Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church, and the country is waking up to savage new laws. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent to investigate the monasteries. At the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's commissioner, Robin Singleton, has been found dead. And Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of reform, has been sent by Cromwell into an atmosphere of treachery and death to investigate.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker, read by Arthur Morey. Is modernity really failing? Or have we failed to appreciate progress and the ideals that make it possible? If you follow the headlines, the world in the 21st century appears to be sinking into chaos, hatred and irrationality. Yet, as Steven Pinker shows, if you follow the trendlines, you discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer and more prosperous - not just in the West but worldwide.

It is 1540 and the hottest summer of the 16th century. Matthew Shardlake, believing himself out of favour with Thomas Cromwell, is busy trying to maintain his legal practice and keep a low profile. But his involvement with a murder case, defending a girl accused of brutally murdering her young cousin, brings him once again into contact with the king's chief minister - and a new assignment.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor in rural Oxfordshire. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins. Over 150 years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items.

Die Jahre 1919 bis 1929 markieren eine Epoche unvergleichlicher geistiger Kreativität, in der Gedanken zum ersten Mal gedacht wurden, ohne die das Leben und Denken in unserer Gegenwart nicht dasselbe wäre. Die großen Philosophen Ludwig Wittgenstein, Walter Benjamin, Ernst Cassirer und Martin Heidegger prägten diese Epoche und ließen die deutsche Sprache ein letztes Mal vor der Katastrophe des Zweiten Weltkriegs zur Sprache des Geistes werden.

Mahatma Gandhi, einer der einflussreichsten Philosophen und Friedensaktivisten des 20. Jahrhunderts, hat mit seiner Lehre des gewaltlosen Widerstands die Welt verändert. Sein Enkel Arun wurde als wütender und aggressiver 12-Jähriger für zwei Jahre in Gandhis Ashram geschickt. Die täglichen Gespräche mit dem Großvater am Spinnrad und seine Ratschläge gaben dem Jungen eine neue Sicht auf die Welt. In "Wut ist ein Geschenk" teilt Arun Gandhi die zehn wichtigsten Lebenslektionen seines Großvaters.

Who says you can't run away from your problems? Arthur Less is a failed novelist about to turn 50. A wedding invitation arrives in the post: it is from an ex-boyfriend of nine years who is engaged to someone else. Arthur can't say yes - it would be too awkward; he can't say no - it would look like defeat. So, he begins to accept the invitations on his desk to half-baked literary events around the world. From France to India, Germany to Japan, Arthur almost falls in love, almost falls to his death, and puts miles between him and the plight he refuses to face.  

Into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. Along with the redoubtable Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, Lynley has been sent to solve a savage murder that has stunned the peaceful countryside. For fat, unlovely Roberta Teys has been found in her best dress, an ax in her lap, seated in the old stone barn beside her father's headless corpse. Her first and last words were "I did it. And I'm not sorry". 

In the backstreets of Istanbul, a young woman's body is found. Dumped in a dustbin and covered in cut flowers, she is the victim of a frenzied and vicious stabbing. Inspector Ikmen discovers that the woman was well known in Istanbul. Newspapers had been calling her the blessed woman, cured of cancer in a Christian miracle and a proclaimed messenger of the Virgin Mary.

Hisham Matar was 19 when his father was kidnapped and taken to prison in Libya. He would never see him again. Twenty-two years later, after the fall of Gaddafi, Hisham was finally able to return to his homeland for the first time. In this heartbreaking, illuminating memoir, he describes his return to a country and a family he thought he would never see again. The Return is at once a universal and an intensely personal tale of loss. It is an exquisite meditation on history, politics and art.