Family life fiction / Stories about family
Back Bay Books Imagine Me Gone
Book Synopsis
£16.14
Back Bay Books Didnt Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to
Book SynopsisWinner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award In this “dangerously hilarious” novel (Los Angeles Times), a trans woman reenters life on the outside after more than twenty years in a men’s prison, over one consequential Fourth of July weekend—from the author of the PEN/Faulkner Award winner Delicious Foods. Carlotta Mercedes has been misunderstood her entire life. When she was pulled into a robbery gone wrong, she still went by the name she’d grown up with in Fort Greene, Brooklyn—before it gentrified. But not long after her conviction, she took the name Carlotta and began to live as a woman, an embrace of selfhood that prison authorities rejected, keeping Carlotta trapped in an all-male cell block, abused by both inmates and guards, and often placed in solitary. In her fifth appearance before the parole board, Carlotta is at last granted conditional freedom and returns to a much-changed New Yor
£15.29
Back Bay Books The Matchmaker
Book Synopsis
£16.99
Mulholland Books The Quiet Boy
Book Synopsis
£16.19
Back Bay Books Red Clocks
Book Synopsis
£16.14
Back Bay Books What We Were Promised
Book Synopsis
£999.99
Redhook The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep
Book Synopsis
£16.99
Little Brown and Company A Brief History of Living Forever
Book Synopsis
£22.40
Little Brown and Company Summer of 69
Book Synopsis Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of the ''60s summer when everything changed in Elin Hilderbrand''s #1 New York Times bestselling historical novel. Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It''s 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother''s historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha''s Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. And thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, while each of them hides a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country. In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel.
£9.99
Orbit Blood of the Chosen
Book Synopsis
£999.99
Mulholland Books The Less Dead
Book Synopsis In this 'thought-provoking' thriller from the author of the Reese Witherspoon book club pick and national bestseller Conviction, a woman in crisis finds herself on the hunt for her own mother's murderer (People).Dr. Margo Dunlop is at a crossroads. Her adoptive mom just passed away, and Margo misses her so much she can't begin to empty the house-or, it seems, get her brother on the phone. Not to mention she's newly single, secretly pregnant, and worried about her best friend's dangerous relationship. In an effort to cheer herself up she goes in search of her birth mother. Instead she finds Nikki, her mother's sister. Aunt Nikki isn't what Margo expects, and she brings upsetting news: Margo's mother is dead. Worse, she was murdered years ago, and her killer is still at large—and sending Nikki threatening letters.Margo is torn. Should she stay out of this mess, or try to find justice? But then Margo receives a letter, too. Someone out there has been waiting and watching, and in Margo sees the spitting image of her mother . . .Darkly funny and deeply affecting, The Less Dead is a sharply modern new thriller from the bestselling author of Conviction, and a surprisingly moving story of daughters and mothers, secrets and choices, and how the search for the truth—and a long-hidden killer—will lead one woman to find herself.
£15.29
Back Bay Books How the OneArmed Sister Sweeps Her House
Book Synopsis
£999.99
Little, Brown & Company I Love You Too Much
Book Synopsis
£20.80
Back Bay Books The Balcony
Book Synopsis
£14.39
Little Brown and Company The Rehearsals
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Random House USA Inc Sunshine on Scotland Street
Book Synopsis44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 8The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring six-year-old Bertie, a remarkably precocious boy—just ask his mother. From social media to the finer points of human behavior, this episode of Alexander McCall Smith's popular 44 Scotland Street series provides an entertaining commentary on a small corner of modern life in Edinburgh where, contrary to received wisdom, the sun nearly always shines.Angus Lordie and Domenica Macdonald are finally tying the knot. Unsurprisingly, Angus is not quite prepared and averting a wedding-day disaster falls to his best man, Matthew. When the newlyweds finally head off on their honeymoon, Angus's dog Cyril goes to stay with the Pollocks—to the delight of one member of the family, and the utter despair of another. The long-suffering Bertie knows firsthand how
£999.99
Vintage Canada Strange Loops
Book SynopsisEnthralling. . . . A story that burns with intensity and daring. —Iain Reid A propulsive novel about the power and paradoxes of desire, from the acclaimed author of The Amateurs.As small children, Francine and her twin Philip shared a seemingly unbreakable bond—but in adolescence the connection frayed, and in adulthood the siblings are locked in a repeating loop of complex, destructive emotions. Matters have reached a breaking point, and Francine, now in her thirties and the married mother of two small boys, is convinced that Philip’s teenaged infatuation with religion and subsequent ongoing obsession with his sister’s “moral impropriety”—sparked by his discovery of her involvement in a forbidden relationship—are to blame.As storm clouds of resentment and mutual betrayal gather ominously, threatening to upend both siblings’ lives and damage their families, Francine unexpectedly finds herself in a situation that mirrors her earlier transgression: stirred and unsettled by her attraction to a wildly inappropriate man. And the one person who suspects is the last person she trusts—her disapproving twin.With the plot twists of a thriller, lean prose crackling with intensity, and big ideas explored alongside the messy truth of human relationships, Strange Loops simultaneously shocks and thrills the reader, all while asking vital questions about faith, love, and desire.
£14.40
Harper Paperbacks Sweet Sorrow
Book Synopsis“A tale of first love that hits all the right notes . . . [it] just might be the sweetest book to brighten your late summer.” —The Washington Post Dazzles with wit.”—People From the bestselling author of One Day comes a bittersweet and brilliantly funny coming-of-age tale about the heart-stopping thrill of first love—and how one summer can forever change a life.Now: On the verge of marriage and a fresh start, thirty-eight year old Charlie Lewis finds that he can’t stop thinking about the past, and the events of one particular summer.Then: Sixteen-year-old Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you don’t remember in the school photograph. He’s failing his classes. At home he looks after his depressed father—when surely it should be the
£16.14
Mariner Books The Ghost Clause
Book Synopsis
£15.19
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Crossroads
Book SynopsisJonathan Franzen's gift for wedding depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision has never been more dazzlingly evident than in Crossroads.It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joylessunless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who's been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.Jonathan Franzen's novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid ch
£25.50
Picador USA The High Road
Book SynopsisLove and tragedy converge in a seaside town in The High Road, a newly reissued novel from Edna O'Brien, the author of Girl and one of the most celebrated writers in the English language (NPR's Weekend Edition)This richly peopled, compellingly readable novel explores the many lives of womenas mystic, mother, daughter, and lover. There is Iris, with her winsome wonsome ways, no longer young; there is Charlotte, a troubled debutante who has fled from society; and there is the narrator, Anna, who feels that her emotional life has folded until she meets a young Spanish girl named Catalina.Set in a seaside enclave on the Mediterranean coast, The High Road is a passionate account of lost love and the return to loving, where currents of regret and loneliness clash with a fiery instinct for survival.
£14.45
Random House USA Inc Not Alone
Book SynopsisAn exhilarating debut novel, tracing the harrowing journey of a mother and son fighting for survival and a future in a world ravaged by environmental disaster • Not Alone kept me breathless with tension… [A] gripping adventure story.” —Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of Room and HavenFive years ago, a microplastic storm wiped out most of the population. No infrastructure. No safe havens. No goodbyes.Since then, Katie and Harry have lived in isolation in their small flat outside London. Katie forages, hunts the surviving animal population, and provides for Harry, who was born after the storm, and who has never left their little home. After years without human contact, Katie and Harry are shocked by the arrival of a threatening newcomer, just as Katie’s persistent cough seems to have taken a turn for the worse. But this proof of life beyond their familiar environment spurs Katie to undertake
£22.40
Random House Canada Asking for a Friend
Book SynopsisFor readers of J. Courtney Sullivan and Emma Straub, and for fans of Firefly Lane, comes a poignant and sweeping novel about life, love, and the ever-evolving nature of female friendship by the author of Waiting for a Star to Fall.The bottom of Jess’s world is falling out. Cocooned in her dorm in the winter of 1998, she’s reeling, and wants to be left alone. But a chance encounter with the older, otherworldly, elusive Clara has Jess awestruck. Clara, newly returned from a two-year trek drifting around the world, is taking a stab at normalcy for once, and the place she starts is university, where she struggles to fit in. Upon meeting Jess, though, Clara feels an instant connection, and everything seems brighter. Soon, the two are inseparable, undeniable necessities in each other’s lives. But when tragedy strikes, they are unceremoniously torn apart, sent tumbling down different paths. And with each passing day, their unbreakable bond is tes
£15.26
Random House USA Inc Again Rachel
Book Synopsis
£15.26
Not Stated The Five Wounds A Novel
Trade Review"Masterly... Quade has created a world bristling with compassion and humanity. The characters and the challenges they face are wholly realized and moving; their journeys span a wide spectrum of emotion and it is impossible not to root for [them]." -- Alexandra Chang - New York Times Book Review"[A] fine-grained domestic saga... Quade is masterful with [her characters'] fragility... [A] big-hearted novel." -- Mark Athitakis - USA Today"Gorgeously textured... [Quade's] sinewy sentences and emotional daring astound... Quade glides elegantly across a silken tightrope between comedy and tragedy, twists of fate that buoy her narrative to its resonant conclusion. The Five Wounds is destined to be one of this year's most celebrated works of fiction." -- Hamilton Cain - Minneapolis Star Tribune"Kirstin Valdez Quade's debut novel hooked me on page one... It's a wholehearted, radiant, and darkly funny exploration of family, faith, and forgiveness." -- Arianna Rebolini - Buzzfeed"A gorgeously written, epic tale of one Latinx family's via dolorosa." -- O Magazine"With beautifully layered relationships and an honest yet profoundly empathetic picture of a rural community—where the families proudly trace their roots back to the Spanish conquistadors while struggling with poverty and a deadly drug epidemic—this novel is a brilliant meditation on love and redemption. Perfectly rendered characters anchor a novel built around a fierce, flawed, and loving family." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Penetrating... The well-developed characters convey palpable emotion as Amadeo's failures as a father, partner, entrepreneur, and even as Jesus translate into fits of rage and frustration. Quade's rendering of a singular community is pitch perfect." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Profoundly affecting... Expertly crafted, this story of family and community introduces us to often needy characters for whom readers come to care deeply. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal (starred review)"Quade ably delivers a story that is nuanced and authentic without a whiff of melodrama... [A] generous tale of characters who understand the inevitability of fate but try to forge ahead anyway in the hope of breaking free." -- Booklist (starred review)"A masterful novel of family, faith, doubt. Quade's storytelling gift is her ability to capture the mysterious pulse of belief and ground them in visceral ritual on the page." -- Millions"In this cruel and divisive era, Kirstin Valdez Quade has brought healing and regeneration with The Five Wounds. It is bracing and wise, and it breaks us in the best ways. Then builds us back up again. It should find many grateful readers." -- Luis Alberto Urrea, author of House of Broken Angels"Kirstin Valdez Quade writes with exquisite precision about the fragility and resilience of the Padilla family…I loved The Five Wounds, which reminded me that growing pains are not confined to adolescence and that people can be newborn at any age. Even its most excruciating moments are charged with a luminous compassion." -- Karen Russell, author of Orange World and Other Stories"The characters in this engrossing novel are created in luminous and memorable detail. Just as the pacing is perfect, so too are the tact and care with which each scene is made. Kirstin Valdez Quade, by concentrating on the truth of small moments, has brought a whole world into focus." -- Colm Tóibín, author of House of Names"With deep empathy, fierce intelligence, and subtle wit, Kirstin Valdez Quade has crafted an indelible portrait of a family living in precarity. The characters in The Five Wounds are so vivid, their grasping efforts toward love and redemption so finely wrought, and each page full of such immaculate prose, that I read this novel with ever-increasing breathless urgency." -- Phil Klay, author of Missionaries"You hold in your hands a small, complete universe vibrating with joy and grief, humor and absurdity and delight. All the fabulous mess of humanity is, somehow, in these pages. The Five Wounds is bighearted, tender, wise, and shot through with moments of pure grace." -- C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold
£999.99
WW Norton & Co The Shades A Novel
Book Synopsis“Elegantly unnerving.” —New York Times Book ReviewTrade Review"Brilliantly constructed, The Shades is ghostly and alive, cerebral and sensuous, an absolutely riveting read." -- Scott Cheshire - Los Angeles Times"An absorbing book by an author who knows how to create organic suspense without ever overplaying her hand.… Intricately plotted and perfectly paced.… An excellent debut novel that deals heavily with death, but still feels alive, compassionate and full of truths." -- Michael Schaub - NPR"A dense, powerful novel." -- Chloe Schama and Bridget Read - Vogue"When an intriguing young woman turns up at the family’s country house and strikes up a relationship with the family’s matriarch, Catherine, a mystery is set in motion, lending the firmly contemporary The Shades a quiet echo of such classic psychological thrillers as The Turn of the Screw and Rebecca." -- Julia Vitale and Keziah Weir - Vanity Fair"This psychological thriller explores the mysteries surrounding a family still reeling from profound tragedy, and the terrifying uncertainty that meets their relocation in a distant country manor." -- David Canfield - Entertainment Weekly"This haunted tale follows a couple mourning the loss of their teenage daughter.… [The Shades] harkens back to such ghostly thrillers as du Maurier’s Don’t Look Back." -- CrimeReads"If you’re looking for a mystery to keep you on the edge of your seat, add this electrifying new novel by Evgenia Citkowitz to your reading list." -- Caroline Rogers - Southern Living"Spare, arresting, and emotionally precise. A thoroughly modern novel with a Gothic feel; a fully realized vision." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"[Citkowitz’s] prose sparkles as she unpacks emotional wounds.… This compact family drama captures the thinly masked desperation of grief with an eerie undercurrent." -- Publishers Weekly"With a deceptively light touch and an almost ethereal atmosphere, debut novelist Citkowitz delves deeply into themes of loss and grief, reality and illusion, and growth and stagnation.… [The Shades] is richly layered with meaning and allusions to myth and art that make it an engaging and rewarding read." -- Booklist
£12.34
WW Norton & Co Unquiet
Book Synopsis“Didionesque.” —New York Times Book ReviewTrade Review"Ullmann has formed a book out of the explicit landmarks of her lived life.… The form of the book, however, isn’t documentary, but, rather, fragmentary, the way memory is.… The clarity and lack of fetter is characteristic of [her] way of seeing the world in prose." -- Wyatt Mason - New York Times Magazine"Linn Ullmann has written something of beauty and solace and truth. I don’t know how she managed to sail across such dangerous waters—dangerous artistically as well as personally—without capsizing or making a mistake, but it is a tremendous accomplishment. Funny, graceful, interesting, modest, and most of all a work of the highest moral competence." -- Rachel Cusk, author of the Outline trilogy"A haunting meditation on the shifting moods between women and men over a lifetime of making art; the pains and pleasures of attachment, the boiling emotions of girlhood, the conflicts of motherhood, and the enchantment of a secluded home on the edge of a stormy sea, in which a famous father writes his dreams on the bedside table. I could not put it down." -- Deborah Levy, author of The Cost of Living"This magnificent, elegant work is pure tour de force. It’s part elegy, part elucidation of family love and family mystery, it’s funny, wry, dry, almost untakeably moving, and all of this is held steady in the form by Linn Ullmann’s refusal to swerve from the true, by her understanding of the combined human weakness and human marvelousness in all of us, and above all by her clear eye. It is a wonderful book, unputdownable, one that taps into the sheer electric current between the fictions and the truths that make our life stories. It’s one of the best things I’ve read in a long, long time." -- Ali Smith, author of How to Be Both"[An] exquisite and warm novel.… Among Norway’s contemporary writers, Ullmann might be the finest sentence by sentence." -- John Freeman - LitHub"But even without knowing her parents were world-renowned, Unquiet would resonate powerfully because many of the issues it explores are common to parent-child relationships.… It’s a high-wire act few writers have performed with such grace." -- Dmitry Samarov - Hyperallergic"A brilliant meditation on time, mortality, and the limits of memory.… Gorgeous and heartbreaking." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Ullman succeeds on every level, blending time, memory, and emotion into a fascinating and intimate portrait that easily evokes the universal sense of love and loss. Highly recommended." -- Library Journal (starred review)"This is a striking book about the enduring love between parents and children, and the fierce attachments that bind them even after death." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Unquiet is a wonderfully absorbing and moving family story told with a directness, naturalness, and grace that can only result from Linn Ullmann’s close attention to the eloquent details of day-to-day life, her honest embrace of herself and the people close to her, and a keen sensitivity to language and the high demands of good writing." -- Lydia Davis, author of The End of the Story"I’ve long admired Linn Ullmann’s fiction, and Unquiet is her masterpiece. Based on her upbringing as the child of two great artists, it is the portrait of complex loves; of a youth divided and inspired by diametrically opposed creative influences; and of the ravages of age. Calm yet fierce, exquisitely rendered, this novel imprints itself indelibly—as if you, too, had been there." -- Claire Messud, author of The Burning Girl
£12.99
WW Norton & Co Small Days and Nights
Book SynopsisA New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, this brilliant novel is “a shattering study of disaffection and belonging” (Bidisha, Guardian).Trade Review"Tishani Doshi brings all her skills as one of the world’s best poets to this lovely, beguiling, brilliant novel." -- Gary Shteyngart, best-selling author of Lake Success"Every sentence in this achingly beautiful book carries multiple meanings that resonate across the pages. Tishani Doshi uses language like a blade, cutting through our defenses to illuminate what it means to love, and forgive, and truly exist in the life we have." -- Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King"A beautiful gem of a book full of heartbreak and joy. A deep exploration of what it is to be within family and what it is to occupy your own skin and the ebb and flow between the two." -- Nayomi Munaweera, author of What Lies Between Us"A shattering study of disaffection and belonging…[A] concise novel of staggering depth…[D]isturbing, deep and utterly extraordinary." -- Bidisha - Guardian"Radiantly written…this superb novel from Doshi ranges over family secrets, trying to do the right thing, and the sheer contingency of life in all its richness and uncertainty." -- Phil Baker - Times (UK)
£12.34
WW Norton & Co The Long Ago
Book SynopsisA soldier returns home from Vietnam in the early 1960s to search for his missing sister in this gripping story of broken lives and a search for happiness.Trade Review"I adored [it] without reservation and inhaled in a single sitting." -- Sarah Weinman - New York Times Book Review"Michael McGarrity’s The Long Ago fully delivers what McGarrity does best: a great, sweeping story of family, land, occasional violence, and adventure. From the first pages, you are pulled into a family struggling with both personal and institutional demons. The characters’ worlds are rugged and sometimes harsh but immersive, and McGarrity’s attention to detail is always satisfying. I make it a rule to read anything by McGarrity." -- Valerie Plame, coauthor of Burned
£22.49
W. W. Norton & Company The Family Izquierdo
Book SynopsisA linked short story collection that weaves together the lives of three generations of a Mexican American family bound together by love, and a curseTrade Review"With a delicate and perceptive understanding of humanity and the ties which bind community to history, Rubén Degollado has painted a portrait of sincere love in The Family Izquierdo. This book feels like coming home to a warm embrace, where the characters and land leap off the page and into our hearts." -- Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light"In The Family Izquierdo, every story is a revelation. Rubén Degollado’s storytelling is as rigorous as it is intricate. Intimate and epic, it brims with magic and spirit. A bold, beautiful debut!" -- Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies"[A] rich mosaic of voices that skillfully encapsulates the complexity of family… The novel’s mix of elements — a plot that draws on magic, language steeped in Tejano specificity, deftly rendered insight into the nature of humanity — makes for a thoroughly satisfying read." -- Kawai Strong Washburn - The New York Times Book Review
£12.99
WW Norton & Co Some Go Home
Book SynopsisThis "thrilling" novel that follows three generations—fractured by murder, seeking redemption—in fictional Pitchlynn, Mississippi "has the grit, power, and soul of Janis Joplin and the hardscrabble depth of Johnny Cash." (Randall Kenan)Trade Review"A polished debut novel…[Some Go Home] captures the divided identity of the new South." -- New York Times Book Review"Some Go Home has the grit, power, and soul of Janis Joplin and the hardscrabble depth of Johnny Cash…This novel is nothing short of thrilling." -- Randall Kenan"[A] charismatic debut…[As with] Jesmyn Ward’s Bois Sauvage [and] William Faulkner’s Jefferson…Pitchlynn is a vital new locale on that Mississippi map." -- Jonathan Miles - Garden and Gun
£12.34
WW Norton & Co Activities of Daily Living
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Chen writes with cool, elegant precision... [Activities of Daily Living is] an utterly persuasive transmutation of the ordinary stuff of life." -- Steph Cha - New York Times Book Review"Engrossing... [Chen] is an elegantly reserved writer. Her novel is digressive without feeling showy, sombre yet never maudlin." -- Hua Hsu - The New Yorker"Like the work of writer Rachel Cusk, who brought new thinking to what constitutes a novel, Activities of Daily Living takes chances with the form to strong effect... In delivering a meditation on human frailty and endurance, Chen shows us how we cling to our chosen work and the hope buried within it." -- Kathryn Ma - San Francisco Chronicle"Activities of Daily Living is astringent, witty, attuned to the suddenly dimmed lighting and shrunken horizons experienced by city dwellers in early middle age... Insightful." -- Sukhdev Sandhu - 4Columns"Chen wows in this tender debut novel... [She] develops an intelligent and deeply empathic portrayal of Alice witnessing her stepfather disappearing inside himself, and in doing so offers careful and illuminating observations on issues of cultural difference, productivity, family, and freedom. Chen’s own project is masterly and memorable." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"[A] thoughtful and thoughtfilled meditation on time... Elegiac and revealing, Chen's debut illuminates the clock in our hearts." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Highly recommend for: fans of Chen’s poetry; fans of Olivia Laing and/or Ben Lerner; anyone who’s ever found themselves consumed by art; anyone who’s fighting the very nature of time (and, really, who isn’t?)." -- Kaulie Lewis - Millions"From the making of art to the making of families, Lisa Hsiao Chen makes us realize the great beauty and courage found in everyday acts of care, work, endurance, and survival. Weaving between one daughter and her father, one artist and his work, Activities of Daily Living becomes a beguiling and brilliant meditation on what it means to live and die." -- Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sympathizer and The Committed"Brilliant, fiercely honest, and exhilarating, Lisa Hsiao Chen’s Activities of Daily Living illuminates the symbiotic relationship of art and life—the art of life, indeed. This is a riveting and memorable novel." -- Claire Messud, New York Times best-selling author of The Burning Girl"Activities of Daily Living is an exquisitely crafted archive that documents the living grief of witnessing a parent’s slow descent while summoning to life a radical genealogy of artists and writers. This novel is proof of the transformational power of art, a sublime performance that left me enchanted!" -- Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author of Call Me Zebra and Savage Tongues"Activities of Daily Living is miraculously transformative of what it holds. Organized around the artworks of Tehching Hsieh and the act of witnessing a parent’s end of life, a circumscribed but questing narrator synthesizes the chaos and fragments of time, death, and illness into a moving and brilliant arcade—a project about exceptional and quotidian endurances weaved together via lifesaving and heartbreaking bricolage." -- Eugene Lim, author of Search History"The meditative quest that unfolds from this novel’s deceptively simple framework is as riveting as any page-turner. Filled with startling insight and moving detail, Activities of Daily Living will make you want to attend to life more fully—its joys as well as its griefs. What can literature do that other art forms can’t? This book is the answer." -- Anelise Chen, author of So Many Olympic Exertions
£19.94
WW Norton & Co Bewilderment A Novel
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Richard Powers is one of our country’s greatest living writers. He composes some of the most beautiful sentences I’ve ever read. I’m in awe of his talent." -- Oprah Winfrey"Extraordinary.…Powers’s insightful, often poetic prose draws us at once more deeply toward the infinitude of the imagination and more vigorously toward the urgencies of the real and familiar stakes rattling our persons and our planet." -- Tracy K. Smith, New York Times Book Review (cover review)"A heartrending tale of loss.…Powers continues to raise bold questions about the state of our world and the cumulative effects of our mistakes." -- Heller McAlpin - NPR"Nothing short of transportive." -- Newsweek"[A]stounding.…a must-read novel.…It’s urgent and profound and takes readers on a unique journey that will leave them questioning what we’re doing to the only planet we have." -- Rob Merrill - Associated Press"As in The Overstory, Powers seamlessly yet indelibly melds science and humanity, hope and despair." -- Dale Singer - St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Bewilderment is a big book about what matters most.…a brilliant, engrossing, and ultimately heartbreaking book." -- David Laskin - Seattle Times"[P]oignant…Bewilderment is a cri de coeur.…this is a hauntingly intimate story set within the privacy of one family trapped in the penumbra of mourning." -- Ron Charles - Washington Post"You could think of it as ‘The Innerstory’: It is about how and whether we see the world we inhabit.... It is enchanting, and it is devastating." -- Ezra Klein - The Ezra Klein Show"Immersive and astonishing.…Powers captures the tragedy of a species that could, but perhaps won’t, become a lasting part of a cosmic menagerie. But in this absorbing and effortlessly readable tale he seems to have also found uplifting poetry in our despair." -- Caleb Scharf - Nautilus"A moving depiction of filial love, as father and son confront a world of ‘invisible suffering on unimaginable scales." -- The New Yorker"In Bewilderment, [Powers's] mastery strikes a new vein.…it raises goosebumps and breaks our hearts." -- John Domini - The Brooklyn Rail"Achingly current and wise." -- Bethanne Patrick - Washington Post"[Powers] wants to challenge our innate anthropocentrism, both in literature and how we live." -- Alexandra Alter - New York Times"Remarkable....Bewilderment channels both the cosmic sublime and that of the vast American outdoors, resting confidently in a lineage with Thoreau and Whitman, Dillard and Kerouac." -- Rob Doyle - The Guardian"One of America’s most ambitious and imaginative novelists.... In a year of unprecedented worldwide drought, fire, and flooding, [Bewilderment] couldn’t be timelier.... Whether concerning family or nature, this heart-rending tale warns us to take nothing for granted." -- Alexander C. Kafka - Boston Globe"The tenderness between father and son seem[s] so real and heartfelt that the novel becomes its own empathy machine. What’s more powerful, though, is how the emotions Bewilderment evokes expand far beyond the bond of father and son to embrace the living world." -- Ellen Atkins - Minneapolis Star Tribune"Powers [has] an emotional core to everything he writes, and this sets him apart from nearly everyone." -- David Yaffe - Air Mail"An unabashed tearjerker....The most moving and inspiring of all Powers’s books." -- Gish Jen - The New Republic"Intimate.…Powers is an essential member of the pantheon of writers who are using fiction to address climate change." -- Carolyn Kellogg - Los Angeles Times"Powers succeeds in engaging both head and heart. And through its central story of bereavement, this novel of parenting and the environment becomes a multifaceted exploration of mortality." -- The Economist
£20.89
Penguin Putnam Inc Big Little Lies
Book Synopsis
£27.00
Random House USA Inc Silent Night
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A shocking accident. A little girl struggling to survive. And the childless aunt who transforms her own world to help her . . . Danielle Steel’s deeply moving novel is a story of resilience and hope.Paige Watts is the ultimate stage mother. The daughter of Hollywood royalty, Paige channels her acting dreams into making her own daughter, Emma, a star. By the age of nine, Emma is playing a central role in a hit TV show. Then everything is shattered by unforeseeable tragedy.Now Emma is living with her aunt Whitney, who had chosen a very different path from her sister’s. Whitney was always the studious older sister, hating the cult of celebrity that enveloped their childhood. Instead, she is a psychiatrist who lives for her work and enjoys a no-strings-attached love affair with a wealthy venture capitalist. But at a moment’s notice, Whitney drops everything to help her niece.Once famous, outgoing, and charismatic, Emma is now a shadow of her former self—without speech, without memory, lost and terrified. But with her aunt Whitney’s help, along with a team of caregivers and doctors, Emma begins to find her way, starting her young life all over again—and changing the lives of everyone around her. Emotionally gripping and richly involving, Silent Night explores how the heart has mysterious healing powers of its own, and blessings happen when we think all is lost.
£8.89
Random House USA Inc The Dark Side
Book Synopsis
£9.38
Random House USA Inc Childs Play
Book Synopsis
£9.21
Random House USA Inc Moral Compass
Book Synopsis#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • At an elite private school in Massachusetts, a wide circle of lives will be forever changed by a devastating series of events in Danielle Steel’s riveting new novel. Saint Ambrose Prep is a place where the wealthy send their children for the best possible education, with teachers and administrators from the Ivy League, and graduates who become future lawyers, politicians, filmmakers, and CEOs. Traditionally a boys-only school, Saint Ambrose has just enrolled one hundred and forty female students for the first time. Even though most of the kids on the campus have all the privilege in the world, some are struggling, wounded by their parents’ bitter divorces, dealing with insecurity and loneliness. In such a heightened environment, even the smallest spark can become a raging fire. One day after the school’s annual Halloween event, a student lies in the hospital, her system poisoned by dangerous levels of a
£10.86
Random House USA Inc The Numbers Game
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In Danielle Steel’s stunning novel, modern relationships come together, fall apart, and are reinvented over time, proving that age is just a number.Eileen Jackson was happy to set aside her own dreams to raise a family with her husband, Paul. Together they built an ordinary life in a Connecticut town, the perfect place for their kids to grow up. But when Eileen discovers that Paul’s late nights in the city are hiding an affair with a younger woman, she begins to question all those years of sacrifice and compromise. On the brink of forty and wondering what she’s going to do with the rest of her life, is it too late for her to start over? Meanwhile, as Paul is thrust back into the role of suburban fatherhood, his girlfriend, Olivia, is in Manhattan, struggling to find herself in the shadow of her mother, a famous actress, and her grandmother, a fiercely independent ninety-two-year-old artist. With their unique brands of advice ringing in her head, Olivia takes a major step, expanding her art gallery business internationally. Seeing her mother pursue old dreams and even find new love, Olivia realizes that there is so much she must learn about herself before committing her life to someone else. Ultimately, Eileen decides to chase her own dreams as well. She’s off to Paris to attend Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. What awaits is an adventure that reinvents her life and redefines her. At every age, there are challenges to be met and new worlds to discover. In this surprising, illuminating novel, Danielle Steel gives us a warmhearted portrait of people driven by their emotions, life experiences, and loyalties, who realize that it’s never too late to turn a new page and start again.
£8.89
Random House USA Inc The Bad Daughter
Book Synopsis
£21.60
Penguin Putnam Inc Still Me
Book Synopsis
£16.20
Penguin Putnam Inc The Garden of Small Beginnings
Book Synopsis“A quirky, funny, and deeply thoughtful book”* that’s “filled with characters you’ll love and wish you lived next door to in real life”** from the author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. Lilian Girvan has been a single mother for three years—ever since her husband died in a car accident. One mental breakdown and some random suicidal thoughts later, she’s just starting to get the hang of this widow thing. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work, and watch TV like a pro. The only problem is she’s becoming overwhelmed with being underwhelmed. At least her textbook illustrating job has some perks—like actually being called upon to draw whale genitalia. Oh, and there’s that vegetable-gardening class her boss signed her up for. Apparently, being the chosen illustrator for a series of boutique vegetable guides means getting your hands dirty, literally. Wa
£15.75
Penguin Putnam Inc The Husbands Secret
Book Synopsis
£16.15
Penguin Putnam Inc Life and Other Inconveniences
Book Synopsis
£17.10
Penguin Putnam Inc The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Book SynopsisInstant USA Today bestseller!“Abbi Waxman is both irreverent and thoughtful.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin“Meet our bookish millennial heroine—a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet, if you will… Waxman’s wit and wry humor stand out. She is funny and imaginative, and “Bookish” lands a step above run-of-the-mill romantic comedy fare.”—The Washington Post“Abbi Waxman offers up a quirky, eccentric romance that will charm any bookworm…. For anyone who’s ever wondered if their greatest romance might come between the pages of books they read, Waxman offers a heartwarming tribute to that possibility.”--Entertainment WeeklyThe author of Other People’s Houses and The Garden of Small Beginnings delivers a quirky and charming novel chronicling the life of confirmed introvert Nina Hill as she does her best to fly under everyone''s radar. Meet Nina Hill: A young woman supremely confident in her own...shell. The only child of a single mother, Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book. When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They''re all—or mostly all—excited to meet her! She''ll have to Speak. To. Strangers. It''s a disaster! And as if that wasn''t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny, and deeply interested in getting to know her. Doesn''t he realize what a terrible idea that is? Nina considers her options. 1. Completely change her name and appearance. (Too drastic, plus she likes her hair.) 2. Flee to a deserted island. (Hard pass, see: coffee). 3. Hide in a corner of her apartment and rock back and forth. (Already doing it.) It''s time for Nina to come out of her comfortable shell, but she isn''t convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. It''s going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor, and the combined effects of ice cream and trivia to make her turn her own fresh page.
£15.30
Hogarth Press The Barrowfields
Book SynopsisA richly textured coming-of-age story about fathers and sons, home and family, recalling classics by Thomas Wolfe and William Styron, by a powerful new voice in fictionJust before Henry Aster’s birth, his father—outsized literary ambition and pregnant wife in tow—reluctantly returns to the small Appalachian town in which he was raised and installs his young family in an immense house of iron and glass perched high on the side of a mountain. There, Henry grows up under the writing desk of this fiercely brilliant man. But when tragedy tips his father toward a fearsome unraveling, what was once a young son’s reverence is poisoned and Henry flees, not to return until years later when he, too, must go home again. Mythic in its sweep and mesmeric in its prose, THE BARROWFIELDS is a breathtaking debut about the darker side of devotion, the limits of forgiveness, and the reparative power of shared pasts.– SIB
£11.71
Random House USA Inc The Spectator Bird
Book Synopsis
£14.45
Random House USA Inc The World to Come
Book SynopsisBursting with wicked humor and driven by an incomparable understanding of what it means to be human, The World to Come is the inimitable work of “the most ambitious story writer in America” (The Daily Beast).Now a major motion pictureShepard traverses both borders and centuries, seamlessly inhabiting a multitude of disparate men and women, and giving voice to visionaries, pioneers, and secret misfits—from nineteenth-century explorers departing on one of the Arctic’s most nightmarish expeditions to twentieth-century American military wives maintaining hope at home. Shepard’s characters confront everything from the emotional pitfalls of everyday life to colossal catastrophes, battling natural forces, the hazards of new technology, and their own implacable shortcomings. [Shepard] has a knack for compressing a novel’s worth of life into 30 or 40 pages.” —The Boston Globe
£14.40
