Why Mars and Venus Collide John Gray (HarperCollins, £7.99)

Men are driven by testosterone; women are ruled by their oxytocin levels. Both hormones stimulate stress reduction. Thus, says the author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, the key to improving your relationships is to understand how men and women cope differently with stress. Problems arise when men expect women to react as men, and vice versa.

Gray gives many concrete examples of where things go wrong in a relationship, and explains how they could have gone better, if only the hormones had been taken into account. However sceptical you may be of such an approach, a great deal of this is unspoken common sense. Interestingly, he says that men can only fulfill about 10% of a woman's oxytocin production levels - in essence, a woman has to be responsible for 90 per cent of her own support. Now there's a strong message.

Love is Not Enough Merryn Somerset Webb (HarperCollins, £8.99)

The point of the title is that you need money as well, and in this sharp, punchy guide, Merryn Somerset Webb suggests a multitude of ways in which you can make, increase and save money.

Relevant or not, her statistical titbits are hard-hitting. Women who work full-time are paid on average 13 per cent less than men who work full-time. The average woman buys £13,000 worth of clothes that she never wears. Less than a third of female pensioners qualify for the full state pension (compared with 98 per cent of men). Merryn has excellent points to make about all of these, and more, to help you, whether you're drowning in debt, negotiating a higher salary, or buying a house.

The Widow and her Hero Thomas Keneally (Sceptre, £7.99)

Not a comfortable read for a war widow, but one that raises a great number of issues surrounding the conduct of war. The hero of the title is Leo Waterhouse, executed by the Japanese a month before the end of the Second World War. At least, thinks his young widow Grace, he died bravely for a just cause.

But in the following decades, the true details emerge of his last mission, and cause Grace to question the impulse behind Leo's sacrifice. It's a heart-breaking story of young love, combined with the devastation of shattered ideals and all the ambiguities of war.