A Prisoner of Birth

Publisher: Pan Books
Author: Jeffrey Archer
Number of Pages: 616
Price: RM20
Synopsis:
If Danny Cartwright had proposed to Beth Wilson the day before or the day after, he would not have been arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend.

And when the four prosecution witnesses are a barrister, a popular actor, an aristocrat and the youngest partner in an established firm's history, who is going to believe his side of the story?

Danny is sentenced to twenty-two years and is sent to Belmarsh prison, the highest security jail in the land, from where no inmate has ever escaped.

But everyone has underestimated Danny's determination to seek revenge and Beth's relentless quest to win justice...

Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game & Mistress of the Game

Publisher: Harper Collins
Author: Sidney Sheldon (Master of the Game) & Tilly Bagshawe (Mistress of the Game)
Number of pages: 673( Master of the Game) & 519 (Mistress of the Game)
Price: RM40 for both
Synopsis:

Master of the Game

The Blackwell family had it all; Kruger-Brent, a multi-billion pound company, property across the globe, and lifestyles more glamorous than any Hollywood star. But their empire was born of naked ambition, death and betrayal.

The handsome and talented Tony Blackwell longs to be an artist but his mother has other plans. She needs an heir, and she always get what she wants.

Eve and Alexandra, the stunningly beautiful Blackwell twins, one as pure and gentle as a new born, the other a twisted, evil schemer who will stop at nothing in her quest to inherit Kruger-Brent.

Watching over them is one of the most powerful women in the world, Kate Blackwell. For years she built up an unbreakable empire, sacrificing everything for the sake of her one true love - her company. She is, and always will be... Master of the Game.

Mistress of the Game
The Blackwell family were an enigma, rich and powerful beyond compare. Kate, Tony, Eve and Alexandra had a life of dreams, but their dreams were born of greed, ambition and murder.

Now that tainted legacy passes to the next generation. Lexi Templeton, kidnapped and abused by her captors - will her terrifying past force her to bring down the very empire that created her? Robbie Templeton, Lexi's older brother, once despised by his father and confused about who he really is. Max Webster, the only child of scheming Eve... one day the Blackwell billions will be his. Only Lexi Templeton stands in his way.

Past Secrets

Publisher: Harper Collins
Author: Cathy Kelly
Number of pages: 473
Price: RM 18
Synopsis:
Behind the shining windows and rose-decked gardens of Summer Street, single mother Faye, hides a secret from her teenage daughter Amber. Whilst thirty-three year old Maggie, hides one from herself.

When fiery Amber decides to throw away her future for love, and Maggie finds herself back home looking after her sick mother, secrets begin to bubble over.

The only person on Summer Street who appears to know all the answers is Christie Devlin. Wise and kind, she can see into other people's hearts to solve their problems. Except that this time, she has secrets of her own to face...

The Love Of Her Life

Publisher: Harper Collins
Author: Harriet Evans
Number of pages: 487
Price: RM17
Synopsis:
Like every woman, Kate thought she'd never meet the love of her life... Until she did. But are they destined to be together?

Kate Miller has lived in New York for three long years. Now, with her father ill, it's time to come home and face everything she left behind:

Her friends: Zoe and Francesca, bound to her forever as a result of one day when life changed for them all.

Her family: Her adored father and his much younger wife.

The job she abandoned on a glossy women's magazine.

And the man she thought was the love of her life, whose heart she has broken.

What really happened before Kate left London? And can she pick up the pieces and allow herself to love life again?

The Time Traveler's Wife

Publisher : Vintage
Author : Audrey Niffenegger
Number of pages : 615
Price : RM17
Synopsis:
This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face if this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare's struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

P.S. I Love You & If You Could See Me Now

Publisher : Harper Collins
Author : Cecilia Ahern
Number of pages : 506 (P.S. I Love You) and 410 (If You Could See Me Now)
Price: RM25
Synopsis:
P.S. I Love You
Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly and Gerry.

They were childhood sweethearts - no one could imagine Holly and Gerry without each other.

Until the unthinkable happens. Gerry's death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms Holly discovers that Gerry has left her a bundle of notes, gently guiding her into her new life without him, eash signed 'PS, I Love You'.

With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing - and being braver than ever before.

Life is for living, she realises - but it always helps if there's an angel watching over you.

If You Could See Me Now
What if love was right there in front of you - you just couldn't see it?

Elizabeth Egan is too busy for friends. As a reluctant mother to her sister Saoirse's young son, Luke, and with her own business to run, every precious moment is made to count.

But with Saoirse crashing in and out of their lives, leaving them both reeling, Luke and Elizabeth are desperately in need of some magic.

Enter Ivan. Wild, spontaneous and always looking for adventure, Ivan changes Elizabeth in ways she could never have imagined. With her newly open eyes and heart, Elizabeth sees what she's been missing all along.

As for Ivan, he thought he was there to help Luke, not Elizabeth - or himself.

The Boleyn Inheritance

Publisher: Harper Collins
Author: Philippa Gregory
Number of pages: 518
Price: RM18
Synopsis:
Three women, one prize: the crown of England.

The year is 1539. Henry VIII must take another wife and the dangerous prize of the crown of England is won by Anne of Cleves. Although she is fascinated by the glamour of her new surroundings, she can sense a trap closing around her.

Katherine Howard, meanwhile, is to flirt her way to the throne. But her kinswoman Jane Boleyn is haunted by the past and the Boleyn inheritance of suspicion, betrayal and death. In this time of upheaval and uncertainty, these three young women must try to survive the most volatile court in Europe.

Ugly (Book 1) & Beyond Ugly (Book 2)

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Author: Constance Briscoe

Number of pages : Ugly (433) Beyond Ugly (239)

Price: RM 38 for 2

Blurb from Ugly:

I handed my school photograph to my mother. She stared from the photograph to me.

'Lord, sweet Lord how come she so ugly. Ugly. Ugly.'

These cruel words are just the beginning. Constance's mother systematically abused her daughter, both physically and emotionally, throughout her childhood. Regularly beaten and starved, the child was so desperate she took herself off to Social Services and tried to get taken into care. When Constance was thirteen, her mother simply moved out, leaving her daughter to fend for herself: there was no gas, no electricity and no food.

But somehow Constance found the courage to survive her terrible start in life. This is her heartbreaking- and ultimately triumphant- story.

Blurb from Beyond Ugly:

'I would like some cosmetic surgery.'

'For what?'

'Because I'm ugly, ugly, ugly.'

It was Constance's mother who told her she was ugly. Over and over again. And that was just one strand of a childhood blighted by physical and emotional abuse. But the young girl had a strength and resilience beyond her years.

She put herself through university, financing her studies with several jobs - including one caring for the terminally ill in a hospice - and then fulfilled a lifelong ambition by joining a prestigious set of legal chambers. But Constance's troubles were not over...

The Last Eunuch of China: The Life of Sun Yaoting

Publisher: China Intercontinental Press
Author: Jia Yinghua
Number of pages: 314
Price: RM30
Synopsis:
China's last eunuch Sun Yaoting died in December 1996 at age 94. He took with him intimate stories of the last vestiges of Imperial China and was himself the last in the line of eunuchs who had served the royal family for more than 2000 years. His personal journey from poor farmboy to revered servant to Pu Yi and Wanrong, China's last emperor and empress, is an amazing journey which also chronicles nearly one century of turbulence and upheaval in Chinese history and culture.

This engrossing biography by Chinese historian Jia Yinghua features first-hand accounts by Sun Yaoting of his adventures in the Forbidden City, his reunion with Pu Yi in Japanese-held Manchukuo in the 1930s, his return to 'normal' life as a community organizer in the Buddhist temple where he lives out the rest of his life.

This book is a unique glimpse into China's storied past from the perspective of a man who faithfully served China's Imperial Family in the Forbidden City but was later forced to maneuver himself among the tremendous and often turbulent events that became the history of 20th century China. As Sun Yaoting recalls his experiences, he also recounts the life of the dwindling eunuch community in China.

Blue Diary

Publisher: Berkley International Edition
Author: Alice Hoffman
Number of pages: 287
Price: RM6
Synopsis:
When Ethan Ford fails to show up for work on a brilliant summer morning, none of his neighbours would guess that for more than thirteen years he has been running from his past. His true nature has been locked away, as hidden as his real identity. But sometimes locks spring open, and the devastating truths of Ethan's history shatter the small-town peace of Monroe, affecting family and friends alike.

Now, the police are at the door. Ethan Ford's life as an irreproachable family man and heroic volunteer fireman has come to an end - and Jorie Ford's life is coming apart. Some of the residents of Monroe are rallying behind Ethan. But others, including his wife and son, are wondering what remains true when so much is shown to be false - and how capable we really are of change.

The Nanny

Publisher: Arrow books
Author: Melissa Nathan
Number of pages: 536 pages
Price: RM 18
Synopsis:
When Jo Green takes a nannying job in London to escape her small-town routine, complicated family and perfect-on-paper boyfriend Shaun, culture shock doesn't even begin to describe it...

Dick and Vanessa Fitzgerald are the most incompatible pair since Tom and Jerry, and their children - glittery warrior pixie Cassandra, bloodthirsty Zak and shy little Tallulah - are downright mystifying. Suddenly village life seems terribly appealing.

Then, just as Jo's getting the hang of their designer lifestyle, the Fitzgeralds acquire a new lodger and suddenly she's sharing her nanny flat with the distractingly good-looking but inexplicably moody Josh. So when Shaun turns up, things get even trickier...

Brick Lane

Publisher: Scribner International
Author: Monica Ali
Number of pages: 541
Price: RM18
Synopsis:
Nazneen, raised in a Bangladeshi village, carries her sense of fatalism across continents to London, where she is married off to Chanu, a man old enough to be her father. For years she keeps house, cares for her husband, and bears children. But gradually she questions whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. To her own amazement, Nazneen falls in love with a young man. She discovers the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters, and her new world.

Profoundly humane and beautifully rendered, Brick Lane captures a world at once unimaginable and achingly familiar.

Salem Falls

Publisher: Washington Square Press
Author: Jodi Picoult
Number of pages: 434
Price: RM 18
Synopsis:
A handsome stranger comes to the sleepy New England town of Salem Falls in hopes of burying his past: Once a teacher at a girls' prep school, Jack St. Bride was destroyed when a student's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation. Now, washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, he slips quietly into his new routine, and Addie finds this unssuming man fitting easily inside her heart. But amid the rustic calm of Salem Falls, a quartet of teenage girls harbor dark secrets - and they maliciously target Jack with a shattering allegation. Now, at the center of a modern-day witch hunt, Jack is forced once again to proclaim his innocence: to a town searching for answers, to a justice system where truth becomes a slippery concept written in shades of gray, and to the woman who has come to love him.

The Hour I First Believed

Publisher: Harper
Author: Wally Lamb
Number of pages: 632
Price: RM20
Synopsis:
Caelum Quirk and his wife Maureen move to Colorado and find jobs at Columbine High School. One day in April 1999, when Caelum is called away by a family emergency, Maureen cowers in a cupboard in the school library, hiding from two students on a murderous rampage. Though miraculously she survives, Maureen cannot recover from the trauma. Seeking solace, the couple returns to Connecticut to an illusion of safety on the Quirk family farm.

As Maureen fights to regain her sanity, Caelum discovers a cache of forgotten memorabilia spanning five generations of his family. As he painstakingly reconstructs the lives of his ancestors, he must confront their secrets and fashion a future from the ashes of his own tragedy. His personal quest for meaning becomes a mythic journey that is both contemporary and quintessentially American.

A Loyal Character Dancer

Publisher: Sceptre
Author: Qiu Xiaolong
Number of pages: 351
Price : RM 18
Synopsis:
Former dancer and party loyalist Wen Liping vanishes in rural China just before she is to leave the country. Her husband, a key witeness against a smuggling ring suspected of importing aliens to the US, refuses to testify until she is found and brought to join him in America.

A few days later, a badly mutilated body turns up in Shanghai's Bund Park. It bears all the hallmarks of a triad killing.

American immigration agencies, desperate to secure a conviction, send US Marshal Catherine Rohn to Shanghai to join the investigation.

Inspector Chen, an astute young policeman with twin passions for food and poetry, is under political pressure to find answers fast. When Catherine Rohn joins him he must decide what is more dangerous: to hide the truth, or to risk unleashing a scandal that could destroy his career.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter...

Publisher :A Penguin Book
Author : Kim Edwards
Number of pages: 513
Price : RM17
Synopsis:
This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down Syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' is a brilliantly crafted story of parallel lives, familiai secrets and the redemptive power of love.