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 A Visit from the Goon Squad
Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE WINNER • With music pulsing on every page, this startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption “features characters about whom you come to care deeply as you watch them doing things they shouldn't, acting gloriously, infuriatingly human” (The Chicago Tribune).One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century • A Los Angeles Times Best Fiction Book of the Last 30 YearsBennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs. “Pitch perfect . . . Darkly, rippingly funny . . . Egan possesses a satirist’s eye and a romance novelist’s heart.”—The New York Times Book Review
£31.50
Random House USA Inc Please Look After Mom
Book Synopsis
£13.30
HarperCollins Down And Out In Paris And London
Book SynopsisFrom the author of 1984, the classic semi-autobiographical story about the adventures of a penniless British writer in two cities.Down and Out in Paris and London follows the journey of a writer among the down-and-out in two great cities.
£12.83
Cengage Learning, Inc Orlando a Biography
Book Synopsis
£14.24
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Old Yeller
Book Synopsis
£20.70
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Duino Elegies The Sonnets to Orpheus A
Book SynopsisAvailable for the first time in a single volume, Ranier Maria Rilke’s two most beloved sequences of poems rendered by his most faithful translator. Rilke is unquestionably the twentieth century’s most significant and compelling poet of romantic transformation and spiritual quest. His poems of ecstatic identification with the world exert perennial fascination. In Stephen Mitchell’s versions of Rilke’s two greatest masterpieces readers will discover an English rendering that captures the lyric intensity, fluency, and reach of his poetry. Stephen Mitchell adheres impeccably to Rilke’s text, to his formal music, and to the complexity of his thought; at the same time, Mitchell’s work has authority and power as poetry in its own right.
£12.59
Faber & Faber The Blind Mans Garden
Book SynopsisLove is not consolation, it is light.''From the author of Maps for Lost Lovers comes a searing, exquisitely written novel set in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the months following 9/11 - a story of war, of one family''s losses, and of the simplest, most enduring human impulses.Jeo and Mikal, foster-brothers from a small Pakistani city, secretly enter Afghanistan: not to fight with the Taliban, but to help and care for wounded civilians. But it soon becomes apparent that good intentions can''t keep them out of harm''s way...From the wilds of Afghanistan to the heart of the family left behind - their blind father haunted for years by the death of his wife, by the mistakes he may have made in the name of Islam and nationhood, Jeo''s steadfast wife and her superstitious mother - Aslam''s prose takes us on an extraordinary journey.
£7.59
Faber & Faber Seven Types of Ambiguity
Book SynopsisAt once a psychological thriller and a social critique, Seven Types of Ambiguity is a novel of obsessive love in an age of obsessive materialism.Following years of unrequited love, an out-of-work schoolteacher decides to take matters into his own hands, triggering a chain of events no one could have anticipated.This is a story of impulse and paralysis, of empty marriages, lovers and a small boy, gambling and the market, of adult children and their parents, of poetry and prostitution, psychiatry and the law.Published to huge acclaim in the author''s native Australia, Seven Types of Ambiguity was hailed as ''a tour de force'' (The Age) and described as ''Perlman''s achingly humane, richly layered and seamlessly constructed masterpiece'' (Canberra Times).Trade Review"'A complex and perfectly nuanced study of idealised love turned sour.' Daily Mail; 'Perlman's novel is a colossal achievement' Observer; 'Seven Types of Ambiguity shows Elliot Perlman to be Australia's outstanding social novelist' TLS"
£10.44
Samuel French Inc Dead Mans Cell Phone
Book SynopsisDramatic Comedy / 2m, 4f / Unit Set An incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet cafe. A stranger at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man-with a lot of loose ends. So begins Dead Man's Cell Phone, a wildly imaginative new comedy by MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist, Sarah Ruhl, author of The Clean House and Eurydice. A work about how we memorialize the dead-and how that remembering changes us-it is the odyssey of a woman forced to confront her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world. Satire is her oxygen...In her new oddball comedy, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Sarah Ruhl is forever vital in her lyrical and biting takes on how we behave. - The Washington Post Ruhl's zany probe of the razor-thin line between life and death delivers a fresh and humorous look at the times we live in. - Variety [Ruhl] tackles big ideas with a voice that entertains - NPR ...beguiling new comedy...Ms. Ruhl's wo
£10.99
Penguin Books Ltd Honour
Book SynopsisFrom Booker-shortlisted author Elif Shafak, Honour is a gripping tale of love, betrayal and clashing cultures.''My mother died twice. I promised myself I would not let her story be forgotten''Pembe and Adem Toprak leave Turkey for London. There they make new lives for their family. Yet the traditions and beliefs of their home come with them - carried in the blood of their children, Iskender and Esma. Trapped by past mistakes, the Toprak children find their lives torn apart and transformed by a brutal and chilling crime.Set in Turkey and London in the 1970s, Honour explores pain and loss, loyalty and betrayal, the clash of tradition and modernity, as well as the love and heartbreak that can tear any family apart.''One of the best writers in the world today'' Hanif Kureishi''Vivid storytelling... that explores the darkest aspects of faith and love'' Sunday Telegraph *** ELIF SHAFAK''S NTrade ReviewA powerful book; thoughtful, provoking and compassionate * Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat *Fascinating and gripping - a wonderful novel * Rosamund Lupton, author of Sister *Elif Shafak has woven with masterful care and compassion one immigrant family's heartbreaking story - a story nurtured in the terrible silences between men and women * Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress *Honour is a powerful tale of family connection and heartbreak, offering us insight and delight in equal measure . . . an exquisite and deep rendering of the fullness of life. * Aurelie Sheehan, author of The Anxiety of Everyday Objects *[Elif Shafak] joins writers such as Hanif Kureishi, Zadie Smith, Monica Ali, Aamer Hussein, Andrea Levy, Hanan al-Shakyh and Leila Aboulela, who offer us fictional glimpses of London's Others * The Independent *An honour killing is at the centre of this stunning novel . . . Exotic, evocative and utterly gripping * The Times *Lushly and memorably magic-realist . . . This is an extraordinarily skilfully crafted and ambitious narrative * The Independent *Shafak treats an important, absorbing subject in a fast-paced, internationally familiar style that will make it accessible to a wide readership * Sunday Times *Compelling -- Mariella Frostrup
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Perfume
Book SynopsisPatrick Süskind''s Perfume is a classic novel of death and sensuality in Paris, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time. ''In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name has been forgotten today, it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immorality, or, more succinctly, wickedness, but because his gifts and his sole ambition were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history: to the fleeting realm of scent . . .''''An astonishing tour de force both in concept and execution'' Guardian''A fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity ... Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth reading'' Literary Review''A meditation on the nature of death, desire and decay ... a remarkable début'' Peter Ackroyd, The New York Times Book Review''Unlike anything else one has read. A phenomenon ... Everyone seems to want to get a whiff of this strange perfume, which will remain unique in contemporary literature'' Figaro''An ingenious and totally absorbing fantasy'' Daily Telegraph''Witty, stylish and ferociously absorbing'' Observer
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Our Kind of Traitor
Book SynopsisIn John le Carré''s electrifying novel Our Kind of Traitor, innocents abroad are drawn into the darkest recesses of the financial world.Britain is in the depths of recession. A left-leaning young Oxford academic and his barrister girlfriend take an off-peak holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua. By seeming chance they bump into a Russian millionaire called Dima who owns a peninsula and a diamond-encrusted gold watch. He also has a tattoo on his right thumb, and wants a game of tennis.What else he wants propels the young lovers on a tortuous journey through Paris to a safe house in the Swiss Alps, to the murkiest cloisters of the City of London and its unholy alliance with Britain''s Intelligence Establishment.''If you want to know about the state of Britain today, forget the Booker shortlist. Just read John le Carré''s latest thriller'' Evening Standard''Few recent plays have had dialogue as good, and few recent literary novels can boast a set of characters so vividly imagined. Our Kind of Traitor is a teasing, beguiling, masterly performance'' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewA remarkable book by the master. Reading it is a great experience -- Henning Mankell * Daily Telegraph *A compelling tale of deceit, dialogue and the author's own despair . . . This is a story with frenzy at its heart -- James Naughtie * Daily Telegraph *John le Carré's bullet train of a new thriller is part vintage John le Carré and part Alfred Hitchcock . . . The author's most thrilling thriller in years * The New York Times *If you want to know about the state of Britain today, forget the Booker shortlist. Just read John le Carré's latest thriller * Evening Standard *Few recent plays have had dialogue as good, and few recent literary novels can boast a set of characters so vividly imagined. Our Kind of Traitor is a teasing, beguiling, masterly performance * Sunday Times *A compelling tale of deceit, dialogue and the author's own despair John le Carré's greatest gift may be his ear, which allows him to pick up a tremor of fear in the softest voice or a false note in any exchange of words and play with them to his heart's content. He can therefore create, in dialogue, a trembling soundscape that has a pitch-perfect quality * Sunday Telegraph *Chilling and astute . . . In Our Kind of Traitor, there is not a hair out of place . . . le Carré has done it again for our nasty new age * The Times *
£8.99
Penguin Books Ltd The House of Sleep Jonathan Coe
Book SynopsisThe House of Sleep - Jonathan Coe''s comic tale of love and obsessionSarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams so vivid she mistakes them for real events; Robert has his life changed for ever by the misunderstandings arising from her condition; Terry, the insomniac, spends his wakeful nights fuelling his obsession with movies; and the increasingly unstable Dr Gregory Dudden sees sleep as a life-shortening disease which must be eradicated. . .A group of students sharing a house. They fall in and out of love, they drift apart. Yet a decade later they are drawn back together by a series of coincidences involving their obsession with sleep - and each other. . . Winner of the 1998 Prix Médicis Étranger, The House of Sleep is an intensely moving and frequently hilarious novel about love, obsession and sleep.''Moving, clever, pleasurable, smart...one of the best books of the year'' Malcolm Bradbury, The Times''There are bits that mak
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Closed Circle
Book SynopsisDiscover bestselling author Jonathan Coe''s hilarious sequel to The Rotters'' Club!It''s the end of the century and Benjamin Trotter and friends are all grown up. Life is a ceaseless whirl of jobs, marriages, kids - and self-inflicted angst. Despite the shiny optimism of Blair''s Britain, youthful hopes and dreams feel betrayed. Is the Government (and by extension Benjamin''s MP brother Paul) to blame? Or are the ''rotters'' themselves - only passingly faithful to their dreams - really at fault? The Closed Circle depicts a group of former school friends as older, wiser and disillusioned in Blair''s Britain at the turn of the millennium, proving that the present can never truly be disentangled from the past.THE STORY CONTINUES IN MIDDLE ENGLAND.__________ ''Terrific. An incisive portrait of Britain at the turn of the century'' Spectator ''Coe''s finest achievement since What a Carve up!'' Time Out ''Popular fiction at its best'' Daily MailWritten with his signature wit, Jonathan Coe''s unmissable new novel, The Proof of My Innocence, is available to order now!
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Elizabeth is Missing
Book SynopsisTHE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE MAJOR BBC DRAMA STARRING BAFTA AWARD-WINNING ACTRESS GLENDA JACKSON How do you solve a mystery when you can''t remember the clues?Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn''t remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger.But there''s one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it.Because somewhere in Maud''s damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about.Everyone, except Maud . . .''A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel, I read it at a gulp'' Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel''Elizabeth Is Missing will stir and shake you: the most likeably unreliable of narrators, real mystery at its compassionate core...'' Emma Donoghue, author of Room''Resembling a version of Memento written by Alan Bennett'' Daily Telegraph''One of those mythical beasts, the book you cannot put down'' Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters Club''Every bit as compelling as the frenzied hype suggests. Gripping, haunting'' ObserverTrade ReviewThe novel is both a gripping detective yarn and a haunting depiction of mental illness, but also more poignant and blackly comic than you might expect from that description... perhaps Healey's greatest achievement is the flawless voice she creates for Maud. * The Observer *A compelling mystery that capture the experience of Maud, a highly memorable elderly woman losing her memory * Sunday Express *Riveting psychological thriller * Stylist's Best Books of 2014 *A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel, I read it at a gulp -- Deborah Moggach
£9.49
Random House USA Inc The Woman in Black
Book Synopsis
£13.60
Faber & Faber A Pagan Place
Book SynopsisFrom the iconic author of The Country Girls trilogy, a modern Irish coming-of-age classic.''The taboo-breaking, the fabulous prose there''s no one like Edna O''Brien.'' Anne Enright''Novels of heart-breaking empathy, rigorous honesty and peerless beauty.'' Eimear McBride''A profound intelligence spurred on by a tangible, fizzing joy.'' Megan Nolan''Brilliant and brave.'' Ann Patchett ''Glittering energy.'' Colm TóibínAfter leaving for a religious community in Belgium, a young woman becomes lost in memories of her childhood in rural Ireland, reflecting on the rituals of village life, the people she encountered, the enchanting beauty of the landscape, the concept of home - and the shocking event that led to her departure ...
£10.44
Penguin Putnam Inc If I Built a Car
Book Synopsis
£16.19
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Last Anniversary
Book Synopsis
£17.09
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Women
Book Synopsis“The Walt Whitman of Los Angeles.”—Joyce Carol Oates, bestselling author“He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels.”—Leonard Cohen, songwriterLow-life writer and unrepentant alcoholic Henry Chinaski was born to survive. After decades of slacking off at low-paying dead-end jobs, blowing his cash on booze and women, and scrimping by in flea-bitten apartments, Chinaski sees his poetic star rising at last. Now, at fifty, he is reveling in his sudden rock-star life, running three hundred hangovers a year, and maintaining a sex life that would cripple Casanova.With all of Charles Bukowski''s trademark humor and gritty, dark honesty, Women, the 1978 follow-up to Post Office and Factotum, is an uncompromising account of life on the edge.
£12.59
Cengage Learning, Inc Death with Interruptions
Book SynopsisNobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago's brilliant novel poses the question—what happens when the grim reaper decides there will be no more death? On the first day of the new year, no one dies. This of course causes consternation among politicians, religious leaders, morticians, and doctors. Among the general public, on the other hand, there is initially celebration—flags are hung out on balconies, people dance in the streets. They have achieved the great goal of humanity: eternal life. Then reality hits home—families are left to care for the permanently dying, life-insurance policies become meaningless, and funeral parlors are reduced to arranging burials for pet dogs, cats, hamsters, and parrots. Death sits in her chilly apartment, where she lives alone with scythe and filing cabinets, and contemplates her experiment: What if no one ever died again? What if she, death with a small d, became human and were to fall in love?
£15.19
Cengage Learning, Inc Regulus Latin
Book Synopsis
£10.16
Faber & Faber Golden Hill
Book Synopsis** Cahokia Jazz, the new novel from Francis Spufford, is available for preorder now. ** ''Best book of the century.'' Richard Osman''Just wonderful.'' Jan Morris''A marvel.'' Zadie Smith ''Every bit as superb as everyone says.'' Sarah PerryWinner of the Costa First Novel Award 2016Winner of the RSL Ondaatje Prize 2017Winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize 2017Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2017Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2017Shortlisted for the Authors'' Club Best First Novel Award 2017Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Debut Novel of the Year 2017A SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 NOVEL OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURYNew York, a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island, 1746. One rainy evening, a charming and handsome young stranger fresh off the boat from England pitches up to a countin
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Eleven Minutes
Book Synopsis“The book casts a curiously sweet spell.” - Entertainment WeeklyEleven Minutes tells the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer.” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune, yet ends up working as a prostitute.In Geneva, Maria’s despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria must choose between pursuing a path of darkness—sexual pleasure for its own sake—or risking everything to find her own inner light and the possibility of true love.
£8.09
Transworld Publishers Ltd Remember Me
Book SynopsisThe hilarious romantic comedy from NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR Sophie KinsellaLexi wakes up in a hospital bed after a car accident, thinking she''s twenty-five with crooked teeth and a disastrous love life. But, to her disbelief, she learns it''s actually three years later - she''s a super-toned twenty-eight-year-old, her teeth are straight, she''s the boss of her department - and she''s married to a good-looking millionaire! She can''t believe her luck - especially when she sees her stunning new loft apartment. And she''ll definitely have a fantastic marriage once she gets to know her husband again. He''s drawn up a ''marriage manual'', which should help.But soon she realises her perfect life isn''t all it seems. All her old friends hate her. A rival is after her job. Then a dishevelled, sexy guy turns up... and lands a new bombshell. What the **** happened to her? Will she ever remember? And what will happen if she does?***** Trade Review"Sophie Kinsella returns with another cracker...A page-turner by arguably the best pop-fiction novelist" MAIL ON SUNDAY "A gripping romantic read - we loved it!" COSMOPOLITAN "A superb tale *****" HEAT "A deliciously intriguing and hilarious novel that will have you hooked til the end" EVE "If easy-to-read girly humour is your bag, Kinsella certainly ticks the right boxes." -- Helen Bonthrone SHE magazine
£9.49
HarperOne By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept
Book Synopsis
£8.09
Faber & Faber The Lesser Bohemians
Book SynopsisAN IRISH TIMES TOP 100 BEST IRISH BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURYWINNER OF THE JAMES TAIT BLACK MEMORIAL PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZEThe vibrant energy of 1990s London. A year of passion and discovery. The anxiety and intensity of new love.An eighteen-year-old Irish girl arrives in London to study drama and falls violently in love with an older actor. While she is naive and thrilled by life in the big city, he is haunted by demons. The clamorous relationship that ensues risks undoing them both. At once epic and exquisitely intimate, The Lesser Bohemians is a celebration of the dark and the light in love.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Border Town
Book SynopsisThe granddaughter of a poor ferryman, Cuicui grows up in Chadong, a small town in China's exotic southwestern frontier, where she is sheltered from the warlord fighting that was prevalent in China in the 1920s. She's caught up in the spell of the local custom of nighttime serenades, but she is also haunted by her grandfather's imminent death.
£8.99
Random House USA Inc The Decay of the Angel
Book SynopsisThe final installment of the masterful tetralogy, The Sea of Fertility, finds Shigekuni Honda an elderly wealthy man in the 1960s, adopting a teenage orphan whom he is convinced is the reincarnation of his childhood friend. • One of the best final scenes in the history of the novel.” —David Mitchell, The New York Times Book Review Honda, now an aged and wealthy man, once more encounters a person he believes to be a reincarnation of his friend, Kiyoaki Matsugae—this time restored to life as a teenage orphan, Tōru. Adopting the boy as his heir, Honda quickly finds that Tōru is a force to be reckoned with. The final novel of this celebrated tetralogy weaves together the dominant themes of the previous three novels in the series: the decay of Japan’s courtly tradition; the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics; and, underlying all, Mishima’s apocalyptic vision of the modern era.
£13.60
Random House USA Inc Pnin
Book SynopsisOne of the best-loved of Nabokov’s novels, Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending character. Serialized in The New Yorker and published in book form in 1957, Pnin brought Nabokov both his first National Book Award nomination and hitherto unprecedented popularity.“Fun and satire are just the beginning of the rewards of this novel. Generous, bewildered Pnin, that most kindly and impractical of men, wins our affection and respect.” —Chicago TribuneProfessor Timofey Pnin is a haplessly disoriented Russian émigré precariously employed on an American college campus in the 1950s. Pnin struggles to maintain his dignity through a series of comic and sad misunder-standings, all the while falling victim both to subtle academic conspiracies and to the manipulations of a deliberately unreliable narrator.Initially an almost grotesquely comic figure, Pnin gradually grows in stature b
£14.00
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Love Medicine
Book Synopsis
£12.74
Severn House Publishers Ltd By Courage Endured
Book Synopsis
£14.99
Little, Brown Book Group Killing Monica
Book SynopsisIn Killing Monica Bushnell spoofs and skewers her way through pop culture, celebrity worship, fame and even the meaning of life itself, when a famous writer must resort to faking her own death in order to get her life back from her most infamous creation - Monica. With her trademark humour and style, Killing Monica is Bushnell''s sharpest, funniest book to date.This is Bushnell at her best - full of mordant wit, casual sex and highly conspicuous consumption.Trade ReviewFull to the brim with scandal . . . Bushnell's trademark sharp humour makes this a must-read * Essentials *Packed with her trademark wit . . . a perfect summer read * Closer *Fans of Sex and the City rejoice . . . Bushnell's wit is devastatingly dark and subversive . . . a welcome antidote to saccharine tales of finding "the one" * Heat *Fabulous * Daily Mail *One of those novels you promise you will read for half-an-hour, only to realise when you look up again that several hours have passed . . . a pacy read packed with juicy scandal and lashings of wry humour * Herald *
£9.74
John Murray Press Maisie Dobbs
Book SynopsisA favorite mystery series of Hillary Clinton (as mentioned in What Happened, The New York Times Book Review, and New York Magazine)A New York Times Notable Book of the YearAgatha Award Winner for Best First NovelMacavity Award Winner for Best First NovelAlex Award WinnerFiercely independent Maisie Dobbs has recently set herself up as a private detective. Such a move may not seem especially startling. But this is 1929, and Maisie is exceptional in many ways.Having started as a maid to the London aristocracy, studied her way to Cambridge and served as a nurse in the Great War, Maisie has wisdom, experience and understanding beyond her years. Little does she realise the extent to which this strength of character is soon to be tested. For her first case forces her to uncover secrets long buried, and to confront ghosts from her own past . . .''In Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear has given us a real gift'' Alexander McCall SmithTrade ReviewSue Baker's 'Quarterly Highlights' * Publishing News *'In Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear has given us a real gift. Maisie Dobbs has not been created - she has been discovered. Such people are always there amongst us, waiting for somebody like Ms. Winspear to come along and reveal them. And what a revelation it is!' * Alexander McCall Smith *It's a long time since I've read a crime novel that begins as well as Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs ... well written ... [Jacqueline Winspear] is set fair for a very bright future as a crime novelist. * Simon Brett, Daily Mail *Feisty, working-class heroine Maisie is a deliberate throwback to the sleuthettes of old-fashioned crime writing and will appeal to all those fans who pine for uncomplicated characters and a strong demarcation between good and bad. The well-plotted story, its characters and the picture of London between the wars are decidedly romantic. American readers loved it; many Brits will, too. * The Guardian *Maisie Dobbs is a welcome and unusual addition to the crowded world of literary detectives ... A very readable whodunnit * Sainsbury's Magazine *Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs is a welcome addition to the sleuthing scene. Simultaneously self-reliant and vulnerable, Maisie isn't a character I'll easily forget * Elizabeth George *Much more than just another detective story... thought-provoking * Newbooksmag *Readers sensing a story-within-a-story won't be disappointed. But first, they must prepare to be astonished at the sensitivity and wisdom with which Maisie resolves her first professional assignment * New York Times *A wry and immensely readable beginning to what promises to be a vivid new addition to crime fiction * Mail on Sunday *Even if detective stories aren't your thing, you'll love Maisie Dobbs * New Woman *The book is much more than a cosy mystery - it is also about women's growing emancipation and the profound changes to society after the First World War. * Mail on Sunday's You *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Kalahari Typing School For Men
Book SynopsisThe fourth book in the multi-million copy bestselling No. 1 Ladies'' Detective Agency seriesThe one with the rival detectiveMma Ramotswe faces the unexpected and unwelcome appearance in town of a new private detective, Mr Cephas Buthelezi. To ensure she does not lose clients to him, she takes on several cases at once, including those of an errant husband and of a man targeted by ostrich rustlers. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi has decided to set up a typing school to teach men some useful skills - but Mma Ramotswe fears her secretary is falling under the spell of a man who does not have her best interests at heart...''A glorious creation'' Mail on Sunday''Happiness and quiet wisdom'' Daily Telegraph''Sparkles with African sunshine and Mma Ramotswe''s wit'' Dallas Morning News''It''s hard to find fault with such good-natured and pleasurable optimism'' ObserverTrade ReviewMma Ramotswe's methods - and her results - are as unusual as the novels they inhabit... All this activity is much less about whodunnit than why * New York Times *McCall Smith is a careful, emblematic writer who is beyond gifted... he is a natural storyteller * The List *The hypnotic ease of McCall Smith's style makes everything clear almost instantly... Throughout the Botswana landscape is richly evoked... Happiness and quiet wisdom prevail * Daily Telegraph *Mma Ramotswe is a glorious creation, a character likely to prove every bit as enduring as Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. * Mail on Sunday *Sparkles with African sunshine and Mma Ramotswe's wit * Dallas Morning News *It's hard to find fault with such good-natured and pleasurable optimism * Observer *I can think of no author writing today so deserving of an enormous audience * New Statesman *This series' huge appeal lies in its mannerly folk wisdom and wry, gentle humor, full of wit, nuance and caring... It's an oasis in a genre that too often seems a desert of violence and inhumanity * Chicago Sun Times *As beguiling as Alexader McCall Smith's earlier books about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency... His prose is deceptively simple, with a gift for evoking the earth and sky of Africa * Seattle Times *Get your hands on one of the mysteries from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series... Each book is a thinly disguised love letter to the people and culture of Southern Africa... A great escape * Elle *Mma Ramotswe's methods - and her results - are as unusual as the novels they inhabit . . . All this activity is much less about whodunnit than why * NEW YORK TIMES *McCall Smith is a careful, emblematic writer who is beyond gifted, he is a natural storyteller. McCall Smith has once again charmed the sarongs off us * THE LIST *The hypnotic ease of McCall Smith's style makes everything clear almost instantly . . . Throughout the Botswana landscape is richly evoked. Happiness and quiet wisdom prevail. * DAILY TELEGRAPH *Mma Ramotswe is a glorious creation, a character likely to prove every bit as enduring as Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Full Cupboard Of Life
Book SynopsisThe fifth book in the multi-million copy bestselling No. 1 Ladies'' Detective Agency seriesThe one where J. L. B. Matekoni takes a great leap . . . Once again, Mma Ramotswe is asked to look into the love lives of fellow Botswanans: a rich woman has a number of suitors and wants her to investigate their motives. But to tell the truth, it is her own love life about which Precious wants answers. She has been engaged to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni for so long that she is starting to wonder if they will ever marry. His mind, though, is elsewhere - Mma Potokwani has persuaded him to perform a parachute jump for charity, and he is not happy about it at all . . .''Hugely enjoyable'' Sunday Times''Extremely funny'' Mail on Sunday''I haven''t read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time'' Sunday Telegraph''McCall Smith is a natural born storyteller'' Scotland on SundayTrade ReviewForget the library - the body is in the mud hut. An African Marple created by a Scottish law lecturer * Stephen McGinty, Sunday Times *McCall Smith's familiar tone of wry amusement permeates the narrative, as does the detective's wisdom . . . hugely enjoyable * Sunday Times *This is art that conceals art. I haven't read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time * Anthony Daniels, Sunday Telegraph *Highly amusing, intelligent and heart-warming * Scotland on Sunday *McCall Smith is a natural born storyteller, filling his prose with rhythm and repetition . . . Charming, quirky and timeless * Scotland on Sunday *Refreshing, funny and life-affirming * Geographical *Addictive... our reviewer was so entertained, she bought the rest of the series! * Marie Claire *Utterly enchanting * Chicago Sun Times *Beguiling... The author's deceptively simple prose... is as supple as ever. His gift for effortless description of dusty, sun-baked Africa is undiminished * Seattle Times *Smith's big-hearted Botswana series... allows his readers to escape into a world of simple, picturesque pleasures and upstanding virtues * New York Times Book Review *Brims with the same old-fashioned charm as its lovely predecessors... An engaging read * Entertainment Weekly *A treasure of wit and wisdom * Dallas Morning News *Delightful... The warm humanity is what brings readers back... There is a simplicity and lyricism in the language that brings out the profound importance of everyday revelations * San Francisco Chronicle *Enthralling... Mma Ramotswe is someone readers can't help but love * USA Today *The greatest mystery in this witty and charming book is whether Mma Ramotswe will succeed in getting her fiance to name a date for their long-anticipated wedding. It's hard to conceive of any reader not being just as eager to find out as she is * Wall Street Journal *Soothing... New readers can start here and enjoy a plot even more inventive than the earlier ones * People *Forget the library - the body is in the mud hut. An African Marple created by a Scottish law lecturer * Stephen McGinty, Sunday Times *McCall Smith's familiar tone of wry amusement permeates the narrative, as does the detective's wisdom . . . hugely enjoyable * Sunday Times *This is art that conceals art. I haven't read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time * Anthony Daniels, Sunday Telegraph *Highly amusing, intelligent and heart-warming * Scotland on Sunday *McCall Smith is a natural born storyteller, filling his prose with rhythm and repetition . . . Charming, quirky and timeless * Scotland on Sunday *McCall Smith's familiar tone of wry amusement permeates the narrative, as does the detective's wisdom ... hugely enjoyable. * SUNDAY TIMES *This is art that conceals art. I haven't read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time * Anthony Daniels, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Highly amusing, intelligent and heart-warming * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY *McCall Smith is a natural born storyteller, filling his prose with rhythm and repetition...Charming, quirky and timeless * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Ingenious Pain
Book Synopsis***Pre-order Andrew Miller''s new novel THE LAND IN WINTER now - coming October 2024***''ANDREW MILLER''S WRITING IS A SOURCE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT'' Hilary Mantel''ONE OF OUR MOST SKILFUL CHRONICLERS OF THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND'' Sunday TimesWinner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award''Astoundingly good''The Times''Dazzling''Observer''Timeless''SpectatorThe extraordinary prize-winning debut from Andrew Miller - a highly imaginative, atmospheric first novelAt the dawn of the Enlightenment, a man is born unable to feel pain. A source of wonder and scientific curiosity as a child, he rises through the ranks of Georgian society to become a brilliant surgeon. Yet as a human being he fails, for he can no more feel love and compassion than pain. Until, en route to St Petersburg to inoculaTrade ReviewA wild adventure through 18th-century England and Russia, medicine, madness, landscape and weather, rendered in prose of consummate beauty -- Books of the Year * Independent *A really remarkable first novel, original, powerfully written . . . Miller's narrative is gripping and his imagination extraordinary * Sunday Telegraph *Astoundingly good . . . it shines like a beacon * The Times *Timeless and thought-provoking . . . it is something very rare in modern fiction, a true work of art * Spectator *Gripping . . . a dazzling debut * Observer *Dazzling . . . Miller tackles notions of mortality and humanity to brilliant effect . . . truly wonderful * Evening Standard *An extraordinary first novel . . . one is constantly delighted with strange and vivid imagery, fresh and startling metaphors, flashes of insight, deft twists of plot and resonant variations on dominant themes . . . a mature novel of ideas soaked in the sensory detail of its turbulent times * New York Times Book Review *Exceptionally intelligent and elegant . . . remarkable for its feeling and its humane sensibility * Sunday Times *A true rarity: a debut novel which is original, memorable, engrossing and subtle * Guardian *Strange, unsettling, sad, beautiful and profound . . . the sense of period is brilliantly handled * Literary Review *More than merits comparison with the likes of Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus and Patrick Süskind's Perfume . . . a blistering debut * Time Out *The novel's evocation of the period, down to the finest detail, is thoroughly confident . . . a startling novel * Independent on Sunday *A finely wrought and provocative novel * Daily Telegraph *Impressive * Mail on Sunday *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Noble House
Book Synopsis''Breathtaking. Only terms like colossal, gigantic, titanic, unbelievable, gargantuan are properly descriptive'' Chicago TribuneOver one hundred years have passed since Dirk Struan founded Hong Kong''s oldest trading company. But now, the Noble House is in danger. As Hong Kong itself becomes the deadly playground of the CIA, the KGB and the People''s Republic of China, rival tai-pans, seeking revenge for blood feuds over a century old, gather for the kill.''Fiction for addicts . . . A book that you can get lost in for weeks. Not only is it as long as life, it''s also as rich with possibilities'' New York TimesTrade ReviewBreathtaking. Only terms like colossal, gigantic, titanic, unbelievable, gargantuan are properly descriptive * Chicago Tribune *Seethes with drama, sex, crime . . . Clavell is, as always, a matchless talespinner * Cosmopolitan *A grand drama, with the glamour, mystique and perils of the Orient . . . it has such breadth and power that at the end you will want to start at the beginning again. * Manchester Evening News *NOBLE HOUSE totally fulfils the function of a novel, taking me out of myself and transporting me into a majestic sweep of intrigue and excitement * David Niven *Fiction for addicts . . . A book that you can get lost in for weeks. Not only is it as long as life, it's also as rich with possibilities * New York Times *
£13.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Birthday Boys
Book SynopsisA Bainbridge classic
£8.99
Little, Brown Book Group Crusoes Daughter
Book SynopsisIn 1904, when she was six, Polly Flint went to live with her two holy aunts at the yellow house by the marsh - so close to the sea that it seemed to toss like a ship, so isolated that she might have been marooned on an island. And there she stayed for eighty-one years, while the century raged around her, while lamplight and Victorian order became chaos and nuclear dred. Crusoe''s Daughter, ambitious, moving and wholly original, is her story.Trade ReviewShe does fiction as it should be done, with confidence and insight -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * Observer *
£8.99
Little, Brown Book Group Donna Tartt The Goldfinch
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTIONTheo Decker, aged thirteen, is left alone in the world after surviving a catastrophe that kills his only close relative - his mother - and tears him away from everything he knows. Tormented by grief, drifting from home to home, he grows increasingly obsessed with a small, enchanting work of art which dominates his imagination and ultimately draws him, as an adult, into a much darker life than he could ever have foreseen.''A masterpiece'' The Times''Astonishing'' Guardian''Superb'' Daily Mail''A gripping page turner'' Independent on SundayTrade ReviewA glorious novel that pulls together all her remarkable storytelling talents into a rapturous, symphonic whole and reminds the reader of the immersive, stay-up-all-night pleasures of reading -- Michiko Kakutani New York Times The Goldfinch is a triumph ... Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction -- Stephen King New York Times An astonishing achievement ... if anyone has lost their love of storytelling, The Goldfinch will most certainly return it to them. The last few pages of the novel take all the serious, big, complicated ideas beneath the surface and hold them up to the light Guardian A modern epic and an old-fashioned pilgrimage...Dickens with guns, Dostoevsky with pills, Tolstoy with antiques. And if it doesn't gain Tartt entry to the mostly boys' club that is The Great American Novel, to drink with life-members John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth et al, then we should close down the joint and open up another for the Great Global Novel - for that is what this is -- Alex O'Connell The Times
£11.69
Little, Brown Book Group The Forever Girl
Book SynopsisClover has loved James for as long as she can remember, since before she knew what what love was. But fate seems determined to keep them apart. As children, Clover and James played beside a turquoise sea under cloudless skies, their Caribbean island home a place of pleasure and privilege, of lush lawns and tennis parties. In such a paradise nothing should obstruct the kind of happiness Clover dreams of, except that, as she discovers, true love is often harder than paradise allows for. And when Clover''s mother falls out of love with her husband, a web of complications is woven that may take Clover a lifetime to unravel. If she ever can . . . Tender and true, The Forever Girl traces love''s unpredictable path to maturity with style, wit and feeling.Trade ReviewHis most surprising book yet . . . Smith's writing has charm and wisdom, and Clover's quest for her beloved is gorgeously romantic * The Times *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Wasp Factory
Book Synopsis''A gothic horror story of quite exceptional quality'' Financial Times ''Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different reasons than I''d disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That''s my score to date. Three. I haven''t killed anybody for years, and don''t intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through.'' Enter - if you can bear it - the extraordinary private world of Frank, just sixteen, and unconventional, to say the least.Praise for Iain Banks:''The most imaginative novelist of his generation'' The Times''His verve and talent will always be recognised, and his work will always find and enthral new readers'' Ken MacLeod, Guardian''His work was mordant, surreal, and fiercely intelligent'' Neil Gaiman''An exceptional wordsmith'' ScotsmanTrade ReviewA gothic horror story of quite exceptional quality... macabre, bizarre and... quite impossible to put down. There is a control and assurance in the book, an originality rare in established writers twice the author's age. This is an outstandingly good read * Financial Times *Iain Banks has written one of the most brilliant first novels I have come across for some time. His study of an obsessive personality is extraordinary, written with a clarity and attention to detail that is most impressive. One can only admire a truly remarkable novel * Daily Telegraph *If you are squeamish or easily frightened, then leave The Wasp Factory severely alone. The novel is saved from sheer beastliness by its black humour and its message. Read it if you dare * Daily Express *If a nastier, more vicious or distasteful novel appears this spring, I shall be surprised. But there is unlikely to be a better one either. You can hardly breathe for fear of missing a symbol, or a fine phrase, or a horror so chilling that your hair stands on end. Infinitely painful to read, grotesque but human, these pages have a total reality rare in fiction. A mighty imagination has arrived on the scene * Mail on Sunday *One of the top 100 novels of the century * Independent *A brilliant book, barmy and barnacled with the grotesque * New Statesman *Brilliant... irresistible... compelling * New York Times *A first novel of such curdling power and originality that whether you like it or not - and you may hate it - the arrival of its author Iain Banks must mark the literary debut of the year. It's astonishing, unsettling and brilliantly written * Cosmopolitan *A first novel not only of tremendous promise, but also of achievement, a minor masterpiece, perhaps. There is no label. It is an obsessive novel, a bad dream of a book. Death and blood and gore fill the pages, lightened only by the dark humour, the surreal touches, and the poetry of the thing. There is something foreign and nasty here, an amazing new talent * Punch *There is no denying the bizarre fertility of the author's imagination: his brilliant dialogue, his cruel humour, his repellent inventiveness. The majority of the literate public, however, will be relieved that only reviewers are obliged to look at any of it * Irish Times *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group A Song Of Stone
Book Synopsis''Exhilarating... a work of imagination and arresting originality'' Sunday Telegraph The war is ending, perhaps ended... For the castle and its occupants the troubles are just beginning. Armed gangs roam its lawless land, where each farm and house supports a column of dark smoke. Taking to the roads with the other refugees, anonymous in their raggedness, seems safer than remaining in the ancient keep. But the lieutenant of an outlaw band has other ideas, and the castle becomes the focus for a dangerous game of desire, deceit and death... Praise for Iain Banks:''The most imaginative novelist of his generation'' The Times''His verve and talent will always be recognised, and his work will always find and enthral new readers'' Ken MacLeod, Guardian''His work was mordant, surreal, and fiercely intelligent'' Neil Gaiman''An exceptional wordsmith'' ScotsmanTrade ReviewAn apocalyptic masterpiece * Financial Times *Exhilarating... a work of imagination and arresting originality * Sunday Telegraph *Compulsively readable... the enigma at the heart of the novel will ensure repeated readings * Times Literary Supplement *Tour de force writing * Independent on Sunday *His boldest and most ambitious experiment with fiction since The Bridge * Time Out *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Girls on Fire
Book Synopsis''Captivating'' Sunday Times ''Will utterly terrify you - in the best way possible'' Buzzfeed ''While it is a mystery, the true strength of the novel comes from the honesty of the girls'' portrayal'' Guardian''A hypnotic debut'' Elle ''We couldn''t put this one down'' Marie Claire This is not a story of bad things happening to bad girls. I say this because I know you, Dex, and I know how you think. I''m going to tell you a story, and this time, it will be the truth. Hannah Dexter is a nobody, ridiculed and isolated at school by golden girl Nikki Drummond. But in their junior year of high school, Nikki''s boyfriend walks into the woods and shoots himself. In the wake of the suicide, Hannah befriends new girl Lacey and soon the pair are inseparable, bonded by their shared hatred of Nikki. Lacey transforms good girl Hannah into Dex Trade ReviewLike lightning in a bottle, Robin Wasserman's Girls on Fire captures girlhood friendship in all its shattering intensity. Seldom do you find a novel that so transports you to the dark, febrile terrain of adolescence, when intimacy and connection can turn on a dime to something far more dangerous. A captivating, terrifying novel, and one you won't forget * Megan Abbott *Flicking between points of view, Wasserman is even in her storytelling, sustaining her narrative by slowly revealing the dangerous secrets Lacey is keeping. Wasserman writes with immense energy. As a portrait of a coming-of-age, obsessive female friendship, the novel is captivating * Sunday Times *Convincing and harrowing . . . vividly detailed * Daily Mail *The tumultuous emotional extremes of adolescence are vividly conjured up in this brooding tale . . . This creepy tale is powerful and haunting * Sunday Mirror *This is a white-hot but pitch-black tale of adolescent friendship...Wasserman chillingly reveals how the intense emotions of teenage years can go to the bad * Sunday Express *Robin Wasserman's novel Girls on Fire will utterly terrify you - in the best way possible.... A dark, chilling story of secrets, violence, and female friendship, Girls on Fire will burn in the mind long after you finish reading * Buzzfeed *A suicide brings naïve Hannah together with the town's bad girl, Lacey, who has a secret that will change everything. We couldn't put this one down * Marie Claire *A hypnotic debut about an intense, obsessive friendship that leaves chaos in its wake * Elle *Mean Girls plus We Need to Talk About Kevin plus Heathers equals Girls on Fire. One of those books that make you glad you're not a teen anymore . . . Tragedy ensues in this pressure cooker of a novel' * Glamour *Robin Wasserman's debut fizzes with energy * Good Housekeeping *Wasserman has an affinity for the female rebel, a talent for combining storytelling that has a confessional feel with a plot full of thrills and chills * Daily Telegraph *Female friendship, adolescent or otherwise, has always been fertile ground for fiction. The intensity. The jealousy. The passion. The mirroring. The neediness. All these and more are present in YA author Robin Wasserman's"adult" (Old Adult?) debut, Girls on Fire. Hannah Dexter is the uncool girl at school, mocked and isolated by queen bee Nikki Drummond. Until life takes a bleakly unexpected turn for Nikki, and Hannah finds herself befriended by new girl Lacey Champlain. On the surface they have nothing in common - except a burning urge for revenge. Set in a 1990s besotted with Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix and Doc Martens, Girls on Fire puts Wasserman on course to join Megan Abbott and Louise O'Neill in proving the distinction between YA and OA is utterly spurious * The Pool, Bedtime Bookclub *A deep, dark vision of the dangers of girlhood emerges from this captivating novel. Life changes for unpopular Hannah Dexter when she makes friend with new girl Lacey who rebrands her as Dex and teaches her to wear Docs and like Kurt Cobain. Everything is on the up but not for long... * Stylist.co.uk *Electrifying story about two teenage girls and a mystery suicide * Heat, Our Top Five Reads *One of the most gripping reads of the year. Heady, atmospheric and thrilling, you'll be turning the pages long after you'd planned on putting the book down. And it is well worth staying up for * Irish News *Wasserman has created a modern fable about female adolescence gone horribly wrong. An unsettling cautionary tale of friendships aligned and realigned, alliances made and broken, lives beginning and ruined, this is one of the most gripping reads of the year * Glasgow Herald *Part murder mystery, part love story, this page-turner explores the dark side of the all-consuming friendship between a wide-eyed good girl and a grunge-worshipping rebel * Cosmopolitan *This is one of the most gripping reads of the year...perfect for thriller seekers * Belfast Telegraph, Book of the Week *A captivating study of obsessive female friendship and the angst of teenage emotion -- Sebastian Shakespeare * Tatler *A gripping coming-of-age story with a difference -- Natasha Harding * The Sun *Heady, atmospheric and thrilling * Independent i *Explores the line where close female friendships can blur into obsession and self-obliteration....At the heart of the dark story is an intoxicating and all-consuming friendship between two teenage girls * New York Times *A perfectly constructed literary novel... nearly impossible to put down...Wasserman does so many things right... it's hard to count them all.... Girls on Fire is an inferno - it's brutally gorgeous, and you know it could explode anytime, but you can't turn away, even for a second * NPR.org *Girls on Fire is a dark, propulsive fever-dream of youth and friendship-a piercing vision of what it means to mistake yourself for who you are in someone else's eyes. I wanted to grab these girls and shake them, sing them lullabies, stop them-but all I could do was keep reading them, relentlessly enthralled by the heat-seeking missile of Robin Wasserman's fearless imagination * Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams *Focuses on the intense and increasingly toxic relationship of two outcasts. Awkward nonentity Hannah Dexter is excluded by queen bee Nikki and her acolytes and desperately lonely until rebellious new girl Lacey befriends her, citing their mutual dislike of the reigning mean girl. Under Lacey's tutelage, Hannah evolves into Dex, with an altogether cooler wardrobe and an appetite for risk-taking, including involvement with black magic. Lacey, who has several dark secrets, eggs her on, and inevitably, things go too far ... written with great panache and evident sympathy for its subjects * Guardian, 'the best recent crime novels' *One of those books that makes you breathe a sigh of relief that you're not a teenager any more, this is the story of outsider Hannah, who is bullied at high school by queen bee Nikki. Big mistake Nikki, huge. Tragedy ensues in this pressure cooker of a novel that examines the intensity of adolescent female friendships and life growing up in smalltown America...file it under Heathers and Virgin Suicides. * Glamour, May 2016 'New titles we love' *A book so wonderful, so terrible, so nightmarishly compelling that I hardly knew what to say when I finished reading it. Wasserman has wrapped up a love story inside a murder mystery, a promise and a testament inside a confession - and has a title ever been truer? The reader comes away singed -- Kelly LinkLike a mini Thelma and Louise as directed by David Lynch, the relationship between Dex and Lacey dances around the death of a high-school jock and the slow undoing of his near-perfect girlfriend. Dark, disturbing and utterly fresh, this is a story to pick up and not put down * Stylist, The Most Addictive Thrillers of 2016 *A chilling story of school life and female friendship that starts and ends with a tragedy * Independent, Best Books to Read in 2016 *A dark story of a muddied friendship between two girls * Elle Magazine, 'Stunning debuts from the literary world's new power players' *When a loner and the new girl at school bond over their hatred of the popular Nikki Drummond, they transform themselves into DM wearing, Kurt Cobain loving rebels who become the scourge of their small town, which has already been rocked by tragedy. This is Wasserman's debut adult novel (she's previously written YA), which perfectly captures the power and fragility of adolescent friendships * Red magazine, 'The Best New Authors You Need to Know About 2016' *A tale of obsessive female friendship * Irish Times, Books to Watch Out For in 2016 *While it is a mystery, the true strength of the novel comes from the honesty of the girls' portrayal * Guardian *
£6.74
Little, Brown Book Group Almost a Hero
Book SynopsisBillie Challinor''s mother dies during an air raid, but the child grows up confident that in her jazz musician father Chas she has the best dad in the world. Seeking refuge from the London Blitz by moving to Leeds, kindly landlady Liz Morris befriends them: the scarred, wisecracking man, who isn''t afraid to overstep the mark if the cause is a good one, and his clever and resilient little girl. Billie needs every ounce of courage she possesses when her father joins the Army just before the D-Day landings and fails to return.Though Liz is happy to raise the child as her own, Billie is claimed by her Uncle Cedric, an outwardly respectable and prosperous solicitor. But he is also a ruthless criminal mastermind who will stop at nothing to secure the fortune to which Billie is sole heiress. Confident of his superior strength and cunning, he foolishly overlooks the fact that she is her father''s daughter: resourceful, quick-witted, and ready to seize any chance she can to escape
£7.99
Little, Brown Book Group The House in Quill Court
Book Synopsis1813. Venetia Lovell lives by the sea in Kent with her pretty, frivolous mother and idle younger brother. Venetia''s father, Theo, is an interior decorator to the rich and frequently travels away from home, leaving his sensible and artistic daughter to look after the family. Venetia designs paper hangings and she and her father often daydream about having an imaginary shop where they would display the highest quality furniture, fabrics and art to his clients. When a handsome but antagonistic stranger, Jack Chamberlaine, arrives at the Lovell''s cottage just before Christmas bringing terrible news, Venetia''s world is turned upside-down and the family have no option but to move to London, to the House in Quill Court and begin a new life. Here, Venetia''s courage and creativity are tested to breaking point, and she discovers a love far greater than she could have ever imagined . . . From the multi-award-winning author of The Apothecary''s Daughter, Trade ReviewRomantic, engaging and hugely satisfying - Katie Fforde on The Apothecary's DaughterA highly-recommended novel of love, tragedy and the power of art - Daily Mail on The Painter's ApprenticeFull of passion and drama . . . I was captivated by this moving, heart-warming and beautifully woven story - gripping, atmospheric, eloquently told and full of rich detail - Kate Furnivall on The Chateau on the Lake
£8.09
Random House USA Inc The Brethren
Book Synopsis
£9.49
