All Zoe Hall ever wanted to do was act. Then love got in the way of her dreams. But now that she has divorced her husband and come home to Dublin, she is determined to get her career back on track. It’s easier said than done, though, and she earns just as much helping out her caterer friend, Tara Devlin, as she does from acting. Finally she is offered a juicy part – but while she should be concentrating solely on her acting role, she finds herself drawn deep into the lives, loves and heartaches of the people around her, not least those of her beloved brother, Shane. Consumed by her need to help, Zoe is in grave danger of missing out on her second chance – a chance that may also be her last…
Don’t cry; love sport; play rough; drink beer; don’t talk about feelings. But Robert Webb has been wondering for some time now: are those rules actually any use? To anyone? Looking back over his life, from schoolboy crushes (on girls and boys) to discovering the power of making people laugh (in the Cambridge Footlights with David Mitchell and Olivia Colman), and from losing his beloved mother to becoming a husband and father, Robert considers the absurd expectations boys and men have thrust upon them at every stage of his life. HOW NOT TO BE A BOY explores the relationships that made Robert who he is as a man, the lessons we learn as sons and daughters, and the understanding that sometimes you aren’t the Luke Skywalker of your life – you’re actually Darth Vader.
Winter has arrived in the town of Windermere, and has brought with it the death of Frances Henderson, the best friend of Simmy Brown’s mother. Having known the Hendersons all of her life, Simmy must cope with the loss of an important figure from her childhood – as well as surprise at being bequeathed something in Frances’s will. Then, when Frances’s husband Kit is violently murdered in his home, Simmy must face the fact that this family she was once so close to as a child holds some dark and sinister secrets. How will Simmy react to seeing their son Christopher, her childhood sweetheart, after so long – and could the rumours of Kit’s infidelity provide a clue as to who killed him?
One of the most legendary television actors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, David Jason’s career has ranged from theatre work in the West End to providing voices for Mr. Toad in THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, DANGER MOUSE, and THE BFG; and from OPEN ALL HOURS and ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES to his starring role in A TOUCH OF FROST. In ONLY FOOLS AND STORIES, he gives an insight into the many characters he has portrayed over the years: from Del Boy to Granville, Pop Larkin to Frost, he takes us behind the scenes and under the skins of some of the best-loved acts of his career. And in the process, he reflects on how those characters changed his life too.
When MI5 Agent Spider is asked to assume the identity of the contract killer hired to take out President Vladimir Putin, he knows he’ll become a wanted man. And things are about to get more complicated: Spider is told that his MI5 controller and close friend Charlotte Button has been running an off-the-books assassination operation, taking vengeance on the men who killed her husband. Spider owes his life to Button – but this discovery will stretch his loyalty to the limit. Because he is told to betray her. Worse, he’s asked to cooperate with his nemesis at MI6, Jeremy Willoughby Brown, in taking Charlie down. And he will have to cross the assassin Lex Harper, currently on the trail of two Irish terrorists, who may be able to lead him to his ex-boss…
1938: Eighteen-year-old Sidney Chambers is dancing with Amanda Kendall at the Caledonian Club. No one believes, on this golden evening, that there will be another war. Returning to London seven years later, Sidney has gained a Military Cross, and lost his best friend. The carefree youth that he and his friends were promised has been blown apart, just like the rest of the world – and Sidney, carrying a terrible guilt, must decide what to do with the rest of his life. But he has heard a call: constant, though quiet, and growing ever more persistent. To the incredulity of his family and the derision of his friends – irrepressible actor Freddie, and beautiful, spiky Amanda – Sidney must now negotiate his path to God: the course of which, like true love, never runs smooth.
Kamal Ahmed’s childhood was very “British” in every way – except for the fact that he was brown. Half English, half Sudanese, he was raised in 1970s London at a time when being mixed-race meant being told to go home, even when you were born just down the road. Kamal makes the case for a new conversation about race in Britain through personal stories, political analysis, and a passionate belief in the ultimate good of this country. This is a modern commentary from a man who adopted the name Neil growing up (it was better than “camel”) and went on to occupy one of the most elite positions in the British establishment. It is also a call to recognise that this very British mix is the foundation for the country as we know it.
Jen is at her wits’ end. Her fifteen-year-old daughter has just been found after going missing: four days lost and alone in the desolate countryside. Lana won’t talk about it. The police think the case is closed. But Jen can’t leave it alone. Lana is acting strangely: she stops going to school, and sleeps with the lights on. With her daughter increasingly becoming a stranger, Jen is sure the answer lies in those four missing days. But will Lana ever reveal what happened?
When Richenda takes her companion Euphemia to London promising visits to the Zoo and afternoon teas, the last thing either expect is to end up getting arrested. But some nifty action during a police raid on a suffragette march sees Euphemia dragged off to jail. Richenda, of course, manages to slip away. For once Euphemia is relieved to see her spy acquaintance Fitzroy, thinking he has come to rescue her. However, he tasks her to figure out which of the women in her cell is the murderer of a high-ranking official. This seemingly impossible task becomes all the more urgent when one of Euphemia’s cell mates is slain. With Richenda and Bertram working on the outside and Euphemia trapped in a cell with a killer, they have to work this mystery out fast, before Euphemia becomes the next victim.
All over the world, women are discovering they have the power. There’s Roxy, a white British teenager and the daughter of a gangster. There’s Allie, a mixed-race girl who runs away after years of abuse and finds herself at a convent, revered as a goddess. There’s Margot, an American mayor and one of the few older women to develop the power. And then Tunde, a young Nigerian man and aspiring journalist who captures early footage of the power in action. With a flick of their fingers, these women can inflict terrible pain – even death. Every man on the planet finds he’s lost control. The day of the girls has arrived – but where will it end?
