129. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Conjoined twins, Marion and Shiva Stone are separated at birth. Their mother, a nun, does not survive their delivery and their father, a surgeon, flees the scene. Raised by Hema and Ghosh, Indian doctors living in Ethiopia, the twins share a special bond and an aptitude for medicine. Verghese skillfully weaves political history - the 1974 coup d'etat and 1975 abolition of the monarchy into his story lines

125. The Railway Viaduct by Edward Marston

A landscape painter witnesses the body of a man being thrown from a train passing over the Sankey Viaduct between Liverpool and Manchester. Inspector Robert Colbeck travels to France and puts his colleagues and himself at risk during the investigation. Marston cleverly incorporates railway builder Thomas Brassey and authentic details of 1852 into the story.

106. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

A small village in the north of England shuts itself off from the outside world as the plague arrives in 1666. Those who survive, a third of the population, are forever changed. Anna Frith's wits,resourcefulness and compassion are tested over and over again, but she is a true survivor and a memorable heroine.

57. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice

Told in the third person by the young Jesus of Nazereth, between the ages of 8 and 12, this novel seeks to explore what every day life would have been like for the Holy Family. Rice, better known for her vampire novels, has researched and read the skeptics as well as the gospels to fill in the gap between Christmas and Jesus at age thirteen.

52. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

A charming description of the lives of French missionary priests in the newly created state of New Mexico in the mid-Eighteenth Century. Beautifuly written descriptions of the land and its people.

32. New York by Edward Rutherfurd

Without a doubt, at 1026 pages, New York is the longest novel I've ever read. Many times I had to resist the temptation to "fact check" this epic story of one of the world's great cities. From the early Dutch settlers contact with the indigenous peoples to the aftermath of the Twin Towers attacks, Rutherford weaves the sagas of the Van Dyk, Masters, O'Donnell and Caruso families through American history with a New York lens. Makes me want to visit New York and see it with fresh eyes.

16. The Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins

 A German plot to kidnap British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gets foiled by the most unlikely turn of events. Set in Germany, the Channel Islands and England in 1943.

14. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

An insiders look at the class structure of 1870s New York. Wharton builds intrigue through the relationship between Newland Archer and Countess Ellen Olenska, his wife's cousin.

12. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

A Franciscan monk, Brother Juniper, seeks to find out about the five victims that fell to their deaths when the Bridge of San Luis Rey, an ancient Inca rope bridge, suddenly collapsed. Set in 18th Century Lima, Peru, this novel explores the "direction and meaning in lives beyond the individual's own will".

1. City of Thieves by David Benioff

Two young men meet after being arrested in Leningrad in 1942. They expect to be executed but instead are given a seemingly impossible task by the Colonel. In a city under seige, full of starving people, find a dozen eggs for a wedding cake. The plot's many twists and turns will keep you guessing until the last chapter.

Viking Penguin, 2008, ISBN 0-670-01870-8

54. The White Witch of Rosehall by Herbert G. de Lisser

ISBN 0 519-19904-6 - Ernest Benn Limited, 1929

Annie Palmer is petite, enchantingly beautiful, wealthy woman. She is also a cruel slave master of the Rosehall and Palmyra planations and rumour has it she is responsible for the untimely deaths of her three husbands. Legend says she has evil, supernatural powers practices Obeah and/or Voodoo.
While Rosehall and Palmyra certainly do exist there is little evidence that Annie Palmer did. The book, however, provides interesting insights into the social structure of Jamaica both in 1831, when the novel is set and in 1929 when it was written. Historically, de Lisser's account of the The Baptist War also known as the Christmas Uprising and the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831.