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
Text Publishing I'm Thinking Of Ending Things
Book SynopsisStephen King meets metafictional mystery in this terrifying literary horror novel.
£8.54
Pushkin Press Coin Locker Babies
Book Synopsis'A cyberpunk coming-of-age tale' Japan Times Two babies are left in a Tokyo station coin locker and survive against the odds, but their lives are forever tainted by this inauspicious start. Raised amidst the outcasts and misfits of Toxitown, they carve out vastly different paths: one as a bisexual rock star on a desperate search for his mother, the other as an athlete consumed by revenge against the woman who left him behind. When their twisted journeys start to intertwine, this savage and stunning story plunges headlong into a surrealistic whirl of violence. 'Encapsulates the fin de siècle cultural detonation of Japanese youth' KirkusTrade Review'Ably encapsulates the fin de siecle cultural detonation of Japanese youth... Snyder's agile translation preserves much of the shock, beauty, and pathos in this apocalyptic minisaga of troubled times' - Kirkus'Ryu Murakami is known for the sex-drugs-and-violence style of his fiction and Coin Locker Babies has it all... A cyberpunk coming-of-age tale' - Japan Times
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Pilgrimage
Book SynopsisIn this gripping story, Paulo Coelho is on a quest for the ultimate in self-knowledge, wisdom and spiritual mastery.Guided by his mysterious companion Petrus, he takes the road to Santiago, going through a series of trials and tests along the way, even coming face to face with someone who may just be the devil himself. Why is the road to the simple life so hard? Will Paulo be strong enough to complete the journey towards humility, belief and faith?The Pilgrimage paved the way to Paulo Coehlo''s international best-selling novel The Alchemist. In many ways, these two volumes are companions to truly comprehend one, you must read the other.Trade Review‘One of the few to deserve the term “publishing phenomenon”’ Independent on Sunday ‘His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people.’ The Times ‘His writing is like a path of energy that inadvertently leads readers to themselves, toward their mysterious and faraway souls.’ Le Figaro ‘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
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Topographia Hibernica
Book Synopsis''Powered by immense, perverse energy out of the Limerick idiom, the collection generates a singular music that is memorable, unsettling and humane''Guardian''Eerie, dark and twisted . . . Blindboy''s passion for Irish nature, mythology and folklore lends a spiritual profundity'' BuzzYou don''t fully appreciate how large a donkey''s head is until it''s beside you in a Fiat Punto. The view in my mirror was furry and violent. I was driving blind.Driving with a donkey stuffed in the back seat; jackdaws pecking brains out through the roof of a confessional box; cat piss and astronauts. This is the world not as you see it, but as it is, twisted from the maverick mind of Blindboyboatclub.These are stories of the strange unsettlings in the souls of men caught in between the past and the possible; stories of heart-blinding rage and disquieting compassion.Taking its title from a twelfth-century English manuscri
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Book Synopsis''A masterpiece'' (Salman Rushdie) by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.''It took the temperature of the age as no other book did. It was the great novel of the end of European Communism: a novel of ideas and eroticism, the surreal and the naturalistic.'' Howard Jacobson''One is torn between profound pleasure in the novel''s execution and wonder at the pain that inspired it.'' Ian McEwan One freezing day in 1948, Klement Gottwald addresses Prague, wearing his comrade Clementis'' fur cap - and Communist Czechoslovakia is born. But after being hanged for treason, Clementis is airbrushed out of propaganda photographs. All that remains is a bare wall, and his cap. So begins an unforgettable voyage through seven narratives, interspersed with luminous meditations on politics, philosophy, music and history.A dissident seeks his first lover - now a Party loyalist - to persuade her to return hi
£9.49
Pan Macmillan The Line of Beauty
Book SynopsisCelebrating Fifty Years of Picador Books There was the soft glare of the flash – twice – three times – a gleaming sense of occasion, the gleam floating in the eye as a blot of shadow, his heart running fast with no particular need of courage as he grinned and said, ‘Prime Minister, would you like to dance?’ In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the wealthy Feddens: Gerald, an ambitious Tory MP, his wife Rachel and their children Toby and Catherine. Innocent of politics and money, Nick is swept up into the Feddens’ world and an era of endless possibility, all the while pursuing his own private obsession with beauty. The Line of Beauty is Alan Hollinghurst’s Man Booker Prize-winning masterpiece. It is a novel that defines a decade, exploring with peerless style a young man’s collision with his own desires, and with a world he can never truly belong to.Winner of the Man Booker Prize, The Line of Beauty is a classic novel about class, politics and sexuality in Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s Britain. Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.Trade ReviewA classic of our times . . . The work of a great English stylist in full maturity. A masterpiece * Observer *As good as the English novel gets. Almost every sentence is a thing of beauty * Sunday Telegraph *There is something memorable on every page . . . there is much to savour in The Line of Beauty, not least its humour, a shivering yet morally exacting satire that leaves no character untouched * Times Literary Supplement *Hollinghurst can make language do what he wants . . . It makes a lot of contemporary fiction seem thin and underachieving. A brilliantly comical and accurate satire upon the high noon of Mrs Thatcher * Evening Standard *The immaculate rolling cadences of his novel are the keenest pleasure English prose has to offer * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan The Guest Cat
Book SynopsisTakashi Hiraide was born in Moji, Kitakyushu in 1950. He has published numerous books of poetry as well as several books of genre-bending essays, including one on poetics and baseball. His work includes a novel called The Guest Cat, a biography of Meiji poet Irako Seihaku, and a travelogue that follows the traces of Kafka, Celan, and Benjamin in Berlin. His poetry book Postcards to Donald Evans is published by the Tibor de Nagy Foundation. Hiraide is a professor of Art Science and Poetics as well as a core member of the new Institute for Art Anthropology at Tama Art University. His poetry book For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut won the 2009 Best Translated Book Award for poetry.Trade ReviewThe Guest Cat is a rare treasure . . . beautiful and profound . . . whether you're a cat lover or not, don't pass this one up * NPR *This is a gentle, thoughtful and subtly profound work . . . It's the kind of work that makes you ask of its author: "How on earth did he do that?" as you find yourself dabbing your eyes and pausing to look wistfully into the distance . . . You will want to read The Guest Cat more than once, so you notice more details - seeing as you can't do this with life -- Nicholas Lezard's Paperback of the Week * Guardian *The language and descriptions are careful, elegant and lovely; while Hiraide's book is ostensibly about a cat, it is more precisely about space and ownership. The book renders an unusually intimate, detailed and vivid picture of a place that is simultaneously private and open. * New York Times *Lyrical and captivating . . . I will revisit The Guest Cat with pleasure, much as I return to favourite poems and paintings and memories * Huffington Post *A book genuinely worthy of bestseller status * Independent *This moving novel is a treat for felinophiles * Guardian *This is a charming, thoughtful little meditation on the transience of life -- Summer Book Club, * S Magzine *
£9.49
Fly on the Wall Press The Wager and the Bear
Book SynopsisAn angry spat in a Cornish pub haunts two men, an activist and a politician, across decades, leading them onto an iceberg with a ravenous polar bear as their sole company. A heart-pounding tale of enduring love and tragedy against the backdrop of climate catastrophe.
£10.79
Europa Editions (UK) Ltd. Vulture
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Little, Brown Book Group The Donor
Book SynopsisShe gave you everything. But what does she want in return?When Lizzie''s daughter Meg is given a life-saving heart transplant, Lizzie feels hugely grateful to the nameless donor. Then she receives a letter from the donor''s mother, Karen, asking to meet, and it seems like the least she can do.But as soon as Karen is welcomed into their lives, Lizzie feels something isn''t right. And before long, she can''t help but worry that by inviting Karen in, she might have put Meg in danger . . .
£5.62
HarperCollins Publishers Finding Belle
Book SynopsisMivvi has two parents. But sometimes she only has one. Or the other. And sometimes she has none.Belle and Fairfax have a tempestuous marriage. Wed after a whirlwind romance in Belle's hometown of Mombasa, they returned to England as man and wife, little anticipating the culture shock Belle would face. Alienated from her peers, far from relatives and friends who would have grounded her, and with a husband who couldn't wouldn't face her crisis, Belle gradually untethers from the world.Years later, their only daughter Mivvi must decode her mother's illnesses and her father's infidelities, through adolescence and into adulthood, as she tries to shape a future of her own, while uncovering what's been hidden from her.Atmospheric and intriguing, this is a powerful story of mothers and daughters, betrayal and madness and a child who must forge her own identity.
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd To the Lighthouse
Book SynopsisA pioneering work of modernist fiction, using her unique stream-of-consciousness technique to explore the inner lives of her characters, Virginia Woolf''s To the Lighthouse is widely regarded as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the twentieth century. This Penguin Classics edition is edited by Stella McNichol, with an introduction and notes by Hermione Lee.To the Lighthouse is at once a vivid impressionistic depiction of a family holiday, and a meditation on marriage, on parenthood and childhood, on grief, tyranny and bitterness. For years now the Ramsays have spent every summer in their holiday home in Scotland, and they expect these summers will go on forever; but as the First World War looms, the integrity of family and society will be fatally challenged. With a psychologically introspective mode, the use of memory, reminiscence and shifting perspectives gives the novel an intimate, poetic essence, and at the time of publication in 1927 it represe
£7.99
Penguin Books Ltd Any Human Heart
Book SynopsisAny Human Heart is William''s Boyd''s classic, bestselling novel, now available as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart''s - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in ''60s New York, Logan mixes with the movers and shakers of his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.Any Human Heart will be enjoyed by readers of Sebastian Faulks, Nick Hornby and Hilary Mantel, as well as lovers of the finest British and historical fiction around the world. It was recently adapted for a major Channel 4 four-part drama series scripted by William Boyd and starring Kim Cattrall, Gillian Anderson, Jim Broadbent and Tom Hollander. This edition features beautiful cover artwork from the television series.''Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story'' Sunday Telegraph''Superb, wonderful, enjoyable'' Guardian''A terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable'' Jeremy PaxmanTrade ReviewA terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable -- Jeremy PaxmanWise, profound and moving. Only the very best novels make you look at your own life and imagine your own future with fresh eyes -- William Sutcliffe * Independent on Sunday *Superb, wonderful, enjoyable * Guardian *This fabulous book all about life... is the journey of anyone with a heart... I think of Any Human Heart often - the sign of a truly great book -- Fi Glover * Spectator *Sheer, truly brilliant storytelling. He has probably written more classic books than any of his contemporaries * Daily Telegraph *Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story * Sunday Telegraph *Astounding. One of Boyd's greatest achievements * Mail on Sunday *
£8.54
Transworld Publishers Ltd A Passionate Man
Book Synopsis''An elegant, witty and deeply perceptive book'' Woman''s Journal''Bubbly, amusing, touching, and ultimately poignant'' Sunday Express''Demonstrates again how good Joanna Trollope is at describing village life and how sure is her touch'' Evening Standard__________________________________ONE ENCOUNTER AND LIFE IS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN...The Logans were an enchanting and admirable couple. Archie had snatched Liza from her own engagement party to someone else, wooed her, swept her off to his father in Scotland, and finally married her.Now bedded firmly into country life - three children, Archie the village doctor, Liza a teacher, everything comfortable, funny, affectionate - they awaited the arrival of Archie''s father, the brilliant Sir Andrew Logan, a widower for over thirty years.When his city-clean Rover stopped in the drive, Sir Andrew was not alone. Beside him was a golden lady in cTrade ReviewDemonstrates again how good Joanna Trollope is at describing village life and how sure is her touch * Evening Standard *An elegant, witty and deeply perceptive book * Woman's Journal *Bubbly, amusing, touching, and ultimately poignant * Sunday Express *
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group Martina Cole Two Women
Book SynopsisPrison will make or break you... Danger and violence have always been a part of Susan Dalston''s East End upbringing, but being locked up with another murderess will have consequences that no one could have predicted. TWO WOMEN by Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller Martina Cole tells the truth about prison life, and how far one woman will go for justice...Susan Dalston killed her husband in a final act of desperation.Banged up in Holloway, all that keeps her sane is knowing that her children are now safe from the man who terrorised them. What she can''t predict is that the bonds she forms on the inside might just make - or break - her.For more compelling novels about life on the inside, be sure to read Martina Cole''s FACELESS, THE JUMP and THE GOOD LIFETrade Review'Right from the start [Cole] has enjoyed unqualified approval for her distinctive and powerfully written fiction' The Times; The Times 'Intensely readable' Guardian; Guardian 'Martina Cole explores the shady criminal underworld, a setting she is fast making her own' Sunday Express 'Utterly compelling' Mirror 'The story will grip you from the first pages' Best 'Gritty novel from an author who knows intimately the world she writes about' Express
£10.44
Oneworld Publications A Brief History of Seven Killings
Book SynopsisThe extraordinary modern classic, reissued ten years after it exploded onto the literary scene
£10.44
Pan Macmillan Anyones Ghost
Book SynopsisAugust Thompson was born and raised in the middle of nowhere, New Hampshire. He studied in NewYork and Berlin, wasted all of his good hearing at metal shows, taught English in Spain for two years,and spent another two on couches across three continents. He returned to New York as a GoldwaterFellow at NYU's Creative Writing Program. At the age of 26, he came out as bisexual. Anyone'sGhost is his first novel.
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group Notes on Surviving the Fire
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.99
Orion Publishing Co My Dark Romeo
Book Synopsis You''re my favourite plot twist...It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball.A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger.But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn''t driven by love.He''s fueled by revenge.To him, I''m a chess piece. Leverage.His rival''s betrothed.To me, he is a man deserving of poison.A dark prince I refuse to marry.He thinks I''ll accept my fate.Well, I plan to rewrite it.And in my story, Juliet doesn''t die.But Romeo? He perishes.Perfect for fans of Lauren Asher and Ana Huang, My Dark Romeo is darkly funny, completely outrageous and thoroughly addictive. Now over 100 million views on TikTok for #mydarkromeo!
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Death and the Gardener
Book Synopsis
£17.09
Penguin Books Ltd The Love Wager
Book SynopsisThe feel-good, hilarious and swoon-worthy new book from the author of MR WRONG NUMBER''I was obsessed with Hallie and Jack right from the start'' 5* READER REVIEW''Lynn Painter never fails to make the best romcoms and this was no different! This had EVERYTHING - fake dating, only one bed, jealous love interest - I loved every SECOND!'' 5* READER REVIEW''I already know this is going to be one of my favourites of the year . . . Just perfection. I want to read this book again already'' 5* READER REVIEW__________After yet another disastrous date, Hallie Piper decides it''s time to grow up.She gets a new apartment, a new haircut, and a new wardrobe. But when she logs into an app to find new love, she matches with none other than Jack: the guy the wrong kind of sparks had flown with just weeks earlier.Agreeing that they are absolutely not interested in each other, Jack and Hallie realise that the
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC House of Earth and Blood
Book SynopsisThe first instalment of the EPIC Crescent City series from multi-million and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. MaasMaas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan - TimeThink Game of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a drizzle of E.L. James TelegraphSpiced with slick plotting and atmospheric world-building ... a page-turning delight Guardian Sarah J. Maas does not disappoint To be devoured with relish Mail******BOUND BY BLOOD.TEMPTED BY DESIRE.UNLEASHED BY DESTINY.Bryce Quinlan loves her life. Every night is a party, and Bryce is going to savour all the pleasures Lunathion also known as Crescent City has to offer. But when a brutal murder shakes the very foundations of the city, Bryce's world comes crashing down.Two years later, Bryce still haunts the city's most notorious nightclubs butTrade ReviewThink Game of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a drizzle of E.L. James * Telegraph *Spiced with slick plotting and atmospheric world-building ... a page-turning delight * Guardian *Sarah J. Maas does not disappoint … To be devoured with relish * Daily Mail *A master class in world-building adventure. Don't miss it. * #1 NYT bestselling author Charlaine Harris *House of Earth and Blood is a gamechanger! A must read. Sarah J. Maas has set the new standard with this book * #1 NYT bestselling author J. R. Ward *Tender, funny, frustrating, hot, and satisfying * NYT bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton *A sweeping epic packed full of romance and adventure, House of Earth and Blood is a bold, brilliant opening chapter in what promises to be a spectacular new series from Maas * Waterstones best books pick 2020 *
£19.80
Union Square & Co. Mrs. Dalloway
Book SynopsisIn the wake of World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic, Clarissa Dalloway, elegant and vivacious, is preparing for a party and remembering those she once loved. In another part of London, Septimus Smith is suffering from shell shock and is on the brink of madness.
£7.99
Vintage Publishing Machines Like Me: From the Sunday Times
Book Synopsis**Number One Sunday Times Bestseller**Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret.When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first batch of synthetic humans. With Miranda's assistance, he co-designs Adam's personality.This near-perfect human is beautiful, strong and clever - and soon a love triangle forms, which leads Charlie, Miranda and Adam to a profound moral dilemma. Can you design the perfect partner? What makes us human? Our outward deeds or our inner lives?Provocative and moving, Machines Like Me explores whether a machine can ever truly understand the human heart.'Funny, thought-provoking and politically acute...' Sunday Times'Dazzling' Guardian'An unsettling examination of the human condition. Bold, clever' Sunday TelegraphTrade ReviewMachines Like Me reminds us that McEwan is once-in-a-generation talent, offering readerly pleasure, cerebral incisiveness and an enticing imagination. * Spectator *[Machines Like Me] is right up there with his very best [novels]. Machines Like Me manages to combine the dark acidity of McEwan’s great early stories with the crowd-pleasing readability of his more recent work. A novel this smart oughtn’t to be such fun, but it is. * Observer *Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me is a dazzling account of our interaction with technology… He marries a gripping plot, handled with rarefied skill and dexterity, to a deep excavation of the narrowing gap between the canny and the uncanny, leaving the reader pleasurably dizzied, and marvelling at human existence. * Independent *Compelling… unforgettably strange… there are many pleasures and many moments of profound disquiet in this book, which reminds you of its author’s mastery of the underrated craft of storytelling… [Machines Like Me] is morally complex and very disturbing, animated by a spirit of sinister and intelligent mischief that feels unique to its author. * Guardian *[McEwan's] fierce intelligence [crackles] like a Jumping Jack on Bonfire Night… Arguably the finest English writer of his generation, the ideas he explores are important, now more that ever. * Daily Express *
£9.49
Random House An Arrow in Flight
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£17.09
Amazon Publishing The Lacemakers Fortune
£8.54
Vintage Publishing Out: (Vintage Classics Japanese Series)
Book SynopsisIn the Tokyo suburbs four women work the graveyard shift at a factory. Burdened with heavy debts, alienated from husbands and children, they all secretly dream of a way out of their dead-end lives. A young mother among them finally cracks and strangles her philandering, gambling husband. She confesses her crime to her colleagues and unexpectedly, they agree to help. But then the dismembered body parts are discovered, the police start asking questions and more dangerous enemies begin to close in.OUT is a psychologically taut and unflinching foray into the darkest recesses of the human soul, an unsettling reminder that the desperate desire for freedom can make the most ordinary person do the unimaginable.'Grimly satisfying - like no one you've ever read before' Kirkus ReviewsVINTAGE JAPANESE CLASSICS - five masterpieces of Japanese fiction in gorgeous new gift editions.Trade ReviewDaring and disturbing, OUT is prepared to push the limits of this world - not only in violence and sex but also in human outlook… Remarkable * Los Angeles Times *OUT is a potent cocktail of urban blight, perverse feminism and vigilante justice * New York Times Book Review *A shockingly intense read * Daily Telegraph *Brings the mystery thriller to new levels of intensity and realism - OUT has great plot twists, vigour and an ending that would make Hannibal Lecter smile * Library Journal *In this top-drawer page-turner, Kirino offers a clever snapshot of her own culture...slyly amusing and compulsive * Metro *
£12.34
Bonnier Books Ltd Body Count
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd This Is a Love Story
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.49
Monsoon Books Radikal
Book SynopsisJakarta, 2014. Hendra is ?Radikal'', a techno DJ at the top of his game. In his relentless pursuit of new highs, he likes to lose himself in music and drugs. But when a childhood trauma resurfaces, even his love for Jasmine cannot prevent him from falling into a self-destructive downward spiral. As he grapples with his inner demons and an Indonesia caught between tradition and modernity, Hendra is vulnerable to the extremist ideology that begins to infiltrate his world. No longer able to find solace in techno and ecstasy, he is presented with a new purpose in life and a focus for his pent-up rage: jihad.
£9.49
Bluemoose Books Ltd Beast
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£10.80
Constellations Press Becoming Henry
£10.79
Chartwell Books Wuthering Heights
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£14.99
HarperCollins Publishers My Oxford Year
Book Synopsis She could never have guessed what the year would hold… Trade Review"My Oxford Year is an achingly beautiful debut." Robinne Lee, author of The Idea of You "My Oxford Year is a pure delight with unpredictable depths. Julia Whelan has crafted a story that is as fun and charming as it is powerful and wise. Ella Durran is a breath of fresh air and her story will stay with you long after you're done." Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo "My Oxford Year is a funny, tender, heart-breaking coming-of-age adventure." Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author "Full of humor and romance, MY OXFORD YEAR has it all–I loved it!"Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers Americanah
Book Synopsis**DREAM COUNT, the searing new bestselling novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is out now!**WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD''A delicious, important novel'' THE TIMES''Alert, alive and gripping'' INDEPENDENTIfemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria. In America, Ifemelu suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Meanwhile, Obinze plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, when they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion for each other and for their homeland they face the hardest decision of their lives.Fearless, gripping, spanning three continents and numerous lives, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Americanah is a literary masterpiece, and one of the defining books of the decade.''A love story for our time'' VOGUEA brilliant novel: epic in scope, personal in resonance and with lots to say' OBSERVER''A tour de force. Hugely impressive'' MAIL ON SUNDAYTrade Review‘A brilliant novel: epic in scope, personal in resonance and with lots to say’ Elizabeth Day, Observer ‘A delicious, important novel from a writer with a great deal to say’ The Times ‘A brilliant exploration of being African in America … an urgent and important book, further evidence that its author is a real talent’ Sunday Telegraph ‘An extremely thoughtful, subtly provocative exploration of structural inequality, of different kinds of oppression, of gender roles, of the idea of home. Subtle, but not afraid to pull its punches’ Alex Clark, Guardian ‘A tour de force … The artistry with which Adichie keeps her story moving, while animating the complex anxieties in which the characters live and work, is hugely impressive’ Mail on Sunday ‘Adichie is terrific on human interactions … Adichie’s writing always has an elegant shimmer to it … Wise, entertaining and unendingly perceptive’ Independent on Sunday ‘Adichie paints on a grand canvas, boldly and confidently … This is a very funny, very warm and moving intergenerational epic that confirms Adiche’s virtuosity, boundless empathy and searing social acuity’ Dave Eggers ‘“An honest novel about race” … with guts and lustre … within the context of a well-crafted, compassionate, visceral and delicately funny tale of lasting high-school love and the sorrows and adventures of immigration’ Diana Evans, The Times ‘[A] long, satisfying novel of cross-continental relationships, exile and the pull of home … Adichie’s first novel for seven years and well worth the wait’ FT ‘Alert, alive and gripping’ Independent
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Cover Story
Book SynopsisThe unputdownable, brilliant new novel from the Queen of Romcom.
£9.49
Kodansha America, Inc Blue Lock Season 1 Part 1 Manga Box Set
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£58.46
Faber & Faber Killing Time
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£9.50
Simon & Schuster Ltd Isola
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Vintage Publishing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime
Book Synopsis'Lots of things are mysteries. But that doesn't mean there isn't an answer to them' This is Christopher's murder mystery story. There are no lies in this story because Christopher can't tell lies. Christopher does not like strangers or the colours yellow or brown or being touched. On the other hand, he knows all the countries in the world and their capital cities and every prime number up to 7507. When Christopher decides to find out who killed the neighbour's dog, his mystery story becomes more complicated than he could ever have predicted. Includes exclusive material: In 'The Backstory' you can read an interview with the author Mark Haddon, and learn about the background to Christopher's story. Vintage Children's Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from Peter Pan and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in thTrade 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 *
£8.54
Faber & Faber Cahokia Jazz
Book SynopsisA thrilling tale of murder and mystery in a city where history has run a little differently -- from the best-selling author of Golden Hill.''Utterly immersive.'' Spectator''Thrilling.'' Financial Times''Unlike anything else you will read this year.'' Daily Express''A classic of alternative history.'' Observer''A delight.'' Sunday TelegraphIt's 1922 and Americans are drinking in speakeasies, dancing to jazz, stepping quickly to the tempo of modern times. In the ancient city of Cahokia a teeming industrial metropolis, a tinderbox of every race and creed peace holds. Just about. But on a snowy night at the end of winter, two roughshod detectives are called to the roof of a skyscraper. Their investigation will spill the city's secrets and bring it, against a soundtrack of wailing clarinets, either to destruction or rebirth.What readers are saying:***** ''A marvellous, atmospheric, beautifully written and gripping read that dares to hope, amidst a background of bleak darkness and the pulsing joy of jazz, that I recommend highly.''***** ''Original, imaginative, thought provoking, engrossing, engaging and beautifully written with characters who are credible and engaging. What more is there to ask for from a master at the top of his game. I enjoyed this as much as Golden Hill, which is praise indeed.''***** ''The Yiddish Policemen''s Union is an obvious point of comparison; I also got echoes of James Ellroy, though with more light in the darkness, or maybe just a greater readiness to forgive humanity''s failings. There''s perhaps a dash of Earthly Powers too, and at least one nod to The Leopard; exalted company, to be sure, but Cahokia Jazz can hold its head high among them.''
£9.49
Persephone Books Ltd Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
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£13.00
Vintage Publishing The End of Eddy
Book SynopsisThe author grew up in Hallencourt, a village in northern France where many live below the poverty line. This novel is about life there. It is an extraordinary portrait of escaping from an unbearable childhood. Written with an openness and compassionate intelligence, ultimately, it asks, how can we create our own freedom?Trade ReviewWhen new voices come from underrepresented constituencies, there’s always the hope of a new perspective... I can read Edouard Louis and know something of what it means to grow up in extreme poverty in contemporary France -- Zadie Smith * Observer *When new voices come from underrepresented constituencies, there’s always the hope of a new perspective... I can read Edouard Louis and know something of what it means to grow up in extreme poverty in contemporary France -- Zadie Smith * Observer *Even in the wake of Knausgaard and Ferrante it is hard to find a literary phenomenon that has swept Europe quite like the autobiographical project of Édouard Louis * LitHub *An extraordinary autobiographical novel about class, violence and sexuality in France. It’s a vivid, often brutal but immensely touching book that restores my faith in the power of literature -- Tash AwThis is the courageous story of an outsider, in equal parts frank, provocative and compelling -- Laura Garmeson * Financial Times *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Moon And Sixpence
Book SynopsisWilliam Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and lived in Paris until he was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with the idea of practising medicine, but the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, published in 1897, won him over to literature. Of Human Bondage, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915, and with the publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence his reputation as a novelist was established. At the same time his fame as a successful playwright and writer was being consolidated with acclaimed productions of various plays and the publication of several short story collections. His other works include travel books, essays, criticism and the autobiographical The Summing Up and A Writer's Notebook.In 1927 Somerset Maugham settled in the South of France and lived there until his death in 1965Trade ReviewI picked it up and couldn't put it down. -- Alexander McCall Smith * Mail on Sunday *Magnificent * Express *From an era that produced George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells and John Galsworthy, Maugham is the great survivor * Economist *If anyone deserves resuscitation, he does... As a teenager, I read and reread my sister's long shelf of Maughams. What I enjoyed was their atmosphere: the brooding, sensual, sinister mood of exotic locations, where his characters seemed always on the verge of mania and where no-one behaved nearly so well as they were expected to -- Rosemary Goring * Herald *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Pucking Wrong Guy
Book SynopsisSizzling hockey romance from the USA Today and Amazon bestselling author: Book 2 in the Pucking Wrong Series, where heartbreak and happy endings rule.
£9.49
Granta Books I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness
Book Synopsis
£13.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Apeirogon: the Booker Prize nominee about Israel,
Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA AND THE PRIX MEDICIS SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARD WINNER OF THE PRIX DU MEILLEUR LIVRES ETRANGER WINNER OF THE 2020 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2020 BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER, GUARDIAN, i PAPER, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SCOTSMAN, IRISH TIMES, BBC.COM, WATERSTONES.COM ‘A wondrous book. It left me hopeful; this is its gift’ Elizabeth Strout ‘An empathy engine ... It is, itself, an agent of change’ New York Times Book Review ‘A quite extraordinary novel’ Kamila Shamsie ______________________ How do we continue living once we have lost our reason to live? Rami and Bassam live in the city of Jerusalem – but exist worlds apart, divided by an age-old conflict. And yet they have one thing in common. Both are fathers; both are fathers of daughters – and both daughters are now lost. When Rami and Bassam meet, and tell one another the story of their grief, the most unexpected thing of all happens: they become best of friends. And their stories become one story, a story with the power to heal – and the power to change the world. ______________________ ‘The book goes anywhere and everywhere. It is a delirious and thrilling improvisation, a jazz solo spun out of that meeting … A spectacular structure of stories about everything’ Bryan Appleyard, Sunday TimesTrade ReviewA work that is both spectacularly inventive and grounded in brutal fact. It is about grief and forgiveness, about family and politics. If you can read it without sobbing, you’re a monster * Observer *A profound account of pain and healing * Guardian *Colum McCann’s transcendent book is full of hundreds of thought-provoking, emotional segments … McCann turns these haunting true stories into engrossing fiction, and he does so with poetic power * independent.co.uk *Apeirogon is an empathy engine, utterly collapsing the gulf between teller and listener ... It achieves its aim by merging acts of imagination and extrapolation with historical fact. But it’s undisputably a novel, and, to my mind, an exceedingly important one. It does far more than make an argument for peace; it is, itself, an agent of change * New York Times Book Review *Nothing like any book you’ve ever read ... Think of discovering an entirely unprecedented, and profoundly true, narrative form. Think about feeling that the very idea of the novel, of what it can be and what it’s capable of containing, has been expanded, forever ... All I can really tell you is, read McCann’s book. It’s an important book -- MICHAEL CUNNINGHAMNow you have to read Apeirogon ... Delirious and thrilling, spectacular * Sunday Times *Weaves documentary and imagination into its tough physical fabric . .. Frequently beautiful … Often dazzles … At the core of this fractal fiction is a simple, radiant myth: "The hero makes a friend of his enemy" * Economist *A jagged, fractured, teeming novel … Apeirogon is a daring structural feat, a conspicuously elaborate and multivalent piece of novelistic engineering … The distilled and fractured form has a glistening poetry * Times Literary Supplement *In the spirit of Picasso’s Guernica, Apeirogon reminds us that such incandescent art evokes humility and light in the face of oppression and loss * O Magazine *A loving, thoughtful, grueling novel * Washington Post *Powerful novel about the shared grief of a Palestinian and Israeli * Sunday Times, Books of 2020 *The tale of a friendship between an Israeli and a Palestinian … Composed of 1,001 chapters, it has won effusive praise from early readers * New Statesman *Colum McCann seems to shape-shift with each new book; Apeirogon examines the friendship between Israeli and Palestinian fathers who have each lost children to the conflict * Financial Times, 2020 visions: the year ahead in books *His most ambitious work yet, chronicling the human cost of the Israeli Palestinian conflict in a tale of love and loss that crosses fiction and non-fiction * RTE Guide *A novel inspired by a true story about two men – one Israeli and one Palestinian – who both lost daughters in the conflict and who form an unexpected friendship * Scotsman *McCann’s epic, involving novel follows the slow-blooming friendship between two men, an Israeli and a Palestinian, linked by the loss of their daughters * i paper *The advance word on this novel suggests a level of ambition we may not have encountered yet from the Dublin native. It explores the Palestine-Israel conflict through the unlikely friendship of two men from either side * Irish Examiner, 20 Books for 2020 *McCann’s epic involving novel follows the slow-blooming friendship between two men, an Israeli and Palestinian, linked by the loss of their daughters -- Sarah Hughes * i, Books of 2020 *A glorious storytelling hybrid … Apeirogon is a brilliant novel, formally intriguing, profoundly human -- BBC.comA masterpiece of characterisation and subtle political commentary -- Waterstones.comTeeming with gorgeous prose; a sweeping look at the paradoxical relationship between history and private life; a penetrating examination of the deficiencies and marvels of the human spirit ... Propulsive, muscular, swerving through details of life - real and imagined - with urgency, borne along on prose that is some of McCann’s finest, fully displaying his powers as a storyteller of just about supernatural ability. This book will break your heart and make you rethink how storytelling works -- TEA OBREHTA quite extraordinary novel. Colum McCann has found the form and voice to tell the most complex of stories, with an unexpected friendship between two men at its powerfully beating heart -- KAMILA SHAMSIEDistinguished by empathy and intelligence, this book marks a new threshold of writing ... Apeirogon will have a strong effect on all those who read it and, remarkably, could lead to great consequences for the future of this place. Sometimes books can do this -- RAJA SHEHADAHA work of incredible magnitude. McCann finds the emotional accuracy, the sensitivity, and the beauty to tell the heartbreaking reality of life in Israel-Palestine, while allowing readers a glimmer of necessary hope. It is greater than a novel in more than one sense, and will both touch and enrich readers, wherever they live and whatever they know about the region -- ASSAF GAVRONColum McCann loves a high-wire act, and Apeirogon is a powerful, political tightrope walk of a novel. It’s the story of modern Israel and the story of modern Palestine. This beautiful, deeply felt book is first and foremost an extraordinary act of listening -- NATHAN ENGLANDERDistinguished by empathy and intelligence, this book marks a new threshold of writing ... Apeirogon will have a strong effect on all those who read it and, remarkably, could lead to great consequences for the future ... Sometimes books can do this -- RAJA SHEHADAHThe latest novel from the National Book Award winner blends fiction with history to examine how two men channel their grief into political power as they become advocates for peace in the Middle East * TIME Magazine *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers The Silence Factory
Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestseller, from the author of The Binding 'Utterly original ensnared me from the very first page' EMILIA HART 'Storytelling at its most immersive' ERIN KELLY The whole world disappears when you enter THE SILENCE FACTORY A glittering edifice, raw and shining. Great lengths of supple silk, rolled onto bales. And the closer you get, the more it whispers In the Factory, the looms never stop weaving. Cobwebs transported from ancient Mediterranean glades are spun into a precious fabric that silences the world. But what happens to those who fall under its spell? And who is harnessing its power? After all, a world of silence can bring peace, but it can also conceal the deeds of the wicked The Silence Factory is an enthralling story about complicity, desire and corruption
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