Swift Press

How a skeptical FBI agent reached out to a famous psychic for help on a baffling case – and the twenty-five-year crime-solving journey that followedCentring on the investigation of the gruesome John Smith murders that rocked the nation, Chasing Evil is a heart-stopping story of murder, justice and finding help in unexpected places. In the summer of 1998, FBI agent Bob Hilland reluctantly picked up the phone to call the famous psychic John Edward. Bob didn’t expect much from the call, but he was working on an unsolvable cold case and had nowhere else to turn. What Bob never imagined was that the call would lead to a shattering of all his preconceived notions, a huge break in the cold case and an unlikely crime-solving partnership that spanned twenty-five years. As Bob and John took on more cases together, they slowly learned how to rely on each other and trust their skills, ultimately finding not only justice for the crimes they solved, but resolution and healing in their own lives.

The story behind Notebook starts with a minor crime: the theft of Tom Cox's rucksack from a Bristol pub in 2018. In that rucksack was a journal containing ten months' worth of notes, one of the many Tom has used to record his thoughts and observations over the past twelve years. It wasn't the best he had ever kept – his handwriting was messier than in his previous notebook, his entries more sporadic – but he still grieved for every one of the hundred or so lost pages. This incident made Tom appreciate how much notebook-keeping means to him: the act of putting pen to paper has always led him to write with an unvarnished, spur-of-the-moment honesty that he wouldn’t achieve on-screen. Here, Tom has assembled his favourite stories, fragments, moments and ideas from those notebooks, ranging from memories of his childhood to the revelation that 'There are two types of people in the world. People who fucking love maps, and people who don't.' The result is a book redolent of the real stuff of life, shot through with Cox’s trademark warmth and wit.

A Telegraph Book of the Year 2025'Allows us to understand the profound, and often profoundly beneficial, impact of Christianity' Anthony Seldon'Superb ... Lively and erudite' The Telegraph'Tremendous ... The arguments are truly profound' The Spectator'A finely judged and beautifully written account' Peter FrankopanChristianity in England is in decline. Congregations are dwindling and ever fewer young people believe. Should we merely shrug our shoulders and accept this as inevitable and even healthy, or is something important being los? ijan Omrani argues that this decline is the most momentous change to occur in English history. He shows how a religion that has been part of our national story for over 1700 years was instrumental in the creation and development of the English nation, its codes of law and morality, and its structures of government and kingship. He demonstrates its profound cultural impact, in areas ranging from architecture and literature to our very landscape and the structure of our everyday life and language. Its influence, he contends, has been enormous, largely benign, and shouldn’t be lightly abandoned. Ending with a rousing call to retain Christianity, rightly understood, as a way of dealing with both the eternal questions of the human condition, as well as the malaises of modernity, this is an erudite and tender tribute to our Christian history and heritage.

'A page-turner' The Spectator 'Harrowing and engrossing' Nicola Sturgeon'Incredible and powerful' The Herald 'Utterly heartbreaking' TelegraphOn 13 March 1996 a man walked into Dunblane Primary School armed with four legally owned handguns, and in less than four minutes fired 105 bullets, killing sixteen children and their Primary One teacher. The gunman was notorious among local parents, politicians and police: for years he ran a network of popular boys’ clubs and was the subject of multiple complaints and investigations, but, despite considerable evidence of troubling behaviour, he was never charged. His crime shocked the world then changed the nation – but only after an extraordinary political battle. Based on original archival research, unseen royal correspondence and exclusive interviews with parents, One Morning in March tells – for the first time – of the lead-up to that day but also the incredible and powerful true story of how, in their darkest hour, a band of parents used their grief as fuel in a fight with John Major’s Conservative government to forever ban handguns in Britain. It is a story of how Princess Diana, forbidden to comfort the parents in the immediate aftermath, urged their campaign on; of how Andy Murray, a pupil at the school, ultimately banished the shadow over his hometown by winning Wimbledon; and of how the grieving parents secured the tightest gun laws in the world.

A Forever War: Israel and Palestine achieves something quite extraordinary. At a time when passions run high and the Israel-Gaza war intensifies, so much coverage is based on prejudice, fear and ignorance. Colin Shindler, Emeritus Professor of Israel Studies at SOAS, presents a calm, scholarly and dispassionate view of the past and of what might lie ahead. Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the Middle East has been thrown into conflict. Shindler reflects on the key questions: How did this state of affairs come about? Is it even possible to write an impartial account? Could all the conflict have been avoided? How is it that Israel itself is a divided nation and even other Arab nations treat the Palestinians so badl? n both sides are the extremists - terrorists and ultra-nationalist religious Jews who are determined to seize land from Palestinians and dream of a new Jewish theocracy based on a Greater Israel - but A Forever War strives for objectivity and asks how we can best approach the truth in a time of such complex division.

Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel AwardThe 'English' of this novel are a particular kind of family. Their ailing patriarch is Phillip Prys, the once-famous writer unexpectedly eclipsed first by voguish Salman Rushdie, and second by a massive stroke. His third wife, Shirin, pads through their house in Hampstead, resolute in the face of Myfanwy, first spouse, who returns with all the subtlety of a stormy weather front to manage Phillip's care. Their children, Jake and Juliet, have each retreated towards drugs and food, their already strained relationship with their father unable to bear this latest rupture. And to cap it all, it's the hottest summer anyone can remember. Enter Struan. Built like a heron, fresh from Scotland, he is thrust -- quite literally -- into the bosom of the family as Phillip's 17-year-old nurse. He's had experience of death, but not of London. It's a foreign country, with foreign food and foreign customs. But it also has a kind of magic. As he comes under the influence of each Prys, his life begins to change in ways he could never have imagined. And so, in the meantime, do theirs. . .

'A superb and compelling espionage drama inside the Iran Israel shadow war by the top spy thrillerist of these wild turbulent times' Simon Sebag Montefiore'A great spy writer' Tim ShipmanWhat happens when a spy is forced to reckon with the consequences of his deceptio? amran Esfahani, a Persian Jewish dentist from Stockholm, dreams of starting afresh in California. To finance his new life, he agrees to spy for Mossad in Iran, working with a clandestine unit tasked with sowing chaos and sabotage inside the country. When he’s captured by Iranian security forces, Kamran is compelled to confess his experiences as a spy, in a testimonial dealing not only with the security of nations, but also with revenge, deceit, and the power of love and forgiveness in a world of lies. Mixing suspense with strikingly cinematic action, David McCloskey takes readers deep into the shadow war between Iran and Israel, delivering propulsive storytelling and riveting tradecraft. THE FOURTH NOVEL FROM FORMER CIA OFFICER, THE REST IS CLASSIFIED PODCAST CO-HOST AND THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ***THE TIMES THRILLER OF THE YEAR***DAMASCUS STATION (‘One of the best spy thrillers in years’ THE TIMES) AND ***SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR*** MOSCOW XREADER REVIEWS'A brilliant gripping read. This is one of his best books''An excellent read from the pen of one who has been there and done it all, especially in light of current events in the Middle East.''This is the best book I have read in years. A superb spy novel.''Couldn’t put it down, this is an amazing book...This is a must read from a great writer!'

From the award-winning author of An Everlasting Meal comes a record of daily delights from inside the kitchen and just outside it; designed to help you find joy every day. From the pleasure of picking sun-warmed cherries to the comfort of a perfectly cooked meal, Adler's reflections range from short, lyrical musings - a series of phrases, a list of words, a quick poem - to longer, thought-provoking meditations. All in all, they represent the kitchen (and adjacent) happinesses of one year. Step into a world where cooking becomes a meditative, soothing retreat. Adler brings her signature warmth and poetic charm to this daily devotional of sorts. With her gentle guidance, even the most routine kitchen tasks become opportunities for reflection. Her voice is like a trusted friend's-knowledgeable, comforting, and endlessly inspiring.

'These markings of ink and paper will one day be the only proof that I have existed in this world. That I lived and breathed' Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen-one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie. Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon's newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

It isn't quite 'Don't buy any green bananas'. But it's close to 'Don't start any long books'. In his mid-40s, Simon Boas was diagnosed with incurable cancer – it had been caught too late, and spread around his body. But he was determined to die as he had learned to live – optimistically, thinking the best of people, and prioritising what really matters in life. In A Beginner’s Guide to Dying Simon considers and collates the things that have given him such a great sense of peace and contentment, and why dying at 46 really isn’t so bad. And for that reason it’s also only partly about ‘dying’. It is mostly a hymn to the joy and preciousness of life, and why giving death a place can help all of us make even more of it.

Beijing in the 1970s. Lai lives with her parents, grandmother and youngerbrother in a small flat in a working-class area. Her grandmother is a formidable figure, while her ageing beauty of a mother snipes at her father, a sunken figure haunted by the Cultural Revolution. As she grows up, Lai comes to discern the realities of the country she lives in. But she also goes through the ebbs and flows of friendships; troubles and rewards at home and at school; and the first steps and missteps in love. A gifted student, she attends the prestigious Peking University; while there she becomes involved in the student protests that have been gathering speed. It is the late 1980s, and change is in the air . . .

?What does it mean to be a lesbian now? Has the quest for lesbian liberation stalled, and if so, why? Part-memoir, part frontline reportage and part cultural commentary, Julie Bindel examines what defines lesbian culture, love, friendship and happiness today. She distinguishes the particular challenges facing lesbians from the very different experiences of gay men, and asks: why do lesbians so often seem to face particular hostility? Comparing past attitudes to today, she argues that lesbians continue to suffer from bigotry and discrimination because sexism and enforced gendered roles are still left unchallenged. She explores why many of the biggest assaults on lesbian freedom and wellbeing around the world now come, not just from conservatives, but also from so-called progressives, who are often antagonistic to lesbians organising and socialising autonomously. Rooted in her own remarkable story, this personal and passionate book is both an investigation into the obstacles to lesbian flourishing, and a testament to the particular delights of being a lesbian.

Until recently, Germany appeared to be a paragon of economic and political success. Angela Merkel was widely seen as the true ‘leader of the free world’, and Germany’s export-driven economic model seemed to deliver prosperity. But recent events – from Germany’s dependence on Russian gas to its car industry’s delays in the race to electric – have undermined this view. In Kaput, Wolfgang Münchau argues that the weaknesses of Germany’s economy have, in fact, been brewing for decades. The neo-mercantilist policies of the German state, driven by close connections between the country’s industrial and political elite, have left Germany technologically behind over-reliant on authoritarian Russia and China – and with little sign of being able to adapt to the digital realities of the 21st century. It is an essential read for anyone interested in the future of Europe’s biggest economy.

Radical Thinking is a book about how you view the world. It’s about the things that shape your thoughts, from what you notice and how you interpret it, to what you assume, believe and want. It’s also about how, if you think in a radical way, you can look beyond your limited view of the world to see the bigger picture. This isn’t one of those books that points out why you get things wrong, or offers you a set of rules to get it ‘right’. Instead, Peter Lamont (a former magician, now Professor of History and Theory of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh) takes us on a curious tour. As he looks at the things around him, he reveals how we look at everything. He discovers – in nearby streets and buildings, and quirky local history (about Sherlock Holmes, the birth of Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the original self-help book) – the things that shape how we view the world. He shows how, from a local point of view, we create a worldview. No wonder that we disagree. However, if you’re curious, then you can see the bigger picture. And, in a world of urgent noise and competing truths, you can make sense of anything.

THE SECOND NOVEL FROM FORMER CIA OFFICER AND THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ***THE TIMES THRILLER OF THE YEAR*** DAMASCUS STATION ('One of the best spy thrillers in years' THE TIMES) A daring CIA operation threatens chaos in the Kremlin. But can Langley trust the Russian at its center? CIA operatives Sia and Max enter Russia to recruit Vladimir Putin’s moneyman. Sia works for a London firm that conceals the wealth of the super-rich. Max’s family business in Mexico – a CIA front since the 1960s – is a farm that breeds high-end racehorses. They pose as a couple, and their targets are Vadim, Putin’s private banker, and his wife Anna, who is both a banker and an intelligence officer herself…

Financial Times Best Summer Books of 2023 A revelatory, myth-dispelling exploration of China’s juggernaut economy Although China’s economy is one of the largest in the world, Western understanding of it is often based on dated assumptions and incomplete information. In The New China Playbook, Keyu Jin burrows deep into the mechanisms of a unique system, taking a nuanced, clear-eyed, and data-based look inside. From the far-reaching and unexpected consequences of China’s one-child policy to the government’s complex relationship with entrepreneurs, from its boisterous financial system to its latest push for technological innovation, Jin reveals the frequently misunderstood dynamics at play. China is entering a new era, soon to be shaped by a radically different younger generation. As it strives to move beyond the confines of conventional socialism stained by shortages and capitalism hindered by inequality, the world is about to witness the emergence of a completely new dynamic between two diametrically opposite systems. The thorough understanding of China’s playbook that Jin provides will be essential for anyone hoping to interpret the nation’s future economic and political strategy. While China’s rise on the world stage has stirred a wide range of emotions, one thing is certain: a deep understanding is essential for successfully navigating the global economy in the twenty-first century.