From Huxley's Brave New World in 1932 to The Hunger Games, our fascination with the speculative & extreme never dwindles
Dystopian & Alternative History Fiction Books
Little, Brown Book Group 84K An eerily plausible dystopian masterpiece
Book Synopsis''AN EERILY PLAUSIBLE DYSTOPIAN MASTERPIECE'' Emily St. John Mandel, author of STATION ELEVEN''AN EXTRAORDINARY NOVEL . . . with echoes of The Handmaid''s Tale'' Cory Doctorow***SHORTLISTED FOR THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD***From one of the most original new voices in modern fiction comes a startling vision of a world where you can get away with anything . . .Theo Miller knows the value of human life - to the very last penny. Working in the Criminal Audit Office, he assesses each crime that crosses his desk and makes sure the correct debt to society is paid in full. But when his ex-lover is killed, it''s different. This is one death he can''t let become merely an entry on a balance sheet. Because when the richest in the world are getting away with murder, sometimes the numbers just don''t add up.From the award-winning Claire North comes an electrifying and provocative new novel which Trade ReviewAn eerily plausible dystopian masterpiece * Emily St. John Mandel, author of STATION ELEVEN *An extraordinary novel that stands with the best of dystopian fiction, with echoes of The Handmaid's Tale -- Cory Doctorow on 84KAbsolutely breath-taking... An early and compelling candidate for best novel of 2018. Read it * Sci Fi Magazine *Another captivating novel from one of the most intriguing and genre-bending novelists * BOOKLIST on 84K *Claire North goes from strength to strength . . . A tense, moving story set in drawing from current political trends to present a draconian future similar to that of Nineteen Eighty-Four * GUARDIAN on 84K *Absolutely breath-taking... An early and compelling candidate for best novel of 2018. Read it * Sci Fi Magazine *[A] gut-punch of a novel . . . a story that is rare - one of those that is so good I didn't want it to end . . . Painted in shades of Fahrenheit 451, of Children of Men, Soylent Green and Brave New World * NPR *[North] demonstrates again that her imaginative energy is as prodigious as her output. * SUNDAY TIMES *Absorbing and timely; a book to wrestle and argue with, but first and foremost, to read * NEW YORK TIMES on 84k *84K is a furious, confrontational book that's extremely smart . . . .its energy is infectious and its ideas are fiercely provocative * SCIFINOW *This is a dystopian anthem for the modern activist, a warning of an all too near future and a wake-up call for anyone who believes justice should not come with a price tag. 84K is an important book but also a cracking thriller and a great bit of near-future speculative fiction. Quite simply, North's best book so far, and given how brilliant The Sudden Appearance of Hope and The Fifteen Lives of Harry August are, that is saying a lot. * STARBURST *North is an original and even dazzling writer, and fans of her work will enjoy this grim tale of capitalism taken to a terrifying extreme * KIRKUS on 84K *The truly scary thing about 84K is how convincing this dark, brutal class-divided Britain is * SFX (4 1/2 stars) *North demonstrates skill in creating a terrifying setting that feels rooted to the present day . . . Every aspect of life in Theo's Britain is imbued with a menace that feels both recognizable and urgent, and the decisions the characters make as a result feel uncomfortably real. * RT BOOK REVIEWS on 84K *One of the most distinct and compelling SF novels of the year thus far * THE TORONTO STAR on 84K *It's exciting to read a genre novel that's willing to be this bold with language . . . 84K opens with a simple "what if," but it quickly develops into a structurally inventive, sharply observed thought experiment about the gradual disappearance of our basic liberties and human rights * LOCUS *A fascinating look at the decisions society is taking now * THE BOOKBAG on 84K *North's talent shines out * SUNDAY TIMES *Claire North is a true original, a master of ingenious plotting and feats of imagination * Alex Marwood, author of THE WICKED GIRLS *Claire North's writing is terrific, smart and entertaining * Patrick Ness *
£14.24
Little, Brown Book Group Notes from the Burning Age
Book Synopsis''ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I''VE READ IN RECENT YEARS . . . PACKS A HELL OF AN EMOTIONAL PUNCH'' Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of TimeFrom one of the most imaginative writers of her generation comes an extraordinary vision of the future.Ven was once a holy man, a keeper of ancient archives. It was his duty to interpret archaic texts, sorting useful knowledge from the heretical ideas of the Burning Age - a time of excess and climate disaster. For in Ven''s world, such material must be closely guarded, so that the ills that led to that cataclysmic era can never be repeated.But when the revolutionary Brotherhood approaches Ven, pressuring him to translate stolen writings that threaten everything he once held dear, his life will be turned upside down. Torn between friendship and faith, Ven must decide how far he''s willing to go to save this new world, and how much he is willing to lose.Notes from the Burning AgeTrade ReviewOne of the best books I've read in recent years. Thought provoking, imaginative and packs a hell of an emotional punch * Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of CHILDREN OF TIME *A gripping, utterly involving, dystopian eco-thriller that balances the intimacies of betrayal against global climate collapse * DAILY MAIL *A riveting tale . . . North's convincing view of post-apocalyptic society captivates, and the political intrigues will keep readers hooked right up until the explosive close * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *An impassioned, urgent and compelling new work that burns as bright as the fires of our own burning age. This is not to be missed -- Lavie Tidhar, World Fantasy Award-winning authorClaire North depicts a startling, richly developed postapocalyptic world in this beautiful and riveting novel * BUZZFEED *Notes is compelling because it is beautiful . . . It felt seamless . . . When North was done and Notes reached its explosive conclusion, I just wasn't ready to leave. Her world was such a fragile, beautiful, doomed place, I felt like I should stick around just to make sure it would all be okay * NPR *A passionate and committed vision of what we do to nature, and what it can do to us * LOCUS *Mesmeric, terrifying and wonderful. North is practically her own genre at this point. -- M. R. Carey, author of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTSAn irresistible, haunting thrill * Joe Hill, author of HORNS and LOCKE AND KEY *A clever and thought-provoking conceit * GUARDIAN *North's latest once again displays her mastery of lyrical prose . . . The author presents a fascinating testament to humanity's fallibility and tendency towards denial, merged with the potency of truth and the power of love * BOOKLIST *Claire North's most ambitious novel to date * LOCUS *Remarkable . . . one of the most moving, horrifying and gut-wrenching novels of the year * NPR *A suspenseful tale of the truths that lie hidden in the human heart . . . This is a world-spanning cat-and-mouse chase that tackles big questions about the nature of truth and whether we can ever really know one another or ourselves. True love, life, and death, what's worth dying - or killing - for: It's all here in this gripping, bloody, and haunting novel * KIRKUS *In rich, compelling prose, North weaves together the threads of imperial control, ideological conviction, love and the thrill of power . . . A lyrical and sometimes surreal approach to espionage and its thrills * SHELF AWARENESS *North's talent shines out -- SUNDAY TIMESClaire North is a true original, a master of ingenious plotting and feats of imagination -- Alex Marwood, author of THE WICKED GIRLSClaire North's writing is terrific, smart and entertaining -- Patrick NessNorth demonstrates skill in creating a terrifying setting that feels rooted to the present day . . . Every aspect of life in Theo's Britain is imbued with a menace that feels both recognizable and urgent, and the decisions the characters make as a result feel uncomfortably real. * RT BOOK REVIEWS on 84K *The truly scary thing about 84K is how convincing this dark, brutal class-divided Britain is * SFX (4 1/2 stars) *North is an original and even dazzling writer, and fans of her work will enjoy this grim tale of capitalism taken to a terrifying extreme * KIRKUS on 84K *Another captivating novel from one of the most intriguing and genre-bending novelists * BOOKLIST on 84K *An extraordinary novel that stands with the best of dystopian fiction, with echoes of The Handmaid's Tale -- Cory Doctorow on 84K
£17.09
Little, Brown Book Group Wild and Wicked Things
Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERIn the aftermath of the First World War, a young woman gets swept into a glittering world filled with illicit magic, romance, blood debts and murder in this lush and decadent debut novel.On Crow Island, people whispered, real magic lurked just below the surface. But Annie Mason never expected her enigmatic new neighbour to be a witch.When she witnesses a confrontation between her best friend Bea and the infamous Emmeline Delacroix at one of Emmeline''s extravagantly illicit parties, Annie is drawn into a glittering, haunted world. A world where magic can buy what money cannot; a world where the consequence of a forbidden blood bargain might be death.''Brimming with romance and gilded with danger, Wild and Wicked Things is a heady, lyrical gem of a book'' Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf''A lush and evocative story that transports reaTrade ReviewBrimming with romance and gilded with danger, Wild Wicked Things is a heady, lyrical gem of a book -- Hannah Whitten, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of FOR THE WOLFViciously enchanting, with a spell woven onto every page. Francesca May has given us a cast of wild and wicked women who dare to hold a mirror to the darkest, and most tender, parts of our souls. I couldn't get enough! -- Heather Walter, author of MALICEWild and Wicked Things ticked all my boxes. . . . I couldn't put it down -- Genevieve Gornichec, author of THE WITCH'S HEARTAn intoxicating blend of secrets and glamour, romance and scandal, blood magic and dark pasts. If you've ever thought the Jazz Age would have been better with witchcraft, this book is for you -- H. G. Parry, author of THE UNLIKELY ESCAPE OF URIAH HEEPHaunting, immersive and seething with dark magic, Wild and Wicked Things cast it's spell on me -- Alexis Henderson, author of THE YEAR OF THE WITCHINGEven after the last page is turned, this intoxicating story lingers like a deep dark wine. Sparkling and deadly, Wild and Wicked Things enchanted me, and if you're feeling dangerous, it will enchant you too -- Lucy Holland, author of SISTERSONGEntrancing, seductive, and decadently beautiful, Francesca May weaves an intoxicating spell. Here is a deep, sensuous exploration of the bonds between three very different, complex women that readers won't soon forget -- Gwenda Bond, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authora lush and evocative story that transports readers far away from reality and into a witchy world full of damning secrets, unbreakable bargains, intoxicating love and found family. Add to this a little murder cover-up and you've got yourself the perfect Spring/Summer read -- CULTUREFLYThe extravagance and extremes of the Roaring Twenties combines with witchcraft, corruption and violence in this heady, absorbing read -- LoveReading
£9.49
Mariner Books The Plot Against America
Book SynopsisONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURYPhilip Roth''s bestselling alternate history—the chilling story of what happens to one family when America elects a charismatic, isolationist president.In an extraordinary feat of narrative invention, Philip Roth imagines an alternate history where Franklin D. Roosevelt loses the 1940 presidential election to heroic aviator and rabid isolationist Charles A. Lindbergh. Shortly thereafter, Lindbergh negotiates a cordial “understanding” with Adolf Hitler, while the new government embarks on a program of folksy anti-Semitism.For one boy growing up in Newark, Lindbergh’s election is the first in a series of ruptures that threaten to destroy his small, safe corner of America-and with it, his mother, his father, and his older brother. A terrific political novel . . . Sinister, vivid, dreamlike
£21.60
William Morrow & Company Chosen Ones
Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA Best Book of April from Time, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Fortune, Business Insider, Marie Claire, PopSugar, PureWow, Tor.com, Huffington Post, BookRiot, Literary Hub, Buzzfeed, Amazon’s Editors’ Pick, Apple Books, IndieNext, LibraryReadsA stunning thriller/fantasy/sci-fi chimera like nothing I''ve read before. — Blake CrouchA hugely imagined, twisty, turning tale that leads through the labyrinths of magic and war to the center of the heart. — Diana GabaldonThe masterful first novel for adults from the mega-selling author of the Divergent franchiseFifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon o
£19.79
William Morrow & Company Poster Girl
Book Synopsis“Poster Girl is a captivating story full of twists and turns—and no easy answers. I couldn''t put this book down. —Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Girl, Forgotten From #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth, a dystopian novel set in a surveillance state about one woman’s desperate search for a missing girl...and the dark family secrets she uncovers along the way.Sonya Kantor is paying for her parents’ sins. Once the privileged daughter of a powerful regime, Sonya is now fighting for scraps in the Aperture, an unconventional prison for members of the now-collapsed Delegation. Sonya has no hope of clemency. She was the regime’s former poster girl and the new government had to make an example of her.But when Alexander Price, the brother of her now-dead fiancé’s, appears and offers t
£22.39
Mariner Books Classics Radio Free Albemuth
Book SynopsisA visionary alternate history of the United States filled with enough conspiracy theories to thrill the most hardened paranoid, Radio Free Albemuth is proof of Dick’s stature as our century’s greatest science fiction writer.
£14.39
William Morrow & Company Chosen Ones
Book Synopsis“A hugely imagined, twisty, turning tale that leads through the labyrinths of magic and war to the center of the heart.” — Diana GabaldonTHE LAST THING SHE WANTED WAS TO GET BACK INTO THE HERO GAMETHE VILLAIN: The Dark One—probably not fun at parties, definitely cool with murder—was running around North America engulfing whole cities in supernatural chaos and destruction.THE HEROES: Five Chosen Ones—ordinary strangers with nothing in common—were recruited by the government because they fit the narrow criteria of a prophecy made by [redacted]. You know the rest…heroes fought villain, heroes defeated villain, and everything went back to normal.Only . . . not so much.Now, it''s ten years later, and Sloane Andrews, recovering Chosen One, has discovered that all the fame, gratitude, and parade floats in the world can’t erase what she endured—what she had to do&
£12.34
William Morrow & Company Across the Sand
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£20.99
Harlequin Teen Alice in Zombieland
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£17.09
MCD Hummingbird Salamander
Book SynopsisNamed one of NPR''s Best Books of 2021From the author of Annihilation, a brilliant speculative thriller of dark conspiracy, endangered species, and the possible end of all things.Security consultant Jane Smith receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina's footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running outfor her and possibly for the world.Hummingbird Salamander i
£20.70
MCD Dead Astronauts
Book SynopsisA 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALISTJeff VanderMeer''s Dead Astronauts presents a City with no name of its own where, in the shadow of the all-powerful Company, lives human and otherwise converge in terrifying and miraculous ways. At stake: the fate of the future, the fate of Earthall the Earths.A messianic blue fox who slips through warrens of time and space on a mysterious mission. A homeless woman haunted by a demon who finds the key to all things in a strange journal. A giant leviathan of a fish, centuries old, who hides a secret, remembering a past that may not be its own. Three ragtag rebels waging an endless war for the fate of the world against an all-powerful corporation. A raving madman who wanders the desert lost in the past, haunted by his own creation: an invisible monster whose name he has forgotten and whose purpose remains hidden.
£20.25
Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc Take Up and Read
Book SynopsisIn Shimon Adaf''s Lost Detective Trilogy, what begins as conventional mystery becomes by degrees a brilliant deconstruction not just of genre but of our own search for meaning. Both profound and compulsively readable, these books demand to be devoured. Lavie Tidhar, author of By Force AloneIn the summer of 2014, at the height of the Gaza-Israel conflict, Elish Ben-Zaken met the poet and librarian Nahum Farkash in the border town of Sderot. They spoke only briefly, but in that brief encounter, Elish might have missed the key to unraveling the case of a Sderot woman who disappeared for two days, only to reappear with no memory of her time away. In Take Up and Read, Shimon Adaf returns to Farkash's story. Attempting to defend the legacy of the singer Dalia Shoshanwhose murder Elish investigated several years beforeFarkash tries to impede the production of a new documentary about her life. Meanwhile, he reminisces about his past, reflecting on his ex
£17.85
Farrar, Straus and Giroux August Blue
Book SynopsisNamed a Best Book of the Year by TIME, Vulture, The Guardian, BBC, The Week, and Publisher''s WeeklyA new novel from the Booker Prize finalist Deborah Levy, the celebrated author of The Man Who Saw Everything and The Cost of Living.At the height of her career, the piano virtuoso Elsa M. Andersonformer child prodigy, now in her thirtieswalks off the stage in Vienna, midperformance.Now she is in Athens, watching an uncannily familiar woman purchase a pair of mechanical dancing horses at a flea market. Elsa wants the horses too, but there are no more for sale. She drifts to the ferry port, on the run from her talent and her history.So begins her journey across Europe, shadowed by the elusive woman who seems to be her double. A dazzling portrait of melancholy and metamorphosis, Deborah Levy's August Blue uncovers the ways in which we attempt to revise our oldest stories and make ourselv
£20.25
MCD X Fsg Originals The Doloriad
Book Synopsis[The Doloriad] just might be what your rotten little heart deserves. J. Robert Lennon, The New York Times Book ReviewOne of Vulture''s Best Books of 2022. Winner of the 2023 Republic of Consciousness Prize and short-listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Macabre, provocative, depraved, and unforgettable, The Doloriad marks the debut of Missouri Williams, a terrifyingly original new voiceIn the wake of a mysterious environmental cataclysm that has wiped out the rest of humankind, the Matriarch, her brother, and the family descended from their incest cling to existence on the edges of a deserted city. The Matriarch, ruling with fear and force, dreams of starting humanity over again, though her children are not so certain. Together the family scavenges supplies and attempts to cultivate the poisoned earth. For entertainment, they watch old VHS tapes of a TV show in which
£14.45
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Hangman
Book SynopsisNational Book Foundation 5 Under 35 HonoreeWinner of the Bard Fiction PrizeLong-listed for the Women''s Prize for Fiction, the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, and the Dublin Literary AwardNamed a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Vulture, and BBCAn enthralling and original first novel about exile, diaspora, and the impossibility of Black refuge in America and beyond.In the morning, I received a phone call and was told to board a flight. The arrangements had been made on my behalf. I packed no clothes, because my clothes had been packed for me. A car arrived to pick me up.A man returns home to sub-Saharan Africa after twenty-six years in America. When he arrives, he finds that he doesn't recognize the country or anyone in it. Thankfully, someone recognizes him, a man who calls him brothersetting him on a quest to find his real brother, who is dying.In Hangman, Maya Binyam tells the story of that search, and of the phantoms, guides, tricksters, bureaucrats, debtors, taxi drivers, relatives, and riddles that will lead to the truth.This is an uncommonly assured debut: an existential journey; a tragic farce; a slapstick tragedy; and a strange, and strangely honest, story of one man's stubborn quest to find refugein this world and in the world that lies beyond it.
£19.50
Random House USA Inc Rusty Brown
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£31.02
Nan A. Talese Empty Hearts
Book SynopsisA prescient political and psychological thriller ripped from tomorrow's headlines, by one of Germany's most celebrated contemporary novelistsA few short years from now, the world is an even more uncertain place than it is today, and politics everywhere is marching rightward: Trump is gone, but Brexit is complete, as is Frexit. There's a global financial crisis, armed conflict, and mass migration, and an ultrapopulist movement governs in Germany. With their democracy facing the wrecking ball, most well-off Germans turn inward, focusing on their own lives. Britta, a wife, mother, and successful businesswoman, ignores the daily news and concentrates on her family and her work running a clinic specializing in suicide prevention. But her legitimate business is connected to a secret and far more lucrative operation known as The Bridge, an outfit that supplies terrorist organizations looking to employ suicide bombers. Using a complex candidate-ident
£21.56
Random House USA Inc To Paradise
Book Synopsis#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • From the award-winning, best-selling author of the classic A Little Life—a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: VOGUE • ESQUIRE • NPR • GOODREADSTo Paradise is a fin de siècle novel of marvelous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love—partners, lovers, children, friends, family, and even our fellow citizens—and the pain that ensues when we cannot.In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young sc
£27.62
WW Norton & Co The Wall
Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2020 Orwell Prize "Thrilling…A topical and deftly satirical novel." —Anna Mundow, Wall Street JournalTrade Review"Unputdownable. It’s 1984 for our times." -- Michael Lewis"A harrowing, brilliant, and troublingly plausible vision of the future." -- Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven"Gripping.… Few readers will stop until they reach its final page." -- Alec Nevala-Lee - New York Times Book Review"It’s not clear what it will take to finally convince us that it’s time to panic about climate change, but works of fiction such as The Wall have an important role to play." -- Stephen Dyson - Washington Post"A novel that ranks alongside Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and the oeuvre of Kim Stanley Robinson as a fictional meditation on what climate change may mean for the planet." -- Tom Holland - Guardian"A powerful thought experiment." -- Giles Harvey - New York Review of Books"An unsettling, compulsive and brilliant portrait of powerlessness." -- John Day - Financial Times"Bold and confident fiction that highlights the current American and British issues of Trumpism and Brexit. It also examines the increasingly wide social and political divide of the young and the old." -- Ant Jones - Los Angeles Times"As in all good dystopian fiction, Lanchester shows us a world that could become a reality… [He] maintains measured, elegant prose–creating an assuredly human dystopian novel." -- Lucas Wittmann - Time"Highly relevant." -- Ron Charles - Washington Post
£12.34
WW Norton & Co Emma
Book SynopsisFamously described by the author as a heroine whom no one but myself will much like, Emma Woodhouse is wealthy and charming, and she delights in interfering with the romantic relationships within her communitythough she herself has no desire to marry. As her meddling begins to bear consequences, however, Emma must come to terms with her responsibility and decide on her place in the world. With inimitable wit and incisive social commentary, Austen evokes a complex prism of relational connection and a richness of ordinary life that unfolds from the small world of her most extraordinary heroine.
£7.99
Penguin Putnam Inc Wild Country
Book SynopsisIn this New York Times bestselling powerful and exciting fantasy set in the world of the Others series, humans and the shape-shifting Others will see whether they can live side by side...without destroying one another.There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance. But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Benn
£8.54
Penguin Putnam Inc Arena
Book SynopsisNow in trade paperback, the “thrilling” (New York Times bestselling author Jason M. Hough) near-future science fiction debut about the action-packed world of competitive gaming... Every week, Kali Ling fights to the death on national TV. She’s died hundreds of times. And it never gets easier... The RAGE tournaments—the Virtual Gaming League’s elite competition where the best gamers in the world compete in a fight to the digital death. Every kill is broadcast to millions. Every player leads a life of ultimate fame, responsible only for entertaining the masses. And though their weapons and armor are digital, the pain is real. Chosen to be the first female captain in RAGE tournament history, Kali Ling is at the top of the world—until one of her teammates overdoses. Now she’s stuck trying to work with a hostile new teammate who’s far more distracting th
£12.75
Random House USA Inc Tarnished City 2 Dark Gifts
Book SynopsisMAGIC COMPELS. WE BLEED. The captivating dystopian trilogy that began with Gilded Cage continues. In a modern Britain where magic users control wealth, politics—and you—an uprising has been crushed. In its aftermath, two families will determine the country’s fate. The ruthless Jardines make a play for ultimate power. And the Hadleys, once an ordinary family, must find the extraordinary strength to fight back. Abi Hadley is a fugitive. Her brother, Luke, a prisoner. Both will discover that in the darkest places, the human spirit shines brightest. Meanwhile, amid his family’s intrigues, Silyen Jardine dreams of forgotten powers from an earlier age. As blood runs in the streets of London, all three will discover whether love and courage can ever be stronger than tyranny. How do you choose when you can’t save everyone?Look for all three books in the mesmerizing Dark Gifts trilogy:
£13.60
Random House USA Inc Bright Ruin
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£14.45
Random House USA Inc Dark Age
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£27.20
Penguin Putnam Inc Vox
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£9.78
Penguin Putnam Inc The Change Novel of the Change
Book Synopsis“[A] vivid portrait of a world gone insane,”* S. M. Stirling’s New York Times bestselling Novels of the Change have depicted a vivid, utterly persuasive, and absorbingly unpredictable postapocalyptic wasteland in which all modern technology has been left in ashes, forcing humankind to rebuild an unknowable new world in the wake of unimaginable—and deliberate—chaos. In The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth, S. M. Stirling invites the most fertile minds in science fiction to join him in expanding his rich Emberverse canvas. Here are inventive new perspectives on the cultures, the survivors, and the battles arising across the years and across the globe following the Change—from the ruins of Sydney to the Republic of Fargo and Northern Alberta to Venetian and Greek galleys clashing in the Mediterranean. These adventures revisit beloved people and places from Stirling’s fantastic universe, intr
£14.40
Penguin Putnam Inc Winter Halo 2 Outcast Novel
Book SynopsisFrom the New York Times bestselling author of the Souls of Fire novels comes the second in the futuristic fantasy series that will make you want to keep the lights on... When the bombs that stopped the species war tore holes in the veil between worlds, they allowed entry to the Others. Now, a hundred years later, humans and shifters alike live in artificially lit cities designed to keep the darkness at bay.... The humanoid supersoldiers known as the déchet were almost eradicated by the war. Ever since, Tiger has tried to live her life in peace in hiding. But in the wake of her discovery that Central City’s children are being kidnapped and experimented on, Tiger’s conscience won’t let her look the other way. The key to saving them lies within the walls of a pharmaceutical company called Winter Halo. But as she learns more about the facility, Tiger’s mission is derailed by a com
£7.59
Penguin Putnam Inc The SkyBlue Wolves
Book SynopsisS. M. Stirling presents the stunning and epic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Change series, now in paperback. Many years ago, when advanced technology failed and humanity found itself in a turbulent, postapocalyptic world, extraordinary men and women birthed a new society from the ashes.Two generations after the Change, Crown Princess Órlaith struggles to preserve the hard-won peace her father brought to Montival—the former western North America. But the Change opened many doors, and through them Powers strong and strange and terrible came, to walk once more among humankind. With her fire-forged friend and ally, Japanese Empress Reiko, Órlaith must take up her sword to stop the spread of the mad malignancy behind the Yellow Raja, who has imprisoned her brother Prince John. And from the emerging superpower of Mongolia, the Sky-Blue Wolves of the High Steppe ride once more beneath the banner of Genghis Khan—the thunder of their hooves resounding across a world in turmoil.
£9.49
Random House USA Inc Same Same
Book SynopsisIn the shifting sands of the desert, near an unnamed metropolis, there is an institute where various fellows come to undertake projects of great significance. But when our sort-of hero, Percy Frobisher, arrives, surrounded by the simulated environment of the glass-enclosed dome of the Institute, his mind goes completely blank. When he spills something on his uniform—a major faux pas—he learns about a mysterious shop where you can take something, utter the command “same same,” and receive a replica even better than the original. Imagining a world in which simulacra have as much value as the real—so much so that any distinction between the two vanishes, and even language seeks to reproduce meaning through ever more degraded copies of itself—Peter Mendelsund has crafted a deeply unsettling novel about what it means to exist and to create . . . and a future that may not be far off.
£15.26
Random House USA Inc Lost Empress
Book SynopsisFROM THE PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF A NAKED SINGULARITY Led by a renegade young owner out for revenge against her traitorous family, the Paterson Pork—New Jersey’s only Indoor Football League franchise—is challenging the Dallas Cowboys for championship glory. Meanwhile, a brilliant and lethal mastermind has gotten himself intentionally thrown into prison on Rikers Island with plans to commit the most audacious crime of all time. And is the world ending? Maybe. Filled with impossible triumphs and grave injustices, Lost Empress is another brilliant, hilarious, and eccentric masterpiece from Sergio de la Pava: a vibrant exultation of a novel, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters—immigrants, exiles, and outsiders—who will have you rooting for them, right up until the end.
£12.24
Random House USA Inc If Then
Book Synopsis“A must-read—a gorgeous literary novel that asks us to imagine all the possible versions of ourselves that might exist.”—J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Saints for All OccasionsThe residents of a sleepy mountain town are rocked by troubling visions of an alternate reality in this dazzling debut that combines the family-driven suspense of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere with the inventive storytelling of The Immortalists. In the quiet haven of Clearing, Oregon, four neighbors find their lives upended when they begin to see themselves in parallel realities. Ginny, a devoted surgeon whose work often takes precedence over her family, has a baffling vision of a beautiful co-worker in Ginny’s own bed and begins to doubt the solidity of her marriage. Ginny’s husband, Mark, a wildlife scientist, sees a vision that suggests impending devastation and
£11.04
Putnam Publishing Group,U.S. A Short Film About Disappointment
Book SynopsisAn ingenious novel about art and revenge, insisting on your dreams and hitting on your doctor, told in the form of 81 movie reviews.
£17.84
Penguin Putnam Inc Thrust
Book Synopsis
£14.45
Random House USA Inc The Water Cure
Book Synopsis
£14.45
Vintage Espanol Los restos del día The Remains of the Day
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£14.41
Random House USA Inc Machines Like Me
Book SynopsisFrom the Booker Prize winner and bestselling author of Atonement—”a sharply intelligent novel of ideas” (The New York Times) that asks whether a machine can understand the human heart, or whether we are the ones who lack understanding. Set in an uncanny alternative 1982 London—where Britain has lost the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power, and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence—Machines Like Me powerfully portrays two lovers who will be tested beyond their understanding. Charlie, drifting through life and dodging full-time employment, is in love with Miranda, a bright student who lives with a terrible secret. When Charlie comes into money, he buys Adam, one of the first generation of synthetic humans. With Miranda's assistance, he codesigns Adam's personality. The near-perfect human that emerges is beautiful, strong, and smart—and a love triangle soon forms. Ian
£14.40
Random House USA Inc The Ferryman
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.”—STEPHEN KING From the author of The Passage comes a riveting standalone novel about a group of survivors on a hidden island utopia—where the truth isn’t what it seems.A POLYGON BEST BOOK OF THE YEARThe islands of Prospera lie in a vast ocean, in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity—or whatever remains of it.Citizens of the main island enjoy privileged lives. They are attended to by support staff who live on a cramped neighboring island, where whispers of revolt are brewing—but for the Prosperans, life is perfection. And when the end of life approaches, they’re sent to a mysterious third island, where their bodies are refreshed, their memories are wiped away, and they return to start life anew.Proctor Bennett is a ferryman, w
£24.00
Harper Voyager Bannerless Bannerless Saga
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£14.24
Harper Voyager The Wild Dead
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£14.24
Mariner Books Classics The Man in the High Castle
Book SynopsisIn this Hugo Awardwinning alternative history classic—the basis for the Amazon Original series—the United States lost World War II and was subsequently divided between the Germans in the East and the Japanese in the West. It's America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In this world, we meet characters like Frank Frink, a dealer of counterfeit Americana who is himself hiding his Jewish ancestry; Nobusuke Tagomi, the Japanese trade minister in San Francisco, unsure of his standing within the bureaucracy and Japan''s with Germany; and Juliana Frink, Frank''s ex-wife, who may be more important than she realizes. These seemingly disparate characters gradually realize their connections to each other just as they realize that something is not quite right about their world. And it seems as though the answers might lie with Hawthorne Abendsen, a mysterious and reclusive author, who
£14.39
Transworld Publishers Ltd Rodham
Book SynopsisBY THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ROMANTIC COMEDY, AMERICAN WIFE and PREP''This addictive novel is the SLIDING DOORS of American politics. Gripping'' Stylist''Startlingly good. One of my favourite writers'' KATE ATKINSON----------------------''Awfully opinionated for a girl'' is what they call Hillary as she grows up in her Chicago suburb.Smart, diligent, and a bit plain, that''s the general consensus. Then Hillary goes to college, and her star rises. At Yale Law School, she continues to be a leader - and catches the eye of driven, handsome and charismatic Bill. But when he asks her to marry him, Hillary gives him a firm No.How might things have turned out for them, for America, for the world itself, if Hillary Rodham had really turned down Bill Clinton?With her sharp but always compassionate eye, Sittenfeld explores the loneliness, moral ambivalence and iron determTrade ReviewThis addictive novel is the SLIDING DOORS of American politics. Gripping * STYLIST *A lot of fun. A wonderful, sad dream of what might have happened * GUARDIAN *An explosive new book * GRAZIA *Sittenfeld's RODHAM offers the catharsis of uncomplicated regret * THE NEW YORKER *While telling a compelling story, RODHAM provides an insightful analysis of the function of sexim in our political discourse. Sittenfeld is at her wittiest when recreating the men who dominate American politics * WASHINGTON POST *A nauseating, moving, morally suggestive, technically brilliant book that made me think more than any in recent memory about the aims and limits of fiction * NPR *Hugely enjoyable * WALL STREET JOURNAL *This isn't just fiction as fantasy, this is fiction as therapy. A serious work of literary fiction designed to rally the spirits of liberal readers * SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE *‘An ingenious yet plausible glimpse of an alternative reality, and so involving that it occasionally comes as a shock to realise that there is a different reality, and we are living in it’ * THE SPECTATOR *‘By tilting history on its side, Sittenfeld makes Hillary seem a fresh character and remarkably sympathetic’ * EVENING STANDARD *‘RODHAM explores the mysterious territory between the inner and outer lives of a person who has long been a source of fascination, adulation and loathing’ * FINANCIAL TIMES *‘Getting inside a living person’s head sounds like a colossally bad idea, but Sittenfeld makes it convincing here, just as she did with a character based on First Lady Laura Bush in her 2008 novel, AMERICAN WIFE’ * BBC CULTURE *Deviously clever . . . Sittenfeld’s Hillary is both a player in the Game of Thrones and a romance novel heroine. She’s a brilliant badass who has found her voice and knows how to use it. She’s whoever she wants to be * THE OPRAH MAGAZINE *As Hillary finds her groove, so the momentum and entertainment builds, as does your admiration for how ingeniously and plausibly Sittenfeld has re-written the script * DAILY MAIL *A counterfactual novel ... throbs with energy * TLS *A fascinating glimpse into an alternative future * DAILY MIRROR *Pacy... plenty of sex and gossip - and a cameo from a certain yellow-haired, orange-faced president-to-be... ripe for TV adaptation * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *A brilliantly smart re-imagining * WOMAN AND HOME *Sittenfeld's writing is so fine, her characters so vivid, her empathy so profound that she manages to absorb the reader on a level that transcends partisanship. In 2020, that was a remarkable achievement and an enormous gift to her readers * THE NEW YORKER *It ends up being a love letter to a type: the female intellectual, who is given none of the licence of her less talented male peers. At the end, i found myself saying Oh My God * OBSERVER *A triumphant feminist reinvention. Sittenfeld is the bard of presidential female adjacents * VOGUE *RODHAM is wide- ranging political anthropology, concerned not so much with what makes Hillary tick as it is with the culture around her and how she might have shaped events, and been shaped by them, if the pieces of reality's jigsaw were rearranged just so. It's stippled with clever mischief * NEW YORK TIMES *A smartly structured character study and a stay- up- all- night plot . . . A captivating and durable story containing rooms within rooms. RODHAM turns into a high- speed bildungsroman about a woman of formidable intellect and self- insight. * THE LOS ANGELES TIMES *It's the genius of Sittenfeld's prose that we come to understand this ambivalence,as well as the deep conflicts in this complicated character. In the longing and loneliness, the anger as well as ambition, this Hillary makes RODHAM a compelling portrait of a future that might have been. * THE BOSTON GLOBE *Tantalizing . . . part thought experiment, part wish- fulfillment fantasy . . . delectably discussable, a book tailor- made for book clubs. * USA TODAY *Wildly compelling . . . What RODHAM is interested in is examining what feminine ambition looks like when it is untethered from a man. . . . Sittenfeld is free to invent, and the reality she builds is deliciously dishy. * VOX *Thought-provoking and compelling * SUNDAY EXPRESS *A moving feat of feminist and novelistic imagination * THE TABLET *
£9.49
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Lost Army Of Cambyses
Book SynopsisThis gripping, captivating and wonderfully evocative archeological thriller by bestselling author Paul Sussman is a must read for fans of Clive Cussler and Wilbur Smith.A tremendous adventure, one of the most intriguing mysteries of the past, a great novel masterfully written - VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDIOne of the best writers of international suspense in the business - STEVE BERRYStylish writing and deep research - GUARDIANAn excellent book full of twists and turns. -- ***** Reader reviewEnthralling -- ***** Reader reviewWOW what a brilliant book and enjoyed every bit of it. No hesitation in giving it 5 stars. -- ***** Reader review***********************************************************************************MURDER, INTRIGUE, VIOLENCE, BETRAYAL AND A RACE TO SOLVE ONE OF THE GREATEST MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD...523 BC: the Persian pharaoh CambysesTrade Review'At last, at thriller that gets away from the hackneyed old "curse of Tut" stuff...the fast paced plot is one among many good things in this very assured first novel' * Scotland on Sunday *A tremendous adventure, one of the most intriguing mysteries of the past, a great novel masterfully written -- VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI
£9.99
Faber & Faber Meanwhile in Dopamine City Shortlisted for the
Book SynopsisFROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINING AUTHOR OF VERNON GOD LITTLE''Pierre''s high-risk prose explores and expands the cartoonish, taboo-busting outer edges of literary possibility.'' -- Independent***It's a big bad world out there, in Dopamine City.All Lonnie Cush wants is to keep his kids safe.But Shelby-Ann his little girl, the maddening apple of his eye has other ideas: Shelby-Ann wants her first smartphone.So new realities are rocketing their way to 37 Palisade Row, where everything will change, every day, and at mortal speed. Until Lonnie finds himself in a stitch: he'll have to join this new world, or wither in it. Or can he mastermind a vanishing act?The story of a hapless father's love and loss, and a speedball, starburst satire, Meanwhile in Dopamine City is a passionate, freewheeling work from the winner of the Booker Prize: a riotous cry for the soul and the flesh and the heart in t
£7.64
Faber & Faber Hav
Book SynopsisHav gives us Jan Morris at her most delightful and most suggestive. The city is a magical place - yet behind its arcane splendours are darker implications. The traditional Roof Race is peculiarly exciting, the waterfront is picturesque, the wistful call of a trumpeter from a distant rampart is wonderfully evocative, and every street corner is haunted by memories of illustrious visitors - Freud, Diaghilev, Marco Polo, Lawrence of Arabia and countless others. But Morris''s visit ends in flight when an unidentified enemy arrives to seize control.When Jan Morris returns to Hav, some twenty years later, she finds that her account of her earlier visit is banned - and discovers a place that has rebuilt itself, transformed by a new energy and now dominated by a totemic tower 2000 feet tall. But as the old Hav was in many ways an allegory of the last century, so the city in its new incarnation offers no less elusive hints, echoes and portents of our 21st century world. As a deTrade Review"'A deeply civilised and civilising book.' The Times"
£10.44
Faber & Faber Man in the Dark
Book SynopsisAuster''s haunting exploration of war in a post 9/11 world from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian) ''I am alone in the dark, turning the world around in my head as I struggle through another bout of insomnia, another white night in the great American wilderness.''Seventy-two-year-old August Brill is recovering from a car accident in his daughter''s house in Vermont. When sleep refuses to come, he lies in bed and tells himself stories, struggling to push back thoughts about things he would rather forget - his wife''s recent death and the horrific murder, in Iraq, of his granddaughter''s boyfriend, Titus. Brill, a retired book critic, imagines a parallel world in which America is not at war with Iraq but with itself. In this other America the Twin Towers did not fall on 9/11, and the 2000 election results led to secession, as state after state pulled away from the union and
£9.49
Faber & Faber Cahokia Jazz
Book SynopsisUtterly immersive' SpectatorThrilling' Financial TimesUnlike anything else you will read this year' Daily Express A classic of alternative history' Observer A delight' Sunday TelegraphA Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman and Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year A thrilling tale of murder and mystery in a city where history has run a little differently -- from the bestselling author of Golden Hill.In a city that never was, in an America that never was, on a snowy night at the end of winter, two detectives find a body on the roof of a skyscraper.It's 1922, and Americans are drinking in speakeasies, dancing to jazz, stepping quickly to the tempo of modern times. But in this 1922, things are a little different. Beside the Mississippi, the ancient city of Cahokia lives on a teeming industrial metropolis, conta
£18.00
