Now in paperback, the hugely acclaimed, authorised biography of Britain's most popular playwright Alan Ayckbourn is Britain's most popular playwright and its most private. He has won numerous awards for his plays and has worked with some of theatre's most celebrated names, yet he spends most of his time away from the limelight in a Yorkshire seaside town not writing at all but running a small repertory theatre. This is a portrait of a man who - from Relatively Speaking in 1965 to his double play House and Garden at the National Theatre in 2000 - has chronicled human behaviour, our aspirations and insecurities, while shaping the theatrical experience of millions. "Mr Allen's book makes me want to start reading the entire Ayckbourn canon over again...splendid stuff" Hugh Leonard, Sunday Independent "Paul Allen has come up with a wise, well-informed book that not only persuades us of Ayckbourn's genius but also helps to explain this complex, driven man" Michael Billington, Country Life "Lucid, meticulously researched ... this impressively detailed account benefits from Paul Allen's rich inside knowledge of theatre" Terry Eagleton, Times Literary Supplement "Thorough and enjoyable" Christopher Hirst, Independent

It's been quite a week for Joe Grey. First the large, powerful feline discovers that, through some strange, inexplicable phenomenon, he now has the ability to understand human language. Then he discovers he can speak it as well! It's a nightmare for a cat who'd prefer to sleep the day away carefree, but Joe can handle it. That is, until he has the misfortune to witness a murder in the alley behind Jolly's Deli -- and worse, to be seen witnessing it. With all of his nine lives suddenly at risk, Joe's got no choice but to get to the bottom of the heinous crime -- because his mouse-hunting days are over for good unless he can help bring a killer to justice.

The unstoppable Ruby Darke returns as old enemies threaten her family in The Edge, a gripping gangland thriller from top ten bestselling author Jessie Keane. With a mind sharper than a razor blade it was only a matter of time before Ruby Darke fought her way to the top. From humble beginnings she became the queen of London’s retail, but she didn’t get there by obeying the law. Now with her son Kit and daughter Daisy finally by her side she’s ready to start a new chapter in her life, but, unknown to all of them, enemies are circling. There aren’t many who threaten Ruby Darke and live to tell the tale. But this time, she may just have met her match. If you live on the edge, you may just die on it . . . This heart-racing series starts with Nameless and Lawless.

The primary character Jim Lacy portrays a Gung Ho young man who volunteered for the Army Airborne where he spent time in Korea during the war. Immediately prior to his deployment to Korea, he married a beautiful young lady Teena Roberts, whose wealthy parents were killed in a plane crash during his deployment. Since she was an only child, it resulted in a large inheritance settlement to his spouse. That, combined with the large settlement from the air crash made her an extremely wealthy young lady. They elected to place the inheritance in a trust fund for the family children in future years After returning from his tour of duty he and his wealthy young wife both volunteered for a newly formed Special Forces Unit to be deployed in undercover work throughout the world. The unit ultimately evolved into the highly sophisticated US Secret Services Agencies (Un-named) that operate in todays world. Their positions required extensive long term training prior to deployment on field assignments. The story includes the Romance, Love & Passions enjoyed by all young married couples. Parts of the story are based on lives of real people. Many of the names used for the characters in the book are real names of the people depicted. It is a story of mystery and intrigue as they were assigned to special projects in various parts of the world. It relates to the True Real Life Passions shared by all young married couples. Additionally it includes actions in a world of special agents and intrigue of life most people only read or dream about. If you enjoy a book filled with action, love and romanceyou will enjoy the story. A sequel of the story is planned.

Hailed as a classic of speculative fiction, Marge Piercy’s landmark novel is a transformative vision of two futures—and what it takes to will one or the other into reality. Harrowing and prescient, Woman on the Edge of Time speaks to a new generation on whom these choices weigh more heavily than ever before. Connie Ramos is a Mexican American woman living on the streets of New York. Once ambitious and proud, she has lost her child, her husband, her dignity—and now they want to take her sanity. After being unjustly committed to a mental institution, Connie is contacted by an envoy from the year 2137, who shows her a time of sexual and racial equality, environmental purity, and unprecedented self-actualization. But Connie also bears witness to another potential outcome: a society of grotesque exploitation in which the barrier between person and commodity has finally been eroded. One will become our world. And Connie herself may strike the decisive blow. Praise for Woman on the Edge of Time “This is one of those rare novels that leave us different people at the end than we were at the beginning. Whether you are reading Marge Piercy’s great work again or for the first time, it will remind you that we are creating the future with every choice we make.”—Gloria Steinem “An ambitious, unusual novel about the possibilities for moral courage in contemporary society.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “A stunning, even astonishing novel . . . marvelous and compelling.”—Publishers Weekly “Connie Ramos’s world is cuttingly real.”—Newsweek “Absorbing and exciting.”—The New York Times Book Review

When the girl with the golden hair manipulates betrayal, her people may be given their only hope of surviving. The stories say the Goldilocks stepped into the Baers’ roles, only finding her perfect fit at the end, but they never said what she would have to go through to discover where she belonged or that she would have to step away from everyone’s plans for her life in order to create her own and save her people from the Society. Having found a stronghold amongst the soldiers trying to end them, the Baers will use their hold over Magistrate Canton to control the Society and free their people—if Shadoe’s hunger for power doesn’t destroy them all and cause their plans to crumble. As Dov and Auluria race to the Camps to free the young men and women being held here in hopes of finding new allies for their ongoing war, they uncover just how deep the Society’s hold is on their country. In their greatest battle yet, Goldilocks and the three Baers will have to fight for the fate of an entire country, bringing down the corrupt government, deciding who is friend or foe, and toppling the Wall in the fight for their freedom, but no one will make it out unscathed—if they make it out at all. When allegiances align and battle lines are drawn, her destruction might be the only thing to save them all.

The central character of Alan Ayckbourn's new play is Susan, a parson's wife, 'one of the most moving and devastating that he has created...' Robin Thornber reviewing the first production in Scarborough in the Guardian.

Theres a seventeen story building in Battle Creek, Michigan that still stands today. Seventy-five years ago, a steel-worker by the name of Nelson Talltrees, died on the fifth floor during its construction. This is a story about how his ghost still haunts suite 501. Once the entity discovers whats important to those that have set up shop there, he seduces them by using their greed against them by promising them success. Nelson delivers on his promise, but in the process, the entity eventually takes control of everything in his victims life, until it pushes the victim Over the Edge.

A psychological drama with a masterful, pulse-quickening plot revolving around two seemingly very different men, who have more in common than they know. Thomas Clarin is a divorce lawyer whose profession has fostered a deep and abiding distrust of marriage, preferring instead to "play the field." Thomas Loos is a somber widower intensely mourning his wife's death. With Clarin's flirtatious, roving eye and Loos's complete disenchantment with the world around him, it would seem these men had nothing in common. But after a fateful meeting in a crowded Swiss restaurant, the two strike up a conversation that unearths unnerving coincidences. With brilliant ease, Werner's meticulously rendered story begins quietly at first, then grabs its reader, refusing to let go. On the Edge, widely acclaimed by reviewers as a treasure of contemporary German literature, has been published in 15 different countries, and has sold over 400,000 copies in Germany alone since its publication in 2004.