Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisFayne, a vast moated castle, lies to the misty southern border of Scotland, ruled by the Lord Henry Bell, Seventeenth Baron of the DC de Fayne, Peer of Her Majesty's Realm of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The mysterious Lord Bell keeps to his rooms by day, appearing briefly at night to dote over his beloved and peculiarly gifted child. But even with all her gifts - intelligence, wit and strength of character - can Charlotte overcome the violently strict boundaries of contemporary society and establish her own place in the world?

Read more less

Book SynopsisUSA TODAY BESTSELLERA MOST ANTICIPATED READ BY THE NEW YORK TIMES OPRAH DAILY PASTE THE NERD DAILY BOOKBUB TODAY.COM & MORE! [T]he third and final volume in Daria's gloriously angst-saturated Primas of Power series... these three books have more concentrated pining than an Austen movie marathon on a rainy afternoon. THE NEW YORK TIMES[A]n emotional roller coaster of a finale that will leave readers exhilarated. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)From the international bestselling author of You Had Me at Hola and A Lot Like Adiós, the exciting third and final book in Alexis Daria's bestselling Primas of Power seriesNo stringsAfter Ava Rodriguez's now-ex-husband declares he wants to follow his dreamswhich no longer include hershe's left questioning everything she thought she wanted. So when a handsome hotelier flirts with her, Ava vows to stop overthinking and embrace the opportunity for an epic one-night-stand. No feelingsRoman Vázquez's sole focus is the empire he built from the ground up. He lives and dies by his schedule, but the gorgeous stranger grimacing into her cocktail inspires him to change his plans for the evening. At first, it's easy for Roman to agree to Ava's rules: no strings, no feelings. But one night isn't enough, and the more they meet, the more he wants. No falling in loveRoman is the perfect fling, until Ava sees him at her cousin's engagement partyas the groom's best man, no less! Maintaining her boundaries becomes a lot more complicated as she tries to hide their relationship from her family, but Roman isn't content being her dirty little secret. With her future uncertain and her family pressuring her from all sides, Ava will have to decide if love is worth the riskagain. This ultra-steamy, feel-good, and funny romance is filled with a large and lovable cast of characters and emotional family dynamics and is lovingly rooted in Latine culture... [A] sensational final installment LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review)

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is a story about the many forms of love and death, of war and truth, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Burma Death Railway, surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle's young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.*WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014*''An unforgettable story of men at war'' The TimesThis series of war novels from Vintage Classics presents eight powerful stories about the horror and waste of war - each a passionate plea to prevent its repetition.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMarcia Willett's early life was devoted to the ballet, but her dreams of becoming a ballerina ended when she grew out of the classical proportions required. She had always loved books, and a family crisis made her take up a new career as a novelist - a decision she never regretted.She lived in a beautiful and wild part of Devon, and her surroundings inspired many of her novels.Marcia passed away in June 2022. She leaves behind a son and two grandchildren.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMass-murdering authors. Writers at the head of a football-hooligan ring. A pilot who crafts his poetry in the sky.A tour de force of black humour and imaginary erudition, Nazi Literature in the Americas presents itself as a biographical dictionary of pan-American writers who espoused extreme right-wing ideologies in the 20th and 21st centuries.Terrifyingly witty and remarkably inventive, this is the virtuosic, one-of-a-kind masterpiece which brought Bolaño fame throughout the Spanish-speaking world.TRANSLATED BY CHRIS ANDREWS''The best and weirdest kind of literary game... A strangely profound place to get lost' Financial TimesA darkly comic celebration of the wilder horizons of writing, good, plodding, lunatic and terrible' London Review of Books

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe sacred and the profane come together with visceral force in two novellas by Bruce Wagner, The Met Gala & Tales of Saints and Seekers.The Met Gala follows a prominent family of influencers and would-be philanthropic socialites in the Hollywood hills as they spiral ever further away from reality. Candida is a young actress who sleeps with the “unhoused”—the ultimate charitable act—and her brother, Charlie, transitioned into womanhood at the age of eleven. Their mother and father have long been divorced but still come together to torment their children, mutilating and destroying friends and enemies along the way.Tales of Saints and Seekers is the digestivo, a collection of stories about the journey to enlightenment and the wisdom given by gurus. Where The Met Gala pushes past boundaries and steps over the line, Tales of Saints and Seekers knows that there is no line at al

Read more less

Book SynopsisCharlotte Mendelson's novels include Daughters of Jerusalem, When We Were Bad, Almost English, and The Exhibitionist. She has won both the Somerset Maugham Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and has been longlisted and shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. She is also the author of one work of non-fiction, Rhapsody in Green, and is the gardening correspondent for The New Yorker. She lives in London.Trade ReviewThis deliciously waspish — actually, hilarious — story of a destructive Oxford academic family has stayed with me longer than many did. Pure, very wicked joy -- Andrew Holgate * The Sunday Times *A superb, hilarious farce of dysfunctional academic family life . . . Funny, exciting, lyrical, poignant, redemptive * The Guardian *Brilliant and witty . . . Mendelson’s second bewitchingly erotic and darkly dramatic novel confirms her as a stylish, perceptive chronicler of the heart’s hidden desires * Daily Mail *Brilliant . . . exhilarating . . . Exciting and memorably written, this is one of those rare reads that has you galloping to the end, but feeling bereft at having to say goodbye so soon * Independent *An engaging combination of campus satire and domestic drama . . . In Daughters of Jerusalem Mendelson has created a blue-stocking thriller * The Daily Telegraph *Miss Marple meets Rosamond Lehmann . . . luscious prose and droll comedy . . . suffused with longing, studded with recherché words and clotted with gastronomic metaphors that make you feel that you should be reading on a chaise longe, stuffing yourself with violet creams * The Observer *Savagely funny and hilariously cruel, it . . . convinces through the sheer power of the writing * The Sunday Times *A delicious tale of intrigue and betrayal * The Big Issue *Bold . . . engaging . . . an undoubted talent for comic observation * The Times *A witty and absorbing work of fiction . . . wonderful . . . surprising and satisfying * The Times Literary Supplement *Written with great sharpness and has thrilling detail -- Julia Darling

Read more less

Book SynopsisA brilliant queer dystopian novel from the author of Yours for the Taking, following a cast of characters on the margins of a strange and exclusive new society.The year is 2041, and it''s a dangerous time to be a woman driving across the United States alone. Deadly storms and uncontrollable wildfires are pummeling the country while political tensions are rising. But Kelly''s on the road anyway; she desperately needs to get back to her daughter, who she left seven years ago for a cause that she''s no longer sure she believes in. Almost 40 years later, another mother, Ava, and her daughter Brook are on the run as well, from the climate change relief program known as The Inside Project, where they''ve spent the past 22 years being treated as lab rats. When they encounter a woman from Ava's past on the side of the highway, the three continue on in a journey that will take them into the depths of what remains of humanity out in the wilderness. At the

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis is a book about divine dicks, mortal pricks, and some epically long-suffering women.The Ancient Greek myths and epics have spent the last few thousand years focusing on all the testosterone and willy-waving that their so-called heroes got up to. Now, at long last, it?s time to shine a light on the goddesses, nymphs and queens who had to endure all that unwanted wooing, the wrath of vengeful gods, and a lot of straight-up misogyny without complaint ? or at least none that was considered worth noting.Is it really heroic to start a war just because the girl you like fancies someone else? And seriously, when will men stop fobbing off women''s ideas as their own?These are the Greek myths as you?ve never heard them before.

Read more less

Book Synopsis''The story, and especially Sunshine herself, crept into my mind and heart and took up residence there. A lovely novel, deftly plotted and emotionally involving'' Laura Barnett, author of no. 1 Sunday Times bestseller The Versions of Us----------------''Who would name a child Sunshine, then give her away?''Chrissie has always wanted to be a mother. After months of trying to adopt, she and her husband Stuart finally get the news that a little girl named Sunshine is waiting for them.Abandoned at a young age, the child comes to them without a family history, and it feels like a fresh start for all of them. But when fragments from Sunshine''s previous life start to intrude on her new one, the little girl''s mysterious past quickly becomes Chrissie''s greatest fear ...Beautiful and compelling, this is a story of hope and love, about finding the perfect family and fighting to keep it, perfect for f

Read more less

Book Synopsis'A truly moving, uplifting story about love, connection and finding the courage to start over' - Rowan Coleman'The perfect holiday read' - Josie LloydWhat are you most afraid of . . . ?Gemma is terrified of slowing down, because if she does, she’ll have to admit how lonely she’s felt since losing the love of her life. So she fills her days with work and taking her dog, Bear, to comfort young patients at the local hospital.Dan is scared of anyone getting to know the real him. He’s the life and soul of every party, but he’s certain that if people find out what he’s done, everything will fall apart.Casey is Dan’s twelve-year-old daughter – though they barely know each other. She’s starting four weeks of treatment for a benign tumour, and is scared this summer could be her last.When Gemma, Dan and Casey meet one scorching July, the connection is instant. Yet they’re all used to protecting themselves from heartbreak by keeping their distance. Now that fate – and a small, scruffy terrier – have brought them together, can they find the courage to connect?'Heartwarming and full of insight, this book will lift your spirits and make you smile' - Katie Fforde'A beautiful read' - Julie CohenTrade ReviewHeartwarming, immersive and hopeful . . . A beautiful read -- Julie CohenA truly moving, uplifting story about love, connection and finding the courage to start over -- Rowan ColemanHeartwarming and full of insight, this book will lift your spirits and make you smile -- Katie FfordeThe perfect holiday read - wonderfully plausible characters, dark secrets and a fabulously teased-out love story. When I got to the end, I gave it a hug -- Josie LloydA gorgeous novel about messy, scary, wonderful love in all its forms -- Katy ReganSensitively and beautifully written. This is a book that will stay with you long after the last page is turned -- Milly JohnsonOne of the most beautiful books of the year. Brilliant * The Sun *'I adored this incredibly moving and touching tale, with an unlikely hero who will steal your heart. Deeply emotional but with a light touch, this should be the love story of summer 2022 - an absolute delight.’ -- Veronica Henry'Eva Carter has done it again. The perfect book to relax, unwind and warm up your heart.' -- Suzy K Quinn

Read more less

Book SynopsisThings are bad enough when Emily's life falls apart, and even the cat isn't speaking to her. Then it gets worse when her black sheep father turns up with one of his plans. The funny, poignant new novel from the author of Swimming for Beginners.

Read more less

Book SynopsisLove could be just what the doctor ordered Sarah Soon may have recovered from cancer, but her brush with mortality has left the usually confident ob/gyn doctor shaken. One thing is certain, she doesn't want Jake Li, her brother's annoyingly good and disturbingly hot best friend hanging around.Everyone tells newly divorced social worker Jake that he shouldn't look for a serious relationship right now. But Jake can't stay away from Sarah, and despite her complicated past Sarah can't stop wanting Jake. This is one break that neither of them can make.A gorgeously heartwarming second chance romance for readers of Kate Clayborn and Kwana Jackson.

Read more less

Book SynopsisNo.1 bestselling writer Josephine Cox''s Love Me or Leave Me is a heartrending story of love and friendship and the obstacles that may come between. Beautiful Eva Bereton has just three close friends: Patsy, whom she looks upon as a sister; Bill, once her childhood sweetheart, now married and living in Canada; and her mother, to whom she is devoted. When a tragic accident turns Eva''s world upside down, Patsy is the only one she can turn to.A hated figure from the past comes to reclaim the farm and business that Eva had always believed were her parents''. Not even Bill, still in love with Eva, can stop Eva being thrown out on the streets. Together with Patsy, Eva starts a new life far away.Luckily, they find work and lodgings wherever they settle. But when Eva arrives in Blackburn her past mistakes rise up to haunt her. Yet even when threatened from all sides Eva will never accept that her chances of happiness have been destroyed. Determined and optimistic, she fights on to change her life for the better.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAlicia Elliott is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario. Her short fiction was selected for Best American Short Stories 2018 and she won the 2018 RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, is a Canadian bestseller.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne of The Observer’s fiction picks for 2022 and winner of a PEN Heim award.To deter me, my uncle spoke to me about roots. A line of argument that I found absurd. Even plants are intelligent enough to grow around stones, seeking the best soil for their roots underground.Jeanphi, a young man from the fictional West African city Ouabany, has one obsession that will determine the fate of his life – migration. He scrapes together money to take the illegal route across the Sahara, making it as far as Morocco before being repatriated. Increasingly desperate, Jeanphi meets an elegant French widower who for his part is despairing at the insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles for his charitable endeavour in Jeanphi’s country. A window opens to opportunity – but it will also bring tragedy.Burkinabé author Monique Ilboudo’s novel offers a compelling and complex portrait of migration, one of the defining global concerns of the twenty-first century, and a sharp critique of both the NGO-isation of African countries and the currents of shame that divide communities and families. Yarri Kamara has rendered Ilboudo’s text in an idiom that conveys the sharp humour, lucid descriptions and urgency of the original.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA reporter embarks on an investigation of a string of unconnected suicides?which then leads into an exploration of the phenomenon of suicide itself?in this elegant existential novel, the third and final volume of Antonio Di Benedetto?s Trilogy of Expectation. A stymied reporter in his early thirties embarks on an investigation of three unconnected suicides. All he has to go on are photos of the faces of the dead. Other suicides begin to proliferate, while a colleague in the archives sends him historical justifications of self-murder by thinkers of all sorts: Diogenes, David Hume, Emile Durkheim, Margaret Mead. His investigation becomes an obsession, and he finds himself ever more attracted to its subject as it proceeds. The Suicides is the third volume of Antonio Di Benedetto?s Trilogy of Expectation, a touchstone for Roberto Bolaño and deemed ?one of the culminating moments of twentieth-century fiction? by Juan José Saer. Following Zama (set during the eighteenth century) and The Silentiary (set during the 1950s), this final work takes place in a provincial city in the late 1960s, as Argentina plummets toward the ?Dirty War.?

Read more less

Book SynopsisA provocative, tender and darkly funny novel that explores the painful truths of modern-day connection, and all the complicated and unexpected forms that love can take in a lifetime.''Inventive astute and funny'' Observer ''As rip-roaring as it is thought provoking'' i''A love triangle, but with a twist'' Guardian''Highly original, deeply moving, simultaneously delicate yet hard hitting'' Claire Kilroy''Funny and dark. Tender and tough. Uncanny and relatable'' Erin KellyImagine discovering an animatronic sex doll hidden in the garage. What would you do?Dolores initially does nothing. She assumes the doll belongs to her husband, David, and their relationship is already strained. They're not young, they're not old; they have no children, they keep up with the markers of being middle class and Dolores is well versed in keeping men's secrets.But then, Dolores and

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad, and 'queen of the banging book title' comes a powerful polyphonic novel about family secrets, judgemental aunties, and Brazilian butt lifts. Fresh out of university, 20-year-old Témì has a clear plan for her future: she is going to surgically enlarge her backside like all the other Nigerian women, move from Ile-Ife to Lagos, and meet a man who will love her senseless. When she finally finds the courage to tell her mother, older sister, and aunties, at the funeral of her beloved father, her announcement causes an uproar - because in Nigerian families, none of your business is private. Not even if it’s about your bumbum. But as each of the other women try to cure Témì of what they consider to be insanity, the long-buried secrets that bind and separate them are spilled in the process. In the end, it seems like Témì might be

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen his beloved little brother is stolen away, five-year-old Tommy Farrier is left alone with his alcoholic mam, his violent step-dad and his guilt. Too young to understand what has really happened, Tommy is sure of only one thing. He is to blame.Tommy tries to be good, to live-up to his brother''s increasingly hazy memory, but trapped in a world of shame and degradation he grows up with just two options; poverty or crime. And crime pays. Or so he thinks.A teenage drug-dealer for the vicious Burns gang, Tommy''s life is headed for disaster, until, in the place he least expects, Tommy sees a familiar face... And then things get a whole lot worse.

Read more less

Book Synopsis“One of the year''s most compelling reads.”—Washington Post“Its naturalness and ease with the most fundamental questions of existence make it a big project knocking around in a small package.”—New York TimesFrom the acclaimed author of The Atmospherians, a gender-bending, body-switching novel that explores marriage, identity, and sex, and raises profound questions about the nature of true partnership.When Eli leaves the cramped Bulgarian apartment he shares with Elizabeth, his more organized and successful wife, he discovers that he now inhabits her body. Not only have he and his wife traded bodies, but Elizabeth, living as Eli, has disappeared without a trace. What follows is Eli’s search across Europe and to America for his missing wife—and a roving, no-holds-barred exploration of gender and embodied experience.As Eli comes closer to finding Elizabeth—while learning to exist in her body—he begins to wonder what effect this metamorphosis will have on their relationship and how long he can maintain the illusion of living as someone he isn’t. Will their new marriage wither completely? Or is this transformation the very thing Eli and Elizabeth need for their marriage to thrive?A rich, rewarding exploration of ambition and sacrifice, desire and loss, People Collide is a portrait of shared lives that shines a refreshing light on everything we thought we knew about love, sexuality, and the truth of who we are.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSet in contemporary India, Sangeeta Mulay's unforgettable debut novel is a compelling story of four unforgettable characters: Aparna - a courageous campaigner of rationality and freedom of expression. Will the patriarchal grip of a Hindu nationalist government and a religious society manage to silence her? Hari - the passionate founder of a religious organisation. As Hari becomes a rising star for the local Hindu right-wing, will he lose himself? Naseem - Aparna's wise daughter who is discovering her sexuality. Will she have the strength to stand up for her mother against societal stigma? Kashi - Hari's daughter who is in love with science and...girls? Confused about her sexuality, will she be able to lead life on her own terms? Confronting issues of religion, bigotry, sex and politics, DISOBEDIENT WOMEN tells the interwoven stories of two families and their battle of ideologies. A novel of the choices women make under pressure, where to be disobedient is the only option that offers change.Trade Review"Mulay’s novel shows a world in which people, especially women, are put under immense social pressure to conform, to stay quiet, to follow. The characters’ choices involve impossible decisions about who they really want to be, and who they want to be seen as: “And isn't this finally about Aparna, the woman? Not Aparna, the mother or Aparna, the wife." Through Aparna, Hari, and their daughters, Mulay gives us a cast of brave characters, and an insight into the society of contemporary India – a secular State with a right-wing religious party in government." - Kenzie Millar, The Crack Magazine

Read more less

Book Synopsis''So compelling.'' Guardian ''I loved it.'' Sunday Times ''Magnificent.'' Big Issue The discovery of black gold' in the North Sea transforms all it touches including the dreams of five very different individuals. Joe and Ally each aspire to make their fortunes in business. Mark believes oil can cause political change. Aaron wishes to write his name into scientific history. Robbie only hopes for a better chance in life. But every wish incurs a price, and the desires spurred by oil will turn old friends into foes even putting lives in peril.Gripping . . . In Kelly's hands, the unfolding of the hunt for oil off the Scottish coast takes on the momentum of a thriller.' Herald (Scotland)

Read more less

Book SynopsisStars and studs, hookers and hopefuls, Hollywood's rich, beautiful, brilliant and depraved - Jackie Collins bares all their secrets!

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new collection of stories from the cult author of Terminal Boredom.Izumi Suzuki had ideas about doing things differently, ideas that paid little attention to the laws of physics, or the laws of the land. In this new collection, her skewed imagination distorts and enhances some of the classic concepts of science fiction and fantasy.A philandering husband receives a bestial punishment from a wife with her own secrets to keep; a music lover finds herself in a timeline both familiar and as wrong as can be; a misfit band of space pirates discover a mysterious baby among the stars; Emma, the Bovary-like character from one of Suzuki's stories in Terminal Boredom, lands herself in a bizarre romantic pickle.Wryly anarchic and deeply imaginative, Suzuki was a writer like no other. These eleven stories offer readers the opportunity to delve deeper in this singular writer's work.Trade ReviewFascinatingly skewy -- Cal Revely-Calder, best books of 2023 * Daily Telegraph *This collection showcases [Suzuki's] unique sensibility, which combined a punk aesthetic with a taste for the absurd. Her work-populated by misfits, loners, and femmes fatales alongside extraterrestrial boyfriends, intergalactic animal traffickers, and murderous teen-agers with E.S.P.-wryly blurs the boundary between earthly delinquency and otherworldly phenomena. * The New Yorker *The work and messages of Ursula K. Le Guin, the author's longer-lived contemporary, come to mind. Both Suzuki and Le Guin knew that gender roles are a matter of costume or control, affect or affliction. The terms we use to define humanity are often inhuman -- Catherine Lacey * New York Times *Brilliant and often bleak . all shot through with a camp ethos, dark humour and kitchen-sink realism . in their brio and jagged urgency, these stories have, if anything, only gained in their alarming immediacy. * Times Literary Supplement *Not only still relevant but remarkably fresh ... All these stories are brilliant * Guardian *With this impressive collection, translators Bett, David Boyd, Helen O'Horan, and Daniel Joseph bring 11 strange, transfixing, and compassionate short stories from Suzuki to English-speaking audiences. SFF fans are sure to be pleased with these slangy, accessible new translations of a master. * Publishers Weekly *Her punky irreverence remains radiant' * Frieze *These strangely prescient stories are perfect for fans of Haruki Murakami, George Saunders, and Philip K. Dick * Publishers Weekly *Extraordinary. To use one of her own coolly illuminating formulations, Suzuki is steward of a new anxiety -- China Miéville[A] riveting book of short stories by cult favorite Japanese sci-fi author Izumi Suzuki. -- Sophia June, Most Anticipated Books of 2023 * Nylon *A little speculative, a little punk, a little chaotic-all singular in their voice and vision. In this new collection, there will be cheating husbands, score settling, alternate timelines, bored teens, and space pirates...What a thrill it is to see that more of her stories are coming down the pipes. -- Most Anticipated Books of 2023 * Lit Hub *Even decades after her death, Suzuki's sci-fi fantasy worlds feel fresh. The 11 stories in this deeply unsettling and imaginative collection are sure to enthrall, disturb and entertain...A brilliant follow up. -- 15 Upcoming Releases We Can't Wait to Read in 2023 * Tokyo Weekender, *Sure to be wonderfully off-kilter and imaginative. -- Iain Maloney * Japan Times *This volume is at the top of my TBR list. -- Karla J. Strand * Ms. Magazine *This collection reaches out from the past not as a warning so much as the musings of a writer grasping for hope in a dark world. Music is woven through the book, as if Suzuki had created an accompanying playlist and is urging readers to listen along...These 11 stories surprise with wry humor and stun with the loneliness of living. * Kirkus Reviews *[Suzuki] has produced stories that delight in weaving the uncanny into everyday experiences. The stories are edgy and comic, taking a sharp, sardonic scalpel to male privilege in Japanese society ... a singular voice in Japanese literature -- Michael Cronin * Irish Times *Through stories of murderous aliens, rock-and-roll has-beens and failed witches, Suzuki knows very well that life on Earth sucks, but that doesn't stop her from constantly imagining and reimagining radical alterities. -- Marv Recinto * ArtReview Asia *Suzuki creates worlds subtly unstuck from specific times and locations ... The anxiety at the heart of her writing resonates far beyond its temporal walls. Suzuki's science fiction of the 1980s has an eerie accordance with the world as we know it today. -- Genie Harrison * Tokyo Weekender *Suzuki's work is richly steeped in science fiction, fantasy, and '70s counterculture...throughout [she] empathizes with those who feel alien, other, or ostracized-especially women and girls battling patriarchy and misogyny. -- Laura Zornosa * TIME *The continuing translation of Suzuki's work is extremely exciting, as it helps to provide a more thorough picture of a dynamic and experimental artist whose work parallels some of the most important work of the 1970s new wave, cyberpunk, and beyond. -- Nell Keep * Booklist, Starred Review *Sardonic, dystopian commentaries on the struggle to stay sane in a world that often fails to offer encouragement to do so. -- Sean Sheehan * The Prisma *This new collection brings the same gritty, surreal vibes we love. * Book Culture *These stories are deeply, persistently, wonderfully odd, full of humor, irony, heartache, and aliens. -- Patrick Rapa * The Philadelphia Inquirer *Sharp and achingly present, these eleven short stories ... present emotional and often unsettling glimpses into worlds both familiar and fantastical ... Suzuki's voice is boldly abrasive. -- Bella Creel * Asymptote Journal *Reader, beware: Suzuki's stories are soft, but they are not light. -- Nick Mamatas * The Fabulist *Blurring together magic, fantasy, and sci-fi, [Suzuki's] stories bend reality to explore themes of marriage, friendship, love, sexuality, and femininity. * The Millions *Wild and restless ... I can't think of anyone I'd rather read this spring than this countercultural icon of the Japanese literary underground. -- Angel Lambo * Frieze *A forerunner of cyberpunk ... With dark humour and cool affect, [Suzuki] presented the isolation of Japanese domestic life. -- Stephanie LaCava * Telegraph *An enjoyably acidic and darkly funny set of stories in which the novelty is not always so much in the ideas as in the consistently engaging execution. Suzuki's distinctly misanthropic voice enlivens these narratives of women whose mundane lives are altered - sometimes humorously, sometimes catastrophically - by science-fictional or supernatural occurrences. -- Dexter Palmer * The Washington Post *Translated into English decades after her death, the sci-fi stories of Izumi Suzuki gently twist modern Japan into tales of unspeakable loneliness. -- Amanda DeMarco * Spike Art Magazine *Impressively uncanny stuff. -- Tobias Carroll * Words Without Borders *[Hit Parade of Tears] challenges the concepts of fantasy and science fiction, twisting these genres into new and strange things. These tales are bleak, funny, feminist, angry, and often deeply allegorical and political. * Books & Bao *Hit Parade of Tears perfectly demonstrates Suzuki's sharp social satire, her singular voice, and her unique aesthetics ... mesmerising feminist explorations of gender, alienation and treacherous states of reality that could not have been written by anyone else -- Jonathan Thornton * Fantasy Hive *Suzuki's acidic voice permeates these 11 hazy, imaginative stories following women whose lives are altered by time travel, aliens, magic and more. * The New York Times Book Review *A collection of stories that sway between science fiction, fantasy and the intrigue of modern relationships. Expect a wild ride through affairs, space pirates and discoveries of new dimensions. -- Ellen Scott * Stylist *It's rare for a short story collection to captivate and glue your eyes to the page like a thriller. But Hit Parade of Tears ... does just that, lining up one twisted mindbender after another ... her plots beguile as they come apart and pull together like pieces of a deliberately imperfect puzzle. -- Eric Margolis * Japan Times *This newly translated collection of Izumi Suzuki's short stories, first published more than forty years ago, is jaunty, odd, violent, femme-centric, funny-but what strikes me most is its freshness." -- Young Kim * LIBER *[Hit Parade of Tears] has the could-it-be-prescience that renders good science fiction both captivating and uncanny. At the same time, it often feels so rooted in the '60s and '70s that it could have emerged from a time capsule..its prose is strong and clear, a message from the past that has, thanks to her stellar team of translators, arrived here asking to be heard. -- Lily Meyer * NPR *Two years ago, Izumi Suzuki's work was published in English for the first time in the collection Terminal Boredom. This second collection gives English language readers even more of her inventive and atmospheric stories that explore life on the outskirts using science fiction and fantasy elements. -- Patricia Thang * Book Riot *Suzuki's narratives might contain B-movie silliness. They also have the hypnotic power of a bender. Just look at the time - you've suddenly finished them all. -- Jen Vafidis * The New York Times Book Review *A unique voice in science fiction ... Suzuki's stories represent female rage at a society which refused to include her ... darkly witty -- Terri-Jane Dow * Mslexia *Packed with casual, occasional sadism ... Each story is air-locked away from the noisy links between organism and ecosystem, consumer supply chain and perpetual war ... Dreams of estrangement play out across a total lack of world. -- Alex Quicho * The White Review *[Suzuki's] characters' clever means of dealing with society give life to each story even half a century after their original publication. It is not so much the specifics of the worlds Suzuki creates as the way her characters find relief within them that makes Hit Parade of Tears translate well for a contemporary audience. -- Jenny Wu * The Harvard Review *[Hit Parade of Tears] speaks to our anxieties and fears about a world, a future, slowly slipping from our grasp -- Ian Mond * Locus Magazine *This posthumous collection of stories is absurd, with little to do with the laws of physics: Suzuki takes common sci-fi and fantasy tropes - themselves a skewer on reality - and twists them further so that what you're left with is time- and space-bending plotlines and very strange characters. * Harper's Bazaar *Both humorous and devastating ... [Suzuki's] signature sci-fi style is as moving as it is unpredictable and a must-read by anyone interested in the emotional politics of our potential future(s). -- Jennifer Brough * Lucy Writers Platform *Suzuki is a master at mixing high sci-fi concepts with melodrama. -- Ben Dreith * Maudlin House *Ominous and funny ... Suzuki's "sci-fi surreal" explores reality in the same way that surrealism did and still does in its contemporary manifestations, and critiques society as all good sci-fi does. -- Vik Shirley * Firmament Magazine *Izumi takes her insincerity to depths unimaginable, from where it floats up as alien, tampered, and wholly disorienting. -- Shahriar Shaams * The Daily Star (Bangladesh) *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisMelancholy I-II is a fictional invocation of the nineteenth-century Norwegian artist Lars Hertervig, who painted luminous landscapes, suffered mental illness and died poor in 1902. In this wild, feverish narrative, Jon Fosse delves into Hertervig’s mind as the events of one day precipitate his mental breakdown. A student of Hans Gude at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, Hertervig is paralyzed by anxieties about his talent and is overcome with love for Helene Winckelmann, his landlady’s daughter. Marked by inspiring lyrical flights of passion and enraged sexual delusions, Hertervig’s fixation on Helene persuades her family that he must leave. Oppressed by hallucinations and with nowhere to go, Hertervig shuttles between a cafe, where he endures the mockery of his more sophisticated classmates, and the Winckelmann’s apartment, which he desperately tries to re-enter – a limbo state which leads him inexorably into a state of madness. Published here in one volume in English for the first time, Melancholy I-II is a major novel by ‘the Beckett of the twenty-first century’ (Le Monde).Trade Review‘Jon Fosse is a major European writer.’ — Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of My Struggle‘Fosse has been compared to Ibsen and to Beckett, and it is easy to see his work as Ibsen stripped down to its emotional essentials. But it is much more. For one thing, it has a fierce poetic simplicity.’ — New York Times‘Jon Fosse has managed, like few others, to carve out a literary form of his own.’ — Nordic Council Literary Prize‘It is desperately poignant…Melancholy I-II is a difficult but deep book…It is essential for understanding his major themes and the evolution of [Fosse’s] technique and artistic vision.’ — Rónán Hession, Irish Times‘Fosse has written a strange mystical moebius strip of a novel, in which an artist struggles with faith and loneliness, and watches himself, or versions of himself, fall away into the lower depths. The social world seems distant and foggy in this profound, existential narrative.’ — Hari Kunzru, author of White Tears (Praise for Septology)‘I hesitate to compare the experience of reading these works to the act of meditation. But that is the closest I can come to describing how something in the critical self is shed in the process of reading Fosse, only to be replaced by something more primal. A mood. An atmosphere. The sound of words moving on a page.’ — Ruth Margalit, New York Review of Books (Praise for Septology)‘Septology feels momentous.’ — Catherine Taylor, Guardian (Praise for Septology)‘Fosse intuitively — and with great artistry — conveys ... a sense of wonder at the unfathomable miracle of life, even in its bleakest and loneliest moments.’ — Bryan Karetnyk, Financial Times (Praise for Septology)‘The entire septet seems to take place in a state of limbo. ... Though Fosse has largely done away with punctuation altogether, opting instead for sudden line breaks, his dense, sinuous prose is never convoluted, and its effect is mesmerizing.’ — Johanna Elster Hanson, TLS (Praise for Septology)

Read more less

Book Synopsis“I loved it.” —Sally Hepworth, New York Times bestselling author.In this haunting tale about the bonds between sisters, one young woman must follow the invisible thread that connects her to her missing twin before someone else can sever it for good.Twin sisters May and June couldn’t be more different. May is quiet, self-conscious, withdrawn; June is boisterous, beautiful, magnetic…and missing.It’s been a year since June disappeared, a year of May waiting for her to turn up with an explanation of where she’s been and why she left. But with the discovery of an old newspaper article comes a secret: their mother once vanished, too, on the same date when she was nineteen years old.Just like June.This was no coincidence. June was investigating this buried family mystery, and she left May a series of clues to pick up where she left off. Now, if May wants to find June, she’ll have to retr

Read more less

Book SynopsisWinner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction, from the author of instant crime classic The Woman in the LibraryIt's an author's job to create a new world in the pages of a book. But when lines start to blur and reality begins to fade, getting lost in a story can be dangerous—especially if you can't find your way back... Madeleine d'Leon doesn't know where Edward came from. He is simply a character in her next book. But as she writes, he becomes all she can think about. His charm, his dark hair, his pen scratching out his latest literary novel... Edward McGinnity can't get Madeleine out of his mind—softly smiling, infectiously enthusiastic, and perfectly damaged. She will be the ideal heroine for his next book. But who is the author and who is the creation? And as the lines start to blur, who is affected when a killer finally takes flesh?After She Wrote Him is a p

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Patricia''s shoes. That''s what I''d heard that morning, echoing outside of my bathroom window.''After her best friend''s mysterious death, Elizabeth Smith''s picture-perfect life in the Memphis suburbs spirals out of control, causing her to hire an assistant to keep her world from hurtling off its axis. In comes the composed and elegant Brianna. But Elizabeth''s obsession is catching, and Brianna quickly becomes accomplice rather than diversion.Why? Because Brianna has questions, too...She wants to know why the police killed her young Black son. Why someone in Elizabeth''s neighbourhood saw him and thought to call the police. Who she can hold responsible for his death. As the two women hurtle towards the truth, it becomes clear that neither of them is who they claim to be.A scorching debut that is as heartbreaking as it is thrilling, examining the intersection of race, class, female friendship, and the devastating consequences of everyday actions.<

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Laugh-out-loud funny, filled with joy, as deliciously swoony as it is downright steamy'' CHLOE LIESEThe next sizzling and swoonie rom-com from the author of the TikTok-hit A Brush with Love which readers gave FIVE SHINING STARS!''Oh my TOOTH FAIRY!! This book was so much more than I expected and swept me off my feet'' ''Swoony, steamy, adorable . . . Read. This. Book. You won''t be disappointed. It''s a keeper and Mazey Eddings is on my auto-read list forever''''There was so much to love about this book . . . Thank you to Mazey Eddings for this romance with its messy, true, and painfully real representation of anxiety . . . We need more books like this in the world''...............................Chaotic, messy and madly in love. Lizzie Blake has made endless mistakes. Kitchen fires, pyramid schemes, you name it, she''s done it . . . and made a mess of it too. One mist

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Characters you'll come to love and a story that keeps you turning the page.' Rosie Goodwin .' Rosie GoodwinThe fourth book in a dramatic and moving World War II saga series of family, secrets and lies. Perfect for readers of Ellie Dean and Annie Groves and for fans of the Home Fires series.All is not well at Castle's Café. Since the fatal shooting, customers have been staying away, and now Nellie finds herself in debt to the sinister Terence Carter. But when a deadly attack strikes close to home, these troubles pale into insignificance.Meanwhile, Jimmy Castle's relationship with family friend Reenie Turner has deepened, and in the aftermath of the attack that could so easily have killed them, they decide to get married.But the return of an old friend threatens to expose a long-held secret, leaving the wedding teetering on the brink of disaster . . .Don't miss the first three boo

Read more less

Book Synopsis**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER** 'A magnificent, sweeping epic' JENNIFER SAINT, Sunday Times-bestselling author of ARIADNE 'Shannon is simply a master of the genre' C. S. PACAT, New York Times-bestselling author of DARK RISE 'A tremendous triumph' LONDON SHAH, award-winning author of the LIGHT OF THE ABYSS series 'A gorgeous, glittering epic' DAILY MAIL ____________________ A return to the world of Samantha Shannon's Sunday Times and New York Times-bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree ____________________ Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose. To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be. The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate. When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat. Intricate and epic, A Day of Fallen Night sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come. **Chosen as a book of 2023 by the Metro, Cosmopolitan, Nerd Daily, PinkNews and Waterstones**Trade ReviewA magnificent, sweeping epic. Shannon has created a world rich in intricate mythology, beautifully realised and complex, and placed at its heart bold and vivid characters. Their journeys sweep the reader along, compelled by a thrilling plot of peril and warfare, but utterly captivated by the heartfelt relationships, the simmering romances, the betrayals, the loss and the love. Highly recommended for hiding away from the real world and losing yourself in this one instead -- Jennifer Saint, author of the Sunday Times-bestselling AriadneLike all the greats, Samantha Shannon has built a world … Miraculously pacy, given its thumping scale, this is another gorgeous, glittering epic * DAILY MAIL *This magnificent Sapphic fantasy novel is going to sweep you off your feet * Glamour *The engrossing new story promises to deliver more character-driven, emotionally complex adventure and intrigue * Cosmopolitan *Samantha Shannon once again wows us as we dive back into her complex and beautiful world. This is one for the fantasy lovers and it won’t disappoint * Metro, Seven books to read in 2023 *When I heard that Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree was getting a brand new prequel, I immediately bumped it higher up on my TBR list * Cosmopolitan, Best Books of 2023 *In this stunning epic fantasy, lush with detail and nuance, Shannon weaves a tale of three powerful women that intersect in the most thrilling ways. Huge in scope, rich with emotion, and gorgeously queer, A Day of Fallen Night is the Roots of Chaos book fans have been waiting for. Shannon is simply a master of the genre -- C. S. Pacat, New York Times-bestselling author of Dark RiseIntricate and epic * Nerd Daily, The Most Anticipated 2023 Book Releases *An intricate epic, a lavishly glittering fantasy tapestry vividly depicting generations of compelling relationships and characters that feel legendary and human. A Day of Fallen Night both stands along and magnificent, and is a worthy successor -- SARAH REES BRENNAN, New York Times-bestselling author of The Demon's Lexicon trilogyLike a dragon in flight, Samantha Shannon takes you soaring through a tale full of fire and spirit. It is in that freefall that I fell utterly in love with these new characters. The novel draws strength from the power of a woman's choice, giving the characters a depth of fortitude that is masterful in its craft and execution. Shannon lays bare the intricacies of the world she's created with sublime skill, enrapturing the reader with political intrigue and momentous action, cleaved through with heart and passion. Simply put, Samantha Shannon hasn't just done it again, she's surpassed all that has come before and cemented herself as a legend of the genre -- Saara El-Arifi, Sunday Times-bestselling author of The Final StrifeA Day of Fallen Night is a mythic and timeless meditation on grief, faith and the bonds of love and fealty that define us. An exquisite epic fantasy -- Tasha Suri, World Fantasy Award-winning author of The Jasmine ThroneThe engrossing prequel to the bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree delivers more character-driven, emotionally complex adventure and intrigue as the eruption of the Dreadmount brings three formidable women to the fore * Waterstones, The fiction you need to read in 2023 *Aching in its intimacy and undaunted in its chaos, never before has such terror presented itself so tenderly. A tremendous triumph. The Roots of Chaos series firmly plants Shannon as a master of the genre -- London Shah, award-winning author of the Light the Abyss seriesEpic in scope, yet careful and tender in its depiction of personal grief, A Day of Fallen Night shows the heights of courage and depths of hope that people can find during terrifying, destructive chaos. A triumph of a book -- Helen Corcoran, author of Queen of Coin and WhispersPraise for The Priory of the Orange Tree: A tour de force, and my new absolute favourite epic fantasy -- Laini Taylor, author of Strange the DreamerSensual … Majestic … Blending politics with high adventure and the epic with the intimate, the narrative builds like a tidal wave before sweeping towards an awesome, climactic finale * Daily Mail *I have been waiting my whole life for this fantasy. It’s the kind of book you never want to end. Utterly unique, wild, and rich. Sheer perfection -- Lisa Lueddecke, author of A Storm of Ice and StarsAllow me to introduce your newest fantasy obsession … Remarkably fresh and frankly fearless … Works so well as an intricately realised and feminist fantasy that one might even be tempted to dub Samantha Shannon ‘The female George R.R. Martin’ … As with the best of fantasy, The Priory of the Orange Tree feels less like a book than it does an experience, a true sojourn into a rich and terrible new world * Hypable *The new Game of Thrones. Escapism at its finest – Shannon, we salute you * Stylist.co.uk *A magnificent epic … Crammed with subversion and feminism, and written with tough, poetic assurance * Metro *The Priory of the Orange Tree is a brilliant, daring, and devastating jewel. Samantha Shannon has crafted an incredible world full of depth and danger, with characters I would follow to the ends of the earth. It was a privilege to read, and I’m in awe of her talent. I can’t wait for the rest of the world to experience this book -- Victoria Aveyard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Red Queen seriesA masterpiece of intricate world-building with the depth, complexity, heart and soul of a timelessly relevant classic. Brilliant, diverse, feminist, subversive, thought-provoking and masterfully told, The Priory of the Orange Tree is epic fantasy at its finest. The scope of the book is staggering, as is Shannon’s deft command of language ... An absolute must-read -- Karen Marie Moning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Highlander and Fever seriesNothing short of extraordinary. An audacious, ambitious, sprawling epic, set across a world like no other, The Priory of the Orange Tree takes everything you think you know about high fantasy, rips it apart and remakes it ... Nothing short of game-changing ... An absolute masterclass in story telling, from one of the most exciting and innovative fantasy writers alive today. With it, Samantha Shannon has set the bar stratospherically high. This is the book of 2019 -- Melinda Salisbury, author of The Sin-Eater’s DaughterAn epic fantasy destined to be a classic. A world crafted with such intricacy and detail, I had to remind myself it was not a real place. The Priory of the Orange Tree is one of those rare novels that captures your imagination so completely you will read it over and over, until the cover cracks and the spine breaks -- Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Beautiful Creatures and author of Unbreakable

Read more less

Book SynopsisHere''s the catch--even if I make it out of here alive, I need a reason to breathe again.When MacThomas Pockets finished his last tour as part of the Scottish Special Forces, he was hired to consult for a film director to finesse some scenes that weren''t working. In a twist he never saw coming, he ended up moving to L.A. to work as the bodyguard for movie star Maybe Joe Sue.It didn''t take long for Pockets to realize there were two Joe Sues: The Joe Sue the public saw with her perfect life and her Hollywood husband. And the private Joe Sue: the one with the traumatic youth that no amount of pills could cover up, who desperately wanted a child of her own.Even after their paths diverged, he continued to track Joe Sue''s life. Only a few would notice when the bottom fell out. But he did. And that''s when he stepped in.One man seeks to answer the question: How far would you go--really--to save someone you love? And in the masterful

Read more less

"An outstanding addition to an impressive oeuvre" Times Literary SupplementArthur Daane, a documentary film-maker and inveterate globetrotter, wanders the streets of Berlin, a city whose recent past provides the perfect backdrop for his reflections on life and the universe as he collects images for his latest project - a film that will show the world through his eyes.With his circle of friends - a philosopher, a sculptor and a physicist - Daane discusses everything from history to metaphysics and the meaning of our contemporary existence, often over a hearty meal. Then, one cold winter's day, Daane meets the history student Elik Oranje and his world is turned upside down. And when she unexpectedly leaves the city for Spain, Daane is compelled to follow.All Souls' Day is an elegiac love story, a poignant and affecting tale in which the city of Berlin plays a prominent role, by one of Europe's major contemporary writers.Translated from the Dutch by Susan Massotty"Displays with admirable lucidity the workings of a humane, civilized, and consistently interesting mind" Kirkus Reviews"One of the most remarkable writers of our time" ALBERTO MANGUEL

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Nobody does crime like James Ellroy . . . One of Ellroy''s best works in years'' Sunday Times''This is the master of darkness at his incomparable best simply impossible to put down'' Daily MailLos Angeles. August 4, 1962. The city broils through a mid-summer heat wave. Marilyn Monroe ODs. A B-movie starlet is kidnapped. The overhyped LAPD overreacts. Chief Bill Parker''s looking for some getback. The Monroe deal looks like a moneymaker. He calls in Freddy Otash.The freewheeling Freddy O. Tainted ex-cop, defrocked private eye, dope fiend, and freelance extortionist. A man who lives by the maxim Opportunity is Love. Freddy gets to work. He dimly perceives Marilyn Monroe''s death and the kidnapped starlet to be a poisonous riddle that only he has the guts and the brains to untangle. We are with him as he tears through all those who block his path to the truth. We are with him as he penetrates the faux-sunshine of Jack and Bo

Read more less

Book SynopsisWinner of the Akutagawa Prize, a sharp, photo-realistic novella of memory and thwarted hope: part of our Japanese novella series, showcasing the best contemporary Japanese writing

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A book designed to be read in a dark January chill; it begs for a fireside and the sound of wind and rain howling outside'' THE LADYThis winter, escape to a warm and wonderful clifftop hotel with the world''s favourite storyteller. Now with brand new introduction by Cathy Bramley, bestselling author of Merrily Ever After.''Sometimes she would go and walk the cliffs at night and look out over the ocean...''Set high on the cliffs on the west coast of Ireland, Stone House was falling into disrepair until one woman, with a past she needed to forget, breathed new life into the place. Now a hotel with a big warm kitchen and log fires, it provides a welcome few can resist. And so gather the guests: some with secrets, some longing to leave their old lives behind, and some hoping the break at Stone House will help them find a way to face the future...''A book to treasure'' HELLO''Full Trade ReviewA book to treasure. It's classic Maeve Binchy territory, filled with characteristic warmth and captivating storytelling * HELLO *Set in a country house hotel on the West coast of Ireland it's full of her trademark warmth, humour and lovable characters * WOMAN *Binchy's compassion and warmth are undimmed ... Over her long career as a novelist she tackled many serious issues with the compassion, intelligence and wit that anyone who ever read her wonderful journalism would expect. ... All the characters in A Week in Winter are struggling - with traumatic memories, with isolation, with regret. Yet Binchy guides her creations through their troubles with a firm and kind hand, leaving them ready for a happier future. Maybe that's why so many readers loved her so much. That and the fact that she always knew how to tell a very good story * IRISH TIMES *This is a book designed to be read in a dark January chill; it begs for a fireside and the sound of wind and rain howling outside ... If you haven't come across her before, you've got a real treat in store * THE LADY *It is no exaggeration to say that Maeve and her books were loved. Deservedly so. A Week in Winter is shot through with her trademark charm ... here is an author who had a zest for life * BELFAST TELEGRAPH *Warm, witty and with a deep understanding of what makes us tick, it's little wonder that Maeve Binchy's bewitching stories have become world-beaters * OK MAGAZINE *An unsurpassed grasp of what makes a good story -- Anne EnrightBinchy makes you laugh, cry, and care. Her warmth and sympathy render the daily struggles of ordinary people heroic and turn storytelling into art * SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE *A book to treasure. It's classic Maeve Binchy territory, filled with characteristic warmth and captivating storytelling * HELLO *The final novel by late Irish author Maeve Binchy is out now. Set in a country house hotel on the West coast of Ireland it's full of her trademark warmth, humour and lovable characters. * WOMAN *Binchy's compassion and warmth are undimmed to the very end. Over her long career as a novelist she tackled many serious issues with with the compassion, intelligence and wit that anyone who ever read her wonderful journalism would expect. ... All the characters in A WEEK IN WINTER are struggling - with traumatic memories, with isolation, with regret. Yet Binchy guides her creations through their troubles with a firm and kind hand, leaving them ready for a happier future. Maybe that's why so many readers loved her so much. That and the fact that she always knew how to tell a very good story. * IRISH TIMES *It is no exaggeration to say that Maeve and her books were loved. Deservedly so. A WEEK IN WINTER is shot through with her trademark charm ... here is an author who had a zest for life * BELFAST TELEGRAPH *In the final novel from the Irish legend, we meet the motley holidaymakers of Stone House hotel, each nursing their secrets or sadness during a winter break. The plot is almost irrelevant though; what matters is the warmth and charm of Binchy's storytelling. * SUNDAY EXPRESS *This is a book designed to be read in a dark January chill; it begs for a fireside and the sound of wind and rain howling outside. ... Binchy died this year after a prolific career that began in 1982 and during which she wrote more than 20 books, all of them bestsellers. If you haven't come across her before, you've got a real treat in store. * THE LADY *Beguiling and heartwarming, this is a story of everyday Irish life made extraordinary by the author's trademark blend of compassionate humour and insight into human nature * GOOD BOOK GUIDE *One of the world's best story-tellers, Maeve Binchy, died in 2012, so I do hope you enjoy her final magically weaved story . . . This is a must-read. * WELSH COUNTRY *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFeaturing a brand new introduction from Alexandra Heminsley, talking about what Jackie and her books mean to her!  ‘What radiates from all of her novels is a sense that women are just as capable of great things as men’ ALEXANDRA HEMINSLEY'Jackie Collins’s daring, unapologetic stroke of the pen, combined with her glorious wit, has single-handedly given creative license to new generations of authors and storytellers.' COLLEEN HOOVER Al King, the rock-and-roll super stud who is everything any sex-crazed groupie ever imagined her hero to be; and Dallas, the beauty queen whose sky-high ambitions stem from a sordid secret-the type that tabloids tingle to tell. Together, they're on a wild ride from London to New York, from Hollywood to Rio and the steaming jungles of the Amazon-where all their dreams and nightmares are about to come true…LOVERS & GAMBLERS There have been

Read more less

Book SynopsisINTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: The first in a series of witty, philosophical animal stories with whimsical illustrations ? for adult fans of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and His Horse! We?ve all been there: When a lonely hedgehog hosts a party for his friends, he?s suddenly wracked by social anxiety and self-doubt...The hedgehog is feeling rather lonely, so one day he decides to invite all the other animals for a party. But the hedgehog is also rather a shy, reserved animal, and is terribly worried about doing or saying something he shouldn''t, and about all the things that could go wrong. What if nobody comes? What if too many of them come? What if the elephant shows up and breaks all the furniture? Will anyone be able to hear the hedgehog talk above the frog''s croaking? Maybe inviting the others over wasn''t such a good idea after all...An international bestseller, with more than 1 million copies sold in the Netherlands, The Hedgehog?s Dilemma is the perfect gift for the shy, retiring ?hedgehog? in your life. This lovely?and loving book?addresses deep emotional and philosophical themes with humor, kindness, and intelligence.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPRE-ORDER THE DARK, SOPHISTICATED NEW THRILLER FROM AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR KELLYE GARRETT ‘A compulsive page-turner with plenty of twists and turns you won't see coming. Kellye Garrett is a rising star, and Missing White Woman is her best one yet’ Harlan Coben  ‘You never know what’s coming next in Missing White Woman. Kellye Garrett writes with an unstoppable momentum and cultural edge that makes this a thriller not to be missed’ Michael ConnellyBeautiful. Blonde. Missing. Murdered. It was supposed to be a romantic getaway to New York City. Breanna's new boyfriend, Ty, took care of everything – the train tickets, the sightseeing itinerary, the four-story Jersey City rowhouse with the gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline.  But then Bree wakes up one morning and discovers recently missing dog-walker Janelle Beckett dead in the fo

Read more less

Book SynopsisPRE-ORDER HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, THE BRAND NEW FESTIVE TREAT FROM HEIDI SWAIN, COMING OCTOBER 2024. Holly has the place to herself this Christmas. It’s not her place, though – she is house-sitting for friends who live on Nightingale Square – just there to keep the place warm and cosy and only for long enough for her to sort her life out. Newly single and finding herself unsure about next steps for her career, she plans to hunker down and make some life decisions. To clear her mind, she sets off on early morning walks around a nearby lake and bumps into May, an older lady who is also new to the area, and her dapper Dachshund Monty. Quickly, a firm friendship blossoms. Then when Holly meets Bear, a rather large and rather attractive man, at the local pub, and his rescue dog Queenie, her stay at Nightingale Square suddenly feels even more appealing. As the community comes together for the season’s festivities, Holly muTrade Review‘A delightful read’ – Woman’s Own‘A heartwarming holiday tale of self-discovery’ * Yours *‘A heart warming read’ * Heat *‘You won’t be able to avoid that festive feeling with this gloriously Christmassy novel’ * My Weekly *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTHE FUNNY AND ADDICTIVELY ROMANTIC FEEL-GOOD TIKTOK SENSATION''My forecast: read it, and you''ll be on cloud nine'' ALI HAZELWOOD, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS''A sexy storm of a book'' Sophie Cousens''Probably my favourite romcom ever'' 5* Reader Review*BUSINESS OR PLEASURE, the sizzling new rom com from Rachel Lynn Solomon is available to buy now!*________Ari Abrams loves working as a TV meteorologist. But unfortunately, her boss is so busy fighting with her ex - who happens to be the station''s news director - that there''s always a storm brewing inside the newsroom!So after a particularly explosive showdown, Ari and shy sports reporter Russell hatch a plan to get their bosses back together, fast . . .As they work to help the sparring exes fall back in love, Ari finds herself telling Russell things that she has always kept hidden - and soon realiseTrade ReviewA magical story that celebrates hope, resilience, and love. My forecast: read it, and you'll be on cloud nine -- Ali Hazelwood, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Love HypothesisA sharp, witty romance full of heart. Rachel's writing zips off the page. A sexy storm of a book -- Sophie Cousens, New York Times bestselling author of This Time Next YearThe forecast predicts a 100% chance of heartfelt rom-com charm * Kirkus Reviews *That feeling you get when you curl up on the couch on a rainy Saturday, with a great book in one hand and a spiked hot chocolate in the other: that's the feeling you get when you read Weather Girl. This book is cozy, comforting, thought provoking, and it'll make you feel warm from the inside out -- Jasmine Guillory, New York Times bestselling author of While We Were DatingA delightful romance. Perfect for rainy days and sunny days and everything in between -- Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author of The Heart PrincipleA tender, hilarious, and heartfelt love story you'll read in one sitting! -- Tessa Bailey, New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One SummerWryly funny and sweetly sexy, Rachel Lynn Solomon's Weather Girl is as comforting as a weighted blanket and as carefully considered as one of Ari's forecasts. For everyone who's ever believed themself too much to love, this book offers both solace and a gentle promise: If you allow yourself to be truly known, you may find someone who'll adore you on even your darkest days -- Olivia Dade, author of Spoiler AlertWith Rachel Lynn Solomon's trademark brand of humour and charm, Weather Girl is a love letter to every woman who's ever felt they had to hide their stormy days behind a sunshine exterior. With a tender romance at its center, this story will heat you up, melt your heart, and affirm the incredible beauty of being loved for exactly who you are -- Sonia Hartl, author of Heartbreak for HireWeather Girl is warm and deeply romantic. Once again, Rachel Lynn Solomon has created a cast of characters that we fall in love with from the moment we meet them -- Annette Christie, author of The Rehearsals[Solomon's] realistic portrayal of the internal struggles that come with the highs and lows of optimism and depression, and how it affects sex and relationships, is an important one. Paired with humorous dialogue and many swoon-worthy moments, this romance book has all the joy you need * BuzzFeed *Sparkles with quirky humour * Apple Books *Humorous, captivating, and delightful * USA Today *Heartfelt charm, memorable characters, steamy moments...this rom-com has it all * Women's World *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake.''Bewitching!'' New York Times''Heartfelt, touching and delightfully quirky'' Good HousekeepingIt was a source of entertainment at Maple Street Cemetery. Both funny and sad, the kind of story we like best. Natural-born healer Emma Starling once had big plans for her life, but she''s lost her way. A medical school dropout, she''s come back to small-town Everton, New Hampshire, to care for her father, who is dying from a mysterious brain disease. Clive Starling has been hallucinating small animals, as well as having visions of the ghost of a long-dead naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes, once known for letting wild animals live in his house. This ghost has been giving Clive some ideas on how to sTrade ReviewA wondrous and wonderful story filled with unforgettable characters, both living and dead . . . an instant classic * Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times bestselling author of the Southern Reach trilogy *Hartnett's whimsical storytelling casts a spell * Publishers Weekly *An absurdist, laugh-out-loud family drama about intergenerational healing * Kirkus Reviews *I devoured Annie Hartnett's Unlikely Animals. She's created a beautiful menagerie set inside a troubled household and their small New Hampshire town; a delightful mess of tenderness, grief, and despair, but most important, hope * Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things and With Teeth *Unlikely Animals possesses such tenderness and empathy for a world that wears us down and ruins us, a world that sometimes offers a glimmer of hope, and Hartnett knows how to turn up the brilliance of that light and wield it to do magical things * Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang *Hartnett masterfully balances a story of deep loss with the perfect amount of hilarity and tenderness * Booklist (starred review) *This is a big novel doing big things. It bears some similarity to Hartnett's much- loved first novel, Rabbit Cake. . . . But Unlikely Animals is a broader, brassier, and even more fiercely tender story. In this, her second novel, Hartnett lands an astonishing leap as a storyteller * The Rumpus *Wistfully charming . . . This unapologetically genre-bending tribute to life and death, and the beautiful weirdness found in both, has potential to spark exceptional book club discussions * Shelf Awareness *Bewitching! * New York Times *[A] a magical, soul-stirring read about family and the ways we put ourselves back together * The Washington Post *Heartfelt, touching and delightfully quirky * Good Housekeeping *A moving novel about family, friendship and loss that manages to be both at times quirkily surreal as well as rooted in the realities of small-town life * Choice *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE JOHN LEONARD PRIZE AT THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS AND THE FERRO-GRUMLEY AWARD FOR LGBTQ FICTIONTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'So's distinctive voice is ever-present: mellifluous, streetwise and slightly brash, at once cynical and bighearted...unique and quintessential' Sunday Times'So's stories reimagine and reanimate the Central Valley, in the way that the polyglot stories in Bryan Washington's collection Lot reimagined Houston and Ocean Vuong's novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous allowed us to see Hartford in a fresh light.' Dwight Garner, New York Times '[A] remarkable début collection' Hua Hsu, The New YorkerA Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club Pick!Named a Best Book of Summer by: Wall Street Journal * Thrillist * Vogue * Lit Hub * Refinery29 * New York Observer * The Daily Beast * Time * BuzzFeed * Entertainment Weekly Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tender-hearted, balancing acerbic humour with sharp emotional depth, Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship and family.A high school badminton coach and failing grocery store owner tries to relive his glory days by beating a rising star teenage player. Two drunken brothers attend a wedding afterparty and hatch a plan to expose their shady uncle's snubbing of the bride and groom. A queer love affair sparks between an older tech entrepreneur trying to launch a 'safe space' app and a disillusioned young teacher obsessed with Moby-Dick. And in the sweeping final story, a nine-year-old child learns that his mother survived a racist school shooter.With nuanced emotional precision, gritty humour and compassionate insight into the intimacy of queer and immigrant communities, the stories in Afterparties deliver an explosive introduction to the work of Anthony Veasna So.Trade ReviewSo's distinctive voice is ever-present: mellifluous, streetwise and slightly brash, at once cynical and bighearted...unique and quintessential * Sunday Times *witty and sharply expressed...the reader senses that [So] had a vast amount of soul and spirit in his account, and that he'd only just begun to draw from it...So's stories reimagine and reanimate the Central Valley, in the way that the polyglot stories in Bryan Washington's collection Lot reimagined Houston and Ocean Vuong's novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous allowed us to see Hartford in a fresh light. -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *[A] remarkable début collection...The young people in Afterparties spill forth with language. His stories are chatty and crass, as characters incessantly tease one another, make jokes,...talk back and talk trash -- Hua Hsu * The New Yorker *A bright and fearless debut, full of heart, joy and unforgettable characters. -- Douglas StuartThe sheer richness and energy of So's narratives can't be overstated - his characters are full of love, and full of longing, and full of laughter, and full of the possibilities that life offers them and also the ones it hides. It's rare and magical and wild to find queer life, as it's actually lived, on the page - or on any pages - with all its multiplicities and creases and paradoxes and curves, and yet So lays it out for us, sparing nothing and giving everything. I was in awe through the entire collection -and you will be, too. Afterparties is an actual marvel. -- Bryan Washington, author of LOT and MEMORIALA wildly energetic, heartfelt, original debut by a young writer of exceptional promise. These stories, powered by So's skill with the telling detail, are like beams of wry, affectionate light, falling from different directions on a complicated, struggling, beloved American community. -- George SaundersAfterparties weaves through a Cambodian-American community in the shadow of genocide, following the children of refugees as they grapple with the complexities of masculinity, class and family. Anthony Veasna So explores the lives of these unforgettable characters with bracing humour and startling tenderness. A stunning collection from an exciting new voice. -- Brit Bennett, author of THE VANISHING HALFThe mind-frying hilarity of Anthony Veasna So's first book of fiction settles him as the genius of social satire our age needs now more than ever. Few writers can handle firm plot action and wrenching pathos in such elegant prose. This unforgettable new voice is at once poetic and laugh-out-loud funny. These characters kept talking to me long after I closed the book I'm destined to read again and cannot wait to teach. Anthony Veasna So is a shiny new star in literature's firmament and Afterparties his first classic. -- Mary Karr, author of THE LIARS' CLUBAnthony Veasna So is a terrific writer. These wild, complex and funny stories are brilliant in every way. They also speak in profound ways to this troubled American moment. One of the most exciting debuts of the past decade. -- Dana Spiotta, author of INNOCENTS AND OTHERSKaren Russell, Carmen Maria Machado, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah - you can count on one hand the authors of this century whose debut short-story collections are as prodigious and career-making as Afterparties. This lovingly specific, history-haunted comedy of Cambodian-American manners should put Anthony Veasna So on smart readers' radar to stay. -- Jonathan Dee, author of THE PRIVILEGES

Read more less