Recommended Reads for Adults
184159184X 
Hardback 
Year: 2012
Media class: Hardback
Publisher: Everyman
Resource type: Physical
Note: Monty Bodkin has returned to London from Hollywood, leaving Sandy Miller, his secretary there, heartbroken, because Monty loves English hockey international Gertrude Butterwick instead of her. Holding down a job for a year was the condition laid down by Gertrude's father before Monty and Gertrude could be married, a condition Monty has unexpectedly fulfilled by blackmailing Hollywood movie mogul Ivor Llewellyn. Back in England, he intends to claim his bride, but the path to true love never runs smooth, as Monty is about to find out.
1408411504 
Audio book
Year: 2008
Media class: Audio book
Publisher: BBC audio
Resource type: Physical
Note: Read by Cornelius Garrett. 8 discs When Elinor Rochdale steps into the wrong carriage she is swept up in a thrilling and dangerous adventure. Overnight the would-be governess becomes mistress of a ruined estate and partner in a secret conspiracy to save a family's name.
More editions/formats:
1489426353 
Audio book 
Year: 2018
Media class: Audio book
Publisher: Bolinda/Audible audio
Resource type: Physical
Note: Read by Emma Powell. 22 discs
0099474360 
Paperback
Year: 2005
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Arrow
Resource type: Physical
Note: Lord Darracott is more irascible than ever, especially after the drowning of his eldest son. He is forced to send for the offspring of the uncle that the family never talk about - the weaver's brat. He is the heir apparent and Darracott is angry.
More editions/formats:
0241418895 
Paperback
Year: 2020
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Resource type: Physical
Note: When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly-named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire and damnation; their sons, lustful Seth and despairing
More editions/formats:
0099474395 
Paperback
Year: 2005
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Arrow
Resource type: Physical
0655624309 
Audio book
Year: 2019
Media class: Audio book
Publisher: Bolinda/Audible audio
Resource type: Physical
Note: Read by Rosamund Pike. 10 discs
0749007192 
Paperback
Year: 2010
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Resource type: Physical
Note: When Mary Russell returns with her husband, the renowned Sherlock Holmes, home from abroad, her plans for peace and tranquillity are soon thwarted with the arrival of enigmatic painter Damian Adler. Adler, searching for his missing wife and child, leads them on a dangerous journey for answers.
0141389516 
Paperback
Year: 2012
Language: English
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Resource type: Physical
Note: H.G. Wells' classic tale of the dangers of science describes a man cast out from society by his own terrifying discovery. A brilliant scientist, obsessed with achieving invisibility, he is prepared to do anything to protect his discovery, and terrorizes the village where he has sought refuge in the process.
1509870539 
Paperback
Year: 2019
Language: English
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Resource type: Physical
Note: 'The Master' is a portrait of a man who was elusive to both friends and family even as he remained astonishingly vibrant and alive in his art - a searching exploration of the mind before affairs of the heart.
0571258093 
Paperback
Year: 2010
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Resource type: Physical
184916195X 
Paperback
Year: 2010
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Quercus
Resource type: Physical
Note: Laura is content enough with her marriage, two children and part-time job. That is, until a lover from her past comes back into her life. Suddenly passion and excitement are rekindled, and she realises how stagnant her life has become. But how much happiness has she a right to expect? Unknown to Laura, many others in her Sussex village are living with their own unresolved inner dramas. None of them guesses at her crisis. Yet every decision they take has an impact on those around them.
1408867990 
Paperback
Year: 2016
Language: English
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Resource type: Physical
Note: Amory's first memory is of her father standing on his head. She has memories of him returning on leave during the First World War. But his absences, both actual and emotional, are what she chiefly remembers. It is her photographer uncle Greville who supplies the emotional bond she needs, and a camera, which unleashes a passion that irrevocably shapes her future.
1510023704 
Large print
Year: 2016
Language: English
Media class: Large print
Publisher: Clipper Large Print Books
Resource type: Physical
Note: Standard print edition originally published: London: Bloomsbury, 2015 Amory's first memory is of her father standing on his head. She has memories of him returning on leave during the First World War. But his absences, both actual and emotional, are what she chiefly remembers. It is her photographer uncle Greville who supplies the emotional bond she needs, and, when he gives her a camera and some rudimentary lessons in photography, unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future. In this enthralling story of a life fully lived, William Boyd has created a sweeping panorama of some of the most defining moments of modern history, told through the camera lens of one unforgettable woman, Amory Clay.
XX00387353 
Audio book
Year: 2015
Media class: Audio book
Publisher: Clipper Audio
Resource type: Physical
Note: Narrated by Jilly Bond. 13 discs Amory's first memory is of her father doing a handstand. She has memories of him returning on leave during the First World War. But his absences, both actual and emotional, are what she chiefly remembers. It is her photographer uncle Greville who supplies the emotional bond she needs, and, when he gives her a camera and some rudimentary lessons in photography, unleashes a passion that will irrevocably shape her future. A spell at boarding school ends abruptly and Amory begins an apprenticeship with Greville in London, living in his flat in Kensington, earning two pounds a week photographing socialites for fashionable magazines
1849908478 
Paperback
Year: 2014
Language: English
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: BBC Books
Resource type: Physical
Note: The arrival of the snobbish Mrs Emmeline Lucas (known as Lucia to her friends) to the small seaside town of Tilling causes waves as she threatens the queen bee of Tilling's social circle, Miss Elizabeth Mapp. Against a backdrop of genteel tea parties and bridge evenings a series of hilarious conflicts ensue between the two power-hungry women as they battle on the local stage to gain the ultimate place as first lady of Tilling society. Includes 'Queen Lucia', 'Miss Mapp' and 'Mapp and Lucia'.
0340921099 
Paperback
Year: 2008
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Resource type: Physical
Note: In 1552, fifteen years after Henry VIII's brutal reformation of the monasteries, Catholics in England still live in fear. When thirteen-year-old Celia da Bohun first meets Stephen Marsdon, a young Catholic priest, protestant Edward VI has been on the throne for five years. Reluctantly, Stephen agrees to be her teacher but as Celia grows older, her girlish adoration of him and his affection for her deepens into a passionate love that will not be extinguished - even by her violent death. 400 years later, history seems poised to repeat itself. Not long after the marriage of Richard Marsdon and his American wife Celia, something seems to go terribly wrong between them. It is only when Celia is forced to look deep in to the past that she has a chance to prevent another tragedy
0007204507 
Paperback
Year: 2005
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Resource type: Physical
Note: This novel tells the story of a group of working men who are joined one day by Owen, a journeyman-prophet with a vision of a just society. Owen's spirited attacks on the greed and dishonesty of the capitalist system rouse his fellow men from their political quietism.
0948238348 
Paperback
Year: 2007
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Black Spring
Resource type: Physical
Note: Omnibus ed. containing: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson and Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant.'The Gorse Trilogy' follows the fortunes of a petty swindler and charmer, Earnest Ralph Gorse (based on the real-life con-man and murderer Neville George Heath, executed in 1946). Gorse insinuates himself into the lives of his victims with his good looks and easy confidence, and always with a good story.
0141033592 
Paperback
Year: 2007
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Fig Tree
Resource type: Physical
Note: Two sisters who are bound together by the death of a baby brother, know too much about each other and this knowledge could destroy their adult lives
Recommended Crime and Thrillers
1785413031 
Large print 
Year: 2017
Media class: Large print
Publisher: Thorpe
Resource type: Physical
1407957511 
Audio book 
Year: 2015
Language: English
Media class: Audio book
Edition: Talking book ed.
Publisher: Isis
Resource type: Physical
Note: Read by Gordon Griffin. 7 CDs. 8 hrs
XX00190811 
Paperback
Year: 2010
Language: English
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Resource type: Physical
Note: 'The Beekeeper's Apprentice' tells the story of Mary Russell, a young woman who in 1914, meets a retired beekeeper on the Sussex Downs. His name is Sherlock Homes, and he soon takes Mary on as his apprentice.
0749015055 
Paperback
Year: 2014
Language: English
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Resource type: Physical
Note: The year is 1923 and Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell receive a visit from Dorothy Ruskin, an amateur archaeologist. She shows them a scrap of ancient writing that is supposedly Mary Magdalene's. Soon afterwards she is murdered - but why? Originally published: U.S.: St Martin's, 1996; London: HarperCollins, 1999
071235316X 
Paperback
Year: 2020
Media class: Paperback
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Resource type: Physical
Note: Death in White Pyjamas: A theatre-owner, a 'slightly sinister' producer, a burgeoning playwright and a cast of ego-driven actors have gathered at a country home to read through the promising script for Pigs in Porcelain. Before the production ever reaches the stage, one of their number is found murdered in the grounds wearing what mysteriously seems to be somebody else's white pyjamas. Enter Inspector Harting and Sergeant Dane to unravel this curious plot. Death Knows No Calendar: Investigating a deadly shooting with no shooter in a locked artist's studio, detective fiction enthusiast Major Tom Boddy has a long day ahead of him. With four colourful suspects to scrutinise, and not one but two 'impossible' elements of the crime to solve, this extremely rare and thoroughly entertaining mystery is long overdue its return to print.