Fiction Books

Book SynopsisWhen a woman mysteriously vanishes from her small town home, her sister must tally up the clues to uncover the truth behind the mystery.Beautiful sculptor Marguerite has disappeared from her small town in upstate New York. But was foul play involved? Did she merely get away for some fun? Or did she finally make the decision to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities?Younger sister Gigi wonders if the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned on the floor, is a clue to Marguerite''s vanishing. The police puzzle over the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots, which end abruptly close to her home.Bit by bit, revelations about both women are uncovered, as Gigi, not so pretty as her sister, reveals her true feelings about the perfect, much-loved Marguerite. The fate of the missing beauty slowly and subtly comes to light In this suspenseful story about the complex relationship between two sisters.48 Clues into the Di

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Book SynopsisThe Fire Hills was written between December 2021 and November 2022. Reflecting the first year of the author's move to Fairlight in East Sussex, this collection explores new landscapes armed only with a pen and unwarranted optimism.Trade Review"Takes the familiar and sublimely reshapes it ... Marvellous." - The Independent; "The funniest man you've never heard of." - The Telegraph; "Marrying the suburban beauty of Beatles ballads with the blunt candour of the kitchen sink." - The Guardian; "Manages to articulate the paradoxes and multiple layers that co-exist in our waking thoughts. Warm, accessible and never wantonly oblique, but deep beyond measure." - Charlotte Oliver, Northern Soul; "Distinctly funny." - Time Out

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Book SynopsisUsati is a four year old growing up in Sunnyvale, a small, poor and remote sugar cane farming village in Trinidad in the 1940’s. He describes the world he sees, and captures the language and culture of the mainly illiterate peasant workers who live around him. There is widespread belief in black magic, and nearby is the infamous silk-cotton tree which houses the evil spirits who are responsible for all the ills of the village. Usati looks after his two younger siblings. Even as a four year old he has to be a human shield for the neighbour on several occasions in the face of domestic violence. Life is hard and brutal with constant fear of violence and beatings. Following his mother’s death the children are brought up by their grandparents, but there are further constant upheavals within the family. Violence remains within all parts of this society, as is crime and suffering. Usati observes how his family suffers through their illiteracy and the society within which they live. Usati battles for a good education. He vows to bring literacy to the village and to fight against the cruelty that surrounds him. Usati and B started as teenage lovers, but can their love survive and endure a lifetime from the wicked curse and traumas of the intervening years?

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Book SynopsisFrygea Forest. An ancient and mysterious place where trolls lurk in the mossy spaces between tree trunks and changelings scamper about, causing mischief. A place that Kyra and her sisters Margot and Janna return to every year to spend the summer at their grandma's farm: toasting marshmallows, catching frogs and befriending tiny, grumpy root goblins. But this summer is different, and as teenage Margot drifts apart from her sisters, slamming doors and keeping secrets, Kyra starts to worry. When Margot is enticed into the woods by the mysterious figures in the mist, Kyra resolves to do everything in her power to save her sister from danger, even if that means facing the spooky forces within Frygea Forest with just her kid sister for help. Join Kyra and her sisters in this beautiful coming-of-age graphic novel about embracing the changes that come from growing up, but never letting go of the imagination that keeps you young. If you're careful, and ever so quiet, you might spot a root goblin marching along the ground, or a glittering alf darting amongst the leaves.Trade ReviewA fantastic, spooky and heartfelt read with beautiful, atmospheric and charming art from a unique young talent - this is the kind of graphic novel I always crave but rarely find. -- Tomm Moore (Co-founder and Creative Director at Cartoon Saloon)This enjoyable graphic novel about sisterhood for children in Year 6 or 7 specifically tackles the experience of girls entering puberty and starting their period. * BookTrust *A beautiful graphic novel about embracing change but never letting go of imagination. -- The Week Jr Book Awards 2023

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Book SynopsisShe never presumed she herself would live out her natural life, so she wouldn't mind leaving this world through an untimely death.Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old female contract killer who is considering retirement. But while on an assassination job for the 'disease control' company she works for, Hornclaw makes an uncharacteristic error, causing a sequence of events that brings her past well and truly into the present. Threatened with sabotage by a young male upstart and battling new desires and urges when she least expects them, Hornclaw steels her resolve, demonstrating that no matter their age, the female of the species is always more deadly than the male.Trade ReviewAssassination, Gangnam style. A resonant K-noir treat -- LUKE JENNINGS, author of the KILLING EVE novelsDarkly comic . . . It focuses engagingly and compassionately on the invisibility of ageing citizens * * Financial Times * *The pull of this novel lies in its incredible story, filled with fascinating, flawed, funny, heartbreaking characters. It's the experience of reading it that will stay with you * * The Times * *I loved The Old Woman With the Knife, Gu Byeong-mo's pitch-black comic thriller about an elderly female assassin -- PAULA HAWKINSElectrifying. An utterly thrilling, illuminating read with a radical heroine at its heart. I loved it -- IRENOSEN OKOJIEThe Old Woman with the Knife is unique - a gripping thriller as well as a deeply thoughtful book about our attitudes to ageing and grief. Wonderful stuff -- DOUG JOHNSTONEDarkly funny, this South Korean novel examines the universal challenge of aging while maintaining societal relevance * * Washington Post * *The Old Woman With the Knife will sweep you away. This electric novel will have you thinking about its beautiful, melancholy, awe-inspiring force for a long time. The last page will end up slicing your heart. I can't remember who I used to be before I read this book -- YUN KO-EUN, author of THE DISASTER TOURISTBrutality and tenderness meet unexpectedly in this strikingly original thriller that brings into focus questions of ageing and erasure, legacy and compassion. Boldly imagined and deftly executed, The Old Woman With the Knife is an unforgettable experience -- RACHEL YODER, author of NIGHTBITCHFast-moving . . . its kickass approach to narrative convention leaves much of contemporary British fiction feeling positively lily-livered * * Daily Mail * *

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Book SynopsisThere is a legend... Britannia, AD 535 The Romans have gone. While their libraries smoulder, roads decay and cities crumble, men with swords pick over civilisation's carcass, slaughtering and being slaughtered in turn. This is the story of just such a man. Like the others, he had a sword. He slew until slain. Unlike the others, we remember him. We remember King Arthur. This is the story of a land neither green nor pleasant. An eldritch isle of deep forest and dark fell haunted by swaithes, boggarts and tod-lowries, Robin-Goodfellows and Jenny Greenteeths, and predators of rarer appetite yet. This is the story of a legend forged from a pack of self-serving, turd-gilding, weasel-worded lies told to justify foul deeds and ill-gotten gains. This is the story - viscerally entertaining, ominously subversive and poetically profane - of a Dark Age myth that shaped a nation. EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT BY FORCE ALONE: 'A bloody, bravura performance, which Tidhar pulls off with graphic imagery and modern vernacular' Guardian. 'As eclectic as the Sword in the Stone and as ruthless as A Game of Thrones, this retelling of the whole Arthurian legend stands alongside the very best' Daily Mail. 'The narrative voice is deadly serious but there's a strong undercurrent of gleefulness to the profanity, violence and otherworldly magic that makes By Force Alone a whole lot of fun to dive into' Spectator. 'Lavie Tidhar has crafted a punk epic on the mouldering bones of legend and jolted it to life with ten thousand volts of knowing wit and fury. By Force Alone eviscerates the complacent posturing of the Arthurian myth, explodes the well-worn conventions of the tale and from the shiny jagged pieces assembles a wholly fresh rollercoaster ride of cheap violence, vicious magic and messy human truth' Richard Morgan. 'A twisted Arthur retelling mixing the historical and the magical with a very modern eye. Brutal and vicious, funny, Peaky Blinders of the Round Table' Adrian Tchaikovsky.Trade Review'Plunging a broadsword into the heart of Arthurian legend, Tidhar's novel depicts the Knights of the Round Table as a bunch of sweary, sweaty thugs. So much for the glories of a magical, mythical past. Britain, it seems, has forever been a land of factional infighting, presided over by a brutal, uncaring elite' Financial Times. 'London-based Israeli author Tidhar's latest fantasy is a ferocious and often very funny reinvention of the King Arthur myth, taking in references from Tolkien to Brexit' iNews. 'Iconoclastic, provocative, poetic and profane. King Arthur re-imagined - as you'd expect from the author of A Man Lies Dreaming and The Violent Century as well as the World Fantasy Award-winning Osama and the Locus Award short-listed Central Station' Concatenation. 'In true Lavie Tidhar style, we get something much more entertaining, bizarre and fantastical ... If you're looking for something riotously, uncompromisingly graphic and frenzied, then this book well certainly stand out from the crowd' SF Crowsnest. 'Every new book by the fiendishly ingenious and canny Tidhar is so radically different from his previous ones that I always await the next with bated breath ... The result is stunningly unique and the way he threads his daring if not sacrilegious additions into the fabric of the Camelot tale is like a punch in the gut ... Uproarious, provocative and utterly gripping' Crime Time. 'At a time when many in a fractious, divided Britain are looking to the past for comfort, Tidhar seeks to remind us - in dizzying, profane fashion - that our nation was, like so many others, built on nothing more romantic than bloodshed and conquest' Financial Times. 'A bloody, bravura performance, which Tidhar pulls off with graphic imagery and modern vernacular ... By Force Alone is Tidhar's scatological contribution to the field of Arthurian romance, a salutary antidote to the more romantic glossings of recent modern fantasy' Guardian. 'A New Weird Britain take on Arthurian mythos ... It's an immense remix of the myth, done with an extremely ruthless eye. Lavie is an extremely clever writer' Warren Ellis. 'Everyone is a bastard here, from Guenevere to Arthur to Merlin; I have never come across a more despicable bunch of characters, this is surely an indictment of Lavie Tidhar's warped and degenerate brain. Without a doubt this is the best Arthurian tale ever written, it has ruined the entire mythology for me' Saad Z. Hossain, author of Escape From Baghdad! and Djinn City. 'A comet that blazes a brilliant new path through dusty old territory. Bold and inventive, it smashes Arthurian myth to bits, sweeps up the brightest, weirdest, most enchanting pieces, and reshapes them into a wildly original tale. Legend has it that King Arthur will return when he's most needed, and this Arthur - this flawed, ambitious, irreverent boy-kingpin - is exactly the one we need now' Lisa L. Hannett, author of Bluegrass Symphony and Lament for the Afterlife. 'Tidhar turns King Arthur's court into a gangster's paradise, full of wheelings and dealings, and true grit. If the tale didn't go down like this, it should have' Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of Gods of Jade and Shadow and Mexican Gothic. 'A beautifully written and thrilling tale, soaked in gore and evocative historical detail, peppered with subtle humour. Tidhar storms the castle of Grimdark, sword dripping with blood, and makes a claim for its crown' Angus Watson, author of Age of Iron and You Die When You Die. 'Utterly bonkers, utterly brilliant - a brutal, witty and slightly insane deconstruction of the Arthurian legend by way of Goodfellas, this is absolute bloody (and sweary) joy on the page' Russel D. McLean, author of The Good Son and Ed's Dead. 'Lavie Tidhar has crafted a punk epic on the mouldering bones of legend and jolted it to life with ten thousand volts of knowing wit and fury. By Force Alone eviscerates the complacent posturing of the Arthurian myth, explodes the well-worn conventions of the tale and from the shiny jagged pieces assembles a wholly fresh rollercoaster ride of cheap violence, vicious magic and messy human truth' Richard Morgan, author of Altered Carbon. 'You can always trust Lavie Tidhar to create something brilliant, savage and endlessly entertaining' Starburst. 'Drawing on everything from wushu movies to The Wire by way of Tarkovsky and Tarantino, By Force Alone is wild, surprising and entertaining, and a hugely immersive read' M.R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts and The Unwritten. 'A violent, funny, absurd epic - Tidhar remains an utterly original voice in contemporary fiction' Daniel Polansky, author of Low Town and The Builders. 'Lavie Tidhar has created something wonderful, an extraordinary blend of history, legend, and sheer, lunatic inspiration. I loved it' Christopher Farnsworth, author of The Eternal World and Killfile. 'A twisted Arthur retelling mixing the historical and the magical with a very modern eye. Brutal and vicious, funny, Peaky Blinders of the Round Table' Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Cage of Souls and Dogs of War. '[An] extraordinary and vivid retelling of our national myth. Gritty revisionism is super-charged by the supernatural ... As eclectic as the Sword in the Stone and as ruthless as A Game of Thrones, this retelling of the whole Arthurian legend stands alongside the very best' Daily Mail.

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Book SynopsisThe sixth novel in a stunning series set in eighteenth-century Cornwall, perfect for fans of Poldark, Tracy Rees and Dinah JefferiesCornwall, 1800. Imprisoned on false pretences, Madeleine Pelligrew, former mistress of Pendenning Hall, has spent the last 14 years shuttled between increasingly destitute and decrepit mad houses. When a strange man appears out of the blue to release her, she can't quite believe that her freedom comes without a price. Hiding her identity, Madeleine determines to discover the truth about what happened all those years ago.Unsure who to trust and alone in the world, Madeleine strikes a tentative friendship with a French prisoner on parole, Captain Pierre de la Croix. But as she learns more about the reasons behind her imprisonment, and about those who schemed to hide her away for so long, she starts to wonder if Pierre is in fact the man he says he is. As Madeleine's past collides with her present, can she find the strength to follow her heart, no matter the personal cost?Trade ReviewA most enjoyable read set in the wild and majestic landscape of Cornwall. It will delight Poldark fans. * Ellie Dean, author of the Cliffhaven series, on Pengelly's Daughter *

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Book SynopsisThe delightful follow-up to Grave Expectations. Another playful contemporary cosy mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Ben Aaronovitch.

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Book SynopsisSelected and Introduced by M J Elliott. ‘They were removing the stones quietly, one by one, from the centuried wall. And then, as the breach became large enough, they came out into the laboratory in single file; led by a stalking thing with a beautiful head made of wax.’ From the dark, mind-expanding imagination of H P Lovecraft, Wordsworth presents a third volume of tales penned by the greatest horror writer of the 20th Century. Here are some of Lovecraft’s weirdest flesh-creeping masterpieces, including Pickman's Model, The Shunned House, his famous serial Herbert West – Reanimator, and several classic tales from the Cthulhu Mythos, in which mankind is subjected to the unimaginable terrors known only to those who have read from the forbidden Necronomicon. Also included in this compelling collection are the complete Randolph Carter stories, chronicling his adventures in this world and the realm of his dreams, where he faces perils beyond comprehension.

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Book SynopsisMeet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out the 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in.But even a career of narrow escapes and supernatural shenanigans hasn't prepared Harry for this. A vampire with a grudge has kidnapped his daughter. A daughter he never knew he had. Furthermore, this vampire plans to use her blood in a violent ritual sacrifice - designed to kill Harry, his ex-partner Susan and their child.As allies are perilously thin on the ground, Harry must find a new source of strength. In the past, there had always been a line he wouldn't cross, and he's never given in to the full fury of his own untapped dark powers. But then, only his own life was at stake.Magic - it can get a guy killed.Trade ReviewFast-paced and compelling * Publishers Weekly *A can't-miss entry in one of the best urban-fantasy series currently being published * Booklist (starred review) *If you're only going to read one Dresden Files novel, this is the one to read, as it's got all the aspects that make the series great * TheBookbag.co.uk *Changes is yet another excellent instalment in what is arguably the finest urban fantasy series being written at the moment * Bookgeeks.co.uk *

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Book SynopsisBased on the blockbuster Xbox game, this is the stunning story of the men and women who stood between a planet and total destruction - and now have to face the consequences of their actions. After a brutal fifteen-year war for survival, the Coalition of Ordered Governments is forced to destroy mankind's last city in a final bid to stop the Locust Horde. As the survivors flee Jacinto, they must contend with the last of the Locust, bent on vengeance, as they struggle to stay alive in an icy wilderness. Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago, and their fellow Gears fight to get Jacinto's refugees to a safe haven, but find themselves in a lawless new world where the enemy is human - and as desperate and dangerous as any grub. This novel is based on a computer game with an 18-rating.

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Book SynopsisDo Butlers Burgle Banks? (1968) features Mike Bond, the hitherto fortunate owner of Bond's Bank, who finds himself in a spot of trouble so serious that he wants someone to burgle the bank before the trustees inspect it. Fortunately for him, Horace Appleby, currently posing as his butler, is on hand to oblige. For Horace is, in fact, not a butler at all but the best sort of American gangster, prudently concealing himself in an English country house while hiding from his rivals. Looking for peace and safety, Horace is to discover before long that the hot-spots of New York are a whole lot more restful than the English countryside. This is the lightest of light comedies, a Wodehousian soufflé from his later years.Trade Review"Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in." -- EVELYN WAUGH"He exhausts superlatives" -- STEPHEN FRY"Pure word music" -- DOUGLAS ADAMS"The Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum" * THE INDEPENDENT *"The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare" * EVENING STANDARD *

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Book SynopsisA butler named Keggs who, having overheard the planning of a scheme, later decides to try and make money out of his knowledge.It features Percy Pilbeam, the unscrupulous head of the Argus Detective Agency, who first appeared in Bill the Conqueror (1924) and was in several other Wodehouse books, including a visit to Blandings Castle in Summer Lightning (1929).Trade ReviewThe Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum * The Independent *The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare * The Evening Standard *He exhausts superlatives -- Stephen Fry

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Book SynopsisLondon has the greatest literary tradition of any city in the world. Its roll-call of story-tellers includes cultural giants who changed the way the world thought about writing, like Shakespeare, Defoe and Dickens. But there has also been an innumerable host of writers who have sought to capture the essence of London and what it meant for the people who lived there or were merely passing through. They found a city of boundless wealth and ragged squalor, of moving tragedy and riotous joy; and they faithfully transcribed what they saw and felt in the stories they told of London town. They are stories of fact and fiction and occasionally something in between. Some voices will be familiar to many readers and others practically unknown. But all give us insights into these writers’ very varied Londons; and all tell their stories gratifyingly well.Authors include John Evelyn, Thomas de Quincey, W. M. Thackeray, Henry Mayhew, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, George Gissing, J. B. Priestley, Jean Rhys, Graham Greene, Muriel Spark, Maeve Binchy, Doris Lessing, Hanif Kureishi and Shena Mackay.

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Book SynopsisRudyard Kipling (1865-1936) is perhaps the most controversial major English poetof the last two centuries, not least because of his apparent enthusiasm for the empire. A child of British India, he first became famous for tales of imperial life, notably Kim, the Jungle Book and Barrack Room Ballads. Kipling wrote verse in every classical form from the epigram to the ode, but his most distinctive gift was for the ballads and narrative poems in which he draws vivid characters in universal situations and articulates profound truths in plain language. Yet he was also a subtle and deeply affecting anatomist of the human heart, with a feeling for the natural world which rivals his younger contemporary, D. H. Lawrence. Shattered by World War I in which he lost his only son, his work darkens and deepens in later years, but never loses its extraordinary vitality.

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Book SynopsisSelected as one of the 100 best novels in English in The Guardian Recently returned from South Africa, adventurer Richard Hannay is bored with life, but after a chance encounter with an American who informs him of an assassination plot and is then promptly murdered in Hannay’s London flat, he becomes the obvious suspect and is forced to go on the run. He heads north to his native Scotland, fleeing the police and his enemies. Hannay must keep his wits about him if he is to warn the government before all is too late. This classic spy thriller sold a million copies before Buchan died in 1940, has been adapted countless times for film, television and the stage, and features the most exciting chase in the history of fiction. With an introduction by Stuart Kelly. This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.Trade Review'Buchan was a major influence on my work' ALFRED HITCHCOCK 'Between Kipling and Fleming stands John Buchan, the father of the modern spy thriller' CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS

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Book SynopsisWhen the young Ishmael gets on board Captain Ahab’s whaling ship, little does he suspect that the mission on which he is about to embark is the fulfilment of his master’s obsessive desire for revenge on Moby Dick, a white whale who has already claimed countless human victims and destroyed many fleets. With some sinister crew members in their midst and the hazardous conditions of the sea to contend with, the expedition becomes increasingly dangerous the closer it gets to its quarry. One of the great American novels, if not the greatest, Moby Dick epically combines rip-roaring adventure, a meticulously realistic portrayal of the whaling trade and a profound philosophical disquisition on the nature of good and evil.Trade ReviewStrange, original and gripping. -- William Somerset MaughamOne of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world. -- D.H. Lawrence

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Book SynopsisSuper-sleuth Hannah Ives must conjure up all her detective skills when her niece does a vanishing act on a family cruise.Hannah, her sisters and fourteen-year-old niece Julie set sail from Baltimore on a bonding cruise, and have a dramatic first night when Pia Fanucci, a bubbly bartender magician''s assistant whom Hannah befriends, narrowly escapes injury during an illusion. But while Pia may make light of the incident, it''s no laughing matter when Julie suddenly disappears. Has she gone overboard, or is she injured somewhere on the enormous ship?To make matters worse, Hannah meets David Warren, a grieving father whose twenty-two-year-old daughter vanished without trace from an earlier cruise. With claims of a proper investigation proving to be an illusion too far, Hannah teams up with David and Pia in desperation. Can they see through the ship''s smoke and mirrors to reveal the identity of a dangerous sea-faring predator?

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Book SynopsisThe death of a young girl leads Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard and Kate O''Donnell into a hotbed of simmering tensions, violence and threats in sixties'' Soho.London, 1964. At three a.m. on a chilly autumn morning, Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard is called to a club in Greek Street where a young girl has fallen to her death from a top-floor window. A new breed of fans is flocking to Soho''s rock and roll haunts. But was it a tragic accident, or something more sinister? Meanwhile, Kate O''Donnell, Harry''s photographer girlfriend, receives a call from her Liverpudlian ex, Dave Donovan, pleading for her help. His new squeeze, Bernie Collins, set off for London in the hope of getting a recording contract, but she''s not answering her phone. Where is she?With simmering tensions, intimidation and terror rife on Soho''s streets, Harry and Kate are drawn into its dark underbelly in their attempts to find answers.

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Book SynopsisA disastrous family reunion is the occasion for a sharp and perceptive look at what has happened to 60s idealists and their children. Kristin Miller is an eminent and successful art historian. As a young mother she followed her politics and vocation, storming Parisian barricades and moving to Florence. Her birthday should be a time for celebration but, when her two sons deliver their versions of the past, everyone must confront the cost of Kristin‘s commitment to her passions. Alexi Kaye Campbell's play Apologia premiered at The Bush Theatre, London, in 2009. It was revived at the Trafalgar Studios, London, in 2017, directed by Jamie Lloyd.Trade Review'A fascinating play that tackles, head on, the subject of women, ageing and motherhood… eviscerating and funny' * The Times *'Raw and very funny... confirms Campbell's standing as a fresh and sensitive voice' * Evening Standard *'Sharp, funny, wise and humane, Alexi Kaye Campbell is a writer to cherish' * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisOn 22 April 1889, the American government opened the new Oklahoma territories to settlement. In this volume, Lucky Luke acts as a government agent and ensures that every candidate for settlement is treated fairly. He has to deal with jealousy, corruption and greed. As in other Lucky Luke volumes, readers discover different aspects of the United States' conquest of the Wild West.

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Book SynopsisMiddlemarch- A Study of Provincial Life, published 1871-2, is set in the imaginary county of Loamshire during the years of unrest preceding the 1832 Reform Bill. With its complex plot, broad canvas and huge cast of characters, it has long been recognized as one of the few truly classic English novels.

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Book SynopsisTHE TIN DRUM presents Hitler's rise and fall through the eyes of the dwarfish narrator whose magic powers become symbolic of the dark forces dominating the German nation in the period. Like Thomas Mann's DOCTOR FAUSTUS, Grass's novel explores the dark roots of power and creativity. An early advocate of 'magic realism'. Gunter Grass is the most powerful and celebrated novelist to appear in post-war Germany. His home city of Danzig is a powerful presence in this novel.

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Book Synopsis"This letter has come straight from the murderer, don't you realize that? Hot from his bloody hand. Don't just stand there dithering, man. Don't you realize you hold the key to everything?" The Clove and Hoof is the hot spot in Larcombe for a pint of bitter, a good story and some laughs. It's also the focal point of a bizarre series of murders, for the only connection the victims have seems to be that they all frequented the local pub. Strange pranks, a spate of anonymous letters all painted in blue watercolor, and a decapitated head found floating in the stream near Starehole Gap all lead to the police uncovering unusual criminality dating back 20 years. Two policemen with decidedly differing approaches to crime solving head up the professional side of the investigation, accompanied by Christian Peascod, dilettante of the arts and amateur detective.

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Book SynopsisAt first, Tokyo appears in these stories as it does to many outsiders: a city of bewildering scale, awe-inspiring modernity, peculiar rules, unknowable secrets and, to some extent, danger. Characters observe their fellow citizens from afar, hesitant to stray from their daily routines to engage with them. But Tokyo being the city it is, random encounters inevitably take place - a naive book collector, mistaken for a French speaker, is drawn into a world he never knew existed; a woman seeking psychiatric help finds herself in a taxi with an older man wanting to share his own peculiar revelations; a depressed divorcee accepts an unexpected lunch invitation to try Thai food for the very first time... The result in each story is a small but crucial change in perspective, a sampling of the unexpected yet simple pleasure of other people's company. As one character puts it, 'The world is full of delicious things, you know.'Trade Review'The characters' habit of introspection gives these tales a hazy, dreamlike quality; the physical environment of Tokyo is rarely described directly. What gives them their sense of place is, rather, their shared sense of the ephemeral aspect to life in the big city - and the various pleasures and sadnesses it brings.' - The Independent

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Book SynopsisIraq + 100 poses a question to contemporary Iraqi writers: what might your home city look like in the year 2103 - exactly 100 years after the disastrous American and British-led invasion of Iraq? How might that war reach across a century of repair and rebirth, and affect the state of the country - its politics, its religion, its language, its culture - and how might Iraq have finally escaped its chaos, and found its own peace, a hundred years down the line? As well as being an exercise in escaping the politics of the present, this anthology is also an opportunity for a hotbed of contemporary Arabic writers to offer its own spin on science fiction and fantasy.

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Book SynopsisFlights, a novel about travel in the twenty-first century and human anatomy, is Olga Tokarczuk’s most ambitious to date. It interweaves travel narratives and reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion, and migration. From the seventeenth century, we have the story of the Dutch anatomist Philip Verheyen, who dissected and drew pictures of his own amputated leg. From the eighteenth century, we have the story of a North African-born slave turned Austrian courtier stuffed and put on display after his death. In the nineteenth century, we follow Chopin’s heart as it makes the covert journey from Paris to Warsaw. In the present we have the trials of a wife accompanying her much older husband as he teaches a course on a cruise ship in the Greek islands, and the harrowing story of a young husband whose wife and child mysteriously vanish on a holiday on a Croatian island. With her signature grace and insight, Olga Tokarczuk guides the reader beyond the surface layer of modernity and towards the core of the very nature of humankind.Trade Review‘A magnificent writer.’ — Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate 2015 ‘A writer on the level of W. G. Sebald.’ — Annie Proulx, author of The Shipping News‘One among a very few signal European novelists of the past quarter-century.’ — The Economist‘Flights works like a dream does: with fragmentary trails that add up to a delightful reimagining of the novel itself.’ — Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings‘The best novel I’ve read in years is Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights (trans. Jennifer Croft): Most great writers build a novel as one would a beautiful house, brick by brick, wall by wall, from the ground up. Or using another metaphor, a writer gathers her yarn, and with good needles and structure, knits a wonderful sweater or scarf. I tend to prefer novels where a writer weaves her threads this way and that, above and below, inside outside, and ends up with a carpet. Flights is such a novel.’ — Rabih Alameddine, author of An Unnecessary Woman‘Flights could almost be an inventory of the ways narrative can serve a writer short of, and beyond, telling a story. The book’s prose is a lucid medium in which narrative crystals grow to an ideal size, independent structures not disturbing the balance of the whole … Much of the pleasure of reading Flights comes from the essay clusters embedded between sections of narratives ... The cascades of concise interstitial passages are often satisfying riffs on time and space, bodies and language, repetition and uniqueness … Jennifer Croft’s translation is exceptionally adventurous … she can give the impression, not of passing on meanings long after the event, but of being present at the moment when language reached out to thought.’ — Adam Mars-Jones, London Review of Books‘Olga Tokarczuk is a household name in Poland and one of Europe’s major humanist writers, working here in the continental tradition of the “thinking” or essayistic novel. Flights has echoes of WG Sebald, Milan Kundera, Danilo Kiš and Dubravka Ugreši?, but Tokarczuk inhabits a rebellious, playful register very much her own.... Flights is a passionate and enchantingly discursive plea for meaningful connectedness, for the acceptance of “fluidity, mobility, illusoriness”. After all, Tokarczuk reminds us, “Barbarians don’t travel. They simply go to destinations or conduct raids.” Hotels on the continent would do well to have a copy of Flights on the bedside table. I can think of no better travel companion in these turbulent, fanatical times.’ — Kapka Kassabova, Guardian‘It’s a busy, beautiful vexation, this novel, a quiver full of fables of pilgrims and pilgrimages, and the reasons — the hidden, the brave, the foolhardy — we venture forth into the world.... The book is transhistorical, transnational; it leaps back and forth through time, across fiction and fact. Interspersed with the narrator’s journey is a constellation of discrete stories that share rhyming motifs and certain turns of phrase.... In Jennifer Croft’s assured translation, each self-enclosed account is tightly conceived and elegantly modulated, the language balletic, unforced.’ — Parul Sehgal, New York Times‘Tokarczuk is one of Europe’s most daring and original writers, and this astonishing performance is her glittering, bravura entry in the literature of ideas.... A select few novels possess the wonder of music, and this is one of them. No two readers will experience it exactly the same way. Flights is an international, mercurial, and always generous book, to be endlessly revisited. Like a glorious, charmingly impertinent travel companion, it reflects, challenges, and rewards.’ — Eileen Battersby, Los Angeles Review of Books

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Book SynopsisEver feel like you are pedalling in the choucroute? Been caught with your beard in the mailbox again? Or maybe you just wish everyone would stop ironing your head?Speaking in Tongues brings the weird, wonderful and surprising nuanced beauty of language to life with over fifty gorgeous watercolour and ink illustrations.Here you will find the perfect romantic expression, such as the Spanish tu eres mi media naranja, or 'you are the love of my life, my soulmate', and the bizarre, including dancing bears and broken pots, feeding donkeys sponge cake, a head full of crickets, and clouds and radishes. All encourage new ways of thinking about the world around us, and breathe magnificent life into the everyday.These phrases from across the world are ageless and endlessly enchanting, passed down through generations. Now they are yours.

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Book Synopsis'Terrific... Highly recommended' Adrian McKinty, author of The ChainEven in the vast outback, the past can't stay buried for everDeath follows Tommy McBride everywhere. Five years ago his family was murdered, now a freak accident sends him fleeing into the wilderness of the Australian outback with a man lying dead in his wake. But Tommy is haunted by even worse - as children, he and his brother Billy witnessed the state-sanctioned massacre of the Kurrong people, and they haven't seen each other since. When an official enquiry is launched into the massacre, the successful life that Billy has built for himself comes under threat. He desperately needs to find Tommy, long disappeared into the bush. And he's not the only one - ruthless Inspector Noone, the man with perhaps the most to hide, is on Tommy's trail as well. From the author of Only Killers and Thieves

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisA gripping, heart-wrenching novel about mother and daughter tied together by shame, secrecy, love, and hate.

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Book SynopsisEvery family has its own mythology, but in this family none of the myths match up. Claudia's mother says she met her husband when she stopped him from jumping off a bridge. Her father says it happened when he saved her from an attempted robbery. Both parents are deaf but couldn't be more different; they can't even agree on how they met, much less who needed saving. Into this unlikely yet somehow inevitable union, our narrator is born. She comes of age with her brother in this strange, and increasingly estranged, household split between a small village in southern Italy and New York City. Without even sign language in common – their parents have not bothered to teach them – family communications are chaotic and rife with misinterpretations. An outsider in every way, she longs for a freedom she's not even sure exists. Only books and punk rock – and a tumultuous relationship – begin to show her the way to create her own mythology, to construct her own version of the story of her life. Kinetic, formally daring, and strikingly original, Strangers I Know is a funny and profound portrait of an unconventional family that makes us look anew at how language shapes our understanding of ourselves.Trade Review‘Formally innovative and emotionally complex, this novel explores themes of communication, family, and belonging with exceptional insight. Durastanti, celebrated in Italy for her intelligent voice and her hybrid perspective, speaks to all who are outside and in-between. ‘Strangers I Know, in a bracing translation by Elizabeth Harris, is stunning.’ — Jhumpa Lahiri author of Whereabouts‘Brave and deeply felt... Here the novel is not only a medium of illumination, but also a buoy cast into the dark waters of memory, imagination, and boldly embodied questions. In other words, it is my favorite kind of writing, the kind that not only tells of the world – but burrows through it, alive.’ — Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous‘Claudia Durastanti's writing is lyrical and sharp, underpinned with a searching gaze that turns the everyday into something darkly beautiful. Every page feels totally, absorbingly alive.’ — Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure‘Playful, looping, atmospheric and funny, Strangers I Know is a singular achievement, one of those rare books that expanded my understanding of what a novel can do. Claudia Durastanti is an absolutely thrilling writer.’ — Lauren Groff, author of Matrix‘There is much exquisite characterisation in Strangers I Know by Durastanti, as well as barbed and profound musings on the class system…’ — Buzz Magazine‘Durastanti is a superb writer whose text is fluid, descriptions taut and original, whose whole novel gradually unfolds into a web of associations, possibilities and interwoven stories within stories that highlight how families, distant and near, misunderstand, confuse and love each other.’ — Rupert Loydell, International Times ‘In this moving family portrait [Durastanti] depicts personal calamities and failings with frankness, but the glimpses of violence and loneliness throughout shimmer with a sense of acceptance and the “useless power of forgiveness”.’ — Vilma De Gasperin, TLS

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Book SynopsisJoin Cactus Kid as he zooms through the Neverending Desert on his sweet ride, seeking the ultimate magical powers to become the greatest wizard of all time. But also, getting into huge amounts of explosive trouble, deadly motorbike races, and a lot of embarrassing encounters…Life’s not always easy for a Cactus. This particular one wants to impress his all-powerful dad with his epic magic skills, and he’s not about to let anything stop him on his solo hero’s journey. All he needs is a chunk of star rock to level up his potions. There’s just one problem – there’s none left. The only way to get a single slice of the stuff is to enter the deadly MotoBrawl race, find a way to stop accidentally turning bugs into giant fire-breathing creatures, befriend the lizard gangs that roam the desert, and maybe make a friend along the way. But does a lone hero even need any of this stuff?

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Book SynopsisA riderless Anglo-Arab dressage stallion galloping wildly down a dark country lane opens this latest country sporting mystery featuring handsome horse-dealer Noel Murray, a busy livery stable, the local hunt, suspicious goings-on at a nearby Chinese cultural centre and two unexplained deaths.

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Book SynopsisIn this breathtakingly brutal and intensely topical psychological thriller, a man is accused of child sexual abuse, and his life and that of his actress girlfriend are thrown into turmoil… ‘Malone is the master of twists, turns and the unexpected, with the skill to keep things grounded. So much so, that the reader can picture themselves in the very circumstances described. Superb storytelling from a master of his craft’ Herald Scotland ‘Beautiful, lyrical prose takes the reader through a perfectly constructed, often harrowing tale’ Denzil Meyrick _________________ Film star Amelie Hart is the darling of the silver screen, appearing on the front pages of every newspaper. But at the peak of her fame she throws it all away for a regular guy with an ordinary job. The gossip columns are aghast: what happened to the woman who turned heads wherever she went? Any hope the furore will die down are crushed when Amelie’s boyfriend Dave is arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. Dave strongly asserts his innocence, and when Amelie refuses to denounce him, the press witch hunt quickly turns into physical violence, and she has to flee the country. While Dave is locked up with the most depraved men in the country and Amelie is hiding on the continent, Damaris, the victim at the centre of the story, is isolated – a child trying to make sense of an adult world. Breathtakingly brutal, dark and immensely moving, A Song of Isolation looks beneath the magpie glimmer of celebrity to uncover a sinister world dominated by greed and lies, and the unfathomable destruction of innocent lives … in an instant. _________________ Praise for Michael J. Malone ‘A beautifully written tale, original, engrossing and scary … a dark joy’ The Times ‘A complex and multilayered story – perfect for a wintry night’ Sunday Express ‘Vivid, visceral and compulsive’ Ian Rankin ‘A terrific read … I read it in one sitting’ Martina Cole ‘A deeply satisfying read’ Sunday Times ‘A fine, page-turning thriller’ Daily Mail ‘With each turn of the page, a more shocking detail is revealed and some of the people John thought might help him are not who they seem … The domestic noir tale is one that many families will be able to relate to … There is barely enough time to catch your’ Scotsman ‘Challenging and emotional … enthrals as it corkscrews to a shocking, yet ultimately rewarding end’ LoveReading ‘Malone’s latest is an unsettling, multi-layered and expertly paced domestic noir drama that delves into one family’s dark secrets, shame and lies’ CultureFly ‘Malone is a poet, there are wonderful lyrical passages here and very skilful storytelling. Some issues are not spoken about enough, Malone raises a couple of those issues and sensitively but realistically addresses them…’ New Books Magazine ‘Engrossing, hard-hitting – even shocking – with a light poetic frosting. Another superb read!’ Douglas Skelton 'A dark and unnerving psychological thriller that draws you deep into the lives of the characters and refuses to let go. This is a brilliantly written book; I could not put it down’ Caroline Mitchell ‘A chilling tale of the unexpected that journeys right into the dark heart of domesticity’ Marnie RichesTrade Review"Malone is the master of twists, turns and the unexpected, with the skill to keep things grounded . . . Superb storytelling from a master of his craft." --Herald Scotland "Malone is a massive talent . . . get on board now so you can brag you were reading his books long before the rest of the world." --Luca Veste, author, The Bone Keeper "In his previous work, A Suitable Lie, Michael J. Malone surprised readers with a series of punch-in-the-gut twists and he achieves this again here." --Scotsman "A tense, immersive thriller that kept me guessing." --Ian Rankin, author, In a House of Lies "A complex and multi-layered story--perfect for a wintry night." --Sunday Express "A beautifully written tale, original, engrossing and scary . . . a dark joy." --Times

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