Requirements: .ePUB reader, 11.5MB
Overview: Karen Maitland travelled and worked in many parts of the United Kingdom before finally settling in the beautiful medieval city of Lincoln. She is the author of The White Room, which won an Author's Club Best First Novel Award, Company of Liars and The Owl Killers, which were both published to outstanding critical acclaim.
Genre: Fiction > Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Company of Liars
The year is 1348. The Black Plague grips the country. In a world ruled by faith and fear, nine desperate strangers, brought together by chance, attempt to outrun the certain death that is running inexorably toward them.
Each member of this motley company has a story to tell. From Camelot, the relic-seller who will become the group's leader, to Cygnus, the one-armed storyteller . . . from the strange, silent child called Narigorm to a painter and his pregnant wife, each has a secret. None is what they seem. And one among them conceals the darkest secret of all--propelling these liars to a destiny they never saw coming.

Liars and Thieves (A Company of Liars Short Story)
Liars and Thieves is an exclusive e-novella featuring characters from Karen Maitland's much-loved Company of Liars, set against the backdrop of the plague outbreak of 1348. Sure to enthral fans of Minette Walters' The Last Hours and Kate Mosse's The Burning Chambers. 'Combines the storytelling traditions of The Canterbury Tales with the supernatural suspense of Mosse's Sepulchre in this atmospheric tale of treachery and magic' Marie Claire on Company of LiarsCamelot and Narigorm the rune reader return to delight fans of Karen Maitland's classic novel as the company - in their desperate bid to outrun the plague - encounter a band of outlaws, who are making the most of the breakdown in law and order to steal from the weak ... and kill at leisure. But in the child Narigorm they might just have met their match - for plague is the lesser of those two evils.

The Plague Charmer
Riddle me this: I have a price, but it cannot be paid in gold or silver.
1361. Porlock Weir, Exmoor. Thirteen years after the Great Pestilence, plague strikes England for the second time. Sara, a packhorse man's wife, remembers the horror all too well and fears for safety of her children.
Only a dark-haired stranger offers help, but at a price that no one will pay.
Fear gives way to hysteria in the village and, when the sickness spreads to her family, Sara finds herself locked away by neighbours she has trusted for years. And, as her husband - and then others - begin to die, the cost no longer seems so unthinkable.
The price that I ask, from one willing to pay... A human life.

The Gallows Curse
Set in the reign of King John, when the whole of England was under sentence of excommunication (among other issues, King John wouldn't accept the Pope's choice of Archbishop). Can you imagine the chaos - all the churches closed, King John in retaliation arresting every priest who hadn't fled and the people terrified of dying in sin without the last rites? No burials were permitted on consecrated land, no marriages were conducted, no babies baptized. But I don't want to reveal much more, except to say the plot involves people-trafficking, murder and, oh yes... a very feisty dwarf and a eunuch with a hunger for revenge.

The Raven's Head
Vincent is an apprentice librarian who stumbles upon a secret powerful enough to destroy his master. With the foolish arrogance of youth, he attempts blackmail but the attempt fails and Vincent finds himself on the run and in possession of an intricately carved silver raven's head.

Any attempt to sell the head fails ... until Vincent tries to palm it off on the intimidating Lord Sylvain - unbeknown to Vincent, a powerful Alchemist with an all-consuming quest. Once more Vincent's life is in danger because Sylvain and his neighbours, the menacing White Canons, consider him a predestined sacrifice in their shocking experiment.

Chilling and with compelling hints of the supernatural, The Raven's Head is a triumph for Karen Maitland, Queen of the Dark Ages.

The Vanishing Witch
By the pricking of my thumbs ...Lincoln, 1380. A raven-haired widow is newly arrived in John of Gaunt's city, with her two unnaturally beautiful children in tow.
The widow Catlin seems kind, helping wool merchant Robert of Bassingham care for his ill wife. Surely it makes sense for Catlin and her family to move into Robert's home?But when first Robert's wife - and then others - start dying unnatural deaths, the whispers turn to witchcraft. The reign of Richard II brings bloody revolution, but does it also give shelter to the black arts?And which is more deadly for the innocents of Lincoln?What readers are saying about The Vanishing Witch:'Engrossing, enchanting and mysterious - this book kept my mind busy from start to finish''Compulsive reading. Thoroughly researched, highly informative and just a downright good story!''Magical and mysterious. Against this fascinating historical background, Maitland weaves a sinister tale of witchcraft, betrayal and terror'

The Owl Killers
Another sensational slice of Dark Ages Gothic from the author of the triumphant seller Company of Liars England, 1321 Welcome to the Dark Ages In the heart of the countryside lies an isolated village, where pagan Owl Masters rule through fear, superstition and murder. When a group of religious women ill-advisedly settles outside the village, they awaken dangerous jealousies. Why do their crops succeed? How do their cattle survive the plague? Are they concealing a holy relic which protects them from harm? The Owl Masters cry 'Witchcraft' and sharpen their talons. As torment and hellfire rain down, the women must look to their faith to save them from the darkness spreading across the land. Fear is a question of what you believe. And death alone the answer.