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from our website newsletters sceptre award winning literary fiction & non fiction about sceptre sceptre is the literary imprint of hodder & stoughton publishing fiction and non fiction from around the globe . our aim is to pick books that are not only entertaining and absorbing but also thought provoking surprising and superbly written the kind of books that cast fresh light on the human experience and are not easily forgotten . our authors have won prizes from the booker to the prix goncourt and cover an eclectic range of themes and subjects from the dismantling of a parisian cemetery to cloud spotting . they include long established writers such as thomas keneally and melvyn bragg those whom we ve launched like david mitchell andrew miller siri hustvedt charles frazier jake arnott jill dawson natasha solomons emma henderson glen david gold and gavin pretor pinney and those who ve joined us chris cleave giles milton bahaa taher clare morrall andrew cowan alexei sayle peter ho davies jenn ashworth tristam gooley and many more . though the list is small we delight in finding outstanding new voices we can introduce to literature lovers recent debutants include ned beauman ros barber miroslav penkov jess richards nick papadimitriou and kevin powers . find out more sceptre history sceptre is the literary imprint of hodder & stoughton publishing works of fiction and non fiction that are not only entertaining but also stimulating provocative sometimes challenging and always superbly written . its authors have won prizes from the booker to the prix goncourt come from around the globe and cover a wide eclectic range of themes and subjects . read the history of sceptre books from sceptre sceptre books browse all books see related facebook sceptre books visit the official sceptre facebook page join us see related twitter follow sceptrebooks for all the latest news . join us see related youtube sceptre tv watch author interviews and book trailers join us see related rod judkins the art of creative thinking playpausemuteunmutefull screenrestore screen sceptre the crossing by andrew miller she is sailing . she is alone . ahead of her is the world s curve and beyond that everything else . the known the imagined the imagined known.who else has entered tim s life the way maud did this girl who fell past him lay seemingly dead on the ground then stood and walked . that was where it all began.he wants her wants to rescue her to reach her . yet there is nothing to suggest maud has any need of him that she is not already complete . a woman with a talent for survival who works long hours and loves to sail preferably on her own . a woman who when a crisis comes will turn to the sea for refuge embarking on a voyage that will test her to the utmost that will change everything ... from the costa award winning author of pure comes a viscerally honest hypnotic portrait of modern love and motherhood the lure of the sea and the ultimate unknowability of others . this pitch perfect novel confirms andrew miller s position as one of the finest writers of his generation.told in his usual exquisite prose the story centres on the strangely reticent character of maud who leaves the west country after a tragedy and bravely attempts to single handedly sail across the atlantic . you know you re going to like a character when in the first few pages she falls 20ft in a boatyard then gets up and tries to walk . infused with nautical detail and the cool brine of the sea this is perfect summer reading.we readers have a most fabulous time ... the story of tim s narcissism self deception and deception and of the chiming treacheries of his friends and family is rich and delicate enough to have sufficed for most contemporary novels ... the finale guarantees that maud and questions about maud will linger in your mind long after you close this remarkable novelhypnotic ... andrew miller has a poet s ear but he can also write white knuckle passages that will leave you winded by towering waves . most surprising of all you ll find yourself rooting for maud as she confronts the limits of her own detachmentvisceral and exquisitely written ... few characters are so neutrally impassively masterful . in her silence she is magnificent ... the grand solitude of the sea passage dialogue free and with a punchy simplicity reminiscent of hemingway follows on beautifully from the judgment of those on land ... miller wisely hardly analyses maud . but the portrayal of this practical disconcerting figure is wildly emotional achieves a kind of hallucinatory strangeness simultaneously intriguing and disturbingpart relationship study part sailing yarn this odd yet enthralling book lingers long in the mind.a beautiful novel ; moving funny mysterious and compelling . maud is a stunning creation a great modern heroine with a pure ancient heartfrom the author of the costa book of the year pure a hypnotic luminous exploration of buried grief and the mysterious workings of the heart.andrew miller s first novel ingenious pain was published by sceptre in 1997 and greeted as the debut of an outstanding new writer . it won the james tait black memorial prize the international impac dublin literary award and the grinzane cavour prize for the best foreign novel published in italy . it was followed by casanova then oxygen which was shortlisted for both the booker prize and the whitbread novel of the year award in 2001 the optimists and one morning like a bird . in 2011 his sixth novel pure was published to great acclaim and went on to win the costa book of the year award.andrew miller s novels have been translated into thirty languages . born in bristol in 1960 he has lived in spain japan france and ireland and currently lives in somerset.the much anticipated follow up to miller s last novel pure which introduced him to a huge new audience 180 000 copies sold of the paperback edition alone.pure won the costa book of the year award 2011 . andrew miller is one of the foremost writers of his generation . as well as winning the costa book of the year he s been shortlisted for the booker and whitbread awards with oxygen and won the impac and james tait black prizes with ingenious pain.miller has ardent fans among writers and critics his writing is a source of wonder and delight hilary mantel a writer of very rare and outstanding gifts independent on sunday one of our most skilful chroniclers of the human heart and mind sunday times.poignant literary fiction in the vein of colm toibin s brooklyn ian mcewan s atonement or alan hollinghurst s the line of beauty details see related sceptre glow by ned beauman addictively good the times over whelming independent supercharged evening standard deliciously startlingly exuberantly fresh guardianwith glow ned beauman has reinvented the international conspiracy thriller for a new generation.a hostage exchange outside a police station in pakistan.a botched defection in an airport hotel in new jersey.a test of loyalty at an abandoned resort in the burmese jungle.a boy and a girl locking eyes at a rave in a south london laundrette ... for the first time britain s most exciting young novelist turns his attention to the present day as a conspiracy with global repercussions converges on one small flat above a dentist s office in camberwell.from the prizewinning author of boxer beetle and the booker longlisted the teleportation accident comes ned beauman s third and most thrilling novel to date.ned beauman was born in 1985 in london . his debut novel boxer beetle was shortlisted for the guardian first book award and the desmond elliot prize and won the writers guild award for best fiction book and the goldberg prize for outstanding debut fiction . his second novel the teleportation accident was longlisted for the man booker prize and won the encore award and a somerset maugham award . he has been chosen by the culture show as one of the twelve best new british novelists and by granta as one of the 20 best british novelists under 40 . his work has been translated into more than ten languages . www.nedbeauman.co.ukauthor ned beauman is one of the most exciting and highly acclaimed writers in the uk today . he was the youngest of granta s once a decade best of young british writers in april 2013 ; his books have won or been nominated for numerous awards including the desmond elliot guardian first book award and booker ; and he a tireless promoter.his most commerical project yet ned s first two novels were historical involving nazis ; glow is a conspiracy thriller set in present day london.film rights sold to film 4 . stunning and original jacket approach being developedlondon may 2010 . foxes are behaving oddly . burmese people are going missing . a new synthetic drug glow has begun to appear on the streets of london . and raf a 22 year old dog walker suffering from a bizarre sleeping disorder undercovers a massive corporate conspiracy ... and falls in love.combining the pace drama and explosive plot twists of a conspiracy thriller with his trademark intellectual linguistic and comedic pyrotechnics glow is ned beauman s most thrilling virtuosic and compulsively readable novel yet . details see related sceptre the blazing world by siri hustvedt longlisted for the man booker prize 2014the artist harriet burden furious at the lack of attention paid her by the new york art world conducts an experiment she hides her identity behind three male fronts in a series of exhibitions . their success seems to prove her point