44. THE THORN BIRDS 45. SLOW HORSES Mick Herron

Colleen McCullough

Love doesn’t come much more forbidden than the passion between beautiful Meggie Cleary and Ralph de Bricassart – a handsome and ambitious Catholic priest. The pair spend their lives trying to resist their mutual obsession in this epic romance novel, which is set partly in the Australian outback.

VIRAGO MODERN CLASSICS

What happens to spies who blot their copy book, personally or professionally? Well, in this wonderful series of novels – there are four more to follow – they are sent to Slough House, a down-at-heel offshoot of the secret service, presided over by the monstrous Jackson Lamb. Blackly comic and brilliantly plotted, it is one of the best espionage novels in decades.