Shifting between the 1930s, the 1950s and 2011, this novel tells a story of mysteries and secrets, theatre and thievery, murder and enduring love. It is written by the author of The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours.
Alessandra Emma Giagheddu Book order (chronological)






A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn?t been the same since her fiancé jilted her in 1941. Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother?s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ?the distant hours? of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.
Early thirtysomething Emma decides it�s time to have the baby - but it just doesn�t happen to order. Emma goes through a funny, touching and ultimately moving journey as she struggles to accept the reality that maybe it�s never going to happen. The Baby Trail is a novel rich in texture, light and dark, and humour with a biting undercurrent.
A nine-year-old girl is killed in crossfire on her way to ballet class. Soon afterwards, the body of a teenager killed in North Carolina is found hundreds of miles away. Forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan knows she must stay professional, but when the young girl's body is wheeled into the morgue she cannot help but react. And when an exhumation reveals the bones of yet another innocent in a hidden grave close to a biker gang headquarters, Tempe begins a lone and risky investigation into the lawless underworld of organised crime.
Cross bones
- 497 pages
- 18 hours of reading
'Death by self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head' is the on-scene assessment, but the victim's relatives are adamant in their rejection of suicide as an explanation. Discovered in a closet, a week after death, the body is barely recognisable. Extreme heat has accelerated decomposition, and Dr Temperance Brennan's forensic expertise is required.|PB
Victorine
- 352 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Victorine is a dutiful housewife, respectable schoolteacher and mother in the Vendee in the 1900s, cooking the gigot for the family lunch, obeying her husband, walking the long beaches of the Atlantic with her children. But then an old childhood acquaintance turns up and her life is turned upside down forever. She falls passionately in love for the first time in her life. But her lover's work takes him back to Indochina, and Victorine abandons her life and her family to go with him. Everything is strange - the extraordinary voyage to get there, the life they lead in the sultry tropical heat, the glamour of colonial life - but life there is also a lie. Less than two years later, Victorine returns home and resumes her life: what happened?
Monday Mourning
- 303 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Tempe Brennan arrives in Montreal from Charlotte in early December to testify as an expert witness. As a Forensic Anthropologist for Quebec, she should be reviewing her notes, but instead, she’s in a freezing pizza parlour basement, surrounded by rats and the skeletal remains of three young women. Homicide detective Luc Claudel, who has never been fond of Tempe, believes the bones are historic and not his concern, especially after the pizza parlour owner finds 19th-century buttons with the remains. However, Tempe suspects otherwise. She plans to conduct Carbon 14 testing to determine the bones' age and analyze the tooth enamel to trace the women's origins. If her suspicions are correct, Claudel could be facing three recent murders. Meanwhile, Detective Andrew Ryan's mysterious behavior raises questions. His private phone calls and sudden disappearances come just as Tempe begins to trust him, leaving her with her cat, Birdie, and more nights alone. As she delves into both her personal and professional challenges, Tempe becomes entangled in a sinister web, where women have vanished without a trace. With her own safety at risk, she realizes she may be the next target.
The third volume in Gary Jennings' historical epic that began with Aztec and Aztec Autumn. In this colorful and exciting era of swords and cloaks, upheaval and revolution, a young beggar boy, in whose blood runs that of both Spanish and Aztec royalty must claim his birthright. From the torrid streets of the City of the Dead along the Veracruz Coast to the ageless glory of Seville in Old Spain, Cristo the Bastardo connives fights, and loves as he seeks the truth—without knowing that he will be the founder of a proud new people.As we follow the loves and adventures of Cristo and experience the colorful splendor and barbarism of the era, a vanished culture is brought back to life in all its magnificence.“This exotic, sensuous novel works on many levels. It is at once history, mystery, and a coming-of-age novel all permeated by the teeming world of seventeenth century Mexico as seen through the eyes of a teenage boy.” -- Library Journal
Grave Secrets
- 448 pages
- 16 hours of reading
In the searing heat of Guatemala, Dr Temperance Brennan must harden herself against the horrors she excavates. And then four young girls go missing from Guatemala City. When a skeleton is found at the back of a rundown hotel, only someone with Tempe's expertise can deduce the identity and cause of death. But as she searches for answers, her path is blocked at every turn. It is clear that some people will stop at nothing to keep Guatemala's secrets buried.
Fatal voyage
- 464 pages
- 17 hours of reading
When a plane crashes high in the mountains of North Carolina, Tempe Brennan is one of the first on the scene. As a forensic anthropologist she serves on the response team. The task that confronts her is a sad and sickening one.
Il portico
- 153 pages
- 6 hours of reading
Sebastian Senecal è un professore di lettere e filosofia di quarantacinque anni: ha una moglie e due bambini, è appassionato del suo lavoro e dei suoi studi e sa apprezzare i piccoli piaceri della vita. All'avvicinarsi dell'estate, con l'esplosione dei suoi colori, dei suoi odori, dei suoi sapori, il professore decide di fare qualcosa di insolito e per lui entusiasmante: costruire un fantastico portico nel suo giardino, in cui passeggiare e ragionare di filosofia, di stoici ed epicurei, di gioie e di dolori...Il nuovo romanzo dell'autore de "La prima sorsata di birra". Una storia breve e delicata, intrisa di dolcezza e malinconia insieme.
An Alternate Cover Edition for this ISBN can be found here. The meticulously dismembered body of a woman is discovered in the grounds of an abandoned monastery. 'Too decomposed for standard autopsy. Request anthropologic expertise.' Enter Dr Temperance Brennan, Director of Forensic Anthropology for the province of Quebec, who has been researching recent disappearances in the city. Despite the cynicism of Detective Claudel who heads the investigation, Brennan is convinced that a serial killer is at work. Her forensic expertise finally convinces Claudel, but only after the body count has risen... Tempe takes matters into her own hands, but her determined probing places those closest to her in mortal danger. Can Tempe make her crucial breakthrough before the killer strikes again?





