New Releases by Jill Paton Walsh

Laurence und Rosamund Harwell gelten in ihren Kreisen als Paradebeispiel einer amour fou. Während Laurence als Theaterproduzent seinen Geschäften nachgeht, bändelt die kapriziöse Rosamund mit einem jungen Dramatiker an. Als sie kurze Zeit später ermordet aufgefunden wird, soll sich Lord Peter ein wenig in der feinen Gesellschaft umhören ...

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.

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.

''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?

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.

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...

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.

''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 . . .

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.

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.

A novel of the effects of Communism on the lives of ordinary people in the aftermath of World War II chronicles fifty years in a small Eastern European town.

" C''est trop tard ! " dit Marian. Les mots étaient montés à ses lèvres avant d''avoir atteint sa conscience... " Trop tard pour lui demander tellement de choses, mais elle était toujours occupée... Oh, j''ai attendu trop longtemps... " Toby et Alice croyaient tous les deux savoir ce qu''elle aurait voulu savoir : la vérité sur son père, leur grand-père inconnu, jamais nommé, jamais évoqué, dont l''absence semblait avoir amputé leur mère d''une sorte de sixième sens et conduit le moment venu - du moins c''est ainsi qu''ils voyaient la chose - à la défection de leur propre père. Le non-dit au sein d''une famille est un sujet brûlant entre tous. À plus de quarante ans, Marian va entreprendre une bien étrange enquête pour tenter de découvrir qui était son père. Quels indices a-t-elle ? Rien ou presque : un tableau retrouvé dans l''atelier - sa mère était peintre - représentant un homme nu inconnu. Et puis loin, loin au fond de sa mémoire, le souvenir d''une grotte aux parois lisses et colorées, vert foncé et rouge foncé - de la serpentine - que l''eau envahit peu à peu...

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.

Depuis la Première Guerre mondiale, l''Empire britannique perd de son prestige... Cette puissance fièrement attachée à ses institutions les voit disparaître les unes après les autres, emportant avec elles les vestiges du passé. La monarchie elle-même semble souffrir de ces transformations, lorsque Edouard VIII renonce au trône par amour ! La décadence s''étend à toute la société ; du moins est-ce là le sentiment de l''aristocratie, pour qui les classes sociales ne peuvent se mélanger. Aussi le mariage de Lord Peter Wimsey avec Harriet Vane, roturière, n''est-il pas sans déranger... Pourtant cette union se révèle des plus parfaites : lui s''ingénie à résoudre des énigmes réelles, tandis qu''elle en imagine dans ses romans policiers à succès. Mais cette passion commune va malheureusement prendre l''allure d''une malédiction... Déjà témoins d''un crime peu avant leur lune de miel, Les Wimsey doivent désormais enquêter sur l''assassinat d''une de leur proches... Une enquête inédite du célèbre héros de Dorothy Sayers, considérée par ses pairs comme l''égale de la grande Agatha Christie.

For Rose, her first visit to the seaside brings excitement and wonder. For Gran, it brings back fond memories. Rose and Gran share their experiences and delight in a world not only as it once was, but also as it is now. 3-6 yrs.

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.

"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

Dialogue entre une petite fille et sa grand-mère. Comparaison entre la vie aujourd''hui et celle d''autrefois.

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.

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.