Legend Press

“But power, in all its shapes, is venerable to man. Awe, curiosity, a clinging fascination, drew me towards him.”

'Beautifully written' Gráinne Murphy'A poignant and beautifully written exploration of the psyche of grief and loss' Pam Williams'Heartbreaking and darkly funny, a beautifully crafted study in grief, memory, and love' Eirnie LapidakiHis wife is dead.His beloved daughter has been lost to a dangerous cult.And now time is running out to rebuild their relationship. Haunted by his failings as a son, a husband and, most of all, as a father, he is desperate to try and make things right before it's too late.Told through fragments of memory The Absolutes captures the essence of hope in the face of loss as one man struggles to come to terms with his past.

'Clever, funny, ingenious and endearing' Lissa Evans'The most audacious plot ever… gritty, engrossing and great fun' Beth Morrey'A great story, fast, dramatic, funny, full of the sounds and smells of Elizabethan London' Andy HamiltonMurder Most Foul is a dark, witty and fast-paced novel, from one of Britain’s best-loved screenwriters.It’s 1593, Elizabeth I is Queen and everyone is terrified of the worst outbreak of plague in a generation. Shakespeare has only written six plays and is lagging behind his friend Christopher Marlowe, London’s leading playwright.When Marlowe is stabbed to death in mysterious circumstances, rumours abound — but the one that won’t go away is that Shakespeare did it to remove his greatest rival. Will is determined to clear his name, and teams up with his old flame, Marlowe’s sister Ann, who has plenty of secrets of her own.In their search to solve the crime, Will and Ann uncover a dark world of treachery, murder, and corruption — which in turn provides Shakespeare with scenes and characters which will appear in his greatest plays.'An ingenious, funny and erudite thriller' John O’Farrell'Funny, thrilling and full of wonderful easter eggs for Shakespearean theatre fans… a treat from start to finish' David Greig

'This has all of Fran's trademark quick wit and black humour' Gráinne Murphy'Funny, warm and very moving' Lucinda Hawksley'Fran writes with such humour and humanity, it was an absolute tonic' Victoria Mackenzie1979. Jackie Chadwick is 17 and living in a supported bedsit. She's still close to her foster parents and friends with (aka unofficial minder for) Amanda, their irresponsible daughter, but she’s enjoying her independence — until a fire leaves her temporarily homeless. Jackie’s dad, widower and recovering alcoholic Dave, has just been released from prison and sees this as his chance to make amends. He offers her his spare room — but can their relationship survive him going back on the booze and the arrival of his gin-loving lady friend and her errant son? As things go from bad to worse, Jackie has to decide how many chances you give someone who keeps letting you down.Bittersweet and funny, Home Bird draws on Fran Hill's own experiences as a teenager in foster care.'Deliciously nostalgic, brilliantly funny' Frances Quinn'I loved Home Bird. Fran drew me in to that world' Jane Ions'A jewel of a book. Fran Hill can do what other authors spend a lifetime trying to achieve: disarm you in a sentence' Deborah Jenkins'The story is ultimately upbeat… the lightness of touch has real depth' Anthony Ferner'Like a perfectly risen souffle made with dangerously volatile ingredients, Jackie’s story of dashed hopes, disappointment, optimism and resilience gripped me from the first line and wouldn’t let me go' Ruth Leigh

Can two sisters overlook their differences?Mixed is a hilarious yet moving story of family and faith, best served hot (or cold) with a dollop of sour cream.Sisters Ruth and Miriam Green spent most of their childhood loving each other and hating each other, treasuring each other and resenting each other. Now they’re grown up their lives have taken them on very different paths, creating a rift which is proving difficult to heal. Ruth has followed her traditional Jewish upbringing. Miriam has not — and while she wants to instil her heritage in her children, they just want to fit in.As resentment, tension and divisions build within the family, can the sisters overlook their differences or will their family be torn apart?‘A lively, original, absorbing novel packed with beautiful observations and brilliant one-liners’ Rebecca Smith‘A wonderful, enriching read that is about all families — warm and loving but also fraught with secrets, unspoken rules and quiet disappointments’ Francesca Jakobi'An entertaining read, laugh-out-loud in places, yet thoughtful and compassionate on the serious issues of intermarriage and identity' Andrew Sanger

'A laudable debut. Young Adults? You’re in for a treat' Nudge BooksTroubled. That’s seventeen-year-old Gen according to her small New Jersey town. She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter, until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate a pregnancy. The betrayal causes Gen to question everything.As Gen pushes herself forward to find her new identity without Peter, the flimsy story of their undying love begins to unravel. But it’s when Gen lets go of her past, the one she thinks she knows, that she’s able to embrace the complicated, chaotic true story of her life.What Reviewers and Readers Say:'Moving, authentic, timely,' Kathleen Glasgow
'A raw, riveting story of love and family and the strength to stay standing when both begin to crumble. Bonnie Pipkin never flinches, and the result is a novel as powerful as it is essential'. Robin Wasserman'Aftercare Instructions is a heart wrenching story that will touch and resonate with so many young adult readers'. National Book Award Finalist An Na'Nearly impossible to put down. Readers many experience joy, heartache, and everything in between.' David Arnold

'Kim Fu skillfully measures how long and loudly one formative moment can reverberate' Celeste NgA group of young girls descend on a sleepaway camp where their days are filled with swimming lessons, friendship bracelets, and songs by the fire. Filled with excitement and nervous energy, they set off on an overnight kayaking trip to a nearby island. But before the night is over, they find themselves stranded, with no adults to help them survive or guide them home.The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore traces these five girls through and beyond this fateful trip. We see them through successes and failures, loving relationships and heartbreaks; we see what it means to find, and define, oneself, and the ways in which the same experience is refracted through different people. A portrait of friendship and of the families we build for ourselves, and the pasts we can't escape.What Reviewers and Readers Say:'A propulsive storyteller, using clear and cutting prose' The New York Times'Fu precisely renders the banal humiliations of childhood, the chilling steps humans take to survive, and the way time warps memory' Publishers Weekly'An ambitious and dynamic portrayal of the harm humans — even young girls — can do' Kirkus Review'The first truly great novel I've read in 2018… As intricately fashioned and as bold-hearted as books by novelists who've been publishing for decades' Seattle Review of Books'Fu offers an unblinking view of the social and emotional survival of the fittest that all too often marks the female coming of age' Toronto Star'These portraits of sisterhood, motherhood, daughterhood, wifehood, girlfriendhood, independent womanhood, and other female-identified-hoods sing and groan and scream with complexity and nuance, and they make me want to read her next ten books' The Stranger'To say this is a story of survival is too simple… Fu avoids the obvious and tidy, allowing us to imagine what happens next' Winnipeg Free Press'I loved it for its portrayal of each of the girls… and for showing that a single incident can colour your entire life' Canadian Living'A thoroughly entertaining, complex novel full of intricate insights into human nature' Quill & Quire

Merry Christmas! is a moving, reimagined version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for the 21st Century. If that master storyteller were around today, he would surely be entertained by this clever rendition.Eddie Scarr, a modern facsimile of Scrooge, is angrier and more damaged than the original, but just as successful in his own milieu. He’s a Department for Work and Pensions enforcement officer whose sole reason for existing, it seems, is to make life as difficult as possible for would-be benefit fraudsters, and everyone else who crosses his path.At the age of seven Eddie was dumped in a care home by his older sister, following the death of their parents. The experience of this grim institution, with its uncaring ‘care parents’, not only deeply scarred him, but left him haunted to this day.A workaholic, he is driven in pursuit of cheats, even on Christmas Eve, despite being wracked with a vicious head cold. As he makes his way home to his cold apartment and equally cold bed, he has an alarming encounter with a former clients, whom he had previously hounded to death. Even more alarming encounters await him when he logs on to his computer at home. But will any of these encounters change him for the better? We can only hope.

Life exacts a price for Frances Thomas, a writer living an outwardly comfortable existence. Emotionally trapped by an intense empathy with the suffering of animals, she’s compelled to take action for those imprisoned in a laboratory. Always conscious of the cruelties of the world, she reads the wind where others, unaware, wait for the storm to break. Her clear-seeing and emotional identity with human and animal victims, causes the edges of her reality to be become blurred when a rescued dog and a long-dead German-Jewish girl in 1930s Berlin, whose story she is scripting for a film, become as one, threatening to break her.

The British Lord who became a legendary fugitive tells his story of murder and escape in this fictionalized account of the infamous scandal.On November 7th, 1974, a murder plot goes disastrously wrong. John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, had intended to do away with his wife. Instead, it is their nanny, Sandra Rivett, who lies dead in the basement of their London home. The following day, Lord Lucan disappeared. And despite a global hunt, he was never seen again.Bingham had once been the most charismatic members of the British peerage. A frequent gambler, he was known as Lucky Lord Lucan—even though his losses often exceeded his winnings. Since his disappearance, he has become a legend of a very different sort. Here, in his own hand, is Lord Lucan’s confession to his grizzly crimes, and the story of his mysterious life. It is a strange tale of an Old Etonian Earl on the run; of how a man became a murderer; and how a life-long friendship soured into an enduring hate. Here, for the first time, is the full monstrous account of the life of Lord Lucan.

'Mysterious deaths, an intuitive octopus, and colourful characters in a Devonshire seaside town, make this an unmissable read' Tamar Hodes'Utterly addictive from the first page' Jonathan WhitelawDiana Parks is a beautician with a temper, and she’s not the only member of Ottersea WI who’s had enough of bullies and slimeballs. When the body of lecherous landlord, Raj Sumal, washes up on the beach, it’s up to Detectives Jim Paddon and Grace Brown to solve the mystery. They start to suspect Raj’s wife, Sukhi, who likes walking on the cliffs.Meanwhile, at Ottersea Oceanworld, Jane the Octopus hears people’s secrets and understands everything during a sweltering summer of strange deaths, new friendships, and a whole lot of ice cream.'Whimsical and amusing' Faith Martin'Wickedly subversive, sneakily funny, and then surprisingly moving' Carole Burns'As deliciously satisfying as a 99 cone, this is your new favourite summer read' M.H. Eccleston'A brilliantly witty mash-up of modern manners, seaside farce and a little casual murder' Philip Hoare

ONE WOMAN CLAIMS THE POWER TO TAKE CHARGE OF HER OWN DESTINY1838, England: When eighteen-year-old Frances Dickinson impulsively marries Lieutenant John Geils, all her hopes for her future are quickly shattered as she finds there is much about her husband she did not know. A cruel and violent man, John keeps Frances in isolation on his family’s estate, while spending her fortune and preying upon their maids.Frances yearns to break free from her marriage but the law is not on her side. Only when John’s abuse escalates can she set in motion a daring plan to secure her freedom.A story of gaslighting, control and one woman’s fight, An Idle Woman is the true story behind one of the most sensational divorce trials of the nineteenth century.‘Remarkable… an engaging and informative read’ Leah Moyes, author of A Polish Nurse‘Reading it felt like falling through the cracks of time and witnessing a terrifying fight for freedom first-hand’ Meg Ellis, @megsreadingspot‘Powerful, heartfelt and affecting… an important story that demands to be read’ Emma Alvey, @emmas.biblio.treasures

'Right up there with C J Sansom… A brilliant historical thriller' Philip Gwynne Jones'The twists and turns are brilliantly done' Sarah Ward'A joy for the senses… see the smoke and grime of Tudor London' Chris Lloyd1558: The body of Thomas Seymour is found hanging naked in an oak tree at Hatfield House, the home of Elizabeth Tudor, the Queen’s sister. But Thomas Seymour was supposedly beheaded nine years to the day on Tower Hill. How did he return from the dead, only to die again?Doctor John Dee and Margaretta, assisted by his pupil Christopher, are charged with unravelling the mystery. But then there is a kidnapping, a ransom threat and more bodies appear.Amongst secrets and rumours, the scandal of the Seymour Affair threatens to resurface. Elizabeth’s road to the throne could be ruined and with that comes the fall of the Tudor Dynasty.Can John Dee keep Elizabeth’s secret before it casts a shadow over them all?'Thrilling and intriguing' S. W. Perry'A joy to read. Well researched and fast paced' Leslie Scase'G J Williams knows how to keep a reader hooked' Adele Jordan

‘I’m a doctor, not a bloody superhero,’ insists Saxon de Carey, expedition medic and fellow of All Saints College, Cambridge. But as Earth faces destruction by an imminent solar flare, Saxon confronts a world changed forever since he discovered the tomb of Tehuti, last of the Ancient Egyptian Gods.What powers have the tomb’s mysterious relics unleashed? Where are his missing students? Is the ancient prophecy coming true? Is he the fabled stepu destined to save Earth from destruction?As his career implodes, Saxon must face the ShemsuHor priests whose ancestors once served the ancient deities. While some want to help save civilisation, others yearn for zep tepi, the mythical first time, and plan to inherit an Earth cleansed of humans, ready for the second coming of their gods.Sarah Brewer’s globe-hopping adventure explores how the search for immortality corrupts, yet life only has meaning because it must come to an end.

A compelling story of family, secrets, identity, and a reminder that love and life can surprise you… right until the very end. When Alina’s son, Fin, traces his long-absent birthfather, it’s the catalyst for decades of secrets to implode in Alina’s neatly ordered life.

With the sudden appearance of Rory, and the ever-present pull of a very different life in Bangladesh, she’s left reeling.Three relationships, all of them built on half-truths. All Alina can truly be sure of, is that you can choose your family, you just can’t choose who they will turn out to be.

FROM INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FEMICIDE1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE‘Overpowered me with the same never-wracking construction as Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code’ Alex Schulman‘Pascal Engman is the master of the new generation’ David LagercrantzTwo bodies are discovered in a Stockholm park, one a policeman and the other an unidentified young woman. With the police believing the woman to be nothing more than unfortunate collateral damage, they focus on the murder of the police officer. But Detective Vanessa Frank takes a different approach and her investigation turns out to be more personal than she could have imagined.WINNER OF THE PETRONA AWARD 2023‘The absolute hottest Swedish crime novel of the autumn’ Camilla Läckberg‘Completely impossible to put down’ Sara Blædel‘An unfailing ability to build up tension’ DN‘With cliffhangers and an exciting, credible plot, he manages to build up a pace in the story that never lets go’ Aftonbladet‘Just keeps getting better and The Widows is his best yet’ Anders Kapprakt, Swedish Crime Academy‘An exciting contemporary Swedish thriller about terrorism in a cold December Stockholm’ BTJ

“It is said that every life has its roses and thorns; there seemed, however, to have been a misadventure or mistake in Stephen’s case, whereby somebody else had become possessed of his roses, and he had become possessed of somebody else’s thorns in addition to his own.”Published originally in weekly instalments, Hard Times is focusing on Mr Gradgrind’s flawed model of upbringing and its lifelong impact on the wellbeing and destinies of his children. The novel, in fact, follows two opposing ways an individual can be formed. On the one hand, there is Tom and Louisa whose numerous misfortunes are predetermined by their father’s insistence on knowing bare facts without reaching for the substance. They are ill-equipped for the real world and, as a result, Louisa suffers emotionally having had a marriage of convenience, while Tom intentionally devises to incriminate another for his own misdeed. On the other hand, there is Mr Gradgrind’s student Sissy, whose guardian he becomes upon her father’s disappearance. Despite Mr Grandgrind’s scorn, she approaches things with a genuine sensibility that helps her to lead a happier and more fulfilled life. The readers are prompted to ponder throughout the novel whether Mr Gradgrind will eventually acknowledge his failure as a parent.Hard Times is an unusually short novel for Dickens and the only one not to feature London scenes. Instead, it is set in the North and beside addressing the issues of education, it also exposes the harsh daily living conditions of regular working-class people and the negative side of industrialisation. The author captures the zeitgeist of a new era where the old and new ways have to coexist and where many are continuously being left behind either by being deprived financially or spiritually. While maxims and cold facts are effective for scientific progress and the operations of complex machinery, they are not a prerequisite for human happiness. The volume’s solid subject matter is intertwined with the gripping elements of suspense that will undoubtedly appeal to a diverse audience.The Legend Classics series:Around the World in Eighty DaysThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Importance of Being EarnestAlice's Adventures in WonderlandThe MetamorphosisThe Railway ChildrenThe Hound of the BaskervillesFrankensteinWuthering HeightsThree Men in a BoatThe Time MachineLittle WomenAnne of Green GablesThe Jungle BookThe Yellow Wallpaper and Other StoriesDraculaA Study in ScarletLeaves of GrassThe Secret GardenThe War of the WorldsA Christmas CarolStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeHeart of DarknessThe Scarlet LetterThis Side of ParadiseOliver TwistThe Picture of Dorian GrayTreasure IslandThe Turn of the ScrewThe Adventures of Tom SawyerEmmaThe TrialA Selection of Short Stories by Edgar Allan PoeGrimm Fairy TalesThe AwakeningMrs DallowayGulliver’s TravelsThe Castle of OtrantoSilas MarnerHard Times

Finalist for The Ngaio Marsh Best Crime Novel 2023Shortlisted for the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction‘Intriguing, intelligent, and entertaining… I loved it’ Liz NugentNothing in Stan Andino’s unremarkable life could prepare him for the day he discovers his wife naked, except for a black apron, bleaching out a stain from the carpet that only she can see. A CT scan one week later explains the seemingly inexplicable; Carmen Andino has a brain tumour.As Stan and their teenage sons grapple with the diagnosis and frightening personality changes in their wife and mother, Austin Lamb, a close friend and local doctor, does everything possible to assist the family in crisis.Months later, Austin’s wife’s body is discovered at the bottom of Browns Bay cliffs by Eliot Bard.But who is lying, and who is telling the truth?‘Insists that you keep reading into the small hours’ Paddy Richardson‘Peppered with twists and turns’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir‘A masterful anatomy of a friendship shattered by illness and violent death’ Liam McIlvanney‘Propels you along on a roller-coaster ride’ Vanda Symon‘A compelling and deliciously unsettling read’ North and South‘A masterful thriller’ Style Magazine

NEW UPDATED EDITION celebrating 50 years of Dr Who.

Who Goes There is the sequel to Nick’s hugely popular Doctor Who memoir, Dalek I Loved You. It’s a travel book with Doctor Who at its core. Nick travels England and Wales, seeking locations used in the show, both Classic (pre-relaunch) and New.

Being an odd kind of show, its locations too are odd. This is no glamorous trip. Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, anyone? A flooded china clay pit in Cornwall? As he travels, so Nick discovers another side to our well-trodden country, which is no less evocative. Then he goes to the pub. As in Dalek I Loved You, the travel writing is backed up by Nick’s childhood reminiscences and contemporary musings.

A companion website offers photographs from the trip, a Google map of the locations and details of the nearest pub. In this innovative way, readers are invited to follow in his footsteps. Scariest of all, given two other books in the pipeline (both humour books, for Arcturus Publishing), Nick has just 21 days in which to write it. Really. Who Goes There isn’t just for Who fans — it’s for anyone who fancies a trip off the beaten path. And a very funny book.