BIOGRAPHY - Circles Around the Sun by Molly McCloskey

When Molly McCloskey was a young girl, her brother Mike - fourteen years her senior - started showing signs of paranoid schizophrenia. By the time Molly was old enough to begin to know him, he was frequently delusional, heavily medicated, living in hospitals or care homes or on the road. When Molly reached the age Mike was when he became ill, she found herself suffering from deep anxiety and drinking heavily. She knew that schizophrenia runs in families, and at times the anxiety was so bad as to make her wonder about her own sanity. As the years passed, years when Molly - having moved from the US to Ireland - hardly ever saw or heard from her brother, she became deeply curious about his life and about what might have been. Through reading an astonishing archive of letters preserved by her mother and grandmother, and interviewing old friends of Mike's, she began to piece together a picture of his life, before and after the illness struck - the story of how a gifted and well-liked student and athlete was overtaken by a terrible illness that rendered him unrecognizable. Now, in "Circles around the Sun", she tells that story - which is also the story of her own demons and of how a seemingly perfect family slowly fell apart and, in the end, regrouped. It is a work of extraordinary intensity and drama from a wonderfully gifted writer.

NON FICTION - Metal Working: Real World Know-How You Wish You Learned in High School

Metal working projects confront every homeowner. From installing and maintaining galvanized metal rain gutters and downspouts, to repairing and augmenting ductwork for hot-air heating systems, to cutting and joining iron and copper pipe for plumbing repairs and installations, Metal Working will help the handy homeowner tackle many of these tasks himself, saving money and guaranteeing good results. Although home metal working is not as widespread as woodworking, many home workshops include metal working equipment. This book will give the reader a basic introduction to metal working tools, skills, and techniques. Covering everything from understanding the differences among the various metals and their alloys, to cutting metal with a hacksaw, the reader will learn all the fundamentals of working with metal through finishing surfaces by grinding, polishing and patinating.

NON FICTION - Gothic Jewelry: 35 Unique Projects to Make, Give, and Wear

35 step-by-step projects for gorgeous Gothic jewelry. Inspired by classic gothic literature and movies, Harriet Smith's jewelry fuses dark beauty and humorous horror imagery - and here she shows you how to craft 35 of her distinct and striking pieces. Each project is suitable for beginners to jewelry-making with all the techniques clearly explained. The materials and tools used can be found in many craft, DIY and homeware stores or located on the internet - and there are often alternatives to be found in the kitchen tool cupboard or an old toy chest - so there is nothing to stop you making them in the comfort of your own home. Make the skull earrings, bones bracelet and dead flower corsage from the 'Fabrics and Fimo' chapter; in 'Beading and Metalwork' there's a Gothic cross necklace, Sweeney Todd earrings and a barbed wire bracelet; and you can have fun with the designs in the 'Plastics' chapter - including a bat brooch and bottle-top cameo bracelet. Harriet's gothic jewelry isn't just for Goths - her pieces have wide-ranging appeal, are easy to make and fun to wear, and make a truly unique gift.

NON FICTION - Go Surf by Tim Baker

This book provides the fast track to great surfing. Read it, watch it, do it with this innovative book and 30-minute DVD for anyone itching to get up off the sofa and go! Clear step-by-step coaching and inspirational photography in the book will get you started or improve your skills. Then, master techniques with your own virtual coach - from the take-off to the barrel, the 30-minute DVD uses 360-degree live-action freeze-frame graphics and slow-motion sequences guaranteed to get you ready for the waves in no time. "Go Surf" is an integrated blend of book and DVD, bringing step-by-step photography and detailed, accessible content in the book together with informative, freeze-frame technical guidance and coaching on the DVD. There is a strong emphasis on aspirational footage and photography to encourage and inspire the reader, bound up with clear, authoritative instruction designed as a fast-track into the sport.

NON FICTION - The '90s: The Inside Stories from the Decade That Rocked

Alt rock, grunge, gangsta rap, pop: The '90s were one of the most dynamic and diverse decades in music history. In this gorgeous 4-color book, the editors of Rolling Stone take us through the last decade of the twentieth century: From The Backstreet Boys to the Beastie Boys. "Rolling Stone: The '90s" offers an unforgettable portrait of the decade that rocked.

FICTION - Voices of the Dead by Peter Leonard

It's Detroit, 1971. Harry Levin, scrap metal dealer and holocaust survivor, learns that his daughter has been killed in a car accident. Travelling to Washington DC, he's told by Detective Taggart that the German diplomat, who was drunk, has been released and afforded immunity; he will never face charges. So Harry is left with only one option.

FICTION - Legacy of Blood by Alex Connor

London, 1732. William Hogarth is called to a murder scene. A woman lies dead, her unborn child ripped from her body. It is a warning. Hogarth painted the future King leaving her bed. He must destroy the painting to survive. But her killers made one mistake. They left the Prince's son alive. Centuries later, one man holds proof of this line of succession and keeps a watchful eye on the Prince's heir. The legacy is a terrible burden, but also an incredible opportunity. During a flight in a private jet, when a fellow passenger speaks of having gained possession of proof of this, the Royal Family's darkest secret, everything changes. Within hours of the flight, three of the seven passengers have been silenced. Who killed them? Why? To keep the secret or expose it? Where is the proof? As the body count rises, Alex Connor ratchets up the tension is this page-turning thriller that brings history into the present with devastating consequences.

FICTION - Extreme: Hard Target by Chris Ryan

Former SAS Warrant Officer Joe Gardner has fought the Regiment's deadliest enemies, in some of the most desolate places on earth. And he's always won. Now he's about to face his toughest challenge yet. After losing his hand whilst on a covert operation in Afghanistan, Gardner is forced to stand down from active duty. Now he lives off the grid. But trouble finds him in the shape of a phone call from an old friend. Ex-Regiment legend John Bald is trapped in a bullet-ridden favela in Rio de Janeiro and a violent gang is out to kill him. Unless Gardner helps, Bald is a dead man. What begins as a simple rescue mission soon descends into a desperate struggle for survival as Gardner finds himself caught up in a conceit that stretches from the slums of Brazil to the frozen steppes of Siberia. Stalked by elusive MI6 agents and ruthless ex-Blades, Gardner must draw on all his training and instincts to hunt down the hardest target of all - before disaster strikes...

FICTION - Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds

One hundred and fifty years from now, in a world where Africa is the dominant technological and economic power, and where crime, war, disease and poverty have been banished to history, Geoffrey Akinya wants only one thing: to be left in peace, so that he can continue his studies into the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But Geoffrey's family, the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans. After the death of Eunice, Geoffrey's grandmother, erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur, something awkward has come to light on the Moon, and Geoffrey is tasked - well, blackmailed, really - to go up there and make sure the family's name stays suitably unblemished. But little does Geoffrey realise - or anyone else in the family, for that matter - what he's about to unravel. Eunice's ashes have already have been scattered in sight of Kilimanjaro. But the secrets she died with are about to come back out into the open, and they could change everything. Or shatter this near-utopia into shards ...

FICTION - Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson

In the middle of a rainy Swedish summer, a little girl is abducted from a crowded train. Despite hundreds of potential witnesses, no one noticed when the girl was taken. Her mother, left behind at the previous station, alerted the crew immediately. But as the train pulled into Stockholm Central Station, the girl was nowhere to be seen. To Inspector Alex Recht of the Stockholm police, this looks like a classic custody row. But none of the evidence adds up and young Investigative Analyst Fredrika Bergman is convinced the case is far more complex than her boss is prepared to admit.So when the missing child is found dead in the far north of Sweden, with the word UNWANTED scribbled on her forehead, the rule book is finally thrown out of the window. Now on the trail of a ruthless murderer with a terrifying agenda, will Alex and Fredrika manage to put aside their differences and work together to find the killer, before it's too late?

FICTION - The Devil's Elixir by Raymond Khoury

Sean Reilly and Tess Chaykin, heroes of Raymond Khoury's bestselling Templar thrillers, return in an edge-of-your-seat story that reaches from the present day back to 1800s Mexico-and possibly beyond. What if there was an herb, previously lost to history in the jungles of Central America, capable of inducing an experience so momentous it might shake the very foundations of Western civilization? What if powerful forces on both sides of the law got wind of that herb, and launched a violent, uncompromising pursuit to be the first to exploit it? And what if FBI agent Sean Reilly and his girlfriend, Tess Chaykin, were, unknowingly, the only two people who could keep the lid on this existential Pandora's box, one that's capable of destabilizing the world? In Raymond Khoury's million-copy-selling Templar novels, Sean and Tess traveled the globe to unravel ancient mysteries with present-day ramifications. In The Devil's Elixir, Sean and Tess find themselves in a race-against the clock, against drug kingpins, and even against the DEA-to merge two divergent trails, one several hundred years old, the other as current as a heartbeat, which together may lead humanity to the brink of annihilation. Packed with the nonstop suspense and unexpected twists Raymond Khoury's fans delight in, The Devil's Elixir is destined for bestseller lists everywhere.

FICTION - Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert

It is 83 years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler established himself as the first Emperor of a new imperium. War hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on Salusa Secundus, flying off to parts unknown. Abulurd Harkonnen, convicted of cowardice, was sent away to live on gloomy Lankiveil, and his descendants continue to blame Vor for the downfall of their fortunes. Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School as the first Reverend Mother. Descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built a powerful transportation company using mutated Navigators who fly "spacefolder ships". Gilbertus Albans has established a school on bucolic Lampadas teaching humans to become Mentats. Even so, decades after the defeat of the thinking machines, anti-technology fervor continues to sweep across the human-settled planets, with powerful fanatical groups imposing violent purges

FICTION - Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

From the acclaimed author of STILL MISSING comes a psychological thriller about one woman’s search into her past and the deadly truth she uncovers. All her life, Sara Gallagher has wondered about her birth parents. As an adopted child with two sisters who were born naturally to her parents, Sara’s home life was not ideal. The question of why she was given up for adoption has always haunted her. Finally, she is ready to take steps and find closure. But some questions are better left unanswered. After months of research, Sara locates her birth mother—only to be met with horror and rejection. Then she discovers the devastating truth: her mother was the only victim ever to escape a killer who has been hunting women every summer for decades. But Sara soon realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her father is him finding out about her. What if murder is in your blood? Never Knowing is a complex and compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest to understand herself, her origins, and her family. That is, if she can survive.

FICTION - The Ideal Man by Julie Garwood

Julie Garwood is among the most critically acclaimed - and popular - romance authors around, with thirty-six million copies of her books in print. And now, with The Ideal Man, Garwood is poised to expand that already huge audience. Dr. Ellie Sullivan has just completed her residency at a large urban hospital. While jogging in a park nearby, she witnesses the shooting of an FBI agent in pursuit of wanted criminals, a couple identified as the Landrys. The only person to see the shooter's face, Ellie is suddenly at the center of a criminal investigation. Agent Max Daniels takes over the Landry case. A no-nonsense lawman, he's definitely not the ideal man that Ellie has always imagined, yet she's attracted to him in a way she can't explain. Ellie heads home to Winston Falls, South Carolina, to attend her sister's wedding. Shortly after she arrives, though, she receives a surprise visitor: Max Daniels. The Landrys have been captured, and she'll be called to testify. But they've been captured before, and each time the witnesses are scared into silence - or disappear before they can take the stand. Max vows to be Ellie's shadow until the trial, and it isn't long before sparks fly.

FICTION - King's Man by Angus Donald

THE THIRD CRUSADE IS OVER Richard the Lionheart is bound for England. But with all the princes of Europe united against him ...can the greatest warrior in Christendom make it safely home? THE LION IS CHAINED Captured. Bound. Imprisoned. King Richard's slim hope of salvation rests on one man - a former outlaw, a vengeful earl, a man who scoffs at Holy Mother Church: ROBIN HOOD For King and country Robin and his loyal lieutenant Alan Dale will risk all - from blood-soaked battlefields to deadly assassins - to see the Lionheart restored to his rightful throne.

FICTION - No One Left to Tell by Karen Rose

The addictive Karen Rose serves up her most relentless thriller yet. A woman is dead and her fiance is serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit. Now PI Paige Holden holds the only piece of evidence that could see him freed, and she cannot take it to the police. With the help of disarming state attorney, Grayson Smith, Paige is determined to avenge the murdered woman and set an innocent man free. But Paige has only scratched the surface of a cover-up far deadlier than she could ever imagine. A string of mysterious deaths of women with a shared past sets Paige on the trail of a ruthless killer. The problem is, the killer's on her trail too ...

FICTION - Sadie Walker is Stranded by Madeleine Roux

Sadie Walker is one of the survivors in this new world. Living in north Seattle behind barrier that keep the living in and the dead out, she trying to get back to a normal life, while raising her eight-year-old nephew, if anyone even knows what “normal” is anymore. Then everything goes sideways when Shane is kidnapped by a group of black market thieves and they bring down a crucial barrier in the city while trying to escape, and flood the city with the walking dead. After rescuing her nephew, Sadie and Shane escape Seattle on the last remaining boat, along with other survivors. However, now they must face the complete chaos of a world filled with flesh eating zombies and humans who are playing with a whole new rule book when it comes to survival in their journey to find a new place that they can call home.

NON FICTION - I'd Listen to My Parents If They'd Just Shut Up: What to Say and Not Say When Parenting Teens by Anthony Wolf

Is there any aspect of parenting more frustrating than when even the simplest conversation with your teenager quickly deteriorates into a take-no-prisoners war? Bestselling author Anthony E. Wolf sympathizes, and in his new book he provides hope, humor, and practical tips for dealing with the everyday challenges of raising teens in the twenty-first century.

I’d Listen to My Parents if They’d Just Shut Up will help you understand who your teenagers really are under all the attitude, and what new rules apply to successfully communicating with them in today’s constantly evolving world of the Internet, electronics, and social media. A book designed to make life with your teenage child a significantly more enjoyable experience, I’d Listen to My Parents if They’d Just Shut Up offers specific scenarios to illustrate which responses will work and which ones are doomed to failure the next time your thirteen-to-nineteen-year-old refuses to listen or won’t take “no” for an answer.

BIOGRAPHY - Katy Perry: A Life of Fireworks by Chloe Govan

The life story of Katy Perry is a fascinating tale of how a repressive Southern California religious upbringing led to a dazzling pop career marked by innovative songwriting, bisexual curiosity and marriage to a notorious womaniser Russell Brand.

Never far from controversy, Katy Perry struggled to get started in the pop business. First cutting a gospel album, then falling out with Columbia Records and eventually managing to alienate both conservatives and gay organisations with songs like UR So Gay and the megahit I Kissed A Girl. Outrageous outfits and elaborately staged shows combine with her thoughtful self-penned songs to make Katy Perry hard to categorise.

For this major biography, the author has drawn on insights from many colleagues and friends, including school teachers, producers, video directors, co-songwriters, choir associates and an ex-lover to get under the skin of one of today's most fascinating pop phenomena.

NON FICTION - A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That by Isabella and Sofia-Bliss

Twins Isabella and Sofia Bliss appeared on Junior MasterChef (Sophia got through to the top four and Isabella won). A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That is a family cookbook of Sicilian recipes cooked by the twins, inspired by their mother, Sylvana, and their nonna, Rosa. It features an introduction by Sylvana and both the girls, as well as a short description for each recipe that gives us a feel for the family, their migrant background and their food traditions. The recipes include spuntino (snacks), basics such as Tomato Salsa, classics such as S pezzatino (beef stew) and Octopus Salad, and delicious baked goods such as Nonna's Custard with Biscotti.

NON FICTION - Indira Naidoo: The Edible Balcony

Journalist and broadcaster Indira Naidoo has always been passionate about food and, teaming this with her increasing desire to live a sustainable life, has transformed her tiny 13th floor apartment balcony into a herb and vegetable garden that provides her with fresh produce all year round. The Edible Balcony charts a year in the life of her kitchen garden, giving a season-by-season account with delicious recipes appearing throughout that make the very best of the produce. A practical how-to section at the front of the book guides novice gardeners and green thumbs alike on the best way to garden in small spaces.

FICTION - False Convictions by Tim Green

In bestselling author Tim Green's latest thriller, Casey Jordan returns-seeking justice in a small town riddled with . . . FALSE CONVICTIONS Casey is counting on an open-and-shut case, a sure success for her first effort with the Freedom Project, the renowned charity group dedicated to helping exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. Not only is the Freedom Project giving Casey the chance to help innocent people, but its founder, Robert Graham, is offering Casey a one-million-dollar annual pledge to her legal clinic for taking on just two jobs a year. Her first assignment is to revive the case of Dwayne Hubbard, an indigent black man serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a college student seventeen years ago. Using DNA evidence, Casey expects to easily prove Hubbard's innocence. Yet when she arrives in rural Auburn, New York, she meets immediate and aggressive resistance.Tormented by death threats and assassination attempts, Casey investigates a prosecution apparently rife with lies. From the judge, the lawyers, the jury, to the police, she traces a web of corruption surrounding the destruction of one young man. But in all the chaos, Casey's hardest challenge may be just staying alive.

FICTION - Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato

 

Fear doesnt come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bring themselves to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathildas sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad.

Mathilda decides shes going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sisters most secret possessions—e-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out. More troubling, she begins to apply some of her older sisters magical charisma and powers of seduction to the unraveling situations around her. In a storyline that thrums with hints of ancient myth, Mathilda has to risk a great deal—in fact, has to leave behind everything she loves—in order to discover the truth.

Mathilda Savitch bursts with unforgettably imagined details: impossible crushes, devastating humiliations, the way you can hate and love your family at the same moment, the times when you and your best friend are so weak with laughter that you cant breathe. Startling, funny, touching, odd, truthful, page-turning, and, in the end, heartbreaking, Mathilda Savitch is an extraordinary debut. Once you make the acquaintance of Mathilda Savitch, you will never forget her.

FICTION - Red Herring by Archer Mayor

VBI (Vermont Bureau of Investigation) head Joe Gunther and his team are called in to investigate a series of violent deaths that appear unrelated until telltale clues reveal a linkage between them and that all of the deaths are, in fact, murders. However, apart from a single drop of unexplained blood left at each crime scene, there are no obvious connections between the victims or the cases. The police are faced with more questions than answers including what do the mysterious deposits of blood mean, coming as they do from three additional unknown people. In their search for the elusive truth, the VBI must plumb the depths of every suspects past, every victims most intimate details, and examine each piece of evidence down to the smallest detail—an examination which includes a trip to the Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island and an exploration of cutting edge forensic technology.

NON FICTION - Tony Robinson's History of Australia: From New Holland to Neighbours

In Tony Robinson's History of Australia, the always-entertaining storyteller explores the modern history of our nation, from colonial beginnings to the Stolen Generations apology, with trademark gusto. He delights in unfurling lesser-known tales such as the First Fleet's Founding Orgy or how shots fired in Port Phillip Bay raised the curtains of both World Wars. But it's people that most interest Robinson, and from William Dampier to Anh Do he profiles a multicultural cast of characters who have contributed to the remarkable Australian story.

For this book, as well as Tony Robinson Explores Australia, The History Channel's highest-ever-rating TV series, he travelled the country, taste-testing colonial rations and spending time in dark solitary at Port Arthur – even learning of a possible convict ancestor. He dove into archives and libraries, chatted to experts and relatives of historic figures, and was guided by some of our most respected historians, such as Thomas Keneally, Tim Flannery and Eric Willmot. Lavishly illustrated with historical images as well as beautiful photographs taken on location, Tony Robinson's History of Australia will spark the memory, fill the gaps and invite fresh consideration of who we are and how we've come to be this way.