Dystopian and utopian fiction
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Census
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£20.79
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Trouble No Man
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£14.39
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Other than Honorable
Book SynopsisTrade Review“O’Dell’s prose is sharp and clean, rising at times to the poetic, and her near-future Washington DC feels like a real city. The USA of A Study in Honor is a place with deep political divisions, and some of that comes into play in this story. It feels appropriately complicated as a future, and not a simplistic future vision of now.” — Locus Magazine “Readers who pick this up for the novelty of Watson and Holmes as black women will be impressed by how well O’Dell realizes them as full, rich characters. This is a real treat for fans of Conan Doyle and SF mysteries.” — Publishers Weekly “If you like dystopian future narratives, queer romance, and Sherlock Holmes, you’ll adore A Study in Honor.” — LitHub “In this intriguing and fresh twist on the Sherlock Holmes mythos, O’Dell brings a heady mix of dystopian sf and strong female protagonists in the first of a new series.” — Library Journal “I may be a sucker for a good Dr. Watson, or maybe Claire O’Dell (an open pseudonym for Beth Bernobich) has just written a hell of a good novel, because A Study in Honor turns out to be one of those books I find impossible to put down. I want the sequel immediately.” — Tor.com “A gritty, fast-paced investigation with a memorable and compelling duo of main characters. I can’t wait to see what Janet and Sara get up to next.” — Aliette de Bodard, Nebula-award winning author of The House of Binding Thorns and The Tea Master and the Detective “A Study in Honor is a fast-moving, diverse science-fictional Holmes and Watson reinterpretation set in near future Washington DC. As a deliciously intersectional makeover of a famous literary duo it’s enormously satisfying. Clean, clear, and vastly enjoyable.” — Nicola Griffith, Lambda Literary award-winning author of So Lucky “An entertaining and empathetic dystopian procedural that navigates the capital of an America at war with itself, tracking the path to recovery from personal and national trauma.” — Christopher Brown, author of Tropic of Kansas
£12.55
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls
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£16.14
HarperCollins Publishers Inc After the Flood
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£22.39
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Lakewood
Book SynopsisNPR Book of the Year 2020Electric Literature: One of 55 Books by Women and Nonbinary Writers of Color to Read in 2020 |Trade Review“Chilling...Giddings is a writer with a vivid imagination and a fresh eye both of the body and of society. This eerie debut provides a deep character study spiked with a dose of horror.” — Publishers Weekly “Giddings writes with eloquence, walking readers through the complicated world of Lakewood. They'll be eager to turn each page and read what happens next.” — Booklist "Lakewood is a thought-provoking debut and Megan Giddings is a young writer to watch." — Kirkus Reviews “Megan Giddings’ debut novel Lakewood is reminiscent of Jordan Peele’s terrifying film Get Out.” — Essence “Both profoundly poetic and utterly compelling, Lakewood presents an intimate portrait of the physical and psychological trauma caused by the use of black people as test subjects for medical experiments in the United States and powerfully connects it to the broader legacy of environmental racism.” — Ladee Hubbard, author of The Talented Ribkins “Megan Giddings’ Lakewood is a gripping thriller of ideas in the tradition of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, depicting a terrifying world of public complicity and government-sponsored malpractice. Giddings asks: What happens when our want to be useful is weaponized against us, when the only way we see to help others is to invite harm upon ourselves? This is the rare debut that feels utterly of the now, unearthing our shared past even as it charges the reader to imagine and enact a better future, fast as they can.” — Matt Bell, author of Scrapper "Like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives, Lakewood compels even as it unsettles. Megan Giddings writes with a scalpel and I’d follow her characters anywhere." — Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble “An impressive debut. Megan Giddings has produced a novel of great emotional intensity. Her brilliant storytelling skills are on full display in this story which unfolds with subtle prose that deftly explores powerful themes of family, loss, responsibility, and friendship. Lena Johnson is a masterfully rendered protagonist, reminiscent of the characters of Toni Morrison, Gayl Jones and Jesmyn Ward, while appearing utterly new and fresh.” — Jeffrey Colvin, author of Africaville
£15.54
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Aurora
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£16.14
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Last Wild Horses
Book SynopsisTranslated into 40 languages, winner of the Norwegian Bookseller’s Prize, and the most successful Norwegian author of her generation, Maja Lunde returns with a heart-wrenching tale, set in the distant past and the dystopian future, about extinction and survival, family and hope.Mikhail lives in Russia in 1881. When a skeleton of a rare wild horse is brought to him, the zoologist plans an expedition to Mongolia to find the fabled Przewalski horse, a journey that tests not only his physicality, but his heart.In 1992, Karin, alongside her troubled son Mathias and several Przewalski horses, travels to Mongolia to re-introduce the magnificent horses to their native land. The veterinarian has dedicated her life to saving the breed from extinction, prioritizing the wild horses, even over her own son. Europe’s future is uncertain in 2064, but Eva is willing to sacrifice nearly everything to hold onto her family’s farm. Her teenage daughter implores Eva to leave the farm and Norway, but a pregnant wild mare Eva is tending is about to foal. Then, a young woman named Louise unexpectedly arrives on the farm, with mysterious intentions that will either bring them all together, or devastate them one by one.Spanning continents and centuries, The Last Wild Horses is a powerful tale of survival and connection—of humans, animals, and the indestructible bonds that unite us all. Translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley
£17.09
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Aurora
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£23.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc How to Survive Everything
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the 2021 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the YearShortlisted for the 2021 Bookmark Book of the Year PrizeOne of the most provocative, intelligent and original novelists working in Britain today (Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting) makes his American debut with this darkly comic and electrifyingly twisty thriller with echoes of Emily St. John Mandel, Lionel Shriver, and Richard Powers, in which a teenage girl and her brother are abducted by their survivalist father who believes the apocalypse has begun.An absolutely brilliant read.?Lucy Mangan, journalist and author of Are We Having Fun Yet?Hilarious, foreboding with all of the brilliance and brutality of life in between. Haley is the hero of our times?bold, bewitching, and superbly drawn. Her voice rang in my ears long after I reluctantly turned the last page.?Diane Cook, author of the Booker Prize nominated novelThe New WildernessMy name is Haley Cooper Crowe and I am in lockdown in a remote location I can?t tell you about.Children of divorce, Haley and Ben live with their mother. But their dad believes there?s a new, much deadlier pandemic coming and is determined to keep them alive. He wants to take them to his prepper hideaway where they will be safe from other people. NOW. But there?s no way their mother will go along with his plan. Saving them requires extreme measures.Kidnapped by their father and confined to his compound far off the grid, Haley and Ben have no contact with the outside world. How can they save their mother? Will they make it out alive? Is the threat real?or is this all just a dark fantasy brought on by their conspiracy obsessed father?s warped imagination?Propulsive and chilling in its realism, How to Survive Everything is the story of a world imploding; a teenage girl?s record for negotiating the collapse of everything she knows?including her family and sanity.
£15.30
Penguin Putnam Inc Going Home
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£16.20
Penguin Putnam Inc Forsaking Home
Book SynopsisBook 4 of The Survivalist Series They survived the collapse, but can they survive the aftermath? Morgan Carter has weathered the weeks after the collapse of the nation’s power grid, reuniting with his family and ensuring their safety, but his struggle isn''t over yet. Carter must focus on survival in an increasingly unstable society—but the challenges he faces are beyond his wildest imagination. Meanwhile, the enclosed quarters of the nearby government-run refugee camp make for an environment where injury, assault and murder are the norm. As Jess creates trouble within the camp, Sarge and his crew plot to take down the entire establishment. From the author of the hit Survivalist Series books, Forsaking Home is an action-packed adventure that depicts the harrowing possibilities of a world gone awry, and the courage it takes to protect what matters most.
£15.30
Orbit The Final Evolution 5 Avery Cates
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£7.99
Mulholland Books Afterland
Book Synopsis Children of Men meets The Handmaid's Tale in this 'smartly written' and 'splendid' thriller about how far a mother will go to protect her son from a hostile world transformed by the absence of men (Stephen King).Most of the men are dead. Three years after the pandemic known as The Manfall, governments still hold and life continues—but a world run by women isn't always a better place.Twelve-year-old Miles is one of the last boys alive, and his mother, Cole, will protect him at all costs. On the run after a horrific act of violence-and pursued by Cole's own ruthless sister, Billie—all Cole wants is to raise her kid somewhere he won't be preyed on as a reproductive resource or a sex object or a stand-in son. Someplace like home.To get there, Cole and Miles must journey across a changed America in disguise as mother and daughter. From a military base in Seattle to a luxu
£999.99
Back Bay Books Before This Is Over
Book Synopsis A gripping look at the way humanity handles crisis. --Newsweek In the midst of a devastating epidemic, how far will a desperate mother go to keep her loved ones safe? There is a deadly virus spreading around the world. At first it is a distant alarm bell in the background of Hannah''s comfortable suburban life. Then suddenly, it has arrived on the doorstep. The quarantine traps Hannah, her husband, and their young sons in their home and forces them to rely on their own resourcefulness as water and power supplies are cut, food reserves dwindle, and their formerly idyllic backyard and quiet street become battlefields. Hannah is convinced that if she keeps her wits about her, she can protect her family, even as one threat after another looms just on the other side of the door.Compulsively readable and deeply personal, Before This Is Over forces us to grapple with disa
£15.29
Orbit The Fall of Koli
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£16.19
Orbit Goldilocks
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£999.99
Back Bay Books The Power
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£16.14
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
£20.89
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
William Morrow & Company Across the Sand
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£999.99
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.
£21.60
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
£999.99
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
£29.25
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
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:
£14.40
Random House USA Inc Bright Ruin
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£15.30
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.
£16.16
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.
£12.88
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
Random House USA Inc The Violence
Book SynopsisHow far would you go to be free? Three generations of women forge a new path through an America torn by a mysterious wave of violence in this “chilling [and] dizzyingly effective” (The New York Times Book Review) novel of revenge, liberation, and triumph.“A compulsively readable fusion of domestic thriller and modern horror.”—Kameron Hurley, author of The Light Brigade“A novel that defines this era.”—Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good IndiansFINALIST FOR THE ITW THRILLER AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York TimesThey call it The Violence: a strange epidemic that causes the infected to experience sudden bursts of animalistic rage, with no provocation and no memory of their crimes. While it tears the nation apart, one woman
£16.20
Random House USA Inc Out There
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£16.15
Random House USA Inc Chain Gang All Stars
Book SynopsisA NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR? FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION ?A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK? NATIONAL BESTSELLER ?Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America?s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black? LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE?This book is so good. Brutal subject matter, beautiful writing. This one is from the heart.??Stephen KingA Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Elle, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Lit Hub, Kirkus Reviews?Like Orwell?s 1984 and Atwood?s The Handmaid?s Tale, Adjei-Brenyah?s book presents a dystopian vision so…illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we?re capable of doing.? ?The Washington PostShe felt their eyes, all those executioners…Loretta Thurwar and Hamara ?Hurricane Staxxx? Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program in America?s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It?s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom. In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death matches before packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, Thurwar considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games. But CAPE?s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar?s path have devastating consequences. Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors, to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system?s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a ?new and necessary American voice? (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).
£22.95
Alfred A. Knopf Titanium Noir
Book SynopsisA virtuosic mashup of Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler by way of Marvel—the story of a detective investigating the murder of a Titan, one of society’s most powerful, medically-enhanced elites. • “Cross-genre brilliance from the superbly talented Nick Harkaway.” —William Gibson, New York Times best-selling author of AgencyAn exemplar of its genre, Titanium Noir twists and turns between excellent fun and deep melancholy. —The New York Times Book ReviewCal Sounder is a detective working for the police on certain very sensitive cases. So when he’s called in to investigate a homicide at a local apartment, he’s surprised by the routineness of it all. But when he arrives on scene, Cal soon learns that the victim—Roddy Tebbit, an otherwise milquetoast techie—is well over seven feet tall. And although he doesn’t look a day over thirty, he is ninety-one yea
£22.40
Penguin Young Readers Never Let Me Go
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£24.30
Diversified Publishing The Ferryman
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£28.80
Penguin Random House India Eden
Book SynopsisFrom the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Harvest and Quarantine, a gorgeous, unforgettable retelling of the myth of Eden.The inhabitants of Eden are untouched by death. In the garden they care for their orchards and the land, and give thanks for their good fortune, because they know that beyond the garden walls is a world where disease and hunger rampage.Eden is overseen by angels—their bodies covered in blue iridescent feathers, their beaks sharp and curved. It is a pleasant place where no one wants for a thing. But, as this story begins, something is wrong in Eden. Because years after Adam and Eve left the garden, another inhabitant has escaped…Weaving together elements of the dystopian, but never letting go of the sense of the sacred that saturates western myths of a perfect world before the fall, Eden manages to be both a critique of those stories and a sad reprise of their now-lost themes.In
£16.11
Watkins Media Limited If Then 2 Seizure Trilogy
Book SynopsisJames has a scar in the back of his head. It’s where he was wounded in the Battle of Suvla Bay in August 1915. Or is the scar the mark of his implant that allows the Process to fill his mind with its own reality?In IF, the people of a small English town cling on after an economic collapse under the protection of the Process. But sometimes people must be evicted from the town. That’s the job of James, the bailiff. While on patrol, James discovers the replica of a soldier from the First World War wandering the South Downs. This strange meeting begins a new cycle of evictions in the town, while out on the rolling downland, the Process is methodically growing the soldiers and building the weapons required to relive a long lost battle.In THEN, it is August 1915, at the Battle of Suvla Bay in the Dardanelles campaign. Compared to the thousands of allied soldiers landing on this foreign beach, the men of the 32nd Field Ambulance are misfits Trade Review“Sumptuously written, with prose that glitters with a dark lustre like a Damien Hirst fly collage. intricately plotted, and a satirical point as sharp and and accurate as the scalpel of a brain surgeon: De Abaitua operates on the smiling face of the present to reveal the grimacing skull of the future.” – Will Self“This is the kind of post-apocalypse, after-it-all-changed novel – with clever codicils – that the Brits do with so much more classy, idiosyncratic style than anyone else. It is full of magisterial weirdness, logical surrealism, melancholy joy and hopeful terror. If I begin to toss out names like Adam Roberts, Brian Aldiss, Keith Roberts, and J. G. Ballard, I will not be lavishing undue praise.” – Paul Di Filippo, for Locus Magazine“If Then may be one of the most important works of British SF to appear in recent years. It is stunningly original and superbly well written. For those who care about such things, it is firmly of SF, not the literary mainstream – yet it is technically as complex and well executed as any modernist novel you may meet on your Booker travels. I hope this book will be discussed and debated and praised, for it deserves all three sorts of attention in generous measure. If Then is the opposite of the literature of reassurance, it is everything science fiction should be aiming for, and it is wonderful to see de Abaitua back on the scene.” – Nina Allan“I cannot praise (If Then) highly enough: eloquent, intelligent, brilliant.” – Elsa Bouet, Shoreline of Infinity“I can’t recommend this book more highly. It’s slipstream fiction for polymaths. If Then flips off expectations of genre and leaves me feeling like I’m riding its shockwave into the future of literature.” – Boldly Read“De Abaitua builds on the promise he demonstrated in The Red Men in this intellectual science fiction novel, whose ambition is matched by its execution. The author’s thoughtful world-building is enhanced by a cast of relatable characters.” – Publishers Weekly“The alternating viewpoints set in a modern town and during World War I will have you itching to know what’s really going on.” – Kirkus Reviews“One of the most intriguing and disturbing near-future speculations published for some years.” – Strange Horizons“This is a powerful novel, both in its portrayal of the horrors of World War I, the wasteful loss of life, the dreadful conditions, the failures of those who let the war happen, and also in showing how easily the systems that support our modern-day lives could fall apart.” – Steven Theaker, Interzone“De Abaitua draws on the techniques of British science fiction from Wells, Huxley and Stapledon through to Ballard and deploys them like a master in crafting this simultaneously parochial and profound meditation on the nature of war understood as an evolutionary process. With language that is both lyrical and precise he has created a philosophical fiction that is compelling, extremely moving and deeply unsettling. An extraordinary book.” – James Flint, author of The Book of Ash and 52 Ways to Magic America“Both bucolic and an oppressive love story set against the background of an enigmatic dictatorship of sorts, this tale of reality askew is also a powerful meditation on the nature of war, the misuse of technology and the grit and determination of the common man. Thoughtful, at times frustrating but well worth the final reward, and stylically elegant, a different kind of science fiction.” – Maxim Jakubowski, Lovereading“If Then is an incredibly enthralling and original tale that still has me thinking about it weeks after I read it. A brilliant entry onto the scene, If Then is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in speculative fiction.” – Smash Dragons“A fascinating read.” – Susan Hated Literature“Six out of five stars.” – One Breath Book Reviews“We are forced to reflect on the way modern society normalises war and conflict for the many by concentrating the horror of it in a few. If Then asks us what value we place on people beyond their role as economic units, and whether we would rethink our actions if we were able to truly experience their consequences at first hand.” – Astounding Yarns“If Then is a very interesting combination of science fiction and war literature, questioning what people are capable of and how far they should go. The book poses some great questions on artificial intelligence and technology without really giving you any answers, but it definitely makes it worth it reading this book with someone else and then discussing it to death. If Then definitely demands your attention and if you’re looking for a mind-boggling and challenging read then you should definitely give this one a try.” – Bored to Death Book Club“If Then is an extremely satisfying story about humanity’s inability to cope with both change and uncertainty.” – Lit/Rant“If Then is a particular kind of British rural science fiction, in which a deeply unsettling pall overshadows what should be a Utopian idyll. The novel has antecedents in the works of John Wyndham, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley – and it is every bit as good as the best works of those writers. It is full of mind-bending ideas, great characters and wonderful writing. If there is any justice, it deserves a nomination for the next Hugos.” – Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing“This is a really tremendous speculative fiction book that examines humanity and society. The tenor of the book reminds me of the speculative fiction writers I was reading back in the 1970’s. Michael Bishop, Thomas Disch, Gene Wolfe, Roger Zelazny. I consider some of their work to be thoughtful, introspective studies on humanity and self. And while it reminds me of these authors, this book strikes me as quite original. I was hooked early on with author Matthew de Abaitua’s descriptions of the people and the community. He created something very real and easy to believe in, and managed to let us know right away that we were outside our modern norm. I am impressed with science/speculative fiction is headed these days. If you want something more than just a space opera or fantasies with trolls and elves and lots of magic, there are strong works out there, such as this one.” – Looking for a Good Book?“Interesting and intriguing.” – YLogs“If Then is a vitally intelligent book that asks the difficult, probing questions we need to be asking ourselves about consciousness, morality, how we are going to live in the future and our own humanity. It is, in the best sense, a profoundly worrying novel, one that the reader’s mind keeps returning to long after finishing.” – Golden Apples of the West“If Then is by any measure an extremely fine work s which stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the best for several reasons. The overall concept is complex and original and is handled with complete confidence. The characters are fully formed and the sheer quality of both the vivid descriptive passages and the believable dialogue makes the book a complete cerebral and visceral three-dimensional experience.” – The Generalist“If you like a challenging read, worry about the human mind and our cognitively dissonant yearnings for self-destruction and self-preservation, or you’re interested in the horrors of war or the Gallipoli landings of 1915, or you have a yen for dystopian near-futures, or are a fan of Brian Aldiss, Aldous Huxley (whose brother makes an indirect appearance) or, indeed, Olaf Stapledon, then you should pick up a copy as soon as you can.” – MetaliteratureFurther praise for Matthew De Abaitua:“De Abaitua’s extraordinary fictions, scientific and otherwise, emerge from a deep and mysterious understanding of culture, and show it to us in a new light.” – James Bridle“The Red Men is a breathtaking novel of ideas.” – I09.com“The Red Men is an exciting and confident debut.” – Strange Horizons“If Then is a love story, the history of a marriage, a topical meditation on the end of capitalism; best of all, it is a bone-deep, blood-sweet British fantasy, naive and ingenious as William Morris and as warpedly nostalgic as Richard Jeffries’ After London. As disturbingly hyperreal as any Pre-Raphaelite painting, If Then imagines what the end of history really will really look like, what’s really at stake, and maybe, just maybe, what we can do about it.” – Simon Ings, author of Wolves“This near-future literary thriller is remarkably prescient… it is De Abaitua’s pinsharp observations of human nature that make this an uncomfortably standout read for me.” – Sarah Higbee“Matthew de Abaitua challenges the expanding enactment of modern culture through social media and its devices by taking it to its furthest extreme, and that’s only one of the issues he grapples with in this extraordinarily well-written, intelligent and meticulously researched work… This brilliant book tests the reader with questions relevant to our day-to-day lives.” – Fiction Uncovered“De Abaitua deliciously smashes together today’s worst middle-class fears of economic catastrophe with the empire-fracturing legacy of the First World War. He equates our surrender to a digitised society with the soldiers’ incorporation into the imperial war machine – and, through some clever attention to historical detail, he suggests that our past might yet hold the key to a weird and hopeful future.” – Matt Finch / Mechanical Dolphin“The prose has a wonderful lightness and simplicity at odds with its complex subject; at no point is the dense narrative difficult or obtuse. Visceral yet bracingly clever; haunting but more timely by the day, If Then is one of the most insightful and relevant English science fiction novels of recent years.” – Andrew Wallace, author of Sons of the Crystal Mind
£7.99
Random House USA Inc A Cure for Suicide
Book Synopsis***LONG-LISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD***A man and a woman have moved into a small house in a small village. The woman is an examiner, charged with teaching the man a series of simple functions—this is a chair, this is a fork, this is how you meet people. Still, the man is haunted by strange dreams, and when he meets a charismatic, volatile young woman named Hilda at a party, it throws everything he has learned into question. What is this village? And why is he here? A fascinating novel of love, illness, despair, and betrayal, A Cure for Suicide is the most captivating novel yet from one of our most audacious and original young writers.
£11.71
Picador USA The Mere Wife
Book SynopsisNew York Times bestselling author Maria Dahvana Headley presents a modern retelling of the literary classic Beowulf, set in American suburbia as two mothersa housewife and a battle-hardened veteranfight to protect those they love in The Mere Wife. From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildingshigh and gabledand the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outsidein lawns and on playgroundswildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall's periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights. For Willa, the wife of Roger Herot (heir of Herot Hall), life moves at a charmingly slow pace. She flits between mommy groups, playdates, cocktail hour, and dinne
£16.20
Celadon Books Elsewhere
Book SynopsisRichly emotive and darkly captivating, with elements of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and the imaginative depth of Margaret Atwood, Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin conjures a community in which girls become wives, wives become mothers and some of them, quite simply, disappear.Vera grows up in a small town, removed and isolated, pressed up against the mountains, cloud-covered and damp year-round. This town, fiercely protective, brutal and unforgiving in its adherence to tradition, faces a singular affliction: some mothers vanish, disappearing into the clouds. It is the exquisite pain and intrinsic beauty of their lives; it sets them apart from people elsewhere and gives them meaning. Vera, a young girl when her mother went, is on the cusp of adulthood herself. As her peers begin to marry and become mothers, they speculate about who might be the first to go, each wondering about her own fate. Reveling in their gossip, they witness each other in motherhood,
£15.29
Holt McDougal The Council of Animals
Book SynopsisFrom national bestselling author Nick McDonell, The Council of Animals is a captivating fable for humans of all agesdreamers and cynics alikewho believe (if nothing else) in the power of timeless storytelling.Now,' continued the cat, there is nothing more difficult than changing an animal's mind. But I will say, in case I can change yours: humans are more useful to us outside our bellies than in.'Perhaps.After The Calamity, the animals thought the humans had managed to do themselves in. But, it turns out, a few are cowering in makeshift villages. So the animalsamong them a cat, a dog, a crow, a baboon, a horse, and a bearhave convened to debate whether to help the last human stragglers . . . or to eat them.Rest assured, there is a happy ending. Sort of.Featuring illustrations by Steven Tabbutt
£15.29
WW Norton & Co The Wall A Novel
Book SynopsisAn NPR "Favorite Books of the Year" and Financial Times "Best Fiction of the Year" selection. The best-selling author of The Debt to Pleasure and Capital returns with a chilling fable for our time.Trade Review"Lanchester’s novel…elegantly and chillingly imagines how current political attitudes might play out as the repercussions of climate change grow more severe." -- New York Times"Gripping…Full of tense action and sudden reversals…Few readers will stop until they reach its final page." -- Alec Nevala-Lee - New York Times Book Review"Thrilling…A topical and deftly satirical novel." -- Anna Mundow - Wall Street Journal"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"[A] taut tale…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"Bold and confident fiction that highlights the current American and British issues of Trumpism and Brexit. " -- Los Angeles Times"A chilling reminder of the ease with which myopia can turn to dystopia." -- Michael Magras - Houston Chronicle"Chillingly real." -- Boris Kachka - New York magazine"An utterly persuasive story set in a dystopic future. Unputdownable. It's 1984 for our times." -- Michael Lewis"In The Wall, John Lanchester takes our current political climate to its terrible and logical extreme. A harrowing, brilliant, and troublingly plausible vision of the future." -- Emily St. John Mandel"The Wall is something new: almost an allegory, almost a dystopian-future warning, partly an elegant study of the nature of storytelling itself. I was hugely impressed by it." -- Philip Pullman
£19.22
WW Norton & Co Saha A Novel
Book SynopsisTIME • Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2022 From the international best-selling author of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 comes this chilling dystopian fable for fans of Netflix’s Squid Game.Trade Review"A dystopian thriller with a series of intimate character sketches that form a portrait of a community. (Imagine “Winesburg, Ohio” set in “1984.”)... Cho draws touching portraits of her discarded denizens… illuminat[ing] the systemic enforcement of class in the same way that “Kim Jiyoung” revealed gender inequality…. An affecting portrait of people doing their best to survive in a world that would rather pretend they didn’t exist." -- Lincoln Michel - New York Times Book Review"What is it called again when dystopian fiction seems too uncomfortably plausible: Horror? Speculative fiction? A wake-up call? Treading in territories visited over time by Dickens, Orwell, Atwood, Ishiguro, Squid Game, and Parasite, Cho recounts—in specific and painstaking detail—the miserable lives endured by the many residents of the Saha housing complex... This successor to Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 (2020), Cho’s chronicle of the misogynistic forces behind South Korea’s #MeToo movement—a finalist for the National Book Award—addresses another equally corrosive social horror. Read. Weep. Learn." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
£13.29
Sourcebooks, Inc The Last Dog on Earth
Book Synopsis
£15.99
Amazon Publishing Traitor Born
Book SynopsisThe Wall Street Journal bestselling sequel to Secondborn. In the Fates Republic… Firstborns reign supreme. Secondborns kneel in servitude. Thirdborns face death. And Census shadows them all. Secondborn Roselle St. Sismode was pressed into military service to battle the rebel uprising threatening the society that enslaves her. Now, powerful factions conspire to subvert the lines of succession, positioning Roselle to replace her mother as leader of the Republic’s armed forces. But the woman who bore her would sooner see Roselle dead than let her usurp her firstborn brother’s command. The deadly war of intrigue between her new masters and her ruthless family is but one conflict challenging Roselle. A soldier for the rebellion has drawn her into a rogue army’s plot to overthrow the Republic and shatter its brutal caste system. Targeted by assassins and torn between allies, Roselle will have her loyalty, love, and honor tested in the greatest battle of—and for—her life.Trade Review“The world of the Republic is cleverly detailed…With elements of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and Ian Fleming’s James Bond, Traitor Born will keep the reader entertained all the way up to the cliff-hanger ending.” —Booklist “If you liked Secondborn, you’ll love Traitor Born. This sequel takes everything that’s enjoyable about the first novel (the action, the sexual tension, the political intrigue) and turns it up a few notches—It has a really episodic feeling to its storytelling. The characters are complex and multilayered, the action is exciting, and the interpersonal relationships are fascinating. It’s a great read that you’ll have trouble putting down.” —Hypable “Traitor Born is perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series, Mary Lu’s Legend series, and similar dystopian fantasy novels…Traitor Born brings new characteristics to the mix.” —Teenreads “…A fast-paced, action-packed second book…Amy [Bartol] draws you into the story, every single time, leaving you hooked, invested, and clamoring for more.” —Vilma Iris
£12.82
Blackstone Publishing Hell Divers
Book Synopsis
£23.74
