When the King of Denmark is in the mood to listen to music, he opens the trapdoor between his favourite room and the cellar where he keeps his orchestra and when he wants silence, he kicks the trapdoor shut.

A wonderful new collection of short stories, most of which are published here for the first time.
Wallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American woman for whom Edward VIII abdicated in 1936, ended her life (as the Duchess of Windsor) as the prisoner of her lawyer who would not allow anyone -- friend, foe or journalist -- to visit her in her Paris flat. Rose Tremain takes this true story and transforms it into an imaginative and ironic fiction. Her thesis is that Wallis, gaga and bed-ridden, had forgotten the king who gave up an empire for love of her.
This superb story plays with the...

Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in search of new beginnings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch where they settle threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in the creek he is seized by an obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth.

Lev is on his way to Britain to seek work, so that he can send money back to eastern Europe to support his mother and little daughter. He struggles with the mysterious rituals of 'Englishness', and the fashions and fads of the London scene. We see the road Lev travels through his eyes, and we share his dilemmas.

Robert Merivel is a dissolute young medical student when an accident of fate leads him to the attention of King Charles II. Finding favour with the King, Merivel embarks on the time of his life, enthusiastically enjoying the luxury, women and wine of the vibrant royal court, until he is called upon to serve his monarch in an unusual role. However, when he fails at the one thing the King demands of him he is cast out from his new-found paradise.
Determined to be restored to the King s favour, Merivel begins a journey to self-knowledge that takes him to the depths of seventeenth-century...

The major new historical novel from Orange prize-winning Rose Tremain, set in Restoration England and starring the world's favourite courtier, Robert Merivel.
The gaudy years of the Restoration are long gone. Robert Merivel, physician and courtier to Charles II, loved for his gift to turn sorrow into laughter, now faces the agitations and anxieties of middle age. Questions crowd his mind: has he been a good father? Is he a fair master? Is he the King's friend or the King's slave?
In search of answers, Merivel sets off for the French court. But Versailles -- all glitter in front and...

Salvatore, a young watchmaker from Italy, moves to London when the king of his hometown decrees that a period of twenty-six years is to be erased from history, never to be mentioned in public again. Since this constitutes the whole of period of his life Salvatore feels he has no choice but to flee. He is a man who holds deeply to the importance of time and identity; what challenges will he face in London?

This is the summer that Lewis Little, precocious thirteen-year-old, is spending in Paris with his mother, Alice. Alice is translating the latest medieval romance by Valentina Gavrilovich, the bestselling and exotic Russian emigre. As Valentina slowly casts a spell over Lewis, he is driven on a terrifying quest.

The bestselling and much-loved classic from Orange Prize-winning Rose Tremain, "Restoration" introduces us to the young Robert Merivel and his rise and fall through glittering seventeenth-century society.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
When a twist of fate delivers an ambitious young medical student to the court of King Charles II, he is suddenly thrust into a vibrant world of luxury and opulence. Blessed with a quick wit and sparkling charm, Robert Merivel rises quickly, soon finding favour with the King, and privileged with a position as 'paper groom' to the youngest of the King's...