Britannia AD44. The time has come to claim Britain for the Empire. Centurions Cato and Macro are preparing for what their leaders say will be the final battle against those natives refusing to accept the civilising force of Rome. The British savages will surely stand no chance against the might of the unstoppable Roman Army. But young Cato is more concerned about hot-headed cohort commander Maximus than about the enemy, and with Roman troops being brutally slaughtered, even grizzled veteran Macro is having doubts about the promised ease of their success. The troops' commander General Plautius is under considerable pressure from the Emperor to crush the natives once and for all. It is up to the crack Second Legion to hold a ford across the river Tamesis when the natives are forced into a trap. But Maximus's nerve breaks at the critical point, allowing the enemy leader Caratacus and his men to escape. Outraged by this failure, General Plautius orders the decimation of the unit. The choice is die or escape to become a fugitive pursued by soldiers of their own ruthless army. Hiding from their former comrades as well as the Britons, Cato's small band of fugitives have only one chance to redeem themselves before they are hunted down like animals. 468pp, paperback.

Set comprises Seeker, The Black Friar and The Bear Pit. Buy all three paperbacks and save even more.

By the author of The Joy Luck Club, this novel reaffirms Amy Tan's reputation as a master storyteller in this, her New York Times bestseller. It is an evocative epic of two women's intertwined fates and their search for identity, from the lavish parlours of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village. The year is 1912 and Violet Minturn is the daughter of an American madam in the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother and forced to become a 'virgin courtesan'. Spanning more than 40 years and two continents, the novel maps the lives of three generations of women, and the mystery of an evocative painting known as 'The Valley of Amazement'. Moving from the collapse of China's last empirical dynasty to the growth of anti-foreign sentiment and the inner workings of courtesan houses, the novel interweaves the story of violet on a quest for both love and identity and her mother, Lucia, an American whose search for penance leads them to an unexpected reunion. A deeply moving narrative of family secrets, legacies and the relationship between mothers and daughters. 589pp, paperback, remainder mark.

In a similar vein to 'Cold Mountain', this award-winning novel transcends the straight-and-narrow Western in a rich melodrama of gun-slinging, hidden identities, conflicted loyalties and high-stakes emotion. In the spring of 1885, 17 year old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbours, she cuts her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains. Her goal is to find her gun-slinging fugitive brother Noah and bring him home. A talented sharpshooter herself, her quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah - dead or alive. Wrestling with her brother's outlaw identity, and haunted by questions of her own, Jess must outmanoeuvre those who underestimate her, ultimately rising to become a hero in her own right. The story is told in her wholly original and unforgettable voice, touching on issues of family, identity, gender and sexuality. 430pp, paperback.

Kirkus starred review: 'Compelling heroic characters'. AD1218, Praetor Gaius Marcellinus was ordered to conquer Nova Hesperia and make it a Roman province, but outside the walls of the great city of Cahokia his legion was destroyed. Accepted by his captors, Marcellinus vowed to fight with them against all enemies, Roman or native. After successfully repelling an invasion by the fearsome Iroqua tribes, the Cahokians are weakened, and Marcellinus knows that the divided people of Nova Hesperia will be unable to resist the might of Rome. But rival factions threaten to tear Cahokia apart, and the empire he once served will not give up its dream of conquest. Even as he struggles to unite his new comrades, a new legion is preparing to set sail. Described as a modern masterpiece of what-if speculation this is a superb kind of alternative history "epic, bloody and hugely imaginative" as John Birmingham describes it. 528pp, paperback.

From the clever witty and popular Lawless series, this is first-rate Victorian crime fiction. It is 1863, and as a reluctant Inspector of Vice, Campbell Lawless undertakes a reckoning of London's houses of ill repute, a shadowy netherworld of frayed glamour and double standards, mesmerising and unspeakable by turns. From the erotic booksellers of Holywell Street to the alleys of Haymarket, he discovers backstreet cast-offs and casualties of the society bordellos, and becomes fascinated by a musician who has established a foundation for fallen women. But his inquiries draw the attention of powerful men who can be merciless in defending their reputations. Lawless must unlock the heart of a clandestine network before he too is silenced. With cast of characters in addition to the doxies, dollymops, fourpennies, zuches, jawbreakers, lushy betts, dirty salls, pineapple jacks, pimps, socialites, lords, dukes and parliamentarians. 360pp, paperback.

One of 1500 numbered copies of the first edition (unsigned), our review copy was an early number 167 which may make this Canongate November 2021 edition collectable in the future. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived - Lear's queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten, now she can tell her story. Though her grief and rage may threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she sent away in shame and disgrace? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend and ally? And what will become of her now, in this place of women? To find peace she must reckon with her past and make a terrible choice, one upon which her destiny, and that of the entire abbey rests. 'I am the queen of two crowns, banished fifteen years, the famed and gilded woman, bad-luck baleful girl, mother of three small animals, now gone. I am fifty five years old. I am Lear's wife. I am here.' A seductive, gorgeous and fresh perspective on an age-old tale, this novel won the Observer Best Debut Novelist of 2021. A beautifully lyrical novel, 328pp with decorated page edges. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.

"The swoon-worthy romance of Jane Austen meets the suspense of Charlotte Brontë." - Joy Callaway. In Regency England, one letter will alter a young woman's fate when it summons her to Briarton Park, an ancient place that holds the secrets of her past and the keys to her future. Cassandra Hale grew up knowing little about her parentage, but her world shifts when a shocking deathbed confession reveals a two year old letter from Mr. Clark, the master of Briarton Park, which hints about her family's identity. Stung by betrayal, Cassandra travels to the village of Anston only to learn that Mr. Clark has passed away. James Warrington is a widower and the new master of Briarton Park, where he lives with his two young daughters, his sister and his mother-in-law. When Cassandra appears at his doorstep with a letter from the previous owner, and then proceeds to assist his family in an unexpected way, he is honour-bound to help uncover the answers she seeks. The more time Cassandra spends in Anston, the more she begins to suspect not everything, or everyone, is as they seem. The danger surrounding her intensifies and she must use her wit and intuition to navigate the treacherous landscapes between reality and rumour, loyalty and deception if she is to find the place her heart can finally call home. The first in the Houses of Yorkshire series. 326pp, paperback.

England 1348 and a gentlewoman flees an odious arranged marriage, a Scots proctor sets out for Avignon, and a young ploughman in search of freedom is on his way to volunteer with a company of archers. All come together on the road to Calais. Coming in their direction from across the Channel is the Black Death, the plague that will wipe out half of the population of Northern Europe. As the journey unfolds, overshadowed by the archers' past misdeeds and clerical warnings of the imminent end of the world, the wayfarers begin to confront the nature of their loves and desires. Fully imagined, James Meek is the bold creator of a world we can see, hear, smell and taste. A tremendous feat of language and empathy, this novel summons a medieval world that is at once uncannily plausible, utterly alien and eerily reflective of our own, a novel about love, class, faith, loss, gender and desire set against one of the biggest cataclysms of human history, and something we can relate to with the recent pandemic. 392pp, large paperback.

The second in the series set in London 1655 when Cromwell's regime is under threat from all sides. Damian Seeker, Captain of Cromwell's Guard, is all too aware of the danger facing Cromwell. Parliament resents his control of the Army, while the Army resents his absolute power. In the East End of London a group of religious fanatics plots rebellion and in the midst of all this, a stonemason uncovers a perfectly preserved body dressed in the robes of a Dominican friar, bricked up in the wall of the crumbling Black Friars monastery. Ill-informed rumours and speculation abound, but Seeker instantly recognises the dead man. What he must discover is why he met such a hideous end, and what his connection was to the children who have started to disappear from around the city. Unravelling these mysteries is challenging enough, and made still harder by the activities of dissenters at home, Royalist plotters abroad, and individuals who are not what they seem. Seeker navigates the shifting factions while quelling religious fanatics and plotters in the seething city beyond Whitehall. A gripping tale of crime and sedition, mystery and intrigue. 456pp, paperback.