Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisA ground-breaking anthology of the best contemporary northern writing, showcasing the wealth of literary talent in the North of England. 'Test Signal ... is testament to the fact that there is no singular prescription of what it means to be a northern writer and no such thing as a definitive northern voice; instead it celebrates a community of writers, each telling a different story in their own words' JESSICA ANDREWS bridges over the Tyne / crumbling coastlines / influencers’ online worlds / asylum applications / packed train carriages / forgotten village social clubs / family in Nigeria / holidays in Greece / shining university campuses / ghosts in city cemeteries / jobs in London / teenage explorations / monstrous graffiti / suburban woodland We are the North With ground-breaking new authors, a thriving independent publishing scene and vibrant grass-roots networks, the North is driving a revolution in new literature. This anthology showcases the best of its talent, from every corner of the region and across all its vibrant genres. Some contributors are well-known established names, others are newcomers; all of them are part of the new northern writing scene. This is Test Signal Adam Farrer / Amy Stewart / Andrew Michael Hurley / Carmen Marcus / Crista Ermiya / Désirée Reynolds / Jane Claire Bradley / Jenna Isherwood / J. A. Mensah / Kit Fan / Lara Williams / Laura Bui / Matt Wesolowski / Melissa Wan / Naomi Booth / Rebecca Hill / Robert Williams / Sammy Wright / Sara Sherwood / Sharon Telfer / Tawseef Khan / Tricia CresswellTrade ReviewTest Signal portrays northern identity as diverse and multi-faceted. It is testament to the fact that there is no singular prescription of what it means to be a northern writer and no such thing as a definitive northern voice; instead it celebrates a community of writers, each telling a different story in their own words. -- Jessica Andrews

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Book SynopsisA joyful, freewheeling, funny and profound new collection from ‘one of the most inventive, adventurous and accomplished fiction writers in the US today’ (Lionel Shriver) For one woman, a cross-country train ride becomes a parallel journey into the dark psyche of American manhood. An old man and his neighbour enter strike up a friendship that might a more sinister battle of wits than he first thinks. A man, waiting for his wife in a bar on Valentine's Day, is plagued by a stranger who claims to be clairvoyant. In electric prose T. C. Boyle explores myriad facets of society: greed and excess, parenthood and responsibility, the digital world and the way we understand our mortality. Roaming unrestrainedly through the present and near future, he inhabits his characters’ minds with a ventriloquist’s flair, skewering human motivations and revealing us to ourselves with empathy and wry humour.Trade ReviewThe prolific Boyle continues to have fun and make literary mischief with his latest story collection ... There's no reason why these 13 stories should seem so funny, as most of them confront individual mortality and some sort of cultural collapse. They run the gamut from the subversively real to the surreal in such a way that they blur the distinction between the implausible and the inevitable ... A playful virtuoso with a deadly seriousness of purpose * Kirkus, Starred Review *Praise for T. C. Boyle: Some of the best, funniest, bleakest, most unsettling short stories I’ve ever read * THE TIMES *Always enjoyable, virtually incapable of dullness or slack sentences … His stories reveal truths about modern life while still feeling beautifully invented * NEW YORK TIMES *

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Book SynopsisAn autumn 2021 pick for New York Times * Observer * Esquire * O Quarterly * Chicago Tribune * Shondaland '[A] gripping piece of storytelling' GUARDIAN 'Brilliantly conceived and unsettling' SUNDAY TIMES 'Clever, insightful and unnerving' OBSERVER Most people didn’t make it to Cell Six, he said. Most called out the safe word – reprieve – after the first Cell. It was that intense. When Bryan, Jaidee, Victor and Jane team up to compete at a full-contact escape room, it seems simple. Hold your nerve through six terrifying challenges; collect all the red envelopes; win a huge cash prize. But the real horror is unfolding outside of the game, in a series of deceits and misunderstandings fuelled by obsession and prejudice. And by the end of the night, one of the contestants will be dead. A startlingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade, Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism, and seamlessly threads together trial transcripts, evidence descriptions, and deeply layered individual narratives to present a chilling portrait of American life.Trade ReviewReprieve is a horror novel, albeit one that twists up the form in delightful ways . . . A skilful and gripping piece of storytelling * Guardian *A horror tale and a Franzenesque multistranded literary novel that are interwoven . . . the latter turning the haunted house into a metaphor for America . . . Reprieve is brilliantly conceived and unsettling * Sunday Times *This genre-savvy horror thriller is an assured, ambitious debut … A smart and troubling book that feels very relevant in 2021 * SFX *I raced through this beautifully written literary thriller . . . A fascinating exploration of privilege and power within a tight framework of plot points heading towards an uneasy denouement * Daily Mail *A chilling blend of horror and thriller that explores racism and the desperate desire to belong with skin-crawling exactitude . . . Clever, insightful and unnerving * Observer *This eerie novel about a death inside a full-contact escape room stretches the genre to eye-opening degrees * Entertainment Weekly *Straddles genres in the best possible way . . . Sure to spark conversation and debate at book clubs across the land * LA Times *Mattson crafts a nail-biting horror saga while also implicating us in our sick obsession with horror. So too does the novel evoke blistering social horror, forcing us to reckon with how racism, prejudice, and complicity are more horrifying—and more fatal—than anything that goes bump in the night. Unrelenting and unforgettable, Reprieve is an American classic in the making * Esquire *Not only just a straight-up terrifying horror novel, Reprieve is jam-packed with biting social commentary that manages to touch on everything from capitalism to race. It is hold-your-breath tense throughout and will leave your mind feeling like someone’s had their fingers in there, fumbling around just to make you feel something . . . Wild and risky and audacious in the very best way possible * Shondaland *A self-aware and furious deconstruction of the horror novel, contrasting those who seek out fear with those who face the ever-present dangers of prejudice * CrimeReads *Reprieve takes horror as its subject, while also using the genre as its means, delivering twists and fright and the kind of storytelling that keeps you turning pages -- Rumaan Alam, bestselling author of Leave the World BehindAn eventual American classic that is unrelenting in its beauty and incisive cultural critique -- Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of Heavy: An American MemoirA timely, devastating story about intersecting lives drawn to a dark and frightening place . . . Reprieve is the rare novel that will make your heart pound with terror while it aches with grief -- Jung Yun, author of ShelterSurprising and spellbinding, Mattson’s latest offering is a page-turner that keeps you guessing right until the explosive end . . . A must-read! -- T. Geronimo Johnson, bestselling author of Welcome to BraggsvilleSharp as a razor’s edge . . . Mattson’s devious trick is in revealing America itself as a topsy-turvy house of horrors * O Quarterly *

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Book SynopsisA BBC 2 BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICKSHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2024WATERSTONES IRISH BOOK OF THE MONTH JULY 2024Vivid, sensuous ... A subtle tale of loss, loneliness and disconnection'PAUL LYNCH, IRISH INDEPENDENTLush, lyrical and cleverly-constructed. A beautiful book'LOUISE KENNEDYBeautifully written ... An unchained sea-melody of outsiders, pilgrims and castaways'ANNE ENRIGHTThe disquieting story of an unidentified man as told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong's debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspensefulOn an isolated, windswept beach, a pale figure sits serenely against a sand dune staring out to sea. His hands are folded neatly in his lap and there is a faint smile on his otherwise lifeless face. After months of fruitless investigation, the nameless str

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOT PRIZE 2022 ‘Utterly original … A bolt from the blue for Irish writing’ Niamh Campbell, winner of the Rooney Prize for This Happy 'A queer underworld Thelma & Louise with better jokes' Sarah Moss ‘This year’s most ambitious and well-written debut' Irish Independent When Dundalk underworld regular Aoife brings the wild and magnetic Annie to the Town, her desire to love and cling to this dangerous stranger culminates in a road trip through Britain to dispose of ten kilos of cocaine for her business partner, The Rat King. But when Annie decides not to return to Ireland, Aoife makes a decision that changes everything. Tender, tragic but ultimately hopeful, Iron Annie is a breakneck journey that crackles with energy, warmth and heart, and marks the arrival of a truly original new voice in literary fiction. 'Written in an exhilarating, lyrical vernacular, in much the way of Anna Burns, Kevin Barry or even Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting' Daily MailTrade ReviewA queer underworld Thelma & Louise with better jokes ... Very funny ... Cassidy keeps tight control of a story that's simultaneously state of the nation, romance and crime. * Sarah Moss, Irish Times *Written in an exhilarating, lyrical vernacular, in much the way of Anna Burns, Kevin Barry or even Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting ... Aoife is a character redeemed to a large extent by her extraordinary narrative voice, yet Cassidy also summons up an entire small-town world here, one that’s both fiercely informed by under-the-radar community bonds and at the mercy of wider seismic political forces. Terrific * Daily Mail *[A] barnstorming gangland comedy set among a motley band of drug-runners from Dundalk, Ireland, where debut author Luke Cassidy was born ... Cassidy’s ingenious use of rhythm and phonetics make Aoife’s voice sing from the page ... Iron Annie is a blast – tender and brutal, funny and sad. It also has interesting things to say about hot topics such as gender and Ireland’s relationship with post-Brexit Britain. Above all, though, it’s a spectacular feat of firecracker prose. Not to be missed ... A full-spectrum thrill from a first-time novelist who looks destined for great things * Metro *Absolutely brilliant. Fizzes with energy - and with raunchiness, colour, beauty, and insight * Sue Leonard, Irish Examiner *What an exquisite novel Iron Annie is. The narrative voice fair crackles: it’s full of wonder, grit, insight, sadness and joy, and is quite beautiful. And Aoife is one of those fictional characters that arrives only once or twice in an age, sublimely rendered and completely unforgettable. -- Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart and From a Low and Quiet SeaIron Annie is absolutely everything I love in a book. The energy, the voice, the language, the characters, all real, raw and utterly convincing. Luke Cassidy is an incredible talent, with an ear for language to rival that of Kevin Barry, I could hear every single word. * Fíona Scarlett, author of Boys Don’t Cry *Wonderful, imaginative, highly original emotional rollercoaster of a story -- Peter JamesIron Annie is a novel full of grit and pearls – its language crackles with life. Luke Cassidy is a writer with a keen eye and a finely-tuned ear -- Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry PaulUtterly original ... I think this book is like a bolt from the blue for Irish writing -- Niamh Campbell, author of This Happy.It’s apparent from the opening lines of Iron Annie that Luke Cassidy can write. His prose fizzes with energy and music, and the reader is immediately plunged into the anarchic underbelly of Ireland and the lives of Cassidy’s vivid characters. -- Graeme Macrae Burnet, author of His Bloody ProjectIt’s wild and fierce and full of awful life. Also dead funny . . . This needs to be slapped on the arse and let out snorting into the world like a mustang horse -- Niall Griffiths, author of Grits, Sheepshagger and StumpIron Annie marks the arrival of a fresh and compelling young voice in literary fiction . . . These complex, funny, tender, lewd and lovely characters will grab you by the throat from the first line and dare you to stop reading -- Emily Rapp Black, author of Poster Child, The Still Point of the Turning World, Cartography for Cripples and SanctuaryIron Annie is a staggering debut novel. And what makes it so stylish and ferocious isn’t the drugs, the brutal violence, or even the wild love and sex – it’s the language. I’ve never read anything like the sentences in here. -- Rachel DeWoskin, author of Banshee, Big Girl Small, and Foreign Babes in BeijingBrave and fearless … Put me in the mind of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting … It snaps and crackles. * Claudia Carroll, Eason Books Club *Amazing first novel filled with drugs and sex and rock and roll … It’s so dense and rich. I’m dying to see the play. * Keith Walsh, Eason Book Club *

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Book Synopsis** AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST AND BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR 2023 **** SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023: DEBUT FICTION **A voice unlike any other' OBSERVERI fell in love immediately' MAX PORTERA writer of imagination and flair' ECONOMISTSmart, subversive, funny, heartbreaking' KAMILA SHAMSIEBuoro's writing deserves to inspire a generation of superheroes' THE TIMESFifteen-year-old Andrew Aziza lives in Kontagora, Nigeria, where his days are spent about town with hisfriends, grappling with his fantasies about white girls (especially blondes) and wondering who his father is. When he's not in church, at school or attempting to form Africa's first superheroes', he obsesses over mathematical theorems, ideas of Black power and HXVX: the Curse of Africa. Sure enough, Andy soon falls for the first white girl he lays eyes on. But multiple crises are looming, set toshake the foundations of everything he knows and loves... 'This is extraordinary, driven by a gloriously eccentric centr

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Book Synopsis'Soyinka's greatest novel ... No one else can write such a book' - Ben Okri 'A lion of African literature' - Financial Times 'Chronicles is many things at once: a caustic political satire, a murder mystery, a conspiracy story and a deeply felt lament for the spirit of a nation' - Juan Gabriel Vásquez, New York Times A FINANCIAL TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR To Doctor Menka’s horror, some cunning entrepreneur has decided to sell body parts from his hospital for use in ritualistic practices. Already at the end of his tether from the horrors he routinely sees in surgery, he shares this latest development with his oldest college friend, bon viveur, star engineer and Yoruba royal, Duyole Pitan-Payne, who has never before met a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Neither realise how close the enemy is, nor how powerful. Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is at once a savagely witty whodunit, a scathing indictment of Nigeria’s political elite, and a provocative call to arms from one of the country’s most relentless political activists and an international literary giant. 'A high-jinks state-of-the-nation novel' - Chibundu Onuzo 'Chronicles is a good model for what the political novel should be: fearless, disdaining formal constraints, sparing no one' - GuardianTrade ReviewIs this a good place to confess my crush, an overly bashful crush, on this politically courageous literary stylist … I look to Soyinka’s life, not so much the choices he has made but the courage it took to make them, as a source of light * Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sunday Times *A vivid and wild romp … A vast danse macabre. No one else can write such a book ... Chronicles is Soyinka’s greatest novel … It ought to be widely read * Ben Okri, Observer *A lion of African literature … A brutally satirical look at power and corruption in Nigeria, told in the form of a whodunnit * Financial Times *A Nigerian icon … A high-jinks state-of-the-nation novel * Chibundu Onuzo, Guardian *A black-humoured satire of contemporary Nigeria * Telegraph *Chronicles is a good model for what the political novel should be: fearless, disdaining formal constraints, sparing no one … A triumph * Guardian *This is an extraordinary novel that is both in and of Nigeria. It contains elements of Yoruba culture and, in the middle of it all, is a gourd full of satire, humor and pathos. It is a chronicle of human folly among the happiest people on earth. The writing alone is a wonder and a fitting coda for the career of this great writer * New York Journal of Books *Inspiring and original ... Soyinka's analysis of the 20th century problem of memory and forgiveness in the African world is both timely and important. Soyinka's analysis of the problem is an initial volley in what will surely become a 21st century debate * New York Times Book Review *With caustic wit, Soyinka’s carnivalesque depictions of venality ferret out hypocrisy from behind its elaborate guises and condemn crimes that challenge “the collective notion of soul". * New Yorker *He employs characteristically flamboyant language in a devastatingly detailed examination of Nigerian society * TLS *Chronicles is many things at once: a caustic political satire, a murder mystery, a conspiracy story and a deeply felt lament for the spirit of a nation ... For all its sarcastic undertones, for all its puns and plays on names, Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth is a pessimistic novel, the work of a man with no illusions * Juan Gabriel Vásquez, New York TImes *Wole Soyinka is a legendary writer … He has inspired generations of writers worldwide … Wole draws on his lifetime steeped in resistance for his new novel, Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. The title is ironic. It’s a caustic, satirical takedown of corruption in a country not unlike his native Nigeria * Kirsty Wark, Newsnight *Swaggering and scabrous, at once a verbal spree and a fierce assault on totalitarianism * Observer *A whodunnit that turns into a searing indictment of modern Nigeria * i paper *A caustic satire * Daily Mail *A savagely witty whodunit, a scathing indictment of Nigeria’s political elite and a provocative call to arms from one of the country’s most relentless political activists and an international literary giant * The Voice *Soyinka … Is the tour guide for the last sixty years of Nigerian history and there is so much to see … bursting with humour and irony * Litro *Back with a roar … Kafkaesque … A shocking, scathing and gripping look at society and human behaviour all in one * Shiny New Books *A juggernaut of a novel … Bold and chaotic, it is somehow of the moment ... This is literature of the dynamic kind, fed not so much by carefully honed craft as by a profound, urgent energy: both cry for help and call to arms; a response, a lament, a reckoning * Lunate.co.uk *PRAISE FOR WOLE SOYINKA: You don't see things the same when you encounter a voice like that. * Toni Morrison *He is one of the best there is today, a poet and thinker who knows both how the world actually works and how the world should work. * Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie *Wole Soyinka is a giant of modern literature. * Robert McFarlane *To have contained in the body of his work the fullness of individual vision, the potency of myth, the corruptions of power, and the misery of the oppressed, is a rare feat. * Ben Okri *

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Book Synopsis**A Jennette McCurdy book club pick** **Cosmopolitan, The 20 best books to look forward to in 2024** **An Independent Book of the Month** 'I loved it: the fast pace, the wry protagonist, and how Brody painfully examines the measures we take to find closure' Jennette McCurdy 'A brilliant, dark debut about grief and the way in which the internet can magnify mania' Mail on Sunday 'I fell down Rabbit Hole in an obsessive spiral' Kate Reed Petty 'A twisty, pacy crime thriller' independent.co.uk 'A mindblowing debut' Heather Darwent 'A gritty tale of grief, family secrets and addiction' Observer ________________________________ A deliciously dark and twisted debut about family secrets, true crime, and destructive obsession – by a striking new talent Teddy Angstrom is no stranger to morbid public interest in her family’s tragedies. And when her father dies suddenly, ten years to the day after her sister Angie’s disappearance, she intends to maintain as much privacy as she always has. Clearing out her father’s office, however, Teddy discovers her father’s double life: a decade-long investigation into wild conspiracies from a Reddit community of true crime fans fixated on Angie. Repelled and compelled in equal measure by this new online dimension, Teddy finds herself falling down that same rabbit hole. So when nineteen-year-old Mickey, a charming amateur internet sleuth, materialises in real life, Teddy determines that the two of them are going to team up to find out what really happened to Angie – and whether there’s any chance she might still be alive. But as she struggles to reconcile new information with old memories, Teddy doesn’t notice that her obsession is making her increasingly self-destructive. And she’s in way over her head before she’s realises that Mickey, too, is not all she seems… Noirish, haunting and razor-sharp, as compulsive as a late-night Reddit binge, Rabbit Hole is an unforgettable debut about violence, family and grief. 'A smart and edgy mystery that kept me turning pages from start to finish' Alexis Schaitkin ‘I absolutely loved this book … I couldn't put it down’ Ainslie Hogarth 'An unputdownable debut from a writer I would follow anywhere' Allie Rowbottom Trade ReviewA twisty, pacy crime thriller with wit and unusual plotlines ... Has some telling things to say about the voyeuristic and entitled nature of fetishistic true crime fans * independent.co.uk, Books of the month *A compelling study of grief, betrayal, the slippery nature of memory and our complicated relationship with other people’s tragedies * GUARDIAN, Best crime and thrillers round-up *While very much a thriller-style hunt for what happened, Brody’s debut is more accurately a sensitive, psychological investigation into the long-term, traumatic impact of lingering, unresolved grief * MARIE CLAIRE, Best books of 2024 to curl up with *Kate Brody ’s debut has all the trappings of a true crime podcast ... A gritty, grubby tale of grief, family secrets and addiction * OBSERVER *An excellent read * THE i *A brilliant, dark debut about grief and the way in which the internet can magnify mania * MAIL ON SUNDAY *A searing portrayal of loss, adolescence, and grief with all the twists and turns of a thriller. Teddy is a fantastically compelling narrator and her relationship with Mickey is twisted yet perfectly believable. I tore through this in a few days - a mindblowing debut -- HEATHER DARWENT, author of The Things We Do to Our FriendsA page-turner in the best sense, the most startling aspect of this brilliantly accomplished novel is that it’s Brody’s debut outing * THE LIST *Kate Brody and her writing will hold you by the throat until you finish the last page breathless in need of a lie down in a dark room. I was OBSESSED! * DEBUT DIGEST *A thrilling mystery * COSMOPOLITAN, The 20 best books to look forward to in 2024 *In this smart, chilling page-turner, a high school English teacher obsessed with her older sister's long-ago disappearance gets caught up in Reddit conspiracy theories * PEOPLE MAGAZINE *A dark, absorbing evocation of grief, loss and strained familial ties, painfully capturing how damaging the search for answers can be on the survivors of tragedy. A page-turner in the best sense, the most startling aspect of this brilliantly accomplished novel is that it’s Brody’s debut outing * THE LIST *A beautifully written and astutely observed literary thriller -- PHILIPPA EAST, author of I'll Never TellFor anyone who's ever indulged in a late-night Reddit binge or has found themselves in the amateur sleuthing vortex of true crime junkies, Rabbit Hole follows a woman who becomes obsessed with solving the cold-case disappearance of her older sister * NYLON *I fell down Rabbit Hole in an obsessive spiral ... It’s a pitch-black story about ambiguous loss, and a blazingly feminist take on the self-destructive pull of the internet. And it’s poignant. And it’s unflinching. And that ending! Kate Brody is a star -- KATE REED PETTY, author of True StoryA smart and edgy mystery that kept me turning pages feverishly from start to finish ... This is a story about girlhood, grief, the slippery nature of memory, and our society’s true crime obsession, and Brody delivers insights on these themes in prose that is both raw and beautiful. As we follow Teddy on her downward spiral, we are forced to ask: How much is the truth worth? -- ALEXIS SCHAITKIN, AUTHOR OF Saint XFrom the first line, Brody’s novel had its hands around my throat. While Rabbit Hole has the pace and intrigue of a thriller, and brutal and evocative prose, what makes it standout is its narrator, Brody’s refusal to soften her edges or portray her as anything less than a young woman savaged by grief. I followed breathlessly along, both wishing I could stop Teddy’s Internet-fueled descent into madness and eagerly awaiting the next dark, delicious corner she’d lead me -- JEAN KYOUNG FRAZIER, author of Pizza GirlI absolutely loved this book. Rabbit Hole is an unflinching portrait of grief and obsession, as well as a genuinely gripping mystery. The characters feel raw and real, the story is dark and timely. I couldn't put it down -- AINSLIE HOGARTH, author of MotherthingBlistering, sexy, concentric and dark, Rabbit Hole is the ultimate literary thriller for the digital age, a Reddit whodunnit that is at once hyper-modern, and grounded by the deep emotionality of Kate Brody's enduring questions about grief and girlhood, caretaking and identity and how, in the absence of truth, to live a meaningful life. An unputdownable debut from a writer I would follow anywhere -- ALLIE ROWBOTTOM, author of Jell-O Girls and AestheticaA troubling mystery rustles its feathers beneath Brody's gritty, gorgeous prose. Brody shows how the internet bewitches us, how we seek it out looking for an escape but instead are confronted by our own shadow-selves. Tense and engrossing -- BEA SETTON, author of BerlinKate Brody’s multifaceted debut combines sensitive characterization, wry narration, and use of modern technology worthy of Jennifer Egan with the brilliantly evocative suspense of a Tana French novel…I was riveted! -- JOANNA MARGARET, author of The BequestI absolutely loved this book. Rabbit Hole is an unflinching portrait of grief and obsession, as well as a genuinely gripping mystery. The characters feel raw and real, the story is dark and timely. I couldn't put it down -- AINSLIE HOGARTH, author of MotherthingA witty and moving exploration of grief and obsession as well as a page-turning mystery, Rabbit Hole sucked me in more than any Reddit conspiracy theory thread ever could -- ISABEL KAPLAN, author of NSFWA taut story of family and letting secrets go * INDIE NEXT *Full of twists and surprises, genuine mystery and startling psychological portraits, Rabbit Hole is a profound exploration into the nature of grief and identity. It is also an unsettling investigation into the shadowy line that separates the real world from the digital * BOOKTRIB *Brody's debut is visceral and at times gut-wrenching, exploring the ways grief and a need for answers can be exacerbated and exploited by a culture obsessed with true-crime stories. Powerful and unforgettable * BOOKLIST *Brody’s sure-footed debut paints a harrowing portrait of a life derailed by internet conspiracy theories ... Brody explores in elegant prose potent themes both contemporary (internet addiction) and evergreen (grief) * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *A highly anticipated novel from a new talent, centred around family secrets. obsession and true crime * LUXURY LONDON *

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Book Synopsis**AN INTERNATIONAL No. 1 BESTSELLER****Selected as a Washington Post Book of the Summer**''I absolutely adored it'' NINA STIBBEFrom bestselling and award-winning author Patrick deWitt comes a novel about an ordinary man who thought life's surprises were behind him until a chance encounter changed everythingBob Comet is a retired librarian passing his solitary days surrounded by books in a mint-colored house in Portland, Oregon. One morning on his daily walk he encounters a confused elderly woman lost in a market and returns her to the senior centre that is her home. Hoping to fill the void he's known since retiring, Bob begins volunteering at the center. Here, as a community of strange peers gathers around Bob, and following a brush with a painful complication from his past, the events of his life and the details of his character are revealed. Behind Bob Comet's straight man facade is the story of an unhappy child's

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE SCOTTISH BOOK AWARDS - FIRST BOOK OF THE YEARA SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, SCOTSMAN AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR''A beautiful book ... It warmed my heart'' MAX PORTER''Electrifying ... A pocket epic'' GUARDIANAn astounding debut, both epic and intimate, about grief, trauma, revelation, and the hidden lives of women - by a major new talentIn the year of 1413, two women meet for the first time in Norwich.Before they part, Julian will entrust Margery with a secret one that will change the course of history.You will read it in no time but be thinking about it for ages after' FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE, GUARDIAN, Book of the day''Miraculously conjured ... Brilliantly done'' THE TIMES, Book of the Month''The best first novel I''ve read in years ... So full and so vivid; it is amazing'' RODDY DOYLE

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Book Synopsis''Beautifully told, this is a heart-warming and thought-provoking read.'' Heat ''A sharp, funny, poignant and completely heart-warming story about female friendship and kick-ass women. I truly loved it!'' Ruth Hogan I have a first-day rule. Any sign of trouble, even a whiff of a problem, and I walk.'Noelle is an efficient and friendly hotel cleaner, a model employee. Or so she'd have you think. The trouble is that she can't help taking little souvenirs' as she cleans. Nothing of value, just tokens of happy, normal lives: a lipstick, a hair clip, some tweezers. And by the time the guest has noticed, she's long gone.As she starts at her 21st hotel, she's determined to beat her record of one month in a five star hotel before suspicion falls on her. But when she meets her new colleagues, her plans are complicated. These women aren't just hands pushing carts down lonely hotel corridors: they are women with lives full of h

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Book SynopsisBy the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature 'There is a wonderful sardonic eloquence to this unnamed narrator's voice' Financial Times 'I don't think I've ever read a novel that is so convincingly and hauntingly sad about the loss of home' Independent on Sunday _____________________ He thinks, as he escapes from Zanzibar, that he will probably never return, and yet the dream of studying in England matters above that. Things do not happen quite as he imagined – the school where he teaches is cramped and violent, he forgets how it feels to belong. But there is Emma, beautiful, rebellious Emma, who turns away from her white, middle-class roots to offer him love and bear him a child. And in return he spins stories of his home and keeps her a secret from his family. Twenty years later, when the barriers at last come down in Zanzibar, he is able and compelled to go back. What he discovers there, in a story potent with truth, will change the entire vision of his life.Trade ReviewI don’t think I’ve ever read a novel that is so convincingly and hauntingly sad about the loss of home, the impossible longing to belong -- Michèle Roberts * Independent on Sunday *Abdulrazak Gurnah’s fifth novel, Admiring Silence, is his best to date … There is a wonderful sardonic eloquence to this unnamed narrator’s voice, and the playful humour and lack of self-pity which characterises his narrative is totally convincing * Financial Times *Through a twisting, many-layered narrative, Admiring Silence explores themes of race and betrayal with bitterly satirical insight * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisBy the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 A searing tale of a young woman discovering her troubled family history and cultural past ‘Gurnah writes with wonderful insight about family relationships and he folds in the layers of history with elegance and warmth’ The Times _________________________________ Dottie Badoura Fatma Balfour finds solace amidst the squalor of her childhood by spinning warm tales of affection about her beautiful names. But she knows nothing of their origins, and little of her family history – or the abuse her ancestors suffered as they made their home in Britain. At seventeen, she takes on the burden of responsibility for her brother and sister and is obsessed with keeping the family together. However, as Sophie, lumpen yet voluptuous, drifts away, and the confused Hudson is absorbed into the world of crime, Dottie is forced to consider her own needs. Building on her fragmented, tantalising memories, she begins to clear a path through life, gradually gathering the confidence to take risks, to forge friendships and to challenge the labels that have been forced upon her.Trade ReviewGurnah is a master storyteller -- Aminatta Forna * Financial Times *[A] captivating storyteller, with a voice both lyrical and mordant, and an oeuvre haunted by memory and loss. His intricate novels of arrival and departure … reveal, with flashes of acerbic humour, the lingering ties that bind continents, and how competing versions of history collide * Guardian *Gurnah writes with wonderful insight about family relationships and he folds in the layers of history with elegance and warmth * The Times *Exile has given Gurnah a perspective on the “balance between things” that is astonishing, superb * Observer *Gurnah etches with biting incisiveness the experiences of immigrants exposed to contempt, hostility or patronising indifference on their arrival in Britain * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisThe debut novel by the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature Vehement, comic and shrewd, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s first novel is an unwavering contemplation of East African coastal life Poverty and depravity wreak havoc on Hassan Omar’s family. Amid great hardship he decides to escape. The arrival of independence brings new upheavals as well as the betrayal of the promise of freedom. The new government, fearful of an exodus of its most able men, discourages young people from travelling abroad and refuses to release examination results. Deprived of a scholarship, Hassan travels to Nairobi to stay with a wealthy uncle, in the hope that he will release his mother’s rightful share of the family inheritance. The collision of past secrets and future hopes, the compound of fear and frustration, beauty and brutality, create a fierce tale of undeniable power. ____________________ ‘Gurnah is a master storyteller' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Exile has given Gurnah a perspective on the “balance between things” that is astonishing, superb' OBSERVER 'A captivating storyteller' GUARDIAN 'Gurnah etches with biting incisiveness the experiences of immigrants exposed to contempt, hostility or patronising indifference on their arrival in Britain' SPECTATORTrade Review[A] captivating storyteller, with a voice both lyrical and mordant, and an oeuvre haunted by memory and loss. His intricate novels of arrival and departure … reveal, with flashes of acerbic humour, the lingering ties that bind continents, and how competing versions of history collide * Guardian *Gurnah is a master storyteller -- Aminatta Forna * Financial Times *Gurnah writes with wonderful insight about family relationships and he folds in the layers of history with elegance and warmth * The Times *Exile has given Gurnah a perspective on the “balance between things” that is astonishing, superb * Observer *Gurnah etches with biting incisiveness the experiences of immigrants exposed to contempt, hostility or patronising indifference on their arrival in Britain * Spectator *

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Book Synopsis''Darkly unsettling'' Guardian''Intoxicating dark, heady, lyrical' Daily Telegraph''Terrifying and inventive'' ObserverIn a world devastated by antimicrobial resistance, two survivors are thrown into crisis when a woman washes ashore on the remote island where they live__________________________Years after complete antibiotic resistance has resulted in the loss of most human life on earth, Kit and Crevan eke out an existence on a remote island. Under a collapsing castle, they spend their days in an underground bunker packed with emergency stores, venturing out only at night. They are safe.One evening a woman washes ashore, nearly drowned. Crevan wants to keep her alive, but Kit isn't so sure.The new arrival will implode Kit and Crevan's world with dire and fatal consequences, churning up the waters of the past and unearthing secrets they have kept from each other and from themselves. Wh

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Book SynopsisA darkly funny, sharply observed, and deeply moving novel about the surprises and struggles of life in contemporary Delhi ''Confirms Anjum Hasan as one of the most important writers of our time'' WILLIAM DALRYMPLEAlif is a middle-aged history teacher living in contemporary Delhi. He's often lost in reveries on India's past, but it's the present that presses down on him. His wife is set on a bigger house and a better car while trying to ace her MBA exams; his teenage son wants to quit school to get rich; his colleagues are suspicious of a Muslim teaching Indian history; and his old friend has just reconnected with a childhood sweetheart for whom Alif has always had feelings.Then one day, while leading a school field trip, the unthinkable happens, and Alif finds his job on the line as his life and the world around him rapidly descends into chaos.

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Book SynopsisOne of the wittiest writers around' Good HousekeepingThe perfect summer read: mischievous and delicious. I devoured it in one go.' Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper PalaceWHEN THE STAKES ARE HIGH, HOW LOW WILL YOU GO?Ayesha Scott has a perfect life. Home is an art-filled Cornish castle with her stratospherically wealthy, titled husband and their beloved daughter. But behind every realised dream lurks an unexploded nightmare and in the course of one day Ayesha discovers that she will be penniless, homeless and powerless unless she can outwit the international mafia, infiltrate the world of high finance and make backstreet deals with the shadiest members of the art world.Hurt and betrayed, she's determined to fight for herself and her daughter but can she do it without enlisting the help of her beloved, deeply eccentric but estranged family?Sharp escapist fiction, High Time is a novel

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Book SynopsisThe joyfully freewheeling, funny and profound new novel from one of the most inventive, adventurous and accomplished fiction writers in the US today' (Lionel Shriver)Welcome to America. On the east coast, homes are being swallowed by the ocean; on the west coast, California is engulfed with wildfire. But for one family, the impending environmental disaster is the least of their worries. Party girl Cat just impulse-purchased a snake; her pious brother Cooper is wrestling with a tic bite; and their mom Ottilie has resorted to cooking with crickets. Everyone is drinking too much and the bugs seems to be disappearing. It seems as if it''s anything but blue skies ahead...A delightfully dark comedy of manners about family life at the end of the world, Blue Skies is a masterful new adventure from one of the America's great comic writers._______________''Always enjoyable, virtually incapable of dullness or slack sentences His sto

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Book Synopsis**SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM** **THE INTERNATIONAL NUMBER ONE-BESTSELLER** ‘A coming-of-age-story to be loved everywhere in the world’ FREDRIK BACKMAN, author of A MAN CALLED OVE ___________________________________________ The international sensation: the story of a young Sámi girl's coming-of-age, and a powerful fable about family, identity and justice Nine-year-old Elsa lives just north of the Arctic Circle. She and her family are Sámi – Scandinavia’s indigenous people – and make their living herding reindeer. One morning when Elsa goes skiing alone, she witnesses a man brutally killing her reindeer calf, Nástegallu. Elsa recognises the man but refuses to tell anyone – least of all the Swedish police force – about what she saw. Instead, she carries her secret as a dark weight on her heart. Elsa comes of age fighting two wars: one within her community, where male elders expect young women to know their place; and against the ever-escalating wave of prejudice and violence against the Sámi. When Elsa finds herself the target of the man who killed her reindeer calf all those years ago, something inside of her finally breaks. The guilt, fear, and anger she’s been carrying since childhood come crashing over her like an avalanche, and will lead Elsa to a final catastrophic confrontation.Trade ReviewStolen is an extraordinary novel. A coming-of-age-story you'll get lost in, about youth and heritage and the never-ending struggle to be allowed to exist. Although set in the coldest and most northern part of Scandinavia, I'm convinced it’s a universal story to be loved everywhere in the world -- FREDRIK BACKMAN, author of A MAN CALLED OVEBeautiful and devastating, Stolen shines a powerful and important light on the Sámi community and the growing challenges they face in a changing world -- CAROLE JOHNSTONE, author of MIRRORLANDViscerally clear fiction of both the fractured, violent nature of the Sámi’s relationship with their Nordic occupiers and the coming of age of an innocent girl. Written with such cool clarity, Stolen is a perfect metaphor of our slippery grip on humanity and our tenuous relationship with the Earth -- TANYA TALAGA, bestselling author of SEVEN FALLEN FEATHERSSámi author Ann-Helén Laestadius has written a fresh, devastating, and insightful novel about Sámi life and the struggle for justice in a rapidly changing world. A love for the imperiled landscape reverberates throughout this engaging read -- MEGAN MAYHEW BERGMAN, author of HOW STRANGE A SEASONStolen is in equal measure a gripping and thrilling mystery as it is a testament to the continued beating heart of Sámi life. Ann-Helén Laestadius takes her place as an important voice in world Indigenous literature -- MICHELLE GOOD, author of FIVE LITTLE INDIANSLaestadius’s nuanced English-language debut is a story of a family torn apart by cultural tensions ... The sense of place and character development make for an affecting portrait of the Sámi’s disenfranchisement * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *A revelatory account of not-well-known assaults on the rights of an Indigenous group … The legacies of long-held social prejudices against the Indigenous group - racism, economic insecurity, and the traumas borne by the community’s elders who had been removed from the group in childhood and sent to “nomad schools” - continue to haunt Sámi life with devastating effects … Looming over the tale is the spectre of climate change and its impacts on the traditional Sámi herding methods * KIRKUS *A sharp and socially critical novel with an intensity that makes it powerful and strong ... Whatever you do, don’t miss out on this novel * Dagens Nyheter (SE) *Laestadius writes with burning intensity about a community around the Arctic Circle that is rarely portrayed. Her commitment shines through and constantly urges the reader to continue reading. It may be foolhardy to name this year’s most powerful book as early as February. But that Stolen is one of the most important Swedish books of the year is indisputable * Demokraatti (FI) *Stolen is not only a fierce cry for justice, but also an empathic and beautiful story about the love of and nature * Norra Skåne (SE) *One of the most talked about books this spring ... Stolen is a moving, multifaceted, and important contemporary novel that highlights many serious themes and portrays a society and a situation that needs to be discussed many times over. A well-written story that leaves a lasting impression * P4 Västernorrland (SE) *A deeply gripping and atmospheric novel that will take hold of your heart. Filled with compelling characters and a formidable landscape - this debut is a triumph! -- DANIELLE DANIEL, award-winning author of DAUGHTERS OF THE DEERIn a careful and at times poetic prose [Laestadius] portrays milieus, conflicts, and magic from an area that has long been underrepresented in literary fiction in Sweden * Expressen (SE) *Ann-Helén Laestadius’s writing flows seamlessly, with a piercing psychological and keen eye for societal issues. I am especially happy about the elegant ending, that beautifully ties the circle together and brings hope of a brighter future * Hufvudstadsbladet (FI) *Intimately and vividly portrayed. The novel gives beautiful insights into the life of the Sámi and their struggle for justice. An accessible and at the same time deep, beautiful, and suspenseful tale of a part of the world many of us know very little about. It deserves a large audience * BTJ (SE) *The best trick of fiction is how it can make us feel part of something, and Laestadius does just that ... Incredibly thrilling * Jönköpings-Posten (SE) *Both a thrilling page-turner and a story to remember for a long time to come * Sundsvalls Tidning (SE) *Stolen is an important novel that provides insight into modern Sámi life. This is the first step in a new direction for an author with a crucial message: I will be sure to follow her going forward * Svenska Dagbladet (SE) *A stunningly suspenseful, glowing story, in which a perceptive narrator brings a whole new world to the reader * Helsingin Sanomat *A splendid novel. [...] The characters are lovingly and skillfully portrayed, in such a way that makes it hard to let go of them afterwards * Suomen Kuvalehti *

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Book Synopsis** AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER & WINNER OF THE OCKHAM NZ BOOK AWARDS**''The most exciting novel I''ve read in ages... I gulped it down, so readable, so EXCELLENT about people. Read it'' Marian KeyesThis novel is perfection' Glamour''A coolly ironic look at modern womanhood This is an excellent novel' The TimesYou know how we say we devoured a story, and also that we were consumed by it? Eating and being eaten. It was like that with Claire, for me.From humble beginnings, Therese has let herself grow used to a life of luxury after marrying into an empire-building family. But when rumours of corruption gather around her husband''s latest development, the social opprobrium is shocking, the fallout swift, and Therese begins to look at her privileged and insular world with new eyes.In the flat below Therese, something else is brewing. Her neighbour Claire believes she''s discover

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Book SynopsisFord's Frank Bascombe series stands as one of the finest achievements of modern American fiction. A fittingly mordant and brilliant conclusion' INDEPENDENTIn the run up to Christmas, we meet Frank Bascombe in the twilight of his days. He is a man who has occupied many colourful lives sportswriter, father, husband, ex-husband, friend, real estate agent but now Frank finds himself in the most sorrowing role of all: caregiver to his son, Paul, diagnosed with ALS. On a shared winter's odyssey to Mount Rushmore, Frank faces down the mortality assured each of us, and confronts what happiness might signify at life's end. Over the course of four celebrated works of fiction and almost forty years, Richard Ford has crafted an ambitious, incisive and singular view of American life as lived. Unconstrained, astute, provocative, often laugh-out-loud funny, Frank Bascombe is once more our guide to the great American midway.A literary project matched in am

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Book Synopsis'One of the 20th century's greatest thinkers and prose stylists' New York Times 'A novel of the disquieting contours of family, and of the mind, and of life unceasing even in the midst of death by one of the most important, visionary writers of all time' Amina Cain, author of Indelicacy WITH A FOREWORD BY KATE ZAMBRENO There’s nothing to do about boredom, I’m bored, but one day I won’t be bored anymore. Soon I’ll know that it’s not even worth the trouble. We’ll have the easy life. Twenty-five-year-old Francine Veyrenattes, confined to the family farm, already feels that life is passing her by. But after Francine lets slip a terrible secret, culminating in the violent deaths of her brother and uncle, her world is shattered. Fleeing the farm for the seaside, Francine finds herself disintegrating. Lying in the sun with her toes in the sand, she restlessly wishes for things to be somehow easier, to have a life worth living. But then the calm and quiet is broken yet again – by another tragedy and a senseless death, in which Francine finds herself implicated. Cast out of paradise, and stranded between her home and the rest of the world, she must confront her rapidly dissolving sense of self if she is to find a way to survive. 'It’s a masterpiece, and a little known, if not unknown, masterpiece … Any serious reader of this author’s work must begin with this novel' YVES BERGER Trade ReviewReading The Easy Life, there is a sense of riding on the edge of a dark wave, a brilliant intensity only Marguerite Duras could bring into existence. A novel of the disquieting contours of family, and of the mind, and of life unceasing even in the midst of death. How exhilarating to be able to encounter Francine Veyrenattes, a character I won't forget, and for the first time in English, this early work by one of the most important, visionary writers of all time -- AMINA CAINEight decades on, Duras’s nascent talent is on display here * GUARDIAN *Full of desolation and longing ... Sit with the ennui and you may find moments of intense clarity * NEW STATESMAN *Chilly, introspective, told with barely any dialogue, yet shaped by white-hot melodrama, it’s a bracing, uncanny reading experience * DAILY MAIL *Simultaneously grotesque, beautiful and tragic * DAILY TELEGRAPH *In this powerful, immaculately translated novel, we watch the young Marguerite Duras move from the fierce, iron rigors of narrative to her more characteristic style of relentless introspection. This book, which she wrote in her twenties, already reveals all her powers -- EDMUND WHITEPraise for Marguerite Duras: By turns ardent, raging, sensual and embittered ... A dreamlike, savage world, in which the great themes of love, war and death found their most recklessly impassioned chronicler * Observer *A writer who believed that understanding suffering was an act of the imagination * New Yorker *Very beautiful, highly intelligent, enjoyable and original * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE SAPIR PRIZE 2022A mesmerising, disquieting tale of family estrangement Unforgettable' OBSERVERA striking and memorable novel' MEG WOLITZERA stone-cold masterwork of psychological tension. Its final pages had me holding my breath' NEW YORK TIMESHila Blum is my new favourite writer' LOUISE KENNEDY-------------------------------------------What damage do we do in the blindness of love?Thousands of miles from her home, a woman stands on a dark street, peeking through well-lit windows at two little girls. They are the daughters of her only daughter, the grandchildren she's never met.At the centre of this mesmerising story is the woman's quest to understand how a relationship that began in bliss a mother besotted with her only child arrived at a point of such unfathomable distance. Weaving back and forth in time, she unravels

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Book SynopsisRiotously original ... A triumph' NEW YORK TIMESA journey unlike any you''ve read before' NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAHHer most profound book yet ... Surreal, hysterical and beguiling in every sense' GLAMOURThe most profound book yet from the visionary author of Milk Fed and The Pisces, a darkly funny novel about grief that becomes a desert survival story.A woman arrives alone at a Best Western seeking respite from an emptiness that plagues her. She has fled to the California high desert to escape a cloud of sorrow for both her father in the ICU and a husband whose illness is worsening. What the motel provides, however, is not peace but a path, thanks to a receptionist who recommends a nearby hike.Out on the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape mean it should not exist in California. Yet the cactus is there, with a gash th

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Book Synopsis''Sharp and funny and humane ... Brydie skewers everyone equally, but always with empathy, warmth and wit.'' Monica Heisey, author of Really Good, Actually''A novel that really nails the chaos, panic and joy of being young'' Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable''Captures twentysomething chaos ... Very funny'' THE TIMESA funny and tender twenty-first century story of family, friendship, and bisexual love and how getting it wrong is sometimes the only way to get it right.WHO IS ADA?With Sadie she's an Aussie girl in London, a performer, a ball of creativity and a lover of food.With Stuart she's funny and quirky, capable of finding romance in a dinner of crisps on a cold harbour and long train rides.With her family she's the joker, the peacekeeper, the entertainer.But she doesn't have to choose which versio

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Book SynopsisA warm, tender and funny story about unlikely friendships, second chances, and the magic of soul music *Selected as a book of 2024 by the Guardian and New Statesman**''A book of rare charm by a writer who understands the magic of music'' Ian Rankin''An entertaining tale of grit, fecklessness and Northern Soul'' Daily Telegraph''The book you didn''t know you need'' Bobby Palmer''A tale of soul music and second chances'' Guardian''The laureate of friendship, a chronicler of unexpected, transformative connection'' Wendy Erskine''A meditation on grief, love, and the redemptive power of music'' Observer____________________________________Dinah has always lived in Scarborough. Trapped with her feckless husband and useless son, her one release comes at her town's Northern Soul nights, where she gets to put on her best and lose herself in the

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Book Synopsis* THE TOP 10 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *''One of the finest contemporary novels I''ve read ... A moral masterpiece'' ANN PATCHETT''Her writing has a luminous kind of clarity, a grace and scope that fills me with wonder'' RACHEL JOYCE''Damning and dazzling ... The story of a Vietnam we never got in history class'' OPRAH DAILY-----------------You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives. 1963. Saigon. Tricia is a shy newlywed, married to a rising attorney working for US Navy intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a beauty and a bully. The two women form a wary alliance as they struggle to balance the pressure to be respectable wives for their ambitious husbands, with their own dubious impulses to do good for the people of Vietnam. Sixty years later, Charlene's daughter, spurred by an encounter with

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Book SynopsisThe exhilarating new novel from the author of Leave the World Behind the book of an era' (Independent)These characters, their money and their morality come together in an absolutely devastating thunderclap'KILEY REID, bestselling author of Come and Get ItA slow-burn tale of connivance and deceit with a knockout ending'OBSERVERMoney talks. But what if it lies?An ambitious young Black woman, plotting her way into the world of the one percent.An old white billionaire, facing his own extinction.He's attracted to her intelligence, her refusal to be deferential, maybe also her Blackness.She's drawn to his power and money and his apparent willingness to share both with her.But how far is each prepared to go to get what they think they deserve?Taut, unsettling, and alive to the seductive distortions of money, Entitlement is a biting tale for our new gilded a

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Book SynopsisA work of understated power, intelligence and not a little mischief' INDEPENDENTFunny, touching and profound' FINANCIAL TIMESAnother seemingly effortless Ford masterpiece' DAILY MAILA FRANK BASCOMBE COLLECTIONChristmas brings Frank Bascombe to the Default Period of his life. Now sixty-eight, Frank resides again in the New Jersey suburb of Haddam, and has thrived seemingly but not utterly amid the devastations of Hurricane Sandy, which has left countless lives unmoored, and is remarkably the perfect occasion for Ford and Bascombe to relay four Christmas stories.With a flawless comedic sensibility and unblinking intelligence, Ford ranges over the full complement of universal subjects: ageing, race, loss, faith, marriage, the real estate debacle the tumult of the world we live in.

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Book SynopsisMarvellously subtle, moving and funny' JOHN BANVILE, OBSERVERWonderfully written in every breath of every sentence' HERMIONE LEE, GUARDIANWistful, bittersweet and often very funny' DAILY TELEGRAPHA FRANK BASCOMBE NOVELIt is approaching Thanksgiving weekend and Frank Bascombe has arrived at a state of optimistic pragmatism that he calls the Permanent Period' of life. Epic mistakes have already been made, dreams downsized, and Frank reflects that now at least there are fewer opportunities left in life. But the tranquility he anticipated is not to be. In fact, as Thanksgiving dinner with his children and first wife nears, the Permanent Period proves as full of possibility as life has ever offered.Graceful, expansive and filled with pathos, The Lay of the Land is a modern American masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisThe best novel out of America in many years, a funny, achingly sad account of a father's disastrous outing with his son and much else besides Simply, a masterpiece' JOHN BANVILLE, GUARDIANA FRANK BASCOMBE NOVELIt is the Fourth of July weekend, and we meet Frank Bascombe in the throes of what he calls his Existence Period' selling real estate in New Jersey and mastering the high-wire act of normalcy. But as Independence Day arrives, Frank is called into a sudden, demanding engagement with his son and with his life. Independence Day is a moving, peerlessly funny odyssey through America and through the layered consciousness of one of its most compelling literary incarnations, conducted by a novelist of extraordinary empathy and perception. Independence Day is a book that leaves you feeling more uplifted, more consoled, than you did before reading it ... In Frank Bascombe, Ford has created a great American character

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Book SynopsisThe magnificent novel that propelled Richard Ford into the first rank of American writersMy name is Frank Bascombe. I am a sportswriter.It is Easter weekend and we are introduced for the first time to Frank Bascombe. On the surface Frank's life seems well set: he has a younger girlfriend and a job he adores as a sportswriter. To many men his age, thirty-eight, this would be a cause for optimism, yet Frank feels the pull of longing and the memory of his recent losses a career has ended,his wife has divorced him, and his elder son has died. In the course of Easter weekend, Frank will lose all the remnants of his familiar life, though he will emerge heroic with spirits aloft. With a mastery second to none, Richard Ford has created a character we know as well as our next-door neighbours. Frank Bascombe has earned himself a place beside Willy Loman and Harry Angstrom in our literary landscape' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

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Book SynopsisIn 1960s Apartheid South Africa, Black Lives did not matter. Black people were denied all basic freedoms including the right to advanced education. Most people know of South African surgeon, Christiaan Barnard, who carried out the very first successful heart transplant in the world. But very few people know the name of Hamilton Naki. Naki, an uneducated black gardener at Barnard's university, doubled up as his laboratory assistant and turned out to have a remarkable natural aptitude for surgery. Even fewer people know that Naki, not Barnard, carried out most of the numerous animal transplant experiments that came before the first human transplant and helped to develop its successful methodology. And sadly, a mere handful of people have heard of Denise Darville, whose tragic car crash made her our first heart donor. This fluent, moving novel documents the unlikely pairing of Barnard and Naki and their convergence with the short life of Denise – to change the future of heart surgery forever. An accurate story with a most original focus, it tells the revelatory truth behind a landmark achievement in modern surgery. It is a gripping and affecting novel simply written in a fluent voice of controlled indignation and compassion. This is a story of burning interest to a wide range of readers. Readers with scientific and political interests, black history, human rights, the general history of injustice throughout the world, will all be gripped by it.

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Book Synopsis'Through sharply drawn characters, Rossi achieves a clear-eyed and poignant view of a family in crisis' - Sydney Morning HeraldA fatal car crash. A young boy orphaned. Who should now become his parents?Nicholas and April are driving home from a party when their car crashes on an empty road high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As they lay on the roadside slowly dying, their four-year-old son, Jack, waits for them at home. In the days after their deaths, their grieving relatives begin to descend on the family home. There, they are forced to decide who will care for the child Nicholas and April left behind. Nicholas’s brother Nathaniel and his wife Stefanie aren’t ready to be parents, but Nicholas’s mother and father have issues of their own. And April’s mother Tammy is driving across the country to claim her grandson. Spanning a few traumatic days in the minds of each family member, Mountain Road, Late at Night, is a masterly portrait of grief, the pain of sudden loss and a family in utter crisis. Gripping, affecting and extremely accomplished, Alan Rossi's unforgettable debut asks one crucial question: what do you do when the worst happens?Trade ReviewAn extraordinary debut for an extraordinary new talent -- Frederick Barthelme, author of There Must Be Some Mistake Compassionate and profound, this is the kind of novel that puts even difficult things into perspective -- Isabel Costello, The Literary SofaThrough sharply drawn characters, Rossi achieves a clear-eyed and poignant view of a family in crisis * Sydney Morning Herald *Gripping * Happy Mag *A minor miracle . . . a deeply compelling novel -- David Shields, author of Salinger

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Book SynopsisTaking its title from the strangely frozen picture by the surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico, The Enigma of Arrival tells the story of a young Indian from the Caribbean arriving in post-imperial England and consciously, over many years, finding himself as a writer. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by Harvard Professor, Maya Jasanoff.The Enigma of Arrival is the story of a journey, from one place to another, from the British colony of Trinidad to the ancient countryside of England, and from one state of mind to another. Finding depth in the smallest moments – the death of a cottager, the firing of an estate’s gardener – V. S. Naipaul also comprehends the bigger picture, as the old world is lost and the English landscape is changed by the march of ‘progress’. This is a moving and beautiful novel told with great dignity, compassion and candour.Trade ReviewWritten with the expected beauty of style . . . Instead of diminishing life, Naipaul ennobles it -- Anthony BurgessThe conclusion is both heart-breaking and bracing: the only antidote to destruction – of dreams, of reality – is remembering. As eloquently as anyone now writing, Naipaul remembers * Times *A wonderful book . . . a magical book * Independent *

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Book Synopsis'Smart and funny' Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost ThingsThe first step was learning to read, but if she really wants to turn her life around, Maggsie is going to have to trust other people – and that might just be the hardest lesson she’s ever faced . . . Small and dyslexic, with a short fuse, bad teeth, a prison record and something to prove, Marguerite McNaughton – Maggsie – doesn't need anybody or anything, thank you very much. She's more than capable of looking after herself. She’s also about to discover that everyone needs someone, sometimes. Even her. The thing about trusting others, though, is that not everyone is trustworthy... It starts when a fellow inmate gives Maggsie reading lessons. Then she's offered a job in London as a kitchen assistant, together with supported accommodation and a colleague who seems determined to befriend Maggsie, no matter what.At first, Maggsie is convinced nothing will change. Especially her. But maybe this time can be different? Maybe Maggsie can be different – if she can just put her previous mistakes behind her and her trust in the right people. Maggsie McNaughton's Second Chance, by Frances Maynard, is an uplifting, heartwarming novel about the power of friendship and the written word, perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant, Three Things about Elsie and Elizabeth is Missing.Trade ReviewSmart and funny -- Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things and Queenie Malone's Paradise HotelGuaranteed to melt the hardest of hearts * Red Magazine *A joy from start to finish: quirky, real and moving, with unforgettable characters you’ll root for from the very beginning -- Katy Regan, author of Little Big LoveFinished Maggsie McNaughton's Second Chance and I feel bereft. A wonderful, uplifting read -- Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing GirlBig-hearted and charming -- James Hannah, author of The A to Z of You and Me, on The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira CarrWonderful -- Rosie Walsh, author of The Man Who Didn't Call, on The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr

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Book Synopsis'Smart and funny' – Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost ThingsThe first step was learning to read, but if she really wants to turn her life around, Maggsie is going to have to trust other people – and that might just be the hardest lesson she’s ever faced . . . Small and dyslexic, with a short fuse, bad teeth, a prison record and something to prove, Marguerite McNaughton – Maggsie – doesn't need anybody or anything, thank you very much. She's more than capable of looking after herself. She’s also about to discover that everyone needs someone, sometimes. Even her. The thing about trusting others, though, is that not everyone is trustworthy . . . It starts when a fellow inmate gives Maggsie reading lessons. Then she's offered a job in London as a kitchen assistant, together with supported accommodation and a colleague who seems determined to befriend Maggsie, no matter what.At first, Maggsie is convinced nothing will change. Especially her. But maybe this time can be different? Maybe Maggsie can be different – if she can just put her previous mistakes behind her and her trust in the right people. Maggsie McNaughton's Second Chance, by Frances Maynard, is an uplifting, heartwarming novel about the power of friendship and the written word, perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Home, Three Things about Elsie and Elizabeth is Missing.Trade ReviewSmart and funny -- Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things and Queenie Malone's Paradise HotelGuaranteed to melt the hardest of hearts * Red Magazine *A joy from start to finish: quirky, real and moving, with unforgettable characters you’ll root for from the very beginning -- Katy Regan, author of Little Big LoveFinished Maggsie McNaughton's Second Chance and I feel bereft. A wonderful, uplifting read -- Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing GirlBig-hearted and charming -- James Hannah, author of The A to Z of You and Me, on The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira CarrWonderful -- Rosie Walsh, author of The Man Who Didn't Call, on The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr

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Book Synopsis'A chilling read’ Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of My Sister, The Serial Killer'Gripping . . . wonderfully written' Guardian'Beautifully written and frighteningly honest' Sunday ExpressA mother moves to Geneva with her husband and their two young children. In their newly rented apartment, she is surrounded by everything she could possibly need to create a perfect family home. Her husband’s job means he is almost never present, and her entire world is caring for her children – making sure they are happy and fed and comfortable.But things aren’t perfect. Rather, they are unravelling, because the loneliness, the lack of sleep and the demands of two little ones are getting to this mother. She has never been so isolated, and once the children are in bed, the apartment itself begins to feel like a threat . . .Kyra Wilder’s Little Bandaged Days is a beautifully written, painfully claustrophobic story about a woman’s descent into madness. Unpredictable, frighteningly compelling and brutally honest, it grapples with the harsh conditions of motherhood and this mother’s own identity, and as the novel continues, we begin to wonder just what exactly she might be driven to do.Trade ReviewGripping, composed, observant, wonderfully written and extravagantly cruel * Guardian *Wilder artfully cranks up the tension, so you don't quite know when you begin to hold your breath. A chilling read -- Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of My Sister, The Serial KillerBreathtaking . . . a compelling tale of a woman’s slide into madness, all while living what seems to be the perfect life. Part metaphor for modern life, part lament for the lost wildness of life, this novel demonstrates both writing chops and deeper themes. Wilder is a writer to watch -- Rene Denfeld, author of The Child FinderI found it horribly seductive and almost read it through my fingers with a level of recognition and dread. Any mother of young children will recognise the fringes of the feelings evoked by such clear pellucid prose and startling imagery. It's a fantastically visceral and vivid account of the onset of madness set against the backdrop of a polite, middle-class setting: the mundane refracted through the hallucinatory -- Lesley Glaister, author of Little EgyptBeautifully written and frighteningly honest, this feverish debut delivers a brave appraisal of a woman's spiral into madness * Sunday Express *

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Book SynopsisSometimes a crisis can bring people together . . .Meredith White was one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces. But a personal tragedy cut her career short and alienated her from her family. For the last fifteen years, Meredith has shut herself away from the world, living in her San Francisco mansion.Then, on a late summer day, a devastating earthquake strikes, plunging the city into chaos. Without hesitation, Meredith invites her now homeless neighbours into her largely undamaged house as the recovery begins. From the respected doctor, to the beautiful young woman whose boyfriend views her as a rich man’s toy, to the brilliant concert pianist in his eighties, each has a story and a closely guarded secret that will slowly be revealed.Strangers become friends and relationships are forged as they support each other through not just the aftermath of the earthquake, but their own personal crises.As Meredith finds herself venturing back into the world she suddenly sees her isolation, her estranged family and even her career in a whole new light. And thanks to the suspicions of one of her new acquaintances, a shocking truth in her own life is exposed.Neighbours, by the world’s favourite storyteller Danielle Steel, is a novel of friendship, support, trust and love, and what it takes to bring people together.

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Book SynopsisAn extraordinary tale of family, difficult decisions and destiny, from the world's favourite storyteller, Danielle Steel.

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Book SynopsisSet in urban Manchester, Running Scared is a nerve-shredding thriller by bestselling author Mandasue Heller.When teenager Alexis ‘Lexi’ James falls out with her best mate Nicole over ‘bad boy’ Ryan King, it’s just the beginning of a chain of events that go from bad to worse to deadly.Returning home one night to her high-rise flat, she is faced by a terrifying scene that changes her life forever, and matters are made worse when she is put into care in another town.Years later, Lexi has left school and is back in Manchester. A chance meeting with Nicole and her so-called ‘other half’ Ryan ends in disaster, and she vows never to see them again. Then one night she is saved from a vicious attack by a charming stranger. He takes her home and their acquaintance blossoms into something much deeper.When her new man receives a call in the middle of the night and leaves in a hurry, she is horrified when he returns with someone she never thought she would see again. It soon becomes obvious that Lexi doesn’t know her new lover as well as she thought, and she is forced to make a decision that will have devastating results . . .'Heller doesn’t mince words, her gritty plots create a Manchester underworld to rival Martina Cole’s raw and rough East End – Peterborough Evening TelegraphTrade ReviewHeller doesn’t mince words; her gritty plots create a Manchester underworld to rival Martina Cole’s raw and rough East End * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *Mandasue has played a real blinder with this fantastic novel -- Martina Cole on Forget Me NotCaptivating from first page to last -- Jeffery Deaver on Lost Angel

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Book SynopsisSet in urban Manchester, Running Scared is a nerve-shredding thriller by bestselling author Mandasue Heller.When teenager Alexis ‘Lexi’ James falls out with her best mate Nicole over ‘bad boy’ Ryan King, it’s just the beginning of a chain of events that go from bad to worse to deadly.Returning home one night to her high-rise flat, she is faced by a terrifying scene that changes her life forever – and matters are made worse when she is put into care in another town.Years later, Lexi has left school and is back in Manchester. A chance meeting with Nicole and her so-called ‘other half’ Ryan ends in disaster, and she vows never to see them again. Then one night she is saved from a vicious attack by a charming stranger. He takes her home and their acquaintance blossoms into something much deeper.When her new man receives a call in the middle of the night and leaves in a hurry, she is horrified when he returns with someone she never thought she would see again. It soon becomes obvious that Lexi doesn’t know her new lover as well as she thought, and she is forced to make a decision that will have devastating results . . .Trade ReviewHeller doesn’t mince words; her gritty plots create a Manchester underworld to rival Martina Cole’s raw and rough East End * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *Mandasue has played a real blinder with this fantastic novel -- Martina Cole on Forget Me NotCaptivating from first page to last -- Jeffery Deaver on Lost Angel

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Book SynopsisFor fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel, comes a story about mothers, daughters and second chances . . . It’s 1981. Eleven-year-old Sadie adores her beautiful and vibrant mother, Connie, whose dreams of making it big as a singer fill their tiny house in Leeds. It’s always been just the two of them. Until the unthinkable happens. Jean hasn’t seen her good-for-nothing daughter Connie since she ran away from the family home in Harlow – or Pram Town as its inhabitants affectionately call it – aged seventeen and pregnant. But in the wake of the Royal Wedding, Jean gets a life-changing call: could she please come and collect the granddaughter she’s never met? We all know how Charles and Diana turned out, and Jean and Sadie are hardly a match made in heaven – but is there hope of a happy ending for them? Written in Joanna Nadin’s trademark dazzling prose, The Talk of Pram Town tells the story of three generations of Earnshaws and asks whether it always has to be like mother, like daughter . . .Trade ReviewAnother triumph . . . I absolutely loved it -- Kate Eberlen, author of Miss You and Only YouFabulous on mothers and daughters, guilt and ambition and what it means to be alienated from the life you’ve always known * Daily Mail *I adored The Talk Of Pram Town. A brilliantly written, emotional and honest novel set in Essex and Leeds about mothers and daughters, dreams and dark secrets. It pulled at my heartstrings and the characters stayed inside my head long after I had finished reading. Highly recommend this wonderful book. -- Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing Girl and The Hiding PlaceAn enchanting, heartfelt and nostalgic read -- Prima, on The Queen of Bloody Everything

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Book SynopsisFrom the green hilltops of Kampala, to the terraced houses of London, Neema Shah’s extraordinarily moving debut Kololo Hill explores what it means to leave your home behind, what it takes to start again, and the lengths some will go to protect their loved ones.'[An] incredible debut' Stylist'Shah is excellent on the theme of home . . . an absorbing storyteller' – Daily MailWhen you’re left with nothing but your secrets, how do you start again? Uganda 1972 A devastating decree is issued: all Ugandan Asians must leave the country in ninety days. They must take only what they can carry, give up their money and never return. For Asha and Pran, married a matter of months, it means abandoning the family business that Pran has worked so hard to save. For his mother, Jaya, it means saying goodbye to the house that has been her home for decades. But violence is escalating in Kampala, and people are disappearing. Will they all make it to safety in Britain and will they be given refuge if they do? And all the while, a terrible secret about the expulsion hangs over them, threatening to tear the family apart.Trade ReviewAn impressive, confident debut about family and survival, against the backdrop of a history that is not written about often enough. -- Nikesh ShuklaDevastatingly beautiful . . . every sentence is a revelation. -- Nikita Gill, author of The Girl and the GoddessThis is a novel about home, about belonging and exile; a compelling and complex insight into a recent past that still resonates. * Irish Times *Shah explores the chaos and fear of ordinary people’s lives during Amin’s rule, weaving personal stories of love and betrayal into heightening tension and violence . . . nail-biting. * Independent *Utterly heartbreaking and so moving . . . a thoughtful reflection on what home and belonging mean. -- Haleh Agar, author of Out of TouchA moving portrayal of a family uprooted from a life they have worked so hard for. At times devastating, I found myself gripped to this story rooted in our history yet scarily still relevant. -- Louise Hare, author of This Lovely CityKololo Hill offers a glimpse into a terrifying and fascinating period of history. Neema Shah evokes Amin’s Uganda and early 1970s suburban England with both nuance and a fresh and wonderful vivacity. This is a book with a huge amount of heart; I was entirely captured by the stories of Asha, Jaya and Vijay. Their dreams and dilemmas resonate with many of today’s key questions around culture, identity and the places – and people – we can each call ‘home’. -- Joanne Sefton, author of The Guilty FriendA searing, timely, and beautifully written tale of displacement, the meaning of home, and developing identity across generations. I loved it. -- Stephanie Scott, author of What’s Left Of Me Is Yours

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Book Synopsis‘One of the books of the year. Cunnell’s style is matchless: intimate, dark, sincere, wry and exquisitely beautiful’ – Irish Times‘A cracking, urgent page-turner of a novel’ – ObserverThe painter Terry Godden was on the brink of his first success. After a violent crisis, he finds himself outcast.In his fifties, and with little money, he retreats to a small island. Arriving in the winter, the island at first seems a desolate and forgotten place. As the seasons turn, Terry begins to see the island’s beauty, and discovers that he is only one of many people who have sought refuge here. These independent outsiders, all with their own considerable struggles, have made a precarious home.The island is owned by the business man and art collector Alex Kaplan. His decision to enforce a rent increase as he seeks to improve his property looks set to destroy this community that cannot afford to lose the little they have left. As an artist, Terry believes making the invisible struggles of the island visible to the world will help – but will his interference save anybody other than himself?The Painter’s Friend shows the human cost of gentrification for those dispossessed. The novel also explores the role of art in protest, and asks who gets to be an artist and what they owe in return. Written with visual lyricism and driven clarity, Howard Cunnell’s incendiary story about class and resistance builds to an unforgettable climax. It is an urgent novel for our unjust times.‘I loved it. Cunnell’s writing has an unforgettable visual and moral clarity’ – Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the BarleyTrade ReviewI loved it. Cunnell’s writing has an unforgettable visual and moral clarity -- Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the BarleyHis finest and most important work to date -- Cathi Unsworth, author of WeirdoCunnell’s prose is elegantly punchy . . . The valour of his fight is revealed in a story of what can happen when truth is considered idealism and collides with the predatory designs of a property developer. A fine book -- John Healy, author of The Grass ArenaLoving in its exploration of creative survival and loss of human habitat. Every fleck and dab of verbal pigment rewards the eye and enriches the design -- Adam Mars-Jones, author of Box HillBrilliantly plotted and the final act knocked me sideways. Huge themes told through the personal stories of very real people. It was a delight and revelation to read -- David Morrissey, actorA novel of muscular, dark prose with more than a little compassion for damaged lives. I loved it -- Ned Boulting, author of On the Road BikeIt’s a timely novel, but it also seems to wear its big issues lightly. The particularity and peculiarity of the setting and cast really brought it to life and gripped me -- Sara Baume, author of spill simmer falter wither

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Book Synopsis'A truly moving, uplifting story about love, connection and finding the courage to start over' - Rowan Coleman'The perfect holiday read' - Josie LLoydWhat are you most afraid of . . . ?Gemma is terrified of slowing down, because if she does, she’ll have to admit how lonely she’s felt since losing the love of her life. So she fills her days with work and taking her dog, Bear, to comfort young patients at the local hospital. That's enough, isn't it?Dan is scared of anyone getting to know the real him. He’s the life and soul of every party, but he’s certain that if people find out what he’s done, everything will fall apart.Casey is Dan’s twelve year old daughter – though they barely know each other. She’s starting four weeks of treatment for a benign tumour, and is scared this summer could be her last.When Gemma, Dan and Casey meet one scorching July, the connection is instant. Yet they’re all used to protecting themselves from heartbreak by keeping their distance. Now that fate – and a small, scruffy terrier – have brought them together, can they find the courage to connect?A story of bravery in all its guises, Eva Carter's Owner of A Lonely Heart is about taking the plunge even when it frightens you – because it's never too late to find the people who make your world make sense.'Sensitively and beautifully written. This is a book that will stay with you after the last page is turned' - Milly Johnson Trade ReviewHeartwarming, immersive and hopeful . . . A beautiful read -- Julie CohenA truly moving, uplifting story about love, connection and finding the courage to start over -- Rowan ColemanHeartwarming and full of insight, this book will lift your spirits and make you smile -- Katie FfordeThe perfect holiday read - wonderfully plausible characters, dark secrets and a fabulously teased-out love story. When I got to the end, I gave it a hug -- Josie LloydA gorgeous novel about messy, scary, wonderful love in all its forms -- Katy ReganSensitively and beautifully written. This is a book that will stay with you long after the last page is turned -- Milly JohnsonOne of the most beautiful books of the year. Brilliant * The Sun *'I adored this incredibly moving and touching tale, with an unlikely hero who will steal your heart. Deeply emotional but with a light touch, this should be the love story of summer 2022 - an absolute delight.’ -- Veronica Henry'Eva Carter has done it again. The perfect book to relax, unwind and warm up your heart.' -- Suzy K Quinn

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Book SynopsisA Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and an instant New York Times bestseller'One of the most riveting books I've read in a long time' - Louise Candlish, author of Our House'Marple meets Succession' – Sunday Times StyleFor fans of The White Lotus and Big Little Lies, Ellery Lloyd's The Club is an exhilarating, addictive read, telling a story of ambition, excess, and what happens when people who have everything - or nothing - to lose are pushed to their limit.There’s no place like Home . . .The Home Group is a collection of ultra-exclusive private members' clubs and a global phenomenon. So the opening of its most ambitious project yet – Island Home, a forgotten island transformed into the height of luxury – is billed as the celebrity event of the decade.But as the first guests arrive, the weekend soon proves deadly. It turns out that even the most beautiful people can keep the ugliest secrets and, in a world where reputation is everything, they'll do anything to keep them.If your name's on the list, you're not getting out . . .'Smart, topical and immensely entertaining' - T.M. Logan, author of The Holiday'Glitzy and twisty and tons of fun' – ObserverTrade ReviewSuper-clever, silky smooth and brilliantly wicked, The Club is a triumph and a treat – one of the most riveting books I've read in a long time. Five stars from me -- Louise Candlish, author of Our HouseMarple meets Succession -- Sunday Times StyleSmart, topical and immensely entertaining – this members-only club is going to be VERY popular in 2022 -- T.M. Logan, author of The HolidayThe Club is something very different: a super glamorous locked-room (locked island, really) murder mystery . . . Glitzy and twisty, it’s tons of fun * Observer *Loved it. A razor sharp satire on the uber-elite that ramps up the revelations to a deeply satisfying reckoning -- Harriet Tyce, author of Blood OrangeYou're in for a treat . . . A smart take on celeb culture, this twisty murder mystery ticks all the right boxes * Heat *A shamelessly juicy read about murder and the dirty secrets of the rich, beautiful and famous * Daily Mail *A smart and savage thriller that goes straight for the jugular. Think Agatha Christie with a Soho House Membership card * Cosmopolitan *Another corker from Ellery Lloyd – great fun, keeps you guessing, fantastic insight into private members’ clubs. Loved it -- Jane Fallon, author of Worst Idea EverA smart murder mystery -- ElleA fun, fast-paced thriller * Fabulous Magazine (The Sun) *Readers will gobble up the scuttlebutt and scandalous behaviour with glee * Sunday Times *Gripped from the first page, this is a book to cancel plans for * Closer *Dark, clever, addictive and outrageously entertaining -- Charlotte Philby, author of The Second WomanA deliciously dark murder mystery and glimpse of the A-list life -- C.D. Major, author of The Thin PlaceA twisty, timely, take on the classic murder mystery . . . Entertaining, compelling and just great fun - White Lotus and Succession fans will love it -- Holly Watt, author of The Hunt & The KillThis year’s must-read thriller . . . Shut yourself in, mute your phone and devour this whole -- Celia Walden, author of PaydayYou’ll need to keep your wits about you as you enter The Club . . . This had me second-guessing all the way through and I didn’t come up for air until I got to the end -- Sandie Jones, author of The Other WomanA twisty, fresh take on the suspenseful thriller * Woman's Weekly *Every bit as addictive as People Like Her, The Club has it all - celebrities, secrets, intrigue and razor sharp observations -- Charlotte Northedge, author of The House GuestA wholly addictive thriller, a clever blend of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and murder. A page turner from start to finish -- Samantha Downing, bestselling author of My Lovely Wife and For Your Own GoodI was absolutely hooked. Packed with rich, delightful and despicable characters, it's Heat magazine as written by Agatha Christie -- John Marrs, author of The OneIf you like your books full of ambition, greed, revenge, and playing the long game, this is one for you * Belfast Telegraph *This summer’s must-read thriller . . . Guaranteed to keep you gripped from start to finish * Eastlife *A tantalising psychological portrait of what makes celebs tick * Daily Mail *

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