Last night at the beautiful Lutyens & Rubinstein bookshop, Holland Park, Brazil’s finest novelist Edney Silvestre celebrated his UK debut in his first visit to London.

Edney was joined by the friends, fans and members of the Brazilian embassy including ambassador Roberto Jaguaribe. Making headline news on Brazilian newspaper O Globo, Edney was interviewed on the growth of Brazilian fiction writers. You can view this HERE.

Edney Silvestre is already a critically acclaimed author and cultural broadcaster in his home country. ‘If I Close My Eyes Now‘ is now available in English in the UK, the Daily Mail has praised Edney’s ‘deceptively simple prose’ along with the effective way in which he tells the story of two boys and their loss of innocence. Read the Daily Mail review HERE.

Edney Silvestre will be at the Hay Festival this Saturday. For details of his event that starts at 5.30pm, please visit: www.hayfestival.org

If I Close My Eyes Now by Edney Silvestre

If I close my eyes now, I can still feel her blood on my fingers. If only I had closed my eyes then, or kept my mouth shut, not told anyone about our discovery by the swimming hole, we could have gone back to dreaming about spaceships.

A horrifying discovery by two young boys while playing in a mango plantation marks the end of their childhood. As they finally open their eyes to the adult world, they see a place where storybook heroes don’t exist but villains and lies do …

We have lots of fantastic book bloggers who enjoy reviewing our titles and have done so for many years now. We’re always hoping that more bloggers/reviewers may stumble upon our wonderful catalogue of titles too.

We’ve recently signed up to NetGalley, the online platform that allows professional readers and reviewers to download advanced review copies of our books prior to publication.

CHECK OUT OUR TRANSWORLD NETGALLEY CATALOGUE HERE.

If you’re not yet a NetGalley member, sign up for free today and browse through our titles. We’ll make sure to accept requests for our books from members based in the UK who have a good tap score and who detail their blogging and reviewing habits well on their profile.

You can sign up to NetGalley here.

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There’s nothing we love more than a good old publication day knees up! A slice of cake, another slice of cake and a glass of bubbly to cheer on our fabulous authors and their stunning books.

Today, we have a HUGE array of irresistible titles looking for a new home – hopefully a shelf near you. Browse through our books below for a better idea of our books out now!

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The Outsider: My Autobiography by Jimmy Connors

Jimmy Connors took the tennis world by storm like no player in the history of the game. A shaggy-haired working-class kid from the wrong side of the tracks, he was prepared to battle for every point, to shout and scream until he was heard, and he didn’t care whom he upset in doing so. He was brash, he was a brat. He was a crowd-pleaser, a revolutionary. And he won more tournaments – an astonishing 109 – than any other man in history, including eight Grand Slam singles titles.

Only now is Connors ready to set the record straight on what really happened on and off the court. The rivalry with John McEnroe, that frequently threatened to turn violent, with Bjorn Borg, and Ivan Lendl. His romance with Chris Evert, which made them the sweethearts of the sport. The escapades with his partner in crime, Ilie Nastase. The deep roots of the fierce determination that made him the best player on the planet.

This is no genteel memoir of a pillar of the tennis establishment. Unflinching, hard-hitting, humorous and passionate, this is the story of a legend – the one and only Jimmy Connors.

The Big Book of Flight by Rowland White

Everybody dreams of flying. For as long as we’ve been able to look up and see the birds we’ve wanted to join them. But our efforts to do so have not always been as elegant or accomplished. Instead, there’s been danger, excitement, courage and brilliance.

The Big Book of Flight is a celebration of it all, and a lot more besides, packed with derring-do stories of aviation’s pioneers as well as fascinating profiles of remarkable planes, from Spitfires to Space Shuttles (and a number of other wondrous projects that never quite got off the drawing board). Along with a unique collection of fantastic flight trivia, crucial questions are also addressed:

What’s so scary about the Bermuda Triangle?
Why does airline food taste so bad?
And how do you make the perfect paper dart?

With stunning photographs and illustrations throughout, The Big Book of Flight promises to surprise, entertain and fire the imaginations of anyone with their head in the clouds.

Bunker Hill by Nathaniel Philbrick

What lights the spark that ignites a revolution?

Lost in the story of America’s path to independence is the tumultuous nature of that nation’s origins: the interplay of ideologies and personalities that provoked a group of merchants, farmers, artisans, and sailors to take up arms in pursuit of liberty . . .

A city of 15,000 inhabitants packed onto a land-connected island a little over one square mile, Boston in 1775 was also – following a series of incendiary incidents by patriotic citizens and trouble-seeking vigilantes – a city occupied by the British. In the year following the infamous Tea Party an uneasy peace had reigned, but on 19th April 1775, violence erupted, with skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. Two months later, with the city cut off by British forces, these clashes reached a bloody climax in an encounter that would mark the point of no return for the rebellious colonists: the Battle of Bunker Hill.

With a keen sense of the unexplored side of mythic events, Nathaniel Philbrick shines fresh light on this momentous story, revealing new key players and finding unknown sides to familiar ones. The real work of choreographing the rebellion fell to physician Joseph Warren (fated to die at Bunker Hill) while others include Warren’s fiancee – the poet Mercy Scollay, Paul Revere and a notable new recruit to the Revolutionary cause, an elegant Virginian called George Washington. On the British side, reluctant combatant General Thomas Gage was succeeded by the bellicose William Howe who would lead three charges at Bunker Hill and preside over the claustrophobic cauldron of a city under siege.

Written with passion, insight, even-handedness and the eloquence of a born storyteller, Bunker Hillbrings to life the robust, chaotic and blisteringly real origins of America.

Brothers’ Fury by Giles Kristian 

Rebel Cast out from his home, rejected by his family, Tom Rivers returns to his regiment. But his commander believes the young hothead’s recklessness and contempt for authority has no place in his troop. But to a spymaster like Captain Crafte, Tom’s dark and fearless nature is in itself a weapon to be turned upon the hated Cavaliers – who else would dare to infiltrate Oxford, now the Royalist capital, to destroy the King’s printing press and strike a blow at the very heart of the enemy?

Renegade Raw with grief at the death of his father, Edmund Rivers rejects the peace talks between Parliament and the King. He chooses instead to lead a hardened band of marauders across the moors, appearing out of the frozen world to fall on unsuspecting rebel columns like wolves. But Prince Rupert – recognising in Mun a fellow child of war – has other plans for him, from stealing a colossal gun, to tunneling beneath the walls of Lichfield. The only peace the enemy will get from Mun Rivers is that of the grave.

Huntress Her heart broken following the deaths of her beloved Emmanuel and her father, Bess Rivers takes the hardest decision of her life: to leave her new-born son and depart Sheer House in search of tghe one person who might help her re-unite what is left of her broken family. Risking her own life on the road, Bess will do whatever it takes to find her brother Tom and secure his Royal pardon, but can she douse the flames of her brothers’ fury and see them reconciled?

The People’s Will by Jasper Kent

Turkmenistan 1881: Beneath the citadel of Geok Tepe sits a prisoner. He hasn’t moved from his chair for two years, hasn’t felt the sun on his face in more than fifty, but he is thankful for that. The city is besieged by Russian troops and soon falls. But one Russian officer has his own reason to be here. Colonel Otrepyev marches into the underground gaol, but for the prisoner it does not mean freedom, simply a new gaoler; an old friend, now an enemy. They return to Russia to meet an older enemy still.

In Saint Petersburg, the great vampire Zmyeevich waits as he has always waited. He knows he will never wield power over Tsar Aleksandr II, but the tsarevich will be a different matter. When Otrepyev delivers the prisoner into his hands, Zmyeevich will have everything he needs. Then all that need happen is for the tsar to die.
But it is not only the Otrepyev and his captive who have returned from Geok Tepe. Another soldier has followed them, one who cares nothing for the fate of the tsar, nor for Zmyeevich, nor for Otrepyev. He has only one thing on his mind – revenge.

And it’s not just Zmyeevich who seeks the death of the tsar. Aleksandr’s faltering steps towards liberty have only made the people hungry for more, and for some the final liberty will come only with the death of the dictator. They have tried and failed before, but the tsar’s luck must desert him one day. Soon he will fall victim to a group that has vowed to bring the Romanov dynasty to a violent end – a group that calls itself The People’s Will.

Bravo Two Zero – 20th Anniversary Edition by Andy McNab 

In January 1991, eight members of the SAS regiment embarked upon a top secret mission that was to infiltrate them deep behind enemy lines. Under the command of Sergeant Andy McNab, they were to sever the underground communication link between Baghdad and north-west Iraq, and to seek and destroy mobile Scud launchers. Their call sign: BRAVO TWO ZERO.

Each man laden with 15 stone of equipment, they patrolled 20km across flat desert to reach their objective. Within days, their location was compromised. After a fierce fire fight, they were forced to escape and evade on foot to the Syrian border. In the desperate action that followed, though stricken by hypothermia and other injuries, the patrol ‘went ballistic’. Four men were captured. Three died. Only one escaped. For the survivors, however, the worst ordeals were to come. Delivered to Baghdad, they were tortured with a savagery for which not even their intensive SAS training had prepared them.

Bravo Two Zero is a breathtaking account of Special Forces soldiering: a chronicle of superhuman courage, endurance and dark humour in the face of overwhelming odds.

A Kick Against The Pricks: The Autobiography by David Norris

David Norris is one of Ireland’s most popular, colourful and charismatic public figures. Not a man to shy away from controversy, he has spent most of his adult life challenging the establishment, whether as a leading campaigner for gay rights, a passionate conservationist, an unconventional academic and Joycean scholar, a brilliant raconteur, or, since 1987, a fiercely independent Senator and outspoken defender of human rights.

Born in the Belgian Congo to an English father, who died when he was six years old, and an Irish mother, who died when he was twenty-one, David has been a Dubliner all his life, and the city of Ulysses remains one of his great passions. He spear-headed the revival of Georgian Dublin, particularly through his campaign to save North Great George’s Street, where he has lived for the last thirty-five years.

But it is David Norris’s campaign to decriminalize homosexuality that will stand as his major legacy. Over a long sixteen years, he fought a difficult battle to overturn the Victorian law, finally winning a historic victory in the European Court of Human Rights in 1988.

David’s decision to run for President of Ireland in 2011 was not lightly taken, but it proved to be the most bruising period of his life. His popularity and the public affection in which he is held saw him quickly established as the front-runner. However, a sustained and hostile media campaign forced him out of the race; although he re-entered it in the autumn, the momentum had been lost. In these pages, David Norris reveals for the first time the full, no-holds-barred story of his presidential campaign, and of how he recovered from the turmoil.

A Kick Against the Pricks is a brilliant, deeply revealing autobiography, a remarkable journey from the margins to the centre of Irish society.

A Wanted Man by Lee Child 

When you’re as big and rough as Jack Reacher – and you have a badly set, freshly busted nose – it isn’t easy to hitch a ride. At last, he’s picked up by three strangers – two men and a woman.

Within minutes it becomes clear they’re all lying about everything – and there’s a police roadblock ahead. There has been an incident, and the cops are looking for the bad guys …

Will they get through because the three are innocent? Or because the three are now four? Is Reacher just a decoy?
‘He could take out Bond, Dirty Harry, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt with both hands tied behind his back,. And then sleep with their girlfriends two at a time before getting the last bus out of town’ Sun

Half Sick of Shadows by David Logan

On the eve of Granny Hazel’s burial in the back garden, a stranger in his time machine – a machine that bears an uncanny resemblance to a Morris Minor – visits five year-old Edward with a strange request. And Edward agrees to be his friend.

But Edward is not alone in the world. His twin sister Sophia is about to bring future tragedy upon herself through an all-too-literal misunderstanding of a promise she’s made to their father.

So while Sophia stays at home, seemingly condemned to spend the rest of her days in The Manse – a world untouched by modern trappings – Edward is sent to boarding school. There he encounters the kind and the not-so-kind, and meets the strangest child. His name is Alf, and Alf is a boy whose very existence would seem to hint at universes of unlimited possibilities…and who might one day help Edward liberate Sophia.

With its Gothic backdrop, Half-Sick of Shadows is a novel of many parts: at once a comical tragedy, a dark and dazzlingly told tale of childhood wonder and dismay, of familial dysfunction, of poetry, the imagination and theoretical physics.

Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier by Terry Darlington

At seventy-five, Terry and Monica Darlington had done everything they could think of doing, including starting a business and becoming athletes and running a literary society.Lately they had become boating adventurers and Terry a bestselling writer. But in their Midlands canal town in November, life was looking dull and short on surprises.
Then their famous canal boat was destroyed by fire. Within a few days they had bought a new one and soon headed north in the Phyllis May 2 – to Liverpool, Lancaster, the Pennines and Wigan Pier. Terry recorded the journey, and alongside it the story of his life and his marriage and his dog Jim, with his broken ear like a flat cap, and Monica’s dog Jess, known with heartbreaking reason as the Flying Catastrophe.
Funny, affecting and beautifully told, this is a story that brims with incident and excitement, and is full of the famous and fascinating people the Darlingtons have met – a story of an adventurous life well lived.

Here’s a bit more about the story…

You & I  by Emily Gillmor Murphy

Each September, thousands of students walk through the doors of University College and Trinity College, Dublin. This year, Olive and Tom will be among them.

Eighteen-year-old Olive is fresh from the country, and her eyes are opened wide by the big-city goings on of her new friends. When she starts to be pursued by Tom, the scruffy maverick who’s seduced half the girls she’s met, she’s adamant he’s not for her. But when a tragedy befalls her family, it’s Tom who proves her best friend – until that is, she discovers his real motivations.

Tom has never thought further than the next party, the next girl, the next drink. But now, with his own broken family about to cast him off and his social habits spinning out of control, he seems to have destroyed his relationship with Olive. What started out as a stupid dare metamorphoses into something much more serious.

Set against the backdrop of youth on the brink of adulthood, and capturing the contrasts of the haves versus the have-nots, the worldly versus the innocent, Emily Gillmor Murphy’s YOU AND I is an assured debut that will transport readers straight to the rollercoaster experience of growing up and falling in love.

*THE COMPETITION*

To be in with a chance of winning one of five copies of You & I simply answer the following question:

Which university did the author, Emily Gillmor Murphy, attend?

Winners will be picked at random and announced via our blog on Tuesday 28th May 2013.

GOOD LUCK!

Our T-room was decorated with Dan Brown books, Dan Brown coasters, posters and an Inferno themed clock on the wall, made all the better by the man himself being there.

Check out our pictures below and if you haven’t yet picked up your copy of Inferno, why not!? More details on Inferno can be found here.

*Champagne and a copy of Inferno on a Tuesday…that’ll do.*

*The amazing Dan Brown next to the Inferno clock!*

*Dan’s agent Heide Lange, the man himself and Transworld’s wonderful Bill & Larry!*

We’re celebrating the publication of Dan Brown’s fantastic new novel Inferno, which is published today! We’re beyond excited that Inferno is available at last! Dan Brown fans can now finally get their hands on a copy of his brilliant new book which features renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

Inferno is set in the heart of Europe, where Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centred around one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces.

As Dan Brown comments: “Although I studied Dante’s Inferno as a student, it wasn’t until recently, while researching in Florence, that I came to appreciate the enduring influence of Dante’s work on the modern world. With this new novel, I am excited to take readers on a journey deep into this mysterious realm…a landscape of codes, symbols, and more than a few secret passageways.”

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Dan Brown is the bestselling author of Digital Fortress, Deception Point, Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Phillips Exeter Academy, where he has taught English and Creative Writing. He lives in New England.

The Race Against Time by Edward Pickering is published today and what better way to celebrate than with a book giveaway!

In The Race Against Time, Pickering reveals the fascinating and revelatory story of the epic sporting rivalry between Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman; it is the tale of two complex characters who redefined the sport and set in motion a new era in British cycling, the legacy of which we enjoy to this day. British cycling had a golden year in 2012, with Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France and Olympic time trial gold medal. The root of that success lies in the Obree/Boardman era, but The Race Against Time also questions the doping culture that was prevalent in the sport at that time.

To celebrate this publication, we are giving away FIVE copies of THE RACE AGAINST TIME.  To be in with a chance of winning tweet CYCLING to @LizzieMastersUK or @Transworldbooks and we will let you know if you have been successful by Wednesday 15th May. Good luck!

Want to know more? Join in the discussion and follow Ed on twitter @EdwardPickering

Whether you’re being whisked away on a mini-break or a two week trip to somewhere special, you’re going to need to remember to pack the essentials. No, I’m not talking about the sun cream, the beach towels, the endless tubes of toothpaste and hats that you’ll never wear, I’m thinking more along the literature line. What’s a holiday without a cracking book to read as you sit back and relax on the beach?

Here are just a handful of our books that’ll make the perfect beach companion during your next big adventure. Enjoy.

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

Lottie is tired of long-term boyfriends who don’t want to commit to marriage. When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. There will be no dates and no engagement—just a straight wedding march to the altar! Next comes the honeymoon on the Greek island where they first met. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben’s rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene. Will Lottie and Ben have a wedding night to remember … or one to forget?

Dear Thing by Julie Cohen

Claire and Ben are the perfect couple. But behind the glossy façade, they’ve been desperately trying – and failing – to have a baby for years. Now, the stress and feelings of loss are taking their toll on their marriage. Claire’s ready to give up hope and get on with her life, but Ben is not. And then Ben’s best friend, Romily, offers to conceive via artificial insemination and carry the baby for them.

Romily acts in good faith, believing it will be easy to be a surrogate. She’s already a single mother, and has no desire for any more children. Except that being pregnant with Ben’s child stirs up all sorts of emotions in her, including one she’s kept hidden for a very long time: Ben’s the only man she’s ever loved.

Two mothers—and one baby who belongs to both of them, and which only one of them can keep.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? By Paula Daly

What if your best friend’s child disappears? And it’s all your fault.

This is exactly what happens to Lisa Kallisto – overwhelmed working mother of three – one freezing December in the Lake District. She takes her eye off the ball for just a moment and her whole world descend into nightmare. Her best friend’s thirteen-year-old daughter Lucinda has gone missing and now, devastated by this and publicly blamed, Lisa sets out to right the wrong.

But as she begins peeling away the layers surrounding Lucinda’s disappearance, Lisa learns that the quiet town she lives in isn’t what she thought it was, and her friends might not be who they appear to be, either.

Inferno by Dan Brown

Dan Brown’s new novel, Inferno, features renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and is set in the heart of Europe, where Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centred around one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces.

As Dan Brown comments: “Although I studied Dante’s Inferno as a student, it wasn’t until recently, while researching in Florence, that I came to appreciate the enduring influence of Dante’s work on the modern world. With this new novel, I am excited to take readers on a journey deep into this mysterious realm…a landscape of codes, symbols, and more than a few secret passageways.”

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

For identical twins, Kate and Violet are about as unlike as two peas from the same pod can be. Except in one respect – they share a hidden gift they call ‘the Senses’, a special kind of intuition that can allow them to see things that are yet to come. After Kate inadvertently reveals their secret when they are thirteen years old, they are set on diverging paths into their adult lives.

Twenty years later Kate is a suburban housewife who suppresses her premonitions in the hope of leading a normal family life, while Violet lives alone and works as a psychic medium. Then one day Violet ignites a media storm by predicting a major earthquake in the St Louis area where they live.

As the day Violet has announced for the earthquake draws nearer, the sisters must grapple with the legacy of the past, the confusion of the present, and the unsettling glimpses they both have of the future.

We’re thrilled that three of our fantastic crime authors have been nominated by so many libraries and readers across the country and we hope more than anything to introduce more literature lovers to the fantastic world of crime created by these truly brilliant writers.

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Here’s some more information about Belinda Bauer, S. J. Bolton and Christopher Fowler:

Belinda Bauer

Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa. She has worked as a journalist and screenwriter and her script The Locker Room earned her the Carl Foreman/Bafta Award for Young British Screenwriters.

With her first novel, Blacklands, Belinda won the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year. Her second and third novels, Darkside and Finders Keepers, were highly acclaimed, and she was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library Award 2012 for her entire body of work. Rubbernecker is Belinda’s latest novel.

Belinda is a repeat guest on Front Row and regularly appears at Harrogate Crime Festival. She lives in Wales.

For more information about Belinda’s latest novel, Rubbernecker, simply click here.

S.J. Bolton

S. J. Bolton has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Dagger in the Library.

She lives near Oxford with her husband and young son. For more information about the author and her books, or to check out her addictive blog, visit www.sjbolton.com.

You can also join her on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/SJBoltonCrime

S. J. Bolton’s latest book, Like This, For Ever, was published in hardback on 11th April 2013.

Christopher Fowler

Christopher Fowler is the acclaimed author of six Bryant & May mysteries, including the award-winning Full Dark House.

He has also written a memoir of growing up in suburban London in the early 60s, Paperboy.

He lives in King’s Cross, London.

Visit www.christopherfowler.co.uk

More information about Christopher’s latest book can be found here.

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There are 13 writers in contention this year and, in addition to our three authors mentioned above, the remaining longlist contenders are:

Alison Bruce

Peter May

Gordon Ferris

Tania Carver

Elly Griffiths

Michael Ridpath

Jane Casey

Phil Rickman

Alex Gray

Frances Brody

The shortlist will be announced at Crimefest on 31st May, and the winner revealed at the Daggers Gala Dinner on 15th July.

OWEN MEANY

Owen Meany from John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany was the first #fictionalhero tweet to reach us. It’s also one of our very own wonderful books published by Black Swan.

‘If you care about something you have to protect it. If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.’ 

Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend’s mother. Owen doesn’t believe in accidents; he believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is both extraordinary and terrifying.

REEPICHEEP

Reepicheep, from C.S Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, is just about the most fearless mouse you’ll ever meet. Yes, p’raps even more so than Basil the Great Mouse Detective. Accompanied by a red plume feather tucked in his golden circlet, Reepicheep is the epitome of brave and proves just why size doesn’t matter. He’s also rather charming, particularly to noble ladies. And who said romance was dead?

FRODO BAGGINS

Yes, Frodo Baggins of course! Good old Frodo, I hear you cry! That poor Hobbit, he didn’t half go through a lot. Whether you’ve read the magnificent LOTR books, seen the films, done both and bought the t-shirt then I’m sure you’ll agree that Frodo royally deserves the total trooper title for finally destroying the ring in Mount Doom.

PEETA MELLARK

When Peeta Mellark was tweeted to us as a favourite unlikely fictional hero I couldn’t have been happier. He’s a personal favourite and no it’s not because I’ve developed a special soft spot for him or anything…

Peeta, the caring and thoughtful baker boy tribute to represent District 12 in the 74th annual Hunger Games, defies the odds and struggles stacked against him in this story’s battle of survival. He’s also very good at cake decorating – not your average superpower I’ll admit, but a very VERY handy skill to have in times of need.

NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM

I couldn’t resist sneaking a Harry Potter character in here somewhere and I’m not surprised in the slightest that Neville’s name made a Twitter appearance when we first posed this question. Let’s firstly not forget the multitude of Potter characters that are 100% without-a-doubt unlikely heroes such as the Weasley clan, Dobby the House Elf, Luna Lovegood, oh let the list go on! HOWEVER, as Neville’s name was suggested first and foremost, it’s Neville that we’ll stick with for now. Where do we even start? Clumsy old Neville who couldn’t even work his Grandmother’s remembrall, who was in love with his pet Trevor the toad, who grew up good and proper and brandished the sword that swiped off the head of snake Nagini. WE SALUTE YOU LONGBOTTOM!