The Purple Thread

t is 733 AD in Anglo-Saxon Britain – a time of warriors, war and religious extremes.Begiloc, a young freedman from Wimborne, is a man of action. But his world turns upside down when the young Briton and his best friend Meryn are ordered away to protect English missionaries in Ger...

The dark(ly comic) side of MI5

Mick Herron has brought his own unique style to the spy genre. His books are set in Slough House, a dumping ground for spies who've messed up. The leader of the pack is Jackson Lamb, a foul-mouthed, apparently washed-up old Moscow hand who turns out to be far handier than he first appears. And hilariously, gloriously, offensive. The books have now been turned into a TV series starring Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas....