Winston Mawdsley Graham OBEwas an English novelist, best known for the series of historical novels about the Poldarks. Graham was born in Manchester in 1908, but moved to Perranporth, Cornwall when he was seventeen. His first novel, The House with the Stained Glass Windows was published in 1933.His first 'Poldark' novel, Ross Poldark, was published in 1945, and was followed by eleven further titles, the last of which, Bella Poldark, came out in 2002. The novels were set in Cornwall, especially in and around Perranporth, where Graham spent much of his life, and were made into a BBC television series in the 1970s.It was so successful that vicars moved or cancelled church services rather than try to hold them when Poldark was showing.

Emma Spry is the ugly duckling of the family, one side of her face marred during birth. She receives little affection, her father dead before she was born, and her mother preoccupied with her other daughter. Only Canon Robartes can teach Emma the true meaning of love.

Was it Pearl Friedel’s fault she was beautiful?If she had been plain, William Angell, the self-indulgent solicitor and lover of beautiful things, would never have given her the chance to escape the tedium of everyday life.It was a very satisfactory arrangement – until Little God stepped in.An ambitious boxer with a vicious reputation, he wanted Pearl for himself, no matter what the cost...

Stephanie, a young woman with a brilliant future, finds that future at risk when she discovers that Errol, her worldly lover, may have had something to do with the recent murder of a prominent gentleman's daughter.

Agadir, Morocco. 29th February, 1960...

Norah has been in the Syme household a few days before she learns of her close resemblance to her employer's niece, Marion Syme, who drowned several years ago. Is there something to be afraid of in the half-deserted house - or something more sinister, in the psyche of someone who lives there?

Winston Graham's memoirs have been consigned to his safe for years. Here, at last, they are shared with his readers in a remarkable book, free of what he called 'the fashionable sins', but rich in charm and anecdote. Memoirs of a Private Man follows the rise of a delicate Manchester lad from the isolation of Cornwall to fame and the glittering London film scene. Its pages are peopled by luminaries, among them Alfred Hitchcock, who turned Graham's best-selling novel, Marnie , into a classic film, Gregory Peck, and Somerset Maugham. Graham's is a life of success, often excess, yet he never loses sight of its foundations: his love of his wife Jean, companion of fifty years, and his love of words. His memoirs offer an insight into the unassuming side of the writer whose bestselling novels and their television adaptations have won over the hearts of millions.

Giles Gordon lives in a world which he can only see in varying degrees of darkness. Unable to cross a room with confidence, Gordon has the courage to walk into dangers that a fit man would fear to face...