Penguin Books Australia

London, 1857: after surviving an encounter with an escaped tiger on the streets of Bermondsey, nine-year-old Jaffy stumbles into a job for its owner, the wild animal collector, Mr Jamrach.

Commissioned by Jamrach to find and collect a sea dragon, Jaf soon joins a ship bound for the South Seas, and so begins a wonder-filled voyage of discovery.

But when things start to go awry, Jaf's journey becomes...

London, 1857: after surviving an encounter with an escaped tiger on the streets of Bermondsey, nine-year-old Jaffy stumbles into a job for its owner, the wild animal collector, Mr Jamrach.

Commissioned by Jamrach to find and collect a sea dragon, Jaf soon joins a ship bound for the South Seas, and so begins a wonder-filled voyage of discovery.

But when things start to go awry, Jaf's journey becomes...

In 1787 Lieutenant Thomas Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth with the First Fleet and its cargo of convicts, destined for New South Wales. As a young officer and a man of science, the shy and quiet Rooke is full of anticipation about the natural wonders he might discover in this strange land on the other side of the world.

1066 - SENLAC RIDGE, ENGLAND.  WILLIAM THE BASTARD, DUKE OF NORMANDY DEFEATS HAROLD GODWINSON, KING HAROLD II OF ENGLAND IN WHAT WILL BECOME KNOWN AS THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

The battle is hard fought and bloody; thousands of lives are spent, including that of King Harold.  But England will not be conquered easily - the Anglo-Saxons will not submit meekly to Norman rule.

AD262 - the imperium is in turmoil after the struggle for the throne. Furthermore, Ephesus, Asia's metropolis, lies in ruins, shattered by a mighty earthquake. Its citizens live in fear as the mob overwhelms the city, baying for blood to avenge the gods who have punished them.

Yet an even greater threat to the Empire advances from the North. The barbaric Goth tribes sail towards Ephesus, determined...

The Roman Empire is in crisis, with threats coming from all directions. Ballista, Warrior of Rome, must once again embark on an epic journey - one with a secret mission.

Turmoil reigns across the entirety of the imperium . But the most worrying source of danger comes from the savage barbarian tribes, whose raids have become increasingly commonplace. Ballista undertakes his most treacherous journey...

Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation novels are 'great fun' ( The Boston Globe ) and ' grandly entertaining' ( Publishers Weekly ). Now she whisks readers away to nineteenth-century India – home to romance, intrigue, and a spy know only as the Marigold . . .

1072 England is firmly under the heel of its new Norman rulers. The few survivors of the English resistance look to Edgar the Atheling, the rightful heir to the English throne, to overthrow William the Conqueror. Years of intrigue and vicious civil war follow: brother against brother, family against family, friend against friend.

1793, the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and Midshipman Horatio Hornblower receives his first command . . .
 
As a seventeen-year-old with a touch of sea sickness, young Horatio Hornblower hardly cuts a dash in His Majesty's navy. Yet from the moment he is ordered to board a French merchant ship in the Bay of Biscay and take command of crew and cargo, he proves his seafaring mettle on the waves...

The nineteenth century dawns and the Napoleonic Wars rage as Horatio Hornblower faces the fury of the French and Spanish fleets combined.

1805, and Hornblower is both humbled and honoured in quick succession . . .

June, 1808 - and off the Coast of Nicaragua Captain Horatio Hornblower has his hands full . . .
 

The final Horatio Hornblower story tells of Napoleon's plans to invade England . . .
 
Set in 1805, Hornblower and the Crisis finds Horatio Hornblower in possession of confidential dispatches from Bonaparte after a vicious hand-to-hand encounter with a French brig. The admiralty rewards Hornblower by sending him on a dangerous espionage mission that will light the powder trail leading to...

April 1803, and the Peace of Amiens is failing as Horatio Hornblower takes a three-master on a vital reconnaissance mission . . .
 
On the day of his marriage to Maria, Hornblower is ordered to take the Hotspur and head for Brest - war is coming and Napoleon will not catch His Majesty's navy with its britches round its ankles. With thoughts of his new life as a husband intruding on his duties...

1815, the Napoleonic Wars are over. Yet peace continues to elude Horatio Hornblower overseas . . .
 
As an admiral struggling to impose order in the chaotic aftermath of the French wars, Horatio Hornblower, Commander-in-chief of His Majesty's ships and vessels in the West Indies, must still face savage pirates, reckless revolutionaries and a violent hurricane.
 

1812 and the fate of Europe lies in the hands of newly appointed Commodore Hornblower . . .

May, 1810 - and thirty-nine-year-old Captain Horatio Hornblower has been handed his first ship of the line . . .

1813, and Horatio Hornblower is propelled toward the heart of the French Empire and his old enemy, Napoleon . . .

ARTHUR'S FINAL TEST OF COURAGE IS UPON HIM . . .

Arthur has crushed Lancelot's rebellion, but at a cost.
Guinevere's betrayal has left him reeling, and his Saxon enemies seek to destroy him while he is weak. Chaos threatens to engulf Britain. Yet Arthur is a military genius and noble leader.

A humiliated and shipless captive of the French, Horatio Hornblower faces execution unless he can escape and make a triumphant return to England . . .