Most Popular Books by Jill Paton Walsh

Jill Paton Walsh''s classic science fiction novel The Green Book is now available from Square Fish with a brand–new cover! Pattie and her family are among the last refugees to flee a dying Earth in an old spaceship. And when the group finally lands on the distant planet which is to be their new home, it seems that the four-year journey has been a success. But as they begin to settle this shiny new world, they discover that the colony is in serious jeopardy. Nothing on this planet is edible, and they may not be able to grow food. With supplies dwindling, Pattie and her sister decide to take the one chance that might make life possible on Shine.

Just before the Reformation, a feral child raised by wolves and a shipwrecked atheist are discovered by local inhabitants on a remote Mediterranean island. Their simultaneous appearance becomes both an omen and a challenge to church authorities to prove that humankind is born with the knowledge of angels. At once a mystery, an adventure tale, and a medieval fable, "Knowledge of Angels" is a hauntingly poetic masterpiece.

Creep accidentally travels back in time to the British Industrial Revolution, while, in the present, his half brother is anxiously searching for him. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

"A parcel of patterns brought the plague to Eyam. A parcel sent up from London to George Vicars, a journeyman tailor, who was lodging with Mrs. Cooper in a cottage by the west end of the churchyard. So begins Mall Percival''s account of how her village of Eyam struggled against the plague. George Vicars dies on September 6, 1665, and by the end of October, twenty-five more townsfolk have been buried. As the deaths continue, the villagers, including Mall, begin to panic--helpless to fight off the disease. Uncertain as to how it is contracted and passed from one person to another, Mall forces herself to make a sacrifice that radically changes her life--she decides to stops seeing Thomas Torre, a man from another village, the man she hopes to marry. In June of 1966, at their minister''s urging, the entire village makes a pact to protect those who live in the surrounding countryside by staying within the boundaries of Eyam. Although Mall longs to see Thomas, she remains steadfast in her resolution, until one day Thomas runs into the center of Eyam, knowing that he will not be allowed to leave, yet fearing that Mall has died. Mall and Thomas marry, but their happiness is short-lived. Finally, in October of 1666, the pestilence subsides. Mall, overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, decides to write a chronicle of all she has witnessed in Eyam, hoping that it will set her free.

Lord Peter and Harriet return to the scene of their literate courtship to resolve an Oxford University dispute that is complicated by the disappearance of several prominent Fellows.

''Imogen Quy positively sparkles on the page as an amateur sleuth'' - Sunday Express What is the Summerfield secret? Biography is usually a safe profession. But more than one biographer has found that writing about the late mathematician Gideon Summerfield has nasty consequences. Consequences that can sometimes be deadly. Imogen Quy, the coolly competent nurse at St. Agatha''s College, Cambridge, first notices the pattern when her enthusiastic lodger Fran becomes the latest Summerfield biographer. Before she realises how deadly the Summerfield secret is, Fran''s life is in danger. And Imogen may be next . . .

A grandmother tells her grandson what life was like when she was as little as he is now.

"As divided post-war Europe unravels around them, they must make what they can of lives buffeted by circumstance. For many, individual freedom is at best problematic. For better or worse, communities are destroyed, families uprooted, and the ties of trust, friendship and duty which bind them together are broken down by the implacably irresolvable forces at work."--BOOK JACKET.

Gentleman sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey and his bride Harriet Vane have settled into thier life together in 1930s London when an extra complication arises suddenly.

After her mother dies, Marian''s search for her unknown father leads her to the coast of Cornwall, where she finds that her heritage and her mother''s art are closely tied to St. Ives''s biggest tragedy, the fishing boat disaster of 1939.

A re-issue of a forgotten favourite, FIREWEED is an evocative and unflinching story of wartime survival for younger readers Bill is a fifteen-year-old runaway evacuee, and he''s finding that surviving on the streets of London is pretty easy, thank you very much. He''s fed by a local cafe owner, he earns some cash as a barrow-boy in Covent Garden, and sleeping in the Underground air-raid shelters is cosy - if a bit smelly. Things get more complicated for Bill with the arrival of Julie. She''s a runaway too, and although she''s a bit posh, she''s just as determined as Bill to stay free of interfering parents and ''the social''. But although it''s fun for a while to duck Jerry missiles and camp out in bombed-out houses, the reality of living through the Blitz quickly begins to set in. Winter is coming, and Bill and Julie will discover that playing at being grown-ups can be a very dangerous game.... First published in 1969, and winner of the 1970''s Book World Festival Award, FIREWEED evokes a time of tin Spitfires, powdered eggs, warm woollen mittens and reading by firelight. Perfect for readers young and old, this book is a beautifully written classic, full of adventure, heroism and British wartime courage.

Sixty years after Dorothy L. Sayers began her unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Thrones Dominations, Booker Prize finalist Jill Paton Walsh took on the challenge of completing the manuscript---with extraordinary success. "The transition is seamless," said the San Francisco Chronicle; "you cannot tell where Sayers leaves off and Walsh begins." "Will Paton Walsh do it again?" wondered Ruth Rendell in London''s Sunday Times. "We must hope so." Jill Paton Walsh fulfills those hopes in A Presumption of Death. Although Sayers never began another Wimsey novel, she did leave clues. Drawing on "The Wimsey Papers," in which Sayers showed various members of the family coping with wartime conditions, Walsh has devised an irresistible story set in 1940, at the start of the Blitz in London. Lord Peter is abroad on secret business for the Foreign Office, while Harriet Vane, now Lady Peter Wimsey, has taken their children to safety in the country. But war has followed them there---glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalize the villagers, and the blackout makes the nighttime lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Daily life reminds them of the war so constantly that, when the village''s first air-raid practice ends with a real body on the ground, it''s almost a shock to hear the doctor declare that it was not enemy action, but plain, old-fashioned murder. Or was it? At the request of the overstretched local police, Harriet reluctantly agrees to investigate. The mystery that unfolds is every bit as literate, ingenious, and compelling as the best of original Lord Peter Wimsey novels.

Cal and Dio set out, along with a few of their friends, on an extraordinary journey to discover the torch''s true meaning and to find its home.

In Ra''s prehistoric tribe, each man makes his own tools and hunts for himself and his family. One evening Ra needed light from Grandmother''s fire to finish an ax, and Yul, another hunter, saw that Ra''s ax was better than his own. He offered to share the day''s hunt with Ra if Ra will make a fine ax in trade. Others wanted the same, but for young Ra to make all the tools needed by his Stone Age tribe is a new idea for all of them, and provides Ra with a skill that saves his life when he is abandoned by his tribe for forgetting how to hunt.

The recent heir to her grandmother''s house, a young girl rents it for the summer to a professor and a group of students whose long, abstract, philosophical discussions become meaningful to her as the summer wears on.

Sometimes, Birdy watches her father row people across the dangerous sea, but when the wrinkled old woman asks to be ferried across, Birdy jumps in too. The woman tells Birdy that she has second sight, but Birdy isn''t sure she wants this special gift. However, soon she finds that looking twice at things can bring the most unexpected results . . . With an engaging story told in short chapters, and illustrations in black and white and colour on every double-page spread, this short novel is ideal for newly confident readers.

From the Booker Prize shortlisted author of Knowledge of Angels, this novel is of two interwoven stories worked around the theme of Mozart''s Cosi Fan Tutte, which explores love and infidelity.

An English boy, shipwrecked, hungry, and lost, finds his way into the court of Constantine where he is interpreted as a symbol of good luck and, as such, ordered to be kept always near the king.

The long-awaited new Lord Peter Wimsey novel, telling the story of his first case and his last. Paton Walsh, takes over from Dorothy L Sayers to bring back Lord Wimsey.

''A jewel in the traditional English detective mode . . . Ms. Morse has arrived'' Observer According to certain Cambridge scholars, the locked library of St Agatha''s College is home to an unrivalled - and deeply uninteresting - collection of seventeenth century volumes. It also contains one dead student. At first glance it seems like a tragic accident - even if malicious rumours suggest that Philip Skellow had been stealing books rather than acquiring knowledge when he''d slipped, banged his head, and bled to death overnight. Only Imogen Quy, the college nurse, has her doubts. And before long, another student is found, drowned in an ornamental fountain . . .

The miner''s work is hard-they need pasties to keep them going. When Thomas shares his pasty with a small miner, he is rewarded with a wish. But soon, more miners appear and Thomas regrets his kindness-until he faces an even bigger problem...

After helping her father rescue the survivors of a shipwreck on the coast of England in 1838, Grace Darling finds her quiet life crumbling around her as she is unwillingly fashioned into a national hero.

"Once a year cousins Madge and Paul visit Goldengrove, their grandmother''s idyllic Cornish home. But one year as Summer turns to Autumn and as they are drawn from childhood to maturity, their seemingly indomitable grandmother turns to Winter, and the precious moments of innocence begin to be leached away... Years later Madge, now living at Goldengrove, reflects on her own grandchildren and the events and revelations which disturbed the tranquill idyll that was her childhood. With wisdom and understanding, Jill Paton Walsh creates memorable mood-music for the ebb and flow, calm and storm of changing lives and in so doing has formed a lasting tale of innocence and beauty. An extremely good story, marvellously told. As the story gathers momentum, the deeply understood characters, the golden atmosphere, the small change of everyday pleasures and ageless tragedies are all put over with such newly seen immediacy and such controlled mastery that the reader is carried along like a surf rider on the crest of a wave, knowing it must soon break'' Times Literary Supplement ''Written with an intensity of feeling and care, with a Woolf-like awareness of the instant''s sensation: a story

''Jill Paton Walsh has created a Miss Marple for the 21st century'' - Mirror ''A jewel in the traditional English detective mode . . . Ms. Morse has arrived'' - Observer Another foolhardy Cambridge college night climber has died attempting Harding''s Folly. This time it''s John Talentire, one of the brightest young dons at St Agatha''s, and the verdict is accident, compounded by idiocy. But college nurse Imogen Quy can''t help wondering how such a clever young man died so stupidly. And when a wildly eccentric production of Hamlet is interrupted by a murder accusation, Imogen investigates, uncovering more crime than she expected . . .

''An entertaining read'' - Sunday Times Why did Sir Julius Farran die? Hoping to attract a generous endowment, St Agatha''s College, Cambridge, invites the fabulously wealthy Sir Julius Farran to dine. The evening is a disaster for everyone except the college nurse, Imogen Quy, who Farran invites her to come and work for him. Imogen declines, but when Farran dies, suddenly and shockingly, she has to investigate. His death has left a large hole in his company accounts that could mean financial ruin for St Agatha''s. To save her beloved college, Imogen starts to cast her cool eye over the financier''s heirs, employees and enemies. What is right about the death of Sir Julius? What is wrong about it? And above all, why did it happen?

Prince Dhutmose has commanded a splendid tomb to be built for his final journey to the Land of the Dead. Pepi''s father is to decorate it, but how can he paint the unimaginable-the terrible gods: Horus the Hawk, Sebek the Crocodile, and Mertseger the Winged Cobra? Pepi decides to help him and, armed with his quick wits and a knowledge of secret names, the boy sets out into the wild to bring back real-life models for his father. In this magically illustrated story, young readers can solve the secret names for themselves, using a simple hieroglyphics key that brings them into the mysterious world of ancient Egypt.

Eight stories of Anglo-Saxon times when raiders came from the North, and Paganism and Christianity struggled for recognition.

James''s difficulty in adjusting to a new school and life in the Fens is further complicated by the request of an elderly neighbor to find his lucky piece, a task which puts James in some danger.

The eleventh book in Dorothy L Sayers'' classic Lord Peter Wimsey series, introduced by writer Jill Paton Walsh - a must-read for fans of Agatha Christie''s Poirot and Margery Allingham''s Campion Mysteries. When his sexton finds a corpse in the wrong grave, the rector of Fenchurch St Paul asks Lord Peter Wimsey to find out who the dead man was and how he came to be there. The lore of bell-ringing and a brilliantly-evoked village in the remote fens of East Anglia are the unforgettable background to a story of an old unsolved crime and its violent unravelling twenty years later. ''She brought to the detective novel originality, intelligence, energy and wit.'' P.D. James.