DistractionsThe setting, as always, is the Midlands but it differs from most of his other work in that the central characters are not middle or lower middle class, but very well to do, even aristocratic. The novel opens with the funeral of Edward Fielding's first wife. She has died by her own hand after years of mental illness the first of the distractions which are implied in the title. Edward, too, has behaved in unexpected ways. He loved and cherished his wife

on the desolate border between Sudan and Chad

But even when surrounded by chaos and senseless destruction they still manage to find hope in God

THE HEISTĶ

Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling

a young woman gets swept into a glittering world filled with illicit magic

of Speculation

terrifying' Chris Whitaker

which has just become the target for Russian Railways budget cuts

from bedroom to bedroomto improvise the most unexpected of love stories

Set in a translucent world of knife-edge glaciers

the Labyrinthine castle-city that is as magical as Oz and as full of wonders as Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory

other terrible troubles are taking hold