The villagers of Turnham Malpas are in for a shock. With Sir Ralph now dead, his fortune and title go to newcomer, Johnny Templeton. Johnny could not be more different from his well-loved predecessor, and he soon finds himself in conflict with the long-standing members of Turnham Malpas. Meanwhile, there are two other villagers in crises, but theirs is a much more private issue. Marcus and Alice March have longed for a child for years. But when Alice finally becomes pregnant, there are those in the village who question the child's paternity. After all, Alice has grown very close to Johnny. . . As gossip begins to circulate, Alice must make the most difficult of decisions - whether to follow her heart or her morals.

When Harry Dickenson arrives in Turnham Malpas, the warm welcome he receives convinces him to stay. Handsome and charming, Harry quickly earns his place in rural life. But despite his outward friendliness, Harry is a troubled man, hiding memories of a tragic past from which he is desperate to escape. Just as Harry finds some measure of peace, he encounters the one woman in the village likely to turn any man's head. Soon, Harry is caught in an obsessive love that threatens to ruin everything that he has accomplished - and reveal his shocking secret to all. But Harry isn't the only man in the village to fall head-over-heels. Paddy Cleary, the shy gardener, is smitten. But will Paddy find the confidence to reveal his true feelings? And will the young lady return his affections? The villagers must wait and watch, hoping the burgeoning friendship will lead to something more...

It's a time of turmoil for the village of Turnham Malpas... Peter and Caroline Harris live a comfortable life at the rectory, but their cosy world is shaken up when Caroline's old flame Morgan Jefferson appears. He's intent on convincing her to pursue a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - in America. What's more, it looks like Caroline's career isn't the only thing Morgan is interested in. Newlyweds Chris and Deborah Templeton seem to be the perfect union. The old, unpredictable Chris has been replaced by a kinder and gentler man, yet he's still plagued by doubt. Where does Deborah disappear to for days on end? Why won't she tell her husband? After the tragic death of his young grandson, Ron Bissett is further devastated when he loses his wife. Sheila Bissett has taken her own life, and no one can fathom why. But when an unexpected letter is received, it soon becomes clear that Sheila was hiding far darker secrets than anyone ever knew.

The village school is to get a new head, and the inhabitants of Turnham Malpas await her arrival with curiosity. At first sight, Kate Pascoe seems ideal. She's young, pretty and obviously loves her job. But when she introduces meditation classes for her ten-year-olds, and even tree-hugging, the villagers begin to think again. Then a strange malaise afflicts the whole village: lights are seen in Sykes Wood at night; a dog long dead appears to come to life, and a sudden shocking death plunges the village into a state of superstitious dread. And always at the eye of the storm is Kate Pascoe...

For the locals of Turnham Malpas the rural peace is disrupted when a famous actor comes to stay to recuperate from illness. Before long he is bored by village life and when he meets Caroline, the rector's wife, he is instantly attracted to her. He agrees to direct and star in a play with the villagers as his supporting cast and Caroline as his leading lady... Before long, the villagers' lives are turned upside down: a marriage is wrecked, a proud man humbled and two people are brought closer together as gossip, scandal and jealousy mount...

Things are heating up in the village of Turnham Malpas. Now comfortably settled in the Big House, Johnny and Alice Templeton are over the moon at the arrival of their second son. But Johnny's roguish younger brother, Chris, is visiting from Brazil and causing trouble in the village. For Ford and Mercedes Barclay, returning to the village after all these years is a big step. Will they be welcomed or shunned? And will Ford be able to convince people he's a changed man? Meanwhile, poor Fran Charter-Plackett has some important decisions to make about her future. With all her siblings having flown the nest, the pressure is on to decide what to do with her life. And when her parents discover Fran's shocking secret, things really start to get messy...

You can't escape your past. At least that's what the residents of Turnham Malpas would say… While clearing out the rectory's loft, Reverend Peter Harris makes an unsettling discovery and a dark secret is exposed that soon sets tongues wagging in the village. Having received a letter from the sons she hasn't heard from in 15 years, local gossip Greta Jones is delighted at the prospect of seeing them after all this time - despite her husband's misgivings. And Craddock Fitch's unruly grandchildren, newly arrived in the village, are causing not a little trouble for the townsfolk. Meanwhile Fran Charter-Plackett has a difficult decision to make. Her parents would like to see her settled with kind and reliable Alex Harris. But when Chris Templeton, the man whom Fran once lost her heart to, returns to the village, it seems he is all set to steal her affections once more. Is Chris really a changed man? And will Fran finally go with her heart or her head?

The village is bedevilled by talk and all is not as it seems in the village of Turnham Malpas ... Does pushy newcomer Venetia have her eye on Peter, the handsome rector Is Jeremy, her husband, really making a success of the new health club And why does Willie's new love set a vicious tongue wagging In the Royal Oak, the usual banter has turned to bitter wrangling as the rector's wife Caroline makes a challenge over an ancient country tradition and splits the village her husband had so recently united. As the people of the village use the power of words to reconcile or divide, Peter finds it is what isn't talked about that threatens to cause madness, confusion and tragedy.

On the last day of her mother's life, Rebecca learns she has a family in Cornwall, and sets out to find the grandfather and cousin she has never known. At her dying mother's bedside, Rebecca Bayliss is shattered to learn of a family she never knew existed. Determined to find them, Rebecca journeys to Boscarva, a beautiful mansion in Cornwall, to meet a family torn by passion and greed. From her grandfather Grenville Bayliss, who is hiding an explosive secret, to a handsome cousin, whose kisses are dangerously seductive, to sensual craftsman Joss Gardner, whose past hints of intrigue, Rebecca becomes entangled in a family mystery... and unravelling it holds the key to her future and her heart.

Shaw began writing Man and Superman in 1901 and determined to write a play that would encapsulate the new century's intellectual inheritance. Shaw drew not only on Byron's verse satire, but also on Shakespeare, the Victorian comedy fashionable in his early life, and from authors from Conan Doyle to Kipling. In this powerful drama of ideas, Shaw explores the role of the artist, the function of women in society, and his theory of Creative Evolution. As Stanley Weintraub says in his new introduction, this is "the first great twentieth-century English play" and remains a classic expose of the eternal struggle between the sexes.

A classic, elegant romance set in a Japanese fishing village. 'A work of art...altogether a joyous and lovely thing' New York Times Set in a remote fishing village in Japan, The Sound of Waves is a timeless story of first love. It tells of Shinji, a young fisherman and Hatsue, the beautiful daughter of the wealthiest man in the village. Shinji is entranced at the sight of Hatsue in the twilight on the beach and they fall in love. When the villagers' gossip threatens to divide them, Shinki must risk his life to prove his worth. 'A sunny masterpiece' Los Angeles Times

Shaw had a breakdown, but he's getting himself back together. He has a single room, a job on a decaying London barge, and an on-off affair with a doctor's daughter called Victoria, who claims to have seen her first corpse at age thirteen. It's not ideal, but it's a life. Or it would be if Shaw hadn't got himself involved in a conspiracy theory that, on dark nights by the river, seems less and less theoretical... Meanwhile, Victoria is up in the Midlands, renovating her dead mother's house, trying to make new friends. But what, exactly, happened to her mother? Why has the local waitress disappeared into a shallow pool in a field behind the house? And why is the town so obsessed with that old Victorian morality tale, The Water Babies? As Shaw and Victoria struggle to maintain their relationship, the sunken lands are rising up again, unnoticed in the shadows around them.

In this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense, reward-seeker Colter Shaw infiltrates a sinister cult after learning that the only way to get somebody out . . . is to go in. In the wilderness of Washington State, expert tracker Colter Shaw has located two young men accused of a terrible hate crime. But when his pursuit takes a shocking and tragic turn, Shaw becomes desperate to discover what went so horribly wrong and if he is to blame. Shaws search for answers leads him to a shadowy organization that bills itself as a grief support group. But is it truly it a community that consoles the bereaved? Or a dangerous cult with a growing body count? Undercover, Shaw joins the mysterious group, risking everything despite the fact that no reward is on offer. He soon finds that some people will stop at nothing to keep their secrets hidden . . . and to make sure that he or those close to him say "goodbye" forever.

In this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense, reward-seeker Colter Shaw infiltrates a sinister cult after learning that the only way to get somebody out . . . is to go in. In the wilderness of Washington State, expert tracker Colter Shaw has located two young men accused of a terrible hate crime. But when his pursuit takes a shocking and tragic turn, Shaw becomes desperate to discover what went so horribly wrong and if he is to blame. Shaws search for answers leads him to a shadowy organization that bills itself as a grief support group. But is it truly it a community that consoles the bereaved? Or a dangerous cult with a growing body count? Undercover, Shaw joins the mysterious group, risking everything despite the fact that no reward is on offer. He soon finds that some people will stop at nothing to keep their secrets hidden . . . and to make sure that he or those close to him say "goodbye" forever.

Welcome to the village of Notwithstanding, where a lady dresses in plus fours and shoots squirrels, a retired general gives up wearing clothes altogether, a spiritualist lives in a cottage with the ghost of her husband, and people think it quite natural to confide in a spider that lives in a potting shed. Based on de Bernieres' recollections of the village he grew up in, Notwithstanding is a funny and moving depiction of a charming vanished England.

One of Bernard Shaw’s most glittering comedies, Arms and the Man is a burlesque of Victorian attitudes to heroism, war and empire. In the contrast between Bluntschli, the mercenary soldier, and the brave leader, Sergius, the true nature of valour is revealed. Shaw mocks deluded idealism in Candida, when a young poet becomes infatuated with the wife of a Socialist preacher. The Man of Destiny is a witty war of words between Napoleon and a ‘strange lady’, while in the exuberant farce You Never Can Tell a divided family is reunited by chance. Although Shaw intended Plays Pleasant to be gentler comedies than those in their companion volume, Plays Unpleasant, their prophetic satire is sharp and provocative.