Weidenfeld & Nicolson Life Richards Keith

Vera was painting the pony's hooves gold in the dining room; Janet said this was bad for him; poison would seep into his bloodstream • At the bottom of a great stone staircase, dressed in her mother's black lace evening dress, twisted in murderous death, lies Janet. So end the sixteen years of Janet's short life • A life spent in a draughty Scottish castle, where roses will not grow, and a jackdaw decides to live in the doll's house • A life peopled by prettier, smoother-haired siblings, a Nanny with a face like the North Sea and the peculiar, whisky-swigging Cousin Lila • A life where Janet is perpetually misunderstood - and must turn from people, to animals, to books, to her own wild and wonderful imagination

What is it like to be a brain surgeon? • How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut through the stuff that creates thought, feeling and reason? • How do you live with the consequences when it all goes wrong? • Do No Harm offers an unforgettable insight into the highs and lows of a life dedicated to operating on the human brain, in all its exquisite complexity. With astonishing candour and compassion, Henry Marsh reveals the exhilarating drama of surgery, the chaos and confusion of a busy modern hospital, and above all the need for hope when faced with life's most agonising decisions

Jennifer Worth's bestselling memoirs of her time as a midwife have inspired and moved readers of all ages • Now, in In the Midst of Life she documents her experiences as a nurse and ward sister, treating patients who were nearing the end of their lives. Interspersed with these stories from Jennifer's post-midwife career are the histories of her patients, from the family divided by a decision nobody could bear to make, to the mother who comes to her son's adopted country and joins his family without being able to speak a word of English • In the Midst of Life also gives moving insights not just into Jennifer's life and career, but also of a period of time which seems very different to today's, fast-paced world

Cormac is a photographer. Approaching forty and still single, he suddenly finds himself 'the leftover man' • Through talent and charm, he has escaped small town life and a haunted family. But now his peers are all getting divorced, dying, or buying trampolines in the suburbs. Cormac is dating former students, staying out all night and receiving boilerplate rejection emails for his work, propped up by a constellation of the women and ex-lovers in his life • In the last weeks of the year, Cormac meets Caroline, an ambitious young dancer, and embarks on a miniature odyssey of intimacy. Simultaneously, he must take responsibility for his married brother, whose mid-life crisis forces them both to reckon with a death in the family that hangs over those left behind

This final book in Jennifer Worth's memories of her time as a midwife in London's East end brings her story full circle. As always there are heartbreaking stories such as the family devastated by tuberculosis and a ship's woman who 'serviced' the entire crew, as well as plenty of humour and warmth, such as the tale of two women who shared the same husband! Other stories cover backstreet abortions, the changing life of the docklands, infanticide, as well as the lives of the inhabitants of Nonnatus House • We discover what happens with the gauche debutant Chummy and her equally gauche policeman; will Sister Monica Joan continue her life of crime? Will Sister Evangelina ever crack a smile? And what of Jennifer herself? The book not only details the final years of the tenements but also of Jennifer's journey as she moves on from the close community of nuns, and her life takes a new path

A beautifully written love story set in 1960s Soho amid the revival of fascism • When twenty-year-old Vivien Epstein, a Jewish hairdresser from Manchester, moves to London to make a new start, she quickly finds herself swept up in a city buzzing with life, on the cusp of the Swinging Sixties. But beneath the surface, Vivien is desperate to find Jack Fox, a man she had a brief but intense romance with. Her search will lead her to confront the dark resurgence of fascism in London's East End, which has forced some in the Jewish community to take to the streets • Caught between life, death and a secret that could risk everything, can Vivien and Jack's love survive?

Written in the last year of Roth's life, this is the impassioned story of a young man's love affair with literature, and with his teacher. As Ira Stigman turns from his incestuous childhood affairs, he finds himself competing with his best friend for the attention of their literature professor. From Bondage is the the moving culmination of a great writer's life

As a child, Daniel Sempere discovered among the passageways of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books an extraordinary novel that would change the course of his life. Now a young man in the Barcelona of the late 1950s, Daniel runs the Sempere & Sons bookshop and enjoys a seemingly fulfilling life with his loving wife and son. Yet the mystery surrounding the death of his mother continues to plague his soul • Just when Daniel believes he is close to solving this enigma, a conspiracy more sinister than he could have imagined spreads its tentacles from the hellish Franco regime. That is when Alicia Gris appears, a soul born out of the nightmare of the war. She is the one who will lead Daniel to the edge of the abyss and reveal the secret history of his family, although at a terrifying price

When twenty-year-old Vivien Epstein, a Jewish hairdresser from Manchester, moves to London to make a new start, she quickly finds herself swept up in a city buzzing with life, on the cusp of the Swinging Sixties. But beneath the surface, Vivien is desperate to find Jack Fox, a man she had a brief but intense romance with. Her search will lead her to confront the dark resurgence of fascism in London's East End, which has forced some in the Jewish community to take to the streets • Caught between life, death and a secret that could risk everything, can Vivien and Jack's love survive?

The classic novel of the London Blitz, Darkness Falls from the Air captures the chaos, absurdity and ultimately the tragedy of life during the bombardment • Bill Sarratt is a civil servant working on the war effort. Thwarted at every turn by bureaucracy and the vested interests of big business, the seemingly unflappable Bill is also on the verge of losing his wife Marcia to a literary poseur named Stephen. As the bombs continue to fall, Bill must decide whether he his willing to compromise his principles and prevent his life from crumbling before his very eyes

Magda is a former scientist with a bad temper and a sharp tongue, living alone in a huge house by the sea and getting through carers at a rate of knots • Until Susheela arrives, carrying life with her: grief for her mother's recent death; worry for her father; longing for a beautiful and troubled young man • The two women strike up an unlikely friendship: Magda's no-nonsense attitude turns out to be an unexpected source of strength for Susheela; and Susheela's Bengali heritage brings back memories of Magda's childhood in colonial India and resurrects the tragic figure of her mother, Evelyn • But as Magda digs deeper into her past, she unlocks a shocking legacy of blood that threatens to destroy the careful order she has imposed on her life - a legacy that might just be the key to give the three women, Evelyn, Magda and Susheela, a place they can finally call home

Who is Claire's Father? • A privileged man, surrounded by devoted friends and a family he adores? • Or the deranged killer who attacked Claire's mother and then vanished in thin air? • For thirty years Claire has been obsessed with uncovering the mystery at the heart of her life, and she knows her father's friends - wealthy, powerful, ruthless - hold the key to the truth • They know where Claire's father is. And it's time their perfect lives met her fury