Contemporary fiction titles are those which focus on the present or near past. Stories rooted in the current cultural, social, and political landscape which feature characters we can all recognise.
Contemporary Fiction Books
Random House USA Inc Rogue
Book SynopsisMeet Maxine Williams, a dedicated doctor with three great kids, a challenging career, and the perfect new man in her life. Her only problem? Her irresistibly charming, utterly infuriating ex-husband, aka the . . . Rogue Being married to Blake had been an amazing adventure for Maxine. Brilliant, charismatic, and wholly unpredictable, Blake Williams made millions and grabbed headlines as a dot-com entrepreneur. His only shortcoming was as a husband—first his work and then his never-ending quest for fun kept him constantly on the move, far away from Maxine and his family. For five years Blake and Maxine have worked out an odd but amicable divorce, with friendly though infrequent visits, a yacht he lends her every summer, and three children they both adore. Blake enjoys his globe-trotting lifestyle—dating a succession of beautiful, famous, and very young women—while Maxine raises their kids in Manhattan and pursues her passion, w
£8.99
HarperCollins Publishers What We Lose
Book SynopsisA short, intense and profoundly moving debut novel about race, identity, sex and death from one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35Thandi is a black woman, but often mistaken for Hispanic or Asian.She is American, but doesn't feel as American as some of her friends.She is South African, but doesn't belong in South Africa either.Her mother is dying.Trade Review‘The debut novel of the year … visceral, cerebral, provocative, elegiac. One can’t help but think of Clemmons as in the running to be the next-generation Claudia Rankine’ Vogue ‘Luminescent’ Independent ‘A lovely little headrush of a novel … if you enjoyed Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing then try this’ Sunday Times Style ‘Bracingly clear-eyed … the tension between her steady prose and turbulent emotions is beautifully sustained’ Daily Mail ‘Highly original. Zinzi Clemmons deftly explores grief, sex and identity’ Elle ‘Concise and powerful. This original and challenging debut is a must-read for fans of literary fiction and memoir’ Bookriot ‘Penetratingly good and written in vivid still life, What We Lose reads like a guided tour through a melancholic Van Gogh exhibit – wonderfully chromatic, transfixing and bursting with emotion. Zinzi Clemmons’s debut novel signals the emergence of a voice that refuses to be ignored’ Paul Beatty ‘What We Lose navigates the many registers of grief, love and injustice . . . acutely moving’ Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland 'I loved this beautiful, honest and entrancing meditation on love, loss and the relationships that enrich and complicate our lives’ Bernardine Evaristo
£9.49
Random House Children's Books Noahs Ark
Book Synopsis★ Caldecott Medal Winner ★The book is a triumph, the definitive Noah''s Ark.—Publishers WeeklyWinner of the Caldecott Medal, an ALA Notable Children''s Book, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year, Peter Spier''s Noah''s Ark has been the iconic edition of this tale for over 40 years, in print continuously since its debut in 1977.In Spier''s imaginative retelling, readers witness the danger and the grandeur of the terrifying flood but also the lighter moments: Noah''s wife jumping on a crate to avoid the rats; Noah shooing all but two bees from a busy hive; and all the animal babies being born in the spring. It''s an illustration feat that''s both majestic and tender.
£9.67
Profile Books Ltd The Last Wolf & Herman
Book SynopsisIn The Last Wolf, a philosophy professor is mistakenly hired to write the true tale of the last wolf of Extremadura, a barren stretch of Spain. His miserable experience is narrated in a single, rolling sentence to a patently bored bartender in a dreary Berlin bar. In Herman, a master trapper is asked to clear a forest's last 'noxious beasts.' Herman begins with great zeal, although in time he switches sides, deciding to track entirely new game... In Herman II, the same events are related from the perspective of strange visitors to the region, a group of hyper-sexualised aristocrats who interrupt their orgies to pitch in with the manhunt of poor Herman... These intense, perfect novellas, full of Krasznhorkai's signature sense of foreboding and dark irony, are perfect examples of his craft.Trade ReviewThe Last Wolf reveals what a light-footed and lucid writer Krasznahorkai is, how he entertains as well as disturbs. The book is an excellent short introduction to his fiction, much as Metamorphosis is to Kafka ... Krasznahorkai's method is to examine reality "to the point of madness" and he does so with majestic style and black comedy. -- Luke Brown * Financial Times *Unforgettably visceral and beautiful * Observer *Together, The Last Wolf and Herman raise a set of spiritual questions that affirms their author as one of the most important - and eccentric - writers working today. * Spectator *Melancholy, fantastical and entirely original ... seductive and comical, too -- Adam Thirlwell * Guardian *Exquisite ... claustrophobic, exhilarating and tinged with fatal comedy * New Statesman *Wonderful ... perfectly judged -- David Mills * Sunday Times *A visionary writer of extraordinary intensity and vocal range who captures the texture of present day existence in scenes that are terrifying, strange, appallingly comic and often shatteringly beautiful ... magnificent works of deep imagination -- Man Booker International Prize citationThe Last Wolf is a great introduction to the world of László Krasznahorkai. Enter here and keep going. -- Sjón[Krasznahorkai has] a magnificently strange and hypnotic way of thinking. * TLS *
£8.54
Dover Publications Inc. Ten Nights Dreaming
Book SynopsisA murderer discovers his true nature from a talking infant, a samurai is frustrated in his attempts to meditate, and a dying man bestows his hat on a friend in these surrealistic short stories. Written by the father of Japanese modernist literature, the dream-like, open-ended tales offer thought-provoking reading. This edition includes a fine new English translation by a noted expert.
£8.07
Random House Publishing Group The Custom of the Country
Book Synopsis
£6.93
Little, Brown Book Group The First Day
Book Synopsis
£7.49
Granta Books Multiple Choice
Book SynopsisReader, your life is full of choices. Some will bring you joy and others will bring you heartache. Will you choose to cheat (in life, the examination that follows) or will you choose to copy? Will you fall in love? If so, will you remember her name and the number of freckles on her back? Will you marry, divorce, annul? Will you leave your run-down neighbourhood, your long-suffering country and your family? Will you honour your dead, those you loved and those you didn't? Will you have a child, will you regret it? Will you tell them you regret it? Will you, when all's said and done, deserve a kick in the balls? Will you find, here, in this slender book, fictions that entertain and puzzle you? Fictions that reflect yourself back to you? Will you find yourself? Relax, concentrate, dispel any anxious thoughts. Let the world around you settle and fade. Are you ready? Now turn over your papers, and begin.Trade ReviewThis year I was very happy to discover Alejandro Zambra. His new book, Multiple Choice, brilliantly translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, manages to blend Oulipian poetry, funny-sad short stories and choose-your-own-advevnture -- Joe Dunthorne, Best Books of 2016 * Observer *To my mind, the best of what experimental fiction be -- Taiye Selasi, Best Books of 2016 * Observer *This is composition set in the key of fun - ironic, playful, sometimes bitter. The translation by Megan McDowell skims across the tricky terrain with grace and ease, capturing the comic absurdities and dark moments without any apparent linguistic stumble or pause... [Zambra has] a wonderfully seductive, ludic charm. Multiple Choice will be embraced by Zambra's devoted followers. Open-minded readers new to his quirky world could find it opening doors. Multiple doors perhaps * Spectator *Brilliant... funny... part philosophical parody, part satire, this is a highly original and poignant book -- Joanna Kavenna * Daily Telegraph *A masterful act of transformation that turns the reader into writer. Zambra gives us fragments, but he also gives us the autonomy to shore them up into something new: our very own book -- Chris Power * Guardian *Zambra builds an elegant structure out of the important elements of life-competition, pride, vigor, death, sex-against a landscape of political menace. Read his book and, as with all true art, you'll be left wondering what it means but feeling that you know -- Atticus Lish, author * Preparation for the Next Life *Multiple Choice is unlike anything I've ever encountered before. With his test questions and answers, the incomparable Alejandro Zambra creates verbal playgrounds for reverie, imagination, thought, and memory, and leads you through labyrinthine corridors in which you inevitably encounter yourself. Reading this book is a wonderfully disconcerting and unforgettable experience -- Francisco Goldman, author * Say Her Name *I loved Multiple Choice. I hate exams, but I've sat this one a few times already. I'd give it an A-. The minus for being too smart and getting the fuck away with it -- Stuart Evers, author * Your Father Sends His Love *There is no writer like Alejandro Zambra, no one as bold, as subtle, as funny. Multiple Choice is his most accomplished work yet, an apparently playful literary game you quickly realize is also deadly serious. This book is not to be missed -- Daniel Alarcón, author * At Night We Walk In Circles *As slim as Chile herself. As serrated and complex as her riddled coastline. There's so much to admire and enjoy in this dazzling little book -- Gavin Corbett, author * Green Glowing Skull *Brilliant... Like a literary exercise for the mind, but strangely fun to decode. Keep yourself sharp with one of the most interesting writers working right now' -- 19 Summer Reads That Everyone Will Be Talking About * Elle *When I read Zambra I feel like someone's shooting fireworks inside my head. His prose is as compact as a grain of gunpowder, but its allusions and ramifications branch out and illuminate even the most remote corners of our minds -- Valeria Luiselli, author * The Story of My Teeth *Falling in love with Zambra's literature is a fascinating road to travel. Imaginative and original, he is a master of short forms; I adore his devastating audacity -- Enrique Vila-Matas, author * The Illogic of Kassel *Zambra is the defining light of today's Latin American literature - an author whose cult is about to take over, the one we'll all be congratulating ourselves on having known about in the early days, before his deceptively slender masterpieces lay on ever American reader's night table. Multiple Choice is the most daring distillation yet of his inimitable, take-no-prisoners genius -- John Wray, author of The Lost Time AccidentsI loved Multiple Choice. I hate exams, but I've sat this one a few times already. I'd give it an A-. The minus for being too smart and getting the fuck away with it. -- Stuart Evers, author * Your Father Sends His Love *An experimental novella, written in the form of a multiple choice examination... Brilliant, innovative, beautiful - David Markson's Vanishing Point meets Junot Diaz's This Is How You Lost Her. -- Taiye Selasi, Summer must-reads * Guardian *A metatextual blast... the only real problem with this unusually pleasurable exam is that it's over far too quickly -- Roger Cox * Scotsman *[Multiple Choice] blends fiction and memoir and messes enthusiastically with form. It is funny, melancholy, surprising. It is silly at times, profound at others. Its interactivity will entertain you, and might just change the way you think about fiction -- Chris Power * Guardian *One of the books of 2016... Full of wit, spark, pathos and insight... Multiple Choice goes beyond all expectations in terms of originality... [It is] one of the most thought-provoking, original and rewarding reads of the year... [as well as] a surprisingly touching and immersive experience... Once I'd finished it the urge to immediately read it again [was] pretty much irresistible. It was even better the second time -- Jane Graham * Big Issue *Intriguing... [Multiple Choice] starts as comic wordplay but morphs gradually into a volley of melancholy nano-stories... inventive in form -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *Tantalising... Mordantly funny and highly arresting [...] with nods to that great Latin American experimentalist Borges -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *Zambra's field of enquiry overspills the historical and political. It spreads far beyond Chilean borders and slips the bounds of narrative to question the very idea of a single, correct and definitive answer -- Stephen Phelan * Sunday Herald *Original and deeply moving * Good Housekeeping *Slowly, but surely, the questions and potential answers reveal profound takes on life in Chile under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet - both funny and melancholic... For all the plainness of the prose, read aloud this exercise and it almost takes the form of a sonnet. It is also heartbreaking -- Ben East * National *Zambra offers a series of vignettes - even short stories by the end - with multiple interpretations, or versions, layered on top of each other * davidsbookworld.com *
£9.49
Oneworld Publications The White Boy Shuffle: From the Man Booker
Book Synopsis‘A thousand-miles-an-hour hoot.’ Esquire ‘Hilarious…and immensely moving.’ The New Yorker ‘A blast of satirical heat from the talented heart of black American life.’ New York Times White Boy Shuffle is Man Booker-winner Paul Beatty’s electrifying debut novel about teenage-surf-bum Gunnar Kaufman who is forced to wise up when his mother moves from suburban Santa Monica to urban West Los Angeles. There, he begins to undergo a startling transformation from neighbourhood outcast to basketball superstar, and eventually to reluctant messiah of a ‘divided, downtrodden people’. A bombastic coming-of-age novel that has the uncanny ability to make readers want to laugh and cry at the same time,Beatty mingles horrific reality with wild fancy in this outlandish, laugh-out-loud funny and poignant vision of contemporary America.Trade Review‘A thousand-miles-an-hour hoot’ * Esquire *‘A dazzling satire of the African-American urban experience’ * Guardian *'He won the Booker for 2015's The Sellout but my heart belongs to Beatty's sharp-edged debut… It feels even more pertinent today.' -- i newspaper
£8.54
Yale University Press Exemplary Novels
Book SynopsisEdith Grossman, celebrated for her brilliant translation of Don Quixote, offers a dazzling new version of another Cervantes classicTrade Review“For most English-language readers, Cervantes is a one-book wonder. But these twelve novellas, newly translated by the virtuosic Edith Grossman, are a revelation to us. They are a feast for Cervantes’ admirers, and stand truly by themselves—witty, naughty, trenchant, smart, widely ranging, thoroughly modern and readable. Coming late in Cervantes’ life, they are a sly and mischievous and memorable adiós—just as we would expect.”—Richard Ford“Exemplary Novels spans nearly the whole creative life of Cervantes. . . . The book is like a summing up of Cervantes’s fiction, displaying its broad range of topics, characters, styles, and plots.”—Roberto González Echevarría, author of Cervantes’ Don Quixote (Open Yale Course Series)“It seems appropriate that Edith Grossman publishes her translation of the Exemplary Novels thirteen years after the printing of her masterful translation of Don Quijote, as it took Cervantes ten years to come out with his second part of Don Quijote. Thus the supreme English translation of the best novel ever written on this side of the galaxy both precedes and follows the colloquy of Cipión and Berganza, as the wise words of both dogs precede and proceed those of the knight and the squire on their painful search for the meaning of human identity.”—Carlos Rojas“Finally we have a worthy translation of Cervantes’s Exemplary Novels, the extraordinary follow-up to Don Quixote that enchanted generations of readers, but that has not been widely available to English readers in a version that approaches the sparkling original. Reading Edith Grossman’s gorgeous prose is like traveling to a far-off place, unearthing a hidden container, and finding in it a glove that slips onto your hand like a second skin.”—William Egginton, author of The Man Who Invented Fiction: How Cervantes Ushered in the Modern World“Edith Grossman is one of the best Hispanists in the English language world and an extraordinary translator. Her version of the Quijote, which appeared a few years ago, was unanimously celebrated, and the same will no doubt happen with this new version of Cervantes’s Exemplary Novels.”—Mario Vargas Llosa
£25.07
Penguin Putnam Inc City of Thieves
Book SynopsisDocumenting his grandparents'' experiences during the siege of Leningrad, a young writer learns his grandfather''s story about how a military deserter and he tried to secure pardons by gathering hard-to-find ingredients for a powerful colonel''s daughter''s wedding cake.Trade Review“The novel tells a refreshingly traditional tale, driven by an often ingenious plot . . . [Benioff] shifts tone with perfect control—no recent novel I have read travels so quickly and surely between registers, from humor to devastation.”—The New York Times Book Review“This spellbinding story perfectly blends tragedy and comedy.”—USA Today “Splendid . . . Benioff has produced a funny, sad, and thrilling novel.” —Entertainment Weekly “Benioff (a co-creator of HBO’s “Game of Thrones”) peppers his swift-moving plot with pitch-dark humor and unexpected turns. It’s a rousing reading experience, to cackle aloud at one paragraph then gasp at the next. . . . I’m glad I waited until warm weather to start this winter’s tale. But really, any other time would have been just fine. There’s no bad season to read a book this good.” —Ken Jaworowski, The New York Times Book Review “Benioff blends humor and horror expertly.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A deft storyteller, Benioff writes about starvation, cannibalism, and Nazi atrocities with poise and cinematic flair. If Thieves were a movie, it would start out like Schindler’s List and end up like Raiders of the Lost Ark.”—People "City of Thieves is a coming-of-age story brilliantly amplified by its worn-torn backdrop . . . Benioff’s finest achievement in "City of Thieves" has been to banish all possible pretensions from his novel, which never wears its research on its sleeve, and to deliver a rough-and-tumble tale that clenches humor, savagery, and pathos squarely together on the same page."—The Washington Post “City of Thieves is flat-out great . . . Benioff’s screen writing chops are in full force here - the plot careens along with cinematic verve - but that’s expected. The surprise is Benioff’s understated wisdom and tenderness.”—Men’s Journal “David Benioff, has written a gripping war novel. With lots of humour, suspense and tragedy he shows the desperate lives of the people who were caught between two opposing forces during the Second World War.”—The Guardian
£13.50
Penguin Putnam Inc This Is Where I Leave You A Novel
Book SynopsisA riotously funny, emotionally raw New York Times bestselling novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not. The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman clan has congregated in years. There is, however, one conspicuous absence: Judd's wife, Jen, whose affair with his radio- shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the demise of his father and his marriage, Judd joins his dysfunctional family as they reluctantly sit shiva and spend seven days and nights under the same roof. The week quickly spins out of control as longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed and old passions are reawakened. Then Jen delivers the clincher: she's pregnant...“Often sidesplitting, mostly heartbreaking...[Tropper is] a more sincere, insightful version of Nick Hornby, that other master of male psyche.”—USA TodayTrade ReviewPraise for This Is Where I Leave You“In a wry domestic tone nicely akin to Tom Perotta’s, Mr. Tropper...introduces a darkly entertaining bunch of dysfunctional relatives....This author’s strong suit is wisecracks, the more irreverent the better.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times“Hilarious and often heartbreaking...a novel that charms by allowing for messes, loose ends and the reality that there's only one sure ending for everyone.”—The Los Angeles Times“[A] magnificently funny family saga....Read and weep with laughter. Grade: A”—Entertainment Weekly“The novel is artful and brilliant, filled with colorful narratives and witty dialogue....[Tropper] can find the funny in any situation.”—Associated Press“Tender and unexpectedly hilarious.”—People.com
£9.78
Penguin Books Ltd A Kestrel for a Knave
Book SynopsisThe classic book that inspired Kes, the famous film, now published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Barry Hines''s A Kestrel for a Knave was published in 1968, and was made into one of the key British films of the sixties. Billy Casper is beaten by his drunken brother, ignored by his mother and failing at school. He seems destined for a hard, miserable life down the pits, but for a brief time, he finds one pleasure in life: a wild kestrel that he has raised and tamed himself.
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd High Fidelity
Book SynopsisContemporary fiction. Which of us wouldn't savour the chance at the end of a job or an entire career to have printed and published to all our former colleagues, without fear of reprisal, our considered opinion of the whole shooting match? A chance, once and for all, to be brutally honest? To put the record straight? To settle a few scores along the way? It happens sometimes at drunken leaving-dos or in rogue emails sent too late on a Friday night, but in the diplomatic service it has been a formal almost ceremonious tradition for centuries. Up till 2006, a British ambassador quitting his post abroad or retiring for good would write a valedictory despatch circulated widely across government, from other far-flung members of the service to the Prime Minister himself. This was the parting shot, the opportunity to offer a personal view of the country he was leaving, the alcoholic intake of its population, the appalling behaviour of the vice-president's wife, the state of the capital's drainTrade ReviewFast, fun, and remarkably deft: a sharp-edged portrait that manages at once to be vicious, generous, and utterly good-natured * Kirkus Reviews *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Christmas at Mistletoe Cottage
Book Synopsis**Summer Days at Sunrise Farm, the new book in the Animal Ark revisited series, is currently available!**Christmas has arrived in the little village of Welford. The scent of hot roasted chestnuts is in the air, and a layer of frost sparkles on the ground. This year, vet Mandy Hope is looking forward to the holidays. Her animal rescue centre, Hope Meadows, is up and running - and she''s finally going on a date with Jimmy Marsh, owner of the local outward bound centre. The advent of winter sees all sorts of animals cross Mandy''s path, from goats named Rudolph to baby donkeys - and even a pair of reindeer! But when a mysterious local starts causing trouble, Mandy''s plans for the centre come under threat. She must call on Jimmy and her fellow villagers to put a stop to the stranger''s antics and ensure that Hope Meadows'' first Christmas is one to remember. One thing''s for certain: this Christmas, there''ll be animal escaTrade Review'I really enjoyed this lovely romp through the glorious Yorkshire countryside...a really lovely summer read and the start of a promising new series of books which I am sure will delight readers' -- Jaffareadstoo'An adorable read [with] a real sense of village community' -- Bookworms and Shutterbugs'An incredibly lovely story' -- Rachel's Random Reads'A stunning, emotional, beautiful tale of friendship, love, and the importance of being who you need to be. I laughed, I cried, and I became completely ensnared, and I cannot recommend it highly enough - it really has got it all!!' -- Books of All Kinds'The romance, tragedy and drama play[s] out alongside some deeply poignant animal stories...an absolute must read for animal lovers and grown-up fans of the original series' -- The Book Bag'Just the right amount of nostalgia... wonderful and very poignant' - The World is a Book Blog -- The World is a Book Blog
£7.59
Simon & Schuster Ltd Anatomy of a Scandal
Book SynopsisTHE WORD-OF-MOUTH SENSATION THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A RICHARD & JUDY BOOKCLUB SELECTIONNOW A NUMBER ONE NETFLIX SERIES'Timely and compelling' Shari Lapena 'Impressive' The Times 'Gripping' Observer 'Sensational’ Clare MackintoshA high-profile marriage thrust into the spotlight. A prosecutor who believes justice has been a long time coming. A scandal that will rock Westminster. And the women caught at the heart of it. Praise for Anatomy of a Scandal:'Magnificent' Marian Keyes 'Intelligent, subtle and thought-provoking' Louise Candlish 'The definition of a page-turner' Elizabeth Day 'Almost impossible to put down' Louise O’Neill 'Once the trial of MP James Whitehouse starts, you couldTrade ReviewThe Good Wife meets The Affair – fantastic! -- @bleachhouselibrary
£8.54
Headline Publishing Group By the Light of the Moon
Book Synopsis
£17.38
Penguin Books Ltd All Tomorrows Parties
Book SynopsisA GRIPPING TECHNO-THRILLER BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NEUROMANCER, THE THIRD NOVEL IN THE BRIDGE TRILOGY''With more insight, wit and sheer style than any of his contemporaries Gibson continues to patrol the nebulous zones that separate science fiction, contemporary thrillers and genuine literature'' Independent----- The Bridge, San Francisco, after the quake: Ex-cop Berry Rydell has been hired by Colin Laney - who is hooked deep into the network of things - to go to San Francisco and act in such a way that he comes to the attention of a certain unspecified individual. This, Laney promises Rydell, could prove life-threatening. And now Rydell''s been sent a package. Something that belonged to Laney, something that others with guns, blades and very bad attitudes want. And suddenly Rydell''s running, trying get to the old Bridge, the shantytown where a man can get lost, be forgotten and wait for the end of the world - whi
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group 84K An eerily plausible dystopian masterpiece
Book Synopsis''AN EERILY PLAUSIBLE DYSTOPIAN MASTERPIECE'' Emily St. John Mandel, author of STATION ELEVEN''AN EXTRAORDINARY NOVEL . . . with echoes of The Handmaid''s Tale'' Cory Doctorow***SHORTLISTED FOR THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD***From one of the most original new voices in modern fiction comes a startling vision of a world where you can get away with anything . . .Theo Miller knows the value of human life - to the very last penny. Working in the Criminal Audit Office, he assesses each crime that crosses his desk and makes sure the correct debt to society is paid in full. But when his ex-lover is killed, it''s different. This is one death he can''t let become merely an entry on a balance sheet. Because when the richest in the world are getting away with murder, sometimes the numbers just don''t add up.From the award-winning Claire North comes an electrifying and provocative new novel which Trade ReviewAn eerily plausible dystopian masterpiece * Emily St. John Mandel, author of STATION ELEVEN *An extraordinary novel that stands with the best of dystopian fiction, with echoes of The Handmaid's Tale -- Cory Doctorow on 84KAbsolutely breath-taking... An early and compelling candidate for best novel of 2018. Read it * Sci Fi Magazine *Another captivating novel from one of the most intriguing and genre-bending novelists * BOOKLIST on 84K *Claire North goes from strength to strength . . . A tense, moving story set in drawing from current political trends to present a draconian future similar to that of Nineteen Eighty-Four * GUARDIAN on 84K *Absolutely breath-taking... An early and compelling candidate for best novel of 2018. Read it * Sci Fi Magazine *[A] gut-punch of a novel . . . a story that is rare - one of those that is so good I didn't want it to end . . . Painted in shades of Fahrenheit 451, of Children of Men, Soylent Green and Brave New World * NPR *[North] demonstrates again that her imaginative energy is as prodigious as her output. * SUNDAY TIMES *Absorbing and timely; a book to wrestle and argue with, but first and foremost, to read * NEW YORK TIMES on 84k *84K is a furious, confrontational book that's extremely smart . . . .its energy is infectious and its ideas are fiercely provocative * SCIFINOW *This is a dystopian anthem for the modern activist, a warning of an all too near future and a wake-up call for anyone who believes justice should not come with a price tag. 84K is an important book but also a cracking thriller and a great bit of near-future speculative fiction. Quite simply, North's best book so far, and given how brilliant The Sudden Appearance of Hope and The Fifteen Lives of Harry August are, that is saying a lot. * STARBURST *North is an original and even dazzling writer, and fans of her work will enjoy this grim tale of capitalism taken to a terrifying extreme * KIRKUS on 84K *The truly scary thing about 84K is how convincing this dark, brutal class-divided Britain is * SFX (4 1/2 stars) *North demonstrates skill in creating a terrifying setting that feels rooted to the present day . . . Every aspect of life in Theo's Britain is imbued with a menace that feels both recognizable and urgent, and the decisions the characters make as a result feel uncomfortably real. * RT BOOK REVIEWS on 84K *One of the most distinct and compelling SF novels of the year thus far * THE TORONTO STAR on 84K *It's exciting to read a genre novel that's willing to be this bold with language . . . 84K opens with a simple "what if," but it quickly develops into a structurally inventive, sharply observed thought experiment about the gradual disappearance of our basic liberties and human rights * LOCUS *A fascinating look at the decisions society is taking now * THE BOOKBAG on 84K *North's talent shines out * SUNDAY TIMES *Claire North is a true original, a master of ingenious plotting and feats of imagination * Alex Marwood, author of THE WICKED GIRLS *Claire North's writing is terrific, smart and entertaining * Patrick Ness *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Pumpkin Eater
Book Synopsis''Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater Had a wife and couldn''t keep her...''In this extraordinary, semi-autobiographical novel, Penelope Mortimer depicts a married woman''s breakdown in 1960s London. With three husbands in her past, one in her present and a numberless army of children, Mrs Armitage is astonished to find herself collapsing one day in Harrods. Strange, unsettling and shot through with black comedy, this is a moving account of one woman''s realisation that marriage and family life may not, after all, offer all the answers to the problems of living.Trade ReviewBeautiful ... almost every woman I can think of will want to read this book -- Edna O'BrienA strange, fresh, gripping book. One of the the many achievements of The Pumpkin Eater is that it somehow manages to find universal truths in what was hardly an archetypal situation: Mortimer peels several layers of skin off the subjects of motherhood, marriage, and monogamy, so that what we're asked to look at is frequently red-raw and painful without being remotely self-dramatizing. In fact, there's a dreaminess to some of the prose that is particularly impressive, considering the tumult that the book describes -- Nick HornbyMortimer's style, spare and singular, cuts through the decades like a scalpel ... Will Penguin's new edition of The Pumpkin Eater encourage people to look again at Mortimer? I hope so. She is so good. I can't think of a writer more attentive to emotional weather -- Rachel Cooke * The Observer *One of those novels which seem to be written with real knowledge of the brink of the abyss, taut almost beyond endurance * The Sunday Times *A seriously good writer * Telegraph *A subtle, fascinating, unhackneyed novel... in touch with human realities and frailties, unsentimental and amused... So moving, so funny, so desperate, so alive... [A] fine book, and one to be greatly enjoyed * The New York Times *In this, her best book, Mortimer employs a steely, sceptical firm-eyed prose, which pays readers the compliment of regarding them almost as collaborators * Guardian *The themes in this short novel are timeless. There are lessons here for us all * The Times *
£9.49
Cornerstone The Sixth Watch
Book SynopsisThe newest instalment in the phenomenal Night Watch series.The streets of Moscow aren't safe. Vampires are attacking innocent people, and the names of the victims are spelling out a message: ANTON GORODETSKY. Higher Light Magician Anton is one of the Others, possessed of magical powers and able to enter the Twilight, a shadowy world parallel to our own. Each Other must swear allegiance to one side: either the Light, or the Dark. But who is after Anton and what do they want? Anton's investigation leads him to a Prophet, an Other with the gift of seeing the future. Her horrifying vision heralds the end of all life at the hands of an ancient threat unless Anton can reunite a mysterious organisation known only as the Sixth Watch, before it's too late.Trade ReviewLukyanenko’s vision of a bustling supernatural world that’s just out of sight is just as wryly bewitching as it ever was. * SciFi Now *A satisfying end to the series, and one that ties up a lot of loose threads. * i *Supernatural fiction doesn’t get any better than this. * CultureFly, '6 Must Read Books for Autumn' *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Dont You Forget About Me
Book SynopsisPreorder Mhairi''s new novel YOU BELONG WITH ME coming soon!?You always remember your first love. Don't you?'I loved it! So funny and warm. A delicious read' Marian Keyes'Hilarious, warm and life affirming' Jenny ColganIt began with four words.I love your laugh. x'But that was twelve years ago. It really began the day Georgina was fired from The Worst Restaurant in Sheffield ( Tripadvisor) and found The Worst Boyfriend in the World ( Georgina's best friends) in bed with someone else.So when her new boss, Lucas McCarthy, turns out to be the boy who wrote those words to her all that time ago, it feels like the start of something.The only problem? He doesn't seem to remember Georgina at allThis irresistible new book from Mhairi McFarlane is the perfect story to escape with. Compulsively readable, absolutely hilarious and deliciously romantic, you will not be able to put it down.Trade Review‘I loved it! So funny and warm – a delicious read’ Marian Keyes ‘Wildly funny and wildly romantic… Another wonderful novel from an author at the top of her game’ Louise O’Neill ‘Beautiful, funny and heartbreaking’ Giovanna Fletcher ‘Funny and heartfelt, full of humour and wisdom, I absolutely loved it’ Katie Fforde ‘Intelligent, edgy and laugh out loud funny – a romantic comedy to love’ Sunday Mirror ‘The perfect mix of comedy, whip smart dialogue and all the feels’ Fabulous ‘Mhairi gets the mix of laughs, romance and serious emotional depth just right in this page-turner that stands out from the crowd’ S Magazine ‘Hilarious, clever and beautifully written’ Daily Mail ‘Fiery, feminist, fit, filthy and very timely … astonishingly good’ Harriet Reuter Hapgood ‘A warm belly full of joy from start to finish!’ Holly Bourne ‘Mhairi’s best yet: nobody does modern love like her, hilarious, devastating and real’ Laura Kemp Praise for Mhairi McFarlane: ‘An effortlessly brilliant read – will have you laughing when you shouldn’t and sobbing when you least expect it’ Giovanna Fletcher ‘Totally hilarious and wincingly real’ Jenny Colgan ‘Her best yet – write faster!’ Holly Bourne ‘No-one writes such wry, emotionally complex romantic fiction’ RED ‘The perfect balance of romcom and drama… the ultimate holiday read!’ GRAZIA ‘Warm, nuanced, compelling’ STYLIST ‘Intelligent and insightful’ HEAT ‘Sparky, smart, sore-stomach-laughing kind of read’ FABULOUS ‘Hilarious’ HELLO
£9.49
Granta Books Water Music
Book SynopsisSet in 1795, "Water Music" is the rambunctious account of two men's wild adventures through the gutters of London and the Scottish Highlands to their unlikely meeting in darkest Africa.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Royal Wedding
Book Synopsis
£13.49
Dedalus Ltd D'Alambert's Principle
Book Synopsis
£7.99
Dedalus Ltd Book of Tobias
Book Synopsis
£7.99
Spinifex Press Feminist Fables
Book SynopsisThere was once a man who thought he could do anything, even be a woman. So he acquired a baby, changed its diapers and fed the damn thing three times a night. He did all the housework, was deferential to men, and got worn out. But he had a brother, Jack Cleverfellow, who hired a wife and got it all done.
£8.50
Everyman If On A Winter's Night A Traveller
Book SynopsisCalvino's dazzling post-modernist masterpiece combines a love story, a detective story and a sardonic dissection of the publishing industry in a scintillating allegory of reading. Based on a witty anaolgy between the reader's desire to finish the story and the lover's desire to consummate his or her passion, IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT is the tale of two bemused readers whose attempts to reach the end of same book - IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT by Italo Calvino - are constantly and comically frustrated. THE ARABIAN NIGHTS of our day
£13.49
Everyman The Leopard
A bitter-sweet tale of quiet lives in the small and apparently timeless world of mid-19th century Sicilian nobility. Through the eyes of his princely protagonist, the author chronicles the details of an aristocratic, pastoral society, torn apart by revolution, death and decay.
£15.29
Everyman Ficciones
Book SynopsisFICTIONS is perhaps the single most mysterious and extraordinary collection of short stories written this century. Influenced by writers as disparate as Lewis Carroll, Stevenson and Cervantes, Borges is nethertheless a complete original who can turn dry logical puzzles in to enchanting fables. The Pieces in this volume represent his most accomplished work.
£14.39
Bloodaxe Books Ltd Lara
Book Synopsis"Lara" is a powerful semi-autobiographical novel-in-verse based on Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo's own childhood and family history. The eponymous Lara is a mixed-race girl raised in Woolwich, a white suburb of London, during the 60s and 70s. Her father, Taiwo, is Nigerian, and her mother, Ellen, is white British. They marry in the 1950s, in spite of fierce opposition from Ellen's family, and quickly produce eight children in ten years. Lara is their fourth child and we follow her journey from restricted childhood to conflicted early adulthood, and then from London to Nigeria to Brazil as she seeks to understand herself and her ancestry. The novel travels back over 150 years, seven generations and three continents of Lara's ancestry. It is the story of Irish Catholics leaving generations of rural hardship behind and ascending to a rigid middle class in England; of German immigrants escaping poverty and seeking to build a new life in 19th century London; and of proud Yorubas enslaved in Brazil, free in colonial Nigeria and hopeful in post-war London. "Lara" explores the lives of those who leave one country in search of a better life elsewhere, but who end up struggling to be accepted even as they lay the foundations for their children and future generations. This is a new edition of Bernardine Evaristo's first novel "Lara", rewritten and expanded by a third since its first publication in 1997.Trade Review'Lara is a wonderful piece - extraordinarily beautiful - rich and evocative - fascinating in its span of time and continents. Like all the best writing, by the end I felt not only a little older, but a lot wiser' - ANDREA LEVY. 'A short, lyrical, vividly real novel-in-verse, dipping 150 years into the past to explore the family history of a British woman with a Nigerian father and English mother. It's funny, touching, informative, passionate and very easy to read. If you're tired of novels that all seem the same, this one's a complete original' - Daily Telegraph (Books of the Year). 'Adventurous, compelling and utterly original' - The Times on Bernardine Evaristo.
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Glue
Book Synopsis''Welsh is brilliant at what he does... This is his most readable and memorable novel since Trainspotting'' Independent on SundayGlue is the story of four boys growing up in the Edinburgh schemes, and about the loyalties, the experiences and the secrets that hold them together into their thirties. As we follow their lives from the 70s into the new century - from punk to techno, from speed to Es - we can see each of them trying to struggle out from under the weight of the conditioning of class and culture, peer pressure and their parents'' hopes that maybe their sons will do better than they did. What binds the four of them is the friendship formed by the scheme, their school, and their ambition to escape from both; their loyalty fused in street morality: back up your mates, don''t hit women and, most importantly, never grass - on anyone.''His most ambitious, but also his most complete and engaging work to date... arguably, his Trade ReviewWild, brave and funny * Sunday Times *Welsh is brilliant at what he does... This is his most readable and memorable novel since Trainspotting * Independent on Sunday *His most ambitious, but also his most complete and engaging work to date... arguably, his best book * Times Literary Supplement *Full of incident, mad, crackling dialogue, attractively appalling characters and some of the funniest and rudest sex scenes I have read since Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint * Sunday Times *With razor-sharp dialogue, a powerful odour of ordinary desperation and an incisive understanding of what makes these men's friendship tick, Welsh is at the top of his game * The Face *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Babbitt
Book SynopsisSinclair Lewis was an American playwright and novelist. Born in 1885, he received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1908 and published his first novel, Hike and the Aeroplane, in 1912. He published Babbitt, perhaps his most famous work, in 1922 and in 1926 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Arrowsmith but rejected it. In 1930 he was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in Rome in 1951 and his last novel World So Wide was published posthumously.Trade ReviewFull of vivid satire -- Robert McCrum * Observer *Sinclair Lewis's wonderful demolition of the venal and pusillanimous nature of commercial America, Babbitt * Scotland on Sunday *A satirical masterpiece * Sunday Times *One of the century's most perceptive writers on working life * Observer *His view of America was mordant, yet it was also unexpectedly loving; there is a tenderness in all three of these books that catches the reader unawares, and imbues them with a humanity that makes their satire all the more penetrating. * Washington Post *
£10.44
Holland Park Press The Yellow House: A Novel About Vincent van Gogh
Book SynopsisThe Yellow House paints a fictional picture of Vincent van Gogh's life between August 1888 and December 1889 when he lived in Arles in Southern France and where he created many of his masterpieces. Jeroen Blokhuis tells the story from van Gogh's point of view, from inside his mind, providing a fresh and revealing look at how this intriguing painter worked.The Vincent in this novel very much tries to fit in, but is often baffled by how people react. It is almost as if he can only express himself through his paintings, which in turn flummox the public.At this point, Van Gogh has fled from the dark sombre Netherlands of his youth, from Paris, and even from his best friend and beloved brother Theo, in search of the light, the sun of the South. The yellow house in Place Lamartine becomes his refuge but what about his hope of setting up an atelier with other painters, of making friends, and having a sense of belonging?
£10.00
Vintage Publishing To Sir With Love
Book Synopsis**A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ PICK**''A milestone in the campaign for racial equality'' GuardianIn 1945, Rick Braithwaite, a smart, highly educated ex-RAF pilot, looks for a job in British engineering. He is deeply shocked to realise that, as a black man from British Guiana, no one will employ him because of the colour of his skin. In desperation he turns to teaching, taking a job in a tough East End school, and left to govern a class of unruly teenagers. With no experience or guidance, Braithwaite attempts to instil discipline, confound prejudice and ultimately, to teach.''Moving and inspiring'' New York TimesWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CARYL PHILLIPSTrade ReviewA book that the reader devours quickly, ponders slowly, and forgets not at all-Moving and inspiring * New York Times *E.R. Braithwaite's postwar novel about a black teacher fighting to win the respect of white pupils in a school in the East End of London is a milestone in the campaign for racial equality * Guardian *It is the noblest, most moving, least sentimental account of life in a modern school and of a teacher's struggles with his pupils and with himself that I have come across -- Michael Croft * Observer *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Gate of the Sun
Book SynopsisIn a makeshift hospital in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut, Yunis, an aging Palestinian freedom fighter, lies in a coma. His spiritual son Dr Khaleel - who has no real medical qualifications - nurses the older man, refusing to admit that his hero may never regain consciousness. In an attempt to revive his patient, Khaleel, begins telling Yunis the stories of their people''s exile in Lebanon. He evokes deserted peasant villages, the suffering caused by the Lebanese civil war and the refugees'' hopes to return home with a subtle mixture of anger and compassion. Khaleel also narrates Yunis'' own extraordinary life.Interweaving many true-life tales collected throughout Lebanon and its refugee camps over the course of seven years, Elias Khoury has created a monumental and spellbinding saga.Trade ReviewBrilliant ... Elias Khoury, along with Mahmoud Darwish, is an artist giving voice to rooted exiles and trapped refugees, to dissolving boundaries and changing identities, to radical demands and new languages -- Edward SaidHe creates his very own, and very believable, newly coined mythologies...[the] result is a work of remarkable suspense... poetic and mysterious -- Nicholas Blincoe * Daily Telegraph *Gate of the Sun is an imposingly rich and realistic novel, a genuine masterwork * New York Times Book Review *The word 'brilliant' is etched across Khoury's new novel... It's a novel that will outlive us * Independent *In Gate of the Sun, a character dreams of writing a 'book without a beginning or end... an epic of the Palestinian people'... Khoury's monumental novel is in a sense that groundbreaking book * Guardian *
£11.69
Little, Brown Book Group Flawless Number 2 in series Pretty Little Liars
Book SynopsisSecond Pretty Little Liars novel about four best friends and the secrets they are trying to hide from each other. 'More glamour and intrigue than the OC' Elle
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Bright Day Dawning
Book SynopsisThe triumphant follow-up to PRIDE OF LANCASHIRE and STAR OF THE NORTH.Trade ReviewPraise for Anna Jacobs: 'Catherine Cookson fans will cheer!' * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *Anna Jacobs' books are deservedly popular. She is one of the best writers of Lancashire sagas around. * Historical Novels Review *Once again you have given us a story that has me hooked from the first page to the last. The characters are so alive that I am loath to call them characters, they are people - so real * Reader from Scotland on OUR MARY ANN *An exciting book of immensely brilliant character portrayal and a great storyline * Bangor Chronicle on OUR EVA *Another cracking read with a vivid insight into family relationships * Coventry Evening Telegraph on OUR EVA *
£8.99
Hodder & Stoughton Promises to Keep
Book SynopsisAn absorbing story of family life in its infinite variety, exploring the complex bonds between parent and child.Trade ReviewPraise for A QUESTION OF TRUST:'Alexandra Raife makes a welcome return to the close-knit, vibrant group of characters that readers have met in previous novels' * Hello *Praise for THE WAY HOME:'Absorbing' * Woman's Own *Praise for AMONG FRIENDS:'Its . . . celebration of the joys of home, hearth and family is . . . touchingly winsome.' * The Times *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Sex And The City
Book SynopsisAnd Just Like That... 25 Years of Sex and the CityTHE ORIGINAL BESTSELLING NOVELWildly funny, unexpectedly poignant, wickedly observant, SEX AND THE CITY blazes a glorious, drunken cocktail trail through New York, as Candace Bushnell, columnist and social critic par excellence, trips on her Manolo Blahnik kitten heels from the Baby Doll Lounge to the Bowery Bar. An Armistead Maupin for the real world, she has the gift of assembling a huge and irresistible cast of freaks and wonders, while remaining faithful to her hard core of friends and fans: those glamorous, rebellious, crazy single women, too close to forty, who are trying hard not to turn from the Audrey Hepburn of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY''S into the Glen Close of FATAL ATTRACTION, and are - still - looking for love.''Jane Austen with a martini'' Sunday Telegraph''The book that sparked a cultural phenomenon'' Oprah''Fascinating... hilariousTrade ReviewJane Austen with a martini * Sunday Telegraph *Hilarious... a compulsively readable book, served up in bite-sized chunks of irrepressible irreverence * Marie Claire *Fascinating... hilarious... welcome to the cruel planet that is Manhattan * Los Angeles Times *Bushnell is a deft writer, possessing a sly sense of humor and sharp insight into human behaviour * People *Bushnell's beat is that demi-monde of nightclubs, bars, restaurants and parties where the rich come into contact with the infamous, the famous with the wannabes and the publicity-hungry with the gossip-peddlers * Evening Standard *Intriguing and highly entertaining * Helen Fielding *The book that sparked a cultural phenomenon * Oprah *Bushnell is the modern flame carrier of an established literary tradition: that of American (usually New York) women writers depicting the rigid social and slackening sexual rules of a very particular American (and, again, usually New York) set through a mix of close personal knowledge and fiction... Compared with the hugely popular television series, the book is tough, unapologetic and jittery with anxiety... hilarious, hard-edged, delightful, harsh, elegant and fun * Guardian *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Homer And Langley
Book SynopsisBrilliant brothers Langley and Homer Collyer are born into bourgeois New York comfort, their home a mansion on upper Fifth Avenue, their future rosy. But before he is out of his teens Homer begins to lose his sight, Langley returns from the war with his lungs seared by gas, and when both of their parents die, they seem perilously ill-equipped to deal with the new era.As romantic Homer and eccentric Langley construct a life on the fringes of society, they hold fast to their principle of self-reliance. But they are mocked and spied on, and despite wanting nothing more than to shut out the world, the epic events of the century flow through their housebound lives as they struggle to survive and create meaning for themselves.Trade Review** 'Exquisite writing, an extraordinary story and a charmingly wry take on life and all its inconvenience * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *** 'Beguiling . . . Doctorow shows how each decade leaves a distinct thumbprint on the siblings, to the extent that one starts to regard them as an unwitting index of changing times in America at large * GUARDIAN *** 'The interweaving of the epic and the domestic makes for a fascinating read * DAILY MAIL *** 'Doctorow's work grants inner life to historical personages and revives the past in fine grained detail . . . like Doctorow's best written earlier books, Homer and Langley prompts one to question the purpose of formal punctuation, familiar spelling and * TLS *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Morality for beautiful girls
Book SynopsisThe third book in the multi-million copy bestselling No. 1 Ladies'' Detective Agency seriesThe one with the boy who might have been raised by lionsFacing financial trouble, the No. 1 Ladies'' Detective Agency is obliged to move into the same premises as Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. And on top of her domestic complications with her fiancé Mr J. L. B. Matekoni and his adopted children, Motholeli and Puso, Mma Ramotswe faces several challenging cases. These include some unattractive behaviour among the contestants in a beauty pageant, and the perplexing discovery of a boy running wild, who smells of lion...''Charming, delightful, feel-good stuff'' Daily Express''Unalloyed pleasure'' Sunday Telegraph''Charming'' Scotland on Sunday''One of the most entrancing treats of many a year'' Wall Street JournalTrade ReviewCharming, delightful, feel-good stuff * Daily Express *One of the most entrancing treats of many a year * Wall Street Journal *Unalloyed pleasure * Sunday Telegraph *
£9.49
Random House USA Inc A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Taking place nearly a century before the events of A Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms compiles the first three official prequel novellas to George R. R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A Song of Ice and Fire. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LOS ANGELES TIMES AND BUZZFEED These never-before-collected adventures recount an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living consciousness. Before Tyrion Lannister and Podrick Payne, there was Dunk and Egg. A young, naïve but ultimately courageous hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall towers above his rivals—in stature if not experience. Tagging along is his diminutive squire, a boy called Egg—whose true name is hidden from all he and Dunk encounter. Though more improbable heroes may not be found in all of Westeros, great destinies lay ahead for these two . . . as do powerful foes, royal intrigue, and outrageous exploits. Featuring more than 160 all-new illustrations by Gary Gianni, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a must-have collection that proves chivalry isn’t dead—yet.Praise for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms “Readers who already love Martin and his ability to bring visceral human drama out of any story will be thrilled to find this trilogy brought together and injected with extra life.”—Booklist “The real reason to check out this collection is that it’s simply great storytelling. Martin crafts a living, breathing world in a way few authors can. . . . [Gianni’s illustrations] really bring the events of the novellas to life in beautiful fashion.”—Tech Times“Stirring . . . As Tolkien has his Silmarillion, so [George R. R.] Martin has this trilogy of foundational tales. They succeed on their own, but in addition, they succeed in making fans want more.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Pure fantasy adventure, with two of the most likable protagonists George R. R. Martin has ever penned.”—Bustle “A must-read for Martin’s legion of fans . . . a rousing prelude to [his] bestselling Song of Ice and Fire saga . . . rich in human drama and the colorful worldbuilding that distinguishes other books in the series.”—Publishers Weekly
£21.50
Random House USA Inc Darksiders The Abomination Vault
Book SynopsisRide with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse as they seek to unearth a plot that could plunge all of Creation into chaos! Ages before the events of Darksiders and Darksiders II, two of the feared Horsemen—Death and War—are tasked with stopping a group of renegades from locating the Abomination Vault: a hoard containing weapons of ultimate power and malice, capable of bringing an end to the uneasy truce between Heaven and Hell . . . but only by unleashing total destruction. Created in close collaboration with the Darksiders II teams at Vigil and THQ, Darksiders: The Abomination Vault gives an exciting look at the history and world of the Horsemen, shining a new light on the unbreakable bond between War and Death.
£12.59
Old Street Publishing Jamaica
Book Synopsis
£7.99
Little, Brown Book Group California
Book SynopsisThe highly acclaimed, instant New York Times bestseller that ''[gives] expression to a generational anxiety about the near future, one rooted in the threat of environmental crisis...The experience of reading California brings validation to anyone who sits upright in the middle of the night struck with the instability of the human project on this planet: others are awake, too'' GuardianThe sunshine state lies in darkness.Los Angeles is in ruins, left to the angels now.And the world Cal and Frida have always known is gone.Cal and Frida have left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can''t reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in one other. But the tentative existence they''ve built for themselves is tTrade ReviewImaginative, inventive and beautifully written, California is both a shocking and engrossing read -- Rosamund Lupton, bestselling author of SisterThis bestselling debut, with shades of 1984 and The Road thrusts an ordinary American couple into a frightening future.. . . powerful and creepy . . . Lepucki has given expression to a generational anxiety about the near future, one rooted in the threat of environmental crisis and the loss of meaningful cultural institutions (including the printed book). The experience of reading California brings validation to anyone who sits upright in the middle of the night struck with the instability of the human project on this planet: others are awake, too. And a lot of us are reading California. * Amity Gaige, Folio prize-shortlisted author of Schroder, Guardian *Atwood-esque . . . literary and elegant in a smooth, unforced way, with that droll sense of humour and a relentlessly clear eye . . . very, very good * Belfast Telegraph *Breathtakingly original, fearless and inventive, pitch perfect in its portrayal of the intimacies and tiny betrayals of marriage, so utterly gripping it demands to be read in one sitting: Edan Lepucki's California is the novel you have been waiting for, the novel that perfectly captures the hopes and anxieties of contemporary America. This is a novel that resonates on every level, a novel that stays with you for a lifetime. Read it now -- Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger YearEdan Lepucki's electrifying debut novel California has everything you want from a great pool-side read. Gripping and provocative . . . You won't be able to put it down * Irish Tatler *In her arresting debut novel, Edan Lepucki conjures a lush, intricate, deeply disturbing vision of the future, then masterfully exploits its dramatic possibilities -- Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon SquadAn expansive, full-bodied and masterful narrative of humans caught in the most extreme situations, with all of our virtues and failings on full display: courage, cowardice, trust, betrayal, honor and expedience. The final eighty pages of this book gripped me as much as any fictional denouement I've encountered in recent years . . . I firmly believe that Edan Lepucki is on the cusp of a long, strong career in American letters -- Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime WalkThis thrilling and thoughtful debut novel by Edan Lepucki follows a young married couple navigating dangers both physical and emotional in a wild, mysterious post-collapse America. It's a vivid, believable picture of a not-so-distant future and the timeless negotiation of young marriage, handled with suspense and psychological acuity -- Janet Fitch, author of Paint it BlackIt's tempting to call this novel post-apocalyptic, but really, it's about an apocalypse in progress, an apocalypse that might already be happening, one that doesn't so much break life into before and after as unravel it bit by bit. Edan Lepucki tells her tale with preternatural clarity and total believability, in large part by focusing on the relationships -- between husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child -- that are, it turns out, apocalypse-proof. Post-nothing. California is timeless -- Robin Sloan, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour BookstoreThere's been no shortage of apocalyptic scenarios in our recent literature. What makes Edan Lepucki's novel so stunning is that her survivors don't merely resemble us, they are us, in their emotional particularity and dilemmas. The result is a book as terse and terrifying as the best of Shirley Jackson, on the one hand, and as clear-eyed and profound a portrait of a marriage as Evan Connell's Mrs. Bridge, on the other. California is superb -- Matthew Specktor, author of American Dream MachineStunning and brilliant novel, which is a wholly original take on the post-apocalypse genre, an end-of-the-world we've never seen before and yet is uncomfortably believable and recognizable. By turns funny and heartbreaking, scary and tender, beautifully written and compulsively page-turning, this is a book that will haunt me, and that I'll be thankful to return to in the years to come. It left me speechless. Read it, and prepare yourself -- Dan Chaon, author of Await Your ReplyCalifornia is a wonder: a big, gripping and inventive story built on quiet, precise human moments. Edan Lepucki's eerie near future is vividly and persuasively imagined. She is a fierce new presence in American fiction -- Dana Spiotta, author of Stone ArabiaIn her remarkable debut California, Edan Lepucki has conjured a post-apocalyptic vision that is honest, frightening, and altogether too realistic. At times disturbing and often heartbreaking, California is an original examination of the limitations of family and loyalty in a world on the verge of collapse -- Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation StreetEdan Lepucki is the very best kind of writer: simultaneously generous and precise. I am long been an admirer of her prose, but this book---this book, this massive, brilliant book---is a four alarm fire, the ambitious and rich introduction that a writer of her caliber deserves. I can't wait for the world to know what I have known for so many years, that Edan Lepucki is the real thing, and that we will all be bowing at her feet before long -- Emma Straub, author of Laura Lamont's Life in PicturesLepucki's first novel elegantly adds to a canon of dystopian fiction wiht a fresh examination of prejudice, ethics, technology, and relationships' * Manchester Evening News *Compulsively page turning, you may not come out of the basement until you finish it, or the world ends * Yen *a timely reminder of what could so easily happen if climate change and wealth divisions continue to be ignored. * Adelaide Advertiser *Lepucki imbues her post-apocalyptic tale with elements of a Greek tragedy to show how vulnerable our notions of civilisation can be * Weekend West *Lepucki's sure control of language and occasional flashes of humour... the fantastical elements provide a symbolic language with which to satirise and explore elements of contemporary society * Weekend Australian *Lepucki weaves an engrossing story of loss, hope and the inability of people to leave behind their destructive traits * Hyper *What makes Lepucki's vision so unsettling is its total plausibility...California has contemporary American politics clearly in its sights. -- Patrick Flanery * Times Literary Supplement *
£9.74
Little, Brown Book Group Live by Night
Book SynopsisJoe Coughlin is nineteen when he meets Emma Gould. A smalltime thief in 1920s Boston, he is told to cuff her while his accomplices raid the casino she works for. But Joe falls in love with Emma - and his life changes for ever.That meeting is the beginning of Joe''s journey to becoming one of the nation''s most feared and respected gangsters. It is a journey beset by violence, double-crossing, drama and pain. And it is a journey into the soul of prohibition-era America...A powerful, deeply moving novel, Live By Night is a tour-de-force by Dennis Lehane, writer on The Wire and author of modern classics such as Shutter Island, Gone, Baby, Gone and The Given Day.Trade ReviewSo beautifully written and so sharp in its details and atmosphere that it's no wonder Lehane's books attract filmmakers with such ease * Irish Voice *Lehane's thrillers mix viscerally violent excitement with a thorough airing of ethical dilemmas * Daily Telegraph *Lehane is one of the great contemporary American crime writers * Daily Mail *Dennis Lehane's speciality is the fast-paced gangster thriller that's also a deeply felt novel. His latest, about a Boston criminal, doesn't disappoint on either count... I guarantee that all you'll be able to do is keep on turning the pages. The prose crackles with Chandleresque jokes, the narrative never flags and there's even a genuinely heart-stopping love story. In addition to all that, the book beautifully evokes the entire era of early Thirties Prohibition America * Readers' Digest *This is a book that should put [Lehane's] name right up there where it belongs, right up there alongside Doctorow and Dreiser * Scotland on Sunday *This is noir with added value: Lehane is terrific on family ties and at conveying the buzz of a city powered by immigrant labour of often dubious legality * Guardian *History is merely a backdrop in a story that seeks just to be exciting, sexy and atmospheric. The author's trademark combination of dark deeds, graceful pose and sassy dialogue ensures it succeeds * Sunday Times *Lehane's tough, muscular prose captures the era well; and his dialogue brings to life the inhabitants of its underworld * Spectator *This is not just brilliant period crime writing, but brilliant writing full stop * Independent *The crime writer's crime writer; with a spare, stark edge to his work that lifts it into the truly great clas . . . The gangster world is superbly evoked and the story is as tight and powerful as the trigger on a Thompson sub-machine * Daily Mail *Sophisticated, literary and barbed enough... it makes this book a sentence-by-sentence pleasure. You are in the hands of an expert. And you'll know it * Scotsman *Exciting, sexy and atmospheric. Lehane's combination of dark deeds, graceful prose and sassy dialogue ensures it succeeds * Sunday Times *
£8.99
Little, Brown Book Group BrownEyed Girl
Book SynopsisThe Travis series concludes with the fourth installment from award-wining author Lisa Kleypas.Wedding planner Avery Crosslin may be a rising star in Houston society, but she doesn''t believe in love-at least not for herself. When she meets wealthy bachelor Joe Travis and mistakes him for a wedding photographer, she has no intention of letting him sweep her off her feet. But Joe is a man who goes after what he wants, and Avery can''t resist the temptation of a sexy southern charmer and a hot summer evening.After a one night stand, however, Avery is determined to keep it from happening again. A man like Joe can only mean trouble for a woman like her, and she can''t afford distractions. She''s been hired to plan the wedding of the year-a make-or-break event. But complications start piling up fast, putting the wedding in jeopardy, especially when shocking secrets of the bride come to light. And as Joe makes it clear that he''s not going to give up eTrade ReviewShe's created interesting, spiky female characters who are all the more engaging because of their toughness. It's a proper romp that you'll finish in a day - Daily MailShe's definitely up there with Marian Keyes and Cecilia Ahern - York Evening PressA truly talented storyteller - Publishers WeeklyBoth heart-breaking and heart-warming, this story really does have it all . . . You can't go wrong with Kleypas for a rewarding and deeply satisfying read. This is one of her best yet - RT Book ReviewsKleypas is a gifted storyteller, and in Crystal Cove she brings us a hint of the supernatural to add sparks and sparkle to a beguiling love story which packs in some complex relationships and passion-fuelled surprises. Love with a deliciously dark twist . . . - Lancashire Evening PostA really engaging romance, definitely sexier than the previous instalments and the hero and heroine have quite a bit of spark . . . A great series about friendships, love and a little bit of magic - Book Chick CityIf you like easy-to-read stories with an American flavour, you'll enjoy this. - Daily Mail
£10.44
