Recruited as babies by a mysterious organization known as the Orphanage, sixteen-year-old twin brothers Bennet and Collin mean the world to each other, even though they’re complete opposites. Collin is training to be a field agent while Bennet is an earpiece, in constant communication with his brother, monitoring his activities and providing computer support from a safe distance. When a mission goes horribly wrong, Bennet is left bereft, missing his other half. Already introverted, he retreats into himself. In his final statement, Collin urged him to leave the Orphanage, but it’s the only home he’s ever known. Instead, he makes a drastic decision: he’ll fill the Collin-sized hole in his heart by rejecting his computer-focused career path, trying instead to match Collin’s physical prowess so he can become a field agent like him. Training with Collin’s old girlfriend, Darcy, a skilled assassin, Bennet tries to prove he can be just as skillful with his fists and a gun as at the keyboard, in the face of skepticism from the Orphanage and all of his classmates. As he struggles to succeed, Bennet must question how much he has hurt those around him and how much more important it is to be himself than just a copy of his brother. When his class is given its final assignment, both his new skills as a field agent and his old skills as an earpiece are put to the ultimate test. Failure could prove fatal, not only to himself but to his fellow agents-in-training—the only family he has left. And as if that weren’t enough, the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance . . .

“[Le Carré’s] novels are so brilliant because they’re emotionally and psychologically absolutely true, but of course they’re novels.” —New York Times Book Review A thrilling tale for our times from the undisputed master of the spy genre Nat, a 47 year-old veteran of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, believes his years as an agent runner are over. He is back in London with his wife, the long-suffering Prue. But with the growing threat from Moscow Centre, the office has one more job for him. Nat is to take over The Haven, a defunct substation of London General with a rag-tag band of spies. The only bright light on the team is young Florence, who has her eye on Russia Department and a Ukrainian oligarch with a finger in the Russia pie. Nat is not only a spy, he is a passionate badminton player. His regular Monday evening opponent is half his age: the introspective and solitary Ed. Ed hates Brexit, hates Trump and hates his job at some soulless media agency. And it is Ed, of all unlikely people, who will take Prue, Florence and Nat himself down the path of political anger that will ensnare them all. Agent Running in the Field is a chilling portrait of our time, now heartbreaking, now darkly humorous, told to us with unflagging tension by the greatest chronicler of our age.

A boy travels to an alternate world where kids get to choose their own parents in this zany, internationally bestselling adventure, which combines the be-careful-what-you-wish-for humor of The Chocolate Touch with the classic appeal of Roald Dahl. Barry Bennett is sick of his parents. They’re boring, they’re too strict, and it’s their fault his name is Barry. So he makes a wish for better ones—and is whisked away to the Parent Agency, where kids get to pick out their perfect parents. For Barry, this seems like a dream come true. But as he’s about to discover, choosing a new mom and dad isn’t as simple as it sounds… The Parent Agency is the first children’s book by British author and comedian David Baddiel, and it includes illustrations by Roald Dahl Funny Prize–winning artist Jim Field.