Historical Fiction Books

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Book Synopsis'Suspenseful, atmospheric and full of twists and turns, I loved the brutal, backstabbing world that Isabelle Schuler conjures up where only the most ruthless can survive' - Jennifer Saint 'Dazzlingly clever and difficult to put down' i Power. History. Love. Hate. Vengeance. She will be Queen. Whatever it takes... Daughter of an ousted king. Descendant of powerful druids. Destined to take her place in history. As a child, Gruoch’s grandmother prophecies that she will one day be Queen of Alba and reclaim the lands of her Pictish kin. When, many years later, she is betrothed to Duncan, the heir-elect, the prophecy appears to come true. Determined to never to be as powerless as her parents, Gruoch leaves behind her home, her family and her friend MacBethad, and travels to the royal seat at Scone to seal her fate. But when a deadly turn of events forces Gruoch to flee Duncan and the capital, Gruoch finds herself at the mercy of an old enemy. Her hope of becoming Queen all but lost, Gruoch does what she must to survive, until she is given a choice: live a long, peaceful life but fall into obscurity, or seize her chance for vengeance and a path back to the throne. An unputdownable, sweeping historical epic, Lady MacBethad reimagines the life of Gruoch – the real life Scottish Queen who inspired one of Shakespeare's most famous characters. Readers Reviews: 'I adored this book' 'One of the most interesting, complex and captivating protagonists I've ever come across' 'I could not put this book down' 'So good that I'm almost sad I've finished it' Trade ReviewDazzlingly clever and difficult to put down * i *Suspenseful, atmospheric and full of twists and turns, I loved the brutal, backstabbing world that Isabelle Schuler conjures up where only the most ruthless can survive. A thoroughly enjoyable read! -- Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestsellers, Ariadne and ElektraLove, lust, revenge, power – this completely mesmerising historical debut has it all’ * Good Housekeeping *Exquisitely written, this poetic novel and its unforgettable heroine seems a shoo-in for this year’s Women’s Prize * Red *Isabelle Schuler’s Lady MacBethad achieves the unthinkable: transforming Shakespeare’s wicked queen into an empathetic heroine. I was transfixed by this wholly convincing tale of Scottish mormaers and machinations -- Laura Shepperson, author of The HeroinesAn extraordinary novel about an extraordinary and unforgettable character. Love, revenge, power and lust – Lady MacBethad has it all and is impossible to put down. Gruoch will stay with me for a long time, I loved her. -- Emily Koch, author of If I Die Before I Wake and Keep Him CloseI loved this fierce and beautifully written book about power, love and destiny. Gruoch is an unforgettable heroine, her determination shines through the pages, and I struggled to put it down. Lady MacBethad is an inspiring, captivating, triumph of a book -- Cressida McLaughlinStuck in a violent and male-dominated society, Gruoch MacBethad’s machinations are limitless. Every time her stubborn pride, unwavering ambition, and lust for revenge forced her hand, I was dizzy with intrigue, relief, admiration—and of course growing dread. Schuler’s masterful and captivating imagining of the early life of the real Lady Macbeth—one of history’s much-maligned women—slowly seduces you into turning page after engrossing page until suddenly you’re reading well into the night, holding your breath as the heart-pounding climax unfolds before you. Days later, and there remains this sense of tantalising, aching loss whenever I find myself thinking about the deeply complex yet very relatable Gruoch; I was utterly enthralled by her. Bold, brutal, and full of suspense, this dark and twisty epic is not to be missed -- London Shah, Award-winning author of the Light in the Abyss seriesIsabelle Schuler’s Lady MacBethad is a stunning debut, and sure to become an instant classic. Gruoch’s rise to power is utterly absorbing and believable, and she is a compelling and complex character. Schuler’s meticulously researched historical setting weaves history, folklore and literature to create an unputdownable read - even if we know how the story ends, we’re desperate to find out exactly how it began -- Cailean Steed, author of HomeLady MacBethad is a gripping and fiercely feminist reimagining of an extraordinary woman. Gruoch's tale is an utterly compelling and absorbing reframing of the character and the story we think we all know -- Caroline Lea, author of The Glass Woman and The Metal HeartThe suspense-filled origin story of one of Shakespeare's best-known characters * BBC News, Books of 2023 *Brimful with suspense, packed with power plays and sinister subterfuge * Daily Mail, New Year, New Reads chosen by Claire Allfree *It has everything you need from an immersive, captivating epic, packed with brilliant writing and a suspense-laden plot. There will certainly be a lot more to come from Schuler * Harper's Bazaar, The Best New Fiction Books to Read in 2023 *Action-packed * Press Association, Debuts to Watch *As far as feminist retellings of traditional stories go, there is little that compares to the wealth of intrigue, exploration and developed depth that Schuler constructs. A wonderful read and highly recommended. It’s very easy to get lost in the world of the great Scottish Queen and her infamous husband -- Chris Reed, NZ BookloversThis Scottish Game of Thrones, by a Swiss American Hawaiian film-score writer and actress, is certainly a well-crafted page turner. Isabelle Schuler is skilled in complex plotting, memorable characterisation and in ending every chapter with a tempting twist in the narrative to encourage the reader to move to the next even when there are so many other duties calling. The book entertains * Otago Daily Times *Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler is an action-packed historical tale and a reimagining of the life of the Scottish queen who inspired the story of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth * Belfast Telegraph: Summer books 2023 *

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Book SynopsisINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own. But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves. Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years? As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. An astonishing twist ultimately reveals the truth in this transporting and refreshingly original novel about the bond between sisters, the complications of conflicted love, and the enduring magic of storytelling.

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Book SynopsisWestern Australia, 1909. William Watson? s beloved father is set on an expedition to the north-west to map water sources in the Pilbara. Invited along, fifteen-year-old William embarks on the outback journey of a lifetime. At sea and on land, William will forge lasting friendships with his fellow travellers, and transform his relationship with his father as together they face the darkness in some men? s hearts ? including the cruel and vengeful Sergeant Jardine.This is a classic rite-of-passage novel that follows one young man on his journey of growth and self-discovery.

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Book SynopsisAn inventive, spirited novel about a pioneering woman who was shamed for daring to challenge male dominance in the arts and sciences four centuries ago. Margaret Cavendish was the first woman to address the Royal Society and the first Englishwoman to write explicitly for publication. Wildly unconventional, she was championed by her forward-thinking husband and nicknamed ‘Mad Madge’ by her many detractors. Later, Virginia Woolf would write, ‘What a vision of loneliness and riot the thought of Margaret Cavendish brings to mind!’ Unjustly neglected by history, here Margaret is brought intimately and memorably to life, tumbling pell-mell across the pages of this exhilarating novel — a portrait of a woman whose ambitions were centuries ahead of her time.Trade Review‘Luminous … A small miracle of imaginative sympathy … There is a whole blazing world in this warm, witty portrait of a visionary who was both passionately engaged with her time and strikingly ahead of it.’ -- Justine Jordan * The Guardian *‘Dutton’s style is as remarkable as her subject; this curious, beautiful novel is sensitive interrogation of the conflicting attractions of celebrity, femininity, marriage and ambition.’ -- Francesca Wade * The Sunday Telegraph *‘Margaret the First is set in the seventeenth century, but don't let that fool you. It's a strikingly smart and daringly feminist novel with modern insights into love, marriage, and the siren call of ambition.’ -- Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation‘Danielle Dutton’s slim, charming debut, Margaret the First, gives us a sympathetic account [of Margaret Cavendish’s life], largely from Cavendish’s own viewpoint … Colourful and full of flavour, with a style often as eccentric as its subject ... Dutton takes us briskly through Cavendish’s life in short scenes, free of the pastiche period language that hampers so many historical novels … Margaret the First leaves us wanting more, both of Cavendish’s life and [Dutton’s] writing.’ -- John Self * The Times *[Margaret the First] aims to tell the story of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, the 17th-century poet, philosopher and proto-feminist ... in a series of evocative vignettes, some written in Margaret's own voice, that bring this very definitely 'unordinary' woman to vivid life.’ -- Nick Rennison * The Sunday Times *‘This slender but dense imagining of the life of Margaret Cavendish, a pioneering 17th-century writer and wife of the aristocrat William Cavendish, could be classified as a more elliptical cousin of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell novels … Ms. Dutton’s style is tightly poetic. “It was indescribable what she wanted,” she writes of Margaret. “She wanted to be 30 people … To live as nature does, in many ages, in many brains.”’ * The New York Times *‘Scintillating … Dutton’s prose is lambent and evocative, like Woolf’s, and her narrative drifts, but it is attached to life through moments of intense specifity made possible by Dutton’s research.’ -- Rohan Maitzen * TLS *‘More than anything else, Margaret the First is about what it means to be a woman and to write; to live in a female body and to defy social constraints on what that body may accomplish. Dutton’s wonderful book anoints her as a founding mother to the whole sphere of women’s invention.’ * Sarah Ditum, New Statesman *‘A brilliantly odd and absorbing historical novel... It's bold, tender, funny and strange; a short book, but not in any way slight, more like a fever dream which brings a real, eccentric, talented woman unnervingly to life even as it showcases its author's rare and lavish gift for the conjuring up of the unreal.’ -- Belinda McKeon * Irish Independent *‘Margaret the First is an exquisite piece of writing. It plunges the reader immediately into a world overflowing with interest, beauty, and sorrow. Peppered with Cavendish’s own extraordinary writings, as well as phrases echoing down from Virginia Woolf, Dutton’s writing is language at its most precise and evocative, and fictional biography at its most imaginative and deft. This book is the gorgeous work of a very fine mind.’ -- Katherine Angel * author of Unmastered *‘The duchess herself would be delighted at her resurrection in Margaret the First … Dutton expertly captures the pathos of a woman whose happiness is furrowed with the anxiety of underacknowledgment … [She] surprisingly and delightfully offers not just a remarkable duchess struggling in her duke's world but also an intriguing dissection of an unusually bountiful partnership of (almost) equals.’ * The New York Times Book Review *‘Dutton’s vibrant prose in this novelistic imagining of Cavendish’s inner life has an air of defiance which serves her subject well. [She is] a trailblazing, self-promoting ‘femme forte’, blowing the whistle on contemporary class and gender imbalances few acknowledged and even fewer confronted.’ -- Jane Graham * The Big Issue *‘Margaret Cavendish (1623–73) did something that was vanishingly rare for women in 17th-century England: She became a famous writer … This is the story Danielle Dutton tells in her beguiling biographical novel Margaret the First … William, a poet and patron of the arts, encourages his wife’s ambitions even as they bring notoriety upon the household ... Ms. Dutton sensitively shows how Margaret’s iconoclasm complicates, but ultimately enriches their relationship. “A woman cannot strive to make known her wit without losing her reputation,” Margaret laments when told of the scandal her writing provokes. Yet this inimitable woman made her reputation anyway, and Ms. Dutton’s novel charmingly enhances it.’ * The Wall Street Journal *‘In Margaret the First, a remarkable novel that re-tells Margaret Cavendish's life, Danielle Dutton has pulled off the extraordinary feat of bringing to life that wildness, that generosity, and that passion for knowledge and understanding that so impressed Woolf, as well as redressing the silencing with which Margaret's life and achievements have been met, and which Woolf mourns.’ -- Sian Norris * 3:AM Magazine *‘Danielle Dutton engagingly embellishes the life of Margaret the First, the infamous Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.’ * Vanity Fair *‘Danielle Dutton’s wonderfully strange new novel is a portrait of Margaret of Newcastle, whose perceived excesses and eccentricities were an object of fascination for her time, as well as for Virginia Woolf, who laments in A Room of One's Own, ”What a vision of loneliness and riot the thought of Margaret Cavendish brings to mind!” And what a visionary portrait Margaret the First is, not only for the sheer joy of the sentences, but also as it’s a marvel of tenderness, rewriting a historical caricature as a life, delighting in Margaret's passion for writing and love of the beautiful and strange from childhood on. I am in awe of what Dutton accomplishes here, in this novel of the small and the sublime. What a triumph!’ -- Kate Zambreno, author of Green Girl‘Although Margaret the First is set in 17th century London, it’s not a traditional work of historical fiction. It is an experimental novel that, like the works of Jeanette Winterson, draws on language and style to tell the story … There is a restless ambition to [Danielle Dutton’s] intellect.’ * The Los Angeles Times *‘Beautiful, accessible, and hypnotic.’ * Bustle *‘“All this trouble for a girl,” say the bears in the book Margaret Cavendish writes … Margaret the First is the story of a very real woman at a very particular moment in history, that is at the same time the story of every woman artist who has ever burst loose the constraints of her particular moment in history to create ”a new world called the blazing world.”’ -- Kathryn Davis, author of The Thin Place and Duplex‘Dutton, an accomplished writer and daring publisher, here upends the genre of the historical novel in a brilliant book about Margaret Cavendish, a mold-breaking British Duchess of the 17th century who wrote poetry, drama, philosophy, and even science fiction.’ * Flavorwire *‘Dutton’s remarkable second novel is as vividly imaginative as its subject, the 17th-century English writer and eccentric Margaret Cavendish … Reminiscent of Woolf's Orlando in its sensuous appreciation of the world and unconventional approach to fictionalized biography. Dutton’s boldness, striking prose, and skill at developing an idiosyncratic narrative should introduce her to the wider audience she deserves.’ * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *‘Dutton’s profile constructs [Margaret] as a fully formed, complicated human being, as a woman whose interests and inclinations stem from a complex personal history. It’s this profile that’s the star of the novel as much as its subject, since it deftly weaves together primary and secondary sources to form a wholly integrated, believable and gripping account of a woman who didn’t belong to the times in which she was born, not least because these times were too volatile for her to ever plant herself in them.’ * Electric Literature *‘A fabulous (and fabulist) re-imagining of the infamous Margaret Cavendish … Margaret the First isn’t a historical novel, however; magnificently weird and linguistically dazzling, it’s a book as much about how difficult and rewarding it is for an ambitious, independent, and gifted woman to build a life as an artist in any era as it is about Margaret herself. Incredibly smart, innovative, and refreshing, Margaret the First will resonate with anyone who’s struggled with forging her own path in the world.’ * Book riot *‘A perfect dagger of a book: sharp, dark sentences, in and out quick.’ * Literary Hub *‘A slim, poetic meditation on the writing life as seen through the experiences of Margaret Cavendish … Virginia Woolf hovers over this brief novel, audible in its cadences and visible in its cascading images of nature, artistry, and oddity … Despite its period setting and details, this novel — more poem than biography — feels rooted in the experiences of contemporary women with artistic and intellectual ambitions. Margaret’s alternating bursts of inspiration and despair about her work may feel achingly familiar to Dutton’s likely readers, many of whom will probably also be aspiring writers.’ * Kirkus *‘“I had rather be a meteor, singly, alone,” writes Margaret Cavendish, the titular character in Dutton’s novel Margaret the First. Cavendish is “a shy but audacious” woman of letters, whose writing and ambitions were ahead of her time. The taut prose and supple backdrop of courtly life are irresistible. (Witness: quail in broth and oysters; bowls stuffed with winter roses, petals tissue-thin; strange instruments set beside snuffboxes.) Dutton is something of a meteor herself, as founder of the Dorothy Project and with two wondrous books already under her belt, including the Believer Book Award-nominated novel Sprawl.’ * The Millions, ‘Most Anticipated: The Great 2016 Book Preview’ *‘This vivid novel is a dramatization of the life of 17th century Duchess Margaret Cavendish, who wrote and published fantastical fiction and feminist plays well before it was acceptable for women to do so ... While the novel takes place in the 1600s, the explorations of marriage, ambition, and feminist ideals are timeless.’ * The Boston Globe *‘With refreshing and idiosyncratic style, Dutton portrays the inner turmoil and eccentric genius of an intellectual far ahead of her time.’ -- Jane Ciabattari * BBC.com *‘Dutton has captured the tumultuous life in a novel that is as radically inventive as its subject. Like [Margaret’s] plays, it eschews traditional structure, but instead naturally flits through her life, from scene to scene, place to place. Some events are consigned to a few sentences, while others are explored in detail, such as Margaret’s arrest at gunpoint, along with her Royalist family’s, by Parliamentarian forces near the start of the Civil War. The result is a short, 177-page novel that is a sharply focused, intimate portrait of a remarkable woman who lived in a tumultuous time.’ * Maclean’s *‘A literary page-turner, which explores Cavendish’s adventurous life, weaving historical details into a spool of crafted, poetic prose … Three hundred and forty-three years after Margaret Cavendish’s death, the Duchess speaks.’ * The Literary Review *‘Historical fiction like you’ve never read it before! Dutton captures the ferocious intelligence of a woman far ahead of her time and breathes fresh spirit into her life story. Gorgeously written and bursting with the poetry and splendour of a world just discovering itself, this is a remarkable book about a remarkable woman.’ -- Marion Rankine * Foyles Bookshop *Entropy’s ‘Best of 2016: Best Fiction Books’‘From writer and publisher Danielle Dutton comes a novel about eccentric 17th-century duchess Margaret Cavendish, who penned poems, feminist plays and utopian science-fiction in a time when, at least for women, that decidedly wasn't a thing. Early reviews refer to Margaret the First not so much as ‘historical fiction’ but as a modern story set in the past.’ -- Laura Pearson * The Chicago Tribune *‘One imagines that Madge would be thrilled to find herself at the center of a new novel by the American author Danielle Dutton … Dutton has followed her critically acclaimed debut, Sprawl, with a vibrant rendition of a unique historical figure … Humour is typical of Margaret's voice, which Dutton relates in first person until a shift midway switches to third, cleverly underlining the duchess's desire to move from a private space to a public stage. The snippet-like diary form and rate of whip-smart quips bring to mind such contemporary American authors as Jenny Offill and Nell Zink … Margaret's extraordinary character and curious mind shine throughout her story … In her short novel Dutton finds the words to give Margaret the voice she felt she lacked. “I had rather appear worse in singularity than better in the mode,” announces the duchess. That individuality emerges in an intimate, impressive portrait of a woman centuries ahead of her time.’ -- Sarah Gilmartin * The Irish Times *‘A masterful achievement in historical fiction.’ -- Imogen Hermes Gowar * The Guardian *‘Margaret the First has such incredible sentences, and a sense of history that feels like intimacy.’ -- Sarah Jaffe * author of Dryland *‘Margaret the First is a work of extraordinary emotional and psychological complexity, about a woman who locates salvation in her own creativity and is audacious enough to seek recognition in a world governed by men, from which it is not readily forthcoming. It is also a novel which plays with the line between confidence and egoism in a setting in which the slightest display of confidence on a woman's part is too easily glossed as egoism … Its energy is inimitable; its curious aura — its curious beauty — burns a long while.’ -- Natalie Helberg * Numero Cinq *’Dutton's profile constructs [Margaret] as a fully formed, complicated human being, as a woman whose interests and inclinations stem from a complex personal history. It's this profile that's the star of the novel as much as its subject, since it deftly weaves together primary and secondary sources to form a wholly integrated, believable and gripping account of a woman who didn't belong to the times in which she was born, not least because these times were too volatile for her to ever plant herself in them.’ -- Simon Chandler * Electric Literature *‘With this novel about the 17th-century intellectual Margaret Cavendish, Dutton joins Alexander Chee in the camp of writers who are looking to history for vibrant settings and new ways to explore their themes of choice.’ -- Tobias Carroll * Vol. 1. Brooklyn *‘Dutton refreshes Cavendish's words for a contemporary audience, rendering them relevant and powerful once more.’ * The Portland Mercury *‘Each sentence in Margaret the First is like sea glass, exquisite and unyielding. The sentences stand out for their crafting, not overly ornate or precious, but determined, assured … While reading Margaret the First, I get the sense of looking at paintings, of stillness animated while turning pages. The immersion becomes almost meditative, like sitting before a Mark Rothko painting and melting into its colours.’ * The Millions *‘Danielle Dutton's novel, Margaret the First, published by Catapult, is a literary page-turner, which explores Cavendish's adventurous life, weaving historical details into a spool of crafted, poetic prose.’ -- Gretchen McCullough * The Literary Review *‘Danielle Dutton's novel, Margaret the First, published by Catapult, is a literary page-turner, which explores Cavendish's adventurous life, weaving historical details into a spool of crafted, poetic prose.’ -- Gretchen McCullough * The Literary Review *‘Dutton's fictionalized biography is unconventional in its approach, but entirely sensuous and captivating in its style — much like her subject.’ * Historical Novels Review *‘Margaret Cavendish, the 17th-century poet, philosopher, godmother of science fiction, and one of the first tabloid celebrities, is the subject of Danielle Dutton's delicate, lovely new historical novel Margaret the First.’ -- Constance Grady * Vox *‘I loved Margaret the First … The prose is luminous and odd, the heroine eccentric and unforgettable.’ -- Nuala O'Connor * The Irish Times *‘This short literary book offers big rewards to readers interested in the complex mind of a woman ahead of her time.’ * Sarah Cohn, Library Journal *‘An intoxicating, blazing world that celebrates a woman years ahead of her time.’ * Lucy Scholes, The Observer *‘Margaret Cavendish is the fascinating subject of Danielle Dutton’s hypnotic new novel, Margaret the First … With just a few precise brushstrokes, Dutton paints a gorgeous, richly detailed world that lingers long after the novel ends; this sublime writing and imagery are the book’s great strengths.’ * Caitlin Callaghan, The Rumpus *‘In Margaret the First, there is plenty of room for play. Dutton’s work serves to emphasize the ambiguities of archival proof, restoring historical narratives to what they have perhaps always already been: provoking and serious fantasies, convincing reconstructions, true fictions.’ * Lucy Ives, The New Yorker *‘Electrifying.’ * The Simple Things *

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Book SynopsisNorthern Britain, Iron Age. Rian, a carefree young woman and promising apprentice healer, is enslaved by a spiteful trader and forced aboard a vessel to embark on a perilous sea voyage. They are in search of the fabled hunter known as the Walrus Mutterer, to recover something once stolen. The limits of Rian's endurance are tested not only by the cruelty of her captor, but their mysterious fellow passenger Pytheas The Greek - and the merciless sea that constantly endangers both their mission and their lives. A visceral evocation of ancient folklore and ritual, The Walrus Mutterer introduces an unforgettable cast of characters in an extraordinary, vividly imagined Celtic world.Trade ReviewHighland Book Prize 2018, LONGLISTED; "A gripping, haunting and, at times, visceral novel... Lyrical and poetic prose, the author has created a convincing and entirely believable world... One of the best books I have read so far this year." Penny Ingham, Historical Novels Review (Editors' Choice); "An immersive evocation of ancient folklore and ritual, this novel's characterisation and fast pace make it a real page-turner which will keep you hooked." Scottish Field; "Utterly compelling...beautifully crafted...paints an exquisite pen picture." Undiscovered Scotland; "Haggith's woman's eye view of the Iron Age feels fresh and distinctive." Alastair Mabbott, Sunday Herald; "An ambitious and imaginative novel...believable and compelling." Jane Bradley, Scotsman; "We see what the world was like...for the Iron Age peoples, particularly the women. The few historical accounts we have of that time seldom feature women... Rian is a compelling heroine. Life for her is often harsh, uncompromising and dangerous, and yet she has insights and wisdom that we moderns may well envy." Margaret Elphinstone; "The Walrus Mutterer transported me to an extraordinary Iron Age world that resonated long after the final page - vivid, memorable, and utterly compelling." Helen Sedgwick; "Compelling." Lucinda Byatt, Historical Novels Review

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Book SynopsisWith gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan's The Continental Affair is a fast-paced, Agatha Christie-esque caper packed full of romance and suspense.'Reads as if Jean Rhys and Patricia Highsmith collaborated on a script for Alfred Hitchcock; it is an elegant, delirious fever dream of a book.' The Irish TimesMeet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, travelling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul.Except this isn't the first time they have met.It's the 1960s, and Louise is running.From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen―and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it.Across the Continent―from Granada to Paris, from Belgrade to Istanbul―Henri follows. He's desperate to leave behind his own troubles and the memories of his past life as a gendarme in Algeria.But Henri soon realises that Louise is no ordinary traveller.As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold―and whether it involves one another.Stylish and atmospheric, The Continental Affair takes you on an unforgettable journey through the twisty, glamorous world of 1960s Europe.

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Book SynopsisThe #1 New York Times bestselling author of life-changing fiction brings her signature “emotional, heart-tugging” (Woman’s World) prose to this wise and worldly novel of forgiveness and hope in the City of Lights.In Indiana, Ashley Baxter Blake and her husband are about to take an anniversary trip to Paris, but she is hesitant. More than two decades ago, she made her most grievous mistake in that same city. She has never forgiven herself for what happened there, and she still harbors secrets that she’s afraid will come to light. Just before the trip, Ashley gets a call from her niece. Jessie explains that her French boyfriend’s mother remembers working at a bakery with an American named Ashley. “Could that be you?” When Alice and Ashley meet, a flood of memories comes for both women, taking Ashley back to a reckless affair and an unexpected pregnancy and Alice to the night she nearly ended it all. Can this reunion bring healing and closure? Maybe it is finally time for Ashley to forgive herself...and Paris.

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Book Synopsis**The spellbinding, bold new retelling of the story of Lord Byron and the Shelleys, from the perspective of Claire Clairmont, the incredible woman that history tried to forget.**''Beautifully written, Clairmont tells the sensuous hidden story of an influential historic woman.'' Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year''An absorbing, intoxicating page-turner about a woman who deserves to be remembered.'' Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne and Atalanta''Riveting - a clever portrait of a fascinating, flawed heroine.'' The Times''An intimate and enlightening tale of one of Romanticism''s forsaken muses - an artfully told story that lingers in the mind far beyond the last page'' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora1816. A massive volcanic eruption has caused the worst storms that Europe has seen in decades, yet Percy and Mary Shel

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Book SynopsisSet against the glorious backdrop of World War Two Ireland, this dramatic, emotional and romantic novel is perfect for fans of Maeve Binchy, Lorna Cook, Tracy Rees and Jenny Ashcroft!''A romantic saga writer to watch'' PETERBOROUGH TELEGRAPHShe lost everything in one night. Now she must fight for happiness.It''s 1943 and Ireland has escaped the worst of the war raging in Europe, but life is not without its hardships. When fire breaks out at the convent in Cavan where she has spent the past ten years, orphan Eva Fallon barely escapes with her life.She''s offered a bed for the night by Ma Scully, whilst her nephew Cathal, visiting from Dublin, helps battle the blaze. Seventeen-year-old Eva has never known such kindness but she''s too proud to take advantage, and finds a job at Blackstock''s farm, setting in motion a chain of events that will change her life forever.<

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Book SynopsisIn 1845, linguistics professor Fabrice Cleriquot is despatched from Lyon to the Swan River Colony, sent away with a box full of silkworms to stop him from bringing more disgrace upon the family. Accompanying him on board the Elizabeth are twenty-eight mismatched and misguided Catholic missionaries including Dom Salvado, who seeks to create a Spanish Benedictine monastery deep in the bush, and the Irish Sisters of Mercy, who are fleeing a dreadful famine. Given the job of distributing a huge donation from a wealthy benefactress, Fabrice bears witness to the folly of his travelling companions whose presumptuous attempts to rescue the colony and the original inhabitants from themselves, can only lead to tragedy.

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Book SynopsisMeet the Brothers Wolfe. Elliot Wolfe: ambitious, ruthless and living for the thrill of the deal. Athol Wolfe: a young man trying to find a place outside his big brothers shadow. Include maiden aunt with a long memory, a mild-mannered father reluctant to bring the family menswear business into the modern world. Bind them together in a family trust, and throw them into a melting pot of greedy entrepreneurs and high-flying criminals. Add a sexy French girlfriend with dreams of her own and a big, dark family secret and watch it all explode.

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Book Synopsis#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A decorated former Air Force pilot. A pregnant flight attendant. A dedicated TSA agent. The fates of these three, and many others, converge in Danielle Steel’s gripping new novel—a heart-stopping thriller that engages ordinary men and women in the fight of their lives during a flight from New York to San Francisco. On a beautiful May morning at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, two planes have just departed for San Francisco—one a 757, another a smaller Airbus A321. At a security checkpoint, TSA agent Bernice Adams finds a postcard of the Golden Gate Bridge bearing an ambiguous—perhaps ominous—message. Her supervisor dismisses her concerns, but Bernice calls security and soon Ben Waterman arrives. A senior Homeland Security agent, still grappling with guilt after a disastrous operation in which hostages were killed, Ben too becomes suspicious. Who left the postcard behind, which flight is that person on, and what exactly does the message mean? As Ben scans the passenger manifests, his focus turns to the A321, with Helen Smith as its senior pilot. Helen’s military service and her tenure with the airline have been exemplary. But her husband’s savage death in Iraq was more than anyone should bear, leaving her widowed with three children. A major film star is on board. So is an off-duty pilot who has just lost his forty-year career. So is a distraught father, traveling with the baby son he has abducted from his estranged wife. Sifting through data and relying on instinct, Ben becomes convinced that someone on Helen’s plane is planning something terrible. And he’s right. Passengers, crew, and experts on the ground become heroes out of necessity to try to avert tragedy at the eleventh hour. In her stunning novel, Danielle Steel combines intense action with stories of emotionally rich, intertwined lives. As the jet bears down on its destination of San Francisco, strangers are united, desperate choices are made, and futures will be changed forever by a handful of accidental heroes.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“A chilling, gorgeous saga that spans several centuries and many lands . . . The all-too-human characters—including the nonhuman ones—and the dreamlike, recursive plot serve to entrance the reader. . . . There’s no escaping The Devourers. Readers will savor every bite.”—N. K. Jemisin, The New York Times Book Review“The Devourers is beautiful. It is brutal. It is violent and vicious. . . . [It] also showcases Das’s incredible prowess with language and rhythm, and his ability to weave folklore and ancient legend with modern day loneliness.”—Tordotcom“A wholly original, primal tale of love, violence, and transformation . . . I’ve never read anything quite like it.”—Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Red Rising Trilogy “Astonishing . . . a narrative that takes possession of you and pulls you along in its wake.”—M. R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts“Every sentence of this ferocious and extraordinary book pulses with life. An absolute masterpiece.”—Daniel José Older, author of Half-Resurrection Blues “Profoundly moving and endlessly inventive.”—Ken Liu, World Fantasy Award–winning author of The Grace of Kings “The Devourers tears the throat out of the traditional shapeshifter tale. With a story that spans cultures, generations, and mythologies, and characters that make your heart both pound and ache, this book will leave you breathless. You’ve never read anything like it, and you won’t forget it anytime soon.”—Mallory O’Meara, filmmaker“Das’s brutal, intoxicating, and gorgeously visceral debut merges an often mythic sensibility with an appreciation for the coarse beauty of the everyday.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A sensual tale of violence and desire . . . for fans of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire but with a fascinating setting beautifully described.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Das’s narrative is lush, imaginative, and hypnotic, bringing to life scenes of savagery and moments of wonder. . . . Das’s debut is an ambitious, unsettling trip into our own capacity for violence.”—Kirkus Reviews“[An] extraordinary piece of meta-fiction: stories within stories . . . trans-genre, transgender and transgressive . . . Who gets what he or she wants and, above all, who has the moral right to their desires, is the heart of this remarkable, multi-layered novel.”—Maclean’s “Intense and thrilling . . . Indra Das’s writing is powerful and precise.”—Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Red Mars

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Book SynopsisThe award-winning author Nicola Griffith''s brilliant, lush, sweeping historical novel about the rise of the most powerful woman of the Middle Ages: Hild.In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, frequently and violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods are struggling, their priests worrying. Hild is the king''s youngest niece, and she has a glimmering mind and a natural, noble authority. She will become a fascinating woman and one of the pivotal figures of the Middle Ages: Saint Hilda of Whitby.But now she has only the powerful curiosity of a bright child, a will of adamant, and a way of seeing the worldof studying nature, of matching cause with effect, of observing her surroundings closely and predicting what will happen nextthat can seem uncanny, even supernatural, to those around her.Her uncle, Edwin of Northumbria, plots to become overking of the Angles, ruthlessly using every tool at his disposal: blood, bribery, belie

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Book SynopsisThe saga of love, loyalty, and crime continues in the next explosive book in the Cartel series from the minds of New York Times bestselling authors Ashley & JaQuavis.After the tragic and bloody end to The Cartel's reign, Carter is forced into isolation to evade the law. With his wife, Miamor, facing federal charges and his dear brother, six feet under, Carter has never been more alone. His empire is at his feet and he has no idea how to rebuild his kingdom. The only thing that is certain is that he has to stay out the way and off the radar of the Feds until he can figure out how to get his lady out of prison. Miamor's freedom is guaranteedprovided Carter help create and distribute a drug that will take the streets by storm. Rubbing elbows with the most notorious, ruthless leaders of the underworld will get him what he wants. But can he win at their game of murder and money?

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Book SynopsisThe second thrilling installment of the award-winning Nevernight Chronicle, from New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff.In a land where three suns almost never set, a ruthless assassin continues her quest for vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.Mia Corvere has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church hierarchy think she's far from earned it. Plying her bloody trade in a backwater of the Republic, she's no closer to ending the men who destroyed her familia; in fact, she's told directly that Consul Scaeva is off limits. But after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia''s suspicions about the Red Church's true motives begin to grow.When it's announced that Scaeva will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself to a gladiatorial collegium for a chance to finally end him. Upon the sands of the

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Book SynopsisThe Bestselling Hardcover Novel of the Year.--Publishers WeeklyFrom the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them. My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman's only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

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Book Synopsis The Great Fire is the winner of the 2003 National Book Award for Fiction. More than twenty years after the classic The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard returns to fiction with a novel that in the words of Ann Patchett is brilliant and dazzling...The Great Fire is an extraordinary love story set in the immediate aftermath of the great conflagration of the Second World War. In war-torn Asia and stricken Europe, men and women, still young but veterans of harsh experience, must reinvent their lives and expectations, and learn, from their past, to dream again. Some will fulfill their destinies, others will falter. At the center of the story, a brave and brilliant soldier finds that survival and worldly achievement are not enough. His counterpart, a young girl living in occupied Japan and tending her dying brother, falls in love, and in the process discovers herself. In the looming shadow of world enmities resumed, and of Asia''

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Book SynopsisINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF TWO GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS (Best Debut Novel & Best Historical Fiction)An Indie Next March 2023 Pick A LibraryReads March 2023 Pick An Amazon Best Books of the Year So Far 2023 PickA brave and original debut, Weyward is a spellbinding story about what may transpire when the natural world collides with a legacy of witchcraft. Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The London Séance SocietyI am a Weyward, and wild inside.2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great-aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she suspects that her great-aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the

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Book SynopsisThe modern Tolstoy presents a family saga spanning a century of Russian history.

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