Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights - a mixture of established and emerging writers - this National Theatre Connections anthology is published to coincide with the 2014 festival, which takes place across the UK and finishes up at the National Theatre in London. It offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department with the young performer in mind. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased. As with previous anthologies, the volume will feature an introduction by Anthony Banks, Associate Director of the National Theatre Discover Programme, and each play includes notes from the writer and director addressing the themes and ideas behind the play, as well as production notes and exercises. The National Theatre Connections series has been running for nineteen years and the anthology that accompanies it, published for the last three years by Methuen Drama, is gaining a greater profile by the year. Some iconic plays have grown out of the Connections programme including Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill, Burn by Deborah Gearing, Chatroom by Enda Walsh, Baby Girl by Roy Williams, DNA by Dennis Kelly, and The Miracle by Lin Coghlan. The series has a recognisable brand and the anthologies continue to be an extremely useful resource, their value extending well beyond their year of publication. This year's anthology includes plays by Sabrina Mahfouz, Simon Vinnicombe, Catherine Johnson, Pauline McLynn, Dafydd James, Luke Norris and Sam Holcroft.

Between these walls lies a lifetime of secrets... Pauline McLynn transports readers to Soho past and present in The Time is Now, a masterful story of secret lives in the streets of Soho. The perfect read for fans of Matt Haig's How to Stop Time. 'The past, present and future all bleed into one another like watercolours on a canvas - time becomes irrelevant' - Irish Independent Take a year in Soho and a house like no other... From a woman grieving on New Year's Day to a Victorian maid's passion for poetry, from a wartime widower picking up the pieces of his life to a young musician with a dream, one magical house has witnessed the drama of people's lives for generations. Meet the unforgettable residents of Claxton Court and discover the remarkable ties that bind them together. What readers are saying about The Time is Now: 'Excellent - really good read' '5 stars' 'Delightful use of language and credible plots'

Intrepid private eye Leo Street is on the trail of an adulterous husband when her clapped-out car causes her cover to be blown. It's time to draft in Ciara Gillespie, the teenage tearaway whom she befriended on her last case. At first, Ciara's madcap methods of surveillance leave a lot to be desired, but soon she's unearthing the secret life of an obstetrician who likes to dabble in genetic engineering... Meanwhile, Leo finds herself in even deeper trouble when she answers the call of Andy Raynor - an old flame who she's never fully extinguished. Sometimes a change isn't necessarily better than a rest...

An Irish Times bestseller, Bright Lights and Promises is a mesmerising novel that deals with family relationships in touching detail. The perfect read for fans of Matt Haig's How to Stop Time and Joanna Cannon's The Trouble with Goats and Sheep. 'A winner. Pauline McLynn brings the same comic touches to her writing as she brought to the wonderful Mrs Doyle' - Daily Express It's not easy being the mother of a twelve-year-old boy who's in love with his babysitter and having trouble at school. Nor are matters helped by the unexpected arrival of an elderly mother who's suddenly footloose and fancy free. At least Susie Vine feels secure at Arland & Shaw, London's leading theatrical agency, where her clients love her almost as much as they love themselves. Then the man who broke her heart comes back into her life and she's forced to ask herself whether she was right to leave him all those years ago. Or is someone else waiting in the wings...? What readers are saying about Bright Lights and Promises: 'Deals with the different sorts of love we all feel for people and is illustrated beautifully throughout' 'This is a fine writer plying her craft' 'McLynn is a great storyteller - you never know what you are going to get'

When private investigator Leo Street is sent to County Kildare to spy on the wife of a loathsome client, she's delighted to be getting away from rainy Dublin and her hopeless, permanently resting actor boyfriend Barry. The one catch is she has to masquerade as a member of a cookery course and the only piece of culinary equipment Leo can handle is a tin opener - Weekend Entertaining Part 1 is daunting to say the least. As she strips away layers of marital infidelity - not to mention several other scandalous secrets - she battles with bread-making and brûlée. But where will it all end - in triumph or tragedy?

The bus from Dublin to Limerick has never meant much to the inhabitants of Kilbrody, until a woman steps off it, marches into the pub and drinks herself into oblivion. When she finally wakes up, several days later, it is to discover that Charlie Finn (who put her to bed); the local garda and indeed the whole village are talking about her. Who is the woman on the bus? The question is, will she tell them?

A heartbreaking novel of integrity, honesty and raw emotion. At a remote railway station in Norfolk, Kitty Fulton runs the ticket office and her pet project is the lost and found. Nothing gives her more pleasure than to reunite possessions with their rightful owners. It is an experience that remains elusive in her own world as her mother's Alzheimer's pulls them further and further apart and, on top of this, she must endure the disintegration of a close relationship with a childhood friend. Just when Kitty feels her life can't get more complicated a series of extraordinary events challenges her notions of duty and fidelity. And in struggling to find the answers Kitty embarks on a journey that questions the importance of life and the way we must all live.

Pauline McLynn tells the moving story of two women who hardly know each other. One has literally been turfed out on to the street following a divorce from her husband; the other is battling to overcome a tragic loss in her family. What brings them together is nothing more than geography.

Leo Street battles against time to find a missing girl in Pauline McLynn's third comic crime caper from the Leo Street sries. Right on Time is the perfect read for fans of Jenny Colgan and Lauren Henderson. 'This novel scoots along at a great pace with some genuinely funny lines and a touching ending' - Sunday Mirror Every second counts for private investigator Leo Street on her latest case. She must find a missing teenager in the drug-fuelled streets of Dublin before it's too late. But with a watch that's stopped and a biological clock that's taken over, it's not going to be easy. Leo's irrepressible sidekick Ciara, her mischievous mutt No. 4, and Ciara's gorgeous twin brother Ronan, lend a helping hand. But can they track down the missing girl and save the day, or will a case of bad timing put all their lives at risk? What readers are saying about Right on Time: 'Gritty, funny, witty and sad, all at the same time' 'The weary lead character's witty observations provide a number of laughs and the support characters give the book a chatty warmth' 'I couldn't put it down'