Narrative theme: coming of age
Pan Macmillan Tigers in Red Weather
Book SynopsisLiza Klaussmann was born in New York but lives in London. She is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Tigers in Red Weather and Villa America.Trade Review'It’s hard to know where to start a review of this startling debut novel because Tigers in Red Weather is absolutely packed with plot . . . anybody who enjoys Mad Men will almost certainly like this book . . . heady, page-turning stuff — the intelligent beach read of the summer.' Sunday Times‘Postwar America, beautiful and damaged people, secrets and lies and passions and martinis and the smell of something rotting beneath the fragrance of summer . . . an immensely gripping and well-told tale of two generations . . . It is part of the considerable pleasure of this novel that much of it reminds you of other stories, in prose and film. You are on familiar but never stale territory, and you read on with the growing conviction that a nasty surprise lies around the corner.’ Guardian‘What an unexpectedly brilliant read this is. It starts off all Stepford Wives and Valley of the Dolls and ends up somewhere in the territory of Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides or Donna Tartt's The Secret History . . . This is an ambitious undertaking for a first novel but Klaussmann really pulls it off, turning an elegant period piece into a creepy psychological thriller . . . A wonderfully clever, chilling summer read.’ Independent on Sunday'Tigers in Red Weather yokes literary craftmanship to a strong, engaging plot . . . The stakes are raised with artful subtlety over the course of the novel . . . The final sequence, told by a relative outsider, is impressively disquieting and concludes this arresting debut with a flourish of ventriloquism’ Literary Review ‘A scintillating look at a gilded but dysfunctional family grappling with lies, secrets and conspiracies . . . The voices of the five main characters ramp up the tension with languorously graceful prose, perfectly mirroring the book's long, dangerous summers.’ Marie Claire‘The novel you should be tucking into your beach bag this summer is Klaussmann’s excellent Tigers In Red Weather . . . Flipping back and forth across a couple of decades, it gracefully tracks the currents souring the intoxicating cocktail of money, sex, heat, boredom and beauty that constitutes the lives of the wealthy on Martha’s Vineyard following World War II. With a conscious nod to F Scott Fitzgerald, it’s a clever, sensual thriller that combines a smidgen of Klaussmann’s family history with a clear-eyed perspective on the multi-faceted nature of families and the emotional duplicity of the rich.’ Metro'Summers are made for novels like Liza Klaussmann's debut, a sophisticated page-turner, where danger and pain throb in every tight-lipped silence, every casually cruel remark, every misinterpreted gesture . . . Hemingway['s] influence is apparent in the simplicity of her language and observations . . . I read it the first time in one sitting, and envy anyone about to start it, with that delicious pleasure ahead of them.' Sunday Telegraph'Two things set this enjoyably creepy book apart from your average beach read. The plot and pacing are expertly managed . . . But the real selling point is the writing, which is minimalist and evocative at the same time.' Observer‘Tragedy, betrayal and passion . . . A riveting, intelligent read’ Stylist
£7.19
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Neon Bible
Book SynopsisThe accomplished and evocative first novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Confederacy of Dunces.John Kennedy Toole wrote The Neon Bible for a literary contest at the age of sixteen. The manuscript was finally published twenty years after Toole's death.The Neon Bible opens with the narrator, a young man named David, on a train, leaving the small Southern town he's grown up in for the first time. What unspools is the tender and tragic coming-of-age story of a lonely child, a story that revolves around David's unorthodox friendship with his great-aunt Mae - a former stage performer who is fiercely at odds with the conservative townspeople - and the everyday toll of living in an environment of religious fanaticism. From the opening lines of The Neon Bible, David is fully alive, naive yet sharply observant, drawing us into his world through the sure artistry of John Kennedy Toole.Trade ReviewHeartfelt emotion, communicated in clean direct prose . . . a remarkable achievement. -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *A powerful novel that belongs on the shelf with the works of Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers and Eudora Welty. * Orlando Sentinel *John Kennedy Toole's tender, nostalgic side is as brilliantly effective as his corrosive satire. If you liked To Kill A Mockingbird you will love The Neon Bible. -- Florence KingShockingly mature. . . . Even at sixteen, Toole knew that the way to write about complex emotions is to express them simply. * Chicago Tribune *
£9.45
Penguin Books Ltd On the Road
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Sourcebooks, Inc A Hundred Other Girls: A Novel
Book SynopsisFor fans of The Devil Wears Prada and The Bold Type comes a smart, modern story about the shifting media landscape and one Middle Eastern—American writer finding her place in it. How far would you go to keep the job a hundred other girls are ready to take? Noora's life is a little off track. She's an aspiring writer and amateur blogger in New York—which is a nice way of saying that she tutors rich Upper East Side kids and is currently crashing on her sister's couch. But that's okay. Noora has Leila, who has always been her rock, and now she has another major influence to lean on: Vinyl magazine. The pages of Vinyl practically raised Noora, teaching her everything from how to properly insert a tampon to which political ideology she subscribes to. So when she lands a highly coveted job as assistant to Loretta James, Vinyl's iconic editor-in-chief, Noora can't believe her luck. Her only dream is to write for Vinyl, and now with her foot firmly in the door and the Loretta James as her mentor, Noora is finally on the right path... or so she thinks. Loretta is an unhinged nightmare, insecure and desperate to remain relevant in an evolving media landscape she doesn't understand. Noora's phone buzzes constantly with Loretta's bizarre demands, particularly with tasks Loretta hopes will undermine the success of Vinyl's wunderkind digital director Jade Aki. The reality of Noora's job is nothing like she expected, and a misguided crush on the hot IT guy only threatens to complicate things even more. But as Loretta and the old-school print team enter into a turf war with Jade and the woke-for-the-wrong-reasons digital team, Noora soon finds herself caught in the middle. And with her dream job on the line, she'll need to either choose a side or form her own. Clever, incisive, and thoroughly fun, A Hundred Other Girls is an insider's take on the changing media industry, an ode to sisterhood, and a profound exploration of what it means to chase your dreams.
£14.96
Tordotcom The Chosen and the Beautiful
Book SynopsisAn Instant National Bestseller!An Indie Next Pick!A B&N Reads April Pick!A Most Anticipated in 2021 Pick for Oprah Magazine USA Today Buzzfeed Greatist BookPage PopSugar Bustle The Nerd Daily Goodreads Literary Hub Ms. Magazine Library Journal Culturess Book Riot Parade Magazine Kirkus The Week Book Bub OverDrive The Portalist Publishers WeeklyA Best of Summer Pick for TIME Magazine CNN NBC News CBS News Book Riot The Daily Beast Lambda Literary The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Goodreads Bustle Veranda Magazine The Week Bookish St. Louis Post-Dispatch Den of Geek LGBTQ Reads Pittsburgh City Paper Bookstr Tatler HKA Best Fantasy Novel from the Last 10 Years for Book RiotA Best of 2021 Pick for NPRA vibrant and queer reinvention of F. Scott Fitzgerald''s jazz age classic. . . . I was captivated from the first sentenc
£14.39
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Sparks Like Stars
Book Synopsis“Suspenseful…emotionally compelling. I found myself eagerly following in a way I hadn’t remembered for a long time, impatient for the next twist and turn of the story.—NPRAn Afghan American woman returns to Kabul to learn the truth about her family and the tragedy that destroyed their lives in this brilliant and compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Pearl That Broke Its Shell, The House Without Windows, and When the Moon Is Low.Kabul, 1978: The daughter of a prominent family, Sitara Zamani lives a privileged life in Afghanistan’s thriving cosmopolitan capital. The 1970s are a time of remarkable promise under the leadership of people like Sardar Daoud, Afghanistan’s progressive president, and Sitara’s beloved father, his right-hand man. But the ten-year-old Sitara’s world is shattered when communists stage a coup, assassinating the president and Sitara’s entire family. Only she survives. Smuggled out of the palace by a guard named Shair, Sitara finds her way to the home of a female American diplomat, who adopts her and raises her in America. In her new country, Sitara takes on a new name—Aryana Shepherd—and throws herself into her studies, eventually becoming a renowned surgeon. A survivor, Aryana has refused to look back, choosing instead to bury the trauma and devastating loss she endured. New York, 2008: Thirty years after that fatal night in Kabul, Aryana’s world is rocked again when an elderly patient appears in her examination room—a man she never expected to see again. It is Shair, the soldier who saved her, yet may have murdered her entire family. Seeing him awakens Aryana’s fury and desire for answers—and, perhaps, revenge. Realizing that she cannot go on without finding the truth, Aryana embarks on a quest that takes her back to Kabul—a battleground between the corrupt government and the fundamentalist Taliban—and through shadowy memories of the world she loved and lost. Bold, illuminating, heartbreaking, yet hopeful, Sparks Like Stars is a story of home—of America and Afghanistan, tragedy and survival, reinvention and remembrance, told in Nadia Hashimi’s singular voice.Trade Review“Hashimi’s narrative is telenovela-good—daring adventurers, deadly secrets, family drama, the beloved dead, a politician-in-the-making, true love, and more.” — Booklist (starred review) “The question of whether Sitara can go home again is the existential and physical journey Hashimi conjures, in a story at once surreal and deeply rooted in the history of Afghanistan’s modern turmoil and ancient enchantment.” — NPR “A fascinating epic tale.” — New York Post “Thrilling and moving” — Booklist “The novel is an elegiac tribute to family and civilization—fragile collective entities that should be cherished while they still hold.” — BookPage
£14.48
Counterpoint Black Swans: Stories
Book SynopsisBabitz’s talent for the brilliant line, honed to a point, never interferes with her feel for languid pleasures. —The New York Times Book ReviewA new reissue of Babitz’s collection of nine stories that look back on the 1980s and early 1990s—decades of dreams, drink, and glimpses of a changing world. Black Swans further celebrates the phenomenon of Eve Babitz, cementing her reputation as the voice of a generation.With an introduction by Stephanie Danler, bestselling author of Sweetbitter.On the page, Babitz is pure pleasure—a perpetual–motion machine of no–stakes elation and champagne fizz. —The New Yorker
£12.34
Pan Macmillan The House of Fortune: A Richard & Judy Book Club
Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times No.1 BestsellerThe sequel to Jessie Burton’s million-copy bestseller The Miniaturist, The House of Fortune returns to Nella's mysterious family in historic 18th-century Amsterdam for a story of fate and fortune.‘Elegant, atmospheric, compelling. I absolutely loved it’ - Marian Keyes, author of Again, Rachel‘A book of beauty and insight . . . awe-inspiring. Burton is a master storyteller’ - Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie1705. In the golden city of Amsterdam Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At the city’s theatre, the love of her life awaits her, but at home all is not well – her father Otto and Aunt Nella argue endlessly, and the Brandt family are selling their furniture in order to eat. On Thea’s birthday, also the day that her mother died, the secrets of the past begin to overwhelm the present.Nella is desperate to save the family and maintain appearances, to find Thea a husband who will guarantee her future, and when they receive an invitation to Amsterdam’s most exclusive ball, she is overjoyed – perhaps this will set their fortunes straight.But, as Thea discovers new miniatures, Nella’s fears are realized. Eighteen years after she first entered the family’s life, the miniaturist may have plans of her own . . .The House of Fortune is a glorious, sweeping story of ambition, secrets and dreams, and one young woman’s determination to rule her own destiny.Trade ReviewA more than worthy sequel to The Miniaturist. Elegant, atmospheric, compelling. I absolutely loved it -- Marian Keyes, author of Again, RachelA book of beauty and insight . . . awe-inspiring. Burton is a master storyteller . . . I felt I could see, smell, live and breathe every page . . . a delight for anyone who is about to read it -- Elizabeth Day, bestselling author of The Party and MagpieClever and satisfying . . . Burton is an acute observer . . . A worthy sequel, mature and thoughtful * Guardian *Satisfying . . . a moving celebration of the possibilities for change and regeneration in life * Sunday Times *A joyous read: compassionate, wise and fabulously immersive . . . a beguiling, tender sequel . . . Brilliant * i *Sumptuous, elegant and atmospheric * Prima *The most beautiful book you'll read this year. A spectacular achievement . . . [it] will break your heart and put it back together again . . . Shining, sinuous, truly a marvel -- Kate WilliamsElegant historical suspense * Grazia *Returning to the world of her bestselling The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton’s tale of a curious young woman in 18th-century Amsterdam finds her at the top of her game * Observer *A satisfying, page-turning romp with a heroine to root for * Sunday Express *Beautifully crafted and brimming with historical detail * Sunday Post *Fans of The Miniaturist are in for a treat with this sequel * Red *The mysterious writing draws in any curious reader * The Herald *
£15.29
Fsg Originals Dependency The Copenhagen Trilogy Book 3
Book SynopsisThe final volume in the renowned Danish poet Tove Ditlevsen's autobiographical Copenhagen Trilogy (A masterpiece The Guardian). Following Childhood and Youth, Dependency is the searing portrait of a woman's journey through love, friendship, ambition, and addiction, from one of Denmark's most celebrated twentieth century writersTove is only twenty, but she''s already famous, a published poet, and the wife of a much older literary editor. Her path in life seems set, yet she has no idea of the struggles aheadlove affairs, wanted and unwanted pregnancies, artistic failure, and destructive addiction. As the years go by, the central tension of Tove''s life comes into painful focus: the terrible lure of dependency, in all its forms, and the possibility of living freely and fearlesslyas an artist on her own terms.The final volume in the Copenhagen Trilogy, and arguably Ditlevsen''s masterpiece, Dependency is a da
£11.90
Tyndale House Publishers A Piece of the Moon
Book Synopsis
£13.29
Pan Macmillan Witchshadow
Book SynopsisSusan Dennard’s New York Times bestselling fantasy series continues – with the story of Iseult, the Threadwitch.War has come to the Witchlands . . . and nothing will be the same again.Iseult has found her heartsister Safi at last, but their reunion is brief. For Iseult to stay alive, she must flee Cartorra while Safi remains. And though Iseult has plans to save her friend, they will require her to summon magic more dangerous than anything she has ever faced before.Meanwhile, the Bloodwitch Aeduan is beset by forces he cannot understand. And Vivia – rightful queen of Nubrevna –finds herself without a crown or home.As villains from legend reawaken across the Witchlands, only the mythical Cahr Awen can stop the gathering war. Iseult could embrace this power and heal the land, but first she must choose on which side of the shadows her destiny will lie.Witchshadow is the fourth book in the Witchlands series by bestselling author Susan Dennard.‘Truthwitch by Susan Dennard is like a cake stuffed full of your favourite fantasy treats . . . this book will delight you’ – Robin Hobb, author of Assassin’s ApprenticeTrade ReviewTruthwitch by Susan Dennard is like a cake stuffed full of your favourite fantasy treats: highway robbery, swordplay, deep friendships, treachery, magic, piracy on the high seas, and romance. If you like any or all of the above in fantasy tales, this book will delight you -- Robin HobbSusan Dennard has worldbuilding after my own heart. It’s so good it’s intimidating -- Victoria Aveyard on BloodwitchFeaturing vibrant characters and an innovative system of magic, Susan Dennard’s Truthwitch is a fast-paced adventure and a wonderful tribute to the power of the binding ties of friendship -- Jacqueline Carey on TruthwitchTruthwitch has it all: strong female characters, adventure, magic, romance, and non-stop action that will leave you breathless -- Maria V. Snyder on TruthwitchEpic fantasy, epic adventure, epic friendship -- Kate Elliott on TruthwitchA world you’ll want to inhabit forever! -- Alexandra Bracken on Windwitch[Dennard] sets scenes so skillfully that the descriptions of the geography become immersive, and the characters continually develop along familiar lines. The plentiful action in this exciting fantasy almost makes it feel like one is in a multi-player online game -- Booklist on WindwitchEmotionally charged . . . complicated politics and personal relationships that are full of surprises -- RT Book Reviews on Windwitch
£15.29
Atlantic Books Mischling
Book SynopsisIt's 1944 when the twin sisters arrive at Auschwitz with their mother and grandfather. In their benighted new world, Pearl and Stasha Zagorski take refuge in their identical natures, comforting themselves with the private language and shared games of their childhood. As part of the experimental population of twins known as Mengele's Zoo, the girls experience privileges and horrors unknown to others, and they find themselves changed, stripped of the personalities they once shared, their identities altered by the burdens of guilt and pain.That winter, at a concert orchestrated by Mengele, Pearl disappears. Stasha grieves for her twin, but clings to the possibility that Pearl remains alive. When the camp is liberated by the Red Army, she and her companion Feliks - a boy bent on vengeance for his own lost twin - travel through Poland's devastation. Undeterred by injury, starvation, or the chaos around them, motivated by equal parts danger and hope, they encounter hostile villagers, Jewish resistance fighters, and fellow refugees, their quest enabled by the notion that Mengele may be captured and brought to justice within the ruins of the Warsaw Zoo. As the young survivors discover what has become of the world, they must try to imagine a future within it.Trade ReviewMischling is a paradox. It's a beautiful novel about the most odious of crimes, it's a deeply-researched act of remembrance that somehow carries the lightness of a fairy tale, and it's a coming-of-age story about children who aren't allowed to come of age. If your soul can survive the journey, you'll be rewarded by one of the most harrowing, powerful, and imaginative books of the year * Anthony Doerr, bestselling author of ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE *Affinity Konar is an astonishing and fearless writer, whose great gift to us is this book. With incantatory magic, she marches through the most nightmarish of landscapes, swinging her light * Karen Russell, author of SWAMPLANDIA *Affinity Konar's Mischling is a piercing novel written with chin-up virtuosity. The prose is dazzling, and the story of these twins is moving and searing, and as powerful as the best mythic stories of the masters of old * Chigozie Obioma, author of THE FISHERMEN *Affinity Konar's MISCHLING is a tale of courage, courageously told - spare and beautiful, riveting and heartrending... A case of extraordinary storytelling from first page to transcendent last * David Wroblewski, author of THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE *Konar has woven a masterful and poignant account of a pair of twin sisters who cannot be separated, even by the cruelest hand of fate. Her prose is mystical and delicately poetic, and she uses her manifold gifts to tell a deeply engaging story of fortitude and triumph * Lucette Lagnado, author of CHILDREN OF THE FLAMES and THE MAN IN THE SHARKSKIN SUIT *
£8.54
Little, Brown Book Group The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Book SynopsisThis breathtakingly beautiful debut is a love letter to the written word and the power of stories to open doors to other worldsTrade ReviewA gorgeous, aching love letter to stories, storytellers and the doors they lead us through . . . absolutely enchanting -- Christina Henry, bestselling author of ALICEMany worlds, vanishing doors, mind-cracking magic: I clung to each page, searching for answers. This is one of the most unique works of fiction I've ever read - I hope there's more ahead -- Tamora Pierce, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authorA gorgeously written story of love and longing, of what it means to lose your place in the world, and then have the courage to find it again. This book is a door I'm glad to have opened -- Kat Howard, author of AN UNKINDNESS OF MAGICIANSA love letter to imagination, adventure, the written word and the power of many kinds of love -- KIRKUSThe Ten Thousand Doors of January healed hurts I didn't even know I had. An unbearably beautiful story about growing up, and everything we fight to keep along the way -- Amal El-Mohtar, Hugo Award-winning authorThe Ten Thousand Doors of January is devastatingly good, a sharp, delicate nested tale of worlds within worlds, stories within stories, and the realm-cracking power of words -- Melissa Albert, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of THE HAZEL WOODThe Ten Thousand Doors of January begins as a simple adventure, but like its mysteriously transportive doors, leads deeper and deeper the further you read. Each page dazzles with things to be discovered: a mansion of priceless artifacts, a secret journal, a tantalizing quest through strange and beautiful places, and a love story that spans time, worlds and magic. I couldn't put it down -- Peng Shepherd, author of THE BOOK OF MAll the magic you once knew but have almost forgotten waits in these pages for you to discover again. With a masterful voice and a spellbinding story, reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January feels like coming back to a beloved childhood classic to find it unexpectedly grew up with you. It's a deeply satisfying pleasure to read, and lingers in your heart afterwards. I loved it! -- Melissa Caruso, author of THE TETHERED MAGETo open this book is to open a door to a brand new world that you'll never want to leave. With the masterful prose of a true Wordworker, Harrow has created a richly imagined, multi-layered narrative full of wonder, sorrow, and strength -- Jordanna Max Brodsky, author of THE WOLF IN THE WHALEBeautifully written and absorbing . . . an ambitious, expansive story that never loses its sense of intimacy . . . a wonderful, insightful and imaginative book. I highly recommend it -- Josiah Bancroft, author of SENLIN ASCENDSThe Ten Thousand Doors of January is quite possibly the most achingly beautiful novel I've ever read, and I find it mind-boggling that anything this lovely could possibly be a debut novel . . . Harrow is more than an author; she is a Wordsmith, a sorceress wielding a pen in place of a wand . . . I can already tell that January is going to be one of my dearest friends, and that I'll be revisiting her often -- NOVEL NOTIONSHarrow has created a gorgeous world of magic and portal universes that is at once familiar and startlingly new. With lush writing and a sense of wonder, The Ten Thousand Doors of January examines power, progress and identity. It is an adventure in the best and grandest sense -- Erika Swyler, author of THE BOOK OF SPECULATIONEvery page of this smart, heartfelt expedition celebrates an abiding love of stories and slips between genres in wonderful ways. Readers are going to relish every sentence and surprise in this book - I know I did! -- Matthew Sullivan, author of MIDNIGHT AT THE BRIGHT IDEAS BOOKSTOREThis book was amazing . . . a phenomenally written tale, that felt a little like falling into a door to a different world -- SUPER STARDRIFTERGorgeous and magical . . . One of the most beautifully-written debuts I've ever read -- NOVEL NOTIONSHas real depth . . . Engrossing -- IMAGE MAGAZINEA stunning debut novel with inventive worlds, sumptuous language and impeccably crafted details -- BOOKPAGEThe buzz is warranted. The writing is beautiful and lush. The story is sad and sweet in equal measure. The world is captivating and I truly felt transported -- SPECULATIVE SHELFOne giant love letter to the written word . . . The storytelling is a joyful kind of magic. Alix E. Harrow has a beautifully dreamy style that is irresistible, even at the book's darkest moments, and her imagination feels limitless . . . this book is an infectious celebration of courage and wonder that feels like a massive, life affirming hug -- SCIFINOWThe Ten Thousand Doors of January is a celebration of books; it is a reflection of the power of stories, of words, and it is, honestly, a remarkable read to escape into -- FANTASY HIVEImaginative, gripping, and beautifully written * SFX *Beautiful, achingly gorgeous ode to storytelling, magic and family * S. A. Chakraborty, author of THE CITY OF BRASS *
£9.49
Penguin Putnam Inc On Earth Were Briefly Gorgeous
Book SynopsisA New York Times bestseller • Nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction • Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytellingNew York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “A lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate and insistently universal…Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post“This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read...Ocean Vuong is a master. This book a masterpiece.”—Tommy Orange, author of There There and Wandering StarsOn Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that
£15.68
Vintage Publishing The Song of the Lark
Book SynopsisThe second novel in Willa Cather’s Great Plains trilogy, is a lyrical coming-of-age story charting the struggles of an artists life. 'Lingers long in the memory' Joyce Carol Oates Thea Kronberg, gifted with a beautiful voice, defies her humble beginnings in Colorado and finds success far from her small hometown. But her achievements come with painful drawbacks. As the distance between Thea and her roots increases, she must fight to find her inner strength and reach her full potential. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PENELOPE LIVELYTrade ReviewWilla Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic -- Helen DunmoreThe Song of the Lark illuminates all her work -- A. S. Byatt
£8.54
Hodder & Stoughton The Girl with the Louding Voice: The Bestselling
Book Synopsis***Pre-order Abi Daré's new novel AND SO I ROAR now - Coming August 2024***'Unforgettable' New York Times 'Impressive' Observer 'Remarkable' Independent 'Important' Guardian 'Captivating' Mirror 'Luminous' Daily Mail 'Sparkling' Harper's Bazaar 'Beautiful' HeraldTHE NEW YORK TIMES AND TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE FOR FICTIONRECOMMENDED BY MALALA YOUSAFZAI, ELIZABETH DAY, ANDI OLIVER AND DOLLY PARTON___________________________________________________I don't just want to be having any kind voice . . .I want a louding voice.At fourteen, Adunni dreams of getting an education and giving her family a more comfortable home in her small Nigerian village. Instead, Adunni's father sells her off to become the third wife of an old man. When tragedy strikes in her new home, Adunni flees to the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where she becomes a house-girl to the cruel Big Madam, and prey to Big Madam's husband. But despite her situation continuously going from bad to worse, Adunni refuses to let herself be silenced. And one day, someone hears her.__________________________________________________'A story of courage that will win over your heart' Stylist'Daré's characters leap off the page, powering this funny, luminous and heart-swelling tale' Daily Mail'Such a vibrant, tender, beautiful novel . . . I fell in love with her, and fell in love with the book' Elizabeth DayTrade ReviewA brave, fresh voice . . . Daré draws the reader in with a vivid character whose dire circumstances are contrasted with her natural creativity . . . Unforgettable * New York Times Book Review *An impressive debut novel * Observer *Adunni's humour and fierce determination to change her destiny shine through this remarkable book * Independent *The story told in this novel is an important one . . . The Girl with the Louding Voice joins a long and fine tradition of issue-led novels that have sparked conversations resulting in social change * Guardian *Narrated by Adunni herself in a brilliantly sustained broken English, this ultimately uplifting debut novel shines a penetrating light on the barbaric practices of child labour and child marriage * Mail on Sunday *This is a compelling, captivating and unforgettable debut * Mirror *Daré's characters leap off the page, powering this funny, luminous and heart-swelling tale * Daily Mail *A vibrant, tender, beautiful novel -- Elizabeth Day, author of FRIENDAHOLICAbi Daré makes a sparkling literary debut . . . and marks the appearance of a strong and stylish new talent * Harper's Bazaar *Incredible . . . packs an emotional punch -- Eithne Farry * Sunday Express *Adunni's humour and fierce determination to change her destiny shine through this remarkable debut novel * i *Compelling and captivating . . . an unforgettable novel and, in Adunni, the author has created a truly unforgettable voice * Daily Express *Abi Daré is a writer who not only knows how to create a powerful sensory impression, but also one who can really work the rhythm, texture and music of language. The words jump off the page . . . The Girl with the Louding Voice never feels like standard fare. It's lifted not only by the verve of its prose, but also its touching explorations of friendship and solidarity. It has an emotional connection that remains strong even in the final pages -- Sam Jordison * Guardian *Gives an eloquent voice to the victims of modern slavery * Independent *A stunning novel - original, beautiful and powerful. I was utterly captivated by Adunni and her mesmerising louding voice -- Rosamund Lupton, author of SISTER and THREE HOURSA powerful debut novel . . . Compelling . . . Readers will fall in love with Adunni . . . The writing is addictive and deeply evocative. A beautiful debut from a talented author * Herald *Despite the heartbreaking subject matter, this is a story of hope . . . a compelling read * Sunday Post *A bravely determined heroine * Sunday Times *A story of courage that will win over your heart * Stylist *Abi Daré's book is compulsive reading * Irish Tatler *A true original, this will open your eyes * Cosmopolitan *Winning comedy sparkles through the grimness . . . it's the vividly alive characters that keep you hooked, all the way to Daré's rousing, heart-swelling conclusion * Daily Mail *A bold new storyteller . . . Abi Daré's fearless debut is a celebration of girls who dare to dream and those who help them unfurl their wings so that they might soar -- Imbolo Mbue, author of HOW BEAUTIFUL WE WEREAdunni's voice weaves and dances its way across the pages with a rhythm that captivated me, astonished me and, more than once, broke my heart -- Tara Conklin, author of THE HOUSE GIRLHeartbreaking and inspiring. Daré provides a valuable reminder of all the young women around the world who are struggling to be heard and how important it is that we listen to them. A moving story of what it means to fight for the right to live the life you choose * Kirkus *Pick the novel up now * Radio Times *Resilience and beauty of language are at the heart of this story of domestic slavery * Sainsbury's Magazine *It's an amazing book . . . I heartily recommend -- Jo Whiley * Radio 2 Book Club *A virtuosic study of female loss, determination, and of the subversive potential of words . . . It magnificently reveals how language constructs us as humans. With immense skill, Daré creates an irresistible energy and powerfully sustains it on every page -- Preti TanejaA character for the ages. Adunni is a girl who narrates her own suffering with levity, who paints depth and texture and beauty into her Nigerian homeland, who tenderly cultivates her own humanity even while everything around her seeks to thwart it. She is an ambassador for girls everywhere. She is important, funny, brave, and enduring. Abi Daré has written an unforgettable novel, by the strength of her own louding voice -- Jeanine Cummins, author of AMERICAN DIRTA dazzling year for debut novelists . . . This 2018 Bath Novel Award winner takes a long, hard look at modern slavery through the eyes of 14-year-old Adunni -- Timothy Harrison * Vogue *Inspiring . . . explores a spirit and hope that cannot be contained even in the grimmest of circumstances * Entertainment Weekly *In Nigeria, and around the world, girls are fighting for their right to learn. I'm grateful to Abi for showing the challenges Nigerian girls face and showcasing the power of their voices -- Malala YousafzaiA courageous story * New York Times *I'm a big fan of hyper-realistic dialogue and using the sounds of a world to shape the energy of a novel, and so I was immediately drawn to The Girl with the Louding Voice . . . Adunni is a youthful, dynamic guide with serious bite and poetic language -- Kiley Reid, author of SUCH A FUN AGEGorgeous, devastating and unforgettable. I am enraptured by this book -- Elizabeth Gilbert, author of CITY OF GIRLSThe book character I love the most is . . . Abi Daré's brilliant Adunni -- Maggie O'Farrell * Red Magazine *
£8.99
Pan Macmillan Shuggie Bain: The Million-Copy Bestseller
Book SynopsisWinner of the Booker PrizeWinner of 'Book of the Year' at the British Book Awards A BBC 'Big Jubilee Read'A heart-wrenchingly moving novel set in Glasgow during the Thatcher years, Shuggie Bain tells the story of a boy's doomed attempt to save his proud, alcoholic mother from her addiction.'An amazingly intimate, compassionate, gripping portrait of addiction, courage and love.' – The judges of the Booker PrizeIt is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life, dreaming of greater things. But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and as she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves.It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest. Shuggie is different, he is clearly no’ right. But Shuggie believes that if he tries his hardest, he can be normal like the other boys and help his mother escape this hopeless place.Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart lays bare the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride. For fans of A Little Life and Angela's Ashes, it is a heartbreaking novel by a brilliant writer with a powerful and important story to tell.'A heartbreaking novel' – The Times'Tender and unsentimental . . . The Billy Elliot-ish character of Shuggie . . . leaps off the page.' – Daily Mail'Douglas Stuart has written a first novel of rare and lasting beauty.' – ObserverTrade ReviewA heartbreaking novel, a book both beautiful and brutal . . . All that grief and sadness and misery has been turned into something tough, tender and beautifully sad. * The Times *Leaves us gutted and marvelling: Life may be short, but it takes forever. * New York Times *I think it’s the best first book I’ve read in many years. -- Karl Ove Knausgård * Guardian *Rarely does a debut novel establish its world with such sure-footedness, and Stuart’s prose is lithe, lyrical and full of revelatory descriptive insights. -- Alex Preston * Observer *An astonishing portrait, drawn from life, of a society left to die . . . Shuggie Bain has been longlisted for the Booker Prize. In a just world, it would win. * Daily Telegraph *Shuggie Bain comes from a deep understanding of the relationship between a child and a substance-abusing parent, showing a world rarely portrayed in literary fiction . . . Admirable and important. -- Sarah Moss * Guardian *This is a dysfunctional love story . . . between a boy and his mother . . . what makes his book a worthy contender for the Booker is his portrayal of their bond, together with all its perpetual damage. * Financial Times *Douglas Stuart’s startling Glasgow-set debut novel creates a world of poverty and suffering offset by pure, heart-filling, love . . . It’s a novel that deserves, and will surely often get, a second reading. -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *Shuggie Bain is a novel that aims for the heart and finds it. -- John Self * The Times *Tender and unsentimental . . . and the Billy Elliot-ish character of Shuggie . . . leaps off the page. * Daily Mail *Beautiful and bleak but with enough warmth and optimism to carry the reader through. -- Graham Norton (via Twitter)A boy's heartbreaking love for his mother . . . as intense and excruciating to read as any novel I have ever held in my hand . . . The book’s evocative power arises out of the author’s talent for conjuring a place, a time, and the texture of emotion . . . brilliantly written. * Newsday *An outstanding book . . . Magnificently done . . . Wonderful. -- Lee Child * Sunday Post *A debut novel that reads like a masterpiece, Shuggie Bain gives voice to the kind of helpless, hopeless love that children can feel toward broken parents. * Washington Post *Rightly being heralded for its visceral, emotionally nuanced portrayal of working class Scottish life and its blazingly intimate exploration of a mother-son relationship. * LitHub *A formidable story, lyrically told, about intimacy, family, and love. -- 12 Best Books of 2020 So Far * ELLE (US) *You will never forget Shuggie Bain. Scene by scene, this book is a masterpiece. -- Kirkus Reviews starred reviewDouglas Stuart writes with startling, searing intimacy. I fell hard for these characters; when they have nothing left, they cling maddeningly—irresistibly—to humor, pride and hope * Chia-Chia Lin *Shuggie Bain is an intimate and frighteningly acute exploration of a mother-son relationship and a masterful portrait of alcoholism in Scottish working class life, rendered with old-school lyrical realism . . . I kept being reminded of Joyce's Dubliners. -- Sandra Newman, author of The HeavensThere’s no way to fake the life experience that forms the bedrock of Douglas Stuart’s wonderful Shuggie Bain. No way to fake the talent either. Shuggie will knock you sideways * Richard Russo *A dark shining work. Raw, formidable, bursting with tenderness and frailty. The effect is remarkable, it will make you cry. -- Karl Geary, author of Montpelier ParadeEvery now and then a novel comes along that feels necessary and inevitable. I’ll never forget Shuggie and Agnes or the incredibly detailed Glasgow they inhabit. This is the rare contemporary novel that reads like an instant classic. I’ll be thinking and talking about Shuggie Bain - and teaching it - for quite some time. -- Garrard Conley, New York Times-bestselling author of Boy ErasedGlasgow, Scotland, in the 1980s is the backdrop for this story of the fraught bond between a young boy and his mother. -- ‘The 22 Best Books to Read This Winter’ * Vogue (US) *Compulsively readable… As [the novel] beautifully and shockingly illustrates how Shuggie ends up alone, this novel offers a testament to the indomitable human spirit. Very highly recommended -- Library Journal starred review
£13.49
Pan Macmillan Pride and Prejudice
Book SynopsisOne of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.Jane Austen's best-loved novel is an unforgettable story about the inaccuracy of first impressions, the power of reason and, above all, the strange dynamics of human relationships and emotions.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. Gorgeously illustrated by the celebrated Hugh Thomson, this edition also includes an afterword by author and critic, Henry Hitchings.A tour de force of wit and sparkling dialogue, Pride and Prejudice shows how the headstrong Elizabeth Bennet and the aristocratic Mr Darcy must have their pride humbled and their prejudices dissolved before they can acknowledge their love for each other.Trade ReviewAn unputdownable read that challenges perceptions, and subtly marks a line in feminist history and thought -- Victoria Lambert * The Telegraph *Jane Austen’s self-enclosed world enveloped me, soothing in its contours and assumptions . . . irresistible -- Susan Chira * The New York Times *
£9.49
Spinifex Press Far and Beyon'
Book SynopsisFor Mara, mother of four, and sole provider for her family, life has never been easy. In her community women carry a heavy burden as the world changes around them. In Botswana the tensions are growing as young people attempt to resolve the magicks of tradition with the technologies of now.
£13.46
HarperCollins Publishers My Life as a Rat a novel
Book SynopsisA brilliant and thought-provoking novel about family, loyalty and betrayalOnce I'd been Daddy's favourite. Before something terrible happened.Violet Rue is the baby of the seven Kerrigan children and adores her big brothers. What's more, she knows that a family protects its own. To go outside the family to betray the family is unforgiveable. So when she overhears a conversation not meant for her ears and discovers that her brothers have committed a heinous crime, she is torn between her loyalty to her family and her sense of justice. The decision she takes will change her life for ever.Exploring racism, misogyny, community, family, loyalty, sexuality and identity, this is a dark story with a tense and propulsive atmosphere Joyce Carol Oates at her very best.Trade Review‘Simply the most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going’ Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl 'I stand in awe before such an unresting hunger for the literary endeavour' Rose Tremain ‘My Life as a Rat is Oates at her best – a powerful, uncompromising story that explores racism, misogyny and recent American history’ Kate Saunders, The Times ‘Sexism, rape, racism. Murder, sadism – fans will savour this stew of typical Oatsian nasties, in which 12-year old Violet is cruelly exiled from her family … the odyssey her psyche endures is served well by Oates’s juttery, rough-edged prose’ Mail on Sunday ‘Oates’s novel adroitly touches on race, loyalty, misogyny, and class inequality while also telling a moving story with a winning narrator. This book should please her fans and win her new ones’ Publishers Weekly ‘Oates’s prose contains a deep-felt rawness which hovers between hope, despair and love’ Guardian
£8.54
Scribner Book Company Lie with Me
Book Synopsis
£13.59
Atlantic Books Last Man in Tower
Book SynopsisThe magnificent new novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of The White Tiger: LONGLISTED FOR THE 2013 IMPAC AWARD. 21st Century Mumbai is a city of new money and soaring real estate, and property kingpin Dharmen Shah has grand plans for its future. His offer to buy and tear down a weathered tower block, making way for luxury apartments, will make each of its residents rich - if all agree to sell. But not everyone wants to leave; many of the residents have lived there for a lifetime, many of them are no longer young. As tensions rise among the once civil neighbours, one by one those who oppose the offer give way to the majority, until only one man stands in Shah's way: Masterji, a retired schoolteacher, once the most respected man in the building. Shah is a dangerous man to refuse, but as the demolition deadline looms, Masterji's neighbours - friends who have become enemies, acquaintances turned co-conspirators - may stop at nothing to score their payday...
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Dusty Answer
Mamma was fast asleep at home, her spirit lapped in unconsciousness. Her dreams would not divine that her daughter had stolen out to meet a lover. And next door also they slept unawares, while one of them broke from the circle and came alone to clasp a stranger ...' Judith Earle, over-earnest and inexperienced, has always been a little in love with each of the four cousins who come to stay next door and, on her return from Cambridge, becomes madly in love with one of them - Roddy, the 'sensation-hunter'. DUSTY ANSWER traces with delicate nostalgia childhood friendships and the pangs of thwarted young love.
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers The Hidden Letters
Book SynopsisAs the storm clouds of war gather, Cordelia seeks refuge in the grounds of her family estate. Handsome landscaper Isaac has recently arrived to tend to the gardens, and the connection between him and Cordelia is as immediate as it is forbidden. Isaac begins to secretly teach her how to cultivate the gardens, so when he and all the young men are called away to war, Cordelia takes over. From the battlefields of Europe, Isaac sends her letters, that give her hope for their future in peacetime. But when these messages abruptly cease, Cordelia must face up to the worst and take her future - and the fate of the garden they both loved - into her own hands...--Trade Review‘A beautiful emotional story of love and strength’ Liz Fenwick, author of The River Between Us ‘With shades of Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth, and her trademark combination of unputdownable plot and beautiful writing, Lorna Cook has had me utterly captivated with her latest. The Hidden Letters has it all – heartbreak and redemption, intense love and desperate loss. It's the type of book that first made me fall in love with reading, I adored every sumptuous, atmospheric page, and can't recommend it highly enough.’ Jenny Ashcroft, author of Under the Golden Sun ‘This book perfectly evokes that spirit of a lost age. What a gorgeous writer Lorna Cook is. A book to lose yourself in. I loved it.’ Mollie Walton, author of The Ironbridge Saga and The Raven Hall Saga. ‘A beautiful, evocative story of love and coping with loss that kept me turning the pages late into the night. A triumph!’ Rachel Burton, author of The Secrets of Summer House ‘Magnificent. Broke my heart and put it back together again’ Amanda Geard, author of The Midnight House ‘Kept me guessing right up to the last poignant page, I found it difficult to put down and impossible to stop thinking about when I did’ Iona Grey, author of The Glittering Hour ‘Lorna Cook’s lyrical novel transports us back to the last golden summer of innocence. Against the backdrop of a garden so beautifully depicted that I could smell the roses, she leads us through loss, heartbreak and heroism – and shows us that love can triumph over even the greatest adversity.’ Judy Summers, author of The Forgotten Sister
£8.99
Atlantic Books Be Frank with Me
Book SynopsisA funny, poignant and unforgettable novel about Frank - one of the most lovable and unusual characters you'll ever meet.For some boys fitting in means standing outMeet Frank - he isn't like other kids. Intrepid explorer, sartorial connoisseur; he's as strange as he is brilliant. But Frank discovers the hard way that people don't like brilliant and they hate strange. What Frank longs for - aside from a father - is a friend. Meet Mimi - a reclusive literary legend and mother to Frank. Mimi has been holed up in her Bel Air mansion for years, keeping her secrets and hiding Frank from a cruel world. Until Alice.Meet Alice - the level-headed young woman charged with looking after Mimi's unusual son. In so doing, Alice discovers what it really means to love someone. And she finds a part of herself she never knew was missing. Funny, poignant and unforgettable, this novel - like Frank - is a one-off creation you'll fall in love with.Trade ReviewSit back...and enjoy the show. * New York Times Book Review *Hilarious, poignant and full of unexpected gems. * Huffington Post *Delightful. You will laugh out loud. * Slate *Johnson's magnificently poignant, funny, and wholly original debut goes beyond page-turner status. Readers will race to the next sentence. And the next. Her charming, flawed, quietly courageous characters, each wonderfully different, demand a second reading while we impatiently await the author's second work. -- starred review * Library Journal *Readers will find themselves captivated. * People Magazine *Witty dialogue, irresistible characters, and a touch of mystery make this sweet debut about a quirky Hollywood family an enjoyable page-turner. * Booklist *Johnson's magnificently poignant, funny, and wholly original debut goes beyond page-turner status. Her charming, flawed, quietly courageous characters, each wonderfully different, demand a second reading. * Library Journal *The curious incident of where'd you go, Salinger. * Kirkus Reviews *
£7.59
Image Comics Supper Club
Book SynopsisNora, Lili, and Iris are seniors at Seaside High. Their differing schedules and mounting extracurriculars inspire the girls to form a secret club where they can hang without sacrificing their future aspirations. Enter Supper Club, the delicious solution to their problems. When life starts to crumble like a cookie under the girls' feet, they rely on comfort food to hold it together. Can Supper Club endure life's most challenging recipes without burning to a crisp?SUPPER CLUB is The Baby-Sitters Club meets Relish in this foodie fusion of feel-good friendship and coming-of-age drama perfect for Raina Telgemeier readers.Trade Review"Morrow expertly weaves together these individual stories, and their ties to each supper club offering, via emotive illustrations and well-paced storytelling. Morrow’s bold, sketchy line art and rich, dense color palette, coupled with luxurious food illustrations that one can almost smell from the page, couch the story in cozy, familiar atmosphere, making for a heartfelt—and mouthwatering—tale. Straightforward, easy-to-follow recipes for the novel’s featured dishes conclude." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)"As good as your favorite meal. Friendship, coming of age, food, everything a story needs to be great." —AIPT "The richly colored art is full of movement and personality, gestures and facial expressions bringing intensity to every character...Bursting with flavor." -Kirkus Reviews
£12.59
Amazon Publishing Woke Up Like This: A Novel
Book Synopsis“Amy Lea’s Woke Up Like This reminded me that the exciting and complicated feelings of our teenage years never truly fade away. The book perfectly captures high school nostalgia . . . It’s a feel-good story for the young and young at heart.” —Mindy Kaling For two high school seniors, it’s seventeen going on thirty—overnight—in a magical romantic comedy about growing up too fast and living in the moment. Planning the perfect prom is one last “to do” on ultra-organized Charlotte Wu’s high school bucket list. So far, so good, if not for a decorating accident that sends Charlotte crash-landing off a ladder, face-first into her obnoxiously ripped archnemesis J. T. Renner. Worse? When Charlotte wakes up, she finds herself in an unfamiliar bed at thirty years old, with her bearded fiancé, Renner, by her side. Either they’ve lost their minds or they’ve been drop-kicked into adulthood, forever trapped in the thirty-year-old bodies of their future selves. With each other as their only constant, Charlotte and Renner discover all that’s changed in the time they’ve missed. Charlotte also learns there’s more to Renner than irritating-jock charm, and that reaching the next milestone isn’t as important as what happens in between. Navigating a series of adventures and a confounding new normal, Charlotte and Renner will do whatever it takes to find a way back to seventeen. But when—and if—they do, what then?Trade Review“Lea creates a story that is part 13 Going on 30, part To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (both referenced in the pop-culture savvy text), and 100% swoony fun… A fun, nostalgic story that’s perfect for anyone who wants to take a trip down Memory Lane.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Lea has a sure hand with the slow-burning enemies-to-lovers relationship between her leads, making their path toward each other both entertaining and endearing. Romance fans will eat this up.” —Publishers Weekly “A fun, easily sharable, widely appealing romance that will have a big audience…” —Booklist “Amy Lea’s Woke Up Like This reminded me that the exciting and complicated feelings of our teenage years never truly fade away. The book perfectly captures high school nostalgia…It’s a feel-good story for the young and young at heart.” —Mindy Kaling “Woke Up Like This is witty, earnest, charming, and intensely seventeen. It perfectly captures the highs and lows of being on the brink of big life changes and the thrill of first love (and first hate).” —Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis “Woke Up Like This charmed me from page one and I never wanted it to end! Perfect for fans of Kasie West and Jenny Han, this book is guaranteed to suck you in and force you to read it in one sitting. Ten out of ten would recommend!” —Lynn Painter, New York Times bestselling author of Better Than the Movies
£8.99
And Other Stories Split Tooth
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the 2023-2024 Gordon Burn Prize Longlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner of the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award for Published Prose in English Fact can be as strange as fiction. It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them. An Inuk girl grows up in Nunavut, Canada, in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents' love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us. When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this. In this acclaimed debut novel - haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once - Tanya Tagaq explores the grittiest features of a small Arctic town and the electrifying proximity of the worlds of animals and of myth.Trade Review'Tagaq's surreal meld of poetry and prose transmutes the Arctic's boundless beauty, intensity, and desolation into a wrenching contemporary mythology.' The New Yorker ---- 'Though the protagonist's coming-of-age story, generously and lovingly documented by Tagaq, is the anchor, Split Tooth is not a book that can be fully absorbed in one sitting. It's possible to sink deeper and deeper into the narrative with each successive reading. Like a smirking teenager, Split Tooth blithely gives typical literary expectations the finger, daring us to see and experience narrative as chaotic, emotional, and deeply instinctive. And it succeeds.' Quill and Quire ---- 'A raw, powerful voice breathes fresh air into traditional Inuit folklore to create a modern tale of mythological proportions.' Kirkus ---- '[Split Tooth] straddles the line between memoir and fiction, prose and poetry, magic and harsh reality. . . [and] is infused with Tagaq's intimate knowledge of life in the Arctic.' Oprah Magazine ---- '[A] forceful coming-of-age tale.' Toronto Life magazine ---- 'In [Tanya Tagaq]'s forthcoming novel, Split Tooth, there's a chapter called "Ritual" that is such a distillation of childhood magic and refuge that it made me feel like I was reading Tove Jansson or Roald Dahl for the first time.' Sean Michaels ---- 'Tanya Tagaq has written a book that should re-arrange the reader's mind and very being in her astounding Split Tooth. She uses the narrative arc of a coming of age story to tell of coming of age in a northern, indigenous community that includes close experience of abuse, village violence, colonial exploitation, and also close kin ties, birth, death, a knowing of how we are really fed, an awareness of how small life can be, and how large ... I look forward to putting this book in people's hands.' Rick Simonson, owner of Elliott Bay Book Company ---- 'In simplest terms, Split Tooth is a punch to the throat...a stellar first novel; an incredible work of Canadian, indigenous, and world literatures.' PopMatters ---- 'Tagaq has broken a new trail for all future Inuit writers to tread upon, describing the lived world of an Inuk child with writing that is breathtaking and singular...With this work Tagaq has reshaped what Inuit literature is... it is impossible to stop reading. It is delicious. And offers a new way forward for Inuit authors.' Inuit Art Quarterly
£13.49
Vintage Publishing The Wren, The Wren: From the Booker Prize-winning
Book SynopsisCarmel had been alone all her life. The baby knew this. They looked at each other, and all of time was there. The baby knew how vast her mother's loneliness had been.'A magnificent novel' SALLY ROONEY, author of Normal PeopleNell - funny, brave and so much loved - is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. And across the generations falls the long shadow of Carmel's famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions.This is a meditation on love: spiritual, romantic, darkly sexual or genetic. A multigenerational novel that traces the inheritance not just of trauma but also of wonder, it is a testament to the glorious resilience of women in the face of promises false and true. Above all, it is an exploration of the love between mother and daughter - sometimes fierce, often painful, but always transcendent.***A THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023******ONE OF THE BBC’S ’25 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023’***'One of our greatest living novelists' THE TIMES'Might just be her best yet' LOUISE KENNEDY, author of Trespasses'Gem-packed language... A must-read' MARGARET ATWOOD (via Twitter)Trade ReviewThe Wren, The Wren is a magnificent novel. Anne Enright's stylistic brilliance seems to put the reader directly in touch with her characters and the rich territory of their lives -- Sally Rooney, author of NORMAL PEOPLEThe Wren, The Wren may be her best book yet * Guardian, *Books of the Year* *Wonderful… This deceptively modest novel is the kind of book that will work on you long after you have put it down * Sunday Times, *Books of the Year* *These pages practically crackle with intelligence, compassion and wit. Phil McDaragh is so real I almost googled him. The Wren, The Wren might just be Anne Enright's best yet -- Louise Kennedy, author of TrespassesAnne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren is so good they named it twice, so good I read it twice – and read two different novels, because moral positions are incorrigibly plural in Enrightville * Observer, *Books of the Year* *Gritty, sad, sly, riotous... Gem-packed language that fizzes like a sidewalk firecracker. A must-read -- Margaret Atwood, author of THE HANDMAID'S TALE (via Twitter)The Wren, The Wren is Anne Enright at her lyrical, storytelling best -- Nicola Sturgeon * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *This is the golden age of Irish prose fiction. Of our many prodigiously talented novelist, few have the all-encompassing deftness of touch of Anne Enright * Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year* *One of my books of any year. It’s about womanhood, youth and that slow, painful, but joyous estrangement that emerges between mother and daughter as life runs its tumultuous course -- Michael Magee * Observer, *Books of the Year* *A work of astounding ventriloquism and hard-won hope about women’s lives * Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year* *
£14.24
Algonquin Books The Adult
Book Synopsis
£20.25
Entangled Publishing, LLC Full Measures
Book SynopsisTwenty years as an army brat and Ember Howard knew, too. The soldiers at the door meant her dad was never coming home. What she didn't know was how she would find the strength to singlehandedly care for her crumbling family when her mum falls apart. Then Josh Walker enters her life. Hockey star, her new next-door neighbour, and not to mention the most delicious hands that insist on saving her over and over again. He has a way of erasing the pain with a single look, a single touch. As much as she wants to turn off her feelings and endure the heartache on her own, she can't deny their intense attraction. Until Josh's secret shatters their world. And Ember must decide if he's worth the risk that comes with loving a man who could strip her bare.
£13.29
Penguin Putnam Inc Twisted Palace
Book SynopsisThe TikTok sensation Twisted Palace, the third in the #1 New York Times bestselling The Royals series, now in a new special edition with bonus material!From mortal enemies to unexpected allies, two teenagers try to protect everything that matters most.These Royals will ruin you…Ella Harper has met every challenge that life has thrown her way. She’s tough, resilient, and willing to do whatever it takes to defend the people she loves, but the challenge of a long-lost father and a boyfriend whose life is on the line might be too much for even Ella to overcome.Reed Royal has a quick temper and even faster fists. But his tendency to meet every obstacle with violence has finally caught up with him. If he wants to save himself and the girl he loves, he’ll need to rise above his tortured past and tarnished reputation.No one believes Ella can survive the Royals. Everyone is sure Reed will destroy them all.Th
£14.45
Penguin Putnam Inc Sam A Read with Jenna Pick
Book Synopsis
£15.30
Astra Publishing House The Ice Orphan
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPraise for The Ice Lion"With this engrossing series launch, Gear conjures a vivid postapocalyptic world.... This mesmerizing adventure through a world destroyed by climate change is sure to have readers hooked." —Publishers Weekly"Gear brings her vast knowledge of prehistoric cultures to this climate-fiction tale with beautiful and engaging worldbuilding.... A loose, beautiful tapestry of a tale." —Kirkus Reviews"Written by both a master storyteller and scientist, it’s a chilling tale of a different climate change." —Amazing Stories"The icy setting, with its mountains and ocean, provide a cold backdrop to the warmth of the peoples, whose lives are going to be inescapably altered when paths cross and the past is excavated." —Whiskey with my Book
£14.44
HarperCollins Publishers Tracy Flick Cant Win
Book SynopsisSoon to be a major filmTracy Flick, star of Election and one of the most memorable characters of our time, returns in this dark and insightful comedy about midlife.Ambitious and hardworking Tracy Flick feels underappreciated and stuck. Her job as a high school assistant principal isn't the political career she dreamed of as an over-achieving teen, so when the longtime principal abruptly announces his retirement, offering a rare chance of promotion, Tracy is filled with zeal at the prospect of success.But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be. As she takes her shot at the top job, her male colleagues' determination to honour Vito Falcone, a star quarterback of dubious character, triggers troubling memories of her high school experience, and storm clouds brewing in her present her goals, career and relationships send Tracy spiralling.One of the great writers that we have today. I love this book' Harlan CobenEngrossing and mordanTrade Review‘Engrossing and mordantly funny’ People ‘Told with Perrotta’s piercing wit, wisdom, and exquisite insight into human folly, Tracy’s second act delivers acerbic insight about frustrated ambition’ Esquire ‘One of the great writers that we have today. I love this book’ Harlan Coben ‘This is the rare sequel that lives up to the original’ Publishers Weekly ‘Brilliant, biting satire’ Associated Press ‘Humorous yet humane . . . prescient, darkly comical’San Francisco Chronicle ‘Short chapters from many perspectives keep readers alternately laughing and gasping’ Los Angeles Times ‘Perrotta’s great gift is that he lets his love for his characters, flaws and all, shine through. . . . I was rooting hard for Tracy Flick to, finally, win’ Seattle Times
£9.49
Atria Books Shmutz
Book Synopsis“Hilarious and endearing...Shmutz is a dirty book with a pure heart.” —The New York Times In this witty, provocative, and “compulsively readable coming-of-age story” (Cosmopolitan), a young Hasidic woman on a quest to get married fears she will never find a groom because of her secret addiction to porn.Like the other women in her ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn community, Raizl expects to find a husband through an arranged marriage. Unlike the other women, Raizl has a secret. With a hidden computer to help her complete her college degree, she falls down the slippery slope of online pornography. As Raizl dives deeper into the world of porn at night, her daytime life begins to unravel. Between combative visits with her shrink to complicated arranged dates, Raizl must balance her growing understanding of her sexuality with the expectations of the family she loves. “Clever, subversive, juicy, and surprising” (Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies), Shmutz explores what it means to be a fully realized sexual and spiritual being caught between the traditional and modern worlds.
£14.24
HarperCollins Publishers Bad Fruit The unforgettable gripping and highly
Book SynopsisEVERY FAMILY HAS ITS SECRETS . . .A beautiful, bewitching, unsettling and unputdownable dream of a book . . . .I genuinely loved this, it will stay with me for a long time' LISA JEWELLA blistering thriller' NEW YORK TIMESImpossible to put down' CHRIS WHITAKER____________________________________________________________Seventeen-year-old Lily has a loving, normal family. So why does it suddenly feel like secrets are stirring? Like Mama is about to crack?As a storm of memories builds over one stifling summer, Lily must recast everything. What if her house isn't a home but a prison? What if her mother isn't a protector but a monster . . .Bold, beautifully told, and bound to keep you turning this pages, this is an unforgettable story about a family gone bad . . ._________________________________________________________________Readers love getting a taste of BAD FRUIT:Best book I have read in a long long time. Intelligently written, really well paced. I devoured this' Reader review ?????A Trade Review‘A chilling literary thriller’ GRAZIA ‘Disturbing, poignant and memorable all at once – an exploration of a very dark relationship between a daughter and her mother’ OBSERVER ‘A riveting novel exploring how family ties can both make us and break us’ RED ‘Searing’ ELLE ‘A compelling debut that fizzes with tension from start to finish . . . this is a darkly fascinating, tightly plotted narrative from a writer to watch’ HARPER’S BAZAAR ‘A family overflowing with secrets. Bad Fruit is dark, compelling and beautifully written’ LOUISE HARE ‘Beautiful, disturbing, impossible to put down. Bad Fruit heralds a seriously impressive new talent in Ella King’ CHRIS WHITAKER ‘Thrilling and suspenseful, King’s exemplary novel will keep readers fascinated until the end’ BOOKLIST, starred review ‘A beautiful collision of mothers and daughters, human darkness and human kindness, truth and lies’ SARAH MAY ‘Compelling and wicked, Bad Fruit is a novel about the darkest of family secrets and the lies we tell ourselves in order to live with them. This is an intimate, compulsive thriller best read on a hot summer night’ JING-JING LEE ‘Tense, intense and intriguing. Ella King is a genuinely exciting new voice’ KATE HAMER ‘King is unflinching as she examines the hard questions about family. What defines belonging? Looks, care, secrets? How do you understand someone who loves you and hurts you? In Bad Fruit, guilt, hate, and love mingle powerfully’ ROWAN HISAYO BUCHANAN ‘Bad Fruit is brilliant, taut and explosive. Ella King deftly explores the toxicity of generational trauma while being unafraid to confront the racial tensions that can simmer below the surface. A bold new voice’ HELENA LEE 'At once beautiful and harrowing’ L V MATTHEWS ‘Mesmerizing, dream-like and darkly suspenseful’ FRANCES CHA
£9.49
Sourcebooks, Inc You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince
Book SynopsisAn "effervescent" (Rachel Lynn Solomon) Christmas LGBTQIA+ New Adult RomCom, perfect for fans of Schitt's Creek and Red White & Royal Blue.Bring a little joy to the world?Not today, Santa.Matthew Prince is young, rich, and thoroughly spoiled. So what if his parents barely remember he exists and the press is totally obsessed with him? He's on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew is cut off and shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents' charming small town hellscape. Population: who cares?It's bad enough he's stuck in some festive winter wonderland-it's even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local who's unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does.Just when it looks like the holiday season is bringing nothing but heated squabbles, the charity gala loses its coordinator and Matthew steps in as a saintly act to get home early on good behavior...with Hector as his maddening plus-one. But even a Grinch can't resist the unexpected joy of found family, and in the end, the forced proximity and infectious holiday cheer might be enough to make a lonely Prince's heart grow three sizes this year.People Are Raving About Timothy Janovsky:"This book made my queer heart so very full and deeply happy."-Anita Kelly"A cinematic daydream guaranteed to steal your heart."-Julian Winters"Wonderfully upbeat and sweet."-Suzanne Park"Full of hope and heart."-Alexandria Bellefleur"[A] fresh, sweet, and swoony love story that blends coming-of-age comedy with the nuances of exploring sexual identity."-Alison Cochrun
£14.50
Atlantic Books Limberlost
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2023'Arnott has an eye and an ear for description that can elevate otherwise quiet moments to something genuinely transcendent... A luminously told, whole-life story of a young boy discovering how to be his own man.' GuardianNed West dreams of sailing across the river on a boat of his very own. To Ned, a boat means freedom - the fresh open water, squid-rich reefs, fires on private beaches - a far cry from life on Limberlost, the family farm, where his father worries and grieves for Ned's older brothers. They're away fighting in a ruthless and distant war, becoming men on the battlefield, while Ned - too young to enlist - roams the land in search of rabbits to shoot, selling their pelts to fund his secret boat ambitions. But as the seasons pass and Ned grows up, real life gets in the way. Ned falls for Callie, the tough, capable sister of his best friend, and together they learn the lessons of love, loss, and hardship. When a storm decimates the Limberlost crop and shakes the orchard's future, Ned must decide what to protect: his childhood dreams, or the people and the land that surround him... At turns tender and vicious, Limberlost is a tale of the masculinities we inherit, the limits of ownership and understanding, and the teeming, vibrant wonders of growing up. Told in spellbinding, folkloric spirit, this is an unforgettable love letter to the richness of the natural world from a writer of rare talent.Trade ReviewBursts with language... an ode to the fierce and the feral * Sunday Times *Arnott has an eye and an ear for description that can elevate otherwise quiet moments to something genuinely transcendent... A luminously told, whole-life story of a young boy discovering how to be his own man. * Guardian *Carries echoes of Ernest Hemingway... a beautiful, pared-back exploration of masculinity, and the sustaining nature of dreams. * Big Issue *Wonderfully vivid * Daily Mail *Limberlost is as close to flawless as any book I have read in years. The poise and precision of Arnott's writing lends restraint to the fury at Limberlost's heart. * Jessie Greengrass, author of THE HIGH HOUSE *Spectacular and stunning. In a novel steeped in the natural landscapes of Tasmania, Arnott captures a very relatable youthful male anxiety that exists between fathers and sons. Very subtle and deeply moving. * Nick Bradley, author of THE CAT AND THE CITY *It is an unforgettable story, humble, transporting, and filled with grace and bravery. It's one of the strongest things I've read for a very long time. * Cynan Jones, author of COVE and THE DIG *Robbie Arnott is the sort of young writer we all hoped would emerge in Australia, a Conrad-like storyteller whose tales always tremble on the edge of the mythic and legendary. And as well as being a splendid narrator of tales, he has a quality too easily overlooked now. He writes beautifully! * Thomas Keneally, author of THE DICKENS BOY *Ned-with his shame and pride-blazes his way into your heart. A tender, soaring novel from one of Australia's finest writers. * Sisonke Msimang, author of The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela *An immersive experience, a story that is deeply embedded in the language of its environment... Scaled right down to a single, humble life, Limberlost is lit up by the energy of that life's relationships. It serves as a reminder of the complicated position humans occupy, tangled as we are in the webs of interdependence, of pain and responsibility and care, that bind us to a world much greater than ourselves. * Australian Book Review *In Limberlost magic lies in lyrical language and the powerfully real characters brought to life through it...This is a novel about the deepest of emotions, about love, the fear of loss, and about joy. * Age *Robbie Arnott is a tremendously talented and unique voice in Australian literature, and his third novel, Limberlost, exceeded all my expectations. It is a gorgeously written coming-of-age novel...a touching and profound depiction of connection, grief and familial love. * Readings Monthly *This book is something special: tender, sad, exceptionally well-written [and] unexpectedly moving. * Ashleigh Wilson *Sad and satisfying * The Times on The Rain Heron *Timeless and poignant * Guardian on The Rain Heron *Shocking... Beautiful... Satisfying * Scotsman on The Rain Heron *
£9.49
Penguin Random House Children's UK This Summers Secrets
Book SynopsisA bold new story for fans of We Were Liars, intertwining past and present, love and loss, from the bestselling author of The One Memory of Flora Banks.''A sun-splashed Cornish thriller with a dark heart, ideal for YA fans of E Lockhart'' Guardian ONE HOT SUMMER, FIRST LOVE AND SO MANY BURIED SECRETS . . .Senara has never been in love before. She''s not done anything exciting before. Always the sidekick . . . Until the summer that changes everything.Cliff House is closed off for most of the year until its rich Londoner owners come down to Cornwall for the summer. This year, despite herself, Senara finds herself pulled into this world of wealth and ease, sunbathing and beautiful people. She even finds herself falling in love for the first time.But Cliff House and its owners are hiding things. They''ve been hiding things for too long and now, despite all their efforts, their secrets are coming out . . . Secrets that involve Senara''s friends and her family in a way she could never have imagined.''An intoxicating mix of mystery, suspense and first love'' The Daily Mirror''A perfect holiday page-turner'' The Sunday Express''This is another young adult novel that will have younger readers transfixed'' The Metro''A slow-burn summer novel packed with intrigue'' Culturefly - 22 Books to add to your Summer Reading ListRead more captivating fiction from Emily Barr:The One Memory of Flora BanksThe Truth and Lies of Ella BlackThe Girl Who Came Out of the WoodsThings to do Before The End of the WorldGhostedTrade ReviewA slow-burn summer novel packed with intrigue. * Culturefly - 22 Books to add to your Summer Reading List *Will have readers transfixed * Metro *Original plot and charming protagonist . . . Her [Emily's] page-turning talents are put to good use as the reader accompanies a brave teenager on a journey to discover who she really is. * Irish Times on The One Memory of Flora Banks *Mesmerizing, electric, and achingly lovely . . . One of the best YA novels I've read in a very long time * Jennifer Niven on The One Memory of Flora Banks *If you like dark fiction you'll devour it * Heat - on The Truth and Lies of Ella Black *A sun-splashed Cornish thriller with a dark heart, ideal for YA fans of E Lockhart. * Guardian - Summer reading: 50 brilliant books to discover *An intoxicating mix of mystery, suspense and first love. * The Daily Mirror *A perfect holiday page-turner. * The Sunday Express *
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers A Home in the Sun Escape with this escapist
Book SynopsisA gorgeous summer read about new beginnings from the Sunday Times bestseller.Home is where the heart isbut what if your heart is broken?When Judith loses her partner, she loses her life in Malta too including the beautiful view from her sun-warmed balcony of the sparkling blue waters of Sliema Creek.Back in England, Judith finds a spare room in her sister's house where she grew up but with it comes a whole host of family dramas.Nursing a broken heart, Judith knows she must find happiness again and rebuild her life on her own terms. Could an island in the sun be the answer she is looking for?A wonderfully escapist summer read, perfect for fans of Katie Fforde and Carole Matthews.**Previously published as Uphill All the Way**I love all of Sue Moorcroft's books!' Katie FfordeEffortlessly engaging!' HeatMust read!' Daily ExpressTrade Review Praise for Sue Moorcroft: ‘Sizzling!’ The People’s Friend ‘Must read!’ Daily Express ‘I love all of Sue Moorcroft’s books!’ Katie Fforde ‘Effortlessly engaging…a magical must!’ Heat
£7.59
Scribner Book Company Milk Fed
Book SynopsisNamed a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Time, Esquire, BookPage, and more This darkly hilarious and “delicious new novel that ravishes with sex and food” (The Boston Globe) from the acclaimed author of The Pisces and So Sad Today is a “precise blend of desire, discomfort, spirituality, and existential ache” (BuzzFeed).Rachel is twenty-four, a lapsed Jew who has made calorie restriction her religion. By day, she maintains an illusion of existential control, through obsessive food rituals, while working as an underling at a Los Angeles talent management agency. At night, she pedals nowhere on the elliptical machine. Rachel is content to carry on subsisting—until her therapist encourages her to take a ninety-day communication detox from her mother, who raised her in the tradition of calorie counting. Rachel soon meets Miriam, a zaftig young Orthodox Jewish woman who works at her favorite frozen yogurt shop and is intent upon feeding her. Rachel is suddenly and powerfully entranced by Miriam—by her sundaes and her body, her faith and her family—and as the two grow closer, Rachel embarks on a journey marked by mirrors, mysticism, mothers, milk, and honey. “A ruthless, laugh-out-loud examination of life under the tyranny of diet culture” (Glamour) Broder tells a tale of appetites: physical hunger, sexual desire, spiritual longing, and the ways that we compartmentalize these so often interdependent instincts. Milk Fed is “riotously funny and perfectly profane” (Refinery 29) from “a wild, wicked mind” (Los Angeles Times).
£15.30
Forever More Than Words: A Love Story
Book Synopsis
£15.29
WW Norton & Co A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a work essential to a complete understanding of the Modernist movement. The Norton Critical Edition presents Joyce’s novel impeccably edited by Hans Walter Gabler and a series of background and critical essays astutely chosen by John Paul Riquelme. It will enhance any high school, college, or graduate course in which it is taught." -- Michael Patrick Gillespie, Florida International University
£12.99
Random House USA Inc Recitatif
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER ? A beautiful, arresting story about race and the relationships that shape us through life by the legendary Nobel Prize winner?for the first time in a beautifully produced stand-alone edition, with an introduction by Zadie Smith?A puzzle of a story, then?a game.... When [Morrison] called Recitatif an ?experiment?she meant it. The subject of the experiment is the reader.? ?Zadie Smith, award-winning, best-selling author of White TeethIn this 1983 short story?the only short story Morrison ever wrote?we meet Twyla and Roberta, who have known each other since they were eight years old and spent four months together as roommates in St. Bonaventure shelter. Inseparable then, they lose touch as they grow older, only later to find each other again at a diner, a grocery store, and again at a protest. Seemingly at opposite ends of every problem, and at each other''s throats each time they meet, the two women still cannot deny the deep bond their shared experience has forged between them.Another work of genius by this masterly writer, Recitatif keeps Twyla''s and Roberta''s races ambiguous throughout the story. Morrison herself described Recitatif, a story which will keep readers thinking and discussing for years to come, as an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial. We know that one is white and one is Black, but which is which? And who is right about the race of the woman the girls tormented at the orphanage?A remarkable look into what keeps us together and what keeps us apart, and how perceptions are made tangible by reality, Recitatif is a gift to readers in these changing times.
£12.60
Catapult Godshot
Book Synopsis“Imagine if Annie Proulx wrote something like White Oleander crossed with Geek Love or Cruddy, and then add cults, God, motherhood, girlhood, class, deserts, witches, the divinity of women . . . Terrifying, resplendent, and profoundly moving, this book will leave you changed." —T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless GirlsDrought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen–year–old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now it’s an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret “assignments,” to bring the rain everybody is praying for. Lacey has no reason to doubt the pastor. But then her life explodes in a single unimaginable act of abandonment: her mother, exiled from the community for her sins, leaves Lacey and runs off with a man she barely knows. Abandoned and distraught, Lacey May moves in with her widowed grandma, Cherry, who is more concerned with her taxidermy mouse collection than her own granddaughter. As Lacey May endures the increasingly appalling acts of men who want to write all the rules and begins to uncover the full extent of Pastor Vern’s shocking plan to bring fertility back to the land, she decides she must go on a quest to find her mother no matter what it takes. With her only guidance coming from the romance novels she reads and the unlikely companionship of the women who knew her mother, she must find her own way through unthinkable circumstances.Possessed of an unstoppable plot and a brilliantly soulful voice, Godshot is a book of grit and humor and heart, a debut novel about female friendship and resilience, mother–loss and motherhood, and seeking salvation in unexpected places. It introduces a writer who gives Flannery O’Connor’s Gothic parables a Californian twist and who emerges with a miracle that is all her own.“[A] haunting debut . . . This is a harrowing tale, which Bieker smartly writes through the lens of a teenager on the cusp of understanding the often fraught relationship between religion and sexuality . . . It''s a timely and disturbing portrait of how easily men can take advantage of vulnerable women—and the consequences sink in more deeply with each page."—Annabel Gutterman, Time“Drawn in brilliant, bizarre detail—baptism in warm soda, wisdom from romance novels—Lacey''s twin crises of faith and femininity tangle powerfully. Fiercely written and endlessly readable, a novel like this is a godsend. A–.”—Mary Sollosi, Entertainment Weekly
£14.41
Atlantic Books Merciless Gods
Book SynopsisA collection of urgent, thrilling and original stories from the award-winning, bestselling author of The Slap and Barracuda. Love, sex, death, family, friendship, betrayal, tenderness, sacrifice and revelation... This incendiary collection of stories from acclaimed writer Christos Tsiolkas takes you deep into worlds both strange and familiar, and introduces you to characters that will haunt you long after you have turned the final page.Trade ReviewThe best writing you are likely to come across on the shifting boundaries between love and friendship... A blistering, accomplished collection * Independent *As compelling to read as a novel... A contemporary storyteller working at the very top of his game * Guardian *An engrossing, powerful, disturbing collection * Independent on Sunday *Raw and powerful * Evening Standard *Not just an impressive talent but an appalling one * Sunday Times *Acclaim for The Slap:'A cool, calm, irresistible masterpiece' Chris Cleave'The Slap is nothing short of a tour de force' Colm Tóibín'Honestly, one of the three or four truly great novels of the new millennium' John Boyne 'As addictive as the best soap opera' Daily MailAcclaim for Barracuda:'Tsiolkas writes with compelling clarity about the primal stuff that drives us all: the love and hate and fear of failure... A brilliant, beautiful book. If it doesn't make you cry, you can't be fully alive.' (Sunday Times)'I finished Barracuda on a high: moved, elated, immersed... This is the work of a superb writer who has completely mastered his craft but lost nothing of his fiery spirit in so doing. It is a big achievement.' * Guardian *
£8.54
Pan Macmillan The Unspoken Name
Book SynopsisThe Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood is the incredible first epic fantasy in the Serpent Gates duology.'An astounding debut . . . unlike anything I've read before' - Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the WyldDoes she owe her life to those planning her death . . .Csorwe was raised by a death cult steeped in old magic. And on her fourteenth birthday, she’ll be sacrificed to their god. But as she waits for the end, she’s offered a chance to escape her fate. A sorcerer wants her as his assistant, sword-hand and assassin. As this involves her not dying that day, she accepts. Csorwe spends years living on a knife-edge, helping her master hunt an artefact which could change many worlds. Then comes the day she's been dreading. They encounter Csorwe’s old cult – seeking the same magical object – and Csorwe is forced to reckon with her past. She also meets Shuthmili, the war-mage who’ll change her future.If she’s to survive, Csorwe must evade her enemies, claim the artefact and stop the death cult once and for all. As she plunges from one danger to the next, the hunt is on . . .Continue the thrilling fantasy adventure with The Thousand Eyes.Trade ReviewA fun, fresh new take on the traditional fantasy quest and an adventure I couldn't put down! -- S. A. ChakrabortyAn astounding debut, written with skill and stunning assurance . . . From its flawless first page to its bittersweet last, The Unspoken Name is unlike anything I’ve read before -- Nicholas EamesThe Unspoken Name is the best kind of modern fantasy – it feels totally fresh, it's full of satisfyingly weird gods and frightening magic . . . I loved this book! -- Jen WilliamsWhat a glorious book! Richly detailed, enthralling, and extraordinary, with brilliant nods to such luminaries as Ursula K. Le Guin and Diana Wynne Jones . . . Fabulous, in every meaning of the word -- Jenn LyonsThe action is fast-paced and emotionally compelling; the magic is dangerous, beautiful, and utterly compromising. I love this book so much -- Arkady MartineAn unexpected and new take on classic orcs 'n' swords fantasy. Stylish, classy, and timeless - but with racing stripes and an inbuilt camera. I cannot recommend it enough -- Tamsyn MuirA perfect fantasy debut -- Daily Mail Best SFF of 2020Takes all the tropes of fantasy – orcs and epic quests, dead gods and undead souls, daring rescues and last-second escapes – and spins them into something wild and new. A dizzy, delicious debut -- Alix E. HarrowA truly wonderful book . . . grabbed my attention on the first page and wouldn’t let go. Fresh, exciting and new, with fascinating characters, shifting alliances, impossible odds, breathtaking settings, and shocking twists -- Dyrk AshtonThe Unspoken Name has everything – spine-tingling prose, gorgeous worldbuilding, powerful older women, found family (but it's terrible), giant snakes, ancient tombs, dead gods, and true love. It's fantastic. I read it in one sitting -- Emily TeshLarkwood's debut is a fresh, fun take on the genre, packed with smart prose, badass characters, and fantastic worldbuilding. A necessary addition for any fantasy lover's collection -- Tara SimA breathtaking journey. It's epic fantasy with both creeping, omnipresent horrors and yet a tenacious, delicate warmth -- K. A. DooreI really enjoyed this - crisp, witty and entertaining. Such fun and it distracted me from my work far too well! I'd love to read more from the author -- Genevieve CogmanAn age-old feud between wizards and gods plays out with steel-crunching, bloody-tusk action. Loved every page -- Brian NaslundExpansive, immersive, and just plain fun, each page unfolds another facet of Larkwood's brilliant maze of a world. Populated by incredible characters and their eldritch deities, this has everything I love in fantasy taken to the next level -- Emily DuncanAn imaginative story of love, sacrifice, and betrayal that traverses worlds in this phenomenal debut . . . . Lyrical, immersive prose masterfully conveys complex worldbuilding. Epic fantasy fans are sure to be impressed by this expertly crafted adventure -- Publishers Weekly starred review
£9.89