their pomposity lurks a web of deceit and deadly secrets.
A true story of life in China under Mao and the communists.
Despite suffering terrible heartache, loss, and betrayal growing up in communist China, Anhua Gao found courage, hope and – eventually – love. This is her story: the story of a woman who, whether she tried to live with or struggle against the harsh ideology of Red China, was treated with shocking inhumanity.
Moving, shocking, and always compelling, this is the tale of someone who survived against unbelievable odds, and finally found a happiness she had not dared to hope for. It is a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in Chinese history.
Annabelle seems to have it all. The perfect house, a successful husband, a darling son. But Annabelle is troubled.
Trapped in an unhappy marriage, failing at motherhood, and at odds with her new privilege, Annabelle begins to self-harm, a habit resurrected from her traumatic past.
When she meets the alluring and charismatic hypnotherapist Cassandra Rose, she is offered a way out. But as the boundaries between her hypnotic trance and reality begin to dissolve, Annabelle becomes increasingly vulnerable.
Filled with twists and suspense, The Call of Cassandra Rose is a chilling thriller that examines how trauma shapes our lives and asks whether we can ever really escape our pasts.
Oleg Gordievsky was the highest ranking KGB officer ever to work for Britain.
For eleven years, from 1974 to 1985, he acted as a secret agent, reporting to the British Secret Intelligence Service while continuing to work as a KGB officer.
He provided Western security organizations with such a clear insight into the mind and methods of the KGB that he has been credited with doing more than any other individual in the West to accelerate the collapse of Communism.
In his thrilling memoir, Gordievsky paints the most graphic picture yet of the KGB, and lays out his extraordinary escape from Russia, a story that has been described as ‘one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying.’ (Ben Macintyre – The Times)
