Penguin The Mad Women's Ball Mas Victoria

The Salpetriere asylum, 1885. All of Paris is in thrall to Doctor Charcot and his displays of hypnotism on women who have been deemed mad or hysterical, outcasts from society. But the truth is much more complicated - for these women are often simply inconvenient, unwanted wives or strong-willed daughters. Once a year a grand ball is held at the hospital. For the Parisian elite, the Mad Women's Ball is the highlight of the social season; for the women themselves, it is a rare moment of hope • Genevieve is a senior nurse. After the childhood death of her sister, she has shunned religion and placed her faith in Doctor Charcot and his new science. But everything begins to change when she meets Eugenie, the 19-year-old daughter of a bourgeois family

Martha is now in her thirties. Her daughter has left home and she is lonely and vulnerable. The hard knocks have taken their toll on her health, and as she looks into the years still lying ahead of her, she shakes her head, feeling she hasn't the heart or the strength to go on • As she teeters on the brink of a nervous breakdown, a phone call summons ghosts from the past. She discovers that one of the family is dead and the others need her help. Martha returns and when she comes face to face with the evil, psychotic Jackser, she can no longer suppress the nightmares of her childhood • A suicide attempt sees her admitted to the 'mad house', where a hunger strike takes her even nearer to death. But finally she sees a chink of light at the end of the tunnel

A car wreck on the slopes of Mount Morgan puts insurance tycoon Lyman Felt in the hospital. While Lyman recovers, two women meet in the hospital waiting room only to discover that they are both married to him. With his secrets exposed, Lyman tries to justify himself to the two women - the prim, cultured Theo and the restless, ambitious Leah - at the same time hoping to convince himself that he is blameless • Moving between broad farce and delicate tragedy, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan explores the struggle between honesty with others and honesty with oneself

It's 1944 and Britain is a country at war. The young women of the Phoenix munitions factory are giving their all to the cause, but romance is beckoning • The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor • This blasted factory was not what Julia had in mind either. She had always dreamed of attending Oxford University rather than getting her hands dirty and the easy laughter of the other women intimidate her terribly • But they are all here together in this munitions factory in a Lancashire mill town, sharing firsts, pitching in and getting on. Despite rationing, dangerous hard work and new situations these Bomb Girls are going to do their best at work, and in love

Is there a murderer across the street? • 1964 • Twenty-three-year-old Katy Speed is fascinated by glamorous Gloria and the goings-on at her house over the road • Who are the mysterious women that keep coming and going in the strange black car? • Then one night, Gloria's house burns to the ground. Bodies are found in the wreckage • And Katy's horror turns to disbelief when her own father is arrested and charged with murder • Determined to prove his innocence, Katy sets out to uncover the truth about the mysterious house across the street and find the real murderer • But that means risking her own life

A sweeping new novel from the number one Sunday Times bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife • In 1943, Contessa Sofia de' Corsi's peaceful Tuscan villa among the olive groves is upturned by the sudden arrival of German soldiers. Desperate to fight back, she agrees to shelter a wounded British radio engineer in her home, keeping him hidden from her husband Lorenzo - knowing that she is putting all of their lives at risk • When Maxine, an Italian-American working for the resistance, arrives on Sofia's doorstep, the pair forge an uneasy alliance. Feisty, independent Maxine promised herself never to fall in love. But when she meets a handsome partisan named Marco, she realizes it's a promise she can't keep • Before long, the two women find themselves entangled in a dangerous game with the Nazis

At the close of the Second World War, Intelligence Officer Gus Clifton returns to London • On his arm is Krista, the German wife he married secretly in Berlin • For his two sisters, this broken woman is nothing more than the enemy. For Nella, Gus's loyal fiancee, it is a terrible betrayal. As the three women wonder what hold Krista has over decent, honourable Gus, they begin to ask themselves • How far will they have to go to permanently get her out of their home, their future, their England?

The masterful second novel in Pat Barker's classic 'Regeneration' trilogy - from the Booker Prize-winning and Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Silence of the Girls • London, 1918. Billy Prior is working for Intelligence in the Ministry of Munitions. But his private encounters with women and men - pacifists, objectors, homosexuals - conflict with his duties as a soldier, and it is not long before his sense of himself fragments and breaks down. Forced to consult the man who helped him before - army psychiatrist William Rivers - Prior must confront his inability to be the dutiful soldier his superiors wish him to be. The Eye in the Door is a heart-rending study of the contradictions of war and of those forced to live through it

The Keeper of Lost Causes (originally published in the UK as Mercy) is the nail-biting first book in the internationally bestselling Department Q series • At first the prisoner scratches at the walls until her fingers bleed. But there is no escaping the room. With no way of measuring time, her days, weeks, months go unrecorded. She vows not to go mad. She will not give her captors the satisfaction. She will die first • Copenhagen detective Carl Mørck has been taken off homicide to run a newly created department for unsolved crimes. His first case concerns Merete Lynggaard, who vanished five years ago. Everyone says she's dead. Everyone says it's a waste of time. He thinks they're right • The voice in the dark is distorted, harsh and without mercy

The Mayan Secrets is the exceptional fifth Fargo Adventure novel by Clive Cussler • Mexico, present day: a revelation of precious knowledge from the past has the power to change the course of humanity's future • Treasure-hunting husband and wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are in Central America when they come upon a remarkable discovery - the skeleton of a man clutching an ancient sealed pot. Inside the pot is a well-preserved Mayan book, larger than any previously found by archaeologists • The book contains astonishing information about the Mayans, about their cities, and about mankind itself. The secrets are so powerful that some people would do anything to possess them - as the Fargos are about to find out • Before their adventure is done, men and women will die for the riches contained in the ancient book - and it's just possible that Sam and Remi may be among them

The news from the north is grim • An army is massing under the new king of Feal. They head towards Darien - city of the Twelve families - • demanding allegiance, or war • Tellius, Speaker to the Council, knows this divided city will never stand against such a terrible foe • But Tellius has a plan • He will assemble a band of heroes. Men and women who once before aided Darien in her time of need • They will come if he calls • The army approaches • The trumpets of war sound • A great city holds its breath • And a desperate plan unfolds • Discover the first two instalments in the thrilling Empire of Salt series Darien and Shiang, perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Game of Thrones

The Spy is the third of Clive Cussler's brilliant historical thrillers • 1908, and American engineering geniuses are being killed off one by one • When a brilliant battleship gun engineer commits suicide, his disbelieving family turn to legendary Van Dorn Detective Agency. Quickly on the case, Isaac Bell establishes that the clues point not to suicide, but murder • So when further deaths connected to a top-secret project follow, Bell realizes that this is sabotage. With the world plunging towards war, it's clearly a spy at large. But which of the many foreign agents he has encountered is responsible? Or is there a more sinister explanation? • In a blistering story featuring dreadnaught battleships and railroards, criminal gangs and beautiful women, The Spy is a breathtaking thriller that just happens to have at stake the fate of the world