Books Archive

The Vanishing Point (February 2024)

By Andrea Hotere

February 20, 2024

London, 1991: Alex Johns, an art intern at the Courtauld, believes a hidden secret lies within Diego Velazquez’s Las Meninas – one of the most written about paintings of all time.

Her mother died in puzzling circumstances while trying to uncover its secrets and Alex is troubled by memories of her own encounter as a child with the girl in the painting – the Infanta Margarita – who continues to haunt her.  Alex must take up her mother’s work and find evidence to uncover the truths within the canvas.

Madrid, 1656: The Infanta Margarita senses that those around her believe the royal household is cursed.

She wonders why her father, the King, is a pale shadow of himself and why the Queen is distressed.  What threatens the royal offspring?  She struggles to fight for her own destiny as the forces around her seek to marry her off and send her from the home she loves.

A treacherous trail through the art world, the church and seventeenth century Spanish court via drawings, letters and cryptic notes has Alex trying to piece together what happened in King Philip’s court…

But with powerful players who will do anything to stop these truths coming to light, will Alex live to share them or is she, too, cursed?

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A Stroke of the Pen (February 2024)

By Terry Pratchett

February 20, 2024

Unearthed gems from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett, one of the world’s best-loved storytellers.

A truly unmissable collection of twenty rediscovered stories, written under a pseudonym in the 1970’s and 80’s by the award winning and bestselling author of the phenomenal Discworld series.  These early tales hint at the worlds Terry would go on to create, containing all his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination.

Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Ministry of Nuisances with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and go on a dangerous quest through time and space with hero Kron, which begins in the ancient city of Morport…

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