If any unfortunate soul should ever ask me which books I read, I’d tell them I have broad taste, everything from Austen to Zola. I’d list my favourite books; Little Dorrit, Catch 22, The Heart Of Darkness. After all that, I’d finally admit that, these days, I mostly read crime novels. I would then describe, in great detail, the differences between crime and mystery fiction, between sub-genres, styles, authors.

In July, 2009, twenty-three-year-old Darlene Haynes, eight months pregnant at the time, was strangled to death with an electric cord.  Her abdomen was then cut open and the nearly full-term fetus removed.  The perpetrator turned out to be her close friend, Julie Corey, who had suffered a miscarriage three months earlier and evidently felt that the most efficient way of replacing her own lost baby was to murder her friend and rip the unborn child from her womb.

Why do some failures inspire breakthroughs and others breakdowns?

Economist Megan McArdle examines the art of failing well in The Up Side of Down, which hits shops across the UK next week.

Here are her top tips on taking intelligent risks and bouncing back if they fail:

Political correspondent and bestselling author Stephen Bates tells us why 1846 was such a pivotal year for Britain and why he chose to write about it in his new book, Penny Loaves and Butter Cheap: Britain in 1846, which hits the shops tomorrow.

HoZ are pulling out all the stops for the 2014 Oxford Literary Festival, with three of our authors and our very own Chairman, Anthony Cheetham, taking the stage in March.

Phew it’s been blowing a gale here in the West Country and the rain has shown little sign of abating. This morning however there is the first glimpse of sunshine and I hope it provides respite from all those suffering. My heart and prayers go out to everyone that has been affected by the horrendous weather this week. I think the Services have done an amazing job of getting to people and helping where they could – thank you to all who have helped in this incredible effort, you are all wonderful!

HoZ are excited to announce that two titles from our extensive non-fiction list have been nominated for The Paddy Power Political Book Awards, which seek to recognise the very best in political writing and publishing.

If most magazines and movies are anything to go by, it’s easy to think that we live in a world where falling in love is the exclusive right of 23 year olds with the sort of hair that puts Rapunzel to shame.