Contemporary Fiction

‘A delightful, life affirming story. I wanted to retreat to a cottage by the sea after the first chapter!’ Ali McNamara ‘I loved this book. Pure escapism at its best’ THE SUN When a seaside escape spells a little romance . . . Claire is ready for a bright new chapter. Winding her way to the coast for a cosy cottage retreat, she prays that three weeks of blissful peace and summer sunshine will wash away the pain of the last year. Claire’s a survivor – she’s growing proud of the scars that prove it – and she’s determined to make the most of each and every day, to seize those little magic moments that give life its sparkle. Her plan for peaceful solitude goes awry when handsome, brooding Ed turns up in the cottage next door. Will a little summer romance prove the worst distraction? Or might it be the perfect remedy? A gorgeous, heartwarming novel to make your heart soar from the author of The Cosy Teashop in the Castle.

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A captivating volume of over forty short stories full of love, hope, and fear, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lady of Hay. Barbara Erskine is a born storyteller. The tales in 'Encounters' illustrate her extraordinary talent for capturing the spirit of a place and drawing us into the hearts and minds of her characters. Some are humorous, some thrilling, while others are unashamedly sentimental. Old-fashioned love stories such as 'A Face in the Crowd' follow ingenious ghost stories, and in 'A Step Out of Time' the past and present come together, drawing back the curtain that separates us from our ancestors. No one who has enjoyed Barbara Erskine’s best-selling novels – Lady of Hay, Kingdom of Shadows, Child of the Phoenix and Midnight is a Lonely Place – will be able to resist this gripping collection. No one who has enjoyed Barbara Erskine’s best-selling novels – Lady of Hay, Kingdom of Shadows, Child of the Phoenix and Midnight is a Lonely Place – will be able to resist this gripping collection. Readers LOVE Barbara Erskine:‘Atmospheric’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘Enthralling’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘Spellbinding’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘Another fabulous read from the mistress of the genre’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘Immensely and deeply immersive fiction’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘I loved every minute’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘An exceptional writer of great books’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘You can rely on this author to keep you wanting more’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘A joy to read’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘Captivating and engrossing’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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A young woman found murdered A scandal in the making When Mrs Bantry wakes to find a body in her library, there’s only one woman to call: her good friend Jane Marple. But she hasn’t called her old friend for comfort. The body in her library has been murdered and Miss Marple is so very good at solving murders. Her investigations uncover a scandal far darker than either of them could have imagined, and this time she may be out of her depth. Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘Christie always defied expectations, not only in her legendary twists and reveals, but also in the underestimated detectives she created as her heroes. The villains never see these sleuths coming – and that’s half the fun.’Leigh Bardugo ‘One of the most ingeniously contrived of all her murder stories.’ Birmingham Post

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A movie star A deadly cocktail A murder When glamorous Marina Gregg came to live in St Mary Mead, tongues were sure to wag. But, with a local gossip’s sudden death, has one tongue wagged a bit too much? As the police chase false leads, and two more victims meet untimely ends, Miss Marple starts to ask her own questions. What secrets might link a peaceful English village and a star of the silver screen? Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘Christie’s ingenious plots and fiendish twists set the bar for all of us who follow in her footsteps.’Ruth Ware ‘The pieces finally drop into place with a satisfying click.’ Times Literary Supplement

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The New York Times bestselling author turns the clock back to a time when two young girls convinced the world that fairies really did exist… 1917: When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, announce they have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when the great novelist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, endorses the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a sensation; their discovery offering something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war. One hundred years later… When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript and a photograph in her late grandfather’s bookshop she becomes fascinated by the story of the two young girls who mystified the world. As Olivia is drawn into events a century ago, she becomes aware of the past and the present intertwining, blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, will Olivia find a way to believe in herself?

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A young man, broken down in the fog, witnesses a murder he is asked to conceal… A full-length novel adapted by Charles Osborne from Agatha Christie’s acclaimed play. When a stranger runs his car into a ditch in dense fog in South Wales and makes his way to an isolated house, he discovers a woman standing over the dead body of her wheelchair-bound husband, gun in her hand. She admits to murder, and the unexpected guest offers to help her concoct a cover story. But is it possible that Laura Warwick did not commit the murder after all? If so, who is she shielding? The victim’s young half-brother or his dying matriarchal mother? Laura’s lover? Perhaps the father of the little boy killed in an accident for which Warwick was responsible? The house seems full of possible suspects… THE UNEXPECTED GUEST is considered to be one of the finest of Christie’s plays. Hailed as ‘another Mousetrap’ when it opened on 12 August 1958 in the West End, it ran for 604 performances over the succeeding 18 months and has been staged many times around the world over the last 40 years.

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David Sarac is a police officer who has done something unforgiveable. But how can he atone for his crimes when he can’t remember the victims? When David Sarac wakes up from a car crash in Stockholm, all he knows is that he is a police officer, he has done something unforgiveable, and he needs to protect his informant, Janus. Natalie Aden is recruited to investigate Sarac. She becomes his confidante – the only person he trusts to help him piece the clues together. But they’re not the only ones looking for Janus. And others will go to desperate lengths – and use brutal tactics – to make sure they find him first…

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Falling in love is just not on Nora King’s To Do List… Neither is accidentally super-gluing her shoe to her hand right before the biggest presentation of her life! With all the hard work she’d put into securing the family business after her father’s death, Nora has no choice but to accept help from a knight in shining armour. Disaster relief worker Ethan Love is still haunted by his last deployment, and desperate for distraction. He’s in town to ask Nora for a major favour, and swooping in to save her presentation is a sure way to get her on side. As Ethan sticks around and helps Nora through her grief, her barriers tumble down…but will she dare to swap her To Do lists for a How to Fall in Love list?

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An art auction house employee helps a Russian oligarch sell his prized collection, ensnaring himself in a dangerous romance and an even more treacherous political plot.It’s 2013, and much of the world still reels from the global economic collapse. Yet in the auction rooms of London, artworks are selling for record-breaking prices. Seeking a place in this gilded world is Martin, a junior specialist at a prestigious auction house. Martin spends his days catering to the whims of obscenely wealthy clients and his nights drinking in grubby pubs with his demoralized roommate. However, a chance meeting with Marina, an old university friend, presents Martin with a chance to change everything. Pursuing distraction from her failing marriage and from a career she doesn’t quite believe in, Marina draws Martin into her circle and that of her husband, Oleg, an art-collecting oligarch. Shaken by the death of his mother and chafing against his diminishing influence in his homeland, Oleg appears primed to change his own life—and perhaps to relinquish his priceless art collection long coveted by London’s auction houses. Martin is determined to secure the sale and transform his career. But his ambitions are threatened by factors he hasn’t reckoned with: a dangerous attraction between himself and Marina, and half-baked political plans through which Oleg aims to redeem himself and Russia but which instead imperil the safety of the oligarch and all those around him. Hammer is a riveting, ambitious novel—at once a sharp art world exposé, a tense geopolitical thriller, and a brooding romance—that incisively explores the intersection of wealth, power, and desire.

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A perfect story of holiday romance, reconnected family and Christmas magic. ‘I LOVED THIS BOOK… Laugh out loud funny, incredibly charming and full to the brim with Christmas magic.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ NetGalley Reviewer Sasha Hansley hates Christmas. As a child, it was her favourite time of year, but ever since the tragic death of her mother, it has completely lost its magic. But when she gets an unexpected phone call from her estranged father, she’s forced to dust off her snow boots. He’s been running a Lapland style Christmas village in Norway, and eager to reconnect with her dad, Sasha books the next flight out there. Met at the runway by drop-dead-gorgeous Taavi Salvesen, they sleigh ride through the snow with the Northern Lights guiding their way. When Sasha uncovers sacks of unopened Santa mail – letters that children and adults from all over the world write to Santa every year – she realises that she can send a little bit of magic out into the world by replying to some of them. With Taavi on hand to help, will Sasha rediscover her own excitement for Christmas and find love among the letters? Fans of Holly Martin, Sarah Morgan and Heidi Swain will love this novel! Readers LOVE The Post Box at the North Pole! ‘The perfect festive read, one to snuggle up with by a fire, with a mug of hot chocolate and a blanket, and sink into.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Full of magical, happy moments, and while reading it, I felt like I was there gazing at the Northern Lights.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I highly recommend reading this book, just switch off from everyday stresses and get lost in the snow and the magic of Christmas, you won’t regret it!!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This book is everything Christmas should be; love, helping others, making memories, friendships, family and so so much more.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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The perfect summer read from the internationally bestselling author. For fans of THE 24-HOUR CAFE and THE CHILBURY LADIES CHOIR . . .Bellbird River, 1998Teacher and single mum Alex has arrived in the small town of Belllbird River after escaping the city in search of a change of pace and the chance to reconnect with her young daughter. Across town, well-known matriarch Victoria and her globe-trotting, opera-singing cousin Gabrielle find themselves at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives, while local baker Janine and newcomer to the area Debbie are each secretly dealing with the consequences of painful pasts.With its dusty streets, lone pub and iron-lace verandahs, Bellbird River could just be a pit stop on the road to somewhere else. But their town holds some secrets and surprises - and it has a heart: the Bellbird River choir.Amid the melodies and camaraderie of the choir, each of the women will find the courage to leave the past behind. And together, they'll discover that friends are much closer to home than they'd ever realised.A warm-hearted story of fresh beginnings, unexpected friendships and the sustaining power of love and community, from the internationally bestselling author of The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle and Thursdays at Orange Blossom House.PRAISE FOR SOPHIE GREEN:'Heart-warming' Hello'Wonderfully atmospheric' Sunday Mirror'A heart-warming tale' Woman & Home (Best Escapist Reads)'Will have you laughing and crying' Yours

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This is a novel about the hundreds of tiny connections between the public and private worlds and how they affect us all.It's about the legacy of war and the end of innocence.It's about how comedy and politics are battling it out and comedy might have won.It's about how 140 characters can make fools of us all.It's about living in a city where bankers need cinemas in their basements and others need food banks down the street.It is Jonathan Coe doing what he does best ­- showing us how we live now.'Coe is among the handful of novelists who can tell us something about the temper of our times' Observer

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Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, author of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, tells a powerful tale of poverty and undying hope in his moving novel No One Writes to the Colonel. 'The Colonel took the top off the coffee can and saw that there was only one spoonful left'Fridays are different. Every other day of the week, the Colonel and his ailing wife fight a constant battle against poverty and monotony, scraping together the dregs of their savings for the food and medicine that keeps them alive. But on Fridays the postman comes - and that sets a fleeting wave of hope rushing through the Colonel's ageing heart.For fifteen years he's watched the mail launch come into harbour, hoping he'll be handed an envelope containing the army pension promised to him all those years ago. Whilst he waits for the cheque, his hopes are pinned on his prize bird and the upcoming cockfighting season. But until then the bird - like the Colonel and his wife - must somehow be fed. . .'Márquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no one else can do' Salman Rushie'Masterly. He dazzles us with powerful effect' New Statesman'One of this century's most evocative writers' Anne Tyler

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**BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime** ________________________ A JOYFUL 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF A COMING-OF-AGE CLASSIC ________________________ ‘There are few modern tales of first love and its disillusions that are as thoroughly realised, as brilliantly lewd, and as hilariously satisfying to men and women of all ages as this one’ - Rachel Cusk Eighteen-year-old Katherine - bright, stylish, frustratedly suburban - doesn't know how her life will change when the brilliant Jacob Goldman first offers her a place at university. When she enters the Goldmans' rambling bohemian home, presided over by the beatific matriarch Jane, she realises that Jacob and his family are everything she has been waiting for. But when a romantic entanglement ends in tears, Katherine is forced into exile from the family she loves most. And her journey back into the fold, after more than a decade away, will yield all kinds of delightful surprises... ________________________ ‘The perfect book’ - Meg Mason ‘The best possible company in this difficult world’ - Ann Patchett ‘A daisy bomb of joy’ - Maria Semple ‘Funny, charming, teeming with life, and real’ - Nick Hornby ‘I adored it … Redolent of classics like The Constant Nymph with both its true voice and wonderfully sage and sanguine heroine’ - Sophie Dahl ‘One of those books that when people have read it, they just push it into your hands silently: "You have to read this book, you will love this book." There’s no other book I love more’ - Caroline O'Donoghue, Sentimental Garbage ‘Reading it again is as comforting as eating toast and Marmite between clean, fresh sheets’ - Rachel Cooke, Sunday Times ‘Think Brideshead Revisited set in the 1970s, only sexier and much funnier. It kills me that I didn’t read it at university, when I really needed it’ - Meg Rosoff, New Statesman

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Beautifully packaged reissue of one of Muriel Spark's best loved novels, The Girls of Slender Means'Long ago in 1945 all the nice people in England were poor, allowing for exceptions'In the May of Teck Club - a London hostel 'three times window shattered since 1940 but never directly hit' - the young lady residents do their best to act as if the war never happened. They practice elocution, and jostle one another over suitors and a single Schiaparelli gown. But behind the girls' giddy literary and amorous peregrinations they hide some tragically painful secrets and wounds.'You girls are my vocation . . . I am dedicated to you in my prime''Reading the novel as a young woman was a random gift; rereading it today is to encounter the rarest of fiction and to appreciate the early and enduring genius of Muriel Spark' Carol Shields, Guardian'One of Spark's most evocative novels' Anne TaylorMuriel Spark was born and educated in Edinburgh. She was active in the field of creative writing since 1950, when she won a short-story writing competition in the Observer, and her many subsequent novels include Memento Mori (1959), The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), The Girls of Slender Means (1963) and Aiding and Abetting (2000). She also wrote plays, poems, children's books and biographies. She became Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1993, and died in 2006.

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Two people. One life-changing connection.At times joyful and funny, at others heartbreaking, The Lifeline is an honest yet hopeful exploration of love, loneliness and the power of connection. Captivating, romantic and real I loved it.'Holly MillerI''ll read anything Tom Ellen writes, but The Lifeline is particularly special. This is a sharp and swoony romcom with deft undercurrents of more serious topics such as grief, remorse, and the important of being truly seen, listened to, and understood by those we love. I loved it.'Holly BourneWill is sleepwalking through life. He works a dead-end job and volunteers at an anonymous crisis line to avoid facing his own problems.Annie is sure she has her five-year plan all worked out. But when things start falling apart, she just needs someone who will listenThey're practically strangers but soon Will and Annie rely on their regular phone calls, challenging each other to be brave and rebuild their lives.They've found connection in the most unlike

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“What I wanted more than anything was to be standing beside Schmidt, in concert with Schmidt, at the foot of Saint Sebastian’s Abyss along with Schmidt, hands cupped to the sides of our faces, debating art, transcendence, and the glory of the apocalypse.” Former best friends who built their careers writing about a single work of art meet after a decades-long falling-out. One of them, called to the other’s deathbed for unknown reasons by a “relatively short” nine-page email, spends his flight to Berlin reflecting on Dutch Renaissance painter Count Hugo Beckenbauer and his masterpiece, Saint Sebastian’s Abyss, the work that established both men as important art critics and also destroyed their relationship. A darkly comic meditation on art, obsession, and the enigmatic power of friendship, Saint Sebastian’s Abyss stalks the museum halls of Europe, feverishly seeking salvation, annihilation, and the meaning of belief.

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Ruth Jones is best known for her outstanding and award-winning television writing, most notably BBC One's Gavin and Stacey, which she co-wrote with James Corden and in which she played the incorrigible Nessa Jenkins. The 2019 Christmas Day special of Gavin and Stacey gained national critical acclaim, drawing an audience of over 18 million, winning a BAFTA for TV moment of the year and a National Television Award for Impact. Ruth also created and co-wrote Sky One's Stella, which ran for six series. Ruth has starred in several other television comedies and dramas.Her debut novel Never Greener was chosen as WHSmith Fiction Book of the Year 2018, was nominated for Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, was a Zoe Ball Book Club pick, and was a Sunday Times bestseller for fifteen weeks, three weeks at number one. Ruth's second novel, Us Three, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller in hardba

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LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE * A NEW YORK TIMES GLOBETROTTING PICKA remarkable and heartbreaking debut novel with the lyrical beauty and emotional resonance of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept and the thematic complexity of Asymmetry, that combines fractal mathematics and classical music to explore the infinitely complex patterns of love and the thin border between great passion and great loneliness.Rakel has always been more comfortable with numbers than with people. A gifted woman with a rare talent for math, she has never mastered the art of making friends. At nineteen, she moves to Oslo to attend university. There she meets Jakob, a brilliant older teacher who becomes fascinated by Rakel’s quick mind. Jakob is struck by the similarities between Rakel and Sofja Kovalevskaja, the first woman to become a professor of mathematics, and the subject of the novel he is writing. Just as Kovalevskaja was close to her much older advisor, Rakel and Jakob are drawn to each other and eventually become lovers, although he is already married.In the years to come, Rakel's academic career soars, but her health declines, and from her bedside she spends hours imagining Sofja’s life while trying to understand her own. With a gaze both naive and mercilessly sharp, she examines what may be her life's only love story, looking for patterns and answers in numbers, music, and literature. Extraordinarily wise and penetrating, Lean Your Loneliness Slowly Against Mine explores the intricacies of the human heart, the complicated equation that is love, and the search to find meaning and connections when you need them most.Translated from the Norwegian by Alison McCullough

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Discover this 5-star read: ‘Wow’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Heartwarming’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Uplifting’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Thought-provoking’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐’One of those rare, special and unique heroines’⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A joy to read’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What if the people who have the power to change your life are the ones who have been there all along… Like stars in the night sky, freckles are scattered across Allegra Bird’s arms, a legacy from her beloved father. Her legacy from her mother is more complicated – until one question from a stranger inspires a change. What if it isn’t about fitting in, but finding the people who make you who you are? Who would those people be? As she searches for connection, Allegra is about to find out that it is our differences that make life worth living – if only someone can help you to join the dots . . . Praise for Freckles ‘Fans will adore this heart-warming story about loneliness and connection’ Daily Mail ‘Funny, thought-provoking and original’ Mirror ‘A warm and bittersweet tale about finding yourself through family and friendship’ Sunday Telegraph ‘An endearing story of human frailty, connection and growth’ Irish Independent ‘Everything a greedy reader wants: a moving story, absorbing characters, engaging writing and as much of a page-turner as you’d expect’ Irish Times ‘Ahern was born to write and her books to be read by all’ My Weekly ‘Fresh and timely… asking bolding what and who make us who we are, Freckles manages to team wit and wisdom harmoniously’ Echo ‘A beautiful, hopeful book when the world needs hope most… inspiring, life-affirming and full of insight’ Cathy Kelly Cecelia Ahern’s previous novel Postscript was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 16th September 2019.

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Go is a game of strategy in which two players attempt to surround each other's black or white stones. Simple in its fundamentals, infinitely complex in its execution, it is an essential expression of the Japanese sensibility. And in his fictional chronicle of a match played between a revered and invincible Master and a younger, more progressive challenger, Yasunari Kawabata captured the moment in which the immutable traditions of imperial Japan met the onslaught of the twentieth century.The competition between the Master of Go and his opponent, Otaké, is waged over several months and layered in ceremony. But beneath the game's decorum lie tensions that consume not only the players themselves but their families and friends - tensions that turn this particular contest into a duel that can only end in one man's death. Luminous in its detail, both suspenseful and serene, The Master of Go is an elegy for an entire society, written with the poetic economy and psychological acumen that brought Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends Ila and Hannah. Since then, things have not been going well. Alice is living a haunted existence, selling videos of herself cleaning for money, drinking herself to sleep. She hasn't spoken to Ila since they went into the House. She hasn't seen Hannah either. Memories of that night torment her mind and her flesh, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, past the KEEP OUT sign, over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, she knows she must go. Together Alice and Ila must face the horrifying occurrences that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, who the House has chosen to make its own.Cutting, disruptive, and darkly funny, Tell Me I'm Worthless is a vital work of trans fiction that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors as it examines the devastating effects of trauma and the way fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other.

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A story of love, conflict, and corruption spanning half a century. After experiencing a passionate summer of love, two young people part after making a Covenant which haunts them for a lifetime until they are drawn back to where it all began. Their epic life journeys are glittering, yet corrupting - contrasting and clashing with the ideals nurtured during the iconic revolutionary era of "love and peace". With dizzying careers, their lives brush with the rich and powerful, including some of the most influential people in the world. Both seek to make a difference, but is success worth the price? Idealism battles pragmatism in an era of political and historical turmoil including some of the greatest tragedies and scandals to rock the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. One day, 50 years after they first met, a crazy, spontaneous moment changes everything.

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NOVIOLET BULAWAYO grew up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. When she was eighteen, she moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her first novel, We Need New Names, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Guardian First Book Award and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, and won a Betty Trask Award, Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, Hurston-Wright Legacy Award, the Etisalat Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction. She has also won the Caine Prize for African Writing and a National Book Award's '5 Under 35'. NoViolet earned her MFA at Cornell University, and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, where she taught fiction. She currently writes full-time, from wherever she finds herself.

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A wild and gripping novel about one woman's quest to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands at any cost.Inti Flynn arrives in the Scottish Highlands with fourteen grey wolves, a traumatised sister and fierce tenacity.As a biologist, she knows the animals are the best hope for rewilding the ruined landscape and she cares little for local opposition. As a sister, she hopes the remote project will offer her twin, Aggie, a chance to heal after the horrific events that drove them both out of Alaska.But violence dogs their footsteps and one night Inti stumbles over the body of a farmer. Unable to accept that her wolves could be responsible, she makes a reckless decision to protect them. But if the wolves didn't make the kill, then who did? And can she trust the man she is beginning to love when he becomes the main suspect?Propulsive and unforgettable, Once There Were Wolves is the spellbinding story of a woman desperate to save her family, the wild animals, and the natural world she loves, at any cost. 'Blazing...Visceral...As McConaghy shows in this stunning book, the limits of language lead us to the limits of empathy.' Los Angeles Times'Bold...A heartfelt and earnest novel' New York Times Book Review

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A phenomenal, heartwarming tale by the much-loved Rosamunde Pilcher.Laura, newly married and ever conscious she may be living in the shadow of her husband Alec's first wife, decides to take a holiday with his family in Cornwall. Through the long hot summer days she is slowly charmed by the beautiful old house and the people she learns to know and love. In time her uneasy spirit is soothed by the sparkling, brilliant sea, and her restless heart finally calmed.But is this new-found tranquillity too good to be true? For with the arrival of an anonymous letter, one accusing her of having an affair, Laura's world is thrown into turmoil . . .

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FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE GHOST SHIP 1942, Nazi-occupied France. Sandrine, a spirited and courageous nineteen-year-old, finds herself drawn into a Resistance network in Carcassonne - codenamed 'Citadel' - a group of ordinary women who are prepared to risk everything for what is right. When she meets Raoul, they discover a shared passion for the cause, for their homeland, and for each other. But in a world where the enemy now lies in every shadow - where neighbour informs on neighbour; where friends disappear without warning and often without trace - love can demand the highest price of all . . . 'A thrilling adventure and a truly epic love story' The Times'A deeply satisfying literary adventure, brimming with romance, treachery and cliff-hangers' ObserverBOOK THREE OF THE LANGUEDOC TRILOGY. Now fully revised and updated

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Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited first work of fiction - at once hilarious, delicious, and brutal - is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film.RICK DALTON - Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick's a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it?CLIFF BOOTH - Rick's stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he's the only one there who might have gotten away with murder . . . SHARON TATE - She left Texas to chase a movie-star dream, and found it. Sharon's salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills.CHARLES MANSON - The ex-con's got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he's their spiritual leader, but he'd trade it all to be a rock 'n' roll star.HOLLYWOOD 1969 - YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERE

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'At that time I could not imagine what would become of me, and I didn't care. It was not judgement day, but another morning'This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by working-class evangelists in the North of England to be one of God's elect. Passionate, headstrong and shielded by her mother's grand disapproval of a sinful world, she seems destined for life as a missionary. And then she meets Melanie.At sixteen, Jeanette faces a world of uncertainty as she breaks from the church and her community for the young woman she loves. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a warm, witty and daring novel that gives voice to irrepressible desire.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.

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* THE ELEVENTH NOVEL IN THE BESTSELLING MODESTY BLAISE SERIES * 'The finest escapist thrillers ever written' THE TIMES 'Before Buffy, before Charlie's Angels, before Purdy and Emma Peel, there was Modesty Blaise' OBSERVER The headquarters of 'The Hostel of Righteousness' is an old monastery on the small Greek island Kalivari. But there is nothing holy about the organisation. On the contrary, Dr. Thaddeus Pilgrim and his followers are among the most unholy people you could have the misfortune of meeting. Willie Garvin and Modesty Blaise are targeted by Dr. Pilgrim, who has an obsession for creating 'interesting scenarios'. Willie is kidnapped and brought to Kalivari under heavy sedation, then brainwashed to believe that Modesty has been murdered by a woman called Delilah. The twist? Willie is convinced that 'Delilah' is a woman who looks exactly like Modesty herself. Now the two comrades are pitted against one another, and Dr. Pilgrim's diabolical plan may well lead to their deaths.

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When the mother of an autistic young man hires a call girl to make him happy, three lives collide in unexpected and moving ways … changing everything. A devastatingly beautiful, rich and thought-provoking novel that will warm and break your heart… ‘One of the best writers of her generation’ John Marrs, author of The One ‘A brilliant premise, executed beautifully … such a moving, tender and unexpected read’ Catherine Isaac, author of Messy, Wonderful Us ‘I guarantee you will not read anything like it this year … you will fall in love with this book’ Miranda Dickinson, author of Our Story ‘Incredibly moving, gripping, and full of heart … The novel everyone will be talking about this year’ Gill Paul, author of The Secret Wife _______________ Sebastian James Murphy is twenty years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely. Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy … she wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants. Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money. Of her nursing degree. Paying for her dad’s care. Getting through the dark. When these three lives collide – intertwine in unexpected ways – everything changes. For everyone. A topical and moving drama about a mother’s love for her son, about getting it wrong when we think we know what’s best, about the lengths we go to care for family … to survive … This Is How We Are Human is a searching, rich and thought-provoking novel with an emotional core that will warm and break your heart. _______________ ‘Every now and then you read a book that takes your breath away. This is How We Are Human does just that … you feel from the first page to the last’ Liz Fenwick, author of The River Between Us ‘A writer of beautiful sentences, and they are in abundance. This sensitive subject is treated with the utmost care’ Nydia Hetherington, author of A Girl Made of Air ‘Such a complex and emotive book’ Claire King, author of The Night Rainbow ‘It had me gripped from the start and changed the way I see the world. Beautiful, bold and compelling – another fearless story from Beech’ Katie Marsh, author of Unbreak Your Heart ‘A searching, rich and thought-provoking novel with an emotional core’ LoveReading ‘This book is just what the world needs right now’ Fiona Mills, BBC ‘Oh, Sebastian, I’ll never forget him. Heart is always at the core of Louise’s books and this one is no exception’ Madeleine Black, author of Unbroken ‘What a brave and prejudice busting story this is … brava’ S. E. Lynes, author of Can You See Her ‘A convincing, bittersweet tale of misplaced kindness, a myriad types of vulnerability, and unexpected consequences … All the stars and more’ Carol Lovekin, author of Wild Spinning Girls ‘A tender, insightful read’ Michael J. Malone, author of A Song of Isolation ‘An exceptional book that will make you laugh, cry and feel better for having read it’ Audrey Davis, author of Lost in Translation ‘The most exquisite and moving story I have read in a very long time’ Book Review Café ‘I don’t know of another writer who portrays characters so true, flaws and all … mesmerising, the characters are beautiful but, more importantly, they’re REAL’ J. M. Hewitt, author of The Quiet Girls For fans of Maggie O’Farrell, David Nicholls, Ali Smith and JoJo Moyes.

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Sisters Ally and May Moberley grow up in Victorian Manchester, surrounded by their father's decadent paintings and dominated by their austere, evangelical mother. While May poses for the artists in her father's circle, Ally devotes herself to her mother's ambitions, working hard to join the first generation of female doctors. But soon bitterness and tragedy divide the family, and Ally leaves home to escape the subtle terrors of her childhood and begin a new life in London. Bodies of Light is a profound and provocative book about family. It is a gripping story told with rare precision and tenderness.

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When We Cease to Understand the World shows us great minds striking out into dangerous, uncharted terrain. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger: these are among the luminaries into whose troubled minds we are thrust as they grapple with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, they alienate friends and lovers, they descend into isolated states of madness. Some of their discoveries revolutionise our world for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear. With breakneck pace and wondrous detail, Benjamín Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to break open the stories of scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.

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Brought back into print in the 1990s to wide acclaim, re-designed new editions of Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee Mysteries are now available.Written by a Dutch diplomat and scholar during the 1950s and 1960s, these lively and historically accurate mysteries have entertained a devoted following for decades. Set during the T'ang dynasty, they feature Judge Dee, a brilliant and cultured Confucian magistrate disdainful of personal luxury and corruption, who cleverly selects allies to help him navigate the royal courts, politics, and ethnic tensions in imperial China. Robert van Gulik modeled Judge Dee on a magistrate of that name who lived in the seventh century, and he drew on stories and literary conventions of Chinese mystery writing dating back to the Sung dynasty to construct his ingenious plots.Murder in Canton takes place in the year 680, as Judge Dee, recently promoted to lord chief justice, is sent incognito to Canton to investigate the disappearance of a court censor. With the help of his trusted lieutenants Chiao Tai and Tao Gan, and that of a clever blind girl who collects crickets, Dee solves a complex puzzle of political intrigue and murder through the three separate subplots "the vanished censor," "the Smaragdine dancer," and "the Golden Bell."An expert on the art and erotica as well as the literature, religion, and politics of China, van Gulik also provides charming illustrations to accompany his engaging and entertaining mysteries.

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