Headline The Stone Rose McGrath Carol

'You lay hands on a princess of the realm? It is treason.' • 'But this princess disobeys her King. Treason indeed.' • 1266. Eleanor of Castile, adored wife of the Crown Prince of England, is still only a princess when she is held hostage in the brutal Baron's Rebellion, and her baby daughter dies. Scarred by privation, a bitter Eleanor swears revenge on those who would harm her family - and vows never to let herself be vulnerable again • As she rises to become Queen, Eleanor keeps Olwen - a trusted herbalist, who tried to save her daughter - by her side. But it is dangerous to be friendless in a royal household, and as the court sets out on crusade, Olwen and Eleanor discover that the true battle for Europe may not be a matter of swords and lances, but one fanned by whispers and spies

An adventure story of love, loss, survival and reconciliation • The Handfasted Wife is the story of the Norman Conquest from the perspective of Edith (Elditha) Swanneck, Harold's common-law wife. She is set aside for a political marriage when Harold becomes king in 1066. Determined to protect her children's destinies and control her economic future, she is taken to William's camp when her estate is sacked on the eve of the Battle of Hastings. She later identifies Harold's body on the battlefield and her youngest son becomes a Norman hostage • Elditha avoids an arranged marriage with a Breton knight by which her son might or might not be given into his care. She makes her own choice and sets out through strife-torn England to seek help from her sons in Dublin

A marriage made in Heaven, or Hell? • 1075 and Dowager Queen Edith has died. Her niece Gunnhild longs to leave Wilton Abbey but is her suitor Breton knight Count Alain of Richmond interested in her inheritance as the daughter of King Harold and Edith Swan-Neck, or does he love her for herself? • Is her own love for Count Alain an enduring love or has she made a terrible mistake? The Swan Daughter is woven around a true 11th century tale of elopement, love and courage

September 1068 • Thea, also known as Gytha, the elder daughter of King Harold II, travels with her brothers and grandmother into exile carrying revenge in her heart. She is soon betrothed to a prince of Kiev. Will her betrothal and marriage bring her happiness, as she confronts enemies from inside and outside Russian territories? Will she prove herself the courageous princess she surely is, win her princely husband's respect and establish her independence in a society protective towards its women?

Prokopych, a stone carver, takes in an orphan named Danila. With Prokopych?s help, Danila develops into a very skilled stone carver. Danila hears the story of the Stone Flower, which belongs to the Mistress of Copper Mountain and begins to think about the Stone Flower all the time. On the day before Danila?s wedding to Katya, Danila goes to Serpent Hill in search of the Stone Flower and meets the Mistress of Copper Mountain. Danila begs her to show him the Stone Flower, so she takes him to the Magic Garden. Will Danila stay with the Mistress of the Copper Mountain or will he go back to his own people?

The Thousand Lights Hotel is the gorgeous new novel from Emylia Hall, author of Richard and Judy Summer Pick THE BOOK OF SUMMERS. Set in idyllic Italy, it's the perfect holiday read, for fans of Louise Douglas and Hannah Richell • When Kit loses her mother in tragic circumstances, she feels drawn to finally connect with the father she has never met. That search brings her to the Thousand Lights Hotel, the perfect holiday escape perched upon a cliff on the island of Elba. Within this idyllic setting a devastating truth is brought to light: shaking the foundations upon which the hotel is built, and shattering the lives of the people within it • A heartbreaking story of loss, betrayal, and redemption, told with all the warmth and beauty of an Italian summer

The locals of the Cornish village of Polperran are grieving the sudden loss of Bea Kimbrel, a cornerstone of their small community • Now her reclusive, estranged daughter Alice has turned up, keen to tie up Bea's affairs and move on • But Alice receives a strange bequest from Bea - a collection of unfinished tasks to help out those in Polperran most in need • As each little act brings her closer to understanding her mother, it also begins to offer Alice the courage to open her clamped-shut heart. Perhaps Bea's project will finally unlock the powerful secrets both women have been keeping • The Kindness Project will draw you deep into the lives of two compelling women who should never have missed their chance to say goodbye. It will break your heart - and piece it back together again

The gritty new mystery in Quintin Jardine's bestselling Bob Skinner series, set in Edinburgh and the Scottish countryside; not to be missed by readers of Ian Rankin and Peter May • Nine years ago, divorcee Marcia Brown took her own life. A pillar of the community, she had been accused of theft, and it's assumed that she was unable to live with the shame. Now her former husband wants the case reopened. Marcia was framed, he says, to prevent her exposing a scandal. He wants justice for Marcia. And Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate, and daughter of retired Chief Constable Sir Robert Skinner, has taken on the brief, aided by her investigator Carrie McDaniels • When tragedy strikes and his daughter comes under threat, Skinner steps in. His quarry is about to discover that the road to hell is marked by bad intentions

Young widow Elizabeth Williams is determined to make a success of the business she inherited from her merchant father. But an independent woman draws the wrong kind of attention, and Elizabeth soon realises she has enemies - enemies who know the dark truth about her dead husband • Happiness arrives when Elizabeth meets rapidly rising lawyer, Thomas Cromwell. Their marriage begins in mutual love and respect - but it isn't easy being the wife of an ambitious courtier in Henry VIII's London. The city is both merciless and filled with temptation, and Elizabeth soon realises she must take care in the life she has chosen . . . or risk losing everything

‘I don’t believe in fate,’ Holly whispered • ‘Really?’ Jack asked. He reached up and his thumb caressed her cheek, softly. ‘Even after all this?’ • Every December, Holly writes to a stranger who is spending Christmas alone. And every year she receives a letter from another lonely person. Being a part of the Dear Stranger club is a tradition she has come to treasure. Because ever since the accident three years ago, Holly has spent Christmas alone • Usually, the letters go unanswered. But when Holly reads this year’s Christmas letter, from an older woman called Emma, she feels compelled to find her, as Emma mentions a place Holly knows all too well • Holly offers to help Emma reconnect with her estranged grandson. But when Holly tracks down handsome, dark-eyed Jack, she realises she’s met him once before, and the connection was electric

Set in seventeenth-century Iran, The Blood of Flowers is the powerful and haunting story of a young girl's journey from innocence to adulthood • The novel begins in the 1620s in a remote village where the narrator (whose name, in the Iranian storytelling tradition, we are never to know) lives with her mother and rug-maker father. On the sudden death of her father, our heroine and her mother fall upon hard times and are forced to travel to the bustling, beautiful, exotic city of Isfahan where relatives take them in • Everything is new: the grudging charity of her aunt, the encouragement of her uncle, one of the finest carpet-makers in the world, who begins to teach her his craft, the treacherous friendship of the daughter of rich neighbours. And there's an adventure ahead which will introduce her to the sensual side of life as well as to the cruelty of betrayal and rejection before she finds her way to contentment and possibly, even, to happiness, in a world full of contrasts and dangers

London, 1947: Besieged by a harsh winter, burdened by shortages and rationing, the people of post-war Britain are suffering despite their nation's recent victory. For Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell, a glimmer of brightness comes in the form of their unlikely friendship and being chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honour: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth's wedding gown • Toronto, 2016: Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved nan, who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her nan's connection to the celebrated textile artist and Holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin? • With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created to tell a story of women whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love