Born in her father's coffee house in Change Alley, London, Sarah Battle is raised in an atmosphere of coffee, alcohol and intrigue. After witnessing the destruction and chaos of the Gordon Riots, she longs to escape her surroundings for a better life but is trapped in a marriage to James Wintrige, a member of the Corresponding Society but also a government spy.She meets the radical thinker, printer and bookseller Thomas Cranch who offers her an escape...

On a mild winter's evening in 1850, Isabella Robinson set out for a party. Her carriage bumped across the wide cobbled streets of Edinburgh's Georgian New Town and drew up at 8 Royal Circus, a grand sandstone terrace lit by gas lamps. The guests were gathered in the high, airy drawing rooms on the first floor, the ladies in glinting silk and satin pulled tight over boned corsets; the gentlemen in tailcoats, waistcoats and neckties. When Mrs Robinson...

If she'd turned off her phone, instead of listening in, perhaps no one would have died... When Cressida Howard catches her entrepreneur husband playing away from home, she hires security expert Brioni O'Brien to get the evidence she needs for a speedy and financially rewarding divorce. But what Brioni uncovers goes beyond simple infidelity. Because Laurence Howard is also in bed with some very dangerous people. Bribery and blackmail are the least...

Vinga dreams of the sea. She's going to be a sailor when she grows up, sailing to distant lands. At home, back in the city, Mum is sad and Dad has left for good. But here with Granddad on the island, all her problems feel far away. Summer goes on as usual, with porridge for breakfast, drinking rhubarb lemonade under the lilac tree and watching the sunset from 'her' cliff. But things are different now too. The heat vibrates during the day, and a girl...