Books published by publisher Allison

When Catherine Saxon, an American correspondent reporting on the war in Europe, is found murdered in her London digs, news of her death is concealed by British authorities. Serving as a linchpin between Scotland Yard and the Secret Service, Robert MacFarlane pays a visit to Maisie Dobbs, seeking her help. Accompanied by an agent from the US Department of Justice-Mark Scott, the American who helped Maisie escape Hitler's Munich in 1938-he asks Maisie to work with Scott to uncover the truth about Saxon's death. As the Germans unleash the full terror of their blitzkrieg upon the citizens of London, raining death and destruction from the skies, Maisie must balance the demands of solving this dangerous case with her need to protect the young evacuee she has grown to love. Entangled in an investigation linked to the power of wartime propaganda and American political intrigue being played out in Britain, Maisie will face losing her dearest friend-and the possibility that she might be falling in love again.

LET THE WORLD BURN . . .With an iron fist, the Great Library ruthlessly controls the knowledge of the world, forbidding the personal ownership of books in the name of the greater good. Jess Brightwell has survived his introduction to the sinister, seductive world of the Library, but his life and the lives of those he cares for have been altered for ever. Embarking on a mission to save one of their own, Jess and his band of allies suddenly find themselves hunted by the Library’s deadly automata and forced to flee Alexandria.But Jess’s home isn’t safe any more. The Welsh army is coming, London is burning, and soon Jess must choose between his friends, his family, or a Library willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in the search for ultimate control . . .‘DARK, RIVETING, HEART-IN-THE-THROAT STORYTELLING’ TAMORA PIERCE, AUTHOR OF THE PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL SERIES‘A FAST-PACED, ACTION-ORIENTED PLOT THAT WILL LEAVE READERS BREATHLESSLY ANTICIPATING NOT JUST THE NEXT PAGE, BUT THE NEXT BOOK’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

In 1942 Paris, gifted architect Lucien Bernard accepts a commission that will bring him a great deal of money - and maybe get him killed. But if he's clever enough, he'll avoid any trouble. All he has to do is design a secret hiding place for a wealthy Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined German officer won't find it. He sorely needs the money, and outwitting the Nazis who have occupied his beloved city is a challenge he can't resist. But when one of his hiding spaces fails horribly, and the problem of where to hide a Jew becomes terribly personal, Lucien can no longer ignore what's at stake. The Paris Architect asks us to consider what we owe each other, and just how far we'll go to make things right. Written by an architect whose knowledge imbues every page, this story becomes more gripping with every soul hidden and every life saved.

WORDS CAN KILL...The Great Library has long hoarded all the knowledge of the world, but a group of rebels has formed which continues to test its authority.Jess Brightwell and his friends have fled London, only to find themselves imprisoned in Philadelphia, a city led by those who would rather burn books than submit. But Jess and the others hold powerful knowledge of a machine that would undermine the Library’s dominion. They will have to make dangerous allies and difficult choices to stay alive. The alternative is to be erased from life, and the history of the world, for ever.‘RACHEL CAINE ONCE AGAIN DEMONSTRATES HER SUPERIOR WRITING ABILITY AND BEAUTIFUL STORYTELLING . . . UNPUTDOWNABLE’Bookstacked‘COMPELLING CHARACTERS, ATMOSPHERIC SETTINGS . . . THOROUGHLY ORIGINAl’ Deborah Harkness, author of A Discovery of Witches

A beautiful and elegant account of an ordinary man’s unexpected and reluctant descent into heroism during the Second World War.1942,Paris.Architect Lucien Bernard accepts a commission that will bring him huge wealth – and maybe a death sentence.He has to design a secret hiding place for a wealthy Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined of Nazi soldiers won’t discover it. When one of Lucien’s designs fails horribly,the problem of hiding a Jew becomes person,and he can no longer deny the enormity of his project.What does he owe his fellow man,and how far will he go to make things right?

By July 1914, the ties between Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden, friends since girlhood, have become strained – by Thea’s passionate embrace of women’s suffrage and by the imminent marriage of Kezia to Thea’s brother, Tom, who runs the family farm.When Kezia and Tom wed just a month before war is declared between Britain and Germany, Thea’s gift to Kezia is a book on household management – a veiled criticism of the bride’s ordinary life to come. Yet when Tom enlists to fight and Thea is drawn reluctantly onto the battlefield herself, the farm becomes Kezia’s responsibility. Each must find a way to endure the ensuing cataclysm and turmoil.As Tom marches to the front lines and Kezia battles to keep her ordered life from unravelling, they hide their despair in letters filled with stories woven to bring comfort. But will well-intended lies and self-deception be of use when they come face-to-face with the enemy?

Felicity, a young librarian, is certain her only adventures will come in the form of the books she reads. When her uncle reveals that the palace librarians have the secret gift of interpreting fairy tales, stories that control the fate of the kingdom, she is thrust into a new world of magic. Between rescuing Cinderella, charming a prince, and battling an evil force trying to sabotage the fairy tale, Felicity realizes orchestrating a happily ever after ending is going to take all of her wits. However, it’s her heart that is put to the real test. She finds herself having to choose between her own happy ending or protecting the fairy tale she’s been tasked with completing. After the clock strikes midnight, Felicity discovers her world will change forever and some fates are stronger than magic.

Amory Ames is a wealthy young woman who regrets her marriage to her notoriously charming playboy husband, Milo. Looking for a change, she accepts a request for help from her former fiancé, Gil Trent, not knowing that she’ll soon become embroiled in a murder investigation that will test not only her friendship with Gil, but will upset the status quo with her husband.

The Kurc family shouldn't have survived the Holocaust. In the spring of 1939 three generations are living relatively normal lives in Poland, despite the hardships Jews face. When war breaks out and the family is cast to the wind, the five Kurc siblings do everything they can to find their way through a devastated continent to freedom. Addy, a musician, charms his way into possession of a Brazilian visa and into the first class piano lounge on a ship full of refugees bound for Rio; Jakob marries the love of his life in an abandoned house to a soundtrack of air sirens; Mila hides her daughter in a Catholic convent outside of Warsaw, only to return weeks later to find the convent in ruins; Genek endures a brutal winter in a Siberian gulag before embarking with his wife and newborn son on a year-long exodus through Persia to fight for the Allies; and Halina attempts to flee over the Austrian Alps on foot - while pregnant. All this, across continents and often in ignorance as to the fate of the rest of their family, while the wheels of war turn. We Were the Lucky Ones is a profoundly moving and memorable novel based on the author's family experiences.

Iris Origo was one of the twentieth century’s most attractive and intriguing women, a brilliantly perceptive historian and biographer whose works remain widely admired. Iris grew up in Italy with her Irish mother after the death of her wealthy American father. They settled in the Villa Medici in Florence, where they became part of the colourful and privileged Anglo-Florentine set that included Edith Wharton, Harold Acton and the Berensons.When Iris married Antonio Origo, they bought and revived La Foce, a derelict stretch of the beautiful Val d’Orcia valley in Tuscany and created an estate that thrives to this day. During World War II they sided firmly with the Allies, taking considerable risks in protecting children and sheltering partisans and Iris’s diary from that time, War in Val d’Orcia, is now considered a modern classic.Caroline Moorehead has drawn on many previously unpublished letters, diaries, and papers to write the definitive biography of a very remarkable woman.