Books

Maggie Groff brings us a laid-back debut novel, set against a beloved Byron Bay with the magic, magnetism, charm and colourful characters reminiscent of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series.

Flawless as Helena Rubinstein's skin, and as captivating as the Polish born Jewish beauty magnate's 70 year reign, this brilliant biography stands as a fascinating history of "make-up".

Grief is a popular subject in fiction at the moment and Peter Carey launches his latest on a river of tears stretching 150 years.

Roger prides himself on being Norway's gun corporate headhunter. But an indulgent lifestyle and his wife's hobby leave him strapped for cash, so he boosts his income by stealing valuable paintings.

This account of a young orphan boy adrift in Paris in the 1930s unfolds both in words and pictures.

The Brothers of Baker Street is an off-beat whodunit with great dollops of old fashioned British charm and humour, soaring surprisingly to a cinematic peak which brings central London to a standstill.

As all readers of Pride and Prejudice will remember, George Wickham was a thoroughly bad egg. Charming, cheating, utterly untrustworthy, but a murderer?

It's never a good sign when a bestselling thriller writer teams up with another author whose name creeps on to the cover in a much smaller font. But Cussler and Brown's Devil's Gate is a ripping read.

The West End Front is an unromantic but exciting account of fascinating people, opulent surroundings and difficult times.

In Christopher Paolini's magical world, a poor boy transforms into a warrior, a sapphire blue egg becomes his magnificent dragon, and an army with little reason to hope valiantly battles for freedom.