'Hilarious, moving, and delightfully weird' JO HARKIN, author of The Pretender

A bold, vivid and fiercely imaginative historical novel with an unforgettable narrator, exploring intolerance, kindness and what 'madness' really means.

In a remote medieval parish, under the rule of a ruthless Abbess, hapless new priest Alberto is charged with guarding those deemed mad – and therefore godless.

All ‘insane’ villagers are locked in the Abbey dungeons, released only for the riotous Feast of the Holy Fool. Alberto’s thankless task is to gather them again when the Feast ends – but as he comes to know them, he begins to question whether these so-called fools need saving at all.

Only one always escapes him: the Flying Girl, a mysterious child who refuses to speak or be caught.

As Alberto’s sympathy deepens into defiance the Abbess calls in the Inferrant Brethren: a brutal religious inquisition with whom Alberto has history… With pressure mounting, Alberto must decide where he stands. Protecting the vulnerable may cost him everything.

? Longlisted for the Stella Prize

? Shortlisted for the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year award

‘A complex heroine who wrestles with the demands of faith, lust and ambition… A forceful wonder’
The Times, Historical Fiction Book of the Month

‘A gripping, gorgeous story of faith and feminism… A rapturous read’
Daily Mail

‘Mesmerising from beginning to end’
Glamour

‘A spectacular story of shape-shifting, love and faith . . . It enthralled me’
Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist and The House of Fortune

‘Astonishing . . . a scorching vision of a book’
Charlotte Wood, Booker-shortlisted author of Stone Yard Devotional

‘A fierce, sexy, heady maelstrom of a book. It sucked me in from the first page’
Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

The legend is only the beginning . . .

Ninth-century Mainz, in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire.

Agnes is the motherless child of an English priest – a wild and brilliant girl. But when tragedy strikes, she is forced to choose between what is expected of her and the freedom she has always dreamed of. Adopting a bold disguise, she secures a place at the revered Fulda monastery and begins life anew as John the Englishman.

A matchless scholar and celebrated teacher, by her middle years she has dazzled the Church hierarchy in Rome, finding herself at the centre of power and intrigue. But in a city where gossip is currency, a secret like hers is dangerous. And when the only person who knows her true identity arrives in Rome, she will risk everything to be known – and loved.

More praise for Rapture

‘All the hallmarks of a great thriller – such tension – mixed with the quiet, confident beauty of Agnes’ voice – her fury and her love’
Evie Wyld, author of The Echoes

‘Bold and unexpected, Rapture buzzes with life and energy . . . Extraordinary’
Rosanna Pike, instant Sunday Times bestselling author of A Little Trickerie

‘Emily Maguire has created an earthy, visceral, and sensual tale, full of devotion, intrigue and passion . . . A stunning novel’
Victoria MacKenzie, award-winning author of For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

A note from the author

‘Rapture is inspired by a thousand year-old story about a clever girl who dresses as a man to follow her lover to a monastery where she becomes a brilliant scholar and teacher, and eventually ends up – still in careful disguise – the most powerful person in Rome.

I feel like this is the book I’ve been working towards for my whole writing life. The story of an ambitious woman in a world where women are supposed to be modest. A woman whose mind refuses to accept a small life, and whose body is reviled while remaining, for her, a source of great joy. A woman, who, like so many oppressed people throughout history, finds a way to subvert and resist. To be who she is without permission or approval.

In Rapture this legendary, much-argued over figure is a flesh-and-blood woman of ingenuity, purpose and passion. Her name is Agnes, and I’m excited for you to meet her.’

‘Another clever, twisty read’ i Paper
‘You’ll want to take a front row pew in Champton while this delicious series unfolds’ Janice Hallett

It’s spring 1990, and in Champton the whole village is aflutter as a glamorous Hollywood movie has taken over Lord de Floures’ Champton House as its set location.

As the actors and extras hired from the village don their farthingales, gowns and crowns for a masque set in the 1600s, a murder interrupts filming on set – and it’s an ingenious one . . .

Can Daniel solve the mystery with help from his sidekick, Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo – even when things are so sticky between them?

“A mesmerizing tale of love, female friendship, and heroism.” -Lisa Scottoline, #1 bestselling author

A Parisian department store, a mysterious necklace and a woman’s quest to unlock a decade-old mystery are at the center of this riveting novel of love and survival, from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff

London, 1953. Louise is still adjusting to her postwar role as a housewife when she discovers a necklace in a box at a secondhand shop. The box is marked with the name of a store in Paris, and she is certain she has seen the necklace before, when she worked with the Red Cross in Nazi-occupied Europe-and that it holds the key to the mysterious death of her friend Franny during the war.

Following the trail of clues to Paris, Louise discovers the dark history of Lévitan-a once-glamorous department store that served as a Nazi prison-and Helaine, a woman who was imprisoned there, torn apart from her husband when the Germans invaded France. Louise races to find the connection between the necklace, the store and Franny’s death. But nothing is as it seems, and there are forces determined to keep the truth buried forever… 

Read these other sweeping epics from New York Times bestselling author Pam Jenoff:

• Code Name Sapphire
• The Lost Girls of Paris
• The Woman with the Blue Star
• The Orphan’s Tale
• The Ambassador’s Daughter
• The Diplomat’s Wife
• The Kommandant’s Girl
• The Winter Guest

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In the 1950s Zora Neale Hurston penned a historical novel reconsidering the life of one of the most well-known biblical figures, Herod the Great. That novel was never published in Hurston’s lifetime. Now for the first time, it is brought to glorious life with commentary from scholar Deborah G. Plant.

Far from his villainous portrayal in the New Testament, Hurston casts Herod as a forerunner of Christ, a beloved king who enriched Jewish culture and brought prosperity and peace to Judea. An intimate of both Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, the Judean king lived in a time of war and imperial expansion that was rife with political assassinations and bribery, as the old world gave way to the new.

By bringing this complex, compelling and oft misunderstood leader into shining focus, The Life of Herod the Great invites the reader to reassess history and the world as they know it. What was in Herod’s time is and will be again. Zora Neale Hurston’s never-before-published novel is a lantern of understanding that might be held up to the present or the future, and nothing short of a masterpiece.

A never-before-published novel from beloved author Zora Neale Hurston, revealing the historical Herod the Great – not the demon the Bible makes him out to be but a religious and philosophical man who lived a life of adventure.

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Praise for Zora Neale Hurston:

‘Zora Neale was a knockout in her life’ MAYA ANGELOU

‘Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the very greatest American novels of the 20th century. It is so lyrical it should be sentimental; it is so passionate it should be overwrought, but it is instead a rigorous, convincing and dazzling piece of prose, as emotionally satisfying as it is impressive. There is no novel I love more’ ZADIE SMITH

‘To the last page that fills the soul with tears, Hurston’s novel delivers. To me, it is also a welcome reminder that books are democratic, subversive and life-changing’ THE TIMES

'A word-of-mouth smash hit' New York Times

'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.'

One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…

His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance – or has he? He visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits by a local artist of the people of Golden. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their 'rightful owners'. With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.

A story of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.

Readers love Theo of Golden…

'Heart-wrenching' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'I have read many books in my life – this is without doubt one of the greatest' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'The most beautiful book I've ever read' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Destined to become a classic' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'I have never cried so many times reading a book' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Salve for the soul' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

When he is eight years old, Alfie Logan discovers the magical ability to get a second chance at everything. He can undo any moment and live it again. The one catch: he must accept the consequences of his second try – for better or worse.

He grows up correcting his mistakes and saving himself from adolescent embarrassments. He even takes foolishly dangerous risks, just to see what it’s like to come close to death, before tapping back to safety. Eventually, Alfie turns his gift to his love life, studying his crushes and going back to make himself more appealing. In time, he falls deeply in love with Gianna, the woman he believes is the one. He seems to find contentment.

But as the years pass, Alfie’s eye begins to wander. Which is when he learns a lone caveat to his power: once he undoes a love, that person can never fall in love with him again. Knowing if he gives into to temptation, he will risk losing what he has with Gianna, Alfie makes a choice that changes his life forever.

The book begins many years later, after an ailing Alfie is arrested for allegedly cheating and winning millions at a casino roulette wheel. As a curious detective interrogates him, he slowly uncovers Alfie’s incredible story, and its most unlikely conclusion.

In Twice, America’s favourite storyteller, Mitch Albom, is at the top of his powers. A love story that is enchanting, probing, and clairvoyant in matters of the heart, Twice will make you think, weep, and overflow with love from beginning to end.

Praise for Mitch Albom

‘Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary’ Cecilia Ahern

‘Powerful . . . Albom has touched the lives of a lot of people he never even knew’ Time

‘Compelling and uplifting’ Independent

‘A writer with soul’ Los Angeles Times