Narrative theme: coming of age

Book SynopsisA poignant novel imbued with music from the Giller Prize ? shortlisted author of Like This and Twenty-Six that follows two social outcasts as they navigate through their traumatic pasts.The worst moment of Sam''s life was captured on video and shared across the Internet for all to gawk at. This is something she has in common with Robot, who just wants to move past the mistakes he''s made, if only his small town will let him. When the two meet in a high school music class, they start to find their way to each other. Music might offer a way not only forward, but forward together, if Sam and Robot can overcome the echoes of the moments that made them infamous.The past reverberates in ways we don''t expect, in this new novel by Giller Prize ? shortlisted author Leo McKay, Jr. From family secrets and old relationships that resurface, to the tape loops that endlessly replay private moments of trauma and despair, What Comes Echoing Back travels back and forth in time to get to what''s true, with humour, humanity, and the healing power of music.

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the Indigenous Voices Awards. On the edge of normal, challenges take many forms—the everyday can be an adventure and the ordinary a triumph. A young woman in a group home investigates a mysterious piece of knitting. An obsessed bag boy does grim battle with a squirrel. A woman, an asparagus bag and a garbageman have a tumultuous short-term relationship. Otherwise unremarkable achievements become epic on the edge of normal. In the tradition of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Room and If I Fall, If I Die, this uplifting short story collection explores the world through the eyes of protagonists whose perspectives are informed by their unique circumstances. Some are struggling with physical challenges while others seek to overcome psychological barriers. Far from being defined by their limitations, these characters revel in achievements others take for granted and find wonder in unexpected places. By celebrating the private triumphs of people who are all too often dismissed, Ashton reminds us all of our own humanity.

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Book SynopsisFEATURED ON BARACK OBAMA'S 2019 READING LIST SHORTLISTED FOR THE SWANSEA UNIVERSITY DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 'SPECTACULAR' Guardian'A WONDER' Daily Mail'SPARKLING' The Times'EXQUISITE' Observer'MAGNIFICENT' TLS'EPIC' Entertainment Weekly'A TRIUMPH' LitHub'INFECTIOUS' Financial Times'A MASTERPIECE' Sunday Express Nora is an unflinching frontierswoman awaiting the return of the men in her life, biding her time with her youngest son - who is convinced that a mysterious beast is stalking the land around their home - and her husband's seventeen-year-old cousin, who communes with spirits. Lurie is a former outlaw and a man haunted by ghosts. He sees lost souls who want something from him, and he finds reprieve from their longing in an unexpected relationship that inspires a momentous expedition across the West. Mythical, lyrical, and sweeping in scope, Inland is grounded in true but little-known history. It showcases all of Téa Obreht's talents as a writer, as she subverts and reimagines the myths of the American West, making them entirely - and unforgettably - her own.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Guardian, Time, Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, The New York Public Library 'Should have been on the Booker longlist' Claire Lowdon, Sunday Times'Magnificent... Brings to mind Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude or Toni Morrison's Beloved' Times Literary Supplement'Exquisite ... The historical detail is immaculate, the landscape exquisitely drawn; the prose is hard, muscular, more convincingly Cormac McCarthy than McCarthy himself' Alex Preston, ObserverTrade ReviewA tremendously talented writer * Ann Patchett *Magnificent . . . brings to mind similar effects in, say, Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude or Toni Morrison's Beloved. * Times Literary Supplement *This free-ranging tale of an American frontierswoman should have been on the Booker longlist... I'm already looking forward to whatever Obreht writes next. -- Claire Lowdon * Sunday Times *This exquisite frontier tale from the author of The Tiger's Wife is a timely exploration of the darkness beneath the American dream ... The historical detail is immaculate, the landscape exquisitely drawn; the prose is hard, muscular, more convincingly Cormac McCarthy than McCarthy himself ... [The] paranormal element reminds us strongly of George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo ... Inland also feels of a piece with another recent novel, Sarah Perry's Melmoth, a brilliantly eerie gothic tale in which the horrors of history are condensed into a single ghostly figure -- Alex Preston * Observer *[Obreht] has used the little-known existence of the Camel Corps as the inspiration for Inland, her propulsive second novel ... Infectious storytelling ... Obreht is as engrossing with her depiction of the colourful and disparate encounters experienced by Lurie and Burke as she is on the claustrophobia of small-town rivalries -- Catherine Taylor * Financial Times *It's a voyage of hilarious and harrowing adventures, told in the irresistible voice of a restless, superstitious man determined to live right but tormented by his past. At times, it feels as though Obreht has managed to track down Huck Finn years after he lit out for the Territory and found him riding a camel. She has such a perfectly tuned ear for the simple poetry of Lurie's vision... Sip slowly, make it last. -- Ron Charles * Washington Post *Set against a backdrop of hardship and saturated with magic and myth, this ambitious novel is a modern masterpiece, culminating in an unforgettable ending -- Rosie Hopegood * Sunday Express *"Obreht is the kind of writer who can forever change the way you think about a thing, just through her powers of description . . . Inland is an ambitious and beautiful work about many things: immigration, the afterlife, responsibility, guilt, marriage, parenthood, revenge, all the roads and waterways that led to America. Miraculously, it's also a page-turner and a mystery, as well as a love letter to a camel, and, like a camel, improbable and splendid, something to happily puzzle over at first and take your breath away at the end. -- Elizabeth McCracken * O Magazine *Obreht is superb at tracing such inescapable wounds, both personal and national. Her 2011 Orange prize-winning debut, The Tiger's Wife, mapped the aftermath of civil conflict in an unnamed "Balkan country still scarred by war", which was based on her native Serbia ... The fictional territory of Inland is as vivid and as violent: Arizona in the second half of the 19th century, populated by "cowpokes and prospectors", gunslingers and cattle kings - and, yes, cameleers ... Exquisitely panoramic ... compelling ... On every page gorgeously tinted images conjure the otherworldliness of this desert existence ... Obreht's narrative skill here is part of the magic of Inland, which succeeds spectacularly at reinventing a well-worn genre and its tropes. There are no stereotypes in this western, only ferociously adroit writing that honours the true strangeness of reality in its search for the meaning of home -- Elizabeth Lowry * The Guardian *As it should be, the landscape of the West itself is a character, thrillingly rendered throughout... Here, Obreht's simple but rich prose captures and luxuriates in the West's beauty and sudden menace. Remarkable in a novel with such a sprawling cast, Obreht also has a poetic touch for writing intricate and precise character descriptions. * New York Times Book Review (Editor’s Choice) *At a time when old-fashioned storytelling seems to be in decline, Téa Obreht is a class apart ... a bustling, bravura adventure that's part Western, part Cormac McCarthy and part Obreht's unique blend of spiritual realism ... This is not a novel to gulp down, but to savour, as Obreht fleshes out every possible detail in language that tastes both of the soil and of the skies. The final chapter, meanwhile, rich in poignant symbolism, is a wonder -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *Set at the end of the 19th century, it has dual narratives of a frontierswoman and a former outlaw. Suspenseful, atmospheric, near mythical in tone, and lyrically written * I paper *With Inland Obreht makes a renewed case for the sustained, international appeal of the American West, based on a set of myths that have been continually shaped and refracted through outside lenses . . . Discovering the particular genre conventions that Obreht has chosen to transfigure or to uphold soon becomes central to the novel's propulsive appeal. * New Yorker *Sparkling descriptions ... Obreht is alive to the sharp, enduring pain of grief and how it alters even the most mundane aspects of life - and she convincingly conjures the jagged anxiety of clinging on to life and livelihood in the face of terrible odds -- Siobhan Murphy * The Times *It's eight years since Obreht's debut, The Tiger's Wife, made her the youngest winner of the Orange Prize. Inland, her second novel, is an equally skilful exploration of myth and fable, and histories both forgotten and elaborated -- Sophie Ratcliffe * Daily Telegraph *Téa Obreht was just 25 when she wrote her Orange Prize-winning debut The Tiger's Wife, a lush and magical retelling of the bloody history of the Balkans. Her new book ventures into the Wild West for an intricate, slow-burn two-hander that, while more sober and rugged, by no means ditches her interest in the supernatural -- Anthony Cummins * Metro *What Obreht pulls off here is pure poetry. It doesn't feel written so much as extracted from the mind in its purest, clearest, truest form * Entertainment Weekly *The landscape of the West itself is a character, thrillingly rendered throughout in phrases such as "red boil of twilight" and "a stillness so vast the small music of the grasses could not rise to fill it." Here, Obreht's simple but rich prose captures and luxuriates in the West's beauty and sudden menace. Remarkable in a novel with such a sprawling cast, Obreht also has a poetic touch for writing intricate and precise character descriptions... Inland has the stoic heroic characters and the requisite brutal violence of the western genre, but the decision to place an immigrant and a middle-aged mother at its center is a welcome deviation... In Obreht's hands, this is an era that overflows with what the dead want, and with wants that lead to death. Her two central characters may not be who we have been conditioned to think of when we conjure the old American West, but they, too, are America. * International New York Times *Inland is a classic story, told in a classic way - and yet it feels wholly and unmistakably new... Obreht offers a new representation of the West, both in the characters she chooses and the emotional rigor and range with which she writes. The result is at once a new Western myth and a far realer story than many we have previously received - and that's even with all the ghosts. * NPR *Téa Obreht's M.O. is clear: She's determined to unsettle our most familiar, cliché-soaked genres . . . Inland can feel like Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian turned inside out: contemplative rather than rollicking, ghostly rather than blood-soaked . . . giving so much of the novel's stage to Nora makes this a less familiar woman's western, one that's more about resilience, wit and family than frontier justice. * Minneapolis Star Tribune *There is so much to admire and enjoy here: the interplay of magic and reason, the threats of progress, the tribalism of a nation forming. Above all the difficulty of simply living alongside one another, evoked in Obreht's masterful language, variously lyrical, hilarious, and profound -- Francesca Steele * The Spectator *Refreshing ... plenty of fine descriptive writing to admire -- Max Davidson * Mail on Sunday *Obreht has a gift for vivid language and deft stories-within-stories ... She gives words fresh purposes, to great effect; verbs sizzle ... haunting. * Economist *This book is everything you'd expect the literary event of 2019 to be: sweeping, confident, ambitious, well-researched and difficult ... it really packs a punch ... it is moving and learned, and it reminds us how the history of America has always been about trying to create a home in a hostile place -- Niamh Donnelly * Irish Times *A captivating, sweeping novel * Grazia *Every page is a triumph - even if you don't think you like Westerns. Trust me, this book will make you a believer. * Lit Hub *It will enchant lovers of lyrical prose and the myth of the American West. * Harper's Baazar *Obreht's novels are capital-E Events - big, ambitious, provocative reading experiences...At last we have Inland, a bracingly epic and imaginatively mythic journey across the American West in 1893, in which the lives of a former outlaw and a frontierswoman collide and intertwine. * Entertainment Weekly *Obreht uses her prodigious writing gifts to create a new mythology for the American West, one that glimmers with the intensity of a desert mirage. * Nylon *Obreht brings her extraordinarily intricate worldview, psychological and social acuity, descriptive artistry, and shrewd, witty, and zestful storytelling to another provocative inquiry into the mysteries of place, nature, and human complexities... As her protagonists' lives converge, Obreht inventively and scathingly dramatizes the delirium of the West-its myths, hardships, greed, racism, sexism, and violence-in a tornadic novel of stoicism, anguish, and wonder. * Booklist (starred review) *The most thrilling discovery in years * Colum McCann *The unrelenting harshness of existence in the unsettled American West sharply focuses what Obreht refers to as 'the uncertain and frightening textures of the world' in this mesmerizing historical novel spun from two primary narrative threads . . . The novel's unforgettable finale, evocative and grimly symbolic, crystallizes its underlying themes of how inconsolable grief and unforgivable betrayal shape the circumstances that bind its characters to their fates. Obreht knocks it out of the park in her second novel. * Publisher's Weekly *A frontier tale dazzles with camels and wolves and two characters who never quite meet. Eight years after Obreht's sensational debut, The Tiger's Wife, she returns with a novel saturated in enough realism and magic to make the ghost of Gabriel García Márquez grin. She keeps her penchant for animals and the dead but switches up centuries and continents. Having won an Orange Prize for The Tiger's Wife, a mesmerizing 20th-century Balkan folktale, Obreht cuts her new story from a mythmaking swatch of the Arizona Territory in 1893 . . . Obreht throws readers into the swift river of her imagination . . . [A] deep stoicism, flinty humor, and awe at the natural world pervade these characters. [Lurie and Nora] are both treacherous and good company . . . The final, luminous chapter is six pages that will take your breath away. * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisIt’s been a year and a half since the Anomaly, when They tried to force Their way into the world from the shapeless void.Nick Prasad is piecing his life together, and has joined the secretive Ssarati Society to help monitor threats to humanity – including his former friend Johnny.Right on cue, the unveiling of Johnny’s latest experiment sees a fresh incursion of Them, leaving her protesting her innocence even as the two of them are thrown together to fight the darkness once more…Trade Review"With a strong sense of adventure and an engaging prose style, A Broken Darkness is a worthy, enjoyable entry to the sprawling genre of cosmic fiction." * Aurealis *

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Book SynopsisLies. Treason. Magic.The great Stormhawk—Bourshkanya’s paranoid, fascist leader—is seemingly unkillable. But for the rebellion to succeed, he must die.Celka Prochazka uses magic in ways no one believed possible. She could be the perfect resistance assassin—if she can avoid being discovered as a traitor.Gerrit Kladivo, the Stormhawk’s son, is determined to end his father’s tyrannical rule. But to get Celka close enough to his father he must first prove unflinching loyalty to the regime.Filip Cizek swore his life to protect Gerrit and the regime. But with Gerrit’s actions twisting him into a stranger, Filip must decide how deep his loyalty runs.Together, they will attempt the impossible—but the cost may be everything they hold dear.Trade Review“A sweeping epic of romance, revolution, elegant strangeness, and elemental magic.” -- Jason Heller“Tense, timely, and crackling with urgent energy. I guarantee that by the end of the book, you will be looking for your own resistance to join... or to start.” -- Premee Mohamed -- Premee Mohamed“Lee's debut is a dazzling and timely high-wire act.” -- Ian Tregillis -- Ian Tregillis"Focused and honed as a lightning strike, beautifully balanced and directed; a cutting story of revolution, rebellion, romance, and the sort of strange sorcery that we don't see very often" -- Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of October Daye -- Seanan McGuire

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Book SynopsisBéla has never had much luck. His mother abandoned him at birth to go to work in Budapest, leaving him in the care of the dubious 'Aunt Rozika', a former prostitute who now runs a foster home with equal parts hauteur and cruelty. Victimised and almost starved by his guardian, Béla must fight for everything, from scraps of the other boys' food to the right to go to school. At fourteen he is caught trying to steal a pair of shoes; his mother is called and she reluctantly takes him with her to Budapest. Once in the capital Béla manages to secure a position at a grand old hotel, and it is here that a more privileged lifestyle seems to extend a hand to him. Operating the lift, Béla encounters people from across Hungarian society and beyond, including the beautiful daughter of an American businessman and a passionate revolutionary. But his new lifestyle offers both pleasures and perils, and Béla must find a way to forge his own life from the divergent influences that surround him. A picaresque classic with a rich vein of bawdy humour, Temptation is an under-appreciated masterpiece of twentieth-century fiction. Rich, varied and endlessly entertaining, the novel creates a stunning panorama of Hungarian society through the travails of its singularly charming hero.Trade ReviewTemptation is a fascinating novel set in the Horthy period, and its author, János Székely, is equally fascinating... The densely packed story is, in genre terms, a racy, filmic cross between a Picaresque and a Bildungsroman * TLS *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE FRANÇOISE SAGAN PRIZE WINNER OF THE BOOKSTAGRAM PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE GONCOURT PRIZE FOR DEBUT NOVEL 'With this book, Abigail Assor announces herself as one of the most distinctive voices in North African literature. This is a vibrant, sensual, subversive novel with an unforgettable heroine' LEÏLA SLIMANI _______________ Sarah is poor, but at least she's French, which allows her to attend Casablanca's elite high school for expats and wealthy locals. It's there that she first lays eyes on Driss. He's older, quiet and not particularly good looking-apart from his eyes, which are the deep green of thyme simmering in a tagine. Most importantly, he's rumoured to be the richest guy in the city. She decides she wants those eyes. And she wants a life like his. But to get to Driss she will have to cross the gaping divide that separates them and climb to the top of the city's society, from street corner merguez and chips to a mansion overlooking the ocean. Provocative, immersive, sensual, As Rich as the King is a twisted love story and a bittersweet ode to Casablanca.Trade Review'With this book, Abigail Assor announces herself as one of the most distinctive voices in North African literature. This is a vibrant, sensual, subversive novel with an unforgettable heroine' - Leila Slimani'The sounds, the smells, the gritty details of every scene are laid bare in a light as harsh and bright as the sun... A captivating novel' - Le Figaro'Casablanca stretches out before our astonished eyes, humming with rage and life... A captivating debut' - Lire'Abigail Assor's writing is precise, sensual, subversive and wildly lyrical. Astonishing' - Le Parisien'Stunning in its truth, cruelty and style' - Paris Match

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Book SynopsisThe stunning new novel from Christine Dwyer Hickey, bestselling author of Last Train from Liguria.'One of Ireland's most lauded modern writers, Christine Dwyer Hickey teases out the strands of her story... It leaves the reader with the aftertaste of regret for their own what might have been...' - Daily MailFollowing a long absence spent in New York, Elaine Nichols returns to her childhood home to live with her invalid father and his geriatric Alsatian dog. The house backing on to theirs is sold and as she watches the old furniture stack up on the lawn, Elaine is brought back to a summer in the 1970s. She is almost sixteen again and this small out-of-town estate is an enclave for women and children while the men are mysterious shadows who leave every day for the outside world. The women are isolated but keep their loneliness and frustrations hidden behind a veneer of suburban respectability. When an American divorcee and her daughter move into the estate, the veneer begins to crack. The women learn how to socialise, how to drink martinis in the afternoon, how to care less about their wifely and maternal duties. While the women are distracted, Elaine and her friends find their own entry into the adult world and the result is a tragic event that will mark the rest of Elaine's life and be the cause of her long and guilt-ridden exile.Insightful and full of suspense, this is an uncompromising portrayal of the suburbs and the cruelties brought about by the demands of respectability.Trade ReviewThis study of suburbia shows how the "savagery of respectability" can wreck lives... A reflection on neglect that engages right to the shocking end. * Psychologies *One of Ireland's most lauded modern writers, Christine Dwyer Hickey teases out the strands of her story... It leaves the reader with the aftertaste of regret for their own what might have been... * Daily Mail *As the compelling narrative alternates between Elaine's teenage summer and her present-day loneliness, Dwyer Hickey offers a devastating picture of suburban isolation. * Irish Times *A stunning portrait of a section of '70s Ireland... The Lives of Women is a wonderful read - thought provoking and compelling - and is, to my mind, Christine's best to date. * Irish Examiner *[A] richly textured, insightful and uncompromising look at life in unforgiving 1970s Ireland. Another triumph for this talented and original writer. * Irish Independent *Dwyer Hickey is as astute in conveying everyday conversation as dark events... It left me with that vague, almost physical chest ache one feels on experiencing great sadness. * Independent on Sunday *A beautiful, suspenseful look at life in the suburbs and the compromises required by the expectations of society. * Sunday World *Insightful and full of suspense, this is an uncompromising portrayal of the suburbs... Here is a novel that will truly make us think about the lives of women. * Newstalk *

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Book SynopsisLove, betrayal and a family divided amid the turmoil of the English Civil War.London, 1640. Fifteen-year-old Henrietta Challoner dreams of adventure, of a life lived at the gallop, of the opportunities afforded to her brothers, Ned and Sam. She cannot know how devastatingly real these dreams will become, as the country slides towards vicious civil war...The crisis threatens to tear Henrietta's family apart. As religious and political tensions spill into the streets, they all must decide what comes first - their family, their country or their desires. But while she strives to maintain the peace at home, Henrietta becomes embroiled in a deeper plot: to hand London over to the King.Trade ReviewSenior's fresh, forceful writing breathes new life and relevance into the most destructive, dangerous era in English history. Totally gripping -- Kate Saunders * The Times *This study of a family divided by the Civil War is powerfully engaging. Senior is equally convincing on the fast-moving, 'male' world of politics and war and the more pragmatic (but equally painful) battles fought by the women who must somehow live with the results. Hen is a delightful heroine; I was rooting for her right up to the novel's heartbreaking conclusion. -- Maria McCann, bestselling author of THE WILDINGSenior's prose is as fresh as a country walk in spring, and arrestingly original... This is a compelling book that truly gets under the skin of its characters, and does so with compassion and passion... I predict a glittering future for its hugely talented author -- Angus Donald, bestselling author of THE OUTLAW CHRONICLES

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Book SynopsisA feverish vision of McCarthy-era Hollywood...Los Angeles, 1950. Over the course of a single day, two friends grapple with the moral and professional uncertainties of the escalating Communist witch-hunt in Hollywood. Director John Marsh races to convince his actress wife not to turn informant for the House Committee on Un-American Activities, while leftist screenwriter Desmond Frank confronts the possibility of exile to live and work without fear of being blacklisted. As Marsh and Frank struggle to complete shooting on their film She Turned Away, which updates the myth of Orpheus to the gritty noir underworld of post-war Los Angeles, the chaos of their private lives pushes them towards a climactic confrontation with complicity, jealousy, and fear. Night for Day conjures a feverish vision of one of the country's most notorious periods of national crisis, illuminating the eternal dilemma of both art and politics: how to make the world anew. At once a definitively American novel, echoing Philip Roth and Raymond Chandler, it also nods to the mythic landscapes of Dante and the iconoclastic playfulness of James Joyce. With as much to say about the early years of the Cold War as about the political and social divisions that continue to divide the country today, Night for Day is expansive in scope and yet tenderly intimate, exploring the subtleties of belonging and the enormity of exile-not only from one's country but also from one's self.Trade ReviewImmersive... Flanery is an accomplished novelist. [He] writes with skill and conviction. * Guardian *Flanery's funniest and most entertaining... novel * TLS *Craftsmanlike * Sunday Times *Patrick Flanery is an exceptionally gifted novelist. * Philip Gourevitch, New Yorker, on Patrick Flanery *Flanery is a master of puzzling, alarming and even terrifying storytelling. * A.S Byatt, Guardian, on Patrick Flanery *A passionate, gripping, brilliantly voiced and scintillatingly intelligent novel... I Am No One will get under your skin. * Neel Mukherjee, on I am No One *

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Book SynopsisLaura loves her daughter more than anything in the world. But nine-year-old Autumn is being bullied. Laura feels helpless. When Autumn fails to return home from school one day, Laura goes looking for her. She finds a crowd of older children taunting her little girl. In the heat of the moment, Laura makes a terrible choice. A choice that will have devastating consequences for her and her daughter...Trade ReviewA powerful and compelling story about the lengths a mother will go to to protect her child. What begins as a worrying situation quickly escalates into a nightmare as the result of a single bad decision. I found myself wondering what I would have done in that situation and the ending had me holding my breath. -- C.L. TaylorOnce I picked it up, I could not stop reading - I literally raced to the end. Laura's fierce love for her daughter Autumn, mixed with her desperation in the face of her powerlessness to prevent her daughter being bullied, made for a riveting and unsettling read. Bone by Bone is a tense, dark novel. Dread seeps from each page as Laura and her daughter descend deeper and deeper into a living nightmare and the story spirals towards an ending that is both unexpected and deeply satisfying. Sanjida is such a wonderful, assured writer. -- Luana LewisA page turner but also a book that explores with chilling realism the insidious nature of bullying and how helpless parents can feel in the face of damage being done to their child; I can imagine this will appeal to many parents. -- Jane ShemiltThis novel about the insidious nature of bullying escalates into a tale of violence, fear and suspense. * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis1988. 12-year-old Harper Richardson's parents are divorced. Her mum got custody of her, the Mini, and five hundred tins of baked beans. Her dad got a mouldering cottage in a Midlands backwater village and default membership of the Lone Rangers single parents' club. Harper got questionable dress sense, a zest for life, two gerbils, and her Chambers dictionary, and the responsibility of fixing her parents' broken hearts... Set against a backdrop of high hairdos and higher interest rates, pop music and puberty, divorce and death, What a Way to Go is a warm, wise and witty tale of one girl tackling the business of growing up while those around her try not to fall apart.Trade ReviewWhat a fabulous novel! So fresh, touching, truthful and laugh-out-loud funny. I absolutely loved it. -- Deborah MoggachI hugely, entirely enjoyed this book. What a Way to Go is richly transporting - and so funny, and so moving. Julia Forster has all the marks of a prize-winning novelist; you know it from the first pages. -- Horatio ClareA brilliant debut. Sharp, sweet, bristling with wit and full of hilarious, wildly imaginative observations. In Harper Julia Forster has created a bold and distinctive 12 year old voice that manages to be nostalgic and authentic at the same time. -- Emma Jane Unsworth, author of 'Animals'I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Harper is such a lovable, funny character, and seeing the the 1980s through her eyes is both moving and revealing. I loved the 'mis-en-scene' of Blackbrake, the whole small town atmosphere where the skies are as grey as her 'school uniform', and I thought the monstrously selfish but somehow sympathetic Mum is a great comic creation. Above all, I thought Harper's tone was perfectly judged, that mix of knowingness, naivete, and humour was great. It deserves to do really well. I will put a 5 star review on Amazon! -- Francis GilbertI haven't enjoyed a book this much in ages. It's wonderful... Harper [is] an amazing protagonist - all the things I wanted to be at that age but probably never was - bright, funny, inquisitive, happy in her own skin. -- Megan Bradbury, author of 'Everyone Is Watching'Oh, this one is good, so very good. Heart-breaking, humorous and thought provoking. Thank you Julia Foster for a brilliant debut novel. -- Phylippa Smithson for lovereading.co.ukPoignant, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and a fabulous portrait of the time. * Woman & Home *As a first novel it has promise, with some sensitive writing and funny lines. * The Scotsman *This is a bittersweet tale of one girl just at the cusp of becoming a young woman with a burgeoning mind of her own, and a blossoming sense of life's possibilities. * The Western Mail *What a Way to Go is very funny and warm, sometimes sad, always beautifully written and just a ... joy [to read]. -- Hayley Long, blogger and author, twice nominated for the Costa AwardWhat A Way To Go is funny and sharp and it's a treat to hang out with Harper as she and her Chambers dictionary flit between her Midlands parental homes. * Emerald Street *What a joy to read... Julia Forster's assured debut novel marks the start of a brilliant writing career. * Reader's Digest *I loved this novel. It's by turns incredibly poignant and very funny. A touching coming of age tale that completely hits its mark. -- Kate HamerThis amusing coming-of-age novel, narrated by 12-year old Harper Richardson, is full of humour, often of the black variety... this gauche yet likable character emerges chrysalis-like, a bit more armoured for the next stage of her young life. * Irish Examiner *A glowing debut * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisWhen Margot and Henry meet, they fall deeply in love. And then they lose each other.But Henry can't forget Margot and Margot is haunted by her memories of Henry. They live in each other's minds. Twenty-one years later, they meet, by chance, on a Manhattan street. And that's where their story truly begins...If I Forget You is a beautiful exploration of what it means to find the person you are destined to be with, but then spend a lifetime apart.Trade ReviewThomas Christopher Greene's If I Forget You is the most moving and beautifully-written love story I've read since Cold Mountain. -- Howard Frank Mosher, author of God's KingdomRomantic, full of yearning, and hopeful, this is an unapologetically passionate tale about the kind of enduring love we dream about when we are young. -- Robin Oliveira, New York Times bestselling authorThis love story makes for a perfect beach read. * Real Simple *A powerful, emotionally moving love story. * Library Journal *Hypnotic. -- Eric da Costa, author of Seven DaysBeautifully written... addictive -- Civilian ReaderIncredibly beautiful and compulsively readable, The Headmaster's Wife will keep you mesmerized into the wee hours. A master storyteller, Greene's biggest achievement is proving that the most complex mystery of all is how and why we love. * Kimberly McCreight, bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia on The Headmaster's Wife *Nothing is what it appears in this brilliant story of a life gone awry... The author's true intentions make this tale even more remarkable, for the book is, at its core, a trenchant examination of one family's terrible loss and how the aftermath of tragedy can make or break a person's soul. * Publishers Weekly on The Headmaster's Wife *Greene's haunting tale tracks the unraveling of a marriage. It starts, eerily, with a naked man's arrest... then twists back in time through love, grief, betrayal, and love again. * Good Housekeeping US on The Headmaster's Wife *

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Ten years ago, two girls’ lives changed forever.Now one of them is ready to tell their story.***'A quirky lovable mystery and a brilliant, heartbreaking debut' Stylist'A new face of fiction [and] an original coming of age novel' Observer ***The first memory I have of you is all knickers and legs. You had flipped yourself into a handstand and couldn’t get back down. We became best friends, racing slugs, pretending to be spies – all the things that children do.Ten years later, eighteen-year-old Ravine Roy spends every day in her room. Completing crosswords and scribbling in her journal, she keeps the outside world exactly where she wants it; outside. But as the real world begins to invade her carefully controlled space, she is forced to finally confront the questions she’s been avoiding. Who is her mother meeting in secret? Who has moved in next door?And why, all those years ago, when two girls pulled on their raincoats and wellies and headed out into the woods did only one of them return?‘A breakout book from an incredibly talented debut writer. Read, weep and laugh’ Stylist ‘An original heartfelt read by a new British talent’ Independent‘A delightfully fresh voice’ Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisA dazzling, smart and razor-sharp story collection by Curtis Sittenfeld, Sunday Times bestselling author of Rodham and American Wife.The theme that unites these stories is how even the cleverest people tend to misread others, and how much we all deceive ourselves. Sharp and tender, funny and wise, they show Sittenfeld's knack for creating real, believable characters that spring off the page, while also skewering contemporary mores with brilliant dry wit.'DO-OVER', ONE OF THE STORIES IN THIS COLLECTION, WAS SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 SUNDAY TIMES EFG SHORT STORY AWARD.

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Book Synopsis'Utterly magnificent . . . gripping, accomplished and dark' Marian KeyesWINNER: Newcomer of the Year at the IBAs WINNER: Bookseller YA Prize WINNER: CBI Eilis Dillon Award Buzzfeed's Best Books Written by Women in 2014The bestselling novel about beauty, body image and betrayaleves are designed, not made. The School trains them to be prettyThe School trains them to be good.The School trains them to Always be Willing.All their lives, the eves have been waiting. Now, they are ready for the outside world.companion . . . concubine . . . or chastityOnly the best will be chosen.And only the Men decide.Trade ReviewGripping ... like all the best dystopias, Only Ever Yours is about the world we live in now * Irish Times *The Handmaid's Tale meets Mean Girls' * The Vagenda *Utterly magnificent ... gripping, accomplished and dark * Marian Keyes *Deserves to be read by young and old, male and female, the world over in the same way Harry Potter and The Hunger Games were * Sunday Independent *A dark dream. A vivid nightmare. The world O'Neill imagines is frightening because it could come true. She writes with a scalpel * Jeanette Winterson *Deep, dark and frighteningly believable, this book will stay with you for a long time * Marie Claire *Compelling writing ... this only-too-real dystopia grips from beginning to end * SFX *Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale with a post-millennial twist * The Journal.ie *The bleakness of The Catcher in the Rye, the satire of The Stepford Wives and it made me recall Nineteen Eighty-Four ... a fresh and original talent * Irish Independent *Terrifying but captivating * Company *A sparkling debut that will really make you think * Heat *'Compelling and frightening' * Irish Examiner *An ingenious exploration of gender roles, female identity and female competition * Buzzfeed *'Terrifying and heartbreaking, O'Neill's story reads like an heir to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and MT Anderson's Feed, and, like those two books, it's sure to be discussed for years to come' * Publisher's Weekly *'A stunning debut set in a dystopian future that has everyone talking . . . once read, will never be forgotten' * Irish Independent *Dark, gripping . . . should be mandatory reading everywhere * The F Word *

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Book Synopsis‘By turns beguiling and unsettling, Flotsam examines grief and loss through the eyes of an extraordinary child’ Rachel SeiffertTrine and her mother live in a cottage on the German coast. The mudflats that surround them disappear and reappear with the North Sea tides. The family leads a lonely existence, but each person has adapted in their own way. Anna roams the beaches collecting flotsam and jetsam to make art, while Trine loves playing on a wartime shipwreck. That is, until she loses her brother.In her taut style, Meike Ziervogel tells a coming-of-age story from 1950s Germany – a place still haunted by war. A place where people pretend not to notice the ghosts.Trade ReviewZiervogel grew up in Germany and this taut, mysterious novel not only conjures female subjectivities and grief, but it also paints a haunting portrait of the country in the 1950s Germany, with its greater sense of loss, and the looming spectre of crimes committed during the war. -- Arifa Akbar * The Guardian *The writing has a dark and haunting quality yet there is much beauty in its concise construction. The story ebbs and flows with the ghosts of the past and the effects of the isolated location. Both Trine and Anna show a resolve that can be unsettling, beguiling – perhaps because young women are not expected to behave as they do. An astute and arresting tale… -- Jackie Law * neverimitate *This is not an easy book to write about without muffling the small shocks and perplexities which readers should experience for themselves. Told first from Trine’s perspective then Anna’s, it’s the briefest of novellas yet it provokes more thought than many books three times its length. Written in often lyrical yet spare, clean prose, Flotsam is haunted by grief, leaving much for readers to deduce for themselves. * A Life in Books *★★★★★ If you’ve read Ziervogel before you will be aware of her ability to tell a dark, haunting story of loss and grief in mesmerising prose. Flotsam excels in this regard, it depicts the cruel way a separation is inflicted upon the living and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. Flotsam looks at the psyche of the nation, the greyness of the post war world as the country attempts to modernise and leave the past behind. Heart breaking and thought provoking, this elegiac and insightful novella is poignant, timely and deeply intelligent. -- Paul Burke * NB Magazine *Anna’s experience of World War Two and the consequences of an event in the War, dominates her daughter’s life. Flotsam asks how will the next generation live in the shadow of such destruction, when so much of that history is left silent? Wonderfully concise yet powerful, Flotsam seems simple while offering a layered intelligence that should be valued. -- James Doyle * Bookmunch *

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Book SynopsisA gripping and dark fictionalised account of life inside the Manson family from one of the most exciting young voices in fiction.If you’re lost, they’ll find you…Evie Boyd is fourteen and desperate to be noticed. It’s the summer of 1969 and restless, empty days stretch ahead of her. Until she sees them. The girls. Hair long and uncombed, jewelry catching the sun. And at their centre, Suzanne, black-haired and beautiful.If not for Suzanne, she might not have gone. But, intoxicated by her and the life she promises, Evie follows the girls back to the decaying ranch where they live.Was there a warning? A sign of what was coming? Or did Evie know already that there was no way back? ‘Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline’s novel demands your attention’ GuardianTrade ReviewA coming-of-age tale like no other … the book of the summer * Grazia *Stunning…thrilling… A spectacular achievement * The Times *This book will break your heart and blow your mind * Lena Dunham *The read of the summer -- India Knight * Sunday Times *A tense and claustrophobic read * Stylist *Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline’s novel demands your attention * Guardian *An exhilarating read * Emma Healey, author of Elizabeth is Missing *Darker than anything Gone Girl had to offer * Shortlist *A seductive and arresting coming-of-age story...spellbinding * New York Times Book Review *An intensely atmospheric story that perfectly captures the aching loneliness and longing of a teenage girl. -- Sarra Manning * Red *One of the best novels I've read about female adolescence... And as with so many novels about cults, The Girls is set to inspire a cultish devotion all of its own * Evening Standard *A joy to read… Intense, clever, beautiful * Sunday Times *Brimming with intelligence and ideas… Buy it for the Mansonesque plot but savour it for its insights * Irish Times *I don't know which is more amazing, Emma Cline's understanding of human beings or her mastery of language. -- Mark Haddon

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Book SynopsisThe Israeli master’s exceptional final novelSHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2017 Shmuel – a young, idealistic student – has abandoned his studies in Jerusalem, taking a live-in job as a companion to a cantankerous old man. But Shmuel quickly becomes obsessed with the taciturn Atalia, a woman of enchanting beauty, who also lives in the house. As the household’s tangled, tragic past becomes apparent, so too does story behind the birth of the state of Israel. Journeying back into the deep past, Judas is a love story like no other by a master storyteller at the height of his powers.‘A hero of mine, a moral as well as literary giant’ Simon Schama‘One of his boldest works of all’ Boyd Tonkin, Financial Times‘Amos Oz…brought so much beauty, so much love, and a vision of peace to our lives. Please hold him in your hearts and read his books’ Natalie PortmanJudas is the first novel selected for the Amos Oz reading circle established by Natalie Portman. Trade ReviewJudas is many-layered, thought-provoking and – in its love story – delicate as a chrysalis, this is an old-fashioned novel of ideas that is strikingly and compellingly modern. -- Peter Stanford * Observer *A very absorbing addition to his remarkable oeuvre -- Andrew Motion * Guardian *This book is compassionate as well as painfully provocative, a contribution to some sort of deeper listening to the dissonances emerging from deep within the politics and theology of Israel and Palestine. -- Rowan Williams * New Statesman *After almost two dozen books that track changes in both heart and state with untiring strength and subtlety, the Israeli master has delivered one of the boldest of all his works… Nicholas de Lange, Oz’s distinguished translator, steers these virtuoso transitions between debate and domesticity with unerring skill… Oz can imagine, and inhabit, treachery of every stripe. But he keeps faith with the art of fiction. -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *A big, beautiful novel… Funny, wise and provoking. -- Kate Saunders * The Times *challenging, complex and strangely compelling… The ideas at the novel’s centre have great vitality and force. The philosophical passages bristle with linguistic energy, scriptural references and dense detail, vividly conveyed in Nicholas de Lange’s translation. -- Eva Hoffman * Spectator *It is rich in material to grapple with. Oz engages with urgent questions while retaining his right as a novelist to fight shy of answers: it’s a mark of his achievement that the result isn’t frustrating but tantalising. -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Telegraph *A masterpiece: command of the word, mastery of construct, the ability to stimulate all the senses of the reader. * La Reppublica *Judas is a rich and thrilling novel, one of the most interesting books published this year. * Haaretz *Amos Oz belongs to the great authors of world literature * Suddeutsche Zeitung *

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Book Synopsis'The kind of book that changes readers for the better' GuardianWhen a family tragedy means Mick is sent to the outback to live with his Granpa, it looks as if he has a lonely life ahead of him. The cattle station is a tough place for a child, where nature is brutal and the men must work hard in the heat and dust. However, after a cyclone hits, things change for Mick. Exploring the floodwaters, he finds a lost puppy covered in mud and half-drowned. Mick and his dog immediately become inseparable as they take on the adventures offered by their unusual home, and the business of growing up, together. In this charming prequel to the much-loved Red Dog, Louis de Bernières tells the moving story of a young boy and his Granpa, and the charismatic and entertaining dog who so many readers hold close to their hearts.Trade ReviewThe kind of book that changes readers for the better… The love between Mick and Granpa, and the changing landscape they inhabit, are the highlights of this superb story. * Guardian *Wise and heartwarming. -- Max Davidson * Mail on Sunday *[Blue Dog] is the heart-warming, funny, coming-of-age story… This is an irresistible, feel-good, laugh-out-loud tale… It is not an easy place to leave behind. -- Nicolette Jones * Sunday Times *A young adult novel that will appeal to all ages. -- Lorna Cumming-Bruce * Financial Times *A beautifully told story. -- Emily Bearn * Daily Telegraph, Book of the Year *

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Book SynopsisAn international sensation, Small Country is a beautiful but harrowing tale of coming-of-age in the face of civil war.'A luminous debut novel…Faye dramatises the terrible nostalgia of having lost not only a childhood but also a whole world to war' GuardianBurundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expat neighbourhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister, Ana, is something close to paradise. These are happy, carefree days spent with his friends sneaking cigarettes and stealing mangoes, swimming in the lake and riding bikes in the streets they have turned into their kingdom. But dark clouds are gathering over this small country, and soon their peaceful idyll will shatter when Burundi and neighbouring Rwanda are brutally hit by war.‘Unforgettable… Gaël Faye’s talent is breathtaking’ Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the DreamersTrade Reviewan excellent novel, a model of restraint and quiet literary sophistication * Sunday Times *[A] luminous debut novel… This is a book that demanded to be written... With a light touch, Faye dramatises the terrible nostalgia of having lost not only a childhood but also a whole world to war -- Nadifa Mohamed * Guardian *An evocative portrait of what it means to lose one’s freedom and innocence. Gaël Faye’s literary powers lie in his unbridled honesty and his effortless prose. He is a writer of great promise and grace -- Chigozie Obioma, author of The FishermenUnforgettable… Gaël Faye’s talent is breathtaking; no country that can give the world a writer like him should ever be called small -- Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamersas beautiful as it is painful... It's easy to see why it set the French literary scene alight. This is one you won't be abandoning in the hotel library when you leave. -- Sam Baker * The Pool *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2020 PEN/Faulkner Award'A mesmerizing, revelatory novel, smart and funny and laced with a strangeness... For my money, Chloe Aridjis is one of the most brilliant novelists working in English today' Garth GreenwellOne autumn afternoon in Mexico City, 17-year-old Luisa does not return home from school. Instead, she boards a bus to the Pacific coast with the reckless, impulsive Tomás, a boy she barely knows. Their quest: to track down a troupe of Ukrainian dwarfs who have recently escaped a touring circus.Together they head for Zipolite, the ‘Beach of the Dead’, a community peopled by hippies, nudists, beach combers and eccentric storytellers, and Luisa searches for someone, anyone, who will ‘promise, no matter what, to remain a mystery’. But as Luisa wanders the shoreline, she begins to discover that a quest is more easily envisioned than accomplished.'Destined to be a classic: a richly imaginative, reflective and entracing novel' Xiaolu GuoTrade ReviewThe novel's brilliance lies in capturing so convincingly that state of adolescent restlessness... Aridjis’s languid prose lets these images wash over the reader, unfurling in comma-rich sentences that beautifully render a state of inertia -- Francesca Carington * Daily Telegraph *Sea Monsters is a mesmerizing, revelatory novel, smart and funny and laced with a strangeness that is never facile but serves as a profound and poetic tool for navigating our shared world. Chloe Aridjis is the rare writer who reinvents herself in each book; she is, for my money, one of the most brilliant novelists working in English today -- Garth GreenwellA mesmerising novel… Aridjis beautifully renders the perspective of a bored, intelligent, privileged teenage girl — a decadent, solipsistic daydream -- Emily Rhodes * Financial Times *Self-contained, inscrutable, and weirdly captivating, like a salvaged object that wants to return to the sea -- Katy Waldman * New Yorker *Aridjis riffs like a poet, letting each image twist and grow into the next... The novel’s strength lies in its ability to turn to the next magic trick, the next detail, the next sight. Those sights are all the more impressive when conjured solely from language. By opting out of fiction’s conventional prioritization of plot or character development, Aridjis foregrounds her ability to develop images and metaphors. The result is seductive in its multiplicity. Mallarmé would be proud -- Lily Meyer * Atlantic *

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR FILM'... with air in its lungs and love in its heart' Guardian *****An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set in the breathtaking Italian Alps, about two boys who meet in the same village every summer, and the men they grow up to become.Pietro, an impressionable city boy, spends his summers in a secluded valley in the Alps. There, surrounded by meadows and peaks, he begins to learn of his father's dreams and passions. There, too, he meets Bruno, the son of a local stonemason. As the pair run wild, they form a once-in-a-lifetime friendship.Then one year, the summer visits stop. Pietro is drawn to cities around the world. But the memory of the mountains never leaves him and, after his father dies, he returns in search of the freedom and camaraderie that he once knew.'Exquisite... A rich, achingly painful story'ANNIE PROULX, author of The Shipping News'ENCHANTING' Guardian'BRILLIANT' New York Times'ABSORBING' Irish TimesWinner of the 2017 Strega Prize, the Prix Médicis étranger, and the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.Trade ReviewA fine book, a rich, achingly painful story that is made for all of us who have ever felt a hunger for the mountains. Few books have so accurately described the way stony heights can define one’s sense of joy and rightness. And it is an exquisite unfolding of the deep way humans may love one another. -- Annie ProulxCould Cognetti be the new Elena Ferrante? * The Bookseller *A great story about friendship and about what it means to become a man * Vanity Fair Italia *There are no more universal themes than those of the landscape, friendship, and becoming adults, and Cognetti’s writing becomes classical (and elegant) to best tell this story…a true novel by a great writer * Rolling Stone Italia *A beautifully crafted piece of writing... Absorbing... The power of nature to transform the individual, for good and for bad, is seen through each of the characters -- Sarah Gilmartin * Irish Times *

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Book Synopsis**LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018**An elegiac novel set in post-WW2 London about memory, family secrets and lies, from the internationally acclaimed author of The English Patient It is 1945, and London is still reeling from the Blitz. 14-year-old Nathaniel and his sister, Rachel, are apparently abandoned by their parents, left in the care of an enigmatic figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and grow both more convinced and less concerned as they get to know his eccentric crew of friends: men and women all who seem determined to protect Rachel and Nathaniel. But are they really what and who they claim to be? A dozen years later, Nathaniel journeys through recollection, reality and imagination to uncover all he didn’t know or understand in that time, to piece together a story that feels something like the truth. ‘A novel of shadowy brilliance’ The Times ‘Fiction as rich, as beautiful, as melancholy as life itself, written in the visionary language of memory’ Observer ‘Ondaatje brilliantly threads the mysteries and disguises and tangled loyalties and personal yearnings of the secret world... I haven’t read a better novel this year’ TelegraphTrade ReviewOur book of the year – and maybe of Ondaatje's career. * Daily Telegraph **Books of the Year** *Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight is a rare and beautiful thing – a deeply retrospective novel about war secrets that feels neither overstated nor overly ethereal. In sumptuous prose, Ondaatje limns the psyche of a man still trying to make sense of his complicated relationships and the mysteries surrounding his absent parents. One of the most absorbing books I’ve read all year. -- Esi Edugyan * Times Literary Supplement **Books of the Year 2018** *Warlight sucked me in deeper than any novel I can remember… fiction as rich, as beautiful, as melancholy as life itself. -- Alex Preston * Observer *From the very first sentence you’re desperate to find out what happens next… All is slowly, tantalisingly revealed, in flashbacks, fragments, digressions and stories within stories, narrated in majestic Ondaatjean style. -- Ian Sansom * New Statesman *In Warlight we have a writer who knows exactly what he’s doing – and has constructed something of real emotional and psychological heft, delicate melancholy and yet, frequently, page-turning plottiness. I haven’t read a better novel this year. -- Sam Leith * Daily Telegraph *The latest novel from the author of The English Patient is just glorious... rendered with Dickensian verve. My hot tip for the Booker Prize. -- Allison Pearson * Harpers Bazaar *Ondaatje’s first novel in seven years mesmerizes from start to finish. -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *I spend the months before the publication of a new Michael Ondaatje novel trying to keep my expectations in check, telling myself it's simply unfair to expect as much of any writer as I expect from Ondaatje. Then he pulls off a Warlight, and I'm embarrassed by my own lack of faith... [Warlight] is surprising, delightful, heartbreaking and written as only Ondaatje could write it. -- Kamila Shamsie * Observer *Compulsively and grippingly readable. In fact I read it first at a gallop, enthralled by the image of a city and a world distorted and all but destroyed by war, and then again slowly, determined to savour the details and extract as much as I could from it. Much remained puzzling on this second reading, but two things are clear: Michael Ondaatje is a marvellous writer, and Warlight is a novel which will continue to play in the reader’s imagination. -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *Ondaatje [is] such a thrilling writer… I loved [Warlight]. -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * Evening Standard *

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Book Synopsis'An electrifying, word-perfect tale… Gently devastating, devastatingly beautiful’ Daily Mail'Funny, piercing, and singular… I can’t fathom the reason why you wouldn’t rush straight out to buy it’ ObserverDetermined, rebellious Marianne Clifford is searching for love and freedom in 1960s LondonHow do you find the courage to make your own life?Marianne Clifford, teenage daughter of a peppery army colonel and his vain wife, falls helplessly and absolutely for eighteen-year-old Simon Hurst, whose cleverness and physical beauty suggest that he will go forward into a successful and monied future, helped on by doting parents. But fate intervenes. Simon's plans are blown off course, he leaves for Paris and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together.It is Marianne who tells this piercing story of first love, characterising herself as ignorant and unworthy, whilst her smart, ironic narration tellingly reveals so much more. Finding her way in 1960s Chelsea, and supported by her courageous Scottish friend, Petronella, she continues to seek the life she never stops craving. And in Paris, beneath his blithe exterior, Simon Hurst continues to nurse the secret which will alter everything.‘Tremain has always surprised and delighted her readers’ Sunday Times, Best 23 Novels of 2023** A THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023**READERS LOVE ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER:'Heartrending, funny, unputdownable' 5*****'An undoubted modern classic' 5*****'Marianne will remain with me as a friend' 5*****'A masterclass in character and world building ... the writing is just sublime' 5*****Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER:'Stunningly beautiful and deeply moving' * Simon Schama *A slim, funny, elegantly breezy coming-of-age story * Sunday Times *Written with piercing clarity and gentle humour, Absolutely And Forever is a study of the messiness of human relationships, the significance of secrets unspoken and the impact of the choices we make * Independent *This is a book about the comic, painful, life-long search for human understanding. Not a word is wasted; not a phrase trite. It is mesmerising, masterly and profoundly moving * Financial Times *[A] delicate, generous-hearted novel * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisArthur Maxley is a tense and listless young man. One day he receives a letter from his long-estranged father. Arthur's fear and aversion to the man is powerful, yet his compulsion to see his father is irresistible. After their meeting, Arthur is propelled into a night of drinking and spontaneous intimacy with a beautiful young woman. But as the memories of childhood trauma surface and disorientate, Arthur's night out rises towards the pitch of disaster.

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Book SynopsisWilla Cather’s best-loved novel, and the final book in the Great Plains trilogy, is a beautiful portrayal of friendship, longing and growing up in frontier Nebraska. When young orphan Jim Burden is sent to live with his grandparents in Nebraska, he finds himself growing up alongside Bohemian immigrant Ántonia Shimerda. Their childhoods are full of shared adventures but as they grow their paths diverge, spurred on by the dire poverty of the Shimerda family. Yet Jim will never forget Ántonia, spellbound by her strength and remarkable free spirit. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY TRAVEL WRITER SARA WHEELERTrade ReviewA clear-eyed salute to the resilience of the human spirit * Guardian *My Ántonia remains a revelation * The Paris Review *The knowledge of long hardship gives weight to the novel’s exquisitely realized moments of fulfilment… Cather looks with a wise, clear eye on those quiet moments -- Alexandra Harris * Harper's Bazaar *

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Book SynopsisVINTAGE CLASSICS' HARLEM RENAISSANCE SERIESCelebrating the finest works of the Harlem Renaissance, one of the most important Black arts movements in modern history.'White peoples maybe mistreats you an' hates you, but when you hates 'em back, you's de one what's hurted, 'cause hate makes yo' heart ugly - that's all it does'Sandy's in the fifth grade when he's forced to sit on the back row away from his white classmates and denied entry to a new amusement park. His grandmother, who is raising him alongside his mother and aunt, tells him that love is the only thing to make room for in his heart. But it's Sandy's discovery of literature that inspires him to continue his education and make sense of the unjust world he inhabits in the debut novel from one of the foremost pioneers of the Harlem Renaissance.'[Hughes] gives his readers... a guide for careful consideration of the lives of everyday black people. Such a guide is still useful to readers and writers today. Perhaps now more than ever' Angela Flournoy, New York Times

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Book Synopsis'He must know by now, I should think, that I can give as good as I get!'This is the story of Gigi, educated as a future courtesan in Paris, her days are filled with cigars, lobster, lace and superstitions. Bored and unconvinced by what she's taught, Gigi surprises everyone with her earnest approach to love.In this classic turn-of-the-century novella, Colette unveils Gigi's journey into womanhood in rich and supple prose.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.Trade Review“A perpetual feast to the reader…her prose is rich, flawless, intricate, audacious and utterly beautiful.” -- Raymond Mortimer

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Book Synopsis'She's no good, that girl. Much too individualistic'This is the story of Fenfang who, determined to carve out a life more independent than her provincial roots, gets a job as a film extra in Beijing. But living a modern life is not as easy as it looks in this tumultuous, messy city. Grappling with the narrow world of cinema, an outworn Communist regime, and the city's far-from-progressive attitudes to women, charismatic Fenfang finds her true freedom in the one place she never expected.20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth is a sparkling and wry coming-of-age story about the changing identity of women in contemporary China.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.

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Book SynopsisVINTAGE CLASSICS' AMERICAN GOTHIC SERIESSpine-tingling, mind-altering and deliciously atmospheric, journey into the dark side of America with nine of its most uncanny classics.A gripping and dark fictionalised account of life inside the Manson family from one of the most exciting young voices in fiction.If you're lost, they'll find you...Evie Boyd is fourteen and desperate to be noticed.It's the summer of 1969 and restless, empty days stretch ahead of her. Until she sees them. The girls. Hair long and uncombed, jewelry catching the sun. And at their centre, Suzanne, black-haired and beautiful.If not for Suzanne, she might not have gone. But, intoxicated by her and the life she promises, Evie follows the girls back to the decaying ranch where they live.Was there a warning? A sign of what was coming? Or did Evie know already that there was no way back?'Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline's novel demands your attention' Guardian

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Book Synopsis'Tender, beautiful and bold. A very special novel.' LIZZIE HUXLEY-JONES, author of Make You Mine This Christmas'Fun, fresh and clever . . . a huge treat for all fans of Jane Eyre.' KATIE LUMSDEN, author of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall'A sublime and tenderly written novel.' BEA FITZGERALD, author of Girl, Goddess, QueenAll Brontë Ellis has ever known is life at St. Mary's all-boys boarding school, where he lingered first as a student and then as a teaching assistant. So when a chance to forge a new life in Cambridge presents itself, he seizes it with both hands. Arriving at Greenwood Manor as the new live-in tutor, Bron finds himself welcomed by all - the gregarious Mr Edwards, his precocious pupil Ada . . . except for Darcy, the elusive and tempestuous eldest son. Despite the rumours about him, Bron cannot help feeling drawn to the one person who seems determined to avoid him.When tragedy strikes the house, Bron begins to sense dark secrets smouldering beneath Greenwood Manor's surface. Soon he's not sure what to believe, or whether he even has a future at Greenwood. Only Darcy holds the key, if he can be persuaded to reveal his heart to Bron . . .'A love letter to the period drama, and one I could not put down.' WILLIAM HUSSEY, author of Broken Hearts and Zombie Parts'Clever and beautifully written, I loved this.' EMMA CARROLL, author of The Week at World's EndTrade ReviewTender, beautiful and bold. A deeply nostalgic modern classic with a bibliophile, genderqueer Jane Eyre protagonist. Brilliant queer anachronism and deep longing blended with Castle's prose and storytelling prowess make for a very special novel. * Lizzie Huxley-Jones, author of Make You Mine This Christmas *Fun, fresh and clever. A fantastic coming of age story, and a huge treat for all fans of Jane Eyre. * Katie Lumsden, author of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall *A love letter to the period drama, and one I could not put down. * William Hussey, author of Broken Hearts and Zombie Parts *The Manor House Governess is a sublime and tenderly written novel that is at once an interrogation of and love letter to the literary classics. I am so happy this book exists. * Bea Fitzgerald, author of Girl, Goddess, Queen *A brilliantly queer take on the Victorian governess archetype. Conceptually clever & beautifully written, I loved this homage to Jane Eyre & Jane Austen. * Emma Carroll, author of The Week at World's End *In turns spooky, funny, and romantic, C. A. Castle's debut novel is sure to be a hit with readers across genres and generations. * Mackenzi Lee, Stonewall Honor and New York Times-bestselling author of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue *C.A. Castle's The Manor House Governess weaves past and present together to create a queer story of love and intrigue that feels thrillingly new and boldly relevant. * Abdi Nazemian, author of Stonewall Honor book Like a Love Story and Only This Beautiful Moment *Atmospheric and emotional, this is a mystery that feels at once timeless and totally modern. This slow-burner will keep you guessing until the final pages. An assured debut. * Justin Myers, author of The Last Romeo, The Fake-Up and The Magnificent Sons *Brimming with lush prose and multi-dimensional characters, The Manor House Governess is a reimagining unlike any other. A modern classic about identity, love, and boldly walking one's own path. * Ashley Herring Blake, author of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care *

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Book Synopsis Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2018 This number one best-selling title in Iraq, Dubai, and the UAE is a heart-rending tale of two girls growing up in war-torn Baghdad Baghdad, 1991. The Gulf War is raging. Two girls, hiding in an air raid shelter, tell stories to keep the fear and the darkness at bay, and a deep friendship is born. But as the bombs continue to fall and friends begin to flee the country, the girls must face the fact that their lives will never be the same again. This poignant debut novel reveals just what it's like to grow up in a city that is slowly disappearing in front of your eyes, and how in the toughest times, children can build up the greatest resilience.Trade Review‘Vivid, at times surreal… the novel confronts the reality of Baghdad in the final decade of the twentieth century through the vision of a girl who often imbues it with wonder and beauty.’ * TLS *"The Baghdad Clock is not just a popular winner with Edinburgh International Book Festival readers this year - it's also a brilliant winner that will live long in the memory and it established Shahad Al Rawi as a force to be reckoned with, in Arabic and English alike." * Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival *‘With tremendous talent and a sharp intelligence, Al Rawi delivers an outstanding debut. Highly recommended.’ * Library Journal (starred review) *‘Shahad Al Rawi brings us into the city of Baghdad in the middle of the Gulf War, where people continue to go about their lives despite the war that is eroding their homes. The story centres on two girls in an air raid shelter and the friendship that blossoms around the stories they tell each other in this book filled with resilience and life.’ * World Literature Today *‘This stirring debut follows two girls and their lives as they grow up in the war-torn city of Iraq. A poignant portrayal of the enduring bond of friendship, infused with a touch of magical realism.’ * Book Riot *‘Marked with a wild inventiveness and emotional depth… The Baghdad Clock is a stirring, and at times moving, portrait of two young women sticking together while everything around them falls apart…[which] provides compelling depictions of each stage of the girls’ journey to adulthood.’ * The National *‘Al Rawi’s debut presents the so-called enemy imbued with childhood whimsy and human longing, their quotidian stories embellished with touches of magic realism. Rendered into English by Harvard professor Leafgren, who was inspired by 9/11 to learn Arabic, this international bestseller is both condemnation against politics and war and testimony to resilient humanity.’ * Booklist *‘Extraordinary... The author does an incredible job of painting a portrait of a neighborhood in Baghdad [and] writes beautifully of characters who immediately captivate you — characters who are relatable, but also imbued with a sense of magic. The life she writes of has an ethereal overlay, as if life is about much more than just living through war. In a country so often dehumanized by politics, Al-Rawi reminds us of the stories and people that make Iraq what it is.’ * Arab News *‘Through a child's perspective and using elements of magical realism, Al Rawi explores her protagonist's internal turbulence at a time in which uncertainty is a way of life and stability a myth.’ * The Tempest *‘Al Rawi writes with such enthusiasm for her subject matter, she injects her characters with beautiful quirks and personalities.’ * The Bookbag *‘Amazing...I am in awe of [Al Rawi's] ability to share profound thoughts from the point of view of such a young woman.’ * Sandra Yeaman, blog review *‘The Baghdad Clock is a wonderful human book... It's a brilliant and imaginative work that will capture both your heart and your mind.’ * Blogcritics *‘[Shahad Al Rawi] has skilfully interwoven fantasy and reality with a fine thread. She draws you through the story, leading you from one maze into another, as you stagger along in a state of perplexity, amazement and sheer delight.’ * al-Watan *

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Book SynopsisA DAILY MAIL 'Must Read' title Bookriot's 50 spring must-read crime novels 'One part mystery, one million parts amazing.' Cosmopolitan 'A coming-of-age drama as much as a crime story…haunting, atmospheric and genuinely mysterious.' Guardian ‘An entrancing, melancholy debut... Mesmerising.’ Daily Mail We lost all three girls that summer. Let them slip away like the words of some half-remembered song and when one came back, she wasn't the one we were trying to recall to begin with. Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the summer of 1992. That summer, the hottest on record, the Van Apfel sisters – Hannah, the beautiful Cordelia and Ruth – mysteriously disappeared. Did they run away? Or were they taken? The mystery of their disappearance has never been solved. Now, years later, Tikka has returned home and is beginning to piece together what really happened. The summer that shaped her. The girls she couldn’t forget.Trade Review'A coming-of-age drama as much as a crime story, this isn’t a book for those who like things wrapped up neatly, but readers who enjoy something haunting, atmospheric and genuinely mysterious have a treat in store.' * Guardian *'One part mystery, one million parts amazing, this debut from Felicity McLean will be a summer fave.' * Cosmopolitan *'Felicity McLean's accomplished debut...[is] a stunning piece of literary ventriloquism.' * Irish Times *‘An entrancing, melancholy debut... The landscape is superbly captured, but it is the relationship between Tikka and the sisters that lingers... Mesmerising.’ * Daily Mail *'Compelling...it doesn't disappoint...It's rare, and even unnerving, to read something like this and find it absent of fetishization of a young woman's life, and thus full of tenderness and compassion, and a real sense of what gets lost in these situations.' * Nylon magazine *'A taut, beautifully written thriller with a scorching expansive setting. The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a fantastic debut and a story that lingers.' * Lisa Ballantyne, author of The Guilty One *‘With echoes of Picnic at Hanging Rock, this is an atmospheric first novel.’ * Daily Mail, Must Read *'A smart, classy thriller that blazes with the heat of Australia and slowly reveals its many layers.' * Fiona Mozley, author of Elmet *'I deeply admire the languid, lived-in prose of Felicity McLean’s lovely novel The Van Apfel Girls are Gone. This is a story as much about forgiving ourselves our own childhoods, as it is about acknowledging and embracing the people we’ve become because of those adolescent (and sometimes life altering) choices.' * Hannah Pittard, author of Visible Empire *'This debut, part coming-of-age story and part crime thriller, is both forceful and unnerving.' * Publishers Weekly *'One would expect [Felicity McLean], who has a background in journalism and biography, to be particularly good at detailing the who, what, where, and when of a mysterious disappearance. She is.' * Washington Independent Review of Books *'Delicious attention to detail... [The Van Apfel Girls] is visceral and tangible.' * Trip Fiction *'Impressive... A well written story which convincingly evokes the place and time in which it is set.' * Crime Review *'Sharp, mysteriously moving and highly entertaining.' * Robert Drewe, author of Shark Net *'How do you escape your childhood, emotionally, actually? This compelling mystery by Felicity McLean has a rare depth of psychological and emotional truth. It will engage your heart.' * Delia Ephron, author of The Lion is In *'A hot, tense thriller set in the midst of a scorching Australian summer, The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is provocative, gripping, and sure to get under your skin.' * The Bookbag *'McLean expertly maintains an air of suspense as the tragedy unfolds. Tikka is an unforgettable, if not entirely reliable, narrator full of black humour, brutal honesty and naive curiosity. This novel is one that will haunt readers long after they have turned the last page.' * Bookseller + Publisher Five Star Review *'Engrossing and goosebumpy from start to finish, this novel about three young sisters who vanish all together one night has the chilling feel of true events that are stranger than fiction, and the stuff of nightmares. But the magic of McLean's art is not just her gift for evoking, in almost hallucinogenic detail, her haunted narrator's childhood – a time and place linked to Australia's notorious true-life story of a baby dragged off in the night by a wild animal – but to do so in the most charming and irresistible of narrative voices. The result is a novel that is as delightful as it is terrifying, and just scary good.' * Tim Johnston, bestselling author of Descent and The Current *'A smart debut. Beautifully atmospheric with its great sense of time and place.' * Melina Marchetta, author of On the Jellicoe Road *'I loved it.' * Bryan Brown, actor *'A wry, sad coming-of-age story and a well-crafted first novel.' * Kirkus *

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Book Synopsis'This atmospheric debut looks like a rural Irish coming-of-age novel, but it’s cleverer, darker, more unreliable.' Daily Mail AN IRISH INDEPENDENT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR AN IRISH INDEPENDENT CRITICS CHOICE FOR CHRISTMAS WINNER OF THE BERYL BAINBRIDGE BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD, 2020/2021 AN IRISH TIMES, IRISH INDEPENDENT and SUNDAY INDEPENDENT 'TITLE TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2020' Katie, Maeve and Evelyn have been friends forever. Outspoken, unpredictable and intoxicating, Evelyn is the undisputed leader of the trio. But Katie’s dream of escaping their tiny rural town for a new life in Dublin confronts her with a choice: to hold onto a friendship that has made her who she is, or risk leaving her best friend behind. Told from Katie’s witty, quirky perspective and filled with unforgettable characters, this moving, immersive and very funny study of sisterhood takes a keen-eyed look at the delights and complexities of female friendship, the corrosive power of jealousy and guilt, and the people and places that shape us. Compellingly readable and effortlessly sharp, fizzing with the voices of rural Ireland, this is an unmissable novel from a dazzling new talent.Trade Review'This was perfect. Shades of Elena Ferrante in the story of a country girl who leaves and the friend who stays behind. Light of touch but not light of substance. Great stuff.' -- Kathleen MacMahon, author of This is How it Ends'This atmospheric debut looks like a rural Irish coming-of-age novel, but it’s cleverer, darker, more unreliable.' * Daily Mail *'A fresh, clever look at the intricacies and jealousies of female friendship. This debut reads like a modern, mysterious version of Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls.' * Irish Examiner *'Hugely enjoyable, profound and humorous.' * Mayo News *‘Small town familiarity meets the Utopian promises of Dublin city as school finishes. Alcohol, grief and the pressure to have 'stories' to bring home to those at home destroy the silvery-spun webs of friendships. Astute and sharp, this is sublime.’ * The Book Nook *'Few writers have articulated the intricacies of friendship – the dependency, the uncertainty, the fragility of the pecking order – with as much authority….a debut bursting with heart.' * Irish Independent *'I loved this one... In some ways, this novel reminded me a fair bit of My Brilliant Friend, just a different time and place, but connected by those themes of friendship, moving on and breaking free.' * Theresa Smith Writes *'Macken's downplaying of major events, such as Pamela's disappearance and Katie's college years, resonates with the solipsism of youth... [She] gets a lot of mileage from Katie's beguiling voice and sardonic humor.' * Publishers Weekly *‘You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here vividly captures life in a close-knit community, while examining the intricacies and anxieties of female friendship… Katie is a vibrant creation, whose insights are often fresh and startling… The ups-and-downs of going places is ultimately what makes the narrative come to life.’ * Irish Times *'This exploration of the seething hinterland of growing up, with its often unspoken passions, unrequited longings and intense jealousies, is melancholy, funny, dark and affecting.' * Deborah Kay Davies, author of Reasons She Goes to the Woods *'A subtle, powerful debut novel. Quietly packing her emotional punches, never predictable, Macken’s prose is clear-eyed yet lyrical, and in Katie, she has created a truly touching (and at times very funny) protagonist... A new voice in fiction to celebrate.' * Anna Beer, author of Patriot or Traitor *'Readers will be charmed by the picture of Katie’s circle of friends and acquaintances... Macken's first novel will suit young adult and adult readers alike.' * Booklist *'Frances Macken's You Have To Make Your Own Fun Around Here charts the friendship of three small-town girls from their childhoods through to their early careers, exploring envy and self-belief with consistent, natural humour and spot-on observations.' * Caoilinn Hughes, author of Orchid & the Wasp *'It's funny, dark and brilliant on toxic friendships. I highly recommend.' * Jackie Lyman, Dublin City Libraries *'Frances Macken paints the very real scenario, that we leave, just to say that we did… A breath-taking novel from Irish writer, Frances Macken, shows us that while we may anchor our dreams around others, we can achieve them on our own.' * Waterford News and Star *'Written with a keen insight into female friendships and dripping with wit and charm, You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here is a truly immersive story. Macken has a visual eye, bringing simple scenes to life with a carefully chosen word or perceptive detail, and her ear for dialogue is pitch-perfect. The ways in which she captures the pull of the places we call home and the people from our childhoods who shape our lives is also impressive... Reminded me of the best of Maeve Binchy's work, albeit set in a more modern era.' -- Reading Matters'Mayo author Frances Macken captures the intricacies and anxieties of female friendship in this vibrant story set in the fictional small town of Glenbruff… Jealousy and guilt dog the three young women as they attempt to follow their dreams and make their mark in the world in this funny and at times dark tale.' -- Irish Independent'Following these young women from their childhood to their 20s, Macken's novel grapples with the successes and disappointments that splinter their friendship. This tension between expectation and reality — between dreams and growing up — becomes a driving narrative force in the novel... Macken thrives in making meaning out of the commonplace...as she traces Katie and Evelyn's friendship from early childhood to adulthood, inviting the reader to follow along.' -- NecessaryFiction

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Book SynopsisThere are 22 candidates. There are 12 seats.The last interstellar colony ship is down to its final batch of humans after the robots in charge unhelpfully deleted the rest. But rebooting a species and training them for the arduous task of colonisation isn’t easy – especially when the planet below is filled with monsters, the humans are more interested in asking questions than learning, and the robots are all programmed to kill each other.But the fate of humanity rests on creating a new civilization on the planet below, and there are twelve seats on the lander. Will manipulation or loyalty save the day?Trade Review“Had me fully on board in the first couple of pages, sticking with me long after finishing.” -- Frank Fleming, author of Superego * Frank Fleming *'Breakwell’s examination of society is as precise and pointed as his humor, taking readers on a roller-coaster ride to a bittersweet conclusion.' -- Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisSURVIVAL HAS CONSEQUENCESSeven years ago, the last survivor of Earth crashed through uncountable dimensions to a strange new world. Nick Prasad found shelter, and a living, as a prophet for the ruling family—servants of the Ancient Ones who destroyed his home.Now, he’s been offered a chance to rid the multiverse of the Ancient Ones, past and present and forever, although he’ll have to betray his new masters to do it.The first step is jailbreaking a god—and that’s the easy part...Trade ReviewA mind-bending and thoroughly satisfying conclusion to a truly singular series. * Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) *A pacy, wildly inventive story. * Aurealis *So freaking good. * Book Riot *

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Book Synopsis'A disturbing descent into a surreal world, written with a deft hand.' Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2016Deep in an unnamed, unknown rainforest, Ben Ronson, a British police officer, investigates a spate of killings of a local, vaguely humanoid species. With long limbs and black button eyes, the Duendes are strange and silent creatures that have a deep psychic effect on people, unleashing the subconscious and exposing their innermost thoughts and fears. Ben rapidly becomes fascinated by the Duendes, but as his inquiry unfolds so too does he. Beneath the World, A Sea is a tour de force of modern fiction - a deeply searching and unsettling novel about the human subconscious, and all that lies beneath.'Beckett is superb at undercutting reader assumptions with a casual line of dialogue or acute psychological observation: the book reads like Conrad's Heart of Darkness reimagined by JG Ballard.' Guardian Trade ReviewA disturbing descent into a surreal world, written with a deft hand. * Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2016 *Beckett is superb at undercutting reader assumptions with a casual line of dialogue or acute psychological observation: the book reads like Conrad's Heart of Darkness reimagined by JG Ballard. * Guardian *Utterly compelling... it lingers in the memory. 5*s * SFX *The Eden trilogy is a remarkable achievement: with wit, insight and invention Beckett has imagined a scientific Genesis not just about a society, but about the culture and myths that sustain it. It is both politically astute and theologically compelling. * Stuart Kelly, Guardian, on the Eden Trilogy *Chris Beckett is a genius * Eric Brown on Spring Tide *Eden is building into one of most vivid and fascinating places in modern SF. * Eddie Robson, SFX (review for The Eden Trilogy) *An uneasy read that manages to feel both timely and urgent... Beckett offers an intelligent, visceral reminder that unless we change what today looks like, tomorrow will be turbulent indeed. * Guardian on America City *Compelling... a grim demonstration of how one person can change history, but not control it. * SFX on America City *A captivating and haunting book * Daily Mail on Dark Eden *

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Book Synopsis· · NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY NYLON, ELECTRIC LITERATURE, THE MILLIONS AND LITHUB · ·____________________'Soulful, striking and ablaze with promise' Observer__________________At the Beijing Olympics, a pair of synchronized divers stand poised at the edge of success and sexual self-discovery. A Chinese-American girl in Paris finds her life changed when she begins wearing a dead person's clothes. And on a winter evening, a father creates an algorithm to troubleshoot the problem of raising a daughter across an ever-widening gulf of culture and experience.From second-generation rich kids and livestream stars to a glass-swallowing qigong grandmaster, this funny and wise debut collection upends the well-worn path of the immigrant experience to reveal a new face of belonging: of young people testing the limits of who they are and who they will one day become, in a world as vast and various as their ambitions.__________________'Artful, funny, generous and empathetic' Lauren Groff, author of Florida'Sublimely captivating' Vogue'Striking, soulful and ablaze with promise.' ObserverTrade ReviewStriking, soulful and ablaze with promise. * Observer *Remarkable...Wang captures the strivings and uncertainty of Chinese youth establishing themselves in America and beyond...[A] deft, striking debut. * New York Observer, Spring 2019 Must-Read Books *The sixteen stories in Home Remedies are so artful, funny, generous and empathetic that they'll linger in readers for weeks after you finish the book. Xuan Juliana Wang is a radiant new talent. -- Lauren Groff * author of Fates and Furies *In just 12 stories, Wang manages to whip up the portrait of a generation...Proving herself to be anincredible new talent and giving voice to Chinese millennials, this is a short story collection you need to read this summer. * Stylist *An exciting, electric new voice... Sublime. * Financial Times *The dozen stories in this dazzling and unclassifiable collection interrogate the fractures, collisions and glorious new alloys of what it means to be a Chinese Millennial. Xuan Juliana Wang has the dark soul of an old poet's inkwell, the deep knowing of an ancient remedy, and linguistic incandescence of a megacity skyline. Trust these stories to show you the way. * Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Orphan Master's Son *With style, verve and grace, Wang brings a new perspective to stories about family and community. Both modern and innovative, her stories surprise and challenge in wonderful, wonderful ways. * Weike Wang, author of Chemistry *Tasty little bits of perfection. One of the great debuts of the year. * Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story *The American dream goes global in Xuan Juliana Wang's spectacular debut.... Moving from lower Manhattan to mainland China, the dozen tales in the collection are peopled by immigrants in limbo and Asian millennials riding high on WeChat and rock'n'roll.... Sublimely captivating. * Vogue *Endearing characters with bizarre fixations fill Wang's superb debut collection, a perfect book to dip into this summer.... Wang's striking characters are fresh, clever, and shouldn't be missed. * Publishers Weekly *Bright * Elle *Studded with poetic lines... Home Remedies is full of soulful, Beijing-based coming-of-age stories. * Skinny *Clever and strange, these stories move from America to China and back again, with themes of identity, privilege and race. * Independent *Elements of the surreal and the elegiac mixed in with the comedy and social satire. A memorable collection. * Dan Brotzel, The Scotsman *A striking demonstration of Wang's versatile storytelling gifts, presenting a range of characters, perspectives, and formal choices that prove she has the tools to write a story in whatever way it needs to be written. Home Remedies is filled with characters facing boundaries to be crossed: cultural, familial, economic, political. The magic of these stories radiates from the friction created as characters enter new worlds and try, imperfectly, to make a home for themselves. * The Rumpus *Xuan Juliana Wang's remarkable debut introduces us to the new and changing face of Chinese youth... her dazzling, formally inventive stories upend the immigrant narrative to reveal a new experience of belonging: of young people testing the limits of who they are, in a world as vast and varied as their ambitions... In stories of love, family, and friendship, here are the voices, faces and stories of a new generationnever before captured between the pages in fiction. What sets them apart is Juliana Wang's surprising imagination, able to capture the innermost thoughts of her characters with astonishing empathy. * Book Riot *

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Book Synopsis· Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2020 ·· One of Barack Obama's "Favourite Books of the Year" ·· A New York Times Critics' Top Books of 2019 ·'A superb book' Max Porter, author of Lanny____________________________________Stories of a young man finding his place among family and community in Houston, from a powerful, emerging American voice.In an apartment block, the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He's working at his family's restaurant, trying to dodge his brother's fists and resenting his older sister's absence. He's also discovering he likes boys...All around him his friends and neighbours experience the tumult of living in the margins. Their stories - of living, thriving and dying across the city's myriad neighbourhoods - are stitched throughout the boy's life to reveal a young woman caught out in an affair, the fortunes of a rag-tag baseball team and a group of young hustlers, a local drug dealer who takes a Guatemalan teen under his wing, and the fate of a camera-shy mythical beast. With brilliant and soulful insight into what makes a community, a family and a life, Lot is about love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.Trade ReviewAudacious... Profound * New York Times *Enthralling... Subtle but bruising * Guardian *Gut-wrenching and powerful * Cosmopolitan *An astonishing debut... Extraordinary * Alan Hollinghurst, New York Review of Books *A superb book * Max Porter, author of 'Lanny' *A treat and an inspiration to witness * Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous *Stunning... one of the strongest literary debuts in several years. * NPR *Washington cracks open a vibrant, polyglot side of Houston about which few outsiders are aware * New York Times *Washington's prose sings with vibrancy * The Rumpus *Phenomenal * Justin Torres, author of 'We the Animals' *Lot spills over with life - funny, tender, and profane * Entertainment Weekly *Generous, powerful, deeply engrossing * R.O. Kwon, author of 'The Incendiaries' *A brilliant display of raw talent * Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of 'Here Comes the Sun' *Unflinching... a prodigious talent. * Mat Johnson, author of 'Loving Day' and 'Pym' *Raw, soulful and moving * Jami Attenberg, author of 'The Middlesteins' *A thrilling new voice in American fiction and one to watch * Amelia Gray, author of 'Isadora' *Raw, empathic and wise... achingly intimate and brilliantly panoramic * Stefan Merrill Block, author of 'The Story of Forgetting' *Will stay with you for a very long time... powerful * Jamel Brinkley, author of 'A Lucky Man' *Depicts its author's hometown of Houston with empathy, tragedy, and exceptional specificity * Entertainment Weekly *Washington's debut reads like a love letter to Houston * New York Times *Empathetic and honest, tender and brutal at once, Lot quips with humour and explores grief and each stop in between. Lot feels like a living, breathing book... As debuts go, these characters and prose leap from the page. * Heather McDaid, The Skinny *Extraordinary * Southern Living *Lot belongs foremost to its characters, who ask to be remembered, even long after their pages have turned. * Paris Review *[F]unny, sad, wise & very alive in the best way * Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Sisterland (Twitter) *Stellar... a remarkable collection from a writer to watch. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review *Brutal, raw and blisteringly brilliant... Outstanding. * Attitude *Compassionate, observant, tough; often funny, always authentic * The Big Issue *Visceral and raw... beautifully delicate prose... A terrific read! * Irish Times *Ambitious but never forced... Washington makes the place sing with his sharp, rap-style lyricism. * Irish Times *

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Book Synopsis***WINNER of the 2021 RSL Ondaatje Prize***'I binged it like a Netflix show... It's stunning' Luke Kennard, author of The Transition______________________________A photograph is hung on a gallery wall for the very first time since it was taken two decades before. It shows a slaughter house in rural Ireland, a painting of the Virgin Mary on the wall, a meat hook suspended from the ceiling - and, from its sharp point, the lifeless body of a man hanging by his feet. The story of who he is and how he got there casts back into Irish folklore, of widows cursing the land and of the men who slaughter its cattle by hand. But modern Ireland is distrustful of ancient traditions, and as the BSE crisis in England presents get-rich opportunities in Ireland, few care about The Butchers, the eight men who roam the country, slaughtering the cows of those who still have faith in the old ways. Few care, that is, except for Fionn, the husband of a dying woman who still believes; their son Davey, who has fallen in love with the youngest of the Butchers; Gra, the lonely wife of one of the eight; and her 12-year-old daughter, Una, a girl who will grow up to carry a knife like her father, and who will be the one finally to avenge the man in the photograph.Trade ReviewThis strange and poignant book grips throughout, offering a vivid portrait of one of Ireland's less heralded corners. * Guardian *Gilligan writes with clarity and compassion, resulting in an outstanding contemporary twist on the great Irish novel. Enchanting, ethereal and enlightening. Highly recommended. * Irish Sunday Independent *Exhilarating... I was hooked from the first page -- Donal Ryan, author of From a Low and Quiet SeaThe Butchers by Ruth Gilligan is a funny, sad, beautiful book that asks how you make a new life when your world changes. So much is packed into these pages about family, about greed, about love, and about desperation. Oh and it has the perfect ending. * Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You and Starling Days *Flawlessly, intricately plotted, but with such a compelling central mystery that I binged it like a Netflix show... The Butchers is deeply humane and astute on why we might take even the worst options available to us, at times deeply poignant and genuinely moving. It's stunning. * Luke Kennard, author of The Transition *Plot twists worthy of Tana French... dark, wild, mythic, unsuspecting, and absolutely riveting -- Colum McCann, author of ApeirogonThis is a remarkable novel. The story is utterly compelling and the characters so well-drawn I found myself reading faster and faster as the plot progressed. Gilligan paints a disturbing portrait of rural Ireland which is both modern and ancient, firmly grounded in the realistic and hauntingly otherworldly. * Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters *Immersive... Gilligan is a writer I admire * Jess Kidd, Daily Mail *I binged it like a Netflix show... It's stunning * Luke Kennard, author of The Transition *I found The Butchers haunting and compelling. The relationships between daughter, mother and landscape move in strange harmony with a story about Irish modernity and masculinity. * Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater *Excellent... completely gripping * Evie Wyld, author of The Bass Rock *I loved The Butchers. Filmic and sensory, full of heifers and grift. * Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times *It's gripping, Gothic, and moody. * Buzzfeed *A subtle and enthralling novel * Sebastian Barry, author of A Thousand Moons *

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Book SynopsisAfter the loss of war, can there be hope for the future?Manchester, 1922.Belinda Layton is a surplus girl. One of the many women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, with the death of her beloved fiancé, Ben. After four years of mourning, she's ready to face the future, even though Ben's family is not happy to see her move on, and her own only cares about getting hold of her meagre factory wages. Then, Belinda joins a secretarial class and a whole new world opens up to her as she quickly finds herself drawn to beguiling bookshop owner Richard Carson. But after all the loss and devastation she has experienced, can she really trust him with her heart?The first in a quartet of sagas set during the early 1920s, following three Surplus Girls - those women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, after the deaths of millions of young men, and the new lives they forged for themselves.Trade ReviewA promising start to a new saga set in the years between the wars... An enjoyable read full of good friends and bad characters. * People's Friend *A real page-turner that will tug on your heart strings * Anna Jacobs *Pleasant and engaging * NB Magazine *

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Book SynopsisAfter the devastation of war, a child's love heals everything.Manchester, 1922: Molly Watson has had enough. Engaged for the last three years to a penny-pinching pedant, she finally decides she'd rather be a surplus girl than marry a man she doesn't truly love. Aware of the need to support herself if she is to remain single all her life, she joins a secretarial class to learn new skills, and a whole world opens up to her.When she gets a job at St Anthony's Orphanage, she befriends caretaker Aaron Abrams. But a misunderstanding leaves them at loggerheads, and damages her in the eyes of the children she has come to care so deeply about. Can she recover her reputation, her livelihood, and her budding friendship, before it's too late?The second in a quartet of sagas set during the early 1920s, following three Surplus Girls - those women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, after the deaths of millions of young men, and the new lives they forged for themselves.Trade ReviewA promising start to a new saga set in the years between the wars... An enjoyable read full of good friends and bad characters. * People's Friend on the Surplus Girls *A real page-turner that will tug on your heart strings -- Anna Jacobs on 'The Surplus Girls'Pleasant and engaging * NB Magazine on The Surplus Girls *The best saga I have read. The restricted lives of women in the inter-war period is captured perfectly, with a fresh eye and brilliant story-telling... A pleasure to read. * Frost Magazine *

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Book SynopsisSophie, a twenty-something Jim Morrison groupie gliding through a golden existence in L.A., and Lola, a German immigrant who has settled in Hollywood, know that while Los Angeles is constantly changing, it is essentially eternal. The two women dazzle - one with the promises of youth, the other with the fulfilment of nostalgia - as they wend their way through the pink sunsets and the palm trees of Los Angeles.Living out their addictively decadent lives, Sophie and Lola are cult writer Babitz's literary embodiment of the iconic L.A. Woman - more than in part inspired by her own wild and hedonistic youth.Trade ReviewPraise for Sex & Rage: As cool, sharp and delicious as a perfectly executed Mint Julep. Babitz writes with wit and clarity - and always, always with a whole lot of heart -- ELIZABETH DAYBabitz writes like no one else, but if she sounds like anyone, it is Nora Ephron writing songs for Lana del Rey. Sex & Rage is seductive, funny and infuriating - it's a slacker siren song, a novel about writers and writing and a heavenly holiday to '70s LA all at once -- DAISY BUCHANANPure pleasure - a perpetual-motion machine of no-stakes elation and champagne fizz * * New Yorker * *Babitz's style is cool, conversational, loose, yet weighted with a seemingly effortless poetry * * Guardian * *Gritty, glamorous, toxic and intoxicating * * The New York Times * *Babitz's talent is in the telling. She surfs between prose and poetry, describing tenderness and cruelty with equally weighted vividness, and lacerates with her wit. Even though the book is forty years old, the title is more resonant than ever . . . Jacaranda's greatest dilemmas feel painfully contemporary * * Independent * *Eve Babitz is to prose what Chet Baker, with his light, airy style, lyrical but also rhythmic, detached but also sensuous, is to jazz * * Vanity Fair * *A beautiful stylist . . . The joy of Babitz's writing is in her ability to suggest that an experience is very nearly out of language while still articulating its force within it * * New Republic * *The portrait of the artist as an ever-evolving young woman * * W * *

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