The thrilling sequel to Dance of Thieves set in the same world as the bestselling Remnant Chronicles. Kazi and Jase have survived, stronger and more in love than ever. Their new life now lies before them - the Ballengers will be outlaws no longer. Tor's Watch will be a kingdom, and Kazi and Jase will meet all challenges side by side, together at last. But an ominous warning mars their journey back, and they soon find themselves captured in the tangled web of deceit woven by their greatest enemies and unlikeliest allies, a place where betrayals run deep and more deadly than either had thought possible, and where timeless ambitions threaten to destroy them both. 'I didn't just want to possess the swords, knives and maces I had acquired. I wanted to know how to use them too, and use them well.' With witches and wizards and designed for young adults, adult readers will enjoy this fantasy with a boldly beating heart. 479pp, paperback.

Brown is a brilliant master of ceremonies as he brings the history of these fine institutions to life and demonstrates their importance in working-class communities across the country. Blending vivid reportage and candid autobiography, he illuminates these arts centres, debating halls and palaces of carefree delight with love and care. The intoxicating history begins with the movement's founding by a teetotal social reformer to its booze-soaked mid-century heyday when more than 4 million Brits were members. Often dismissed as relics of a bygone age, Pete Brown reminds us that long before the days of Phoenix Nights 3000 seat venues routinely played host to stars like Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, and the Bee Gees. Britain's best-known comedians made reputations through thick miasma of smoke from Sunniside to Skegness. For a young man growing up in the pit town of Barnsley, this was a radiant wonderland that transformed those who entered. They were a vehicle for social mobility and self improvement, run for working people by working people. Brown looks at the club and himself, the clubs as an institute, the pub, music hall, the radicals, the ups and downs, women, change and the future. A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK, 290 pages.

In 1893, even as Gandhi, Ranji and Vivekananda were seeking to take their ideas and expertise out of India, a Western woman was making the reverse journey, bringing her ideas to India. Mrs Annie Besant and The Theosophical Society became major players in both Indian and International arenas. Benjamin Guy Horniman was a great journalist who believed that Indians should be given the same rights of liberty and freedom that Englishmen enjoyed. Freedom-loving American Samuel Evans Stokes and Madeline Slade who left England for India and became the adopted daughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Philip Spratt and his contributions in the Indian struggle for freedom are some of the seven people chosen to tell their little-known stories. Foreigners to India date from the late 19th century onwards arrived to join the freedom movement fighting for independence. Their lives thus span a century of tumultuous history incorporating two world wars, Independence and Partition, and the emergence of a state and society. Of the seven four were British, two American and one Irish, four men and three women. Before and after being jailed or deported they did remarkable and pioneering work from journalism and social reform to education, organic agriculture and environmentalism. The writer William Dalrymple called them the 'White Mughals' who slowly shed their Britishness and adopted Indian dress, studied Indian philosophy at a time when racial boundaries were more fluid. These renegades came to the sub-continent from diverse social and intellectual backgrounds. They all combined writing with activism, two of them working up north in the high and cold Himalaya, two in the deepest south, close to the hot and humid coast, and two were inspired to settle in villages, marrying Indians and raising children with them. One man stayed unmarried and was almost certainly gay, taking Indian lovers. 476pp, eight pages of photos.

Sub-titled 'Murder, Obsession and the Birth of the Lie Detector', clutching on psychology, technology and the science of the truth, this very well received best-selling title is a vibrant, atmospheric true-life thriller. Be careful what you believe. Henry Wilkens burst through the doors of A&E covered in his wife's blood, but was he a grieving husband, or a ruthless killer? To find out, the San Francisco Police turned to technology, and a new machine that had just been invented by a rookie detective, a visionary police chief, and a teenage magician with a showman's touch. They hoped it would make the justice system fairer, but it poisoned their lives, turned friends into bitter enemies, and transformed our relationship with the truth in ways that are still being felt. As new forms of lie detection gain momentum in the present day, the book reveals the incredible truth behind the creation of the polygraph through gripping true-case crimes featuring explosive gunshots, shocking twists and high-stakes courtroom drama. Katwala details the birth of the polygraph post World War Two and its sponsorship by August Vollner, a postman turned revolutionary police chief who was busy inventing modern policing, and we are drawn into the world of exploitation in 1920s and 1930s Chicago - bootlegging, passion, murder and all the tentacles of the criminal world. Includes newspaper clippings and photographs and quotations from written documents and interviews and based on thousands of private letters, diaries, academic journals, court documents, prison records and more. 337pp.

"A recently born seal pup. It's mother, resting a few meters away, is ignoring it, pebble and kelp surrounds also smeared with blood. Another few meters further on, a mob of grey black-backed gulls attacks the afterbirth, pulling it out of its steak-like shape into a stringier form, gorging torn off scarlet strands, then tug-of-warring with the remains. The pup appears to make an attempt towards its mother, but only manages to flop on to its side, exposing a pink inch of umbilical cord worming from its belly fur... Once familiar with its smell and henceforth assured of recognising it, she strokes its head with her clawed front flipper. Willing her on, I watch her finally assume a feeding position..." There are fewer grey seals in the world that endangered African elephants, and the British Isles host almost half of this global population. Every year, these charismatic animals with their expressive eyes, and whiskers more sensitive than our fingertips, haul out on our shores to breed and raise their pups. Susan Richardson has always been entranced by seals. They comforted her as an anxious child and brought joy when she began to spread her wings as a writer and helped her find her way after the loss of her mother. Now she sets out to trace the rhythm of their lives, travelling the coast clockwise from Cornwall to Norfolk, in line with the autumn pupping season. She explores the myths surrounding seals, from the shape-shifting selkie skins to the claims that they decimate fish populations, and she discovered that the greatest dangers they face come from humankind. Her book is a lyrical tale of memory, rescue and rehabilitation, and the recurring theme is the human-seal connection. She sees the life of the sea as a mirror of ourselves and vice versa. 376 pages.

It is almost forgotten that it was an Andalusian inventor, physician and engineer who was the first person to undertake experiments in flying with any degree of success back in the 9th century AD. Nigh on a thousand years later, the Arab World's critical strategic location made it almost inevitable that these regions would be drawn into the imperial rivalries of the leading European powers, while the Ottoman Empire struggled to maintain its existing position in the area. This in turn meant that the first bombs to be dropped by military aircraft fell on Arab soil and as Arab countries slowly achieved their independence, they too wanted to have air forces. In 1948 the first such Arab air forces were thrown into battle in an ill-fated attempt to keep Palestine as a primarily Arab country. Chapters cover all of the colonial nations - Britain, France, Spain and the Ottoman Empire and the fledgeling Italians who had fought and taken control of Libya in 1912; he French invent aerial policing (1909-1914) and the Spaniards over the Rif (1909-1914) plus the First World War in Arab lands. There are aircraft used in war, airships and armoured cars and the chapter on Spain covers their part in combat with the local tribes during the period as they were neutral in the First World War. A concise expert text, colour illustrations and maps plus black and white photographs and high quality colour artworks providing fresh accounts of both well known and more esoteric aspects of the conflict in this part of the world since 1945. 88 large pages, 20.3 x 29.5cm.

The Cold War dominated international relations for the latter half of the 20th century from its beginnings in the rubble of a defeated Germany to its end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a battle of ideology and power politics supported by military might and pitted the democratic capitalist West against the communist states of Eastern Europe and Asia, and resulted in a series of flashpoints that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The first chapter in this extraordinary photographic history examines international diplomacy, the creation of the United Nations, the consequences of the Marshall Plan on European Recovery, and the outbreak of the Korean War. Subsequent analysis focuses on the death of Stalin and the beginnings of peaceful co-existence. The dangers of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Britain's decision to purchase the Polaris missile systems are also discussed and the chapter concludes with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the uprisings in Eastern Europe, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Subsequent chapters cover Cold War military alliances, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the unmasking of atomic spies Alan Nunn May and Klaus Fuchs, the significance of the Cambridge and Portland spy rings, and the role played by Soviet double agents. The second half of the book concentrates on civil defence, the protest movement, proxy wars in Africa and the popular culture, governments? plans for fighting and surviving a nuclear war, CND, Greenham Common, and conflicts that took place in the Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Finally we look at films, books and pop songs and the fears and anxieties of growing up in the shadow of the bomb and now the new challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. The primary narrative of each chapter is told from a British viewpoint and is based on records held by The National Archives at Kew. It is based on previously secret government reports and papers and tells the compelling story of global conflict and superpower politics set against a backdrop of dramatic social and cultural change and written by a renowned historian in the field. 159pp in large softback, plentiful illustrations, maps and diagrams and letters reproduced, plus posters and propaganda.

Journeys on BR's London Midland Region written by someone who studies the Iron Horse (from the Latin ferrus and equine). Where else can you see archive images of the Locomotive Club of Great Britain membership card, the LMS Timetable of Passenger Services from April 1966 to March 67, the Wolverton and Newport Pagnell timetable or another for Rugby and Market Harborough to Stamford and Peterborough? In his fifth book, steam engine buff Keith Widdowson describes his self-imposed mission to travel behind as many steam locomotives as feasible as the months went by from March 1966 and steam passenger services were becoming fewer. In this way it is a travelogue of those expeditions undertaken during his teenage years and along with like-minded friends they led a carefree existence untroubled by world events in the frenzied pursuit of the centrepiece of their hobby - the steam locomotive. We join him on his quest - the successes, disappointments, scenarios encountered and above all the realisation that history was being enacted and that one of the last vestiges of the Industrial Revolution, the Iron Horse, was being extinguished. Chapter headings include The Gone Completely Railway 1955-66, The Electric Effect 1966, Super Summer Saturdays 1966, Mancunian Meanderings 1966-67, The Preston Portions, Steam's Last Hurrah on the WCML 1967. 272 page large softback with over 100 archive images reproduced to the best possible quality.

The Crimean War of 1854-56 was the first of the 'modern' wars. The opening round at the Alma was a direct throwback to the Napoleonic campaigns of 50 years earlier, whereas the Siege of Sevastopol was a foretaste of the Great War more than 60 years later. Based upon the correspondence of Lieutenant William Allan, a young Scottish officer serving with the 41st (the Welch) Regiment throughout the campaign, these letters provide insight into the experiences of the officers both in action and in their day to day lives, the ravages of ill health and the incompetence of those in authority. As a young subaltern, Allan was amongst the first to arrive in Turkey and during the following 21 months he served in Varna and fought at the Battles of the Alma, Little Inkerman and throughout the Siege of Sevastopol. He corresponded regularly with his family in Scotland about his life at the Front. He published these letters in 1897 in a very limited edition intended for family use. Now the editor W. Alister Williams has supplemented Allan's letters with those from other officers of the regiment and provided a narrative background to the events described. A complete Crimean nominal roll of the officers, non-commissioned officers and the men of the 41st Regiment has been compiled in the appendix. 224pp, illustrated. 2011 first edition.

What became known as the Great War began on 4th August 1914. It triggered a wave of patriotism. Scotland led the way with 320,589 men voluntarily enlisting before conscription began in 1916. Scots were in the forefront of many of the costliest battles and campaigns with the outcome that, per head of population, it is estimated by the University of Edinburgh that Scotland lost more men than all the belligerent nations apart from Turkey and Serbia. Anyone with a German sounding accent soon came under suspicion of being a spy. Railways were taken under government control and local businesses asked to supply motor vehicles for use by the Army or to supply horses, of which hundreds of thousands died during the conflict. 'Young men belonging to Edinburgh and the East of Scotland may enrol in the Edinburgh Battalion which is now being formed. All young men in the professional and commercial classes, university graduates, clerks, warehousemen, skilled artisans and athletes (between the ages of 19 and 35 inclusive), who are medically fit and whose height is 5ft 3" and upwards, with chest measurements of 34" at least, are invited to enrol their names now, and those of any friends who may wish to drill and train in the same battalion.' This book covers the historic city's involvement to the armistice in November 1914, describing in great detail what happened to the city and its people, their everyday lives, entertainment, spies and the internment of aliens living within the city. Edinburgh played a key role in supplying not only men but vital munitions and a role in caring for the many wounded soldiers returning from the Front. Of poor quality but nevertheless very interesting are dozens of archive photographs, including a procession of little girls in white dresses and tartan sashes parading along Princes Street carrying banners stating 'We are doing our little bit', a picture of the arrival of Christmas puddings at the Front, and a Shetland pony to be sold for the Red Cross, a sports day for wounded soldiers and the visiting American Ambassador. 141pp, large softback.