Jotham Annan

James Brooke is a retired diplomat living in Amsterdam with his young Dutch wife, Annette. When their daughter, Susan, decides to visit with her black friend, Robert, a hunt begins to expose some long hidden disturbing truths.

The actress, Margot Collins, played Lady Macbeth to great acclaiming her youth. Now in her fifties, she is largely forgotten, struggling for auditions, let alone parts. But when a theatre company announces its intention to stage Macbeth, Margot is determined to land the eponymous role once more.

Andrew Crocker-Harris is an embittered and disliked teacher of Greek and Latin at a British prep school. After nearly 20 years of service, he is being forced to retire for 'health reasons', and perhaps may not even be given a pension. The boys regard him as a Hitler, with some justification. His unfaithful wife Laura tries to hurt him in any way she can. Andrew must come to terms with his failed life and at least regain his own self-esteem.

Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando's celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden - set in 19th-century Japan.

With his wedding only moments away, a man and his best friend confront their future.

Shoot the Messenger follows one man's painful journey towards self-discovery. On the way he finds both his own attitudes and the expectations of his community challenged.

Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he's got bad news for them: the council want to sell the cemetery as a building site. But the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They're not going to take it lying down... especially since it's Halloween tomorrow.

Dan Snow explores the political intrigues and family betrayals between the Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans that led to war.