Narrative theme: coming of age
Amazon Publishing Woke Up Like This: A Novel
Book Synopsis“Amy Lea’s Woke Up Like This reminded me that the exciting and complicated feelings of our teenage years never truly fade away. The book perfectly captures high school nostalgia . . . It’s a feel-good story for the young and young at heart.” —Mindy Kaling For two high school seniors, it’s seventeen going on thirty—overnight—in a magical romantic comedy about growing up too fast and living in the moment. Planning the perfect prom is one last “to do” on ultra-organized Charlotte Wu’s high school bucket list. So far, so good, if not for a decorating accident that sends Charlotte crash-landing off a ladder, face-first into her obnoxiously ripped archnemesis J. T. Renner. Worse? When Charlotte wakes up, she finds herself in an unfamiliar bed at thirty years old, with her bearded fiancé, Renner, by her side. Either they’ve lost their minds or they’ve been drop-kicked into adulthood, forever trapped in the thirty-year-old bodies of their future selves. With each other as their only constant, Charlotte and Renner discover all that’s changed in the time they’ve missed. Charlotte also learns there’s more to Renner than irritating-jock charm, and that reaching the next milestone isn’t as important as what happens in between. Navigating a series of adventures and a confounding new normal, Charlotte and Renner will do whatever it takes to find a way back to seventeen. But when—and if—they do, what then?Trade Review“Lea creates a story that is part 13 Going on 30, part To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (both referenced in the pop-culture savvy text), and 100% swoony fun… A fun, nostalgic story that’s perfect for anyone who wants to take a trip down Memory Lane.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Lea has a sure hand with the slow-burning enemies-to-lovers relationship between her leads, making their path toward each other both entertaining and endearing. Romance fans will eat this up.” —Publishers Weekly “A fun, easily sharable, widely appealing romance that will have a big audience…” —Booklist “Amy Lea’s Woke Up Like This reminded me that the exciting and complicated feelings of our teenage years never truly fade away. The book perfectly captures high school nostalgia…It’s a feel-good story for the young and young at heart.” —Mindy Kaling “Woke Up Like This is witty, earnest, charming, and intensely seventeen. It perfectly captures the highs and lows of being on the brink of big life changes and the thrill of first love (and first hate).” —Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis “Woke Up Like This charmed me from page one and I never wanted it to end! Perfect for fans of Kasie West and Jenny Han, this book is guaranteed to suck you in and force you to read it in one sitting. Ten out of ten would recommend!” —Lynn Painter, New York Times bestselling author of Better Than the Movies
£8.99
And Other Stories Split Tooth
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the 2023-2024 Gordon Burn Prize Longlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner of the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award for Published Prose in English Fact can be as strange as fiction. It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them. An Inuk girl grows up in Nunavut, Canada, in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents' love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us. When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this. In this acclaimed debut novel - haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once - Tanya Tagaq explores the grittiest features of a small Arctic town and the electrifying proximity of the worlds of animals and of myth.Trade Review'Tagaq's surreal meld of poetry and prose transmutes the Arctic's boundless beauty, intensity, and desolation into a wrenching contemporary mythology.' The New Yorker ---- 'Though the protagonist's coming-of-age story, generously and lovingly documented by Tagaq, is the anchor, Split Tooth is not a book that can be fully absorbed in one sitting. It's possible to sink deeper and deeper into the narrative with each successive reading. Like a smirking teenager, Split Tooth blithely gives typical literary expectations the finger, daring us to see and experience narrative as chaotic, emotional, and deeply instinctive. And it succeeds.' Quill and Quire ---- 'A raw, powerful voice breathes fresh air into traditional Inuit folklore to create a modern tale of mythological proportions.' Kirkus ---- '[Split Tooth] straddles the line between memoir and fiction, prose and poetry, magic and harsh reality. . . [and] is infused with Tagaq's intimate knowledge of life in the Arctic.' Oprah Magazine ---- '[A] forceful coming-of-age tale.' Toronto Life magazine ---- 'In [Tanya Tagaq]'s forthcoming novel, Split Tooth, there's a chapter called "Ritual" that is such a distillation of childhood magic and refuge that it made me feel like I was reading Tove Jansson or Roald Dahl for the first time.' Sean Michaels ---- 'Tanya Tagaq has written a book that should re-arrange the reader's mind and very being in her astounding Split Tooth. She uses the narrative arc of a coming of age story to tell of coming of age in a northern, indigenous community that includes close experience of abuse, village violence, colonial exploitation, and also close kin ties, birth, death, a knowing of how we are really fed, an awareness of how small life can be, and how large ... I look forward to putting this book in people's hands.' Rick Simonson, owner of Elliott Bay Book Company ---- 'In simplest terms, Split Tooth is a punch to the throat...a stellar first novel; an incredible work of Canadian, indigenous, and world literatures.' PopMatters ---- 'Tagaq has broken a new trail for all future Inuit writers to tread upon, describing the lived world of an Inuk child with writing that is breathtaking and singular...With this work Tagaq has reshaped what Inuit literature is... it is impossible to stop reading. It is delicious. And offers a new way forward for Inuit authors.' Inuit Art Quarterly
£13.49
Vintage Publishing The Wren, The Wren: From the Booker Prize-winning
Book SynopsisCarmel had been alone all her life. The baby knew this. They looked at each other, and all of time was there. The baby knew how vast her mother's loneliness had been.'A magnificent novel' SALLY ROONEY, author of Normal PeopleNell - funny, brave and so much loved - is a young woman with adventure on her mind. As she sets out into the world, she finds her family history hard to escape. For her mother, Carmel, Nell's leaving home opens a space in her heart, where the turmoil of a lifetime begins to churn. And across the generations falls the long shadow of Carmel's famous father, an Irish poet of beautiful words and brutal actions.This is a meditation on love: spiritual, romantic, darkly sexual or genetic. A multigenerational novel that traces the inheritance not just of trauma but also of wonder, it is a testament to the glorious resilience of women in the face of promises false and true. Above all, it is an exploration of the love between mother and daughter - sometimes fierce, often painful, but always transcendent.***A THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023******ONE OF THE BBC’S ’25 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023’***'One of our greatest living novelists' THE TIMES'Might just be her best yet' LOUISE KENNEDY, author of Trespasses'Gem-packed language... A must-read' MARGARET ATWOOD (via Twitter)Trade ReviewThe Wren, The Wren is a magnificent novel. Anne Enright's stylistic brilliance seems to put the reader directly in touch with her characters and the rich territory of their lives -- Sally Rooney, author of NORMAL PEOPLEThe Wren, The Wren may be her best book yet * Guardian, *Books of the Year* *Wonderful… This deceptively modest novel is the kind of book that will work on you long after you have put it down * Sunday Times, *Books of the Year* *These pages practically crackle with intelligence, compassion and wit. Phil McDaragh is so real I almost googled him. The Wren, The Wren might just be Anne Enright's best yet -- Louise Kennedy, author of TrespassesAnne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren is so good they named it twice, so good I read it twice – and read two different novels, because moral positions are incorrigibly plural in Enrightville * Observer, *Books of the Year* *Gritty, sad, sly, riotous... Gem-packed language that fizzes like a sidewalk firecracker. A must-read -- Margaret Atwood, author of THE HANDMAID'S TALE (via Twitter)The Wren, The Wren is Anne Enright at her lyrical, storytelling best -- Nicola Sturgeon * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *This is the golden age of Irish prose fiction. Of our many prodigiously talented novelist, few have the all-encompassing deftness of touch of Anne Enright * Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year* *One of my books of any year. It’s about womanhood, youth and that slow, painful, but joyous estrangement that emerges between mother and daughter as life runs its tumultuous course -- Michael Magee * Observer, *Books of the Year* *A work of astounding ventriloquism and hard-won hope about women’s lives * Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year* *
£14.24
Algonquin Books The Adult
Book Synopsis
£20.25
Entangled Publishing, LLC Full Measures
Book SynopsisTwenty years as an army brat and Ember Howard knew, too. The soldiers at the door meant her dad was never coming home. What she didn't know was how she would find the strength to singlehandedly care for her crumbling family when her mum falls apart. Then Josh Walker enters her life. Hockey star, her new next-door neighbour, and not to mention the most delicious hands that insist on saving her over and over again. He has a way of erasing the pain with a single look, a single touch. As much as she wants to turn off her feelings and endure the heartache on her own, she can't deny their intense attraction. Until Josh's secret shatters their world. And Ember must decide if he's worth the risk that comes with loving a man who could strip her bare.
£13.29
Penguin Putnam Inc Twisted Palace
Book SynopsisThe TikTok sensation Twisted Palace, the third in the #1 New York Times bestselling The Royals series, now in a new special edition with bonus material!From mortal enemies to unexpected allies, two teenagers try to protect everything that matters most.These Royals will ruin you…Ella Harper has met every challenge that life has thrown her way. She’s tough, resilient, and willing to do whatever it takes to defend the people she loves, but the challenge of a long-lost father and a boyfriend whose life is on the line might be too much for even Ella to overcome.Reed Royal has a quick temper and even faster fists. But his tendency to meet every obstacle with violence has finally caught up with him. If he wants to save himself and the girl he loves, he’ll need to rise above his tortured past and tarnished reputation.No one believes Ella can survive the Royals. Everyone is sure Reed will destroy them all.Th
£14.45
Penguin Putnam Inc Sam A Read with Jenna Pick
Book Synopsis
£15.30
Astra Publishing House The Ice Orphan
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPraise for The Ice Lion"With this engrossing series launch, Gear conjures a vivid postapocalyptic world.... This mesmerizing adventure through a world destroyed by climate change is sure to have readers hooked." —Publishers Weekly"Gear brings her vast knowledge of prehistoric cultures to this climate-fiction tale with beautiful and engaging worldbuilding.... A loose, beautiful tapestry of a tale." —Kirkus Reviews"Written by both a master storyteller and scientist, it’s a chilling tale of a different climate change." —Amazing Stories"The icy setting, with its mountains and ocean, provide a cold backdrop to the warmth of the peoples, whose lives are going to be inescapably altered when paths cross and the past is excavated." —Whiskey with my Book
£14.44
HarperCollins Publishers Tracy Flick Cant Win
Book SynopsisSoon to be a major filmTracy Flick, star of Election and one of the most memorable characters of our time, returns in this dark and insightful comedy about midlife.Ambitious and hardworking Tracy Flick feels underappreciated and stuck. Her job as a high school assistant principal isn't the political career she dreamed of as an over-achieving teen, so when the longtime principal abruptly announces his retirement, offering a rare chance of promotion, Tracy is filled with zeal at the prospect of success.But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be. As she takes her shot at the top job, her male colleagues' determination to honour Vito Falcone, a star quarterback of dubious character, triggers troubling memories of her high school experience, and storm clouds brewing in her present her goals, career and relationships send Tracy spiralling.One of the great writers that we have today. I love this book' Harlan CobenEngrossing and mordanTrade Review‘Engrossing and mordantly funny’ People ‘Told with Perrotta’s piercing wit, wisdom, and exquisite insight into human folly, Tracy’s second act delivers acerbic insight about frustrated ambition’ Esquire ‘One of the great writers that we have today. I love this book’ Harlan Coben ‘This is the rare sequel that lives up to the original’ Publishers Weekly ‘Brilliant, biting satire’ Associated Press ‘Humorous yet humane . . . prescient, darkly comical’San Francisco Chronicle ‘Short chapters from many perspectives keep readers alternately laughing and gasping’ Los Angeles Times ‘Perrotta’s great gift is that he lets his love for his characters, flaws and all, shine through. . . . I was rooting hard for Tracy Flick to, finally, win’ Seattle Times
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Hello Beautiful
Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK BARACK OBAMA SUMMER READ MORE THAN ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! BEAUTIFUL, PERCEPTIVE, WISTFUL' Miranda Cowley HellerANN NAPOLITANO'S WRITING IS ASTONISHING' Marian KeyesRADIANT AND BRILLIANTLY CRAFTED' New York Times------------------------------------Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So, when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano, it''s as if the world has lit up around him.With Julia comes her family: Sylvie, the family''s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. But when darkness from William''s past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?------------------------------------A luminously beautiful novel' ObserverI very nearly missed my stop on the train. It was that good' ElleA novel of rare yet classic beauty' i PaperA moving, tender family epic' Pandora SykesTrade ReviewNapolitano's prose is so lovely, so keenly perceptive, that it held me captive until I finished -- Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, YesA profoundly moving and propulsive novel of the deepest connections of family and love, trauma and healing. A book to treasure and share with friends and loved ones -- Angie Kim, bestselling author of Miracle CreekThis powerfully affecting novel illustrates [that] love and luck don't always intertwine * People Magazine *This is a story about family, and sisters... and how love can be redeemed -- Therese Anne Fowler, author of It All Comes Down to ThisRadiant and brilliantly crafted * New York Times *Beautiful, perceptive, wistful. I loved it -- Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper PalaceAnn Napolitano's writing is astonishing -- Marian Keyes, author of Grown UpsAs addictive as last year's The Paper Palace * Grazia *This is a big-hearted, beautiful and wise family saga. Napolitano creates real, flawed characters - and makes you see the world anew. So wonderful as to be unmissable * Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month *
£15.29
Atria Books Shmutz
Book Synopsis“Hilarious and endearing...Shmutz is a dirty book with a pure heart.” —The New York Times In this witty, provocative, and “compulsively readable coming-of-age story” (Cosmopolitan), a young Hasidic woman on a quest to get married fears she will never find a groom because of her secret addiction to porn.Like the other women in her ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn community, Raizl expects to find a husband through an arranged marriage. Unlike the other women, Raizl has a secret. With a hidden computer to help her complete her college degree, she falls down the slippery slope of online pornography. As Raizl dives deeper into the world of porn at night, her daytime life begins to unravel. Between combative visits with her shrink to complicated arranged dates, Raizl must balance her growing understanding of her sexuality with the expectations of the family she loves. “Clever, subversive, juicy, and surprising” (Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies), Shmutz explores what it means to be a fully realized sexual and spiritual being caught between the traditional and modern worlds.
£14.24
HarperCollins Publishers Bad Fruit The unforgettable gripping and highly
Book SynopsisEVERY FAMILY HAS ITS SECRETS . . .A beautiful, bewitching, unsettling and unputdownable dream of a book . . . .I genuinely loved this, it will stay with me for a long time' LISA JEWELLA blistering thriller' NEW YORK TIMESImpossible to put down' CHRIS WHITAKER____________________________________________________________Seventeen-year-old Lily has a loving, normal family. So why does it suddenly feel like secrets are stirring? Like Mama is about to crack?As a storm of memories builds over one stifling summer, Lily must recast everything. What if her house isn't a home but a prison? What if her mother isn't a protector but a monster . . .Bold, beautifully told, and bound to keep you turning this pages, this is an unforgettable story about a family gone bad . . ._________________________________________________________________Readers love getting a taste of BAD FRUIT:Best book I have read in a long long time. Intelligently written, really well paced. I devoured this' Reader review ?????A Trade Review‘A chilling literary thriller’ GRAZIA ‘Disturbing, poignant and memorable all at once – an exploration of a very dark relationship between a daughter and her mother’ OBSERVER ‘A riveting novel exploring how family ties can both make us and break us’ RED ‘Searing’ ELLE ‘A compelling debut that fizzes with tension from start to finish . . . this is a darkly fascinating, tightly plotted narrative from a writer to watch’ HARPER’S BAZAAR ‘A family overflowing with secrets. Bad Fruit is dark, compelling and beautifully written’ LOUISE HARE ‘Beautiful, disturbing, impossible to put down. Bad Fruit heralds a seriously impressive new talent in Ella King’ CHRIS WHITAKER ‘Thrilling and suspenseful, King’s exemplary novel will keep readers fascinated until the end’ BOOKLIST, starred review ‘A beautiful collision of mothers and daughters, human darkness and human kindness, truth and lies’ SARAH MAY ‘Compelling and wicked, Bad Fruit is a novel about the darkest of family secrets and the lies we tell ourselves in order to live with them. This is an intimate, compulsive thriller best read on a hot summer night’ JING-JING LEE ‘Tense, intense and intriguing. Ella King is a genuinely exciting new voice’ KATE HAMER ‘King is unflinching as she examines the hard questions about family. What defines belonging? Looks, care, secrets? How do you understand someone who loves you and hurts you? In Bad Fruit, guilt, hate, and love mingle powerfully’ ROWAN HISAYO BUCHANAN ‘Bad Fruit is brilliant, taut and explosive. Ella King deftly explores the toxicity of generational trauma while being unafraid to confront the racial tensions that can simmer below the surface. A bold new voice’ HELENA LEE 'At once beautiful and harrowing’ L V MATTHEWS ‘Mesmerizing, dream-like and darkly suspenseful’ FRANCES CHA
£9.49
Sourcebooks, Inc You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince
Book SynopsisAn "effervescent" (Rachel Lynn Solomon) Christmas LGBTQIA+ New Adult RomCom, perfect for fans of Schitt's Creek and Red White & Royal Blue.Bring a little joy to the world?Not today, Santa.Matthew Prince is young, rich, and thoroughly spoiled. So what if his parents barely remember he exists and the press is totally obsessed with him? He's on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew is cut off and shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents' charming small town hellscape. Population: who cares?It's bad enough he's stuck in some festive winter wonderland-it's even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local who's unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does.Just when it looks like the holiday season is bringing nothing but heated squabbles, the charity gala loses its coordinator and Matthew steps in as a saintly act to get home early on good behavior...with Hector as his maddening plus-one. But even a Grinch can't resist the unexpected joy of found family, and in the end, the forced proximity and infectious holiday cheer might be enough to make a lonely Prince's heart grow three sizes this year.People Are Raving About Timothy Janovsky:"This book made my queer heart so very full and deeply happy."-Anita Kelly"A cinematic daydream guaranteed to steal your heart."-Julian Winters"Wonderfully upbeat and sweet."-Suzanne Park"Full of hope and heart."-Alexandria Bellefleur"[A] fresh, sweet, and swoony love story that blends coming-of-age comedy with the nuances of exploring sexual identity."-Alison Cochrun
£14.50
Atlantic Books Limberlost
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2023'Arnott has an eye and an ear for description that can elevate otherwise quiet moments to something genuinely transcendent... A luminously told, whole-life story of a young boy discovering how to be his own man.' GuardianNed West dreams of sailing across the river on a boat of his very own. To Ned, a boat means freedom - the fresh open water, squid-rich reefs, fires on private beaches - a far cry from life on Limberlost, the family farm, where his father worries and grieves for Ned's older brothers. They're away fighting in a ruthless and distant war, becoming men on the battlefield, while Ned - too young to enlist - roams the land in search of rabbits to shoot, selling their pelts to fund his secret boat ambitions. But as the seasons pass and Ned grows up, real life gets in the way. Ned falls for Callie, the tough, capable sister of his best friend, and together they learn the lessons of love, loss, and hardship. When a storm decimates the Limberlost crop and shakes the orchard's future, Ned must decide what to protect: his childhood dreams, or the people and the land that surround him... At turns tender and vicious, Limberlost is a tale of the masculinities we inherit, the limits of ownership and understanding, and the teeming, vibrant wonders of growing up. Told in spellbinding, folkloric spirit, this is an unforgettable love letter to the richness of the natural world from a writer of rare talent.Trade ReviewBursts with language... an ode to the fierce and the feral * Sunday Times *Arnott has an eye and an ear for description that can elevate otherwise quiet moments to something genuinely transcendent... A luminously told, whole-life story of a young boy discovering how to be his own man. * Guardian *Carries echoes of Ernest Hemingway... a beautiful, pared-back exploration of masculinity, and the sustaining nature of dreams. * Big Issue *Wonderfully vivid * Daily Mail *Limberlost is as close to flawless as any book I have read in years. The poise and precision of Arnott's writing lends restraint to the fury at Limberlost's heart. * Jessie Greengrass, author of THE HIGH HOUSE *Spectacular and stunning. In a novel steeped in the natural landscapes of Tasmania, Arnott captures a very relatable youthful male anxiety that exists between fathers and sons. Very subtle and deeply moving. * Nick Bradley, author of THE CAT AND THE CITY *It is an unforgettable story, humble, transporting, and filled with grace and bravery. It's one of the strongest things I've read for a very long time. * Cynan Jones, author of COVE and THE DIG *Robbie Arnott is the sort of young writer we all hoped would emerge in Australia, a Conrad-like storyteller whose tales always tremble on the edge of the mythic and legendary. And as well as being a splendid narrator of tales, he has a quality too easily overlooked now. He writes beautifully! * Thomas Keneally, author of THE DICKENS BOY *Ned-with his shame and pride-blazes his way into your heart. A tender, soaring novel from one of Australia's finest writers. * Sisonke Msimang, author of The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela *An immersive experience, a story that is deeply embedded in the language of its environment... Scaled right down to a single, humble life, Limberlost is lit up by the energy of that life's relationships. It serves as a reminder of the complicated position humans occupy, tangled as we are in the webs of interdependence, of pain and responsibility and care, that bind us to a world much greater than ourselves. * Australian Book Review *In Limberlost magic lies in lyrical language and the powerfully real characters brought to life through it...This is a novel about the deepest of emotions, about love, the fear of loss, and about joy. * Age *Robbie Arnott is a tremendously talented and unique voice in Australian literature, and his third novel, Limberlost, exceeded all my expectations. It is a gorgeously written coming-of-age novel...a touching and profound depiction of connection, grief and familial love. * Readings Monthly *This book is something special: tender, sad, exceptionally well-written [and] unexpectedly moving. * Ashleigh Wilson *Sad and satisfying * The Times on The Rain Heron *Timeless and poignant * Guardian on The Rain Heron *Shocking... Beautiful... Satisfying * Scotsman on The Rain Heron *
£9.49
Penguin Random House Children's UK This Summers Secrets
Book SynopsisA bold new story for fans of We Were Liars, intertwining past and present, love and loss, from the bestselling author of The One Memory of Flora Banks.''A sun-splashed Cornish thriller with a dark heart, ideal for YA fans of E Lockhart'' Guardian ONE HOT SUMMER, FIRST LOVE AND SO MANY BURIED SECRETS . . .Senara has never been in love before. She''s not done anything exciting before. Always the sidekick . . . Until the summer that changes everything.Cliff House is closed off for most of the year until its rich Londoner owners come down to Cornwall for the summer. This year, despite herself, Senara finds herself pulled into this world of wealth and ease, sunbathing and beautiful people. She even finds herself falling in love for the first time.But Cliff House and its owners are hiding things. They''ve been hiding things for too long and now, despite all their efforts, their secrets are coming out . . . Secrets that involve Senara''s friends and her family in a way she could never have imagined.''An intoxicating mix of mystery, suspense and first love'' The Daily Mirror''A perfect holiday page-turner'' The Sunday Express''This is another young adult novel that will have younger readers transfixed'' The Metro''A slow-burn summer novel packed with intrigue'' Culturefly - 22 Books to add to your Summer Reading ListRead more captivating fiction from Emily Barr:The One Memory of Flora BanksThe Truth and Lies of Ella BlackThe Girl Who Came Out of the WoodsThings to do Before The End of the WorldGhostedTrade ReviewA slow-burn summer novel packed with intrigue. * Culturefly - 22 Books to add to your Summer Reading List *Will have readers transfixed * Metro *Original plot and charming protagonist . . . Her [Emily's] page-turning talents are put to good use as the reader accompanies a brave teenager on a journey to discover who she really is. * Irish Times on The One Memory of Flora Banks *Mesmerizing, electric, and achingly lovely . . . One of the best YA novels I've read in a very long time * Jennifer Niven on The One Memory of Flora Banks *If you like dark fiction you'll devour it * Heat - on The Truth and Lies of Ella Black *A sun-splashed Cornish thriller with a dark heart, ideal for YA fans of E Lockhart. * Guardian - Summer reading: 50 brilliant books to discover *An intoxicating mix of mystery, suspense and first love. * The Daily Mirror *A perfect holiday page-turner. * The Sunday Express *
£8.54
Atria Books The Thirty Names of Night
Book SynopsisWinner of the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction Winner of the ALA Stonewall Book Award—Barbara Gittings Literature Award Named Best Book of the Year by Bustle Named Most Anticipated Book of the Year by The Millions, Electric Literature, and HuffPost From the award-winning author of The Map of Salt and Stars, a new novel about three generations of Syrian Americans haunted by a mysterious species of bird and the truths they carry close to their hearts—a “vivid exploration of loss, art, queer and trans communities, and the persistence of history. Often tender, always engrossing, The Thirty Names of Night is a feat” (R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries).Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. As his grandmother’s sole caretaker, he spends his days cooped up in their apartment, avoiding his neighborhood masjid, his estranged sister, and even his best friend (who also happens to be his longtime crush). The only time he feels truly free is when he slips out at night to paint murals on buildings in the once-thriving Manhattan neighborhood known as Little Syria, but he’s been struggling ever since his mother’s ghost began visiting him each evening. One night, he enters the abandoned community house and finds the tattered journal of a Syrian American artist named Laila Z, who dedicated her career to painting birds. She mysteriously disappeared more than sixty years before, but her journal contains proof that both his mother and Laila Z encountered the same rare bird before their deaths. In fact, Laila Z’s past is intimately tied to his mother’s in ways he never could have expected. Even more surprising, Laila Z’s story reveals the histories of queer and transgender people within his own community that he never knew. Realizing that he isn’t and has never been alone, he has the courage to claim a new name: Nadir, an Arabic name meaning rare. As unprecedented numbers of birds are mysteriously drawn to the New York City skies, Nadir enlists the help of his family and friends to unravel what happened to Laila Z and the rare bird his mother died trying to save. Following his mother’s ghost, he uncovers the silences kept in the name of survival by his own community, his own family, and within himself, and discovers the family that was there all along. Featuring Zeyn Joukhadar’s signature “folkloric, lyrical, and emotionally intense...gorgeous and alive” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) storytelling, The Thirty Names of Night is a “stunning…vivid, visceral, and urgent” (Booklist, starred review) exploration of loss, memory, migration, and identity.
£16.14
HarperCollins Publishers A Home in the Sun Escape with this escapist
Book SynopsisA gorgeous summer read about new beginnings from the Sunday Times bestseller.Home is where the heart isbut what if your heart is broken?When Judith loses her partner, she loses her life in Malta too including the beautiful view from her sun-warmed balcony of the sparkling blue waters of Sliema Creek.Back in England, Judith finds a spare room in her sister's house where she grew up but with it comes a whole host of family dramas.Nursing a broken heart, Judith knows she must find happiness again and rebuild her life on her own terms. Could an island in the sun be the answer she is looking for?A wonderfully escapist summer read, perfect for fans of Katie Fforde and Carole Matthews.**Previously published as Uphill All the Way**I love all of Sue Moorcroft's books!' Katie FfordeEffortlessly engaging!' HeatMust read!' Daily ExpressTrade Review Praise for Sue Moorcroft: ‘Sizzling!’ The People’s Friend ‘Must read!’ Daily Express ‘I love all of Sue Moorcroft’s books!’ Katie Fforde ‘Effortlessly engaging…a magical must!’ Heat
£7.59
Scribner Book Company Milk Fed
Book SynopsisNamed a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Time, Esquire, BookPage, and more This darkly hilarious and “delicious new novel that ravishes with sex and food” (The Boston Globe) from the acclaimed author of The Pisces and So Sad Today is a “precise blend of desire, discomfort, spirituality, and existential ache” (BuzzFeed).Rachel is twenty-four, a lapsed Jew who has made calorie restriction her religion. By day, she maintains an illusion of existential control, through obsessive food rituals, while working as an underling at a Los Angeles talent management agency. At night, she pedals nowhere on the elliptical machine. Rachel is content to carry on subsisting—until her therapist encourages her to take a ninety-day communication detox from her mother, who raised her in the tradition of calorie counting. Rachel soon meets Miriam, a zaftig young Orthodox Jewish woman who works at her favorite frozen yogurt shop and is intent upon feeding her. Rachel is suddenly and powerfully entranced by Miriam—by her sundaes and her body, her faith and her family—and as the two grow closer, Rachel embarks on a journey marked by mirrors, mysticism, mothers, milk, and honey. “A ruthless, laugh-out-loud examination of life under the tyranny of diet culture” (Glamour) Broder tells a tale of appetites: physical hunger, sexual desire, spiritual longing, and the ways that we compartmentalize these so often interdependent instincts. Milk Fed is “riotously funny and perfectly profane” (Refinery 29) from “a wild, wicked mind” (Los Angeles Times).
£15.30
Coffee House Press Till the Wheels Fall Off
Book Synopsis
£15.26
Forever More Than Words: A Love Story
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Graphic Arts Books Jimmy Bluefeather
Book SynopsisWinner, National Outdoor Book Award "Part quest, part rebirth, Heacox's debut novel spins a story of Alaska's Tlingit people and the land, an old man dying, and a young man learning to live."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "A splendid, unique gem of a novel."—Library Journal (starred review) "Heacox does a superb job of transcending his characters’ unique geography to create a heartwarming, all-American story."—Booklist "What makes this story so appealing is the character Old Keb. He is as finely wrought and memorable as any character in contemporary literature and energizes the tale with a humor and warmth that will keep you reading well into the night."—National Outdoor Book Awards Old Keb Wisting is somewhere around ninety-five years old (he lost count awhile ago) and in constant pain and thinks he wants to die. He also thinks he thinks too much. Part Norwegian and part Tlingit Native (“with some Filipino and Portuguese thrown in”), he’s the last living canoe carver in the village of Jinkaat, in Southeast Alaska. When his grandson, James, a promising basketball player, ruins his leg in a logging accident and tells his grandpa that he has nothing left to live for, Old Keb comes alive and finishes his last canoe, with help from his grandson. Together (with a few friends and a crazy but likeable dog named Steve) they embark on a great canoe journey. Suddenly all of Old Keb’s senses come into play, so clever and wise in how he reads the currents, tides, and storms. Nobody can find him. He and the others paddle deep into wild Alaska, but mostly into the human heart, in a story of adventure, love, and reconciliation. With its rogue’s gallery of colorful, endearing, small-town characters, this book stands as a wonderful blend of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and John Nichols’s The Milagro Beanfield War, with dashes of John Steinbeck thrown in.Trade Review"A superb addition to Alaska—indeed, American—literature."—Nancy Lord, former Alaska State Writer Laureate and author of Early Warming "Kim Heacox’s love for the land and people of Southeast Alaska shines forth in this character-driven saga, brimming with craft, humor, and deft turn of phrase. Jimmy Bluefeather easily makes the short list for the great Alaska novel."—Nick Jans, author of A Wolf Called Romeo "A convergence of ocean, land, and spirit as only Kim Heacox can tell it, with wisdom, humor, and grace. A welcome new novel of relationships, forgiveness, and re-inventing oneself."—Deb Vanasse, author of Roar of the Sea "Heacox, a writer and explorer of renown, offers a genuine, funny and tender portrait that is rare in the literature of the 49th state."—Andromeda Romano-Lax, author of Annie and the Wolves "With humor, passion, and respect, Kim Heacox brings us a voyage of discovery like no other. . . You'll be torn between packing your bags for Crystal Bay and living more fully in your own storied place."—Maria Mudd Ruth, author of Rare Bird "The force that drives Jimmy Bluefeather is the figure of Old Keb Wisting, the last canoe carver in his Alaskan Indian village. Keb is a powerfully drawn portrait of an indomitable spirit facing down his own death—with fierce determination, blasting a Tlingit song into the cold wind blowing off the glaciers. This is not just a well-crafted picture of an elder; it is unforgettable, in the direct lineage of The Old Man and the Sea."—Doug Peacock, author of Grizzly Years "Every page glistens with authentic genius born from Kim Heacox’s wise and deep-rooted sense of place. . . The characters seem like people we’ve known; they ring true, and feel vivid."—Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel "A masterful work of fiction. . . A book to be savored."—Bob Osborne, Northern PassagesPraise for On Heaven's Hill:"Heacox deftly weaves lyrical tributes to the healing power of nature with a fast-paced plot that builds to a heart-pounding conclusion." —Gwen Florio, author of Silent Hearts and the Lola Wicks series“Kim Heacox is the bard of Alaska, drawing stories from the power and music of the land itself. His new book, On Heaven’s Hill, is truly a novel to match Alaska’s mountains.” —Kathleen Dean Moore, author of Earth’s Wild Music“Few writers know Alaska’s wildlands and human landscapes like Kim Heacox. In this remarkable novel, humans and wild things circle each other until they collide in gripping and inspirational ways. Whether you seek stirring insights, entertaining prose, or both, On Heaven’s Hill will capture your days and dreams to the last page. This is Heacox’s finest work.” —Daniel Henry, Pushcart Prize winner and author of Across the Shaman’s River: John Muir, the Tlingit Stronghold, and the Opening of the North“On Heaven’s Hill is the kind of story the planet needs right now.” —Kimi Eisele, author of The Lightest Object in the Universe“A dazzling tale of a young girl, a desperate father, and a silver wolf caught in the middle of a battle between an Alaskan band of war veterans and corrupt land developers. Another compelling read from the author of Jimmy Bluefeather and The Only Kayak.” —Lynne M. Spreen, author of Dakota Blues and We Did This Once Before
£21.24
WW Norton & Co A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a work essential to a complete understanding of the Modernist movement. The Norton Critical Edition presents Joyce’s novel impeccably edited by Hans Walter Gabler and a series of background and critical essays astutely chosen by John Paul Riquelme. It will enhance any high school, college, or graduate course in which it is taught." -- Michael Patrick Gillespie, Florida International University
£12.99
Random House USA Inc Recitatif
Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER ? A beautiful, arresting story about race and the relationships that shape us through life by the legendary Nobel Prize winner?for the first time in a beautifully produced stand-alone edition, with an introduction by Zadie Smith?A puzzle of a story, then?a game.... When [Morrison] called Recitatif an ?experiment?she meant it. The subject of the experiment is the reader.? ?Zadie Smith, award-winning, best-selling author of White TeethIn this 1983 short story?the only short story Morrison ever wrote?we meet Twyla and Roberta, who have known each other since they were eight years old and spent four months together as roommates in St. Bonaventure shelter. Inseparable then, they lose touch as they grow older, only later to find each other again at a diner, a grocery store, and again at a protest. Seemingly at opposite ends of every problem, and at each other''s throats each time they meet, the two women still cannot deny the deep bond their shared experience has forged between them.Another work of genius by this masterly writer, Recitatif keeps Twyla''s and Roberta''s races ambiguous throughout the story. Morrison herself described Recitatif, a story which will keep readers thinking and discussing for years to come, as an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial. We know that one is white and one is Black, but which is which? And who is right about the race of the woman the girls tormented at the orphanage?A remarkable look into what keeps us together and what keeps us apart, and how perceptions are made tangible by reality, Recitatif is a gift to readers in these changing times.
£12.60
Pan Macmillan The Butcher Boy
Book SynopsisWith an introduction by Ross Raisin.A modern classic of Irish fiction, shortlisted for the 1992 Booker prize.When I was a young lad twenty or thirty or forty years ago I lived in a small town where they were all after me on account of what I done on Mrs Nugent.Francie Brady is a small-town rascal who spends his days turning a blind eye to the troubles at home and getting up to mischief with his best friend Joe - hiding in the chicken-house, shouting abuse at fish in the local stream. But after a disagreement with his neighbour Mrs Nugent over her son's missing comic books, Francie's reckless streak spirals out of control and gives rise to a monstrous obsession . . .Fearless, shocking and blackly funny, Patrick McCabe's The Butcher Boy won the 1992 Irish Times Literature Prize and was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize. It is a modern classic of Irish fiction, a portrait of the insidious violence latentTrade ReviewBrilliant, unique . . . reading fiction will never be the same again -- Roddy DoyleThe most astonishing Irish novel for many years, a masterpiece * Sunday Independent *The Butcher Boy takes Irish literature to a place it has never been before. Both familiar and extraordinary, it is the most significant novel to emerge from Ireland this decade -- Neil JordanAn insidious, funny, breathtakingly horrific novel set in small-town Ireland, switching from mischief to madness as an adolescent obsession turns Dennis the Menace into Jack the Ripper * Observer *An intense, disturbing and original novel . . . prose which races yet lets you miss nothing -- Alan SillitoeCompelling, unashamedly horrible, memorable and sensitive * Times Literary Supplement *
£11.63
Catapult Godshot
Book Synopsis“Imagine if Annie Proulx wrote something like White Oleander crossed with Geek Love or Cruddy, and then add cults, God, motherhood, girlhood, class, deserts, witches, the divinity of women . . . Terrifying, resplendent, and profoundly moving, this book will leave you changed." —T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless GirlsDrought has settled on the town of Peaches, California. The area of the Central Valley where fourteen–year–old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother live was once an agricultural paradise. Now it’s an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern for guidance. He promises, through secret “assignments,” to bring the rain everybody is praying for. Lacey has no reason to doubt the pastor. But then her life explodes in a single unimaginable act of abandonment: her mother, exiled from the community for her sins, leaves Lacey and runs off with a man she barely knows. Abandoned and distraught, Lacey May moves in with her widowed grandma, Cherry, who is more concerned with her taxidermy mouse collection than her own granddaughter. As Lacey May endures the increasingly appalling acts of men who want to write all the rules and begins to uncover the full extent of Pastor Vern’s shocking plan to bring fertility back to the land, she decides she must go on a quest to find her mother no matter what it takes. With her only guidance coming from the romance novels she reads and the unlikely companionship of the women who knew her mother, she must find her own way through unthinkable circumstances.Possessed of an unstoppable plot and a brilliantly soulful voice, Godshot is a book of grit and humor and heart, a debut novel about female friendship and resilience, mother–loss and motherhood, and seeking salvation in unexpected places. It introduces a writer who gives Flannery O’Connor’s Gothic parables a Californian twist and who emerges with a miracle that is all her own.“[A] haunting debut . . . This is a harrowing tale, which Bieker smartly writes through the lens of a teenager on the cusp of understanding the often fraught relationship between religion and sexuality . . . It''s a timely and disturbing portrait of how easily men can take advantage of vulnerable women—and the consequences sink in more deeply with each page."—Annabel Gutterman, Time“Drawn in brilliant, bizarre detail—baptism in warm soda, wisdom from romance novels—Lacey''s twin crises of faith and femininity tangle powerfully. Fiercely written and endlessly readable, a novel like this is a godsend. A–.”—Mary Sollosi, Entertainment Weekly
£14.41
Atlantic Books Merciless Gods
Book SynopsisA collection of urgent, thrilling and original stories from the award-winning, bestselling author of The Slap and Barracuda. Love, sex, death, family, friendship, betrayal, tenderness, sacrifice and revelation... This incendiary collection of stories from acclaimed writer Christos Tsiolkas takes you deep into worlds both strange and familiar, and introduces you to characters that will haunt you long after you have turned the final page.Trade ReviewThe best writing you are likely to come across on the shifting boundaries between love and friendship... A blistering, accomplished collection * Independent *As compelling to read as a novel... A contemporary storyteller working at the very top of his game * Guardian *An engrossing, powerful, disturbing collection * Independent on Sunday *Raw and powerful * Evening Standard *Not just an impressive talent but an appalling one * Sunday Times *Acclaim for The Slap:'A cool, calm, irresistible masterpiece' Chris Cleave'The Slap is nothing short of a tour de force' Colm Tóibín'Honestly, one of the three or four truly great novels of the new millennium' John Boyne 'As addictive as the best soap opera' Daily MailAcclaim for Barracuda:'Tsiolkas writes with compelling clarity about the primal stuff that drives us all: the love and hate and fear of failure... A brilliant, beautiful book. If it doesn't make you cry, you can't be fully alive.' (Sunday Times)'I finished Barracuda on a high: moved, elated, immersed... This is the work of a superb writer who has completely mastered his craft but lost nothing of his fiery spirit in so doing. It is a big achievement.' * Guardian *
£8.54
Pan Macmillan The Unspoken Name
Book SynopsisThe Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood is the incredible first epic fantasy in the Serpent Gates duology.'An astounding debut . . . unlike anything I've read before' - Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the WyldDoes she owe her life to those planning her death . . .Csorwe was raised by a death cult steeped in old magic. And on her fourteenth birthday, she’ll be sacrificed to their god. But as she waits for the end, she’s offered a chance to escape her fate. A sorcerer wants her as his assistant, sword-hand and assassin. As this involves her not dying that day, she accepts. Csorwe spends years living on a knife-edge, helping her master hunt an artefact which could change many worlds. Then comes the day she's been dreading. They encounter Csorwe’s old cult – seeking the same magical object – and Csorwe is forced to reckon with her past. She also meets Shuthmili, the war-mage who’ll change her future.If she’s to survive, Csorwe must evade her enemies, claim the artefact and stop the death cult once and for all. As she plunges from one danger to the next, the hunt is on . . .Continue the thrilling fantasy adventure with The Thousand Eyes.Trade ReviewA fun, fresh new take on the traditional fantasy quest and an adventure I couldn't put down! -- S. A. ChakrabortyAn astounding debut, written with skill and stunning assurance . . . From its flawless first page to its bittersweet last, The Unspoken Name is unlike anything I’ve read before -- Nicholas EamesThe Unspoken Name is the best kind of modern fantasy – it feels totally fresh, it's full of satisfyingly weird gods and frightening magic . . . I loved this book! -- Jen WilliamsWhat a glorious book! Richly detailed, enthralling, and extraordinary, with brilliant nods to such luminaries as Ursula K. Le Guin and Diana Wynne Jones . . . Fabulous, in every meaning of the word -- Jenn LyonsThe action is fast-paced and emotionally compelling; the magic is dangerous, beautiful, and utterly compromising. I love this book so much -- Arkady MartineAn unexpected and new take on classic orcs 'n' swords fantasy. Stylish, classy, and timeless - but with racing stripes and an inbuilt camera. I cannot recommend it enough -- Tamsyn MuirA perfect fantasy debut -- Daily Mail Best SFF of 2020Takes all the tropes of fantasy – orcs and epic quests, dead gods and undead souls, daring rescues and last-second escapes – and spins them into something wild and new. A dizzy, delicious debut -- Alix E. HarrowA truly wonderful book . . . grabbed my attention on the first page and wouldn’t let go. Fresh, exciting and new, with fascinating characters, shifting alliances, impossible odds, breathtaking settings, and shocking twists -- Dyrk AshtonThe Unspoken Name has everything – spine-tingling prose, gorgeous worldbuilding, powerful older women, found family (but it's terrible), giant snakes, ancient tombs, dead gods, and true love. It's fantastic. I read it in one sitting -- Emily TeshLarkwood's debut is a fresh, fun take on the genre, packed with smart prose, badass characters, and fantastic worldbuilding. A necessary addition for any fantasy lover's collection -- Tara SimA breathtaking journey. It's epic fantasy with both creeping, omnipresent horrors and yet a tenacious, delicate warmth -- K. A. DooreI really enjoyed this - crisp, witty and entertaining. Such fun and it distracted me from my work far too well! I'd love to read more from the author -- Genevieve CogmanAn age-old feud between wizards and gods plays out with steel-crunching, bloody-tusk action. Loved every page -- Brian NaslundExpansive, immersive, and just plain fun, each page unfolds another facet of Larkwood's brilliant maze of a world. Populated by incredible characters and their eldritch deities, this has everything I love in fantasy taken to the next level -- Emily DuncanAn imaginative story of love, sacrifice, and betrayal that traverses worlds in this phenomenal debut . . . . Lyrical, immersive prose masterfully conveys complex worldbuilding. Epic fantasy fans are sure to be impressed by this expertly crafted adventure -- Publishers Weekly starred review
£9.89
Random House USA Inc Only Child
Book SynopsisInternational Bestseller“Emotional . . . sinks its hooks into you from the very first sentence.” —Marie Claire“Perfect for fans of Room, this heartbreaking but important novel . . . reminds readers that hope can be found in even the darkest moments.” —Real SimpleFirst grader Zach Taylor is in his classroom when a gunman enters the school auditorium and the unthinkable happens, irrevocably changing the very fabric of this close-knit community. While Zach's mother pursues a quest for justice, and Zach’s father retreats into his work, Zach finds solace in the healing world of books and art. Armed with his new insights, and the optimism and stubbornness only a child could have, Zach becomes determined to help the adults in his life rediscover the universal truths of love and compassion they need to pull them through their darkest hour.A dazzling, tenderhearted debut about
£14.45
Penguin Books Ltd Lake Success a novel
Book Synopsis*Over 50 Best of 2018 listings worldwide* ''Gary Shteyngart hears America perfectly; its fatuity, its poignant lament, its boisterous self-loathing. Its heartbeat. Reading him sometimes makes me want to scream - with recognition and with pure hilarity'' - Richard FordA riotously satirical road trip through modern America from the brilliant author of Super Sad True Love Story and AbsurdistanBarry Cohen, master of the universe, has just had a very public meltdown involving a dinner party, an insider trading investigation and a $30,000 bottle of Japanese whisky. So he flees New York City, leaving behind his beautiful young wife and son, but remembering to bring his six favourite designer watches. Zig-zagging south through Trump''s America on a Greyhound Bus pilgrimmage he is singularly unprepared for, Barry heads to Texas - to find his old college girlfriend and, with her, a shot at a second chance...LaTrade ReviewShteyngart, perhaps more than any American writer of his generation, is a natural. The wit and the immigrant's sense of heartbreak just seem to pour from him * The New York Times *Uproariously funny, bitingly satiric, yet also warm and big-hearted * Boston Globe *SPECTACULAR... More than just an artistic tour de force, Lake Success succeeds in saying something big about America today. By turns compassionate and mournful, wickedly satirical and ultimately aspirational. He captures what Philip Roth once called the 'indigenous American berserk' * NPR/Fresh Air *A novel in which comedy and pathos are exquisitely balanced * Washington Post *Gary Shteyngart hears America perfectly; its fatuity, its poignant lament, its boisterous self-loathing. Its heartbeat. Reading him sometimes makes me want to scream - with recognition and with pure hilarity -- Richard FordAn unforgettable road trip through an America that's ominously divided, wildly diverse, and weirdly familiar. Gary Shteyngart writes with brutal honesty, virtuoso wit, and stubborn compassion for his deeply flawed but still somehow lovable characters -- Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of 'The Leftovers'The funniest book you'll read all year. A rollicking and zinger-filled road trip [and] a poignant tale of a man trying to outrace his problems. Epic, melancholy, staggeringly beautiful -- Maria Semple, author of 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette?'A trip through the American wasteland - from the people who have too little, to the people who have too much. Incredibly smart, incredibly funny, incredibly tragic, and therefore incredibly human, this is the perfect novel for these dysfunctional times -- Nathan Hill, author of 'The Nix'A novel reflecting with perfect comedy and horrible tragedy exactly what America feels like right this minute. I barked with laughter, at the same time as wincing in pain. Shteyngart has held up a mirror to American culture that is so accurate and so devastating... Stupendous -- Elizabeth GilbertLake Success is a genial and warm-hearted book...a virtuoso piece of work, full of brilliant noticings...an unhysterical novel about a hysterical country at a hysterical time - the work of a novelist who believes in the power of fiction to illuminate out shared world. * Literary Review *Shteyngart does slapstick as well as ever, but he stakes out new terrain in the expert way he develops his characters' pathos.... A stylish, big-hearted novel. Shteyngart made his name as a sharp satirist, and he'll undoubtedly widen his appeal with this effort * Publisher's Weekly *The satirical layering is masterful. Dark - so dark - yet delicious. * Esquire *Lake Success is undeniably enjoyable, rattling along with good jokes and sharp set pieces, and shot through with Shteyngart's good-natured melancholy. * The Times *Referencing classic novels like The Great Gatsby and On the Road, Shteyngart whips up a novel that's part-satire and part-comedy of manners, humanising the super-rich while casting a critical eye over their world. It's funny, cutting, but above all compassionate * The Herald Magazine *Shteyngart's comic energy is well deployed on the ridiculously rich, especially amid Trump's campaign and his election by, perhaps, many Greyhound riders. * Daily Mail *
£8.99
Vintage Publishing O Pioneers!
Book SynopsisWilla Cather's first Great Plains novel, is at once a love letter to Nebraska and the tale of a remarkable heroine who remains resilient in the face of tragedy. ‘She is undoubtedly one of the greatest American writers’ Observer Alexandra Bergson inherits the family farm when her father dies early. In spite of her brothers’ doubts, her ambitious vision for the land comes to fruition, but the price of success appears to be a small, quiet life. Then the equilibrium of country life is jeopardised by the return of Alexandra’s brother Emil and her childhood confidant, Carl Linstrum.
£8.99
Parthian Books In the Name of the Father (and of the Son)
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2011 European Union Prize for Literature At the age of nineteen they handed you a rifle with a bayonet and dressed you up in a uniform ... and somehow, you managed to get your hands on a little, dark brown notebook and a pen. After the funeral, a grieving son starts reading the diary his dead father had kept during the Second World War. As he turns each page, searching for a trace of the man he remembers, a portrait of an individual unfolds; a figure made both strange and familiar through the handwritten observations, the yearnings and the confessions. Immanuel Mifsud tells a moving story of pain, warfare, and the things that connect us. As the narrator explores the diary and his own memories, he begins to recognise the man behind the words, the father whose death could release the truth of his life.
£8.54
Orion Publishing Co The Tigers Wife
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION''Not since Zadie Smith has a young writer arrived with such power and grace'' Time''A marvel of beauty and imagination'' Ann PatchettA tiger escapes from the local zoo, padding through the ruined streets and onwards, to a ridge above the Balkan village of Galina. His nocturnal visits hold the villagers in a terrified thrall - but for one boy, the tiger is a thing of magic.Natalia is the granddaughter of that boy. Now a doctor, she is visiting orphanages in the war-torn Balkans when she receives word of her beloved grandfather''s death, far from their home, in circumstances shrouded in mystery.Compelled to unravel the truth, Natalia stumbles upon a clue that will lead her to a tattered copy of The Jungle Book, and then to the most extraordinary story her grandfather never told her - the legend of the tiger''s wife.One of the mostBRILLIANT <Trade ReviewObreht's novel is that rarity: a debut that arrives fully formed, super smart but wearing its learning lightly. Above all The Tiger's Wife bristles with confidence -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *The brilliant black comedy and matryoshka-style narrative are among the novel's great joys...Obreht has prodigious talent for storytelling and imagery * Guardian *Beautifully executed, haunting and lyrical, The Tiger's Wife is an ambitious novel that succeeds on all counts. It's a book you will want to read again and again * Indpendent *Obreht's landscape hovers half in and half out of fable - where villagers who daily risk being hoisted by landmines also fear malign spirits, tigers' brides and men who transform into bears... It's a part of the world that Obreht has made her imagination's own: raucous and strange and gorgeous and rather haunting. This is a pretty formidable first novel. Here be tigers -- Sam Leith * Financial Times *She is a natural born storyteller and this is a startlingly suggestive novel about the dying out of myths and superstitions and rituals that bind people to place: the retreat of the spirits * Daily Telegraph *This is a distinguished work by almost any standard, and a genuinely exciting debut... Obreht has a vibrant, rangy, full-bodied prose style, which moves expertly between realistic and mythic modes of storytelling, conjuring brilliant images on every page... a delightful work, as enchanting as it is surprising, and Obreht is a compelling new voice * Sunday Times *The Tiger's Wife has been touted as one of 2011's outstanding debuts and it deserves its reputation...Weaving together fantastical tales and folklore with realism about coming to terms with loss and grief, it is also a book about the secrets people keep. This layering of stories creates a book rich in textures. Combining a mystery narrative, a family narrative and a book about the worlds of the imagination, Téa Obreht's novel is one that allows the reader to get lost in them * Metro *The Tiger's Wife, is assured, eloquent and not easily forgotten...war is just a backdrop, religions barely identified. It is the tiger, the deathless man, and the inquisitive doctor who lead the story through its layers of modern-day reality, magical realism, and folklore...her pacing in the book is delicious - Obreht has the storyteller's gift for suspense, and holds back details until the reader can wait no more...she has lived up to the early hype * Independent on Sunday *Natalia, a young doctor, is on her way to deliver aid to a remote orphanage when she discovers her beloved grandfather is dead. As she tries to reconstruct her grandfather's last journey, she recalls his stories, which combine folklore and mystery with his exquisite humanity. Set in a Balkan country adjusting to life after the war, the book resonates with the aftershocks of conflict, old enmities, fatalism and superstition. Haunting, thoughtful and beautifully atmospheric * Psychologies *Varied, poignant and beguilingly fantastical...The Tiger's Wife is an exciting, fast-paced and mystical novel that'll have you rushing to the end * Time Out *Spellbinding... Téa Obreht's debut has the fantastical allure of a folk fable * Marie Claire *This astounding debut novel about the former Yugoslavia in wartime is so rich with themes of love, legends and mortality that every novel that comes after it this year is in peril of falling short in comparison with its uncanny beauty...Not since Zadie Smith has a young writer arrived with such power and grace * Time *Téa Obreht's stunning debut novel, The Tiger's Wife, is a hugely ambitious, audaciously written work that provides an indelible picture of life in an unnamed Balkan country still reeling from the fallout of civil war... Ms. Obreht, who was born in the former Yugoslavia and is, astonishingly, only 25, writes with remarkable authority and eloquence... Ms. Obreht has not only made a precocious debut, but she has also written a richly textured and searing novel * New York Times *Téa Obreht is an extraordinarily talented writer...brings to mind the novels of Mikhail Bulgakov...[a] truly marvellous and memorable first novel * New York Review of Books *Téa Obreht's The Tiger's Wife comes freighted with more critical anticipation than any debut novel in recent memory...That sort of unearned, pre-emptive prestige spurs both impossible expectations and skeptical readings - a burden that would doom most first novels. Yet The Tiger's Wife, in its solemn beauty and unerring execution, fully justifies the accolades that Ms. Obreht's short fiction inspired. She has a talent for subtle plotting that eludes most writers twice her age, and her descriptive powers suggest a kind of channeled genius. No novel this year has seemed more likely to disappoint; no novel has been more satisfying * Wall Street Journal *Tea Obreht's swirling first novel, The Tiger's Wife, draws us beneath the clotted tragedies in the Balkans to deliver the kind of truth that histories can't touch. Born in Belgrade in 1985 - no, that's not a typo - she captures the thirst for consecration that a century of war has left in that bloody part of the world. It's a novel of enormous ambitions that manages in its modest length to contain the conflicts between Christians and Muslims, Turks and Ottomans, science and superstition... Well-deserved praise has been accumulating ever since Obreht published a chapter in the New Yorker almost two years ago, and now that we have the whole, its graceful commingling of contemporary realism and village legend seems even more absorbing * Washington Post *Astonishingly assured...full of vivid, dreamlike sequence...Obreht's mesmerizing writing is key to the novel, which succeeds through a kind of harmonic resonance...Obreht's striking ability to explain the world through stories is matched by her patience with the parts of life - and death - that endlessly confound us * Boston Globe *Deftly walks the line between the realistic and the fantastical . . . In Obreht's expert hands, the novel's mythology, while rooted in a foreign world, comes to seem somehow familiar, like the dark fairy tales of our own youth, the kind that spooked us into reading them again and again . . . [Reveals] oddly comforting truths about death, belief in the impossible, and the art of letting go * O: The Oprah Magazine *A wonderful, really remarkable novel...fascinating, unusual, original -- Erica Wagner * on WOMAN'S HOUR, RADIO 4 *A magical, distinctive tale. -- Emma Lee-Potter * DAILY EXPRESS *As enchanting as it is surprising ... Obreht's prose style is full-bodied and vibrant, and she conjures brilliant images on every page. -- Edmund Gordon * SUNDAY TIMES *War and its legacy ricochets through Obreht's kaleidoscopic dance of myth, folk memory and interrelated stories ... dizzying and ambitious * LONDON METRO *a stunning tale with the mythic quality of a fairy story * TIMES *Mysterious and funny * SUNDAY HERALD *A distinctive, magical tale * DAILY EXPRESS *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Dutch House
Book SynopsisFinalist for the Pulitzer PrizeNew York Times Bestseller A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick A New York Times Book Review Notable Book TIME Magazine''s 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, The Washington Post; O: The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Vogue, Refinery29, and BuzzfeedAnn Patchett, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of
£22.39
Penguin Books Ltd Summer
Book SynopsisA story of forbidden sexual passion and thwarted dreams set against the backdrop of a lush summer in rural MassachusettsSeventeen-year-old Charity Royall is desperate to escape life with her hard-drinking adoptive father. Their isolated village stifles her, and his behaviour increasingly disturbs her. When a young city architect visits for the summer, it offers Charity the chance to break free. But as they embark on an intense affair, will it bring her another kind of trap? Regarded by Edith Wharton as among her best novels, Summer caused a sensation in 1917 with its honest depiction of a young woman overturning the rules of her day and attempting to live on her own terms.
£8.54
John F Blair Publisher Blue Marlin
Book SynopsisLee Smith brings her masterful storytelling magic to this jewel of a novella that follows Jenny, an adventurous thirteen-year-old, down to Key West for a patched-up family vacation following the discovery of her father’s illicit affair. Available for the first time as a stand-alone novella, this book centers on the Blue Marlin Motel in 1959, where Jenny, her beautiful socialite mother, and chastened father share their sunny days with movie stars who are in town to make the movie Operation Petticoat. Jenny is precocious and a bit of a sleuth, so her innocent “observations” to uncover the secrets of movie stars also end up revealing the secrets of her own family. Jenny confronts the frailty of family life while also vying for the attention of actor Tony Curtis and even a role in his movie. Smith delivers humor and honesty to her flawed characters with genuine Southern dignity.Trade ReviewNamed an Okra Pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance “Smith excels at creating characters somewhat boggled by the reality of who they've become—by their lovers and homes, their jobs and their cars, haircuts and bodies—and who, consequently, feel a pressing need to explain themselves to themselves. One thing they never doubt is the correctness of their opinions, especially concerning the proper standards of behavior for a Southern lady, and the failings of ‘white trash.’ Smith's humor is pointed but gentle; her characters may be priggish and narrow-minded, but they are never mean. [. . .] Such obsession with detail makes Smith's heroines both distinctively Southern and universally feminine.” —Publishers Weekly
£11.39
Little, Brown Book Group God On The Rocks
Book Synopsis''A meticulously observed modern classic'' Independent During one glorious summer between the wars, the realities of life and the sexual ritual dance of the adult world creep into the life of young Margaret Marsh. Her father, preaching the doctrine of the unsavoury Primal Saints; her mother, bitterly nostalgic for what might have been; Charles and Binkie, anchored in the past and a game of words; dying Mrs Frayling and Lydia the maid, given to the vulgar enjoyment of life; all contribute to Margaret''s shattering moment of truth. And when the storm breaks, it is not only God who is on the rocks as the summer hurtles towards drama, tragedy, and a touch of farce.''Tantalising, funny, sharp'' Daily Telegraph''So charming a novel that you don''t want to give away a single one of the many twists of its plot'' New York Times''Jane Gardam has a spectacular gift'' Times Literary SupplementTrade ReviewA meticulously observed modern classic * Independent *Tantalising, funny, sharp * Daily Telegraph *Exact, piquant and comical * Observer *Marvellous... A wonder * Vogue *Jane Gardam has a spectacular gift for detail of the local and period kind, and for details which make characters so subtly unpredictable that they ring true * Times Literary Supplement *So charming a novel that you don't want to give away a single one of the many twists of its plot... We are in the hands of a master storyteller * New York Times *Gardam orchestrates the subtle evolution of character and plot with Olympian omniscience and wry humor * Boston Globe *Gardam is a unique and wonderful writer, mixing no-nonsense presentations of heartbreak, despair, and uncertainty, with equally dry but hilarious bouts of humor, desire, love, friendship, and even happiness, fleeting as that might be * Huffington Post *This treasure should send readers back for all of [Gardam's] books * Library Journal (starred review) *Gardam doesn't waste a word, and the story reads as fresh and relevant now as when it was originally published * Publishers Weekly *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Eve Green
Book SynopsisWith the death of a mother and the abduction of a young girl, Susan Fletcher has written a vividly beautiful novel about the innocence and terror of childhood.Following the loss of her mother, eight-year-old Evie is sent to a new life in rural Wales a dripping place, where flowers appear mysteriously on doorsteps and people look at her twice. With a sense of being lied to she sets out to discover her family's dark secret unaware that there is yet more darkness to come with the sinister disappearance of local girl Rosemary Hughes.Now many years later Eve Green is waiting for the birth of her own child, and when she revisits her past something clicks in her mind and her own reckless role in the hunt for Rosie's abductor is revealedA truly beautiful and hypnotic first novel, this is both an engaging puzzle and an enchanting work of literature.Trade Review‘Few coming of age novels have the beguiling power of this one … its lyrical intensity reminiscent of Laurie Lee, this is a precisely observed, immensely compelling and ultimately redemptive first novel’ Sunday Times ‘Evokes with a beguiling lyrical muscularity the peaks and troughs in the life of seven-year-old Evie’ Guardian ‘Susan Fletcher is a gifted storyteller’ Independent ‘An exceptional debut of grace and subtlety’ Observer ‘Beautifully rendered, the story moves easily from past to present, sensuously descriptive yet hauntingly sinister. Eve Green is an enthralling first novel from a major new talent’ Waterstone’s Books Quarterly 'This is my kind of heroine–that good mixture of romance and spirit, courage and self-doubt–steered through a gripping rite of passage towards a disturbing–but ultimately wholly satisfying–conclusion. I couldn't put it down. Susan Fletcher is a clever, assured writer who can write truthfullyabout love in its many guises' Mavis Cheek 'A most impressive debut. The writing is lyrical, the characters are vivid and alive and the story makes you want to really turn the pages. In red-haired, mother-less Eve Green, Susan Fletcher gives you a heroine you won't forget.' Marika Cobbold
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers MARY GEORGE OF ALLNORTHOVER
Book SynopsisLavinia Greenlaw’s mesmerising debut novel about growing up in the surreal banality of mid-’70s Essex.Trade Review‘A poet’s eye clearly informs Greenlaw’s beautifully observed portrait of Seventies provincial life. In prose layered like paint, Greenlaw conjures up the period through details that will strike endless chords with readers who grew up at that time … This is a suggestive, elusive novel, which achieves a magical effect by the gradual accumulation of images.’ Vogue ‘This is a terrific first novel, a meteorological force in its own right.’ Evening Standard ‘A composed and sensuous first novel.’ Financial TImes ‘A spacious and compassionate read.’ Time Out ‘What is most impressive, ultimately, is the strength and solidity of the house Greenlaw builds around the reader: every brick carefully aligned, necessary and true.’ Independent on Sunday
£11.39
HarperCollins Publishers ANOTHER COUNTRY
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, this is a superb second novel from the author of the multiple-award winning ‘Saraswati Park’.Trade Review‘Beautifully delineated…The writing throughout is cool and clear, and whilst the overall tone of the novel is hauntingly melancholic, it is also distinguished by a refreshingly abrasive wit’ Peter Parker, Sunday Times ‘Joseph has an unerring instinct for detail that brings a scene to life … Her descriptions … are gorgeously vivid’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Joseph's writing is rich and original. She can describe silences and what is left unsaid between her characters just as well as she describes what they do and say’ Observer ‘A readable and entertaining book’ Guardian ‘Subtle and affecting’ Catherine Taylor, Sunday Telegraph Books of the Year ‘Joseph’s eye for the myriad disappointments of young professional life is excruciatingly accurate, especially in the London section… Joseph is a skilled observer’ Metro
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers Great Expectations
Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.'An orphan destined for a life of misery and poverty, Pip does not have much in the way of expectations. Only when he begins to visit a rich old woman, Miss Havisham, does he begin to hope for better. When Pip discovers that he has inherited a large sum of money on the condition that he move to London to live the life of a gentleman, Pip takes his chance to leave behind the world he knows and embark upon a new adventure.An illuminating tale of intrigue, fortune and unattainable love, Great Expectations has a cast of memorable characters, and is one of Dickens' most enduring and popular novels.
£7.59
HarperCollins Publishers Dark Earth the new literary historical fiction
Book Synopsis‘Superb … radically new and beautiful’ Observer ‘Magical and evocative’ Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock ‘Heartachingly poignant’ Lucy Holland, author of SistersongTrade Review ‘Superb … This is a book that seeks to do for British myth what Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller have done so brilliantly for classical literature: uncovering stories of feminine power that have been occluded by the male hand of history’ Observer ‘Gripping … puts a female perspective right at the centre of a time period usually dominated by men’s stories’ Independent ‘Female defiance blazes through as Stott’s women reclaim this brutal period…this novel will make you appreciative of the revelatory historical treasures beneath our feet’ Telegraph ‘An eloquent and heartachingly poignant story of sisterhood … Evocative and richly mythic, Dark Earth pays homage to the quiet triumph of women working together to build a better world. A truly beautiful book’ Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong ‘A thrilling exploration of human kindness, ingenuity and cruelty, told through a tale of ancient London at one of its iconic points of destruction and rebirth’ Alice Albinia, author of Cwen ‘Magical and evocative … Dark Earth delights, transports, chills and charms’ Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock ‘An ancient tapestry of legend brilliantly rewoven: hope, courage, men’s violence and women’s magic in an age of ruins and new beginnings’ Francis Spufford, author of Light Perpetual ‘Skilfully imagines a past world in which women must use everything they have – kinship, secrets, spells and above all the power of stories – to survive the blood feuds and land grabs of national-building tyrants’ Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory ‘This novel pulses with the energy of a brave new world, a world as beautiful as it is dangerous, where a belief in myth and magic can save your life’ Katherine J. Chen, author of Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc
£14.99
HarperCollins Publishers Dark Earth the new literary historical fiction
Book SynopsisSuperb radically new and beautiful' ObserverMagical and evocative' Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. HancockHeartachingly poignant' Lucy Holland, author of SistersongAn ancient tapestry of legend brilliantly rewoven' Francis Spufford, author of Light PerpetualThe new novel from the Costa-Award winning author of In The Days of Rain.AD 500. An island in the Thames.Isla has a secret: she has learned her father's sophisticated sword-making skills at a time when even entering a forge is forbidden to women. Her sister, Blue, has a secret, too: at low tide on the night of each new moon, she visits the bones of the mud woman, drowned by the elders of her tribe who wanted to make a lesson of someone who wouldn't hold her tongue.When the local Seax overlord discovers Isla''s secret there is nowhere for the sisters to hide, except across the water to the walled ghost city, Londinium. Here Blue and Isla find sanctuary in an underworld community of squatters, emigrants, travellerTrade Review ‘Superb … This is a book that seeks to do for British myth what Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller have done so brilliantly for classical literature: uncovering stories of feminine power that have been occluded by the male hand of history’ Observer ‘Gripping … puts a female perspective right at the centre of a time period usually dominated by men’s stories’ Independent ‘Female defiance blazes through as Stott’s women reclaim this brutal period…this novel will make you appreciative of the revelatory historical treasures beneath our feet’ Telegraph ‘An eloquent and heartachingly poignant story of sisterhood that echoes across the centuries. Evocative and richly mythic, Dark Earth pays homage to the quiet triumph of women working together to build a better world. A truly beautiful book’ Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong ‘A thrilling exploration of human kindness, ingenuity and cruelty, told through a tale of ancient London at one of its iconic points of destruction and rebirth’ Alice Albinia, author of Cwen ‘A magical and evocative book … Dark Earth delights, transports, chills and charms’ Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock ‘An ancient tapestry of legend brilliantly rewoven: hope, courage, men’s violence and women’s magic in an age of ruins and new beginnings’ Francis Spufford, author of Light Perpetual ‘Skilfully imagines a past world in which women must use everything they have – kinship, secrets, spells and above all the power of stories – to survive the blood feuds and land grabs of national-building tyrants’ Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory ‘This novel pulses with the energy of a brave new world, a world as beautiful as it is dangerous, where a belief in myth and magic can save your life’ Katherine J. Chen, author of Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers The Betrayals Discover the stunning fiction book
Book Synopsis*PRE-ORDER BRIDGET COLLINS'' STUNNING NEW NOVEL, THE SILENCE FACTORY, NOW*LOSE YOURSELF IN THE MOST EPIC BOOK OF THE YEAR.Mesmerising' Erin KellySumptuous' ObserverDizzyingly wonderful' The TimesWINNING WAS EVERYTHINGUNTIL IT DESTROYED THEMTwo young men, Léo and Carfax, close friends and fierce rivals.A family ripped apart by madness and tragedy.One woman, her life built upon a lie, with a mysterious connection to them allINGENIOUS' GUARDIANA STORYTELLER OF RARE IMAGINATION' MAIL ON SUNDAY''BEAUTIFUL'' JOANNA CANNONBRILLIANT' WOMAN & HOMEA RICH DELIGHT' SANDRA NEWMAN''TOTALLY ADDICTIVE'' JOANNA GLENCAPTIVATING' DAILY MIRRORAN IMMERSIVE, IMAGINATIVE SLICE OF STORYTELLING' DAILY EXPRESSMAGICAL' IRISH INDEPENDENTTrade Review‘Dizzyingly wonderful … a perfectly constructed work of fiction, with audacious twists that clumsier hands would fumble, and irresistibly moving emotional beats’ The Times ‘Another sumptuous act of imaginative world-building … If you’re looking for an absorbing, transporting work of fiction – and why would you not be? – The Betrayals is just the thing … settle in, and enjoy getting lost in this captivating book’ Observer ‘Ingenious … Collins’s story holds everything up its sleeve for as long as possible’ Guardian ‘The Betrayals is a beautiful dystopian romance about coming of age as an artist and the love affair artistic collaboration can be, while also being an acute political novel about the fate of spiritual values in a totalitarian system. A rich delight’ Sandra Newman ‘Captivating’ Daily Mirror ‘An immersive, imaginative slice of storytelling’ Daily Express ‘It’s just beautiful – written with such elegance and poise. What I love about Bridget's books is her ability to write the most magical worlds of escapism and yet anchor those worlds very much in today’ Joanna Cannon ‘She’s done it again: this is another triumph from the incomparable imagination of Bridget Collins. The Betrayals sinks its teeth into you and won’t let you go. It’s a mesmerising, intimate and ambitious story about art, love and what it means to be human. If you loved The Binding, you’ll adore The Betrayals’ Erin Kelly ‘More lavish magical escapism from the unit-shifting author of The Binding’ Irish Independent ‘Brilliant … a captivating, imaginative tale’ Woman & Home ‘A storyteller of rare imagination … This intricate symphony of a novel is both a disturbing portrait of fascism and a soaring meditation on artistic expression’ Mail on Sunday
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers Tempests and Slaughter Book 1 The Numair
Book SynopsisIn Tempests and Slaughter, fans of Tamora Pierce will be rewarded with the never-before-told story of how Numair Salmalín came to Tortall. Newcomers will discover an unforgettable fantasy adventure where a kingdom''s future rests on the shoulders of a young man with unimaginable gifts and a talent for making vicious enemies.The legend begins.In the ancient halls of the Imperial University of Carthak, a young man has begun his journey to becoming one of most powerful mages the realm has ever known. Arram Draper is the youngest student in his class and has the Gift of unlimited potential for greatness . . . and of attracting danger.At his side are his two best friends: clever Varice, a girl too often-overlooked, and Ozorne, the leftover prince' with secret ambitions. Together, these three forge a bond that will one day shape kingdoms.But as Ozorne inches closer to the throne and Varice grows closer to Arram''s heart, Arram realizes that one day soon he will have to decide where his loyTrade Review‘Tamora Pierce didn’t just blaze a trail. Her heroines cut a swath through the fantasy world with wit, strength, and savvy. Pierce is the real lioness, and we’re all just running to keep pace.’LEIGH BARDUGO, #1 New York Times bestselling author ‘Tamora Pierce creates epic worlds populated by girls and women of bravery, heart, and strength. Her work inspired a generation of writers and continues to inspire us.’HOLLY BLACK, #1 New York Times bestselling author ‘Tamora Pierce’s books shaped me not only as a young writer but also as a young woman. Her complex, unforgettable heroines and vibrant, intricate worlds blazed a trail for youngadult fantasy—and I get to write what I love today because of the path she forged throughout her career. She is a pillar, an icon, and an inspiration.’SARAH J. MAAS, #1 New York Times bestselling author ‘I take more comfort from and as great a pleasure in Tamora Pierce's Tortall novels as I do from Game of Thrones.’Washington Post
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers A Small Revolution in Germany
Book SynopsisA Small Revolution in Germany is about growing up, or refusing to accept what growing up means; it's about the small dishonest pacts that people make with their own futures; and it's about the rare and joyous refusal to be disillusioned.Everyone remembers what it's like to be seventeen. The conversations you have; the ideas that burst on you; the kiss that transforms you. And then you grow up, and make a deal with adulthood. A Small Revolution in Germany is about that rapturous moment when ideas, and ideals, and passion crash over one boy's head. And what happens in the decades afterwards? When you see the overwhelming truth when you are seventeen, why should you ever abandon that truth?Spike is brought into a small, clever group of friends, bursting with a passion for ideas, and the wish to change the world. They smash up political meetings; they paint slogans on walls; they long for armed revolution; they argue, exuberantly, until dawn. In the years to follow, they all change their mTrade ReviewPraise for A Small Revolution in Germany: ‘In A Small Revolution in Germany – a meditation on youth and constancy and reinvention – Philip Hensher has coalesced all the craft, skill, wit and intelligence of his previous work into something which is dazzling but also deeply thought and deeply felt. I just loved it’ Linda Grant ‘He brilliantly animates the lives of neglected people during big historical events.’ The Times, Thomas Adès ‘Hensher’s quietly brilliant novel opens in the Eighties and spans some 30 years, illuminating an entire social world with skill, humour and tenderness.’ Daily Mail, Max Davidson ‘Moments of sharp observation’ The Times, Alexander Nurnberg ‘On the one hand, he is writing the type of novel whose atmosphere relies for its attack on a certain amount of self-conscious cultural signalling. On the other, he is embarked on the kind of fictional high-wire act that both emphasizes and undermines the seriousness with which the people he writes about need to be taken…Rather like Mary Gaitskill, he specializes in extending sympathy to his creations and then suddenly withdrawing it, giving them enough rope to hang themselves with … some wonderful moments of off-kilter comedy’ TLS, D.J. Taylor ‘A beautiful, regret-soaked story about the marks left on our adult lives by the idealism of our youth’ Alex Preston, Observer ‘The novel moves easily between Thatcherite Britain and the present…. This book is bound to be seen as a satire on the left. But in fact its keynote is a deep anger and disillusionment with politics, a lack of faith in all systems…Positioning his story within the frame of current events is a clever move on Hensher’s part’ Elizabeth Lowry, Guardian ‘Hensher’s novel reads easily and has a controlled, rueful atmosphere - a cautionary tale’ John Maier, The Times
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Lost in the Spanish Quarter
Book SynopsisTold with intimacy and ferocity and set in the passionate and crumbling Spanish Quarter of Naples, comes a poignant tale of first love of a place, of a person where languages and cultures collide while dreams soar and crash in spectacular ways.Don't forgive me, don't answer, don't be sad. Be happy, have babies, make mixed tapes, take pictures it's how I always love to think of you. And now and then, if you can and if you want to, remember me.'Several years after leaving Naples, Heddi receives an email from Pietro, her first love, admitting that he was wrong. Immediately, Heddi is transported back to her college days in that heartbreakingly beautiful city built on ruins and set against the cliffs of a sleeping volcano. Just the thought of the Spanish Quarter, the crumbling apartment she shared with friends and where she first met Pietro, still spark the pain of longing and a desire to belong. For Heddi's tribe of university friends, Naples was the first taste of freedom and an escapeTrade Review‘From the deteriorating and claustrophobic neighborhood of Elena Ferrante to the violent Gomorra of Roberto Saviano, Heddi Goodrich's is a third Naples – central, dense, vital – a story of love and of roots, of origins, set in the Spanish Quarter’ Corriere della sera ‘Written from the perspective of a young woman discovering love for the first time, the tale unravelled within the mystery and culture of Naples. Transported to the gritty streets of Naples, reading this novel felt both excruciating and exciting’ NB Magazine ‘Goodrich is perceptive on the potent early days of first love and the exhilaration of living in a foreign country – a sort of romance in itself … her depiction of the Spanish Quarter is deliciously vivid with its hollering fish sellers and shrieking neighbours, canopies of laundry and purring motorbikes, and glimpses of glittering sea from sun-drenched rooftops’ Discover Southern Europe
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers Little Women Collins Classics
Book SynopsisHow can you forge your own path in times of war, uncertainty and hardship?Meg longs for marriage; Amy wants to be a painter; Beth is content to stay at home; while Jo wants adventure and a life without limits. Four decidedly different sisters, growing up during the American Civil War, each facing their own unique challenge.Little Women tells the story of the March sisters. Through parties, travel, illness, arguments, dinners, love affairs and ice skating escapades, we follow these unforgettable women as they come of age.First published over 150 years ago, Little Women is a quintessential American classic which has become a stage and screen favourite ever since, capturing the hearts of millions of readers across the world.
£7.59
HarperCollins Publishers The Land Girls from Coronation Street
Book SynopsisA charming and nostalgic read, perfect for fans of Coronation Street and readers who love stories set in wartime.They are digging for victory on the nation's favourite street.Vera Sharples longs for independence from her interfering mother, Coronation Street's tyrant in a hairnet, Ena Sharples.Vera's friend, Lily Longhurst, has found herself on the wrong side of a doomed romance and decides it's high time she and Vera took their lives into their own hands.The girls sign up for the Land Army and are sent to Kent, where life is very different from the familiar cobbles they know so well. Expected to work from daybreak until sunset, the routine and the constant air raids come as a shock.Even as the girls comes to grips with the country at war, back home Ena can't stop meddling. Will the two plucky Lancashire lasses come home to Coronation Street with their dreams intact, or is Ena about to shatter them forever?Readers love Maggie Sullivan A must read' AmazonA real page-turner' AmazonA wonderful trip down memory lane' GoodreadsTrade Review Praise for Maggie Sullivan: ‘A wonderfully nostalgic tale’ Choice Magazine ‘A perfect festive read’ Woman Magazine ‘A must read’ Amazon ‘A real page-turner’ Amazon ‘A wonderful trip down memory lane’ Goodreads
£10.44
