Helen Dickson

#2

Strange inheritance... In the wild magnificence of the Lake District stands Thirlbeck, remote and ancient seat of the Earls of Askew. To Joanna Roswell, arriving from a famous London auction house to examine its contents, Thirlbeck is like something from a fairy story, with its priceless diamond, superb paintings and furniture, all locked away from the inquisitive world. But the great house broods on other secrets - ancient scandals and curses which have haunted a noble birthright through the centuries. And gradually Joanna finds herself drawn into a strangely ominous situation, which seems to offer her the happiness and love she seeks, and at the same time threatens her very existence... "Gaskin fans, rejoice! Here's mystery, romance and a dash of history." Publishers Weekly A marvellous story." Vogue

#3

An American woman comes to China to teach English just as that country opens its doors, six years after the deal of Chairman Mao. Her clothes, her hair, her charm - the stories she tells of an American childhood, the lessons in casual conversation and pop music - awaken in the men and women she tutors a yearning for the tantalizing West and an unknowable eroticism. She is a witting and unwitting seductress who cannot conceive that when she enters into a love triangle with two of her students - one male, one female - its consequences will be insidious and inexorably tragic. In Katherine, Min writes of the clash of centuries-old mystical traditions and modern American ways, of love and betrayal, and of both the balm and destruction obsession offers. Anchee Min's fiction debut confirms her arrival as a writer of singular importance.