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
Penguin Books Ltd Mr Loverman
Book SynopsisRECIPIENT OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARD Treat yourself to this joyful, big-hearted read from Booker Prize-winning novelist Bernardine Evaristo, part of our Penguin Essentials series which spotlights the very best of our modern classics ''Bernardine Evaristo can take any story from any time and turn it into something vibrating with life'' Ali SmithBarrington Jedidiah Walker is seventy-four and leads a double life. Born and bred in Antigua, he''s lived in Hackney since the sixties. A flamboyant, wise-cracking local character with a dapper taste in retro suits and a fondness for quoting Shakespeare, Barrington is a husband, father and grandfather - but he is also secretly homosexual, lovers with his great childhood friend, Morris.His deeply religious and disappointed wife, Carmel, thinks he sleeps with other women. When their marriage goes into meltdown, Barrington wants to divorce Carmel and live with Morris, but after a lifetime of fear and deception, will he manage to break away?Mr Loverman is a ground-breaking exploration of Britain''s older Caribbean community, which explodes cultural myths and fallacies and shows the extent of what can happen when people fear the consequences of being true to themselves.''Sublime'' Telegraph''Rip-roaring . . . she says things about modern Britain that no one else does'' Guardian''Brilliant'' IndependentTrade ReviewBernardine Evaristo can take any story from any time and turn it into something vibrating with life -- Ali SmithThis riproaring, full-bodied riff on sex, secrecy and family is Bernardine Evaristo's seventh book. If you don't yet know her work, you should - she says things about modern Britain that no one else does * Guardian *Transforms our often narrow perceptions of gay men in England . . . Comical, agonising and, ultimately, moving * Independent *Evaristo has a lot going on in this unusual urban romance, but beneath her careful study of race and sexuality is a beautiful love story. Not many writers could have two old men having sexual intercourse in a bedsit to a soundtrack of Shabba Ranks's Mr Loverman and save it from bad taste, much less make it sublime. But the hero of this book, and his canny creator, make everything taste just fine * Daily Telegraph *An undeniably bold and energetic writer, whose world view is anything but one-dimensional * Sunday Times *Audacious genre-bending, in-yer-face wit and masterly retellings of underwritten corners of history are the hallmarks of Evaristo's wit * New Statesman *Heartbreaking yet witty, this is a story that needed to be told * Observer *I loved this novel. Barrington is flamboyant, complex and in love with his childhood friend Morris. It really makes you think of all the stories, forbidden and forgotten, from the elders who made England their home -- Luan Goldie * Guardian *
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers Night Train to Marrakech
Book SynopsisThe desert hides dark secrets'MARRAKECH 1966Vicky Baudin steps onto a train winding through Morocco, looking for the grandmother she has never met.It's an epic journey that'll take her to the edge of Atlas Mountains and closer to the answers she's been craving all her life.But dark secrets whisper amongst the dunes. And in unlocking the mystery of Clemence's past, Vicky will unearth great danger too . . .Five-star reader reviews for Night Train to MarrakechA love story and a thriller all in one' ?????Epic storytelling' ?????Utterly spellbinding' ?????A book to lose yourself in' ?????Fabulous, heart-stopping read, absolutely unputdownable in places' ?????Full of mystery and drama' ?????Political tensions, murders and love, this book has them all.' ?????Full of twists and turns' ?????A historical novel, this is also a suspenseful thriller'' ?????Atmospheric, drew me into the souks of Marrakech' ?????This is a story of family, friendships, love and war' ?????A gripping story of love, betrayal and danger'Woman's Weekly An enthralling story' WomanAn utterly atmospheric, gripping read that transports you to Marrakech . . . a real page-turner' SUSAN LEWISA world of stunning beauty and extreme danger . . . Dinah Jefferies is at the top of her game' GILL PAULA mouthwatering read, intense and emotional. I loved it. Its characters hooked me irresistibly and stole my heart . . . a wonderful, heart-wrenching tale of love, danger and bone-chilling secrets' KATE FURNIVALL'The seductive colours, sights, sounds and aromas of Marrakech, with a hidden, darker side, are so powerfully evoked that you are instantly transported there' LIZ TRENOW'A tense, thrilling story full of murders and mysteries . . . this atmospheric story will transport you to the heart of Morocco'Daily RecordTrade Review‘A wonderfully evocative and sensual writer’ SANTA MONTEFIORE ‘A warm and engrossing tale of passion and courage. I loved it’ RACHEL HORE ‘Love, grief, abandonment, betrayal and secrets … I adored it’ LIZ NUGENT ‘A stirring, richly-imagined novel about bravery and love and family loyalty tested to its limits’ RACHEL RHYS ‘As layers of long-hidden family secrets emerge, you are sure to be hooked to the very last page’ LIZ TRENOW ‘Rich in courage, love and sacrifice, but chilling and taut in its portrayal of the horrors of war’ KATE FURNIVALL ‘Lushly descriptive, exciting and vivid, this is a warm and exciting tale that will pull you in and refuse to let you go’ TRACY REES ‘A tender, moving and at times heartbreaking story’ SINEAD MORIARTY ‘Completely swept me away to another place and time. Dinah is the queen of sumptuous settings, transporting the reader effortlessly from chocolate-box Devonshire to the cabaret clubs of 1920s Paris and war-torn Malta. A marvellous, multi-layered story, populated with characters to really care for’ HAZEL GAYNOR ‘Dinah Jefferies wields her storytelling magic on the island of Malta . . . It’s engrossing and sensual, full of the heat of the Mediterranean sun’ GILL PAUL ‘Sweeping and sumptuous with a gorgeous described sense of place. A marvellous adventure’ TRACY REES
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Simon & Schuster Ltd Righteous Prey
Book SynopsisThe hunters become the hunted in this high-stakes Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers thriller from Number One bestselling author John Sandford. ‘We're going to murder people who need to be murdered.’ A group of vigilantes known only as ‘The Five’ are targeting the worst of society – rapists, murderers and thieves – and they use their unlimited resources to offset the damage done by those who they’ve killed, donating untraceable Bitcoin to charities and victims via the Dark Web. Soon, they are the most popular figures on social media . . . but their motives may not be entirely pure. After a woman is murdered in the Twin Cities, Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport are sent to investigate. The killings are smart and carefully choreographed, and with no apparent direct connection to the victims, The Five are virtually untraceable.If anyone can stop The Five, it will be Daven
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Chase Me
Book SynopsisBut the sassy wit and sexy voice of the girl behind the mask intrigue him, and one look at her stunning face—followed by a mind-blowing kiss against his doorjamb—leaves Louis wanting more.Roxy doesn't need a spoiled rich guy who's had everything in life handed to him on a Tiffany platter.Trade Review“Louis and Roxy are a terrific match from the start. But Bailey is a master at portraying a heroine with a complex core, and Roxy’s proud character carries the novel— making readers wish she was their roommate, empty bank account be damned.” — Washington Post “Chase Me is funny, sexy and real. Tessa Bailey has fast become one of my favorite authors!” — Monica Murphy, New York Times bestselling author “Chase Me is the most fun read I’ve had in a long time! Hilarious, sexy, and absolutely addicting! I loved every character.” — Cora Carmack, New York Times bestselling author The tenderness, vulnerability and heat I am always guaranteed with a Tessa Bailey book are the reasons she is one of my all-time favorite authors.” — Sally Thorne “Tessa Bailey’s writing stands out in all the right sexy ways.” — Buzzfeed “Bailey launches the Broke and Beautiful contemporary series with the gripping story of an independent woman and a generous man. [...] Honest emotions and real passion lead to [...] sex scenes that never feel gratuitous. Readers will appreciate these highly sympathetic leads and their powerful story of mutual self-discovery.” — Publishers Weekly “a laugh-out-loud raunchy romantic comedy.” — Heroes & Heartbreakers “This first outing in the Broke and Beautiful series is simply wonderful. With super hot love scenes and a generous dose of humor, Chase Me is — like sexy hero Louis McNally the Second — utterly irresistible.” — RT Book Reviews 4 1/2 Stars (top pick and Winner of March Seal of Excellence Award) “I can’t remember the last time I read a romance as funny as this one. Roxy is one of the most hardworking heroine’s in contemporary romance and she’s so incredibly dedicated to making ends meet. The book, for me, truly embodies what modern romance is all about. ” — BookRiot (Best Books of March 2015)
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Not Another Love Song
Book SynopsisA steamy new romcom from the author of Forget Me Not''I''ll never look at a cello quite the same way'' Jodi Picoult #1 New York Times bestseller''Sexual tension so palpable, it''ll snag you by the chin and call you a good girl'' Ashley Posten, The Dead RomanticsGwen Jackson is a musical prodigy but she fought hard for everything she now has.Xander Thorne comes from musical royalty. He's a genius but it all fell in his lap.Already tensely opposed, when Gwen takes the spot of First Chair in the New York Pops Orchestra a position Xander has coveted for years their hostility goes up a notch and their chemistry on stage goes off the scale.Forced to find a grudging respect for one another's music, suddenly they are box office dynamite. And as the respect turns to admiration and then heated attraction, they must decide will a note of discord ruin their perfect harmony or can this fragile romance reach its breathtaking climax?''A phenomenal talent'' Sarah Hawley, A Witch''s Guide to Fake
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HarperCollins Publishers The Little Venice Bookshop The perfect uplifting
Book SynopsisAhhh I absolutely loved this book! Made me laugh, warmed my heart Fabulous.' NetGalley reviewer ?????A bundle of mysterious letters. A trip to Venice. A journey she'll never forget.When Luna loses her beloved mother, she's bereft: her mother was her only family, and without her Luna feels rootless. Then the chance discovery of a collection of letters in her mother's belongings sends her on an unexpected journey.Following a clue in the letters, Luna packs her bags and heads to Venice, to a gorgeous but faded bookshop overlooking the canals, hoping to uncover the truth about her mother's mysterious past.Will Luna find the answers she's looking for and finally find the place she belongs?Praise for The Little Venice Bookshop:Absolutely delightful Captivating from start to finish. The characters were charming and witty.' NetGalley reviewer ?????This book made my heart very happy An absolute warm hug in book form.' NetGalley reviewer ?????What's not to love in a book with cats, books and a Trade Review Praise for The Little Venice Bookshop ‘Oh wow, this book!… A heartwarming and beautiful read… I don't feel like I've read a book – I feel like I've been on a trip to Italy with a new friend!’ Jaimie Admans ‘I always feel like I've been on holiday when I read a Rebecca Raisin book. With a stunning location and a twist I didn't see coming, this is another fantastic read from one of my favourite authors.’ Portia MacIntosh Praise for Rebecca Raisin ‘I enjoyed it so much!… This summer’s go-to for every book-worm.’ Jane Linfoot, author of The Little Cornish Kitchen ‘WONDERFUL! I could not put this book down!… A book to warm your heart and spirit you away to a brighter place. 5 big glittering gold stars! I love it!’ Colleen Coleman, author of Don’t Stop Me Now ‘I absolutely fell in love with this totally heart-warming tale, written by a booklover for booklovers everywhere!… Utterly fabulous – if I could give it more than five stars, I would!’ Jaimie Admans, author of The Beekeeper at Elderflower Grove ‘The perfect romantic comedy for bookworms and library lovers everywhere!’ Annie Lyons, author of Eudora Honeysett Is Quite Well, Thank You ‘I absolutely did not want this book to end… If you love books and libraries and stories about people starting over, you will love Elodie’s Library of Second Chances.’ The French Village Diaries ‘A gorgeous love letter to libraries… There is something so magical about a Rebecca Raisin book; they always have this incredible ability to fill your heart with so much happiness and joy.’ Romance by the Book
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Orion Publishing Co Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Book SynopsisQuentin Tarantino''s long-awaited first work of fiction - at once hilarious, delicious, and brutal - is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film.RICK DALTON - Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick''s a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it?CLIFF BOOTH - Rick''s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he''s the only one there who might have gotten away with murder . . . SHARON TATE - She left Texas to chase a movie-star dream, and found it. Sharon''s salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills.CHARLES MANSON - The ex-con''s got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he''s their spiritual leader, but he''d trade it all to be a rock ''n'' roll star.HOLLYWOOD 1969 - YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERETrade ReviewOutrageous and addictively readable... The book is a reminder that Tarantino is, in fact, a really good writer, and it should not be so surprising that his brilliance as a screenwriter should be transferable into fiction. * Guardian *The book is a distinct experience - rangier, sexier, bloodier ... Classic, sparks-flying Tarantino ... The start of a new direction for this relentlessly inventive director. * Washington Post *The rollicking debut novel by Quentin Tarantino is a seamless, seamy blend of fact and fiction * The Times *The rat-a-tat pace of a screenplay ... Tarantino's concern here is world-building, luxuriating in an era and a genre that he is clearly fascinated by ... with undeniable flair * Evening Standard *This book boasts some tremendous scenes, with magical dialogue, that I wouldn't have missed for the world * Daily Telegraph *
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Simon & Schuster Ltd Tomorrow I Become a Woman
Book Synopsis'This story of love, loss and resilient female friendship is a definite must read.’ Tola Rotimi Abraham, author of Black Sunday‘Aiwanose Odafen’s novel has entered popular feminist discourse.’ Afrocritik On a Sunday in 1978, Obianuju meets Chigozie at church – the perfect place for an upstanding girl to find a husband. Uju is in her last months studying economics at the University of Lagos; Gozie is a journalist ten years her senior. Crucially, he is Igbo and meets her mother’s approval. Months later, they are married, and Uju’s life is set on a new course. Over the next two decades, Uju and her friends Adaugo and Chinelo must navigate traumas both personal and political as they learn how to live on their own terms in a traditional society beset by turmoil.Tomorrow I Become a Woman is a nuanced and powerful story of friendship and
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Hodder & Stoughton Fairy Tale
Book Synopsis''Fairy Tale is vintage, timeless King, a transporting, terrifying treat'' - Guardian''A blazing flash of creativity . . . King''s best book in over a decade'' - EsquireLegendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher - for their world or ours. Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself - and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her ageing master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. SometTrade ReviewThere is a splendid climactic battle . . . King's delight in the world he has created is infectious and there's much to revel in here * Daily Telegraph *With ogres and castles, maidens and pots of gold, this is a fairy story through-and-through. Because it's Stephen King's, it's a Once-Upon-A-Time tale like no other * Daily Mail *Fairy Tale is a multiverse-traversing, genre-hopping intertextual mash-up, with plenty of Easter eggs for regular King devotees . . . allusions and homages abound . . . a page-turner driven by memorably strange encounters and well-rendered, often thrilling action * New York Times Book Review *Fairy Tale is vintage, timeless King, a transporting, terrifying treat born from multiple lockdowns which, in true King style, puts its finger right on that tender point which is the threshold between childhood and growing up * Guardian *The latest addictive thriller from King * The List *King's reputation precedes him, and his spellbinding new novel is magnificent and terrifying * Living North Magazine *The hailed King of masterful writing has pierced the page with mighty words once again, releasing a whopping fantasy novel, reminiscent of the haunting magnificence of those Brothers Grimms . . . Fairy Tale soars, allowing you to bask happily ever after in its unforgettable spell * Buzz Magazine *A blazing flash of creativity . . . King's best book in over a decade * Esquire *A really enjoyable and enthralling read, both exciting and enchanting, and yet another captivating tale from the pen of Stephen King * The Afterword *A fantasy gem . . . King tells this wonderfully fantastical tale with such effortless skill that the reader cannot help but fully invest in Charlie and all the characters, his evocation of late 20th-century small-town USA and its people pitch perfect, and his descriptions of the parallel world of Empis . . . vividly terrifying * Irish Independent *Some brilliantly written escapism . . . featuring a loyal dog, a grieving hero and childhood fears and dreams made real . . . King at his finest * Evening Standard *A spellbinding tale that bursts with imagination * Woman's Own *Stephen King is the world's greatest storyteller. Fairy Tale had me enchanted from page one. I remain in total awe at his genius * David Walliams *Magnificent . . . a doorstop chronicle of small-town America, and the battle between good and evil. Classic King, and clearly written with joy . . . He is one of the best writers on childhood and teenagers, which continues in Fairy Tale * Richard Osman, The Sunday Times *The master storyteller returns with a spellbinding story of mysterious houses, parallel worlds and reluctant heroes as an ordinary high school kid discovers a portal to a universe populated by classic fairy tale archetypes * Waterstones *If you've ever enjoyed classic King - coming-of-age stories grounded as much in suburban neighbourhoods as in supernatural fairylands - you will enjoy this * Literary Review *A dark, dazzlingly inventive fantasy novel * Daily Mirror, Best Books of 2022 *
£18.70
Duckworth Books Layer Cake
Book SynopsisFrom the glitz of the London club scene of the 1990's to the underbelly of its criminal world, Layer Cake is the best in British crime fiction.Trade Review‘This assured debut is far more sophisticated than such expressions of “gangster chic” as Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Connolly displays the same infectious relish for underworld argot as Elizabethan writers fascinated by rogues’ cant, and his ostensibly artless plotting is as rich in double and triple crosses as a spy thriller’ John Dugdale, The Sunday Times‘The best crime novel I’ve ever read’ Bruce Reynolds ‘An immensely entertaining read’ Philip MacCann, The Spectator‘If the brilliantly written and intriguing Layer Cake is anything to go by, his will soon be a name to whet the appetites of readers and critics alike’ Francis Gilbert, The Times 'Funny, hectic, hard-hitting debut novel... Tart, tough and riveted at every juncture by unmistakable authenticity... sheer, unstoppable joy to read from the first page to the last' Philip Oakes, Literary Review'A storming piece of work... the novel has a grasp of street argot unparalleled since Kinky Friedman first sashayed out of his from door and nailed a checker straight out of the bat' D. J. Taylor'Connolly's style is fast and funny and just frightening enough to make you sit up all night finishing the book' Independent on Sunday'One novel in and Connolly has hit the jackpot, jump-started British crime fiction into the present... Like good drug fiction you're given glamour and squalor, a voyeuristic thrill, and the bill' Uncut
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Simon & Schuster Ltd Sea of Lost Love
Book SynopsisTHE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR A stunning story of loss, love and a moment that changed everything . . .1958 Celestria, the charismatic daughter of an aristocratic family, lives in Pendrift Hall, a pale stone mansion with gardens that tumble down to the Cornish sea. It is summer and the weeks ahead hold the promise of self-discovery and the thrilling possibility of elicit love affairs. Yet tragedy erupts in paradise when one of the family vanishes. A mysterious note is left behind with the words: ‘Forgive Me’. Soon Celestria is pulled along a trail of deception, masquerades and mirrors. It will lead her from her idyllic life on the English coast to the orange groves of Southern Italy. It will also lead her to love . . .***PRAISE FOR SANTA MONTEFIORE*** ‘Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore’ JOJO MOYES ‘An enchantin
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Faber & Faber Groundskeeping
Book Synopsis''Beautifully textured ... Anne Tyler by way of Sally Rooney.'' New York Times''A coming-of-age story inextricably bound with a love story.'' MAGGIE SHIPSTEAD''Smart, funny, exhilarating.'' LILY KINGEager to clean up his act after his troubled early twenties, Owen has returned to Kentucky to take a job as a groundskeeper at a small college in the Appalachian foothills, one which allows him to enrol on their writing course.It's there that he meets Alma, a Writer-in-Residence, who seems to have everything Owen doesn't a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, and published success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma, from a supportive, liberal family of Bosnian immigrants, struggles to understand Owen's fraught relationship with his own family and home.Exploring the boundaries between life and art, and how our upbringings affect the people we can become, Groundskeeping i
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HarperCollins Publishers The Hedge Witch A Threadneedle Novella
Book SynopsisAn enchanting new novella set in the magical world of Sunday Times bestseller Threadneedle.Rowan is visiting her aunt Winne the hedge witch in the Welsh countryside, to get back to nature and hone her skills, as well as taking a break from her annoying sisters and enjoying some peace and quiet. However, Rowan soon comes to realise that hedges are a serious business and this isn't quite the opportunity to rest and escape she thought it might be.Not only that, but mysterious events around the town are causing panic in the secret magical community and cowans non-magical folk are starting to take notice.Can Rowan hone her hedge craft, try to make some friends and solve the riddle of the mysterious goings-on, or is magic about to be revealed to the world or at least Wales?Pre-order the stunning sequel SHADOWSTITCH now coming June 2024.Trade ReviewPraise for THREADNEEDLE: ‘An enthralling and original fantasy, woven inside a magical web of lies’Jay Kristoff, Sunday Times bestselling author of NEVERNIGHT and EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE ‘The magic both gleams and threatens. There are riddles and puzzles to be solved and there’s a library – trust me, it’s a good one. You’ll want to give this a try.’Sunday Times bestselling author Robin Hobb ‘In this beautiful coming-of-age book, Thomas tackles big issues, family secrets and heartbreak in a brilliantly imagined, yet authentic world.’Woman’s Weekly ‘There’s magic in every nook and cranny – as well as shops selling memories – in this fantastical novel that stalks the streets of London’s underbelly’METRO ‘A bewitching tale of magic, family secrets and twisted affections, of finding your true self in a world of treacherous mystery. Prepare to be charmed!’David Wragg, author of THE BLACK HAWKS ‘THREADNEEDLE had me spellbound – a luminous, captivating fantasy that left me longing to return to Thomas’s vividly imagined magical world. With teen witches, hidden libraries, secrets and lies, it’s a dream of a book, and I loved it.’Katie Lowe, author of THE FURIES ‘The first in a new fantasy trilogy, Anna's aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic and now, aged 16, she is counting down the days to a ceremony that will bind her magic forever. That is, until her eyes are opened to a London she never knew existed one with a shop that sells memories, a secret underground library and nightclubs full of magic.’Woman Magazine ‘An enthralling and inventive story you’ll enjoy getting lost in’Woman & Home
£11.69
Simon & Schuster Ltd Disappearing Earth
Book SynopsisA stunning debut from an acclaimed travel writer, Disappearing Earth is about two sisters who go missing on the remote volcanic peninsula of Kamchatka. Clues to the crime lie in the lives - and stories of violence and loss - of twelve women in the girls' rural Russian community. As the police quickly lose interest in the case, these women never stop searching and hoping. Beautifully written, thought-provoking, intense and cleverly wrought, this is the first novel from a mesmerising new talent.
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Pan Macmillan Our Souls at Night
Book Synopsis'I loved Our Souls at Night' - David Nicholls, author of One Day.This is a love story. A story about growing old with grace.Addie Moore and Louis Waters have been neighbours for years. Now they both live alone, their houses empty of family, their quiet nights solitary. Then one evening Addie pays Louis a visit.Their brave adventures form the beating heart of Our Souls at Night, Kent Haruf's exquisite final novel.Trade ReviewThe language is straightforward and stripped back, calm and unassuming. And it all combines to make a novel which, like Louis and Addie's relationship does for them, warms and expands the heart . . . the sentiment that lingers most, on finishing this beautiful, tranquil, tender novel, is contentment * Observer *Simple, low-key and absolutely beautiful. * The Times *I loved Kent Haruf's small-town love story -- David NichollsTo ring true, description of even the humblest kind of fulfilment and contentment must be written in awareness of human inadequacy and cruelty and the possibility of illness, ruin, death. One false word can make it all incredible. I don't think there's a false word in Kent Haruf's final novel, Our Souls in the Night . . . Many novels have been about the pursuit of happiness, but this one is luminous with its actual presence . . . Perhaps happiness is less predictable than misery, since it partakes of freedom. Like freedom, also, it's never secure; it can't be for ever. But it can be real, and in this beautiful novel, we can share it -- Ursula K Le Guin * Guardian *So beautiful; quietly gripping, full of love, humour and gentle shocks. Our Souls at Night is a perfect tribute to a truly extraordinary writer. -- Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning HeartA humane, deeply affecting final novel * Daily Mail *His great subject was the struggle of decency against small-mindedness, and his rare gift was to make sheer decency a moving subject . . . This novel runs on the dogged insistence that simple elements carry depths, and readers will find much to be grateful for. * New York Times *Gritty, painful and human . . . his novels are imbued with an affection and understanding that transform the most mundane details into poetry . . . Haruf's final novel is a beacon of hope; he is sorely missed -- Francesca Wade * Financial Times *A delicate, sneakily devastating evocation of place and character . . . Haruf's story accumulates resonance through carefully chosen details; the novel is quiet but never complacent * New Yorker *Short, spare and moving . . . Our Souls at Night is already creating a stir. * Wall Street Journal *An eloquent story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the future. * Red Magazine *Utterly charming and distilled to elemental purity . . . such a tender, carefully polished work that it seems like a blessing we had no right to expect. -- Ron Charles * Washington Post *A novel full of kindness, open-heartedness and grace, of ordinary experiences and commonplace regret . . . unputdownable as a thriller - an unlikely page-turner full of quiet surprises . . . It's an astonishing piece of writing * Literary Review *In a fitting and gorgeous end to a body of work that prizes resilience above all else, Haruf has bequeathed readers a map charting a future that is neither easy nor painless, but it's also not something we have to bear alone. * Esquire *If you haven't read Kent Haruf's wonderful backlist, now is the time to discover it. Or jump in at the end, with this novel; a graceful story . . . a melancholy reminder that happiness can be fragile. * Psychologies Magazine *Gripping and tender . . . a sweet love story, a deep friendship . . . with a stunning sense of all that's passed and the precious importance of the days that remain. * Publishers Weekly *
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers An Ideal Husband
Book Synopsis''I couldn't put it down!'' Sarah MorganThe uplifting new story of fresh starts and second chances from the Sunday Times bestselling author Erica JamesAfter a long and seemingly happy marriage, Louisa is stunned when her husband Kip suddenly asks for a divorce. He'd never seemed unhappy and they've raised three children together.For months, Kip has been secretly seeing a younger woman and if that wasn't bad enough, it's the woman who broke their youngest son's heart.Now Kip is moving out and embarking on a new life with Zoe, and Louisa is left to pick up the pieces. Their beloved family home, Charity Cottage, is up for sale, and tensions are running high.Yet, despite the betrayal and anger, when Louisa lays eyes on what might be a unique and welcoming new home, she feels a first glimmer of hope that life might be taking a turn for the better.And while Louisa is making exciting plans, Kip finds himself facing challenges of his own and begins to learn that living the dream may not be as simple as he thought*****Readers love An Ideal Husband:''Pure reading joy'' (Five stars)''Another brilliant novel by Erica James. One of those books that I was really sad to finish'' (Five stars)''I love Erica James and her new book does not disappoint. She brings a real warmth to her characters and also a poignancy to her story telling. Highly recommend.'' (Five stars)''Erica James does it again I loved this book and could not put it down.'' (Five stars)''This novel is truly beautifulThought provoking, yet at the same time a most uplifting and positive read.'' (Five stars)
£9.49
Cornerstone Freed: The #1 Sunday Times bestseller
Book Synopsis**AVAILABLE NOW**Relive the sensuality, the romance, and the drama of Fifty Shades Freed - the love story that enthralled millions of readers around the world - through the thoughts, reflections, and dreams of Christian Grey.__________E L James revisits the world of Fifty Shades with a deeper new take on the love story that has enthralled millions of readers around the globe.__________You are cordially invited to the wedding of the decade, when Christian Grey will make Anastasia Steele his wife. But is he really husband material? His dad is unsure, his brother wants to organise one helluva bachelor party, and his fiancée won't vow to obey . . .And marriage brings its own challenges. Their passion for each other burns hotter and deeper than ever, but Ana's defiant spirit continues to stir Christian's darkest fears and tests his need for control. As old rivalries and resentments endanger them both, one misjudgement threatens to tear them apart.Can Christian overcome the nightmares of his childhood and the torments of his youth, and save himself? And once he's discovered the truth of his origins, can he find forgiveness and accept Ana's unconditional love?Can Christian finally be freed?
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers The Therapist From the Sunday Times bestselling
Book SynopsisTELL ME YOUR SECRETSTense and compulsive' Louise Candlish, bestselling author of Our HouseSuspicion, betrayal and dark secrets abound' T M Logan, bestselling author of The MotherA delicious web of lies' Jane Corry, bestselling author of Coming to FInd YouWhen Alice andLeomove into a newly renovated house in The Circle, an exclusive gated community,itis everything they've dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptiveAs Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with the therapist who lived there before.Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened. But no one wants to talk about it. And her neighbours are hiding somethingThe million-copySunday Timesbestselling author B A Paris returns to her heartland of gripping psychological suspense in this powerful tale of a house that holds a shocking secret.Praise for The Therapist:Alice's smart new home in The Circle comes with a nightmTrade Review Praise for The Therapist: ‘Alice’s smart new home in The Circle comes with a nightmarish secret in B A Paris’s tense and compulsive new thriller – I gobbled it up in two sittings’ Louise Candlish, bestselling author of The Other Passenger ‘Suspicion, betrayal and dark secrets abound in this tense story – all hidden just beneath the surface of a seemingly perfect suburban life’ TM Logan, bestselling author of Trust Me ‘A delicious web of lies. Be prepared for your head to spin and your fingers to fly!’ Jane Corry, bestselling author of I Made a Mistake ‘B A Paris is the queen of psychological thrillers and her latest does not disappoint’ My Weekly ‘This spooky thriller with excellent twists and a really fast-paced shock finale’ Heat ‘Totally hooked. Completely gripping’ Mel McGrath, bestselling author of The Guilty Party ‘The Therapist is a propulsive and deliciously dark page-turner. Perfectly paced and tightly plotted, B A Paris remains at the top of her game’ Lucy Clarke, bestselling author of The Castaways ‘A dark family drama’ The Sun ‘A truly emotive read’ PA Media ‘The Therapist is domestic suspense at its very best. An aspirational setting, an unsolved crime, a plethora of suspects and twisted allegiances at every turn … I loved it’ Caz Frear, bestselling author of Shed No Tears ‘Tense and suspenseful, The Therapist is a delicious slice of suburban noir shot through with secrets, lies, paranoia and the unsettling claustrophobia of a staunchly closed community’ Kia Abdullah, author of Truth Be Told ‘A switchback ride of plot, character and revelation’ Felicity Everett, author of The Move ‘I absolutely devoured this twisty web of secrets and lies in a sinister gated community’ Roz Watkins, author of Cut to the Bone
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HarperCollins Publishers Should We Stay or Should We Go Hilarious new
Book SynopsisA best fiction book of 2021 for The TimesHilarious Fiery phrases spit and crackle. Disgust expands and bursts into belly laughs a very funny book' Sunday TimesThought-provoking, timely, and extremely funny' MetroShriver said that her favourite novels are those that pack both an intellectual and emotional punch. With Should We Stay or Should We Go, she's added triumphantly to their number' The TimesWitty and thought-provoking' Woman's WeeklyI think Shriver's novels are wonderful fun, smart and, perhaps because of their author's unconventional political views, unlike anything else you'll read' Financial TimesEntertaining and poignant' Daily MailVery moving Shriver has the magic ability to make the reader invested in the fate fates, I should say of her characters'Daily TelegraphWickedly witty' SpectatorDecidedly timely' ScotsmanThis sharp-elbowed satire is also a brusquely tender portrait of enduring love' Washington Post-Determined to die with dignity, Kay and her husband Cyril both hTrade Review‘An acerbically funny thought experiment… A contrarian on the page as well as in real life, Shriver is on fine form here, messing with her character’s lives while asking the big questions about mortality with a rigorous lack of sentimentality’ The Times books of the year ‘There’s something bracing about reading a novelist so admirably heartless, watching her pull the legs off her characters again and again… I think Shriver’s novels are wonderful… fun, smart and, perhaps because of their author’s unconventional political views, unlike anything else you’ll read’ Financial Times ‘A work of undeniable moral seriousness, yet one that’s never just a series of (admittedly juicy) discussion points. Even the most fantastical outcomes are envisaged with exhilarating thoroughness — while Cyril and Kay remain the same richly conceived characters throughout. Despite the grimness of the premise, the book also offers the stirring sight of a writer clearly enjoying herself’ The Times ‘It’s hideous — but also hilarious. Through the potent spell of Shriver’s language, horror gets alchemised into amusement. Fiery phrases spit and crackle. Disgust expands and bursts into belly laughs… a very funny book’ Sunday Times ‘After a (pun intended) deathly start, Shriver’s typically provocative novel manages to be both entertaining and poignant, with the novelist even poking fun at herself as she questions what makes a good innings. It might (almost) be a beach read’ Daily Mail ‘Shriver uses a ‘parallel universe’ structure to explore various outcomes – and somehow makes conversations about death feel far from taboo’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Some books become so popular that the lucky author can thereafter churn out any old cobblers, confident in the knowledge that it will be published and find an audience. Lionel Shriver never took that easy route’ Irish Independent
£8.54
Seven Stories Press UK Em
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Ltd Flappy Investigates
Book SynopsisFlappy returns in the fabulously fun follow-up to Flappy Entertains from bestselling author Santa Montefiore, and this time something is amiss in the village of Badley Compton . . . Binoculars at the ready, Flappy Scott-Booth is set to investigate. Newcomers have moved in, a young couple from London, delightful no doubt but they do need to know their place. Who better to teach them the ways of this close-knit community than Flappy herself? But Flappy has other distractions. An ardent admirer, a New Year’s Ball to organize and manifold appearances to be kept up. How much time and effort it all takes! Add to the mix the sudden arrival of her son Jasper with his utterly charming persona and total lack of ambition and drive, accompanied by his pretentious wife and their two highly-strung children - and Flappy is on ultra-high alert.Endlessly entertaining and gorgeously gossipy, Flappy Investigates
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers The Killing Kind
Book SynopsisA RICHARD & JUDY BOOK-CLUB PICKNow a major new TV series starring Emma Appleton and Colin MorganThe incredible new break-out thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author. Shortlisted for the Irish Crime Book Awards 2021Ingrid will never forget what John did.The people he hurt. The way he lied about it so easily. The way she defended him.Now he's back.He says a murderer is after her. He says only he can protect her.Would you trust him?The clock is ticking for Ingrid to decide. Because the killer is ready to strikePraise for The Killing Kind''Nobody understands the dark gap between justice and the law better than Jane Casey'' Val McDermidCool, accomplished, compulsive' Cara HunterExtremely tense and very gripping' Ruth WareA compulsive page-turner ' Steve CavanaghA breathless game of cat-and-mouse' Erin KellyA truly masterly thriller' Liz NugentTense and well-plotted' Harriet TyceEach twist tightens the screw' J. R. EllisTense, pacy, addictive' Sarah VaughanBrilliant plotted' CatherTrade Review'Nobody understands the dark gap between justice and the law better than Jane Casey' Val McDermid ‘Cool, accomplished, compulsive’ Cara Hunter ‘Extremely tense and very gripping with a killer “what if”: your stalker claims to be the only person who can save you – what if this time he’s telling the truth’ Ruth Ware ‘An intense, action-packed mystery…brilliant’ The Times ‘Chilling’ Sunday Times ‘Creepily good’ Daily Mail ‘A compulsive page-turner of the highest order’ Steve Cavanagh ‘A brilliant, breathless game of cat-and-mouse’ Erin Kelly ‘A truly masterly thriller. Fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be a bumpy read’ Liz Nugent ‘A tense and well-plotted novel’ Harriet Tyce ‘Tense, pacy, addictive’ Sarah Vaughan 'Jane Casey is one of my favourite writers…so fast, so clever, so compelling’ Dervla McTiernan ‘Brilliant plotted from start to finish’ Catherine Cooper, author of The Chalet ‘Twisty and unexpected, with some great surprises’ Ann Cleeves ‘Each twist tightens the screw of fear and distrust’ J. R. Ellis ‘Endlessly surprising, impeccably plotted and hugely satisfying’ Catherine Ryan Howard, author of The Nothing Man ‘Heart-stopping twists and a seriously satisfying ending’ Sarah Hilary ‘One of those 'just one more page' books’ Susi Holliday, author of The Last Resort ‘Authentic, tense, thrilling’ Will Dean, author of Dark Pines ‘Intricate…authentic’ Jane Shemilt, author of Daughter ‘Will keep you guessing’ Elle Croft, author of The Guilty Wife ‘Brilliant, satisfying’ Lucy Mangan, author of Bookworm ‘Breathtakingly brilliant’ Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner 'A fast-paced thriller’ Jo Spain, author of Dirty Little Secrets ‘Will keep you up all night’ Sam Blake, author of The Dark Room ‘Keeps pages flipping and hearts racing' Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane ‘A fast-paced thriller’ RTE Culture, Books of the Year ‘Addictive’ Prima ‘Fascinating’ Irish Times ‘Outstandingly good’ Daily Express ‘Near perfect’ Red
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Peninsula Press Ltd Sterling Karat Gold
Book SynopsisAspiring writer Sterling is arrested one morning, without having done anything wrong. Plunged into a terrifying and nonsensical world, Sterling - with the help of their three best friends - must defy bullfighters, football legends, spaceships, and Google Earth tourists in order to exonerate themselves and to hold the powers that be to account. Sterling Karat Gold is Kafka's The Trial written for the era of gaslighting, a surreal inquiry into the very real effects of state violence and coercion on gender-nonconforming, working-class, and Black bodies.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Miss Caroline Bingley Private Detective
Book SynopsisA missing maid. A murder most foul. A highly imprudent adventure.
£9.49
WW Norton & Co Dracula
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The notes in Dracula are exactly at the right level for students. The headnotes are extremely helpful. It really does [meet the needs of today's students]. It is my favorite NCE to teach." -- Carrie D. Shanafelt, Fairleigh Dickinson University
£12.88
HarperCollins Publishers Forbidden King
Book SynopsisShe's the one girl I can't have,and the only one I want A notorious ladies'' man falls first and falls hard for his best friend''s sister. Welcome to Magnolia Falls, perfect for fans of Elsie Silver, Lucy Score and B.K. Borison!***Saylor Woodson is my best friend''s little sister, and she''s completely off limits.We have a history, a connection one that no one else knows about. I''ve kept my distance for years, it was easy when she was away at school. But now she''s home, and she''s everywhere I turn. And the way that I want her is unexplainable.So, I do everything in my power to keep my distance, because her brother is my best friend. My family. But the pull is too strong. I want to claim her and keep her and make her mine.Once we cross that line in the sand, I''m drowning in this girl and can''t find my way up for air. Guilt hangs over me like a dark cloud, but I can''t seem to walk away, no matter how hard I try.And now that I''ve had a taste of forever, I''m willing to risk everything to keep it.Readers can''t get enough of MAGNOLIA FALLS!''I laughed, I cried, I blushed and kicked my feet like crazy, this book was EVERYTHING!'' ?????''The spice in this book was top tier'' ?????''Falling in love with the ride or die gang has been a highlight of 2024'' ?????''I highly recommend reading this small town romance, Laura is the queen of them'' ?????''Moving, epically sweet and searingly romantic this is your next favourite read'' ?????Tropes:??Brother''s best friend??Small town??Found family
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers The Perfect Cornish Murder
Book SynopsisA sparklingly delicious confection to satisfy the mystery reader's appetite' Helena Dixon, bestselling author of the Miss Underhay MysteriesA film company is coming to the Cornish village of Penstowan, and the whole community turn up to be cast as extras, even Jodie Nosey' Parker.Determined to join in with the fun and ignore any dramas, Jodie intends to make the most of this time with her mum and daughter and hopefully see their names in lights or really small writing on the credits page.But right on cue, the company's caterer is sabotaged and Jodie must step up. It soon becomes clear that someone is out to spoil the filming With actors behaving out of character and the house literally being brought down, breaking a leg is the least of their worries.Can Jodie save the day once again, or will it be their final curtain call?The third book in the Jodie Nosey' Parker cozy mystery series. Can be read as a standalone. A humorous cozy mystery with a British female sleuth in a small village.
£9.49
Orenda Books Winterkill
Book SynopsisTHE STUNNING FINAL INSTALMENT OF THE MULTI-MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING DARK ICELAND SERIES **Sunday Times BOOK OF THE MONTH** ‘Jónasson is an automatic must-read for me … possibly the best Scandi writer working today’ Lee Child ‘Is this the best crime writer in the world today? … Truly a master of his genre’ The Times 'The engaging Ari Thor returns in this darkly claustrophobic tale. Perfect mid-winter reading' Ann Cleeves ‘A stunningly atmospheric story. Ari Thór Arason returns in this pitch-perfect, beautifully paced crime novel … Ragnar Jónasson is at the top of his game, and a master of the genre’ Will Dean ______________ A blizzard is approaching Siglufjörður, and that can only mean one thing… When the body of a nineteen-year-old girl is found on the main street of Siglufjörður, Police Inspector Ari Thór battles a violent Icelandic storm in an increasingly dangerous hunt for her killer … The chilling, claustrophobic finale to the international bestselling Dark Iceland series. Easter weekend is approaching, and snow is gently falling in Siglufjörður, the northernmost town in Iceland, as crowds of tourists arrive to visit the majestic ski slopes. Ari Thór Arason is now a police inspector, but he’s separated from his girlfriend, who lives in Sweden with their three-year-old son. A family reunion is planned for the holiday, but a violent blizzard is threatening and there is an unsettling chill in the air. Three days before Easter, a nineteen-year-old local girl falls to her death from the balcony of a house on the main street. A perplexing entry in her diary suggests that this may not be an accident, and when an old man in a local nursing home writes ‘She was murdered’ again and again on the wall of his room, there is every suggestion that something more sinister lies at the heart of her death… As the extreme weather closes in, cutting the power and access to Siglufjörður, Ari Thór must piece together the puzzle to reveal a horrible truth … one that will leave no one unscathed. Chilling, claustrophobic and disturbing, Winterkill is a startling addition to the multi-million-copy bestselling Dark Iceland series and cements Ragnar Jónasson as one of the most exciting and acclaimed authors in crime fiction. _______________ Praise for Ragnar Jónasson ‘A sinister twisted tragedy’ The Times ‘If Iceland missed out on the Golden Age of crime writing, the country – and Jonasson – is certainly making up for it now’ Sunday Times ‘Outstanding … Series fans will be sorry to see the last of Ari Thór’ Publishers Weekly ‘Jonasson’s Dark Iceland novels are instant classics’ William Ryan ‘Jónasson’s punchy, straightforward prose is engrossing … A diverting mystery’ Foreword Reviews 'Consummate crime writing … poignant and disturbing’ New Books Magazine ‘Chilling, creepy, perceptive, almost unbearably tense' Ian Rankin 'A tense, gripping read' Anthony Horowitz 'Icelandic noir of the highest order, with Jónasson's atmospheric sense of place, and his heroine's unerring humanity shining from every page' Daily Mail ’Ragnar Jónasson writes with a chilling, poetic beauty’ Peter James ’Traditional and beautifully finessed’ Independent ‘Jónasson’s true gift is for describing the daunting beauty of the fierce setting’ New York Times ‘A chiller of a thriller’ Washington Post ‘Jónasson’s books have breathed new life into Nordic noir’ Express
£8.54
Little, Brown Book Group How Much of These Hills is Gold Longlisted for
Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020A BARACK OBAMA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020America. In the twilight of the Gold Rush, two siblings cross a landscape with a gun in their hands and the body of their father on their backs . . . Ba dies in the night, Ma is already gone. Lucy and Sam, twelve and eleven, are suddenly alone and on the run. With their father''s body on their backs, they roam an unforgiving landscape dotted with giant buffalo bones and tiger paw prints, searching for a place to give him a proper burial.How Much of These Hills is Gold is a sweeping adventure tale, an unforgettable sibling story and a remarkable novel about a family bound and divided by its memories.''A daring and haunting epic'' SUNDAY TIMES''A unique reimagining of the American West adventure'' THE TIMES''A fierce, feminist Western'' DAILY MAIL''RemTrade ReviewThe 19th-century American West is the setting for C Pam Zhang's impressive debut. Rickety wagons, gambling dens, dusty towns and dodgy outlaws stalk its pages . . . How Much of These Hills is Gold breaks the mould [as a] revisionist immigrant fable of the making of the West . . . each new revelation becomes compulsive . . . it blossoms into a daring and haunting epic * Sunday Times *Sure to be the boldest debut of the year, How Much of These Hills Is Gold . . . grapples with the legend of the wild west and mines brilliant new gems from a wellworn setting . . . the story feels completely original, flushed through with new and unexpected perspectives. Through Zhang's deep attention, the classic western is given a rich new shading as race, gender, sexual identity, poverty and pubescence come into play . . . How Much of These Hills Is Gold is an impressive debut . . . The prose carries an airless, uniquely pungent flavour. By the end, it has built into an epic, powerfully wrought journey, and it is refreshing to discover a new author of such grand scale, singular focus and blistering vision * Observer *C Pam Zhang's arresting, beautiful first novel is filled with myths of her own making as well as sorrows and joys * New York Times *[An] arresting debut novel . . . [it] has a mythic quality through which Zhang dissects history and belonging . . . One thought echoes through the book: "What makes a home a home?" With each act a new meaning emerges - beneath the grit is a tender and searching tale -- Francesca Carington * Sunday Telegraph *[A] unique, discomforting reimagining of the American West adventure . . . a story that combines brutal beauty and dreamlike horror . . . a book about loneliness, belonging and the ferocious delusion of the American dream. The story is conveyed in a spare, lyrical prose with sharp, pronounced imagery -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * The Times *Chinese migration to Gold Rush California was among the themes of Peter Ho Davies's The Fortunes a few years back. The subject gets a bolder treatment in this imposing U.S. debut, a mythical Western that upends the racial and gender stereotypes of the genre. Zhang's acknowledgements namecheck Michael Ondaatje and Annie Proulx, and, like them, she wields mercurial prose style - ornate yet clipped, rugged as well as ethereal * Daily Mail *The year's best debut . . . a story of colonialism, Empire and "otherdom" * The i *An emotional new debut . . . Set in the midst of the American gold rush, C Pam Zhang's epic debut follows two orphaned siblings, Lucy and Sam, who confront the fantasy of the American Dream while carrying their father's body across the west in search of a place to bury him * Sunday Express *Chinese-Americans - both native-born and immigrant - played a huge part in the settling of the American West, a fact that has too rarely been the subject of fiction. How Much of These Hills Is Gold, a debut novel by C Pam Zhang, is a tough-minded, skillful and powerful corrective to that omission . . . [It's] an aching book, full of myths of Zhang's making . . . as well as joys, as well as sorrows. It's violent and surprising and musical . . . By journey's end, you're enriched and enlightened by the lives you have witnessed * New York Times Book Review *A literary western with a fresh take on gender and feminism that's been likened to Sarah Waters * Stylist *A vibrant, compassionate and beautifully written book about belonging, family and ambition. I loved it -- Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll FactoryIntuitive, chewy, wonderful; the plot is devastating and the talent is dazzling. Zhang is a blazing writerA truly gifted writerThis exhilarating novel unweaves the myths of the American West and offers in their place a gorgeous, broken, soulful, feral song of family and yearning, origin and earth. C Pam Zhang is a brilliant, fearless writer. This book is a wonderZhang writes with the clear-eyed lucidity of ancient myth-makers whose eyes are attuned to the vicissitudes of nature and humanity. Her characters inhabit this universe with a distinct and memorable presence that will haunt readers in this riveting and truly remarkable debutA ravishingly written revisionist story of the making of the West, C Pam Zhang's debut is pure goldHow Much of These Hills is a miracle, as timely as it is timeless, propulsive but also wonderfully meditative, a ferocious, tender epic about vulnerable immigrant family trying to survive the American Gold Rush. I read it in one night and know I'll revisit it soon: I envy you your first read of this bookC Pam Zhang's debut is ferocious, dark and gleaming, a book erupting out of the interstices between myth and dream, between longing and belonging. How Much of These Hills Is Gold tells us that stories--like people, like the rough and stunning landscape of California itself--are constantly in the process of being made, broken, and finally remade into something tender and newIn this haunting adventure story set during the Gold Rush, two newly orphaned Chinese American immigrants are on the run in a ravaged landscape. Lucy and Sam carry the body of their newly deceased father as they roam, in pursuit of a place to give him a proper burial. Fusing Chinese symbolism and re-imagined history, this debut explores the question of where immigrants are allowed to belong, memories that bind and divide families, the illusion of the American Dream and the search for a home and fortune * Cosmopolitan *Zhang's bleak, brutal and brilliant debut rewrites the history of the American West with a story of two siblings battling to survive during the gold rush * iPaper (Best of the Arts in 2020) *Outstanding . . . Zhang does more than just push against the cowboy narrative: She shoves it clear out of the way . . . at once subversive and searching * Washington Post *Heart-stoppingly lyrical * USA Today *If there ever was a time to throw yourself headfirst into the thoroughly engrossing saga that is C Pam Zhang's debut novel, this is it . . . A fully immersive epic drama packed with narrative riches and exquisitely crafted prose . . . Zhang captures not only the mesmeric beauty and storied history of America's sacred landscape, but also the harsh sacrifices countless people were forced to make in hopes of laying claim to its bounty * San Francisco Chronicle *C Pam Zhang's debut novel rewrites the American West's whitewashed history . . . [a] sweeping, highly anticipated debut . . . Zhang has created a unique style: her writing has a kind of blunt poetry, conjuring a landscape familiar yet strange, and plays with English and Mandarin . . . With her novel - an adventure, a bildungsroman, a tribute to the harsh, gorgeous terrain - Zhang sets out to challenge 'the way in which waves of immigrants have been framed in American consciousness', and addresses how harmful stereotypes can be . . . This remarkable book is a fresh interpretation of a storied past that shows the power of the American Dream - but also its cost * Harper's Bazaar *[How Much of These Hills is Gold] belongs on a shelf all its own, an epic about a family that did not come West for the gold rush, but came East from China . . . [Zhang's] powers of lyrical description are stunning -- Scott Simon * NPR *One of the books of the year * Stylist *As she depicts their journey, Zhang prompts the reader to think about whose stories are told from this period of American history - fictional or not - and adds her urgent voice to the genre * Time.com *A first-time novelist explores timely questions about home and belonging in a story set during the gold rush in a reimagined American West . . . Zhang asks readers to acknowledge a legacy we have been taught to ignore by creating a new and spellbinding mythology of her own. Aesthetically arresting and a vital contribution to America's conversation about itself * Kirkus Reviews *[An] extraordinary debut . . . Gorgeously written and fearlessly imagined, Zhang's awe-inspiring novel introduces two indelible characters whose odyssey is as good as the gold they seek * Publishers Weekly *Zhang's debut novel is a smart, beautiful and intimate legend, not only of an immigrant family, but also of an expanding empire. One day, a pair of teenage siblings wake up to the sudden death of their father, a former prospector and coal miner. In the afterglow of the American gold rush, the two girls find themselves orphaned and vulnerable, and their very existence as immigrants is denied by this seemingly promising land. Carrying a stolen horse, their father's body, and a pistol, they set off on their journey to give their father a proper burial. In their adventure, they witness the extermination of giant buffalos, encounter the ghosts of ruined nature, and discover family memories. How Much of These Hills is Gold ambitiously examines the nation's long neglected racialised past and, more importantly, brings those individuals to life again on the page, with their desire and anger, longing and frustration * The Millions *Lyrical and mythic, How Much of These Hills is Gold reconceives the immigrant narrative to tell an original story of racism and American greed * AV Club *[An] imaginative, vital debut novel . . . Zhang's searing words pierce the heart of America's founding mythology, laying bare its lies and offering up a new, much-needed vision of this country and its people * Refinery29 *If there is a top-secret list of crucial writers that everyone will have read three years from now, I feel confident that C Pam Zhang will be on it * Rumpus *Stunning . . . a long-overdue treatment of the American West * Outside Magazine *Reminiscent of both Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison . . . a fine debut * Irish Times *This wonderful debut is set during the dying days of the Californian gold rush and tells the tough, tender story of Lucy, 12, and her sister Sam, 11. Their father Ba has just died, their mother is long gone, and the duo needed two silver dollars to bury their dad. After they bungle a bank raid, they flee on a stolen horse with their father's body packed in a trunk. En route, we learn about their family history and the hardships of their lives -- Eithne Farry * Daily Mirror *In this stylized and complex debut novel, two children, born near the end of the gold rush, wander through the harsh Western landscapes searching for a place to bury their father, a failed prospector . . . The story is narrated by the soft, scholastic twelve-year-old Lucy, as she journeys with her younger sibling, Sam, who struts in imitation of their father, and of the cowboys of their time. While the book presents a counter-narrative to conventional tales of America's origins, it also interrogates the more intimate dimensions of belonging and memory * New Yorker *Bleak and brilliant . . . Like so much of the greatest US fiction, this is a story of the American Dream, that ever-shifting thing, which has driven the nation since it was first formed. But there is a difference here. Zhang's novel, both epic and intimate, is one of immigration and outsiderdom; of what it feels like to be rejected by the country you have been told is yours . . . tenderness shines through this novel, ensuring that, for all its horrors and hard-won truths, Zhang's haunting, melancholy story still feels lit by hope. Beautifully written, perfectly conceived and devastating - for days after reading the final page, all I could do was sit and think about it -- Sarah Hughes * The i *Set in the dying days of the Californian gold rush, this is the tender story of two siblings: bookworm Lucy, 12, and her androgynous sister Sam, 11, who are forced to go on the run after a bungled bank raid. The landscape they journey through is gorgeous and grievous; a graveyard of the untold stories of the immigrants who suffered as the American West was mined for gold and coal * Psychologies *In her widely anticipated debut novel, C Pam Zhang has reinvented the Western genre - claiming it as a vehicle for Chinese-American history and identity. And what a ride it is: epic, relentless and written with elegant economy . . . Zhang's writing has the precision of a surgeon . . . How Much Of These Hills Is Gold is, at its heart, an action-filled tale with emotional depth. Zhang acknowledges Little House On The Prairie and Lonesome Dove, among others, as influences, but the novel's literary ancestry is most evidently Toni Morrison's Beloved . . . Just as Morrison's classic opened up a space to articulate the hurt and truths of America's history of slavery, Zhang's work rewrites the mythology of the American dream - with the addition of Chinese immigrant railroad workers and prospectors opening up the American West. Both novels give voice to long-forgotten ghosts. And about time, too * Straits Times *Zhang's tale of two sisters during the gold rush is a beautifully written and hard-hitting take on immigration, love, loss and belonging * The i (Books of the year) *A western with a difference, about two Chinese-American orphans who have to manoeuvre their way through trouble * Sunday Times (best summer reads 2020) *An adventure story that explores the themes of memory, family and belonging * BBC (Best books of 2020) *Poignant, haunting, beautiful. In her debut novel, C Pam Zhang tells the story of an immigrant family and two newly orphaned siblings who are on the run in a reimagined, gold-rush-era American West. It's a story about trying to belong, trying to locate yourself in history, and trying to understand what it means to be home. It's a story about family secrets, the responsibilities that weigh us down and buoy us, and the choices people make when they don't have any. And it's also a story about our relationship to nature and what's been edited out, rewritten, or stolen from one culture by another. It stuns * Goop.com (Gwyneth Paltrow Goop Book Club) *Set in the dying days of the Californian gold rush, this tough, tender debut follows the fate of two young sisters who are forced to go on the run after a bungled bank raid. Peopled by unforgettable characters, Zhang has created a fierce feminist Western * Daily Mail *The haunting and heartbreaking story of two immigrant children coping alone amid the fading leftovers of the Gold Rush in 19th-century California * the i *This is a beautiful and captivating story of grief, belonging and adventure. Set in the afterglow of the great American gold rush, it follows the lives and brutal journey of two immigrant orphaned teenage girls after the unexpected death of their father in a coal-mining town where they are unwanted. Visceral and deeply thought-provoking, it re-examines the American Dream in a compelling and unique way * Independent *I loved C Pam Zhang's How Much of These Hills is Gold. The novel follows two young sisters who are trying to survive following the death of their immigrant parents. It is set in the American west during the gold rush era. The writing is so immersive and its bleak beauty should sweep you away -- Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain * Herald *a revisionist western that marks the debut of an arrestingly original writer * Sunday Times (Best Historical Books of the Year) *[One of] the books I most enjoyed this year . . . a retelling of the American west from the angle of Chinese immigrants . . . offer[s] readers the beauty of language, the intricacies and intensity of human emotions and a sense of timelessness -- Yiyun Li * Observer (Best books of 2020) *Taking a spot in the Booker Prize longlist, this is a beautiful and captivating story of grief, belonging and adventure. Set in the afterglow of the great American gold rush, it follows the lives and brutal journey of two immigrant orphaned teenage girls after the unexpected death of their father in a coal-mining town where they are unwanted. Visceral and deeply though-provoking, it re-examines the American Dream in a compelling and unique way * Independent *A fierce feminist Western * Sunday Express (Best novels of the year) *Nineteenth-century America is the setting for this debut. Rickety wagons, gambling dens and outlaws stalk its pages, all familiar furniture of westerns. Where this Booker-longlisted novel breaks the mould is in its focus on the experience of Chinese-Americans during the gold rush. It's a daring and haunting little epic -- Francesca Angelini * Sunday Times *Longlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, this bold debut novel combines Wild West exploits with a Chinese-American family's musing on history and belonging * Daily Telegraph *The prose is one of How Much of These Hills Is Gold's most striking achievements. Zhang has described it as combining 'the rangy cowboy poetry of pulp Westerns' and 'the pidgin Mandarin of my childhood' - and it isn't quite like anything you've read before . . . both discordant and compelling * London Review of Books *A fierce and compelling debut ... Crazy good, richly poetic in the telling, I devoured 100 pages at first sitting. The story of immigrant experience, but one we've rarely read or imagined. A rollicking adventure story to boot * Monique Roffey, Guardian *
£8.09
Canongate Books The Island Child
Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD'Thrillingly original' Naoise Dolan'Exquisite' Daily TelegraphTwenty years ago, Oona left the island of Inis for the very first time. A wind-blasted rock of fishing boats and turf fires, where girls stayed in their homes until they became mothers themselves, the island was a gift for some, a prison for others.The Island Child tells two stories: of the girl who grew up watching births and betrayals, storms and secrets, and of the adult Oona, desperate to find a second chance, only to discover she can never completely escape. As the strands of Oona's life come together, in blood and marriage and motherhood, she must accept the price we pay when we love what is never truly ours . . .Trade ReviewAn exquisite debut from an exciting new voice in Irish fiction * * Daily Telegraph * *Like the casts of fairy stories, Aitken's characters can stand for as much as you want them to - but they're also fully realised individuals who come to you through peeks and glances, so that without being able to pinpoint how it happened, you know them, and feel you always have. This is a thrillingly original debut, and I can't wait to see what Aitken does next -- NAOISE DOLAN, author of EXCITING TIMESA haunting tale about the power and danger in a mother's love * * Irish Times * *It's a rare pleasure to come across quite such an accomplished novel as The Island Child. This is a work positively brimming with pathos and emotion, articulated in truly exquisite prose. Oona is a captivating narrator. She's alive on the page -- NATHAN FILER, author of THE SHOCK OF THE FALLAn intriguing debut about motherhood, the trauma we inherit and the inescapability of fate . . . The joy of this book is in Aitken's prose, which is exquisite . . . Aitken is an exciting new voice in Irish literature * * Irish Independent * *The Island Child is the story of a mother's relationship with a misbegotten daughter, sensitively and subtly told -- FAY WELDON, author of PRAXISAitken brings a gut-pummelling mix of folklore, feminism and psychological trauma to her wild debut tale of mothers impelled to take out on their daughters the sins committed against them * * Daily Mail * *A magical, elemental tale. Exploring loss and love, motherhood and freedom and the transformative power of stories, The Island Child is a wonderful debut -- JESS KIDD, author of THINGS IN JARSAitken stitches together many themes - folk legend, family saga, love story, coming of age tale. The result is the sort of book you want to sink into a hot bath with and not emerge until it's finished -- ROWAN HISAYO BUCHANAN, author of STARLING DAYSA confident tale of generational conflict and continuity * * i * *
£8.54
Hodder & Stoughton Blood Red Sister Rose
Book SynopsisA remarkable reappraisal of Joan of Arc and her legendary deeds.Trade ReviewA St. Joan book to remember . . . the familiar tragedy flames up with new and terrible effects in the retelling * The Sunday Times *A vivid recreation of Joan's age, so full of hypocrisy, vengeance, blood, treachery and madness - one that is eminently worth reading * Financial Times *A fictionally and spiritually satisfying Joan * Guardian *A great storyteller * The Times *To say that Mr Keneally writes like a man possessed implies an abandon and breathlessness far from his tense, sinewy prose; yet this is perhaps the only way to convey the power and immediate quality of his remarkable novel. The effect is one of excitement and absolute authority * Sunday Telegraph *
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group Precious and Grace No 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Book SynopsisTHE SEVENTEENTH BOOK IN THE BELOVED NO. 1 LADIES'' DETECTIVE AGENCY SERIESThe one with the woman who lost her past . . . Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi''s friendship is tested by a curious case: a client who left Botswana thirty years ago and remembers little of her past. The quest for the truth takes the detectives in very different directions - but what if they are both wrong? Meanwhile, Fanwell adopts a stray dog, Mr Polopetsi becomes entangled in a tricky business deal and Violet Sephotho could be running for a prestigious award. Can Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi move beyond their differing views to solve the case and bring harmony to the agency?Trade ReviewPrecious and Grace's friendship and working relationship has stood the test of time, but they cannot agree on this case. Memories, a stray dog and many cups of tea all play their part, too. Fans of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency will love this * People's Friend *
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group Say Youre Sorry The Sacramento Series Book 1
Book SynopsisWhen a killer closes in, there''s only one way to stay alive. Say You''re Sorry is the gripping first book in a brand new series from Sunday Times bestselling author Karen Rose.A serial killer is on the loose in California, leaving letters carved into the torsos of his victims.When Daisy Dawson fights off a masked attacker one night, she grabs a necklace from around his neck. What she doesn''t know then is that she''s found the missing link to a cold case that Special Agent Gideon Reynolds has been tracking for seventeen years. With Daisy''s help, he finally has the opportunity to get closer to the truth than ever before. But it soon becomes clear that Daisy''s attack was just the beginning. Now the bloodied bodies of young women are showing up all over the state. As Gideon tries to track down the killer, it''s clear he has a new target. Daisy is in more danger than they ever could have realised...Praise for KAREN ROSE:Trade ReviewIntense, complex and unforgettableFast and furious - SunRose . . . effortlessly balances romance and crime. . . an excellent example of how far-reaching and varied romance can be - New York TimesKaren Rose delivers the kind of high-wire suspense that keeps you riveted - Lisa GardnerA high-octane thrill ride that kept me on the edge of my seat and up far too late at night!Takes off like a house afire . . . Action and chills galore
£8.09
HarperCollins Publishers Absolute Midnight
Book SynopsisA dazzling fantasy adventure for all ages, the third part of a quintet, richly illustrated by the author.The Abarat:a magical otherworld composed on an archipelago of twenty-five islands one for each hour of the day, plus an island out of time.Candy Quackenbush, escaping her dull, dull life from the most boring place in our world, Chickentown, USA, finds that in the Abarat she has another existence entirely, one which links her to marvels and mysteries; and even to murderIn this, the third volume in Clive Barker''s extraordinary fantasy for both adults and children, Candy''s adventures in the amazing world of the Abarat are getting more strange by the Hour. Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight, has sent his henchmen to capture her. Why? she wonders. What would Carrion want with a girl from Minnesota? And why is Candy beginning to feel that the world of the Abarat is familiar to her? Why can she speak words of magic she doesn''t even remember learning?There is a mystery here. And Trade ReviewPraise for ABARAT III: Absolute Midnight illustrated hardback edition: “True moments of terror vie for attention with the flora and fauna of Abarat … All in all, fans will revel” – Kirkus Book Reviews “Readers will agree with Candy: ‘So much still to do: to explore, to solve, to feel.’” – Booklist Praise for ABARAT I illustrated hardback edition: “ABARAT is more than just a new and major contender. It is (like his earlier book, THE THIEF OF ALWAYS) full of a level of beautiful terror that children are still just able to bear”Independent “Always creating and always pushing into the furthest reaches of the human mind, he is an artist in every sense of the word. He is the great imaginer of our time”Quentin Tarantino
£11.69
Faber & Faber Golden Child Winner of the Desmond Elliot Prize
Book SynopsisA TIMES AND EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEARWINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2019WINNER OF THE AUTHORS'' CLUB FIRST NOVEL AWARDWINNER OF THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2020ONE OF THE BBC''S ''100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD''LONGLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE AND THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FIRST BOOK AWARDWINNER OF BARNES & NOBLE''S 2019 DISCOVER NEW WRITERS PRIZESo hard to put down.' Daily MailStartling . . . Remarkable.' EconomistRight away I was utterly absorbed.' Sarah Jessica ParkerOne father. Two sons. An impossible choice.When thirteen-year-old Paul doesn''t return home one afternoon, even his twin brother, Peter, doesn''t know where he is. So their father, Clyde, must set out into the dark Trinidadian bush with a torch, to search for him on foot. And when the reasons for Paul''s disapp
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Saqi Books A Mouth Full of Salt
Book SynopsisA small farming village in North Sudan wakes up one morning to the news that a little boy has drowned. Soon after, the animals die of a mysterious illness and the date gardens catch fire and burn to the ground. The villagers whisper of a sorceress who dwells at the foot of the mountains. It is the dry season. The men have places to go, the women have work to do, the children play at the place where the river runs over its own banks. Sixteen-year-old Fatima yearns to leave the village for Khartoum.In Khartoum, a single mother makes her way in a world that wants to keep girls and women back. As civil war swells, the political intrudes into the personal and her position in the capital becomes untenable. She must return to the village.A Mouth Full of Salt uncovers a country on the brink of seismic change as its women decide for themselves which traditions are fit for purpose and which prophecies it's time to rewrite.
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Kate and Claras Curious Cornish Craft Shop The
Book SynopsisWelcome to the glorious little Cornish town of St Felix - where romance and magic sparkle in the summer air''An enchanting escape to the seaside. Pure magic!'' Heidi Swain''St Felix has stolen my heart yet again; a perfect, sparkling, summer read.'' Cathy BramleyKate thinks all her wishes have come true when she opens her own little craft shop in the idyllic harbour town of St Felix.But she soon finds a mystery lingers in her new shop - a sixty-year-old love story told through beautiful paintings and intricate embroideries. Jack, the owner of the nearby art shop, volunteers to help Kate unravel the mystery, but in doing so they realise their own lives share some uncanny similarities with Clara and Arty, their 1950s counterparts . . .Can Kate and Jack put right a decades-old wrong, and maybe find their own happy ending on the way?*Praise for Ali McNamara:''Fun and endearing'' Katie Fforde''Perfect eTrade ReviewIf you like your stories with an added pinch of magic, you'll love this... wonderfully enjoyable - Heat on Daisy's Vintage Cornish Camper Van
£8.54
And Other Stories Three
Book SynopsisThree opens with the disappearance at sea, possibly suicide, of a young woman, identified only as S. A middle-aged couple, Ruth and Leonard, had been spying on their young lodger in their summer house by the sea, and now begin to pore over her diary, her audio recordings and her movies – only to discover that she had been spying on them with even greater intensity. As this disturbing, highly charged act of reciprocal voyeurism comes to light, and as the couple’s fascination with S comes to dominate their already flawed marriage, what emerges is an absorbing portrait of their triangular relationship and the emotional and sexual undercurrents of 1950s British middle-class life.Trade ReviewPraise for Three----‘The amount of wit and beauty Three finds in its own uncertainty makes it one of the most compelling novels of its time.’ Juliet Jacques, Music & Literature----‘Exquisitely written from the first page to the last.’ The Scotsman----‘An intriguing and successful novel, and remarkably contemporary in its stylistic sophistication.’ Brian Evenson----Praise for the Author----‘I suspect that Ann Quin will eventually be viewed, alongside BS Johnson and Alexander Trocchi, as one of the few mid-century British novelists who actually, in the long term, matter.’ Tom McCarthy----‘Quin's militant refusal to compromise flavours her writing: you either take her on her own terms, or not at all. Richer and stranger than the satisfactions of mainstream fiction.’ Jonathan Coe----‘Quin understood she was on to something new.’ Deborah Levy----‘One of our greatest ever novelists. Ann Quin’s was a new British working-class voice that had not been heard before: it was artistic, modern, and – dare I say it – ultimately European.’ Lee Rourke----‘Ann Quin is a master painter of interiors, of voices that mosaic as they catch the light at strange, stirring angles.’ Chloe Aridjis----‘One of Britain’s most adventurous post-war writers. Psychologically dark and sexually daring.’ Juliet Jacques----‘Quin works over a small area with the finest of tools. Every page, every word gives evidence of her care and workmanship.’ New York Times----‘Quin’s prose never falters; it’s stunning.’ The Paris Review----‘Despite ongoing rumours of a BS Johnson revival, I feel our attention could be more usefully directed towards Ann Quin.’ Stewart Home, in 69 Things to do with a Dead Princess----‘The most naturally and delicately gifted novelist of her generation.’ The Scotsman----‘Rare enough is a book that begins by stating its intention—rarer still one that proceeds to do seemingly everything it can to avoid following the path its intention has laid.’ Danielle Dutton----‘Quin was a writer ahead of her time.’ Publishers Weekly ----‘Vividly intense and almost palpably immediate.’ Irish Times----‘Quin uses carefully crafted imagery to stimulate the reader's subconscious.’ Booklist----‘Quin tosses out hefty dashes of mordant humour and caustic wit.’ Library Journal
£10.00
Oneworld Publications How We Disappeared: LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S
Book Synopsis A beautiful tale of endurance, identity, and memory in WWII Singapore, for fans of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko and Nguyen Phan Que Mai's The Mountains Sing Singapore, 1942. As Japanese troops sweep down Malaysia and into Singapore, a village is ransacked. Only three survivors remain, one of them a tiny child. In a neighbouring village, seventeen-year-old Wang Di is bundled into the back of a troop carrier and shipped off to a Japanese military rape camp. In the year 2000, her mind is still haunted by her experiences there, but she has long been silent about her memories of that time. It takes twelve-year-old Kevin, and the mumbled confession he overhears from his ailing grandmother, to set in motion a journey into the unknown to discover the truth. Weaving together two timelines and two life-changing secrets, How We Disappeared is an evocative, profoundly moving and utterly dazzling novel heralding the arrival of a new literary star. Shortlisted for the 2020 Singapore Literature Prize * Longlisted for the HWA Debut Crown 'A heartbreaking but hopeful story about memory, trauma and ultimately love.' New York Times Trade Review‘Deeply affecting.’ * Financial Times *‘A sweeping epic and...an essential read... It's incredibly beautifully written.’ * Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti *‘A heartbreaking but hopeful story about memory, trauma and ultimately love.’ * New York Times *‘This heartbreaking story explores shame and secrecy through two timelines, woven together in this deeply moving novel. A quite extraordinary book.’ * Kirsty Wark, BBC Talking Books *‘Fascinating, horrifying, powerful, and quite beautifully told.’ * Irish Examiner *‘A powerful tale of wartime Singapore and the shame of silence...haunting... Read it and weep, read it and marvel, but above all, read it.’ * South China Morning Post *‘Culturally authentic…the writing has grace.’ * Sunday Times *‘The brilliance of the writing makes it harder to bear. It’s powerful and profound.’ * Irish Independent *‘A haunting and vivid account of Singapore's fall...beautifully crafted... A writer to watch from a fascinating part of Asia where great civilisations meet.’ * Prospect *‘Compelling... a visceral yet tender exploration of truth and its consequences, and the redemptive power of memory.’ * Irish Times *‘A beautifully written, suspenseful story of redemption and healing.’ * Booklist (Starred Review) *‘An elegiac and at times extremely harrowing novel... How We Disappeared bears unflinching testimony to war crimes that are still on the brink of living memory.’ * The Straits Times, Singapore *‘A beautifully controlled novel that tells an utterly compelling and important story. Jing-Jing Lee's prose is crystal clear, the narrative scope is sweeping and devastating, and the story is as deeply felt and well observed as it is captivating.' * Caoilinn Hughes, author of Orchid & the Wasp *'Lee's harrowing novel ventures into one of Singapore's darkest periods... This novel bears unflinching, vital testimony to war crimes and those who have fallen through the cracks of history.' * The Straits Times, Best Books of 2019 *'This novel unflinchingly examines the horrific acts carried out in Singapore during the Second World War, but manages to be hopeful and uplifting, too.' * Sunday Express *‘Raises poignant questions regarding multi-generational trauma, accelerated modernization, and changing identity… Lee vibrantly describes life in pre-occupation Singapore, managing to cinch both the particularity and the universality of oppression.’ * Singapore Unbound *'Jing-Jing Lee writes like a poet... This was a hard story to tell, to hear and to read, but it is also an important story which demands to exist and Jing-Jing Lee has brought it to life... Congratulations. Every single hour I spent reading this was an hour which could not have been better spent.' * Catherine Chanter, author of The Well *‘Heartbreaking and meticulously researched, this novel is a meditation on the legacy of violence.’ * Book Riot *‘A heartbreaking story told with such humanity and grace. The details of How We Disappeared are so vivid they return to me in dreams.’ * Marti Leimbach, bestselling author of Dying Young and Daniel Isn't Talking *'A shattering, tender and absorbing novel… Meticulously researched, exquisitely written, with characters that will live and breathe in your heart long after you finish the last page... I’m reeling from its power—what an absolute triumph.' * Fiona Mitchell, author of The Maid’s Room *‘The dazzling storytelling illuminates the brutalities of life in Japanese-occupied Singapore... Haunting, harrowing, sweeping and compelling, this is a courageous story of survival, memory, and how we deal with trauma.’ * LoveReading *'How We Disappeared is a masterpiece of storytelling. Evocative and heart rending, it tells of one woman’s survival in occupied Singapore, and the quest of a child to solve a family mystery. It is beautifully written, exquisitely crafted, and utterly compelling.' * Mary Chamberlain, author of The Dressmaker of Dachau and The Hidden *‘Based on true events, which Lee gives a dignified voice to. Deeply affecting.’ * Australian Women's Weekly *‘This is a brilliant, heartbreaking story with an unforgettable image of how women were silenced and disappeared by both war and culture.’ * Xinran, author of The Good Women of China *'How We Disappeared is a remarkable, original novel that uncovers the long-silenced atrocities that the ‘comfort women’ in Singapore suffered at the hands of the Japanese during WWII. Through gorgeous prose, tremendous pathos, and even humor, Jing-Jing Lee portrays the intersection of past and present and the courage to bear witness. How We Disappeared is an important, spell-binding debut.” * Spencer Wise, author of The Emperor of Shoes *'An exquisite mystery, an enthralling novel. Equally touching and intriguing, How We Disappeared is a soaring debut of surviving the unsurvivable [and] a searing and shocking reminder of a history many would like to forget, and of the endurance of the human spirit.' * Eoin Dempsey, author of White Rose, Black Forest *‘Jing-Jing Lee's novel is a testament to...strength in the face of profound cruelty.’ * OUTinPerth *‘Memory and forgetting are at the heart of How We Disappeared... Lee's novel shines a light into the darkest chapter of Singapore's history.’ * SA Weekend *‘A powerful and confronting story... How We Disappeared puts a blowtorch to our emotions.’ * Qantas magazine, Travel Insider *‘A story of survival and endurance in Japanese-occupied Singapore.’ * Deccan Herald *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Queenie
Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERBOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDSSHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARDLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION''Brilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking'' Jojo Moyes''A must-read novel about sex, selfhood, and the best friendships that get us through it all'' Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the CityQueenie is a twenty-five-year-old Black woman living in south London, straddling Jamaican and British culture whilst slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper where she''s constantly forced to compare herself to her white, middle-class peers, and beg to write about Black Lives Matter. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie finds herself seeking comfort in all the wrong places.As Queenie veers from one regrettable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, What are you dTrade ReviewHilarious, compelling, painful, enlightening, honest. I loved it. -- Dolly AldertonQueenie is a masterclass in how to write accessible political fiction about race and gender. Funny, relatable, sad, and hopeful; Candice Carty-Williams is a writer to watch. -- Christie WatsonBrilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking -- Jojo MoyesFunny, wise and of the moment, this book and this writer are the ones to watch -- Kit de WaalQueenie has all the things you want in a debut novel - a startlingly fresh voice, characters you fall in love with from the very first page, and a joyous turn of phrase that makes this book almost impossible to put down. In turns hilariously funny and quietly devastating, Queenie is an important, timely story. -- Louise O'NeillAdorable, funny, heartbreakingQueenie is the sort of novel you just can't stop talking about and want everyone you know to read. Snort your tea out funny one moment and utterly heart-breaking the next ... I absolutely loved itHilarious and off the wall and tenderCandice gives so generously with her joy, pain and humour ... a beautiful and compelling bookI ate this up in one greedy, joyous gulp. I loved Queenie and was cheering her on all the wayI was engrossed and loved Queenie - her humour, her pain, her politics, her friends, her family!A really special book with much to say about black female identity, sexual politics, group chats & emotional becoming in a way that feels totally unforced. Filthy, funny & profoundQueenie is the best mate we all want - funny, sharp and more than a little vulnerable. I loved climbing inside her mind and wish I could have stayed longer. I adored this novelCandice Carty Williams is my new favourite writer and she will be yours, too...I needed this book in my early twenties. I have never felt so seen in fiction. My heart is full.I enjoyed Queenie a lot; sharp, relatable, and incredibly evocativeThis smart, funny, and tender debut embraces a modern woman's messiness. * Booklist *A black Bridget Jones, perfectly of the moment. * Kirkus *One of the buzziest debuts of 2019 * THE GUARDIAN *This year welcomes Candice Carty-Williams to the literary scene. In 2016, best-selling author Jojo Moyes offered the use of her rural cottage to a wannabe novelist trying to finish a book; she selected Candice from more than 600 applicants. * GRAZIA *perfect for anyone who loved Fleabag * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Incredibly funny, this is the book that everyone will be talking about. * CLOSER *This debut is original, heart-breaking, funny and clever, and also carries many important messages... [this] book blew my mind in all the best ways. I'm still rooting for Queenie long after turning the final page. * DAILY MAIL *We are irresistibly drawn into Queenie's world by a romcom which is wry and often hilarious. * DAILY MIRROR *A candid and funny, no-holds-barred exploration of a young black Woman's life... Carty- Williams is a talented writer with a fresh perspective that the publishing industry desperately needs. Joyous, memorable and necessary. * EVENING STANDARD *This is an important, timely and disarming novel, thirst-quenching and long overdue: one that will be treasured by "any type of black girl" and hordes of other readers besides. * GUARDIAN *A blistering blend of funny, filthy, frank and dark, this is the mark of a true voice at work. * HEAT *A delight from start to finish... a little bit of Fleabag but less double-barrelled and more relatable * I *[A] smart and breezy comic debut * OBSERVER *Honest and heartfelt * PSYCHOLOGIES *Smart, thoughtful and funny * RED *We are irresistibly drawn into Queenie's world by this fresh romcom which is wry and often hilarious, even when it goes to some dark places. * SUNDAY EXPRESS *Filled with raw emotion tempered with wry humour, this debut is bitter-sweet. * SUNDAY MIRROR *This topical, timely debut's bracing frankness has a blazing purpose... vital and often funny * SUNDAY TIMES *This is a funny, clever, heartbreaking lightning bolt of a first novel, by a writer bristling with talent. * THE TIMES *The plot spoke to my soul...Queenie's journey as a millennial is relatable on so many levels. I'm so besotted with [Queenie] that I'm heavily delaying finding out how this enchanting tale ends. It'll be a bittersweet day when it finally arrives. * Refinery29` *This is an amazing novel about what it means to be a black girl whose world is falling apart and needs to find the strength to put it back together
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Simon & Schuster Ltd Red Pill
Book Synopsis‘The book I wish I’d written? Whatever Hari Kunzru is publishing next’ Aravind Adiga ‘Astonishing, absorbing, terrifying. Immensely good.’ Philip Pullman'‘Red Pill stands as a final blast of sanity against this new, deranged reality. It is a literary masterpiece for a barbaric new world rapidly running out of room for literary masterpieces.’ The Spectator '[A] deeply intelligent and artfully constructed novel.' Financial TimesFrom the author of White Tears comes a breathtaking, state-of-the-world novel about one man’s struggle to defend his values and create a reality free from the shadows of the past. ‘From now on when you see something, you’re seeing it because I want you to see it. When you think of something, it’ll be because I want you to think abou
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Penguin Books Ltd Three Hours The Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller
Book Synopsis''If you read only one thriller this year; make it this one'' Daily Mail''Gob-smackingly, heart-stoppingly, breath-holdingly brilliant'' Ruth Jones------------THREE HOURS TO SAVE THE PEOPLE YOU LOVEIn rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege.Pupils and teachers barricade themselves into classrooms, the library, the theatre. The headmaster lies wounded in the library, unable to help his trapped students and staff. Outside, a police psychiatrist must identify the gunmen, while parents gather desperate for news.In three intense hours, all must find the courage to stand up to evil and save the people they love.A TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERTHE TIMES THRILLER OF THE YEARA BEST BOOK OF 2020 IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, TIMES, GUARDIAN, MAIL, MIRROR, LITERARY REVIEW, STYLIST, RED AND GOOD HOUSEKEEPINGA TIMES &Trade ReviewThree Hours is both a gripping thriller and a beautiful meditation on the nature of family, friendship, courage and unintended - lethal - consequences. Superb.Wow! This is a stunner of a book. Staggeringly good -- Jane FallonASTONISHING. Powerful, terrifying, heartbreakingIt's beautifully, elegantly written, SO gripping, intelligent, timely, affecting and moving -- Marian KeyesThere's no one else writing quite like Rosamund Lupton in fiction today - the way she combines high tension with a compassionate and humane take on the world is unique. Three Hours is exceptional - at turns heart-breaking, warm, terrifying, perceptive and grippingly page turning -- Kate HamerThree Hours is Rosamund Lupton's best book yet, and that is high praise. A monster story for our fractious historical moment -- the age of the internet and of Columbine, of terror and mass migration -- when the monsters often look an awful lot like our own children. Chilling, suspenseful, humane, and brave -- William LandayAn incredible, unbelievably powerful book... I forgot how to breathe as it explored what it means to be human - for better or for worse. It's taut, it's tight, it's appalling, it's uplifting, it's extraordinary. Simply stunning -- Dinah JefferiesThis is an incredible novel: a heady combination of elegant writing, nuanced characterisation, deep emotion and heart-stopping tension. I was torn, all the way through, between wanting to slow down in order to relish the detail, and wanting to speed up in order to find out what was going to happen' -- Elizabeth BrooksI read Three Hours in two days, in awe. It's breathtaking. A modern rumination on the issues that divide 21st century life, a celebration of refugees, of mental health, of love and hope and bravery. I loved it more than I can say' -- Gillian McAllisterThree Hours is about hate crime, but what rings out from its pages - what is likely to stay with you long after you've read that magnificent last line - is love. I wanted to read Three Hours slowly to savour every beautiful word, yet it is so compelling that I couldn't put it down. This one is destined for the best-sellers list, I reckon, and rightly so. It is phenomenal -- Fiona MitchellBeautifully written, emotionally note-perfect and nail-bitingly tense. It's BRILLIANT -- Tammy CohenI finished Three Hoursin the wee small hours of this morning. It's mind blowing. I'm still feeling jittery. It's so fast-paced and credible that at times I felt like I was watching rolling news coverage of a real incident where I knew the victims. I had that same pulse-racing, queasy feeling - the same inability to look away. It's a horrifying story but told with such compassion and humanity. A large cast of characters and yet you feel genuinely emotionally engaged with each one... Amazing -- Francesca JakobiThree Hoursis a brilliant novel - moving, relevant and honest. Rosamund Lupton takes us through the story of a siege in an English school, building on the tension and our emotions as the story speeds to its conclusion. She handles difficult subjects with sensitivity and intelligence, focusing on the heroism of the individual. An exceptional and heartbreaking read -- Jenny QuintanaLupton tells her story with searing beauty and unbearable tension. Exquisite. Compassionate. Painful. Fantastic. A work of powerful imagination that wears its intelligence lightly. Absolutely terrifying and nail-biting. Don't read this if you want to be able to put it down. -- Kate LondonThree Hours has a voice all of its own. Character and plot leap out at you from the first line. Rosamund Lupton makes you race through the pages with her irresistible storytelling. Impossible to stop until you reach the poignant end! -- Jane CorryI've just finished reading this. Exceptional - so well planned and written. I'm also in awe of Rosamund Lupton -- Sarah EdghillLike a breath of icy air. . . Not since Smilla's Feeling for Snow have I shivered like this. -- Emma Donoghue on 'The Quality of Silence'Like Kate Atkinson, Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell * New York Times on 'Sister' *Devastatingly good, and announces the arrival of a truly original talent * Daily Mail on ‘Sister' *Three Hours is one of the most exhilarating reading experiences I've ever had. Rosamund Lupton takes a dark, painful subject and turns it into a novel full of hope and compassion. An amazing achievement. -- Emma Healey, bestselling author of 'Elizabeth is Missing' and 'Whistle in the Dark'
£9.49
Penguin Random House Group Home and Away
Book Synopsis
£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers The Hours
Book SynopsisWinner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize and Pen Faulkner prize. Made into an Oscar-winning film, The Hours' is a daring and deeply affecting novel inspired by the life and work of Virginia Woolf.Exiled in Richmond in the 1920s, taken from her beloved Bloomsbury and watched by her husband Leonard, Virginia Woolf struggles to tame her rebellious mind and make a start on her new novel.In the brooding heat of 1940s Los Angeles, a young wife and mother yearns to escape the claustrophobia of suburban domesticity and read her precious copy of Mrs Dalloway'.And in New York in the 1990s, Clarissa Vaughan steps out of her smart Greenwich Village apartment and goes shopping for flowers for the party she is giving in honour of her life-long friend Richard, an award-winning poet whose mind and body are being ravaged by AIDS.Michael Cunningham's exquisite and deeply moving novel is a meditation on artistic behaviour, failure, love and madness. Moving effortlessly across the decades and between England and
£9.49
Pushkin Press Record of a Night Too Brief
Book SynopsisThe Akutagawa Prize-winning stories from one of the most highly regarded and provocative contemporary Japanese writers: part of our Japanese novella series, showcasing the best contemporary Japanese writing
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Ltd Here and Now
Book SynopsisTHE BRAND NEW NOVEL FROM THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'Peopled with wonderful characters, it's funny, sad, poignant and heart-warming, a tough subject tenderly handled. Have some tissues handy' Choice Magazine Faced with losing everything, all that matters is Here and Now . . . Marigold has spent her life taking care of those around her, juggling family life with the running of the local shop, and being an all-round leader in her quiet yet welcoming community. When she finds herself forgetting things, everyone quickly puts it down to her age. But something about Marigold isn’t quite right, and it’s becoming harder for people to ignore. As Marigold’s condition worsens, for the first time in their lives her family must find ways to care for the woman who has always cared for them. Desperate to show their support, the local community come together to celebrate Marigold,Trade Review'Peopled with wonderful characters, it's funny, sad, poignant and heart-warming, a tough subject tenderly handled. Have some tissues handy' * Choice Magazine *
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd For You And Only You
Book Synopsis‘Joe Goldberg is my guilty pleasure, my strange addiction. If loving him is wrong, I don’t want to be right’ Erin KellyJOE GOLDBERG IS BACK, AND THIS TIME HE'S WRITING HIS OWN HAPPILY EVER AFTER . . . Joe Goldberg is ready for a change. Instead of selling books, he’s writing them. And he’s off to a good start. Invited to join a tight-knit writing fellowship at Harvard, Joe thinks he’s finally found a place where talent matters more than pedigree. Where anything is possible, even happy endings. At least until he meets his uber-privileged, already-published, already-distinguished peers. Thankfully, Wonder enters the picture. They have so much in common: no college degrees, no pretensions, just a love for literature. They could be those rare literary soulmates who never fall prey to their demons. If only Wonder could just commit Trade ReviewPraise for Caroline Kepnes and the You series: ‘Kepnes gleefully portrays the most back-stabbing seminar yet, dropping literary names with abandon as she twists the plot . . . Joe Goldberg might be a narcissistic, manipulative, murderous, utterly unreliable narrator, but he's damn entertaining’ -- Kirkus Review (starred review) ‘Within this intensity, [Joe's] snark-laden observations about ego, love, and loyalty ring true’ -- Booklist ‘Hypnotic and scary . . . totally original’ -- Stephen King ‘I will read anything she writes. . . . One of the smartest, most insightful writers out there’ -- Nicola Yoon ‘Delicious . . . It's Kepnes' wit and style that keep you coming back’ -- Lena Dunham ‘That peerless author who makes me laugh and glance over my shoulder on the very same page’ -- Jessica Knoll ‘I absolutely loved it. It’s completely addictive, razor-sharp writing from Kepnes. Internet creeping at its most darkly humorous. Joe’s back, and this time it’s definitely real love’ -- Catherine Steadman ‘As irresistible and as blisteringly acid as ever. Horrible and glorious’ -- Catriona Ward ‘Magnificent’ -- Guardian ‘Joe Goldberg has become a cultural mainstay. . . . Kepnes has mastered the likable villain’ -- Rolling Stone ‘Everyone's favorite stalker’ -- Entertainment Weekly ‘Chilling . . . dangerously clever’ -- USA Today ‘Beautifully crafted . . . will give you chills’ -- People ‘Caroline Kepnes must be some kind of storytelling sorcerer. How else can Joe Goldberg — stalker, creep, multiple-murderer, blamer of everyone else but himself, a “long overdue book, the one you never thought was coming” — be such an entertaining narrator? Even Tom Ripley, Patricia Highsmith’s famously amoral character (a clear inspiration for Kepnes), could be enjoyed at a third-person remove, unlike the in-your-face immediacy of Joe’s blinkered perspective . . . brilliant’ -- The New York Times Book Review ‘Kepnes waggishly satirizes the publishing industry, and her outsized characters’ egos and anxieties lay the foundations for delightfully deranged plot twists . . . Joe’s stream-of-consciousness narration engages throughout, rendering readers both confidante and accomplice. Kepnes reliably entertains’ -- Publishers Weekly
£15.29
Penguin Books Ltd Martin Eden Jack London Penguin American Library
Book SynopsisPresents the story of Martin Eden, an impoverished seaman who pursues, obsessively and aggressively, dreams of education and literary fame. This title also discusses the conflict between London's support of socialism and Martin's powerful self-will.Trade Review“One of Jack London’s greatest works.” —Upton Sinclair
£11.69
