James Clavell - Shogun

An explorer in seventeenth-century Japan, ambitious Englishman John Blackthorne encounters the powerful and power-hungry Lord Toranaga and the Catholic convert Lady Mariko when his ship is wrecked off the coast, leaving only him and a small number of the crew alive. A Pilot for his ship Erasmus, he becomes invaluable to Lord Toranaga's cause with his knowledge of the outside world, but only after he begins to understand the people of Japan and starts to cast off his 'barbarian' ways.

Tracy Chevalier - Burning bright

The wonderful new novel from the much loved author of 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' and 'Falling Angels'. Flames and funerals, circus feats and seduction, neighbours and nakedness: Tracy Chevalier's new novel 'Burning Bright' sparkles with drama. London 1792. The Kellaways move from familiar rural Dorset to the tumult of a cramped, unforgiving city. They are leaving behind a terrible loss, a blow that only a completely new life may soften. Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience. Their journey inspires one of Blake's most entrancing works. Georgian London is recreated as vividly in Burning Bright as 17th-century Delft was in Tracy Chevalier's bestselling masterpiece, Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Tracy Chevalier - The virgin blue

Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin - two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family's French ancestry. As the novel unfolds - alternating between Ella's story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier - a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very last page.

Tracy Chevalier - The lady and the unicorn

A tour de force of history and imagination, The Lady and the Unicorn is Tracy Chevalier’s answer to the mystery behind one of the art world’s great masterpieces—a set of bewitching medieval tapestries that hangs today in the Cluny Museum in Paris. They appear to portray the seduction of a unicorn, but the story behind their making is unknown—until now. Paris, 1490. A shrewd French nobleman commissions six lavish tapestries celebrating his rising status at Court. He hires the charismatic, arrogant, sublimely talented Nicolas des Innocents to design them. Nicolas creates havoc among the women in the house—mother and daughter, servant, and lady-in-waiting—before taking his designs north to the Brussels workshop where the tapestries are to be woven. There, master weaver Georges de la Chapelle risks everything he has to finish the tapestries—his finest, most intricate work—on time for his exacting French client. The results change all their lives—lives that have been captured in the tapestries, for those who know where to look. In The Lady and the Unicorn , Tracy Chevalier weaves fact and fiction into a beautiful, timeless, and intriguing literary tapestry—an extraordinary story exquisitely told.

Lewis Carroll - Alice in Wonderland

Alice follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole and is transported into Wonderland. While there she meets many different characters that behave quite strangely, participates in a Caucus Race, befriends a smiling cat, is introduced to the Duchess and her shape changing child, plays croquet with the Queen, and takes part in a trial of the Knave of Hearts. All while navigating and learning the rules of the fanciful land.

Cally Taylor - Heaven can wait

Lucy Brown is the happiest she's ever been. She's about to marry the man of her dreams - kind, handsome, witty Dan - and everything she's always wanted is finally within her reach. But the night before her wedding Lucy has a fatal accident. She is offered a choice: accept a lifetime's separation from her soul mate to go to heaven or stay with Dan forever - and become a ghost. For Lucy, there is only one option - she will not leave Dan. But it turns out things aren't quite as easy as that. If Lucy wants to become a ghost she has to find true love for a complete stranger. And when she discovers that her so-called best friend Anna is determined to make a move on the heartbroken, vulnerable Dan, the pressure really is on.

Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Lauren Myracle, Stephenie Meyer - Prom Nights from Hell

In this exciting collection, bestselling authors Meg Cabot (How to Be Popular), Kim Harrison (A Fistful of Charms), Michele Jaffe (Bad Kitty), Stephenie Meyer (Twilight), and Lauren Myracle (ttyl ) take bad prom nights to a whole new level—a paranormally bad level. Wardrobe malfunctions and two left feet are nothing compared to discovering you're dancing with the Grim Reaper-and he isn't here to tell you how hot you look.
From vampire exterminations to angels fighting demons, these five stories with entertainment better than a DJ in a bad tux. No corsage or limo rental necessary. Just good, scary fun. An amazing book.