Headline Books

'An inspirational read celebrating the incredible young people who gave so much for this iconic British aircraft'. John Nichol, bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love Story

Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just twenty years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.

Based on the hit BBC Radio podcast Spitfire: The People's Story, we use contemporary diaries and memoirs, many of them previously unpublished, to tell the story of the Spitfire through the voices of the teenagers who risked everything to design, build and fly her. This isn't a story of stiff-upper lips, stoical moustaches and aerial heroics; it's a story of love and loss, a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance. Young people who won a battle that turned a war.

'An inspirational read celebrating the incredible young people who gave so much for this iconic British aircraft'. John Nichol, bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love Story

Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just twenty years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.

Based on the hit BBC Radio podcast Spitfire: The People's Story, we use contemporary diaries and memoirs, many of them previously unpublished, to tell the story of the Spitfire through the voices of the teenagers who risked everything to design, build and fly her. This isn't a story of stiff-upper lips, stoical moustaches and aerial heroics; it's a story of love and loss, a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance. Young people who won a battle that turned a war.

'An inspirational read celebrating the incredible young people who gave so much for this iconic British aircraft'. John Nichol, bestselling author of Spitfire: A Very British Love Story

Despite the many films and television programmes over the decades since the end of the Second World War that portrays our allied heroes as grown-up men and women, the Battle of Britain was in the main actually fought and won by teenagers. The average age of an RAF fighter pilot was just twenty years old. Many of the men and women who designed and built their planes were even younger.

Based on the hit BBC Radio podcast Spitfire: The People's Story, we use contemporary diaries and memoirs, many of them previously unpublished, to tell the story of the Spitfire through the voices of the teenagers who risked everything to design, build and fly her. This isn't a story of stiff-upper lips, stoical moustaches and aerial heroics; it's a story of love and loss, a story of young people tested to the very limits of their endurance. Young people who won a battle that turned a war.

'Wonderful. Written with such a good heart, filled with joy and strength and optimism . . . inventive and fun but most importantly, true.' RUSSELL T. DAVIES

'I loved it! Really heart-warming and joyful, but also so poignant. I cannot recommend this book highly enough' LORRAINE KELLY

'A rollicking love story' IAN McKELLEN

'Albert is such an endearing character - flawed, funny and awkward, but completely relatable. A wonderfully warm story that completely drew me in' RUTH HOGAN

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START YOUR LIFE'S BIG ADVENTURE . . .

Albert Entwistle was a postman. It was one of the few things everyone knew about him. And it was one of the few things he was comfortable with people knowing.

64-year-old Albert Entwistle has been a postie in a quiet town in Northern England for all his life, living alone since the death of his mam 18 years ago. He keeps himself to himself. He always has. But he's just learned he'll be forced to retire at his next birthday. With no friends and nothing to look forward to, the lonely future he faces terrifies him. He realises it's finally time to be honest about who he is. He must learn to ask for what he wants. And he must find the courage to look for George, the man that, many years ago, he lost - but has never forgotten . . .

Join Albert as he sets out to find the long-lost love of his life, and has an unforgettable and completely life-affirming adventure on the way . . . This is a love story the likes of which you have never read before!

'Prepare to fall in love with Albert Entwistle! Touching and tender' S. J. WATSON

'Albert is delightful and charming, and the book is too' JONATHAN HARVEY

'Wonderful. Written with such a good heart, filled with joy and strength and optimism . . . inventive and fun but most importantly, true.' RUSSELL T. DAVIES

'I loved it! Really heart-warming and joyful, but also so poignant. I cannot recommend this book highly enough' LORRAINE KELLY

'A rollicking love story' IAN McKELLEN

'Albert is such an endearing character - flawed, funny and awkward, but completely relatable. A wonderfully warm story that completely drew me in' RUTH HOGAN

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START YOUR LIFE'S BIG ADVENTURE . . .

Albert Entwistle was a postman. It was one of the few things everyone knew about him. And it was one of the few things he was comfortable with people knowing.

64-year-old Albert Entwistle has been a postie in a quiet town in Northern England for all his life, living alone since the death of his mam 18 years ago. He keeps himself to himself. He always has. But he's just learned he'll be forced to retire at his next birthday. With no friends and nothing to look forward to, the lonely future he faces terrifies him. He realises it's finally time to be honest about who he is. He must learn to ask for what he wants. And he must find the courage to look for George, the man that, many years ago, he lost - but has never forgotten . . .

Join Albert as he sets out to find the long-lost love of his life, and has an unforgettable and completely life-affirming adventure on the way . . . This is a love story the likes of which you have never read before!

'Prepare to fall in love with Albert Entwistle! Touching and tender' S. J. WATSON

'Albert is delightful and charming, and the book is too' JONATHAN HARVEY

A mesmerising retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Perfect for fans of Circe, The Song of Achilles, and The Silence of the Girls.

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur - Minos's greatest shame and Ariadne's brother - demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods - drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.

A mesmerising retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Perfect for fans of Circe, The Song of Achilles, and The Silence of the Girls.

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur - Minos's greatest shame and Ariadne's brother - demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods - drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.

In a remote Chinese town - where the theft of a few chickens counts as a major crime - a young woman is found brutally murdered...with her heart, lungs and liver removed. Inspector Lu Fei, a weary cop who fled the city, suddenly finds himself under the intense scrutiny of the ruling party in Beijing.

Determined to find her killer, Lu Fei must navigate a society where politics can be deadly, corruption is rife and the powerful are untouchable. As evidence connects the case to a string of unsolved murders, Lu must decide what he will risk in search of justice....

In a remote Chinese town - where the theft of a few chickens counts as a major crime - a young woman is found brutally murdered...with her heart, lungs and liver removed. Inspector Lu Fei, a weary cop who fled the city, suddenly finds himself under the intense scrutiny of the ruling party in Beijing.

Determined to find her killer, Lu Fei must navigate a society where politics can be deadly, corruption is rife and the powerful are untouchable. As evidence connects the case to a string of unsolved murders, Lu must decide what he will risk in search of justice....

For listeners of Stephen Hawking, a fascinating account of the universe from the perspective of world-leading astrophysicist Heino Falcke, who took the first ever picture of a black hole.

10th April 2019. A global sensation.

Heino Falcke, a man 'working at the boundaries of his discipline and therefore at the limits of the universe' had used a network of telescopes spanning the entire planet to take the first picture of a black hole.

Light in the Darkness examines how mankind has always looked to the skies, mapping the journey from millennia ago when we turned our gaze to the heavens, to modern astrophysics. Heino Falcke and Jorg Romer entertainingly and compellingly chart the breakthrough research of Falcke's team, an unprecedented global community of international colleagues developing a telescope complex enough to look directly into a black hole - a hole where light vanishes, and time stops.

What does this development mean? Is this the beginning of a new physics? What can we learn from this about God, the world and ourselves? For Falcke, astrophysics and metaphysics, science and faith, do not exclude one another. Black Hole is both a plea for curiosity and humility; it's interested in both what we know, and the mysteries that remain unsolved.