Coronation Day, 1953 and in a sleepy Somerset village, young shopkeeper Molly Heywood makes a terrible discovery - her friend Cassie has been murdered, and her six-year-old daughter Petal is missing. Weeks pass but the police make no progress, so Molly, against the advice of a childhood friend and village policeman George, takes matters into her own hands. Clutching a letter sent from Cassie to London, she leaves in search of Petal. In the Blitz-scarred East End, Mollies meets and befriends strangers from Cassie's past, but the big city is a dangerous place for a country girl, especially one on the trail of a murderer. Sacrificing home, happiness and a chance at love to find Petal, is Mollie now risking her life? An epic romantic drama set in post-war London. 423pp, Penguin paperback.

A story of love, sacrifice and a girl who has to grow up too fast and choose between love and duty. From the moment she learns of the stranger's visit, Molly Tattersall is filled with a sense of fear. Then her mother disappears, leaving behind a letter asking Molly to take care of her five brothers and sisters. Molly's wayward father rejects his responsibilities, leaving her to choose between the young man she has given her heart to, and the family she adores. Molly realises that however hard it may be, she must put the children's happiness before her own. It is the cruellest decision of her life with heart-breaking consequences and Molly's life will never be the same again. An emotional and touching saga, have the tissue box handy. 292pp, paperback.

Born in a cotton-mill house in Blackburn, author Josephine Cox is one of ten children. Here she tells a passionate and moving tale of a young woman's fight for happiness. Beautiful Eva Bereton has two close friends - Patsy whom she looks upon as a sister, and Bill, once her childhood sweetheart, now married and living far away. So when a tragic accident turns Eva's world upside down, Patsy is the only one she can turn to. A hated figure from the past comes to reclaim the farm and business that Eva had always believed were her parents'. Not even Bill, still in love with Eva, can stop her being thrown out on the streets. Together with Patsy, Eva starts a new life far away. Luckily they find work and lodgings wherever they settle, but when Eva arrives in Blackburn, her past mistakes rise up to haunt her. Even when threatened from all sides she will never accept that her chances of happiness have been destroyed. Determined and optimistic, she fights on to change her life for the better. A driven and passionate novel from the popular writer. 312pp, paperback.

Settle down with a cup of tea (or something stronger) on a snowy winter night to enjoy an endearing and poignant novel about loss and the healing power of love. Elfrida Phipps loves her new life in her pretty Hampshire village in her tiny cottage. She has her faithful dog Horace and the friendship of the neighbouring Blundells, particularly Oscar, to ensure that her days are filled with companionship as well as independence. But an unforeseen tragedy upsets her tranquillity - Oscar's wife and daughter are killed in a terrible car crash, and he finds himself homeless when his stepchildren claim their dead mother's inheritance. Oscar and Elfrida take refuge in a rambling house in Scotland which becomes a magnet for various waifs and strays including an unhappy teenage girl. It could be a recipe for disaster, but somehow the Christmas season weaves its magic, and the winter solstice brings love and solace. The novel shows that log fires and the warmth of friends can thaw the coldest heart, and as the bells peal out for the midnight service, they ring in a very magical Christmas. Charming and utterly convincing this is a beautiful and haunting story by the beloved novelist. Published 2000 and here reissued in paperback with a stunning new jacket. 698pp in chunky paperback.

A vivid and charming portrait of a large southern family, the Fairchilds, who live on a plantation in the Mississippi delta. The story is set in 1923 and is exquisitely woven from the ordinary events of family life, centred around the visit of a young relative, Laura McRaven, and the family's preparations for her cousin Dabney's wedding. The family envelop her in a tidal wave of warmth, teases and comfort. As the big day approaches, tensions inevitably rise to the surface and revelation leads to revelation. Little Laura finds a place of her own within her clannish, proud, quarrelsome and loving Southern family. Exquisitely told through the eyes of nine year old Laura who was on her first journey alone. In the words of the great writer Joyce Carol Oates this prose is 'incandescent and her vision supremely humane.' Good enough for us! 336 page paperback.

A classic blues novel of 1950s America, here in Penguin Classic 25th anniversary edition. Set in Chicago and Omaha, the novel features Manfred Banks called 'Man', a young harmonica-blowing blues singer who creates colourful and amazing music. Painfully torn between his friendship with fellow musician Solly and his great love for and a responsibility to his beautiful wife Cleo and daughter Karina, while struggling with the constraints of racist America, Man seeks relief in 'Dirty Bird' whiskey. He also relocates to Omaha with hopes of better opportunities as a blue-collar worker and singer, but the blues in his heart and mind keep bringing him back to face himself. After a nightmarish descent into his own troubled depths of alcoholism, Man emerges with fresh awareness of possibility of renewal. He faces responsibilities to the rhythm and rhyme of his lyrics that groove a hollow in his mind and his family, and beneath both is the awful grinding racism he meets daily on the streets which pluck opportunity from his grasp. One of the most influential novels and an extraordinary portrayal of 20th century Black reality, and also an ode to the richness and power of blues music. 288 page paperback. Small remainder mark.

A Times Book of the Year and "a startling, intellectual, post-Covid adventure" in the words of New Scientist. A road trip beneath clear blue skies and a blazing sun - a reclusive artist is forced to abandon his home and follow two young sisters across a post-pandemic Europe in search of a safe place. Is this the end of the world? Meanwhile two computer scientists have been educating their baby in a remote location. Their baby is called Talos, and he is an advanced AI program. Every week they feed him data, starting from the beginning of written history, era by era, and ask him to predict what will happen next to the human race. At the same time they are involved in an increasingly fraught philosophical debate about why human life is sacred, and why the purpose for which he was built - to predict threats to human life to help us avoid them - is a worthwhile and ethical pursuit. These two strands come together in a way that is always suspenseful, surprising and intellectually provocative in this extraordinarily prescient apocalyptic road novel. 288pp, paperback.

Set contains The Ipcress File, Bomber, Berlin Game and Funeral In Berlin. Buy all four paperbacks and save even more.