Contemporary fiction: literary and general

Book SynopsisTHE ICONIC CLASSIC, WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZEONE OF THE BBC ''100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD''''A lush celebration of all that it means to be a black female. I love that The Color Purple doesn''t try to soften its blows but is also courageous enough to hold on to a wonderfully affirming faith in possibility, in forgiveness and kindness and hope'' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie''The Color Purple is my go-to comfort novel. Every single time I read this book, I walk away as a slightly better person than I was when I picked it up'' Tayari Jones''I think that The Color Purple was the first book that made me think that I could try to be a writer - or that made me aware that a young black woman from the South could write about the South'' Jesmyn Ward ''I got the book and read it, in one day, when it came out. And then I went back, the next day, and bought everyTrade ReviewA genuinely mind-expanding book. -- Patrick Ness * GUARDIAN *She is one of the most gifted writers in her country -- Isabel AllendeThe Color Purple is a work to stand beside literature for any time and any place. It needs no category other than the fact that it is superb -- Rita Mae BrownThe Color Purple is a lush celebration of all that it means to be female, to be a black female and like the best of celebrations, it is an honest one. Alice Walker's honesty in this book is combative, relentless and redemptive. It is from this honesty that bitterness emerges, and yet the bitterness never blights the encompassing humanity of Walker's vision.I love that The Color Purple doesn't try to soften its blows but is also courageous enough to hold on to a wonderfully affirming faith in possibility, in forgiveness and kindness and hope. -- Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThe great irony about The Color Purple is that it transcends colour. To do that you have to be a magician or a genius. This book works on all levels, the political, the historical, the personal, the emotional, the spiritual . . . Not a word is wasted, every breath accounted for. We all know that this is one of the greatest books of all time. -- Benjamin ZephaniahA unique blend of serenity and immediacy that makes your senses ache -- Helen DunmoreAlice Walker is a lavishly gifted writer * New York Times *A fable for the modern world * Washington Post *A stunning, brilliantly conceived book . . . a saga filled with joy and pain, humor and bitterness, and an array of characters who live, breathe and illuminate the world of black women * Publishers Weekly *One of the most haunting books you could ever wish to read ... it is stunning - moving, exciting, and wonderful * Lenny Henry *This made Alice Walker the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize. It's a fascinating but tough read because it deals with the abuse of women and children. Despite the brutality, it's filled with hope and optimism * DAILY EXPRESS *A story about Black women living in the intersections of racialized and gendered violence, who find liberation through community with each other. A brutal and beautiful novel * Brit Bennett, bestselling author of The Vanishing Half *Add this great book to your collection now. * PRIDE MAGAZINE (1 September 2004) *

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Book SynopsisOne of the true classics of psychological suspense, about a writer and his No. 1 fan, now with a stunning new cover look.Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he''s writing to stay alive. Misery Chastain is dead. Paul Sheldon has just killed her - with relief, with joy. Misery made him rich; she was the heroine of a string of bestsellers. And now he wants to get on to some real writing. That''s when the car accident happens, and he wakes up splinted and in pain, in the remote mountain home of his rescuer, Annie Wilkes. The good news is that Annie was a nurse and has pain-killing drugs. The bad news is that she has long been Paul''s Number One Fan. And when she finds out what Paul has done to Misery, she doesn''t like it. She doesn''t like it at all . . .Trade ReviewThis terrifying story of imprisonment by a demented fan is one of the greatest thrillers ever writtenNot since Dickens has a writer had so many readers by the throat * Guardian *King's new novel, about a writer held hostage by his self-proclaimed "number-one fan,'' is unadulteratedly terrifying. Paul Sheldon, a writer of historical romances, is in a car accident; rescued by nurse Annie Wilkes, he slowly realizes that salvation can be worse than death. Sheldon has killed off Misery Chastain, the popular protagonist of his Misery series and Annie, who has a murderous past, wants her back. Keeping the paralyzed Sheldon prisoner, she forces him to revive the character in a continuation of the series, and she reads each page as it comes out of the typewriter; there is a joyously Dickensian novel within a novel here, and it appears in faded typescript. Studded among the frightening moments are sparkling reflections on the writer and his audience, on the difficulties, joys and responsibilities of being a storyteller, on the nature of the muse, on the differences between "serious'' and "popular'' writing. Sheldon is a revealingly autobiographical figure; Annie is not merely a monster but is subtly and often touchingly portrayed, allowing hostage and keeper a believable, if twisted, relationship. The best parts of this novel demand that we take King seriously as a writer with a deeply felt understanding of human psychology. * Publishers Weekly *One of the greatest thrillers ever written * GUARDIAN *It's being on this familiar territory that makes his fictions so addictive. It's so good you just want more * Evening Standard *A writer of excellence * The Sunday Times *King at his best . . . a winner * The New York Times *This terrifying story of imprisonment by a demented fan is one of the greatest thrillers ever writtenNot since Dickens has a writer had so many readers by the throat * Guardian *King's new novel, about a writer held hostage by his self-proclaimed "number-one fan,'' is unadulteratedly terrifying. Paul Sheldon, a writer of historical romances, is in a car accident; rescued by nurse Annie Wilkes, he slowly realizes that salvation can be worse than death. Sheldon has killed off Misery Chastain, the popular protagonist of his Misery series and Annie, who has a murderous past, wants her back. Keeping the paralyzed Sheldon prisoner, she forces him to revive the character in a continuation of the series, and she reads each page as it comes out of the typewriter; there is a joyously Dickensian novel within a novel here, and it appears in faded typescript. Studded among the frightening moments are sparkling reflections on the writer and his audience, on the difficulties, joys and responsibilities of being a storyteller, on the nature of the muse, on the differences between "serious'' and "popular'' writing. Sheldon is a revealingly autobiographical figure; Annie is not merely a monster but is subtly and often touchingly portrayed, allowing hostage and keeper a believable, if twisted, relationship. The best parts of this novel demand that we take King seriously as a writer with a deeply felt understanding of human psychology. * Publishers Weekly *A writer of excellence...King is one of the most fertile storytellers of the modern novel * Sunday Times *One of the great storytellers of our time * Guardian *'America's greatest living novelist' * Lee Child *'[A] genius for storytelling' * Daily Mirror *

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Book SynopsisIntroducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience classics which will endure for generations to come.That girl didn't want to die. She just wanted out of that house. She wanted out of that decorating scheme.The five Lisbon sisters beautiful, eccentric and, now, gone had always been a point of obsession for the entire neighbourhood.Although the boys that once loved them from afar have grown up, they remain determined to understand a tragedy that has defied explanation. The question persists why did all five of the Lisbon girls take their own lives?This lyrical and timeless tale of sex and suicide that transforms and mythologizes suburban middle-American life announced the arrival of one of the greatest American novelists of the last thirty years.A flare from my own secret world, all the inchoate longings and obsessions of being a teenager somehow rendered into book form' Emma Cline, author of The GirlsTrade Review'A Catcher in the Rye for our time' Observer 'Entire and unstoppable … a sparkling work' The Times 'Wonderfully original' Independent ‘Eugenides is blessed with the storyteller's most magical gift, the ability to transform the mundane into the extraordinary’ New York Times

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Book SynopsisThe four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons - well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel - would quite like the Rapture not to happen. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist...Trade ReviewMarvellously benign, ridiculously inventive and gloriously funny * GUARDIAN *Wickedly funny * TIME OUT *A superbly funny book. Pratchett and Gaiman are the most hilariously sinister team since Jekyll and Hyde. If this is Armageddon, count me in -- JAMES HERBERTWow * WASHINGTON POST *Heaven to read, and you'll laugh like hell * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisA novel of high adventure, great storytelling and moral purpose, based on an extraordinary true story of eight years in the Bombay underworld.'In the early 80s, Gregory David Roberts, an armed robber and heroin addict, escaped from an Australian prison to India, where he lived in a Bombay slum. There, he established a free health clinic and also joined the mafia, working as a money launderer, forger and street soldier. He found time to learn Hindi and Marathi, fall in love, and spend time being worked over in an Indian jail. Then, in case anyone thought he was slacking, he acted in Bollywood and fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan . . . Amazingly, Roberts wrote Shantaram three times after prison guards trashed the first two versions. It's a profound tribute to his willpower . . . At once a high-kicking, eye-gouging adventure, a love saga and a savage yet tenderly lyrical fugitive vision.' Time OutTrade ReviewA literary masterpiece... at once erudite and intimate, reflective and funny... it has the grit and pace of a thriller * Daily Telegraph *Powerful and original... a remarkable achievement * Sunday Telegraph *A publishing phenomenon * Sunday Times *Extraordinarily vivid... a gigantic, jaw-dropping, grittily authentic saga * Daily Mail *Utterly unique, absolutely audacious and wonderfully wild, Shantaram is sure to catch even the most fantastic of imaginations off guard * Elle *[A] sprawling, intelligent novel... full of vibrant characters... the exuberance of his prose is refreshing * Washington Post *Vivid, entertaining... Its visceral, cinematic descriptive beauty truly impresses * USA Today *Few stand out quite like Shantaram... nothing if not entertaining... Sometimes a big story is its own reward * New York Times *Very good... vast of vision and breadth * Time Out *It has a heartfelt, cinemascope feel... A sensational read * Publishers Weekly *[A] jaw-dropping, grittily authentic saga of lives laid bare * Ireland on Sunday *A curious mixture of adventure story and travelogue... [a] vivid and compassionate panorama of the places and people he encounters * Guardian *[An] elegantly written, page-turning blockbuster... splendidly evoking an India few outsiders know * Kirkus *Shantaram is a novel of the first order, a work of extraordinary art, a thing of exceptional beauty. If someone asked me what the book was about, I would have to say everything, every thing in the world. Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, what Thoreau did for Walden Pond: he makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world * Pat Conroy *Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date and I don't expect anybody to unseat its all-round performance for a long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex, and blessed with a perfect voice. Like a voodoo ghost snatcher, Gregory David Roberts has captured the spirits of the likes of Henri Charriere, Rohinton Mistry, Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique magic, and built the most gripping monument in print... Gregory David Roberts is a suitable giant, a dazzling guru, and a genius in full * Moses Isegawa, author of Abyssinian Chronicles and Snakepit *Shantaram is, quite simply, the Arabian Nights of the new century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all their reading life. Anyone who walks away from Shantaram untouched is either heartless or dead or both. I haven't had such a wonderful time in years * Jonathan Carroll, author of White Apples *Shantaram is dazzling. More importantly, it offers a lesson... that those we incarcerate are human beings. They deserve to be treated with dignity. Some of them, after all, may be exceptional. Some may even possess genius * Ayelet Waldman, author of Crossing the Park *A literary masterpiece... at once erudite and intimate, reflective and funny... it has the grit and pace of a thriller * Daily Telegraph *Powerful and original... a remarkable achievement * Sunday Telegraph *A publishing phenomenon * Sunday Times *Extraordinarily vivid... a gigantic, jaw-dropping, grittily authentic saga * Daily Mail *Utterly unique, absolutely audacious and wonderfully wild, Shantaram is sure to catch even the most fantastic of imaginations off guard * Elle *[A] sprawling, intelligent novel... full of vibrant characters... the exuberance of his prose is refreshing * Washington Post *Vivid, entertaining... Its visceral, cinematic descriptive beauty truly impresses * USA Today *Few stand out quite like Shantaram... nothing if not entertaining... Sometimes a big story is its own reward * New York Times *Very good... vast of vision and breadth * Time Out *It has a heartfelt, cinemascope feel... A sensational read * Publishers Weekly *[A] jaw-dropping, grittily authentic saga of lives laid bare * Ireland on Sunday *A curious mixture of adventure story and travelogue... [a] vivid and compassionate panorama of the places and people he encounters * Guardian *[An] elegantly written, page-turning blockbuster... splendidly evoking an India few outsiders know * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisKing''s highly acclaimed novel, now with a stunning new cover look. WHAT IF you could go back in time and change the course of history? WHAT IF the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? 11.22.63, the date that Kennedy was shot - unless . . . King takes his protagonist Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, on a fascinating journey back to 1958 - from a world of mobile phones and iPods to a new world of Elvis and JFK, of Plymouth Fury cars and Lindy Hopping, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake''s life - a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time. With extraordinary imaginative power, King weaves the social, political and popular culture of his baby-boom American generation into a devastating exercise in escalating suspense.Trade ReviewThe reader feels the benefit of 40 years of narrative craftsmanship and reflection on his nation's history. Going backwards proves to be another step forward for the most remarkable storyteller in modern American literature. * Mark Lawson, Guardian *The reader feels the benefit of 40 years of narrative craftsmanship and reflection on his nation's history. Going backwards proves to be another step forward for the most remarkable storyteller in modern American literature. * Mark Lawson, Guardian *The pages of 11.22.63 fly by, filled with immediacy, pathos and suspense. It takes great brazenness to go anywhere near this subject matter. But it takes great skill to make this story even remotely credible. Mr. King makes it all look easy, which is surely his book's fanciest trick. * New York Times *The pages of 11.22.63 fly by, filled with immediacy, pathos and suspense. It takes great brazenness to go anywhere near this subject matter. But it takes great skill to make this story even remotely credible. Mr. King makes it all look easy, which is surely his book's fanciest trick. * New York Times *Stephen King at his epic, pedal-to-metal best * Alison Flood, Sunday Times *Stephen King at his epic, pedal-to-metal best * Alison Flood, Sunday Times *not just an accomplished time-travel yarn but an action-heavy meditation on chance, choice and fate. * Independent Books of the Year *not just an accomplished time-travel yarn but an action-heavy meditation on chance, choice and fate. * Independent Books of the Year *The details of Fifties America, the cars, the clothes, the food, the televisions with wonky horizontal hold, are so vivid that you begin to wonder whether the author himself hasn't had access to a time machine....But as you worry at the paradoxes and the brilliantly explained pseudo science there is no denying that this monster yearn is blindingly impressive. Manly writers run out of steam as they get older. King, though, writes books that are ever longer and more demanding. I can't wait to see what he will tackle next. * Daily Express *The details of Fifties America, the cars, the clothes, the food, the televisions with wonky horizontal hold, are so vivid that you begin to wonder whether the author himself hasn't had access to a time machine....But as you worry at the paradoxes and the brilliantly explained pseudo science there is no denying that this monster yearn is blindingly impressive. Manly writers run out of steam as they get older. King, though, writes books that are ever longer and more demanding. I can't wait to see what he will tackle next. * Daily Express *Stephen King's new novel, 11.22.63, combines a variety of genres, being a JFK assassination, a story of time travel, a variation on the grail quest, a novel of voyeurism, a love story, a historical novel, a counter-factual historical novel and the chilling tale of a sinister animate universe, a form which can be traced back to the ghost stories of MR James. * London Review of Books *Stephen King's new novel, 11.22.63, combines a variety of genres, being a JFK assassination, a story of time travel, a variation on the grail quest, a novel of voyeurism, a love story, a historical novel, a counter-factual historical novel and the chilling tale of a sinister animate universe, a form which can be traced back to the ghost stories of MR James. * London Review of Books *The master of the pen has written yet another extraordinary novel. * Independent *The master of the pen has written yet another extraordinary novel. * Independent *The story comes off the blocks with almost alarming speed ... he tells a story like a pro .... 11.22.63 kept me up all night. * Daily Telegraph *Stephen King at his epic, pedal-to-metal best * Alison Flood, Sunday Times, Culture *Not just an accomplished time-travel yarn but an action-heavy meditation on chance, choice and fate. * Independent Books of the Year *The details of Fifties America, the cars, the clothes, the food, the televisions with wonky horizontal hold, are so vivid that you begin to wonder whether the author himself hasn't had access to a time machine ... But as you worry at the paradoxes and the brilliantly explained pseudo science there is no denying that this monster yearn is blindingly impressive. * Daily Express *You have to take a leap of faith with time-travel novels, but if there's one writer who can pull it off, it's Stephen King ... Captivating, surprisingly pacy and free from sci-fi cliché, it's no wonder the film version is already being planned. * Shortlist *This is the American of Stephen King's childhood and it's one that he re-creates in vivid and loving detail ... This is a truly compulsive, addictive novel not just about time-travel or the Kennedy assassination but about recent American history and its might-have-beens, about love, and about how life 'turns on a dime'. It's a thunking 700-pager which left me only wanting more. The master storyteller in truly masterful form. * Daily Mail *King swiftly moves beyond vintage Americana to unfold a stunningly panoramic portrait of the era. His [King's] fascination with evil ... arranges characters among clear mortal frontiers that fell meaningful rather than simplistic. King commands an inordinately fat space on the bookshelf with 11.22.63 but it's hard to begrudge when his vast imagination is working across such an epic canvas. * Seven, The Sunday Telegraph *Stephen King is up there with the best. It's a thriller, a meditation on late Fifties and early Sixties America and a love story. It creates a world you can lose yourself in. * Peter Robinson in the Sunday Express *Time travel and an incredible talent for storytelling combine to produce a unique tour de force. * Sun *One of the strengths of the book is King's at once nostalgic and honest view of the end of the Eisenhower era. King manages to avoid both sentimentalizing the past and treating it with massive condescension; his role as the poet of American brand-names serves him well here. * Independent *11.22.63 marks a definite maturing of literary command and ambition. The key to any novel set in an alternate reality is credible world building, the steady accumulation of detail - preferably lightly distributed - that brings the story alive. King succeeds in this, partly drawing from his own memories. * Adam LeBor FT Weekend *King's mastery of plot and his ability to create characters and situations both homespun and far-fetched means that this is the book you dream of getting stuck on the train home with. * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisThe knife slashed one way across her mouth, then the other, silencing both her words and her thoughts.Things like this weren't supposed to happen in little towns, not even in ones named Slaughterville. Yet, here she was, her life bleeding out onto her kitchen floorWhen Jennie Killingbeck goes missing driving back to her home in Albuquerque from Colorado, Detective Alyssa Wyatt and the squad quickly swing into action to bring her home, alive.But the missing persons case takes a twisted turn when FBI Agent Ryker Newlin walks into their station. For the past six years, the FBI have been trying to track down a killer dubbed The Sunset Slayer' known for brutally murdering young, beautiful red-haired women and mutilating them with an X' across their lips.The Sunset Slayer has taken lives in Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas, and upon seeing Jeanine's familiar red hair on the news reports, Ryker is here to warn the Albuquerque PD that they might have a serial killer operating in their midst.Finding a killer in the desert of New Mexico won't be easy, but both Alyssa and Ryker are determined to bring an end to this vicious psychopath's killing streak before another young woman's body appears.

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Book SynopsisA world of peaceful aliens conquered by bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters. Desperation causes the Athsheans to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. In defending their lives, they endanger the very foundations of their society. Every blow against the invaders is a blow to the core of Athsheans'' culture. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.Winner of the 1973 Hugo award for Best Novella, and nominated for many others, The Word for World is Forest is part of Le Guin''s ''Hainish Cycle''. It explores a future history of Earth and pacifistic ideals in its depictions of violence, colonialism and resistance.''A simple story that, like most things Le Guin wrote, packs a powerful emotional and critical punch''- Tordotcom''Deeply moving and shocking by tTrade ReviewThe slender book is fairly simplistic, but it's still compelling and thought-provoking. * SFX *It's a compact tale, a masterclass by a powerful writer who fashions a lean narrative where others might have produced a much larger, bloated tome, and yet for all the brevity Le Guin delivers not just a narrative but a believable alien world and society in short yet compelling scenes. * FORBIDDEN PLANET *

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Book SynopsisNow with a stunning new cover look for the 50th Anniversary comes Stephen King''s legendary debut. Carrie White is no ordinary girl.Carrie White has the gift of telekinesis.To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie - the firststep towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues.But events will take a decidedly macabre turn on that horrifying and endless night as sheis forced to exercise her terrible gift on the town that mocks and loathes her . . .Trade Review[A] genius for storytelling -- Daily MirrorOne of the few horror writers who can truly make the flesh creep -- Sunday ExpressGuaranteed to chill you * New York Times *[A] genius for storytelling * Daily Mirror *One of the few horror writers who can truly make the flesh creep * Sunday Express *

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Book Synopsis'Brilliant, funny and startling.' Guardian'A nuanced, page-turning portrait.' Zadie Smith'Brilliant.' Marian Keyes'A sharp, darkly funny comment on modern relationships.' Sunday TelegraphFrances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant.

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Book SynopsisOkonowo is the greatest warrior alive and he is one of the powerful men of his clan. But he also has a fiery temper. Determined not to be like his father, he refuses to show his weakness. When outsiders threaten the traditions of his clan, he takes violent action. Will the great man's pride eventually destroy him?

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Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewSo good that it will devour you. It is incandescent * Telegraph *[The Road,] heartbreaking and haunting, has an overbearing, almost suffocating atmosphere . . . you cannot forget you’ve read it * The Times *McCarthy’s novel was one of the triggers for my writing Room; I wanted to see what a mother-child modern myth would look like, because his father-child one was so powerful -- Emma Donoghue, author of Room and HavenThe first great masterpiece of the globally warmed generation. Here is an American classic which, at a stroke, makes McCarthy a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. -- Andrew O’Hagan, author of Our Fathers and MayfliesYou will read on, absolutely convinced, thrilled, mesmerized. All the modern novel can do is done here -- Alan Warner, author of Morvern CallarMcCarthy conjures from this pitiless flight the miracle of unswerving humanity. Gripping beyond belief -- Chris Cleave * Sunday Telegraph *One of the most shocking and harrowing but ultimately redemptive books I have read. It is an intensely intimate story. It is also a warning -- Kirsty Wark * Observer Books of the Year *A masterpiece that will soon be considered a classic * Herald *

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Book Synopsis#1 New York Times BestsellerA Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club PickI can't even express how much I love this book! I didn't want this story to end! Reese WitherspoonPainfully beautiful. The New York Times Book ReviewFor years, rumors of the Marsh Girl have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens. Perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Celeste Ng, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, aTrade ReviewA painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature . . . Owens here surveys the desolate marshlands of the North Carolina coast through the eyes of an abandoned child. And in her isolation that child makes us open our own eyes to the secret wonders-and dangers-of her private world - New York Times Book ReviewAn Amazon Best Book of August 2018: This novel has a mystery at its core, but it can be read on a variety of levels. There is great nature writing; there is coming of age; and there is literature. Crawdads is a story lovingly told-one that takes its time in developing its characters and setting, and in developing the story. You'll want to relax and take your time as well, and when you're done you will want to talk about it with another reader. - Chris Schluep, Amazon Book ReviewSteeped in the rhythms and shadows of the coastal marshes of North Carolina's Outer Banks, this fierce and hauntingly beautiful novel centers on...Kya's heartbreaking story of learning to trust human connections, intertwine[d] with a gripping murder mystery, revealing savage truths. An astonishing debut. - PeopleThis lush mystery is perfect for fans of Barbara Kingsolver - BustleA nature-infused romance with a killer twist - Refinery29Part murder-mystery, part coming-of-age novel, its evocation of the marshland and its inhabitants is as unforgettable as Kya herself. A story of loneliness, survival and love that's as engrossing as it is moving - Daily MailHeart-wrenching...A fresh exploration of isolation and nature from a female perspective along with a compelling love story. - Entertainment WeeklyFor a debut the prose is impressively accomplished . . . A Hollywood film seems inevitable. Yet it will be hard to match on screen the delicacy of Owens's exploration of the natural world. Kya and her magical little world are a rare achievement - The Times

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Book SynopsisA BEST BOOK OF 2024 IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, THE SPECTATOR, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, INDEPENDENT, SCOTSMAN AND THE NEW YORKER''Extraordinary.'' MARINA HYDEPitch-perfect.' OBSERVER''An utter joy to read.'' MONICA ALIMajestic.' INDEPENDENT''A masterpiece.'' JOHN LANCHESTERAddictively enjoyable.' GUARDIANSensational.' IRISH INDEPENDENTA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTIONHe always knew: when his life came tumbling down, it would occur in public.Campbell Flynn is fuelled by an appetite for wealth and admiration, controversy and novelty. An art historian and celebrity pundit, he has enjoyed a charmed career rubbing shoulders with oligarchs and aristocrats, fashion designers and fine artists, at ease with the highbrow and the mainstream.Only now, the world is changing. Over the course of an incendiary year a web of secrets and crimes will be revealed, and Campbell Flynn may not be able to protect himself from the shattering exposure of all his privilege really involves.Andrew O''Hagan''s novel Caledonian Road was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 31/03/2024

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Book SynopsisIan McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of eighteen novels and two short story collections. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; Nutshell; Machines Like Me; and Lessons. Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach have all been adapted for the big screen.

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Book SynopsisThe Times 50 best paperbacks of 2024The breathtaking new novel from Ann Patchett a Sunday Times and No. 1 New York Times bestsellerFilled with the moments I live for in a story'BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry[Tom Lake] has it all ... Young love, sibling rivalry and deep mother-daughter relationships'REESE WITHERSPOONOne of the most beloved authors of her generation'SUNDAY TIMESThere''s more to every love story than what we choose to tell...It's spring and Lara's three grown daughters have returned to the family orchard. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the one story they've always longed to hear of the film star with whom she shared a stage, and a romance, years before.Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents lead before their children are born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.One of our greatest living chroniclers of love and marriage Expect wonder; Patchett always delivers' ELLE* SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 ** A REESE WITHERSPOON AND BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK ** A 2023 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES *

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Book Synopsis**DREAM COUNT, the searing new bestselling novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is out now!**WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD''A delicious, important novel'' THE TIMES''Alert, alive and gripping'' INDEPENDENTIfemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria. In America, Ifemelu suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Meanwhile, Obinze plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, when they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion for each other and for their homeland they face the hardest decision of their lives.Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a literary masterpiece, and one of the defining books of the decade.''A love story for our time'' VOGUEA brilliant novel: epic in scope, personal in resonance and with lots to say' OBSERVER''A tour de force. Hugely impressive'' MAIL ON SUNDAYTrade Review‘A brilliant novel: epic in scope, personal in resonance and with lots to say’ Elizabeth Day, Observer ‘A delicious, important novel from a writer with a great deal to say’ The Times ‘A brilliant exploration of being African in America … an urgent and important book, further evidence that its author is a real talent’ Sunday Telegraph ‘An extremely thoughtful, subtly provocative exploration of structural inequality, of different kinds of oppression, of gender roles, of the idea of home. Subtle, but not afraid to pull its punches’ Alex Clark, Guardian ‘A tour de force … The artistry with which Adichie keeps her story moving, while animating the complex anxieties in which the characters live and work, is hugely impressive’ Mail on Sunday ‘Adichie is terrific on human interactions … Adichie’s writing always has an elegant shimmer to it … Wise, entertaining and unendingly perceptive’ Independent on Sunday ‘Adichie paints on a grand canvas, boldly and confidently … This is a very funny, very warm and moving intergenerational epic that confirms Adiche’s virtuosity, boundless empathy and searing social acuity’ Dave Eggers ‘“An honest novel about race” … with guts and lustre … within the context of a well-crafted, compassionate, visceral and delicately funny tale of lasting high-school love and the sorrows and adventures of immigration’ Diana Evans, The Times ‘[A] long, satisfying novel of cross-continental relationships, exile and the pull of home … Adichie’s first novel for seven years and well worth the wait’ FT ‘Alert, alive and gripping’ Independent

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Book SynopsisA dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis. Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast - again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold an historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange - again . . . Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It''s clear from the way he tracks Misery''s every movement that he doesn''t trust her. If only he knew how right he was . . . Because Misery has her o

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Book SynopsisInstant NYT Bestselling AuthorUSA Today Bestselling AuthorViral Booktok SensationThe conclusion to the Cat and Mouse Duet is here... The Diamond Death walks alongside me, But the reaper is no match for me. I'm trapped in a world full of monsters dressed as men, and those who aren't as they seem. They won't keep me forever. I no longer recognize the person I've become, And I'm fighting to find my way back to the beast who hunts me in the night. They call me a diamond, But they've only created an angel of death. The Hunter I was born a predator, With ruthlessness ingrained in my bones. When what's mine is stolen from me in the night, Like a diamond hidden within a fortress, I find that I can no longer contain the beast. Blood will paint the ground as I tear apart this world to find her. And bring her back to where she belongs. No one will escape my wrath, Especially not those who have betrayed me. Warning: This is the second and final installment to the Duet. You must read Haunting Adeline first.

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Book Synopsis* The million-copy bestseller* * National Book Award finalist * * An instant New York Times Bestseller and one of their 10 Best Books of 2017 * * Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club * 'This is a captivating book... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion' BARACK OBAMA. Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja's salvation is just the beginning of her story. Through eight decades and four generations, Pachinko is an epic tale of family, identity, love, death and survival.Trade ReviewLuminous... a powerful meditation on what immigrants sacrifice to achieve a home in the world' -- Junot DiazGripping... a stunning achievement, full of heart, full of grace, full of truth' -- Erica WagnerA deep, broad, addictive history of a Korean family in Japan enduring and prospering through the 20th century -- David Mitchell, GuardianA rich, moving novel about exile, identity and the determination to endure * Sunday Times *Vivid and immersive, Pachinko is a rich tribute to a people that history seems intent on erasing * Guardian *The work of a writer in complete control of her characters and her story and with an intense awareness of the importance of her heritage... Told with such flair and linguistic dexterity that I found myself unable to put it down. Every year, there are a few standout novels that survive long past the hype has died down and the hyperbolic compliments from friends scattered across the dust jacket have been forgotten. Pachinko, a masterpiece of empathy, integrity and familial loyalty, will be one of those novels' -- John Boyne, Irish TimesWe never feel history being spoon-fed to us: it is wholly absorbed into character and story, which is no mean feat for a novel covering almost a century of history * Financial Times *An epic, multi-generational saga * Mail on Sunday, Best of 2017 *A great book, a passionate story, a novel of magisterial sweep. It's also fiendishly readable – the real deal. An instant classic, a quick page-turner, and probably the best book of the year -- Darin Strauss, New York Times-bestselling author of Chang and Eng.A long, complex book, it wears its research lightly, and is a page-turner. You can sense the author's love and understanding for all the characters, the good and the flawed * Irish Examiner. *Remarkable... A striking introduction to lives, to a world, [the reader] may never have seen, or even thought to look at. In our increasingly fractured and divisive times, there can be no higher purpose for literature: all in the pages of a book that, once you've started, you'll simply be unable to put down' * Harper's Bazaar *Elegant and soulful, both intimate and sweeping. This story of several generations of one Korean family in Japan is the story of every family whose parents sacrificed for their children, every family whose children were unable to recognize the cost, but it's also the story of a specific cultural struggle in a riveting time and place. Min Jin Lee has written a big, beautiful book filled with characters I rooted for and cared about and remembered after I'd read the final page -- Kate Christensen, award-winning author of The Great Man and Blue Plate SpecialBoth for those who love Korea, as well as for those who know no more than Hyundai, Samsung and kimchi, this extraordinary book will prove a revelation of joy and heartbreak. I could not stop turning the pages, and wished this most poignant of sagas would never end. Min Jin Lee displays a tenderness and wisdom ideally matched to an unforgettable tale that she relates just perfectly -- Simon Winchester, author of Korea: A Walk Through the Land of MiraclesA compassionate, clear gaze at the chaotic landscape of life itself. In this haunting epic tale, no one story seems too minor to be briefly illuminated. Lee suggests that behind the facades of wildly different people lie countless private desires, hopes and miseries, if we have the patience and compassion to look and listen * New York Times Book Review *Love, luck, and talent combine with cruelty and random misfortune in a deeply compelling story, with the troubles of ethnic Koreans living in Japan never far from view. An old-fashioned epic whose simple, captivating storytelling delivers both wisdom and truth * Kirkus *[A] beautifully crafted story of love, loss determination, luck, and perseverance... Lee's skilful development of her characters and story lines will draw readers into the work. Those who enjoy historical fiction with strong characterisations will not be disappointed as they ride along on the emotional journeys offered in the author's latest page-turner' * Library Journal *An exquisite, haunting epic... Lee's profound novel of losses and gains explored through the social and cultural implications of pachinko-parlor owners and users is shaped by impeccable research, meticulous plotting, and empathic perception' * Booklist Starred Review *A sweeping, engrossing family saga... a poignantly told tale. Gracefully written and dotted with memorable images, evocative of the pace and time, it's a page-turning panorama of one family's path through suffering to prosperity in 20th-century Japan' * Literary Review *Stunning... Pachinko is about outsiders, minorities and the politically disenfranchised. But it is so much more besides. Each time the novel seems to find its locus – Japan's colonization of Korea, World War II as experienced in East Asia, Christianity, family, love, the changing role of women – it becomes something else. It becomes even more than it was' * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisOne of those rarest of books: so beautiful I almost couldn't bear it, and so moving I was reading through tears' STACEY HALLSUniquely witty, beautifully observed, intricately woven' MIRANDA HARTA truly glorious life-affirming book, in which love, hope and friendship trump sorrow' DINAH JEFFERIESHad me absolutely sobbing a beautiful, beautiful book' JO BROWNING WROE, bestselling author of A TERRIBLE KINDNESSWorth every tear' WOMAN & HOMEExquisitely tender, powerfully compelling' SARAH HAYWOODOne of my new all-time favourite books an absolute joy' JULIETTA HENDERSONThoughtful, warm and engaging' CHRISTINA SWEENEY-BAIRDHonest, heartfelt and hopeful' MARIANNE CRONINA joy to read' ANNE YOUNGSONA love song to women everywhere' ERICKA WALLERMEET EVA MARTÍNEZ-GREEN, AN ONLY CHILD FULL OF QUESTIONS ABOUT HER BEGINNINGS.Between her emotionally absent mother and her physically absent father, there is nobody to answer them. Eva is convinced that all is not as it seems. Why are there no baby pictTrade Review‘One of the most transporting novels I have read recently’ Patricia Nicol, Daily Mail’s Best Books for Winter Breaks ‘Honest, heartfelt and hopeful, All My Mothers captures the joy and pain of love in all its forms, and reminds us that mothers can be found in the most unlikely of places and people. It broke my heart three times, but I adored it!’ MARIANNE CRONIN, author of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot ‘Mothers are artists – a beautiful sentiment from a beautiful book that challenges the notion of what a mother should look like. Eva is lost. She's sure her mother doesn't belong to her and, with her father absent, no one seems to have any answers – so she goes looking for them, on an epic journey that takes us to Cordoba in Spain. In a coming-of-age story, we feel the desire Eva has just to belong. Though it's not always an easy read, it is worth every tear’ Woman & Home Praise for The Other Half of Augusta Hope: ’A joy…the humour and pathos in their stories lends real heart and soul’ OBSERVER ‘A moving tale… sure to make you cry… Parfait [is] a convincingly serious, sweet, clever and funny person who ends up carrying the story… an epic hero … It’s going to be all over every book club in Britain before you can say Burundi’ The Times ‘A mesmerisingly beautiful portrait of a young woman discovering what home means to her, and a poignant depiction of how our actions can touch other people's lives in ways we could never have anticipated.’ Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus ‘Without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read – an extraordinary masterpiece’ Anstey Harris, author of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton ‘The most gutsy, endearing and entertaining meditation on the meaning of human existence that you're ever likely to read’ Deborah Orr

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Book SynopsisWELCOME TO THE MANOR?THE PARTY''S ON FIRE**Book your place at the table The brand new murder mystery thriller from the No.1 bestseller**''I devoured The Midnight Feast wicked fun'' ALEX MICHAELIDES''Unputdownable' LISA JEWELLA sharp, stylish, stunning murder mystery' CHRIS WHITAKER________________________________________________________________Midsummer, the Dorset coastIn the shadows of an ancient wood, guests gather for the opening weekend of The Manor: a beautiful new countryside retreat.But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. And the candles have barely been lit for a solstice supper when the body is found.It all began with a secret, fifteen years ago. Now the past has crashed the party. And it'll end in murder atTHE MIDNIGHT FEAST________________________________________________________________Laced with atmosphere and a chilling edge of folklore, The Midnight Feast is available to buy now.*TABLE BOOKED FOR SUMMER 2

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Book SynopsisA debut linked story collection of gritty, streetwise, and wickedly funny fiction from Mexico. Life's a bitch. That's why you gotta rattle her cage, even if she's foaming at the mouth. In the linked stories of Reservoir Bitches, thirteen Mexican women prod the bitch that is Life as they fight, sew, skirt, cheat, cry, and lie their way through their tangled circumstances. From the all-powerful daughter of a cartel boss to the victim of transfemicide, from a houseful of spinster seamstresses to a socialite who supports her politician husband by faking Indigenous roots, these women spit on their own reduction and invent new ways to survive, telling their stories in bold, unapologetic voices. At once social critique and black comedy, Reservoir Bitches is a raucous debut from one of Mexico's most thrilling new writers.

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Book Synopsis

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