Transworld Publishers Ltd

In summer 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day, a sensational murder trial, and an unknown aviator named Charles Lindbergh who became the most famous man on earth. This book brings to life a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and changed the world.

The author has the rare knack of being out of his depth wherever he goes - even (perhaps especially) in the land of his birth. Whether discussing the strange appeal of breakfast pizza or the jaw-slackening direness of American TV, the author brings his brand of bemused wit to bear on that strangest of phenomena - the American way of life.

The author describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. This title is about his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from there, being nothing at all, to here, being us.

In At Home, Bill Bryson applies the same irrepressible curiosity, irresistible wit, stylish prose and masterful storytelling that made A Short History of Nearly Everything one of the most lauded books of the last decade, and delivers one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live.

In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world.

'A fine debut - fast-paced and bleak, with a vivid setting and gut-wrenching twists.' MICK HERRON '[An] impressive first thriller . Full of descriptive, fast-paced scenes and an interesting take on life in Japan made this such an entertaining read for me .

Portia Davenport is the luckiest woman in the world. She and her gorgeous husband, Andrew, have just finished ploughing a fortune into renovating her ancestral home, Davenport Hall, and are now planning to unveil it as one of the most fabulous, luxurious, five-star country house hotels in Kildare. But life never turns out like you think.

Ever since she was a little girl, all Amelia Lockwood has ever wanted is to get married. The car, the flat and three friends only go so far in consoling her now that she's in her thirties and still not married. So when Amelia hears about a course that promises she'll be saying 'I do' before the year is out, she jumps at the chance to enrol.

In the heart of County Kildare is Davenport Hall - a crumbling eighteenth-century mansion house, ancestral home to Portia Davenport, her beautiful younger sister Daisy and their dotty, eccentric mother, Lucasta.

Cassandra never set out to be a psychic, least of all a famous one, with her very own magazine column, plus a glamorous TV slot thrown in for good measure. While she can make predictions with 100 per cent accuracy for everyone around her, her psychic gift floats right out the window whenever there's a D.S.M.

Charlotte is hovering between life and death, but it's taken a coma for her to realize she's made a complete mess of her short time on earth. Not to mention the five precious dating years she's just wasted on the cheating, faithless James Kane.