The Palace'If a house could gossip, this is the book that Hampton Court would whisper. An enjoyable and readable stroll through 500 years of Hampton Court history: royal residents, common visitors, thieves, invaders and ghosts PHILIPPA GREGORY For centuries, Hampton Court has been a place of power, scandal and intrigue: a stage for events that shaped the nation. The Palace raises the curtain on 500 years of British history with royals, politicians, criminals,

dangerous and disaffected

One of the bodies has been laid out like a crucifix - with his eyes removed and placed on his open palms

they fear they will not survive the night

Upper Bavaria

But I thought my part in that was done with

the particular to the universal with exceptional flair and imagination

poignant moments of sadness and despair

Barr's one heckuva writer

The odds of this ragtag group of soldiers and civilians making it to safety are stacked against them

they meet a man - a fiddler - who seems to have the power to make the hellscape that surrounds them disappear

Alan Campbell propels readers into a captivating city battling for its own survivaland that of humankindin a world of deities and demons

especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace