Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisNow a major TV seriesWinner of the Man Booker PrizeThe second book in Hilary Mantel's award-winning Wolf Hall trilogy, with a stunning new cover design to celebrate the publication of the much anticipated The Mirror and the LightAn astounding literary accomplishment, Bring Up the Bodies is the story of this most terrifying moment of history, by one of our greatest living novelists.Our most brilliant English writer' GuardianBring Up the Bodies unlocks the darkly glittering court of Henry VIII, where Thomas Cromwell is now chief minister. With Henry captivated by plain Jane Seymour and rumours of Anne Boleyn''s faithlessness whispered by all, Cromwell knows what he must do to secure his position. But the bloody theatre of the queen''s final days will leave no one unscathed.A great novel of dark and dirty passions, public and private. A truly great story' Financial TimesIn another league. This ongoing story of Henry VIII's right-hand man is the finest piece of historical fiction I have ever read' Sunday TelegraphTrade Review‘This is a bloody story about the death of Anne Boleyn, but Hilary Mantel is a writer who thinks through the blood. She uses her power of prose to create moral ambiguity and the real uncertainty of political life … She has recast the most essential period of our modern English history; we have the greatest modern English prose writer reviving possibly one of the best known pieces of English history’ Sir Peter Stothard, Chair of the judges for the Man Booker Prize 2012 ‘Simply exceptional … I envy anyone who hasn’t yet read it’ Sandra Parsons, Daily Mail ‘In another league. This ongoing story of Henry VIII’s right-hand man is the finest piece of historical fiction I have ever read. A staggering achievement’ Sarah Crompton, Sunday Telegraph ‘Succeeds brilliantly in every particle … it’s an imaginative achievement to exhaust superlatives’ Spectator ‘Wolf Hall was a tour de force, but its sequel is leaner, more brilliant, more shocking than its predecessor’ Erica Wagner, The Times ‘Picks up the body parts where Wolf Hall left off … literary invention does not fail her: she's as deft and verbally adroit as ever’ Margaret Atwood, Guardian ‘Mantel in the voice of Cromwell is inspired. When she is in full flow as a novelist, creating scenes and inventing dialogue, she is more convincing than rendering a recorded scene from history’ Philippa Gregory, Sunday Express ‘Don’t think you can start this book whenever you feel like it – plan ahead, as, once started, it’s impossible to escape its grip, and until it’s finished, you won’t get any sleep’ Country Life

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Book Synopsis WINNER OF THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2018 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION, THE WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITING 2018 & FRANCE'S PRIX LITTÉRATURE MONDE (2019) Winter is closing in and Ireland is in the grip of famine. Early one October morning, Grace's mother snatches her from sleep, brutally cuts her hair and tells her: ‘You are the strong one now.’ Her mother fits her up in men's clothes and casts her out, as she is no longer safe at home. With her younger brother Colly in tow, she sets off on a remarkable journey against the looming shadow of her country's darkest hour.Trade Review‘The Irish writer’s third novel raises timeless questions about suffering and survival through the story of two children expelled from their impoverished home in the midst of the Great Famine. When you’re starving, Lynch seems to be asking, are you truly alive?’ Editors' Choice, The New York Times Book Review‘This book is one of the most beautiful I have read in a long time. Heart wrenching and so moving, with language that makes your soul sing.’ Caitriona Balfe, actress and star of Outlander‘A profound and unusual coming-of-age story.’ The Sunday Times‘A shudderingly well written, dead-real, hallucinatory trip across Famine Ireland.’ Emma Donoghue, author of Room‘Haunting and poetic… Lynch has given us poignant glimpses of the human body’s limits, that peculiar messiness of identity, and what happens when parts of a society fail to help, or even acknowledge, those in need.’ Irish Times‘Lynch is frighteningly skilled...searing images into the mind and forcing you to press carefully through sentences as if they are strips of long grass.’ Sunday Independent, (Dublin)‘Lynch…has a particular gift for finding the unexpected yet compelling image that conveys the anomalous nature of this otherworld…. [The] poetic prose is at deliberate odds with the stark horror it depicts, and yet the four blank, black pages at the terrible climax of Grace’s journey are as eloquent as anything else on the unspeakable tragedy of the Famine.’ TLS‘Lynch brilliantly conveys the rabid effects of the famine on his characters…and he offers us a worthy heroine to guide us through it.’ Irish Examiner‘A literary beauty… It is the saddest, heaviest, most beautiful, lyrical [novel], one of the most stunning books I’ve read in recent times. I would urge you to read it.’ Ryan Tubridy, The Tubridy Show, RTE‘An epic tale of endurance, which in Lynch's deft hands is harrowing and simultaneously starkly beautiful.’ Esquire, (Best Books of 2017 So Far)‘When you finish, you feel like saying "wow". Under your breath perhaps, but do not be hard on yourself if you shout it out, because this is a work of staggering beauty and deep insight.’ Sydney Morning Herald‘Lynch’s wonderful third novel follows a teenage girl through impoverished Ireland at the height of the Great Famine…Lynch’s powerful, inventive language intensifies the poignancy of the woe that characterizes this world of have-nothings struggling to survive.’ Publishers Weekly, (starred review)‘A beautifully written novel, with a haunting story and deep echoes of the Ancients.’ Edna O’Brien, author of The Country Girls‘Lynch makes the page sing like the old masters.’ Philipp Meyer, author of The Son ‘The power of Paul Lynch's imagination is truly startling; his ability to inhabit and deeply understand the moments, both slight and shattering, of a life and of an era translates into an instinct not just for story, but for the most hidden, most forceful currents of language and what they can do.’ Belinda McKeon, author of Tender'As a writer, Lynch is sui generis. His style is bold, grandiose, mesmeric. He strives for large effects, wrestles with big ideas... Lynch has been compared to greats such as Cormac McCarthy, Faulkner and Beckett, while others have located him in the Irish gothic tradition of Stoker and le Fanu.' The Sunday Times (Ireland)‘A work of great lyricism. Its beautiful prose is put to devastating effect in his vivid story of the Irish potato famine, which killed at least a million people... Lynch’s narrative gripped us from the start and never let us go. It haunted the judges long after the final line.’ The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction Judges‘A mesmerizing, incandescent work of art... An exhilarating, Odyssean, heartpounding, glorious story, wrought by a novelist with the eye and the ear and the heart of an absolute master.’ Donal Ryan, Booker-nominated author of The Spinning Heart‘Lynch never shies away from the subject matter—the impossibly gruelling winters Grace faces, the people she meets and can never trust, the heartbreak of losing a family member... In Lynch’s deft hands I found myself enthralled as Grace cuts herself a path through a forbidding world.’ Johanna Zwirner, The Paris Review‘It’s not just style that makes this an unforgettable book. Its heroine, 14-year-old Grace, may not have much to say for herself, but her younger brother, Colly, is a gleefully riddling, smutty delight. Gradually [the book] becomes a darker book as hunger eats away at humanity — and the darker it gets, the more [Lynch’s] unerring gifts are confirmed.’ Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisJohn Boyne is the author of nineteen novels for adults, six for younger readers, a picture book and a collection of short stories. His 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet, and opera. His many international bestsellers include The Heart's Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky. He has won four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year in 2022, along with a host of other international literary prizes. His novels are published in sixty languages.Twitter: @JohnBoyneBooksInstagram: @JohnBoyneAuthorTrade ReviewAn urgently compelling story of power, corruption, lies and self-deceits, the damage that happens when we turn our eyes from wrong. Anyone who wants to know what happened in the Irish Catholic Church needs to read this brave, righteously angry and stunning book. Some of us have long wondered what it would be like if a master storyteller turned his powers to this theme. Now we know. -- Joseph O'ConnorJohn Boyne has plunged into the dark and troubled history of the Catholic Church in our time and come up with a novel to treasure. Unflinching, moving and true * John Banville *The complex architecture of this haunting novel is seamlessly constructed. The path to the priesthood that Odran Yates follows is both understandable and sympathetic. And Father Yates is a good man; he is innocent of the false accusations made against him (he's not a pedophile). But as this author accomplished, so masterfully, in The Absolutist, John Boyne has created a character who holds himself accountable -- in the case of Father Yates, for the sins of others. No writer today handles guilt with as much depth and sadness as John Boyne. As Father Yates takes himself to task for all he didn't do, no less than the sexual duplicity and cover-ups of the Catholic Church are indicted. This is John Boyne's most important novel, and of vital importance to Irish history; it is also a gripping story, one no reader can put down until its devastating ending. -- John IrvingGripping, harrowing and extremely moving...A painfully page-turning read...A vividly three-dimensional dissection of bothe the priesthood and the larger cultural malaise of Ireland -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *Beautifully and powerfully written, with an undercurrent of passion, A History of Loneliness is aptly titled. A portrait of one if those individuals we imagine we know -- but have not a clue of his depths. -- Joyce Carol Oates

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Book SynopsisThe idyllic small town of Haven, Maine, encounters a deadly evil in this classic King bestseller - now with a stunning new cover look.Coming back to the little community is like walking into a nightmare for Jim Gardener, poet, drunk, potential suicide.It all looks the same, the house, the furniture, Jim''s friend Bobbi, her beagle (though ageing), even the woods out at the back.But it was in the woods that Bobbi stumbled over the odd, part-buried object and felt a peculiar tingle as she brushed the soft earth away.Everything is familiar. But everything is about to change.Trade ReviewA writer of excellence...King is one of the most fertile storytellers of the modern novel...brilliantly done * The Sunday Times *Splendid entertainment...Stephen King is one of those natural storytellers...getting hooked is easy * Frances Fyfield, Express *King's imagination is vast . . . one of the great storytellers of our time * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisAccused of mocking the inviolate codes of Islam, the Persian poet and sage Omar Khayyam fortuitously finds sympathy with the very man who is to judge his alleged crimes. Recognising genuis, the judge decides to spare him and gives him instead a small, blank book, encouraging him to confine his thoughts to it alone. Thus beginds the seamless blend of fact and fiction that is Samarkand. Vividly re-creating the history of the manuscript of the Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, Amin Maalouf spans continents and centuries with breathtaking vision: the dusky exoticism of 11th-century Persia, with its poetesses and assassins; the same country's struggles nine hundred years later, seen through the eyes of an American academic obsessed with finding the original manuscript ; and the fated maiden voyage of the Titanic, whose tragedy led to the Rubaiyaat's final resting place - all are brought to life with keen assurance by this gifted and award-winning writer. -- Back cover.Trade ReviewMaalouf has written an extraordinary book, describing the lives and times of people who have never appeared in fiction before and are unlikely to do so again. The book is far more than a simple historical novel; like the intricate embroidery of an oriental carpet it weaves back and forth through the centuries, linking the poetry, philosophy and passion of the Sufi past with modernism * Ahmed Rashid, Independent *Maalouf's descriptions of the courts, the bazaar, the lives of mystics, kings and lovers are woven into an evocative and languid prose...and extraordinary book * INDEPENDENT *An example of the best type of historical fiction * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Maalouf's fiction offers both a model for the future and a caution, a way towards cultural understanding and a appalling measure of the consequences of failure. His is a voice which Europe cannot afford to ignore. * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe major and stunning new novel about wartime espionage from bestselling author William BoydTrade Review'Boyd is English fiction's master storyteller ... Restless is that rare thing: a spy thriller from a first-rate narrative intelligence' Independent on Sunday 'Fast moving, densely plotted, beautifully observed and probably one of the best things Boyd has done' Esquire 'A good, rollicking read ... pulls you deep in to the obscure, forgotten intricacies of wartime espionage ... will keep you turning pages until the end' Observer 'Heart-stoppingly exciting ... a riveting tale of wartime derring-do' Time Out

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Book SynopsisFrom Booker-shortlisted author Elif Shafak, Honour is a gripping tale of love, betrayal and clashing cultures.''My mother died twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten''Pembe and Adem Toprak leave Turkey for London. There they make new lives for their family. Yet the traditions and beliefs of their home come with them - carried in the blood of their children, Iskender and Esma. Trapped by past mistakes, the Toprak children find their lives torn apart and transformed by a brutal and chilling crime.Set in Turkey and London in the 1970s, Honour explores pain and loss, loyalty and betrayal, the clash of tradition and modernity, as well as the love and heartbreak that can tear any family apart.''One of the best writers in the world today'' Hanif Kureishi''Vivid storytelling... that explores the darkest aspects of faith and love'' Sunday Telegraph *** ELIF SHAFAK''S NTrade ReviewA powerful book; thoughtful, provoking and compassionate * Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat *Fascinating and gripping - a wonderful novel * Rosamund Lupton, author of Sister *Elif Shafak has woven with masterful care and compassion one immigrant family's heartbreaking story - a story nurtured in the terrible silences between men and women * Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress *Honour is a powerful tale of family connection and heartbreak, offering us insight and delight in equal measure . . . an exquisite and deep rendering of the fullness of life. * Aurelie Sheehan, author of The Anxiety of Everyday Objects *[Elif Shafak] joins writers such as Hanif Kureishi, Zadie Smith, Monica Ali, Aamer Hussein, Andrea Levy, Hanan al-Shakyh and Leila Aboulela, who offer us fictional glimpses of London's Others * The Independent *An honour killing is at the centre of this stunning novel . . . Exotic, evocative and utterly gripping * The Times *Lushly and memorably magic-realist . . . This is an extraordinarily skilfully crafted and ambitious narrative * The Independent *Shafak treats an important, absorbing subject in a fast-paced, internationally familiar style that will make it accessible to a wide readership * Sunday Times *Compelling -- Mariella Frostrup

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZESUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERFrom the acclaimed author of Swing Time, White Teeth and Grand Union, discover a brilliantly funny and deeply moving story about love and familyWhy do we fall in love with the people we do? Why do we visit our mistakes on our children? What makes life truly beautiful?Set between New England and London, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions - both personal and political - of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.''I didn''t want to finish, I was enjoying it so much'' Evening Standard''Thrums with intellectual sass and know-how'' Literary Review''Filled with humour, generosity and contemporary sparkle'' Daily Telegraph ''Satirical, wise and sexy'' Washington PostTrade ReviewThe tale of a mixed-race British American family in conflict with another family of opposing sensibilities. As with all Smith's work, it's smart, funny and a masterclass in the complexities of identity -- Luan Goldie * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA No. 1 New York Times bestseller and winner of the 1986 Locus Award for Best Collection, SKELETON CREW is a classic collection of riveting stories from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time, now with a stunning new cover look.Features ''The Mist'', adapted into both a feature film directed by Frank Darabont and a 2017 Netflix series.Hold tight. We are going into a number of dark places, but I think I know the way. Just don''t let go of my arm . . . Unrivalled master of suspense Stephen King takes the unsuspecting reader on a fantastic journey through the dark shadows of our innermost fears. Do the dead sing? In this bumper collection of chilling tales, we meet: a woman who has never crossed The Reach, the water dividing her from the mainland; a gramma who only wants to hug little George, even after she is dead; an innocent looking toy with sinister powers; and a primeval sea creature with an insTrade ReviewLiable to leave the reader in a state of shock * Sunday Telegraph *Deliciously scary * Cosmopolitan *As a storyteller King is unbeatable * Mirror *A fabulous teller of stories * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisYoshiro thinks he might never die. A hundred years old and counting, he is one of Japan's many 'old-elderly'; men and women who remember a time before the air and the sea were poisoned, before terrible catastrophe promted Japan to shut itself off from the rest of the world. He may live for decades yet, but he knows his beloved great-grandson - born frail and prone to sickness - might not survive to adulthood. Day after day, it takes all of Yoshiro's sagacity to keep Mumei alive. As hopes for Japan's youngest generation fade, a secretive organisation embarks on an audacious plan to find a cure - might Yoshiro's great-grandson be the key to saving the last children of Tokyo?Trade ReviewA mini-epic of eco-terror, family drama and speculative fiction... a book unlike any other * Guardian *An open-hearted fable... Tawada's uber-isolationist neo-Japan is much less cute than Wes Anderson's. It's also much, much funnier * Financial Times *The Last Children of Tokyo has a recessive, lunar beauty... Arresting, with a flickering brilliance -- Parul Sehgal * International New York Times *Unsettling and enchanting, gentle and sharp-edged. Tawada writes beautifully about unbearable things -- Sara Baume, author of * A Line Made by Walking *One of the most thorough and convincingly conceived worlds I have read. The Last Children of Tokyo shows a land tottering on the brink of disaster but it is also a joyful exploration of language, a constantly surprising and exciting romp -- Daisy Johnson, author of * Fen *The Last Children of Tokyo carries us beyond the limits of what is it is to be human, in order to remind us of what we must hold dearest in our conflicted world, our humanity -- Sjón, author of * From the Mouth of the Whale *A convincing world-narrative that weaves together the beliefs of ancient Shintoism and contemporary politics, where transmutation between animals has become the norm -- Fi Churchman * Art Review *Poetic, strange and melancholy, Tawada's nuanced language demonstrates a tenderness and refinement that subtly counterbalances the novella's bleak subject matter... impressive -- Bryan Karetynk * TLS *

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Book Synopsis''One of the most important American novels of the twentieth century'' The Times''It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves''Ralph Ellison''s blistering and impassioned first novel tells the extraordinary story of a man invisible ''simply because people refuse to see me''. Published in 1952 when American society was in the cusp of immense change, the powerfully depicted adventures of Ellison''s invisible man - from his expulsion from a Southern college to a terrifying Harlem race riot - go far beyond the story of one individual to give voice to the experience of an entire generation of black Americans.This edition includes Ralph Ellison''s introduction to the thirtieth anniversary edition of Invisible Man, a fascinating account of the novel''s seven-year gestation.With an Introduction by John F. Callahan''Brilliant'' Saul BellowTrade ReviewOne of the most important American novels of the twentieth century * Times *A brilliant individual victory . . . proving that a truly heroic quality can exist among our contemporaries -- Saul BellowA stunning block-buster of a book that will floor and flabbergast some people, bedevil and intrigue others, and keep everybody reading right through to its explosive end -- Langston HughesDon't try to write the Great American Novel, it has already been done . . . any US epic must address race, which remains the greatest single issue the country faces. -- Paul Gambaccini * The Week *

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Book SynopsisA spellbinding selection of short stories in the original Italian alongside their English translationsThis new dual-language edition of ten stories selected from The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories celebrates some of the very best twentieth-century literature from Italy. Each story appears in the original Italian alongside an expert English translation, providing unique cultural insight and literary inspiration for language learners. Ranging from a spellbinding tale of the supernatural to a powerful portrait of post-war Italy, this revelatory collection includes works from beloved authors, Italo Calvino, Fausta Cialente, Alba de Céspedes, Grazia Deledda, Natalia Ginzburg, Elsa Morante, Lalla Romano, Umberto Saba, Alberto Savinio, and Elio Vittorini.

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Book SynopsisJoin a young Ghanaian woman on her journey into Europe's heart of whiteness to meet the natives in this iconoclastic modern classic.''A wondrous discovery.'' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie''A treasure: one of the works that inspired my own literary journey.'' Tsitsi Dangarembga''Aidoo has reaffirmed my faith in the power of the written word.'' Alice Walker''Modest, lyrical, reflective and intelligent .. Deserves as wide an audience as it can get.'' Angela Carter''Ver do you come from?'' she asked Sissie. ''Ghana.'' ''Is that near Canada?''Sissie is leaving Ghana for the first time. Arriving in Europe on a scholarship to experience the glories of a Western education, she plunges into this new continent''s heart of whiteness, observing the strange customs of the natives.Drinking cocktails at the German Embassy, she cringes at her countrymen.In a Bavarian castle, she is seduced by the lonely mother of Little Adolf.In freezing London, she witnesses been-tos' sharing myths of an overseas idyll.In between continents, she writes a letter on the plane to her exiled former lover.But it is not sent. She will tell these tales back at home.Ama Ata Aidoo''s landmark debut Our Sister Killjoy exploded into the world in 1977. With its blistering feminist satire of the West African diaspora, colonial legacies and toxic racism, expressed in a radical literary form - prose poetry, letter, manifesto - its provocative impact remains unmatched half a century on.Introduced by Ayesha Harruna Attah

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Book SynopsisAn electric contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set over the course of one summer on a lush private island, about addiction and sex, family and independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld. Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, afraid to face her high-strung single mother in New York, is no longer sure where home is when the father of one of her campers offers an alternative. The CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, Rolo Picazo is middle-aged, divorced, magnetic. He is also intoxicated by Cory. When Rolo proffers a childcare job (and an NDA), Cory quiets an internal warning and allows herself to be ferried to his private island. Plied with luxury and opiates manufactured by his company, she continues to tell herself she’s in charge. Her mother, Emer, head of a teetering agricultural NGO, senses otherwise. With her daughter seemingly vanished, Emer crosses land and sea to heed a cry for help she alone

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Book SynopsisDiscover the delightfully heartwarming and life-affirming bestseller about one man''s unlikely journey through love, perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely FineTHE INTERNATIONAL MILLION COPY BESTSELLER''I couldn''t put this book down. It''s one of the most quirky and endearing romances I''ve ever read. I laughed the whole way through'' SOPHIE KINSELLA''Brilliant, important, good-hearted'' GUARDIAN''Original, clever and perfectly written'' JILL MANSELL''Superb. Endearing, charming and fascinating'' THE TIMES''Funny, charming and heart-warming. A gem of a novel'' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING''Adorable'' MARIAN KEYES________Love isn''t an exact science - but no one told Don Tillman.A thirty-nine-year-old geneticist, Don''s never had a second date. So he devises the Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner.Enter Rosie - 'Trade ReviewFunny, charming and heart-warming, this debut is a gem of a novel about a rather awkward university professor's search for love. I loved this unconventional romance * Good Housekeeping UK *Full of quirky humour and touching tenderness. Imagine the love child of Eleanor Oliphant and Bridget Jones and you have this book * Culturefly *Such a joy to read - I honestly can't think of many books that I enjoyed more. It's the definition of a comfort book - an easy and warm read with a lot of heart, and it made me laugh out loud more than any book before * Marie Claire *Brisk, funny, and at times outrageous . . . A completely charming story that is as engaging as it is funny * Independent *Charming and hilarious * Luxe *A unique and heartwarming exploration of love and neurodiversity. * Daily Struggle *Funny, endearing, and pure, wonderful escapism * Independent *A sweet, funny rom-com . . . You'll be willing Don and Rosie on every step of the way * Marie Claire *Original, charming and very funny * Woman & Home *Touching and laugh-out-loud funny -- think The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time meets Silver Linings Playbook * Stylist *A hilarious, unlikely romance with heartbreaking twists * Easy Living *Don Tillman is one of the most endearing, charming and fascinating literary characters I have met in a long time * The Times *Genuinely funny; you'll laugh out loud * Essentials *I absolutely loved The Rosie Project -- original and clever, and perfectly written.The world is going to fall in love with Don and Rosie * Jill Mansell *A poignant, funny novel about how you don't find love; it finds you * Glamour *Don Tillman will exasperate, delight and immerse you in a world so original, in a story so compelling, I defy you not to read through the night. Glorious * Adriana Trigiani, author of The Shoemaker's Wife *Beneath the fun and the fluff there is a quietly profound exploration of the assumptions around autism and what it means to have an atypical - or typical - brain * The Independent Daily Edition *A very funny and touching love story * Sunday Express *Adorable . . . Really funny and heart-warming, a gem of a book * Marian Keyes *If you like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time you'll love The Rosie Project * Look *Written in a superbly pitch-perfect voice, The Rosie Project had me cheering for Don on every page. I'm madly in love with this book! Trust me, you will be, too * Lisa Genova, author of Still Alice and left Neglected *The best, most honestly told love story I've read in a long time * Kristin Hannah *Marvellous. Don Tillman is as awkward and confusing a narrator as he is lovable and charming * John Boyne, author of The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas *Prime deck-chair material * The Times, Our Favourite Comic Novels *As well as being delightfully romantic, this is a very funny book and you'll be laughing out loud at Don's misadventures * Daily Mail *Funny, charming and heart-warming * Good Housekeeping UK *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR POETRY 2024''ALL THE HOT WOMEN I KNOW HAVE ELLA FREARS ON THEIR BEDSIDE TABLES'' Sheena Patel''A dazzling treat of a book, genuinely inventive, spiky and funny'' Holly Williams, Observer''A trailblazing, genre-defying coup-de-ma?tre of a book . . . A dark, addictive and deceptively erudite read'' Kate Simpson, Telegraph (5*)Taking the form of one long email addressed to an estate agent, Goodlord is a fictional memoir of habitation, a genre-defying novel that beautifully evokes the people and places of our lives - the spaces of work, those that may or may not be ''home'', sites of trauma and ecstasy.Showing all the control of voice one would expect from a poet of her rare skill, Ella Frears has created a book that is as funny as it is harrowing, and beautifully skewers the contemporary housing crisis while questioning the fundamental desires, drivers a

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Book Synopsis**AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO FOUR**Set in the frozen north of Canada in 1972, this is a novel of painful histories and the moments in life when we can change for the better.Clara's rebellious older sister is missing. Grief-stricken and bewildered, she yearns to uncover the truth about what happened.Liam, newly divorced and newly unemployed, moves into the house next door and within hours gets a visit from the police.Elizabeth is thinking about a crime committed thirty years ago, one that had tragic consequences for two families. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies.**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE**'I've been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel' Anne Tyler'Close to perfection' The Times'Exquisitely poignant' Liane MoriartyTrade ReviewIt's already one of my favourite books of the year * Rachel Joyce *She has the God-given ability to convey the complexities of human nature in everyday language... Like a magician, Lawson hides her technique, and makes it all seem as natural as breathing -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *A contemplative story about loss and regret, a slow burn of a read with a fire at its heart -- John Boyne * Irish Times *Lawson's writing is such that it appears effortless but, as all the strands come together to create a rich and satisfying tapestry, her genius for storytelling becomes apparent * Irish Independent *The doubts, difficulties and uncertainties of the human condition are carefully examined in a way that is both heartbreaking and joyful * Scotsman *Subtle and darkly funny, this tender novel unspools the interconnected lives of her beautifully drawn characters * Daily Express *An absorbing novel * Sunday Express *Lawson has carved out a world in Northern Ontario that's vividly, absorbingly real... Carries you along from midnight to dawn, oblivious of the time * Literary Review *A Town Called Solace keeps you breathless with anxiety, then relief and finally even joy -- Ferdinand Mount * Observer *Close to perfection * The Times *

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Book SynopsisBut in doing so, he unwittingly unleashes a Pandora's Box of age-old resentments and long-buried memories. Spanning New York, Paris, Boston, St. Louis, and a small desert outpost in Zimbabwe, The Altruists is a razor-sharp, darkly funny family saga from a sparkling new talent.

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Book SynopsisThrough laughter, unexpected twists, and undeniable chemistry, Sienna and Liam navigate love, trust, and forgiveness. Together, they discover that sometimes, chasing perfection leads to finding something even better.

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Book SynopsisShe loves you. She respects you. She just can’t stay married to you. Luke Greenwood is in crisis. His wife of 32 years, Selena, is leaving him for a much younger man. Then local gangsters set their sights on his café and take an interest in what’s left of his family.Trade ReviewBeautifully observed and written. Warm, witty and wise with characters so vivid and authentic, you are sure you must have been to Ernies café. If you enjoyed Matt Haig’s The Humans, you’ll love this.Superbly lean and muscular. It's smart, it's fast and it bites down hard.A gorgeous, bittersweet novel about love, separation and the infinite possibilities for human disappointment that families can yield.Stephen May writes about masculinity like no-one else. I loved it.A sharply observed account of the worst few days of one man’s life. Wry, entertaining, and ultimately hopeful.Reminiscent of David Nicholls' Us seen through a grittier, working class lens.A warm-hearted book from the Costa Novel Award shortlisted author. * 8 Beach Reads 2019, Sunday Mirror (Notebook Magazine) *‘Thoughtful, funny - and very human, this is a hugely enjoyable and rewarding read.’ * The Yorkshire Post *‘Told with verve, wit and intelligence.’ * Love Sunday Magazine (Sunday People) *‘Gritty and sentimental, sad and funny, and defies category or genre.’ * On: Yorkshire Magazine *‘One of those novels that grabs you and doesn’t let go until the very end. May presents the difficult, hard-to-swallow moments in life in a profound and entertaining way.’ * BookSpace *

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Book SynopsisThe top 10 Sunday Times bestsellerNOW A MAJOR TV SERIES on Drama and UKTV PlayI love the audacity of the Marlow gang, those ladies sure know how to live' Reader review ?????Fiendishly clever and a satisfying puzzle to try and solve' Reader review ?????A brilliant whodunnit mystery that keeps you guessing' Reader review?????* * *Who killed the Mayor? It's up to the Marlow Murder Club to find out . . .Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a Town Council meeting. When traces of aconite also known as the queen of poisons are found in his coffee cup, the police realise he was murdered. But who did it? And why?The police bring Judith, Suzie and Becks in to investigate as Civilian Advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart's content, which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped. Who would want to kill the affable Mayor

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Book SynopsisThree years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends Ila and Hannah. Since then, things have not been going well. Alice is living a haunted existence, selling videos of herself cleaning for money, drinking herself to sleep. She hasn't spoken to Ila since they went into the House. She hasn't seen Hannah either. Memories of that night torment her mind and her flesh, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, past the KEEP OUT sign, over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, she knows she must go. Together Alice and Ila must face the horrifying occurrences that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, who the House has chosen to make its own.Cutting, disruptive, and darkly funny, Tell Me I'm Worthless is a vital work of trans fiction that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors as it examines the devastating effects of trauma and the way fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other.Trade Review"Punk in every sense of the word, this is a debut unlike anything you’ve read before. Tell Me I’m Worthless builds a thoroughly British haunted house, and terrorises its readers inside; Rumfitt’s horrifying talent shrieks out from every page and rings in your ears for days." - Eliza Clark, author of Boy Parts “A sharp and visceral novel which bend the horror genre to its will. Tell Me I’m Worthless holds a gruesome mirror up to the way it feels to live now. I absolutely tore through this book”– Julia Armfield, author of Salt Slow and Our Wives Under the Sea “Rumfitt’s is an important book, as transgressive and trans as they come. This is the sort of literature we haven’t seen in the UK for too long, if not ever” – Isabel Waidner, author of Sterling Karat Gold and We Are Made of Diamond Stuff “Gripping, unsettling, compulsive, spicy, and, in the end, deeply moving. I loved it.”– Molly Smith, co-author of Revolting Prostitutes "The most startlingly original haunted house story I have read, this is intense, multi-layered and very, very creepy.” - Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall Refuse Them “With Tell Me I'm Worthless, Alison Rumfitt establishes herself immediately as a prodigious horror talent, her insight so razor-sharp it left me cut to ribbons. Chilling, bone-deep horror as humane as it is hideous. Tell Me I'm Worthless is ambitious, brutal, and brilliant." – Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt “An exquisitely terrifying journey to the depths of fascist, transphobic Britain. Alison’s astute observations of today’s violent cultural landscape work only too well as a tale of gothic horror. But TMIW is also full of beauty, empathy and, ultimately, love. I’ll never forget this book.” – Frankie Miren, author of The Service

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Book Synopsis''Beautifully crafted and deceptively simple-seeming, these stories are like pieces of scattered light.''Ali SmithFollowing the widely acclaimed and bestselling The Summer Book, here is A Winter Book collection of some of Tove Jansson''s best loved and most famous stories. Drawn from youth and older age, and spanning most of the twentieth century, this newly translated selection provides a thrilling showcase of the great Finnish writer''s prose, scattered with insights and home truths. It has been selected and is introduced by Ali Smith.A Winter Book features 13 stories from Tove Jansson''s first book for adults, The Sculptor''s Daughter (1968) plus seven of her most cherished later stories (from 1971 to 1996), translated into English and published here for the first time.Trade ReviewBeautifully crafted and deceptively simple-seeming, these stories are like pieces of scattered light. -- Ali SmithThese stories show a side of (Tove Jansson) that may be new to some British readers, who perhaps think of her, if at all, as a writer of charming stories for children. They are as tough as good rope, these stories, as smooth and odd and beautiful as sea-worn driftwood, as full of light and air and wind as the Nordic summer. We are lucky to have them collected at last. -- Philip PullmanThese stories are infused with such a strong sense of Tove Jansson's character that by the last page you feel on almost intimate terms with her. Determined, indignant, fearless as a child, we see how she develops - have the luxury of glimpsing her as an old lady too, still determined, still indignant. -- Esther FreudMeeting the real Tove in these stories has been a an exciting and unnerving experience - a bit like meeting my own guardian angel. -- Frank Cottrell Boyce

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Book Synopsis**BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime** ________________________ A JOYFUL 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF A COMING-OF-AGE CLASSIC ________________________ ‘There are few modern tales of first love and its disillusions that are as thoroughly realised, as brilliantly lewd, and as hilariously satisfying to men and women of all ages as this one’ - Rachel Cusk Eighteen-year-old Katherine - bright, stylish, frustratedly suburban - doesn't know how her life will change when the brilliant Jacob Goldman first offers her a place at university. When she enters the Goldmans' rambling bohemian home, presided over by the beatific matriarch Jane, she realises that Jacob and his family are everything she has been waiting for. But when a romantic entanglement ends in tears, Katherine is forced into exile from the family she loves most. And her journey back into the fold, after more than a decade away, will yield all kinds of delightful surprises... ________________________ ‘The perfect book’ - Meg Mason ‘The best possible company in this difficult world’ - Ann Patchett ‘A daisy bomb of joy’ - Maria Semple ‘Funny, charming, teeming with life, and real’ - Nick Hornby ‘I adored it … Redolent of classics like The Constant Nymph with both its true voice and wonderfully sage and sanguine heroine’ - Sophie Dahl ‘One of those books that when people have read it, they just push it into your hands silently: "You have to read this book, you will love this book." There’s no other book I love more’ - Caroline O'Donoghue, Sentimental Garbage ‘Reading it again is as comforting as eating toast and Marmite between clean, fresh sheets’ - Rachel Cooke, Sunday Times ‘Think Brideshead Revisited set in the 1970s, only sexier and much funnier. It kills me that I didn’t read it at university, when I really needed it’ - Meg Rosoff, New StatesmanTrade ReviewThe fiction equivalent of a brisk walk followed by a hot buttered crumpet: fresh, invigorating, comforting and heartening * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Few writers give more pleasure and joy to their readers. Trapido has such a gift for seeing the world’s weight so clearly and writing about it so lightly -- KAMILA SHAMSIEIt is the perfect book. Beautiful, heartbreaking, funny, and utterly ageless. The first time I read it, I knew within pages that Brother of the More Famous Jack was going to become my favourite novel. The second time, that this brilliant, funny, intensely moving work is everything I aspire to as a writer. Every reading since, that devotion to Barbara Trapido is my only true requisite in a friend -- MEG MASONCan we talk about Barbara Trapido? I love those books so much … So charming, they’re absolutely gorgeous. For me, reading Barbara Trapido is like entering a entirely different world … I’d recommend everyone read Brother of the More Famous Jack -- MARIAN KEYESStill as fresh and funny after all those years; the perfect coming-of-age novel -- CLARE CHAMBERSWhy did it take me so long to discover the singular joys of Barbara Trapido's novels? Why, for so many years, had I missed these witty, soulful, heartbreaking, expansive, brilliant tales? What have I been wasting my time doing? Reading books that AREN'T perfect? Never again! -- ELIZABETH GILBERTI am wildly jealous of anyone who hasn’t yet read Barbara Trapido. They have yet to discover the joy of her often hilarious and always profound world; they are about to meet her intricate cast of recurring characters; they will soon have those glorious moments of Trapidean epiphany when they realise – oh! – the boy in this book is the child of a woman in that book. There is no-one like Barbara. Buy all her books, quick, and then sit back, crack the spines, and prepare to marvel -- MAGGIE O'FARRELLBrother of the More Famous Jack is the book we need right now: smart, funny, honest, painful and true. It is the best possible company as we make our way through this difficult world. I love it -- ANN PATCHETTA moving, intense, earthy and witty book, both illuminating and extraordinary as a first novel * THE TIMES *She is a writer I feel genuinely evangelical about, and I think she's criminally underread. I'd honestly go to Speaker's Corner and stand on a box and read out passages from Brother of the More Famous Jack, such is my love for it -- DAISY BUCHANANThe exuberance, the humour, the gritty toughness and the sadness ... I really love the way she writes -- MIRIAM TOEWSI adored Brother of the More Famous Jack. It is redolent of classics like The Constant Nymph with both its true voice and wonderfully sage and sanguine heroine -- SOPHIE DAHLBrother of the More Famous Jack is one of the funniest, warmest, sexiest, sharpest novels I’ve ever read. I must have read it a dozen times: I turn to it whenever the world seems drear, for it has such light and such joy in it -- KATHERINE RUNDELLIts high spirits are irresistible … the heroine is unstoppable * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Perfect characters and dialogue - the most satisfying book I've ever read * RED *A story, like Mansfield Park, of falling in love with a whole family -- A N WILSON * SPECTATOR *The style is hectic and passionate, the jokes thick and fast, the emotions full and right, the humanity total and engulfing ... a first fruit to savour and exalt * THE TIMES *A very funny book ... A complex and highly polished work ... Barbara Trapido has that rare ability to make her characters respond to small misfortunes and irritations exactly as people do * NEW YORK TIMES *I've given ... Brother of the More Famous Jack to dozens of people, and like me, they fall rapturously in love with Trapido's breezy, raunchy and unsentimental style -- MARIA SEMPLE * NEW YORK TIMES *A sort of bohemian Brideshead Revisited * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Very funny, very English, very sad * DAILY TELEGRAPH *A highly promising debut – fast, inventive, funny * LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS *This is a first novel ... but if established writers could get this good on the seventh try, readers would be the richer for it ... What a lovely novel – charming, intelligent and a happy ending too. Barbara Trapido, where have you been? * USA TODAY *If you've been looking for a modern love story that shines with off-beat charm and sprightly intelligence – not to mention elegance of style – take heart ... This brief account cannot do justice to the wry, civilized tone and understated wit that lights up Trapido’s writing * SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE *A pleasure … full of excellent things, enormously exuberant, carried along for the most part on vivid dialogue for which Ms Trapido has an uncannily perceptive ear * EVENING STANDARD *

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of the international bestseller Mornings in Jenin comes a powerful, passionate story of a family separated by conflict, and the tragedy they endure''The story Susan Abulhawa tells in this marvellous novel is hard to bear but impossible to ignore ... precise, courageous, and dazzling'' Teju Cole''Gripping and deeply moving Suffering and resilience are difficult things to witness, but this powerful, politically engaged novel does so with a transformative literary grace.'' Independent on SundayIt is 1947, and Beit Daras, a rural Palestinian village, is home to the Baraka family oldest daughter Nazmiyeh, brother Mamdouh, beautiful, dreamy Mariam and their widowed mother. When Israeli forces descend, sending the village up in flames, the family must take the long road to Gaza, in a walk that will test them to their limits.Sixty years later, in America, Mamdouh's granddaughter Nur falls in love with a doctor. Following him toTrade ReviewThe story Susan Abulhawa tells in this marvellous novel is hard to bear but impossible to ignore. Through four generations of a Palestinian family, The Blue Between Sky and Water shows how history’s assault on each person is public, and how it nevertheless cannot extinguish the private experience of grief or the secret sense of eros. Abulhawa's vision is precise, courageous, and dazzling -- Teju ColeIn true Thousand and One Nights style, Abulhawa surprises us by continually unfolding new stories … Characters struggle to keep their secrets, but Abulhawa releases them. These are secrets we need to know, secrets that will educate us about ourselves, and Gaza * Guardian *Gripping and deeply moving … Suffering and resilience are difficult things to witness, but this powerful, politically engaged novel does so with a transformative literary grace. Abulhawa’s prose is luminous; her control of a complex weaving of narrative voices – young and old, male and female, magical and real – is masterful. The novel provides an intimate close-up of the women of Gaza and of the everyday heroism amid relentless loss * Independent on Sunday *She is a fine observer of female kinship ... A powerful read * Financial Times *One of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read … written with passion, honesty and poetry * Daily Mail on Mornings in Jenin *Abulhawa’s writing shines … Friendship, adolescence, love: ordinary events, offset against extraordinary circumstances, make the story live * Independent *The writer’s pain – and the beauty of her prose – are very real * Daily Telegraph *Powerful and moving * Stylist *Powerful and passionate … unforgettable -- Michael PalinHeartbreaking -- Esther Freud

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Book Synopsis_______________SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2017ONE OF BARACK OBAMA''S BEST BOOKS OF 2017SELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW STATESMAN, THE FINANCIAL TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, TIME AND THE BBC_______________''A must'' - Margaret Atwood''A searing, urgent read'' - Celeste Ng''Staggering'' - Marlon James''Disarmingly beautiful'' - Spectator''Blazing with power, grief and tenderness'' - Financial Times_______________An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing examines the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power and limitations of family bonds. Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. His mother, Leonie, is in constant conflict with herself anTrade ReviewThis wrenching new novel by Jesmyn Ward digs deep into the not-buried heart of the American nightmare. A must -- Margaret Atwood * Twitter *A novel as blazingly hymn-like as the title suggests -- Jon McGregor * New Statesman 'Books of the Year' *Beautiful in every sense ... Her characters feel wholly true ... Long after the end, we continue to worry after them, love them in spite of their faults, and feel their pain * Spectator *Hauntingly lyrical * Mail on Sunday *A powerfully alive novel haunted by ghosts; a road trip where people can go but they can never leave; a visceral and intimate drama that plays out like a grand epic, Sing, Unburied, Sing is staggering -- Marlon James, Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2015The connection between the injustices of the past and the desperation of present are clearly drawn in Sing, Unburied, Sing, a book that charts the lines between the living and the dead, the loving and the broken. I am a huge fan of Jesmyn Ward’s work, and this book proves that she is one of the most important writers in America today -- Ann PatchettWard is a lyrical, visceral storyteller, one who is as adept at conveying the tenderness of sibling love as the terror and brutality of racist violence * Daily Mail *Blazing with power, grief and tenderness, Jesmyn Ward’s third novel breathes danger into the classic American road trip … What might, in less sure hands, have remained a local tale, makes a searing story of universal power … Ward takes the territory made so familiar by writers such as William Faulkner or Eudora Welty, and reclaims it * Financial Times *Ghosts, the voices of the dying, painful journeys across an unforgiving country. This is Faulkner territory. Ward’s updated version is gruesomely fascinating, especially as she rounds out her story with characters of real-world complexity … Her cool handling of the mythical tropes of journeying and listening to ancestral voices makes this a harrowing, essential novel for our times * The Times *Maybe that’s the miracle here: that ordinary people whose lives have become so easy to classify into categories like rural poor, drug-dependent, products of the criminal justice system, possess the weight and the value of the mythic … Such feats of empathy are difficult, all too often impossible to muster in real life. But they feel genuinely inevitable when offered by a writer of such lyric imagination as Ward * New York Times Book Review *Ward's prose is characterised by its lyrical beauty: woven throughout are precise, elegant registrations of sensory impression, miniature epiphanies that momentarily lift us from the immediate situation ... undeniably well-executed * Sunday Times *It is rich, sometimes unbearably so ... The signal characteristic of Ward’s prose is its lyricism ... the effect is hypnotic ... This, and her ease with vernacular language, puts Ward in fellowship with such forebears as Zora Neale Hurston and William Faulkner ... The tone and atmosphere in “Sing, Unburied, Sing” call out, too, to Toni Morrison—particularly “Beloved,” whose most sorrowful revelations are echoed in the climax of “Sing” * New Yorker *Combines aspects of the American road novel and the ghost story with an exploration of the long aftershocks of a hurricane -- Notable Books of the Year * New York Times Book Review *Most effective as a poetic critique of US history ... A brooding, pained meditation on the proposition, spelled out by Colson Whitehead in The Underground Railroad, that “America is a ghost in the darkness”’ * Guardian *The heir to Faulkner * Time *However eternal its concerns, “Sing, Unburied, Sing" is perfectly poised for the moment * New York Times *One of the most powerfully poetic writers in the country ... Readers may be reminded of the trapped spirits in George Saunders’s recent novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo,” but Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” is a more direct antecedent * Washington Post *Speaks to maintaining hope in the face of one’s plight, and the true strength (and fragility) of familial bonds * Buzzfeed *An unforgettable novel about race, love and history * Elle *Sing, Unburied, Sing is a road novel turned on its head, and a family story with its feet to the fire. Lyric and devastating, Ward's unforgettable characters straddle past and present in this spellbinding return to the rural Mississippi of her first book. You'll never read anything like it -- Ayana Mathis, author of 'The Twelve Tribes of Hattie'A searing, urgent read for anyone who thinks the shadows of slavery and Jim Crow have passed, and anyone who assumes the ghosts of the past are easy to placate. It’s hard to imagine a more necessary book for this political era -- Celeste Ng, author of 'Little Fires Everywhere' and 'Everything I Never Told You'In prose that is simultaneously luminous and achingly honest, Ward captures moments of beauty, tenderness, and resilience against a bleak landscape of crushing poverty, racism, addiction, and incarceration * MacArthur Foundation *If Sing, Unburied, Sing is proof of anything, it’s that when it comes to spinning poetic tales of love and family, and the social metastasis that often takes place but goes unspoken of in marginalized communities—let alone the black American South—Jesmyn Ward is, by far, the best doing it today. Another masterpiece -- Jason Reynolds, author of 'Ghost'Staggering ... A furious brew with hints of Toni Morrison and Homer’s 'The Odyssey' * Boston Globe *The terrible beauty of life along the nation’s lower margins is summoned in this bold, bright, and sharp-eyed road novel … As with the best and most meaningful American fiction these days, old truths are recast here in new realities rife with both peril and promise * Kirkus *Her lyrical prose takes on, alternately, the tones of a road novel and a ghost story ... [Sing, Unburied, Sing] establishes Ward as one of the most poetic writers in the conversation about America’s unfinished business in the black South * Atlantic *[A] tour de force ... Ward is an attentive and precise writer who dazzles with natural and supernatural observations and lyrical details ... she continues telling stories we need to hear with rare clarity and power * O, the Oprah Magazine *Electric ... a harrowing panorama of the rural South * L.A. Review of Books *A tale that shimmers * Mother Jones *Ward’s tale is an emotional, political and spiritual powerhouse that unblinkingly underlines America’s heinous treatment of black people – from slavery to the present day … while it’s a book filled with savagery, there is also tenderness, love and hope. You can feel the energy buzzing between its covers * Emerald Street *If you only read a single novel this month, make it Jesmyn Ward's utterly brilliant Sing, Unburied, Sing * Vogue *The book’s Southern gothic aura recalls the dense, head-spinning prose of William Faulkner or Flannery O’Connor. But the voice is entirely Ward's own, a voluptuous magical realism that takes root in the darkest corners of human behavior ... Ward, whose Salvage the Bones won a National Book Award, has emerged as one of the most searing and singularly gifted writers working today * Entertainment Weekly *Gorgeous ... Always clear-eyed, Ward knows history is a nightmare. But she insists all the same that we might yet awaken and sing * Chicago Tribune *In this lush and lonely novel, Ward lets the dead sing. It's a kind of burial * NPR *Very beautiful * Vox *Poetic and powerful * Pride Magazine *An American road novel transplanted to 21st century rural America, looking at race, belonging and how the past can never be left behind. Utterly captivating, this is a special book that will make your heart and soul ache * Stylist *It should come as no surprise that the novel has garnered comparisons to Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Echoes of Faulkner nestle amongst Ward’s pages too. … Ward’s prose drips with poetry, even at the novel’s darkest moments * The White Review *This is the most grittily realistic book I’ve read in a while - it just happens to be a ghost story. Somehow, despite its fantastical content, Sing, Unburied, Sing feels distinctly believable … But it’s the love that shines incandescently from the pages here, blasting through all the oppressive threat and tension and lighting the novel up from within * Shiny New Books *Recommended by the likes of Margaret Atwood and Marlon James, Jesmyn Ward’s latest novel is one of Autumn’s must-reads ... Part road novel, part ghost story, this is a powerful exploration of race and the way the past * Anothermag *The civil liberty struggles faced by Americans today, and the country’s history are reflected in Ward’s affecting prose * The i *Themes of drug addiction and child abuse feature in this powerful tale, with ghostly figures from the past returning to admonish Leonie for the choices she has made in her life … impressive * Bristol Post *The cult read: Sing, Unburied, Sing won the National Book Award this year. It feels particularly timely, centring on a family road trip through a fractured Mississippi * Sunday Times Style *Ward’s third book set in the fictional town of Bois Sauvage, based on her hometown of DeLisle, Miss., conjures the same raw emotion of her previous works, like the Hurricane Katrina novel Salvage the Bones. But this time, a sense of magical realism deepens the ghostly sense of the past reaching out to touch – or even strangle – the present. Ward’s novel is a true triple threat, expert in prose, human observation and social commentary * Time Magazine *Full of haunted, lyrical beauty -- Summer Reading Guide * Guardian Australia *Sing, Unburied, Sing grapples with the long shadow cast by slavery in the American South – not just the cycles of inherited trauma and alienation, but the mass incarceration of black men today … In this novel Ward shows again that she can place harsh truths about America’s racial problems within a gorgeous, lyrical tale * Prospect *Jesmyn Ward is an important new voice of the American South – one developing, perhaps, into the twenty-first-century’s answer to William Faulkner. Fiercely partisan yet unillusioned, she displays an impressive understand of politics and idiom. But perhaps most striking is her sustained and clear-eyed attention to people who, when noticed at all, are more usually consigned to a novel’s periphery. Here they take centre stage and are depicted with the kind of piercing clarity born of love -- Kate Webb * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book Synopsis*Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel Klara and the Sun is now available*Ryder, a renowned pianist, arrives in a Central European city he cannot identify for a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give . . .On first publication in 1995, The Unconsoled was met in some quarters with bewilderment and vilification, in others with the highest praise. One commentator asked, Has Ishiguro gone for greatness or has he gone mad?' Over the years, this uniquely strange and extraordinary novel about a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control has come to be seen by many as being the key work and a turning point in his career.A masterpiece. It is above all a book devoted to the human heart.' Rachel Cusk, The TimesThe most original and remarkable book he has so far produced.' New York Times Book ReviewOne of the strangest books in memory.' TLSI've never read a book like it.

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Book Synopsis-----------------------------------------------------The fabulous first Shopaholic novel by international No. 1 bestselling author Sophie Kinsella. The perfect pick-me-up when life is hanging in the (bank) balance . . . !-----------------------------------------------------Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She has a great flat, a fabulous wardrobe full of the season''s must-haves, and a job telling other people how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time ... shopping.Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can''t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The letters from the bank are getting harder to ignore. Can Becky ever escape from this dreamworld, find true love, and regain the use of her credit card?Everybody loves Sophie Kinsella:I almost cried with laughter DailyTrade ReviewI almost cried with laughter * Daily Mail *You won't have to shop around to find a more winning protagonist * Ireland on Sunday *This book is an indulgence that is definitely worth every penny * New Woman *

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Book SynopsisJ.K. Rowling invites you to explore a new era of the Wizarding World . . .When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt''s fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone . . .Inspired by the original Hogwart''s textbook by Newt Scamander, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original screenplay marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, author of the beloved and internationally bestselling Harry Potter books. A feat of imagination and featuring a cast of remarkable characters and magical creatures, this is epic adventure-packed storytelling at its very best. Whether an existing fan or new to the wizarding world, this is a perfect addition for any film lover or reader''s bookshelf.*** Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is available now! ***

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Book SynopsisThis powerful collection of stories, set in the mid-West among the lonely men and women who drink, fish and play cards to ease the passing of time, was the first by Raymond Carver to be published in the UK.Trade ReviewThe master craftsman of the modern American short story * Daily Telegraph *One of America's most original, truest voices -- Salman RushdieOne of the most celebrated American short-story writers of the 20th century * New York Times *A remarkable collection * New York Review of Books *I remember being floored by the first Raymond Carver collection I read: What We Talk About When We Talk About Love -- David Sedaris * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisZorah Sharaf has long been the apple of her parents'' eye. Clever and beautiful, Rahmat and Maryam, refugees who moved from Afghanistan to America, see their daughter''s bright future as the culmination of their American dream. But when teenage Zorah starts secretly dating, her family--and her parents'' friends--see a different side to Zorah, and she loses her golden child status. A year later, Zorah is killed in what is initially ruled a tragic car accident. But as more comes out about Zorah and her family, those who knew her best--and those who didn''t know her at all--all seemingly have an opinion on who Zorah really was, and what really happened to her that night.Told through the voices surrounding the Sharafs, Good People moves through the year leading up to Zorah''s tragedy and explores the aftermath as the twin forces of the police investigation and the court of public opinion draw battle lines amongst those who knew Zorah and her family best.

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Book SynopsisMr Field, a concert pianist travelling back from a performance in London, fractures his left wrist in a train crash. On a whim, he uses his compensation cheque to buy a house he has seen only in a newspaper, a replica of Le Corbusier''s Villa Savoye built on a stretch of coast outside Cape Town. When he moves there with his wife Mim, the house which Le Corbusier designed as ''a machine for living'' has a disturbing effect. Mim disappears without apology or explanation and Mr Field can barely summon the strength to search for her.OK, Mr Field is funny and beguiling and like nothing you''ve ever read. It dwells in the silences between words, in the gaps in conversations, and in the distances between people. It confidently guides us into new fictional territory.

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Book SynopsisHaving secured a first-class honours degree in Classical Literature and Civilisation at the University of Birmingham, Rosie Hewlett has studied Greek mythology in depth and is passionate about unearthing strong female voices within the classical world. Rosie currently lives in Kent with her husband and is now a full-time author spending her days lost inside her favourite stories from mythology.Rosie's first traditionally published novel, Medea, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Her self-published debut novel, Medusa, won the Rubery Book of the Year award in 2021 and is being re-released in hardback for the first time in autumn 2025.

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Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewThe Crossing, together with its predecessor All the Pretty Horses, towers over most contemporary fiction. An American epic infused with a grand solemnity * Sunday Times *McCarthy writes prose as clean as a bullet cutting through the air and constructs tales as compelling as any you will read . . . They are stories about people as real as the land they ride and as disturbing as the rituals they enact * Daily Telegraph *Admirers of All the Pretty Horses will need little encouragement . . . McCarthy speaks to us in the thrilling, apocalyptic tones of an Old Testament prophet. We must treasure him * Sunday Telegraph *The Crossing is like a river in full spate: beautiful and dangerous * The Times *Nominally Westerns, these books are too entropic and philosophical to fit within the limits of the genre. They summon the ghosts of history, and haunt the gaps between justice and reality -- Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis''There are already three of us in this marriage. I''m not sure there is room for a fourth . . .'' Anna is a reluctant Vicar''s wife. She loves her family and tries hard to do her duty, but a certain restlessness persists. These days, her husband only likes talking to God and her son hardly talks at all. When her brother asks for help, Anna travels from Cornwall to be with him in London. And then she meets Alex, and a new world unexpectedly opens up. Anna knows what the older women of the parish would say - she''s made her bed and now she has to lie in it. But temptation is easier to avoid than it is to resist . . . The wise, moving and funny new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Cathy Rentzenbrink, Ordinary Time is an unforgettable story of the trials and sacrifices of everyday life; one that asks big questions about marriage and friendship, forgiveness and salvation, and the path of true love.

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Book SynopsisDyslexia-Friendly Edition of THE INTERNATIONAL SENSATION and WINNER OF THE ORANGE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

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Book SynopsisOn a planet where men are contained in ghettoised isolation, women enjoy the fruits of a queer matriarchal utopia -- until a boy escapes and a young woman's perception of the world is violently interupted. Two old friends enjoy cocktails on a holiday resort planet where all is not as it seems. A bickering couple emigrate to a world that has worked out an innovative way to side-step the need for war, only to bring their quarrels (and something far more destructive) with them.And in the title story, Suzuki offers readers a tragic and warped mirroring of her own final days as the tyranny of enforced screen-time and the mechanistion of labour bring about a shattering psychic collapse. At turns nonchalantly hip and charmingly deranged, Suzuki's singular slant on speculative fiction would be echoed in countless later works, from Margaret Atwood and Harumi Murakami, to Black Mirror and Ex Machina. In these darkly playful and punky stories, the fantastical elements are always earthed by the universal pettiness of strife between the sexes, and the gritty reality of life on the lower rungs, whatever planet that ladder might be on.Trade ReviewSuzuki is a daring writer and these stories will show the English-language world what she is made of. -- Jessica Esa * Metropolis Japan (5 Japanese Novels to Read in 2021) *Her punky irreverence remains radiant * Frieze *If you're into Kobo Abe and prefer Ryu Murakami to Haruki you'll not (as the title of this inaugural translation of Suzuki into English suggests), be bored. * The Millions (Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half 2021 Book Preview) *Weird and wonderful, unique and unsettling ... You won't put this one down. * Osusume Books *The stories chosen for this collection showcase an author whose interest in alienation and despair as well as playful literary exploration parallels the work of other '70s SF titans such as Joanna Russ or Thomas Disch. . Essential reading not only for those interested in Japanese SF, but for anyone interested in spiky, beautiful, and bleak literature. -- Nell Keep * Booklist (Starred Review) *These strangely prescient stories are perfect for fans of Haruki Murakami, George Saunders, and Philip K. Dick. * Publishers Weekly *The latest inclusion in the modern canon of Japanese women authors' surreal feminist work, [Terminal Boredom] puts a distinctly sci-fi spin on the concept. * Thrillist (30 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2021) *Surprisingly contemporary ... with pertinent musings on the mutability of gender and the elusive nature of identity. -- Declan O'Driscoll * Irish Times *With the use of speculative elements, [Suzuki's] dark and playful stories highlight the realities of living on the lower rungs of society. -- Patricia Thang * Book Riot *[Terminal Boredom plays] with tech, gender, and tradition in marvelous ways. Highly recommended. -- Patrick Rapa * Philadelphia Inquirer *There's nothing boring about the short stories in Terminal Boredom. * The A.V. Club (5 new books to read in April) *Terminal Boredom provides a historical capsule and an interesting mirror to the American science fiction of the [1970s]. -- Silvia Moreno-Garcia * Washington Post *The seven stories here are not only still relevant but remarkably fresh . brilliant -- Lisa Tuttle * Guardian *Each of the worlds Suzuki creates is deep and complex, with many of the questions raised lingering long after the last page and making you crave more. -- Iain Maloney * Japan Times *An engaging and highly-relevant collection of short stories that will resonate with many readers, especially fans of writers like Philip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, and even George Orwell, but from a refreshingly female perspective. -- Rachel Stanyon * Asymptote Journal *Full of punk, punch, and feminist shruggings ... a spiky, timeless, and timely collection of psychologically astute speculative fiction * Lunate Fiction *Sure to be a treat for fans of Haruki Murakami, George Saunders, and the twisty genre experimentation of Black Mirror. * Chicago Review of Books (12 Must-Read Books for April) *The work and messages of Ursula K. Le Guin, the author's longer-lived contemporary, come to mind. -- Catherine Lacey * New York Times *A welcome glimpse inside the mind of a writer whose talent has been overlooked for far too long. * All the Anime *Suzuki's stories are reminiscent of the unhinged science fiction dystopias of the master of the craft, Philip K. Dick ... [and] extend the canon of twentieth century science fiction. -- Ian MacAllen * Chicago Review of Books *Suzuki's work, now released in English for the first time, marks an exciting moment. Its themes feel of-the-moment despite being written over thirty years ago, and yet they are also surreal-the imagined artificialities of the 1980s written as futuristic now mirror our mundane, modern technology. -- Makenna Goodman * Electric Literature *The themes of [Suzuki's] fiction thrum with a resistant, brightly grim tension. Passing decades certainly haven't dulled the razor's cut of her punk sensibilities. -- Lee Mandelo * Tor *A vital addition to the science fiction canon in the anglophone world ... If there is any proof needed that the future has ended, it is that these stories can speak to us so directly across the four decades since their writing. -- Calum Barnes * The Quietus *Dazzling ... her stories are characterised by the elegance with which they pierce the well-ordered surface of modern life to uncover the corrosion at its heart. -- Andy Hedgecock * Morning Star *At last, we have access to some of [Suzuki's] most exciting works * Books & Bao *Terminal Boredom is even more striking and believable in 2020 than it was in 1980 . Suzuki's feminist spirit is as relevant and her stories as piercing today as they were more than thirty years ago -- Alison Fincher * Asian Review of Books *One of the freshest collections I've read in years. -- Andy Weir * Toronto Star *Brilliant and often bleak . all shot through with a camp ethos, dark humour and kitchen-sink realism . in their brio and jagged urgency, these stories have, if anything, only gained in their alarming immediacy. -- Bryan Karetnyk * Times Literary Supplement *A thoroughly likeable and engaging book -- Bernard Cohen * South China Morning Post *Whether riffing on the poison of technology or about private feelings of loneliness and want, there is a psychic complexity to Suzuki's fiction ... Terminal Boredom is a reason for celebration. -- Jason Parham * WIRED *No matter how strange the fictional worlds of the future she manufactures, her reader would find something deeply familiar in the simple conversations of her characters. -- Xiaochen Su * The News Lens *Although they were written in the 70s and 80s, some of [the stories in Terminal Boredom] feel so fresh that it would be easy to mistake them as new ... For its time, the writing is subversive, defiant, and unapologetic, and for our time, it is poignant and prescient. -- Leah Binns * Full Stop *Gets under the skin ... The groundlessness of life, the absence of the big Other, is a disconcerting theme and a feminist perspective is explored in a highly speculative and punkish way -- Sean Sheehan * The Prisma *Wildly imaginative ... Psychologically this book is not an easy read, but intellectually it is fascinating -- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Syndey Morning Herald *Izumi Suzuki was a wonderful writer who should've been published in English much sooner. Like the protagonist of 'Women and Women', we've been deprived of some good jams. -- Lloyd Markham * New Welsh Review *Sucks you with its darkness. -- Eugen Bacon * Aurealis *Darkly irreverent ... such well-written anatomies of anxiety and dissatisfaction are both timeless and of obvious relevance today. -- Rhian E. Jones * New Humanist *Intriguing from start to finish, rife with bitter truths about relationships, imaginative haunting worlds, and-buried beneath it all-some insightful commentary on the human condition. -- Ethan Wescoatt * International Examiner *Suzuki's science fiction isn't neatly categorisable ... Her voice is fiercely unique and her stories linger in the corner of the mind's eye long after reading - devour them. -- Jennifer Brough * Lucy Writers Platform *The truths, beauty and strangeness [Suzuki] gave the world throughout her career are hard-fought, rewarding, and demanding. -- Josh Wilson * The Fabulist *Startlingly prescient ... Part of what makes Suzuki's storytelling so engrossing is her ability to depict existential boredom and grim, sometimes terrifying, futures without falling into fatalism. -- Julia Shiota * The Ploughshares Blog *Terminal Boredom is a subtle but sharp collection ... and a worthwhile introduction to Izumi Suzuki's work. -- Juliet Jacques * Tribune *These are brash, clever, odd works of science fiction, propelled by an irreverent kind of up yours! energy, and yet also a deep worry for the state of life in twentieth-century Japan and also the planet itself. -- Rhian Sasseen * The Baffler *

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