Only once or twice a decade does a book come along that is both breathtaking in its ambition and extraordinary in its storytelling. Ash: A Secret History is that rare and wonderful thing: a book which is almost indescribable and totally unputdownable.

Probably the biggest fantasy novel ever published in a single volume, Mary Gentle's magnificent tale of the gutsy and beautiful mercenary leader Ash will take you on an unforgettable ride through mediaeval Europe as it never quite was.

For Ash, life has always been arquebuses and artillery, swords and armour, and the true horrors of hand-to-hand combat. War is her job. But she doesn't realise that the voice in her head is not the Lord and His Saints, but something far, far stranger...