Reading Victorian Poetry offers close readings of poems from the Victorian era by a renowned scholar. The selection includes a range of canonical and lesser known writers Skilfully conveys the breadth and diversity of nineteenth-century poetry Offers an ideal balance of canonical and less well-known writers Allows readers to explore the poetry of the Victorian era, through the eyes of one of the most renowned scholars in the field Poets covered include Matthew Arnold, Emily Brontë, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, A. H. Clough, G. M. Hopkins, Edward Lear, Christina Rossetti, D. G. Rossetti, A. C. Swinburne, Arthur Symons, Alfred Tennyson, Oscar Wilde

Set during the fall-out of the Cultural Revolution, these bizarre and delicate stories capture the collision of the old China of vanished dynasties, with communism and today's tiger economy. The mad woman on the bridge wears a historical gown which she refuses to take off. In the height of summer she stands madly on the bridge. Until a young female doctor, bewitched by the beauty of the mad woman's dress, plots to take it from her, with tragic consequences.

At Edinburgh's Department of Environmental Health, hard-drinking, womanising officer Danny Skinner wants to uncover secrets: 'the bedroom secrets of the master chefs', secrets he believes might just help him understand his self-destructive impulses. But the arrival of the virginal, model-railway enthusiast Brian Kibby at the department provokes an uncharacteristic response in Skinner, and threatens to throw his mission off course. Consumed by loathing for his nemesis, Skinner enacts a curse, and when Kibby contracts a horrific and debilitating mystery virus, Skinner understands that their destinies are supernaturally bound, and he is faced with a terrible dilemma.

The tenth Richard Bolitho novel in Alexander Kent's spectacularly successful series deals with Bolitho's life as a young lieutenant aboard the Trojan, an eighty-gun ship of the line. The year is 1777 when the revolution in America has erupted into a full-scale war. The navy's main task is to prevent military supplies from reaching Washington's armies and to destroy the fast-growing fleet of French and American privateers. As a junior officer Bolitho is often bewildered by swiftly changing events, but in a ship of the line, under a hard and determined captain, he has little opportunity for uncertainty. At a time of shortages and sudden death even a lieutenant can find himself faced with tasks and decisions more suitably given to officers of greater experience - and as the Trojan goes about her affairs the threat to Bolitho and his companions makes itself felt from New York to the Caribbean.

When the city sleeps, the dead start to walk... Something has sealed off Cardiff, and living corpses are stalking the streets, leaving a trail of half-eaten bodies. Animals are butchered. A young couple in their car never reach their home. A stolen yacht is brought back to shore, carrying only human remains. And a couple of girls heading back from the pub watch the mysterious drivers of a big black SUV take over a crime scene. Torchwood have to deal with the intangible barrier surrounding Cardiff, and some unidentified space debris that seems to be regenerating itself. Plus, of course, the all-night zombie horror show. Not that they really believe in zombies. Featuring Captain Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman, with Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones as played by Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd, in the hit science fiction series created by Russell T Davies for BBC Television.

It's autumn in Gothenburg and an anxious mother calls the police: her little boy was lured into a car by a man offering sweets. The child is returned unharmed but then the same thing happens with a little girl, and then another. Each child attends a different nursery, and each parent contacts a different police station, so, at first, no connection is established and the reports are filed and then forgotten. Meanwhile DCI Winter is investigating a series of random attacks on strangely uncooperative university students, but when a a four-year-old boy is abducted and found injured, the forgotten files resurface and a link between the stories becomes apparent. As Gothenburg prepares for Christmas, Winter is in a race against time to prevent a horrific catastrophe.

Sooner or later, everybody pays. Gerry Fegan, a former paramilitary contract killer, is haunted by the ghosts of the 12 people he has slaughtered. Every night, on the point of losing his mind, he drowns their screams in drink. His solution is to kill those who engineered their deaths. From the greedy politicians to the corrupt security forces, the street thugs to the complacent bystanders who let it happen, all are called to account. But when Fegan's vendetta threatens to derail a hard-won truce and destabilise the government, old comrades and enemies alike want him dead. Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Thriller.

Summer, 1952. Twenty powerful men gather in secret and devise a plot to manipulate the President of the United States. Soon after, writer Eddie Wesley leaves a party hosted by affluent and influential members of black society, and discovers a body. The murdered man had an unusual gold cross gripped between his hands and Eddie is determined to find out why he was killed and what the cross signifies. But then Eddie's sister Junie becomes entangled in an underground movement and vanishes... Is her disappearance connected to the conspiracy to control the President of the United States?

Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She has a great flat, a fabulous wardrobe full of the season's must-haves, and a job telling other people how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time ... shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can't. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The letters from the bank are getting harder to ignore. Can Becky ever escape from this dreamworld, find true love, and regain the use of her credit card? The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic... the perfect pick-me-up for when it's all hanging in the (bank) balance. Everybody loves Sophie Kinsella: "I almost cried with laughter" Daily Mail "Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page" Jenny Colgan "Properly mood-altering . . . funny, fast and farcical. I loved it" Jojo Moyes "A superb tale. Five stars!" Heat

For Rebecca Bloomwood, life is peachy. She has a job on morning TV, her bank manager is actually being nice to her, and when it comes to spending money, her new motto is Buy Only What You Need - and she's really (sort of) sticking to it. The icing on the brioche is that she's been offered a chance to work in New York. New York! The Museum of Modern Art! The Guggenheim! The Metropolitan Opera House! And Becky does mean to go to them all. Honestly. It's just that it seems silly not to check out a few other famous places first. Like Saks. And Bloomingdales. And Barneys. And one of those fantastic sample sales where you can get a Prada dress for $10. Or was it $100? Is Becky too dazzled to care? Everybody loves Sophie Kinsella: "I almost cried with laughter" Daily Mail "Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page" Jenny Colgan "Properly mood-altering . . . funny, fast and farcical. I loved it" Jojo Moyes "A superb tale. Five stars!" Heat

For once in Becky Bloomwood’s life, things are going smoothly. She’s got the dream job as a personal shopper (spending other people’s money – and getting paid for it). She’s got a fabulous Manhattan apartment with her boyfriend Luke. They’ve even opened a joint bank account (although they can’t quite agree on whether a Miu Miu skirt counts as a household expense). Then Luke proposes – and all of a sudden life gets hectic. Becky’s mum in rural Surrey wants one thing, Luke’s mother in New York wants the complete opposite. Becky knows she has to sit down and decide – but to be honest, it’s a lot more fun testing cake, trying on dresses and registering wedding presents. But time’s ticking by, plans are being made both sides of the Atlantic and soon she realizes she’s in trouble… Everybody loves Sophie Kinsella: "I almost cried with laughter" Daily Mail "Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page" Jenny Colgan "Properly mood-altering . . . funny, fast and farcical. I loved it" Jojo Moyes "A superb tale. Five stars!" Heat

Nervous flyer Emma is sitting on a turbulent plane. She really thinks that this could be her last moment. So, naturally enough, she starts telling the man sitting next to her - quite a dishy American, but she's too frightened to notice - all her secrets. How she scans the backs of intellectual books and pretends she's read them. How she's not sure if she has a G-spot, and whether her boyfriend could find it anyway. How she feels like a fraud at work - everyone uses the word 'operational' all the time but she hasn't a clue what it means. How she once threw a troublesome client file in the bin. If ever there was a bare soul, it's hers. She survives the flight, of course, and the next morning the famous founding boss of the whole mega corporation she works for is coming for a look at the UK branch. As he walks around, Emma looks up and realises... It's the man from the plane. What will he do with her secrets? He knows them all - but she doesn't know a single one of his. Or... does she? Everyone loves Sophie Kinsella: "I almost cried with laughter" Daily Mail "Hilarious . . . you'll laugh and gasp on every page" Jenny Colgan "Properly mood-altering . . . funny, fast and farcical. I loved it" Jojo Moyes "A superb tale. Five stars!" Heat