Central China, 1264. When Mongol armies storm into the Middle Kingdom, the descendents of Yun Cai (Taming Poison Dragons) are trapped in a desperate siege that will determine the fate of the Empire. Guang and Shih are identical twins, one a heroic soldier idolised by the city he defends, the other a humble doctor. In the midst of war, jealous conflicts over Shih's wife and concubine threaten to tear the brothers apart. Enemies close in on every side - some disturbingly close to home. Can the Yun family survive imprisonment, ruthless treachery and Kublai Khan's bloody hordes? Or will their own reckless passions destroy them first? "Breaking Bamboo" is the second instalment of a trilogy set in Song and Yuan Dynasty China, charting the trials and adventures of the Yun clan.

York, 1919. A young pilot returns from war, scarred physically and mentally. David Young, a gifted concert violinist, drifts into a humble job accompanying silent movies at The Electric, a fleapit cinema in provincial York. There he joins a diverse cast of misfits, each with secrets and tragedies of their own. Little does he realise these strangers, and a chance meeting, hold the key to regaining his lost hopes. As glamorous romance flickers and dances on the silver screen, can he win the redemption and love he needs for broken dreams to fly?In The Electric, the fascinating world of silent cinema meets the glamour of the Downtown era in Britain's most popular tourist city; a satisfying blend of poignant romance, strong characters, period charm, tragedy and offbeat comedy - with a moving twist at the end.

Western China, 1196: Yun Cai, a handsome and adored poet in his youth, is now an old man, exiled to his family estates. All that is left to him are regrets of a growing sense of futility and helplessness and the irritations of his feckless son and shrewish daughter-in-law. But the 'poison dragons' of misfortune shatter his orderly existence. First, Yun Cai's village is threatened with destruction by a vicious civil war. His wayward second son, a brutal rebel officer seems determined to ruin his entire family. Meanwhile, Yun Cai struggles to free an old friend, P'ei Ti, from a hellish prison- no easy task when P'ei Ti is the rebels' most valuable hostage and Yun Cai considers himself merely a spent, and increasingly frightened old man. Throughout these ordeals, Yun Cai draws from the glittering memories of his youth, when he journeyed to the capital to study poetry and join the upper ranks of the civil service: how he contended ...