VIKING

'It seemed to me that the bees were working on the very same kinds of problems we are trying to solve. How can large, diverse groups work together harmoniously and productively? Perhaps we could take what the bees do so well and apply it to our institutions'. When Michael O'Malley first took up beekeeping he thought it would be a nice hobby to...

Matthew Parris and Andrew Bryson bring together some of the funniest despatches from British Ambassadors abroad, in this sequel to their acclaimed Parting Shots. Based on a new BBC Radio 4 series, it features some classic stories, from the horse given to John Major by the authorities in Turkmenistan which got lost in the Russian rail system to the...

The No. 1 New York Times Bestseller Jess Walter's Beautiful Ruins is a gorgeous, glamorous novel set in 1960s Italy and a modern Hollywood studio. The story begins in 1962. Somewhere on a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and views...

From Rwanda to Afghanistan, from Sudan to Iraq, this brilliantly written and at times blackly funny work of reportage shows how the humanitarian aid industry, the media and warmongers the world over are locked in a cycle of mutual support.Drawing on her decades of first-hand experience, Linda Polman's gripping narrative introduces us to the key...

Letters of love, telegrams of loss - the postmistress awaits them allThe wireless crackles with news of blitzed-out London and of the Second World War which is coursing through Europe, leaving destruction in its wake. Listening intently on the other side of the Atlantic, newly-wed Emma considers the fragility of her peaceful married life as America...

Maria Duenas's million copy best-selling tale of adventure, tragedy, love and war, "The Seamstress", a Richard and Judy 2012 book club pick. Spain, 1936 and the brink of civil war. Young, poor Sira Quiroga is swept up in a whirlwind romance with her wily love Ramiro. Fleeing Madrid together for Morocco, her love blinds her to his real failings....