Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisDiscover Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning search for his family's origins: a powerful memoir, a history of slavery and a landmark in African-American literature.Tracing his ancestry through six generations of architects, lawyers, blacksmiths, farmers, freedmen and slaves, Alex Haley’s research took him back to Africa and a sixteen-year-old youth named Kunta Kinte. Torn from his homeland and brought to the slave markets of the New World, re-imagining Kunta’s journey would allow Haley to explore his family’s deep and distant past.‘A gripping mixture of urban confessional and political manifesto, Roots not only inspired a generation of black activists, but drove home the bitter realities of racism to a mainstream white liberal audience’ Observer WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY DAVID OLUSOGA, AUTHOR OF BLACK AND BRITISHTrade ReviewA gripping mixture of urban confessional and political manifesto, it not only inspired a generation of black activists, but drove home the bitter realities of racism to a mainstream white liberal audience * Observer *A Pulitzer Prize-winning story about the family ancestry of author Alex Haley... [and] a symbolic chronicle of the odyssey of African Americans from the continent of Africa to a land not of their choosing * Washington Post *Haley succeeds beautifully where many have failed... The book is an act of love, and it is this which makes it haunting -- James Baldwin * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZEAt the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the main square of Constantinople, a niche is carved into ancient stone. Here, the sultan displays the severed heads of his adversaries. Tundj Hata, the imperial courier, is charged with transporting heads to the capital – a task he relishes and performs with fervour. But as he travels through obscure and impoverished territories, he makes money from illicit side-shows, offering villagers the spectacle of death. The head of the rebellious Albanian governor would fetch a very high price. A surreal tale of rebellion and tyranny from the master of European literature.Trade ReviewThe narrative unfurls with the shifting intensity of a dream, enriched by unsettlingly surreal details... It is a brilliant examination of the way that authoritarian structures operate: Kafka on a grander political scale. * Sunday Times *Although on the surface this is a deeply compelling historical novel, its scope is wider. At heart, what Kadare seeks to demonstrate is the terrible nature of a world in which every human element is suborned to the state... Kadare well deserves his growing European audience. * Daily Telegraph *An extraordinary and complex novel whose time has come...40 years after its initial publication [in Albanian] * Herald *In John Hodgson’s lucid translation, The Traitor’s Niche is absorbing from start to finish. Kadare’s allegorical burlesque has rarely been so trenchant. * Spectator *The novel is a hymn to language, something that, as Ottoman bureaucrats intent on obliterating it instinctively know, and as Kadare’s novels prove, is not easily silenced -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis'I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, Britain burns, while the world ends' Salman RushdieFrom the age of twelve, the Baron Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo makes his home among ash, elm, magnolia, plum and almond, living up in the trees. He walks through paths made from the twisted branches of olive, makes his bed in a holly oak, bathes in a fountain constructed from poplar bark. An aerial library holds the books with which he educates himself in philosophy and mathematics. Suspended among the leaves, the Baron adventures with bandits and pirates, conducts a passionate love affair, and watches the Age of Enlightenment pass by beneath him. 'The most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists' The TimesTrade ReviewReading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before.This is highly unnerving: fortunately you're usually too busy laughing to go mad... I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, Britain burns, while the world ends -- Salman RushdieBreathtakingly inventive -- David MitchellThe most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists * The Times *Calvino is a wizard * New York Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisA packet of letters, found in an attic, leads young Jane into the world of love. The attic is in Montefort, a corroding country house in County Cork, which harbours a collection of people held there by ties of kinship or habit, and haunted by the memory of its former owner. During a hot and dry summer, Jane pursues her romantic imaginings, while not far off the rich, promiscuous Lady Latterly waits to play her part in Jane's awakening.

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Book SynopsisThe second novel in world renowned film-maker, Ingmar Bergman’s trilogy of novels plotting the fractious marriage of his parentsOver the course of one summer, eight-year-old Pu Bergman makes the terrible realisation that his father and mother are no longer in love. Surrounded by the quiet idyll of the Swedish countryside, with its ponds, its rivers and woods, the daily chaos of the family’s ramshackle summer home threatens to bring to a close the bright, brilliant haze of Pu’s childhood world. Based upon film-maker Ingmar Bergman’s own family life, Sunday’s Children is the second part in Bergman’s loose trilogy of books that started with The Best Intentions, and closes with Private Confessions.Trade ReviewBecause every line is saturated with juice, with the sense of life, you feel, in addition to life as it is, life as it ought to be -- John McGahern * New York Times Book Review *This haunting, autobiographical work is highly recommended for serious fiction and film collections * Library Journal *In words, as in cinematic images, Bergman shapes settings and characters that immediately come alive and subtly express the depths of human emotion and experience * Houston Chronicle *

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Book Synopsis**A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ PICK**Discover the classic, Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel from one of India's finest ever writers.To the family living in the shabby, dusty house in Delhi, Tara's visit brings a sharp reminder of life outside tradition. For Bim, coping endlessly with their problems, there is a renewal of the old jealousies for, unlike her sister, she has failed to escape. Looking at both the cruelty and the beauty of family life and the harshness of India's modern history, Clear Light of Day brilliantly evokes the painful process of confronting and healing old wounds.'Clear Light of Day does what only the best novels can do; it totally submerges us.' Anne Tyler Trade ReviewA wonderful novel about silence and music, about the partition of a family as well as a nation * New York Times Book Review *A rich Chekhovian novel by one of the most gifted of contemporary Indian writers * New Yorker *Anita Desai has created an entire little civilization here from a fistful of memories, from a patchwork of sickroom dreams and childhood games and fairy tales. Clear Light of Day does what only the very best novels can do; it totally submerges us. It also takes us so deeply into another world that we almost fear we won't be able to climb out again -- Anne Tyler * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 1976 BOOKER PRIZE'If you are looking for an intellectual and artistic honesty, a patient thoughtfulness and detailed insight into other lives...this novel will delight and move you' Guardian In spite of his brilliance, Colin Saville doesn't fit in easily at the grammar school in town - 1940s middle-class society is so different from the mining village of his childhood. He makes tentative friendships and meets girls over long, empty summers but feels like an outsider with them and, increasingly, at home. Following the pattern of David Storey’s own early years, Saville is a remarkably honest portrait of the tensions between parents and children, the difficulties of making one’s own way in life, and the social divisions that persist still.

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Book Synopsis‘Family, that slippery word, a star to every wandering bark and everyone sailing under a different sky’Where do you go if you can’t feel at home in your own family? When the people who made you can’t fathom who you become? In these three tales of quarrelling clans and fraught reunions, Mark Haddon shows family in its frank, unsparing yet frequently absurd light, and, in doing so charts a stormy course into the crucible of the self.Selected from The Pier Falls, The Red House and A Spot of Bother.VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us humanDiscover the in the Vintage Minis ‘Head Space’ series:Recovery by Helen MacdonaldTherapy by Stephen GroszTrade ReviewImagine our joy when Vintage announced that it is publishing a collection of easily digestible books from the world’s most celebrated writers on the experiences that make us human… They look good and read well. That’s win/win in our book. * Stylist *Literature for the Twitter generation ... there is clarity in the distillation * Big Issue *

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Book SynopsisA spectacular display of this key European writer's early workThis dazzling collection of stories follows the individual adventures of a varied cast of characters and masterfully illustrates Calvino's unique perspective and narrative gifts. As well as the thirteen tales from his Difficult Loves collection this volume also includes 'Smog', 'A Plunge into Real Estate' and 'The Argentine Ant'.'The quirkiness and grace of the writing, the originality of the imagination at work, the occasional incandescence of vision, and a certain loveable nuttiness make this collection well worth reading' Margaret Atwood'If this is not a masterpiece of twentieth-century prose writing, I cannot think of anything better' Gore Vidal on 'The Argentine Ant'Trade ReviewA beautifully translated collection of early stories by the highly regarded Italian writer. The earliest were written in 1945 when Calvino was twenty-two and the latest date from the 1950s when he was in his early thirties. The quirkiness and the grace of the writing, the originality of the imagination at work, the incandescence of vision, make this collection well worth reading, and for more than archaeological reasons * New York Times Book Review *The greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisA charming and clever account of one woman’s exploration of love, language and identity.Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang (or Z as she calls herself) arrives in London to spend a year learning English. Struggling to find her way in the city, and through the puzzles of tense, verb and adverb; she falls for an older Englishman and begins to realise that the landscape of love is an even trickier terrain...VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mindTrade ReviewWritten in deliberately bad English, this is a wonderful comic romance -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *Xiaolu is a fabulous writer, fresh, witty and intelligent. She handles language in an astonishing way. I don't think I have enjoyed a book as much in the last twelve months and I am looking forward to hearing a lot more from this promising young voice. * Joanne Harris *A delicate combination of unwitting humour, sadness, sex and displacement. Unputdownable. * Katie Fforde *Her characterisation of Z's lover is subtle and profound... This novel will be compared with A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, but it is so much better than that. Guo uses her minimalist, messed-up prose not just to tell an affecting coming-of-age story, but to ask deep questions about the real differences between Chinese and British culture and language. -- Scarlett Thomas * Independent on Sunday *An auspicious English language debut...its young heroine adrift in a London whose people and customs prove as full of pitfalls as the tongue she struggles to master. -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent, Christmas books special *

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Book SynopsisGreene takes us on a wild, unconventional and enlightening voyage with an ordinary, retired bank manager and his eccentric, daring aunt. Henry Pulling, a retired bank manager, meets his septuagenarian Aunt Augusta for the first time in over fifty years at what he supposes to be his mother's funeral. Soon after, she persuades Henry to abandon Southwood, to travel to Brighton, Paris, Istanbul, Paraguay, and a shiftless, twilight society of hippies, war criminals, CIA men that will help Henry come alive after a dull suburban life.VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mindTrade ReviewRich in exactly etched and moving portraits of real human beings...the tragic and comic ironies of love, loyalty and belief * The Times *The most ingenious, inventive and exciting of our novelists - V S Pritchett, The TimesFunny and bizarre... This is a Greene with the lightest touches -- Susan Hill * The Lady *No serious writer of [the twentith century] has more thoroughly invaded and shaped the public imagination than Graham Greene - Time

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Book SynopsisA book about family, selfishness and compassion on Ireland’s Atlantic coast, from the Booker Prize-winner.Hanna, Dan, Constance and Emmet return to the west coast of Ireland for a final family Christmas in the home their mother is about to sell. As the feast turns to near painful comedy, a last, desperate act from Rosaleen – a woman who doesn't quite know how to love her own children – forces them to confront the weight of family ties and the road that brought them home.See also: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy DoyleShortlisted for the 2015 Costa Novel AwardLonglisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize**ONE OF THE GUARDIAN'S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY**Trade ReviewConfirms her as one of the most significant writers of her generation.... A master. She has certainly produced a masterly work. * Sunday Times *The Green Road is true and rueful, as terribly adult in its clarity as its battered Madigans. -- James Wood * New Yorker *Enright is a shape-shifter who gets into the nerve centres of her creations; the power of her prose lies in its absence of ego. The Green Road is a devastating novel about home and how savage a place it can be. -- Frances Wilson * New Statesman *This novel should confirm Enright’s status as one of our (their?) greatest living novelists. I hope she can be persuaded to do a sequel. -- John Sutherland * The Times *[A] brilliant, devastating, radical novel. -- Kate Clanchy * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Philip Roth turns his gaze on 30s and 40s America in this magnificent successor to American Pastoral.Ira Ringold is an American roughneck who transforms himself from a ditch-digger in 1930s New Jersey, to a radio hotshot in the 1940s. In his heyday as a star – and as a bullying supporter of 'progressive' political causes – Ira marries Hollywood's leading lady, Eve Frame. Their glamorous honeymoon is short-lived, however, and it is the publication of Eve's scandalous bestselling exposé that identifies Ira as 'an American taking his orders from Moscow'. In this story of cruelty, betrayal, and revenge friends become deadly enemies, parents and children estranged, lovers blacklisted and the great felled from vertiginous heights.‘Knotted with energy, barely wasting a scene or word in its cracking velocity’ Mail on Sunday‘A passionate and coruscating American tragedy’ Financial TimesTrade ReviewA passionate and coruscating American tragedy * Financial Times *Knotted with energy, barely wasting a scene or word in its cracking velocity * Mail on Sunday *One of the great political novels of our age; a card-carrying Shakespearean tragedy with New Jersey dirt beneath its fingernails -- Xan Brooks * Guardian *Quintessential Philip Roth * Sunday Telegraph *A magnificent novel of ideas, a disquisition on the fallout of the death of ideology * Observer *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE ADVERSARYLittle Nicolas is a delicate, timid schoolboy, with an excitable, if morbid imagination – the child of an overbearing father. So, two weeks away on the class trip is already enough to fill him with dread. But when a child goes missing, Nicolas’ mind turns to gruesome possibilities, impelling him to take up the role of detective – and edge closer to a truth more shocking than Nicolas’ worst fears. Translated by Linda Coverdale 'There are few great writers in France today, and Emmanuel Carrère is one of them' Paris ReviewElegant, pocket-sized paperbacks, VINTAGE Editions celebrate the audacity and ambition of the written word, transporting readers to wherever in the world literary innovation may be found.Trade ReviewThe most important French writer you've never heard ofThere are few great writers in France today, and Emmanuel Carrère is one of them * Paris Review *

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Book Synopsis'If you're coming to Lurie for the first time, you must begin with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Foreign Affairs' GuardianVinnie Miner is an American professor of children's literature on her way to London for six months of research. Settling into her aeroplane seat she finds herself accosted by Chuck, a brash engineer wearing cowboy boots. She never imagines she'll see him again. But wet, windy London turns out to be the setting for fresh beginnings, and for Vinnie, a place to take up space, breathe the air, and to refuse to become a minor character in one's own life. Foreign Affairs is a comic, heart-wrenching masterpiece of unexpected romance. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY AMANDA CRAIGTrade ReviewI devoured the book at a sitting and then went back for a second dip at once * Sunday Telegraph *If you’re coming to Lurie for the first time, you must begin with the Pulitzer prize-winning Foreign Affairs * Guardian *Lurie...has quietly but surely established herself as one of this country's most able and witty novelists * New York Times (1984) *Perhaps more shocking than she knows - shocking like Jane Austen, not GenetIn Foreign Affairs no detail lacks its special piquancy. And none can be savored without leaving you with a mouthful of barbed hooks * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis'Marvellous entertainment' Sunday TimesJust married and newly arrived in Los Angeles are Paul and Katherine Cattleman. Paul responds immediately to the sunny, sprawling cosmopolitan city but to Katherine the main impression is of dirt and smog. Paul explores his surroundings and discovers Ceci, a girl who could be the incarnation of the city's uninhibited ways, while Katherine meets Iz a psychiatrist who recognises her unhappiness and sets out to help her. Under the bright west coast sun, the city begins to affect the couple in separate, subtle but significant ways, shining new light on their marriage with moving, funny and unexpected consequences.Trade ReviewI’m mad about Lurie… I have a thing for over-educated adulterers in fiction * Guardian *I am re-reading with enormous delight and greed. If you're new to them, lucky you: marvellously astute comedies of social, moral and sexual manners, their witty exuberance is nothing short of inspirational. -- Helen SimpsonLurie shows some really fine ironic humor… An incisive and very witty novel * Kirkus Reviews *Perhaps more shocking than she knows - shocking like Jane Austen, not GenetThe Queen Herod of contemporary fiction

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Book Synopsis'A brilliant and seemingly effortless accomplishment...steady uninterrupted delight' Sunday TelegraphFaculty wife Emily Stockwell Turner is beautiful, rich, and principled. However, five years in a marriage devoid of passion is enough to propel Emmy, despite her principles, into an affair with a silver-tongued self-confessed libertine. Her husband, a dull, hard-working lecturer, suspecting everyone but the right man, sends himself half mad with jealousy. The shocking, unforeseen consequences of their affair shatter Emmy's most cherished delusions about friendship, romance, and the ties that bind.'Lurie is and really is, different. She writes with great elegance, as frostily clear as the climate she describes; and with sharp intelligence piercing through every sentence. She is very funny as well' ObserverTrade ReviewAwesomely good * Sunday Times *A brilliant and seemingly effortless accomplishment...steady uninterrupted delight * Sunday Telegraph *Lurie is and really is, different. She writes with great elegance, as frostily clear as the climate she describes; and with sharp intelligence piercing through every sentence. She is very funny as well * Observer *I am re-reading with enormous delight and greed. If you're new to them, lucky you: marvellously astute comedies of social, moral and sexual manners, their witty exuberance is nothing short of inspirational. -- Helen SimpsonNot for the prim, this is definitely adult education, as well as a bright entertainment * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisCovering the first half of Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro's career, these are some of the best, most touching and powerful short stories ever writtenThis first-ever selection of Alice Munro's stories sums up her genius. Her territory is the secrets that cackle beneath the façade of everyday lives, the pain and promises, loves and fears of apparently ordinary men and women whom she renders extraordinary and unforgettable.This volume brings together the best of Munro's stories, from 1968 through to 1994. The second selected volume of her stories, 1995-2009 is also published by Vintage Classics.Trade ReviewMunro is a great realist, and her powers come from her sense of the way in which communities – especially small, socially anxious, limited ones – construct and guard their reality. * London Review of Books *Munro is a great realist, and her powers come from her sense of the way in which communities – especially small, socially anxious, limited ones – construct and guard their reality. * London Review of Books *One of the most esteemed writers in the world....Few writers capture the moral ambiguities, murkiness, messiness - and joy - of relationships with as much empathy and grace as Munro * Guardian *Her work is practically perfect. Any writer has to gawk when reading her because her work is very subtle and preciseThe best short story writer alive... Munro can pack more into one of her stories - more subtlety, more grace, more tender twists of the human heart - than many novelists do in a lifetime's oeuvre * Independent *

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Book SynopsisNothing in Elias' measured life, in his whole career as a teacher of literature, in his marriage to the 'indescribably beautiful' Eva, foreshadowed the events of that apparently ordinary day. He makes sure he has his headache pills and leaves for work as he has done every morning for the past twenty-five years.He is only too familiar with his pupils' hostile attitude both to his lectures and to himself, but today he feels their impatience, their oafishness, more painfully than ever before and, after their ritually dismissive and bored response to his passionate lecture on Ibsen's The Wild Duck, he reaches a point of crisis.Elegant, pocket-sized paperbacks, VINTAGE Editions celebrate the audacity and ambition of the written word, transporting readers to wherever in the world literary innovation may be found.Trade ReviewHe’s a kind of surrealistic writer, very strange novels. I think that’s serious literature—Haruki MurakamiI find him an utterly hypnotic and utterly humane writer. For me, 2015 was The Year of Solstad—James Wood, New YorkerDag Solstad is an unflinching explorer of the plight of educated humankind in the face of the inexplicable, whose artistry matches his ambitious theme—Paul Binding, IndependentOne for the grumpy old men—Scotland on Sunday[A] compact and layered book... Solstad has a revered role in Norway as the chronicler of his country's changing times—Boyd Tonkin, Independent

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Book Synopsis'Powerful as [Richard Wright] was - is - as a writer, nobody can surpass him in doing certain kinds of writing... He is courageous - he was able to look into areas that nobody at that time was willing to look at' Toni Morrison Cross Damon is disenchanted. At odds with society, and with himself, his idealism and sense of alienation have driven him to drink and incessant reflection. But when Cross is mistakenly reported to have died, he is suddenly free to put his ideals to the test - and a reign of terror and destruction ensues. A counterpart to Wright's 1940 novel, Native Son, The Outsider is Wright's existential masterpiece. An epic exploration of criminality and oppression its publication established Wright as America's most daring, and damning writers.

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Book SynopsisThe sequel to Bernice L. McFadden's incredible classic debut and the Richard and Judy 2021 Book Club pick, SugarIn This Bitter Earth, Sugar Lacey is on her way out of Bigelow, Arkansas, where she'd come to break with the past. With her worn leopard-print suitcase and her head held high, she walks past the prying eyes of its small-minded, cruel-hearted townsfolk, praying for the strength to keep going. She doesn't stop until she arrives at her childhood home in Short Junction. Here she learns the truth about her parentage: a terrible tale of unrequited love, of one man's enduring hatred, and of the black magic that has cursed generations of Lacey women. A powerfully realised novel that brings back the unforgettable characters from Sugar, McFadden's bestselling debut, This Bitter Earth is a testament to the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.Reader reviews for Sugar'Such an enjoyable read... beautifully written, raw and impactful''Riveting, heart-breaking''Very powerful, poignant''Beautifully written... brutal and moving... a must read book''Well-written with rich characters and many twists and turns''So descriptive yet easy to read, and it made me fall in love with all the characters'Trade ReviewA moving story on loss and learning to heal, which will leave you rooting for Sugar as she uncovers each hardship the townsfolk around her are secretly battling * UK Press Syndication *

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Book Synopsis* READ THE NOVEL THAT INSPIRED THE FILM PRECIOUS *This 25th Anniversary Edition includes a new preface from Tayari Jones, and a new afterword by the author. This is the story of Precious Jones, a sixteen year old illiterate black girl who has never been out of Harlem. She is pregnant by her own father for the second time, and kicked out of school. Placed in an alternative teaching programme, she learns to read and write. This is Precious's diary, in which she honestly records her relationships and her life. 'The Color Purple for the nineties' Vogue 'Sapphire's vibrant, unindulgent first novel has you cheering the awesome Precious on until the last page' Mail on Sunday 'Has all the power and vehemence of rap...brutal in its defence of the vulnerable' Independent 'Part wishful prayer, part manifesto, mingling poetry and humour...splendid, turbulent, bracing language...its music takes you over, its story grips... A voice to remember' Scotland on Sunday 'Harrowing yet hilarious... packs a powerful punch' GuardianTrade ReviewAn inspired and inspiring debut, a The Color Purple for the nineties * Vogue *Sapphire's vibrant, unindulgent first novel has you cheering the awesome Precious on until the last page: her voice is true and the book is cool * Mail on Sunday *Harrowing yet hilarious... packs a powerful punch... The powerful writing makes the book a cracking read... a tour de force * Guardian *Unforgettable...a mesmerising and uplifting read... Has all the power and vehemence of rap...brutal in its defence of the vulnerable * Independent *

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Book Synopsis'She's no good, that girl. Much too individualistic'This is the story of Fenfang who, determined to carve out a life more independent than her provincial roots, gets a job as a film extra in Beijing. But living a modern life is not as easy as it looks in this tumultuous, messy city. Grappling with the narrow world of cinema, an outworn Communist regime, and the city's far-from-progressive attitudes to women, charismatic Fenfang finds her true freedom in the one place she never expected.20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth is a sparkling and wry coming-of-age story about the changing identity of women in contemporary China.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.

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Book Synopsis'At that time I could not imagine what would become of me, and I didn't care. It was not judgement day, but another morning'This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by working-class evangelists in the North of England to be one of God's elect. Passionate, headstrong and shielded by her mother's grand disapproval of a sinful world, she seems destined for life as a missionary. And then she meets Melanie.At sixteen, Jeanette faces a world of uncertainty as she breaks from the church and her community for the young woman she loves. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a warm, witty and daring novel that gives voice to irrepressible desire.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.Trade ReviewYou'll find everything you need to know about mustering the courage to embrace your true self and live life without fear in Winterson's hugely engaging semi-autobiographical novel -- Mariella Frostrup * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis'I'm alive inside. A bird is my heart. Mama and Daddy is not win. I'm winning.'This is the story of Precious, a sixteen-year-old illiterate Black girl who has never been out of Harlem. Pregnant by her own father for the second time, she is kicked out of school and placed in an alternative teaching programme. Through learning to read and write, Precious begins to find her voice, and fight back.Push is the unflinching diary of a girl whose strength and kindness shines amidst extraordinary adversity.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, featuring bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.Trade ReviewAn inspired and inspiring debut, a The Color Purple for the nineties * Vogue *Sapphire's vibrant, unindulgent first novel has you cheering the awesome Precious on until the last page: her voice is true and the book is cool * Mail on Sunday *Harrowing yet hilarious... packs a powerful punch... The powerful writing makes the book a cracking read... a tour de force * Guardian *Unforgettable...a mesmerising and uplifting read... Has all the power and vehemence of rap...brutal in its defence of the vulnerable * Independent *Harrowing yet hilarious...packs a powerful punch... The powerful writing makes the book a cracking read...a tour de force * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis'There are times, though, that no matter how much food I eat, I find the food does nothing for me, like I am hungry for my country and nothing is going to fix that'This is the story of Darling, uprooted from her family home by paramilitary police, and living in a Zimbabwean shanty called Paradise. Despite the turmoil, she revels in mischief and adventures with her friends, like stealing guavas from the rich neighbourhood, and singing Lady Gaga at the top of her voice.But when Darling has a chance to forge a different life in America, she realises that this new paradise brings its own set of challenges. In We Need New Names a spirited girl grows into a powerful observer of global identity.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.Trade ReviewWe Need New Names is a "before" and "after" kind of novel, the kind that marks a new beginning, a new shift in the African literary tradition . . . To me, it is a complete novel in terms of aesthetics and politics -- Mukoma Wa Ngugi * The Rise of the African Novel *

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Book SynopsisLife Before Man is a tragicomic tale of love seeking to find its way in the wake of death from the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The TestamentsElizabeth has just lost her latest lover to suicide while Nate, her husband, is working up to run off with Lesje. And Lesje? She would rather be studying dinosaurs than distracted by men. As Elizabeth, Nate and Lesje find themselves imprisoned by walls of their own construction the ghost of Elizabeth’s dead lover hangs over them. Under his shadow, and in the spell of love, their lives will collide and entangle towards a single tragicomic climax. ‘Tender, funny, absorbing, idiosyncratic, truthful, heartening... A liberating novel’ Literary ReviewTrade ReviewA modern saga...she has a fine ear for words and a quick wit for absudities * The Times *An extraordinary imagination - witty, light-footed, realistic, yet with shooting insights into the nature of personality and love * Financial Times *Tender, funny, absorbing, idiosyncratic, truthful, heartening... A liberating novel. It deserves a wide readership * Literary Review *Mordant intelligence; formidable insight into the springs of human self-deception, self-aggrandisement and self-destruction; and an effortless, always vivid style * Spectator *Beautifully written and constructed... A rich and elegant achievement * Listener *

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VINTAGE CLASSICS' HARLEM RENAISSANCE SERIES Celebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.'Why did I want to mix mahself up in a white folk's war? It ain't ever was any of black folks' affair'When Jake Brown joins the army during the First World War, he is treated more like a slave than a soldier. After deserting his post to escape the racial violence he is facing, Jake travels back home to Harlem. But despite the distance, Jake cannot seem to escape the past and the explosive ways in which it can culminate. Written with brutal accuracy, Home to Harlem is an extraordinary work, and was the first American bestseller by a Black writer. 'One of the most gifted writers of the Harlem Renaissance' Washington Post

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Book SynopsisDiscover this sharp, funny short story collection from the bestselling author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The TestamentsA man finds himself surrounded by women who are becoming paler, more silent and literally smaller; a woman's intimate life is strangely dominated by the fear of nuclear warfare; a melancholy teenage love is swept away by a hurricane, while a tired, middle-aged affection is rekindled by the spectacle of rare Jamaican birds...In these exceptional short stories, by turns funny and searingly honest, Margaret Atwood captures brilliantly the complex forces that govern our relationships, and the powerful emotions that guide them.‘An acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women’ The TimesTrade ReviewAn acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women * The Times *If anyone has better insight into women and their central problem - men - than Margaret Atwood, and can voice them with as much wit, impact and grace, then they haven't started writing yet * Daily Mail *Sophisticated, reticent, ornate, stark, supple, stiff, savage or forgiving...they are stories from the prime of life * Times Literary Supplement *An outstanding correspondent on the war between the sexes writes as wittily as ever on the hopes and shortcomings of women who bake for poets, sleep with their accountants, attribute their preference for awful men to fearlessness, and don't know how much they scare their own mothers * Observer *

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Book SynopsisNew to the Vintage Classics Woolf series, this is Woolf's groundbreaking experimental novel.Jacob's Room is Virginia Woolf's first truly experimental novel. It is a portrait of a young man, tracing his life from childhood, to Cambridge University, and to his early adult life in artistic London. Jacob always yearns for something greater, and embarks on a voyage to the Mediterranean before the war begins and his fate is forever altered. Impressionistic in style, the narrative is as inspired now as it was when it first appeared.'A remarkable achievement' New StatesmanTrade ReviewJacob, of whom people speak, of whom they think, but who is never shown. And yet that denial of presence on the part of the author makes of him one of the most living presences in world literature. It’s a remarkable achievement.—New StatesmanVirginia Woolf stands as the chief figure of modernism in England and must be included with Joyce and Proust in the realisation of experimental achievements that have completely broken with tradition—New York Times

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Book Synopsis'Beard sank into a gloom of inattention, not because the planet was in peril - that moronic word again - but because someone was telling him it was with such enthusiasm'Michael Beard is a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. He now spends his days speaking for enormous fees and half-heartedly heading a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time, she's having the affair.When Beard's professional and personal worlds collide in a freak accident, an opportunity arises for Beard to simultaneously save his marriage and the world from environmental disaster.'Savagely funny... Enormously entertaining' Sunday Times'A satirical masterpiece...it will come to be regarded as a classic' Daily Telegraph'A stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet' Financial TimesVINTAGE EARTH is a collection of novels to transform our relationship with the natural world. Each one is a work of creative activism, a blast of fresh air, a seed from which change can grow. The books in this series reconnect us to the planet we inhabit - and must protect. Discover great writing on the most urgent story of our times.Trade ReviewSavagely funny... Enormously entertaining * Sunday Times *A satirical masterpiece...it will come to be regarded as a classic * Daily Telegraph *A stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet * Financial Times *McEwan has succeeded in producing a novel that is both profoundly serious and hilariously funny * Mail on Sunday *Vivacious and sprawling, a beautifully and compellingly written novel * The Times *

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Book SynopsisThe second world war classic of life under Nazi occupation. Némirovsky was sent to Auschwitz in 1942. In 1941, Irène sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. Némirovsky's death in Auschwitz in 1942 prevented her from seeing the day, sixty-five years later, that the existing two sections of her planned novel sequence, Suite Française, would be rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece.Set during the year that France fell to the Nazis, Suite Française falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation. Suite Française is a novel that teems with wonderful characters struggling with the new regime. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places.VINTAGE FRENCH CLASSICS - six masterpieces of French fiction in collectable editions.'A masterpiece of French fiction' Sunday Times'One of those rare books that demands to be read' Guardian

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Book SynopsisA stunning new collection of short stories about motherhood, selected and introduced by Candice Brathwaite.______________'To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colours of a rainbow' MAYA ANGELOUThe story of motherhood is an endlessly rich one: it's one of love - and all the highs and lows that come with that world-turning emotion - and, in the purest sense, of life itself. Within these pages, some of the finest writers in the world explore motherhood in wildly varying modes, from single parenthood to sisters coparenting, from the deepest hardships to the biggest celebrations.Selected and introduced by Candice Brathwaite, author of I Am Not Your Baby Mother.Stories by Lydia Davis, Anita Desai, Mary Gaitskill, Tessa Hadley, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Irenosen Okojie, Casey Plett, Tabitha Siklos, Helen Simpson, Ali Smith

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Book SynopsisEVERYONE THINKS MALA IS A MURDERER'A Caribbean classic' Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch-------Everyone in Paradise thinks Mala Ramchandin is a murderer. But with no body, no evidence and no witnesses, Mala is sent to an Alms House as a madwoman instead of prison. Here she meets Tyler, the only openly queer person on the island of Lantanacamara with whom she feels an affinity as an outsider. Despite Mala's muteness, she manages to communicate with Tyler about her missing sister, Asha.This is Mala's story, and an appeal to find Asha, told in Tyler's words. He dives deeply into Mala's family history, uncovering years of trauma passed down through generations and - staggeringly, beautifully - the love that has survived through it all.With an introduction by Ingrid Persaud.'Visceral, sensual and heartbreakingly tender' Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, author of When We Were Birds'A story of magical power' Alice Munro, author of Dear Life'Will remind many readers of Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things' Kirkus'Clearly ahead of its time' BooksellerFINALIST FOR THE GILLER PRIZEFINALIST FOR THE ETHEL WILSON FICTION PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZETrade Review'A novel about otherness, queerness, and hidden domestic crimes, Shani Mootoo was writing well ahead of her peers around taboo subjects. Cereus Blooms at Night is of Trinidad's finest novels, a portrait of how things really are on an island where there's been so much past hurt. A Caribbean classic' -- Monique Roffey * author of THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH *'Visceral, sensual and heartbreakingly tender, Cereus Blooms at Night is that rare book which is not only critically acclaimed but has the devoted following of a cult classic. A generation of us in the Caribbean have held it close and pressed it into the hands and hearts of fellow readers knowing that it may never be returned, so strong was our desire to have others share in its wonder. It changed me, utterly, the first time I read it and there have been echoes of Mala Ramchandin and her teeming, crumbling house in everything I have written or tried to write since' -- Ayanna Lloyd Banwo * author of WHEN WE WERE BIRDS *'A story of magical power' -- Alice Munro * author of DEAR LIFE *'Vigorously inventive prose... The sinuous unwinding of Mootoo's clever plot will remind many readers of Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things' * Kirkus *'My first experience of reading this novel was at university. Revisiting it, the novel was clearly ahead of its time, dealing with the complex issues of racial identity, diaspora, colonialism, desire and trauma' * Bookseller *

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Book SynopsisVINTAGE CLASSICS' AMERICAN GOTHIC SERIESSpine-tingling, mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric, journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics.*SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE***FROM THE AUTHOR OF TIKTOK SENSATION MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION**Trapped between caring for her alcoholic father and her job as a secretary at the boys' prison, Eileen Dunlop dreams of escaping to the big city.In the meantime, her nights and weekends are filled with shoplifting and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father's messes.When the beautiful, charismatic Rebecca Saint John arrives on the scene as the new counsellor at the prison, Eileen is enchanted, unable to resist what appears to be a miraculously budding friendship. But soon, Eileen's affection for Rebecca pull her into a crime that far surpasses even her own wild imagination.'Fully lives up to the hype. A taut psychological thriller, rippled with comedy as black as a raven's wing, Eileen is effortlessly stylish and compelling' The Times*SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA NEW BLOOD DAGGER AWARD*

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Book SynopsisA beautiful hardback edition of the Pulitzer-prize winning novel, from the great Toni Morrison.Sethe is now miles away from Sweet Home - the farm where she was kept as a slave for many years. Unable to forget the unspeakable horrors that took place there, Sethe is haunted by the violent spectre of her dead child, the daughter who died nameless and whose tombstone is etched with a single word, 'Beloved'.A tale of brutality, horror and, above all, love at any cost, Beloved is Toni Morrison's enduring masterpiece and best-known work.'An American masterpiece' A. S. Byatt'Toni Morrison was a giant of her times and ours... Beloved is a heartbreaking testimony to the ongoing ravages of slavery, and should be read by all' Margaret Atwood, New York Times**One of the BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**VINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful

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Book SynopsisA beautiful hardback edition of the hilarious, dark, ingenious novel that changed the face of British fiction.Choose us. Choose life. Choose mortgage payments; choose washing machines; choose cars; choose sitting oan a couch watching mind-numbing and spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fuckin junk food intae yir mooth. Choose rotting away, pishing and shiteing yersel in a home, a total fuckin embarrassment tae the selfish, fucked-up brats ye've produced.Choose life.'The best book ever written by man or woman... Deserves to sell more copies than the Bible' Rebel Inc'Welsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius' Sunday TimesVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautifulTrade ReviewAbhorrently dark and raw to the core, Trainspotting is an insight into one of life’s many ugly personalities — addiction and the accompanying domino effect of grim inevitabilities… Irvine Welsh’s novel will always be a cult classic.—Tori Chalmers, Culture TripWelsh’s skill as a storyteller is undeniable, bringing both wit and compassion to a grim subject matter. If you liked Danny Boyle’s film adaptation, you’ll love the original.—Maddy Searle, iThe voice of punk, grown up, grown wiser and grown eloquent—Sunday TimesThe best book ever written by man or woman... Deserves to sell more copies than the bible—Rebel IncWelsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius. He is the best thing that has happened to British writing for decades—Sunday Times

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Book Synopsis_________________‘Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.’ AJ PEARCE_________________A delicious Christmas feast of short stories from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of A French Affair and The Perfect Match.Add some extra sparkle to your Christmas by joining Katie Fforde for a perfect, romantic Christmas feast of short stories. Collected together for the first time and including one brand new story.Make your Christmas wishes come true...Includes an exclusive sneak preview of Katie's new novel, A Vintage Wedding.Trade ReviewBeautifully written collection of short stories. * Closer *

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Book Synopsis'Look for your sister after each dive. Never forget. If you see her, you are safe.'This is the story of Hana and her little sister Emi, who are part of an island community of haenyo, women who make their living from free diving off the southernmost tip of Korea. One day Hana sees a Japanese soldier heading for where Emi is guarding the day's catch on the beach. Saving her sister, Hana herself is captured and forced to become a "comfort woman" in a Japanese military brothel.Moving between Hana in 1943 and Emi as an elderly woman today, White Chrysanthemum sheds light on a devastating history - and how the bond of sisterhood is strong enough to endure the evils of war.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.

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Book SynopsisCovering the second half of Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro's career, these are some of the best, most touching and powerful short stories ever written.'Munro is still one of our most fearless explorers of the human being'The TimesSpanning her last five collections and bringing together her finest work from the past fifteen years, this new selection of Alice Munro's stories infuses everyday lives with a wealth of nuance and insight.Beautifully observed and remarkably crafted, written with emotion and empathy, these stories are nothing short of perfection. A masterclass in the genre, from an author who deservedly lays claim to being one of the major fiction writers of our time.

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Book SynopsisFrom the international bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale, Dancing Girls and Other Stories showcases Margaret Atwood's masterly skill for storytelling.Students, journalists, farmers, birdwatchers, ex-wives, adolescent lovers - and dancing girls. All ordinary people. Or are they? In brilliant flashes of fantasy, humour and unexpected violence, Margaret Atwood reveals the complexities of human relationships and maps the motivations we scarcely know we have within us. Populated with characters who evoke laughter, compassion, terror and recognition, Atwood’s stories show why she remains one of our greatest, most original storytellers. 'A remarkable collection' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewAn acute and poetic observer of the eternal, universal, rum relationships between men and women * The Times *The mind revealed in this collection of short stories is acutely perceptive, in love with language and capable of seeing significant connections between apparently disparate circumstances * Evening Standard *If anyone has better insight into women and their central problem - men - than Margaret Atwood, and can voice them with as much wit, impact and grace, then they haven't started writing yet * Daily Mail *Margaret Atwood's stories are fierce parables about the horror of city life and the power politics of relationships. The fierceness filters insidiously through the leisurely realism of her domestic interiors, clothes, meals, weather... A remarkable collection * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisA beautifully packaged hardback edition of Haruki Murakami's breakout hit, now with a new introduction by the authorWhen he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.'Evocative, entertaining, sexy and funny; but then Murakami is one of the best writers around' Time OutTrade ReviewNorwegian Wood is Japan's The Catcher in the Rye * Daily Telegraph *Everyone who reads Norwegian Wood runs out to buy copies for friends and lovers... Drawing on Fitzgerald, Capote, Chandler and the Japanese tradition, his books are at once disarmingly direct and slyly, charmingly evasive. They are playful and melancholy; full of wrong turns and red herrings, corridors that lead nowhere and - above all - girls who disappear * Guardian *A masterly novel. . . . Norwegian Wood bears the unmistakable marks of Murakami's hand * The New York Times Book Review *This book is undeniably hip, full of student uprisings, free love, booze and 1960s pop, it's also genuinely emotionally engaging, and describes the highs of adolescence as well as the lows * Independent on Sunday *Catches the absorption and giddy rush of adolescent love... It is also, for all the tragic momentum and the apparently kamikaze consciousness of many of its characters, often funny and quirkily observed. Quietly compulsive and finally moving * Times Literary Supplement *A heart-stoppingly moving story... Murakami is, without a doubt, one of the world's finest novelists * Glasgow Herald *Evocative, entertaining, sexy and funny; but then Murakami is one of the best writers around * Time Out *Norwegian Wood . . . not only points to but manifests the author's genius * Chicago Tribune *An intimate and dark story... A beautifully introspective novel that made me feel all the emotions * Cosmopolitan *Murakami must already rank among the world's greatest living novelists * Guardian *Such is the exquisite, gossamer construction of Murakami's writing that everything he chooses to describe trembles with symbolic possibility * Guardian *Vintage Murakami [and] easily the most erotic of [his] novels * Los Angeles Times Book Review *[A] treat...Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done * Baltimore Sun *Murakami's most famous coming of age novel of love, loss and longing * Dazed and Confused *

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Book Synopsis'Heart and humour in abundance... exquisite' The TimesAfter fifty years in London, Alice wants to live out her days in the land of her birth. Her children are divided on whether she stays or goes, and in the wake of their father's death, the imagined stability of the family begins to fray. Meanwhile youngest daughter Melissa has never let go of a love she lost, and Michael in return, now married to Nicole, is haunted by the failed perfection of the past. As Alice's final decision draws closer, all that is hidden between them rises to the surface . . .Set against the shadows of a city and a country in turmoil, Diana Evans's ordinary people confront fundamental questions. How should we raise our children? How to do right by our parents? And how, in the midst of everything, can we satisfy ourselves?'A gorgeous novel from one of our most outstanding writers' Bernardine Evaristo'Diana Evans is fast proving herself a novelist to rank alongside Anne Tyler' Daily Mail'A warm but devastating narrative... Like any Evans novel, it is unputdownable' Harper's BazaarA New York Times *100 Notable Books of 2023*Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political FictionSelected in Best Reads of 2023 by The Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar, New Statesman and Good HousekeepingA Waterstones Book of the YearThe Bookseller Editor’s ChoiceThe New York Times Book Review Editors’ ChoiceStarred Kirkus ReviewGuardian Book of the DayTrade ReviewEvans's writing is...subtle but grounded, lyrical yet accessible. Her characters feel real, their interactions - particularly that tense space where the political and domestic meet - nuanced * Sunday Times *[An] ambitious tale of a family in contemporary London... [Evans's] wide cast of women are deftly drawn. There's heart and humour in abundance * The Times *The sheer vitality of Evans's dynamic prose... renders almost hypnotic her constant toggling between the prosaic and the metaphysical. There are some deft set pieces too, dramatising intimacy's most finely nuanced dynamics * Guardian *A warm but devastating narrative, dealing with the fallout of the Grenfell tragedy... Like any Evans novel, it is unputdownable * Harper's Bazaar, *Books to Look Out For 2023* *One of our most outstanding writers . . . A House for Alice [is] a stunning multi-generational kaleidoscope of London . . . Evans writes with exceptional profundity and is exemplary at exploring the inner workings of her fictional characters through a prose style so poetic you want to languish in her sentences. * Bernardine Evaristo, Vogue *A wise, tender novel about family and love that explores the tension between duty and desire and the question of what 'home' really means * Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Love Marriage *I adored it. Her writing is exquisite: every sentence a jewel; every paragraph containing some insight that makes you draw breath with its rightness * Elizabeth Day, author of How To Fail and Magpie *At every point, whether sad or funny, A House for Alice is compassionate and sharp * Telegraph *Ambitious in scope ... The story is engrossing and moving * Independent *Diana Evans is fast proving herself a novelist to rank alongside Anne Tyler, so adept is she at parsing life's longings and upheavals... highly enjoyable, tenderly wrought * Daily Mail *This intimate, melodic novel explores notions of home, family and long-held secrets * Mail on Sunday *A House For Alice is a sharp appraisal of loss. Evans writes deftly about the shifting intimacies between family * Raven Leilani, author of Luster *All is conjured with Evans's keen eye for human behaviour... Her prose is distinguished by its lively, lyrical energy, by its seemingly effortless expansiveness, and by masterful turns of phrase * Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton *'Diana Evans's writing is so singular, so arresting, characterful, and so beautiful . . . Evans is always, always on the finest of forms' * Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie and People Person *Mesmerising... Few writers describe with such inventiveness, eloquence and thoroughness, even in the most seemingly mundane situations. * Michael Donkor *This is a knowingly and at times devastatingly elegiac novel... through the delicacy of her [Evans's] prose, the deftness of her dialogue and the clarity of her observations, she manages to create a novel that measures up to life... A House for Alice...marks itself out as that rare thing: a sequel that feels necessary * Times Literary Supplement *Evans is a profoundly important chronicler of our times. Her velveteen prose is utterly precise, so detailed and artful . . . A writer at the top of her game * Leone Ross *Superb. A deeply enriching and profound novel. Diana Evans is one of our greatest writers. We're so lucky to have her * Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch *'A poignant and elegant unfurling of the intricacies of family life - sensitively observed and beautifully written' * Nicola Rollock, author of The Racial Code *An orchestral, richly textured portrait of interconnected middle-class Black lives in contemporary London . . . Witty, poignant and emotionally acute * The Bookseller *A state-of-the-nation masterpiece... This is rich, multi-layered novel of interconnected lives... another rich, detailed portrait of not-so-ordinary people * Harper's Bazaar *Beautifully conceived, A House for Alice is a luminous, big-hearted novel about the people and things that enable us to find, keep and call somewhere a home * Financial Times *A rich evocation of south London, a poignant account of a dwindling marriage and a lovely celebration of music * Guardian *An impressive sequel to 2018's Ordinary People * Financial Times, *Summer Reads of 2023* *[A] tender yet political tale * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2023* *Lyrical and excoriating * Guardian, *Books of the Year* *

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Book Synopsis*ONE OF THE TIMES BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2022*The glorious Sunday Times bestseller from one of our greatest storytellers. French Braid follows one family''s joys and heartbreaks, mistakes and secrets, from the 1950s right up to today.When Mercy Garrett moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice.All she wants is space and silence. No clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond.But it turns out family life is impossible to escape - particularly when it''s in your past. For Mercy it all begins in 1959, with a holiday to a cabin by a lake. It''s the only one the Garretts will ever take, but its effects will ripple through the generations''Gorgeous, charming, profound, and written with such lightness of touch'' MARIAN KEYES''A perfect work of fiction'' MEG MASON''She is and always will be my favourite author'' LIANE MORIARTY''Exquisitely crafted, te

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Book SynopsisA heart-stopping, magical story about human connection, for fans of THE PAPER PALACE and LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE Two families. One night. A constellation of lives changed forever.When retired doctor Ben Wilf comes across ten-year-old Waldo Shenkman in the middle of the night under Division Street's old oak tree, he is treated to an unexpected and magical tour of the stars. But this is not the first time the boy and old man have met. In fact, they go way back, to the night of Waldo's birth, and further still.Secrets preside over the neighbourhood along with the majestic oak. One night in particular has been kept buried. Following it, the Wilfs ­-- parents and children -- change and grow, but each is haunted by what they choose to forget. Then the young Shenkmans move in across the street: a couple with their own secrets and a lonely, brilliant son who is captivated by the night sky. As their stories collide in ways they never could have imagined, the past comes hurtling back to Division Street, setting in motion a spellbinding chain of events that will transform both families forever.Signal Fires is an exquisite portrait of two families, and a testament to the human capacity to experience love and loss. With wry tenderness it shows how we are all connected through time in ways that are at once beautiful, mysterious, profound and full of hope.* HUNDREDS OF 5-STAR READER RESPONSES * 'Was both devastated and wowed at the end' * 'The best novel that I've read all year! I couldn't put it down' * 'Profoundly moving, deeply relatable and so beautifully written' * 'Gorgeous, deeply moving and captivating' * 'Beautiful, full of emotion and magic'Trade ReviewSignal Fires is a great novel, but it's also something rarer: a good novel, one that shines with deep truths about what it is to love someone, lose them, and live on -- Alex Preston * Financial Times *A stunning future classic -- LISA TADDEOTender and philosophical * Observer *Gripping * People Magazine *Lyrically examines the ways a single event can alter many lives for ever . . . wonderful -- Joanne Finney * Good Housekeeping BOOK OF THE MONTH *Shapiro weaves a compulsive, tender narrative that flits between viewpoints and time frames in its quest for connectivity * Mail on Sunday *A wonderful novel, full of insight and compassion -- MARY LAWSONHaunting, moving, and propulsive -- MEG WOLITZERBeautifully written, Dani Shapiro explores time, memory and our human interconnectedness to create a moving portrayal of the ripple effect one event and one person's actions can have on many lives * Woman's Weekly *Beautiful... a family saga, but a book about destiny too, the unavoidable push and pull of choice and chance -- Francesca Steele * i News *Lyrical and propulsive . . . hard to put down * Oprah Daily *Masterful and poignant * Today Show US *Wise, deeply perceptive, suffused with light -- CLAIRE MESSUDSignal Fires is an urgent and compassionate meditation on memory, time, and space. In Shapiro's elegant convergence of narrative threads, she creates a world that's as wrenching as it is wondrous -- RUTH OZEKIA subtle, compelling and expansive book about family, love and the devastating power of secrets. I love the way Shapiro writes relationships, the ambition of having so many concurrent narratives and the deft way she draws her characters. -- NELL FRIZZELL

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Book Synopsis''A warm, sweet love story, and a thought-provoking examination of the British slave trade and its legacy'' MARIAN KEYES**A STYLIST UNMISSABLE BOOK FOR 2024**They already share a surname. But will they share a future?When Layla and Andy first meet, they can''t believe they have the same surname. It feels like fate, almost too romantic to be true.But Sera, Layla''s best friend, has her doubts about Andy. As the pair fall deeper and deeper in love, Sera becomes more and more vocal about Layla settling down with a white boy. And then, only a few weeks before their wedding, Layla makes a devastating discovery about their shared name.What seemed like a fairy-tale romance is rapidly derailed. In part propelled by Sera''s rising anger, Layla begins to uncover parts of her history and identity that she had never imagined -- or, perhaps, had simply learnt to ignore. And now, she faces an impossible choice, betw

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Book SynopsisAfter years teaching Romantic poetry in Cape Town, David Lurie has an impulsive affair with a student.The affair sours; he is denounced and summoned before a committee of inquiry. Willing to admit his guilt, but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly, he resigns and retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated smallholding. For a time, his daughter's influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. He and Lucy become victims of a savage and disturbing attack which brings into relief all the faultlines in their relationship.''A great novel by one of the finest authors writing in the English language today'' The Times''At the frontier of world literature'' Sunday Telegraph**One of the BBC''s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**

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Book SynopsisAndrey Kurkov is a writer, journalist, and the current president of PEN Ukraine. He was born in St Petersburg in 1961. Having graduated from the Kiev Foreign Languages Institute, he worked for some time as a journalist, did his military service as a prison warder in Odessa, then became a writer of screenplays and author of critically acclaimed and popular novels, including the bestselling Death and the Penguin. Kurkov has long been a respected commentator on Ukraine for the world's media, notably in the U.K., France, Germany, and the United States.

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