A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd. Women don’t have to fall into a stereotype. The Cows is a powerful novel about three women judging each other, but also themselves. In all the noise of modern life, they need to find their own voice.

A story of love, faith and taxidermy, two lovers perch precariously on the cusp of adulthood. Timothy Pickering is a budding taxidermist, following in his father's footsteps. Naomi Watts dreams of a career on stage. But one of them is about to drop a bombshell that will quash this burgeoning romance.

A diamond is forever. But forever isn't for everyone.
1947: Mary Frances Gerety, a young copywriter in an eminent advertising agency, has to convince the world of two things - that marriage means a diamond ring on every woman's finger, and that she is as good at her job as any man. And then, in one moment of brilliant inspiration, Mary Frances writes down four words which will achieve both her aims.
A novel about love, marriage, commitment and betrayal; it is as sharp, as fiery and as beautiful as the stone we have taken to represent our dreams.

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits - the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth - a second-rate travelling circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. Jacob, a veterinary student who almost earned his degree, is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her. Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford. Water for Elephants was a major movie starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon

Amanda is an astronaut who roller-skates through the halls of NASA, and a subparticle physicist who can enter the mind of Mary Shelley. With her magical cat, Schrondinger, she finds herself in confrontation with the ultimate seductress, the eleven million mile high dancer.

There isn't room in a marriage for three . . . Painter Imogen is happily married to Alex, and together they have a son. But when their finances hit rock bottom, they're forced to accept Eleanor Latimer's offer of a rent-free cottage on her large country estate. If it was anyone else, Imogen would be beaming gratitude. Unfortunately, Eleanor just happens to be Alex's beautiful, rich and flirtatious ex. And from the moment she steps inside Shepherd's Cottage, Imogen's life is in chaos. In between coping with rude locals, murderous chickens, a maddening (if handsome) headmaster, mountainsof manure, and visits from the infuriating vet, she has to faceEleanor, now a fixture atAlex's side. Is Imogen losing Alex? Will her precious family be torn apart? And whose fault is it really - Eleanor's, Alex's or Imogen's?

Gina and Sally Makepiece have inherited a stall in the French House - anantiques centre nestled in the heart of the English countryside. Gina is determined to drag the French House and its grumpy owner into the twenty-first century. Bearing all the attributes of a modern-day Mr Rochester, Matthew Ballinger is less than happy with the whirlwind that has arrived on his doorstep. The last thing either of them want is to fall in love.

Mariana lives with her family on the Venetian island of Murano - famed for its artists who create masterpieces from glass. But when Mariana's little sister, Eliza, dies their father decides to use his glassmaking skill - and a dash of magic - to create a girl of glass in Eliza's image. The remarkable glass doll, who sings, dances and talks, draws attention wherever she goes, and soon Mariana is famous for having the magical glass sister. But as the glass girl takes on more and more of Eliza's personality, Mariana begins to suspect that there is more than just magic at play. Could the girl of glass be her sister's ghost made real?

It only takes a moment, to change a life for ever... Fern is too busy making sure other people feel good about themselves to give much thought to her own happiness. But somehow, without her noticing, life has run away from her. Suddenly, Fern realises her vintage clothes business is struggling, and the casual relationship she'd always thought she was happy in doesn't look so appealing.
But sometimes, karma really does come through. And when Fern goes out of her way to help 85-year-old Dinah, little does she realise their new friendship will change her life. Dinah may have troubles in her past, but she's lived and loved to the full. Can Dinah show Fern that even the smallest acts of kindness can make the world a better place?

A Tiny Bit Marvellous is comedian Dawn French's hilarious pageturner. Everyone hates the perfect family.So you'll love the Battles.Meet Mo Battle, about to turn 50 and mum to two helpless, hormonal teenagers. There's 17-year-old daughter Dora who blames Mo for, like, EVERYTHING and Peter who believes he's quite simply as darling and marvellous as his hero Oscar Wilde.

The Sheedy sisters had lived in Stone House for as long as anyone could remember. Set high on the cliffs on the west coast of Ireland, overlooking the windswept Atlantic ocean, it was falling into disrepair -until one woman, with a past she needed to forget, breathed new life into the place. Now a hotel, with a big, warm kitchen and log fires, it provides a welcome few can resist. Winnie is generally able to make the best of things, until she finds herself on the holiday from hell. John arrived on an impulse after he missed a flight at Shannon. And then there's Henry and Nicola, burdened with a terrible secret, who are hoping the break at Stone House will help them find a way to face the future

Daniel is dreadful at tinsel, fairy lights and families. Put in charge of his brother's kids,Daniel panics. Surely, he can't ask Stella for help?It used to be her favourite season, until Daniel began - and ended - their engagement on Christmas Eve. Still, Stella can't refuse a desperate plea. The children deserve the best Christmas ever!Meanwhile, shivering on the snowy doorstep of High Fell Barn, Hayley's regretting her impulsive response to a job avert. It's too late, the door is opening to reveal a rather cross - butimpossibly sexy - man...Patrick hadn't advertised for a housekeeper - Alfie, his ten-year-old son, has taken matters into his own hand. Still, Hayley might be the perfect gift. Alfie and his little sister are no angels. But they know a lot about the magic of Christmas - and they're about toteach the grown-ups a much-needed lesson!

On the eve of their 21st birthday, at one of the most lavish parties society has ever seen, Octavia and Flora Beaufort are launched into the world. For Octavia, it is one of the most thrilling nights of her life, an evening glittering with the promise of her future. But Flora shrinks from the limelight, fearful of what lies beyond the walls of her over-protective aunt's house. As Octavia is swept into a whirlwind of lavish spending and fashionable society, she grasps eagerly at whatever she wants: clothes, houses, men... even a department store. But Flora yearns for security - and when she is rescued from harm by a kind stranger, she seems to have found the love and protection she craves.

Prey to all kinds of dangers, the twins soon realise that without each other, they run the risk of losing everything. But is it already too late...?

Memphis, Tennessee, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge, until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children's Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth... Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career, a handsome fiance, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family's long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Bailey Westmoreland has always sworn never to fall for a man who would take her away from her family. So why is she following rancher Walker Rafferty all the way to Alaska? Before long, Bailey realises home might just be where you make it…

What do you do when a girlfriend's 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend's 30th?
Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating?
Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?
Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?
Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?
Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen's day?
Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and redisovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call 'middle age'.

At the end of Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget hiccuped off into the sunset with man-of-her-dreams Mark Darcy. Now, in The Edge of Reason, she discovers what it is like when you have the man of your dreams actually in your flat and he hasn't done the washing-up, not just the whole of this week, but ever. Lurching through a morass of self-help-book theories and mad advice from Jude and Shazzer, struggling with a boyfriend-stealing ex-friend with thighs like a baby giraffe, an 8ft hole in the living-room wall, a mother obsessed with boiled-egg peelers, and a builder obsessed with large reservoir fish, Bridget
embarks on a spiritual epiphany, which takes her from the cappuccino queues of Notting Hill to the palm - and magic mushroom - kissed shores of . . . Bridget is back

When Tansy Poole inherits a run-down shoe shop tucked away in the village of Sticklepond, `Cinderella's Slippers' is born - providing the footwear to make any fairytale wedding come true...Carrying everything a bride would want to walk down the aisle in, Tansy's shop soon expands to carry shoe-themed wedding favours, bridesmaid gifts and even delicious chocolate shoes.But one man isn't thrilled by the stream of customers hot-footing it to Cinderella's Slippers...

The only question which hangs over the life of Sir Richard Wyndham, notable whip, dandy and Corinthian, is one of marriage. On the eve of making the most momentous decision of his life, he is on his way home, a little worse for drink, when he chances upon a beautiful young fugitive climbing out of a window by means of knotted sheets - and so finds a perfect opportunity for his own escape. The Corinthian has eveything that Georgette Heyer's devoted readership came to expect and that made her one of the most popular novelists of her day, and still adored by a huge audience.

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and time with the man she might one day marry.

What she doesn't know is that Nick's family home happens to look like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars and that she is about to encounter the strangest, craziest group of people in existence.

Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider's look at the Asian jet set; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money - and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich.

He was passing by, she kissed him without thinking. Now she wonders whether she did the right thing. But Natalie isn't certain of anything anymore. One minute she was a happily married young woman, successful in her career, and convinced the future was full of promise. But when her husband was run over by a car, her whole world was turned upside down. Years later, still bruised with grief but desperate to move on with her life, she impulsively kisses her colleague Marcus. For Natalie,the kiss is just a gratuitous act. For the awkward, unassuming Marcus, it is the moment at which he falls hopelessly, helplessly in love. But how will he ever convince such a beautiful, intelligent but confused young woman that he is the man who can bring her back to life?

Dexter Yates loves his fun, care-free London life; he has money, looks and girlfriends galore. But everything changes overnight when his sister dies, leaving him in charge of her eight-month-old daughter Delphi. How is he ever going to cope?

But that was twelve years ago. It really began the day Georgina was fired from The Worst Restaurant in Sheffield (© Tripadvisor) and found The Worst Boyfriend in the World (© Georgina’s best friends) in bed with someone else. So when her new boss, Lucas McCarthy, turns out to be the boy who wrote those words to her all that time ago, it feels like the start of something. The only problem? He doesn’t seem to remember Georgina – at all…

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything. One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted - while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she's avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than... fine?

This is life, not a rehearsal... When River auditions for a part in an inter-school performance of Romeo and Juliet, she finds herself smitten by Flynn, the boy playing Romeo. River believes in romantic love, and she can't wait to experience it. But Flynn comes from a damaged family - is he even capable of giving River what she wants? The path of true love never did run smooth...

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; absolutely gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But . . . They are brother and sister. Forbidden will take you on an extraordinary emotional journey. Passionate and shocking, this is a book you will remember long after you have put it down.

When Frederica brings her younger siblings to London determined to secure a brilliant marriage for her beautiful sister, she seeks out their distant cousin the Marquis of Alverstoke. Lovely, competent, and refreshingly straightforward, Frederica makes such a strong impression that to his own amazement, the Marquis agrees to help launch them all into society. Lord Alverstoke cant resist wanting to help her. Normally wary of his family, which includes two overbearing sisters and innumerable favor-seekers, Lord Alverstoke does his best to keep his distance. But with his enterprising - and altogether entertaining - country cousins getting into one scrape after another right on his doorstep, before he knows it the Marquis finds himself dangerously embroiled....

The new queen of the blockbuster is back In the ultra-chic world of the fabulously rich, fashion can have a very high price! Saul Milford, owner of one of England's oldest and most prestigious luxury goods companies is dead, but who will inherit his estate

Diane, owner of Happy People Read and Drink Coffee, a cosy coffee shop turned library in Paris, seems to have the perfect life. But when she suddenly loses her husband and daughter in a car accident, her life is overturned and the world as she knows it disappears. Trapped by her memories, Diane closes her shop and retreats from friends and family. One year later, she moves from Paris to a small town on the Irish coast, determined to heal by rebuilding her life alone, without anyone's help or pity - until she meets Edward, a handsome and moody Irish photographer. Along windy shores and cobbled streets, Diane falls into a surprising and tumultuous romance. As she works to overcome her painful memories, Diane and Edward's once-in-a-lifetime connection inspires her to love herself and the world around her with new-found inner strength and happiness. But will it last when Diane leaves Ireland, and Edward, for good?

In these stories whose lives come into focus through single events or sudden memories which bring the past bubbling to the surface. The past, as her characters discover, is made up not only of what is remembered, but also what isn't. The past is there, just out of the picture, but if memories haven't been savoured, recalled in the mind and boxed away, it's as if they have never been -until a moment when the pieces of the jigsaw re-form suddenly, sometimes pleasurably but more often painfully. Women look back at their young selves, at first marriages made when they were naive and trusting, at husbands and their difficult, demanding little ways. There is in this new collection an underlying heartbreak, a sense of regret in her characters for what might have been, for a fork in the road not taken, a memory suppressed in an act of prudent emotional housekeeping. But at the same time there is hope, there are second changes -her are people who reinvent themselves, seize life by the throat, who have moved on and can dare to conjure the hidden memories, daring to go beyond what is remembered.

Marketing exec Lucy Cunningham is thrilled when her firm wins Miami's hottest fitness club. The reality TV show was Lucy's idea: leave a fitness-challenged woman in the hands of top personal trainer, Theo Redmond, with a cash bonus for every pound shed. But Lucy didn't expect to be the guinea pig... After one meeting, Theo knows Lucy will be his toughest client yet, and a woman he'll never forget. Smart-mouthed and stubborn, she rises to the challenge like a pro. And before he knows it, his heart's in jeopardy. As Lucy works her way into a whole new life, things start to heat up. Lucy and Theo are about to discover that appearances can be deceiving - and that true love lies somewhere between pizza and Pilates...

Reading Hideaway is like a mini vacation, as Roberts transports you from the sun-drenched mountains of Big Sur to the rolling hills of Ireland to the bustling streets of New York City.

Jenna Jenkins was getting married to her long-term boyfriend, Adam, and she was sure her life was all coming together. Until Adam left her for a twenty-three-year-old yoga instructor. To ease the pain, Jenna threw herself into her teenage memories of the late, great Tommy Seer, killed when his car crashed off a bridge in 1987, when she was just twelve, and focusing on the man who has been - and always will be - the true love of her life, however worrying that may seem to her best friend, Aimee. One day, working late, or thinking about Tommy at her office after dark, a freak accident sends Jenna back to 1987. It's a few short months before Tommy will die and Jenna's job is apparently working as his assistant. But Tommy is not the guy she imagined. He's mean and rude and obnoxious. But he is still deliciously good-looking. When Tommy takes her into his confidence, she starts to see the real him beneath the image and finds herself more in love than ever. He suspects someone is trying to kill him - and she knows it won't be long before they succeed. Why is she here? Is she meant to save his life? But how can she without revealing the bizarre, unbelievable truth?

A hugely entertaining and glamorous debut, perfect for fans of the X-Factor, from an exciting new voice in young women's fiction. Meet Jenna Jonsson and Sadie Laine: two gorgeous, glamorous twenty-somethings fighting to make it to the top of their chosen professions.

Ella Stuart has worked hard to achieve the perfect work-life balance: a high-flying career as a paediatric doctor, a charming husband, charity fundraiser Jackson Garrett - and in urbane PR consultant William Ashfield, a passionate, worldly lover. William is equally devoted to Ella, his mistress of eight years, and to his faded, troubled wife, Beth. He knows he could never choose between them; and is eternally grateful hes never been asked. When tragedy strikes out of the blue, Ellas carefully ordered life is abruptly derailed.

Police Officer Dare Barron has had a crush on Liza McKnight since he was a teenager. But the closest he's ever come to interacting with her is watching Liza regularly bail out her brother Brian. Dare's dark past with Brian has always kept him from pursuing Liza. Then Liza finds herself in need of protection and Dare appoints himself as the man for the job. And while the sizzling attraction between Dare and Liza draws them together, the past that Dare and Brian share threatens to keep the two apart for ever.

With tight breeches and loose morals, the horse trials circuit is a hell-for-leather chase across the magnificent parkland of England's finest country estates. Flirtation is compulsory sport; love is a professional hazard. Silver-tongued charmer Rory Midwinter is quite at home in this hedge-jumping, bed-hopping world of competitive weekend house parties. Having been born into the saddle, and with a rock star owner as patron, he has no intention of settling down. Only his long-term groom Faith has other ideas.

Jane Roberts is a bona fide celebrity – she is treated like a queen, has couture clothes and starlet looks. She also has the tabloid scandals, fake friends and relentless paparazzi. Now that Jane has survived her first season on the air, she has learned a few things. Most importantly: Hollywood is full of people trying to use you – especially her former friend and current co-star, Madison Parker.

So Jane is trying to surround herself with the people she knows love her for her. Like Scarlett, her best friend since childhood. And Caleb, her high school boyfriend who happens to be back in Los Angeles for the next few months. Sure, after a recent – and very public – love-life implosion, Jane is on a break from boys. But that does not mean she can‘t spend time with Caleb. They are just friends. She and Braden are also now friends after they lived through a horrible photo scandal. Well, maybe not, but a little drama never hurt anyone… too badly.

Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape. But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; after all, she’d been the one to run. Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past. For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her skin-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind. And so begins a new mix tape. Ali and Dan exchange songs – some new, some old – across oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different experiences, until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything… Because what if ‘what could have been’ is yet to come?

When her fiancé Rob breaks off their engagement for the third time, Viv does what any girl would do - she Googles heartbreak.
Confronted by tales of misery, she decides to set-up her own self-help website for the broken-hearted. But as Viv passes through the three essential stages of grief (denial, vodka, disastrous haircut), she becomes determined that it's not too late to try and get Rob back.

When things get out of hand after a drunken declaration of love at an extremely inappropriate moment, Viv's scruffy, tequila-swilling best friend Max is there to pick up the pieces. Viv starts to realise that maybe the real thing has been under her nose all this time, and now - one ex and a massive error of judgement later - she has to face the question: What's the craziest thing you'll do for love?

The past has a habit of tracking us down. And tripping us up. When Kate was twenty-two, she had an intense and passionate affair with a married man, Callum, which ended in heartbreak. Kate thought she’d never get over it. Seventeen years later, life has moved on – Kate, now a successful actress, is living in London, married to Matt and mother to little Tallulah. Meanwhile Callum and his wife Belinda are happy together, living in Edinburgh and watching their kids grow up. The past, it would seem, is well and truly behind them all. But then Kate meets Callum again. And they are faced with a choice: to walk away from each other . . . or to risk finding out what might have been. Second chances are a rare gift in life. But that doesn’t mean they should always be taken . . .

When Lucy’s parents are killed in a train crash, her kindly uncle steps in to look after the little girl – to the initial apprehension of his wife and her son. However, Lucy’s sweet, spirited charm slowly wins over her new family, and as she overcomes the trauma of her childhood, she grows up inspired to become a doctor, just like her father. But studying medicine in London takes Lucy far from her home in Hull and the people she loves, and she has to battle to be accepted in a man’s world. With the dark clouds of the First World War gathering on the horizon, an even greater challenge approaches. Can a woman find her place on the front line of battle? Will Lucy be able to follow her dreams – and find love – in a world shattered by war?

As soon as Octavia caught a glimpse of Jeremy in the nightclub, she knew she just had to have him. It didn’t matter that he was engaged to an old school friend of hers, Gussie. An invitation to join them on a cozy weekend is the perfect opportunity. But the the whizz-kid business tycoon Gareth Llewellyn come along too and manages to thwart her plans...

Everyone knows the real Silvia, don't they? Silvia Shute lies in hospital in a coma. Family and friends gather at her bedside, each thinking they know the real Silvia. But do they? For Silvia hides a secret. One she can never tell. And as her visitors congregate so the truth about Silvia is slowly revealed. Again, and again and again . . . Oh Dear Silvia is the brand new novel from one of Britain's most loved comic writers and the number one bestselling author of A Tiny Bit Marvellous.

'ONE DAY is destined to be a modern classic' - Daily Mirror Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY. The multi-million copy bestseller that captures the experiences of a generation.'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, a hint of malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.'He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.'15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows?

On the Road by Jack Kerouac is the exhilarating novel that defined the Beat Generation and is a 2012 major motion picture starring Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst and Sam Riley, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.'What's your road, man? - holy boy road, madman road, rainbow road, guppy road, any road. It's an anywhere road for anybody anyhow.'Sal Paradise, young and innocent, joins the slightly crazed Dean Moriarty on a breathless, exuberant ride back and forth across the United States.

This is a love story. A story about growing old with grace.Addie Moore and Louis Waters have been neighbours for years. Now they both live alone, their houses empty of family, their quiet nights solitary. Then one evening Addie pays Louis a visit.

Single mum Frankie’s whole life revolves around her kids. But when your toddler has a more active social life, something has to change. Forget ‘me-time’, Frankie would settle for some adult conversation, and watching something other than the Disney channel. The local playgroup may be ruled by Instagram mums with perfect husbands but Frankie accidentally forms a splinter group of single parents. After all, Mummy really needs a playdate of her own. (Now pass the prosecco.)

Grace Surtees has everything carefully under control - her work life, her home life and her love life - especially her love life. But then her boss hires Tate Saunders, a brash American, to spice up the gallery tours his company provides. Messy and fond of breaking rules, Tate explodes into her tidy existence like a paintball, and Grace hates everything about him... doesn't she? Because, for Grace, the alternative would be simply too terrifying to contemplate: to love Tate rather than hate him would mean leaping out of her comfort zone, and Grace's devotion to order hides some long-kept secrets... secrets she's sure someone like Tate Saunders could never accept or understand.

Three years ago Rosie walked blindly into marriage with Harry. They have precisely nothing in common except perhaps their little boy Ivo. Not that Harry pays him much attention, preferring to spend his time with his braying upper class friends. But the night that Harry drunkenly does something unspeakable, Rosie decides he's got to go. In between fantasizing how she might bump him off, she takes the much more practical step of divorcing this blight on her and Ivo's lives. However, when reality catches up with her darkest fantasies, Rosie realizes, at long last, that it is time she took charge of her life. There'll be no more regrets . . . she hopes.