Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisThe bishop was feeling rather sea-sick. Confoundedly sea-sick, in fact. An Anglican bishop, on recuperative leave from his African diocese, alights at the island of Nepenthe for a short stay on his passage to England. Soon he is caught up in the wild and exuberant antics of visitors and residents. Norman Douglas's famed, and infamous, novel of Capri is a hedonistic journey and an unforgettable classic.Trade ReviewA fascinating book, in the original sense of the adjective – spell-binding, mesmeric, and sometimes disturbingly prophetic... We leave it slightly drugged and mystified, yet somehow slighly more aware of things than when we started' -- Jan Morris

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Book SynopsisTwo families divided by hate. A love that will not die.Sylvie and Donna travel on the same train to work each day but have never spoken. Their families are on different sides of the bitter Brexit divide, although the tensions and arguments at home give them much in common.What they don't know is that their eldest children, Rachid and Jodie, are about to meet for the first time and fall in love. Aware that neither family will approve, the teenagers vow to keep their romance a secret.But as Sylvie's family feel increasingly unwelcome in England, a desire for a better life threatens Rachid and Jodie's relationship. Can their love unite their families - or will it end in tragedy?'Powerful and moving' RACHEL EDWARDS'Heart-wrenching' 5* READER REVIEW'A thought-provoking triumph' MIKE GAYLE'Such a beautiful story' 5* READER REVIEW'Outstanding' SUSAN LEWIS'Compelling' 5* READER REVIEW'Original and powerful . . . You'll love it' LOUISE BEECH'A love story like no other' 5* READER REVIEW'Warm, wise and very moving' ARAMINTA HALL'I could not put it down' 5* READER REVIEW'Absolutely loved In Little Stars' LUCY DIAMOND'Intelligent, thought-provoking and heart-breaking' 5* READER REVIEWPlease note this novel contains details of racial abuse and racially motivated violence.Trade ReviewThis powerful and moving interracial love story reminds our Brexit-battered country why we must always choose hope over hate * Rachel Edwards *Absolutely loved In Little Stars. So powerful and deeply moving, I felt so invested in the characters' lives * Lucy Diamond *With brilliantly constructed characters whose happiness you ache for, In Little Stars is a powerful and thought-provoking triumph * Mike Gayle *Wow, Green's original and powerful novel had me in absolute bits. Sad, thought-provoking, funny and beautifully written. You'll love it. I did. So much * Louise Beech *Wow! I am so impressed by this book. It is outstanding . . . Fantastic characters, stunning story and the kind of poignancy that will make it stay with me for a very long time * Susan Lewis *This book broke my heart. Powerful and devastating, In Little Stars is a must-read that throws light on some very real issues * Charlotte Duckworth *A modern-day Alan Sillitoe: a love story in a world of prejudice and bias, told in the kind of authentic voices that we seldom hear * Anstey Harris *Yet again, Linda Green reaches the parts that other authors don't reach. Romeo and Juliet in post-referendum Yorkshire in a story thrumming with lived experience * Shelley Harris *A warm, wise and very moving book, which ultimately shows the power of love in bringing people together. A much needed story in our divided world * Araminta Hall *Loved this book - a brilliantly poignant updating of Romeo and Juliet * Frances Quinn *A compelling, thought-provoking read about love and hope, loss and hate * Yorkshire Post *Powerful * Good Housekeeping *

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Book SynopsisDorries is the queen of the saga and she is back with a heart-wrenching, captivating new novel' Bookish Jottings. Liverpool, 1963. Mary Kate Malone is seventeen and bitterly unhappy that her father has married again after the death of her mother. On her last day at school, she decides to leave home in Tarabeg on the west coast of Ireland and head for Liverpool to find her mother's sister. But absolutely nothing goes to plan. Within hours of disembarking, she finds herself penniless and alone, with no place to stay and no idea how she will survive. Meanwhile, back in Ireland, where old sins cast long shadows, a long-buried secret is about to come to light and a day of reckoning, in the shape of a stranger from America, will set an unstoppable chain of events in motion. What readers are saying about the Tarabeg Series: 'A brilliant read, a wonderful story and I have already pre-orderd the next book' 'Great read! Nadine Dorries is a top author, love her books!' 'Did not want it to end!! Gripping, detailed... Really draws you in to the storyTrade ReviewPRAISE FOR NADINE DORRIES: 'Nadine Dorries has quickly established herself as the queen of the Liverpool saga and she is back with a heart-wrenching and captivating new novel' Bookish Jottings. 'As heart-warming as it is heartbreaking, this novel is unputdownable' Sunday Express. 'Angela's Ashes with a scouse accent' Irish Times. 'A funny and sometimes shocking saga. I couldn't put it down' Cristina Odone. 'Fabulous characters... Gorgeous sentences and sensational plotlines' * With Love for Books *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR SALTIRE FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR, 2017LONGLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL PRIZE, 2018A local tries to sell his sister to a trucker as he passes through town; a couple put their children to bed and hear a loud scratching at the wall; a man looks into a mirror and reflects on becoming more like his father.Sparky, touching and brilliantly daring, these stories uncover human feeling in the ordinary and the everyday, and are a reminder of Kelman's exceptional talent.Trade ReviewKelman is on another level to most of the living writers in the UK * * Guardian * *Kelman has always been a true and honest writer; which is why he is one of the fairly few who really matter -- ALLAN MASSIE * * Scotsman * *Brilliant . . . this collection shows a writer who is still at the top of his game, brimming with creativity, vitality and artistic integrity * * Irish Independent * *Like the best short story writers - James Joyce, Kafka, John Cheever, Alice Munro - he has reinvented the form * * The Herald * *Kelman brings alive a human consciousness like no other writer can -- ALAN WARNERPRAISE FOR THE STORIES OF JAMES KELMAN:Tender and funny in a way that may surprise those who know him only by reputation * * Daily Telegraph * *A rollicking, riveting read . . . Kelman's language of inner thought is so fluid and immediate it reads more like breath than words * * Daily Herald * *The mixture of the precisely but surreally bureaucratic and the casually macabre is perfectly judged * * Sunday Times * *You only have to read one phrase to recognise his utterly distinctive voice: lyrical, philosophical as a pub stool resident and steeped in the street . . . The result, for those who take words seriously, is canonical and pure joy * * Metro * *Kelman's language is immediately exciting; like a musician, he uses repetition and rhythm * * New Yorker * *

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Book Synopsis'Simply the best British novel I've read this century' David Peace'Will stay in my head forever...a fantastic book' The Tablet'A maverick project that defies comparison' MetroAt a bus stop in south London, black teenager Eldine Matthews is murdered by a racist gang. Twenty years later, L Troop's top boys - models of vice, deviance and violence - are far beyond justice. There are some people the law will not touch.But Eldine's murder is not forgotten. His story is once again on everyone's lips and the streets of south London; a story of police corruption and the elimination of witnesses. A solicitor, a rent boy, a one-eyed comedian and his minder are raising ghosts; and Carl Hyatt, disgraced reporter, thinks he knows why.There's one man linking this crew of rambunctious dandies and enchanting thugs, and it's the man Carl promised never to challenge again: Mulhall, kingpin of London's rotten heart and defender of L Troop's racist killers. Carl must face up to the morality of retribution and the reality of violence knowing that he is the weak link in the chain; and that he has placed everyone he loves within Mulhall's reach.The Treatment is steeped in London's criminal past, its shadows of corruption and institutional racism. Like a seventeenth-century revenge tragedy, its characters reel from the streets, bars and brothels, hyperarticulate and propelled by wild justice. Trade ReviewNath has a confidence and attitude that rocks you on every page - Daisy Goodwin on La RochelleOriginal, funny and absolutely spot-on - Nicholas Royle in The Independent on La RochelleThe most marvelous crime novel, based around real events in London. It's very much a literary work, with really wonderful writing. A very strong book -- Paul FrenchThis is the beauty of Nath's writing. He has brought to life a range of Brits who all bark and bite with equal ferocity, but love and dream as well. British Story is a novel for our time. Michael Nath knows how to write real literature, stuff with heart and character. He isn't afraid to look life in the eye, despite all of its jagged edges and contradictions, and he knows how to take this and turn it into a story. A British story at that. -- Joe Darlington, on British Story * Manchester Review of Books *THE TREATMENT is simply the best British novel I've read since I don't know when - this decade? This century? And why? Because it engages with and confronts the central, crucial subjects of our time: race and racism, individual and institutional, of the corruption and failure of the police, the media and the law itself, asking where that then leaves us as citizens of such society, where revenge is the only justice left to us. But its brilliance is also in the telling of this tale, urgent and moral, in the sheer exuberance of the language and its narrative, filled with both humour and tragedy, and which really does reaffirm the potential and power of the novel, and the British Novel, no less. -- David PeaceWith its unique and ambitious form - there are over 108 characters - this is a fresh addition to the literary landscape * Cosmopolitan *Michael Nath sends a timeless, unforgettable firm of avengers to confront racist thugs and corrupt cops. A performance of rare linguistic dexterity and lacerating wit, The Treatment sees the emergence of a unique British imagination -- Kester Aspden (CWA Crime Non-fiction Winner), author of * The Hounding of David Oluwale *This ribald "secret history" draws on the murder of Stephen Lawrence before spinning off down its own dark alleyways. Both brilliant and highly imaginative; I loved it * Independent *A trenchant state of the nation novel based loosely on real life events about the murder of a black teenager by a racist gang. This timely novel takes a lacerating look at Britain's relationship with systemic racism, police violence and terrorism. * Book Riot *Imaginative, confident, erudite and original storytelling . . . It's scope is extraordinary as it draws on the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence that rocked the British establishment to its core. . . Nath's use of language is sublime, in a narrative that more often than not feels like a stream of consciousness, and his priceless depiction of London is vibrant, ribald, and colourful, peopled by a huge cast of terrific characters . . . Michael Nath deserves to win awards for this and I cannot recommend this highly enough! * Goodreads *With a cast list of lairy, scary characters populating the swirling narrative, interspersed with real-life news seen from a new angle, it's a full-on literary assault course, sprawling and immersive. * Sunday Times Crime Club *A London novel to join the greats (...) What really impresses is the way Nath navigates the twists and turns. It's told with (...) bookish savviness. You want to know more. To read more. To hear more * The Arts Desk *Allusive, powerful, eccentric, multi-layered with moving levels of narrative, historical vignettes and stream of consciousness ... With a gallery of Londoners from all walks of life and both sides of the law, THE TREATMENT soon transforms in a hypnotic, repetitive manner into a widescreen, black and white panorama of London's contemporary multiracial and divided society. Impressive and thought-provoking * Crime Time *A maverick project that defies comparison * Metro *An ambitious, darkly comic investigation into corruption and revenge... In his skilful and entertaining explorations of plurality and complexity, Nath wildly eschews the straight story, and celebrates the mixed * Guardian *His writing is addictive, sometimes strange, often beautiful and, as The Treatment makes clear, deserves to be better known * iPaper *Michael Nath is brilliant . . . The Treatment remains, for all its unflinching insight into the reality and psychology of the worst hate-crimes imaginable, potently uplifting * The Storgy *Vivid and raw in characterisation and narrative ... The Treatment is an uncorrupted account of our society and beautifully vulgar one at that * Morning Star *Will stay in my head forever...a fantastic book. * The Tablet *

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Book SynopsisCollected by Yoruba poet Bakare Gbadamosi and scholar Ulli Beier, Not Even God Is Ripe Enough is a mesmerising collection of traditional oral stories and lighthearted Yoruba fables. Including stories such as 'Kindness won't kill you but it can give you a lot of worries', 'He who shits on the road will meet flies on his return' and 'You can fool others but can you fool yourself?' Not Even God is Ripe Enough is a wide-ranging selection of amusing Yoruba proverbs and tales of magical realism. From bizarre stories of talking animals to wise parables passed down from generation to generation, these stories are full of surprising twists, humour, and the surreal.

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Book SynopsisIn this story we hear the voices of an Icelandic fishing village. On a summer's day a young woman in a polka-dot dress cycles down the main street. Her name is Kata and she is the village choir conductor. As she passes, we glimpse the members of the village: a priest with a gambling habit, an old brother and sister who have not talked for years, and a sea captain who has lost his son. But perhaps the most interesting story of all belongs to the young woman on the bicycle. Why is she reticent to talk about her past? 'Reading this book was like embarking on a gentle journey - with music in my ears and wind in my hair. Yes, there is some darkness in the tales, and not every character is happy. But the story is told with such empathy that I couldn't help but smile, and forgive the flaws that make us human.' Meike Ziervogel, Peirene Press PublisherTrade Review`An exceptional novel, full of music, sun and longing.' FRETTABLADID; `Captures the imagination, fires up the senses, a delightful read from beginning to end.' MORGUMBLADID.

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Book Synopsis"Maylis de Kerangal conjures the same painterly realism her characters hope to achieve in paint" London Magazine"Evocative and exhilerating" Booklist"Maylis de Kerangal is mining a rich and individual seam" TImes Literary SupplementBehind the ornate doors of the Institut de Peinture in Brussels, Kate, Jonas and Paula begin their apprenticeship in decorative painting, the art of visual deception. An intense year of study will cement a friendship that lasts long after their formal education ends. Paula's initiation into trompe l'oeil will take her back through time and place as she strives for perfection. From her work on the film sets of Cinecittà to the prehistoric caves of Lascaux, her experiences will transcend artistic endeavour and gradually reveal something of her own inner world and the secret, unreachable desires of her heart.This is a coming-of-age novel like no other: an atmospheric and highly aesthetic portrayal of love, art and craftsmanship from the prize-winning author of Birth of a Bridge and Mend the Living.Translated from the French by Jessica MooreTrade ReviewAs she has so often done, de Kerangal shows there is poetry to be found in our jargon, and stories embedded in our tools . . . This is writing that defies haste, that slows the eye. It is also a mighty feat of translation . . . Cements [de Kerangal's] reputation as one of contemporary fiction's most gifted sentence builders -- Beejay Silcox * Guardian *The book is a joyful testament to the rigours of research, and to the translator's art too . . . Maylis de Kerangal is mining a rich and individual seam -- Jonathan Gibbs * TLS *Intensely alive, encompassing both the technical and the poetic, emotion and cerebrality -- Raphaëlle Leyris * Le Monde *Always brilliant, executed in flowing, lyrical prose that had already reached the firmament in [Mend the Living] . . . De Kerangal finds fiction in reality; precise, technical vocabulary is imbued with rich imagination and meaning. And mastering trompe-l'œil - isn't that the ideal metaphor for the work of a novelist? -- Frédérique Roussel * Libération *The art of painting in perfect harmony with de Kerangal's writing; visual, flamboyant, assured . . . in perfect alignment with her subject -- Marine Landrot * Télérama *Kerangal's elegant, sexy, subtly Proustian, and fluidly dimensional drama of discipline and passion, imitation andimagination is resplendently evocative and exhilarating. -- Donna Seaman * Booklist *Long looping sentences, beautifully translated from the French by Jessica Moore, are balanced by taut scene changes . . . De Kerangal conjures the same painterly realism that her characters hope to achieve in paint * London Magazine *

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Book SynopsisA reprint of the Welsh classic.

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Book SynopsisEdinburgh, 2014. Two writer friends, Damaris and Oliver Pablo, escape London, the city that killed his brother. They spend their days trying to get to the library, bickering over their tanking bitcoin, failing to write or resist the sadness. Then they meet Diego, a poet. He tells them he is named for his mother’s island in the Chagos Archipelago, which she and her community were forced to leave by British soldiers in 1973. Damaris and Oliver Pablo become obsessed with this notorious episode and the continuing resistance of the Chagossian people, and want to write in solidarity. But how to share a story that is not theirs to tell? And how to account for a loss not theirs to grieve? A tragicomedy interrogating the powers of literature alongside the crimes of the British government, Diego Garcia is a collaborative fiction that opens up possibilities for the novel and seeks other ways of living together. Trade Review‘As an experiment in “fictive criticism”, this is a new type of social novel, one that avoids stable conclusions. Instead it demands the reader’s own critique.’ — Gurnaik Johal, TLS ‘Intimate yet expansive, heartbroken but unbowed, and a book about writing that is anything but solipsistic, it’s a stirring novel that lights a way forward for politically conscious fiction.’ — Anthony Cummins, Observer ‘Focusing on the ongoing atrocity of the Anglo-American occupation of the Chagos Islands and displacement of their native people, Diego Garcia is a subtle contemplation of the uses of fiction and narrative (for good and bad) and how, where and why individual and collective narratives meet. Taking in artists from Kader Attia to Sophie Podolski, as well as depictions of the Chagossians in poetry, documentaries and essay films, it is a moving study of friendship, allyship and creative forms of political struggle.’ — Juliet Jacques, author of Trans: A Memoir‘This thought-provoking, brilliant book sends a hypersensitive probe into the subduction zone between solidarity and exploitation.’ — Nell Zink, author of Avalon‘Diego Garcia is an important and highly original work, incredibly well-researched and thought-through.’ — Philippe Sands, author of The Last Colony‘Diego Garcia is a beautiful, poignant, anarchic experiment in collaboration and collectivity. This novel does wonderful, innovative things to form and to politics – to style, to voice, to creolization, to propaganda and power and archipelic thinking – and especially to the denials inbuilt to British novels and British politics. Somehow it finds a way of exposing Britain's ongoing shameful occupation of the Chagos Islands while also being a document of literary resistance and originality. It offers models for future thinking.’ — Adam Thirlwell, author of Lurid and Cute 'As affecting as it is intellectually agile, Diego Garcia achieves what few novels even aim at – it opens up fresh ways of reading both history and fiction.’ — Pankaj Mishra, author of Run and Hide‘Through the intricately woven histories and the corresponding fictions within fictions, the compassion expressed in Diego Garcia highlights the absence of it in those who, forsaking their obligations towards other human beings, exiled the Chagossians from their home. Written in a language at once distant and interior, dazzling, we see that until the Chagossian people are home, nobody is home.’ — Vanessa Onwuemezi, author of Dark Neighbourhood‘Listless and urgent, dulled by sadness and yet dancing with anger, moments of unexpected beauty and strange, bright comedy – in Diego Garcia, these tensions are held together by the energy of a singular collaboration, where the interplay between fundamental separation and common cause is staged even at the level of page layout, the writing of the sentences themselves. It is a novel of shared and unshared experience that is wholly unapologetic about not knowing how such a thing is to be written, but risking it nevertheless. The result is compelling, challenging, unprecedented, essential.’ — Kate Briggs, author of This Little Art ‘Reading Diego Garcia is unlike any other experience. An abstract blend of intersecting narratives, non-fiction asides, indulgent email chains and stories within stories all collide to produce a speculative work of fiction, about how fleeting encounters can change the trajectories of our lives.’ — DAZED

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Book SynopsisAll three BBC radio dramatisations of the bestselling fantasy trilogy – plus bonus materialA breathtaking epic spanning multiple worlds, His Dark Materials follows the adventures of Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, two children catapulted into a life-or-death struggle to save the future of the Cosmos.In Northern Lights, 11-year-old Lyra discovers dark forces at work involving kidnapped children and a mysterious substance called ‘Dust’. With her shape-shifting daemon, Pantalaimon, she leaves her Oxford college home and embarks on a dangerous journey to the frozen North, aided by armoured bears, Gyptians and a witch-queen…The Subtle Knife sees 12-year-old Will finding an opening into the haunted world of Cittàgazze, where daemon-destroying Spectres roam. There he meets Lyra, and together they acquire the most powerful weapon in all the universes – an object many would kill to possess.In The Amber Spyglass, a colossal war is brewing in Heaven, and Lyra and Will have been separated. They must find each other and journey onward – even into the World of the Dead…These thrilling dramatisations feature an all-star cast, including Lulu Popplewell, Terence Stamp, Bill Paterson, Kenneth Cranham and Adrian Scarborough.Also included is a bonus documentary, World Book Club, in which Philip Pullman answers readers’ questions about Northern Lights.

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Book SynopsisNell Frizzell is a writer, journalist and Vogue columnist. She has written and worked for the Guardian, VICE, The Sunday Times, Elle, the BBC, the Observer, Grazia and The Independent among many others. Her first book, The Panic Years, was an exploration of bodies, babies and the big questions facing modern life. Her debut novel, Square One, painted a humorous picture of moving home, fathers and daughters and surviving heartbreak. She lives in Oxford, in a very small house full of pasta and bedding and bikes.

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Book Synopsis"A masterpiece."--The Guardian "Superb."--The New York Times Review of Books Older brother is a driver for an app-based car service. Closed off for eleven hours every day in his cab, constantly tuned in to the radio, he ruminates about his life and the world that is waiting just on the other side of the windshield. Younger brother set out for Syria several months ago, full of idealism. Hired as a nurse by a Muslim humanitarian organization, he has recently stopped sending any news back home. This silence eats away at his father and brother, who ask themselves over and over again: why did he leave? One evening, the intercom rings. Little brother has come home. In this incisive first novel, Mahir Guven alternates between lively humour and the gravity imposed by the threat of terrorism. He explores a world of Uberized workers, weighed down by loneliness, struggling to survive, but he also describes the universe of those who are actors in the global jihad: indoctrination, combat, their impossible return . . . This is the poignant story of a Franco-Syrian family whose father and two sons try to integrate themselves into a society that doesn’t offer them many opportunities.Trade Review"A masterpiece of a first novel." * The Guardian *"Superb...[Older Brother] accomplishes what the best kind of reporting can do: wade into questions that resist simple answers, while restoring dignity to its characters." * The New York Times Review of Books *"A winning debut." * Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) *"One of the most astute international debuts of the year." * Shelf Awareness *In this powerful first novel, written in evocative language, Mahir Guven tells a story from within the very heart of our society, beset by the demons of Uberization and terrorism.” * Le courier de l’Atlas *"A striking debut that reveals the breadth of emotional disconnection that prejudice can stoke within a family." * Kirkus Reviews *“For his literary debut, Mahir Guven gives readers 300 high-flying pages.” * Le Figaro *“With the ambivalent sentiments of a pair of brothers alienated by two systems at its core, this first novel is gripping, illuminating, but also funny. It is a call to renew the dream for all those who set foot on French soil.” * L'Obs *

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Book SynopsisA dark yet compassionate comedy of art aspirations and friendships come to naught.First published in 2003, Gary Indiana’s turn-of-the-millennium novel traces the lives of a loosely connected group of New York artists and the dissolution of their scene. During the summer of 2001, the narrator of Do Everything in the Dark, a gallery curator, receives intermittent dispatches from his far-flung friends—many of whom resemble well-known figures in the art and intellectual worlds—who are spread out across the globe, from Istanbul to Provincetown to Santa Fe. Seeking various reprieves from a changed New York, the long-festering, glossed-over incompatibilities of these aging bohemians blossom into exotic and unbearable relief. Beneath the contemporary excesses Indiana chronicles, we can see the outlines of the earlier New York bohemia captured by Dawn Powell.Arguably Indiana’s most intimate, internal, and compassionate work to date, Do Everything in the Dark is a chilling chronicle of madness and failure, success and disappointment, and the many ways love dies in a world people find increasingly unlivable.

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Book SynopsisPICKED BY THE GUARDIAN AS ‘FICTION TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2021' A dream-like, emotionally charged narrative by a bold new voice in Japanese fiction A mesmerizing combination of two tales about memory, loss and love, both told with stylistic inventiveness and breath-taking sensitivity. Taichi was forced to stop working almost a decade ago and since then he and his wife Natsuko have been getting by on her part-time wages. But Natsuko is a woman accustomed to hardship. When her own family's fortune dried up years during her childhood, she, her brother, and her mother lived a surreal hand-to-mouth existence shaped by her mother's refusal to accept their new station in life. One day, Natsuko sees an ad for a spa and recognizes the place as the former luxury hotel that Natsuko's grandfather had taken her mother to when she was little. She decides to take her damaged husband to the spa, despite the cost, but their time there triggers hard but ultimately redemptive memories relating to the complicated history of her family. The overnight trip becomes a voyage into the netherworld - a journey to the doors of death and back to life. Modelled on a classic story by Junichiro Tanizaki, Ninety-Nine Kisses is the second story in this book and it portrays in touching and lyrical fashion the lives of the four unmarried sisters in a historical, close-knit neighbourhood of contemporary Tokyo. “Kashimada is a writer who brings something truly rich." - Nikkei “The tense disquiet that hangs over the work has a unique charm. This is a world that only Kashimada could have depicted.” - Yoko OgawaTrade Review“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.” * TLS *Fiction to look out for in 2021 “Magical Japanese novel: Maki Kashimada’s Touring the Land of the Dead asks whether places are haunted by their own past.” * The Guardian *"Two polished novellas, though different in mood, probe family relationships with insight and elegance." * Tatler *“Kashimada’s writing is exceptional; this collection is dark and suffocating. It is part of a trend in Japan of female authors rewriting traditional and well-loved stories through a feminist lens, and is a welcome addition to the works by Japanese women being translated into English.” * The Spectator *“A spare and profound story, beautifully translated.” * Waterstones *“The tense disquiet that hangs over the work has a unique charm. This is a world that only Kashimada could have depicted.” -- Yoko Ogawa“While difficult to pin down, this novel is particularly compelling. This sense of sincerity comes, I think, not from the strength of the emotions put into the novel, but rather from the author’s writing style, and is a credit to her craftsmanship.” -- Hiromi Kawakami"An intriguing introduction to a significant voice in contemporary Japanese fiction." * Kirkus Reviews *“Kashimada is a writer who brings something truly rich.” -- Nikkei"Maki Kashimada writes about one woman’s trauma with razor-perfect concision and an austere beauty." * Asian Review of Books *"It’s fair to make comparisons here with Hiromi Kawakami's Strange Weather in Tokyo and Yoko Ogawa's The Housekeeper and the Professor, and Kashimada’s tale is a similar example of an unusual love story that simply works…" * Tony's Reading List *

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Book SynopsisEmotions you'll never forget, stories you'll want to share. The uplifting new novel from the amazing Mike Gayle.

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Book SynopsisWINNER of the French Voices Grand Prize, Prix Ahmadou Kourouma, and Grand Prix du Roman Métis Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s searing and thought-provoking debut novel, Brotherhood takes place in the imaginary town of Kalep, where a fundamentalist Islamist government has spread its brutal authority. Under the regime of the so-called Brotherhood, two young people are publicly executed for having loved each other. In response, their mothers begin a secret correspondence, their only outlet for the grief they share and each woman’s personal reckoning with a leadership that would take her beloved child’s life. At the same time, spurred on by their indignation at what seems to be an escalation of The Brotherhood’s brutality, a band of intellectuals and free-thinkers seeks to awaken the conscience of the cowed populace and foment rebellion by publishing an underground newspaper. While they grapple with the implications of what they have done, the regime’s brutal leader begins a personal crusade to find the responsible parties, and bring them to his own sense of justice. In this brilliant analysis of tyranny and brutality, Mbougar Sarr explores the ways in which resistance and heroism can often give way to cowardice, all while giving voice to the moral ambiguities and personal struggles involved in each of his characters’ search to impose the values they hold most dear.Trade Review“Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s first novel is a master stroke.”“In the style of the 19th century masters, Sarr’s text examines a militia’s stranglehold on an imaginary city, a tale that will remind readers of many contemporary news stories. [. . .] A tense, oppressive, terrific story.”“An objectively raw but shockingly beautiful book. The author gives voice to the victims of totalitarianism, and engages his readers emotionally.”

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Book SynopsisA fascinating collection of rare and remastered radio & TV material starring Tony HancockTony Hancock’s broadcasting career began in the early 1950s with appearances in BBC radio programmes such as Variety Bandbox and Calling All Forces. Rare archive extracts of both are presented in this collection, along with an edition of Educating Archie, the radio comedy in which Hancock was a regular guest star. Soon he had his own radio series, Hancock’s Half Hour, which transferred to BBC television in 1956. This volume features four complete episodes: the recently discovered TV soundtrack of 'The Horror Serial', plus remastered and restored versions of 'The Blackboard Jungle', 'The Student Prince' and 'The Test Match’ from the radio series. Also rarely heard since first broadcast are soundtrack interviews with Tony Hancock - including the notorious edition of Face to Face from 1960 - and interviews with writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. A bonus PDF booklet looks at each item in the context of Hancock’s broadcasting career, with insights into how many of these lost or rare items were discovered.Marking the legacy of one our greatest comedy entertainers, this collection is a must for fans of Tony Hancock and Hancock's Half Hour.

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Book SynopsisThe Gospel according to Amélie Jesus is perhaps the most universally known figure in the Western world, yet he remains one of the most obscure. In her reinterpretation of the story of the Passion and crucifixion, Nothomb gives voice to a transgressive Messiah, the son of God portrayed as deeply human. Not so much because of his broken chastity vows, rather because of his inability to forgive himself for the pointless and sadistic mise-en-scène that is the Passion. It all starts with the farcical trial at the court of Pontius Pilate. When the witnesses for the prosecution stand up one by one, they turn out to be, paradoxically, the very ones who were healed by Jesus’ miracles, from the disgruntled beggar no longer able to solicit alms, to the man who, freed from satanic possession, now finds his life fatally boring. As the familiar, harrowing tale unfolds in all its dramatic intensity, Nothomb veers from the tragic to the comic, from deep compassion to cold mercilessness. She distils the essence of life down to its basic components – love, death and thirst – revealing that real human strength resides in the body, not in the spirit.Trade Review“Amélie Nothomb is such an utter astonishment, the shock of reading her for the first time is like realizing you have inadvertently missed a whole movement, or century, in the scheme of things.” * Scotland on Sunday *“Strike Your Heart is a finely honed, piercing novel. No wonder it is acclaimed in France. If you are human, it will strike your heart, too.” * The Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisHow did Danny die? On a summer’s day in 1955, the drowned body of young Danny Masters is discovered by three of his teenage friends: Alexander, heir to the country estate that neighbours the village, and siblings Lennie and Tom, whose father is land agent to the Richmond family. Lennie is in love with volatile Alexander, but is he also in love or merely playing with her? Alexander’s mother has been a widow for less than a year, yet her husband’s brother seems always to be by her side. In the weeks that follow the tragic drowning, the river begins to give up its secrets. As the circumstances surrounding Danny’s death emerge, relationships and bonds develop, and other stories gradually come to the surface, threatening to destroy an entire way of life.Trade Review“Powell has not written a pale imitation of “The Crown” or “Downton Abbey.” The River Within contains multitudes; it’s a fresh look at the pressures our caste systems place upon all of us, no matter where we come from.” -- Bethanne Patrick

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Book Synopsis"Black gay American friends explore Ghana’s queer underground while a killer commits a grisly string of murders in this thrilling read." —Guardian 2019, The Year of Return. It has been exactly 400 years since the first slave ships left Ghana for America. Ghana has now opened its doors to Black diasporans, encouraging them to return and get to know the land of their ancestors. Elton, Vincent, and Scott arrive from America to visit preserved sites from the transatlantic slave route, and to explore the country's underground queer scene. Their activities are narrated by their two combative guides: Kobby, their way into Accra's privileged circles; and Nana, the voice of tradition and religious principle. The pair's tense relationship sets the tone for what becomes a shocking and unsettling tale of murder that is at times funny, at times erotic, yet always outspoken and iconoclastic. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: "The kind of book people study. It’s dark, frank, sharp-witted, and reflective. It immediately struck me as a classic and will undoubtedly linger in my thoughts for a while to come." —Hannah on Netgalley "What a marvellous debut for Ghanaian author Kobby Ben Ben. I devoured this book with gusto!" —Caleb on Netgalley "Wow. Such a rollercoaster... One of the most powerful and intense books I read in a long time." —Dmitri on Netgalley "This is an epic and experimental book." —Siobhan on NetgalleyTrade Review“Riotus, erotic, and thrilling, No One Dies Yet is a subversive and gripping tale that cements Kobby Ben Ben as a talented and provocative global voice.” * Saleem Haddad, author of Guapa *"A bold, brash and erudite novel by a writer invested in the possibilities of language. Not just the nuances of Ghana's local languages, but also the lies and euphemisms a nation chooses to live by, whether rendered in irreverent English dipped in "imperialist deceit", or powered by native insults. For its unflinching exploration of sexual life in urban Ghana and its narrative experiments, it is important: a début hinting at a promising future for Kobby Ben Ben. Ambitious in the scope of issues it tackles and expansive in its imaginative timeline, giving voice to both the quick and the dead, No One Dies Yet will stay with readers like a haunting.” * Nii Parkes, author of Tail of the Blue Bird and Azúcar *"No One Dies Yet is a glorious and experimental debut! Snatched from the first line, this book whipped me along its sharp turns and smoldering mystery. Kobby's storytelling audaciously defies genre; he masterfully weaves Ghanaian history of colonisation and enslavement, queer erotics, the supernatural, and the mundane in a manner that seems so effortless and reads smoothly. This book is darkly funny and surprising. Reading this was an adventure I'd go on again and again.” * Francesca Ekwuyasi, author of Butter Honey Pig Bread *"A wickedly arresting read. The sumptuous language paired with deep, dark characters and a murderous plot makes NO ONE DIES YET unputdownable. Kobby Ben Ben should be at the top of everyone's TBR pile!" * Maame Blue, author of Bad Love * “A gorgeously sculpted book, No One Dies Yet is thrilling in a way that very few contemporary novels are. Kobby Ben Ben is a radical literary stylist on the rise.” * Diriye Osman, author of The Butterfly Jungle *"A shocking and unsettling tale of murder. A genre-bending story by a powerful new voice." * The Bookseller - Editor's Choice *

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Book SynopsisA feminist response to Coetzee’s masterwork Disgrace, and the moving story of a woman trying to put her life back together Lucie Lurie is the victim of an act of terrible sexual violence, a gang rape at her father’s farmhouse in the Western Cape. In the grip of debilitating PTSD, she becomes obsessed with JM Coetzee, author of the celebrated Disgrace, a novel based on the attack she suffered. Withdrawn and fearful of crowds, Lucy nonetheless makes occasional forays into the world of men in her search for Coetzee himself. She means to confront him. The character in his novel is passive and almost entirely lacking agency. The real Lucy means to right the record, for she is the lacuna that Coetzee left in his novel the missing piece of the puzzle. She plans to put herself back in the story, to assert her agency and identity. For Lucy Lurie will be no man’s lacuna. “You are concerned for my sake, which I appreciate, you think you understand, but finally you don’t. Because you can’t.” LUCY LAURIE IN COETZEE'S DISGRACETrade Review"Incredibly bold... an impressive piece of fiction." * The TLS *"Cutting, controversial and compelling, Lacuna explores pain and privilege." * Diane Awerbuck *"A brilliant book whether or not read in the shadow of Coetzee’s original." * Mail & Guardian SA *“Surprising, subtle, and deeply challenging.” * Kirkus Reviews (starred) *“A feminist metafiction, Lacuna picks up where J. Coetzee's masterwork, Disgrace, leaves off.” * Book Culture *“Lacuna seems destined to cause a similar stir in America, where lit Twitter regularly erupts with heated discussion of appropriation and agency in storytelling.” * Chicago Review of Books *“Snyckers brings Lucy to life, warts and all, in a novel that is at turns exasperating, poignant, and unexpectedly funny.” * Drum Magazine *“A powerful and brilliant critique of both JM Coetzee’s Disgrace and contemporary South Africa. Snyckers makes the reader ponder deeply one minute and laugh loudly the next. A must read.” * Zukiswa Wanner *

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Book SynopsisAn unforgettable novel about sisterhood, familial duties and love The Betrayed tells the story of two sisters who love the same man. As dictatorship and political upheaval ravage the Philippines, the sister’s conflicting passions threaten to lead them to betray not only each other, but all that their father stood for. Shy, idealistic Pilar initially resolves to carry on her father’s fight against the regime, while her flamboyant older sister Lali reacts by marrying the enemy – Arturo, the dictator’s godson. Each tries to find their place in this violent world, but can they withstand the corruption of politics and the relentless pull of their own desires? Taking in the Philippines’ troubled history from the Marcos dictatorship to the establishment of the present totalitarian regime, and expertly layering the many aspects of the human condition, The Betrayed is a complex and luminous novel. Trade Review"THE BETRAYED is destined to be a literary classic, not just for readers in the Philippines but literary lovers worldwide. Its nuanced disquisition on the Filipino socio-political-economic elite—how many prove the adage 'Power corrupts'—become timeless observations and lessons on the general human condition. Melvin's elegant and sensual sentences also enhance reader empathy so that we end up caring about the characters even as we ultimately learn about ourselves. Yet it’s not only timeless but timely. The Philippines’ 2022 Presidential election highlight how the country is at an existential crossroads on whether its future development will progress or regress. But its reminder that suffering never ends only highlights the import of justice—how we must perpetually strive for its redemption.” * Eileen Tabios, writer, poet, and visual artist *“[Melvin's] beautiful, sensual, visceral writing shows us that the past is not really a foreign country, but our own country in an eternal loop.” * Jessica Zafra, author of Twisted *"Highly readable and enjoyable, it compellingly contains, in its confident tone and language, a powerful mosaic of images, characters, and relationships.” * Angelo R. Lacuesta *“If, as poet-exile Czeslaw Milosz said, ‘language is the only homeland,’ then Melvin’s, The Betrayed is the soil we’ve been seeking—rich, elusive, yet ever-surging in our blood, bones, and breath. Told with the intimacy of a lover and with an historian’s sweeping, clear-eyed vision, it is the story of moral survival under the weight of political upheaval and human frailty. At the heart of this novel is love—of family, of motherland. Love that breaks barriers, crosses continents, transcends time. Fluid, poetic, and lush, these pages navigate our deepest longings, fears, and the relentless search for that one true thing in a ruined world.” * Angela Narciso Torres, author of What Happens is Neither and Blood Orange *“In this story of contemporary Philippines, sisterhood is the indelible trope: Reine Arcache Melvin crafts the indiscreet harm of Manila’s bourgeoisie through two sisters, Lali and Pilar, whose entangled acts of lust and survival never diminish what’s true—their love for each other. Story is at the heart of Melvin’s art. Like Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus or Half of a Yellow Sun, Melvin’s US debut novel, The Betrayed, imagines politics through the propulsive sweep of romance, mixing private infidelities and public disaster with a storyteller’s verve.” * Gina Apostol, author of Insurrecto *

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Book SynopsisEscape to Italy with this brand-new summer read - pre-order now!

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Book Synopsis“Schulman delivers the known world in startling new sounds, colours, tastes and smells.”—New York Times Sunday Book Review It is 1965 and Cora, a deaf young woman, buys a one-way ticket to the island of St Thomas, where she discovers four dolphins held in captivity, part of an experiment led by an obsessive Dr Bloom. Drawn by a strong connection to the dolphins, untrained Cora falls in with the scientists to protect the animals. Recognising Cora's knack for communication, Bloom uses her for what will turn into one of the most fascinating experiments in modern science: an attempt to teach the dolphins human language. As the experiment progresses, Cora forges a remarkable bond with the creatures that leads to a clash with the male-dominated world of science, threatening to engulf the experiment as Cora’s fight to save the dolphins becomes a battle to save herself. For fans of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.Trade Review“Both woman and dolphins come to vivid life in this fascinating and beautifully realized novel.” * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *

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Book SynopsisJezebel's Daughter, printed in 1880, is a Victorian thriller from Wilkie Collins. Based in the 1858 play 'The Red Vial', it is a story of fraud, betrayal and mystery based around Mrs. Fontaine, a disturbing widow who employs various poisons and remedies to control her family and friends. A talented chemist and a shrewd businessman die on the same day. Mrs. Fontaine, widow of the chemist, is leave with the poisons he was researching, while Mrs. Wagner is leave with her husband's reforms and plans for hiring women staff along with men in his firm. Mrs. Wagner trusts in dealing madman gently and appeals for the funny little man Jack Straw to be released from the madhouse. At that time, her nephew David Glenny is appointed to the Frankfurt office, where he works with Mr. Keller and Mr. Engelmann. Keller son, Fritz has enamoured with Minna Fontaine, but the marriage is not being approved of by his father because Mrs. Fontaine is in debt after her husband's death. The story is narrated by Mrs. Wagner's nephew David Glenny, and enriched with extracts from the letters and diaries of different characters. Supposed to have been responsible for her husband's downfall, Madame Fontaine becomes known as Jezebel, and her charming daughter is known as Jezebel's daughter.

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Book SynopsisIn 1909, H. Rider Haggard's novel 'The Lady of Blossholme' was published. It was one of the most adventurous and historical novel of the time. The story is of England during the rule of Henry VIII in 1536. It is featuring the revolt, 'Pilgrimage of Grace' broke out during the reign of Henry VIII. It is narrating the event, in which on one hand King Henry was rebelling against Pope Clement VII, on the other hand, many clergyman and people of Northern England, rebelling against King Henry VIII.

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Book SynopsisThe humorous and heart-wrenching story of a woman’s re-entry into life on the outside after twenty years in incarceration, told over one whirlwind Fourth of July weekend. “There’s no one quite like Carlotta Mercedes, the transgender Black Colombian heroine – no, star – of the second novel by Hannaham.” —THE OBSERVER When Carlotta Mercedes was pulled into a robbery gone wrong, she still went by the name she was born with. But not long after her conviction, she began to live as a woman, an embrace of selfhood that prison authorities rejected, keeping Carlotta trapped in an all-male cell block, abused by both inmates and guards. Over twenty years later, Carlotta is granted conditional freedom and returns to a much-changed Brooklyn, where she struggles to reconcile with a family reluctant to accept her identity, and to avoid any minor parole infraction that might get her consigned back to lockup. Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta sweeps the reader through seemingly every street of Brooklyn, much as Joyce’s Ulysses does through Dublin. Hannaham introduces a cast of unforgettable characters even as it challenges us to confront the glaring injustices of a society and prison system that continues to punish people long after their time has been served.Trade Review"A remarkable novel…the hilarity, the sharpness, and the wild lyricism of Hannaham's Delicious Foods resurface in Carlotta, along with an interest in racism, community, family, love, the possibilities of language, and the preciousness of the freedom to be who you are." * Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books *“We were big fans of James Hannaham’s previous novel Delicious Foods… The long wait for his follow-up is finally over and it’s a doozy: a raucous social comedy that takes on our carceral system, the poor treatment of trans people, and capitalist failings in one unmissable package.” * Chicago Review of Books *“The title of the James Hannaham’s latest novel is ironic, because one would need to be both inhuman and immune to stylistic brilliance to be able to spend any time in Carlotta Mercedes’ world without starting to care deeply about the protagonist of Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta.” * CyprusMail *

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Book Synopsis'When the World Shook' is a novel by H. Rider Haggard, printed in 1919. This is a model text which notifies the terror of a ghost town. There are three friends_ Arbuthnot, the leader, is a man of millions looking for meaning in the world. Bastin is a priest who believes in the progressive explanation of the Bible. Bickley is a doctor, a man of science and who only believes what can be proved. It is an uncommon defective piece of early science fiction, secured with colonial anthropology, religion, philosophy, humour and romance. This novel is about rebirth love.

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Book SynopsisThe novel Monsieur Lecoq is a novel written by Emile Gobariau a French author, regarded as 'father of detective novels'. Gobariau introduced this character Lecoq, first time in his novel,'L'Affaire Lerogue, published in 1866. In this novel Lecoq plays a minor role later it became a well-known name in detective novels. In 1869 the novel Monsieur Lecoq was published in two parts. It's a story related with investigation of three murders in a suspecting barroom in Paris. Police patrolling party, Patrolling officer Gevrol investigates it as a barroom squabble and prepares his report. But Lecoq a young police detective finds some clues that indicates it's not mere a barroom brawl but more than that. Later, Lecoq seeks permission to investigate the case. It's a tricky tale of three powerful families of France during Napoleon's downfall, showing us consequences of greed and revenge. To solve the mystery Lecoq seeks advice from old M. Tabaret.

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Book Synopsis***A TIME MAGAZINE, LITHUB, WHITE REVIEW BEST BOOK OF 2021*** "200 pages of serious entertainment." ―The Times The Life of the Mind opens with Dorothy sitting on a library toilet, checking her phone and examining the “thick, curdled knots of string” coming out of her body. No one but her boyfriend knows that she’s had a miscarriage, not even her therapists–Dorothy has two of them. An adjunct professor of English in New York City with no hope of finding a permanent position, Dorothy’s stuck, unable to envision the future or cut ties with the past. “What did you call it,” she asks herself, “when a life stopped developing, but it didn’t end?” Christine Smallwood’s debut is a campus novel like no other. Piercingly intelligent and darkly hilarious, it moves from a classroom to an underwater puppet show, from a conference in Las Vegas to a karaoke party. It is a discomforting glimpse into the head of a brilliant woman on the edge, it is a novel about endings: of youth, of professional aspiration, of possibility, of the illusion that our minds can ever free us from the tyranny of our bodies.Trade Review“A jewel of a debut... abundantly satisfying.” * Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror *“Brilliant and pleasurable, funny and dark, cerebral and visceral—a must-read for the bleeding human survivors of the modern age.” * Melissa Broder, author of Milk Fed *"Crisp and assured." * London Review of Books *“Brilliant... Dorothy’s sharp, witty narration makes this book something special. The result is like the glorious love child of Ottessa Moshfegh and Sally Rooney.” * Publishers' Weekly *“Hilarious, recognizable, and helplessly wise..” * Rivka Galchen *“That rare thing: an intellectual page-turner that commands one’s attention completely from the first sentence to the final line. In painfully funny prose, Smallwood’s X-ray gaze seeks out the rich seams of anxiety and loneliness running just below the surface of our culture’s exhausting performative enthusiasm, taking in everything from the complex social politics of karaoke to the head-spinning paradoxes of an academic conference in Las Vegas… Essential reading for our troubling times.” * Andrew Martin *“A wonderful novel about a life (and a mind) that refuses to behave novelistically. The book is smart, sharp, often very funny, and, in its commitment to truth over beauty, absolutely fearless.” * Christopher Beha *

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