Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisThe Hekes are a family in turmoil. A tyrannical, alcoholic, violent patriarch, an alcoholic, ever-trying-to-reform mother, and three degenerate children. Can the draw Maori ritual and tradition pull them back from the brink?Trade ReviewA searing look at the urban subculture of New Zealand's native people * Toronto Globe and Mail *A starkly realistic account...as important, as frank, as powerful a book as [Alice Walker's The Color Purple] was for Americans * Dominion (New Zealand) *

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Book SynopsisFrom Deborah Moggach, bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, comes another hilarious and romantic comedy, this time set in a run-down B&B in WalesWhen retired actor Buffy decides to up sticks from London and move to rural Wales, he has no idea what he is letting himself in for. In possession of a run-down B&B that leans more towards the shabby than the chic and is miles from nowhere, he realises he needs to fill the beds and fast. Enter a motley collection of guests: Harold, whose wife has run off with a younger woman; Amy, who's been unexpectedly dumped by her (not-so) weedy boyfriend and Andy, the hypochondriac postman whose girlfriend is much too much for him to handle.But under Buffy's watchful eye, this disparate group of strangers find they have more in common than perhaps they first thought...Addictive and funny... If there is a book more like a Richard Curtis film, you'd be hard-pressed to find it' PTrade ReviewAnother hilarious and heart-warming tale from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel * Marie Claire UK *This warm, funny and generous romp of a novel is a delight * Independent *Just as exuberant and hilarious as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel * Good Housekeeping *An addictive and funny novel: if there is a book more like a Richard Curtis film, you’d be hard-pressed to find it * Psychologies *A hilarious romp that showcases Moggach’s loving understanding of human foibles and which you will finish reading feeling a whole lot better about yourself -- Victoria Cooper * Red Online *

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Book Synopsis''Utterly compelling...I couldn''t put the book down'' Observer''Surprising and dark and excellent'' New York Times''A gripping and sophisticated thriller'' IndependentSoon to be a major film adaptation starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes David and Jo Henniger are on their way to a party at their old friends'' home, deep in the Moroccan desert. But as a groggy David navigates the dark desert roads, two young men spring from the roadside, the car swerves and collides with one of the boys...Meanwhile, festivities at the house are in full flow. Under the watchful eyes of their Moroccan staff, the extravagant hosts attend to the whims of their glittering, insatiable guests as the party rages on into a new day. The stage is set for a weekend in which David and Jo must come to terms with their fateful act and its shattering consequences.''As menacing and engrossing as the best McEwan'' STrade ReviewCompelling…Engrossing…Gripping * Sunday Times *Surprising and dark and excellent * New York Times *A sinister story about guilt, atonement and restitution, fashioned from lean, prowling prose * Herald *A terrifically realised encounter between the clashing values of traditional Islam and the hedonistic, secular West... Beautifully written, painfully resolved. -- Lionel Shriver * The Times *More than a stylish thriller… The central plot has parallels with The Bonfire of the Vanities, while the socialites could be straight out of The Great Gatsby * Stylist *A gripping read * Kirkus *A superbly compelling novel... As menacing and engrossing as the best McEwan * Sunday Times *Osborne brings together all his authorial talents in this gripping and sophisticated thriller * Independent *Stylish, somehow both lavish and muscular at the same time * Independent on Sunday *Utterly compelling; at the risk of trotting out a cliché, I couldn't put the book down * Observer *A brilliantly observed tale of class and hedonism * The Times, *Summer Reads of 2023* *

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Book SynopsisThree friends running a vintage wedding business. Romances waiting just around the corner. A life adventure awaits. . . from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Recipe for Love, A French Affair and The Perfect Match.Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.' AJ Pearce''Delicious - gorgeous humour and the lightest of touches'' Sunday Times''Warm, brilliant and full of love'' Heat___________A vintage wedding, romance, and a happily-ever-after ending - what more could you want from the ''modern-day Jane Austen''?In a small Cotswold country town, Beth, Lindy and Rachel are looking for new beginnings.So they set up a business of their own: organising stylish and perfectly affordable vintage weddings.Soon they are busy arranging oTrade ReviewModern-day Austen. Great fun. * Red *Like a good wedding it will leave you wiping away the tears. * Sunday Express *We’ve fallen in love with this feel-good read ... Cuteness! * Sun on Sunday, Fabulous Magazine *

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Book Synopsis_________________Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.' AJ PEARCE_________________Emily is happy with her life just as it is. She loves her career as a midwife, and enjoys living on her own - but can''t help but feel like it's time for a change.So when her best friend Rebecca asks whether she'd like to spend the summer cooking on a puffer' boat just off the Scottish coast, she jumps at the chance.But it''s far from easy. Rebecca is heavily pregnant and is thrilled to have her friend on board doing most of the work. Then there's Emily's competitive and jealous kitchen assistant, who thinks she should be head cook. And there's Alasdair, the handsome local doctor who Emily is desperately trying not to notice. Because if she falls in love with him, as he appears to be falling for her, will she eTrade ReviewIt’s a delightfully engaging read. * Sunday Express *Warm, brilliant, and full of love, drop anchor and curl up with this. * Heat *A supremely engaging book from the doyenne of contemporary romance….it is Fforde’s characters that give this book its irresistible emotional pull…a thoroughly modern tale of love, career and family, perfect for a relaxing afternoon on the sofa. * The Lady *A lovely read. * South Wales Evening Post *If I had to choose the perfect writer to cheer me up on a shivery winter’s day I’d definitely go for Katie Fforde… * Emma Lee Potter blog *

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Book SynopsisTheir god is War. And every god needs his Devil. THE RELIGIONMalta, 1565. The greatest war the world has ever seen is unleashed on the doomed island as the Turks do battle with the Knights. The Knights call themselves The Religion. The Turks call them the Hounds of Hell.Back in Sicily, the beautiful, rich Carla pines for her bastard son, lost in the bloody inferno across the water.Enter Mattias Tannhauser warrior, hero and double agent. Under Carla's command, he embarks on a death-defying mission to save her son. But can he evade the Inquisition and escape to run the Turkish blockade to victory in time?Trade ReviewMacho, sexy, profoundly bloody and a wonderful adventure story * Sunday Telegraph *Surround-sound entertainment * New York Times *A classic * Mail on Sunday *With a slow-burning pace and a knack for a cliffhanger, Willocks builds the tension terrifically amid graphic slaughter and velvet-gloved treachery * Time Out *A novel of high adventure, blood, guts and romantic love…as master craftsman, [Willocks] tells his story with extraordinary pace * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisAn irresistible story of childhood adventure from the international phenomenon, Karl Ove Knausgaard.* Karl Ove Knausgaard''s dazzling new novel, The Morning Star, is available to pre-order now *Childhood is exhilarating and terrifying. For the young Karl Ove, new houses, classes and friends are met with manic excitement and creeping dread. Adults occupy godlike positions of power, benevolent in the case of his doting mother, tyrannical in the case of his cruel father.In the now infamously direct style of the My Struggle cycle, Knausgaard describes a time in which victories and defeats are felt keenly and every attempt at self-definition is frustrated. This is a book about family, memory and how we never become quite what we set out to be.''Knausgaard finds the sublime in the everyday... Boyhood Island reverberates with the joys and anxieties of early youth, and Knausgaard brilliantly recreates their exaggerated feTrade ReviewVia his visceral, immersive art, Knausgaard makes the heart visible -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Knausgaard finds the sublime in the everyday... Boyhood Island reverberates with the joys and anxieties of early youth, and Knausgaard brilliantly recreates their exaggerated feel -- Thomas Meaney * Times Literary Supplement *Compelling and addictive... One of the most grown-up works of fiction we have -- Hermione Hoby * Observer *Powerfully hypnotic and addictive… a Norwegian Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha -- Theo Tait * Sunday Times *My Struggle is already the most significant literary achievement of the 21st century and we still have three volumes to go -- Matt Thorne * Sunday Express *Knausgaard's Proustian attention to detail and scrupulous analysis of emotional nuance is almost maddening – but ultimately magnificent * Vogue *Knausgaard continues masterfully -- Malcolm Forbes * Literary Review *One of the most anticipated books of the year (the decade) -- Emily Stokes * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisA beautiful, funny, vital novel of teenage years and teenage mistakes from the international phenomenon, Karl Ove Knausgaard.* Karl Ove Knausgaard''s dazzling new novel, The Morning Star, is available to pre-order now *Fresh out of high school, Karl Ove moves to a remote fishing village to work as a teacher. He has no interest in the job itself - or in any other job for that matter, his sole aim is to save money and start writing. All goes well to begin with but as the nights grow longer, his life takes a darker turn. Drinking causes him blackouts, his repeated attempts at losing his virginity end in humiliation, and to his own great distress he develops romantic feelings towards one of his 13-year-old students. And all the while the shadow of his father looms large.''Beautifully human... Being drawn into Knausgaard''s world is an ineluctable pleasure''The TimesTrade ReviewFires every nerve ending while summoning in the reader the sheer sense of how amazing it is to be alive -- Jeffrey Eugenides * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisOne game. Six students. Five survivors.It was only ever meant to be a game. A game of consequences, of silly forfeits, childish dares. A game to be played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University. But then the game changed: the stakes grew higher and the dares more personal, more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results. Now, fourteen years later, the remaining players must meet again for the final round.Trade ReviewAn inventive and intricate psychological puzzle thriller that mystifies, torments, disturbs, beguiles... a powerfully intelligent debut -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *A compulsive page-turner that will hold your attention until the very last word -- Natasha Harding * Sun *Sinister, addictive and unpredictable – this is a novel to be devoured greedily, at speed, but one that will leave its footprint on your memory for far longer -- Natasha Lunn * Red *Yates’s take on the collegiate thriller lives up to early comparisons to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History... filled with gleeful malevolence * Grazia *[A] chilling debut...this is a thriller, a cautionary tale and a sobering exploration of unintended consequences rolled into one * Daily Mail *Black Chalk grabs from the get-go... Yates plots with tantalizing skill -- Ellen Shapiro * People *This addictive psychological thriller will have you hooked from start to game over * Stylist *Compelling -- John O'Connell * Guardian *A truly chilling thriller, with campus-fun-gone-wrong echoes of Donna Tartt's The Secret History * Psychologies *A very exciting debut - like The Secret History, but so much creepier... This is intellectually challenging psychological thriller writing at a high level * Shots Mag *

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Book Synopsis''Wickedly funny'' The Times Famed beauty Venetia Stanley is so extravagantly dazzling she has inspired Ben Jonson to poetry and Van Dyck to painting, provoking adoration and emulation from the masses. Stampedes follow her arrival in town.However, as she approaches middle age, the attention turns to scrutiny. Her adoring husband Sir Kenelm Digby - philosopher, alchemist and time-traveller - wishes she would age naturally, but Venetia discovers a potent and addictive elixir of youth, Viper Wine. Set on the eve of the English Civil War, and based on a true story, this brilliant novel asks a very contemporary question: what is the cost of beauty? ''Dazzling'' Observer ''Intoxicating'' Independent on SundayTrade ReviewExuberantly inventive and intelligent... Sumptuous, strange and startlingly original. * Mail on Sunday *An intoxicating fantasy in which real-life characters are haunted by the future. -- Marcus Field * Independent on Sunday *Using an alchemy all of her own, Eyre's postmodern take on the 17th century renders it dazzlingly fresh and contemporary. -- Lucy Scholes * Observer *Playful, witty and expansive... An exceptionally clever and exhilarating excursion through Caroline high society. -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *A genre-defying debut novel... Vivid and vivacious – hats off to Eyre. -- Sebastian Shakespeare * Tatler *Bold and wildly original, Viper Wine is an exuberantly witty play on the vanity and ghoulishness of the beauty industry, and a celebration of the unfading beauty of language... Hermione Eyre has injected new youth into the historical novel. -- Frances Wilson * Evening Standard *Hermione Eyre’s bold and satisfying debut...offers up a potent mixture of baroque intricacy and gothic horror. Like Laurent Binet’s HHhH… Viper Wine tries to tease out the tensions that exist when telling history as fiction. Eyre’s novel is stylistically a world away from Binet’s, but shows some of the same playfulness in its reworking of historical sources… The stylistic brio and technical invention on show here is truly impressive… -- John Gallagher * Sunday Telegraph *A wickedly funny parable of today's beauty industry... Descriptive brilliance and breathtaking cleverness. -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times *No account of [Van Dyck] has perhaps been so convincing as that in Viper Wine… As art history it’s deeply unorthodox – but as a postmodern portrait of a trend-setting painter in the midst of a comeback, it seems both thrillingly and entertainingly right. -- Marcus Field * Independent on Sunday *Almost 400 years after Venetia Stanley's death, little has changed. As an allegory of our ageing-obsessed generation, [Viper Wine] is hard to argue with. -- Sam Baker * Harper's Bazaar *Eyre has written a sumptuous, sensual tale of beauty and vanity; it's crying out for a TV adaptation. * Bookseller *Magical realism meets a seventeenth-century Portrait of a Marriage. To say it is dazzling would be a puritan understatement. -- Tom Holland, author of 'Rubicon' and 'Persian Fire'Persistently bizarre, fecund, technically inventive, funny – and oddly touching. -- Jonathan MeadesViper Wine richly evokes Elizabethan and Jacobean language and is alert to the plight of Catholics under Elizabeth I and King James, while at the same time putting a post-modernist spin on the tight and enthralling plot. I used to be dubious about alchemy and antiquarianism, but the wit and excitement of this first novel breathes new life into them. -- Tom Paulin[A] cornucopia of a novel. -- Kathy Stevenson * Daily Mail *As funny as it is surreal. -- India Ross * Financial Times *This funny and exciting novel takes a fresh look at life during the excitement and danger of the 17th century. * Catholic Herald *The language is beautiful, creating fantastic images with her descriptions. -- Claire Snook * Bookmunch *Eyre’s prose is sensuous and rich… Her recreation of the period is persuasive and alluring. -- Andrew Tong * Independent on Sunday *A pacy, cleverly postmodern historical novel... Viper Wine is a high-flying, high-concept mix that stylishly transmutes its wildly disparate elements into an assured, flamboyant gem. -- Tina Jackson * Metro *A mad, psychedelic romp through some of history’s most fertile ground... The author’s voracious enthusiasm for eclectic, highly-researched detail is persistently entertaining, breathing new life into the genre of the historical novel. A real tonic. -- Matilda Bathurst * Country Life *Clever, lively and playful... [An] impressive first novel. -- Clarissa Burden * Tablet *A dazzling debut… Wickedly funny. * ELLE Decoration *This dazzling firework of a debut novel is a reminder of how inventive and original historical fiction can be. -- Anna Carey * Irish Times *Eyre pulls off a notable trick in Viper Wine, not just by reconstructing her chosen period but rendering it permeable to intrusions from other ages… Playful moments…are made all the more striking by being woven unannounced into a meticulously luscious fantasia on a theme of English high life in the 1630s. -- Michael Caine * Times Literary Supplement *The horrors of the beauty industry are taken apart with feline wit and the book will make you purr with pleasure. -- Frances Wilson * New Statesman *The most richly fruited post-modern novel since Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing the Cherrys -- Marcus Field * Independent *A bold, impressive debut -- 4 stars * Daily Telegraph *As a debut novel, it is truly dazzling and Hermione Eyre has proved herself an author well worth watching out for -- Susannah Perkins * Nudge *As a debut novel, it is truly dazzling and Hermione Eyre has proved herself an author well worth watching out for -- Susannah Perkins * Nudge *

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Book SynopsisCalled the book lost and found in time' by its author, Skylight is one of Saramago's earliest novels. The manuscript was lost in the publishers' offices in Lisbon for decades, and is only now being published in English. Lisbon, late-1940s. The inhabitants of an old apartment block are struggling to make ends meet. There's the elderly shoemaker and his wife who take in a solitary young lodger; the woman who sells herself for money, clothes and jewellery; the cultivated family come down in the world, who live only for each other and for music; and the beautiful typist whose boss can't keep his eyes off her. Poisonous relationships, happy marriages, jealousy, gossip and love Skylight brings together all the joys and grief of ordinary people.Trade ReviewA fluid and imaginative translation by Margaret Jull Costa… A masterly creation: pessimistic without being bleak, lyrical without being sentimental… Saramago tears back that curtain to reveal not only the stage on which life is performed but also backstage, under unflattering working lights; to show humanity at its most anxious, its most vulnerable and most true -- James Runcie * Independent *For admirers of his work...the rescue of this novel from oblivion is something to be grateful for. The translator, Margaret Jull Costa, as ever, does a splendid job * Times Literary Supplement *Not only does it illuminate the slow development of a radically original artist, but it is an interesting novel in its own right -- Ursula Le Guin * The Guardian *This is one of Saramago’s early works but his eye for psychological nuance and his gift for sympathy are already in evidence * New Statesman *Skylight is a deeply affecting novel, the work of an already adroit writer who marshals his characters with assurance * Evening Standard *

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Book Synopsis''A work of near heroic vitality and cunning'' Sunday TelegraphAt sixty-four Mickey Sabbath is still defiantly antagonistic and exceedingly libidinous; sex is an obsession and a principle, an instrument of perpetual misrule in his daily existence. But after the death of his long-time mistress - an erotic free spirit whose great taste for the impermissible matches his own - Sabbath embarks on a turbulent journey into his past. Bereft and grieving, tormented by the ghosts of those who loved and hated him, he contrives a succession of farcical disasters that take him to the brink of madness and extinction...Winner of the National Book Award for FictionTrade ReviewA post-war American masterpiece * Daily Telegraph *This is a wickedly splendid book -- Frank KermodeIn time this will be seen as Roth's best novel * Guardian *For me, the book of the year - maybe the decade - is Sabbath's Theater...funny...moving, imaginative, deep... A masterpiece * Times Literary Supplement *Sabbath explodes some mad genie out of his bottle... Sabbath's Theater has more firestorming prose than any other novel I have read this year * Observer *

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Book Synopsis''A...humane and very beautiful book''Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You A young boy has fled his home. Crouched in his hiding place he hears the shouts of the men hunting him. When the search party has passed, what lies before him is an infinite, arid plain, one he must cross in order to escape those from whom he's fleeing. One night he crosses paths with an old goatherd and from that moment nothing will ever be the same for either of them. Out in the Open tells the story of a boy in a drought-stricken country ruled by violence. A closed world where names and dates don't matter, where morals have drained away with the water. In this landscape the boy, not yet a lost cause, has the chance to learn the painful basics of judgement, or to live out forever the violence with which he grew up.Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature 2016Trade ReviewThis novel's deep theme is a peculiar kind of heroism – that of claiming, in a world stripped to necessity, a human remainder of grace: the choice to bear witness to ideals that are more precious than survival and that exist only in our affirmation of them. Out in the Open is a harrowing, humane, and very beautiful book -- Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to YouThe writing is austere with flourishes of great beauty from an exceptional translator -- Rosie Goldsmith * Independent *Its rural lexicon enriches a tale told with savage precision, and filled with memorable passages -- Julius Purcell * The Times Literary Supplement *Undeniably impressive and compelling because everything is everywhere so thoroughly and keenly imagined and realised -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *[A] searing, beautifully observed debut -- Eithne Farry * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisA VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERYRediscover Gladys Mitchell one of the ''Big Three'' female crime fiction writers alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.Psychoanalyst and detective Mrs Bradley advises her highly-strung friend, Hannibal Jones, to retreat to a quiet, rustic village to find rest and inspiration for his writing. Saxon Wall seems the perfect rural retreat, and Jones is quickly intrigued by the odd characters among the villagers, their pagan beliefs, and by the mystery surrounding Neot House, where a young couple died soon after the birth of their first child. But when disagreements between the villagers and their vicar grow more malevolent, and a man is found bludgeoned to death, Jones calls in Mrs Bradley, who proceeds to root out the devil of Saxon Wall by her own unorthodox methods.Opinionated, unconventional, unafraid... If you like Poirot and Miss Marple, you'll love Mrs Bradley.Trade ReviewOne of the "Big Three" female mystery novelists, judged the equal of Dorothy L Sayers and Agatha Christie, but that's not quite accurate - she's more like a mad combination of both * Independent *Crime writing's best kept secret * Scotsman *Completely individual, instantly recognisable and highly enjoyable * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisErnest Miller Hemingway was born in Chicago in 1899, the son of a doctor and the second of six children. After a stint as an ambulance driver at the Italian front, Hemingway came home to America in 1919, only to return to the battlefield this time as a reporter on the Greco-Turkish war in 1922. Resigning from journalism to focus on his writing instead, he moved to Paris where he renewed his earlier friendship with fellow American expatriates such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Through the years, Hemingway travelled widely and wrote avidly, becoming an internationally recognized literary master of his craft. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.Trade ReviewA most beautiful, moving and human book * Vita Sackville-West *A novel of great power * Times Literary Supplement *Flawless... such mastery of narrative, imagery and feeling, the prerequisites for great prose -- Edna O'Brien * Guardian *It seems such simple and straightforward language, but it isn't. The first chapter of A Farewell to Arms is only two and a bit pages but there is almost every variety of sentence structure. It is incredibly artful writing, and part of the art is disguising that it is artful. -- John Harvey * Guardian *Essential Hemingway...a gripping account of the life of an American volunteer in the Italian army and a poignant love story. * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DAVID MITCHELLOne morning Herman Mussert wakes up in a hotel room in Lisbon, where twenty years previously he slept with another man's wife. Yet he is quite certain that the night before he went to sleep as normal in his house in Amsterdam. And so Herman begins a physical journey and a metaphysical adventure, which will re-route him via past loves, through the pangs and pleasures of memory, and to the very heart of that crucial question: who am I?'.Trade ReviewOne of the greatest modern novelists -- A. S. ByattThe prose has such clarity, charm and lightness that you take to disorientation with pleasure -- Michael Ignatieff * Sunday Times *After years of distinction in his own country, Cees Nooteboom has commanded attention with this gentle, European Literature Prize-winning story * Independent *He is a thinker as much as a storyteller and brings astute insight to his evocation of character and imaginative intellectualism... Playful, deadly serious and achingly real... Nooteboom makes every word, every observation, not only count but also linger * Irish Times *Nooteboom writes beautifully. His prose is clean and precise without feeling sparse, and he manages to combine clarity with an intense lyricism… Part travelogue, part elegy, part love story, this is an exquisite little novel, and far more substantial than its 90 pages suggest * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisDiscover TikTok''s new favourite book.''I loved it and could have read a thousand more pages of it'' Emma Cline, author of The Girls Selin, a tall, highly strung Turkish-American from New Jersey turns up at Harvard with no idea what to expect. What she doesn''t expect is: - How much time she will spend thinking about language and its limitations - An opinionated cosmopolitan Serb named Svetlana, who will become her confidante - A mathematician from Hungary called Ivan, whom she will obsess over when she is supposed to be studying - Feeling dangerously overwhelmed by the challenges and possibilities of adulthood But most of all, Selin does not expect to embark on a study of precisely how baffling love can be when you are trying to forge a self... _______________- PRAISE FOR THE IDIOT: ''A moving, continent-hopping coming-of-age story'' Observer ''Elif Batuman surely has one of the best senses of humour...refreshing and unique'' Sheila Heti ''Full of zingy one-liners'' Financial Times ''Hilarious, brilliant observations about writing, life and crushes'' Curtis Sittenfeld ''Delightful and slyly funny'' RedTrade ReviewI loved it and could have read a thousand more pages of it. It presented this almost moment-by-moment experience of life, in a way that I just felt Batuman had so much control. There’s so much wit and pleasure in her writing you feel very comfortable being in the world she’s created. -- Emma Cline, author of THE GIRLSElif Batuman is a writer whose byline creates a flutter of anticipation… If a dominant mode of her generation is knowing introspection, she writes with a bewildered outrospection that delights in the bathetic and the absurd… It’s a novel about being young and stupid that’s both wise and clever — and it’s a treat. * Evening Standard *Elif Batuman surely has one of the best senses of humour in American letters. The pleasure she takes in observing the eccentricities of each of her characters makes for a really refreshing and unique bildungsroman; one more fascinated with what's going on around and outside the bewildered protagonist, than what s going on inside her. -- Sheila Heti, author of HOW SHOULD A PERSON BE? and TICKNOREach paragraph is a small anthology of well-made observations… Batuman has a rich sense of the details of human attachment and lust. -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *Beautifully written... a wry, funny coming-of-age story set at the dawn of email among a group of Harvard brainiacs too nerdy and self-involved to even think about sex, drugs and drinking. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisThe stories in this collection nearly all take place in and around the mountain hollows of West Virginia: a world of cock-fighting, coal-mining, deer-stalking, sex, depression, drinking and death.''It would be easy to allow his one collection of stories to be buried under the landslide of books published every year. But it's worth doing a little excavating to dig it up. The past few years have seen late-in-the-day and posthumous revivals of interest in writers such ... John Williams. Get out your pickaxes''New YorkerBreece D'J Pancake left behind an astonishing achievement. He was a master of a distinctly American vernacular, which he used to remind us of all the ways that fiction could teach us about ourselves. These stories are absolutely essential reading - Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow BirdsTrade ReviewThe best, most sincere writer I've ever read -- Kurt VonnegutBreece D’J Pancake left behind an astonishing achievement. He was a master of a distinctly American vernacular, which he used to remind us of all the ways that fiction could teach us about ourselves. These stories are absolutely essential reading * Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds *This is an exceptional voice; gritty, mordant, invested with the texture of stroked reality; urgent and haunting * Margaret Atwood *Muscular, precise, lyric and unforgettable… Utterly singular -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *Simple, rich with dialogue and precious -- Anna Fielding * Stylist *[Pancake’s] words…combined with an unsparing vision of humanity create the spine-tingling sense that you’re reading an original -- Max Liu * Independent *Haunting brilliance -- John Dugdale * Literary Review *By any standards, [the story “Trilobites”] is a masterpiece; that it is an artistic debut is astonishing… To say that Breece D’J Pancake is not well enough known is a massive understatement… Quite simply, a literary genius -- John Burnside * Guardian *Impressive -- Philip Maughan * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 Sheila's twenties were going to plan. So Sheila abandons her marriage and her play, befriends Margaux, a free and untortured painter, and begins sleeping with the dominating Israel, who's a genius at sex but not at art.Trade ReviewWitty, unusual, raw...a powerful read...a classic in the making * Stylist *Original...hilarious... Part confessional, part play, part novel, and more-it's one wild ride...Think HBO'S Girls in book form * Marie Claire *Amazing -- Lena DunhamA shamelessly funny read * Grazia *Funny, bawdy and fiercely original * Easy Living *A sharp and unsentimental chronicle of what it is like to be a 20-something now * Economist *A book that risks everything... Complex, artfully messy, and hilarious -- Miranda JulyUniquely honest, funny and clever... Heti is superbly truthful and shockingly funny - no words were minced in the making of this strange, brilliant book -- Kate Saunders * The Times *Joyously self-conscious…profoundly ironic…or, perhaps more accurately, it is a production profoundly concerned with how to live authentically in a world saturated by irony -- Olivia Laing * New Statesman *Utterly beguiling: blunt, charming, funny, and smart. Heti subtly weaves together ideas about sex, femininity and artistic ambition. Reading this genre-defying book was pure pleasure -- David Shields, author of Reality HungerEngaging * Guardian *Genuinely laugh out loud * Daily Mail *Utterly now -- Claire Allfree * Metro *Ambitious, assured and ruthlessly controlled…exhilarating -- Richard Beck * Prospect *How Should a Person Be? is a question to be revisited by the author herself, or another writer, or many other writers – but it’s also the question novels were invented to respond to… Sheila makes it ugly to clear a space: for novels to be less fictional, for women to dream of being geniuses, for a way of being 'honest and transparent and give away nothing' -- Joanna Briggs * London Review of Books *A timely, gloriously messy, openhearted, clever and beautiful new thing * Dazed & Confused *An unconventional blur of fact and fiction, How Should a Person Be? is an engaging cocktail of memoir, novel and self-help guide * Grazia *A candid collection of taped interviews and emails, random notes and daring exposition…fascinating -- Sinead Gleeson * Irish Times *Provocative, funny and original -- Hannah Rosefield * Literary Review *A serious work about authenticity, how to lead a moral life and accept one’s own ugliness -- Richard Godwin * Evening Standard *An exuberantly productive mess, filtered and reorganised after the fact...rather than working within a familiar structure, Heti has gone out to look for things that interest her and "put a fence around" whatever she finds -- Lidija Haas * Times Literary Supplement *A sharp, witty exploration of relationships, art and celebrity culture -- Natasha Lehrer * Jewish Chronicle *[Sheila Heti] has an appealing restlessness, a curiosity about new forms, and an attractive freedom from pretentiousness or cant…How Should a Person Be? offers a vital and funny picture of the excitements and longueurs of trying to be a young creator in a free, late-capitalist Western City…This talented writer may well have identified a central dialectic of twenty-first-century postmodern being * James Wood, New Yorker *Funny…odd, original, and nearly unclassifiable…Sheila Heti does know something about how many of us, right now, experience the world, and she has gotten that knowledge down on paper, in a form unlike any other novel I can think of * New York Times *Playful, funny... absolutely true * The Paris Review *Sheila's clever, openhearted commentary will draw wry smiles from readers empathetic to modern life's trials and tribulations -- Eve Commander * Big Issue in the North *Amusing and original * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Baileys Women''s Fiction PrizeIn a flat above a noisy north London market, translator Iona Kirkpatrick starts work on a Chinese letter. Two lovers, Mu and Jian, have been driven apart by forces beyond their control.As Iona unravels the story of the lovers, Jian and Mu seem to be travelling further and further away from each other. Iona, intoxicated by their romance, sets out to bring them back together, but time is running out.Xiaolu Guo was named as one of Granta''s Best of Young British Novelists Trade ReviewHeart-wrenching… An extraordinary and important book -- Charlie Cooper * Independent *Beautifully written… Genuinely affecting… Exceptional * Scotland on Sunday *An ambitious, thought-provoking and engaging narrative -- Jane Shilling * Evening Standard *Beautifully rendered * New York Times *Beautifully done -- Viv Groskop * Red *

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Book SynopsisMeg Wolitzer is the author of several acclaimed novels, most recently The Uncoupling (tingles with playfulness and wicked observation' Independent) and The Wife (has you howling with recognition' Allison Pearson), The Position (one of the best and most human books I've read all year' Erica Wagner) and The Ten-Year Nap (as incisive and pitiless and clear-eyed a chronicler of female-male tandems as Philip Roth or John Updike' Chicago Tribune). She is married with two sons and lives in New York City.Trade ReviewThis is a wonderful book. Intelligent and subtle, it is exquisitely written with enormous warmth and depth of emotion… But what makes The Interestings exceptional is the precision and elegance of Wolitzer’s writing… This should be the novel to make Wolitzer a household name here too -- Kate Mosse * The Times *Wolitzer is a writer of prodigious energy and detail, with the knack for comic-satirical perceptions of character and culture -- Rachel Cusk * Guardian *A complex, cleverly interwoven analysis of the moment when the lives of six friends begin to unravel’ -- Viv Groskop * Observer *Wolitzer has a knack for homing in on the kind of pretension-puncturing details that can sum up a minor character in a single sentence -- Hepzibah Anderson * Daily Mail *Meg Wolitzer writes fluently about the American Dream and whether you should surrender your goals to reality in this wonderful novel * Stylist *I love Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings because it’s sprawling and beautifully written and it opens at a summer camp. It’s a truly great novel about friendship, and how it deepens and changes over the years -- David Sedaris * Conde Nast Traveller *A breakout book -- Allison PearsonIf you enjoy the introspective aspects of Virginia Woolf or the American modernity of Jennifer Egan, you’ll love this sweeping, tragicomic novel of ideas * Psychologies *One of those generation-defining America novels that tackles big historical issues * Marie Claire *Full of wit * Emerald Street *The wit, intelligence and deep feeling of Wolitzer’s writing are extraordinary and The Interestings brings her achievement, already so steadfast and remarkable, to an even higher level * Jeffrey Eugenides *

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Book SynopsisA man is burnt alive in a shed. No witnesses, no fingerprints - only a positive ID of the victim as an immigrant with a long list of enemies. Detectives Zigic and Ferreira are called in from the Hate Crimes Unit to track the killer, and are met with silence in a Fenland community ruled by slum racketeers, people-trafficking gangs and fear. Tensions rise.The clock is ticking.But nobody wants to talk.Trade ReviewA brilliant introduction to a new crime series... The plot is tight, the anger righteous, and the action thrilling * Metro *The modern scourge of people-trafficking is brilliantly described in this ingenious and compassionate novel * Sunday Times *A promising debut that pulls no punches * Sunday Mirror *Thrilling, original, so contemporary it feels as if it was written next year. Brilliant -- Denise MinaPerceptive and intelligent, with the ring of authenticity -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *An engaging debut... Assured and delicately written, Dolan paints a nuanced portrait of a detective and a city * Daily Mail *A new author to watch... This debut is so impressive -- Matt Thorne * Sunday Express *Eva Dolan's writing is snappy, confident and sharp as a blade, with a storytelling style that bubbles and fizzes * Crime Fiction Lover *Impressive...the clever plot illuminates the social issues and personal despair that often accompany immigration to cities already suffering financial stress -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *An absorbing, provocative tale… This is an exceptional debut * Irish Times *A stunning debut... The subject matter is fascinating, the execution of it is a joy to read -- James Oswald, author of Natural Causes, the winner of the Richard and Judy 2013 Summer Book Club

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Book SynopsisAccomplisheda strangely mesmerising effectabsolutely excellent' New StatesmanNew York, 1980sAlice Burns a young book editor is deep into a manuscript about the morass of family life. The observations within resonate, perhaps, because she has just watched her own family implode.As she reads she wonders: When did the sadness start? And could it be that unhappiness is a choice?Thus begins a great American epic which follows Alice as she navigates high school, first love and sexism at an elite college, a spell in 1970s Ireland, and a tragedy that sends her stateside as the US embraces a cowboy actor named Reagan.But it is also the tale of her endlessly complex parents and brothers how their destinies are written by the lies they tell themselves and others.The Great Wide Open is an immensely ambitious and compulsive saga; a novel which will speak volumes to anyone who has marvelled at that pain that can only bTrade ReviewThis novel is a page-turner with a relentless pace -- Kate Saunders * The Times *Has a strangely mesmerising effect . . . absolutely excellent. * New Statesman *Kennedy is skilled at zigzag plotting, blending domestic twists with turns created by global affairs. * Observer *An ambitious tale from a reliably compelling story teller. * Sunday Mirror *Douglas Kennedy sensitively engages with issues that still affect America to this day and creates a story with realism and heart * Woman's Weekly *

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Book Synopsis''A touching exploration of passion untested by domesticity'' Mail on SundayBefore Isabelle I knew nothing of sex.Before Isabelle I knew nothing of freedom. Before Isabelle I knew nothing of life. Paris in the early Seventies. Sam, an American student, meets a woman in a bookshop. Isabelle is enigmatic, beautiful, older and, unlike Sam, experienced in love''s many contradictions. Sam is instantly smitten - but wary of the wedding ring on her finger. What begins as a regular arrangement in Isabelle's tiny Parisian apartment transforms into a true affair of the heart, and one which lasts for decades to come. Isabelle in the Afternoon is a novel that questions what we seek, what we find, what we settle for - and shows how love, when not lived day in, day out, can become the passion of a lifetime.Praise for Douglas KennedyThe absolute master of love stories with heart-stopping twists' THE TIMES<Trade ReviewKennedy is skilled at zigzag plotting, blending domestic twists with turns created by global affairs * Observer *Isabelle in the Afternoon is a devastatingly stunning novel...It is a very sensual tale portraying the intensity of a love, the ferocity of a passion filled with loss and regret. Emotional, poignant, intoxicating, beautiful * Swirl and Thread *Beautifully written and emotionally gripping, this compelling love story will stay with you * Candis *[A]tmospheric tale...It's a touching exploration of passion untested by domesticity * Mail On Sunday *Beautifully written [...] will resonate with anyone who's ever been in love * Heat *

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Book SynopsisAuthor of over fifty books, Georgette Heyer is the best-known and best-loved of all historical novelists, who made the Regency period her own. Her first novel, The Black Moth, published in 1921, was written at the age of seventeen to amuse her convalescent brother; her last was My Lord John. Although most famous for her historical novels, she also wrote eleven detective stories. Georgette Heyer died in 1974 at the age of seventy-one.Trade ReviewGeorgette Heyer’s Regency romances brim with elegance, wit and historical accuracy […] and this is one of her finest and most entertaining […] This charming book is escapism of the highest order * DAILY MAIL *

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Book SynopsisA kilo of cocaine. Hardly what two small-time crooks were expecting to find when they broke into TV director Harold Roy''s shabby mansion. But nor was Harold''s frustrated wife expecting to fall in love with one of the intruders. Now she''s going to make a deal with him - for both her husband and the drugs. But the precious powder belongs to someone else. And he wants it back. So if he feels he''s been double-crossed, there''s no telling what might happen. Detective Inspector Resnick has a hunch that there''s more to this story than meets the eye. And as his investigations lead him down the mean streets of the TV industry and an inner-city drugs ring, it''s obvious that more than one person is dancing on thin ice.Trade ReviewJohn Harvey's Resnick novels are far and away the finest British police procedurals ever written * GQ *British crime ficton's most impressive series of the last decade * Time Out *

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Book SynopsisSusan Lewis is the bestselling author of thirty-eight novels. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol. She lives in Gloucestershire. To find out more about Susan Lewis, visit her website www.susanlewis.com, or join in on www.facebook.com/SusanLewisBooks.Susan is a supporter of the breast cancer charity Breast Cancer Care: www.breastcancercare.org.uk and of the childhood bereavement charity Winston's Wish: www.winstonswish.org.uk

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Book SynopsisSusan Lewis is the bestselling author of thirty-eight novels. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol. She lives in Gloucestershire. To find out more about Susan Lewis, visit her website www.susanlewis.com, or join in on www.facebook.com/SusanLewisBooks.Susan is a supporter of the breast cancer charity Breast Cancer Care: www.breastcancercare.org.uk and of the childhood bereavement charity Winston's Wish: www.winstonswish.org.ukTrade ReviewA heartbreakingly real family drama. * Essential *

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Book SynopsisYour worst nightmare is back on your doorstep.When Jules Bright hears a knock on the door, the last person she expects to find is a detective bringing her the news she''s feared for the last three years.Amelia Quentin is being released from prison.Jules''s life is very different now to the one she''d known before Amelia shattered it completely. Knowing the girl is coming back she needs to decide what to do. Friends and family gather round, fearing for Jules''s safety. They know that justice was never served; every one of them wants to make the Quentin girl pay. The question is, what will Jules do; and which of them - her or Amelia - has the most to fear?Trade ReviewLewis’ depiction of inter-familial relationships in her latest novel is so accurate and powerfully emotive that The Girl Who Came Back does more than just tug at your heart strings; her characters almost reach out of the pages and pull you in to their twisted world of sadness and revenge. There’s something about the way Lewis so truthfully captures the sensitivity and uniqueness of a mother-daughter bond that makes her novel so gripping; you rather want to unravel the story as if it were happening to your very own family ... It’s dark, questioning and beautifully written; if you dare to pick it up, it will utterly absorb you into its twisted tale. * Good to Know *Lewis’ depiction of inter-familial relationships in her latest novel is so accurate and powerfully emotive that The Girl Who Came Back does more than just tug at your heart strings; her characters almost reach out of the pages and pull you in to their twisted world of sadness and revenge. There’s something about the way Lewis so truthfully captures the sensitivity and uniqueness of a mother-daughter bond that makes her novel so gripping; you rather want to unravel the story as if it were happening to your very own family ... It’s dark, questioning and beautifully written; if you dare to pick it up, it will utterly absorb you into its twisted tale. * Good to Know *Compelling and heartbreaking * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *Relatable, engaging and addictive. * Lovereading *A gripping story of love, uncertainty and betrayal which leads to a dramatic climax. Susan Lewis at her best. * My Weekly *

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Book SynopsisErnest Miller Hemingway was born in Chicago in 1899, the son of a doctor and the second of six children. After a stint as an ambulance driver at the Italian front, Hemingway came home to America in 1919, only to return to the battlefield this time as a reporter on the Greco-Turkish war in 1922. Resigning from journalism to focus on his writing instead, he moved to Paris where he renewed his earlier friendship with fellow American expatriates such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Through the years, Hemingway travelled widely and wrote avidly, becoming an internationally recognized literary master of his craft. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.Trade ReviewThis is immediate, unmistakable Hemingway. -- Philip Young * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisErnest Miller Hemingway was born in Chicago in 1899, the son of a doctor and the second of six children. After a stint as an ambulance driver at the Italian front, Hemingway came home to America in 1919, only to return to the battlefield this time as a reporter on the Greco-Turkish war in 1922. Resigning from journalism to focus on his writing instead, he moved to Paris where he renewed his earlier friendship with fellow American expatriates such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Through the years, Hemingway travelled widely and wrote avidly, becoming an internationally recognized literary master of his craft. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.Trade ReviewHemingway's most deeply autobiographical piece of work * Irish Times *Hemingway’s style is a superb vehicle for revealing tenderness of feeling beneath descriptions of brutality * Guardian *Many of the episodes contain the most exciting and effective writing Hemingway has ever done * Saturday Review *This book contains some of the best of Hemingway's descriptions of nature: the waves breaking white and green on the reef off the coast of Cuba; the beauty of the morning on the deep water; the hermit crabs and land crabs and ghost crabs; a big barracuda stalking mullet; a heron flying with his white wings over the green water; the ibis and flamingoes and spoonbills, the last of these beautiful with the sharp rose of their color; the mosquitoes in clouds from the marshes; the water that curled and blew under the lash of the wind; the sculpture that the wind and sand had made of a piece of driftwood, gray and sanded and embedded in white, floury sand -- Edmund Wilson * Saturday Review *Thomas Hudson, the painter in the book Islands in the Streamis Hemingway himself, attempting to come to terms with everything he loves - the clarity of a brushstroke, his three children, his ex-wives, his lovers, his whores, his friends, his cats, his rifle, his Booth's gin * Newsweek *

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Book SynopsisIn Reno we encounter a heroine like no other.Best Books of the Year: * Guardian * New York Times * The Times * Observer * Financial Times * New Yorker * Telegraph * Slate * Oprah * Vogue * Time * Scotsman * Evening Standard * Shortlisted for the National Book Awards 2013Trade ReviewScintillatingly alive... It ripples with stories, anecdotes, set-piece monologues, crafty egotistical tall tales, and hapless adventures -- James Wood * New Yorker *Kushner is rapidly emerging as a thrilling and prodigious novelist -- Jonathan FranzenOne of the most thrilling and high-octane literary experiences I have had in ages -- Colum McCann * Sunday Independent *It's so good, it's a little frightening… it makes any fretting over the state of the novel look plain silly * Guardian *An adrenalin-fuelled coming-of-age novel * Sunday Telegraph *Unfolds on a bigger, brighter screen than nearly any recent American novel I can remember * New York Times *An ambitious and serious American novel. The sentences are sharp and gorgeously made. The scope is wide. The political and the personal are locked in a deep and fascinating embrace * Colm Tóibín *Dazzling... The Flamethrowers is a virtuoso performance; a ride of ache and pleasure, handled with pinpoint command * The Times *This glittering novel is both carefully structured and exhilarating * Daily Telegraph *Rachel Kushner’s fearless, blazing prose ignites the 70s New York art scene and Italian underground * Vanity Fair *A bright burning flame of a novel * Spectator *The Flamethrowers is a strange, fascinating beast of a novel, brimming with ideas, and sustained by the muscular propulsion of Kushner’s prose… Kushner emerges as a wildly gifted artist filling a sketchbook with thrilling, eye-catching scenes -- Robert Collins * Sunday Times *There is an exhilarating freedom to Kushner’s writing… Taut, vividly intelligent prose -- David Wolf * Prospect *Sparky and inventive...a riot of a novel * Daily Mail *Ms Kushner’s kaleidoscopic prose carries the novel’s shifts in location and person, and the fast-paced rhythm harnesses the thrill of adventure * Economist *Swells with a daunting bravado * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisLondon 1972. Luke is dazzled by the city. It seems a world away from the provincial town he has fled along with his own troubled past, and his new life is unrecognisable - one of friendships forged in pubs, candlelit power cuts, and smoky late-night parties.Trade ReviewAn intoxicating and immersive read... It is a fraught and compelling novel; one that replays itself uncomfortably in the mind long after it is finished -- Lucy Atkins * Sunday Times *Intense... Ms Jones is unflinching as she plots the course of fallout with no shelter, of wounded lives undone by desperation in love and art -- Carmela Ciuraru * New York Times *Written with a precision and a level of descriptive subtlety that puts her up there with our foremost novelists. I can't help but feel that if she had been born Samuel Jones she would already be considered on a par with the Barneses and McEwans of this parish... Fallout is crafted with a pared-back delicacy and attention to detail that shows an author determined to do better with every sentence. And at the same time, there is an intensity of focus, a merciless yet empathetic gaze directed towards each of the main characters that ensures we care deeply about each of them -- Elizabeth Day * Observer *Hugely enjoyable... Fallout is both deliciously gobble-able and carefully constructed... A thoroughly pleasurable read -- Holly Williams * Independent on Sunday *An intelligent, pacy tale... Every summer needs a One Day-style read; this book is a contender for that crown -- Anne Ashworth * The Times *

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Book SynopsisDiscover this powerful novel about a family falling apart, from the Booker Longlisted author of A TOWN CALLED SOLACE''Tender and surprising... A vivid and evocative tale'' New York TimesTwenty-one-year-old Megan Cartwright has never been outside the small town she was born in but one winter''s day in 1966 she leaves everything behind and sets out for London. Ahead of her is a glittering new life, just waiting for her to claim it.But left behind, her family begins to unravel. Disturbing letters from home begin to arrive and torn between her independence and family ties, Megan must make an impossible choice.''Every bit as good as I expected. A heart-aching and beautifully written story of a family falling apart'' Woman and HomeTrade ReviewTender and surprising… A vivid and evocative tale * New York Times *Subtle but gripping... Beautifully written, with the locations brilliantly evoked -- Francesca Cookney * Sunday Mirror *Road Ends is beautifully written, evocative and tender. It will haunt you long after you’ve finished it and leave you impatient for more -- Richenda Miers * Country Life *Austere, humane and accomplished, Road Ends depicts a wilderness of the heart through which some roads pass -- Richard Greene * Literary Review *Lawson grasps the anguished allure of family life played out against the vast, wintry backdrop of the Canadian landscape. Deftly she keeps our interest by dividing up the chapters between the characters to give shifting points of view on some universal themes -- Rosanna Greenstreet * Richmond Magazine *

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZEJon is 59 and divorced: a senior civil servant in Westminster who hates many of his colleagues and loathes his work, he is a good man in a bad world. Meg is a bankrupt accountant two words you don't want in the same sentence, or anywhere near your CV. Living on Telegraph Hill, she can see London unfurl below her. Somewhere out there is safety.As Jon and Meg navigate the sweet and serious heart of London passing through 24 hours that will change them both for ever they tell a very unusual, unbearably moving love story.Trade ReviewKennedy tenderly anatomised London and loneliness in Serious Sweet. -- Ali Smith * Guardian, Book of the Year *So beautiful that it makes your head hurt. -- Katy Guest * Independent *Serious Sweet is a magnificent novel, showing Kennedy at the very top of her game. Ambitious in scope, daring in execution, full of dazzling apercus and dark comedy… It is a tale of redemption, as serious and as sweet as you could wish for. -- Rebecca Abrams * Financial Times *In equal measures, funny, sad and addictive… The opening pages had me holding my breath in fear and anticipation… Capturing the relentless hustle of London life to perfection. -- Glenda Marchant * Stylist *A. L. Kennedy shakes her city until the right atoms collide. She stands back to give a picture of the whole of London on one day, and then suddenly swoops down to pick up a tiny detail. -- Kate Saunders * The Times *Deeply affecting... Kennedy strips her characters emotionally bare… Serious Sweet portrays intense lives of quiet desperation: it is a novel about hope and muted courage and, at the end of the day, a very tentatively experienced optimism. -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *A. L. Kennedy's eighth novel is a profoundly moving, often funny, and at points rending depiction of two good people. Serious Sweet is about the heroism of decency; albeit damaged decency... Kennedy is not one of our finest writers simply because of the quality of her prose: she is because of the moral profundity of her work. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *This is a bold, cinematic novel... Parts of it are terrifically funny. * Herald *A genuinely stirring love story. * Mail on Sunday *Her flair for describing feelings and relationships makes this an engaging window into the messy minds of Londoners and her commentary on the city rings true. -- Susannah Butter * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.Trade ReviewWith this hilarious, nail-pointed satire, a devastating social parable brimming with humanity and heart, Barrett joins the ranks of the great tricksters: Alain Mabanckou, Joseph Heller and Charles JohnsonIt is the funniest, most engaging badass book I’ve read in years. You should read this book and enjoy freshly minted scintillating prose rioting with each other – it is a lush canvas of ideas, humor and vision. Blackass is fresh, contemporary writing without even trying; this is how fiction should be written in the 21st century. * Whats On Africa, Royal African Society *Gripping... This is a memorable, richly allusive story, skillfully interweaving thoughts from Kafka to the poet Elizabeth Bishop. Barrett probes not only the surface but the depths of who we are -- Anita Sethi * Observer *Wonderfully imagined, and very funny… a dazzling first novel by one of Africa’s best young writers -- Kate Saunders * The Times *As well as being a fable about race and identity, Blackass is in large part a love letter to Lagos… For Barrett, race is inevitably one part of a person’s identity, but it is one that asserts itself principally through the eyes of others, through how they “read” those they encounter. People will inevitably discuss this book, and Barrett’s work in general, in the context of a resurgent Nigerian literary scene that includes writers such as Teju Cole, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Helon Habila. But, to read him only as a Nigerian writer would be to do him a disservice. For Blackass is a strange, compelling novel, and Barrett has something to tell us all. -- Jon Day * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisNow we make you ugly,' my mother said. The best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl.'On the mountainside in rural Mexico where Ladydi lives, being a girl is dangerous. Especially a pretty one. If the Narcos hear there is a pretty girl on the mountain, they steal her. So when the black SUVs roll into town, Ladydi and her friends hide in the warren of holes scattered across the mountain, safely out of sight. Because the stolen girls don't come back.Ladydi is determined to get out, to find a life that offers more than just the struggle to survive. But she soon finds that the drug cartels have eyes everywhere, and the cities are no safer than the mountains.Trade ReviewThe theme of Prayers for the Stolen is the wanton violence inflicted on women and the destruction of communities as a result of the drug trade in Mexico, but Clement's eye for the revealing detail, the simple poetry of her language and the visceral authenticity of her characters turn that deadening reality into a compelling, tragically beautiful novel -- Yann MartelA moving novel narrated by an open-hearted teenage girl growing up in the borderlands of Mexico controlled entirely by the drug cartels. Lyrical, disturbing and not without optimism, this work deserved far more acclaim when published last year -- Kazuo Ishiguro * New Statesman *Prayers For The Stolen is stark and brutal, but not without happiness. “Mexico is a warren of hidden women”, says Jennifer Clement. This book is a way of seeing them * Stylist *Every sentence in Prayers for the Stolen is direct, potent, unexpected; twisting on the page like a knife in the gut… This work also gives us all of a novel's pleasures – a story laden with significance and drama and meaning, a keen feeling of relationship between reader and characters, a fully realised world through which we may roam -- Kirsty Gunn * Guardian *[Clement] shows the black comedy in the details and the emergency in the broader picture -- Gaby Wood * Telegraph *Bleak, but beautifully written… Clement's prose is luminous and startlingly original. The sentences are spare and stripped back, but brilliantly manage to contain complex characters and intense emotional histories in a few vividly poetic words. Her portrayal of modern Mexico is heartbreaking; a dangerous and damaging environment for women, but her portrait of Ladydi and her refusal to be one of the lost girls is defiantly bold and bravely uncompromising -- Eithne Farry * Sunday Express *Ladydi’s irreverent voice sings off the page and there are laughs to be had as she relates her mother’s drunken wisdom and seeks to find a way to live -- Cathy Retzenbrink * Metro *Despite its violent premise, this is a darkly comic read with one of the funniest, most touching narrators in years, highlighting a very real issue in a remarkably fresh way. An inspiring story of female resilience * Psychologies *

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Book SynopsisIN THE HEART OF THE NIGHTInexorably, he is drawn into the blackness of the city’s underbelly, where everyone is in the dark or on the run.'One of the most accomplished series of detective novels in modern crime fiction' - Sunday Times'An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why.Trade ReviewOne of the greats of modern crime fiction * Sunday Times *The king of Icelandic crime fiction * Financial Times *An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical * Harlan Coben *One of the most accomplished series of detective novels in modern crime fiction -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *A real pleasure -- Mark Sanderson * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisSebastian Faulks has written nineteen books, of which A Week in December and The Fatal Englishman were number one in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. He is best known for Birdsong, part of his French trilogy, and Human Traces, the first in an ongoing Austrian trilogy. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a journalist on national papers. He has also written screenplays and has appeared in small roles on stage. He lives in London.Trade ReviewIt is a wonderfully happy book. * Guardian *This light-hearted romp is delightfully witty, packed with puns and boasts a few phrases that Wodehouse himself would have deemed top-hole. Splendid stuff. * Sunday Mirror *The finished product resembles, in all but cover, a traditional Wodehousian yarn. Harking back to the summer of 1926, it is a gentle, jolly tale – of farce and mistaken identity, of love lost and found, of cricket matches, village fetes and the eccentric upper classes. * Telegraph *At two memorable moments in Jeeves and the Wedding Bells I did indeed laugh until I cried… Jeeves and the Wedding Bells is a masterpiece… This is a pitch-perfect undertaking: proof, almost a century after his debut, that Jeeves may not be so inimitable after all. * Spectator *The plot is satisfyingly convoluted in the best Wodehouse tradition . . . A genuine addition to my growing Wodehouse collection and there is no higher tribute. * Daily Express *He catches the Wodehousean idiom, periphrasis, surreal similes and bally silliness to a T, all done with love. Please commission a dozen more, Hutchinson. * Literary Review *From the first page of Sebastian Faulks’s entirely delightful book . . . we are transported to Wodehouse land. All the details, of plot, of character, and of setting, are lovingly drawn. The hours spent reading Jeeves and the Wedding Bells are pure pleasure. * Financial Times *Faulks has caught the mood and the dialogue perfectly * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisPublished for the first time in the UK, one of Japan's greatest modern female writers In the late nineteenth century, Tomo, the faithful wife of a government official, is sent to Tokyo, where a heartbreaking task is awaiting her.Trade ReviewThought-provoking and heart-wrenching * The Daily News Journal *A prize-winning novel by one of Japan's most notable women authors * Library Journal *A subtle dissection of the attitudes of Japanese women * Pacific Citizen *The author is a woman of great intelligence, profound psychological insight, and extraordinary sensitivity * Monumenta Nipponica *Absorbing, sensitive, and utterly heartrending * Charles Beardsley *

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the CWA International DaggerHOW DO YOU SOLVE A MURDER WITHOUT A BODY?Keeping watch under the windows of the Paris flat belonging to a politician''s nephew, ex-special investigator Louis Kehlweiler catches sight of something odd on the pavement. A tiny piece of bone. Human bone, in fact. When Kehlweiler takes his find to the nearest police station, he faces ridicule. Obsessed by the fragment, he follows the trail to the tiny Breton fishing village of Port-Nicolas in search of a dog. But when he recruits evangelists' Marc and Mathias to help, they find themselves facing even bigger game. A THREE EVANGELISTS NOVELTrade ReviewOne of today's few truly original writers of crime fiction: disturbing, unruly, droll and poetic * The Times *Few contemporary crime thrillers can match Vargas's soaring imaginative flights -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *This is wonderful, quirky stuff, a world away from formulaic crime fiction -- Andrew Taylor * Spectator *Vargas is an addictive writer whose surreal touches create a curiously solid world. Her occasional whimsy somehow turns into comment both trenchant and funny -- Jane Jakeman * Independent *A cool, clever, original and deeply humane crime writer * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisKerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Her first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust First Book Award and was shortlisted for an array of prizes including the Guardian First Book Award and the Sky Arts Award. Thirst, her second novel, won the prestigious Prix Femina étranger. Lowborn, her highly acclaimed first work of non-fiction, was a Radio 4 Book of the Week, a Guardian and Spectator Book of the Year and Stylist Book of the Decade. It is followed by Newborn. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020.Trade ReviewAccomplished…Beautiful…Heart-wrenching * Independent on Sunday *Accomplished…Beautiful…Heart-wrenching * Independent on Sunday *A fizzing, breathless love story from a terrifically talented storyteller * The List *A tender, off-kilter love story… the novel paints a vivid picture of two very different kinds of misfit, falling in love over one dusty, teeming London summer * Observer *Hudson captures the bustle of life in Hackney and Russia with energy and a sharp eye for detail… [Her characters] have love, guts, humour and conscience. This is Love on the Dole 21st-century style -- Louise Welsh * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisKarl Ove Knausgaard (Author) Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle cycle has been heralded as a masterpiece all over the world. From A Death in the Family to The End, the novels move through childhood into adulthood and, together, form an enthralling portrait of human life. Knausgaard has been awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature, the Brage Prize and the Jerusalem Prize. His work, which also includes the Seasons Quartet and the Morning Star sequence (The Morning Star, The Wolves of Eternity, The Third Realm and The School of Night) is published in thirty-six languages.Martin Aitken (Translator) Martin Aitken has translated the works of many Scandinavian writers, among them Karl Ove Knausgaard, Helle Helle, Hanne Ørstavik and Olga Ravn. He lives in Denmark.Trade ReviewFor all its complexity, My Struggle achieves something pretty simple, the thing that enduring fiction has always done: it creates a world that absorbs you utterly… The End is alive. -- Theo Tait * Sunday Times *Knausgaard’s rendering of this crisis – the jitteriness, the relentlessness with which he goes over events again and again, his overwhelming sense of transgression and shame – is riveting… Every changed nappy, every cigarette smoked on the balcony, every cup of coffee poured from that damn vacuum jug is another alibi; the creation of the normal life that distracts from the roiling mess within... That we cannot quite name what we’ve experienced is part of the brilliance. -- Alex Clark * Guardian *The End is woven of a man’s love for his family and his obsession with the solitary writing life, the warp and weft of these contradictory passions sometimes meshing together perfectly… My Struggle is a cultural moment worth getting involved in. The six volumes offer something special: total immersion in the soap opera of another person’s life. -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times *A uniquely compelling and absorbing reading experience… captivating interplay between banality and beauty, the redundant and the sublime. -- Chris Power * New Statesman *Compulsively addictive… His way of describing “reality as it is” is to expand the range of thoughts and actions, however mundane or shameful, that a human being will publicly admit to. -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThomas Pynchon is the author of V., The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, Slow Learner, a collection of short stories, Vineland, Mason and Dixon, Against the Day, Inherent Vice and, most recently, Bleeding Edge. He received the National Book Award for Gravity's Rainbow in 1974.Trade ReviewThomas Pynchon, America’s greatest novelist, has written the greatest novel about the most significant events in his country’s 21st century history. It is unequivocally a masterpiece. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *It’s dense, complex and riotously, ridiculously funny. * Esquire *The looming shadow of 9/11 touches every page. Nonetheless, many of those pages are outrageously funny, others are sexy, touchingly domestic, satirical or deeply mysterious. All are brilliantly written in Pynchon’s characteristically revved-up, even slightly over-revved style – a joy to read… Swarms with amazing characters… Full of verbal sass and pizzazz, as well as conspiracies within conspiracies, Bleeding Edge is totally gonzo, totally wonderful. It really is good to have Thomas Pynchon around, doing what he does best. -- Michael Dirda * Washington Post *Bleeding Edge, Pynchon’s eighth novel, is the best and most surprising thing he’s written since those great books… The jokes in this novel, incidentally, are superb, with the comic tone perhaps a career high point. -- Tim Martin * Telegraph *Part thriller, part detective story, it’s a vibrant portrait of a city on the cusp of change. -- Sonia Juttla * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisTsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. One day they announced that they didn't want to see him or talk to him ever again. Since that day, Tsukuru has been unable to form intimate connections. Then he meets Sara, who insists that he must find out what happened all those years ago. From the internationally acclaimed author of NORWEGIAN WOOD comes a poignant mystery story about friendship.Trade ReviewA naturalistic coming-of-age story… sprinkled with strange images and written in a hauntingly mournful key * Guardian *[Murakmi’s] elegant, frugal prose creates a tale of courage and hope as Tsukuru tries to unlock the secrets of his past * Stylist *Critics have variously likened Murakami to Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Arthur C Clarke, Don DeLillo, Philip K Dick, Bret Easton Ellis and Thomas Pynchon – a roster so ill-assorted to suggest he is in fact an original * New York Times *A rich and even brilliant piece of work… Genuinely resonant and satisfying -- James Walton * Spectator *This is a book for both the new and experienced reader....[it] reveals another side of Murakami, one not so easy to pin down. Incurably restive, ambiguous and valiantly struggling toward a new level of maturation -- Patti Smith * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisDiscover Haruki Murakami''s first two novels.''If you''re the sort of guy who raids the refrigerators of silent kitchens at three o''clock in the morning, you can only write accordingly. That''s who I am.'' Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are Haruki Murakami''s earliest novels. They follow the fortunes of the narrator and his friend, known only by his nickname, the Rat. In Hear the Wind Sing the narrator is home from college on his summer break. He spends his time drinking beer and smoking in J''s Bar with the Rat, listening to the radio, thinking about writing and the women he has slept with, and pursuing a relationship with a girl with nine fingers. Three years later, in Pinball, 1973, he has moved to Tokyo to work as a translator and live with indistinguishable twin girls, but the Rat has remained behind, despite his efforts to leave both the town and his girlfriend. The narrator finds himself hTrade ReviewMurakami fans will no doubt delight in this new publication. For newcomers, these early works are an excellent introduction to a writer who has since become one of the most influential novelists of his generation -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *Murakami’s way of making emotionally resonant images and symbols bump around on the page, and in one’s mind, remains fresh, miraculously, more than 35 years on -- Jerome Boyd Maunsell * Evening Standard *Wind/Pinball is a fresh, heart-warming dose of the Japanese master * Economist *To read a Murakami book is to feel comforted by the familiarity and predictability of its strangeness. These are Murakami’s two earliest novels and so, like archaeological artefacts, they detail the early construction of his now-famous style. -- Claire Kohda Hazelton * The Times Literary Supplement *quintessential Murakami… an excellent introduction to a writer who has since become one of the most influential novelists of his generation -- Guardian * Hannah Beckerman *

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