In 1984, architect Scott Warren comes to China on a scholarship to study Daoist buildings, just at the time when the liberalisation policies of Deng Xiaoping are unfolding and Chinese people are experiencing new freedoms. Twenty-three years later he returns, to honour his dead wife's request to take her ashes back to China. He encounters a country that has been propelled into international commerce, culture and politics that has Western-style prosperity yet continued human rights restricti...

It is 1960s provincial New Zealand, and a set of upper middle-class families enjoy the good life together. But just under the surface of the conventionality, there are undercurrents. Adolescent Callum Gow's father is a bully, his mother is having an affair, and there are secrets about abuse, suicide and the past. In amongst this, Callum is trying to understand his growing identity and sexuality. His only refuge is his grandfather, but this is in danger as Callum's father has grandfather wr...

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, “one of those special writers capable of delivering both poetry and plot” (The New York Times Book Review), a moving novel about tradition, tea farming, and the bonds between mothers and daughters.In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for gene...

The Girl with Ghost Eyes is a fun, fun read. Martial arts and Asian magic set in Old San Francisco make for a fresh take on urban fantasy, a wonderful story that kept me up late to finish.”-#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia BriggsIt’s the end of the nineteenth century in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and ghost hunters from the Maoshan traditions of Daoism keep malevolent spiritual forces at bay. Li-lin, the daughter of a renowned ...

Jingqiu, an innocent young woman from a politically questionable family in the city, is selected as one of a small group of students to be sent to the countryside to work on a project that will further the Cultural Revolution. Clever, curious and eager, she tries to fit in with her hosts and the rural way of life, and it isn't appropriate for her to fall in love. But she does, with the son of a mighty army general. This beautiful, simple story of love against the odds will break your heart...

** Includes the first chapter from the hugely anticipated new novel from Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz. **'Dazzling.' The Times'Exceptional.' Guardian'Brilliant.' Observer'Extraordinary.' Financial Times'A miracle.' Wall Street Journal*Winner of the RSL Encore Award***...

In a sunny California apartment, a young woman and her fiancé arrive to record her great-grandmother's story. The story that unfolds of Precious Orchid's life in China, where she rises from a childhood of shame to become one of the most successful courtesans in the land, is unlike any they've heard before. . .When Precious Orchid's father is falsely accused of a crime and found guilty, he is executed, leaving his family a legacy of dishonor. Her mother's only option is to enter a B...

"An unlikely love story set against the events of the last half-century in China . . . a poetic evocation of the country and its people." — The New York TimesWhen the Kitchen God is challenged by the Jade Emperor to fathom the workings of the human heart, he chooses to trace the lives of Jinyi and his wife, Yuying, from their blossoming love until their old age, in hope of finding an answer. The Kitchen God watches as government strictures split their famil...

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER AWARD FOR BEST TRAVEL BOOKSHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD'Monisha Rajesh has chosen one of the best ways of seeing the world. Never too fast, never too slow, her journey does what trains do best. Getting to the heart of things. Prepare for a very fine ride' Michael PalinFrom the cloud-skimming heights of Tibet's Qinghai railway to silk-shee...

Agatha Christie meets The Mitford Murders in this deliciously dark golden age mystery of wartime family secrets and lies in small town England.**DON'T MISS THE LASTEST JOSEPHINE FOX MYSTERY, A CONFLICT OF INTERESTS. OUT NOW!**April 1941, Romsey, England.Josephine 'Jo' Fox hasn't set foot in Romsey in over twenty years. As an illegitimate child, her family - headed by her controlling grandfather - f...

From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World - an adventure story, a war story, and a love story, all wound into one brilliant narrative that runs like clockwork.Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction Literature.Joe Spork, son of the infamous criminal Mathew ‘Tommy Gun’ Spork just wants a quiet life, repairing clockwork in a wet, unknown bit of London.Edi...

Michael Marshall Smith’s surreal, groundbreaking, and award-winning debut which resonates with wild humour interlaced with dark recollections of an emotional minefield. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection.May we introduce you to Stark.Oh, and by the way — good luck.Stark is the private investigator who goes to work when Something Happens to you. And when a Something happens it’s no good chanting ‘go away go away go away’ and cowering in a corner, because a S...