December Book Competition 2014

The Life I Left Behind

Collette McBeth

Available 13th January 2015. Everyone tells her she’s a survivor. No one knows she’s dead inside.

She’s dead but she’s the only one who knows what really happened. What the police missed. Who attacked you. So if you want the truth who else are you going to turn to?

Five years ago Melody Pieterson was attacked and left for dead. She coped by burying the person she was, locking away her memories and creating a new life for herself. Her attacker is behind bars and in four weeks’ time she will get married – she’s almost normal. Then the body of another woman is found, close to where Melody was discovered. Like her she has blonde hair and green eyes. Like Melody police find a gold bird cage necklace at the scene. And Melody realises her attacker has been out there all along.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Collette McBeth was a BBC TV News Correspondent for ten years. She lives in West London with her husband and three young children. Her first novel, Precious Thing, was published in 2013.

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Downton Abbey Rules for Household Staff

The official handbook for new members of staff at the Downton Abbey great estate.

The household staff of Downton Abbey carry out their duties with effortless dignity, finesse and pride. Yet how do they know how exactly to lay the table, when to leave the room to give Lord and Lady Grantham their privacy, how to care for Lady Mary’s furs and which uniform to wear when? This recently recovered and fascinating staff handbook answers all of these questions and more. Covering all the main positions of the Downton household – footman, lady’s maid, housekeeper, groundsman – and with a general introduction from Carson the Butler, this book tells you everything you need to know about working below stairs at Downton.

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Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In

Louis Zamperini & David Rensin

Inspirational stories and life lessons from the Olympic athlete and war hero Louis Zamperini, this publication coincides with the release of the film adaptation of his life, Unbroken.

Louis Zamperini has lived one of the most amazing lives imaginable. He was an American Olympic athlete before serving in the Second World War. During the war his plane was shot down, leaving him stranded on a life raft in the middle of the ocean for 47 days. He survived and was rescued by Japanese forces, only to be imprisoned and tortured in a POW camp.

Amazingly, Louis survived this ordeal too and went on to help others. Louis now shares the wonderful lessons he has learned during his extraordinary life, and previously untold stories. Louis Zamperini, who died in July 2014, was an Olympic athlete and war hero.

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The Oyster Catcher

Jo Thomas

The runaway Kindle bestseller – warm, romantic and utterly commercial, this is the first novel by an irresistible new talent in women’s fiction.

Dooleybridge, County Galway. Population: 482 (or thereabouts). The last place Fiona Clutterbuck expects to end up, alone, on her wedding night. With only her sequined shoes and a crashed campervan for company, one thing is certain, Fi can’t go back. So when the opportunity arises to work for Sean Thornton, the local oyster farmer, she jumps at the chance. Now Fi must navigate suspicious locals, jealous rivals and a wild, unpredictable boss if she’s to find a new life, and love, on the Irish coast. And nothing – not even a chronic fear of water – is going to hold her back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jo Thomas won the RNA Katie Fforde Bursary in 2013 and now writes full time.

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Waiting for Doggo

Mark Mills

One man. One dog. One big love. The perfect novel for anyone who loves Marley & Me, It’s A Wonderful Life or One Day.

No one ever called Dan a pushover. But then no one ever called him fast-track either. He likes driving slowly, playing Sudoku on his iPhone, swapping one scruffy jumper for another. He’s been perfectly happy with Clara for four years; but now she’s left him, leaving nothing but a long letter filled with incriminations and a small, white, almost hairless dog, named Doggo.

So now Dan is single, and one reluctant dog owner. Find a new home for him, that’s the plan. But come on, everyone knows the old adage about the best laid plans, and besides, Doggo is one special kind of a four-legged friend … and an inspiration.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Mills’s other novels include The Long Shadow, The Savage Garden and The Whaleboat House.

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The Prophecy of Bees

R.S. Pateman

For fans of Before I Go to Sleep, the gripping new psychological novel from the author of The Second Life of Amy Archer.

When Lindy, a recently widowed American expat, buys the rambling Stagcote Manor in the Cotswolds, she thinks it’s the fresh start she and her wayward daughter Izzy need. Izzy, however, is less convinced. She longs to be back in the hustle and bustle of London. There’s something unnerving about the house that she can’t quite put her finger on and Izzy soon comes to realise that the locals have a lot of bizarre superstitions, many of them related to Stagcote. When she begins to investigate the history of the manor her unease soon turns to fear as the house’s dark past finally comes to light.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R.S. Pateman is a talented writer and exciting new voice in British psychological suspense.