A previously untold story--a brilliant examination of the life of the visionary 20th-century Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland. Through the ages, the lights of the aurora borealis were believed to be the messengers of gods or signs of apocalypse or souls of the dead. Even at the turn of the century, the most sophisticated scientists misapprehended their cause. Now Lucy Jago tells the story of the science--and the romance--behind the northern lights as she traces the grand adventure of Birkeland's life. In 1899, Birkeland set out on his lifelong, arduous, increasingly compulsive quest for an explanation of the aurora borealis. He traveled across some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth--from the ice mountains of Norway to the deserts of Africa--defying the dangers of war and political upheaval, dedicating himself to the unraveling of this mystery. And yet when he died in 1917--in Japan, under suspicious circumstances--his work was unheralded. Now his theories are considered to have been prophetic, and they have furthered our understanding not only of the aurora borealis, but also of electromagnetism, comets, and the sun. A galvanizing, enlightening saga.

Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is the most gripping novel you'll read this year: an exhilarating dive into the pitch-dark waters of the Jacobean court'The Thelma and Louise of the seventeenth century' Lawrence Norfolk'Sumptuous ... If you're feeling bereft after finishing The Mirror and the Light, let Jago transport you back to the Jacobean court' Telegraph'Dazzling' Sunday IndependentFrances Howard has beauty and a powerful family – and is the most unhappy creature in the world. Anne Turner has wit and talent – but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution. When these two very different women meet in the strangest of circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that...

Cecily may have occasional visions, but that doesn't make her a witch! Fatherless and without friends, Cess knows she's lucky to be employed by a grand estate like Montacute House, even if it is as a poultry girl. On her thirteenth birthday, Cess finds a precious locket in one of her chicken coops, a strange discovery that's quickly overshadowed by her best friend William's disappearance two days later.

At first a boy's body is discovered, then William, Cess's best friend, disappears . . . What is the mystery behind these sinister events? Cess works caring for the chickens at Montacute House but on her thirteenth birthday everything changes. She finds a precious locket hidden in the chicken coop and is convinced someone has placed it there for her to find. But the day is overshadowed by fear as a boy's body is found by the river, and then when William disappears, Cess is accused by the villagers of bewitching her best friend. Cess is determined to find William and prove the villagers wrong, but is soon embroiled in a plot that threatens her world and forces Cess to draw on powers she never knew she possessed, powers that will place her life in danger if they are discovered by the villagers. Witchcraft, politics and religious ambition combine in this gripping and wonderfully realised novel set in the Somerset of the 1500s.