Contemporary Fiction Books

Book Synopsis'Short but very special. ... funny, touching and quite beautiful.' Matt Cain'A powerful finale to her classic trilogy of heartbreak and healing.' Clare Chambers'An unforgettable story. It's beautiful all through, but the closing chapters are just astonishing, transcendent and hope-filled and life-affirming.' Donal Ryan'Just brilliant' Patrick Gale'Profoundly moving and deeply human, this story of self-discovery and forgiveness is essential reading. I loved every word.' Bonnie Garmus'Astonishingly powerful... Truly stunning' Ruth Jones......................................................................................................................................Ten years ago, Harold Fry set off on his epic journey on foot to save a friend. But the story doesn't end there. Now his wife, Maureen, has her own pilgrimage to make.Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she now shares with her husband Harold after his iconic walk across England. Now, ten years later, an unexpected message from the North disturbs her equilibrium again, and this time it is Maureen's turn to make her own journey.But Maureen is not like Harold. She struggles to bond with strangers, and the landscape she crosses has changed radically. She has little sense of what she'll find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she must get there.Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North is a deeply felt, lyrical and powerful novel, full of warmth and kindness, about love, loss, and how we come to terms with the past in order to understand ourselves and our lives a little better. Short, exquisite, while it stands in its own right, it is also the moving finale to a trilogy that began with the phenomenal bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and continued with The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy.This is a slender book but it has all the power and weight of a classic.Trade ReviewJoyce bestows tenderness and grace, revealing how forgiveness and a reckoning with the past can transform the present for the better. -- Eithne Farry * Mail on Sunday *Joyce is a fearless explorer of emotional landscape; Maureen's pilgrimage north becomesa moving account of healing and acceptance. -- Patricia Nicol * Sunday Times *Exquisite and beautifully crafted -- Ruth Jones * Daily Mail *A beautiful novella ... with compassion and tenderness ... the novel's conclusion is deeply moving and life-affirming. -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *Very rarely, there is a writer who can touch the deepest and most hidden parts of the soul, by using the everyday matter of our daily lives to reveal the sacred that always surrounds us. This writer is Rachel Joyce, and her trilogy starting with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, then The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy and finally Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North does just that, as well as delighting by her assured story-telling. To read her work is to think at first you are being invited to a perfect and delicious afternoon tea - then realise that you are intimate communion with what it means to be human: to suffer, to love, and to be understood. There is beauty, and the reason for art. -- Laline Paul

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of DAISY JONES & THE SIX and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO'Thank you Taylor Jenkins Reid for the escapism we all need- a sex-on-the-beach cocktail (quite literally) of a book' PANDORA SYKES'I LOVE it . . . I can't remember the last time I read a book that was so fun' DOLLY ALDERTON'It's 365 pages of pure exhilaration' THE TIMESAugust,1983, it is the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone who is anyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: surfer and supermodel Nina, brothers Jay and Hud, and their adored baby sister Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over - especially as the children of the legendary singer Mick Riva.By midnight the party will be completely out of control.By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames.But before that first spark in the early hours of dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family will all come bubbling to the surface.'The perfect, literal, beach read, with the emotional depth of the ocean' HOLLY BOURNE'It's a full on escapist delight' STYLIST'This summer's must-read novel' REDTrade ReviewCompletely slick and compelling, but also has such warmth and psychological insight. The characters were so real I almost found myself checking out their Wikipedia pages afterwards! It's the perfect, literal, beach read, with the emotional depth of the ocean. I was such a fan of Daisy Jones & The Six and this certainly didn't disappoint.Heart-wrenching and utterly compelling, Malibu Rising is a story about the fierce bonds between four fascinating siblings. The novel immerses us in a glamorous, star-studded world but at its heart it's full of raw human emotion. Its characters felt completely real to me - each one is flawed and messy and impossible not to love.Thank you Taylor Jenkins Reid for the escapism we all need- a sex-on-the-beach cocktail (quite literally) of a book. * Pandora Sykes *It's a full on escapist delight. * Stylist, Best Fiction of 2021 *Unapologetically escapist beach read fiction, it's urgent style evocative of Hollywood Wives era Jackie Collins. * Sunday Times *This summer's must-read novel. * Sarra Manning, Red *Oh, how I longed to be in California with the glamourous Riva siblings when I was reading this [...] I did not want this book to end! * Prima, Book of the Month *With Malibu Rising - a novel as redolent of California dreamin' as a Lana del Rey track - Jenkins Reid has lost none of her touch ... A stroke of genius ... Imagine Blue Water High and Selling Sunset had a lovechild, or Jackie Collins rewrote The O.C. , then combine these ingredients with warm, propulsive storytelling, and you'll get an inkling of this family saga's escapist magic ... Immersive and relaxing, as every great beach read should be. * Evening Standard *When the party starts, it's celebrity mayhem but the heart of the book is family, love and loyalty. I adored everything about this punchy and incisive take on fame and its consequences, from the sympathetic characters to the salty surf atmosphere. * Daily Mail *Think Selling Sunset with knobs on as Taylor Jenkins Reid again plunges us into the intoxicating, heat-heavy realm of intrigue of Malibu, this time amidst the world of the filthy rich. * BBC News *Perfect pure escapism. * Simon Savidge *A beautifully touching and thought provoking novel interspersed with Jenkins Reid's trademark wit and humour. * Essential Marbella Magazine *Malibu Rising is as much an impressionistic whirl of neon sunsets, acid-wash denim and high-cut bikinis as it is a grand set piece about a glamorous party ... Jenkins Reid has an easy, breezy style that serves melodrama on a daring scale . . . Never has so much sex, tragedy, celebrity and tanned skin been crammed into one thinking person's beach read. It's 365 pages of pure exhilaration. * The Times *Perfect for whatever holiday you hopefully get to take this summer. * Irish Independent *A riveting, propulsive bookwith characters that stayed with me, not because they are complicated but because they are so vivid ... Full of warmth and tenderness ... Deliciously escapist, conjuring the sun and the sand. * i paper *A gorgeous, sun-soaked novel that delves into the glamour and desperate hope of 1980s Malibu. * The Skinny *Fast-paced and addictive, Reid's vivid world-building provides the ultimate in summer escapism. With touches of 1980s glamour and scandal, Malibu Rising is another thrilling read from a talented writer, sure to delight old fans, as well as winning her new ones. * Independent *Perfectly evoking the sun-drenched and debauched backdrop that made Daisy Jones and The Six so immersive ... Addictive and fun, it's an essential addition to your summer reading list. * Stylist *Hot off the success of the immensely enjoyable 1970s band story Daisy Jones & The Six comes Taylor Jenkins Reid's latest, a superfun foray into the 1980s ... Delicious. * Sunday Telegraph, Novel of the Week *Simmering with sexual tension, this hugely enjoyable ensemble narrative turns on a raucous party. * Mail on Sunday *Malibu Rising is finely crafted commercial fiction, escapism in high definition, a quintessential beach read... If Nina Riva's party is the hottest ticket of the summer, then Malibu Rising is a front-row seat at the main event. * Irish Times *A gorgeous, sun-soaked novel that delves into the glamour and desperate hope of 1980s Malibu, and the saga of a family that will never be the same again. * The Skinny *The perfect summer novel, a vibrant story filled with sun, surfing, and flawed but lovable characters. * Daily Beast *After a year where most people stayed home, it's a great time to escape to the beach, even if only through Reid's writing. * Independent *This glamourous, compulsive novel is best enjoyed from your sun lounger with a cocktail in hand. * Good Housekeeping *A deliciously decadent tale of sex, tragedy, celebrity, surfboards and tanned skin in 1980s Malibu. * The Times *I absolutely loved her book.... It's an absolute blast to readJACKIE COLLINS, BUT BETTER Sacrilege to say "better", I know, but there we are. Set in the 1980s, Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising is wonderfully written, intensely evocative and concerns the model/ surfer children of a rock star. Tons of glamour, tons of sharply observed insights about sibling relationships, plus a massive party. Beach read par excellence. See also her brilliant Daisy Jones & the Six, which is heaven (more rock stars). * Anonymous *When we picked up Malibu Rising, the new novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, we could barely put it down * That's Life *You'll never want this book to end, it will suck you in and spit you out! * Muddy Stilettos *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD AND LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZEFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BOY WITH THE TOPKNOT AND EMPIRELAND'Enormously enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES'A satirical masterpiece' TELEGRAPH'Sanghera's tender and funny book is a cracking and pacy read' OBSERVER'A stunning novel . . . touching and funny and feels so fresh . . . it just leaps off the page. I adored it' DEBORAH MOGGACH'Impressive' GUARDIAN'Entertaining' INDEPENDENT When Arjan returns to the Black Country after his father's death, his family's corner shop represents everything he tried to leave behind. But his mother insists on keeping the business open, and Arjun finds himself being dragged back from London, and forced into big decisions about his own relationship. Yet Arjan's story isn't the first and it won't be the last: Surinder and Kamaljit, two sisters, a generation back in the family, also experienced their own share of betrayals and loyalties, loves and regrets.Praise for Empireland'A fascinating reckoning with a history of empire' GUARDIAN'I only wish this book had been around when I was at school' SADIQ KHAN'Balanced and insightful' THE TIMES'This immensely readable book is very timely' FINANCIAL TIMES'An important book' NEW STATESMAN Trade ReviewEnormously enjoyable…Marriage Material isn’t simply an ingenious exercise in updating…Sanghera’s central subject, as in his much-praised memoir, The Boy with the Topknot, is prejudice…One of the novel’s achievements is to keep you in mind of all this while maintaining a tone of shrewdly humorous tolerance. Sanghera’s forte is wry comedy tinged with pathos…There is a concluding twist that has all the poisonous horror of finding a cobra coiled around boxes of confectionary in a corner shop…[A] warm, keenly observant and immensely appealing novel. * Sunday Times *Having grown up in a corner shop in the West Midlands, I hoped that Sathnam Sanghera's Marriage Material would resonate. I was expecting acerbic wit, unsentimental tenderness and a Black Country setting – and it lived up to my stupid expectations. I really wanted to like it and I loved it - which never seems to happen. I usually damn things with high hopes. It was a lot of things I expected - funny and tender and scathing - but it's insanely gripping as well. So much of the newsagent detailing was completely spot on – there was plenty of my Dad in the character of Tanvir, plenty of all of my family in there really. A great achievement.A satirical masterpiece … A razor-sharp disquisition on the trials of being an Asian newsagent…Handled with a poignancy that makes it hurt to read. But those tears are soon replaced by ones of laughter … As past and present collide in a violent, twisty finale, it is clear that the caste system of the old country is alive and dangerous. Sanghera is such an engaging and versatile writer that the pages fly by in a flurry of pathos, politics and paratha with extra butter. Not many readers will recognise this satirical mini-masterpiece as a reworking of the 1908 Arnold Bennett novel The Old Wives’ Tale, but everyone will feel richer for its uncompromising take on race relations in the Black Country. * Sunday Telegraph *A stunning novel ... touching and funny and feels so fresh ... it just leaps off the page. I adored it.His poignant memoir of growing up in 1980s Wolverhampton won Sathnam Sanghera an army of admirers as well as a clutch of nominations and awards. Five years on, he has turned his literary talents in the direction of fiction, with this funny and insightful first novel the result … A thoughtful examination of the complexities of modern Britain … An engrossing, entertaining and rewarding read. * Daily Mail *Smart, funny and melancholic, Sanghera's debut novel goes straight to the heart of family life * Marie Claire *A novel that ingeniously ‘shoplifts’ (his word) characters and elements of plot from Arnold Bennett’s The Old Wives’ Tale…This dangerous material is handled with a darkly comic lightness of touch, and an impassively detached ironic tone that may owe something to Bennett — like Bennett, Sanghera makes good use of local newspaper cuttings, letters to the editor, and contemporary fashion magazine material, which gives an unobtrusively authentic period flavour to each passing phase. This book is so well researched you hardly notice the work that’s gone into it…The mix of comedy, satire, realism and optimism is nicely judged. * Spectator *Subtle and often very funny prose … What lifts this novel far above cliché is Sanghera’s deft sense of irony and self-awareness regarding his subject matter … The family’s unfolding history is beautifully counterpointed by real-life events in the local political landscape … Sanghera’s tender and funny book is a cracking and pacy read. * Observer *Sathnam Sanghera’s entertaining story is a “remix” of Arnold Bennett’s classic novel The Old Wives’ Tale … Playful wit infuses the novel … But behind the humour and the plot twists, is an important novel that explores an often overlooked part of this country's history … That the story of the Victorian mercantile class told in Bennett’s novel is so easily transposed onto the community Sanghera grew up in nearly a century later is absolutely fascinating, and by recognizing and exploiting this with excellent effect, he examines the nationwide story of British immigration through the prism of the Punjabi Sikh experience. * Independent *A funny and touching read ... Brilliant … A superbly updated version of Arnold Bennett’s The Old Wives’ Tale. At its heart, this is a simple story of family … yet, all this is handled throughout with the lightest of touches, so that on reaching the end, you want to begin again to pick up the subtle nuances of this book * Psychologies *It is very good and has many of the qualities found in Bennett’s masterpiece: acute observation of society and societal change, thoroughly imagined and well depicted characters, mastery of naturalistic detail, and generosity of tone. It is very enjoyable … It does what the novel can still do better than any other art-form: showing you that other people think and act in a manner very different from your own, but one which is equally valid … It is [a novel] which celebrates that most necessary of qualities, kindness … It is acute about human frailty, but also understanding of this. It is often funny and its great merit is its humanity. It’s worthy homage to Arnold Bennett. * Scotsman *Marriage Material is a comic feast, full of delectable matter. It does what only the best comic fiction can do: it robes important social subjects in laughter. Then, too, by the end, I felt I knew Sathnam Sanghera’s characters intimately and felt so warmly about them, I didn’t want them to go: no mean feat, given that I’ve never been into a Wolverhampton corner shop, either in Enoch Powell's scurrilous heyday or more recently. This is a splendid debut.Marriage Material is a wonderfully engaging book, full of heart and wit. Its exploration of what it means to feel torn is rich and subtle. Its characters stay with you. Its jokes make you laugh in the night.It will take virtually no pages for you to be hooked * Harper's Bazaar - 5 Books for the Autumn *Sanghera’s Marriage Material has humour [and] cultural relevance…Anyone who’s grown up as a second generation immigrant can relate to the themes seen here … I’d heartily recommend Marriage Material to anyone who needs a little push to reconnect to where they’ve come from, be it Copenhagen or Punjab. * Stylist *Sanghera’s story captures a time of extraordinary changes in Wolverhampton […] Discrimination, mixed-race marriages and the changing face of Britain appear in both Sanghera’s timelines. As the novel progresses, the stories collide and there are startling revelations, humour and mystery. It is smartly crafted, weaving in droll observations about immigrant life and the defensiveness of south Asians living away from home, while also providing a thoughtful commentary on the casual racism of Britain, the tedium of always being out of place and the complexities of belonging in an increasingly heterogeneous world. * Financial Times *Sanghera ... tells a larger story about the big political and economic struggles of the past half-century. He examines changing attitudes to immigration, the rise of big-box stores and the hollowing out of Britain’s industrial centres ... Sanghera, who grew up in Wolverhampton himself, does a good job of capturing the complications of progress. * The Economist *

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Book SynopsisThis is a witch story unlike any other.Lux has lost everything when Else finds her in the woods. Her family, her lover, her home - all burned. The world is suspicious of women like her. But Lux is cunning; she knows how to blend into the background. And she knows a lot about poisons.Else needs Lux's help to destroy the man who wronged her. But on their hunt they will uncover dark secrets that entangle them with dangerous adversaries.From the snowy winter woods to the bright midnight sun; from lost and powerless to finding your path, Now She is Witch conjures a world where women grasp at power through witchcraft, sexuality and performance, and sometimes by throwing each other to the wolves.'A story that will hold you tight and not let go' Stylist'Mesmerising and evocative...There are echoes of everything from the Brothers Grimm to Angela Carter' Observer'Powerful, imaginative, compelling - myth-making at its best' Val McDermid'An impassioned reclaiming of female desire...absorbingly atmospheric' Daily Mail'Spooky, timeless, feminist, inventive, unsettling' Viv GroksopTrade ReviewKirsty Logan's mesmerising and evocative novel represents an imaginative triumph in this new subgenre [of "witch lit"]... There are echoes of everything from the Brothers Grimm to Angela Carter in Logan's deceptively simple storytelling * Observer *Logan builds Lux's world with an eye for striking detail...the images snap and sizzle with portent and possibility * Guardian *One of our national writing treasures, Kirsty Logan's latest tale is a deeply atmospheric, sometimes gory but ultimately uplifting... a story that will hold you tight and not let go * Stylist *An impassioned reclaiming of female desire. Stuffed, Russian-doll like, with stories...an absorbingly atmospheric adventure * Daily Mail *A dark conjuring of a book: angry, powerful, hypnotic, told in prose of dazzling power. -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave

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Book Synopsis'Charming, witty and warm, Small Miracles is a gentle gem of a novel, a cheery balm in troubling times.' AJ Pearce, bestselling author of Dear Mrs BirdIn the summer of 1995, three nuns play the lottery to save their failing convent and set off on an adventure to Italy in search of a miracle. A joyful, heart-warming story of friendship, community, faith and love.The 1990s are proving tough for the convent. The order of the Sisters of Saint Philomena is down to its three last nuns. The place that Sisters Margaret, Bridget and Cecilia call home is in dire need of repairs and, with no savings and no new recruits, they are facing the prospect of having to sell up and leave behind the friends and neighbours in the parish community that they love.That is, until ninety-year-old Cecilia decides to play the newly launched National Lottery and a series of small miracles begins to unfold...Small Miracles takes the reader on a joyful and uplifting journey as these three unforgettable nuns learn more about life, love and friendship than they could ever have imagined.***Sweet Mercies, the new Christmas adventure with the Sisters of Saint Philomena, is available for pre-order now!***Trade ReviewWith gentle humour, and surprising twists and turns, this is just the book we need in these difficult times. I didn't want it to end. * Katie Fforde *Charming, witty and warm, Small Miracles is a gentle gem of a novel, a cheery balm in troubling times -- AJ Pearce, bestselling author of Dear Mrs BirdHeart-warming and quirky, with a cast of lovable characters...Just wonderful. I loved it. -- Jill MansellCharming, witty and intricately plotted...celebrates the uplifting power of love * The Tablet *What a joy! Small Miracles is warm, compassionate, and sees the good in everyone. I loved it, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to be reminded of what a kind place the world can be. -- Stephanie Butland

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Book Synopsis**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023****SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022**Discover an exhilarating novel about power and corruption set in a nation trapped in a cycle as old as time.'A masterpiece for our times. Gripping and exhilarating' Observer 'Uplifting and original' StylistThis is the story of a country on the brink of revolution.It's the story of Destiny, who returns home to witness the uprising.It's a story for all of us, and a reminder that history can be changed in the blink of an eye.'A novel with heart and energy' Daily Telegraph'Bulawayo is really out-Orwelling Orwell. This is a satire with sharper teeth, angrier, and also very, very funny' New York Times Book Review** SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2023****SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 VISIONARY ARTS AWARDS**Trade ReviewAllegory, satire and fairytale rolled into one mighty punch * Guardian *Brave, and moving -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *Vital and universal -- Hepzibah Anderson * Observer *Few writers can engineer a sentence like NoViolet Bulawayo * Irish Times *Bulawayo is really out-Orwelling Orwell. This is a satire with sharper teeth, angrier, and also very, very funny * New York Times Book Review *

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Book Synopsis'One of the masters of modern Chinese literature' Jung ChangA searing novel that traces the destruction of a community in communist China.Told through the eyes of Xiao Qiang, a young boy, this deeply moving novel shares the tragic story of the blood-contamination scandal in China's Henan province.Looking for a way to lift Ding Village from poverty, its directors and organisers open blood-plasma collection stations, hoping to sell the plasma to those in need. At first the scheme is a commercial success. Soon, however, whole communities are wiped out after contracting HIV. As Xiao narrates the fate of Ding Village, his family is torn apart by suspicion and retribution.'The defining work of his career... A devastating critique of China's runaway development' GuardianTrade ReviewOne of China's most successful fiction writers * New York Times *One of China's greatest living authors and fiercest satirists * Guardian *Yan Lianke denounces an alarming situation...his novel is a true revelation * Rolling Stone *A sorrowful but captivating novel about the price of progress in modern China... Resonates with the impact of Greek tragedy or Shakespearean drama * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisA brilliantly comic satire about a love affair from the visionary, world-class storyteller.Set in 1967, at the peak of the Mao cult, this is the tale of a forbidden love affair between Liu Lian - the bored wife of a military commander - and a young soldier, Wu Dawang.When Liu Lian establishes a rule that Wu Dawang must attend to her needs whenever the household's wooden 'Serve the People!' sign is removed from its usual place, he vows to obey. What follows is both an enthralling love story and a deliciously comic satire on the political and sexual taboos of Mao's regime.'Drips with the kind of satire that can only come from deep within the machinery of Chinese communism' Financial TimesTrade ReviewOne of China's greatest living authors and fiercest satirists * Guardian *Brilliantly exposes the emptiness of Maoist ideals and the fraudulent ends for which they were used, but also relates a sorrowful tale of compromised relationships and modest hopes left unfulfilled * Publishers Weekly *A scathing sendup of life in 1960s China during the chaos of the country's Cultural Revolution...a wonderfully biting sature, brimming with absurdity, humor and wit * Los Angeles Times *

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREThe choir from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour School for Girls is being bussed to the national finals in the big, big city. It's an important day for The Sopranos, with pub-crawling, shoplifting and body-piercing being the top priorities. And with a newly anchored nuclear sub in the bay, the Man Trap disco will be full of submariners on shore-leave tonight. There is no time for delays – or even for winning…But after the fifth bottle of alco-pop on the bus it's clear that all is not going to plan, for anyone. The Sopranos are never going to be the same.

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Book SynopsisThe luminous new novel from 'one of the best writers of our time', double Booker Prize winner J. M. Coetzee.'Full of truth, tearfully moving to read... Brilliant' Evening StandardSimón and David - a tall ten-year-old - are in a new land, together with a woman named Inés. The small family have found a home in which David can thrive. But David is spotted by Julio Fabricante, the director of a local orphanage, playing football with his friends. He shows unusual talent. When David announces that he wants to live with Julio and the children in his care, Simón and Inés are stunned. David is leaving them, and they can only love him and bear witness.The Death of Jesus is the completion of an incomparable trilogy in which J. M. Coetzee explores the meaning of a world empty of memory but brimming with questions.* A New York Times Notable Book *___________________'Extraordinary... Coetzee stands as the pre-eminent novelist in the English-writing world' New Statesman'You will read its cool, dry final sentences - as I did - with tears in your eyes' The TimesTrade ReviewAnything J.M. Coetzee writes deserves our full attention…The Death of Jesus is full of truth, irreducible, tearfully moving to read -- David Sexton * Evening Standard, *Book of the Week* *Concludes the trilogy with force and heart… if The Death of Jesus strikes you in the right place, then you will read its cool, dry final sentences – as I did – with tears in your eyes -- John Self * The Times *Any new novel from Coetzee commands respect, and the final part of the trilogy is no exception… The Death of Jesus constantly challenges what we believe and why -- Max Davidson * Mail on Sunday *The Death of Jesus is a necessary read, casting a strange new light on one of the world’s greatest and most elusive novelists -- Doug Battersby * Financial Times *A phenomenon that arrives from out of nowhere and challenges our received ideas to breaking point ... a delicate, iridescent mystery * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis‘Written with all the ingenuity and twisty tautness of a thriller’ The TimesFrom the Booker-winning Irish author, a brilliant and moving novel about fame, sexual power, and a daughter’s search to understand her mother’s hidden truths. This is the story of Irish theatre legend Katherine O’Dell, as told by her daughter Norah. It tells of early stardom in Hollywood, of highs and lows on the stages of Dublin and London’s West End. Katherine’s life is a grand performance, with young Norah watching from the wings. But this romance between mother and daughter cannot survive Katherine’s past, or the world’s damage. As Norah uncovers her mother’s secrets, she acquires a few of her own. Then, fame turns to infamy when Katherine decides to commit a bizarre crime. Actress is about a daughter’s search for the truth: the dark secret in the bright star, and what drove Katherine finally mad . . .Trade ReviewA perfect jewel of a book, a dark emerald set in the Irish laureate’s fictional tiara, alongside her Man Booker Prize winner The Gathering (2007) and The Green Road (2015). Its brilliance is complex and multifaceted, but completely lucid… Actress is a deeply humane, often darkly funny novel about the exercise of power over sexually attractive women. The grim subject matter is illuminated by Enright’s acute sensitivity to language… Enright proves, once again, her genius. -- Ruth Scurr * Spectator *Anne Enright, the unofficial rock star of literary fiction, cements her stardom with Actress. -- Niamh Donnelly * Irish Times *Actress absolutely enthralled me… [An] immersive, masterful novel. -- Anya Meyerowitz * Red Magazine *In Katherine O’Dell, her fictional fallen star of stage and screen…Enright has created a heroine as irresistible to the reader as to her audiences… She has become a byword for contemporary Irish literary fiction at its finest. -- Lisa Allardice * Guardian *May I recommend Actress by Anne Enright. Her writing is always pitch perfect, but this is truly exquisite. If there is such a thing as the perfect novel, this is it. -- Nigella Lawson

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Book SynopsisThree generations of Taiwanese American women are haunted by the myths of their homeland in this blazing debut of one family's queer desires, violent impulses and buried secrets.One evening, Mother tells Daughter a story about a tiger spirit who lived in a woman's body. Her name was Hu Gu Po, and she hungered to eat children, especially their toes. Soon afterwards, Daughter awakes with a tiger tail. And more mysterious events follow: Holes in the backyard spit up letters penned by her estranged grandmother; a visiting aunt leaves red on everything she touches; a ghost bird shimmers in an ancient birdcage.All the while, Daughter is falling for a neighbourhood girl named Ben with mysterious stories of her own. As the two young lovers translate the grandmother's letters, Daughter begins to understand that each woman in her family embodies an old Taiwanese myth, and fears the power of the tiger spirit bristling within her to cause pain. She will have to bring her family's secrets to light in order to derail their destiny. 'What gives me fuel are other books - anything stylish and/or dirty. This year I loved reading K-Ming Chang's Bestiary' Raven Leilani, author of LusterTrade ReviewA powerful novel that will sit inside you for days after reading -- Lucy Knight * Sunday Times *A visceral, magical tale - every sentence is worth savouring. -- Kirsty Logan, author of Things We Say in the DarkFull of magic realism that reaches down your throat, grabs hold of your guts and forces a slow reckoning with what it means to be a foreigner, a native, a mother, a daughter * New York Times *Chang makes a spell rise from every wound, and I'm caught all the way up in this magic... one of the best emerging writers out there. -- Danez SmithK-Ming Chang's prose ravishes, ravages, rampages. This is an absolute lightning strike of a debut. The world grew brighter as I read it. -- Kelly Link, author of GET IN TROUBLE

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Book SynopsisAn intoxicating and evocative novel about the all-consuming love affair between two women in Paris and the ruin it leaves in its wake.'Captivating...intense...seductive' GuardianA thirty-something teacher drifts through her life in Paris, raising a daughter on her own, lonely in spite of a new boyfriend. Then one night, at a friend's tepid New Year's Eve party, Sarah enters the scene like a tornado. A talented young violinist, she is loud, vivacious, appealingly unkempt in a world where everyone seems preoccupied with being 'just so'. It is the beginning of an intense relationship, tender and violent, that will upend both women's lives. A literary sensation in France, All About Sarah perfectly captures the pull of a desire so strong that it blinds us to everything else.'All About Sarah moves impressively from the chaos and noise of love, to silence and solitude, like a spun coin settling' ObserverTrade Review[All About Sarah] moves impressively from the chaos and noise of love, to silence and solitude, like a spun coin settling. -- John Self * Observer *A story of desire and desolation. -- Kim Willsher * Guardian *A brief, intense read... compulsive... seductive prose. -- Lara Feigel * Guardian *There are shades of Duras, Nabokov, and Barthes in the intensely living heart of this magnificent novel. * L'Express *

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Book SynopsisDiscover this unforgettable, darkly funny novel about the power of friendship and the heartbreak of family life - shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2021.'AMAZING' Marian Keyes 'BEAUTIFUL' Douglas Stuart 'FABULOUS' Kevin Barry 'THRILLING' Nicole Flattery__________Sinéad Hynes is a tough, driven, funny young property developer with a terrifying secret. No-one knows it: not her fellow patients in a failing hospital, and certainly not her family. She has confided only in Google and a shiny magpie.But she can't go on like this, tirelessly trying to outstrip her past and in mortal fear of her future. Somehow, Sinéad needs to seize the moment, and maybe then she can learn to be free...__________ An Evening Standard, Observer and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year An Observer Best Debut 2020Winner of the Dalkey Book Festival Emerging Writer Award Winner of the McKitterick Prize 2020 Winner of the Kate O'Brien Award 2021 Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year 2020'Extraordinary... This is writing that often reaches into your heart' Evening Standard'Exhilarating...gloriously full of life' Irish Independent'Feeney's voice is at once fresh and sharp, with an eye for comedy' ObserverTrade ReviewComic, heartfelt and full of characters who walk off the page, it feels like Irish writing has been waiting a long time for a voice as unique and insistent as Elaine Feeney. A superb, unforgettable debut. * Sinéad Gleeson *As You Were is an absolute tour de force: raw, sharp and wild. Elaine Feeney writes with such love for and understanding of her characters. It’s the literary equivalent of a stiff drink beside a warm fire: a book that will rattle you before it settles you. * Lisa McInerney *As You Were was just (effing) amazing. Brimful of brilliant characters – what an exciting, visceral, poetic read. I adored the lack of sentimentality. Sinéad Hynes is complex and excellently realised – a role model too, for I found her (sometime) selfishness thrillingly refreshing. As You Were gives permission to Irish women to put themselves first, and considering what we've come from, that's seismic. Elaine Feeney is such a talent. I LOVED it! * Marian Keyes *A truly original voice. Raw, urgent and uncompromising about the lengths we go to to conceal hurt, deception, psychic pain... A brilliant portrayal of the kindness of strangers, the kinship of women and the heartbreak of married love. * Mary Costello *'An absolutely fabulous book’ * Kevin Barry *

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Book Synopsis'A wonderful discovery' (Ian McEwan), this is a beguiling dystopian tale of a young man confronted with the truth about freedom. On a hot summer night, a young man sits in a dark cell in a Hungarian prison. The guards do not explain why he is here; he does not know if he will ever be released. But he is far from alone. Others, too, are trapped within the stone walls - singers and students, sages and spies. As the days pass, the man is drawn into their conversations and their lives, and soon becomes a witness to their sometimes outlandish acts of rebellion.Written in the early 1980s and inspired by Andrew Szepessy's own experiences, Epitaphs for Underdogs is a beguiling and exhilarating novel about power, justice and freedom, and about the solidarity that can be found in even the most unexpected places.'Beautiful... With its sense of the absurd, its laughter in the dark, it belongs in the great tradition of dystopian literature, with echoes of early Kundera and Nabokov' IAN McEWANTrade ReviewEpitaphs for Underdogs is a strange and beautiful fiction, a profound meditation on the totalitarian spirit, enriched by dark humour and warm observation. With its sense of the absurd, its laughter in the dark, it belongs in the great tradition of dystopian literature, with echoes of early Kundera and Nabokov. Szepessy is a wonderful discovery -- IAN McEWAN

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Book SynopsisThe electrifying novel from the Booker shortlisted author of Everything Under. 'A short sharp explosion of a gothic thriller' ObserverSomething unspeakable has happened to sisters July and September. Desperate for a fresh start, they move across the country to an old family house that has a troubled life of its own. Noises come from behind the walls. Lights flicker of their own accord. Sleep feels impossible, dreams are endless.In their new, unsettling surroundings, July finds that the fierce bond she's always had with September - forged with a blood promise when they were children - is beginning to change in ways she cannot understand.Trade ReviewA short, sharp explosion of a gothic thriller whose tension ratchets up and up to an ending of extraordinary lyricism and virtuosity. * Observer *Fiction to Look Out for in 2020* *A haunting, emotionally acute novel with a terrific twist. -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *Christmas Fiction* *[A] gothic masterpiece... You can't stop reading... This taut, lyrical firecracker of a book crescendos into an emotional ambush of a climax, which...confirms Johnson as a profoundly inventive and masterful storyteller. -- Gwendolyn Smith * i *A tour-de-force... Johnson's prose seduces us with the promise of comfort and then yanks that comfort away. -- Erica Wagner * Guardian *Book of the Day* *Exhilarating... A masterful follow up to her debut, Johnson's novel is quietly terrifying and certainly an apt read for 2020. * Evening Standard *

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Book Synopsis‘1993 was the year that Stephen Lawrence got murdered by racists, and I became an angry Black lad with a “chip on his shoulder”’Aeon, a mixed-up and mixed-race teenager from a leafy Liverpool suburb, is desperate to understand the Black identity thrust upon him. He grows dreadlocks and immerses himself in ‘gangsta’ rap. But Aeon’s journey of self-discovery is hampered by the fact that the only Black people in his life are his dad and his cousin, Increase.Aeon’s ambition to find his place in the world takes him to Jamaica. Here, Aeon soon finds that smoking loads of weed, growing messy locks and wearing massive red boots don’t necessarily help him to fit in. Within days of his arrival he is mugged, arrested and banged up in a Jamaican detention centre. Seen as the ‘White boy’, he finds that his journey of self-discovery has only just begun – and he’s going to have to fight for the respect and recognition he deserves . . .A coming-of-age comedy of errors, Locks is an electric debut novel about growing up, wising up, and finding your place in a world of opposites._____'Blends humour and introspection, poetry and the poignant' - Derek Owusu, author of the Desmond Elliott Prize-winning That Reminds Me'Irreverent, authentic and utterly enthralling. A wonderful book' - Jimmy McGovern, creator of the drama series Cracker'Twisty, energetic, voice-led . . . Nugent is pure talent' - Raymond Antrobus, author of the Rathbones Folio Prize-winning The Perseverance'Thought provoking and funny' - David Beckler, author of A Long ShadowTrade ReviewA search for meaning and the complicated expression of multiple cultures. Ashleigh is a born storyteller, able to blend humour and introspection, poetry and the poignant. -- Derek Owusu, author of That Reminds MeI loved Locks. It’s a twisty, energetic, voice-led novel, written with humour and skill and drama . . . Like Virginia Woolf but from the ends. Nugent is pure talent, something else. -- Raymond Antrobus, author of The PerseveranceThought-provoking and funny . . . perfectly captures the sense of being between two cultures, whilst never feeling fully part of either . . . full of larger-than-life characters who jump off the page. -- David Beckler, author of A Long ShadowIrreverent, authentic and utterly enthralling. A wonderful book. -- Jimmy McGovern, creator of CrackerIt's just AMAZING! It's totally gripping, hilarious, wise and poignant . . . -- Matt Lloyd Rose, author of Into the NightAn adventure story like no other . . . Nugent has a fine talent for storytelling, but also for capturing truth. Locks is both funny, and psychologically astute, and really captures the nuanced dynamic between boys pushed to their emotional and physical limits through hardship and misunderstanding. -- Lily Dunn, author of Sins of My Father

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Book Synopsis'Absolutely stunning . . . thrilling and unique' - Gillian Flynn'Creepy, provocative and wildly entertaining' - Emma Stonex'A banger!' - Chelsea G Summers'Fantastic . . . compelling . . . wonderful' - The ObserverWelcome to The Centre. You'll never be the same . . . Anisa Ellahi spends her days writing subtitles for Bollywood films in her London flat, all the while longing to be a translator of ‘great works of literature’. Her boyfriend Adam’s extraordinary aptitude for languages only makes her feel worse, but when Adam learns to speak Urdu practically overnight, Anisa forces him to reveal his secret.Adam tells Anisa about the Centre, an elite, invite-only programme that guarantees total fluency in any language in just ten days. Sceptical but intrigued, Anisa enrols. Stripped of her belongings and contact with the outside world, she undergoes the Centre’s strange and rigorous processes. But as she enmeshes herself further within the organization, seduced by all that it’s made possible, she soon realizes the disturbing, hidden cost of its services.By turns dark, funny and surreal, The Centre takes the reader on a journey through Karachi, London and New Delhi, interrogating the sticky politics of language, translation and appropriation with biting specificity, and ultimately asking: what price would you be willing to pay for success?A remarkable debut from Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi, announcing the arrival of an extraordinary new talent.Trade ReviewFantastic . . . This Black Mirror take on the world of language opens up questions of cultural appropriation, the power of language, memory and privilege . . . Siddiqi’s easy storytelling and her heroine Anisa’s sweet narrative voice slip down like summer rosé. Siddiqi has the gift of maintaining propulsion and mystery, while keeping things human and realistic . . . compelling . . . wonderful * The Observer *An absolutely stunning and unique novel . . . A book that is not only thrilling but deeply thought provoking, a combination that is truly rare -- Gillian Flynn, author of Gone GirlSiddiqi . . . has the gift of maintaining propulsion and mystery, while keeping things human and realistic . . . a wonderful novel -- Bidisha Mamata * The Guardian *Creepy, provocative and wildly entertaining . . . I was gripped -- Emma Stonex, author of The LamplightersIngenious . . . This is a book whose many delights and horrors are unlikely to be lost in translation * New York Times *The Centre is a banger! . . . A book that feels both cheery and terrifying, The Centre draws you in with a gentle hand until it throws the mallet down in the last thirty pages. A terrific meditation on language, diaspora, alienation, and culture, it will stay with you long after you read -- Chelsea G Summers, author of A Certain HungerPropulsive and profound. I was gripped by the mystery haunting the core of the book — and equally gripped by Siddiqi’s exploration of the power of language . . . a debut of dazzling wit and insight -- Helen Phillips, author of The NeedA twisting mystery and nuanced exploration of identity and assimilation, The Centre cuts deep . . . A compelling, witty, sometimes gruesome tale of how we use language to connect and to sever, appropriate and explore -- Julia Fine, author of Maddalena and the Dark and The Upstairs HouseI am obsessed with this book and you will be too! A brilliant meditation on language and translation and the most gripping novel I've read in forever . . . I'm in awe -- Jennifer Croft, author of HomesickAs haunting as it is tempting; this book devoured me back -- Sarah Gailey, author of Just Like Home and Eat the RichA gripping, surreal mystery about language, identity, and greed. The Centre explores impossible success at an equally impossible price—and the difference between merely paying for something and truly understanding its dark cost -- Peng Shepherd, bestselling author of The CartographersThe most fascinating debut I've read in years—enigmatic, biting, absurd, and right when you think you've got it figured out, utterly horrifying -- Daniel Kraus, New York Times bestselling author of The Shape of Water (with Guillermo del Toro)Incredible . . . it's creepy AF, in the best way possible. Highly recommend! -- Lamya H, author of Hijab Butch BluesFilled with astute insights into life as a brown person in a predominantly white country . . . A fast-paced thriller with its finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary social discourse * Kirkus *Manazir Siddiqi’s ambitious debut packs insightful observations about racism, classism, and colonialism into a dark mystery . . . a writer to watch * Publishers Weekly *[An] inventive debut... The Centre informs the current social discourse by offering wry, shrewd insights into colonialism, appropriation and classism, resonant of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s Disorientation and RF Kuang’s Yellowface -- Rabeea Saleem, The Irish TimesTruly fascinating . . . a dialogue-rich drama with comic undertones and a creepy thriller nestled within * Shelf Awareness *One of the most original books published this year * Eastern Eye, Best books of 2023 *The novel explores friendship, purpose, and power * New Yorker, The Best Books of 2023 *

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Book SynopsisDoes what you see change who you are?Kayleigh is broke. Out of options, she takes a job as a content moderator, reviewing horrors and hate online and deciding which posts needs to be removed. Kayleigh is good at her job, and in her colleagues she finds a group of friends, even a new girlfriend. For the first time in her life, the future seems bright . . . But soon the job begins to shift Kayleigh’s world in alarming ways. In the glare of the screen, how long can Kayleigh hold on to her humanity?Hanna Bervoets' stunning novel We Had To Remove This Post is translated from the Dutch by Emma Rault.‘A superbly poised, psychologically astute and subtle novel of mental unravelling’ - Ian McEwan, author of Atonement‘This novel gives us an acid glimpse into a new form of labor existing today . . . Fascinating and disturbing’ - Ling Ma, author of SeveranceTrade ReviewThe dank underside of social media, its cruelty and delusions, have become, our shared affliction. It needed an accomplished novelist to explore humanely the damage. Hanna Bervoets has richly obliged in this superbly poised, psychologically astute and subtle novel of mental unravelling. -- Ian McEwan, author of Atonement, On Chesil Beach and AmsterdamThis novel gives us an acid glimpse into a new form of labor existing today, a job that extracts an immeasurable psychic toll. Fascinating and disturbing. -- Ling Ma, author of SeveranceWe Had To Remove This Post is one of the most fascinating books I’ve read in years. -- Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things and With TeethI thought it was incredible and has real cult potential. -- Alice Slater * TikTok *A discomfiting mystery about the disturbing parts of social media that most people never see * New York Times *Powerful, discussable, and a harbinger of a voice-in-translation to watch. * Booklist Starred Review *Scathing, darkly humorous exploration of the impact of VR, IR . . . Bervoets just gets it. This is, unironically, a novel for our time. * Kirkus Starred Review *Hanna Bervoet's slim, compelling novel We Had to Remove This Post addresses the foetid morass of social media . . . Bevoets is often acidly funny, especially when demonstraring the workers' mordant, jockish humour. * TLS *

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Book Synopsis‘Vivid, memorable and beautifully crafted‘ - Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater‘A brilliant collection, from a remarkable talent‘ - Joseph O’Connor, author of ShadowplayHearts and Bones is a book about relationships. It explores what love does to us, and how we survive it.First-time lovers make mistakes; brothers and sisters try to forgive one another; and parents struggle and fail and struggle again. Teenage souls are swayed by euphoric faith in a higher power and then by devotion to desire, trapped between different notions of what might be true. Quiet revolutions happen in living rooms, on river banks, in packed pubs and empty churches, and years later we wonder why we ever did the things we did.Set between Ireland and London in the first two decades of this millennium, the stories in Hearts and Bones, Niamh Mulvey's debut collection, look at the changes that have torn through these times and ask who we are now that we’ve brought the old gods down. Witty, sharply observed and deeply moving, these ten stories announce an extraordinary new Irish literary talent.'Highly accomplished, inventive' - Irish Times'Stunning' - Sinéad Gleeson, author Constellations'Poignant, unsparingly honest' - Sunday IndependentTrade ReviewThese stories are vivid, memorable and beautifully crafted. I was delighted to discover Niamh Mulvey’s work. -- Sarah Moss, Sunday Times bestselling author of SummerwaterAstute, surprising and wholly entertaining . . . There is a rich wit at play, Mulvey is an adept practitioner * Irish Independent *A brilliant collection, from a remarkable talent. These powerful stories come to us zinging with truth and wit, with pain and insight and joy -- Joseph O'ConnorHighly accomplished, inventive . . . What stands out is Mulvey's command of her own originality . . . Though a debut writer, Mulvey is coming in at a high level with a book that delivers much and promises more -- Rónán Hession * Irish Times *Beautifully written . . . a striking, page-turning debut * Image *Marvellous . . . A short and sweet debut collection brimming with poised assurance . . . Mulvey is an extremely talented writer * Business Post *A hugely impressive debut that pivots on tiny moments rendered large, with such skill. Panoramic, precise, in controlled, stunning prose. -- Sinéad Gleeson, author of ConstellationsGorgeous stories full of humour, insight and readability * Irish Examiner *Poignant and lyrical . . . Unsparingly honest in their perspective, these stories invite us to observe the fragility of truth and life. * Sunday Independent *Honest, daringly fresh and stunningly written, these stories cut right to the very essence of what it means to be young -- Jan Carson, author of The RapturesNiamh Mulvey's stories are compassionate yet unflinchingly honest. She is a remarkable new talent with a distinctive voice and viewpoint. I can't wait to read more of her work -- Jane CaseyUsing crisp prose and, it seems, almost total recall, Niamh Mulvey's stories chronicle a changing Ireland. Hearts and Bones is a terrific debut collection from a writer full of promise -- Sinéad Crowley, author of The Belladonna MazeMulvey's precision, humour and economy are a kind of close up magic, albeit one that kicks you in the heart. Monolithic themes brought to a shimmering, livid clarity. Exceptional -- Rhik SamadderClosely observed, sparely told and deeply felt, the ten stories of Hearts and Bones will stay with you after you finish the book -- Ed O'LoughlinIn Hearts and Bones, Niamh Mulvey demonstrates that she is a brilliant anatomist of shame and longing. This is a book to relish -- Tomiwa OwoladeMulvey is a stylish and inventive, yet precise, writer who captures a contemporary sensibility in her stories of love and disillusion -- Niamh Donnelly, Irish Times

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Book SynopsisWelcome to HMP Ashcroft. A women's prison run by a corrupt governor who will impose his will at any cost – with brutal consequences. The Women is a gripping street crime thriller from bestselling author Jacqui Rose.Within these walls, friendships are forged that will last beyond a sentence. But some inmates can turn in the blink of an eye, because that’s all part of being locked up. In here you are kept from your loved ones and forced into a surrogate family with women you wouldn’t even look at on the outside, let alone call friends. But at Ashcroft, Alliances can mean everything.Each one of these women has their own story to tell and their own penance to deal with. But whilst they fight for their rights on the inside, who is looking after their family, their friends and children on the outside. Whilst they battle to survive in a closed off world what’s happening in the real world.At Ashcroft there’s always a price to be paid, and for some it’s high, but these women are prepared to pay anyway they can . . .Trade ReviewPraise for Fatal: A captivating read from one of my favourite authors -- Mel Sherratt, author of Twisted LivesPraise for Dishonour: A thrilling and gripping novel -- Roberta Kray, author of HuntedPraise for Trapped: Gritty and gripping – by a star in the making -- Kimberley Chambers, author of The Family ManPraise for Poison: A cracking good read -- Jessie Keane, author of Never Go Back

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Book Synopsis'An ambitious, cinematic thriller' Observer'A talented storyteller' The Times'A cinematic epic' Daily MailWhat if the only hope for survival becomes the greatest threat? From the brilliant, bestselling author of Child 44 comes a suspenseful and fast-paced novel about a colony of global apocalypse survivors seeking to reinvent civilisation under the most extreme conditions imaginable. The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist… Antarctica.Cold People follows the journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most extreme envirTrade Review‘Phenomenally imagined, intricately woven, and masterfully brought to life. It’s so descriptive that rarely have I read a book where I’ve felt I am living side by side with the characters. As a writer, Smith really is one of a kind’ John Marrs, author of The One ‘Cold People is a vastly ambitious novel, tackling the weightiest questions of our time in a form that rarely loses the tension of a thriller, despite the complexity of its subject matter’ Observer ‘A page-turner… These are chewy and worthwhile themes, and Cold People cleverly distils them to the point where they play out, and reach a satisfying climax, at human scale… Cold People will entertain and impress’ The Times ‘A cinematic epic of global cataclysm and extraterrestrials… Themes of love, family and belonging are writ large… It’s the spectacular world-building, and creature-building, of the novel that’s most absorbing’ Daily Mail ‘Chilling in so many ways’ LA Times ‘Cinematic... Natural selection is magnificent in the abstract, when it works over millennia, but seeing it sped up to take place in a single lifetime, as Smith vividly imagines, exposes its brutality’ Washington Post ‘A zany, wildly gripping, dark futuristic fantasy that achieves escapist lift-off [and] recalls H.P. Lovecraft and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I loved this wild, imaginative, fast moving book and can’t wait to see the inevitable screen adaptation’ Vogue ‘What lines, if any, shouldn’t be crossed to save humanity from extinction? That question is at the heart of this stunning post-apocalyptic thriller from bestseller Smith... The central story line, a clever homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, unfolds in a way to ensure readers become attached to Echo and her family. Smith, the author of brilliant historical and psychological suspense novels, shows his range is even broader in this triumph of imagination and empathy’ Publishers Weekly ‘Fascinating... a propulsive ride [that] unfolds at a galloping pace through a well-built world’ Christian Science Monitor ‘A brilliantly conceived post-apocalyptic story that tackles a well-worn subject (a desperate race to save humanity) from a new and absolutely captivating angle. Smith’s near-future world is wonderfully imaginative and rigorously detailed, the kind of made-up place that feels viscerally real. A real treat for fans of post-apocalyptic fiction’ Booklist ‘Smith’s latest combines a number of electrifying sci-fi set pieces with a breathtaking insight into the human instinct to love life and each other, no matter the cost... A speculative masterpiece that will resonate with fans of Emily St. John Mandel, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Jeff VanderMeer’ Library Journal

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Book SynopsisFrom Jeannette Walls, the bestselling author of The Glass Castle, a riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Prohibition-era VirginiaMost folk thought Sallie Kincaid was a nobody who’d amount to nothing. Sallie had other plans. Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the twentieth century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother, who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is the Duke's daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out. Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her p

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Book Synopsis‘Gripping and authentic’ NEW YORK TIMES ‘Heartrending . . . An engrossing read’ FINANCIAL TIMESSEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF THE THIRD REICH  Max Weill has never forgotten the face of Otto Schramm, a doctor who worked with Mengele on appalling experiments and who sent Max’s family to the gas chambers.A NAZI WAR CRIMINAL WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD  When Schramm escaped to South America after the war, Max swore to one day bring him back to Germany to stand trial. With his life now nearing its end, he asks his nephew Aaron Wiley – a CIA desk analyst – to capture the doctor.AND THE ROGUE CIA AGENT ON HIS TRAIL  In Buenos Aires, and unable to distinguish allies from enemies, Aaron must test the boundaries of his own personal morality and ultimately decide: how far is he prepared t

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Book SynopsisA story of friendship, possibilities and hope that maybe tomorrow will be brighter than today . . . Jamie Matson had once enjoyed a wonderful life working alongside her best friend, organising adventures for single-parent families, and her son Bo’s artistic flair a source of pride rather than concern. She hadn’t been prepared to lose her business, her home and her friend. Not all in one dreadful year. Jamie certainly hadn’t expected to find such hope and camaraderie in the queue at her local food bank. Thrown together with an unlikely and colourful group of people, their friendships flourish and, finding it easier to be objective about each other than about themselves, they decide that – when you’re all out of options – it’s okay to bend the rules a little and create your own.What a difference a year could make . . . ‘Tender and at times shocking, this shows what caTrade ReviewPraise for Penny Parkes’ Home: ‘As heartbreaking as it is uplifting, this book wouldn’t leave me. I loved it’ Katie Fforde ‘Clever, warm and funny, Penny writes with a big heart, a light touch and supreme confidence’ Veronica Henry ‘Moving, hopeful and heartfelt’ AJ Pearce

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Book Synopsis 'Nostalgic’ The Independent‘Heart-warming’ Platinum ‘Uplifting’ Cosmopolitan ‘Beautiful’ Stylist ‘Quirky’ Best  If you could go back in time to find answers to the past, would you?   For Faye, the answer is yes. There is nothing she wouldn’t do to find out what really happened when she lost her mother as a child. She is happy with her life – she has a loving husband, two young daughters and supportive friends, even a job that she enjoys. But questions about the past keep haunting her, until one day she finally gets the chance she’s been waiting for.   But how far is she willing to go to find answers?  Space Hopper is an original and poignant story about mothers, memories and moments that shape life. <Trade Review‘I really enjoyed Space Hopper. It’s such an unusual, intriguing novel’ Marian Keyes ‘A magical story of love, loss and the ways that grief changes us forever . . . This is a brave and powerful novel that asks big questions about time, memory and whether those we love ever truly leave us’ Margo Rabb ‘A lovely, deeply moving story of loss and love and memory made real. The sort of book that makes you feel the tenderness of joy restored, and the tearing pain of a choice between the two halves of your heart’ Diana Gabaldon ‘This story will bounce joyfully through your heart, leaving you with a fresh belief in second chances’ Anstey Harris ‘Tender, mesmerising and original, Space Hopper is a beautifully observed debut told with warmth and luminosity. I devoured it in two sittings’ Lucy Clarke ‘Charming and powerful . . . captures the longing we all share to see once again those we have lost and to transcend time and space to answer the questions we wish we’d asked’ Marjan Kamali ‘A nostalgic, time-travelling romp’ Independent ‘Uplifting’ Cosmopolitan ‘A quirky book full of wisdom’ Woman & Home ‘Unprecedented times call for unprecedented novels . . . sounds odd but it works because of Fisher’s beautifully clear writing and the radiant sincerity of the heroine . . . Love, childhood, motherhood; whether you can or should fix the past, it’s all in this amazing book’ Daily Mail ‘A quirky, nostalgic tale’ Daily Express ‘Prepare to be entranced . . . Brilliantly exploring themes of grief, love and loss, and peppered with cultural references that will delight anyone who grew up in the 1970s, Space Hopper will draw you in and keep you hooked right up until the last page’ Heat ‘Conjuring up Rowan Coleman’s The Summer of Impossible Things and The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Space Hopper is the story of Faye who has a happy and loved life but lost her mother as a young girl. Then she stumbles across a way to travel back through to time to 1977, where she meets both her mother and her younger self. It sounds bonkers but it’s beautiful and explores grief, acceptance and love – providing much-needed solace right now’ Stylist ‘This is a magical, moving story about past and present, grief and healing, choices and yearning. A heart-warming, touching novel’ Platinum ‘It’s hard to believe that this is a debut, it’s so confidently written. This is a story that will sing to all’ Woman’s Way ‘A quirky story, full of love and laughter’ Best ‘Filled with nostalgic references, this heartfelt book is a lesson on living in the here and now’ My Weekly ‘Quirky, magical and wise. A wistful reflection on the love between a mother and daughter’ Woman ‘An unputdownable debut from a writer to watch’ Bustle ‘Incredibly moving, bittersweet and perceptive . . . a profound book that makes you think, makes you feel and makes you grateful for the family and friends you have around you’ Culturefly ‘A touching exploration of mother/daughter relationships, it’s an enthralling story of venturing into the past . . . nostalgic, original and slightly crazy’ NB magazine ‘A warm, witty, wholehearted glimpse inside a parallel universe. Genuine and touching . . . a delight’ Booklist ‘Enchanting . . . Fisher’s achingly authentic characters leap off the page and capture readers’ hearts. This addictive, emotionally heavy page-turner marks a delightful spin on the time travel genre’ Publishers Weekly ‘A magical combination of tenderness and grief starring an unforgettable protagonist . . . Fisher writes gorgeous, lyrical prose, and every scene is infused with magic and heart . . . riveting, surprising and deeply touching’ Bookreporter

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Book Synopsis‘Extraordinary’ Heidi Swain‘Life-affirming’ Hazel Prior‘Big-hearted’ Caroline Day‘Beautiful’ Julietta Henderson‘Heartwarming’ Daily Mail‘Unputdownable’ My Weekly‘A joy’ Good Housekeeping  Joe loves predictability. But his life is about to become a surprising adventure. Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like his dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, he’s good at his job, good at making things and good at following the rules, and he’s learning how to do lots of things by himself. Joe’s mother knows there are a million things in life he isn’tTrade Review‘Extraordinary. Melted my heart’ Heidi Swain, author of The Book-Lovers' Retreat ‘An entertaining and life-affirming story with a charm all of its own. Told in a clear, authentic voice and woven with gems of wisdom, it pulls you in and has you rooting for the characters throughout. A real joy to read’ Hazel Prior, author of Away with the Penguins ‘A gorgeous, big-hearted story about friendship, resilience and learning to value others for who they really are’ Caroline Day, author of Hope Nicely's Lessons for Life ‘Sensitive, wise and funny, this beautiful book is filled with heart and delivered in a unique and incredibly endearing voice. I laughed, I cried and I fell completely in love with the absolute treasure of Joe Nuthin’ Julietta Henderson, author of The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman ‘Prepare to have your cockles warmed by this adorable book about 23-year-old Joe, who unexpectedly finds himself out of his comfort zone... His unique, charming voice makes this a joy to read’ Good Housekeeping ‘You can do anything with a little help from friends’ Take A Break ‘Fisher writes with a clarity that makes the empathy, compassion and humour of this novel unputdownable’ My Weekly ‘The perfect wholesome read to snuggle up with a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits – you'll feel warm right through’ Chat ‘A moving tale of a life led differently which, while full of gentle understanding, doesn't shy away from tragedy and violence' Daily Mail ‘Poignant and thoughtfully written... This is a book full of love and compassion – for the things that make us different and the things that make us the same' Culturefly

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Book SynopsisIt’s usual, they say, for a young person coming to London for the first time to arrive with a head full of dreams. Well, Endurance Proudfoot did not. When she stepped off the coach from Sussex, on a warm and sticky afternoon in the summer of 1757, it never occurred to her that the city would be the place where she’d make her fortune; she was just very annoyed to be arriving there at all.   Meet Endurance Proudfoot, the bonesetter’s daughter: clumsy as a carthorse, with a tactless tongue and a face she’s sure only a mother could love. Durie only wants one thing in life – to follow her father and grandfather into the family business of bonesetting. It’s a physically demanding job, requiring strength, nerves of steel and discretion – and not the job for a woman.   But Durie isn’t like other women. She’s strong and stubborn and determined to get her own way. And she finds that she has a talent atTrade Review'Among the most impressive historical fiction out this July is Frances Quinn's That Bonesetter Woman (Simon & Schuster), based on a real story about two sisters in Georgian London, one who is desperate to be a female bonesetter and the other who is a determined social climber' * Independent *‘Quinn’s second book is a true celebration of courage, resilience and embracing being different’ * CultureFly *‘Endurance Proudfoot is an enduring heroine and her story is told with wit and warmth’ * Yours, Book of the Month *‘[An] intriguing tale, told with wit and compassion’ * Choice, Book of the Month *'This rambunctious ride of a book mixes historical fact with a really memorable lead character (I completely fell in love with her!). Endurance Proudfoot wants to be a bonesetter like her father and won’t let the fact that she’s a woman get in her way. Entertaining historical fiction' * Good Housekeeping *'The narrative is fast-moving and lively… this is an enjoyable read, feminist history which does not neglect sources of humour or romance. It deserves to be reach a wide audience' * Historical Novel Society *'Frances Quinn’s debut novel, The Smallest Man, was about a dwarf in the employ of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I. That Bonesetter Woman shares similar themes about being an outsider trying to succeed in a hostile society. Like The Smallest Man it is written with a warmth and tenderness for the characters that makes it irresistible' * The Times *'This second novel by the author of historical hit The Smallest Man takes its inspiration from two of Georgian England’s most famous celebrities. Endurance Proudfoot is determined to go into the family trade and become a bonesetter, despite being a woman. But when she finds herself packed off to London with her sister, disgraced beauty Lucinda, the pair embark on a rollercoaster adventure' * BBC History *‘Durie Proudfoot is a brilliant heroine: stubborn, flawed and so entertaining to spend time with. I loved every step of her journey, and Frances Quinn is fast becoming one of my favourite historical novelists’ Louise Hare ‘I adored every second of this book - historical fiction at its finest, and Quinn is a natural storyteller. Quirky, funny and original. Durie and her lions will stay with me’ Ericka Waller ‘I feel as if I left a little bit of my heart between the pages of this extraordinary book’ Nicola Gill ‘Filled with hope and humour, That Bonesetter Woman is a novel that truly champions the underdog. I devoured it with as much gusto as the inimitable heroine sets people’s bones’ Polly Crosby ‘That Bonesetter Woman is a wonderfully uplifting, charming, addictive and unusual story. Quinn delivers astute and acutely observed aspects of human behaviour delivered with great humour and compassion. Replace the coffee houses and newspaper scribblers with Twitter and YouTube and I’d say, not so much has changed!’ Louise Fein ‘Frances Quinn has done it again! Georgian London is vividly brought to life in a fast-paced story full of quirky characters, wry wit, warmth and wisdom. I was completely charmed!’ Anita Frank

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Book Synopsis''An original and fascinating concept that''ll keep you hooked and turning the pages'' Sunday Post''Expertly done'' The Times''[A] compelling, original novel'' IndependentIn Jonathan Dee''s explosive novel, an unnamed male narrator has hit the road with a large sum of cash stashed under his car seat. Vigilantly avoiding security cameras, he drives until he meets a city where his past is unlikely to track him down. Renting a room from a less-than-stable landlady whose need for money outweighs her desire to ask questions, he seems to have escaped his former self. But can he?In a story that moves with swift dark humour and insight, Dee takes us through his narrator''s attempt to disavow his former life of privilege and enter a blameless new existence. Having opted out of his material possessions and human connections, the pillars of his new self - simplicity, kindness, and above all invisibility - grow shakier as he butTrade ReviewI don't know when I've been as jolted and delighted by the ending of a novel as I recently was by the ending of Sugar Street, a deft punch of a novel by Jonathan Dee, that had the phrase "an American Dostoyevsky" running around in my head. Dee creates a true page-turner out of simple materials and the result is a troubling and stimulating look at real American life - at the fix that materialism plus the information state has got us into. It's also very funny -- George SandersDee's subtle skill lies in how seductive he makes all this strenuous rationalising on the narrator's part . . . Sugar Street's symbolism does just as much to keep you on edge, bringing us queasily close to a self-cancelling antihero who is simultaneously sent up and - you suspect - just a little bit admired * Observer *Part of the power of Sugar Street lies in its style . . . in the prose you can feel the adrenaline of [the protagonist's] initial flight wearing off , his life shrinking down to a couple of city blocks . It's brilliantly done * Guardian *This one will keep you guessing . . . An original and fascinating concept that'll keep you hooked and turning the pages * The Sunday Post *Pacy and disturbing * Mail on Sunday *[A] compelling, original novel * Independent *The politics of the story become explicit, terrifyingly so, in its final pages... Sugar Street ends by packing a punch that the reader won't see coming * Prisma *Possessing the pace and plot surprises of a thriller, Dee's novel also manages to be a searing portrait of contemporary America * Choice *Dee's style is clean, raw, terse [and] perfectly paced. The voice conveys a yearning for something better against a bone-deep cynicism... You sure won't see the ending coming * Financial Times *A propulsive thriller * Observer *Sugar Street is expertly done, with a good balance of provocative thinking and surprising developments * The Times *This is an elegant, spare and thoroughly engaging novel, with a narrator who goes from potential bad guy to potential victim... and a genuinely affecting questioning of whether it's possible to do the "right thing" without incurring judgment -- Claire Looby * Irish Times *

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Book Synopsis''A novel of tremendous beauty . . . A wonderful achievement'' Sarah Waters''A beautiful and extraordinary book'' Philip PullmanWhen Suzanne, a shy 17-year-old, meets the brilliant but troubled Lucie in rural Provence at the turn of the twentieth century, the two young women embark on a clandestine love affair. But they soon long for greater freedom. The lovers move to Paris where they recreate themselves entirely, as Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore. Before long, they are mixing in the most glamorous social circles and producing art of great power and strangeness.But the world is rapidly darkening around them. With war looming they leave Paris for Jersey, and it is here that they confront their destiny, dreaming up a campaign of propaganda against Hitler''s occupying forces that will put their love - and even their very existence - in jeopardy. From one of our most celebrated writers, Never Anyone but You explores the grippiTrade ReviewArrestingly accomplished . . . Writing with an eerie command of precise detail, [Thomson] slips beneath the skin of characters who experience a crisis and learn, painfully, how to come to terms with catastrophe . . . [a] taut and absorbing novel . . . As with all of Thomson's elegant and troubling novels, Never Anyone But You exerts a menacing - but never histrionic - power. * the Observer *Thomson has created a taut, magnificently controlled novel about creativity and personal survival that is a lucid reflection of the period it describes, as the surface of a surrealist picture is lucid . . . Like Cahun's photomontages, it looks like life, but it's not life, exactly. Only art can achieve this degree of realism. * The Guardian *It's sensational stuff, undoubtedly, but Thomson's skill shows in his restraint - there's an authenticity to the dramatic ebb and flow and a slight detachment to Suzanne's retrospective narrative gaze that becomes increasingly poignant with the passing years. Sensitively realised, but hugely powerful, it's a reminder of how, paradoxically, we need others to become ourselves * Daily Mail *A quiet, expert, inestimably engaging novel . . . it is his consistent attentiveness to the interiors of these women and their lives that makes this such a lovely reading experience. He's written the kind of book all incorrigible novel addicts will treasure * Entertainment Weekly *Thomson's novel is based on actual events and it's a jolting moment when, as an old woman, Malherbe reflects 'it has not been much of a life'. In fact, it was an extraordinary life - well lived and very well told in this moving story of love, difference and defiance * Mail on Sunday *Elegant * The Times *In prose so sharp it glitters, Rupert Thomson reveals in fiction what inevitably remains hidden in nonfiction - lived experience. Through the measured but incisive voice of Suzanne Malherbe, the reader enters the intimate world of two life-long lovers, artistic collaborators, and anti-Nazi rebels who left behind a haunting photographic legacy. After I finished this acute and tender book, I felt that two fascinating ghosts had become real. * Siri Hustvedt *Hands down, Rupert Thomson is one of my favourite writers of all time. I impatiently wait for his new novels and he never disappoints. The atmospheric Never Anyone But You is exquisitely crafted and pulls you deep into the love affair of two extraordinary women. Magnificent. As always. * Andrea Wulf *NEVER ANYONE BUT YOU is a delightful, surprising and highly accomplished novel that puts a hidden piece of history into its long overdue place in the spotlight. Rupert Thomson deftly weaves a story that spans several decades, the Paris surrealists, Nazi-occupied Jersey, heroic acts of resistance, and intense and enduring (and forbidden) love into one seamless whole. I was gripped, thrilled, entertained and deeply moved. * Monica Ali *A beautiful and extraordinary book . . . strange and moving, and quite unlike anything else. It's a long time since I read a love story quite so convincing and truthful * Philip Pullman *This novel brilliantly captures the daringness of their artistic lives, the drama of their resistance efforts and the dazzle of their enduring love. * Psychologies magazine *Never Anyone But You tackles love between two complex people with a tenderness and attention to detail that is almost psychic. He creates characters, then he inhabits them. Thomson has absorbed art history and made it seamless to the story, but what he seems to know best is love . . . Thomson's delicately paced prose inhabits the impatience of young love, the claustrophobic obsession of erotic desire and then, most convincingly, the bittersweet emotion of a woman who is old and anonymous and bled dry by complicity, memory and physical loss. If you are tempted to Google the artists the book is based on, please resist, because what the author has created on the page defies comparisons with the living or the dead. * Weekend Australian *A novel of tremendous beauty . . . a wonderful achievement -- Sarah WatersIn this novel about Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, Rupert Thomson tells the thrilling story of how, fusing love and art, one of the great collaborative partnerships of the 20th century mounted an unthinkably brave, largely unsung campaign of political witness and resistance. The voice Thomson gives Marcel is a brilliant invention: flashes of poetry trouble the patina of its self-control, intimations of the wildness and terror of genius. * Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You *

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Book SynopsisA Best Book of the Year: NPR, Vogue, The Huffington Post, The Chicago Review of Books, The National Post, Electric Literature, Kirkus''Wields such a subtle and alien power . . . Wonderfully spooky'' Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker''A feminist manifesto threaded through imaginative fiction; it''s the most evocative, impressive collection I''ve read this year'' Daniel Johnson, The Paris ReviewStep into The Dark Dark, where an award-winning, acclaimed novelist debuts her first collection of short stories and conjures entire universes in just a few pages - conjures, splits in half, mines for humor, destroys with absurdity, and regenerates. In prose that sparkles and haunts, Samantha Hunt playfully pushes the bounds of the expected and fills every corner with vibrant life, imagining numerous ways in which the weird might poke its way through the mundane. Each of these tTrade ReviewEach of the stories in this collection harbors a surreal twist . . . Hunt lingers over such moments just long enough to suggest that the phantasmagorical can be found in any situation, no matter how banal * The New Yorker *These stories have an eerie fairytale quality to them . . . utterly beguiling . . . Spellbinding. * Daily Mail *A feminist manifesto threaded through imaginative fiction; it's the most evocative, impressive collection I've read this year * The Paris Review *

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Book Synopsis''One of the best novels I''ve read in years: obsessive, intimate and very funny'' Blake Morrison, Author of Two Sisters''Stunning . . . it almost feels transgressive'' Anthony Cummins, Daily Mail''One of the most startling novels I''ve read this year'' Frances Wilson, TLS''This book is brilliant - brave, truthful and intelligent'' Wendy Cope''Funny, philosophical, sobering and wise, Crazy is crammed with insight and laced with great sentences'' Claire Kilroy, Guardian''I will break him; he will break me, and when we are broken, we will be even, and then we can be put back together again''Jane has been accustomed to clever, undemonstrative men. So when, as a young woman, she meets Ardu, she is instantly bewitched by his intellect and detachment. What starts as a crush turns into something far darker, an all-consuming obsession, from which, years Trade ReviewThis book is brilliant - brave, truthful and intelligent -- Wendy CopeTerribly funny, appallingly grim, acutely observed. It's wonderful -- Sean O'BrienWonderful. Heart-bumpingly evocative of place and time, and a resonant, compelling act of creative remembering, of early life regrets and mistakes that might not have been either -- Richard BeardFunny, philosophical, sobering and wise, Crazy is crammed with insight and laced with great sentences -- Claire Kilroy * Guardian *Stunning . . . Tackling sex, writing and office politics, Jane shrewdly eyes her youthful guilelessness in a satisfyingly rich and complex narrative that rings so messily true to life, it almost feels transgressive -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail *I have yet to read a better account of the way in which the tales we tell about ourselves are themselves a form of addiction. -- Frances Wilson * TLS Times Literary Supplement *[One of the] most startling novels I've read this year and would recommend for total holiday immersion. -- Frances Wilson * TLS Times Literary Supplement *

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Book Synopsis''A compelling, fast-moving narrative . . . delivers real emotional impact'' Telegraph''A literary provocateur'' GuardianSHORTLISTED for the POLARI PRIZE 2023WINNER of DIVA Magazine''s 2023 ''Author of the Year'' AwardIsobel lives an isolated life in North London, where she works at a nearby library. She feels safe, so long as she keeps to her routines and doesn''t let her thoughts stray too far into the past. But a newspaper photograph of a missing local schoolgirl and a letter from her old teacher send her spiralling and bring back the trauma of what happened years ago, when she was a pupil at The Schoolhouse. The Schoolhouse was a 1970s experimental school where Isobel''s days were a dark interplay of freedom and adventure, violence and fear. The only record of what happened there lies in the pages of her teenage diary. The Schoolhouse taught Isobel that some truths must never be rTrade ReviewThe Schoolhouse is taut, gripping and intensely moving right until the very last page. I truly couldn't put Sophie Ward's beautifully written novel down -- Susannah Wise, author of This Fragile EarthThe Schoolhouse is a real 'stand-out-from-the-crowd' book, with an absorbing plot from the get-go; part detective novel, part taut, cerebral thriller . . . A masterful rendition of the tensions and realities of human resilience and emotional frailty -- Laura Carlin, author of The Wicked ComethThe Schoolhouse is a legit crime thriller: stylish, pacey and genuinely frightening . . . If only more Booker-recognised writers did stuff this fun -- Susie Goldsbrough * The Times *A tense, taut drama that questions how childhood trauma affects adult behaviour -- Joanne Finney * Good Housekeeping *Queerness and deafness sit alongside themes of resilience and trust, making for an evocative, well-paced narrative that's sure to win her new readers -- Hephzibah Anderson * Guardian *Ward proves she can construct a compelling, fast-moving narrative (with an extended action-packed denouement). What's best about her novels, however, is her gift for bringing characters to life, which means that whether her writing is disconcertingly strange or, as here, treads at times on over-familiar territory, it always delivers a real emotional impact. * The Telegraph *A literary provocateur . . . [Ward writes with] considerable insight and humanity . . . this novel has much to say about childhood . . . Ward unpicks the damage caused not just by people intent on harm, but those around them who, blinded by idealism, prejudice or laziness, cannot see what is right before their eyes. Her anger is palpable, but so too is her compassion -- Clare Clark * Guardian *The mysteries of the child's disappearance and of what scarred Isobel so deeply 15 years earlier make the book a page-turner, with some intriguing themes of trauma and abuse * The Herald *

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Book Synopsis''It has the pace and dynamism of a thriller, the metaphysical curiosity of the best science fiction and some judiciously-planted charges of wry humour'' The Herald ''A dazzling novel'' Edmund Gordon, award-winning authorAnd how to tell what the best things were? Well, that was easy: the best things were the ones with the most people looking at them.Alastair Buchanan has a comfortable life. It''s been a year since he received his very own junior - a clone designed to help him escape the daily grind. So why does Alastair spend his days alone, online, obsessing over his status? When his long-term girlfriend Caitlin can''t take it anymore, Alastair does his best to hold it together. But then, a remnant from his past appears and he is forced to confront the level of control that technology has over his life. Elsewhere, an anti-tech terrorist cell dedicated to yanking humanity back to the 1990s is building mTrade ReviewModel Citizens is a dazzling novel, combining the imaginative boldness and emotional clarity of Daniel Shand's previous work with a torrent of provocative ideas, and a tremendously broad satirical scope. This is fiction that's equal to the strange times ahead. * Edmund Gordon, author of award-winning The Invention of Angela Carter *All this rich world-building constructs a framework for sharp questions about consciousness, identity and death, played out against the threat of an imminent and apocalyptic end to the comfortable, if pressured, existence Shand's characters have grown to depend on... [it has] the pace and dynamism of a thriller, the metaphysical curiosity of the best science fiction and some judiciously-planted charges of wry humour... his social commentary is funny and on target * The Herald *Shand has fashioned a gripping and original story - and he writes like a dream * The Times *A consumerist hellscape is brilliantly evoked . . . the cloned self as ultimate consumer product is a compelling idea and Shand has such fun with it that the reader gets carried along * Irish Times *

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Book Synopsis''It''s just as deliciously witty and delightfully deviant as you''d expect from the man William Burroughs called the Pope of Trash'' Independent ''Waters is undoubtedly among the greatest American comedians of all time'' Far OutA hilariously filthy tale of sex, crime, and family dysfunction from the brilliantly twisted mind of John Waters, the legendary filmmaker and bestselling author of Mr. Know-It-All.Marsha Sprinkle: Suitcase thief. Scammer. Master of disguise. Dogs and children hate her. Her own family wants her dead. She''s smart, she''s desperate, she''s disturbed, and she''s on the run with a big chip on her shoulder. They call her Liarmouth - until one insane man makes her tell the truth.John Waters''s first novel, Liarmouth, is a perfectly perverted feel-bad romance, and the reader will thrill to hop aboard this delirious road trip of riotous revenge.Trade ReviewIn Waters' world, dysfunction is beautiful, degradation is powerful, and there's nothing to fear because the grotesque is proudly on display. * Buzzfeed *Waters is undoubtedly among the greatest American comedians of all time * Far Out *It's just as deliciously witty and delightfully deviant as you'd expect from the man William Burroughs called the "Pope of Trash" * Independent *This fun exploration of more Baltimore lives is a shock-o-rama of his favourite themes, celebrating debauchery, delighting in deviance, relishing the absurd and savouring nonconformity. Throw in plenty of wanking, a talking penis (called Richard) and lots of ear frottage and what you have here is a perfect example of American Gothic Camp * Gscene *

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Book SynopsisEvery so often a love story comes along to remind us that sometimes, in our darkest hour, hope shines a candle to light our way. ?This Number One bestseller has captured thousands of hearts worldwide. Perfect for fans of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.''A wonderful, uplifting story'' Lesley Pearse_______Tina Craig longs to escape her violent husband. She works all the hours God sends to save up enough money to leave him, also volunteering in a charity shop to avoid her unhappy home. Whilst going through the pockets of a second-hand suit, she comes across an old letter, the envelope firmly sealed and unfranked. Tina opens the letter and reads it - a decision that will alter the course of her life for ever...Billy Stirling knows he has been a fool, but hopes he can put things right. On 4th September 1939 he sits down to write the letter he hopes will change his future. It does - in more ways than he can ever imagine...THE LETTER <Trade ReviewA wonderful, uplifting story -- Lesley PearseAutumnal Sunday afternoons were invented solely to read heart-tugging novels like this * Red *This moving love story had everyone talking... Get set to be hooked * Look *A moving story of love, loss and hope * Bella *A captivating and tragic story...beautifully told * Ajoobacats Blog *You will find it hard to put down. I cried buckets of tears reading it * Books With Wine and Chocolate *Very satisfying. Both women's stories were equally developed and interesting. They were also equally heartbreaking * Mom With a Book *With a swift pace, memorable characters and a wonderful conceptual depth, Hughes' novel is one that simply can't be put down * Bytheletterbookreviews *A story which reveals heartbreak, tragedy and loss...will stay with me for a long time * jaffareadstoo *Tugs at the heart strings... A truly gorgeous story * Shaz's Book Blog *

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Book SynopsisA satirical, tragicomic story about a man on the edge from actor and comedian Miles Jupp. For readers of Jonathan Coe, Mark Watson, Michael Frayn and David Nicholls.Clive Hapgood is feeling stuck. The private school he teaches at is consuming his life, no thanks to wretched headteacher Julian Crouch. The gentle country life Clive envisaged has stifled him and left his marriage on the brink. What he needs is a holiday - something to remind him and Helen what life used to be like. But when things don''t go to plan, and an incident at school begins to weigh heavy on his head, Clive''s life starts to unravel in front of him. Has he got it in him to turn things around, whatever the cost? After all, it''s his own time he''s wasting...Trade ReviewVery funny set pieces and one-liners * Daily Mail *Well-observed . . . [Jupp] has fun skewering the absurdities of public-school life * Mail on Sunday *Very funny * Metro *A sensitive and insightful depiction of a midlife crisis, while simultaneously extracting every last ounce of comedy and farce from Clive's situation . . . Jupp writes in the wonderfully wry, deadpan style comic style that his fans will recognise from his TV and radio appearances. * Sunday Express *Jupp's witty novel has some telling things to say about British hypocrisy and the culture at independent schools, where students "generally leave with an innate capacity to bedishonest". * The Independent *

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Book SynopsisShe thinks of blue mountain, her favourite place. ''We''re going somewhere where we can be safe. We never have to come back here.'' As the rest of the world lies sleeping, Eleanor straps her infant daughter, Amy, into the back of her car. This is the moment she knew must come, when they will walk out on her husband Leon and a marriage in ruins since his return from Vietnam. Together, she and Amy will journey to blue mountain, a place of enchantment and refuge that lit up Eleanor''s childhood.As the car eats up the miles, so Eleanor''s mind dives back into her fractured relationship with her mother, Kitty. Kitty who asked for so much from life, from love, from family. Kitty who had battled so hard to prise her husband George out of the grip of war. Kitty, whose disapproving voice rings so loud in Eleanor''s head.Tense, visceral, glittering, it is a masterful return to fiction from the author of the acclaimed See What I HaveTrade ReviewBlue Hour realises the promise evident in Schmidt's lauded debut See What I Have Done . . . it doesn't loudly declare itself to be an astonishing novel as it inexorably unfolds, but astonishing it most certainly is * Weekend Australian *Assured * Sydney Morning Herald *Without a doubt one of the most thought-provoking novels I have read. Fans of compelling literary fiction can't go past this - Schmidt is an incredible Australian writer * Better Reading *Schmidt's skill for making readers ponder raw and uncomfortable realities is profound . . . This is a mother-daughter story which fills the page with all those parts of womanhood the world does not want you to know about - a hard-to-swallow novel that I urge you to read * Readings *A brilliant novel that can't help but leave a mark on its readers . . . so compelling it's hard to look away * Herald Sun *Schmidt's skill as a writer is her ability to create page-turning literary fiction . . . With its storylines steeped in war and violence and the randomness of life, this new novel has more than an echo of Kate Atkinson. The prose is elegant and finely crafted. Schmidt writes clear, rhythmic sentences, full of cadence and inventive imagery . . . a tense, action-packed novel full of strange, sometimes surreal outcomes * Irish Times *

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Book Synopsis''Poised and pitch-perfect throughout'' Mail on SundaySet in Cornwall, the bestselling novel of artistic compulsion, marriage, and the secrets left behind. ''This book is complete perfection'' Stephen FryCelebrated artist Rachel Kelly dies alone in her Penzance studio, after decades of struggling with the creative highs and devastating lows that have coloured her life. Her family gathers, each of them searching for answers. They reflect on lives shaped by the enigmatic Rachel - as artist, wife and mother - and on the ambiguous legacies she leaves them, of talent, torment and transcendent love.''An uplifting, immensely empathetic novel''GuardianWhat readers love about NOTES FROM AN EXHIBITION:'' A shifting, multi-layered, beautifully textured portrait of not-quite ordinary family life'' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''The wordTrade ReviewThis book is complete perfection -- Stephen FryPoised and pitch-perfect throughout * Mail on Sunday *Dense, thought-provoking, sensitive, satisfying, humorous, humane - a real treat * Daily Telegraph *As rich and inventive as we would expect from this brilliant author * Independent *An uplifting, immensely empathetic novel, and Gale's prose, as ever is as clear and bright as the Cornish light * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis''Tender, evocative'' TLS''Richly engaging'' SpectatorA Radio 4 Serial Fiction Book of the Week ''A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next'' Observer''A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son. A compelling read, beautifully crafted and sensitively written'' Irish Examiner_______Laura, a laundress, meets her young husband when they are both placed in service in Teignmouth in 1914. They have a baby, Charles, but his father returns home from the trenches a damaged man, already ill with the tuberculosis that will soon leave Laura a widow.As a new war looms, Charles signs up for the navy as a coder. His escape from the tight, gossipy confines of Launceston to a more colourful life in action sees him blossom, as he experiences the possibility of death,Trade Review'A tender, evocative retelling of the life of the poet Charles Causley . . . Patrick Gale's descriptions of the power of ordinary things in two very different lives make Mother's Boy a moving biographical tribute' * Times Literary Supplement *A wonderful novel about relationships, particularly between a mother and son. A compelling read, beautifully crafted and sensitively written. Highly recommended * Irish Examiner *'Richly engaging . . . Brilliantly evokes Causley's native county in the first part of the 20th century . . .This deeply felt, elegantly written novel will be relished by admirers of both the author and his subject. ' * Spectator *'A powerful novel. The all-important relationship between mother and son is evoked with skill and vivacity' * Literary Review *A characteristically tender novel about a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next, with his mother always watching over him * Observer *The complex, near-incestuous bond between mother and son is drawn with sharp-eyed affection, as is the small-town Cornish setting. It stands with the best queer literary fiction of a historical bent, illuminated as it is by Gale's devilish wit and talent for both social observation and intricacies of character * Sydney Morning Herald *The magic happens though when Gale takes his inspiration from lines of poetry or fragments of Charles' diary and gives him, and Laura, a rich and poignant life. A nicely woven, gentle tale of an ordinary life in extraordinary times, a tale of a boy born into hardship with no sense of self-pity, raised by his mother to be who he shall be. It's quite lovely * New Zealand Herald *'Gentle . . . evocative' * Daily Mail *A touching, utterly convincing portrait of the nascent artist' * Mail on Sunday *A gorgeous coming-of-age story - this tender novel will touch hearts * Good Housekeeping *Mother's Boy is further proof that Patrick Gale is that rare kind of storyteller - utterly engaging, compelling and unputdownable * Sarah Winman *I loved it. It's an incredibly evocative, enjoyable read...I didn't want it to stop. I wanted to stay in the world and carry on. * Cathy Rentzenbrink *A lovely, generous, absorbing novel. Charles is made both 'of' and belonging to his place and world, while also not fitting into it. The war sections are so very good, so terrible and ugly and gritty. I absolutely believed all of it * Tessa Hadley *You know sometimes, from the very first page of a book, you feel so at home and so involved with the story, it's as if you've walked alongside the characters all your life? Mother's Boy is one of those books. A sign of an incredible storyteller * Joanna Cannon *Mother's Boy beautifully celebrates the underdog. It is a celebration of love in hidden places, and love in ordinary places, and the courage required to be true to the person you are, when there is no road map to guide you. A sublime piece of storytelling' * Rachel Joyce *A wonderfully tender account of a poet's coming of age against the brutal backdrop of World War 11. Scene after scene is delivered with filmic intensity. Patrick Gale is a master of atmosphere, detail and the deep currents of latent passion * Philip Marsden *Patrick Gale always writes so well of his men and of the women near them. In Mother's Boy his women shine as brightly as the men, his characters age and grow by themselves, alive in their actions, hopes and losses. * Stella Duffy *Patrick Gale's writing has an unmatched ability to take you by the hand and just casually, quietly, lead you in, and in, and in. It all seems so simple, and then you're in tears * Louisa Young *Patrick Gale's Mother's Boy is a tour-de-force; the book is really a love-letter, to motherhood, and to the landscapes and townscapes of Gale's adopted home county of Cornwall. Most of all, it is a heartfelt tribute from one fine writer to another; a patient and subtle reflection on the tricky art of noticing - and enduring - what really matters in life * Neil Bartlett *Gale has a rare talent for evoking human relationships. Here he exploits his skill fully, richly examining the dynamics between mother and son, and between men and men allowed in extraordinary times to explore what they really mean to one and other * Petroc Trelawny *I think Charles Causley would be incredibly happy - and stunned - if he were able to read your book. What you've done is extraordinary; you've somehow created a world that only Causley could have been born into and grown up in. His poetry calls up emotion; there's always much more than at first appears - and your story suggests, in the most sensitive and subtle way * Vivian French *Storytelling like this, from structure to sentence to imagery to sheer rolling belief in the world and its people - these qualities are a rare treat. Want to learn how to write a novel? Read this or any other by Patrick Gale * Eleanor Anstruther *'A gentle read' * Irish Times *'A beautifully nuanced story' * Woman & Home *'He makes the ordinary compelling, the commonplace universal' * Town & Country Magazine *'A fascinating look at the formative years and experiences of a complicated man, and the woman who loved him unconditionally' * Red *'Deeply moving . . . Heart-warming and credible' * Tablet *He deals sympathetically but honestly with his subjects. Gale helps modern readers understand that it was so very different then, and while much has changed, things can always take a turn (or a return) for the worse * Pink News *

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Book Synopsis''Full of intrigue, fascinating historical detail and brilliant characterisation . . . A truly fabulous novel!'' LOUISE FEIN, author of PEOPLE LIKE US''Nikola Scott is the queen of dual narrative fiction. The Orchard Girls takes us on a beautifully twisty journey . . . It''s like unwrapping a pass-the-parcel with a wonderful gift at its heart'' LIZZIE PAGE, author of WHEN I WAS YOURS''The Orchard Girls is such a clever, wonderful, expertly woven story. I enjoyed every second of it!'' LORNA COOK, author of THE GIRL FROM THE ISLANDReaders are loving THE ORCHARD GIRLS!***** ''The story really was a heartbreaking read, and totally believable'' READER REVIEW***** ''The way in which the storylines connected was really good, and made me curious, wanting to find out more'' Trade ReviewPraise for THE ORCHARD GIRLS:Full of intrigue, fascinating historical detail and brilliant characterisation . . . A truly fabulous novel! * LOUISE FEIN, author of People Like Us *Nikola Scott is the queen of dual narrative fiction. The Orchard Girls takes us on a beautifully twisty journey between a modern newsroom in London and a Somerset orchard during WW2 . . . It's like unwrapping a pass-the-parcel with a wonderful gift at its heart' * LIZZIE PAGE, author of WHEN I WAS YOURS *'The Orchard Girls is such a clever, wonderful, expertly woven story. I enjoyed every second of it!' * LORNA COOK, author of THE GIRL FROM THE ISLAND *Praise for Nikola Scott: 'A well-written, intriguing read full of family secrets... Brilliant * Fabulous *A compelling family story... beautifully written... evokes vivid pictures of an English summer in the 1950sAn emotional and involving story * Woman & Home *A satisfying tale with characters you wont forget * Sunday Express *A delightful debut about family and secrets * Prima *'A gripping family mystery told in lush, evocative prose' * Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said *'Wonderful characters and a very moving storyline.' * Sun *'Thoughtful and beautifully written' * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisIf they ever catch you, say nothing. Admit nothing. Never tell.''High-wire suspense that keeps you riveted'' Lisa GardnerPerfect for fans of James Patterson and Karin Slaughter, the new novel Sunday Times bestseller Karen Rose is now in paperback. An explosive crime thriller exploring the the secrets of a hidden cult, Say No More is a race-against-time thriller that will keep you gripped until the final page.Mercy Callahan never thought she''d be able to talk about her past. When she arrives in Sacramento to make peace with her brother Gideon, and to help find the brutal cult that took away her childhood, she is finally ready to talk. But when Ephraim Burton - the man who made her life a living hell - follows her there, she realises she might never be safe.Rafe Sokolov would do anything to have Mercy back in his life and would go to any length to protect her. But when it becomes apparent that EpTrade ReviewRose...effortlessly balances romance and crime... An excellent example of how dar-reaching and varied romance can be * New York Times *Karen Rose delivers the kind of high-wire suspense that keeps you riveted -- Lisa GardnerTakes off like a house afire . . . Action and chills galore -- Tess Geritsen

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Book Synopsis''Addictive'' Stylist''Sultry'' Elle''Shimmers with suspense'' Daily Mail''Sizzling'' EsquireSummer in Paris. Leah, bored of tedious dead-end jobs, is intrigued to spot a job advert posted by the famous author Michael Young: ''Writer Seeks Assistant''.After an unconventional interview, Michael invites Leah to spend summer in the south of France with his family. But as she begins her work transcribing his diaries of his debauched youth in 1960s Soho, the lines of past and present, truth and deceit, begin to blur, and Leah has to question what it is that Michael really sees in her.A novel that challenges us to both question what we see, and what others see in us.''A devastatingly compelling new voice in literary fiction'' Louise O''Neill''Devastatingly witty, compulsively readable . . . like Sally Rooney meeting Martin Amis in Paris'' Francine Toon, author of Trade ReviewTense and sultry... addictive... With a complicated love triangle, glamorous settings, a cast of enigmatic characters and a mystery that will keep you guessing right until the end, it's a genuinely thrilling summer holiday read * Stylist *For fans of Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times, this is a sultry antidote to our Groundhog Year * Elle 'Dazzling Debuts' *A sultry novel that shimmers with suspense and a strong sense of period and time * Daily Mail *A smart and sticky exploration of memory, class, ambition and desire -- Chloë AshbyIf your hopes of heading to Provence this summer are looking in jeopardy, Francesca Reece's sizzling summer debut is a one way ticket to the South of France . . . As the title suggests, it's a story about the ways men and women watch one another, and the things we project onto people when we're only seeing what we want to see * Esquire *Unsettling, addictive, and razor-sharp, Francesca Reece is a devastatingly compelling new voice in literary fiction -- Louise O'NeillA sultry, summery book . . . devastatingly witty, compulsively readable . . . like Sally Rooney meeting Martin Amis in Paris -- Francine Toon, author of PINESet to rule the literary summer * Sunday Times Style *Voyeur is a salty, sultry exploration of desire and aspiration. It fractures fragile masculinity and illuminates the traces of the past in the present. It is wry, funny and wild, yet warns us of the dangers of a singular narrative and shows us the importance of being the protagonist of your own story -- Jessica Andrews, author of SALTWATERFrom Paris to the South of France, with narrative strands that wind beautifully through London's Soho and the hot streets of Athens, Voyeur seems as though it may be your standard airport novel: scandals in sunny climes. But Francesca Reece's stirring debut is much more than the sum of its wanderlust parts * Harper's Bazaar *A smart and atmospheric debut, VOYEUR explores class, memory and the male gaze * Big Issue North *A gripping debut * Irish Examiner *An idyllic villa by the sea in the south of France is the setting for much of VOYEUR, a smart debut novel from Francesca Reece * The Gloss *

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Book Synopsis''A total triumph'', ''Romantic and heartbreaking and uplifting all at once'', ''Highly recommended''*The Independent best ''never-too-late'' story of 2021, and one of the 8 best uplifting books of the year*IS IT EVER TOO LATE TO BE LOVED?''Wonderful . . . An utter treat'' KATE MOSSE''A heartfelt coming-of-age story . . . Remarkable'' LAURIE FRANKEL, New York Times bestselling author ''A heart-warming, joyous love story - original, hopeful and totally charming'' ADELE PARKS ''I loved it! Really heart-warming and joyful, but also so poignant. I cannot recommend this book highly enough'' LORRAINE KELLY''Albert is one of the most endearing characters I''ve met in a long time . . . Proof that it''s never too late to find a happy ending'' Trade ReviewI had to read it in one sitting. I loved it! Really heart-warming and joyful, but also so poignant. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's such a beautifully authentically told story with vivid characters and you will miss them when you reach the end. * LORRAINE KELLY *'A heartfelt coming-of-age story . . . Remarkable' * LAURIE FRANKEL, New York Times bestselling author *'Albert is such an endearing character - flawed, funny and awkward, but completely relatable. I wanted to give him a good shake and then a huge hug. This is a wonderfully warm story that completely drew me in' * RUTH HOGAN *Prepare to fall in love with Albert Entwistle! Touching and tender. * S. J. WATSON *A total triumph . . . Romantic and heartbreaking and uplifting all at once * LAURA KAY *Albert is delightful and charming, and the book is too. * JONATHAN HARVEY *A bright, clear, sharply intelligent writer * JENNY COLGAN *'Albert is one of the most endearing characters I've met in a long time . . . Proof that it's never too late to find a happy ending' * SUSAN WIGGS, New York Times bestselling author *Wonderful. Written with such a good heart, filled with joy and strength and optimism. Like the best fiction, it's real; Albert's fears, the sour legacy of his parents, his colleagues' kindness, George flourishing from boy to man . . . It's inventive and fun but, most importantly, true. * RUSSELL T. DAVIES *This rollicking love story entrapped me, chapter by chapter. True in its detail and its scope, it is amusing yet heart-breaking. It will encourage tentative young gay people and reassure their parents. Its passionate declaration? That it's never too late to enjoy being yourself. * IAN McKELLEN *Beautiful . . . You will weep and yet have your heart filled with joy * ARLENE PHILLIPS *Tender, witty, uplifting . . . I love it! * KATE EBERLEN *'What a beautiful, wonderful, life-affirming treat of a book. I challenge you not to fall in love with Albert from the very start! * CHARLIE CONDOU *'Wonderful . . . A love story that will have every reader cheering on Albert from the sidelines. An utter treat' * KATE MOSSE *'Brilliant . . . [I] recommend to all!' * MATT LUCAS *Albert is the most delicious character and you'll be with him every step of the way as he begins to live the life he always should have. * Sun *It'll put a smile on everyone's face. * Michael Ball, Radio 2 *'A charming adventure with love at its heart.' * My Weekly *'A life affirming story of lost love and the reality of being gay in the Seventies.' * That’s Life *'A unique and moving story.' * Candis *Praise for The Madonna Of Bolton:Fabulous! What a treat * Jenny Colgan *A triumphant coming-of-age tale about the power of being true to yourself * Juno Dawson *Beautifully and sharply drawn * SUNDAY TIMES *Gripping, with a huge heart * S J Watson *It's a cracker! * Lorraine Kelly *

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Book Synopsis''It''s no wonder Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon are fans of Jasmine Guillory - she writes the sexiest and smartest romances. This tale . . . ticks all the romcom boxes'' Red MagazineHave you discovered New York Times bestseller and Reese''s Book Club pick Jasmine Guillory yet? ''The queen of contemporary romance'' OprahMag.comReaders are loving While We Were Dating, one of Time Magazine''s 100 Must-Reads of 2021!''A compelling and thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish . . . all capped off by skilful writing'' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''This book was so lovely (as all of Guillory''s books are) . . . Ben was a great romantic hero: sexy and smart but also kind and respectful . . . Highly recommended!'' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐''This was my first Jasmine Guillory book, and it Trade ReviewWhat a charming, warm, sexy gem of a novel. I couldn't put The Wedding Date down. I love a good romance and this delivered from the first page to the last... One of the best books I've read in a while -- Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of HungerJasmine Guillory is the queen of contemporary romance * Oprah.mag *With sharp banter, a well-rounded cast of characters, and plenty of swoony scenes, Jasmine Guillory defends her position as one of the most exciting rom-com writers out there * Buzzfeed *There is so much to relate to and throughout the novel, there is a sharp feminist edge. Loved this one, and you will too -- Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling authorThe Wedding Date brims with personality. It's funny, deeply honest, and above all, truly swoony - the kind of all-consuming romance where you hold your breath with delight as two wonderful people start to find each other, like the best possible version of real life. We can't wait to read more from Jasmine Guillory -- Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, bestselling authors of The Royal WeA rom-com queen * Refinery29 *A swoony rom-com brimming with humor and charm * Entertainment Weekly *No one writes rom-coms like Jasmine Guillory * PopSugar *With sharp banter, a well-rounded cast of characters, and plenty of swoony scenes, Jasmine Guillory defends her position as one of the most exciting rom-com writers out there * BuzzFeed *Guillory's debut is as enchanting as her characters-bright, bold, warm and wonderful. Even better, there's a proposal to rival any commercial that Madison Avenue can deliver * WashingtonPost.com *This novel reads like a truly contemporary contemporary romance in that the hero and heroine grapple with issues anyone dating today will relate to * NPR.com *A charming, warm, sexy gem of a novelGuillory's greatest gift as a writer is her ability to weave romance into the aspirations and minutiae of female existence, giving voice to their ambition, friendships, and fears against a happily-ever-after backdrop * Entertainment Weekly *Kudos to Guillory, whose lively dialogue is matched by her multifaceted characters * Essence Magazine *The novel is a light-hearted and quick read with fully drawn characters * Associated Press *A romance novel that will make you believe in happily ever afters * Nylon.com *

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Book SynopsisLIBBY SARJEANT IS BACK''Lesley Cookman is the Queen of Cosy Crime'' PAUL MAGRS''A real page turner'' KATIE FFORDELibby Sarjeant returns to take on her latest case in this gripping and twisting whodunit from Lesley Cookman. Perfect for fans of Faith Martin, J. R. Ellis and LJ Ross.Super-sleuth Libby Sarjeant returns with a baffling new case . . . two people missing in a single week. When a homeless man from the old-fashioned English seaside town of Nethergate appears to go missing - and the police are not available to investigate - amateur detective Libby Sarjeant and her psychic friend Fran are called in to search for him. But it seems the case might be far more complex than they anticipated - and when a second person disappears without trace, Libby suspects there must be a sinister connection between the two. Following a murky trail to uncover the truth, Libby and Fran find tTrade ReviewWith fascinating characters and an intriguing plot, this is a real page turner -- KATIE FFORDELesley Cookman is the Queen of Cosy Crime -- PAUL MAGRSIntrigue, romance and a touch of murder in a picturesque village setting -- LIZ YOUNGA compelling series where each book leaves you satisfied but also eagerly waiting for the next one -- BERNADINE KENNEDYNicely staged drama and memorable and strangely likeable characters -- TRISHA ASHLEYA quaint, British cozy, complete with characters who are both likeable and quirky -- ROSALEE RICHLAND

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Book SynopsisPerfect for fans of Rosanna Ley, Karen Swan and Santa Montefiore, Kate Glanville''s warm, touching and unpredictable story of love, loss and secrets has been richly praised:''Beautiful . . . with heart'' TRACY REES''Poignant, warm, and unpredictable'' JULIE COHEN''A warm and touching family drama. Moving'' LAURA WILKINSON''A perfect page-turner'' REBECCA F. JOHN''A wonderful, entertaining and gripping read that I cannot recommend enough *****'' AMAZON REVIEWER''An enchanting and captivating novel containing a family''s story of love, heartache, hidden secrets, tragedies and the mayhem that many of us can relate to when worlds are turned upside down *****'' AMAZON REVIEWER_________________You can spend a lifetime gazing up at the stars, but reality will bring you down to earth with a bump.

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Book Synopsis''High-wire suspense that keeps you riveted'' Lisa GardnerThe heart-stopping new thriller in the New Orleans series, from Sunday Times bestselling author Karen Rose.Assistant District Attorney Kaj Cordozo''s life is thrown upside down when two masked men attempt to kidnap his son, Elijah. Given the high-profile case Kaj is working on, he''s not about to take any more risks. When Val Sorensen of Burke Broussard Private Investigation Agency is assigned as Elijah''s bodyguard, she realises she also has a very personal connection to the gang thought to be behind the attempted kidnap - a run in with Sixth Day cost her brother his life. As Kaj and Val work together to prevent a second kidnap attempt, they uncover a trail of violence and deception leading back to brothers Aaron and Corey Gates. Aaron is in prison, but Corey is dangerous, at large and about to threaten everything Kaj holds dear. Will the revelation of involTrade ReviewPraise for Karen RoseHigh-wire suspense that keeps you riveted -- Lisa GardnerIntense, complex and unforgettable -- James PattersonEffortlessly balances romance and crime . . . an excellent example of how far-reaching and varied romance can be * New York Times *Fast and furious * Sun *The tension sizzles * Peterborough Telegraph *

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