Contemporary fiction titles are those which focus on the present or near past. Stories rooted in the current cultural, social, and political landscape which feature characters we can all recognise.
Contemporary Fiction Books
HarperCollins Publishers Three Things About Elsie The Sunday Times
Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times BestsellerLovely, lovely, lovely Sue Townsend meets Kate Atkinson meets Nina Stibbe' MARIAN KEYESPowerful and profound' GuardianAnother sure-fire hit' Daily MailFunny, melancholy, acutely observant' Sunday ExpressCannon is so attuned to other people's stories a chronicler both of the human condition and the quotidian details which speak to who we are' Guardian84-year-old Florence has fallen in her flat at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. As she waits to be rescued, she considers the charming new resident who looks exactly like a man she once knew a man who died sixty years ago. His arrival has stirred distant memories she and Elsie thought they'd laid to rest. Lying prone in the front room, Florence wonders if a terrible secret from her past is about to come to light Trade ReviewPraise for Three Things About Elsie: ‘Compassionate, thoughtful and tender, it is a novel exploring the pain of nostalgia and personal truths so painful we hide them even from ourselves’ HANNAH BECKERMAN, Observer ‘A tale of ordinary lives and buried secrets … a well-written, entertaining, effortless read with some arresting insights’ Mail on Sunday ‘Charming, wise and profoundly human. I lived every page of this book’ ERIN KELLY ‘Powerful and profound’ Guardian ‘Irresistibly good-hearted … captivating’ Telegraph ‘Another sure-fire hit for Cannon … abounds with Alan Bennett-esque humour, as well as heart-wrenching sadness’ Daily Mail ‘Emotional, sweet, funny, hauntingly sad and poignant. I loved it’ DJ Sara Cox, Stella ‘Funny, melancholy, acutely observant … your heart will finally crack in two on the last page’ Sunday Express ‘A warm, wise novel – brilliantly entertaining – that also manages to be a timely and profound take on ageing. I loved it’ KATE HAMER ‘Light yet heartbreaking, a joy to read’ i Newspaper ‘Funny, touching, and peppered with astute observations … a future classic’ CLARE MACKINTOSH, author of I Let You Go ‘[Cannon] conveys the legion indignities of overlooked old age with touching perception’ Sunday Times Culture ‘A moving, bittersweet story’ Good Housekeeping ‘Cannon is on her way to becoming a national treasure – no one does quirky, funny and soul-searing the way she does’ Emerald Street ‘Poignant, witty and original’ Woman & Home ‘More brilliant, generous storytelling… (a) funny, melancholic tale’ Psychologies
£9.49
Cornerstone Table For Two
Book SynopsisAmor Towles is the author of New York Times bestsellers Rules of Civility, A Gentleman in Moscow, and The Lincoln Highway. The three novels have collectively sold more than five million copies and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Towles lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.
£17.09
Atlantic Books Vera Or Faith
Book SynopsisGary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His debut novel, The Russian Debutante's Handbook, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. His second novel, Absurdistan, was named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review. His novel Super Sad True Love Story won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and became one of the most iconic novels of the decade. His memoir, Little Failure, was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and a New York Times bestseller. His most recent novel, Our Country Friends, was also a New York Times bestseller. His books regularly appear on best-of lists around the world and have been published in thirty countries. He has worked on several television shows, including HBO's Succession and The Regime. He lives in New York with his wife and son.
£15.19
Transworld Heart Be at Peace
Book SynopsisDonal Ryan is an award-winning author from Nenagh, County Tipperary, whose work has been published in over twenty languages to major critical acclaim. The Spinning Heart won the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature (Ireland), and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards; it was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was voted 'Irish Book of the Decade'. His fourth novel, From a Low and Quiet Sea, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2018, and won the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. His novel, Strange Flowers, was voted Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, and was a number one bestseller, as was his most recent novel The Queen of Dirt Island, which was also shortlisted for Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Donal lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. He lives with his wife Anne Marie and their two children just outside Limerick City.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Complete Short Stories
Book SynopsisThe Complete Short Stories of Roald Dahl in the first of two unsettling and sinister volumes.''They are brutal, these stories, and yet you finish reading each one with a smile, or maybe even a hollow laugh, certainly a shiver of gratification, because the conclusion always seems so right'' Charlie Higson, from his introduction.Roald Dahl is one of the most popular writers of the modern age, effortlessly writing for children and adults alike. In this, the first of two volumes chronologically collecting all his published adult short stories, we see how Dahl began by using his experiences in the war to write fiction but quickly turned to his powerful and dark imagination to pen some of the most unsettling and disquieting tales ever written.In 27 stories, written between 1944 and 1953, we encounter such classic tales as ''Man from the South'', featuring a wager with appalling consequences; ''Lamb to the Slaughter'', in which a wife murders her
£13.49
Bonnier Books Ltd The Phone Box at the Edge of the World: The most
Book Synopsis'Absolutely breathtaking' Christy Lefteri, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo.We all have something to tell those we have lost . . .On a windy hill in Japan, in a garden overlooking the sea stands a disused phone box. For years, people have travelled to visit the phone box, to pick up the receiver and speak into the wind: to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us.When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she is plunged into despair and wonders how she will ever carry on. One day she hears of the phone box, and decides to make her own pilgrimage there, to speak once more to the people she loved the most. But when you have lost everything, the right words can be the hardest thing to find . . .Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking . . . The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is an unforgettable story of the depths of grief, the lightness of love and the human longing to keep the people who are no longer with us close to our hearts.Everyone is talking about The Phone Box at the Edge of the World'A moving and uplifting anatomisation of grief and the small miraculous moments that persuade people to start looking forward again' Sunday Times'Strangely beautiful, uplifting and memorable, it's a book to savour' Choice, Book of the Month'A poignant, atmospheric novel dealing with love, coming to terms with loss and the restoration of one's self' Daily Mail'A story about the dogged survival of hope when all else is lost . . . A striking haiku of the human heart' The Times'Beautiful. A message of hope for anyone who is lost, frightened or grieving' Clare Mackintosh, Sunday Times bestselling author of After the End'Incredibly moving. It will break your heart and soothe your soul' Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars'Mesmerising . . . beautiful . . . a joy to read' Joanna Glen, Costa shortlisted author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope'Spare and poetic, this beautiful book is both a small, quiet love story and a vast expansive meditation on grieving and loss' Heat'A perfect poignant read' Woman & HomeTrade ReviewIncredibly moving, but also heartwarming and positive * SixtyPlusSurfers.co.uk *
£9.49
Prakash Books Animal Farm
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Vintage Publishing I Capture the Castle
Book SynopsisDorothy Gladys 'Dodie' Smith was born in 1896 in Lancashire and she was one of the most successful female dramatists of her generation. Her first novel, I Capture the Castle, was written when she lived in America during the 1940's and marked her crossover debut from playwright to novelist. The novel became an immediate success and was produced as a play in 1954. She has written numerous other novels but is best known today for The Hundred and One Dalmatians, a story for younger readers. The Hundred and One Dalmatians became the basis of two Disney films.Trade ReviewI know of few novels that inspire as much fierce lifelong affection in their readersEveryone I've passed it on to has found it a hit - it works every time, for absolutely everybodySmith rivals Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate series for 1930s toff charm * The Independent *A deliciously evocative portrait of England * Daily Mail *Dreamy and funny...an odd, shimmering timelessness clings to its pages. A thousand and one cheers for its reissue. A + * Entertainment Weekly *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Pale King
Book SynopsisThe Pale King is David Foster Wallace''s final novel - a testament to his enduring brillianceThe Internal Revenue Service Regional Examination Centre in Peoria, Illinois, 1985. Here the minutaie of a million daily lives are totted up, audited and accounted for. Here the workers fight a never-ending war against the urgency of their own boredom. Here then, squeezed between the trivial and the quotidian, lies all human life. And this is David Foster Wallace''s towering, brilliant, hilarious and deeply moving final novel.''Breathtakingly brilliant, funny, maddening and elegiac'' New York Times''A bravura performance worthy of Woolf or Joyce. Wallace''s finest work as a novelist'' Time''Light-years beyond Infinite Jest. Wallace''s reputation will only grow, and like one of the broken columns beloved of Romantic painters, The Pale King will stand, complete in its incompleteness, as his most substantial fictional aTrade ReviewOne of the strangest, saddest, most haunting things I've ever read * Guardian *Breathtakingly brilliant, funny, maddening and elegiac * The New York Times *Innovative, penetrating, forcefully intelligent fiction like Wallace's arrives once in a generation, if that * Daily Telegraph *In a different dimension to the tepid vapidities that pass as novels these days. Sentence for sentence, almost word for word, Wallace could out-write any of his peers * Scotland on Sunday *Rich and substantial and alive . . . Wallace's finest work as a novelist * Time *A transfixing and hyper-literate descent into relentless, inescapable despair . . . achingly funny, nothing short of sublime * Publishers Weekly *The Pale King contains what's sure to be some of the finest fiction of the year . . . he was the closest thing we had to a recording angel * GQ *Sometimes as a critic the most important part of your job is to say: here, this is it, we've found it, someone's doing it. That someone was Wallace. He was the real thing * Evening Standard *The Pale King gave me a pleasure and excitement that I can describe only as biological. That is to say, the book produced in me that very rare, warm, head-to-toe tingling that comes with admission to a paradise of language and intelligence -- Joseph O' Neill * The Times *Remarkable -- Jonathan Derbyshire * New Statesman *Everyone who cares about literature should buy it * The Age *
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Age of Reason
Book SynopsisPhilosopher, novelist, playwright and polemicist, Jean-Paul Sartre is thought to have been the central figure in post-war European culture and political thinking. His most well-known works, all of which are published by Penguin, include THE AGE OF REASON, NAUSEA and IRON IN THE SOUL.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Albion
Book SynopsisFROM THE AUTHOR OF EXPECTATION''A superb, deftly woven novel Anna Hope engages, head-on, with some of the most urgent and challenging issues facing the world today, and transforms them into spellbinding family drama'' Jonathan CoeThe Brookes are gathering in their eighteenth-century ancestral home - twenty bedrooms of carved Sussex sandstone - to bury Philip, the head of the family the blinding sun around which they have all orbited for as long as they can remember.Frannie, inheritor of a thousand acres of English countryside, has dreams of rewilding and returning the estate to nature: a last line of defence against the coming climate catastrophe. Milo envisages a treetop haven for the super-rich where under the influence of psychedelic drugs a new ruling class will be reborn. Each believes their father has given them his blessing and are set on a collision course with the other.Isa has long suspected that her father thought only of hi
£16.88
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Bunny
£17.00
Simon & Schuster Ltd The Greatest Possible Good
Book SynopsisFor one hundred pounds, for example, you could either train one fiftieth of a guide dog in Britian, or save the sight of a thousand children through vitamin supplementation in sub-Saharan Africa.' Arthur sighed. That's not quite how the world works, dubbin.'It's how charity works.' Meet the Candlewicks Evangeline, 17, wants to change the world and despairs at the smug complacency of the rest of her family. Emil, 15 and a Maths prodigy, dabbles in narcotics and writes essays in German about the Unabomber. Yara, the mother, arrives at airports four hours early and fears that AI and climate change will leave her children unemployed and unable go outside for longer than 10 minutes. And, Arthur, the father, can't decide if he is a good person or a doormat, forgiving and understanding or weak and terrified. Their comfortable, if unsatisfactory, lives are thrown into disarray when Arthur walks out into the Gloucestershire countryside one night and falls down a disused mineshaft. Dis
£15.29
John Murray Press The Burning Library
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£15.29
John Murray Press Frogs for Watchdogs
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£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd By Any Other Name
Book Synopsis**PRE-ORDER NOW THE DAZZLING NEW NOVEL FROM MULTI-MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR JODI PICOULT**The #1 New York Times Bestseller'Her best one yet' JOJO MOYES'A timeless classic' CHRIS WHITAKER****Student playwright Melina Green finds that even in New York, her words will struggle to make the stage, when the power is held by men. Inspired by the life of her ancestor Emilia Bassano, a gifted and witty storyteller herself, Melina takes a lesson from history, and submits a play under a male pseudonym . . . As Melina discovers more of Emilia's extraordinary life in Elizabethan England, she is determined to right the wrongs of the past and finally tell her story. Two women centuries apart are both forced to hide behind another name. But can either make their voices heard?'Stunning. So interesting, clever, educational and moving. One of the best books I've read in recent times' GILLIAN McALLISTER 'Had me absolutely captivated . . . I loved all the questions this novel raised about w
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Lessons: the Sunday Times bestselling new novel
Book SynopsisThe story of a life. The story of the year.'Lessons shows [McEwan] at the very peak of his powers. He has written his masterpiece' Daily TelegraphWhen the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.Twenty-five years later Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes, and he is left alone with their baby son. Her disappearance sparks of journey of discovery that will continue for decades, as Roland confronts the reality of his rootless existence and attempts to embrace the uncertainty - and freedom - of his future.'Ian McEwan is a masterful storyteller' Elif Shafak'A beautiful book about love, loss and regret' Observer'Luminous, beautifully written... about lives imperfectly lived' Vogue'A whole, unruly life between the covers of a single book: a literary feat' Spectator'A tour de force... A single life is silhouetted against global happenings' Sunday Times* A Book of the Year for The Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, New Statesman, Washington Post, Vogue and New Yorker *Trade ReviewLessons is easily McEwan's most accomplished novel since Atonement... he offers intelligent reflection on his novel's evergreen themes. * The Times *I loved Lessons... Deep, life-affirming and A-grade storytelling. * The Times *Thoughtful, tender and both universal and timeless in its depiction of the follies of the human heart... Ian McEwan is a masterful storyteller who weaves destiny and self-determination, the past and the future, youth and age, and above all, the loss and memory of love. -- Elif ShafakCaptures youthful lust and late-age regret with equal power. * Financial Times *Superb... another mesmerising, memorable novel. * Independent *
£9.49
Random House The Women Behind the Door
Book SynopsisRoddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of twelve acclaimed novels including The Commitments, The Snapper, The Van and Smile, two collections of short stories, and Rory & Ita, a memoir about his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.
£9.49
Amazon Publishing Almost Criminal
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£8.54
Poolbeg Press Ltd Love and Other Liabilities
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£14.99
Vintage Publishing The Executor
Book Synopsis'Exquisitely metered, intimate and yet profound, glimmeringly intelligent…A worthwhile, interesting and impressive achievement’ Edward Docx, GuardianWhat matters most: fidelity or art? Marriage or friendship? The wishes of the living or the talents of the dead?Literary executor Matt Holmes finds himself considering these questions sooner than he thinks when his friend, the poet Robert Pope, dies unexpectedly. A trail of clues Rob has left within his archives leads Matt to a series of shocking discoveries that begins to unsettle everything he thought he knew about his friend. Should Matt conceal what he has found or share it? After all, it’s not just Rob’s reputation that could be transformed forever…Trade ReviewA novel of multi-level brilliance, which offers a smart, funny mystery built around ethical concerns over privacy and biography, while casting a beady eye on workplace politics and male midlife crises -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail *Adept, attentive and occasionally beautiful ... When the poetry starts to break through, the book comes alive – reverberatingly, ravishingly so. Everything is illuminated... enter the revivifying excitements of adultery, incest, euthanasia; sex and lust and love; dreams, mortality and death... exquisitely metered, intimate and yet profound, glimmeringly intelligent, slyly sensual ... A worthwhile, interesting and impressive achievement -- Edward Docx * The Guardian *Generously and skilfully written ... The unravelling of the novel’s moral perplexity is both ingenious and persuasive… A pleasing and very satisfying novel. -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *A dark and compelling tale of what we leave behind us when we die -- Alex Preston * The Guardian *A stylist and satirical take on Kindle-era publishing, and is also a timely interrogation on the pertinence of "rampant masculinity" in contemporary fiction. -- Kitty Grady * Financial Times *
£9.49
The Lilliput Press Ltd The LockKeepers Wife
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£13.25
Istros Books Maybe Even Happiness
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£12.59
Prakash Books The Sun Also Rises
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£13.29
Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd Rice Bowl
Book Synopsis
£11.99
Simon & Schuster Ltd The Turnglass
Book SynopsisPre-order HOLMES & MORIARTY - the clever and intriguing new crime mystery from Sunday Times bestselling author Gareth Rubin, out in hardback Autumn 2024. 'A stunning, ingenious, truly immersive mystery. The Turnglass is a thrilling delight' Chris Whitaker Stuart Turton meets The Magpie Murders in this immersive and unique story for fans of clever crime fiction. Imagine you’re holding a book in your hands. It’s not just any book though. It’s a tête-bêche novel, beloved of nineteenth-century bookmakers. It’s a book that is two books: two intertwined stories printed back-to-back. Open the book and the first novella begins. It ends at the middle of the book. Then flip the book over, head to tail, and read the second story in the opposite direction. Both covers are front covers; and it can be read in either direction, or
£8.99
Random House Publishing Group The Source
Book SynopsisIn his signature style of grand storytelling, James A. Michener transports us back thousands of years to the Holy Land. Through the discoveries of modern archaeologists excavating the site of Tell Makor, Michener vividly re-creates life in an ancient city and traces the profound history of the Jewish people—from the persecution of the early Hebrews, the rise of Christianity, and the Crusades to the founding of Israel and the modern conflict in the Middle East. An epic tale of love, strength, and faith, The Source is a richly written saga that encompasses the history of Western civilization and the great religious and cultural ideas that have shaped our world. Praise for The Source “Fascinating . . . stunning . . . [a] wonderful rampage through history . . . Biblical history, as seen through the eyes of a professor who is puzzled, appalled, delighted, enriched and impoverished by the spectacle of a land where all men are archeologists.”—The New York Times “A sweeping [novel] filled with excitement—pagan ritual, the clash of armies, ancient and modern: the evolving drama of man’s faith.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Magnificent . . . a superlative piece of writing both in scope and technique . . . one of the great books of this generation.”—San Francisco Call Bulletin
£16.99
CB Editions Spent Light
Book SynopsisA work of fiction, memoir and history and love.
£10.44
Hodder & Stoughton The Exchange
Book Synopsis''It leaves the reader gasping for breath'' DAILY MAIL''This is Grisham delivering the kind of mesmeric narrative that we expect from him'' FINANCIAL TIMES***THE BIGGEST GRISHAM IN OVER A DECADE***The Exchange is John Grisham''s epic follow-up to his phenomenal global bestseller The Firm, the novel that launched his career as the world''s favourite storyteller - it will take you on a rollercoaster journey across the globe, from New York to London, and Rome to Marrakech.TEN DAYS TO SAVE A LIFE. ONE SECOND TO END IT. Mitch McDeere has cheated death and come out the other side. Fifteen years ago, he stole $10 million from the mob and disappeared. Now, with his enemies jailed or dead, he has fought his way to the top of the biggest law firm in the world. When a new case takes Mitch to Libya, danger awaits: he''s soon in the biggest hostage negotiation in recent history witTrade ReviewA high-stakes, edge-of-your-seat ride * Irish Times *Beautifully plotted . . . leaves the reader gasping for breath * Daily Mail *The most eagerly-awaited sequel of the decade * Daily Express *Grisham fans will devour it . . . the plot and pace is furious * Independent *Enthralling * Irish Independent *This is Grisham delivering the kind of mesmeric narrative that we expect from him * Financial Times *Packs a punch . . . The masterful writing immerses you in the Middle Eastern setting * i *An enjoyable read you won't be able to put down * Press Assocation *The plot is every bit as twisty-turny as readers have come to expect from Grisham: read it now and smugly tell friends you know what's going to happen when the movie is made * Radio Times *A tense, race-against-time novel from a master storyteller * Saga *The most thrilling, compelling read of the year * Country Life *
£18.70
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Poor Things
Book SynopsisWINNER OF TWO GOLDEN GLOBES, STARRING EMMA STONE, FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE FAVOURITEWinner of the Whitbread Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction PrizeA life without freedom to choose is not worth having.Godwin Baxter''s scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realised when he finds the drowned body of the beautiful Bella, who he brings back to life in a Frankenstein-esque feat. But his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless''s jealous love for his creation . . .But what does Bella think?This story of true love and scientific daring whirls the reader from the private operating-theatres of late-Victorian Glasgow through aristocratic casinos, low-life Alexandria and a Parisian bordello, reaching an interrupted climax in a Scottish church.________________________''A magnificently brisk, funny, dirty, brainy book'' London Review of Books''Visionary, ornate and outrageous'' The Independent''Witty and delightfully w
£9.49
Mira Books The Henna Artist
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Romantic, old-time Rajasthan leaps to life in the skilled hands of Alka Joshi. The Henna Artist brims over with richly drawn customs, locations, and characters. I can hardly wait for Alka Joshi’s next masterpiece.” --Sujata Massey, internationally bestselling author of The Satapur Moonstone and The Widows of Malabar Hill “Rich in detail and bright with tastes and textures, The Henna Artist is a fabulous glimpse into Indian culture of the 1950s.”—Bookpage, Starred Review“Eloquent debut…moving… Joshi masterfully balances a yearning for self-discovery with the need for familial love.” –Publishers Weekly"Vibrant characters, evocative imagery, and sumptuous prose create an unforgetable tale."--Christian Science Monitor “Joshi has constructed a bewitching glimpse into the past with a tough heroine well worth cheering on.”--Booklist"The Henna Artist is a bold, ambitious, beautifully written novel about India in the decade after independence, and about class, identity, love and deceit. The broad cast of characters will etchthemselves into your psyche." --Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me"Fantastic, so evocative and beautiful and full of life and light.... The Henna Artist is detailed and sumptuous, vivid in its characters and deeply satisfying in its storytelling."--Leah Franqui, author of America for Beginners"Alka Joshi's superb first novel is unforgettable.... Read this book slowly and savor it: Every page is rich with intricate pleasures for both the mind and the heart."--Anita Amirrezvani, author of The Blood of Flowers"Like a brilliant, magical kaleidoscope, bursting with color, The Henna Artist kept me riveted from start to finish."--Lauren Belfer, NYT bestselling author of After the Fire and City of Light"Everything a great novel needs is here: The protagonist balancing impossible burdens with her bountiful talents; the many other characters, each so colorful and complex, each necessary to the intricate and delicate plot, Such a satisfying novel!"--Sandra Scofield, author of The Last Draft"Alka Joshi's debut novel is a richly drawn design of love and the many hungers that drive human beings...a lush, gorgeous journey that any reader will be sorry to see end."--Erin McGraw, author of The Good Life and The Seamstress of Hollywood"The Henna Artist is a delicious, old-fashioned tale about timeless heartaches. There's something elemental and mythic about Lakshmi and her knowledge of spices, roots, oils, and barks that drew me into the kind of world I gladly lived in when reading fairy tales as a child, a place inhabited by powerful queens, talking birds, magical drinks, orphans, sad princesses, clever servants, and dangerous poisons. I'm in awe of Joshi's storytelling and a little jealous of the character who winds up with the talking bird. “Namaste!” as he says. “Bonjour! Welcome!”---Laura McNeal, author of The Practice House
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Ltd Nesting
Book Synopsis‘Brand-new, urgent, and hugely satisfying’ RODDY DOYLE ‘Gorgeous, maddening, thrilling and compassionate’ SHEILA ARMSTRONG ‘Authentic, vivid and important… I read with my heart in my mouth’ UNA MANNION__________________________________________________________________________________An extraordinary and urgent debut by a prize-winning Irish writer, NESTING introduces an unforgettable new voice in fiction. On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe. This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken hou
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Love in the Time of Cholera
Book SynopsisA CLASSIC STORY OF ENDURING LOVE FROM THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR''One of the greatest love stories I have ever read'' Oprah, featured in Oprah''s Book Club_______________________________''It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love''Fifty-one years, nine months and four days have passed since Fermina Daza rebuffed hopeless romantic Florentino Ariza''s impassioned advances and married Dr Juvenal Urbino instead. During that half-century, Flornetino has fallen into the arms of many delighted women, but has loved none but Fermina.When Fermina''s husband is killed trying to retrieve his pet parrot from a mango tree, Florentino seizes his chance to declare his enduring love. But can young love find new life in the twilight of their lives?_______________________________''The most important writer of fiction in any language'' Bill Clinton''An exquiTrade ReviewOne of this century's most evocative writers * Anne Tyler *A delight. The interlocking of the stories, the fantastical and obsessional aspects of Márquez have never been better shown. * Melvyn Bragg *No lover of fiction can fail to respond to the grace of Márquez's writing * Sunday Telegraph *A love story of astonishing power and delicious comedy * Newsweek *An amazing celebration of the many kinds of love between men and women... among Márquez's best fiction * The Times *Few have written so passionately about the power of love * Independent *No lover of fiction can fail to respond to the grace of Márquez's writing * Sunday Telegraph *A love story of astonishing power and delicious comedy * Newsweek *An amazing celebration of the many kinds of love between men and women... among Márquez's best fiction * The Times *A delight. The interlocking of the stories, the fantastical and obsessional aspects of Márquez have never been better shown. * Melvyn Bragg *Few have written so passionately about the power of love * Independent *
£9.49
Faber & Faber A Girl is a Halfformed Thing
Book SynopsisTells the story of a young woman's relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Veronika Decides to Die
Book SynopsisA novel from internationally acclaimed author Paulo Coelho a dramatic story of love, life and death that shows us all why every second of our existence is a choice we all make between living and dying.Veronika has everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty, has plenty of boyfriends, a steady job, a loving family. Yet she is not happy; something is lacking in her life, and one morning she decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up some time later in the local hospital. There she is told that her heart is damaged and she has only a few days to live.The story follows Veronika through these intense days as to her surprise she finds herself experiencing feelings she has never really felt before. Against all odds she finds herself falling in love and even wanting to live againTrade Review‘Coelho’s writing is beautifully poetic but his message is what counts… he gives me hope and puts a smile on my face’DAILY EXPRESS ‘His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people’THE TIMES ‘One of the few to deserve the term “Publishing Phenomenon”’THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
£8.99
Orion Publishing Co The Fabric of Our Souls
Book SynopsisI''m twenty-six years old and I want to die.Waking up-alive-in the hospital with my brother weeping over me is the moment that everything changes. He has me committed to Harlow Sanctum, an unusual rehabilitation center with unorthodox methods and a storied past. There, I meet my roommate, a man with cruel eyes and a sense of humor even more morbid than my own. We''re strangely drawn to each other.I crave death-he craves life.Can two people like us cure each other?Note: please check CW before reading.
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Tyll: Shortlisted for the International Booker
Book Synopsis'A masterly achievement, a work of imaginative grandeur and complete artistic control' Ian McEwan'Brilliant and unputdownable' Salman RushdieHe's a trickster, a player, a jester. His handshake's like a pact with the devil, his smile like a crack in the clouds; he's watching you now and he's gone when you turn. Tyll Ulenspiegel is here!In a village like every other village in Germany, a scrawny boy balances on a rope between two trees. He's practising. He practises by the mill, by the blacksmiths; he practises in the forest at night, where the Cold Woman whispers and goblins roam. When he comes out, he will never be the same.Tyll will escape the ordinary villages. In the mines he will defy death. On the battlefield he will run faster than cannonballs. In the courts he will trick the heads of state. As a travelling entertainer, his journey will take him across the land and into the heart of a never-ending war.A prince's doomed acceptance of the Bohemian throne has European armies lurching brutally for dominion and now the Winter King casts a sunless pall. Between the quests of fat counts, witch-hunters and scheming queens, Tyll dances his mocking fugue; exposing the folly of kings and the wisdom of fools.With macabre humour and moving humanity, Daniel Kehlmann lifts this legend from medieval German folklore and enters him on the stage of the Thirty Years' War. When citizens become the playthings of politics and puppetry, Tyll, in his demonic grace and his thirst for freedom, is the very spirit of rebellion - a cork in water, a laugh in the dark, a hero for all time.Trade ReviewThis is a brilliant and unputdownable novel. Kehlmann is the true inheritor of the German fabulist tradition that stretches back to the Brothers Grimm and even further, and in the legendary prankster figure of Tyll Ulenspiegel he has found his perfect avatar * Salman Rushdie *The best novel Kehlmann has ever written . . . Deeply affecting, lively, brutal, wonderfully unreserved, modern, romantic German epic . . . Tyll is Kehlmann's victory over history, his historic triumph * Der Spiegel *A masterpiece . . . the most extraordinary European novel for many years . . . a brilliant book of stories, of great drama, cinematic and poetic . . . Kehlmann is at the height of his powers * Neue Zürcher Zeitung *Kehlmann's best novel so far . . . amidst the destruction, in the places where nothing reflects the former inhabitants anymore, it is the dead who show themselves . . . we owe it to this novel that we can see the dead more clearly, so clearly that it hurts * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Kehlmann's storytelling is astonishing * Die Welt *Possibly Kehlmann's best novel since Measuring the World * Süddeutsche Zeitung *A delight * Die Zeit *Tyll proves that Kehlmann is literature's jack-of-all trades. He manages to combine meticulous historical research and virtuoso language mimicry with a frightening exploration of our current sense of dystopia. An incredible educational experience and improbably entertaining. -- Michael HanekeKehlmann's imagination runs deep and wild. It travels with the currents of history, in its cycles of brutality and violence, it reaches into our own solitude and silence, summoning us, it soars far and high, and echoes with the power of myth. -- Valeria LuiselliA beautiful, engrossing and fascinatingly structured novel. Lucid, limpid, savage. Tyll quietly intrudes on our present crisis of European identity. Have four centuries made us any wiser? This novel is a masterly achievement, a work of imaginative grandeur and complete artistic control * Ian McEwan *Daniel Kehlmann's Tyll is a laugh-outloud-then-weep-into-your-beer comic novel about a war... Kehlmann is at the top of his game * The Times *The narrative moves from myth to historical novel to ballad and back. and Ross Benjamin's translation follows it faithfully * The Spectator *A romp through the thirty years' war... This energetic historical fiction, featuring a folkloric jester in a violent, superstitious Europe, is the work of an immense talent * Guardian *Tyll is an absorbing and, for a novel about a prankster, remarkably sincere novel * Literary Review *Like a magician, Kehlmann conjures comedy, farce and badinage, even in a blighted time of war * Financial Times *Vivid . . . Kehlmann, a confident magician himself, plays his bright pages like cards. But he has a deeper purpose, which is revealed only gradually, as the grand climacteric of his chosen war steadily justifies its presence in the novel . . . Kehlmann is a gifted and sensitive storyteller . . . Despite the grimness of the surroundings and the lancing interventions of history, the novel's tone remains light, sprightly, enterprising. Kehlmann has an unusual combination of talents and ambitions-he is a playful realist, a rationalist drawn to magical games and tricky performances, a modern who likes to look backward * New Yorker *Profoundly enchanting but never sentimental, Tyll is a magnificent story . . . Kehlmann is a master of economical, devastating description . . . Chilling . . . In this exquisitely crafted novel, Kehlmann moves just as nimbly through the grimmest of human experiences. The result is a spellbinding memorial to the nameless souls lost in Europe's vicious past, whose whispers are best heard in fables. * The New York Times Book Review *Prodigiously imaginative . . . [A] brilliant, blackly sardonic retelling . . . In Mr. Kehlmann's unforgettable joker we have a picture of humankind in all of its madness and strutting pride * The Wall Street Journal *a dazzling, picaresque romp * The Observer *It's typical Kehlmann, a delicious cocktail of philosophy, adventure and earthy humour * Sunday Express *A skilfully written tale that is darkly entertaining and inventive * Sunday Times (Summer Reads) *'[D]arkly funny' Guardian best books of 2020
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Hodder & Stoughton The Dark Half
Book SynopsisCreating George Stark was easy. Getting rid of him won''t be . . .The sparrows are flying again. The idea - unbidden, inexplicable - haunts the edge of Thad Beaumont''s mind.Thad should be happy. For years now it is his secret persona ''George Stark'', author of super-violent pulp thrillers, who has paid the family bills. But now, Thad is writing seriously again under his own name, and his menacing pseudonym has been buried forever.And yet . . . the sparrows are flying again, and something is terribly wrong in Thad Beaumont''s world.Trade ReviewAmerica's greatest living novelist * Lee Child *
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Vintage Publishing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Book SynopsisWinner of the Whitbread Book of the Year''Outstanding...a stunningly good read'' Observer''Mark Haddon''s portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement... Wise and bleakly funny'' Ian McEwan The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger''s Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour''s dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.Trade ReviewWondrous...brilliantly inventive...dazzling. Not simply the most original novel I've read in years - it's also one of the best * The Times *Exceptional by any standards. Both funny and deeply moving * Sunday Telegraph *Outstanding. Heartening as well as richly entertaining. A stunningly good read * Independent *Superbly realised. A funny as well as a sad book. Brilliant * Guardian *A remarkable book. An impressive achievement and a rewarding read * Time Out *
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Cornerstone Skin Privilege
Book SynopsisKarin Slaughter is one of the world's most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her nineteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant NewYork Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her.Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project-a nonprofit organisation established to support libraries and library programming.For more information visit KarinSlaughter.comAuthorKarinSlaughter@SlaughterKarinTrade ReviewNo one does American small-town evil more chillingly ... Slaughter tells a dark story that grips and doesn't let go * The Times *Thoroughly gripping, yet thoroughly gruesome stuff * Daily Mirror *It's beautifully paced, appropriately grisly, and terrifyingly plausible * Time Out *
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Canongate Books The War of the Roses
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Penguin Books Ltd Giovannis Room
Book Synopsis
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Penguin Books Ltd Confessions
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025A remarkable debut. A complex and compulsive read that unravels the intricate twists and revelations among three generations of women with elegance and urgency' Miranda Cowley Heller, bestselling author of THE PAPER PALACE'A saga: its serious pleasures are its expansiveness and range, and Airey's rare, particular instinct... a cool, bold image of female pain and liberation' GuardianIt is late September in 2001 and the walls of New York are papered over with photos of the missing. Cora Brady's father is there, the poster she made taped to columns and bridges. Her mother died long ago and now, orphaned on the cusp of adulthood, Cora is adrift and alone. Soon, a letter will arrive with the offer of a new life: far out on the ragged edge of Ireland, in the town where her parents were young, an estranged aunt can provide a home and fulfil a long-forgotten promise. There the story of Cora's family is hidden, and in her presence will begin to unspoolAn essential, immersive debut from an astonishing new voice, Confessions traces the arc of three generations of women as they experience in their own time the irresistible gravity of the past: its love and tragedy, its mystery and redemption, and, in all things intended and accidental, the beauty and terrible shade of the things we do. 'A beating heart of a novel, intricate both in its weaving and its unspooling. An irresistible read' Yael van der Wouden, Booker-shortlisted author of THE SAFEKEEP'Propulsive and utterly captivating Airey has shades of the American novelists Donna Tartt and Jeffrey Eugenides in her style' Irish Times
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HarperCollins Publishers In the Family Way
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
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Vintage Publishing The House of the Spirits
Book SynopsisIsabel Allende was born in 1942 Lima, Peru. She grew up in Chile and now lives in California. She is the author of novels The House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows,Eva Luna, The Infinite Plan, Paula, Daughter of Fortune, Portrait in Sepia, My Invented Country, Zorro, Inés of My Soul The Sum of Our Days and The Island Beneath the Sea.Trade ReviewRemarkable...a big book that can comprehend the history of a nation, and so many lives, with love * The Times *An exotic vision and a brilliant, impassioned epic * Vogue *Mesmerizing... A novel of force and charm * Washington Post *This is a novel like the novels no one seems to write anymore: thick with plot and bristling with characters who play out their lives over three generations of conflict and reconciliation. A novel to be read for its brilliant craftsmanship and its narrative of inescapable power * El Pais, Madrid *Announcing a truly great read: a novel thick and thrilling, full of fantasy, terror and wit, elaborately crafted yet serious and accurate in its historical and social observations * Die Welt, Berlin *
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Cornerstone Isle of Joy
Book SynopsisNew York: Late 1958Walter Withers had given the best years of his life to the CIA, setting honeytraps and reeling in the victims of his plots. But Withers has returned to his hometown for an easier, safer life as a Private Investigator.Manhattan in the late Fifties is alive with new possibilities, new sounds and new faces, including young presidential hopeful Senator Joe Keneally. Withers is assigned to bodyguard Keneally''s girlfriend at a society gathering: a simple enough job. But next morning, she''s dead - and Withers is the prime suspect.To clear his name, Withers must take on his old masters from the CIA, as well as J. Edgar Hoover''s FBI, all of them determined to set Keneally up. And Withers, expert hunter, becomes another disposable victim of the trap closing in on the Senator.
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Penguin Books Ltd Notes on Infinity
Book SynopsisNormal People meets The Dropout, with the spirit of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - a searing tale of love, ambition, and betrayal in Silicon Valley's fast lane. AN AMAZON BEST BOOKS OF 2025 SO FAR PICKA GOODREADS HOTTEST DEBUT NOVEL OF 2025A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 20 HOTTEST BOOKS OF THE SUMMERA BELLETRIST BOOK OF THE MONTH PICKAN OPRAH SUMMER READING LIST PICK'ELECTRIFYING' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'THE PAGES TURN THEMSELVES' NEW YORK TIMES'DAZZLING . . . FULL OF SURPRISES' HEATI COULDN'T HAVE LOVED IT MORE' CHRIS WHITAKER'FIRED ME UP AND BROKE MY HEART. IT REMINDED ME WHAT A WILD RIDE READING SHOULD BE' CLAIRE DAVERLEYLESSONS IN CHEMISTRY MEETS TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW UTTERLY COMPELLING' LUCY CLARKEVERY CLEVER WITH A HUGE MESSY HEART. I ADORED IT' ABIGAIL DEAN--THE 2025 DEBUT THAT WILL STAY WITH YOU FOREVERThe moment Zoe notices Jack in their Harvard chemistry class, with his scruffy clothes and casual self-assurance, she knows he's the one to beat. When Zoe starts trying to outsmart Jack in chemistry, he knows she's the person he's been looking for. Because Jack has dreams that go far beyond the classroom. And while he and Zoe might be from different worlds, they share the same thirst for knowledge and fierce ambition. When he invites her to partner with him on some research, she puts aside her pride, and joins him. Apart they are brilliant, but together they are unstoppable, and within two years, they are at the helm of a thriving start-up company, and deep in a relationship that seems a perfect match in every sense. Until a shocking accusation is levelled against Jack which threatens everything they've built their company, their reputation, and most importantly, their love. Are some dreams too big to come true? And how far would you go to achieve them anyway?A captivating, deeply poignant novel about ambition, deceit, the recklessness that comes with early success and the way that love can make us feel invincible. --MORE PRAISE FOR NOTES ON INFINITY'[T]his beautifully-wrought debut explores sexism, the ethics of playing with immortality and the complexities of mixing business and pleasure' Mail on Sunday'If you liked Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow read this!' Sun'If Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin was about a longevity science empire rather than a video game behemoth, it wouldn't be far off this buzzy new novel' StylistReaders LOVE Notes on Infinity'Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow crossed with Lessons in Chemistry . . . It is better than both!' *****My heart was fully involved in this story and now it just hurts now that I'm done. I think I will be thinking about Zoe and Jack for a while' *****I really didn't imagine to love this book as much as I did, but it completely won me over. It is a kind of novel that surprises you, not just with its originality, but with its depth' *****I didn't want to put it down but I also didn't want it to end' *****Beautiful writing, fabulous characters? I actually want to read it all over again!' *****I'm obsessed with this book' *****
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Hodder & Stoughton The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Book Synopsis''ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY'' INDEPENDENTShortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial and Commonwealth Writers'' Prizes''Thrillingly suspenseful''SUNDAY TIMES''Stunning''INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY''Brilliant''THE TIMES''Entirely original''OBSERVER''A classic''WASHINGTON POSTThe Sunday Times Number One bestseller from the author of Cloud Atlas and Utopia AvenueIn your hands is a place like no other: a tiny, man-made island in the bay of Nagasaki, for two hundred years the sole gateway between Japan and the West. Here, in the dying days of the eighteenth century, a young Dutch clerk arrives to make his fortune. Instead he loses his heart.Step onto the streets of Dejima and mingle with scheming traders, spies, interpreters,Trade ReviewSpectacularly accomplished and thrillingly suspenseful . . . it brims with rich, involving and affecting humanity * Sunday Times *An achingly romantic story of forbidden love . . . Mitchell's incredible prose is on stunning display . . . [it] confirms Mitchell as one of the more fascinating and fearless writers alive -- Dave Eggers * New York Times Book Review *That rare thing - a novel which actually deserves the accolade "tour de force" -- Kamila Shamsie, Books of the Year * Daily Telegraph *Genres merge and interact like the shimmering colours of a kaleidoscope . . . one story contains multiplicities, woven together with golden thread . . . Dive in and lose yourself in a world of incredible scope, originality and imaginative brilliance -- Katy Guest * Independent on Sunday *Compared with almost everything being written now, it is vertiginously ambitious - and brilliant . . . He can write as thrillingly about large-scale events as he can about the tiny details of the private world . . . turned one way this novel is a thriller with a glittering seam of a love story running through it (or is it the other way round?); turned another, it is a sumptuous historical novel on the collision of cultures caught at a particular crossroads of history -- Neel Mukherjee * The Times *Stunning -- Books of the Year * Independent on Sunday *As compelling as it is strange, the novel is testament to the originality of Mitchell's vision and his great craftiness as a storyteller * Times Literary Supplement *A heady potion of betrayal, love, superstition, power politics and murder . . . And all this in the most extraordinary prose * Sunday Telegraph *However densely charted and richly sketched, this sumptuous imbroglio never drags . . . Mitchell flexes his prose virtuosity. More than before, those muscles do the heart's work * Independent *Moving, thoughtful and unexpectedly funny -- Books of the Year * Observer *Hugely enjoyable . . . It cracks along, holding us in suspense from the beginning * Literary Review *Masterpieces make their own rules, and this book is definitely one of them * Scotsman *David Mitchell is back with a bang . . . superb * Irish Independent *Ambitious and fascinating . . . Comparisons to Tolstoy are inevitable, and right on the money * Kirkus Reviews *A pitch-perfect masterclass in the art, and magic, of narrative -- Books of the Year * Independent *A marvel - entirely original among contemporary British novels, revealing its author as, surely, the most impressive fictional mind of his generation * Observer *A formidable marvel * New Yorker *Extraordinarily entertaining and well-realised -- A. S. Byatt * Observer *For a tour de force, it's surprisingly nimble, emotionally complex and simply unforgettable -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *Almost every sentence shimmers with precise, opaque and brilliantly realised writing . . . An historical novel on a deliberately grand scale, it never loses its quiet intimacy * Irish Times *The details are fascinating and the prose beautiful . . . simply magnificent * Historical Novels Review *Sharp, hilarious, exhilarating stuff. Utterly enjoyable * Mslexia *An affecting conclusion underscores Mr Mitchell's mastery here not only of virtuosic literary fireworks, but also of the quieter arts of empathy and traditional storytelling -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *Dazzles with its density and intensity, its ambition and grandeur * Courier Mail *Mitchell's masterpiece; and also, I am convinced, a masterpiece of our time * Boston Globe *The novelist who's shown us fiction's future has written a classic tale . . . an epic of sacrificial love, clashing civilizations and enemies who won't rest until whole family lines have been snuffed out * Washington Post *A vastly entertaining historical novel, giving the reader a glimpse into a world we know so little of and charting a fascinating period of history * Sydney Morning Herald *A marvellously wrought novel, full of fully formed characters and the kind of detail that allows you to sink deep into its imaginary world. I was sorry when I finished * Herald Sun *
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