Vernon Alverstoke sees no reason to put himself out for anyone.Surprisingly, he finds himself far from bored - especially when he encounters their strong-minded daughter, Frederica. `Triumphantly good' India Knight`Sparkling' Independent on Sunday

Winner of the Man Booker PrizeThe nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house, in the winter of 1968.

Collectively Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell defined that mythic era: 'the Sixties'. Set against the backdrop of an explosive social and political scene and enriched with anecdotes, this work presents the story of three women who dared to break tradition and become what few had been before them - confessors in song, and rock superstars.

The Oldest Member's reverence for golf does not cramp his style in telling some of the funniest, tallest and most joyful stories in the whole Wodehouse canon.

Making peace in Northern Ireland was the greatest success of the Blair government, and one of the greatest achievements in British politics since the Second World War.

Girls and boys are always curious and sometimes even alarmed by the behaviour of their bodies as they grow up. This book is bound to be controversial but Babette has never taken the conventional path and her readers love her for her outrageous approach to little mentioned topics.

`A devoted and luminously romantic history of swimming' GuardianHaunts of the Black Masseur is a dazzling introduction to the great swimming heroes, from Byron leaping into the surf at Shelley's funeral to Hart Crane diving to his death in the Bay of Mexico.