Everything you never knew or will ever need to know about plants is wonderfully detailed in this excellent book. Although most of us take plants for granted, they are an important constituent of medicine, food and drink and for centuries, a source of architectural and cultural inspiration (William Morris' patterns are one of many examples). Stories of iconic plants are woven into a narrative that bubbles with intelligence, humour, quirky nuggets of information and a guide to gardens worth visiting including London's Kew and the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in South Africa. There is so much to enjoy about this book although the section Plants in Peril is a chilling wake up call. Climate change, the desertification of the Aral Sea and the environmental damage from palm oil production is a stark reminder of our dependence on plants and how much is at risk if they're not protected.  

Lula lives in a strict children’s home but believes that dreams can come true if you wish hard enough. Her life changes forever when she finds a box under her bed with a cheeky little dog inside – but he’s made of crumbs! Embarking on a magical adventure through a hole in a tree at the bottom of the garden, Lula and Crumbdog discover a land of wonderful creatures, all friends of Crumbdog, including Marmalademonkey, Bakedbeanbunny and Chipcat.

When little Ariana and her Grandy spend a lovely day making biscuit animals, they have no idea how much trouble they might get into. When Grandy leaves Ariana alone with the pink icing, she makes a terrible mess. Nanny is none too pleased and Ariana is worried that she won’t be allowed to spend time with Nanny and Grandy ever again. Will this be the last day she spends in her favourite, ever so special place?

This remarkable book is the true story of 21 year old Nora Korzhenko who in 1940 was given a perilous choice: work as a honey trap for Stalin's secret police or the state would kill her family. In despair she gave in to the authorities. Nora struggled to seduce her target John Murray, a British Embassy cypher in Moscow. As their lives intertwined, the desperate couple escaped through the frozen Arctic wastelands driven by the hope of sharing a future together.

Welcome to a world of violence, pornography and voyeurism. In this brilliant, edgy trilogy British science fiction writer Derek E Pearson presents a terrifying vision of a future where life is cheap and only the brave survive. Milla Carter, "science fiction's sexiest telepath", is humanity's only hope. Can she win her one woman fight against the twisted Body Holiday Foundation which makes its money from exploiting chaos?

George S Boughton’s memoir of life in Nigeria during the 1967-1970 Biafran war, is a withering critique of corrupt governing elites. Over a million people starved to death or were killed in the fighting, yet a news vacuum meant the full extent of what went on wasn’t entirely known. Boughton has written a fascinating account of how a country torn apart by conflict became a magnet for Cold War politics.