When sixteen-year-old orphan Tessa Fell's older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian-era London's dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon-killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother. Suggested level: secondary.

'A page-turner full of historical intelligence, wit and heart' DAN JONES Sir Tony Robinson - actor, presenter, historical expert and star of Blackadder and Time Team - makes his adult fiction debut with this earthy, entertaining and gloriously witty recreation of the Anglo-Saxons, Alfred the Great, and the making of England. 'Brings the Anglo-Saxon world riotously to life' S.J PARRIS 'A thrilling tale of ambition, betrayal and power' ALICE LOXTON 'Entirely brilliant, a story and world vividly evoked' KATE WILLIAMS 'Every bit and wise, witty and entertaining as you would expect from one of our greatest storytellers' MARK BILLINGHAM ______ Rome Father Asser is waiting to die. His idealism has landed him in a papal prison on trumped-up charges of heresy, until salvation arrives in an unexpected form. Cardinal Balotelli also dreams of a better world, free from the ravages of the Norlanders. He has a vital job for Asser, one that could shape the future of Europe. Wessex King Aethelwolf's power is fading, but none of his feckless children are fit to rule. His eldest sons would rather fight each other than the blood-thirsty Norland invaders. His daughter, Swift, is clever and cunning, but often blinded by her ambition. Finally there's Alfred, his once-promising younger son, whom nobody has seen in years. Then Wolf meets a young priest with a proposition from Rome that could change everything. Lindisfarne Rhiannon is a slave with a profound hatred for her Saxon captors. When she meets Guthrum, a Norlander hell-bent on wiping Wessex from the map, they set out on a journey of destruction. So begins an epic struggle between greed and idealism, ambition and betrayal, freedom and tyranny. Because change always meets with resistance and, on the path to power, nobody can be trusted.

The Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year 'An enthralling and wonderfully vivid novel from a master storyteller' Joseph O'Connor 'Kneale's medieval world is animated with a refreshing lightness of touch' Sunday Telegraph 1289. A rich farmer fears he'll go to hell for cheating his neighbors. His wife wants pilgrim badges to sew into her hat and show off at church. A poor, ragged villager is convinced his beloved cat is suffering in the fires of purgatory and must be rescued. A mother believes her son's dangerous illness is punishment for her own adultery and seeks forgiveness so he may be cured. A landlord is in trouble with the church after he punched an abbot on the nose. A sexually driven noblewoman seeks a divorce so she can marry her new young beau. These are among a ragtag band of pilgrims that sets off on the tough and dangerous journey from England to Rome, where they hope all their troubles and their prayers will be answered. Some in the group, however, have their own secret reasons for going. Others, while they might aspire to piety, succumb all too often to the sins of the flesh. A riveting, sweeping novel of medieval society and historic Englishness, Pilgrims illuminates the fallibility of humans, the absurdities and consolations of belief, and the very real violence at the heart of religious fervor.

A thrilling tale of danger, friendship and loyalty from Roman Mysteries bestseller Caroline Lawrence, set against the backdrop of the ancient world. Gorgeous and evocative, this captivating new teen novel imagines the life of a heroine of early Rome. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 12+ Few have ever seen her, but all of Laurentum knows the story of Camilla - tied to a spear and thrown across a river by her father as he fled for his life. The Goddess Diana saved the baby, and now it is Camilla's turn to save Laurentum as the Trojans march on the town. But Camilla is a wild girl from the forest, not the Amazon they imagine, and so Acca must step in to help her new friend adjust to the great destiny before her. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 12+

A moving and powerful narrative from bestselling Roman Mysteries author Caroline Lawrence, inspired by Virgil's tale of the ill-fated night raid of Euryalus and Nisus. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 14+ A powerful novel inspired by Virgil's tale of the ill-fated night raid of Euryalus and Nisus, from Roman Mysteries author Caroline Lawrence. The Trojan War is over. The survivors must find new land on which to settle, and there is war. Euryalus and Nisus, two teenage warriors among Aeneas's Trojan refugees, make a disastrous decision to raid the camp of their enemy. Particularly suitable for struggling, reluctant and dyslexic readers aged 14+

"It's 1970's Chicago. Eleven-year-old Matasha Wax is in the sixth grade and just starting to feel the pressures of growing up. Her best friend Jean has been blowing her off, while her parents are in a standoff over her mother's desire to adopt a refugee from Vietnam. And while the bullies in school have started to grow breasts and inches, Matasha remains a puny four-foot-four--which means she will need growth hormone shots, and she is terrified of needles. Apart from her daily reading of the advice columns in the newspaper, keeping up with the Patty Hearst and Watergate scandals, and tracking her parents' deteriorating marriage, Matasha is fixated by the story of Martin Kimmel, a nine-year-old boy who disappeared a few months ago, and whose body has yet to be found. But none of these ongoing problems could have prepared Matasha for her mother's sudden disappearance. When the letters start coming from Switzerland, she knows something is very, very wrong--but no one will tell her what's going on, so Matasha has to figure it all out for herself."--Page 4 of cover

Clementine Harper is 12 and learning to tap dance at Madame Pearl's Stage School in Finchley when war breaks out. As the air raids start to hit London, she and her two younger brothers, Ronnie and Ernie, are evacuated. Arriving in a tiny Devon village, they're sent to live with an eccentric widow who lives in a drafty mansion in the middle of wintry woods. Clementine is thrilled to meet another fi sh out of water - Giesele, a sophisticated Jewish girl, who has escaped from Nazi Germany and they become soul mates immediately. Giesele's parents are still in hiding in Berlin and her sister Klara has gone missing. If only they could help somehow. The girls are enlisted by the local Girl Guides who, they soon fi nd out, are training to do SO much more than bake cakes and tie knots. They're asked to help put on a Christmas show for the American soldiers at the military base nearby. But the show is a cover for a very secret mission, and the girls' lives are soon fi lled with mystery and adventure.

Relates the fictional adventures of Nesthäkchen, German girl, during the social and economic upheavals in Weimar Germany just after World War I. This volume describes Annemarie's college days, courtship and marriage.