What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn't stop. What couldn't you do if you could make a toy like that? From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in devious plots and pursued by the sinister Doctor Leiter and his devilish toys, Mathias finds himself on a quest to uncover a deadly secret.

An enchanting, magical novel set in a mysterious toyshop - perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, Stephanie Garber's Caraval and Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist. The Christmas Emporium opens with the first sign of frost . . . It is 1917, and while war wages across Europe, in the heart of London, there is a place of hope and enchantment. The Emporium sells toys that capture the imagination of children and adults alike: patchwork dogs that seem alive, toy boxes that are bigger on the inside, soldiers that can fight battles of their own. Into this family business comes young Cathy Wray, running away from a shameful past. The Emporium takes her in, makes her one of its own. But Cathy is about to discover that the Emporium has secrets of its own . . . Complete your collection with Paris by Starlight, the next novel from the author of the The Toymakers, out now ***** 'This vivid, haunting novel is both vast and intimate. A wonderful and thought-provoking read.' KATHERINE ARDEN, author of The Warm Hands of Ghosts Engaging and enchanting . . . A fairytale for adults, with all the wonder – and terror – that that entails.' GUARDIAN 'There is magic at the heart of The Toymakers, a glittery inventiveness that shimmers through the dark corners of a story about love, war and sibling rivalry.' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'I was gripped, and thrilled, and touched, and above all I was completely swept into the magic of the book . . . Just astonishing' ADAM ROBERTS, author of Jack Glass 'Anyone who’s ever stepped inside a traditional toyshop and marvelled at the wonders on display will instantly be captivated by this book' CULTUREFLY

Because Mary is too sick to play outside with her friends, her father makes her three dolls who are just like them; years later, as an old woman, Mary rediscovers the dolls and find that her father's gifts live on.

‘Hugely memorable, The Toymaker is an unflinching examination of the dark instinct for survival that lies in all of us.’ Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites A person is defined by the secrets they keep . . . Adam Kulakov likes his life. He's on the right side of middle age; the toy company he owns brightens the lives of children around the world; and he has more money than he can ever spend, a wife and child he adores, and as many mistresses as he can reasonably hide from them. And he is not the only one with secrets. In 1944, Adam's grandfather, Arkady, was imprisoned in Auschwitz and given an impossible choice. Now, as he's coming to the end of his life, he has to keep the truth from his family, and hold back the crushing memories of his time with one of history's greatest monsters. As a mistake threatens to bring Adam's world tumbling down around him, the past reaches for Arkady. Everything he's spent a lifetime building will be threatened, as will everything Adam and his family think they know of the world. Bold, dark and compelling, The Toymaker is a novel about privilege, fear and the great harm we can do when we are afraid of losing what we hold dear. ‘Pieper writes superbly. The Toymaker gives immediate and absorbing pleasure, and has similarities to J M Coetzee’s Disgrace in terms of the main character’s wretched search for redemption, both for himself and for humanity.’ Books+Publishing

A gorgeously imagined Nutcracker retelling from award-winning author making her middle-grade debut Stefan Drosselmeyer is a reluctant apprentice to his toymaker father until the day his world is turned upside down. His father is kidnapped and Stefan is enlisted by his mysterious cousin, Christian Drosselmeyer, to find a mythical nut to save a princess who has been turned into a wooden doll. Embarking on a wild adventure through Germany, Stefan must save Boldavia’s princess and his own father from the fanatical Mouse Queen and her seven-headed Mouse Prince, both of whom have sworn to destroy the Drosselmeyer family. Based on the original inspiration for the Nutcracker ballet, Sherri L. Smith brings the Nutcracker Prince to life in this fascinating journey into a world of toymaking, magical curses, clockmaking guilds, talking mice and erudite squirrels.

When a greedy toymaker stumbles across one of Santa's elves on Christmas Eve, he holds the elf hostage in a sinister attempt to overthrow the North Pole. Can Christmastown withstand the attack, or will it take a holiday miracle to stop the villain from going too far?