Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisAt once a hilarious social commentary and an insightful, sophisticated modern romance, A Big Storm Knocked It Over stands as a living tribute to one of contemporary fiction''s most original and beloved voices.In her late thirties, book designer Jane Louise Parker has just married a man whose native decency leaves her almost breathless at her good fortune. After the wedding, she returns to work at a small publishing house whose finances are in disarray. But Jane Louise still has difficulty thinking of herself as a grown-up. Alongside her best friend, Edie, Jane Louise patiently waits to become pregnant, wondering if a baby will provide a sense of rootedness that still seems to elude her. And when that longed-for child arrives, it transforms the Parkers'' lives in a way that is as unexpected as it is rapturous.A novel about trying to find a place in the world from the ultimate chronicler of the human heart, A Big Storm Knocked it Over offers a comic love story for overthinkers.A W&N Essential

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Book SynopsisThis collection of stories about love and privacy is serious, funny, tender, and alive with the elegance and spirit that characterise Laurie Colwin''s work.In these stories, the reader moves among young men and women: pianists, historians, book illustrators, architects; women who are composed and inimitably sassy; and men who are magnetic, adventurous in love, or fiendishly elusive. They are people who are experiencing, often for the first time, the starting, enriching, and maddening complications of adult life.Humorous, tender, and moving, The Lone Pilgrim is the work of a master of the short story form.A W&N Essential

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Book Synopsis''A skilful and lasting achievement, with all the elements of a perfect Christmas tale'' THE TIMESHidden in the corner of a dusty old bookshop, Joachim discovers a handmade advent calendar and begs his father to let him take it home. The next morning, when he opens the calendar''s first door, out falls a tightly folded piece of paper: the first instalment of a magical story about a young girl named Elisabet. Little by little these pieces tell the girl''s story, and as we learn what happened to her, another story is revealed - that of the strange old man who made the calendar.From beloved Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder, this enchanting Christmas classic weaves together magic and miracles.

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Book SynopsisIn this uplifting holiday novel from New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels, four women travel to Italy for a Christmas to remember . . .Christmas is filled with beloved and long-kept traditions, but sometimes, there’s nothing better than creating brand-new ones. That’s why Francesca and her high school friends Amy, Rachael, and Nina are traveling to Italy to spend the holidays with Frankie’s boyfriend, Giovanni, and his family.Giovanni and his brother, Marco, run a small Italian restaurant in Manhattan, where cherished family recipes delight tourists and locals alike. But there’s one recipe that eludes the brothers. Their mama refuses to divulge the secret behind her coveted panettone, claiming it is “Santa’s secret.”While Frankie joins Giovanni and Marco in the kitchen, hoping to uncover the mystery of Mrs. Lombardi’s mouthwatering panettone, Amy, Nina, and Rachael are on their own quests. Amy wants to see the sights, Nina needs career inspiration, and Rachael longs to meet some eligible Italian men.Can one trip provide the answers everyone seeks? With a stunning Italian backdrop and a sprinkling of holiday magic in the mix, there may be all kinds of sweet surprises in store . . .

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Book SynopsisAn extraordinary literary novel, this is prize-winning author Emily Perkins's greatest work to date

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Book SynopsisA darkly gripping story from a prize-winning author

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Book SynopsisA BEAUTIFUL NEW EDITION OF THE BELOVED, CLASSIC NOVELTherese is just an ordinary sales assistant working in a New York department store when a beautiful, alluring woman in her thirties walks up to her counter. Standing there, Therese is wholly unprepared for the first shock of love. Therese is an awkward nineteen-year-old with a job she hates and a boyfriend she doesn''t love; Carol is a sophisticated, bored suburban housewife in the throes of a divorce and a custody battle for her only daughter. As Therese becomes irresistibly drawn into Carol''s world, she soon realizes how much they both stand to lose...First published pseudonymously in 1952 as The Price of Salt, Carol is a hauntingly atmospheric love story set against the backdrop of fifties'' New York.

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Book Synopsis**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**OVER 1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDEBBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICKOVER 60,000 5 STAR REVIEWSGOOD HOUSEKEEPING BEST BOOKS OF 2022GLAMOUR BEST BOOKS OF 2022''Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut. . . . Memorable and tender.'' Washington Post ''Full of heart and humour . . . I loved it.'' Ruth Hogan''Will stay with you for a long time.'' Anstey Harris''I defy you to put it down once you've started'' Cynthia D''Aprix SweeneyAfter Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope. One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who sees everything, but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late...Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.''You won't be able to put it down because when you're not reading this book you'll be hugging it.'' Jamie Ford''Truly original and touching'' Helen HoangREADER REVIEWS''I couldn''t put it down'' ''Marvelous, heartwarming, brilliant''''I enjoyed every second''''I was gripped from the first page'' Read it, there''s no way you won''t fall in love with Marcellus the octopus!' Goodness me, what a unique and wonderful book.'

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Book Synopsis ***The brand-new festive cosy mystery in the Kitt Hartley series - pre-order now!***While making merry at the York Christmas Book Fair, Kitt Hartley finds herself drawn into a murder mystery with a festive twist. The victim is Leonard Bell, a festival volunteer who suddenly drops dead during his performance of A Christmas Carol.The next day, police identify the cause of death as an unknown toxin. Fearing for his own life, Bell''s lab partner Kevin Ripley enlists Kitt''s help to track down the killer - before it''s too late. As Kitt and her team begin to investigate the poisoning, they uncover a twisting web of long-held grudges and stolen antidotes. But even with surprise help from some very old friends, can Kitt unravel the truth? Or will the invisible assassin escape unpunished?Cosy up to enjoy this new Kitt Hartley murder mystery starring some surprise bookish guests, set at the most wonderful time of the year.Readers love the Kitt Hartley Mysteries:''What a fantastic, enthralling read'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''A well-crafted, satisfying mystery'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''Perfect for winter months besides the fire'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''I loved it. I know you will, too'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''I couldn''t put this book down'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐''Absolutely loved it'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Book SynopsisSalman Rushdie is the author of sixteen novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.

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Book SynopsisSurvive! Survive! transports readers to September 1935, to glorious, tragic times in the colourful company of Ti-Lou and the Duchess Édouard, whose sparkling exchanges hide indissoluble pain; to sombre, twilight times with Victoire and Télesphore at the bottom of the ruelle des Fortifications, and between Josaphat and Laura Cadieux, his ill-fated daughter who wants at all costs to find her mother, Imelda Beausoleil. How to survive? they all ask, inextricably caught in life's cycle of lost illusions and forgotten dreams. Even as this chronicle of resilience dwells in the difficulties and disenchantments of ordinary life, it reveals existences that accommodate a happiness that passes always too fast and almost too late.The series closes with Misery's Progress, whose action unfolds in August 1941, when the families of Nana and Gabriel unhappily cram together in a new apartment. Nana, inconsolable after the loss of her two eldest children to tuberculosis, is forced to live with Victoire and Édouard, as well as with Albertine, her husband Paul, and their children, Thérèse and baby Marcel. Outside this unbearably crowded household, war rages and rationing deprives everyone of basic necessities. These characters don't know what readers of Tremblay do: that in a year, in May 1942, Nana the Fat Woman Next Door seven months pregnant, will open the fabulous Chronicles of the Plateau-Mont-Royal

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Book SynopsisJanet Evanovich takes readers on a global hunt to track down missing masterpieces in this action-packed and steamy sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller The Recovery Agent.Gabriela Rose, recovery agent extraordinaire, can find just about anything. Too bad she can''t seem to lose her gorgeous-but-infuriating ex-husband Rafer Jones. And now he needs her help. His cousin, Harley, is in trouble . . . big trouble.As the president of a too-big-to-fail bank, he invested an astronomical amount of money in insuring some of the world''s most priceless artifacts at the urging of his board. It seemed like a low-risk, high-reward business move, so he jumped in with both feet. But recently, these insured pieces started going missing and worse, there''s no paper trail of Harley being directed to make these risky investments. Unless the artwork can be recovered soon, it looks like Harley is going to be heading to jail as the fall guy for an ingenious c

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