Contemporary Fiction Books

Book SynopsisDon't miss the brand-new Christmas read from the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author Dilly Court!As the first Christmas snowflakes fall, Rosalind finds herself pregnant and aloneChristmas is coming to the village of Rockwood. But the happiest time of the year is marred by the news that Rosalind Blanchard's husband, Piers, is close to death after a shipwreck at sea. The fate of her beloved family home, the crumbling Rockwood Castle, is once more in her hands. She must find the strength to keep her family together.Pregnant, Rosalind comes face to face with the only man who ever made her heart truly sing: her husband's brother, Alex. As the Christmas bells ring, news of Piers arrives that changes everything. And another chance of happiness might be the gift Rosalind has been waiting forTrade Review Praise for Dilly Court: ‘Feisty female characters to fall in love with in a spirited, adventurous novel’ Sunday Express ‘Dilly Court’s latest novel is another page-turner that will keep you gripped to the end – 5 stars’ The People’s Friend ‘As always Dilly keeps you absorbed right to the end’ Choice ‘A rollicking, fast-paced adventure with a hint of romance!’ My Weekly ‘Spellbinding . . . you just keep turning the pages’ Daily Mail ‘A fast-paced, riveting read’ Sunday Express ‘A heart-warming, fast-paced story that will keep you gripped till the end’ The People’s Friend ‘Feisty female characters to fall in love with in a spirited, adventurous novel’ Sunday Express ‘Atmospheric, vivid and compelling’ My Weekly ‘Perfect for Downton Abbey fans … heart-tugging’ Peterborough Telegraph

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Book SynopsisA darkly scattered fable told with beauty, magic, love but also heart-wrenching realism Fans of The Familiars and The Binding will love this' MY WEEKLYIt's fabulous, we should all have copies' Simon Mayo, Scala RadioA glorious love story, a spellbinding fable' Adele ParksWomen imprisoned by superstition, chained by guilt.Perched on a mountain in a land of ancient forests is a village, rife with secrets. Cut off from the outside world it is run by the elders, men to whom tradition is all.Edith lives alone with her alcoholic father who is forcing her to marry the village butcher. But she is in love with a shepherd who promised to return to her.As the village becomes isolated in a sea of snow, Edith loses her power of speech. And it is this enchantment that will have far-reaching consequences, not only for Edith but for the whole village.An enchanting and timeless feminist fable' Mail on SundayA gorgeous love story with more than a touch of magical realism' IndependentTrade Review‘A richly spun folk tale of fellowship and insurgence … an enchanting and timeless feminist fable’ Mail on Sunday ‘A glorious love story, a spellbinding fable’ Adele Parks, Platinum ‘A riveting fairy tale for adults, weaving magic among harsh inequality and prejudice, but at the same time a powerfully descriptive tale of resilience and hope – tissues at the ready…’ Candis ‘A darkly scattered fable told with beauty, magic, love but also heart-wrenching realism … Fans of The Familiars and The Binding will love this’ My Weekly ‘A gorgeous love story … with more than a touch of magical realism’ Independent ‘A beautiful, haunting book … an atmospheric tale that will stay with you long after the pages are closed’ SFX ‘A truly enchanting fairy tale that pulled me into another world and kept me there long after reading the last word. An utterly bewitching story about the strength and power of women and their voices’ Jessica Ryn ‘I loved this thought-provoking fable. A story of love, courage and rebellion, perfect for book groups’ Anita Frank Praise for Sally Gardner: ‘An imaginative novel with a vivid backstage world of intrigue and romance … Original and rich' Sunday Times Book of the Week. ‘With shades of Sarah Waters … irresistable’ Guardian ‘Arresting and original and written in a singular voice’ Telegraph ‘This heartbreaking, brilliantly written novel is the most original publication for years’ The Times 'The prize-winning Gardner is [a] dab hand at literary world-creation' Observer ‘Beautiful, twisted and dark. A masterpiece’ Big Issue ‘With elements of magical realism, plenty of sexy scenes, and a good dollop of drama, this is one hell of a read’ Sun ‘This is an inspirational piece of writing’ New Statesman ‘A truly original voice … a thrilling read’ Spectator

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Book Synopsis'Breaking Point is raw, compelling, and ground-breaking; Coffey puts the life of working mothers under a microscope. To say I loved it is an understatement, I expect it will be a huge success.' Liz Nugent 'A gripping, compulsive pageturner about what we expect from women, especially mothers. It's going to be a massive hit.' Marian Keyes 'Both page-turner and gripping courtroom drama, this has much to say about the expectations and judgement put on women when they become mothers. Prepare to feel devastated and enraged all at once.' Heat One mistake could cost her everything. Susannah has two beautiful daughters, a high-flying medical career, a successful husband and an enviable life. Her hair is glossy, her clothes are expensive; she truly has it all. But when - on the hottest day of the year - her strict morning routine is disrupted, Susannah finds herself running on autopilot. It is hours before she realises she has made a devastating mistake. Her baby, Louise, is still in the backseat of the car and it is too late to save her. As the press close in around her, Susannah is put on trial for negligence. It is plain to see that this is not a trial, it's a witch hunt. But what will the court say? Readers love Breaking Point: 'A genuine contender for best book I have read this year.' ***** 'I was reading through the tears and couldn't read it fast enough' ***** 'An excellent novel, perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain' ***** 'If you want an addictive, pacey read, this is for you!' ***** 'I was a bit of an emotional wreck at the end' ***** 'A very thought-provoking story that will no doubt resonate with parents everywhere' Sun 'Powerful' Best 'A rare treat, an emotional thriller steeped in humanity. I read it in a single sitting!' John Boyne 'Gripping, unswerving, heart-breaking, you'll read this book through parted fingers - and learn a crucial lesson as you go.' Celia Walden, author of Payday 'Really enjoyed this terrifyingly plausible debut, with much to say about parental guilt and how society treats working motherhood.' Katherine Faulkner, author of Greenwich Park 'An incredibly powerful thriller with real emotional depth - and a chillingly relatable storyline.' TM Logan, author of The Holiday  Trade ReviewIt's a knockout, you're going to love it. -- Ryan Tubridy * RTE *Breaking Point has all the hallmarks of a future bestseller . . . it has the pace, setting and glamour of a Hollywood thriller. -- Jane Casey * Irish Times *This very human story examines the heavy burden on working mothers, spinning the innumerable plates of parenting and career. Are working women set up to lose, to fail their children, and to fail themselves? Shocking, thought-provoking, and necessary, Breaking Point will change hearts and minds. -- Frances Macken, author of You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around HereSkilfully explores what it means to be a woman trying to juggle it all - and the consequences when tragedy strikes. You won't be able to put this down. * Image Magazine *It grips from get go. * The Gloss *Expect this book to be a mainstay of bookclubs in 2022. * The Irish Sunday Business Post *You won't be able to put this one down. * Stellar Magazine *This is not only a gripping page-turner and gripping courtroom drama, it also has a lot to say about the expectations and judgement put on women when they become mothers. Prepare to feel devastated and enraged all at once. * Crime Monthly *A heart-in-mouth type of novel that will have you wonder how you'd react if in similar circumstances. * Belfast Telegraph *The book promises to be one of the most talked-about of the year. * New European, Faces to Watch for 2022 *Hugely compelling - I devoured it in a day . . . a compulsive debut that keeps you turning its pages. * Sunday Business Post *This debut novel from Edel Coffey craftily spins out that nightmare scenario of a clock you can't turn back, a situation you can't fix and how quickly envy turns to universal hate. * Sunday Life Magazine *This chilling, emotional thriller explores the burdens placed on working mothers in the wake of a high-flying doctor's tragic mistake. -- Joanne Owen * LoveReading.co.uk *

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Book SynopsisIn the latest entertaining and hilarious Professor Dr Dr Moritz-Maria Von Igelfeld novel, our hopelessly out-of-touch hero is forced to confront uppity librarians, the rector of the university and a possible hostile takeover, all while trying to remain studiously above it all.Professor Dr Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld and his colleagues at the University of Regensburg''s Institute of Romance Philology pride themselves on their unwavering commitment to intellectual excellence. They know it is their job to protect a certain civilized approach to the scholarly arts. So when a new deputy librarian, Dr. Hilda Schreiber-Ziegler, threatens to drag them all down a path of progressive inclusivity, they are determined to stop her in the name of scholarship - even if that requires von Igelfeld to make the noble sacrifice of running for director of the Institute. Alas, politics is never easy, and in order to put his best foot forward, von Igelfeld will be required to take up a visTrade ReviewNo one pricks pomposity and self-importance as hilariously as Alexander McCall Smith . . . he captures absurdities with a gentle lampooning that we laugh at while perhaps also recognising such tendencies in ourselves . . . Your Inner Hedgehog might be just the antidote we need to the constant real-world cacophony of hyperbolic argument and mud-slinging that seems to surround every debate on every issue -- Kirsty McLuckie * Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisFed up of being a grown up? Get away from it all with the No. 1 bestseller from Marian Keyes ''Magnificently messy lives, brilliantly untangled. Funny, tender and completely absorbing!'' GRAHAM NORTON ''SUCH a treat. Like reading the cleverest cream cake of words'' CAITLIN MORAN______ MEET JESSIE, CARA AND NELL.Married to brothers Johnny, Ed and Liam Casey.Three very different women tied to three very different men.Every family occasion is a party - until the day the secrets spill out.PLAYTIME IS OVER.BUT WHERE ARE THE GROWN-UPS?This book has been printed with four different colour designs: blue, green, pink and orange. Covers are assigned to orders at random so we are unable to accept specific requests.______ ''Comic, convincing and true. Grown Ups has an almost Austenesque insight into character. Keyes knows how to make serious issues relaTrade ReviewComic, convincing and true. Grown Ups has an almost Austenesque insight into character. Keyes knows how to make serious issues relatable - and get a few grownup laughs, too * Guardian *Messy, tangled complex humans who reminded me that few of us ever really sort out our lives at all * Jojo Moyes *Magnificently messy lives, brilliantly untangled. Funny, tender and completely absorbing! * Graham Norton *I loved every word of Grown Ups. I will be missing those gorgeous vibrant characters for many weeks to come. There should be a word to describe the sadness and satisfaction you feel when you read the last page of a Marian Keyes novel: the ending is perfect but you still want more, more, more * Liane Moriarty *I LOVED Grown Ups so much. It's SUCH a treat. I felt like I was rolling in PURE JOY throughout. The cleverest cream cake of words * Caitlin Moran *You may have written the best book of your career * Chris Evans, Virgin Radio *Funny and moving, with an acute eye for family foibles * Ian Rankin, bestselling author of the John Rebus thrillers *It is charming, funny and poignant. But also profound, heartbreaking. If you already love Marian, this is her best yet. If you haven't read her, this is the one * Nina Stibbe *Marian Keyes shows superb skill at tackling tough themes in this tale of a clan with secrets. Grown Ups is a warm-hearted, wise and highly entertaining portrayal of how families behave; and of the love and tolerance required to sustain our closest relationships * Hannah Beckerman, Observer *A novel that is warm and witty but never afraid to tackle the big stuff * Elizabeth Day, Mail on Sunday *Keyes at her best: capturing everyday voices with humour and empathy with writing that you'll devour in a weekend. Just pure and simple joy. * Stylist *A brilliant bunch of flawed individuals, all battling to understand themselves and those around them. Definitely worth devouring this year! What a treat * Giovanna Fletcher *Marian's chatty style pulls readers in with warmth, wit and high drama * The Sunday Times Online *Grown Ups is big-hearted and entertaining, dark, funny and hugely empathetic * Daily Express *Keyes is so ambitious, funny and compassionate it's no wonder so many adore her writing * i '40 Books for the Summer' *Her most ambitious work. Delightful, bursting with wit and compassion * iNews *Keyes's latest novel might just be her greatest . . . Subtle, sophisticated storytelling * Independent *This beauty of a book just took the crown as my new favourite Marian Keyes novel (and that is a HIGH bar). It's tender, hilarious, important, with characters who feel as real as your own family by the time you're done. I put it down and felt bereft * Beth O'Leary *A book that will make you laugh out loud, get choked up, and be very annoyed when you get to the end and have to say goodbye to all these characters. Marian's storytelling skills make you care deeply about each and every one of them * The Sun Online *Funny, thought-provoking and will get you right in the feels * Red *THIS BOOK. Reader, I LOVED it. Funny & thoughtful & such brilliantly drawn characters I am genuinely bereft that my time with them is over. And it tackles some REALLY important issues with immense sensitivity & insight * Hannah Beckerman *Rejoice! Marian's back with her best book yet! An absolutely brilliant story with a very powerful emotional punch * Best *At times heart-warming, at other times heartbreaking . . . This highly entertaining book is frustratingly hard to put down and can be easily devoured over a weekend * Daily Express *A new book from the witty Irish novelist. When Cara Casey suffers concussion, she starts spilling the secrets of her glamorous, talented family. All is not as it seems * The Times, Ones to watch in 2020 *Sensitive, funny, wonderful, immensely touching * Nigella Lawson *Immersive... I absolutely loved it! * Jill Mansell *Grown Ups is perfection. Smart, dark, layered. Her best yet! * Gillian McAllister *Marian Keyes's gift for storytelling is utterly magnificent. I feel like I've met every single character in this book. I may even be a character in this book. Nobody nails chaotic families like Marian * Liz Nugent *She's only gone and done it again! I love Marian Keyes' books with a passion and now she's got a fabulous new one on the way! Brilliant as ever * Jane Fallon *It's a page-turner you won't be able to put down * The Sunday Post *Marian Keyes manages to wrap family dynamics, female angst, good jokes and serious stuff into a really appealing form * Woman's Own Magazine *Marian Keyes is back with a witty and dramatic story about the Caseys, a family who seem perfect on the surface but hold some big secrets between them. When one of them starts to spill the truth after suffering concussion, things start to unravel in hilarious ways * Good Housekeeping *Happy making with glorious wit * Helen Lederer *This has the ingredients of the best of Keyes: great characters, laughs and poignancy. Keyes brilliantly captures that feeling of never quite being a grown-up, no matter your age * Good Housekeeping *We've heard whispers that this could be the much-loved author's best novel yet * Cosmopolitan, 2020s Biggest Books *The irresistible tale of an enviably glamorous family forced to confront itself * Daily Mail, Top Picks of 2020 *Tackling the realities of modern-day consumerism, Keyes' new book Grown Ups is the story of three brothers and their families written with her usual deft mix of witty storytelling and delicate touchpoint topics. It's brilliant so read it * Stylist *The queen of the classy comfort read returns with this warm, wise and witty family saga which asks what really lies behind the happiest of facades * i Paper, Books of 2020 *A family drama, where a concussion causes a spilling of secrets with amusing results * Irish Tatler, Top Picks of 2020 *A new Keyes is always cause for celebration. The wit and warmth of her words in her 14th novel tell the story of the Caseys, a supposedly perfect family, torn apart by a careless remark at a birthday party * Grazia, Ones to watch in 2020 *Marian Keyes is back and all is right with the world. No one mixes humour and heartbreak quite like Marian * Red *The latest novel from the beloved Irish author, Grown Ups delves into the Casey family whose secrets start to spill after one member gets concussed * Evening Standard, Books to look forward to in 2020 *This is vintage Keyes * The Times *Grown Ups is big-hearted and entertaining, a dark, funny and empathetic exploration of a dysfunctional family and the loving ties that bind them together * Sunday Express *A new novel by Marian Keyes is always cause for celebration, and this latest is a corker. By the end you'll definitely feel part of the family * Mail Online *No one knows better than Marian Keyes what it's like trying to be a grown up in modern Ireland. Keyes is on top form as ever, and this delightful book will warm those cold winter bones * Image *A heartening, pacey read * SheerLuxe *Smart, savvy and very funny, Keyes takes the pulse of the nation while simultaneously tickling its funny bone * RTE Guide *Promises themes of love and family, all bound together with Keyes' trademark humour * Harrow Times *A hilarious read * Bella *Bursting with wit and compassion. Grown ups is as alive, complicated and chaotic as any real-life family, evoking extraordinary tenderness, pain and humour. -- Francesca Steele * inews *The queen of fiction has launched another blockbuster. I couldn't put this book down * The Echo (Cork) *Chuck envy, illicit passion and financial pressures into the pot and soon this carefully constructed broth is simmering to the boil * Cornish Times *Funny, clever and hilarious and the rest, an epic tale of an epic family, the Caseys * RTE Guide *A wonderful story, filled with heartbreak, empathy and Keyes's trademark humour . . . You'll laugh, cry, and might even have your heart broken, but it's definitely worth it * Independent *A funny and thoughtful read * Prima *Up there with her best * Sunday Express *A fabulous account of family and secrets, calling into question how civilised and "grown up" any of us actually are * Glamour UK *A fabulous account of family and secrets * Glamour UK *Marian Keyes nails the zeitgeist while handling a huge cast of characters with aplomb * Express and Star *The absolute queen of astute, moving and cracking-good-fun contemporary fiction returns * The Sun *Dazzlingly brilliant * Dereham Times *Brilliant as ever * Stellar *It's everything you could want in a Keyes book - funny, warm, tender and a complete page turner * The Handbook *A fabulous account of family and secrets, calling into question how civilised and "grown up" any of us actually are * Glamour UK *A witty and compassionate story of modern life and relationships * Candis *An entertaining, sharp read that peels back the layers and nuances which shape the realities of family life and being an adult. Humorous, heart-warming and relatable * Stylist *Packed with emotional turmoil, but is light on her trademark wry wit and acerbic humour * Luxe *Keyes touches on the difficulties of broken relationships; eating disorders; emotional insecurity and other weighty subjects with her trademark humour and lightness of touch * Connaught Telegraph *Our Marian is back! And Grown Ups is one of her best yet, creating another memorable family saga * Stellar *Brilliantly plotted family saga * Tracy Thorn, New Statesman *A warm-hearted and wise tale of a family in trouble. Packed full of sharp observations and laugh-out-loud lines * i *Her writing just gets better and better . . . Grown Ups is funny and clever in the way it tackles addiction and eating disorders and the hurly burly of family life * Waitrose Weekend *A sharp satire of family dynamics and the trappings of wealth. It is a delicious thing - light and dark at once, full of acid observations and warmth, and fully attuned to the absurdities of familial life * The Gentleman's Journal *An entertaining story of family dynamics packed with vibrant characters, humour and empathy * The Sunday Times *A sharp, wry tale about a seemingly happy family with contemporary problems . . . despite the traumas, you'll whizz through it with a smile on your face * Oxfordshire Limited Edition *Keyes's captivating 14th novel tackles difficult issues with a sparkling style that makes it impossible to put down * Daily Mail *Marian Keyes is the most wonderful writer. She just gets better and better. She is a writer who believes in the best of us. She shows people's foibles but she also shows the love that binds us together in a very real way -- Richard OsmanHer novels tackle hard subjects with such humour and warmth its impossible not to be drawn in -- Jane Harper * Daily Mail *Another high-definition family comedy. An intoxicating, effervescent and warm look at modern life * Metro *A delightful and insightful examination of the modern family -- Holly Bourne * Beastmag *Laughter and tears intertwine, as ever, in the latest from our leading chronicler of the emotional messiness of contemporary life * Guardian *The strength of this book lies in its relatability factor - I laughed, cried, nodded in recognition and laughed again * Irish News *Shines a light on the frustrations and gripes of family life, while inviting us to laugh at the petty reality of it all * London Living *A book to fall into and while away hours with * Writers Online *Funny, thought-provoking and hitting you right in the feels, Marian Keyes does it again * Red Online *I loved this complex family drama . . . Keyes nails every character she touches while keeping it all so relevant -- Jamie Klingler * iNews *Praise for Marian Keyes * - *Mercilessly funny * The Times *Everything this woman touches turns to comic gold * Cosmopolitan *Comic, convincing and true. The warmth and empathy of Keyes's writing shine through this tale of family secrets revealed. -- Katy Guest * Guardian *Clever, hilarious, poignant . . . Gloriously funny * Sunday Times *Wildly funny, romantic and nearly impossible to put down * Daily Mail *Her writing is a lovely mixture of funny and perceptive and bittersweet * Cressida Cowell *Full of brilliantly funny characters, genuine emotion and heaps of charm * Heat *Her books are humorous and have the quality of a warm bath * The Times *Classic Marian Keyes: a blizzard of wit and wisecracks * The Times *Keyes is an international treasure. The ultimate choice for a binge read * Stylist *When it comes to writing page-turners that put a smile on your face and make you think, Keyes is in a class of her own * Daily Express *Fabulously entertaining. The queen of intelligent women's fiction * Sunday Mirror *Full of darkness and light, this is Keyes at her classic and most brilliant best * Red *Keyes writes about women who are absolutely themselves, even when society tries to insist they are something else * Irish Times *Glorious, life-affirming * Woman & Home *Marian's glorious, warm-hearted wit is always guaranteed to make me laugh on the very first pageThere is no finer writer than Marian KeyesShe really is unparalleled when it comes to making serious points with the lightest of touches * The Pool *Hilariously wise * Prima *Brutal yet endearing honesty, wonderful humour and astonishing acumenKeyes writes extremely well about modern women. Candid and deeply felt * Metro *Marian Keyes has an unparalleled talent for making you howl with laughter, nod in recognition and think at the same time * Good Housekeeping *Always brilliant - and brilliantly funny * Best *A publishing sensation * Daily Express *There are few fiction writers today with as much verve and sense of independence as Marian Keyes * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisTHE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER''Bernhard Schlink speaks straight to the heart'' New York TimesOlga is an orphan raised by her grandmother in a Prussian village around the turn of the 20th century. Smart and precocious, she fights against the prejudices of the time to find her place in a world that sees her as second-best.When she falls in love with Herbert, a local aristocrat obsessed with the era''s dreams of power, glory and greatness, her life is irremediably changed.Theirs is a love against all odds, entwined with the twisting paths of German history, leading us from the late 19th to the early 21st century, from Germany to Africa and the Arctic, from the Baltic Sea to the German south-west.This is the story of that love, of Olga''s devotion to a restless man - told in thought, letters and in a fateful moment of great rebellion.Translated from the German by Charlotte CollinsTrade ReviewFrom the author of The Reader comes a brilliant new novel about history and the nature of memory... The story of Olga, translated here from German by Charlotte Collins, is the story of Germany's modern history. It is also a study of memory... You should read this novel if you appreciate the power of history. How do we remember each other? As individuals, or as parts of a larger whole? As they were, or as we wish they had been? The narration can be breakneck: decades pass in single sentences, while other paragraphs describe mere moments. This is the effect of memory; lives are condensed into a series of experiences and relationships. One line still sticks in my head, in a letter from a Norwegian bookseller. "History is not the past as it really was. It's the shape we give it". * Evening Standard *A cleverly-constructed tale of cross-class romance... Olga's story draws us into a present-day reckoning with Germany's past. * Mail on Sunday *A poignant portrait of a woman out of step with her time. * Observer *Bernhard Schlink, one of Germany's best-loved authors, is famous beyond its borders for the international bestseller The Reader. Like that excellent novel, his latest, Olga, is a searching examination of modern Germany and its scarred soul... there's a sophisticated precision to his writing, which is superbly translated by Charlotte Collins. And in Schlink's macro look at Germany's past, it's the small acts - of kindness and humility - that linger. * Sunday Telegraph, Novel of the Week *This is not a straightforward elegy - and throughout the book, death is not an absolute end. Instead, Schlink frames the novel as a search for meaning, which dances in Olga between a multitude of timeframes and territories. Throughout, Charlotte Collins's translation is careful and beautifully paced * Financial Times *A compelling tale of love and thwarted dreams... Schlink's lucid, no-frills prose lends his novel immediacy, and at times potency, and gives us a character to root for. * The Herald *One of Bernhard Schlink's secrets stems from his art of telling stories by interweaving the standpoints of different generations in the very same life story. Olga is another very well-done example of that. * Le Monde *In this moving book Bernhard Schlink resurrects the last traces of an unfulfilled love, with his trademark, sophisticated nostalgia. * Le Nouvel Observateur *Bernhard Schlink, whose The Reader we haven't forgotten, impresses again with Olga. * Lire *Everything points towards Olga being a new bestseller which can pick up where the international success of The Reader left off. In other words: not to be missed! * SWR1 *Schlink is a brilliant stylist; this bittersweet love affair is deeply moving. * Hamburger Abendblatt *The third part of the novel - letters Olga writes to Herbert after he's set out for the Arctic - is the most beautiful. Here, the camera finally zooms in and we learn of Olga's feelings, how she's torn between hope and fear, love and anger at her lover, who has left her for a madcap expedition. * Spiegel *[Schlink] takes up motifs from his most famous work The Reader. Olga, who fights to be allowed to continue her education, seems like an alternative draft of the illiterate Hannah, whose lacking abilities led to her becoming a concentration camp guard during the Nazi era. * Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung *Olga is captivating. Bernhard Schlink tells the story in lucid, serene language. He is a master of this warm, pleasant tone, which has a hint of the old-fashioned to it. * Stern *Schlink tells a gripping, true-to-life story which startles you with its unforeseen twists, and not only makes you think, but feel too. * NDR Kultur *Schlink was and is an author for readers who love intelligently told stories. And they won't be disappointed by Olga. * Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich *

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Book SynopsisWodehouse is at his most sparkling in this collection of stories concering members of the Drones Club. Pongo Twistleton and Freddie Widgeon may be small of brain and short of cash but they are always good for ingenious adventures, especially when it comes to falling in love with the wrong girl or cooking up hopeless schemes to make money. They and their contemporaries populate a series of vignettes in which the plot-twists keep you on your toes while the jokes keep on coming.

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Book SynopsisVividly capturing the heat, sounds and smells of southern Italy, Conversations in Sicily astounds with its modernity, lyricism and originality. Driven by a sense of total disconnection, the narrator embarks on a journey from northern Italy to Sicily, the home he has not seen in some fifteen years. Through the conversations of the islanders and a reunion with his mother, he gradually begins to feel reconnected. But to what kind of world? Written during Mussolini's time in power, Conversations in Sicily is one of the great novels of anti-fascism.Trade ReviewSuperbly written ... Vittorini's unique prose laps against one in repetitious wavelets, alive to the rhythm and significance of language in a way more common to poetry than to prose.Praised in the past by writers like Ernest Hemingway and Italo Calvino, this new translation by Alane Mason restores a paint-fresh vividness to a classic novel, too-little known in the English speaking world. -- Wayne BurrowsVittorini is one of the very best . . . I care very much about his ability to bring rain with him when he comes, if the earth is dry and that is what you need. -- Ernest HemingwayIt is very hard to give any adequate sense of [its] power, rendered in lucid, supple lines of almost Homeric simplicity whose cadences are faithfully captured in this excellent new translation * * Guardian * *An extraordinary book ... For anyone interested in memory and place, the loss of the past and the attempt to recover it in words, this book will be rewarding ... giving the reader an experience that is vividly new, yet strangely familiar -- Kirsty Gunn

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Book SynopsisIn paperback for the first time, this second volume of Louis L’Amour’s collected stories showcases thirty more classic tales of the American frontier. Inside you will find the stories of heroism, honor and sacrifice that L’Amour made uniquely his own: like that of a young man sent out alone into a blizzard to face a deadly stampede, or a lawman who finds the bullet-riddled body of an infamous Mexican bandit and knows duty demands he track down a far more dangerous predator. Featuring  L’Amour’s signature stories of Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie, this collection captures men and women at the crossroads of friendship and suspicion, loyalty or betrayal.

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Book SynopsisDiscover Mike Gayle's fantastic new novel A Song of Me and You , out now!Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she's ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold.But when in the process Jess stumbles across the mysterious Alex, together they become custodians of a strange archive of letters, photographs, curios and collections known as The Museum of Ordinary People.As they begin to delve into the history of the objects in their care, Alex and Jess not only unravel heartbreaking stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long buried secrets that lie much closer to home.Inspired by a box of mementos found abandoned in a skip following a house clearance, The Museum of Ordinary People is a thought-provoking and poignant story of memory, grief, loss and the things we leave behind.****Your favourite authors love Mike Gayle****'Accomplished and moving' Lisa Jewell'Mike Gayle has such a talent for delving into hearts, minds and contemporary issues' Sophie Kinsella'An absolute triumph and a joy to read' Ruth Hogan'Mike is always wise and wonderful' Jenny ColganTrade ReviewThe Museum of Ordinary People is a timely treasure of a read. Spilling over with Mike Gayle's trademark warmth and tenderness, it's so insightful and thought-provoking on loss and grief, as well as the meaning of possessions and how we might take a fresh look at the things we once took for granted. It's the kind of book you'll want to re-read as soon as you've finished it. Just beautiful -- Holly Miller, author of The Sight of YouMike has an uncanny ability to create characters that are immediately familiar and relatable and to draw the reader into their world, ever eager to follow where they lead. The Museum of Ordinary People is a keenly observed and warm-hearted tale of how people cope with loss and keep their dreams alive against the odds. It is a delightful read -- Ruth HoganOne of my favourite writers, and this is his best yet...a relatable and yet brilliantly original story - this is a novel I could recommend to so many people -- Clare MackintoshMike gets better every year and every book. He's becoming a real chronicler of our times -- Jenny ColganA new Mike Gayle novel is always a treat. The Museum of Ordinary People is filled with warmth, tenderness and character. It really made me think, too - I love that it encourages us to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. A gorgeous novel -- Beth O'LearyUplifting and poignant * My Weekly *A joyful celebration of life, it's also a study in grief, second chances, and what can happen when you truly believe in yourself. * Heat *This is a beautifully written read that's full of heart * Fabulous *A powerful read * Bella *This is a tale of loss and friendship by an author who has a way of making the ordinary things in life seem extraordinary * Candis *This will resonate with anyone who has lost someone they love * The Sunday Post *A real gem of a book * Yours *A poignant look at grief and the things we leave behind * Huffington Post *This thought-provoking, tender and brilliantly observed story shows Mike Gayle at his very best * Sunday Express, S Magazine *'A poignant novel about memory, loss and new beginnings.' * Woman Magazine *This novel is pure, unadulterated feel-good, and Gayle is a master puller of heartstrings. It radiates an unforced kind of goodwill, which makes up for some of the overly expository dialogue and unabashed sentimentality . . . Fans of uplifting-lit authors like Fredrik Backman will likely be suitably charmed * Kirkus *Moving and heartwarming, this is a story about love and loss and holding onto the memories thatmake us who we are. Fans of character-driven relationship fiction by Clare Pooley, RachelJoyce, and Freya Sampson will want to pick this one up * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisTHE EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS EVERYDAYOne night, George Duncan is woken by a noise in his garden. Impossibly, a great white crane has tumbled to earth, shot through its wing by an arrow. Unexpectedly moved, George helps the bird, and from the Chaimoment he watches it fly away, his life is transformed. The next day, a beautiful woman called Kumiko walks into his shop and begins to tell him the most extraordinary story. Wise, romantic, magical and funny, The Crane Wife is a celebration of the disruptive and redemptive power of love.Trade ReviewPatrick Ness is on top form here . . . The Crane Wife is a tale full of bittersweet wonder with a very human soul. A treat. -- Matt HaigThe Crane Wife is a special novel: a perfect fusion of surreal imagery and beautifully crafted internal logic. Turning it over in my hands once I'd finished, I began to think of it as the literary equivalent of a Japanese puzzle box with poetry, ideas and jokes twisting and sliding out of it at surprising angles -- Helen Brown * * Daily Telegraph * *Delightful and heart-warming * * Grazia * *The dialogue is natural and inspired, and sparkles with latent tension * * Independent on Sunday * *A lovely and magical book -- T.C. BoyleThis is a novel that treads with feather-deft steps through ordinary lives touched by magic, then takes flight on wing beats of powerful storytelling -- ALI SHAW, author of The Girl with Glass FeetA heart-warmingly deranged new voice * * Guardian * *When George and his daughter, with their seemingly ordinary quirks and heartbreaks, are befriended by an enigmatic woman, art, beauty, and myth become living forces in their lives. This poignant novel echoes with the longings and sorrows of the ages. But what came as a most delightful surprise is the humor and humanity that Patrick Ness brings to this story -- EOWYN IVEY, author of The Snow ChildNess is both accessible and sophisticated, handling big subjects in prose that is simple and heart-stopping -- Sunday Times (on the Chaos Walking trilogy)An insanely beautiful writer * * Time Magazine * *Ness is a young writer of exciting quality and unpredictability * * The Times * *Patrick Ness recreates the world as we know it, infusing it with a charm and whimsy -- T.C. BoyleThis is quite simply one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It hits an emotional tone that I can't quite put my finger on. It is a story told so simply yet reaches every fibreof your being. It is sad yet inspirational, full of hope but also despair, full of the magic of life but also it's consequences * * Bite The Book * *I laughed, and I cried . . . but before it was over, I also felt like I'd lived another life, and died a little inside. That's how powerful Patrick Ness' new novel is -- Niall Alexander * * Tor.com * *This is a novel about stories and the way they change from teller to teller. That motif emerges subtly at first, before becoming explicit as the climactic calamity arrives in several versions. By that painful finale, this flight of fancy is one his readers will be only too glad to have embarked upon -- Brian Donaldson * * The List * *A fusion of mid-life crisis comedy and classic storytelling -- Kate Saunders * * The Times * *It is rare to read a fictional reworking of a myth that doesn't simplify its source, that can do what myths do and convey a truth that the reader responds to but cannot necessarily define. The Crane Wife succeeds in this, which is why it is truly a book for grown-ups -- Jake Kerridge * * Literary Review * *Brave and beautiful, full of compassion -- Independent (on A Monster Calls)Implicit in The Crane Wife is an insistence that differences are constructive and stories polysemous. Ness' stories exist simultaneously vibrating alongside one another, not jostling for positions so much as offering as many meanings as one can handle, and steadfastly refusing to be reduced to any one narrative of signification * * Words of Mercury * *[The Crane Wife] opens windows to a world that is magical, timeless and wonderful and it stirred my heart in a way that few books can. If you've any interest at all in love, beauty and what makes us human, you should read this book and let it work its magic on you -- Penny Tattersall * * Little Reader Library * *The Crane Wife is a magical and beautiful book - spellbinding from start to finish * * Herald on Sunday (New Zealand) * *It is rare to read a fictional reworking of a myth that doesn't simplify its source, that can do what myths do and convey a truth that the reader responds to but cannot necessarily define. The Crane Wife succeeds in this, which is why it is truly a book for grown-ups -- Jake Kerridge * * Literary Review * *A memorable and meaningful work on the combined elements of kindness, love, regret, loss and forgiveness -- Lou Pendergrast * * More2Read * *I absolutely adored The Crane Wife. It made me cry at the start, possibly at the end, and a few times, with laughter, through the middle . . . I still find myself pondering what has happened to the characters since, always the sign of a good read, and the writing just blew me away * * Savidge Reads * *A great new book from a great writer who we have been harping on and on about for years and years * * Booktrust * *The Crane Wife is that bittersweet mix of happy-sad satisfaction, a beautiful something that stays in the mind in the hours and days after the book is closed and the reading finished, a consideration of who we are and what we seek in and from life -- Stardust ReaderNess is a highly accomplished storyteller and the gravitational pull of the earthbound strand of his tale is strong enough to stop it from floating off into whimsy. He also has a rare ability to cut poignancy with humour. Folk tales rely less on their message than the pervasiveness of their atmosphere and while Ness's moral remains more opaque than clear, the mood he creates is unsettling and potent -- Michael Prodger * * Financial Times * *The shifting points of view infuse our world with a bright, spiritual resonance -- Ben Felsenburg * * Metro * *Patrick Ness's effortless prose enchants as the doomed love affair unfolds to reveal the inevitable, tear-jerking confl agration at the novel's end -- Sarah Crowden * * The Lady * *The writing is magical, infused with everyday living yet blends with it the element of folklore with great tact. I left the book while I was about to sleep and found myself waking up in the middle of the night and turning the pages right through * * The Hungry Reader * *The Crane Wife will leave you moved and possibly in tears. The writing is sharp and funny, beautiful and ephemeral. It's a book about stories and love, art and beauty told in an unexpectedly moving way; it will carry you up on the wings of the crane marvelling at the beauty to be found in being human * * Bookmunch * *The Crane Wife is a delight. Who would I recommend it to? Anyone who is bored with reality. Anyone who likes to find joy, innocence and beauty in life * * Lynette Washington * *A suburban morality tale, set in all-too-real south London, but transformed into something delicate and full of wonder * * Financial Times * *This is a novel that will transport you in all kinds of ways; whether you read it in bed, at the breakfast table, on the tube or the subway, or surreptitiously while at worl, it will work its patient magic on you, and it will linger in your mind and heart long after you've put it down * * Dreaming Between The Lies * *

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Book SynopsisA fresh post-apocalyptic anthology of 18 stories: the end of the world seen through the salvage and ruins. Featuring Emily St John Mandel, Carmen Maria Machado, Clive Barker, China Mieville, Charlie Jane Anders and more. This anthology of post-apocalyptic fiction asks, what would you save from the fire? In the moments when it all comes crashing down, what will we value the most, and how will we save it? Featuring stories from China Mieville, Emily St John Mandel, Clive Barker, Carmen Maria Machado, Charlie Jane Anders, Samuel R. Delaney, Ramsey Campbell, Lavie Tidhar, Kaaron Warrern, Anna Tambour, Nina Allan, Jeffrey Thomas, Paul Di Filippo, Ron Drummond, Nikhil Singh, John Skipp, Autumn Christian, Chris Kelso, Rumi Kaneko, Nick Mamatas and D.R.G. Sugawara.Trade Review"A fantastic mix of styles and approaches to the post-apocalyptic themes. I highly recommend Out of the Ruins to readers looking for thoughtful and touching short stories." - Fantasy Book Critic

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'A tale of enduring power' Paula McLainFrom the author of the No.1, two million-copy bestseller Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic story of a family separated, their search for answers, and an epic journey to reunite the missing . . .Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest. For heiresses Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery's end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question. Could her long-lost family still be out there?Louisiana, 1987: Arriving in Augustine, Louisiana, first-year teacher Benedetta Silva finds herself teaching students whose poverty-stricken lives she can scarcely comprehend. The town is impossibly set in its ways, suspicious of new ideas and new people. But amid the gnarled live oaks and ancient plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.A heart-wrenching novel inspired by little-known historical events, based on actual "Lost Friends" advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones, lost to them when their families were sold off.'Tragic, thought-provoking but ultimately uplifting . . . an enthralling adventure' Lancashire Evening PostTrade ReviewAn epic story that will stir your emotions * Woman's Weekly *It is impossible not to get swept up in this near-perfect novel * Huffington Post *A tale of enduring power * Paula McLain *An uplifting exploration of what family truly means * Booklist *Tragic, thought-provoking but ultimately uplifting, this is a sobering history lesson wrapped up in an enthralling adventure * Lancashire Evening Post *Moving * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis'De Bernieres is a singular, cherishable voice' Mail on SundayFrom the master of historical fiction, this book follows war hero Daniel Pitt and his unforgettable family after the Second World War.Some bonds are hard to break...Daniel Pitt was an RAF fighter in the First World War and an espionage agent for the SOE in the Second. Now the conflicts he faces are closer to home.Daniel's marriage has fractured beyond repair and Daniel's relationship with his son, Bertie, has been a failure since Bertie was a small boy.But after his brother Archie's death, Daniel is keen for new perspectives. He first travels to Peshawar to bury Archie in the place he loved best, and then finds himself in Canada, avoiding his family and friends back in England. Daniel and Bertie's different experiences of war, although devastating, also bring with them the opportunity for the two to reconnect.If only they can find a way to move on from the past...For more adventures with flying ace Daniel Pitt, see The Dust That Falls From Dreams and So Much Life Left Over.Trade ReviewDe Bernieres is a singular, cherishable voice. * Mail on Sunday *Louis de Bernieres is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh... he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste * Evening Standard *[The Autumn of the Ace is] penned with de Bernières's quiet, deprecating humour and sharp observation -- Vanessa Berridge * Sunday Express *Both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, this novel will captivate the senses and make you laugh as well as cry. Brimming with incredible, quirky characters and beautiful, lyrical writing, The Autumn of the Ace is the ideal book for lovers of historical fiction -- Carmen Coetsee * South African *

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Book SynopsisWhen Lara was twelve, and her younger brother Alfie eight, their father died in a helicopter crash. A prominent plastic surgeon, and Irishman, he had honed his skills on the bomb victims of the Troubles. But the family grew up used to him being absent: he only came to London for two weekends a month to work at the Harley Street Clinic, where he met their mother years before, and they only once went on a family holiday together, to Spain, where their mother cried and their father lost his temper and left early.Because home, for their father, wasn''t Earls Court: it was Belfast, where he led his other life...Narrated by Lara, nearing forty and nursing her dying mother, All the Beggars Riding is the heartbreaking portrait of a woman confronting her past just as she realises that time is running out

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Book SynopsisJourney between the land of the Living and the spirit world in this magical Booker Prize-winning novel 'So long as we are alive, so long as we feel, so long as we love, everything in us is an energy we can use' Azaro, is a spirit child, who in many traditions of Nigeria exists between life and death. Born into a difficult world, Azaro awakens with a smile on his face. Despite belonging to a spirit world made of enchantment, where there is no suffering, Azaro chooses to stay in the land of the Living: to feel it, endure it, know it and love it. This is his story.'In a magnificent feat of sustained imaginative writing, Okri spins a tale that is epic and intimate at the same time. The Famished Road rekindled my sense of wonder. It made me, at age 50, look at the world through the wide eyes of a child' Michael Palin'This is a book to generate apostles. People will be moved and, with stars in their eyes, will pass on the word' Time Out 'Ben Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence' Independent on SundayTrade ReviewThis is a book to generate apostles. People will be moved and, with stars in their eyes, will pass on the word * Time Out *Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence. As one startling image follows the next, The Famished Road begins to read like an epic poem that happens to touch down just this side of prose... When I finished the book and went outside, it was as if all the trees of South London had angels sitting in them * Independent on Sunday *In a magnificent feat of sustained imaginative writing, Okri spins a tale that is epic and intimate at the same time. The Famished Road rekindled my sense of wonder. It made me, at age 50, look at the world through the wide eyes of a childOverwhelming - just buy it for its beauty * New Statesman *The Famished Road is a masterpiece if one ever existed * Boston Sunday Globe *

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Book SynopsisWINNER: JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2015SHORTLISTED: GOLDSMITHS PRIZE and SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS 2014LONGLISTED: GUARDIAN FIRST BOOK AWARD and ORWELL PRIZE FOR FICTION 2014‘It’s hard not to write in superlatives of this extraordinary novel.' Guardian One September morning in 2008, an investment banker approaching forty, his career in collapse and his marriage unravelling, receives a surprise visitor at his West London home. He struggles to place the dishevelled figure carrying a backpack, until he recognizes a friend from his student days, a brilliant man who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances. The friend has resurfaced to make a confession of unsettling power.Theirs is the age-old story of the bond between two men and the betrayal of one by the other. As the friends begin to talk, and as their room becomes a world, a journey begins that is by turns exhilarating, shocking, inTrade ReviewThe big read with the big answers . . . Here comes a novel capable of taking back the No 1 spot: Zia Haider Rahman's debut In the Light of What We Know. . . At its heart, the book is a story of two friends making their way in the world. Theirs is a dizzying voyage that touches on many of the key issues of our time. * Sunday Times *Dazzling . . . astonishingly achieved . . . Rahman proves himself a deep and subtle storyteller . . . a novel unashamed by many varieties of knowledge-its characters talk, brilliantly, about mathematics, philosophy, exile and immigration, warfare, Wall Street and financial trading, contemporary geopolitics, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, English and American society, Islamic terrorism, Western paternalism, Oxford and Yale. Isn't this kind of thinking-worldly and personal, abstract and concrete, essayistic and dramatic-exactly what the novel is for? How it justifies itself as a form? Rahman uses his novel to think hard and well, chiefly about connections among class, knowledge, and belonging. In the Light of What We Know is what Salman Rushdie once called an "everything novel." It is wide-armed, hospitable, disputatious, worldly, cerebral. Ideas and provocations abound on every page. -- James Wood * The New Yorker *This debut novel by Zia Haider Rahman, a Bangladeshi-born British writer who has worked as both an investment banker and an international human-rights lawyer, has been hailed in America as a "modern classic" and "the first truly great book of the new century". It is certainly an ambitious and extraordinary achievement . . . Pre-eminently a novel of ideas, the book overflows with sparkling essays on free will, the perception of time, the nature of memory, maps, flags, etymology and the axioms of mathematics . . . A novel about the entwining of politics and love and the painful quest for identity. As a meditation on the penalties of exile, the need for roots and the ways in which anger can consume a thoughtful man slighted by prejudice, this is a dazzling debut. * Sunday Times *Bristling with ideas about mathematics and politics, history and religion, Rahman's novel also wrestles with the intricacies of the 2008 financial crash. It is encyclopedic in its reach and depth, dazzling in its erudition . . . It is, though, in the shattered figure of the novel's protagonist, Zafar, that the book finds its heart . . . In the Light of What We Know is an extraordinary meditation on the limits and uses of human knowledge, a heartbreaking love story and a gripping account of one man's psychological disintegration. This is the novel I'd hoped Jonathan Franzen's Freedom would be (but wasn't) - an exploration of the post-9/11 world that is both personal and political, epic and intensely moving. * Observer *Brilliant and heartbreaking, In the Light of What We Know is the first truly great book of the new century. -- Ceridwen Dovey, author of BLOOD KIN: A NOVELThis formidable novel unpacks friendship, betrayal, unknowability - and includes an astute take on Englishness, on class, on mathematical theory, human rights, and whether people can trust their own perception of the world * Observer *Here it is, the vast and brilliant debut novel of our time for which readers have been waiting. Set against the backdrop of economic crises and the war in Afghanistan, Zia Haider Rahman's novel about a troubled friendship between two men-one born in the United States to well-placed parents from Pakistan, and the other born in Bangladesh-is deeply penetrating and profoundly intimate, as if made by a muralist whose heart belongs to the details. In the Light of What We Know is a novel of startling vision, written in a prose that's as strong and bold as it is impeccable. Who's the true heir to such greats as George Orwell and V.S. Naipaul? It's Zia Haider Rahman. -- Richard McCann, author of MOTHER OF SORROWSA splendidly enterprising debut * Wall Street Journal *A strange and brilliant novel . . . I was surprised it didn't explode in my hands -- Amitava Kumar * New York Times Book Review *The main reason to get excited over Rahman's emerging presence as a writer are his sentences, ramifying and unraveling to bring in more and more ideas between full-stops in a way that few still alive can command * The Daily Beast *Rahman’s magisterial novel, which bulges with humanity and big ideas, was my favourite read of [2016]. As I have already written, "his story of two life-long friends – both students of mathematics, both from immigrant families – who find themselves variously caught up in the world financial crisis and the unravelling of post-9/11 Afghanistan, drills deeply and rewardingly into the grand themes of life: meaning, identity, loyalty, faith and family" -- Stephen Curry * Guardian *A sprawling, virtuosically told novel ablaze with ideas and passion. Set during the invasion of Afghanistan and the financial crisis of the aughts and narrated by a mathematician-turned-investment banker recounting the story of a lost college friend who was also once a mathematician, this is a complex, far-reaching book about history, politics, race and class, as well as love and exile. And maths. -- Catherine Chung * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe German Girl sweeps from Berlin at the brink of WWII to Cuba on the cusp of revolution, to New York in the wake of September 11th, before reaching its deeply moving conclusion in the tumult of present-day Havana. Based on a true story, this wonderful novel gives voice to the joys and sorrows of generations of exiles, forever seeking a place called home. Before everything changed, Hannah Rosenthallived a charmed life. But now the streets of Berlin are draped in swastikas and Hannah is no longer welcome in the places she once considered home. A glimmer of hope appears in the shape of the St Louis, a transatlantic liner that promises Jews safe passage to Cuba. The Rosenthals sell everything to fund visas and tickets. At first the liner feels like luxury, but as they travel the circumstances of war change, and it soon becomes their prison. Seven decades later in New York, on her twelfth birthday Anna Rosen receives a paTrade Review‘Fascinating … a brilliant entrée into the terrors, ardours, endeavours, hopeless valour and souls of those who have been written off … Now, in a new age of people in peril and adrift on the world’s seas, this magnificent novel - and the unexpected and intricate tragedies of its powerfully imagined characters - bespeaks this eternal injustice’ * THOMAS KENEALLY, bestselling author of Schindler’s List *

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Book SynopsisImogen is going on an expenses-paid holiday with her best friends. What could possibly go wrong? Imogen isn’t used to five-star hotels.  She’s used to juggling the pressures of her job with raising a four-year-old single-handedly and trying to keep smiling throughout.   So, when her friend wins a VIP trip to Barcelona’s most fashionable new hotel, it’s her chance to finally relax.    But Imogen knows better than most that life doesn’t always go according to plan and things start to go awry before they’ve even set foot on the plane.   The big question is: what is really motivating the mysterious, handsome man who’s always in the right place at the wrong time?'Funny, sexy and moving - a hilarious holiday romp with a heart. I loved it' SOPHIE KINSELLA

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Book SynopsisWomen''s Prize for Fiction 2021SHORTLISTED''Jones''s atmospheric debut has a multiracial, multigenerational cast who are brilliantly and even-handedly portrayed'' Sunday Times''Rare is the first book that reveals the writer fully formed, the muscles and sinews of her sentences firm and taut, the voice distinctly her own'' Washington Post''A hard-hitting and unflinching novel from a bold new writer'' Bernardine Evaristo''A bright new star. Cherie Jones draws us with skill, delicacy and glorious style into a vortex of Bajan lives on the edge'' Diana EvansIn Baxter''s Beach, Barbados, Lala''s grandmother Wilma tells the story of the one-armed sister, a cautionary tale about what happens to girls who disobey their mothers.For Wilma, it''s the story of a wilful adventurer, who ignores the warnings of those around her, and suffers as a result.When LaTrade ReviewA crime-riddled literary novel, Jones's atmospheric debut has a multiracial, multigenerational cast who are brilliantly and even-handedly portrayed * Sunday Times *Jones's forensic prose reveals a society riven by hardship, betrayal and inequality... A novel of great elegance and verve - hard to believe it's a debut -- Maggie O'Farrell * Daily Mail *Intensely compelling...You are ensnared in a web with these characters and their trauma; their claustrophobia becomes your own. It's a startling achievement. There is very little light in this novel, but what shines through instead is a pitiless truth that stays with you long after the story ends * Guardian *One of Jones's many gifts is the ability to show us flawed human beings with their humanity fully intact, to call us to examine the terrible beast within ourselves... Jones balances the novel's graphic violence with prose that is both evocative and wistful, haunting. Generational trauma is braided through with grief in the same over-under-over-under way that Lala cornrows the hair of her white customers. For these tourists, Paradise is an escape from their reality; for Lala and the locals, Paradise is the reality they long to escape. One where secrets shroud truth and darkness steals not just arms, but entire souls * New York Times *Here is a bright new star. Cherie Jones has talent abounding, drawing us with skill, delicacy and glorious style into a vortex of Bajan lives on the edge, clashing across class and colour divides. This is one of the strongest, most assured and heart-wrenching debuts I have ever read * Diana Evans *A hard-hitting and unflinching novel from a bold new writer who tackles head-on the brutal extremes of patriarchal abuse * Bernardine Evaristo *Set in Barbados, this novel unflinchingly explores the violence, trauma and sadness of its characters but is written with total beauty and insight. These people won't leave you any time soon and marks Cherie Jones as a writer of immense power * Stylist *Visceral and haunting * Cosmopolitan *This book unfolds around the reader like ripples in water, it offers an unflinching vision of what it means to have a body and to fight to protect that body, it demands attention. These are characters' voices I will be hearing for a long time and a book I will be recommending to everyone * Daisy Johnson *A gripping thriller, a symphony of voices and a novel of deep empathy * Mark Haddon *Cherie Jones' attention to detail [delves] deep into the intimate moments of each woman. A secret language forms between you, as the reader, and the women of Baxter's Beach. Acts of violence come out of nowhere and feel deeply personal... How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House reeled me in and hasn't quite let go of me yet. * Badformreview.com *A dark tale of incest, domestic violence and murder, set against a backdrop of generational poverty, and a bracingly fatalistic account of male violence * Irish Times *An extraordinarily hard-hitting and evocative novel that packs a tremendous punch with its repercussions of generational trauma, pin-sharp characterisations and strong sense of place * Daily Mail *Cherie Jones' How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is an intricately plotted allegory that explores the consequences of believing that you know better than the women who made you and charts the inheritance of trauma that is all too common in Caribbean women's lives. With rare compassion and deft storytelling, Jones renders a narrative that is haunting and unforgettable * Naomi Jackson *Rare is the first book that reveals the writer fully formed, the muscles and sinews of her sentences firm and taut, the voice distinctly her own * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisNow a major film on Netflix starring Amy Adams, Gary Oldman and Julianne MooreOVER 5 MILLION COPIES SOLD!THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERAstounding. Thrilling. Amazing' Gillian FlynnOne of those rare books that really is unputdownable' Stephen King''Twisted to the power of max'' Val McDermidA dark, twisty confection' Ruth WareWhat did she see?It's been ten months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside.Anna's lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family, they are an echo of the life that was once hers.But one evening, a scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something horrifying. Now she must uncover the truth about what really happened. But if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself?Trade Review‘Astounding. Thrilling. Lovely and amazing’ GILLIAN FLYNN 'Twisted to the power of max' VAL McDERMID ‘A dark, twisty confection’ RUTH WARE ‘One of those rare books that really is unputdownable’ STEPHEN KING ‘A tremendous new talent’ JANE HARPER ‘Amazing. Riveting. Just plain fantastic!’ TESS GERRITSEN ‘Smart, heart-wrenching—and really scary’ NICCI FRENCH ‘An elegant, beautifully written thriller’ JOANNA CANNON ‘Dense, brilliant and unforgettable’ JENNY COLGAN ‘I barely drew breath until I turned the final page’ LIZ NUGENT ‘Tense, twisty and SO beautifully written’ C.J. TUDOR ‘I was blown away’ JOE HILL ‘Dripping with suspense. Creaking with menace. Beautifully written’ SIMON TOYNE

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Book SynopsisWhen David Thomson took a journey to the sea coasts of Scotland and Ireland to seek out the legend of the selchies - mythological creatures who transform from seals into humans - a magical world emerged. Men were rescued by seals in stormy seas, took seal-women for their wives and had their children suckled by seal-mothers.Timeless and haunting, The People of the Sea retains its spellbinding charm and brings to life the enchanting stories of these mysterious creatures of Celtic folklore.Trade ReviewReaders will be carried away on successive waves of pleasure . . . These stories have an irresistible holistic beauty -- SEAMUS HEANEYA splendid resurrection of a life that has almost vanished * * Daily Telegraph * *I know of few books which so ably open a window on the Gaelic scene today or which so faithfully reflect the mind, vigour and courtesy of its people . . . Pounds on the imagination like surf on a reef * * Observer * *

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Book SynopsisDiscover this 5-star read: Wow' ????? Heartwarming' ????? Uplifting' ????? Thought-provoking' ?????'One of those rare, special and unique heroines'????? A joy to read' ?????What if the people who have the power to change your life are the ones who have been there all alongLike stars in the night sky, freckles are scattered across Allegra Bird's arms, a legacy from her beloved father.Her legacy from her mother is more complicated until one question from a stranger inspires a change. What if it isn't about fitting in, but finding the people who make you who you are? Who would those people be?As she searches for connection, Allegra is about to find out that it is our differences that make life worth living if only someone can help you to join the dots . . .Praise for FrecklesFans will adore this heart-warming story about loneliness and connection' Daily MailFunny, thought-provoking and original'MirrorA warm and bittersweet tale about finding yourself through family and friendship'SundayTrade Review ‘Funny, thought-provoking and original’ Mirror ‘Everything a greedy reader wants: a moving story, absorbing characters, engaging writing and as much of a page-turner as you’d expect’ Irish Times ‘Ahern was born to write and her books to be read by all’ My Weekly ‘Fresh and timely… asking bolding what and who make us who we are, Freckles manages to team wit and wisdom harmoniously’ Echo ‘A beautiful, hopeful book when the world needs hope most… inspiring, life-affirming and full of insight’ Cathy Kelly ‘Freckles is a joyful read about taking a chance on yourself and those around you.’ Betterreading.com.au ‘A life-affirming story about the importance of relationships and of having real-life connections…the story of one young woman’s search to discover her true self and the type of person she wants to be’ writing.ie

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Book SynopsisNothing is as it seems . . .France, 1928. It is ten years since the Great War ended, but Freddie Watson is still haunted by the loss of his beloved brother. Driving through the foothills of the Pyrenees, his car spins off the road in a snowstorm. He takes refuge in an isolated village and there meets the captivating Fabrissa. They spend the night talking of love and loss and war.By daybreak, Fabrissa has vanished and Freddie has discovered that he alone holds the key to an ancient mystery, one which leads him deep into the mountains and to a cave that conceals a shocking secret . . .''A wonderfully haunting winter''s tale. Stop the clock and read it in one sitting'' She''A great read . . . Mosse writes movingly about loss and atmospherically about France'' Daily Mail''Beautiful and haunting, this is a great story of love, loss and courage'' WomanWITH READING GROUP NOTES AND AN EXCLUSIVE SHORT STORYTrade ReviewMosse's story-telling packs a punch * THE INDEPENDENT *Beautiful and haunting, this is a great story of love, loss and courage. * WOMAN *An absorbing tale of loss and remembrance in the aftermath of the First World War ... Mosse excels at transporting her readers into another time and another world ... Mosse's depiction of life in Southern France between the wars is utterly convincing * EXPRESS *A poignant, spooky study of mourning and redemption * MARIE CLAIRE *The themes of love, loss and remembrance are explored to create a wonderfully haunting winter's tale. Stop the clock and read it in one sitting * SHE *An enchanting novella ... Mosse proves that she can weave a web of poignant and thrilling strands that will ensnare any reader * THE LADY *This is a great read ... Mosse writes movingly about loss and atmospherically about France * DAILY MAIL *It takes much of what appeals about her bestselling novels - and adds a heartbreaking story - what is really haunting about Mosse's tale is the rawness of Freddie's grief * THE TIMES *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPreloved is one for your keeper shelves. * Red *An absolute gem of a novel, like finding vintage Dior in your local chazza. It's hard to believe that this tender-hearted, wryly observed and exquisitely written story is a debut and its heroine Gwen, as lost as the unwanted donations she prices up, will resonate with so many readers. Preloved is one for your keeper shelves. -- Sarra ManningI think I’ve been waiting for a novel like Preloved for my whole reading life. This is a luscious, shimmering book of depth and delicacy. It’s sad, hilarious, sad, tender, brutal, brilliantly observed – there is a sense of magic on every page. -- Daisy Buchanan, author of InsatiablePreloved is full of sharp observations on life, loss, regret and self-preservation... spilling over with wit and hope. Cleverly interwoven with stories of the myriad reasons items find their way into charity shops, the joy, friendship and ultimate enlightenment Gwen discovers offers a quirky and poignant reminder that one person's trash is always somebody else's treasure. -- Julietta Henderson, author of The Funny Thing about Norman ForemanPreloved has taken up residence in my heart and I will be recommending it to everyone I know. It's completely enchanting, completely captivating, completely brilliant, I adored everything about it. It has so much heart and warmth, while Gwen is so well-written and relatable. I was already a fan of Lauren Bravo's writing, and now I'm officially obsessed. -- Lucy VineLaugh-out-loud funny but also poignant and tender, Preloved is an absorbingly special debut novel. I devoured in equal measure the delicious descriptions of food and the moving vignettes of preloved treasures peppered throughout the book, while the nineties and noughties nostalgia had me gasping with pleasure. -- Laura Price, author of Single Bald FemaleFull of relatable anecdotes, lively, funny and modern, Preloved is a moving tale of emancipation and friendship. I loved it! -- Margaux Vialleron, author of The Yellow KitchenBeautifully considered and wonderfully crafted with characters who feel true to life. Full of witty observations and dazzling retorts and withering reactions… it won’t disappoint. -- Justin Myers/The GuylinerPreloved is a beautiful, funny novel full of pitch perfect insight and detail. In a world of fast fashion, fast friendships and fast opinion, this is a refreshing and relatable alternative, celebrating and challenging our ideas about objects and ownership. For anyone (like me) who has ever stood behind the counter of a charity shop, it will spark particular joy. Political, delightful and very very funny. -- Nell Frizzell‘While all Gwen’s friends are “procreating in the countryside”, she is single, lonely and now, jobless. So she begins anew in the place where all things get a second chance: a charity shop. Preloved is a funny and touching read.’ -- The I, best April books‘When Gwen is made redundant she volunteers at a charity shop, where encountering objects that come with incredible stories changes her life. Poignant and funny’ -- BestA hot water bottle of a novel – in that it’s best enjoyed on the sofa when you’re in need of something warming and comforting -- StylistOptimistic and engaging… intimate and joyful… We’re waiting for Preloved to be optioned by Reese Witherspoon or at least adapted into a binge-worthy Netflix series… -- GlamourA love letter to charity shops and the treasures within, this is a tale that will warm your heart. -- My WeeklyGenerous, hopeful, and big-hearted, Preloved’s warm sweetness is perfectly balanced by sharp observation, and a deeply moving exploration of grief. A glorious find of a book; one worth holding onto -- Kate Young

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Book SynopsisThe pulse-racing sequel to Jo Callaghan's acclaimed crime debut, In the Blink of an Eye, seesDCS Kat Frank andAIDE Lock teaming up again in the hunt for an elusive serial killer.

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Book SynopsisSometimes second chances are the most dangerous of all.FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF OUR HOUSE''A master of her craft'' Rosamund Lupton___________________Olivia has never quite forgiven her mother for ending her teenage love affair with Richie, even now she''s settled with a husband and two sons of her own.So when her mother dies and leaves Olivia a message urging her to find Richie, Olivia''s world is turned upside down.Could this be her chance to create the family she should have had all along?And where does that leave the one she''s already got?___________________PRAISE FOR LOUISE CANDLISH''Reminds me of Joanna Trollope at her best'' Jojo Moyes''A novel that redefines the term unputdownable'' Heat''Heart-breaking and heart-warming . . . we couldn''t read it fast enough'' Cosmopo

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Book Synopsis****PRE-ORDER THE NEW CAROLINE SCOTT NOVEL, GREENFIELDS, COMING FEBRUARY 2025****    England, 1932, and the country is in the grip of the Great Depression. To lift the spirits of the nation, Stella Douglas is tasked with writing a history of food in England. It’s to be quintessentially English and will remind English housewives of the old ways, and English men of the glory of their country. The only problem is –much of English food is really from, well, elsewhere . . .Good taste is in the eye of the beholder... So, Stella sets about unearthing recipes from all corners of the country, in the hope of finding a hidden culinary gem. But what she discovers is rissoles, gravy, stewed prunes and lots of oatcakes. Longing for something more thrilling, she heads off to speak to the nation’s housewives. But when her car breaks down and the dashing and charismatic Freddie springs to her rescue, she i

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Book Synopsis**Shortlisted for The Goldsmiths Prize 2021****Shortlisted for The Desmond Elliott Prize 2021****An Observer 10 Best Debut Novelists of 2021**'An extremely perceptive depiction of power and agency.' Guardian'Startlingly original.' VOGUE'Extraordinary.' New Yorkerlittle scratch tells the story of a day in the life of an unnamed woman, living in a lower-case world of demarcated fridge shelves and office politics; clock-watching and WhatsApp notifications. In a voice that is fiercely wry, touchingly delicate and increasingly neurotic, the protagonist relays what it takes to get through the quotidian detail of that single trajectory - from morning to night - while processing recent sexual violence.little scratch is about the coexistence of monotony with our waking, intelligent lives. It is a powerful evocation of how the external and internal aspectsTrade Review'Startlingly original.' - Vogue'Extraordinary.' - New Yorker'Wry, funny and heartbreaking.' - Sophie Mackintosh'little scratch is a story that is urgent. It is a story that needs to be told.' - Meena Kandasamy'Reads like the cinders settling in the air after an explosion... daring and completely readable.' - Colin Barrett'little scratch is a little miracle... impossible to read it and not wish there were more books like it.' - Alan Trotter'Confident and vital...little scratch is an absolute gift.' - Naoise Dolan

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Book SynopsisIn 1933, President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt took up residence in the White House. With them went the celebrated journalist Lorena Hickok - Hick to friends - a straight-talking reporter from South Dakota, whose passionate relationship with the idealistic, patrician First Lady would shape the rest of their lives. Told by the indomitable Hick, White Houses is the story of Eleanor and Hick's hidden love, and of Hick's unlikely journey from her dirt-poor childhood to the centre of privilege and power. Filled with fascinating back-room politics, the secrets and scandals of the era, and exploring the potency of enduring love, it is an imaginative tour-de-force from a writer of extraordinary and exuberant talent.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Folio Prize 2015Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2015Sunday Times Top Choice Summer ReadA SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 NOVEL OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURYElf and Yoli are two smart, loving sisters.Elf is a world-renowned pianist, glamorous, wealthy, happily married: she wants to die.Yoli is divorced, broke, sleeping with the wrong men: she desperately wants to keep her older sister alive.When Elf''s latest suicide attempt leaves her hospitalised weeks before her highly anticipated world tour, Yoli is forced to confront the impossible question of whether it is better to let a loved one go.''The novel she has written - so exquisitely that you''ll want to savour every word - reads as if it has been wrenched from her heart.'' Christina Patterson, Sunday Times''[Toews] has produced a masterly book of such precise dignity. It is, also against all the odds, at times a

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestseller!It is AD 25. Pirate ships strike terror in the hearts of those who brave the seas of the Roman Empire. When young Telemachus joins the crew of the merchant ship Selene, he''s delighted to escape the rough streets of Piraeus. He knows little of the dangers of life at sea. And even past hardship has not prepared him for the terror on board when a pirate ship appears . . . The fight is bloody, but the result is never in doubt. Then the victorious pirate chief, Bulla, offers the beaten men a cruel choice: join us, or die. After surviving a brutal initiation rite, Telemachus impresses his new captain with his resourcefulness and strength, and swiftly rises through the pirate ranks. But dangerous rivals talk of mutiny and murder. While Prefect Canis, notorious commander of the imperial fleet, is relentless in his pursuit of the pirate brotherhood.Could Telemachus be the man to lead the Trade ReviewPraise for Simon Scarrow's novels of the Roman Empire: 'I really don't need this kind of competition... It's a great read[Simon Scarrow] blends together historical facts and characters to create a book that simply cannot be put down... Highly recommended - Historical Novels ReviewA satisfyingly bloodthirsty, bawdy romp...perfect for Bernard Cornwell addicts who will relish its historical detail and fast-paced action. Storming stuff - Good Book Guide

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Slaughterhouse 5.Trade Review‘Vonnegut is at his edifying best.’ The Philadelphia Inquirer ‘The quicksilver mind of Vonnegut is at it again … He displays all his talents satire, irony, ridicule, slapstick, and even a shaggy dog story of epic proportions.’ The Cincinnati Post ‘[Kurt Vonnegut is] a voice you can trust to keep poking holes in the social fabric.’ San Francisco Chronicle ‘It has the qualities of classic Bosch and Slaughterhouse Vonnegut … Bluebeard is uncommonly feisty.’ USA Today ‘Is Bluebeard good? Yes! … This is vintage Vonnegut-good wine from his best grapes.’ The Detroit News ‘A joyride … Vonnegut is more fascinated and puzzled than angered by the human stupidities and contradictions he discerns so keenly. So hop in his rumble seat. As you whiz along, what you observe may provide some new perspectives.’ Kansas City Star

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Book SynopsisChina is ageing. Its shrinking households, overworked and overstretched, struggle to carry the burden of care for their elderly. Retired Beijing judge Uncle Xiao is one among millions of old-timers who face a hopeless choice: accept a lonely decline, or chase dubious ‘miracle cures’.Then into his life steps Miss Zhong, a young rural nurse with her own share of problems. The two have little in common, but as time delivers tragedies they learn that family can take many forms. Will this unlikely pair weather life’s storms together, and will Xiao find warmth in his sunset years?

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Book Synopsis'A page-turner ... I adored it' Joanna Lumley'An absolute joy to read!' Carmel Harrington'A heart-warming tale of love, loss and hope' Roisin Meaney'A fascinating generational saga ... beautifully written' Patricia ScanlanOne family. Three generations. And the threads that bind them together ...Ambitious TV producer Penny has always been a planner. She knows exactly what her future looks like - until anunexpected pregnancy forces her to rethink everything, especially her relationship with the baby's father.Penny's mum Val raised her alone and always taught her daughter to be independent. So why is Penny pushing Val away now, when she needs her more than ever?To help heal this rift, Marguerite, Val's recently widowed mother, joins Val in sewing together a keepsake quilt for the baby. But as the quilt takes shape, memories surface, and all three women begin to discover more about each other than they ever could have imagined. As the arrival of their new family member approaches, will they finally realise that maybe they've been looking for happiness in all the wrong places?'Warm, funny and full of heart' Claudia Carroll'A beautifully crafted story, I loved it' Mary Kennedy

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Book SynopsisA blackly comic epic - a voyage through small-town America, and through the interior life of its most neurotic mailman. Albert Lippincott is a thirty-year veteran of the Nestor, New York, Post Office - a letter carrier extraordinaire, aggressively cheerful, obsessively efficient. But Albert has a few things to hide. His unfortunate habit, for instance, of reading other people's mail; his abortive university career, complete with a crackpot theory, a nervous breakdown and a thwarted attempt to bite out his professor's eye; a disastrous marriage, grotesquely self-absorbed parents and a sexually ambiguous entanglement with his melodramatic sister. And then there's his attempt to reform the postal system of Kazakhstan and his complicated relationship with his cats. And now his supervisors are on to his letter-opening compulsion, there's a throbbing pain under his left arm and he is finding it increasingly difficult to contain his emotions. Things are closing in on Albert, and he is forced to confront, once and for all, his life's failures. Albert Lippincott is a brilliant creation: flawed, damaged, but fiercely perceptive, and desperate to make meaning out of the mess of existence. He, and Lennon, hold us captive with a wild narrative voice fuelled by desperation and touched by madness.Trade ReviewHysterically funny. . . dark, dank and disturbing * Bookmuch *In this madcap, clammy novel of misanthropy and misfortune - with its themes of failure, competition and (mis)communication - I felt I had found "the one"... vivacious, weird, morally challenging and all the better for it * New Humanist *

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Book Synopsis'Fantastic - a wonderful book' Lily Cole 'Magical, rich and magnificent' Maxine Peake 'A wild ride! She sees Graves' White Goddess and raises 50 with female magic and transformations' Margaret Atwood 'A rare book, bold and powerful' Xiaolu Guo 'Wild, original...a beautiful work' Neel Mukherjee SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2022 NOMINATED FOR THE OTHERWISE AWARD 2022 A storm, a disappearance, a band of women and a remote island where anything is possible. On an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Britain, Eva Levi has made it her life's work to build a community truly run by women. Now she has disappeared, rumours spread that it will be destroyed. But Cwen will never let that happen. Cwen has been here longer than the civilisation she has returned to haunt. Her name has ancient roots, reaching down into the earth and halfway around the world. The islands she inhabits have always belonged to women. And she will do anything she can to protect them. This remarkable novel is a portrait of female power and female potential, both to shelter and to harm. It reaches into our mythical past and opens up space for us to dream of a radical future.Trade ReviewA clever, strange and wonderful book, which brims with mystery. A group of women recount their past and present stories, revealing their visions of the future. CWEN by Alice Albinia is a rare book, bold and powerful. -- Xiaolu GuoA wild, original, sure-footed feminist reimagining of the present and the past that brushes up against the mythical. Beautiful work. -- Neel MukherjeeA phenomenal novel showing us that learning to love our female selves is essential for survival. -- Farhana Yamin, Environmental Lawyer, Woman’s Hour Power List: Our PlanetI loved everything about Cwen, a fable that is filled with wisdom but leavened with humour, balancing the light and dark, and expressing female fury as well as tenderness. -- Ceridwen DoveyMagical, rich and magnificent, Cwen leads us from past to the present through a cast of majestic women. Exploring and reigniting the feminine might and its unbreakable connection with Mother Nature. -- Maxine PeakeA wonderful vision of Britain's deep history of myth and matriarchy * Guardian Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books 2021 *

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Book SynopsisA glamorous ship. A missing woman. A holiday to DIE forThe gripping new thriller from the Sunday Times bestseller!A brilliant new storyteller has arrived' ERIN KELLYIntense and claustrophobic' HEATAgatha Christie with glamour' SUNDAY TIMESA glamorous shipDuring a New Year's Eve party on a large, luxurious cruise ship in the Caribbean, the ship's dancer, Lola, goes missing.Everyone on board has something to hideTwo weeks later, the ship is out of service, laid up far from land with no more than a skeleton crew on board. And then more people start disappearingNo one is safeWhy are the crew being harmed? Who is responsible? And who will be next?Find out in the twisty new thriller from the queen of glamorous crime, Catherine Cooper.A well-plotted twisty read from the destination thriller author' WOMAN'S WEEKLYPRAISE FOR CATHERINE COOPER:A brilliant book with a twist you won't see coming' BELLAA great, pacy read fans of Lucy Foley will love' FABULOUSAtmospheric and suspenseful' WOMAN'S WEEKTrade Review PRAISE FOR THE CRUISE: ‘This is so, so good! … With a cast of dubious characters, this had me gripped throughout’ Prima ‘Tense and enjoyable’ The Belfast Telegraph ‘I enjoyed it very much- unexpected and very dark with a twist I didn't see coming. I especially liked that ending.’ Jane Shemilt ‘Twist-tastic! Clever and addictive, with original and authentic characters who surprised me at every turn.’ Emma Christie ‘Catherine has created a sparkling, suspenseful novel that transported me to the beautiful turquoise waters of the Caribbean as well as to remote parts of the Scottish Highlands. I raced through this novel at a rate of knots!’ Diane Jeffries ‘Glamour, murder and intrigue on a luxury cruise ship. Kept me guessing right to the end.’ Emma Haughton ‘An unusual setting and great characters makes this thriller a compulsive read. The dual narrative cleverly comes together in a very satisfying – and shocking – finale. Highly recommended!’ Robert J Lloyd ‘The Cruise is a novel of luxury and secrets, of tension and betrayal. Catherine packs an emotional punch in her writing. I love a protagonist that isn’t what they first seem..’ L.V. Matthews, author of The Twins ‘The Cruise is another fast-paced thriller from Catherine Cooper, full of unexpected twists and high seas drama! With a memorable cast of characters you really care about and a most luxurious (and deadly) setting, Catherine keeps you guessing until the very end.’ Amy McCulloch, author of Breathless ‘Glamour, murder and intrigue on a luxury cruise ship. Kept me guessing right to the end.’ Emma Haughton, author of The Dark

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Book SynopsisA fairy tale run amok, The Taiga Syndrome follows an unnamed Ex-Detective as she searches for a couple that has fled to the far reaches of the Earth. A betrayed husband is convinced by a brief telegram that his second ex-wife wants him to track her down - that she wants to be found. He hires the Ex-Detective, who sets out with a translator into a snowy, hostile forest where strange things happen and translation serves to betray both sense and the senses. The stories of Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood haunt the Ex-Detective's quest. As she enters a territory overrun with the primitive excesses of capitalism - accumulation and expulsion, corruption and cruelty -the lessons of her journey unfold: that sometimes leaving everything behind is the only thing left to do.Trade Review`One of Mexico's greatest living writers, and we are just barely beginning to catch up to what she has to offer... I'm excited.' Jonathan Lethem----`The Taiga Syndrome by Cristina Rivera Garza is a dark, daring contemporary fable with echoes from the past. Small, short, covered in gray, it sparkles on the page and dazzles the mind.' Sjon----'A suspenseful fable [that] defies traditional narrative.' Anna Aslanyan, The Guardian ----'Through her powerful command of language, she eases the reader into her nightmarish Fairytale.' Sarah Gilmartin, Irish Times ----`An explosive writer yet to be fully accounted for in English.' Lina Meruane----`Cristina Rivera Garza does not respect what is expected of a writer, of a novel, of language. She is an agitator.' Yuri Herrera----`The contemporary Latin American detective novel is a form that uses the individual's rollicking quest as a means of resistance against repressive structures and the violences they engender. Cristina Rivera Garza's The Taiga Syndrome, in this stellar translation by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana, gives English-language readers a lyrically luminous take on the genre while not skimping on its adventurous antics. If The Taiga Syndrome is a book of illness, it's also about exile, disappearance, borders, love, language and translation, desire, capitalism and its discontents, fairy tales, and what it means to be possessed by the madness of others and the madness of ourselves. The murmurs that haunt the detective in the novel evoke the history of Mexican fiction, most notably Juan Rulfo. But this is not a religious state of purgatory. It's more like Apocalypse Now fused with the worlds of Clarice Lispector and Jorge Luis Borges. In other words, there is no one writing novels as phantasmagorically exquisite as Cristina Rivera Garza's. The Taiga Syndrome, which is both quietly poetic and narratively unhinged, is a crucial addition to her distinguished oeuvre.' Daniel Borzutzky----`Innovative Mexican author Rivera Garza's dazzling speculative noir novel is narrated by a woman hired to find a man's missing second wife... As she tracks the mysterious couple over snow-covered trails in the boreal forest, the universe becomes eerie and unpredictable. She encounters a feral boy, a ferocious wolf, earthy villagers and wild lumberjacks. Rivera Garza invokes Hansel and Gretel as she spins her marvellous, atmospheric tale.' Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com, `The 10 Best Books of 2018'----`This novel, in a translation by Levine and Kana, is taut, lyrical, and strange, and it fits right in with Dorothy, A Publishing Project's commitment to work that challenges what genres and forms can do. Like the best speculative fiction, it follows the sinuous paths of its own logic but gives the reader plenty of room to play. Fans of fairy tales and detective stories, Kathryn Davis and Idra Novey, will all find something to love. An eerie, slippery gem of a book.' Kirkus Reviews, starred review----`As lyrical as a poem ("Look at this: your knees. They are used for kneeling upon reality, also for crawling, terrified. You use them to sit on a lotus flower and say goodbye to the immensity") and as fantastic as a fairy tale, Rivera Garza's gorgeous, propulsive novel will haunt readers long after it's finished.' Publishers Weekly, starred review----`A Lynchian noir from one of Mexico's best novelists tracks a missing couple in a ravaged no-man's-land, weaving a mystery out of fairy tales, disaster capitalism, and shadowy afflictions.' Vulture ----`Readers of this book will encounter one of the most fiercely original literary voices from Latin America.' Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, Los Angeles Review of Books----`Mystery, sci-fi, Socratic dialogue, retelling of `Hansel and Gretel': The Taiga Syndrome is a delightful shape-shifter of a novel.' Jonathan Woollen, Politics & Prose----`This insanely creepy & brilliant book by the incomparable Cristina Rivera Garza will keep you awake at night. Garza is a master of atmosphere. A detective novel directed by David Lynch & narrated by Bolano.' Mark Haber, Brazos Bookstore---- `Wood, snow, blood: old stories. The witch in the forest, the breadcrumb trail, the grandmother-skinned wolf - everybody's here, in this wild little book, breath steaming humid in the cold air.' Sarah McCarry, Tor.com----`Rivera Garza belongs to the tradition of iconoclastic writers who question why our world has to be the way it is. This is the sort of powerful inquiry that often brings art to its most immersive, rewarding, and generative place. Read her books and explore your own taiga.' Veronica Scott Esposito, Literary Hub----`In plain, lyrical language, [Rivera] Garza drapes a poetic hush over the narrative, creating an unsettling fable-like world. It's a mystery that creeps, with careful, steady steps.' Laura Adamczyk, The A.V. Club ---- `So far so noir, except that this summary, along with every other summary I've seen in reviews and copy for The Taiga Syndrome, fails to give an accurate impression of the experience of reading the book. First, the story is nonlinear, not in a Memento kind of way but in a You-realize-time-is-an-illusion-don't-you? one. What there is in the way of plot - and there is plot here - is dominated by an obsession with language.' Ploughshares----`Diaphanously translated by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana, this deceivingly spare, noir fairy tale can be read (devoured) at a sitting, but the subconscious wounds it (in)exacts may fester in one's non-fiction ever after.' Minor Literature(s)----`Come for the satisfying sense of utter disorientation, stay for the gangly homunculus that bursts out of the woman's mouth in the middle of the night.' Literary Hub, `Four Haunting Books for the Halloween Season'----`[Rivera] Garza doesn't stop with fairy tales, however; she inverts traditional tropes from any number of genres to great effect. The subject of the mystery is not the crime or even the victim, but the detective. The unreliable narrator reports on her own unreliability.' Shelf Awareness

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Book SynopsisONE OF THE OBSERVER THRILLERS OF THE YEAR: ''GLORIOUS PROSE AND RAZOR-SHARP TENSION'' ''LYRICAL AND ACTION-PACKED'' Guardian''I COULDN''T TURN THE PAGES FAST ENOUGH'' Clare Mackintosh''IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN, OR FORGET'' Sunday Mirror''GLORIOUS DRAMA AND LYRICAL FLAIR Denise Mina, New York TimesTwo friends Wynn and Jack have been best friends since their first day of college, brought together by their shared love the great outdoors.The adventure of a lifetime When they decide to canoe down the Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate the ultimate wilderness experience: no phones, no fellow travellers, no way of going back. A wild ride But as a wildTrade ReviewThe danger in Peter Heller's The River is so vast and so deadly that it dwarfs more human threats... Both beautifully written, a crisp, ice-cold immersion in the glory of the wilderness, and unbearably tense, as peril moves in on Heller gratifyingly competent explorers, whose deep friendship is tenderly evoked -- Alison Flood * Observer *Urgent, visceral writing - I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. A beautiful, heartrending exploration of male friendship' * Clare Mackintosh, bestselling author of LET ME LIE *Where Heller really scores is the extraordinarily high quality of his writing about the natural world, which is lyrical and action-packed by turns -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *Heller is a master of suspense, and his fourth novel showcases this brilliantly. A thrilling read with a dramatic twist at the end: you will not be able to put it down. * The Lady *A simple but brilliantly effective set-up, a kind of neo-Western set in a lawless world, although Peter Heller, having established the tension that drives this compulsive thriller, makes time to lyrically explore the natural landscape... An inventive rites-of-passage tale and a haunting exploration of grace under pressure * Irish Times *The gorgeously lyrical prose is worth savouring - but the superbly mounting tension tempts you to race on. A great adventure story and love letter to male friendship, with a wonderful depiction of the wilderness and superb characterisation. Impossible to put down, or forget -- Deirdre O'Brien * Sunday Mirror *Utter joy... A suspenseful tale told with glorious drama and lyrical flair... The real delight is the nature writing. The River is a fiction addition to the New Landscape writing of Robert Macfarlane and Rebecca Solnit, prose so vivid and engaging that a city-dwelling reviewer can feel the clammy cold of a fog over a river or the heat of subterranean tree roots burning underfoot in the aftermath of a fire... We can feel the sharpness of the rocks and the trilling excitement of the river as it approaches rapids. * Denise Mina, New York Times *A must read. * Daily Express *Heller is a master of suspense, and his fourth novel showcases this brilliantly. A thrilling read with a dramatic twist at the end: you will not be able to put it down... or go canoeing for quite a long time -- Helen Gumley-Mason * THE LADY *This story of a battle for survival will drag you off your sofa and plunge you down foaming white water rapids ina fragile canoe. It's a high adventure - the kind you seldom come across anymore - laced with a thriller twist for an extra kick ... The author's a whitewater kayaker and his descriptions of wild sailing and observations of the wilderness are lyrically poetic. Loved it! -- Alex Gordon * Peterborough Telegraph *Poetic and unnerving... The River is a slim book - just over 250 pages - but it is full of rushing life and profound consequences. Every move Jack and Wynn make along the river has the chance to kill them or those they're trying to save, and the result is a novel that sweeps you away, each page filled with wonder and awe for a natural world we can quantify with science but can rarely predict with emotion. * USA Today *A fiery tour de force... [The River] recalls his debut, The Dog Stars, with its poetic, staccato sentences and masterfully crafted prose... The story itself resembles a trip down a river-some parts are peaceful and allow for quiet introspection and big, deep breaths. But then you hit the rapids and the danger and risk jump off the page, forcing a sense of urgency. In those thrilling parts, reading required self-discipline. I wanted to know what happened so badly that I'd read too fast and had to retrace my steps to savor Heller's storytelling. And what a story he tells... I could not put this book down. It truly was terrifying and unutterably beautiful. * Denver Post *Heller writes with deep respect and empathy for not only nature and its inhabitants but also of human frailty, friendship, loyalty, and love. This exquisite book made me feel so many things-terror, sorrow, excitement-and isn't that what it's all about? Heller packs a ton of adventure and emotion in this short novel, and I dare you to put it down once you've picked it up. Stunning, beautiful, life-affirming, and heartbreaking. What else can I say? * Criminal Element *"Unless we are very lucky, someone is going to die," one of the adventurers in Peter Heller's new novel says. Like his last book, The Dog Stars, The River is a beauty-of-nature/cruelty-of-humanity hybrid, but this time he leans into the thriller aspect of the tale, with gripping results... Heller has created indelible characters in Wynn and Jake. * Star Tribune *Masterly paced and artfully told, The River is a page-turner that demands the reader slow down and relish the sheer poetry of the language... Through stories of man versus nature date back to the Odyssey, The River thrills as Heller invites his characters to confront their own mortality without losing sight of the deep connections between humans and their environment. * BookPage (starred review) *Two college friends' leisurely river trek becomes an ordeal of fire and human malice... Heller confidently manages a host of tensions... and his pacing is masterful as well, briskly but calmly capturing the scenery in slower moments, then running full-throttle and shifting to barrelling prose when danger is imminent... Fresh and affecting... An exhilarating tale delivered with the pace of a thriller and the wisdom of a grizzled nature guide * Kirkus (Starred Review) *Using an artist's eye to describe Jack and Wynn's wilderness world, Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist Heller has transformed his own outdoor experiences into a heart-pounding adventure that's hard to put down. * Library Journal (Starred Review) *Suspenseful... With its evocative descriptions of nature's splendour and brutality, Heller's novel beautifully depicts the powers that can drive humans apart - and those that compel them to return repeatedly to one another * Publishers Weekly *Heller once again chronicles life-or-death adventure with empathy for the natural world and the characters who people it. He writes most mightily of the boys' friendship and their beloved, uncompromising wilderness, depicting those layers of life that lie far beyond what is more commonly seen. * Booklist *Suspenseful and gut-wrenching. * Chicago Daily Herald *A dreamy, post-apocalyptic love letter to things of beauty, big and small. * Gillian Flynn on THE DOG STARS *Magical and life-affirming. * Guardian on THE DOG STARS *[The Dog Stars] gripped me-it's the real deal. One of those books that makes you happy for literature. * Junot Díaz, Wall Street Journal on THE DOG STARS *In The Dog Stars, Peter Heller serves up an insightful account of physical, mental, and spiritual survival unfolded in dramatic and often lyrical. * Boston Globe on THE DOG STARS *The Dog Stars by Peter Heller is a heavenly book, a stellar achievement by a debut novelist that manages to combine sparkling prose with truly memorable, shining, characters. It contains all of the lyricism of Cormac McCarthy at his best. * New York Journal of Books on THE DOG STARS *Ravishing. . . The supreme pleasure of this book is the lovely writing. . . The pages of The Dog Stars are damp with grief for what is lost and can never be recovered. But there are moments of unexpected happiness, of real human interaction, infused with love and hope, like the twinkling of a star we might wish upon, which makes this end-of-the-world novel more like a rapturous beginning. . . . Remarkable. * San Francisco Chronicle on THE DOG STARS *Stunning. * Library Journal (starred review) on THE DOG STARS *Surprising and irresistible. * Booklist (starred review) on THE DOG STARS *From start to finish, Heller carries the reader aloft on graceful prose, intense action, and deeply felt emotion. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) on THE DOG STARS *This story of a battle for survival will drag you off your sofa and plunge you down foaming white water rapids in a fragile canoe. It's a high adventure - the kind you seldom come across anymore - laced with a thriller twist for an extra kick ... The author's a whitewater kayaker and his descriptions of wild sailing and observations of the wilderness are lyrically poetic. Loved it! -- Alex Gordon * Evening Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThe classic Western, now newly repackaged as part of Bantam's Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures program--with never-before-seen material from Louis and his son, Beau L'Amour.It began with gold that had once belonged to Montezuma. Stolen and cached in a church in Mexico, it was recovered by two army officers who fled north for the French settlements. Along the way one stabbed the other to death. The remaining officer was eventually killed by Plains Indians, but he buried the treasure just before he died. Now Ronan Chantry, a handful of trappers, and an Irish girl whose father was killed after telling her a few vague landmarks are searching for the lost treasure. But they are not alone. The girl's uncle, Rafen Falvey, wants it, too. Like Chantry, he is well educated, bold, and determined. Under different circumstances the two men might have been friends. But in all likelihood it wouldn't have made any difference. When it comes to gold, even friendship doesn't keep men

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Book SynopsisBut will she find it where she least expects it?Stella Shakespeare isn't having a good day, or month come to think of it. She's been unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend, cut off from the bank of dad and at thirty-two years old, she doesn't know what she's doing with her life.What Stella really wants is to find love. She wants all-consuming, can't-think-about-anything-else, can't-even-manage-to-eat kind of love. What she found beside her in bed that morning wasn't love. But when a tall, handsome man in a well-fitting suit walks into a Notting Hill pub, she thinks she's finally found The One.Everything seems to be falling into place now Stella has met the man of her dreams and has an actual job working with a private investigator nicknamed The Affair Hunter'. Although sadly, life is never that straightforward and Stella starts to question whether she's been looking for love in the wrong places all alongEveryone LOVES the hilarious and heart-warming novels by Sophia Money-CouttsEnjoyaTrade ReviewPraise for Did You Miss Me?‘With laugh-out-loud moments, you’ll love this romcom’ Prima ‘A fun and frivolous tale, the perfect escapist read’ The Sun ‘Romcom writer extraordinaire’ OK ‘For fans of Jilly Cooper and Bridget Jones’ My Weekly ‘This warm and witty read is a total giggle-fest’ Sun on Sunday ‘Heartwarming and fun’ Bella ‘The perfect poolside page-turner!’ Woman & Home ‘For fans of Jilly Cooper…warm-hearted, hilarious and romantic’ Best ‘This ticks all the romcom boxes’ Daily Mail ‘It wouldn’t be summer without a new romcom from Sophia Money-Coutts’ Red Praise for Sophia Money-Coutts:‘So funny. And the sex is amazing!’ Jilly Cooper ‘Howlingly funny’ Sunday Times ‘Another wonderful – and wonderfully rude – romcom’ Red ‘Surprisingly saucy and distractingly funny’ Grazia ‘A laugh-a-minute page-turner, perfect for poolside reading’ HELLO! ‘A beach cocktail in book form’ Metro ‘Hilarious and uplifting’ Woman & Home ‘A thoroughly modern love story’ Woman’s Weekly ‘Perfect light summer reading’ Evening Standard ‘Fast and furious, funny and fresh’ Daily Mail ‘This saucy read is great sun-lounger fodder’ Heat ‘Sexy and very funny…perfect for fans of Jilly Cooper’ Closer ‘Cheerful, saucy and fun!’ The Sunday Mirror ‘As fun and fizzy as a chilled glass of prosecco…this is the perfect read for your holiday’ The Daily Express ‘Does it earn its place in your beach bag? Absolutely’ Evening Standard ‘Fizzes with joy’ Metro

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Book SynopsisFrom nineteenth-century cigar factories to present-day detention centres, from Cuba to the United States to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia’s Of Women and Salt follows Latina women of fierce pride, bound by the stories passed between them.‘Vivid details, visceral prose and strong willful women’ – Angie Cruz, author of DominicanaFive generations of women are linked by blood and circumstance, by the secrets they share, and by a single book passed down through a family, with an affirmation scrawled in its margins: 'We are force. We are more than we think we are.'1866, Cuba: María Isabel is the only woman employed at a cigar factory. These are dangerous political times, and as María begins to see marriage and motherhood as her only options, the sounds of war are approaching.1959, Cuba: Dolores watches her husband make for the mountains in answer to Fidel Castro’s call to arms. What Dolores knows, though, is that to survive, she must win her own war, and commit an act of violence that threatens to destroy her daughter Carmen’s world.2016, Miami: Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, is shocked when her daughter Jeanette announces her plans to travel to Cuba to see her grandmother Dolores. In the walls of her crumbling home lies a secret, one that will link Jeanette to her past, and to this fearless line of women.Of Women and Salt is a haunting story about the choices of mothers and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their truth despite those who wish to silence them.'A multi-generational story that, at its heart, is a tribute to imperfect mother-daughter relationships and the enduring strength of women' – Stylist‘Extraordinary . . . stunning’ – Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll FactoryTrade ReviewGabriela Garcia captures the lives of Cuban women in a world to which they refuse to surrender and she does so with precision and generosity and beauty -- Roxane Gay, author of Bad FeministI am a sucker for intergenerational family dramas and fraught mother and daughter relationships. Garcia's vivid details, visceral prose and strong willful women negotiating how to survive in this world are easy to fall for -- Angie Cruz, author of DominicanaExtraordinary . . . A book that made me fall in love with reading again . . . A stunning hymn to the strength of mothers . . . I cannot stop thinking about it -- Elizabeth Macneal, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Doll FactoryI devoured it, and in return it swallowed me whole into the lives of women whose decisions mould and make each other. It’s about mothers & daughters - fierce love and the terror that comes with it. How we save each other. How we save ourselves. -- Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The MerciesThis stunningly accomplished first novel is both epic and intimate. * O, The Oprah Magazine *A mesmerizing patchwork of determination, courage and survival. * Washington Post *The women in Garcia's striking debut novel are connected not just by blood but by the need to endure or escape abusive relationships and countries. She captures the hope and pain of immigration and the terror of deportation with an unsentimental yet empathetic eye * New York Times *A stunning achievement. I loved its intensity, its scope, its vivid prose. An essential, profound story about mothers and daughters, the Latina Experience, and the indomitable beating heart of womankind. -- Emma Stonex, author of The LamplightersA moving intergenerational epic * Refinery29 *A multi-generational story that, at its heart, is a tribute to imperfect mother-daughter relationships and the enduring strength of women * Stylist *A vivid, engrossing novel . . . it utterly absorbed me with its luminous, exacting prose and depictions of redemption and violence -- Sharlene Teo, author of PontiExpansive yet intimate . . . this gorgeous debut heralds the arrival of a literary star * Elle *A sweeping tour de force about addiction, displacement, and the legacy of trauma * Harper's Bazaar *Gripping, accomplished . . . an interlocking portrait of women striving, loving, losing, getting lost and getting found * Lit Hub *The debut that's had publishing buzzing all winter long meditates on the way immigration shapes the lives of Latinx women * Entertainment Weekly *A fierce and powerful debut. Garcia wields narrative power, cultivating true and profound work on migration, legacy, and survival -- Terese Marie Mailhot, bestselling author of Heart Berries An outstanding debut from a supremely talented writer, this story stayed with me for a long while. Spanning different time frames, and locations across the US to Mexico, the engrossing tale interlinks the lives of five Latina women living in challenging circumstances. A book about resilience, strength and empowerment * Prima Magazine *[A] deeply American story about the pieces of self people leave behind on their journeys to become "Americans" * San Francisco Chronicle *Of Women and Salt defies convention and sentimentality and chips away at all manner of myths . . . [it] reads like poetry * Vogue *An impressive debut about heritage, baggage, and needing the kind of 'love that erases everything that came before it' . . . [Garcia is] an outstanding novelist and an exciting new voice with a talent for bringing humanity to the page * Boston Globe *Wonderful . . . a captivating and harrowing debut that will undoubtedly put Garcia on the literary map for years to come * Seattle Times *Garcia’s debut is slim yet lush, imbued with a harsh beauty * Oprah Daily *A tale weaved with pain, loss and strength, Of Women and Salt is a story of America’s most tangled, honest, human roots * SUCCESS *An enthralling and important story . . . Garcia shines in her ability to ultimately emphasize the strength, the perseverance, of these Latinx women * The Nerd Daily *Highly anticipated . . . The intergenerational narrative tackles immigration, addiction, and sexual trauma with ambition and a poetic voice * Elle.com *Garcia makes a powerful statement about how we draw on our roots to understand our place in the world, showing that no matter how much we may try to escape the past, it always influences the present * Real Simple *A powerful novel from an eye-catching new voice * Bustle *An impressive, tightly braided whole. This riveting account will please readers of sweeping multigenerational stories * Publisher's Weekly *In her beautifully written debut, Gabriela Garcia presents a new classic of mother-daughter literature . . . quietly heartbreaking * BookPage *Phenomenal . . . readers won’t want to put [it] down * BUST *This remarkable debut shines a brilliant light on the broken immigration system and legacy of trauma for the people who endure it * Ms. *Speaks to immigrant experiences in so many different ways. . . . Garcia demonstrates how migration can bring us closer together and tear us apart, how we reinforce borders all the time, how we fail each other * BITCH *

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Book SynopsisA beautifully atmospheric new tale from the prize-winning, bestselling novelist Elizabeth Buchan.In the Eternal City, no secret stays hidden forever...Lottie Archer arrives in Rome excited newly married and ready for change as she takes up a job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about the woman who left it behind, Nina Lawrence. Nina seems to have led a rewarding and useful life, restoring Italian gardens to their full glory following the destruction of World War Two. So why did no one attend her funeral in 1978? In exploring Nina's past, Lottie unravels a tragic love story beset by the political turmoil of post-war Italy. And as she edges closer to understanding Nina, and the city draws her deeper into its life, she is brought up against a past which will come to shape her own future.Praise for Elizabeth Buchan:'It's a gem of a book... Beautiful, elegant.' Marian Keyes'Intricately plotted and beautifully written.' Katie Fforde'An amazing, emotive, heartbreaking but also ultimately uplifting novel. I really loved it.' Laura BarnettTrade ReviewThis evocative story captures the highs of love and the lows of betrayal... A compelling book, full of intrigue * Women’s Weekly *Buchan is always brilliant on love and this gorgeously written novel has as many twists and shadows as the baroque city in which it is set. * Wendy Holden, Daily Mail *Buchan is a skilful writer ... captivating * Sunday Times *A beautifully atmospheric, elegant and emotive story ... intricately plotted and transportive -- Adele Parks * Platinum *Tragic, romantic, gripping and utterly fascinating. Rome is vividly present, the characters real, imperfect and endearing -- Katie FfordeElizabeth Buchan's new novel transports us to Rome in the 1970s and Rome today. Two women caught up in a tangled net of sex and espionage. If you enjoy a good spy story set in the alluring world of La Dolce Vita, Buchan's gripping read will not disappoint. * Carol Drinkwater *Impeccable writing and a fascinating exploration of women's lives. Rome is so richly depicted I could almost feel the heat of its pavements beneath my feet as I read and smell the incense in the cool interiors of its churches. The beauty of the city and its surrounding landscapes is threaded through with an ominous sense of danger for the young protagonist, Lottie, as she digs into the past and unpicks its secrets. A wonderfully enigmatic and vivid read, I couldn't recommend this novel more highly. * E.C. Fremantle *A feast for the senses - love, intrigue, danger and tragedy set against the swooning beauty of the Eternal City of Rome. A gripping mystery interwoven with Elizabeth Buchan's customary deep understanding of passion and human frailty. Her most stunning novel yet. * V. B. Grey *An exquisite story about the beauty of art and the secrets that lie beneath all our surfaces. Elizabeth Buchan's new novel is both tensely plotted and utterly immersive. The atmosphere of Rome and its buried past rises from every page. * Jane Thynne *Elegant and atmospheric, with two complex interlocking stories than join past and present. An excellent read. * Fanny Blake *So beautifully steeped in the spirit of a place, Two Women in Rome completely transported me to the city. Art, passion, and mystery - expertly layered, this is a rich and gorgeous book. -- Eve ChaseBuchan racks up the tension, while vividly evoking the city of the Vatican and Versace, frescoes and Frascati, in all its sublime and seedy complexity. * Saga *

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Book SynopsisA REESE''S BOOK CLUB PICKA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER''A wild and deeply satisfying rollercoaster ride . . . the most fun I''ve had reading a book in quite a while'' - Taylor Jenkins Reid What if you had the winning lottery ticket that would change your life forever, but you couldn''t cash it in?Lucky Armstrong is tough, talented and in real trouble. Having just pulled off a million-dollar heist with her boyfriend, she''s preparing to start a brand new life, complete with new identity, when everything goes sideways. Suddenly Lucky finds herself completely alone, without the help of either her father or her boyfriend, the two figures from whom she''s learned the art of the scam.When Lucky discovers that a lottery ticket she bought on a whim is worth millions, her elation is tempered by one big problem: cashing in tTrade ReviewA wild and deeply satisfying rollercoaster ride through the world of a con artist with a heart of gold. Propulsive and affecting, Lucky is the most fun I've had reading a book in quite a while * Taylor Jenkins Reid *A riveting caper full of heart, I loved this book! * Karma Brown *This fun romp, with deeper themes of identity, family ties and the meaning of truth in a life built on lies, kept me greedily turning pages late into the night. Perfect for book clubs - or anyone looking for their next unputdownable read * Colleen Oakley *Stapley's gorgeous writing cuts to the bone, and her grifter heroine, both vulnerable and fierce, is driven by a genius premise . . . a gripping, heart-wrenching journey of resilience, hope, and redemption. A stunning read! * Samantha M. Bailey *

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