Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisTim Winton has published over twenty books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into many different languages. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian/Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). Active in the environmental movement, he is the Patron of the Australian Marine Conservation Society. He lives in Western Australia.Trade ReviewWinton’s writing is a heady blend of muscular description, deep sentiment and metaphysics. * Sunday Telegraph *His elegiac novels are uplifting and cathartic dissections of fractured men and women. * Independent *Winton has a fine ear for both intimate and monumental scales of drama. * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisWill Eaves was born in Bath in 1967. He is the author of two other novels, The Oversight (2001, shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award) and Nothing To Be Afraid Of (2005, shortlisted for the Society of Authors' Encore Award), and a collection of poems, Sound Houses (2011). For many years he was the arts editor of the Times Literary Supplement. He now teaches at the University of Warwick.Trade Review‘Beautiful and extraordinary’ The Times‘Intricately rendered snapshots of family life through the years . . . Eaves has a real gift for nuanced observation’ Observer‘This is a novel that should resonate with every contemporary family’ Sunday Times‘Funny, kind and unsparingly honest’ Patrick Gale

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Book SynopsisJim Crace is the prize-winning author of ten books, including Continent (winner of the 1986 Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize), Quarantine (winner of the 1998 Whitbread Novel of the Year and shortlisted for the Booker Prize) and Being Dead (winner of the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award). He lives in Birmingham.Trade Review‘Presents Crace’s heavily politicised vision at its most ambitious and also at its most Ballard-like’ Irish Times‘A deeply satisfying read, in which each well-turned phrase resounds in every finely tuned sentence’ Mail on Sunday‘A celebration of the modern city . . . in such vivid prose that you can almost see the bloom on the peaches, taste the sun-ripened oranges and smell the coffee at the market traders’ stalls’ Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisThe novels of the American writer, Cormac McCarthy, have received a number of literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewAn appealing piece of work . . . gripping, with plenty of reflection and evocation * The Daily Telegraph *The Passenger is like a submerged ship itself; a gorgeous ruin in the shape of a hardboiled noir thriller . . . What a glorious sunset song . . . It’s rich and it’s strange, mercurial and melancholic * The Guardian *A moving and characteristically disconcerting addition to the oeuvre of one of America’s greatest writers * The Irish Times *Critics have detected the influence on him of Faulkner and Hemingway, but this is to understate his achievement. The Passenger shows that McCarthy belongs in the company of Melville and Dostoevsky, writers the world will never cease to need * New Statesman *[A] gripping story, written in McCarthy’s trademark acerbic style * i newspaper *Kafka on the bayou * Observer *Magisterial * Financial Times *McCarthy’s formidable talents for dialogue, perfect sentences and descriptions of the natural world remain undiminished * The Times *The Passenger also happens to be something of a masterpiece… It is [McCarthy’s] most ambitious work. * TIME *The novels McCarthy published in 2022, at the age of 89, permanently resolve the question of whether McCarthy is a great novelist… together the books are the richest and strongest work of McCarthy’s career * The Atlantic *An intellectual experience that’s not quite like anything else out there, laced with the eerie beauty that only Cormac McCarthy can offer. * Vox *In Stella Maris and The Passenger, McCarthy invites us to consider hopelessness not just to give us hope but to compel us to make use of it. Having lived for nearly 100 years, he has given us what may well be the last great novels of the long 20th century. He may also help point us in a different direction for the twenty-first. * The Nation *

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Book SynopsisGod. Truth. Existence. From the legendary author Cormac McCarthy, Stella Maris is a masterful coda to The Passenger.'It's an uncanny, unsettling dream, tuned into the static of the universe' – New York TimesA mathematician, twenty years-old, is admitted to the hospital. She has forty thousand dollars in a plastic bag, and one request. She does not want to talk about her brother.Stella Maris is book two in a duology, preceded by The Passenger.Praise for The Passenger:'What a glorious sunset song . . . It’s rich and it’s strange, mercurial and melancholic' – Guardian'The Passenger shows that McCarthy belongs in the company of Melville and Dostoevsky, writers the world will never cease to need' – New StatesmanPraise for Cormac McCarthy:‘McCarthy worked close to some religious impulse, his boTrade ReviewIt's an uncanny, unsettling dream, tuned into the static of the universe * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe novels of the American writer, Cormac McCarthy, have received a number of literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewRemarkable… a staggering achievement * Scotsman *His sentences have the solidity of stones and the clarity of diamonds * Financial Times *A true work of literature… If McCarthy’s goal was for these books to haunt readers long after they are set aside, then he has succeeded. * LA Review of Books *Remarkable… [Stella Maris] harmonises both sadly and gorgeously with its recent predecessor. Side by side, both novels affirm the extraordinary poetry and strangeness of McCarthy’s vision * Sydney Morning Herald *Like Bach’s concertos, these triumphant novels depart the realm of art and encroach upon science, aimed at some Platonic point beyond our reckoning where all spheres converge * TIME *Great additions to McCarthy's already outstanding oeuvre and proof that the mind of one of our greatest living writers is as sharp as it has ever been. * NPR *

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Book SynopsisSusanna Jones grew up in Yorkshire and studied drama at London University. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages and has won the CWA John Creasey Dagger, a Betty Trask Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. She lives in Brighton.

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Book SynopsisHåkan Nesser is one of Sweden's most popular crime writers, receiving numerous awards for his novels featuring Inspector Van Veeteren, including the European Crime Fiction Star Award (Ripper Award), the Swedish Crime Writers' Academy Prize (three times) and Scandinavia's Glass Key Award. The Van Veeteren series is published in over twenty-five countries and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Håkan Nesser lives in Gotland with his wife, and spends part of each year in the UK.In addition to the popular Van Veeteren series, his other books include the psychological thriller The Living and the Dead in Winsford and The Barbarotti series.Trade ReviewOne of the best of the Nordic Noir writers. * Guardian *The godfather of Swedish crime. * Metro *One of Sweden’s best crime writers. * Mail on Sunday *A master of suspense. * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis'This life-stuffed novel is Aleksandar Hemon’s masterpiece' - David Mitchell, author of Cloud AtlasThe epic, cross-continental tale of a love so strong it conquers the Great War, revolution, and even death itself.As the Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives in Sarajevo one June day in 1914, Rafael Pinto is busy crushing herbs and grinding tablets behind the counter at the pharmacy he inherited from his father. It’s not quite the life he had expected during his poetry-filled student days in libertine Vienna, but it’s nothing a dash of laudanum, a summer stroll and idle fantasies can’t put in perspective.And then the world explodes. In the trenches in Galicia, fantasies fall flat. Heroism gets a man killed quickly. War devours all that they have known, and the only thing Pinto has to live for are the attentions of Osman, a fellow soldier, a man of action to complement Pinto’s introspective, poetic souTrade ReviewA staggering work of beauty and brutality -- Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize winning author of Shuggie BainA tour de force. Hemon has given us a story of love and war like no other -- Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire'Alexsandar Hemon's new novel is immense. ... It contains almost as much as its title promises. By turns lyrical and sardonic, it is as emotionally compelling as it is clever. I'll be surprised if I enjoy a novel more this year.' * Guardian *A magnificent, ambitious masterpiece * Financial Times *A twisting, turning epic rooted in love in all its forms; an odyssey of statelessness; a haunted museum of history ranging from Sarajevo to Shanghai and Jerusalem . . . This life-stuffed novel is Aleksandar Hemon’s masterpiece -- David Mitchell, author of Cloud AtlasBeguiling . . . Hemon is a master wordsmith and this novel contains multitudes * Daily Mail *An explosive novel. Bursting with energy, wits, and insights, it’s an epic meditation on history, philosophy, and human conditions. Aleksandar Hemon once again proves himself to be one of our most innovative and invigorating novelists -- Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good PrayersOne of the finest novels I’ve ever read . . . A feat of unfettered literary bravura. In short, a masterpiece -- Rabih AlameddineThe irrepressible voice of “The World and All That It Holds” glides along a cushion of poignancy buoyed by wry humor. * The Washington Post *'A powerful exploration of love, memory and world-shaking events' * Economist *An astoundingly expansive new novel from one of my all-time favorite writers . . . heartbreaking, thrilling . . . an amazing accomplishment -- Jesse EisenbergA potent story of love, war, and displacement... readers will delight in this sweeping epic * Publishers Weekly *Powerful and beautiful... Hemon pulls no punches in his most ambitious novel to date * Kirkus Reviews *“The World and All That It Holds” would be an audacious title for a book by anybody except God — or Aleksandar Hemon. But this Bosnian American author will make you a believer. * The Washington Post *A wandering epic of a novel . . . This is a book about language, and its medium is a rich linguistic stew . . . The historical-fictional illusion he has created is so engrossing, so generous in the abundant pleasures it offers the reader * Guardian *An English-language writer of verbal agility and ethical finesse . . . Within this widescreen epic, he drills as piercingly as ever into the questions of language and freedom, choice and chance, that made the refugee a writer * Economist *Piercingly acute, and imbued with a sense of history – personal, emotional and world-transforming at the same time – which is as entertaining to read as it is devastating * Big Issue *The real miracle of “The World and All That It Holds” is that despite holding so much, we come to know the fragile joys of this one melancholy man so well that he feels written into our own past * The Washington Post *Hemon’s historical novel is every bit as ambitious as its title suggests... A true epic, charged with heartbreak and beauty. * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisJackie Kay was born in Edinburgh. She is a poet, novelist and writer of short stories and has enjoyed great acclaim for her work for both adults and children. Her novel Trumpet won the Guardian Fiction Prize and is a modern classic. She has published three collections of stories with Picador, Why Don't You Stop Talking, Wish I Was Here and Reality, Reality. She teaches at Newcastle University, and lives in Manchester.Trade Review‘Jackie Kay’s third collection of short stories ranks among the best’ Guardian‘Hilarious . . . heartbreaking’ Observer‘Sheer joy . . . The pleasure that Kay takes in observation, in dipping her imagination into the secrets of the secretive and the songs of the unsung, is infectious’ Scotland on Sunday‘They glow with a quiet radiance, touched as they are by the warmth of their creator’s heart’ Spectator‘Invigorating and witty . . . An observer whose eye for human frailty and courage is that of a portraitist who wants to show rather than tell’ Sunday Herald

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Book SynopsisAn epic, continent-spanning story of a world in convulsion, of millions broken between war, displacement and revolution, and of human bonds so strong, of love so absolute, that they stretch from Sarajevo to Shanghai without snapping, and conquer all.Trade ReviewA staggering work of beauty and brutality -- Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize winning author of Shuggie BainA tour de force. Hemon has given us a story of love and war like no other -- Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire'Alexsandar Hemon's new novel is immense. ... It contains almost as much as its title promises. By turns lyrical and sardonic, it is as emotionally compelling as it is clever. I'll be surprised if I enjoy a novel more this year.' * Guardian *A magnificent, ambitious masterpiece * Financial Times *A twisting, turning epic rooted in love in all its forms; an odyssey of statelessness; a haunted museum of history ranging from Sarajevo to Shanghai and Jerusalem . . . This life-stuffed novel is Aleksandar Hemon’s masterpiece -- David Mitchell, author of Cloud AtlasBeguiling . . . Hemon is a master wordsmith and this novel contains multitudes * Daily Mail *An explosive novel. Bursting with energy, wits, and insights, it’s an epic meditation on history, philosophy, and human conditions. Aleksandar Hemon once again proves himself to be one of our most innovative and invigorating novelists -- Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good PrayersOne of the finest novels I’ve ever read . . . A feat of unfettered literary bravura. In short, a masterpiece -- Rabih AlameddineThe irrepressible voice of “The World and All That It Holds” glides along a cushion of poignancy buoyed by wry humor. * The Washington Post *'A powerful exploration of love, memory and world-shaking events' * Economist *An astoundingly expansive new novel from one of my all-time favorite writers . . . heartbreaking, thrilling . . . an amazing accomplishment -- Jesse EisenbergA potent story of love, war, and displacement... readers will delight in this sweeping epic * Publishers Weekly *Powerful and beautiful... Hemon pulls no punches in his most ambitious novel to date * Kirkus Reviews *“The World and All That It Holds” would be an audacious title for a book by anybody except God — or Aleksandar Hemon. But this Bosnian American author will make you a believer. * The Washington Post *A wandering epic of a novel . . . This is a book about language, and its medium is a rich linguistic stew . . . The historical-fictional illusion he has created is so engrossing, so generous in the abundant pleasures it offers the reader * Guardian *An English-language writer of verbal agility and ethical finesse . . . Within this widescreen epic, he drills as piercingly as ever into the questions of language and freedom, choice and chance, that made the refugee a writer * Economist *Piercingly acute, and imbued with a sense of history – personal, emotional and world-transforming at the same time – which is as entertaining to read as it is devastating * Big Issue *The real miracle of “The World and All That It Holds” is that despite holding so much, we come to know the fragile joys of this one melancholy man so well that he feels written into our own past * The Washington Post *Hemon’s historical novel is every bit as ambitious as its title suggests... A true epic, charged with heartbreak and beauty. * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisBen Myers was born in Durham in 1976. He is the author of several works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. His writing has appeared in a number of publications including Melody Maker, NME, Mojo and the Guardian. He currently lives in rural Yorkshire.Trade Review'What is sure is Myers' skill for storytelling; the absence of any cynicism, a certain hypnotic meditative pace he successfully employs that draws you in as the novel progresses and a mood of melancholic nostalgia, a tantalising nostalgia for a time not long passed but gone forever' 3:AM Magazine'A novel for our celebrity-obsessed age, a thorough investigation - written in beautiful prose - of a young man suicided or disappeared by society. From life in a small town to sex, drugs and rock and roll excess, Ben Myers' Richard slashes and burns its way through the bloated beigeness of the contemporary British novel' Bookmunch.com'It's not uncommon to hear someone say something to the effect of, “There’s no such thing as a good rock and roll novel” - the next time you hear someone say this, point them towards this book' Bookslut'Extraordinary' Daily Mirror'This moving, tender novel tells the story of a lost boy adrift in a world that he can't make sense of . . . Myers' recreation of Edward's life is sensitively handled - an exploration of a troubled, articulate man who was shy and withdrawn' Marie Claire'There are moments of haunting poetry' Metro'A work of fiction that bears a convincing ring of truth' Mojo'Myers' true service to the story is humanising the icon by portraying Edwards outside his common context. Offstage, alone, and out of sight, Richard is fully imagined. Some descriptions of the landscape are so fresh you can smell the moss' TheQuietus.com'It's a brilliant book and I loved it' Sun'Never once is there a dropped beat. Myers understands the reactionary nature of the post-punk diktat, the people it attracts and its importance to lives given up to it' The Times'Richard is not a provocation, nor does it claim to solve the Richey mystery. It is a sympathetic and sad imagining of the boy who became a reluctant pop idol before that notion became oxymoronic' Time Out

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Book SynopsisDeft, spare, and full of artful tension, The Sunset Limited is a beautifully crafted play from the legendary Cormac McCarthy, author of No Country for Old Men and Blood Meridian.'The Sunset Limited grips from the very first page' – Financial TimesA startling encounter on a New York subway platform leads two strangers to a run-down tenement where a life or death decision must be made.In that small apartment the two men, known as 'Black' and 'White', begin a conversatino that leads each back through his own history.White is a professor whose seemingly enviable existence of relative ease has left him nonetheless in despair. Black, an ex-con in recovery for drug addiction, is the more hopeful of the men. He is, however, desperate to convince White of the power of faith – while White is desperate to deny it.Between them, they hope to discover the meaning of life itself.Trade ReviewThe Sunset Limited grips from the very first page. * Financial Times *The author at his best, meditating on life, suffering and religion. * Shortlist *It's remarkable that Cormac McCarthy could revive the antique genre of the philosophical dialogue as convincingly as he does here. His prose bites. * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA Richard and Judy Book Club selection, The Summer of the Bear is a gripping tale of grief, secrets, and a family's love.In the summer of 1979, a tamed grizzly bear is tempted by the lure of freedom and the wild open sea . . .Letty Fleming, relocated from Cold-War Germany to the solitude of the Scottish Outer Hebrides, is haunted by a personal tragedy - the unexpected death of her husband, diplomat Nicky Fleming.With his death shrouded in mystery and allegations of national betrayal, Letty must grapple with the truth while protecting her three children from its harsh realities.As Letty's probes into Nicky's demise, she neglects their children's inner struggles. As the family’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, it is only the strange but brilliant Jamie who manages to hold on to the one thing he knows for sure: his father has promised to return, and Nicky Fleming was a man who never broke a promise . . .

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Book SynopsisV. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession.His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.In 1990, V. S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire, and died in 20Trade ReviewHis own modern labour of love, loss and disquiet, this really is a book to treasure. -- Malcolm Bradbury * Sunday Express *One of his supreme triumphs. -- Adam Thorpe * European *A bewitching piece of work by a mind at the peak of its abilities. * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisFalling Man begins on September 11, in the smoke and ash of the burning towers. In the days and the years following, we trace the aftermath of this global tremor in the private lives of a few reticulated individuals. Theirs are lives choreographed by loss, by grief and by the enormous force of history. From these intimate portraits, Don DeLillo shifts to an extrapolated vision: he charts the way the events have reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory and our perception of the world.Falling Man is an unforgettable novel, at once cathartic and beautiful and heartbreaking.Trade ReviewAmerica's greatest living writer. * Observer *Searing, profoundly unsettling. An unforgettable novel. * Sunday Times *These are pages of magnificent force and control, DeLillo's genius at full pelt. Reading them, you have to remind yourself to keep breathing. * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisShe thought she'd seen the back of the Delaneys. How wrong could she be . . .Ruthless is the fifth book in the compelling Annie Carter series by hit crime writer Jessie Keane. Annie Carter should have demanded to see their bodies lying on a slab in the morgue, but she really believed the Delaney twins were gone from her life for good. Now sinister things are happening around her and Annie Carter is led to one terrifying conclusion: her bitter enemies, the Delaney twins, didn't die all those years ago. They're back and they want her, and her family, dead. This isn't the first time someone has made an attempt on her life,yet she's determined to make it the last. Nobody threatens Annie Carter and lives to tell the tale . . .Continue this gripping series with Stay Dead.Trade ReviewGritty and powerful, Martina Cole fans will love this addictive novel * Closer *The novel takes the reader on a journey from London, to New York, and across to rural Ireland. What I especially loved about this story was the way multiple story strands were woven together: a coming-of-age story for Annie's daughter, Layla, and an explosive battle of wills (and sexual tension) for Annie as she tries to keep an uneasy truce with her ex-husband; all set within a deadly game of cat and mouse with a determined killer driven by revenge. Intriguing, suspenseful and thrilling. A real page turner. * www.crimethrillergirl.com *Gripping right from the start and the setting of gangsters and East End London was great to read. I also really liked the character of Annie Carter, she's a likeable, feisty main character who takes you through her story at a high speed pace. This is a book full of suspense and tension and I found myself surprised by the narrative more than once. I'm now going to look out for the first Annie Cater novels and have no doubt that I'll enjoy them just as much. * Novelicious *This is riveting, unputdownable reading * Marjolein Books *Jessie Keane has once again created a brilliant, gripping and thrilling book which I didn't want to put down * Best Crime Books *I've read most of Jessie's book and so I was thrilled to be contacted and offered a copy of her latest book Ruthless. Wow, what a book. * jayneanderson.blogspot.co.uk *Ruthless is the latest in the fast-moving Annie Carter series and is just as good, if not better, than its forerunners. If you like a good, light read on the seedy side of life, you won't be disappointed. * Shropshire Star *Part crime novel, part family-saga - a kind of Dynasty with knuckledusters - but Ruthless is slick and funny and polished. Sure, it's a formula, but Keane knows just what her readers want in her nostalgic tales of gals and gangsters, nightclubs and toerags, and she delivers the goods as nimbly as a cat across a fence top. What I Liked: Annie's a businesswoman with a string of clubs to her name, but it's affairs of the heart that propel the story. Keane's antagonists want revenge against Annie by targeting the people she loves the most - her family. It makes it very personal and very nasty for Annie. And the return of her ex-husband - 'fit lean body, black hair, dark tan' - makes the situation an emotional minefield. If you're going to write a story, make sure your protagonist is hit where it hurts the most. * crimethrillerfella.wordpress.com *I loved the characters, they were very realistic, believable and I enjoyed their storylines. Annie Carter is a fantastic lead and I really enjoyed reading about her, I liked that Annie was fierce and determined. Also, Annie's relationship with Max was so fascinating to read about, that in itself was very compelling and gripping. Ruthless is fast-paced and thrilling with the right amount of tension and suspense, so I was kept turning the pages keen to find out how things would finish. * readinginthesunshine.wordpress.com *

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Book SynopsisR.F. Delderfield's brilliant saga of the Swann family has captivated readers since its first appearance. This is the first book in the trilogy, followed by THEIRS WAS THE KINGDOM and GIVE US THIS DAY.Trade ReviewR.F. Delderfield is a born storyteller * Sunday Mirror *His narratives belong in a tradition that goes back to John Galsworthy * Life Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThe second book in R.F. Delderfield's brilliant saga of the Swann family, which has captivated readers since its first appearance.Trade ReviewR.F. Delderfield is a born storyteller * Sunday Mirror *His narratives belong in a tradition that goes back to John Galsworthy * Life Magazine *

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Book SynopsisWhere there's a will there's a motive for murder! Miss Silver solves this mystery written by one of the Queens of classic crime fiction.Trade ReviewA particular favourite * Andrew Taylor *Miss Silver is marvellous * Daily Mail *. . . some of the best examples of the British country-house murder mystery * Alfred Hitchcock magazine *Miss Silver has her place in detective fiction as surely as Lord Peter Wimsey or Hercule Poirot * Manchester Evening News *Miss Wentworth is a first rate story-teller * Daily Telegraph *You can't go wrong with Miss Maud Silver * Observer *Miss Wentworth's plot is ingenious, her characterization acute, her solution satisfying * The Scotsman *Patricia Wentworth has created a great detective in Miss Silver, the little old lady who nobody notices, but who in turn notices everything * Paula Gosling *

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Book SynopsisMelvyn Bragg''s highly acclaimed, bestselling historical novel, the story behind one of the 19th century''s greatest scandals.''This is the story of an impostor and bigamist, a self-styled Colonel Hope, who travels to the North, where eventually he marries The Maid of Buttermere, a young woman whose natural beauty inspired the dreams and confirmed the theories of various early nineteenth-century writers . . . It is a fine story . . . This is historical fiction with a human face''Peter Ackroyd, The Times''A skilled, ornate and convincing examination of a nineteenth-century scandal in Bragg''s own Cumbria''Thomas Keneally''A triumph . . . I am overwhelmingly impressed''Beryl Bainbridge''Bragg achieves the most difficult of feats, the telling of the changing perceptions and ideals of a radical age . . . He is also as powerful as ever in his description of nature''Sunday TimesTrade ReviewA vivid and erudite tour de force -- Penelope LivelyThis is the story of an impostor and bigamist, a self-styled Colonel Hope, who travels to the North, where eventually he marries "The Maid of Buttermere", a young woman whose natural beauty inspired the dreams and confirmed the theories of various early nineteenth-century writers . . . It is a fine story . . . This is historical fiction with a human face -- Peter Ackroyd * The Times *A skilled, ornate and convincing examination of a nineteenth-century scandal in Bragg's own Cumbria -- Thomas KeneallyA detailed, eloquent and affecting panorama of truth and lies . . . thrusts [him] into the front rank * Mail on Sunday *A triumph . . . I am overwhelmingly impressed -- Beryl BainbridgeBragg achieves the most difficult of feats, the telling of the changing perceptions and ideals of a radical age . . . He is also as powerful as ever in his description of nature * Sunday Times *A terrific tale of passion, lust, deception and moral outrage. * Daily Mail *Bragg writes with picturesque clarity; his prose accommodates the formality of the period, the splendidly sombre wateriness of the place and the robust passions of the people who lived there * Sunday Telegraph *A fine novel, both sad and tragic. His background descriptions are beautiful . . . while his evocation of the early nineteenth century, and his handling of the ever-interesting topic of English snobbery is impeccable * Irish Times *Compelling . . . Painted on a broad canvas, packed with detail, with characters, with interesting psychological issues, and sallies into the history of the years 1802-1803 * Glasgow Herald *Very much enjoyed; a fine subject treated with great energy and imagination, and a gusto that Hazlitt would have admired -- Richard HolmesAn ingenious telling of a romantic tragedy -- Gore Vidal

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Book SynopsisWith a new introduction by Thomas Keneally.''The best novel of the Civil War since The Red Badge of Courage''NewsweekAs the Civil War tears America apart, General Stonewall Jackson leads a troop of Confederate soldiers on a long trek towards the battle they believe will be a conclusive victory. Through their hopes, fears and losses, Keneally searingly conveys both the drama and mundane hardship of war, and brings to life one of the most emotive episodes in American history.Trade Review'A fine and compelling novel' * Financial Times *'It compels admiration over and over for its energy and its insight into human character' * Spectator *'Deserves comparison with the great war novels of the last hundred years' * Observer *'Such a magnificent book that I count it a privilege to read and keep' * Books and Bookmen *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED''A work of dizzying intensity . . . an intriguing and sure-handed debut '' Don DeLillo''Brilliant . . . a dark, mesmerising debut'' Independent on Sunday''Hustvedt has pulled off nothing less than a re-mapping of the modern feminist psyche'' Daily TelegraphIris Vegan, a graduate student living alone and impoverished in New York, encounters four strong characters who fascinate and in different ways subordinate her: an inscrutable urban recluse who employs her to record the possessions of a murdered woman; a photographer whose eerie portrait of Iris takes on a life of its own; an old woman in hospital who tries to claim a remnant of the ailing Iris; and a professor she has an affair with. An exploration of female identity in an age when the old definitions - as some man''s daughter/wife/mother - no longer apply, fuelled with eroticism and Trade ReviewGripping...A complex exploration of the nature of the self, executed in polished and immediate prose * The Times *It has vivid and compelling characters; it is scary, sinister and readable ... a very smart novel * Independent *Brilliant...A dark, mesmerising debut * Independent on Sunday *'Hustvedt has pulled off nothing less than a re-mapping of the modern feminist psyche...The quality and spareness of her prose, the intensity of her imagination, are at work on one of the most macabre terrains of the 20th century - New York' * Daily Telegraph *A harsh, dark, dangerous piece of prose...Sharply readable, quirky and entertaining in its witty observation of student and city life, but the whole resonates with shocking force * Vogue *A work of dizzying intensity ... an intriguing and sure-handed debut by a writer of eloquent and vivid disposition * Don DeLillo *'Sexy without being steamy, intelligent without being complicated' * New Statesman *

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Book Synopsis''ONE OF OUR VERY BEST WRITERS'' Sunday Times''A tour de force''The Times''Intoxicating''Daily Telegraph''Devilishly delightful''New York Times Book Review''Beautifully and compellingly written''Sunday Express''Audacious''Times Literary SupplementTHE BESTSELLING CLASSIC TALE OF A WOMAN SCORNED, FROM A MUCH-LOVED BRITISH AUTHORRuth Patchett never thought of herself as particularly devilish.Rather the opposite in fact - simply a tall, not terribly attractive woman living a quiet life as a wife and mother in a respectable suburb. But when she discovers that her husband is having a passionate affair with the lovely romantic novelist Mary Fisher, she is so seized by envy that she becomes truly diabolic. Within weeks she has burnt down the family home, collected the insurance, made love to the local drunk Trade ReviewA tour de force: a macabre, fast-moving moral fable * The Times *More audacious and striking in design than anything that has gone before . . . carried out with such dash and glitter * Times Literary Supplement *Rousing . . . stimulating . . . the fun grows steadily blacker and wilder * Guardian *A savage, sadistic even, but beautifully and compellingly written satire * Sunday Express *Intoxicating * Daily Telegraph *A novel of blazingly hot revenge, one that amply illustrates the saying about heaven having no rage like love turned to hate, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned * New York Magazine *Devilishly delightful . . . It affords a scintillating, mindboggling, vicarious thrill for any reader who has ever fantasised dishing out retribution for one wrong or another * New York Times Book Review *What makes this a powerfully funny and oddly powerful book is the energy of the language and of the intellect that conceived it, an energy that vibrates off the pages and that makes She Devil as exceptional a book in the remembering as in the reading . . . . a small, mad masterpiece * Washington Post *Fantastic . . . a carefully worked-out fable, satiric and finally bitter . . . it's very funny * Chicago Tribune *

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Book SynopsisReissued to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Keneally's first novel.Trade ReviewThe work of a great storyteller * The Times *A joy to read . . . His skilful prose which seems effortlessly to capture the rhythms and cadences of at least six different emigrant races . . . his essential humanity which enables him to examine misery and horror without ever losing his gift for hope and his old-fashioned insistence on a rattling good plot, crammed full of drama, will ensure the reader is thoroughly entertained * Evening Standard *Keneally makes us feel, very movingly, the intelligence and imaginative openness that lie deeper than Tim's prejudices and inarticulacies . . . a novel [of] great vitality and charm * The Sunday Times *A remarkably vivid and moving portrayal of a hostile world where good struggles to shine through * Time Out *A masterpiece * Literary Review *A great read * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisA summer holiday with her eccentric, infuriating family and assorted glamorous hangers-on is the last thing Tash French would usually volunteer for. But her mother is insistent and, out of a job and recently ditched by her boyfriend, Tash decides that spending July in the vast rambling Loire chateau might have its compensations.It''s a summer of lust, bed-hopping, unresolved sexual tension, horses, dogs, bolshy kids and lots of bad behaviour. And in the midst of bedlam, at least two people fall in love . . .Trade ReviewRomps along with plenty of self-deprecating wit * Sunday Times *A sizzling summer read of love, sex, passion and soaring temperatures * Sun *Raunchy . . . An explosive debut * Daily Mail *Romantic, intelligent, steamy and really rather wise * Bookcase *

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Book SynopsisFelix Sylvian is a charming, silken-tongued dilettante, he has the sex-appeal of a school-girl''s day-dream and the soul of a poet. But he has one nasty habit he can''t seem to break: a sadistic tendency to ride rough-shod over any girl foolish enough to fall for him.Saskia Seaton is Felix''s latest victim. Once a beautiful, precocious aspiring actress, she is now a suicidal wreck after a whirlwind affair with Felix and a force ten finale. Retreating to lick her wounded pride, she decides she wants poetic justice. And her friend Phoebe''s the one to get it. With Saskia''s help, Phoebe will become Felix''s dream woman. She will pursue him across his London playground and seduce him until he falls in love with her and then she''ll drop him just as he has so many women in the past. But Phoebe doesn''t realise that when she tries to break Felix''s nasty habit, she''ll find herself breaking her own heart ...Trade ReviewWalker's style is up-beat and wisecracking, whatever the emotional weather * The Express on Sunday *Hate to love via a one-night stand, misunderstandings and a barrel load of one-liners. You'll love every minute of this book * Company *Fiona Walker does it again with her latest serving of whimsical banter and feisty characters. ... Fast, furious and fruity * 19 *A good choice for a light and frothy summer beach read * Miss London *Veritable romps through the light hearted side of life. * GQ Magazine *

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Book SynopsisSet against the background of Nelson Mandela's release, IN EVERY FACE I MEET is the story of Anthony Northleach, and one intense, comic and horrifying day in his life.Trade ReviewGlitteringly entertaining. * The Times *A hugely readable, beautifully written, thoughtful book. * Marie Claire *A brilliant and original book ... There can be nothing derivative about a novelist with Justin Cartwright's fresh accuracy of perception, which provides constant small shocks of recognition ... funny as well as bleak, and full of humanity. This is a novel that tackles all the big state-of-the modern-world themes; it is also intensely readable * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisIn this saga set in 19th-century Lancashire and featuring the Gibson family, Annie is now happily married to mill-owner Frederick Hallam, but a threat from the past emerges to cause her anxiety.Trade ReviewAnna Jacobs' books are deservedly popular. She is one of the best writers of Lancashire sagas around. * Historical Novels Reviews *Catherine Cookson fans will cheer! * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *Anna Jacobs' books have an impressive grasp of human emotions. * The Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis***Pre-order Andrew Miller''s new novel THE LAND IN WINTER now - coming October 2024***''ANDREW MILLER''S WRITING IS A SOURCE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT'' Hilary Mantel ''ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND'' Sunday Times ''Sparkling'' The Times ''Exquisite''Daily Telegraph ''Beautiful''Observer The second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Pure - a portrait of the legendary Casanova at a turning point in his life and loves In 1763, the famed Venetian seducer Giacomo Casanova arrives in England intent on a respite from his restless travels and liaisons, but cannot long resist the lure of company or a pretty face. This time, though, it is he who falls in love, and with an elusive quarry.Here is Casanova in unfamiliar guise: thwarted, driven by his emotions and, in middle-age, forced to reassess Trade ReviewHis writing is vivid, precise and constantly surprising. I was absolutely captivated by it . . . I wish I'd written it -- Hilary Mantel * Sunday Times *Sparkling and lavishly detailed . . . rich without being cloying; resonant of time and place while remaining fresh and modern . . . he captures brilliantly the downfall and partial redemption of this charming isolate * The Times *Full-bodied yet razor-sharp . . . Period detail, which so often reveals only that the writer has commendably and carefully studied a contemporary portrait, in Miller's hands takes us into the heart of 18th-century London so that we can almost smell and touch it . . . its fetid atmosphere almost making the reader itch * Spectator *Miller's prose is jewelled . . . What Casanova wrote with a swagger resurfaces here as an elegant, elegiac meditation on the death of purpose * Times Literary Supplement *I was thoroughly amused, stimulated, entertained and instructed by the whole book . . . I don't think I've read anything which has brought 18th-century London so powerfully to life . . . brilliantly acute -- Jonathan CoeExquisite . . . Miller's elegant prose is laced with luxurious imagery and wry humour . . . beautifully and sensitively written * Daily Telegraph *Miller is a pellucid, evocative writer: he brings alive the thick fogs over the Thames, the dreary winter countryside, the lamp-lit London streets . . . A beautiful evocation of a few months of this womaniser's life * Observer *A perfectly crafted picture of 18-century London and its visiting predator in language as delicate as the tendrils of fog that curl off the Thames, and as forceful as the fetid odours conjured up in the background * The Times *Andrew Miller's forte is painting verbal landscapes, laying the words just so. At times it's like a fine miniature, delicate with atmosphere and smoke and gleam * Time Out *Miller again shows his mastery of historical fiction in this fine, elegiac book * Sunday Telegraph *Miller's elegiac meditation on life, love and mortality is deep, poignant and funny * Glasgow Herald *Glittering . . . There are descriptive passages of extraordinary power and beauty * Independent on Sunday *Miller is knowing, ironic, and playful in his new novel . . . The prose is flawless * Australian *Immensely readable . . . a well-crafted page-turner which certainly delivers * Sydney Morning Herald *Miller is astonishingly assured in handling the novel's lush complexities of time and place, of nationality, and of the intricate workings of Casanova's troubled mind . . . His achievement here is to make of the legendary Casanova not some brightly colored historical oddity but, more subtly, a man * Newsday *Worth reading for its evocation of 18th-century London alone. Silken boudoirs, pestilent hovels and pleasure gardens are all brought to magical life * Metro *

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Book SynopsisThey say you only regret the things you don''t do . . .Lizzie Kershaw is an independent spirit; ever since her father''s death she has had to be a survivor. Home life is harsh, though, and desperate to escape it, she makes an ill-advised marriage. But she discovers all-too-quickly that she''s married a selfish and violent man. His beatings never seem to stop and she soon comes to a decision: she must run far, far away.With the help of some suffragettes she escapes to Manchester, where she finds work in a munitions factory - she is finally the independent woman she has always longed to be. But her husband, whose cruelty knows no bounds, tracks her down and drag her back home to more beatings than ever.But when his violence causes her to lose the one thing she''s always wanted, Lizzie knows she must find the strength to make the changes in her life that are so sorely needed.*******************What readers are saying about OURTrade ReviewPraise for Anna Jacobs * - *[Anna Jacobs' books have an] impressive grasp of human emotions * The Sunday Times *Anna Jacobs' books are deservedly popular. She is one of the best writers of Lancashire sagas around * Historical Novels Review *[Anna Jacobs is] especially big on resourceful, admirable women. Great stuff! * Daily Mail *Reader reviews on OUR LIZZIEGreat story, can't put it down ***** * Reader review *Fabulous book, just as I expected. ***** * Reader review *It grabs you on page one. It twists and turns and not like you imagine it would. A fantastic read. ***** * Reader review *

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Book Synopsis***Out now: Andrew Miller''s new novel THE LAND IN WINTER***''ANDREW MILLER''S WRITING IS A SOURCE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT'' Hilary Mantel ''ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND'' Sunday TimesShortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award ''Beautiful''The Times ''Superbly realised''Sunday Telegraph ''Breathtaking''Irish Times The third novel from the critically acclaimed author of Pure - a deeply moving exploration of courage, love and liberation in the modern age In the summer of 1997, four people reach a turning point: Alice Valentine, who lies gravely ill in her West Country home; her two sons, one still searching for a sense of direction, the other fighting to keep his acting career and marriage afloat; and László Lázár, who leads a comfortable life in Paris yet is plagued by his memories of the 1956 Hungarian uprising.For each, the time has come to assess what matters in life, and all will be forced to take part in an act of liberation - though not necessarily the one foreseen. PRAISE FOR ANDREW MILLER ''Unique, visionary, a master at unmasking humanity'' Sarah Hall ''A writer of very rare and outstanding gifts'' Independent on Sunday ''A highly intelligent writer, both exciting and contemplative'' The Times ''A wonderful storyteller'' SpectatorTrade ReviewHis prose is perfectly balanced, both beautiful and exact * The Times *Elegantly written . . . an intelligent and stylish read * Sunday Telegraph *Thoughtful, complex and satisfying . . . a deeply pleasurable read * Sunday Times *A beautifully written novel, which extols the power of love . . . it grabs your attention to the last page * Daily Express *A writer of astonishing gifts who peels his characters back to the quick with a language that never misses a note . . . his complex characters are unravelled with a depth and elegance that is breathtaking -- Books of the Year * Irish Times *A writer of verve and talent . . . Miller's prose is fluent, lucid and at times radiant * New York Times Book Review *Miller's use of imagery is always unexpected, sometimes astonishing . . . impossible to put down * Independent on Sunday *Miller is a writer of such astonishing prose that wherever he takes his characters, they speak a rare emotional truth * Scotland on Sunday *Highly accomplished . . . breathe in and enjoy * Literary Review *He has a surgical disdain for sentimentality and cliche, and his startling sentences, both beautiful and distressing, can lodge themselves in your brain * Daily Telegraph *At times, reading this disparate, exact novel, you have the suspicion that Andrew Miller's writing might be capable of anything. It is particularly adept, however, at inhabiting neutered, almost insulated lives. In previous books he has quietly conjured other, odd worlds and made them seem like his own . . . Here the places his imagination visits are no less strange and no less directly realised, and the preoccupation with emotional vacuums persists * Observer *Powerful and moving * Time Out *Complex and elegantly constructed . . . an admirably restrained piece of writing, tender, funny, witty, profound * Glasgow Sunday Herald *Poignant, probing, brainy fiction, animated by an intense and complex narrative drive, grounded in a vivid sense of place and character, and enlivened by a sly, stoical wit that keeps cropping up where you least expect it * Chicago Tribune *Lovely, striking, strange, evocative . . . exquisite * Washington Post *Exquisitely detailed . . . a real talent * Entertainment Weekly *An exhilarating journey through personal histories and a knowing glimpse at the ways we hold ourselves responsible for saving the people we love * People *Four intersecting lives - which take the reader to Los Angeles, Paris, Budapest, and a deathbed in rural England - are portrayed with uncommon wisdom * Boston Globe *

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Book SynopsisThe second book in Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde''s phenomenally successful Thursday Next series. ''Fans of the late Douglas Adams, or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde'' - HeraldThursday Next, literary detective and newlywed is back to embark on an adventure that begins, quite literally on her own doorstep. It seems that Landen, her husband of four weeks, actually drowned in an accident when he was two years old. Someone, somewhere, sometime, is responsible. The sinister Goliath Corporation wants its operative Jack Schitt out of the poem in which Thursday trapped him, and it will do almost anything to achieve this - but bribing the ChronoGuard? Is that possible? Having barely caught her breath after The Eyre Affair, Thursday must battle corrupt politicians, try to save the world from extinction, and help the Neanderthals to species self-determination. Mastadon migrations, journeys into Just William, Trade ReviewDon't ask, just read it. Fforde is a true original * Sunday Express *Let yourself be entertained by a witty romp * Sunday Telegraph *This year's grown up J K Rowling * Sunday Times *Douglas Adams would be proud * Scotsman *The reader is catapulted in and out of truth and imagination on a hectic, humorous and neatly constructed chase that finishes by tying up every loose end in the most satisfying, novelistic way * The Times *Jasper Fforde's fascinating first novel reads like a Jules Verne story told by Lewis Carroll...Forget all the rules of time, space, and reality; just sit back and enjoy the adventure as Thursday, with the help of Jane Eyre's Mr Rochester, fights a desperate battle in which Jane herself is in jeopardy. * Sunday Telegraph *Ingenious - I'll watch Jasper Fforde nervously * Terry Pratchett *A stroke of fantasy genius . . . Unashamedly silly, but also marvellously intelligent . . . Hilarious * SFX *An absolute joy to read. Is it a crime novel? I couldn't really tell, I was laughing too much. * Birmingham Post *What Fforde is pulling is a variation on the classic Monty Python gambit: the incongruous juxtaposition og low comedy and high erudition - this scam has not been pulled off with such off-hand finesse and manic verve since the Pythons shut up shop. 'The Eyre Affair' is a silly book for smart people: postmodernism played as raw, howling farce * Independent *Compulsively readable ... catnip to book lovers ... totally absorbing * Time Out New York *It is always a privilege to watch the birth of a cult, and Hodder has just cut the umbilical cord. Always ridiculous, often hilarious ... blink and you miss a vital narrative leap. There are shades of Douglas Adams, Lewis Carroll, 'Clockwork Orange' and '1984'. And that's just for starters * Time Out *Dark, funny, complex and inventive, The Eyre Affair is a breath of fresh air, and is easily one of the strongest debuts in years. * Locus *A decidedly quirky and strangely thought-provoking debut novel * Scotland on Sunday *The eccentric epic - A read that'll leave you breathless * Elle *Engaging and captivating . . . not just one of the best sequels I've ever read, but one of the best damn books to come out of the UK in some time. * Engima *

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Book Synopsis''One of the bad girls of gritty crime'' Daily Mirror A gritty tale of hard time, hard men and hard drugs for fans of Martina Cole, Dreda Say Mitchell and Kerry Barnes.When Mary''s mother throws her out, the sassy teenager soon learns how tough life can be. Her new friend Lynne is older, more sophisticated. She has a taste for cocaine and isn''t above walking the streets for extra cash to pay for it.Mary sticks to a straighter path, until the night Lynne brings Ali and Raiz back to their flat. The women don''t know that their sexy new friends are small-time criminals, desperate for alibis for a drug-dealer''s murder.All too soon, Mary is in more trouble than she can handle. Can her old friend Jane''s risky scheme save Mary? Or has her fate been sealed by falling for the wrong man? ''A cracking read that will chill you to the bone'' Sun on Two-Faced''Mandasue has played a real blinder with this fantastic novel'' Martina Cole on Forget-Me-NotTrade Review'Mandasue has played a real blinder with this fantastic novel.' Martina Cole on FORGET ME NOT * Martina Cole on Forget Me Not *Cracking page-turner ... a gritty compassionate account of life on the margins. * Manchester Evening News on FORGET ME NOT *Gripping ... powerful writing. * Scotland on Sunday on FORGET ME NOT *Alarming and beguiling ... curiously exhilarating. * Scotsman on THE FRONT *

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Book Synopsis''ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY'' INDEPENDENT Winner of the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize ''Astonishingly accomplished''THE TIMES''Remarkable''OBSERVER''Gripping''NEW YORK TIMES''Fabulously atmospheric''GUARDIAN''Engrossing''DAILY MAILA magnificent achievement and an engrossing experience, David Mitchell''s first novel announced the arrival of one of the most exciting writers of the twenty-first century.An apocalyptic cult member carries out a gas attack on a rush-hour metro, but what links him to a jazz buff in downtown Tokyo? Or to a Mongolian gangster, a woman on a holy mountain who talks to a tree, and a late night New York DJ?Set at the fugitive edges of Asia and Europe, Ghostwritten weaves together a host of characters, their interconnected destinies determined by the inescapable forces of cause and effect.PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL''A thrilling and gifted writer''FINANCIAL TIMES''Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good''DAILY MAIL''Mitchell is, clearly, a genius''NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW''An author of extraordinary ambition and skill''INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY''A superb storyteller''THE NEW YORKERTrade ReviewDemands to be read and re-read . . . an astonishing debut * Independent *One of the best first novels I've read in a long time . . . I couldn't put it down -- A. S. Byatt * Mail on Sunday *A remarkable novel by a young writer of remarkable talent * Observer *The best first novel I have read in ages . . . it beguiles, informs, shocks and captivates -- William Boyd * Daily Telegraph *Mitchell plays one extraordinary riff after another . . . If you want to know what the distinctive literature of the 21st century will look like, begin here -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Fabulously atmospheric and wryly perceptive . . . a huge new talent * Guardian *A remarkable first novel * Time Out *Engaging and engrossing * Daily Mail *The most breathtaking debut I've ever read -- Sue Perkins * Daily Express *Gripping and innovative * New York Times *An extraordinarily assured novel of global reach and millennial ambition * Esquire *This first novel displays a cool and intelligent virtuosity and an amazingly copious imagination * Daily Telegraph *A brilliantly constructed novel which you must read for yourself . . . truly a masterpiece -- Books of the Year * Vector *Tautly plotted and with the page-turning qualities of a thriller, Ghostwritten is an intoxicating read and is in danger of giving the post-modern novel a good name * Irish Times *Astonishingly accomplished * The Times *Full of sly and sometimes beautiful surprises . . . worth a dozen of the morally anorexic first novels that regularly come down the pipe. Ghostwritten may conclude with the end of the world, but I, for one, am hoping for more -- Daniel Mendelsohn * New York Magazine *A dazzling piece of work * Washington Post *Elegantly composed, gracefully plotted and full of humour . . . It recalls Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in its emotional scope and its ambitions. Like the great Russians, Mitchell makes us feel that more is at stake than individual lives, although it's by individual lives that pain and loss are measured * Los Angeles Times *Mitchell deftly sketches each character to such a compelling extent that you become totally immersed * Entertainment Weekly *

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Book Synopsis''ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY'' INDEPENDENTShortlisted for the Booker and James Tait Black Memorial Prizes''Spellbinding''INDEPENDENT''Exceptional''LITERARY REVIEW''Beautifully precise''GUARDIAN''Marvellous''OBSERVER''Constantly entertaining''EVENING STANDARDThe captivating second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Ghostwritten and Cloud AtlasAs Eiji Miyake''s twentieth birthday nears, he arrives in Tokyo with a mission - to locate the father he has never met. So begins a search that takes him into the seething city''s underworld, its lost property offices and video arcades, and on a journey that zigzags from reality to the realm of dreams. But until Eiji has fallen in love and exorcised his childhood demons, the belongingTrade ReviewDazzling * Independent on Sunday *A delirious mix of thriller, tragedy, fantasy, video games and a portrait of uneasy modern Japan * Guardian *Wildly inventive * Sunday Times *An extraordinary literary cabaret of dreams, visions and pastiches, from video-game rides and gangster rumbles to suicide submariners. Endlessly ingenious and hugely enjoyable - but oddly moving as well. A rich showcase for 21st-century fiction -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *Exceptional . . . More than a surreal detective story or coming-of-age novel, more than a portrait of Tokyo or stream of adolescent consciousness, it is unique: clever, unusual, gripping and beautifully written * Literary Review *I haven't enjoyed a novel so much in ages; wild, bristling with strangeness -- Books of the Year * Independent *Mitchell catches the multicoloured atmosphere of Tokyo brilliantly . . . He is a wonderfully amphibious writer, happy in all manner of elements, and seems able to produce an endless parade of interesting characters. number9dream resounds to the same marvellous chatter of different voices that marked out Ghostwritten, his outstanding first novel -- Robert Macfarlane * Observer *The wonderfully energetic prose is constantly entertaining, filled with daring imaginative stunts and the crackling rhythms of the digital age . . . Mitchell's Tokyo is a deliciously confusing virtual reality, a maze of bewildering information. Most impressive of all, though, is the fact that when you reach the end, wondering if it was all just a dream, you don't feel cheated in the least * Evening Standard *Ghostwritten's range of voices was astonishing. Each narrator revealed anew the author's dexterity and his ability to imagine lives. His second novel is more ambitious and more impressive . . . the main plot drives one urgently onwards, and Mitchell's delight in his inventiveness is infectious * Daily Telegraph *Generally speaking, the second novel confronts two pitfalls: rehashing the first novel or eliminating all trace of it for fear of rehashing it. In number9dream, Mitchell negotiates both dangers, retaining what is best of Ghostwritten and creating an original and in many ways more complex work * Times Literary Supplement *The external action of the novel is always engaging. But such is Mitchell's beautifully precise style that he can make inaction just as pleasurable . . . The prose bespeaks a kind of observational rapture that offers the smell of Tokyo streets or even the movements of a cockroach as tiny, cherishable shards * Guardian *Dangerously addictive . . . Mitchell's writing displays the kind of literary acrobatics and metaphysical depth that won him such huge accolades for his first novel . . . a brave novel, all the more admirable for his ability to push back the boundaries of the imagination * Big Issue *The diversity and sheer pace of the narrative sets it well apart from most contemporary British fiction and Mitchell is an original with a flair for fantasy . . . oozing panache, this cosmopolitan and fresh odyssey engages and entertains * Irish Times *He is a very energised and original sentence architect who elevates the steaming, fizzing city of Tokyo into a city of the imagination . . . a gifted and unusual writer * The Times *Superlative * Sunday Telegraph *A novel as accomplished as anything being written. Funny, tenderhearted and horrifying, often all at once, it refashions the rudiments of the coming-of-age novel into something completely original * Newsweek *number9dream, with its propulsive energy, its Joycean eruption of language and playfulness, represents further confirmation that David Mitchell should be counted among the top young novelists working today . . . He writes like a dream, the kind you don't want to end * San Francisco Chronicle *Delirious - a grand blur of overwhelming sensation * Entertainment Weekly *Mitchell's new novel has been described as a cross between Don DeLillo and William Gibson, and although that's a perfectly serviceable cocktail-party formula, it doesn't do justice to this odd, fitfully compelling work * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisThe cult bestseller that launched Jake Arnott as one of the most exciting new voices of the decade - ''A gangster novel every bit as cool, stylish and venomous as the London in which it''s set'' (Independent on Sunday)''I''ll tell you what happens now,'' Harry says, reading my mind. ''You can go now. We''re quits. You don''t talk to anybody about anything. You''ve had a taste of what will happen if you do.''Meet Harry Starks: club owner, racketeer, porn king, sociology graduate and Judy Garland fan. To be in his orbit is to be caught up in the music, the parties, the people and the sex of London in the Swinging Sixties. But behind the rough charm and cheap glamour is a man prepared to do what it takes to get what he wants.Trade ReviewTruly fascinating ... Arnott's ability to powerfully resurrect an era is astonishing * Jimmy Boyle, Guardian *'The Long Firm is more than an addition to the genre: it is both knowing, in a literary sense, and entertaining, and makes profitable use of its influences. Gracefully written, diligently and rewardingly researched, it is both exciting and funny. It takes the cliches of the genre and makes them sexy and freshly interesting'ObserverCompulsive reading, powerful writing. * The Times *One of the smartest, funniest and original novels you will read all year ... Arnott is quite brilliant at excavating the cultural minutiae of the time to bring the period vividly to life * Independent on Sunday *Compulsive reading, powerful writing with an evocative feel for the bleaker side of the Swinging Sixties * The Times *'Done so cannily that it virtually winks at you'The Sunday TimesGripping ... slumming it doesn't get much better than this * Time Out *'Very funny, oddly touching, and unobtrusively perceptive"Evening StandardJake Arnott has created a gangster story every bit as cool, stylish and venomous as the London in which it is set, an English original as sharp and lethal as a Saville Row lapel * Independent on Sunday *'Truly fascinating ... Arnott's ability to powerfully resurrect an era ... is astonishing. A great read'Guardian'The Long Firm manages to hook you from the first. It is compulsive reading, powerful writing with an evocative feel for the bleaker side of the swinging Sixties'The TimesPulp Fiction so polished as to be immaculate * New Statesman *The powerful, stylish writing hooks the reader from the first page. One of the most impressive first novels I've read in years. * Mail on Sunday *'Arnott's epic debut manages to weld the hip prose of James Ellroy to the dives of our capital ... to hark back to the Sixties, to a time when fashionable chicsters rubbed shoulders with East End gangsters ... to remind us that there is nothing more murderous than Englishness itself'Arena'Arnott brilliantly captures the gaudy, glamorous, seedy and sordid side of the 60s underworld and show business society. A must-read' ElleAn extraordinarily rich thriller ... raw and often disturbingly detailed ... a story of remarkable originality that stretches far beyond the conventional crime drama in both style and substance. * Publishers Weekly *Arnott pulls off the amazing feat of making a sadistic 1960s London mob boss fascinating. * Richard Lipez, Washington Post Book World *Few [homosexual hipster gangsters] have been drawn with as much intellectual savvy and complexity as Jake Arnott's Harry Starks, whose volatile persona fuels The Long Firm with an incendiary tension ... Like Francis Coppola's Godfather trilogy, Arnott invites us to explore the possibility that the allure of the so-called criminal deviance of the homosexual mobster stems not from the notion of the "outsider," but from the more unnerving possibility that the mobster's world is but a microcosm of our own larger society - the "norm," as we like to call it ... Full of gallows humor, careening misadventures and the sharp argot of the perennial wise guy, The Long Firm is fiercely seductive, just the ticket for another trip into our guilty pleasures. * Scott Vickers, Bloomsbury Review *Astonishing. * Guardian *ingeniously constructed ... bitterly ironic ... an extravagantly energized narrative leavened by occasional outcroppings of grim humor ... a terrific debut. * Kirkus Reviews *Strikingly original ... What makes The Long Firm so satisfying is Arnott's eas in seasoning his fiction with real-life events and people, especially the Krays ... the bloodlettign never feels gratuitous: It's truthful to the era and characters. Besides, Arnott doesn't need to rely on cheap shock tactics.A brazenly confident writer, Arnott perfectly nails 1960s England in all its contradictions. You can practically hear Judy Garland singing an encore of "Over the Rainbow" at teh London Palladium, and smell the gunpowder from Ronnie Kray's pistol after he capped George Cornell in the Blind Beggar pub. * Renee Graham, Boston Globe *So richly evocative of seamy, swinging London in the 60s that it makes one ache for the bad old days. Harry Starks [is] an anti-hero to die for ... fast, funny and frenetic. * Ann Prichard, USA Today *Deliciously seedy ... A storming good read, and Arnott's evocation of gangland London, with its restless violence and patina of glamour, is flawless. * Bethany Schneider, OUT *This season's hottest new writer ... witty and engaging. * Michael Giltz, The Advocate *A great read from start to finish, gathering pace and depth as it goes. And that's in the face of the challenging construction Arnott sets himself, involving five first-person narrators who are drawn into the Starks orbit at different stages in his career. Picking up the story, each of them must win us around all over again - and resoundingly do so ... A 60s gangster novel with a compellnig plot, pignant characters and plenty of wit. * Henry Shukman, New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisThere is no love like a mother''s for her child . . .Little Billy, Polly''s son, is the light of her life. It''s for his sake that she puts up with an unkind mother-in-law and life on an isolated farm. When Billy is knocked down by a car, his father is killed attempting to save his life, and Polly, cast off by her husband''s family, is left with a child who may never walk or talk again.Polly turns to her own family, the Kershaws, for support, but they are unable to outmaneuver the malicious Dr Browning-Baker, who is determined to have Billy taken away from his mother, depriving him of the exercises and stimulation that are his only hope. Forced to flee to the Fylde coast, Polly and Billy find that their future may lie with another damaged family - an ex-Army captain whose First World War marriage was a terrible mistake, and his daughter, who has never recovered from the hostility of the mother she loves.But danger threatens their fragile happiness . .Trade ReviewPraise for Anna Jacobs * - *[Anna Jacobs' books have an] impressive grasp of human emotions * The Sunday Times *Anna Jacobs' books are deservedly popular. She is one of the best writers of Lancashire sagas around * Historical Novels Review *[Anna Jacobs is] especially big on resourceful, admirable women. Great stuff! * Daily Mail *Reader reviews on OUR POLLY * - *Absolutely fantastic story. I enjoyed it from the beginning to end and can't wait to read the next book in the series. ***** * Reader review *First Class! ***** * Reader review *What a clever plot . . . beautifully written, as usual. ***** * Reader review *

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Book SynopsisTHE FIRST NOVEL IN ''ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED LITERARY SERIES IN RECENT TIMES'' (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)''His masterpiece''Sunday Times''Outstandingly good''Scotsman''A great achievement''ObserverWhen Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the ''Forgotten War'' in Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds the town little changed. But the war has changed him, broadening his horizons as well as leaving him with traumatic memories. In addition, his six-year-old son now barely remembers him, and his wife has gained a sense of independence from her wartime jobs. As all three strive to adjust, the bonds of loyalty and love are stretched to breaking point in this taut, and profoundly moving novel.Trade ReviewUnsentimental, truthful and wonderful * Beryl Bainbridge, Sunday Times Books of the Year *Outstandingly good . . . utterly credible, utterly compelling, and very enjoyable * Allan Massie, Scotsman *Sympathetic, touching, infinitely believable . . . a highly accomplished novel * D.J. Taylor, Literary Review *The first Great War came alive in Faulks's Birdsong; the second Great War, and in particular the Burma campaign, comes very much alive in Melvyn Bragg's THE SOLDIER'S RETURN . . . wholly absorbing * John Bayley, Evening Standard *Deeply felt, beautifully realised * John Bayley, Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisThe fifth book in the phenomenally successful Thursday Next series, from Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde. ''Ingenious - I''ll watch Jasper Fforde nervously'' Terry Pratchett on The Eyre AffairFourteen years after she pegged out at 1988 SuperHoop, Thursday Next is grappling with a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy novels.Her idle sixteen-year-old would rather sleep all day than save the world from imminent destruction, the government has a dangerously high stupidity surplues, and the Stiltonista Cheese Mafia are causing trouble for Thursday in her hometown of Swindon. Then things begin to get bad. As Reality Book Shows look set to transplant Reality TV Shows and Goliath invent a trans-fictional tourist coach, Thursday must once again have her wits about her as she travels to the very limits of acceptable narrativTrade Review'Once you read one - you'll be hooked.' * David Baldacci *'Fforde's books are more than just an ingenious idea. They are written with buoyant zest and are tautly plotted. They have empathetic heroes and heroines who nearly make terrible mistakes and suitably dastardly villains who do. They also have more twists and turns than Christie, and are embellished with the rich details of Dickens or Pratchett' * Independent *A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb * Daily Mail *'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius.' * Scotsman *'Fans of the late Douglas Adams, or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde' * Herald *

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Book Synopsis''As ever, Rosamunde Pilcher has kept me enthralled to the very last page'' Reader review ?????The endearing bestseller from the much-loved Rosamunde PilcherBorn in Colombo, Judith Dunbar spends her teenage years at boarding school, while her beloved mother and younger sister live abroad with her father. When her new friend Loveday Carey-Lewis invites Judith home for the weekend to Nancherrow, the Carey-Lewises'' beautiful estate on the Cornish coast, it is love at first sight. With the family''s generosity and kindness, Judith flourishes from a naïve girl into a confident young woman, basking in the warm affection of a surrogate family. But the gathering storm of war cannot be ignored. Judith herself has far to travel before at last . . . coming home.READERS ARE IN LOVE WITH COMING HOME:''In her typical writing style, the book has you engrossed in the characters'' lives and it is both upliftTrade ReviewThe novel has a gently sweet flavour, it continues to beguile because of Pilcher's warmth, sincerity and easy, undemanding prose * Sunday Times *Compelling pages packed with convincing characters, vivid settings and weepy bits * Daily Mail *A great featherbed of a novel, all the right ingredients * Woman & Home *Especially good on atmosphere and a lonely teenager's bewilderment, Pilcher's storytelling skills are serene and beguiling * The Times *Much-needed balm to soothe the troubled mind * Sunday Express *A well-upholstered good read * Daily Mail *Classy, lavish entertainment . . . literate pleasure * Publishers Weekly *Captivating . . . The best sort of book to come home to . . . Readers will undoubtedly hope Pilcher comes home to the typewriter again soon. * New York Daily News *

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Book SynopsisA novel about politics, film, history and, above all, love by Booker Prize nominated author Justin Cartwright.Trade ReviewHalf In Love has the invigorating feel and racing pace of any good love story * Hampstead and Highgate Express *Cartwright's tender, ironic, but ultimately optimistic dissection of human love is as shrewd and unshrinking as his conclusions about politics and journalism... Half in Love is a marvel of compression, of characterisation and of tightly cast thought. It is also very moving and utterly gripping, to which the author has cleverly added a sly whiff of the roman-à-clef. * The Times *Half in Love is a marvellous novel, serious, moving, compelling, wholly credible. * Weekend Scotsman *Intelligent and lucid * The Times *Cartwright has an unfashionable ear for sincerity, which ambushes modern readers used to seeing the false and flaky exposed. * Saturday Telegraph *This fine novel is also a powerful, irrestibly page-turning love-story. * Harpers & Queen *[An] urbanely intelligent story of political and sexual manners * The Sunday Times *An absorbing novel... the writing is elegant and crisp * Sunday Telegraph *[Half in Love] is awash with neatly drawn minor characters - and knocks most contemporary fiction into a cocked hat. * The Spectator *

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Book Synopsis'One of the shrewdest and most diverting novels about Africa one could hope to read.' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewDodging the vested interests of the Ngwenya clan, his wayward wife Magdan and the colonial dinosaur Jumbo Munroe, the narrator embarks on a quasi-biblical quest that owes more to Waugh and Ballard than Rider Haggard, a tale that hits the ground running and continues at a vigorous pace. This is one of the shrewdest and most diverting novels about Africa one could hope to read. * Daily Telegraph *A masterly and delightful book * The Sunday Times *A fine book ... extremely well written. * Independent *A marvellously gripping, stylish and intelligent adventure story ... completely fresh and original. * Sunday Express *A wondrous journey into the interior of the African spirit, cooly humorous and thought-provoking ... A masterly and delightful book. * The Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisA witty and touching novel for fans of Tony Parsons and Nick Hornby.Thirty-two-year-old music journalist Dave Harding has got a nice house, a cushy job and in Izzy, his partner, the ideal companion for an intimate dinner for two. But when friends of Dave announce they''re having a baby the biological clock he never knew existed starts ticking. Loudly. When the magazine Dave works for folds he is forced to take the worst job in journalism - Agony Uncle for Teen Scene. Suddenly cooler-than-cool Dave is knee deep in the adolescent outpourings of his teenage readership. One letter out of thousands, however, turns his life upside down. Thirteen-year-old Nicola O''Connell doesn''t want advice about boys - she wants to know about Dave because she''s convinced that Dave Harding is her dad. And she''s got the facts to prove it.Trade Review'Full of belly-laughs and painfully acute observations' - Independent on Sunday on MY LEGENDARY GIRLFRIEND'Something near to mid-period Woody Allen... a delicate blend of realism and whimsy...funny and clever...refreshing to find a male writer working in this genre' - Guardian on MR COMMITMENT'A warm, funny romantic comedy' - Daily Mail on TURNING THIRTY'Fresh and witty' - Independent on Sunday on TURNING THIRTY

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Book SynopsisA tale of deception, misunderstanding, and betrayal set between modern-day Africa and Nazi-occupied France.Trade ReviewThere is nothing tired or derivative here; the writing is sharp, the characters vividly drawn, the narrative sinuous . . . it confirms Cartwright's individuality and promise . . . In its bold design, as well as its wonderfully detailed portrait of African village life, it achieves real distinction * Sunday Telegraph *Cartwright makes his pages as vividly sensuous as they are caustically intelligent * The Sunday Times *It is like a little death to put this book down * Times Literary Supplement *The book works well, as a story, as a compendium of reflections on race and nationhood and as a novel with a refined and distinctive narrative voice . . . an elegantly complex, unfailingly intelligent novel * Spectator *Remarkable . . . The prose is spare and exact, yet glorious * Daily Mail *There is so much to take in along the way, so many essential truths, so much pain and beauty, that Masai Dreaming takes on the compulsive quality of a dream from which one is reluctant to awake. If I were ever asked to select a few books that might help to change the world, Cartwright's would be near the top of the list * Midweek *A provocative novel * Esquire *

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Book SynopsisSet in Cumbria and covering the period from 1898 to the early twenties, this is the powerful saga of John Tallentire, first farm labourer, then coal miner, and his wife Emily. John''s struggle to break free from the humiliating status of a ''hired man'' is the theme of a novel which has been hailed as a classic of its kind - as meticulously detailed as a social document, as evocative as the writings of Hardy and Lawrence.Trade ReviewAn intensely moving, deeply worked book * Sunday Telegraph *It is an extraordinary blend of delicacy and harsh simplicity which makes Melvyn Bragg a remarkable novelist. The perception with which he traces the currents of feeling between John and Emily, the gathering and receding of emotion, have a cumulative power of enormous conviction, a steady hardening of experience which is deeply unsetting and moving * The Times *A magnificently strong and sinewy novel * Sunday Mirror *

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Book SynopsisDouglas Tallentire has at last achieved what his father and grandfather before him fought for so bitterly. Educated and independent, he can carve out his own career and spread his wings. But success, freedom and happiness are more elusive than ever in the fiercely competitive Seventies. From Cumbria to the frenetic whirl of sophisticated life in New York and London, Douglas, like all the Tallentires, must come to terms with private uncertainty and pain.Trade ReviewAn uncommonly high talent. The people are 'real' enough to leave footprints right across the page * Guardian *He emerges with stature at the end of his convincing contemporary novel on 'the way we live now' ... the book shows range and vision ... Bragg knows about the nuances of dialogue which differentiate character and can maintain nice dramatic irony * New Statesman *Mr Bragg is one of the few British writers of talent with the courage to tackle an ambitious, panoramic novel * Daily Telegraph *

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