Contemporary fiction titles are those which focus on the present or near past. Stories rooted in the current cultural, social, and political landscape which feature characters we can all recognise.
Contemporary Fiction Books
ECW Press,Canada Honey
Book SynopsisFor readers of Sharp Objects comes a thrilling modern noir with a fresh narrative voice that explores coming of age, desire, and the lengths we'll go to for love.
£11.99
Book*hug Press How You Were Born
Book SynopsisThis tenth-anniversary edition of Kate Cayley''s award-winning collection includes three new stories.A young mother intrudes into the life of an older woman, thinking she knows what''s best. An academic becomes convinced that he is haunted by his double. Two children spy on their supposedly criminal neighbours. A man enables his cousin''s predatory impulses out of loyalty, and a circus performer dreams of a perfect wedding. These characters fail despite their best intentions and continue on despite their failures.The stories in How You Were Born, each more incisive and devastating than the last, examine the difficult business of love, loyalty, and memory. Sharing the bizarre and tragi-comic of life?whether in present-day Toronto or in small towns of the early 20th century?Cayley champions the importance of connections, even when missed or mislaid, and the possibility of redemption.
£15.26
Guernica Editions,Canada That Summer in Provincetown
Book SynopsisThis story follows three generations of a Vietnamese family as they struggle through major events of the 20th century. From the War of Independence against the French colonial power to the Vietnam War, the novel depicts a family's resilience in the face of tragedy, as told through the voice of a young girl attempting to understand family scandals within an historical context. At the novel's core is the death from AIDS in the early 1980s of the narrator's half French, half Vietnamese cousin Daniel, a beautiful rebel who is stricken down following a summer escapade in Provincetown. His family of three generations of physicians cannot bear to call the disease by its true name. Daniel dies alone in his Montreal hospital room.
£14.36
Iguana Books Mia
Book Synopsis
£14.99
Guernica Editions,Canada The Physics of Relationships: A Novel
Book SynopsisLexi, sixty-three and recently widowed, is facing the inevitable vicissitudes of life. After passing through a phase of numb immobility, Lexi makes a half-hearted attempt to meet some older men, but the experiences are disappointing. Undaunted, Lexi begins to accept the idea of being alone. Then circumstances disrupt her quiet routine – in the form of two house guests. In the physics of relationships, Lexi observes that nature abhors a vacuum. But she wonders if she herself has manipulated her circumstances to fill that vacuum. Eventually, Lexi encourages both house guests to move on. Ironically, her unselfish kindness leaves her once again alone. Through some strange physics of attraction and repulsion, however, her ex-husband reappears. Is he a changed man … or just acting like one? In the end, Lexi learns how to come to terms with her solitude, to resist entropy, and to fill the "vacuum" in her own way.
£12.76
Guernica Editions,Canada The Apple in the Orchard
Book SynopsisIn experimental lit veteran Brian Dedora?s third novel, prose fragments and narrative threads come in and out of focus as, on a winter?s night, a reveller in an upscale Toronto restaurant begins the most dangerous of things: a journey into memory. Is he a narcissist or is he among the wounded? What is it to be gay in a small desert town and in the heart of a sprawling city? The Apple in the Orchard navigates the truths and half-truths of a traveller, a loner plunging through city streets and into the woods, a Canadian wrapped in the myths of the North and tangled in the snare-traps of the urban. As this layered, undulating novel explores class tensions, a family in disintegration, and how the effects of sexual abuse wind through generations, and while cameos by voyageurs, cowboys, Black Robe, and Grey Owl flicker to life and vanish again, the tragic story of the unnamed Her emerges in verbal snapshots.
£14.41
Guernica Editions,Canada Burn It Down: Vol. 1
Book SynopsisIn 1967, the Summer of Love, 17-year old 'Buckles' Sinclair runs from her privileged home in Scarsdale to hitchhike to San Francisco, but instead of Flower Power, Peace, and Love she finds herself plunged into the darkest heart of the American nightmare. Her abandoned mother, KJ, rebuilds her identity and life in the company of a "family" of homosexual men-she is Wendy to The Lost Boys of Manhattan.
£16.46
Guernica Editions,Canada The Philosopher Stories
Book Synopsis
£14.41
Guernica Editions,Canada Red is the Fastest Colour
Book SynopsisJamison Everett, a shy and lonely man with few friends, is a retired high school English teacher. When his artist sister, Monna, who is suffering from Parkinson''s Disease, calls and asks for his help, he reluctantly agrees to leave his apartment in Minneapolis and temporarily relocate to her remote Montana town. Perhaps, in caring for his sister, he will find the friendship he longs for. But Monna''s fiercely independent husband, Ben, has a different game plan. Parkinson''s has robbed Monna of her ability to paint, and if the doctors won''t cure her, then by god he''ll do it ? by sheer force of will. Jamison, summoning his courage, offers to help, and an alliance is born. Yet neither man can know how much their nascent friendship will ask of them. Only Monna senses what is coming.
£14.41
Guernica Editions,Canada The Last Green Light
Book SynopsisThe Great Gatsby is known for the glitz and glamour of Gilded Age plutocrats; in The Last Green Light, the working people of Fitzgerald''s novel get to tell their own, beautifully textured tale. Meet Jon Laine, a Midwesterner who captains one of the rumrunning boats that are the source of Gatsby''s great wealth; enter a colorful netherworld of diner cooks, dump scavengers, secretaries, deckhands and car mechanics caught in the increasingly deadly conflict between organized crime syndicates, amid the murderous passions of caste-busting love. From movie stars to dark freighters, Wobblies to Harlem nightclubs The Last Green Light, like a jazz improvisation, riffs on a great American novel, creating its own, unique world in the process.
£14.41
Baraka Books The Insatiable Maw: The Nickel Range Trilogy,
Book SynopsisIn this story of eco-resistance based on actual events in the heart of Canada's Nickel Range, Jake McCool, the injured hardrock miner, returns to work for the International Nickel Company (INCO) but now at its nearby Copper Cliff smelter complex. In no time, Jake finds himself embroiled in a vicious fight over health and safety and, more specifically, over the extreme levels of sulphur dioxide that poison the air in the smelter but also in the entire surrounding area. The fight takes on new dimensions as freelance reporter Foley Gilpin sparks interest at Canada's national daily Globe & Mail and as local parliamentarian Harry Wardell smells the collusion between INCO and the highest levels of Ministry of Natural Resources at Queen's Park in Toronto.
£18.95
Guernica Editions,Canada The Twelfth Room
Book SynopsisAlina has red hair, green eyes and an extraordinary intelligence: at the age of two, she can already read and count. She loves to surgically dissect the world around her and listen to the stories that her grandfather Giuseppe tells her, as they wander through the alleys and rocky coastline of Polignano.Hers is an atypical childhood, always poised between genius and discomfort, skipped life stages and looming bullying. Because she is always the youngest one, the best one, the strongest and most fragile one at the same time. A fish out of water with intellectual and sensory "superpowers", with depression and anorexia always lurking. Until Nicola arrives to break her crystal ball.A love that is as strong as it is socially unacceptable and that will mark the beginning of her real life, of her forced growth, of her precocious blossoming into a strong woman, capable of loving and suffering. This is the story of Alina and of her way of being, living with Asperger's syndrome, in a crescendo of emotions "differently" felt between Polignano, Milan and Paris, to then return to the starting point: the twelfth room.
£13.56
Great Plains Publications Ltd Brief Life: A Novel
Book SynopsisReturning to some of the characters first introduced in his award-winning novel The Green-Eyed Queen of Suicide City to tell a unique and all-new tale, Kevin Marc Fournier's Brief Life is the story of a fraught but lifelong friendship; the chronicle of a small town with a bizarre and tangled history; a multi-generational family saga of ghosts, dreams, visions, and visitations, of strange dogs, secret magic, and mysterious disappearances; a maze of funhouse mirrors, grotesque, poignant, and fantastical.
£12.76
Word Galaxy Spooky Action at a Distance: Double-Title Poems
Book Synopsis
£11.96
Orion Publishing Co The Coincidence Authority
Book SynopsisFor fans of THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, Mark Watson and Mark Haddon, here is a cleverly written mystery about fate, circumstance, destiny and coincidence from COSTA AWARD-shortlisted author, John Ironmonger. This quirky read is hard to put down and spans philosophy, conflict, relationships and romance.Thomas Post is an expert on coincidences. He's an authority. People come to see him, to ask him if he can explain strange events that have befallen them, and he can always explain these things away. We poor humans, he would say, have a tendency to make patterns out of random shapes, or to construct meaning from the random behaviour of the universe.But one day Thomas gets a visit from Azalea Lewis, and his world will never be the same again. For Azalea's coincidences seem to go off the scale. The lives of Thomas and Azalea become entwined, their destinies entangled. And now, with Azalea apparently dead in a foreign land, Thomas must reassemble the pieces of her life in search for the patterns that drove it. And that means he must try to unravel the coincidences that so afflicted her.Trade ReviewThis is an absorbing and unusual novel suffused with intelligence, charm and humanity and I highly recommend it. * THE BOOKSELLER *This story twists like a pretzel, the author teases and tantalises the reader, and it's delightfully unexpected. * THE TIMES *A love story that is also a story of ideas...The love story between Thomas and Azalea is touching and gently written. * THE METRO *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog
Book SynopsisFirst the young schoolboy, gloriously immersed in make-believe in a shabby farmyard; then the budding poet with his thrilling friendships and dreams of fortune. Finally, the neophyte reporter roaming suburban Swansea for momentous material. In ten wonderfully evocative short stories, Dylan Thomas conveys the exuberance and enthusiasm of youth as he fictionalises events from his childhood. Adolescent sexuality and male friendship are two of the themes that pervade this collection, along with the more familiar topics of love, death and religion.Featuring a bold new livery in celebration of the Dylan Thomas centenary.
£8.54
Poolbeg Press Ltd Nice Weather for A Killing
Book Synopsis
£14.24
Poolbeg Press Ltd Meeting Mae
Book Synopsis
£14.24
Pushkin Press Minna Needs Rehearsal Space
Book SynopsisMinna is feeling desperate. Lars has just dumped her by text message. Her friends are constantly flaunting their lovers, children and dogs (with Facebook as their cruel accomplice). And her neurotic sister is everywhere she turns. Minna needs security, and a place in Copenhagen to practise her music. Minna wants a child. Minna needs to stop being answerable to everyone. So, with only Ingmar Bergman for comfort and company, she decides to take a trip away from it all. In this highly original, playful, poignant yet funny novella, Dorthe Nors explores our struggles to find love, relate to others and simply be heard above the relentless noise of the modern age.Trade ReviewGripping... how often can we honestly say that a book is unlike anything else? Yet here it is, unique in form and effect... Nors has found a novel way of getting into the human heart... even the author blurb is exciting: it tells us that as well as this novella and collection of stories, Nors has written four novels not yet translated into English. Oh! Don't make us wait -- John Self Guardian Dorthe Nors is a writer of moments-quiet, raw portraits of existential meditation, at times dyspeptic, but never unsympathetic Paris Review 'What We're Loving' Her words whip along, each idea cascading into the next: it's like having a window into someone's thoughts Independent Reading Nors's work, one is reminded of the thrills and dangers of living -- Yiyn Li Dorthe Nors's novella Minna Needs Rehearsal Space... set off fireworks in my brain: it's story told in one- or two-sentence headlines. I loved the way that the mostly one-line paragraphs marched down the page in prickly self-containment, with a lot of white space that demands a certain kind of attention from the reader The New Yorker A playful experiment in finding mood and meaning in the staccato prose of the newspaper headline or social media status update Bookanista Beautiful, moving, totally compelling account of one woman's yearning Nick Barley, director Edinburgh International Book Festival Nors is the Danish doyenne of the genre... [She] presents a hauntingly familiar world, which presents unpredicted turns that are at once astoundingly disturbing and curiously beautiful The Lady Nors has a great knack... for portraying the voids and fault lines in an unbalanced mind... crisp, quirky, jarringly funny TLS One of Denmark's most inventive and acclaimed contemporary writers Bookanista A stunningly original new voice from Denmark... Dorthe Nors has the fabulous talent (...) of restraint... A major new voice in European literature Booktrust
£7.59
Gibson Square Books Ltd The Body's Little Secrets: A Novel
Book SynopsisA compelling roman-a-clef about the rivalry between two brothers from inner-city Manchester
£7.49
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Last Son's Secret
Book SynopsisA huge international bestseller, this heartbreaking tale of a tiny Italian village during two World Wars will stay with you forever.Among the olive groves and vineyards of southern Italy, a boy and a girl are born, moments apart. Far away in the trenches of World War I, their fathers have just died. Now all the men in Vitantonio’s family have been wiped out – all twenty-one. All except him.Growing up together, war seems far away for the two children. But Vitantonio’s mother will do anything to protect her son from the curse of death that seems to hang over the family – and so she tells a lie. It is a lie that will bind Vitantonio and Giovanna, the girl who shares his birthday, together over the years. But as the clouds of another war begin to gather on the horizon, it may ultimately drive them apart...Trade ReviewThis novel is crying out for a movie adaptation * El Periodico de Catalunya *Masterfully portrays life in the south of Italy during the first half of the twenty-first century * Blog Propera Parada Cultura *A beautiful book that will deliver huge satisfaction * Blog Abrir un Libro *
£999.99
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Girl on the Train: Film tie-in
Book SynopsisTHE RUNAWAY SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER AND THRILLER OF THE YEAR, NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING EMILY BLUNT'Really great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect' STEPHEN KINGRachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…Trade ReviewReally great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect. * STEPHEN KING *My vote for unreliable narrator of the year * The Times *The thriller scene will have to up its game if it's to match Hawkins this year * Observer *Hawkins's taut story roars along at the pace of, well, a high-speed train . . . a smart, searing thriller' * Good Housekeeping (US) *The Girl On The Train was so thrilling and tense and wildly unpredictable, it sucked up my entire afternoon. I simply could not put it down. Not to be missed! * Tess Gerritsen *
£9.86
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Vanishing Hours
Book Synopsis'Shot through with compassion . . . this dreamlike, winding tale is a joy.' A. L. KENNEDY 'Moving and unconventionally wise.' Guardian________________________This was how I heard the most important story of my life, the thing that decided me, the story that determined who I was in the end.As snow begins to fall outside, two strangers meet by chance in a bar. She is trying to make sense of a life shaken by heartbreak and ruined dreams. He is on a desperate quest to find something he lost in his youth.From the blustery cliffs of Dover to the confines of a nuclear bunker; from the courtroom witness box to the West End stage, he flits from one life to another, never able to stand still.Extraordinary though his story is, the secret she is keeping is even more surprising, and will take them to a place neither of them - or you - expected.From the bestselling author of FIVE RIVERS MET ON A WOODED PLAIN comes this captivating novel about love, abandonment, and the power of stories to help us find our way in the world.________________________What readers are saying:***** 'I absolutely loved this book - it's beautifully written, very emotional and full of wonderful flights of imagination.'***** 'Unlike anything I've read before.'***** 'A deeply moving account of fragile memory and lost love.'***** 'A completely beautiful book . . . I adored it.'Trade ReviewThe Vanishing Hours is a rare thing: a book shot through with compassion. Norris is more than a fine writer, he conveys a deep belief in humanity and its place in nature. This dreamlike, winding tale is a joy. * A. L. Kennedy *Gripping, humane and funny. The Vanishing Hours is both a stunning work of art, and an extraordinarily important novel for our time. * Sophie Ratcliffe, author of The Lost Properties of Love *A delicate tale of unexpected connection lights up another quiet masterpiece from Barney Norris * Waterstones Weekly *A moving and unconventionally wise account of loss and memory and of how redemption works, even for those who resist it most. * Guardian *Steeped in the powerful idea of personal rebirth through the imaginative engagement in the suffering of others. * Metro *
£8.54
Quercus Publishing Anyone for Seconds?
Book Synopsis'Entirely original, this makes us laugh a lot and take a long look at our lives. I absolutely adored it!' KATIE FFORDEThe laugh-out-loud sequel to Perfect Meringues - can former queen of the TV cooks Lizzie Partridge claw her way back into the nation's hearts?Life has been going downhill for ex-TV chef Lizzie Partridge ever since she spectacularly ended her television career by throwing a chocolate mousse at the host of Midlands This Morning. Her partner Tom has left her, Nigella and Jamie have got the cookery world sewn up, and now her cookery column - her last bit of work - has been axed. Surely the only way is up from here?In a desperate bid for sympathy and attention she runs away, from the gas bill and the mouse under the sink, and in wet and wintry Aberystwyth she experiences a brush with her past and a glimmer of new prospects. And when her nephew's girlfriend - a TV producer - has the bright idea to reunite her with her former nemesis and target of the mousse attack in a new show, it seems like things could be going Lizzie's way again after all!Trade ReviewEntirely original, this makes us laugh a lot and take a long look at our lives. I absolutely adored it! -- Katie FfordeA laugh out loud must-read. Lizzie Partridge is hilarious and outspoken, but also irresistibly human. More, please! -- Hilary BoydAnyone For Seconds was as brilliant as I knew it would be.Everything Laurie writes gets it absolutely on the nail. She's a comedy genius but with a tender touch for poignancy too. -- Judy AstleyLaurie Graham is one of my absolute favourite authors, and a new book from her is a treat of the highest order ... Graham's merciless eye for the absurd misses nothing about the world of daytime television. But there are tragedies, family deaths and romantic disappointments here, too, all treated with this wonderful author's trademark blend of the poignant and the hilarious -- Wendy Holden * Daily Mail *Laurie Graham counts mega-seller Marian Keyes among her fans, and if you enjoy that lady's brand of faultless humour dashed with real emotion, you'll adore this * Heat *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Lucky Alan
Book SynopsisA father’s nervous breakdown during a visit to a theme park; a political prisoner confined to a hole in a busy New York street; a haunted 'blog' … Welcome to Lethem-land, which can be discovered only by visiting – a place where the uncanny can be found lurking in the mundane, where humour and poignancy work in harmony, and a modern master of American letters entertains and dazzles us once again, as only he can.Trade ReviewSharp, sad, sophisticated, funny and sometimes exceedingly strange -- Kate Saunders * The Times *Lucky Alan is worth reading for those stories that convey so adroitly people’s beleaguered attempts to communicate with one another. -- Hannah Beckerman * Guardian *Intriguing. -- Aamer Hussein * Independent *The confidence of Lethem’s narration and the clarity of his language save any of this from whimsy: that’s a tough trick to pull off, but Lethem does it over and over again. No wonder he won a MacArthur fellowship (the famous “genius grant”) a decade ago. -- Erica Wagner * Financial Times *A powerful glimpse into where Lethem is as a writer right now. * Bookmunch (Blog) *
£8.54
Headline Publishing Group The Night of the Crash
Book Synopsis''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ SO FREAKING GOOD! I was just shocked by the ending, and was on the edge of my seat the whole story. Buckle up for a crazy ride with this one!''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ What a fantastic, thrilling book! About as satisfying a twist as you could hope for''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ An absolute page-turner that had me completely captivated''IT CAN ALL CHANGE IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.Steppy Corner, voice of hit true crime podcast series All the Dark Corners, wakes in hospital with no memory of what brought her to Heartsick - the small Colorado town where her estranged family live - no memory of why she was racing up the mountainside to her parents'' house late at night . . . or why she didn''t make that bend. All she knows is her mother has been brutally murdered and her brother is the prime suspect.As Steppy begins to piece together events in the run-up to the accident, she discovers her brother''s connection to another ongoing case, that of a missing girl last seen with him on Halloween.Steppy knows better than anyone that the truth often hides in the darkest of corners, but as she races to untangle the web of secrets and lies, will it ultimately prove too close to home?A twisting, claustrophobic and masterfully plotted thriller, with a breath-taking conclusion. Perfect for fans of Gillian McAllister, Claire Douglas and Lisa Jewell.---Readers love Jessica Irena Smith:''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ One of the best books this year''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ A tangled tale of dark secrets . . . a captivating page-turner''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Family secrets, small towns . . . Jessica has hit the nail on the head''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Just got better and better . . . And the ending? I never saw that coming!''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Gripped me from page one . . . A must-read''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Such a twisty plot''''⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Dramatic and full of twists . . . I really didn''t want to put it down''
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group Wish I Were Here
Book SynopsisOpposites attract when a buttoned-up professor is forced to team up with a carefree doorman to restore her identity, which has magically disappeared from all records, in this sparkling romance about enjoying the life you have.________________________For type-A mathematician Catherine Lipton, growing up with a free-spirited single dad was more than a little stressful. So as an adult, everything in her life is ordered, from her lists to her lesson plans at her new job as a college professor. Catherine''s carefully calculated life goes awry, though, when the university''s human resources system rejects her employment paperwork. Soon after, her credit card is declined. At the social security office, Catherine makes a shocking discovery-she''s disappeared from all government records, and there''s no evidence she exists at all. Catherine can''t seem to convince anyone she''s a real person, even though she''s standing right there in the flesh.The only pers
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group The Merriest Misters
Book Synopsis''There is no one I trust more to deliver the holiday spirit wrapped up in perfectly-timed comedic gold than Timothy Janovsky'' ALICIA THOMPSON''The Merriest Misters is endlessly inventive and just plain magical!'' R. ERIC THOMAS...............Saving Christmas? Easy!Saving their relationship? Not so much . . .Patrick Hargrave and Quinn Muller have been married for less than a year, but their passionate romance is cracking under the pressures of domestic life. That''s until Christmas Eve, when Patrick wakes Quinn up with: ''I think I''ve killed a man.''When Quinn realises that the ''burglar'' Patrick knocked out is none other than Mr. Claus himself, the couple soon find themselves looped in by a harried elf to (red) suit up and save Christmas!But, as the sun rises on Christmas morning and the sleigh takes them back to the North Pole instead of New Jersey, they''re in for a massive shock. The couple must assume the roles of Santa Claus and the first ever Merriest Mister, or Christmas will be cancelled . . . permanently.With Christmas - and their marriage - on the line, Patrick and Quinn agree to make a go of it for one year. But can running a toy shop together save their relationship, or will Patrick and Quinn be stuffing coal in each other''s stockings by next Christmas?________________________________________________Readers are LOVING The Merriest Misters:''Holiday spirit abounds, with lots of whimsy and room for creativity...I''m not even that big of a holiday book reader, but I admittedly was starting to check the forecast in hopes of cooler days. Break out the hot chocolate!'' ''A joyfully queer romcom''''Queer people deserve this type of heartwarming, healing holiday story and I''m so glad to see books like this being published. Feel like it would be the perfect read to cosy up with a hot chocolate on Christmas Eve!''''I absolutely adored this book, it was like Santa Clause the movie but make it LGBTQ+''
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group Snowed in with You
Book SynopsisLucy hasn''t left the country in years. In fact, she''s barely left Bristol''s city limits. So, when the opportunity presents itself to join a work trip to the Swiss Alps, she''s wary, especially when she learns that it will coincide with that weekend - the one that, eleven years ago, tore her world in two.But how can she turn down an all-expense-paid trip to the snow-capped Alps? Lucy knows what Leo would say if he were still with her, and besides, she''ll have her work husband, Jonno, there for emotional support.What - or who - she didn''t bank on, however, was moody (read: rude) Nate stepping in at the last minute. And what''s worse, they''re the only two in the group who don''t ski, so they''re stuck with each other . . . up the side of a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm.With the weather closing in, an avalanche leaves them snowbound in an alpine bar with an eclectic cast of fellow refugees. But with roaring log fires and
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal
Book Synopsis
£17.00
Orion Publishing Co The New Rector
Book SynopsisPerfect for fans of Barbara Pym''Rebecca''s wit, humour and brilliant observational skills put her in the forefront of village storytelling. I never tire of reading her wonderful novels'' Jack Sheffield ''Winning novels of village life'' The Times''A delightful beginning that suddenly gets darker and more dramatic than expected. Totally believable characters and a story line with unexpected twists'' Margaret DickinsonWhen Peter Harris arrives in Turnham Malpas as the new rector, he finds the village people welcoming but set in their ways. Yet despite his own weaknesses, and a deeply felt sadness his wife keeps hidden, he comforts and advises his new parishioners, growing more and more involved with the rural way of life.Then the whole village is rocked by spiteful trick that goes terribly wrong, and a gruesome murder that points to a killer in its midst. Now, more than ever, Peter''s pastoral role is c
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Tea Ladies of St Judes Hospital
Book SynopsisThe heartwarming and hilarious new novel from the bestselling author of THE SINGLE LADIES OF JACARANDA RETIREMENT VILLAGEThree unlikely friends. One chance to save the community. It might just be the perfect blend....The Marjorie Marshall Memorial Cafeteria is at the heart of St Jude''s Hospital. Staffed by successive generations of dedicated volunteers, for over fifty years the beloved cafeteria has been serving up a kind word and sympathetic ear along with tea and scones. Hilary, the stalwart Manageress, has worked her way up through the ranks; Joy, the latest recruit, is driving Hilary mad by arriving late every day; and seventeen-year-old Chloe, the daughter of two successful surgeons, is volunteering in the holidays and bemused by the older women. But when they discover the cafeteria is under threat of closure, the unlikely trio must put aside their differences. As they realise the secrets and sorrows they have
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Man of Her Dreams
Book SynopsisAn unexpected romantic comedy about Esme, who, after a head injury, discovers her imaginary boyfriend now exists.
£9.49
Hachette Books Ireland A Winter to Remember
Book Synopsis''Heart-warming and unputdownable'' Carmel HarringtonEmily loves the festive season. This year she''s hosting a special Christmas lunch at her restaurant to celebrate with family and friends. But as the big day draws near, her plans begin to unravel ...Emily and her partner Bill are happily raising his grandson Pip when Bill''s troubled daughter Christine turns up out of the blue. She wants to pick up the pieces of her life, and to reclaim her son. Can Emily give up the boy she''s come to love as her own? And how can she ask Bill to choose between the two women he loves?Emily''s best friend Heather is also dealing with unexpected arrivals: the mother she left behind as a teenager, who now needs her help, and a man she thought she''d never see again. But Heather wonders if these reunions will heal past wounds, or only disrupt the happiness she has now.As Emily and Heather''s lives become more and more complicated, will they find their way
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop
Book SynopsisThe festive and feel-good Christmas novel from Sunday Times top ten bestselling author, Jenny Colgan.Carmen is at a loose end. Her gorgeous bookshop is the filming site of a Christmas movie, she''s been ousted from her sister''s house, and the love of her life has just flown thousands of miles away. It''s threatening to be a very unjolly Christmas indeed!But when the elderly owner of the shop comes to Carmen with a Christmas wish that threatens to never come true, Carmen knows she must buckle down to get the funds to save not only his trip, but the shop itself.With her deadline looming, and the help of their neighbours, her nieces and nephew, and a very distractingly cute male nanny, Carmen might just pull her greatest magic trick yet...Why readers ADORE Jenny Colgan''Jenny Colgan has a way of writing that makes me melt inside''''Her books are so good I want to start over as soon as I have finished''''There''s something so engag
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Perfect Couple
Book SynopsisTHE GRIPPING THRILLER THAT INSPIRED THE MAJOR NEW NETFLIX SERIES********''A sizzling summer read fans won''t want to miss'' - Bustle''Sink into this book like a hot, scented bath . . . a delicious, relaxing pleasure. And a clever whodunit at the same time'' - Kirkus''Hilderbrand''s books keep getting better and better'' - Bookreporter********Every couple has their secrets . . .It''s wedding season, and tensions are brewing.When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin - with the maid of honour discovered dead in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony - everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect.As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash digs into the best man, the bride, the groom''s famous mystery novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, the chief discovers that every wedding is a minefield - and that no couple is perfect.*******
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Pucking Wrong Number
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd My Husband Next Door
Book SynopsisStep into Alliott country with the fabulously funny and wonderfully heartwarming story from the bestselling author of A Cornish Summer and Behind Closed Doors''I raced through it, completely gripped from start to finish'' DAILY MAIL''An entertaining read that''s as light as the summer breeze'' DAILY EXPRESS_______A modern marriage, or a big mistake? Ella was nineteen and madly in love when she married dashing young artist Sebastian Montclair. But that was a long time ago. Now Ella and the kids live in a ramshackle farmhouse while Sebastian and his paintings inhabit the outhouse next door - a family separated in every way but distance. Is it a marvellously modern relationship - or a disaster waiting to happen? When charming gardener Ludo arrives on the scene and Sebastian makes a sudden and surprising decision, Ella sees a chance at a fresh start. Yet with two teenagers and her parents on the verge Trade ReviewCharming, clever, well-written, laugh-out-loud funny with a great plot * Irish Times *Hilarious and full of surprises * Daily Telegraph *Compulsively readable * The Times *Another huge treat from Catherine Alliott. It's hilarious yet poignant, with wonderful characters, including all the animals! I lapped up every page * Sophie Kinsella *Captivating and heartwarming * Closer *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd If You Didnt Kill Her
Book Synopsis*PRE-ORDER NOW! THE UNPUTDOWNABLE NEW THRILLER FROM A RISING STAR IN CRIME FICTION, PERFECT FOR FANS OF HEIDI PERKS AND ANDREA MARA*''An exciting and emotional thriller that keeps you guessing...lots of twists, turns and shocks!'' 5***** reader reviewFifteen years ago, Chelsea was convicted for the murder of her university roommate, Isabella.Now, she's being released early, and she just has one thing on her mind clearing her name.Chelsea has always maintained that she was wrongfully accused. Now's her chance to prove her innocence, once and for all.But as Chelsea starts digging into the past, new details and suspects start coming to light. And the closer Chelsea gets to the truth, the more dangerous things become.She's waited years to uncover the truth. But will the real murderer find her first - and silence her forever? Why readers LOVE Annie Taylor''A compulsive and propulsive read: I would give it te
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Penguin Books Ltd Prime Time Romance
Book SynopsisIs love on the small screen better than the real thing?Brynn's happy ending has gone up in flames. She's newly divorced and living with a roommate Josh to afford her mortgage. At least she's got Carson's Cove to binge - her beloved 90s teenage soap.So when a birthday cake shows up on her and Josh's doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for her own happily-ever-after.The next morning, she doesn''t wake up in her apartment. She''s in Carson''s Cove... and Josh is there too. Except they''re not Brynn and Josh; they''re the sweetheart and the bad boy.Will they stick to the script, or will real love change the story forever?A young divorcee finds herself in the ideal world of her favourite 90s nostalgia TV show, in this second-chance romantic comedy from the author of This Spells Love.----Praise for Kate Robb''Utterly enchanting - a romance voice to watch'' BK Borison, author of L
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Moon Tiger
Book SynopsisTHE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING, GOLDEN BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED CLASSIC, NOW WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY ELIF SHAFAKClaudia Hampton - beautiful, famous, independent, dying.But she remains defiant to the last, telling her nurses that she will write a ''history of the world . . . and in the process, my own''. And it is her story from a childhood just after the First World War through the Second and beyond. But Claudia''s life is entwined with others and she must allow those who knew her, loved her, the chance to speak, to put across their point of view. There is Gordon, brother and adversary; Jasper, her untrustworthy lover and father of Lisa, her cool conventional daughter; and then there is Tom, her one great love, found and lost in wartime Egypt.The masterpiece of one of the century''s finest novelists, Moon Tiger is a haunting, evocative and dazzlingly original story of loss and desire.''Leaves its traces in the air long after you''ve put
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Penguin Books Ltd Apples Never Fall
Book Synopsis**NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES STARRING SAM NEILL AND ANNETTE BENING**THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER AND RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICKTHE DELICIOUSLY DARK SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF NINE PERFECT STRANGERS AND HBO''S BIG LITTLE LIES''One of the few writers I''ll drop anything for'' JOJO MOYES''Deliciously dark'' COSMOPOLITAN----Joy and Stan Delaney have four grown-up children, a successful family business and their golden years ahead of them.Then Joy vanishes.Questions are asked. The police get involved.Scratch the surface and this seemingly happy family has much to hide . . .----''Perfect holiday reading'' GUARDIAN''Smart, sharp and utterly riveting'' DAILY MAIL''Stunning'' SUNDAY TIMES''A tour de force'' GRAZIA''A masterclass'' SUN''Utterly and completely wonderful . . . A hugely engaging, sometimes very funny, page-turner'' MARIAN KEYES''Moriarty''s expert storytelling will have you turning page after page'' i''A corker of a mystery'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH''I loved it. An absolute page-turner with all the wit and nuance that put Liane Moriarty head and shoulders above the crowd. Liane Moriarty shows once again why she leads the pack'' JANE HARPER
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Penguin Books Ltd Pucking Sweet
Book SynopsisDISCOVER THE THIRD BOOK IN THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING JACKSON RAYS SERIESThe lines between work and play get blurred in this super sexy, inclusive why choose' hockey romance from the TikTok sensation---My name is Poppy St. James and I've just landed my dream job as the Director of Public Relations for the NHL's hottest new team, the Jacksonville Rays. But if I want to stay beyond my one-year contract, I''ll have to prove myself.Easy. PR is in my blood. What's not so easy are the hockey players. They're a real handful especially party boy defenseman Lukas Novikov. I don''t care how well Lucas plays hockey. Off the ice, he''s a PR nightmare. The players can all call me PR Barbie all they want, but I''m getting the job done. I am poised, powerful, and always professional . . . until the fateful night my phone rings. One little phone call from home that leads t
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Penguin Books Ltd Mr Loverman
Book SynopsisOUT NOW AS A MAJOR BBC TELEVISION DRAMA STARRING LENNIE JAMES A moving and funny novel about an exuberant, closeted family man living as himself for the first time in over 60 years, from the Booker-prize winning author of Girl, Woman, Other. ***Barrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he's lived in Hackney since the sixties. A flamboyant, wise-cracking local character with a dapper taste in retro suits and a fondness for quoting Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father and grandfather - but he is also secretly lovers with his great childhood friend, Morris. His deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barrington wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away?Mr Loverman is a ground-breaking exploration of Britain's older Caribbean community, which explodes cultural myths and
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Little, Brown Book Group A Midwinters Tail
Book Synopsis''A wonderful tale of love, loss and community with folklore and magic. I adored it!'' LIZ FENWICKA town in need.An extraordinary cat.A season for miracles...It''s nearly Christmas and committed Londoner, Mina Kestle, is close to signing a deal that will make her career and give her everything she''s ever wanted. And then she receives a mysterious letter in the post along with an ancient key, sent by her long-estranged godfather . . .Davy Penhallow is an artist who lives on the tiny Cornish island of Morgelyn with only his pet cat, Murr, for company. Mina hasn''t seen or heard from him in decades, but now it seems he wants her to look after his cottage - and his cat - while he recovers from a stroke in hospital. Mina doesn''t know why Davy has written after all these years, but she intends to do what''s right: sort out the cottage and the cat and then get back to London in time for her career-sa
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Little, Brown Book Group A Christmas Duet
Book SynopsisThe brand new festive romance from Debbie Macomber, the #1 New York Times bestselling author and the queen of Christmas fiction!Will the festive season bring them together?Hailey Morgan''s life has always revolved around music. She once had big dreams of writing her own songs, but the reality of life has led her here: an assistant high school music teacher.As the holidays approach, Hailey dreads the annual tradition of Christmas with her meddling family, where she''ll have to play nice while dodging their traditional expectations. So when Hailey''s friend offers her family''s empty cabin for a relaxing solo retreat, Hailey finally decides to do something to make herself happy.However, her arrival is anything but peaceful when she discovers the cabin is already occupied - by several wild animals. Luckily, Jay, the mayor''s son-who happens to be an incredibly charming former musician-is more than willing to help salvage her
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Dialogue The Five Year Lie
Book SynopsisBestselling romance author Sarina Bowen's debut domestic thriller, about one woman's relentless search for the truth after receiving a text from her dead ex.
£9.49
Dialogue Perfectly Wicked
Book SynopsisCharmed meets Practical Magic in this magically wicked paranormal romance, perfect for fans of Not the Witch You Wed and The Ex Hex.There have always been rumours that something magical is afoot at Wicked Good Apples - but only Holly Celeste and her family know the truth: the Celestes are just a little wicked.Despite the magical secret ingredient in their cider, the family business is floundering. When Connor Grimm, a charming and nationally beloved paranormal investigator, requests to film an episode of his popular TV show on the mysterious Maine Orchard farm, Holly reluctantly accepts. She knows the publicity could be the miracle her family needs - as long as Connor doesn''t manage to actually make any paranormal discoveries.Intent on keeping Connor in the dark and pushing him toward the ghost story believed by the locals, Holly joins him as he interviews eyewitnesses, hunts for old records and unearths potentially
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