Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisFrom the million-copy bestseller Amanda Prowse, the queen of heartbreak fiction. Amanda Prowse is the author of The Coordinates Of Loss and the no.1 bestsellers Perfect Daughter, My Husband's Wife and What Have I Done? This is an unforgettable romance about what happens when two very different people fall in love. Anna Cole grew up poor, but her mother's love made her feel rich every day. Then her mother died, and Anna was sent to a care home. As a teenager, Anna vowed that one day, she would have children of her own, and create the happy, noisy family life she always craved. Then, one day, Anna meets Theo Montgomery in a lift. Theo has kind eyes, but a sad past. His family were rich, but his childhood was full of neglect. Theo can't imagine bringing a child into this cruel world, but he does want a soulmate. Someone to love him unconditionally; someone with whom he can share his family's wealth. Theo and Anna are two damaged souls, from two different worlds. Is their love for each other enough to let go of the pain of their pasts? Or will Anna and Theo break each other's hearts? There are two sides to every love story. This is Anna's. Reviews for Amanda Prowse: 'Prowse handles her explosive subject with delicate skill... Deeply moving and inspiring' DAILY MAIL. 'Powerful and emotional family drama that packs a real punch' HEAT. 'A gut wrenching and absolutely brilliant read' IRISH SUN. 'Captivating, heartbreaking, superbly written' CLOSER. 'Very uplifting and positive, but you may still need a box (or two) of tissues' HELLO. 'An emotional, unputdownable read' RED. 'Prowse writes gritty, contemporary stories but always with an uplifting message of hope' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT.Trade ReviewKeep a box of tissues nearby... I loved it' * Daily Mail *A unique story with events and characters we can all relate to * Candis, Book of the Month *It's an original trick to offer two sides of the same love story... I loved both books' * Daily Mail *Book one is brilliant, book two is superb, but book one and book two together multiply brilliant by superb to get epic and that is realised in large part by the publishing decision to send these two novels out into the world together. It is a testament to the publishing house, a sign of the author's talent and a treat for readers * Nudge Book *At once gut-wrenching and uplifting... One you won't forget but best read with a box of tissues to hand' * Sunday Post *Uplifting, positive and heart-breaking at the same time * Staffordshire Life *

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Book Synopsis'A thoughtful page-turner' THE TIMES 'Vast, well-plotted and gripping throughout' SPECTATOR 'Richly entertaining and highly rewarding' EVENING STANDARDSeven Londoners are invited to an opulent dinner party. From a brutal hedge-funder to a lovelorn barrister, a Polish footballer to a pickle magnate, they are defined by the virtual worlds of religious extremism, financial gambling, drugs and internet obsession they inhabit. But it is 2007, the Crash is coming, and all will face a terrible reckoning.A Week in December is a dazzling and darkly comic state-of-the-nation novel.Trade Review"This vast novel, well-plotted and gripping throughout, is the first that Sebastian Faulks has set in our time... the ambition and scope of the book are to be applauded. The conclusion is suitably nail-biting and, pleasingly, love triumphs. Sebastian Faulks has probably got another best-seller on his hands." --Spectator"A portrayal of modern London that is both richly entertaining and highly rewarding. Faulks has come as close as anyone to completing the jigsaw that is this crazy, fascinating city of ours." --Evening Standard

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Book Synopsis'What a great novel, its language and storytelling so light but also raw and lyrical. A tremendous writer. Read this book' ADRIAAN VAN DIS. Alan Noland discovers his father's memoirs and learns the truth about the violent man he despised. In this unsparing family history, Alan distils his father's life in the Dutch East Indies into one furious utterance. He reads about his work as an interpreter during the war with Japan, his life as an assassin, and his decision to murder Indonesians in the service of the Dutch without any conscience. How he fled to the Netherlands to escape being executed as a traitor and met Alan's mother soon after. As he reads his father's story Alan begins to understand how war transformed his father into the monster he knew. Birney exposes a crucial chapter in Dutch and European history that was deliberately concealed behind the ideological facade of postwar optimism. Readers of this superb novel will find that it reverberates long afterwards in their memory. Trade Review'A masterly novel about the violence of colonialism, the war of decolonisation, the repatriation of the collaborators and the consequences all of this has had on the families of those involved' De Groener Amsterdammer.'Birney mercilessly exposes a crucial part of Dutch history. This masterful novel will echo in the minds of its readers' De Volkskrant.'What a great novel, its language and storytelling so light but also raw and lyrical. A tremendous writer. Read this book' Adriaan van Dis, author of My Father's War and Betrayal.'A work of unbridled, incensed storytelling: an assault on the lazy assumptions of parochial, colonial history and a personal quest for redemption' South China Morning Post.

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Book SynopsisEight contestants. One killer. Can you find the traitor?'I'm a Celebrity meets Lord of the Flies.' Emma CurtisThe pace never slackens.' Faith Martin'What fun!' GuardianEverything is a clue. Bonnie arrives on a remote sea fort off the coast of England to take part in a mysterious reality TV show. Competing against seven strangers, she must solve a series of puzzles to win the prize money. No one leaves. It doesn't take long for the contestants to turn on one another. Who will sacrifice the most for wealth and fame? And why can't Bonnie shake the creeping sense that they are not alone?The only way out is to win. When the first person is found dead, the others begin to panic. Because there's a killer with them inside the fort, and anyone could be next. If Bonnie wants to escape, she needs to win... Everyone is talking about The Escape Room . . . The twists and turns are ingenious. Brilliant!' *****A rip-roaring, immersive thriller that does not let you out of its grasp.' *****

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Book SynopsisWorld-famous actor Harry Whittaker dies only to find he must haunt all the people he mistreated and, perhaps, loved.

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Book SynopsisEvie Wyld is the award-winning author of four novels and one graphic novel. She has won the Betty Trask Award, Miles Franklin Award, John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Encore Award, Jerwood Fiction Prize and the European Union Prize. In 2013 she was included in Granta's once-a-decade list of Best of Young British Novelists. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and helps run an independent bookshop in Peckham called Review.

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Book SynopsisA special reissue from Head of Zeus's bestselling anthology collection of the best 100 short stories written by women, selected by Victoria Hislop, one of the nation's favourite novelists. Witty, heartbreaking, shocking, satirical: the short story can excite or sadden, entice or repulse. The one thing it can never be is dull. Now Victoria Hislop has collected 100 stories from her favourite women writers into one volume. Here are Man Booker Prize-winners and Nobel Laureates, feminists and famous wits, national treasures and rising stars, all handpicked by one of the nation's best-loved novelists. Featuring an all-star cast of authors including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Angela Carter, Margaret Drabble, Penelope Fitzgerald, Miranda July, Doris Lessing, Katherine Mansfield, Alice Munro, Dorothy Parker and Virginia Woolf, The Story is the biggest and most beautiful collection of women's short fiction in print today.Trade Review[This] has given me more pleasure this year than almost all the rest of my reading put together -- Mariella FrostrupThis huge, beautiful book is a treasure chest... A collection so good, it's essential' * The Times *A rich feast -- Nigella LawsonA celebration of female writers with contributions from many of our favourites * Good Housekeeping *Beautiful... Glittering... The scope is wide, rich and often unexpected' * Independent *

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Book SynopsisSmidge is on the run, carrying a dark secret from her tumultuous childhood. With fellow runaway Violet, Smidge travels across the underbelly of America, finding home in a travelling circus. While Violet is drawn under the influence of the sinister ringleader, Smidge is forced to change her compass, and must confront her past before it is too late.

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Book SynopsisLiverpool, 1911. The life of young Cari Maddox is already complicated enough. Holding together her fractious Welsh family...her suffragette's struggle for women's rights...her guilty secrets. And that's before the arrival of her deranged 'cousin', Tom Priddy. Then the plight of African Kru seaman, Amos Gartee, already on strike at the Harrington Dock. All this, and a River Mersey on the verge of revolution, of rebirth. Mysteries to be solved. Sectarian divides to be crossed. Scores to be settled. Justice to be won. Revenge to be savoured.

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Book SynopsisA novel

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Book Synopsis??A HOT, DARK ROMANCE FROM THE TIKTOK SENSATION - SHAIN ROSE IS YOUR NEW OBSESSION??Dimitri Hardy and I were never really supposed to be friends.He was a risky, over-the-top investor. I was trying to avoid the glamorous lifestyle my parents had raised me in.He was fun and laid back. I was wound tight and dramatic.He had his life put together. I did not.So having Dimitri witness my breakup was a low moment. Especially since my boyfriend was also my professor, and after cheating on me, he decided to make me redo my master''s thesis.But Dimitri saw an opportunity. He offered to assist with my thesis. In exchange, I would help him gain the trust of the upscale town where I''d grown up-one he''d just heavily invested in.His proposal: Move back home and fake a relationship with him for the summer.Show my town he''s trustworthy.Adore one another in public and pretend there''s no desire brewing

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 GORDON BURN PRIZE 'Nicolas Padamsee's subtle, satirical debut smartly explores the reasons frightened teenage boys become dangerous men' Financial Times'A politically engaged, urgently plotted coming-of-age thriller with a wicked satirical streak' Observer 'Darkly humorous and highly topical' Spectator'A brilliant dissection of race, identity, masculinity and extremism' Monica Ali'Heart-breaking . . . captures modern times in the UK perceptively' Peter Doherty, The LibertinesDavid hates school, where he has been bullied, and has reached sixth form without any friends. Music is the only thing that keeps him going. Inspired by his hero, Karl Williams, he becomes vegan, wears eyeliner and writes song lyrics. But one night onstage Karl Williams accuses Muslims of homophobia and is cancelled. Conflicted by his feelings for his favourite artist and compelled by the conversations he has while playing Call of Duty, David becomes more and more fascinated by the far righ

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Book Synopsis''Erdrich remains one of the world''s literary giants'' Boston GlobeIn Argus, North Dakota, a fraught wedding is taking place. Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe. Gary thinks Kismet is the answer to all of his problems; Kismet can''t even imagine her future, let alone the kind of future Gary might offer. During a clumsy proposal, Kismet misses her chance to say ''no'' and so the die is cast. Hugo has been in love with Kismet for years. He has been her friend, confidante and occasionally her lover - and now she is marrying Gary, Hugo is determined to steal her back. Meanwhile Kismet''s mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary''s family, and on her nightly truck drives along the highway from the farm to the factories, she tunes in to the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels, and worries for the future - both her daughter''s and her own. Starkly beautif

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Book Synopsis What if you had real magic within you . . . ? The utterly spellbinding new novel from the celebrated author of THE GIFTS1896. As a group of illusionists prepare for a grand spectacle, one young woman, Cecily Marsden, harbours a secret. For she possesses impossible powers - powers she little understands. Meanwhile Eadie Carleton, a pioneering early film-maker, struggles for her talent to be taken seriously, and a talented magician, George Perris, begins to see the potential in moving pictures. But in order to achieve his dreams, George must first win over Miss Carleton . . . As Cecily, George and Eadie's worlds collide, Cec finds herself facing the fight of her life to save the grand performance from sabotage - and harness the real magic held deep within her . . . 'Charming and intriguing, sparkling with magic' Jennifer Saint'A book to disappear into' Joanne Burn 'Spellbinding. Unputdownable' Louise Hare 'Simply not to be missed' My Weekly 'Captivating and fascinating' LoveReading'Filled with wonders' Essie Fox 'Enchanting' Freya Berry 'A glorious Victorian delight. I adored it' Katie Lumsden'Every bit as magical as the magic it describes' Sonia Velton'Utterly beguiling' Amanda MasonTrade ReviewAfter her glorious first novel, The Gifts, Hyder has returned with another beautiful slice of historical fiction. The Illusions is charming and intriguing, sparkling with magic and romance. * Jennifer Saint *For a truly immersive, can't-put-it-down read, The Illusions will whisk you to the late Victorian age with this story of two young women, Cecily, a con artist's assistant and Eadie, a photographer and early film maker trying to make it in a man's world. Cecily and Eadie's paths will soon collide in a kaleidoscope of magic, theatrics, illusion and love. * Red magazine *Hyder is a wonderfully accomplished storyteller. The Illusions is a magical tale of innovation, darkness and delight. A book to disappear into - I devoured it greedily. * Joanne Burn, author of The Hemlock Cure *With clever storytelling and a magpie's eye for shine and enchantment, Hyder takes us to a world where magic, moving pictures and illusion mix - and where all are made better by human kindness. * Annie Garthwaite, author of Cecily *Captivating and fascinating... A fabulous second novel (for adults), firmly cementing Liz Hyder as an author to watch. Beautifully crafted, The Illusions steps into a world of trickery and deception, while shining a light on the importance of friendship and love. * Lovereading Star Book *Filled with wonders in all forms, in real life and in the theatre, this is a story that will mesmerise and cast its spell. I loved it. * Essie Fox *Spellbinding storytelling, wonderfully drawn characters and the thrill of the theatre make this book unputdownable. * Louise Hare *Enchanting in every sense. A seductive, glimmering tale of magic and movies. * Freya Berry, The Dictator's Wife *Set in Victorian Bristol with a cast of characters that are a feast for the senses. It is in every way quite magical. * Julie Owen Moylan, author of That Green Eyed Girl *An enchanting tale of rivalry among magicians and film pioneers in a world on the cusp of change. Here, trickery, envy and deceit are no match for raw talent, love - and most of all, kindness. Hyder's talent for crafting compelling page-turners inhabited by charming, vibrant characters is a skill worthy of one of her illusionists; her passion for the magic of theatre leaps from every page. A total joy. * Nikki Marmery, author of LILITH *

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Book SynopsisRobbie and Jenn have finally reconciled after eight months spent apart. But as a truck hurtles towards their car, Robbie is thrown back into Jenn's past. Can he right the wrongs in their past and, most importantly, can he change their present in order to save their future?

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Book SynopsisA lyrical novel with a poetic narrative about an overlooked individual in Arab African history. For two days the rabbi rides on a donkey to find the ideal fiancée. Legs and arms shaved, hands dyed with henna, a girl to be married must shine like a mirror. Every girl hopes to be the chosen one and ride off on a donkey to live in the city. The desert is the domain of men; they believe they see oases and palm trees sagging with fruit, while women see only sand on top of sand. A rapid look-around at the girls in the circle was enough for the traveling rabbi to find the right one. He chooses Yudah because of her name, a contraction of Yahuda, and because she lowered her eyes when he looked at her.The Fiancée Rode In on a Donkey tells Yudah’s story. Instead of experiencing her dream of being chosen and riding off on a donkey to live in a palace, she finds herself in an encampment of tents swaying in the wind. She also doesn’t find the Emir, who is battling on other fronts and soon surrenders. Yudah and the rest of his followers are exiled to Ile Sainte-Marguerite, where she pursues a tireless quest for her future husband in France, seeking a man she has never seen. Will the fantastic destiny of the young girl from the desert ever be fulfilled? In lyrical novel after novel, Vénus Khoury-Ghata chooses overlooked individuals from history and brings them back to life on the page. Hauntingly unforgettable, The Fiancée Rode In on a Donkey is yet another poetic narrative from one of the most respected French authors of our times.

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Book SynopsisMeet Missy, the extraordinary, dazzling, must-read debut of 2024, with a main character who will capture your heartShe's chosen her own future.Madras, India: The orphaned girls of St Ursula's convent are destined to be nuns or servants but seventeen-year-old Savi dreams of escape. Responsible and good with languages, she's taken on as governess for the wealthy Nandiyar family at their country estate.The horrific events of a single night force Savi and her love, Ananda, into a dangerous journey, re-emerging in America under new identities, their homeland forever in their rearview.But the past is never far away.Forty years later, Savi, known to all as Missy, is the embodiment of the American dream successful business owner in Chicago, pillar of the South Asian community, and mother to two brilliant, stubborn young women, Mansi and Shilpa.Until Varun, a charming doctor, enters their l

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Book SynopsisFrom the award-winning author of Weasels in the Attic, a modern fable about the world of work Beyond the town, there is the factory. Beyond the factory, there is nothing. Within the sprawling industrial complex, three new employees are each assigned a department. There, each must focuses on a specific task: one shreds paper, one proofreads documents, and another studies the moss growing all over the expansive grounds. As they grow accustomed to the routine and co-workers, their lives become governed by their work--days take on a strange logic and momentum, and little by little, the margins of reality seem to be dissolving: Where does the factory end and the rest of the world begin? What's going on with the strange animals here? And after a while--it could be weeks or years--the three workers struggle to answer the most basic question: What am I doing here? With hints of Kafka and Beckett and unexpected moments of creeping humour, The Factory is a vivid, and sometimes surreal, portrait of the absurdity and meaninglessness of the modern workplace.Trade ReviewStrangely chilling * New York Times *A stirring portrait of modern work-life culture * TIME Magazine *[A] stellar, mind-bending debut * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisA BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards 2016Shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award 2017Longlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 20171950. A teenage girl is brutally murdered in a forest. But, somehow, her baby survives.1976. A mysterious and charming young man returns to the remote coastal village of Mulderrig, seeking answers about the mother who, it was said, had abandoned him on the steps of a Dublin orphanage.With the help of its oldest and most eccentric inhabitant, he will force the village to give up its ghosts. Nothing, not even the dead, can stay buried forever.Trade ReviewKidd's brilliantly bold debut mixes up murder and mayhem with the eerily supernatural. It's a tender, violent and funny story told in prose that is lyrical, lush and hugely imaginative. Utterly unputdownable * * Sunday Express * *Diabolical deeds, ferociously kept secrets, black humour and magical realism abound in Jess Kidd's richly textured, thronging debut . . . Kidd has imagination to die for and a real command of plot and character * * Guardian * *Wonderfully entertaining . . . the ghosts are not the main attraction in this delightful first novel; it is also a detective story, in which Mahony and Mrs C make an unlikely Holmes and Watson * * The Times * *A genuinely intriguing mystery, with moments of real tenderness . . . otherworldly and wonderfully original * * Stylist * *Very funny, very profound, very moving . . . One of the finest books of the year -- SIMON MAYO * * BBC Radio 2 Book Club * *[Kidd] has imagination to spare. The forest feels alive at times. There is magic in the air . . . As a noirish thriller with a supernatural edge, Himself is atmospheric and intriguing. As a portrait of village hypocrisy and the dark things that lurk beneath the surface, it's also compelling * * Observer * *An intriguing story of family secrets and haunting -- ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY, author of The LoneyThis striking literary debut is a darkly comic tale of murder, intrigue, haunting and illegitimacy . . . wickedly funny * * Daily Express * *I love this book. It's a magic realist murder mystery set in rural Ireland, in which the dead play as important a part as the living. It's one of those books that has you smiling as you read, and that you plan to read again very soon. -- LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES, author of Captain Corelli's MandolinIn lyrical prose that is by turns touchingly tender and violent, Kidd's brilliantly bold debut mixes murder and mayhem with the eerily supernatural, and throws in a dash of laugh-out-loud humour for good measure * * Psychologies * *

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Book SynopsisDaniel Burrow once began a beautiful walk from Konstanz to Como with Julia, mercurial professor of literature, mother to two of his pupils, married, and the love of his life.After years of their secret affair, they stepped out together on top of the world, full of delight in one another and in the future they imagined. Or was it only Dan who imagined it, really? He never had the chance to find out, because a few days into their adventure a single phone call changed everything.Now, at the height of summer, with only a rucksack, a few pages of DH Lawrence that had been Julia's, and his private strata of memory and forgetting, Dan is back on the trail. Step by step, with a tumult of emotions jostling with the demands of the dramatic Alpine landscape, he reckons with what his life is and what it might have been, had he been a different man with different choices.''A writer operating at the height of his powers. One follows the twists and turns of this story of

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Book SynopsisFrom the best-selling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo and The Nakano Thrift Shop, an irresistible reissue of her novel about an elusive ladies' man and the women who have loved him. Over the course of his life, Mr Nishino falls hopelessly in love again and again. One woman is a colleague, another a chance encounter; one is the girlfriend of a classmate, another the best friend of Nishino's latest conquest. Some are entranced by Nishino, others care more for their freedom, their children - or their cats. As we come to learn of the torments, desires and delights of each woman, a portrait emerges of a complicated man whose great capacity for love may well be the cause of his downfall.

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Book SynopsisLuci LaBang is a star: for decades this flamboyant drag artist has cast a spell over screen and stage. Now she’s the leading lady in a smash hit pantomime. When Luci’s co-star meets with a mysterious accident, a new ingenue shimmers onto the scene, and Luci is immediately smitten with the fantastically beautiful Luda and her sinister charm. Luda begs Luci to share the secrets of her stardom and to reveal the hidden tricks of her trade. For Luci LaBang is a mistress of the Glamour, an arcane discipline that draws on sex, drugs, and the occult for its trancelike, transformative effects. But as Luci tutors her young protégée, their fellow actors and crew members begin meeting with untimely ends. Now Luci wonders if Luda has mastered the Glamour all too well. What follows is an intoxicating descent into the demimonde of Gasglow, a fantastical city of dreams, and into the nightmarish heart of Luda herself: a femme fatale, a phenomenon, a monster, and, perhaps, the brightest star of them all.Trade Review"An impeccably realised phantasmagoric plunge into an alternate Glasgow, a cocktail shaker of magic, hilarity, and gender dissolving madness." * Frankie Boyle *“If Sontag’s notion of camp became a religion this would be a seminal text. A glorious exploration of the borderlands of identity, gender and lippy. Loved it.” * Denise Mina *Financial Times' Best Books of 2023 “A story about magic, pantomime, pretence and desire, told in a head-spinning helter-skelter of allusive prose and surreal imagery.” * Financial Times *"Unique and captivating." * The Independent *“Luda, like drag, is many things. If you want four hundred pages of wild sprawling, fabulous not drabulous fun, then you’ll want Luda.” * Glasgow Review of Books *"A drag queen's hallucinatory journey through a hyperreal version of Glasgow is extremely arch - and a lot of fun." * The Guardian *“Grant Morrison might well be best known as a leading comics writer.... However, their talent for sparky dialogue and spiky, exciting characters is delightfully apparent in their novels too, giving the prose an unusually arresting, eccentric tone. And the author’s gift for cinematic thrills and spills drives the narrative forward like a turbocharged Batmobile.” * The Big Issue *"A deliriously wild spell no other author could have conjured." * The Bookseller's Scotland Focus Editor's Choice *"A sensory onslaught, swirling with allusion and metaphor; a drug-;aced, sex-positive tsunami of words that it's simpler to be swept along by than resist." * Financial Times *“Grant Morrison is a modern mythmaker.” -- Alex Segura, bestselling author of Secret Identity“Brilliant.” * LA Times *“Morrison is a skilled word magician.” * Publishers Weekly *“If such a thing as drag literature exists, the sort of book that Divine is reading in heaven, Luda belongs at the top of the heap.” * Nylon *"This book talks to you, to itself, to being, to flowing identities, and to everything from H.P. Lovecraft, makeup, and Max Ernst to Batman comics, aging, and Freud. Many books you read; Luda is a book you experience.." * NPR *

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Book SynopsisBased on a true story, Gwendoline explores the challenges facing women in the 1900s, the struggles confronted by individuals suffering from mental health issues, and the devastating impact these issues can have on their families.

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Book Synopsis"Only Ms. Kashimada can create this kind of world."—Yoko Ogawa, author of The Memory Police (on Touring the Land of the Dead) A housewife finds herself haunted by visions of a mushroom cloud. She abruptly leaves her husband and son to travel alone to the city of Nagasaki, where she soon begins an affair with a young Russian-Japanese man. Inspired by Marguerite Duras’s screenplay for “Hiroshima, Mon Amour,” this novel is an undeniable demonstration of Kashimada’s distinctive voice, the polish and precision of her literary style, and her dedication to plumbing the depths of her characters’ psychology. Thrilling and poised in equal measure, dealing with the travails of history, with gendered identity, and with the tension between private and public selves, Love at Six Thousand Degrees is a literary highwire act by one of the most unique voices in contemporary Japanese fiction.Trade Review"Kashimada's writing is exceptional." * The Spectator *“An extended exercise in what it means to attempt to describe the indescribable.” * The New York Times Book Review *“A novel about learning to acknowledge bad memories rather than hide them away.” * Foreword Reviews *"While Kashimada's stories, like Murakami's, resist easy interpretation, the former revel in the beauty of experience, whether sorrowful or joyous, affirming life in all its strangeness, horror and mystery." * The Times Literary Supplement (on Touring the Land of the Dead) *"Kashimada's allusive, outward-facing work insists on placing her fiction squarely within the context of world literature and thought." * Literary Hub (on Touring the Land of the Dead) *

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Book SynopsisLuci LaBang is a star: for decades this flamboyant drag artist has cast a spell over screen and stage. Now she's the leading lady in a smash hit pantomime.When Luci's co-star meets with a mysterious accident, a new ingenue shimmers onto the scene, and Luci is immediately smitten with the fantastically beautiful Luda and her sinister charm.Luda begs Luci to share the secrets of her stardom and to reveal the hidden tricks of her trade. For Luci LaBang is a mistress of the Glamour, an arcane discipline that draws on sex, drugs, and the occult for its trancelike, transformative effects.But as Luci tutors her young protégée, their fellow actors and crew members begin meeting with untimely ends. Now Luci wonders if Luda has mastered the Glamour all too well.What follows is an intoxicating descent into the demimonde of Gasglow, a fantastical city of dreams, and into the nightmarish heart of Luda herself: a femme fatale, a phenomenon, a monster, and, perhaps, the

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Book SynopsisMary is dead, and the government is to blame. That is what David believes. Convinced the only way to make a positive difference in society is by taking matters into his own hands, David plans to remould society in his image, one where those in power care for the people they serve and are not motivated by power or greed.

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Book Synopsis'Hugely readable and profoundly important ... Perry's masterly piece of postmodern gothic is one of the great achievements of our century' The Observer SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE OBSERVER FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 'Beautiful, devastating, brilliant' Marian Keyes 'Astonishingly dark ... exquisitely balanced' Francis Spufford 'Packs a punch of atmosphere, creepiness, fear and melancholy' Susan Hill 'Mythic, ominous and sensitively human' Frances Hardinge 'Richly atmospheric, daring and surprising' Melissa Harrison 'Striking and brave, ... moving and terribly beautiful' Sam Guglani Oh my friend, won't you take my hand - I've been so lonely! One winter night in Prague, Helen Franklin meets her friend Karel on the street. Agitated and enthralled, he tells her he has come into possession of a mysterious old manuscript, filled with personal testimonies that take them from 17th-century England to wartime Czechoslovakia, the tropical streets of Manila, and 1920s Turkey. All of them tell of being followed by a tall, silent woman in black, bearing an unforgettable message. Helen reads its contents with intrigue, but everything in her life is about to change.Trade ReviewSarah Perry stands out as an exhilaratingly bold storyteller * Mail on Sunday *Scary and smart, but also a philosophical inquiry into the nature of love and will. * Washington Post *Rich, elegant and atmospheric * Irish Times *A novel that manages that vanishingly rare feat - being at once hugely readable and profoundly important * Observer *Mythic, ominous and sensitively human, Melmoth is haunting in all the best ways -- Frances HardingeThis is a beautiful, devastating, brilliant book. It affected me so much I was shaking after I read it. The exquisite, immersive writing compelled me to keep reading even through the horrors described. -- Marian KeyesAstonishingly dark, rich storytelling, exquisitely balanced between gothic shocks and emotional truth -- Francis SpuffordSarah Perry is a wonderful writer, the real thing -- Susan HillAtmospheric and unsettling, Perry's version works on one level as a creepy ghost story, but its greater purpose is to pose hard questions about suffering, redemption, complicity and our responsibilities to each other. -- Alastair Mabbott * The Herald *The rich Gothic imagination of Perry's bestselling The Essex Serpent is on sparkling form here, as Melmoth wanders across centuries and continents, linking the stories of all who encounter her in a gloriously multi-layered narrative which is both chilling and redemptive. -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail *An ominous story of creeping dread, perfect for the lengthening evenings -- Keeba Roy * The Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisChip told us not to go out. Said, don't you boys tempt the devil. But it been one brawl of a night, I tell you. The aftermath of the fall of Paris, 1940. Hieronymous Falk, a rising star on the cabaret scene, was arrested in a cafe and never heard from again. He was twenty years old. He was a German citizen. And he was black. Fifty years later, Sid, Hiero's bandmate and the only witness that day, is going back to Berlin. Persuaded by his old friend Chip, Sid discovers there's more to the journey than he thought when Chip shares a mysterious letter, bringing to the surface secrets buried since Hiero's fate was settled. In Half Blood Blues, Esi Edugyan weaves the horror of betrayal, the burden of loyalty and the possibility that, if you don't tell your story, someone else might tell it for you. And they just might tell it wrong ...Trade Review'A superbly atmospheric prologue kick-starts a thrilling story about truth and betrayal... [a] brilliant, fast-moving novel.' -- Kate Saunders * Times *This is a wonderful, vibrant, tense novel about war and its aftermath. Its author has brought both the wartime past of a devastated city and its confident reinvention of itself in a new era to life with extraordinary assurance. -- Susan Hill * Man Booker Prize judge *Edugyan really can write ... redemptive -- Bernadine Evaristo * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisTitus Llewellyn-Gwlynne, actor/manager of the Red Lion Theatre, has lost a backer who was going to fund a theatrical tour – when unexpected salvation appears. Their home theatre in the East End of London having been bombed during the war, The Red Lion Touring Company embarks on a tour of Britain to take a play written by their new benefactress into the provinces. As they make their vagabond, singing way, they remain unaware that they leave behind in London a man consumed with thoughts of revenge. Revenge which follows them obsessively from town to town, ending in its final act before the last curtain. This charming series transports the reader to a lost post-war world of touring rep theatre and once-grand people who have fallen on harder times, smoggy streets, and shared bonhomie over a steaming kettle.

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Book SynopsisWelcome to Alison Sherlocks new series, full of heart warming characters set in the idyllic English countryside.With nowhere else to go, Harriet Colgan has returned to the sleepy village of Cranfield to sell her beloved aunt and uncle’s cottage, the only place she ever called home. When she arrives at Lavender Cottage, Harriet discovers plans to replace the beautiful lavender fields, her uncle’s pride and joy, with an industrial warehouse. With time on her hands, she realises she must fight to protect her family’s legacy and the village of Cranfield as well. Workaholic businessman Joe Randall was expecting an easy purchase of the lavender fields. But suddenly his quiet life is disrupted by protests from angry locals, organised by Harriet. Can Harriet show Joe that there’s more to life than just work? And can Joe change his mind and help Harriet save the lavender fields? Over a long, hot summer, and with the help of a stray dog, perhaps Harriet and Joe can find their way home too. Perfect for the fans of Holly Martin and Cathy Bramley

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Book SynopsisA NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE KITSCHIES RED TENTACLE AWARD 2023'Stylish, beautiful and strange' Jessie GreengrassAs featured on BBC Open Book: 'poses questions about whether we can love AI and whether AI could love us ... I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for Mother' -- Johny PittsLena has always lived in the jungle with Mother. There they look after a holiday home in surroundings that burst with colour and crawl with danger. Lena's only other friend is Isabella, who once visited regularly with her wealthy parents and security drone, Anton. But Isabella and her family haven't been seen in years. Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness. Outside, rebels are fighting to take over the country. Mother is determined nothing will change inside the secu

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Book SynopsisPenny Baker is winning at life. Sort of.Her work is demanding, her kids are demanding and her husband seems to be undergoing some weird midlife crisis but she is juggling it all with the added delights of the menopause.But when the charity she works for is thrown into crisis and her mother's dementia advances, the strain starts to show.Can she navigate it all and still somehow keep a smile on her - flushed - face?A witty, relatable story of motherhood, menopause and managing the heck out of it all.Praise for Hot Mother:''A book that looks at what it means to be a middle-aged woman in today''s society. Funny, wise and downright wonderful.'' Nicola GillWarm, witty and entirely relatable.' Jenni KeerHilarious, sharply observed and oh so heartfelt, Peach is a Queen of Momcom.' Pernille HughesA beautifully crafted, intelligent and moving

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Book SynopsisA tale of passion and romance between a Japanese schoolteacher and a doglike man, from the prize-winning author of The Last Children of Tokyo

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Book SynopsisMarina is a divorced mother of three preschoolers. Lilah is a shy and lonely librarian. Opal is a broke post-menopausal fitness guru. These three strangers have nothing in common-except for the man who's been lying to all of them. And who they are now holding hostage in a basement. EAT, SLAY, LOVE is a book about making friends, finding joy, and discovering the woman you really are . . . though sometimes, becoming your best self involves committing abduction and murder.

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Book Synopsis'A compassionate, beautifully told portrait' GUY GUNARATNE'This is absorbing, witty, eloquent fiction, as well as a trenchant political critique' TOM BENN'A hymn to empathy, alive with care and love' REBECCA WATSON'A heartbreaking, honest, and deeply important story' JYOTI PATELJamila Shah is twenty-nine and exhausted.An immigration solicitor tasked with running the precious family law firm, Jamila is prone to being woken in the middle of the night by frantic phone calls from clients on the cusp of deportation. Working under the shadow of the government's 'hostile environment', she constantly prays and hopes that their 'determinations' will result in her clients being allowed to stay.With no time for friends, family or even herself (never mind a needy partner), Jamila's life feels hectic and out of control. Then a breakdown of sorts forc

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Book SynopsisA modern masterpiece, voted the greatest Dutch novel of all time _______________ 'I work in an office. I take cards out of a file. Once I have taken them out, I put them back in again. That is it.' Twenty-three-year-old Frits - office worker, daydreamer, teller of inappropriate jokes - finds life absurd and inexplicable. He lives with his parents, who drive him mad. He has terrible, disturbing dreams of death and destruction. Sometimes he talks to a toy rabbit. This is the story of ten evenings in Frits's life at the end of December, as he drinks, smokes, sees friends, aimlessly wanders the gloomy city streets and tries to make sense of the minutes, hours and days that stretch before him. Darkly funny and mesmerising, The Evenings takes the tiny, quotidian triumphs and heartbreaks of our everyday lives and turns them into a work of brilliant wit and profound beauty.Trade ReviewIPPY Literary Fiction Award Bronze MedalistAn Observer, Financial Times, and Irish Times Book of the Year"Exceptional... a crisp and readable translation by Sam Garrett." — The Wall Street Journal"Fascinating, hilarious, and page-turning. The publication of this novel marks the exciting introduction of a wonderful writer to an Anglophone audience." — Publishers Weekly"Reviewers have compared it favorably to J .D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Albert Camus’s The Stranger and Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle. In The Irish Times, Eileen Battersby called it 'one of the finest studies of youthful malaise ever written,' and in The Guardian, Tim Parks described it as 'not only a masterpiece but a cornerstone manqué of modern European literature.' The Society of Dutch Literature ranked it as the country’s best 20th-century novel and its third-best of all time." — The New York Times"Sam Garrett’s precise and convincing translations ... capture the consistently anxious, suggestive, and haunting tone that runs through The Evenings like a live wire—one that, after seventy years, is still electrifying. The narrators of The Fall of the Boslowits Family and Werther Nieland, too, are persuasively rendered in the matter-of-fact and dreamlike tones of the originals." — Philip Huff, New York Review of Books"Diabolically funny... From the deep midnight of shattered Europe, Reve crafted not only an existential masterwork worthy to stand with Beckett or Albert Camus but an oblique historical testament." — The Economist"A novel as funny as it is painful . . . A little masterpiece — a provocative reminder that life goes on even in the bleakest of circumstances." — Los Angeles Review of Books"Captivating." — The Atlantic"In this first English translation of a Dutch classic . . . The author’s dry wit and ability to find humor and beauty in the banality of daily life are impressive."— Booklist“Not only a masterpiece but a cornerstone manque of modern European literature… what can I say, in a world of hype, that will put this book where it belongs, in readers’ hands and minds?... Reve’s sparkling collage of acute observation, droll internal monologue and pitch-perfect dialogue keeps the reader breathless right through to the grand finale...huge respect to Pushkin Press.” — Tim Parks, The Guardian"One of the greatest post-war Dutch novels... [a] brilliant modern classic." — Tom Chalmers, Publishers Weekly"Consistently simple, straightforward, pitch-perfect prose (translated splendidly by Sam Garrett)." — Weekly Standard"Darkly funny and mesmerizing, The Evenings takes the tiny quotidian triumphs and heartbreaks of our everyday lives and turns them into a work of brilliant wit and profound beauty… an extraordinary and highly recommended addition to both community and academic library collections’." — Midwest Book Review"a neurotic, darkly humorous and cynical treatise on youth in the Netherlands after World War II. . . the book is innovative in its use of language. Reve successfully evokes a strong sense of psychological unrest in the mind of reader." — Out and About Nashville"drily amusing, suffused with angst and post-war malaise and -- at first blush -- very impressive." — BookFilter"It’s a testament to Reve’s writing and imagination that the question of Frits will haunt the reader long after they’re finished." — Pop Matters"A classic of dry, dark humour… it captures a very specific flavour of ennui." — Herald"I warmly recommend Gerard Reve’s hilariously gloomy The Evenings… I see it as a Dutch version of Kafka’s Metamorphosis." — Observer "A Meursault-in-waiting, a blank Holden Caulfield, a precursor to the kid in Iain Bank’s The Wasp Factory. Very good." — Evening Standard"As a study of aimlessness in postwar Europe it is difficult, perhaps impossible to surpass." — Irish Times"This much lauded book, finally available in English, [is] the perfect January read." — The Spectator"The novel is dark, funny, unsettling and lingers vividly in the mind. Hats off to Pushkin Press and the outstanding translator, Sam Garrett, for making this odd, orphaned masterpiece available at last to an English-speaking readership." — Times Literary Supplement"The Evenings is packed with the minutiae of life: luckily, the minutiae are fascinating…Reve isn't the kind of novelist to give you a straightforward answer but the journey is quite a ride." — The Times“Reve’s keen eye for absurdity manages to cast the mundane in a new, albeit macabre, light.” — Financial Times"This 1947 Dutch novel, considered the Netherlands' greatest in the twentieth century and now published in English for the first time...is a savage novel, full of strange, cold laughter." — The Daily Mail"[A] dark masterpiece... a powerful story." — The Observer"I was also pleased to see Gerard Reve’s funny, poignant debut novel, The Evenings, available in English … It’s like BS Johnson and Kafka wandering the crepuscular streets of of 1940s Amsterdam together – in a good way." — Alex Preston, The Observer Best Fiction of 2016 round up"Batavophile bookworms can rejoice now that possibly the greatest Amsterdam novel is now available in English… for a testament to ennui, it’s strangely gripping." —A-Mag (Amsterdam)"With the first English translation of 1947 Dutch masterpiece The Evenings, by the out-of-time, out-of-step gay Catholic convert Gerard Reve, [Pushin Press] makes perhaps its most crucial contribution yet to bringing quietened, radical non-English voices into the open. Reve’s debut doesn’t have the mainstream-baiting sensationalism of his later, sex and religion-focused, work. But it’s debatable whether he ever wrote anything better. Trying to sum up the rare quality of this novel in a few hundred words is akin to tossing off a pithy one-liner on Karl Ove Knausgård’s six-volume opus My Struggle. Comparisons to that chronicle of domestic minutiae are actually rather neat; much of The Evenings’ enticing devilment is in its mesmerising detail." — The Big Issue"A masterwork of comic pathos...It should be acknowledged as one of the finest studies of youthful malaise ever written...In all fairness to Salinger, The Evenings is so much better...For a narrative so funny, it is also profoundly moving.'" — Eileen Battersby, The Irish Times"An undisputed classic...it's a fantastic novel." — Andre van Loon, Sunday Telegraph"This deft translation by Sam Garrett offers English readers the exploits of the cynical and awkward 23-year-old Frits van Egters as he wends his way through the last 10 days of 1946 in Amsterdam. . . In a strangely compelling way the gloom (and eventual hope) of this nearly plotless novel is its strongest quality. How does one find meaning in life when death permeates every dream? Seventy years later, the English-speaking world is gifted with a glimpse into that time. And we sigh. It is nearly as relevant now." — Winnipeg Free Press"An edgy, atmospheric and sardonically funny book which was way ahead of its time. Still possessing the power to shock but also to beguile, the novel’s bold stylistic tricks and its hero’s original thoughts and deeds mark it out as a classic in any language... it is now time for a wider audience to discover its weird textures and dark delights." — The National (UAE)"Gerard Reve's sardonic classic The Evenings is finally translated into English." — Culturetrip"An understated novel that’s funny, bizarre and yet emotionally renewing." — Attitude“If The Evenings had appeared in English in the 1950s, it would have become every bit as much a classic as On the Road and The Catcher in the Rye.” — Herman Koch, the Dutch bestselling author of The Dinner"Hilarious, disturbing and humane." - Joe Dunthorne, author of Submarine“This book, an important classic in the Netherlands and long, long overdue in English, is as funny as it is peculiar. Reve really deserves more attention in the Anglophone world.” - Lydia Davis “Unlike John Williams, Gerard Reve’s work was critically acclaimed and sold exceptionally well during his lifetime. But, just like Stoner, The Evenings is brilliantly written, and has a maximum impact on the reader’s soul.” - Oscar van Gelderen, the Dutch publisher who rediscovered John Williams’ Stoner

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Book SynopsisWe inherit the lineage we're all born into, with its history and its contradictions, with the very beautiful and the very ugly, neither of which we can have a hand in being able to change.'The family of Nisar Chowdhury moves from Dhaka to Chicago when he is just thirteen, and he grows up feeling estranged from both lands. Thirty years on, he returns to the city of his birth, only to find it changed beyond recognition. Rekindling old relationships and trying to get to grips with his father's decision to sell off their remaining properties in the city, Nisar must navigate the labyrinth of a society that has moved on without him. The Inheritors is a vivid portrait of a city giddy with the march of change.

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Book Synopsis Readers love The Formidable Miss Cassidy 'Throws you straight into the heart of the action and hooks you from the very beginning... If you have a penchant for the dark and eerie, sprinkled with magic and whimsy, then this book is tailor-made for you... A remarkable tribute to the rich history of Singapore' 'This book was absolutely delightful. It had such a wonderful blend of Victorian governess, exotic setting and folklore' 'A perfect comfort read with a very sweet ending' 'If you have a penchant for the dark and eerie, sprinkled with magic and whimsy, then this book is tailor-made for you. What truly captivates is the unique local flavour infused into the narrative' 'A total joy! I'd recommend to anyone stepping into fun, supernatural adventure for the first time because you seriously won't be able to put this one down!' 'Fans of Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library will love this... I

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Book SynopsisArtistic freedom comes at a price 1960s China, and society is commanded to rebel against tradition. Amid the political turmoil, three young artists look out from their attic salon onto the streets of the northern port city of Tianjin. Lacking the opportunity to craft anything meaningful, they take solace in debating bourgeois ideals and listening to banned Western music. Not much separates the trio – Luo Qian is capable of greatness if only he’d get out of his own way, while Luo Fu’s rote diligence is only matched by his charismatic showmanship. Binding them together is Chu Yuntian, whose privileged background lives alongside an earnest desire for deeper truths. When economic reforms turn society on its head, they are given licence to indulge their artistic passions. Deluged by the increasingly materialistic masses, they paint themselves onto separate paths as they lose track of once sacred certainties. In this warming age where everything is fluid, can the bonds of winter hold?

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Book SynopsisA son returns home to his dying mother to discover the astonishing truth of his origins and the secrets of a woman whose life and wisdom he is only beginning to understand.

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Book SynopsisA collection of four short stories on the brutal realities of family life in modern China. When a household crumbles, it's always the women who are left picking up the pieces, but no one comes out looking good when caught in a vicious cycle of abuse. Come inside at your peril: after all, what's a closet without its skeletons?

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Book SynopsisPublishing in English for the very first time, Japan's beloved coming-of-age classic on what really matters in life The streets of Tokyo swarm below fifteen year-old Copper as he gazes out into the city of his childhood. Struck by the thought of the infinite people whose lives play out alongside his own, he begins to wonder, how do you live? Considering life's biggest questions for the first time, Copper turns to his dear uncle for heart-warming wisdom. As the old man guides the boy on a journey of philosophical discovery, a timeless tale unfolds, offering a poignant reflection on what it means to be human.The favourite childhood book of anime master Hayao Miyazaki, How Do You Live? is the basis a highly anticipated film from Studio Ghibli. Trade ReviewAn important, worthwhile and surprisingly of-the-moment novel ... as timely now as it was in 1937 * Asian Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisKevin Kwan is the author of Crazy Rich Asians, the international bestselling novel that has been translated into more than 30 languages. Its sequel, China Rich Girlfriend, was released in 2015, and Rich People Problems, the final book in the trilogy, followed in 2017. For several weeks in 2018, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy commanded the top three positions of the New York Times bestseller list - an almost unprecedented single-author trifecta, and the film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians became Hollywood's highest grossing romantic comedy in over a decade. In 2018, Kevin was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

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