Bloomsbury Reader imprint: 830 books

Hannie leads a double life, one as a wife and mother in a Devon manor house, and the other as an International smuggler. In this sharp and witty pastiche of the worlds of John Buchan and Rider Haggard, our heroine brings back cures for cancer from the Brazilian jungle, takes a small child across...

The Devil's Diary is Patrick McGinley's greatest tribute to his master Flann O'Brien, in this dark humoured portrayal of a harrowing Irish landscape in which lunacy reigns. Idealistic love and death, sibling rivalry and obsessive lust are themes familiar to McGinley's work, focusing here on...

Patrick McGinley's sixth novel, true to his distinctive style, is set in the austere and haunting landscape and shoreline of the author's native county, Donegal, Ireland. Love and death appear as the inescapable enigmas of being in the world. The Red Men is rich in vocabulary, in the particularities of daily life, and in various surprising areas of arcane lore.

Mr. Darby is a thoroughly agreeable gentleman of modest circumstances and romantic leanings who suddenly inherits a fortune of millions.Here at last he has a chance to indulge his tastes and fancies; he can smoke the most expensive cigars, drink champagne and become a patron of the arts. But, best...

Venus Over Lannery is charmingly and gracefully written. First published in 1936, this is one of those great novels that can be savoured from first to last with the leisurely enjoyment that comes only from the true literary gift. Martin Armstrong writes with an admirable rightness of ease, strength...

It is the year 2013. Britain is in a severe recession and poverty is causing mayhem. There has been a sequence of short-lived hung parliaments and, due to terrorist bombs, repressive measures have been brought in by the power-hungry Government which fall especially hard on British Muslims. Global...

London 1991. Journalist Kate Higgins is researching the life of Violet Levine, a woman who dragged herself up from shop girl to MP. Kate's own life becomes entangled with her subject, but as she begins to find the real Violet behind the legend, violent threats and danger emerge.

In 1940, Sally Bowles, that spirited character from Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin, decides to leave her baby daughter with her parents in the country and return to London. There, despite the Blitz, she is determined to live life to the full. Moreover, she wants to find the love of her...

In this sequel to Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, as Flora prepares herself for a ball held by the parents of her fiancé, she's startled to see in the mirror a young man standing behind her. She is alarmed to learn that no one else had seen the man, and after several more sightings, she realizes that it is the ghost of her dead brother, Miles.

Two stories about romance on the rocks, served with a twist of intrigue. Connections, first published in 2000, follows Fleur Stockley's fight to rebuild her life and business after her boyfriend bankrupts her company and dumps her. Her success comes at a high price as she is drawn into a world of...

First published in 1988, this is the story of Polly Kops, who lives in a charming part of West London, in a big house on a lovely garden square, with her lover and three daughters. From the outside, she looks to be living an ideal life, but upon closer inspection, it's easy to see that Polly's life...

Andrea Gilmore, young, beautiful and successful in her public relations job, is constantly embarrassed when her brash, earthy father becomes a huge football pools winner. Josh Gilmore, newly rich, revels in the fame and friendship his status brings him, refusing to head his daughter's warnings...

The day dawns bright and fair on peaceful San Francisco. Outside the Pendleton mansion, the O'Connell sisters – Bridget and Kitty – enjoy the freedom of the hour. But this is the day of the great San Francisco earthquake and life is set to change forever for the O'Connell girls. Orphaned by the...

Gracie Brown's dream is to become an acclaimed seamstress, but because of her background, she believes that success is an unattainable goal. Then, at an opening of the new Palais, she meets Charlie, a dashing saxophone player. Dancing in his arms, she begins to believe that dreams can come true. But...