Can you ever know what those closest to you are really capable of?When Stephen gets a phone call to say his mother isn't well, he knows he must go to her straight away. But he dreads going back there. He has never been able to understand why his mother chose to stay in the town he grew up in, after everything that happened. One day's tragic events years before had left no one living there untouched.Stephen's own dark memories are still poisoning his life, as well a...

A tightly spun, atmospheric and powerful psychological suspense.Living in a remote Devon farmhouse, Anna and her family have always been close to nature, surrounded by the haunting beauty of the moor. But when a convict escapes from nearby Dartmoor prison, their isolation suddenly begins to feel more claustrophobic than free. Fearing for her children's safety, Anna's behaviour becomes increasingly irrational. But why is she so distant from her kind husband Robert, and why does she ...

Ghosts walk in the open and infidelities are conducted in plain sight. Two teenagers walk along a perfect beach in the anticipation of a first kiss. Time stops for nothing – not even for death. Sometimes time cracks, disrupting a fragile equilibrium. The stories are peopled with locals and incomers, sailors and land dwellers; a diver searches the deep for what she has lost, and forbidden lovers meet in secret places. Throughout, the writers' words reveal a love of the inco...

'Evocatively written and charming' - Countryfile'The January Man is a book that makes you want to pull on your boots, grab a map and get out there' - Country LifeThe January Man is the story of a year of walks that was inspired by a song, Dave Goulder's 'The January Man'. Month by month, season by season and region by region, Christopher Somerville walks the British Isles, following routes that con...

*Rediscover the light in the dark with the author of Heavy Light: A Journey through Madness, Mania and Healing'A treasure of a book, wonderfully attentive in outlook and generous in spirit.' – Amy LiptrotShortlisted for the Wales Creative Nonfiction Book of the Year 2019'A diary that reveals the healing power of the natural world.' The GuardianRediscover the light in the dark…As November stubs out the glow o...

The nation's favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its seventh year.Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or more accurately, by its title. This critically acclaimed series aims to reprint the best short stories published in the previous calendar year by British writers, whether based in the UK or elsewhere. The editor's brief is wide ranging, covering anthologies, collections, magazines, newspapers and web sites, looking...

David Attenborough, Dion Leonard (Finding Gobi), Dervla Murphy and Brian Jackman are just four of the authors whose work features in this new anthology from Bradt focusing on true stories about travelling with animals. In Beastly Journeys, there are 46 tales of extraordinary animal travel experiences, from hilarious holidays with pets to journeys on which wild animals somehow came along for the ride, including: David Attenborough tries to get an armadillo through Paraguayan customs; advent...

Winner of the Australian/Vogel's Literary Award 2002.And as the waves take her apart, piece by piece, she watches the message of the lighthouse spelling itself out on the surface of the water. Its message is composed in the alphabet of light and dark. Flash, eclipse, flash, eclipse. If we see only the light, we are blinded; only the dark and we will never find our way.A tiny coin found inside a Cloudy Bay oyster, a postcard of a white-haired child leaning ...

A fascinating prize-winning novel about a house with a fanciful little turret, built by a river. Unfolding within its rooms are lives of event and emotional upheaval. A lot happens. And the tumultuous events of the twentieth century also leave their mark, from war to economic collapse, the deaths of presidents and princesses to new waves of music, art, architecture and political ideas. Meanwhile, a few metres away in the river, another creature follows a d...

An astounding reaction to a life-changing momentUrsula Martin never thought she would walk 3700 miles around Wales, but following a cancer diagnosis it seemed like the only reasonable thing to do. In 17 months, she traversed beaches and mountains, farms and urban sprawl. She received unimaginable support – people offered beds, food, cups of tea, donated to her chosen charities. Walking Wales rooted her in the country and in herself; her account of the physical and ...

**A horror short story from #1 bestseller, Paul Finch. Part of the Dark Winter Tales series: unputdownable reads for cold winter nights…**Do you believe in ghosts? Well you soon might…The Old Rectory on the Gower Peninsula is said to be haunted – and a group of students decide to find out for themselves whether there’s any truth in the tale.The only way to get to the bottom of the mystery is to enter the Rectory themselves. In the dark and gloom, they enter one by o...

AN INSPIRING STORY OF STARTING OVER'We all need a Devorgilla Cottage somewhere in our hearts' - KIRSTY WARK**'Beautifully written' - ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG '**A magical and beautifully written memoir and so evocative of Wigtown and its landscape' - RUTH HOGANThis is a story about uncovering the things that really matter, and discovering what makes us feel alive. It is a story about finding that inner strength...