Narrative theme: death, grief, loss

Book SynopsisFantasy as it ought to be written' George R.R. MartinThe gripping finale to Robin Hobb's classic Farseer Trilogy.With the king no longer living and the heir, Verity, missing and declared dead, Prince Regal has treacherously seized the throne.Regal's torture has left Fitz more dead than alive, and more closely than ever bonded with his wolf. All who once loved him believe him dead: even Molly, now pregnant with his child. But he cannot go to her without placing her in terrible danger.With nothing to lose, Fitz sets out for Tradeford, where Regal has withdrawn, having heartlessly abandoned the north of the kingdom to the Red-Ship Raiders. His quest: to assassinate the man who has destroyed his world.Trade Review'What makes her novels addictive is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics'The Times ‘Hobb is superb’ Conn Iggulden ‘Hobb is a remarkable storyteller’ Guardian

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Book SynopsisIntroducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience classics which will endure for generations to come.That girl didn't want to die. She just wanted out of that house. She wanted out of that decorating scheme.The five Lisbon sisters beautiful, eccentric and, now, gone had always been a point of obsession for the entire neighbourhood.Although the boys that once loved them from afar have grown up, they remain determined to understand a tragedy that has defied explanation. The question persists why did all five of the Lisbon girls take their own lives?This lyrical and timeless tale of sex and suicide that transforms and mythologizes suburban middle-American life announced the arrival of one of the greatest American novelists of the last thirty years.A flare from my own secret world, all the inchoate longings and obsessions of being a teenager somehow rendered into book form' Emma Cline, author of The GirlsTrade Review'A Catcher in the Rye for our time' Observer 'Entire and unstoppable … a sparkling work' The Times 'Wonderfully original' Independent ‘Eugenides is blessed with the storyteller's most magical gift, the ability to transform the mundane into the extraordinary’ New York Times

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Book Synopsis''I''m not exaggerating when I say this novel challenged everything I thought I knew about love and friendship. It''s one of those books that stays with you forever'' Dua LipaThe million-copy bestseller, Hanya Yanagihara''s A Little Life, by the author of To Paradise, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.Winner of Fiction of the Year at the British Book AwardsShortlisted for the Booker PrizeShortlisted for the Women''s PrizeFinalist for the US National Book Award for FictionWhen four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they''re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity.Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he''ll not only be unable to overcome but that will define his life forever.''Yanagihara takes you so deeply into the lives and minds of these characters that you struggle to leave them behind'' The TimesTrade ReviewA singularly profound and moving work . . . It's not often that you read a book of this length and find yourself thinking "I wish it was longer" but Yanagihara takes you so deeply into the lives and minds of these characters that you struggle to leave them behind. * The Times *A Little Life makes for near-hypnotically compelling reading, a vivid, hyperreal portrait of human existence that demands intense emotional investment . . . An astonishing achievement: a novel of grand drama and sentiment, but it's a canvas Yanagihara has painted with delicate, subtle brushstrokes. * Independent *Here is an epic study of trauma and friendship written with such intelligence and depth of perception that it will be one of the benchmarks against which all other novels that broach those subjects (and they are legion) will be measured. * Wall Street Journal *It's not hyperbole to call this novel a masterwork - if anything that word is simply just too little for it * San Francisco Chronicle *A Little Life feels elemental, irreducible-and, dark and disturbing though it is, there is beauty in it * New Yorker *Utterly compelling . . . quite an extraordinary novel. It is impossible to put down . . . And it is almost impossible to forget. * Daily Express *A darkly beautiful tale of love and friendship... I've read a lot of emotionally taxing books in my time, but A Little Life . . . is the only one I've read as an adult that's left me sobbing. * Los Angeles Times *Capacious and consuming . . . Boasts a scale and immersive power to rival the recent epics of Donna Tartt and Elizabeth Gilbert. * Boston Globe *Astonishing . . . tender, torturous and achingly alive to the undeniable pain that can scar a life. * Psychologies *It's Entourage directed by Bergman; it's the great 90s novel a quarter of a century too late; it's a devastating read that will leave your heart, like the Grinch's, a few sizes larger. -- Alex Preston * Observer *

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Book Synopsis** SOON TO BE A MAJOR HBO SERIES STARRING JODIE COMER **A YOU MAGAZINE BOOK OF THE YEAR''A startlingly funny sex comedy with dark undertones that's high on quirk and scabrous wit.'' Sunday Times, ''Books of the Year''By turns funny, eccentric and raunchy.' Grazia''Made me laugh and think too much (the right amount?) about sex and death and honesty.'' MONICA HEISEY Offbeat, unhinged and brilliant.' Stylist''Utterly addictive. . . I laughed so hard it ached.' GILLIAN ANDERSON''Juicy, salacious and compelling. Trauma shouldn''t be this fun.'' SARA PASCOEGreta liked knowing people''s secrets. That wasn''t a problem. Until she met Big Swiss.Big Swiss. That's Greta's nickname for her she is tall, and she is from Switzerland. Well that's how Greta imagines her; they haven't actually met in person. Nor has Greta actually ever been to Switzerland.What Greta doesn't know is that she's about to bump into Big Swiss in the local dog park. A new and not entirely honest relationship is going to be born.A relationship that will transform both of their lives . . .Readers are obsessed with Big Swiss:''Thing thing is a riot.'' ''Slightly deranged, endlessly entertaining, and weirdly touching.'' ''Kooky, funny, and very gripping.'' ''Beagin really understands the human condition.'' ''From the dark, dry comedy to the conversations surrounding sexuality, trauma and the complexities of our relationships to one another, this book had it ALL.'' ''I absolutely adored this!'' ''Bonkers but brilliant. I was hooked from the get go.''''Darkly funny, wildly eccentric and impossibly great.'' ''I loved this book all the way through, couldn't put it down.'' ''I devoured this book.'' ''Wonderful, witty, thought-provoking.'' ''Got me out of a reading slump and heartbroken it's over.''

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Book Synopsis''He is screamingly funny. He is wise. He has style'' Daily Telegraph''His spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction'' Mail on SundayIt is known as the Discworld. It is a flat planet, supported on the backs of four elephants, who in turn stand on the back of the great turtle A''Tuin as it swims majestically through space. And it is quite possibly the funniest place in all of creation...Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job.After being assured that being dead was not compulsory, Mort accepted. However, he soon found that romantic longings did not mix easily with the responsibilities of being Death''s apprentice.Terry Pratchett''s hilarious fourth Discworld novel established once and for all that Death really is a laughing matter...Readers can''t get enough of Mort:''This book was so good that if I kTrade ReviewHe is screamingly funny. He is wise. He has style * Daily Telegraph *A sequence of unalloyed delight * Guardian *His spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction * Mail on Sunday *Pratchett has a subject and a style that is very much his own * Sunday Times *To say that Terry Pratchett is popular is a bit like saying the Arctic Circle is a bit nippy * Sunday Express *Cracking dialogue, compelling illogic and unchained whimsy * Sunday Times *Mort is the book in thich this now great author moved from being simply just a witty writer to one of the premier fantasy authors of our age...now is the time to find out what all the fuss it about while enjoying this spiffy new cover * Starburst *

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Book Synopsis'I'm not exaggerating when I say this novel challenged everything I thought I knew about love and friendship. It's one of those books that stays with you forever.' - Dua LipaThe million-copy bestseller, Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life, by the author of To Paradise and The People in the Trees, is an immensely powerful and heartbreaking novel of brotherly love and the limits of human endurance.Winner of Fiction of the Year at the British Book AwardsShortlisted for the Booker PrizeShortlisted for the Women's PrizeFinalist for the US National Book Award for FictionWhen four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity.Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome – but that will define his life forever.'Yanagihara takes you so deeply into the lives and minds of these characters that you struggle to leave them behind.' – The TimesTrade ReviewA singularly profound and moving work . . . It's not often that you read a book of this length and find yourself thinking "I wish it was longer" but Yanagihara takes you so deeply into the lives and minds of these characters that you struggle to leave them behind. -- Fiona Wilson * The Times *A Little Life makes for near-hypnotically compelling reading, a vivid, hyperreal portrait of human existence that demands intense emotional investment . . . An astonishing achievement: a novel of grand drama and sentiment, but it's a canvas Yanagihara has painted with delicate, subtle brushstrokes. * Independent *One of the pleasures of fiction is how suddenly a brilliant writer can alter the literary landscape . . . Ms. Yanagihara's immense new book . . . announces her, as decisively as a second work can, as a major American novelist. Here is an epic study of trauma and friendship written with such intelligence and depth of perception that it will be one of the benchmarks against which all other novels that broach those subjects (and they are legion) will be measured. * Wall Street Journal *How often is a novel so deeply disturbing that you might find yourself weeping, and yet so revelatory about human kindness that you might also feel touched by grace? Yanagihara's astonishing and unsettling second novel . . . plumbs the rich inner lives of all of her characters... You don't just care deeply about all these lives. Thanks to the author's exquisite skill, you feel as if you are living them . . . A Little Life is about the unimaginable cruelty of human beings, the savage things done to a child and his lifelong struggle to overcome the damage. Its pages are soaked with grief, but it's also about the bottomless human capacity for love and endurance . . . It's not hyperbole to call this novel a masterwork - if anything that word is simply just too little for it * San Francisco Chronicle *Martin Amis once asked, "Who else but Tolstoy has made happiness really swing on the page?" And the surprising answer is that Hanya Yanagihara has: counterintuitively, the most moving parts of "A Little Life" are not its most brutal but its tenderest ones, moments when Jude receives kindness and support from his friends . . . "A Little Life" feels elemental, irreducible-and, dark and disturbing though it is, there is beauty in it -- Jon Michaud * New Yorker *Hanya Yanagihara's no-holds-barred second novel A Little Life has established her as a major new voice in US fiction. -- Tim Adams * Observer *Utterly compelling . . . quite an extraordinary novel. It is impossible to put down . . . And it is almost impossible to forget. -- Mernie Gilmore * Daily Express *[The] spring's must-read novel . . . Her debut . . . put her on the literary map, her massive new novel . . . signals the arrival of a major new voice in fiction . . . Her achievement has less to do with size than with her powerful evocation of the fragility of self . . . the pained beauty that suffuses this novel, an American epic that eloquently counters our culture's fixation with redemptive narratives. * Vogue US *[A] wholly immersive unforgettable read . . . You won't stop reading. And it's a novel that changes you. * Evening Standard *The triumph of A Little Life's many pages is significant: It wraps us so thoroughly in a character's life that his trauma, his struggles, his griefs come to seem as familiar and inescapable as our own. There's no one way to experience loss, abuse, or the effects of trauma, of course, but the vividness of Jude's character and experiences makes the pain almost tangible, the fall-out more comprehensible. It's a monument of empathy, and that alone makes this novel wondrous * Huffington Post *Often painful but thoroughly brilliant . . . Yanagihara's massive new novel . . . is hurtful. That's because, among other things, it is the enthralling and completely immersive story of one man's unyielding pain. It also asks a compelling question: Can friends save us? Even from ourselves? . . . Yanagihara's close study of [her characters'] lives and Jude's trauma makes for a stunning work of fiction * New York Daily News *This spellbinding, feverish novel sucks you in . . . One of the most compassionate, moving stories of our time . . . An exquisitely written, complex triumph * Oprah.com *A darkly beautiful tale of love and friendship... I've read a lot of emotionally taxing books in my time, but A Little Life . . . is the only one I've read as an adult that's left me sobbing. I became so invested in the characters and their lives that I almost felt unqualified to review this book objectively . . . There are truths here that are almost too much to bear - that hope is a qualified thing, that even love, no matter how pure and freely given, is not always enough. This book made me realize how merciful most fiction really is, even at its darkest, and it's a testament to Yanagihara's ability that she can take such ugly material and make it beautiful * Los Angeles Times *Capacious and consuming . . . Boast[s] a scale and immersive power to rival the recent epics of Donna Tartt and Elizabeth Gilbert . . . Alternately devastating and draining, A Little Life floats all sorts of troubling questions about the responsibility of the individual to those nearest and dearest and the sometime futility of playing brother's keeper. Those questions, accompanied by Yanagihara's exquisitely imagined characters, will shadow your dreamscapes * Boston Globe *An extraordinary book . . . A Little Life is quite deliberately a fable, not social realism . . . and all the more powerful for it. The truths it tells are wrenching, permanent. -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *This is an impressive and moving novel. -- Hannah Rosefield * Literary Review *A Little Life is Jude's story and it's his sorrow that colours this devastating, exhausting, strangely exhilarating novel. It's not in any way consoling but it is vitally compelling. -- Eithne Farry * Daily Express *How many times a year are you blown away by a book? That feeling that you can't stop reading, that your life might be a little bit changed? . . . I felt in the presence of genius, and 14 sleepless hours later I inhaled the last few sentences knowing I had found a masterpiece . . . Objectively, parts of this are a gruelling read, but such is the author's skill that the pages do seem to turn themselves as we race towards finding out the terrible secrets of Jude's dark trauma... I will be heading to the barricades if this doesn't win prizes galore -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * The Bookseller *Has so much richness in it - great big passages of beautiful prose, unforgettable characters, and shrewd insights into art and ambition and friendship and forgiveness * Entertainment Weekly *Astonishing . . . tender, torturous and achingly alive to the undeniable pain that can scar a life. * Psychologies *The clarity of Yanagihara's prose is perfect for dissecting blind ambition, the consolations of work and money, and how these paper over the cracks of fragile, fractured individuals . . . A Little Life is unlike anything else out there . . . Quite simply unforgettable. -- James Kidd * Independent on Sunday *This new book is long, page-turny, deeply moving, sometimes excessive, but always packed with the weight of a genuine experience. As I was reading, I literally dreamed about it every night . . . The book's driven obsessiveness is inseparable from the emotional force that will leave countless readers weeping . . . A wrenching portrait of the enduring grace of friendship. With her sensitivity to everything from the emotional nuance to the play of light inside a subway car, Yanagihara is superb at capturing the radiant moments of beauty, warmth and kindness that help redeem the bad stuff. In A Little Life, it's life's evanescent blessings that maybe, but only maybe, can save you * National Public Radio *Once she has you, Yanagihara is not going to let you go . . . Yanagihara . . . contains multitudes. She seems able to imagine anything . . . A Little Life . . . is, in its own dark way, a miracle * Newsday *At its heart A Little Life is a fairy tale that pits good against evil, love against viciousness, hope against hopelessness. The cruelty of the life Ms Yanagihara describes is trumped only by the tenacity with which she searches for an answer. * The Economist *The reader is pulled along by its express-train pace . . . it's certainly a great book. -- John Harding * Daily Mail *The first must-read novel of the year . . . The way to describe a novel you like, maybe the quickest way, is to say that you can't put it down. People say that all the time. There are also novels that compel trickier, but no less passionate, emotions. They are books that confront you and make you wrestle with them. You might feel protective of the characters and their fates; maybe you feel like the writer is talking directly to, or about, you and you are delighted but spooked about what the writer might reveal. There is no shorthand phrase for a novel that seduces you even as it frightens, guts, exhausts, and disgusts you. A Little Life is the most devastating but satisfying novel published so far this year . . . Finishing its 720 pages is like finishing one of the doorstop novels of 19th-century Russia: you feel worn out but wide awake -- (Cover Story) * Kirkus *Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life is the thinking person's big book of the year so far, a long, complex and pretty dark look at the intertwined lives of four college friends. It reminds me of The Corrections, or a starker The Interestings, or a more linear work by David Foster Wallace. Really. It's that huge and important * Amazon.com *Set to become one of the year's most talked-about novels . . . The narrative is transporting. -- Alex Clarke * ES Magazine *A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, will be one of those books people ask you if you've read yet. Beat 'em to the punch * South Coast Today *Utterly enthralling . . . The phrase "tour de force" could have been invented for this audacious novel * Kirkus (Starred Review) *Emerging from horror, persistent and enduring, is a touching, eternal, unconventional love story. -- Maria Crawford * Financial Times *A Little Life asks serious questions about humanism and euthanasia and psychiatry and any number of the partis pris of modern western life. It's Entourage directed by Bergman; it's the great 90s novel a quarter of a century too late; it's a devastating read that will leave your heart, like the Grinch's, a few sizes larger. -- Alex Preston * Observer *Transporting . . . A Little Life is not to be missed. -- Alex Clark * Evening Standard *Deeply moving . . . A Little Life interrogates notions of value and happiness as espoused by the 21st century American dream . . . Extraordinarily rich. * The National *A book that demands to be read. -- James Daunt * Wall Street Journal *A remarkable tale of love, friendship and the difficulties of embracing life when everything conspires against your right to happiness. * Sunday Herald *

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Book SynopsisThe Japanese bestseller: a tale of love, new beginnings, and the comfort that can be found between the pages of a good book.When twenty-five-year-old Takako's boyfriend reveals he's marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle Satoru's offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above his shop.Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, the Morisaki Bookshop is a booklover's paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building, the shop is filled with hundreds of second-hand books. It is Satoru's pride and joy, and he has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife left him five years earlier.Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the shop.And as summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.Quirky, beautifully written, and movingly profound, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop will appeal to readers of Before The Coffee Gets Cold, The Cat Who Saved Books, and anyone who has had to recover from a broken heart.Readers love the Morisaki Bookshop!'A perfect blanket to warm every book lover's heart''I love Japanese literature, and this is one of the best''A love letter to book lovers and readers everywhere'

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Book SynopsisA classic in the Bukowski poetry canon, Love Is a Dog from Hell is a raw, lyrical, exploration of the exigencies, heartbreaks, and limits of love.A book that captures the Dirty Old Man of American letters at his fiercest and most vulnerable, on a subject that hits home with all of us.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.There was a star riding through clouds one night, and I said to the star, Consume me'Six friends traverse the uneven road of life together in Virginia Woolf's most unconventional classic. Bernard, Jinny, Louis, Neville, Rhoda and Susan first meet as children by the sea, and their lives are forever changed.A poetic novel written in a lyrical way only Woolf could master, these narrators face both triumph and tragedy that touches them all. Throughout their lives, they examine the relationship between past and present, and the meaning of life itself.A landmark of innovative fiction and the most experimental of Virginia Woolf's novels, The Waves is still regarded as one of the greatest works ever written in the English language.

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Book Synopsis**THE TIKTOK SENSATION**Read THE razor-sharp satire that everyone is talking about...On the surface ,our narrator has everything you could want in life. She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate and lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like everything else, by her inheritance.But there is a vacuum in her life and she's got the perfect solution. She's going to take a year under sedation to relax and hide away from the world.What could possibly go wrong?Blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, is the perfect read for fans of The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.PRAISE FOR MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION:'The book that everyone is talking about' The Times'Diamond-hard entertainment' Guardian'Electrifying...compelling...Moshfegh's protagonist is an unlikely revolutionary' Vanity FairTrade ReviewThe book that everybody’s talking about… I read it and was entranced. * The Times *This is the first book I couldn’t put down this year… Almost offensive with its close-to-the-bone truths, it’s shockingly relatable. And legitimately laugh-out-loud funny. Ottessa Moshfegh is sharp, savage and hilarious. -- Isabel Dexter * Elle *The superabundantly talented...Moshfegh’s sentences are piercing and vixenish… she is always a deep pleasure to read. * New York Times *My Year of Rest and Relaxation is whip-smart, continuously compelling, and acerbic in all the right ways. * Daily Telegraph *Electrifying... [Moshfegh] is adept at crafting compelling female characters who violate the rules of femininity... Moshfegh’s protagonist is an unlikely revolutionary. * Vanity Fair *

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Book Synopsis*The brand new thriller from Lucy Foley THE MIDNIGHT FEAST is available to buy now**The No.1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller*Discover the electric thriller from the No.1, million-copy bestseller, Lucy FoleyThere was a murder here last night.Who holds the key to the mystery of apartment three?Dazzling' The TimesUp-all-night reading' Erin KellyGloriously twisty' Ruth WareCombines edge-of-your-seat tension with out-and-out Parisian chic' Adele Parks_________________________________________________________________In a beautiful old apartment block, deep in the backstreets of Paris, secrets are stirring behind every resident's door.The lonely wifeThe party animalThe curtain-twitcherThe secret loverThe watchful caretakerThe unwanted guestOne resident is missing. Only the killer holds the key to the mystery_________________________________________________________________What readers are saying about The Paris Apartment:One to devour entirely in one delicious sitting. Stupendous' ?????Twisty and mysterious and surprising' ?????Had me gripped right from the beginning' ?????''Has book of the year written all over it' ?????A page-turner with an amazing setting' ?????A fabulously tense and mysterious read!' ?????The Paris Apartment was a New York Times No.1 bestseller for w/e 06/03/2022The Guest List was a Sunday Times No.1 bestseller for w/c 14/09/2022The Guest List was the Goodreads Choice Awards winner for Crime & Mystery 2020Trade Review‘A dazzling combination of suspense, misdirection and unexpected twists’ The Times, Crime Book of the Month ‘Extremely evocative, with a richly-drawn atmosphere you can cut with a knife . . . Lucy Foley just keeps getting better and better’ Alex Michaelides ‘Lucy Foley leads the reader down the dark Paris side streets . . . Compelling, claustrophobic, up-all-night reading’ Erin Kelly ‘What happened behind the door of apartment number three? The creepy, twisty The Paris Apartment will keep you guessing all the way to the end’ Daily Mail ‘The streets of Paris have never looked darker, more opulent, or more sinister than in Lucy Foley's gloriously twisty new novel’ Ruth Ware ‘The Paris Apartment has the atmospheric feel and slow-burning suspense of a Hitchcock movie’ Daily Mirror ‘Cunningly constructed, elegantly atmospheric, and with a vipers’ nest of fascinating, flawed characters, The Paris Apartment just might be my favourite Lucy Foley to date’ Louise Candlish ‘Creepy and compelling, I was immediately drawn into this dark depiction of Parisian life’ Sarah Pearse ‘An intricate, atmospheric mystery set among the luxury and lies of the Parisian elite – fans of The Guest List are going to love it’ T M Logan ‘A sinister, seductive, twisting masterclass. Lucy Foley is a born storyteller, and The Paris Apartment is her best yet’ Chris Whitaker ‘Atmospheric, tense, and suspenseful . . . Lucy Foley has proven herself to be the modern day Agatha Christie’ Louise O’Neill ‘A slick, dark, and utterly compelling murder mystery. The richly atmospheric Parisian setting, coupled with a cast of intriguing characters, sets the perfect scene for murder!’ Lucy Clarke ‘A fast paced, twisty thriller . . . The Paris Apartment is multi stranded and crackles with menace’ Jane Shemilt ‘Foley proves once more that she is a thriller writer par excellence’ Cara Hunter

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Book Synopsis** Shortlisted for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award **One of Barack Obama's best books of 2018, the New York Times bestselling novel about contemporary America from a bold new Native American voice'A thunderclap' Marlon James'Astonishing' Margaret Atwood, via Twitter'Pure soaring beauty' Colm TóibínJacquie Red Feather is newly sober and hoping to reconnect with her estranged family. That's why she is there. Dene is there because he has been collecting stories to honour his uncle's death, while Edwin is looking for his true father and Opal came to watch her boy Orvil dance.All of them are connected by bonds they may not yet understand. All of them are here for the celebration that is the Big Oakland Powwow. But Tony Loneman is also there. And Tony has come to the Powow with darker intentions.'An exhilarating, polyphonic debut novel... Dazzling' Daily Telegraph'Lyrical and playful, shaking and shimmering with energy... Orange creates beauty out of tragedy' Guardian'Bold and engrossing... Orange has got under his characters' skins, allowing them to speak for themselves' Financial TimesA New York Times Top 10 Best Book 2018An Oprah Magazine Top 15 Best Book 2018Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2019Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2019Winner of the Writer's Center First Novel Award 2018Trade ReviewHow do you rewrite the story of a people? This question shapes Tommy Orange’s sorrowful, beautiful debut novel . . . There There itself is a kind of dance. Even in its tragic details, it is lyrical and playful, shaking and shimmering with energy. The novel dips into the tiniest personal details and sweeps across history. Orange creates beauty out of tragedy. -- Rowan Hisayo Buchanan * Guardian *[A] bold and engrossing debut… [Orange] has got under his characters’ skins, allowing them to speak for themselves… This is a powerful novel of pain and possibility -- Erica Wagner * Financial Times *A magnificent achievement… Orange has created a remarkable work, and I have little doubt that he will be ranked in the pantheon of 21st century American novelists -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *It is optimism that lingers after finishing the book. Fragile and flawed though this hope might be, it remains moving and powerful, just like the rest of Orange’s impressive achievement -- Alexander Larman * Observer *Compelling and affecting… It’s a searing, haunting read – all the way to its violent, intense climax -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisFrom Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning author of Smile, Sisters, and Guts!Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school''s production of Moon over Mississippi, she can''t really sing. Instead she''s the set designer for the drama department''s stage crew, and this year she''s determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn''t know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen. And when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier!Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a funny and charming exploration of friendship, crushes, and all-around drama!

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA truly captivating work of immense power and beauty -- Philippe SandsHaunting, moving, beautifully written -- Peter FrankopanA rich, sensual novel... This is a novel that gives voice to the invisible, the untouchable, the abused and the damaged, weaving their painful songs into a thing of beauty. -- Francesca Segal * Financial Times *One of the best writers in the world today -- Hanif KureishiShafak is the most exciting Turkish novelist to reach western readers in years * Irish Times *A terrific book. Poetic, poignant, trenchant -- Ian Rankin on 'Three Daughters of Eve'A thoughtful, charming book that offers a connection to other worlds, perspectives and possibilities * Sunday Times on 'Three Daughters of Eve' *A brave and passionate novel -- Paul Theroux on 'Bastard of Istanbul'A vivid carnival of life and death, cruelty and kindness, love, politics and deep humanity. This is only possible in the hands of a consummate storyteller. Elif Shafak's lyrical command of language and narrative is breathtaking. Brilliant! -- Helena KennedyElif Shafak brings into the written realm what so many others want to leave outside. Spend more than ten minutes and 38 seconds in this world of the estranged. Shafak makes a new home for us in words -- Colum McCannElif Shafak's extraordinary Ten Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World is a work of brutal beauty and consummate tenderness, a wild shout of life from out of the lower depths of destitution and prostitution, indeed from beyond the grave itself. Every page throbs with unruly vitality, the sense- saturating colours scents and sounds of raw Istanbul, all registered with poetic sharpness. It's a book which for all its ordeals is a profoundly moving, at times lyrical, celebration of humanity's obstinate fight for life against the steepest of odds -- Simon SchamaA heartbreaking meditation on the ways in which social forces can destroy a life. Elif Shafak can be unsparing, lyrical, political, intimate... Several novels live in this one, and all of them are moving, generous and elegantly written -- Juan Gabriel Vasquez

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE FOLIO PRIZE 2022SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2021SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG FICTION AWARD 2021SHORTLISTED FOR THE BETTY TRASK PRIZE 2022LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2022''Diamond-sharp, timely and urgent'' Observer, Best Debuts of 2021''Subtle, elegant, scorching'' Vogue''Virtuosic, exquisite, achingly unique'' Guardian''I''m full of the hope, on reading it, that this is the kind of book that doesn''t just mark the moment things change, but also makes that change possible'' Ali Smith''Exquisite, daring, utterly captivating. A stunning new writer'' Bernardine EvaristoCome of age in the credit crunch. Be civil in a hostile environment. Step out into a world of Go Home vans. Go to Oxbridge, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things. Buy a flat. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness. But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.The narrator of Assembly is a Black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend''s family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can''t escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?''One of the most talked-about debuts of the year . . . You''ll read it in one sitting'' Sunday Times Style''Expertly crafted, remarkable, astonishing... A literary debut with flavours of Jordan Peele''s Get Out'' Bookseller, Editor''s Choice''Virginia Woolf''s Mrs. Dalloway meets Citizen by Claudia Rankine... As breathtakingly graceful as it is mercilessly true'' Olivia Sudjic''Bold and original, with a cool intelligence, and so very truthful about the colonialist structure of British society'' Diana Evans ''This marvel of a novel manages to say all there is to say about Britain today'' Sabrina MahfouzTrade ReviewDiamond-sharp, timely and urgent... Written in a distilled, minimalist prose, Assembly is illuminating on everything from micro aggressions in the workplace, to the reality of living in the "hostile environment", to the legacy of British colonialism * Observer, Best Debuts of 2021 *A quiet, measured call to revolution. It's about everything that has changed and still needs to change, socially, historically, politically, personally... Its impact is massive; it strikes me as the kind of book that sits on the faultline between a before and an after. I could use words like 'elegant' and 'brilliantly judged' and literary antecedents such as Katherine Mansfield/Toni Morrison/Claudia Rankine. But it's simpler than that. I'm full of the hope, on reading it, that this is the kind of book that doesn't just mark the moment things change, but also makes that change possible -- Ali Smith, author of 'How to be both' and 'Summer'In just 100 pages Natasha Brown delivers a body blow of a book. Assembly is extraordinary, each word weighed, each detail meticulously crafted... Brown is mercilessly clear-eyed in her delineation of how British culture is also "assembled" - its history whitewashed and arguing against it near-impossible when "the only tool of expression is the language of this place". Yet she wields that language like a weapon and hits her mark again and again with devastating elegance * The Times *Incredible. [Assembly] moves the English novel on. Slim book, massive importance -- Max Porter, author of 'Grief is the Thing With Feathers'Stunning, blisteringly eloquent... Assembly heralds a powerful new voice in British literature * The Sunday Times *Assembly is brilliant. Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway meets Citizen by Claudia Rankine. Natasha Brown's ability to slide between the tiniest, most telling detail and the edifice of history, the assemblage of so many lives in so many times and places, is as breathtakingly graceful as it is mercilessly true -- Olivia Sudjic, author of 'Asylum Road'Daring and distilled... A hauntingly accurate novel about the stories we construct for ourselves and others... A completely captivating read you won't be able to put down * Independent *Assembly fulfils, with exquisite precision, Virginia Woolf's exhortation to "record the atoms as they fall upon the mind in the order in which they fall... [It] calls to mind Frantz Fanon's work on the psychic ruptures caused by the experience of being colonised, or W. E. B. Du Bois's idea of double consciousness. Assembly is the kind of novel we might have got if Woolf had collaborated with Fanon... Brown nudges us towards an expression of the inexpressible - towards feeling rather than thought, as if we are navigating the collapsing boundaries between the narrator's consciousness and our own * Guardian *I read it compulsively in a single sitting. Assembly expertly draws out the difficulties of assembling a coherent self in the face of myriad structural oppressions. Casting a wry look at faded aristocrats, financial insiders and smug liberals, Natasha Brown takes the conventional tics of the English novel - the repressed emotion and clipped speech - and drains away the nostalgia. What's left is something hard and true -- Will Harris, author of 'Mixed Race Superman' and 'Rendang'It more than lives up to the hype. Propulsive, devastating, unflinching and deft... This is a heartbreaking novel that offers glimmers of hope with its bold vision for new modes of storytelling... Brown's voice is entirely her own - and Assembly is a wry, explosive debut from a coruscating new talent * inews *A powerhouse of a book * Stylist *Set over 24 hours as an unnamed Black British woman prepares to attend a garden party hosted by her boyfriend's wealthy parents. With a clear eye she assesses her experience of corporate culture with its embedded racism, her awful boss, the myth of true social mobility... A short but exceptionally powerful novel from a gifted new writer * Bookseller (Editor's Choice pick) *In this excoriating indictment of the white supremacy underpinning the office space, Natasha Brown shows us the triple bind under which Black British Women live. How can there be wholeness in a society which demands so often that Black women melt parts of themselves down so that the machinery can shape them anew? I have scarcely read a work of fiction which confronts me so clearly and viscerally with the nature of injustice in our contemporary moment. This is an important work from a writer I hope we'll be hearing from for a long, long time -- Kayo Chingonyi, author of 'A Blood Condition'One of the buzziest debuts of the summer * Vogue *Natasha Brown's exquisite prose, daring structure and understated elegance are utterly captivating. She is a stunning new writer -- Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize winning author of 'Girl, Woman, Other'This marvel of a novel manages to say all there is to say about Britain today in the most precise, poetic prose and within the story of one complicated, compelling woman. Formally thrilling, politically captivating, endlessly absorbing... I will never forget where I was when I read it, how I felt at the start of it and by the end - it takes you on a complete carousel of a life lived both in dread and in defiance. Superb. -- Sabrina Mahfouz, poet & playwright, ‘A History of Water in the Middle East’Like the fictional companion to Jamaica Kincaid's nonfiction masterpiece A Small Place... A book like a finely honed scalpel - marking a new and electrifying dawn -- Elaine Castillo, author of 'America is Not the Heart'Tightly conceived and distinctively written, perceptive, precise and unsparing... An elegiac examination of a Black woman's life and an acerbic analysis of Britain's racial landscape. Brown's rhythmic, economic prose renders the narrator's experiences with breathless clarity * New York Times *Stunningly good -- Elizabeth Day, presenter of the 'How to Fail' podcastAssembly is an astonishing work. Formally innovative, as beautiful as it is coolly devastating, urgent and utterly precise on what it means to be alive now -- Sophie Mackintosh, author of 'The Water Cure'Searing... A rousing, inspired voice demanding to be recognized and heard * Washington Post *Deft, essential, and a novel of poetic consideration, Assembly holds (the Black-British) identity in its hands, examining it until it becomes both truer and stranger - a question more than an answer. I nodded, I mhmmed, I sighed (and laughed knowingly, bitterly) -- Rachel Long, Folio Prize-shortlisted author of 'My Darling From the Lions'Bold and original, with a cool intelligence, and so very truthful about the colonialist structure of British society: how it has poisoned even our language, making its necessary dismantling almost the stuff of dreams. I take hope from Assembly, not just for our literature but also for our slow awakening -- Diana Evans, author of 'Ordinary People'Mind-bending and utterly original. It's like Thomas Bernhard in the key of Rachel Cusk but about black subjectivity -- Brandon Taylor, author of 'Real Life'Brilliantly sharp and curiously Alice-like... It centres on a gifted and driven young Black woman navigating a topsy-turvy and increasingly maddening modern Britain... Her indictment is forensic, clear, elegant, a prose-polished looking glass held up to her not-so-post-colonial nation. Only one puzzle remains unsolved: how a novel so slight can bear such weight * Times Literary Supplement *A piercing, cautionary tale about the costs of assimilating into a society still in denial about its colonial past. Brown writes with the deftness and insight of a poet -- Mary Jean Chan, author of 'Flèche'Bold, elegant, and all the more powerful for its brevity, Assembly captures the sickening weightlessness which a Black British woman, who has been obedient to and complicit with the capitalist system, experiences as she makes life-changing decisions under the pressure of the hegemony -- Paul Mendez, author of 'Rainbow Milk'This is a stunning achievement of compressed narrative and fearless articulation * Publisher's Weekly *One of the most talked-about debuts of the year . . . you'll read it in one sitting * Sunday Times Style *Thrilling... Brown gets straight to the point. With delivery as crisp and biting into an apple, she short-circuits expectation... This is [the narrator's] story, and she will tell it how she wishes, unpicking convention and form. Like The Drivers' Seat by Muriel Spark, it's thrilling to see a protagonist opting out and going her own way * Scotsman *A nuanced, form-redefining exploration on class, work, gender and race * Harper’s Bazaar *Across 100 lean pages, Brown deftly handles a gigantic literary heritage... Her style rivals the best contemporary modernists, like Eimear McBride and Rachel Cusk; innocuous or obscure on a first reading, punching on a second... Assembly is only the start * Daily Telegraph *There's something of Isherwood in Brown's spare, illuminating prose... A series of jagged-edged shards that when accumulated form an unhappy mirror in which modern Britain might examine itself * Literary Review *A debut novel as slender and deadly as an adder * Los Angeles Times *A razor-sharp debut... This powerful short novel suggests meaningful discussion of race is all but impossible if imperialism's historical violence remains taboo * Daily Mail *Bold, spare, agonisingly well-observed. An impressive debut * Tatler *Excoriating, unstoppable... The simplicity of the narrative allows complexity in the form: over barely a hundred pages, broken into prose fragments that have been assembled with both care and mercilessness * London Review of Books *Beguiling and beautifully written, this is the work of an author with a bright future * Tortoise *Coruscating originality, emotional potency, astonishing artistic vim... This signals the arrival of a truly breathtaking literary voice... A scintillating tour de force * Yorkshire Times *Fierce and accomplished, Assembly interrogates the high cost of surviving in a system designed to exclude you * Economist *I was blown away by Assembly, an astonishing book that forces us to see what's underpinning absolutely everything -- Lauren Elkin, author of 'Flaneuse'Coiled and charged, a small shockwave... Sometimes you come across a short novel of such compressed intensity that you wonder why anyone would bother reading longer narratives... [Assembly] casts a huge shadow * MoneyControl *A masterwork . . . it contains centuries of wisdom, aesthetic experimentation and history. Brown handles her debut with a surgeon's control and a musician's sensitivity to sound -- Tess Gunty * Guardian *An extraordinary book, and a compelling read that had me not only gripped but immediately determined to listen again... Highly recommended * Financial Times on 'Assembly' in audiobook *'As utterly, urgently brilliant as everyone has said. A needle driven directly into the sclerotic heart of contemporary Britain. Beautiful proof that you don't need to write a long book, just a good book' -- Rebecca Tamas, author of 'Witch'Every line of this electrifying debut novel pulses with canny social critique * Oprah Daily *Devastatingly eloquent, bold, poignant * Shelf Awareness *An achievement that will leave you wondering just how it's possible that this is only the author's very first work... Brown packs so much commentary and insight inside of every single sentence... Original and startling all at once. After reading Assembly, I cannot wait to see what Natasha Brown does next * Shondaland *[Brown's] work is like that of an excellent photographer - you feel like you are finally seeing the world sharply and without the common filters. That is hypnotising -- Rowan Hisayo Buchanan * Guardian *A brilliantly compressed, existentially daring study of a high-flying Black woman negotiating the British establishment -- Guardian, 'Best Fiction of 2021' * Justine Jordan *

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Book SynopsisSUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER A once-in-a-generation series, Ali Smith''s Seasonal Quartet is a tour-de-force about love, time, art, politics, and how we live now. ''Her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope, uniting the past and present with a chorus of voices'' Observer What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times? Spring. The great connective. With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare''s most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door. The time we''re living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story? Hope springs eternal.Discover all four instalments: Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Ali Smith''s new novel, Companion piece, is available now.*****''An astonishing accomplishment and a book for all seasons'' Independent''Smith is a masterful storyteller . . . Savour it'' Evening Standard''Infectious in its energy and warmth'' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewLuminous, generous, hope-filled... The third book in Ali Smith's seasonal quartet is her best yet, a dazzling hymn to hope, uniting the past and present with a chorus of voices... [Ali Smith] is lighting us a path out of the nightmarish now * Observer *Is there a writer so critically acclaimed and universally beloved? ...Autumn, Winter and Spring are stories of the unlikely connections human beings can make and the cost exacted when those connections are broken. They are state of the nation novels which understand that the nation is you, is me, is all of us: the nation is our choices, our fears, our losses... [Ali Smith] is the national novelist we need in 2019 * New Statesman *An astonishing accomplishment and a book for all seasons * Independent *Smith is a masterful storyteller... Spring is political but Smith is more concerned with the human fallout of current affairs then the machinations of elites... Through her account of unlikely friendships, Smith brings human values to the fore. Savour it, because there is just one instalment left * Evening Standard *Spring weaves a story around the most pressing issues of our time... [A] bubbling, babbling brook of a book...Smith tells stories in a voice you can't help but listen to * The Times *A powerful vision of lost souls in a divided Britain... As Smith's Seasonal Quartet moves towards completion her own role in British fiction looks ever more vital. The final page proclaims spring 'the great connective'. It's not a bad description of Smith herself * Guardian *Beguiling... The eagerly awaited third instalment * Financial Times *Infectious in its energy and warmth * Daily Telegraph *Just when things were starting to look really bad, along comes the third instalment in Ali Smith's seasonal quartet to lift us out of the gloom... An extraordinary embodiment of the ways in which storytelling connects us... The work of Katherine Mansfield and Rilke, Greek myths and the propulsive lyricism of spring itself, thread together in narratives of loss and rejuvenation * Daily Mail *The third of her exceptional Seasonal quartet, which riffs back and forth with Autumn and Winter to expound on the importance of hope to move us beyond the darkest of times * I paper *The most compelling and coherent of the three books... Smith, as always is interested in how a story gets told, and who gets to tell it * Sunday Times *Ali Smith is one of our greatest living novelists, the Virginia Woolf of our times. * The Observer *

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Book SynopsisThe first in Deborah Levy's essential three-part 'Living Autobiography' on writing and womanhood. 'Unmissable. Like chancing upon an oasis, you want to drink it slowly . . . Subtle, unpredictable, surprising' Guardian _________________________________ Taking George Orwell's famous essay, 'Why I Write', as a jumping-off point, Deborah Levy offers her own indispensable reflections of the writing life. With wit, clarity and calm brilliance, she considers how the writer must stake claim to that contested territory as a young woman and shape it to her need. Things I Don't Want to Know is a work of dazzling insight and deep psychological succour, from one of our most vital contemporary writers. The final two instalments in Deborah Levy's 'Living Autobiography', The Cost of Living and Real Estate, are available now. _________________________________ 'Superb sTrade ReviewAn up-to-date version of 'A Room of One's Own' . . . I suspect it will be quoted for many years to come * Irish Examiner *Superb sharpness and originality of imagination. It is feminist and political while being an inspiring work of writing . . . She writes on the high wire, unfalteringly -- Marina WarnerLevy's strength is her originality of thought and expression -- Jeanette WintersonAn exciting writer, sharp and shocking as the knives her characters wield * Sunday Times *One of the few contemporary British writers comfortable on a world stage * New Statesman *A writer whose anger and confusion in the face of the world transform into poetic flights of fancy . . . which always feel marvellously right * Independent *

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Book SynopsisFrank Ross is killed by one of his own workers. Tom Chaney shoots him down in the street. Ross' 14-year-old daughter Mattie finds that the authorities are doing nothing to find Chaney. Then she hears of Rooster - a man, she's told, who has grit - and convinces him to join her in a quest into dangerous Indian territory to hunt Chaney down.Trade Review'True Grit is the best novel to come my way for a very long time. What book has given me greater pleasure in the last five years? Or in the last twenty? I do not know What a writer!' Roald Dahl 'Charles Portis is a writer who - if there's any justice - will come to be regarded as the author of classics of the order of a twentieth-century Mark Twain' Esquire 'Portis has made an epic and a legend. Mattie Ross should soon join the pantheon of America's legendary figures such as Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp and Jesse James' Washington Post 'One of those rare sweet delights one can recommend to inveterate fiction readers and to those who read only one or two novels a year' San Francisco Chronicle

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021One family. One promise. One chance to tell a new story.'A moving, brilliantly told family epic' Elizabeth DayTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLEROn a farm outside Pretoria, the Swarts are gathering for Ma's funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for - not least their treatment of the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life. Salome was to be given her own house, her own land...yet somehow, that vow is carefully ignored.As each decade passes, and the family assemble again, one question hovers over them. Can you ever escape the repercussions of a broken promise?'A tour de force... A spectacular demonstration of how the novel can make us see and think afresh' Booker Judges, 2021'Astonishing' Colm Tóibín'Utterly compelling' Patrick GaleTrade ReviewA superb novel; a nuanced, sad, hilarious portrait of a family and a country -- PAULA HAWKINSThis story was so powerful, the writing so strong and supple... What an achievement -- CLARE CHAMBERSA moving, brilliantly told family epic . . . darkly comic . . . phenomenally good -- ELIZABETH DAYLayered, clever...with a gripping story -- CLAIRE FULLER * Daily Mail, Books of the Year *A brilliant book told over four decades and four funerals . . . These are characters dancing on the edge of ruin . . . Intoxicating -- ANNA HOPEAstonishing . . . about fate and loss, about three siblings and land, a promise made a broken -- COLM TOIBINA remarkable tale of four generations of one South African family and of the country itself... No wonder it won the Booker * Observer, Books of the Year *Vivid and suggestive, moving and often very funny * Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year *Outstanding . . . Gripping . . . There is also plenty of unexpected comedy * BBC News *Brilliant... Rarely have I had such a strong sense, while reading a novel, that I myself was there, in the room with the characters * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisMimi Pond (Author, Illustrator) Mimi Pond is a cartoonist, illustrator, and writer. She has created comics for the Los Angeles Times, Seventeen magazine, National Lampoon, and many other publications. She has also written for television: her credits include the first full-length episode of The Simpsons, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, and episodes for the television shows Designing Women and Pee Wee's Playhouse. Her two graphic novels, Over Easy (2014) and The Customer is Always Wrong (2017) gained national critical acclaim, winning the PEN Centre USA Award for Graphic Literature Outstanding Body of Work in 2014 and nominated for the Harvey Award Book of the Year in 2017. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the painter Wayne White.

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Book SynopsisAlison Bechdel is the author of three internationally acclaimed graphic memoirs, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama and The Secret to Superhuman Strength. Fun Home was a New York Times bestseller, won an Eisner Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was named a Best Book of the 21st Century by the Guardian, was adapted to a broadway musical which won five Tony Awards and is currently being adapted for cinema. For twenty-five years, she wrote and drew the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, a visual chronicle of modern life - queer and otherwise - considered 'one of the preeminent oeuvres in the comics genre'. Alison Bechdel is guest editor of Best American Comics, 2011, and has drawn comics for Slate, McSweeney's, Entertainment Weekly, Granta, and The New York Times Book Review. In 2014 she was named as one of the recipients of the MacArthur 'Genius' Award.http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/

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Book Synopsis*Molly the maid returns in THE MAID''S SECRET available to pre-order now*_________________________________________________________________Get swept away by the million-copy bestseller *THE NO.1 NEW YORK TIMES & SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER*WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST MYSTERY/THRILLER*WINNER OF THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION*A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME PICKAn escapist pleasure' SUNDAY TIMESAn instantly gripping whodunnit'STYLISTSmart, riveting, and deliciously refreshing ' LISA JEWELL_________________________________________________________________It begins like any other day for Molly Gray, silently dusting her way through the luxury rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel.But when she enters suite 401 and discovers an infamous guest dead in his bed, a very messy mystery begins to unfold. And Molly's at the heart of it because if anyone can uncover the secrets beneath the surface, the fingerprints amongst the filth it's the maid . . ._______________________________________________________Everyone's getting swept away by The Maid:Excellent and totally entertaining . . . the most interesting (and endearing) main character in a long time' STEPHEN KINGThis is phenomenal thriller. Maid or murderer or victim? Find out in the book' READER REVIEW ?????Gripping, deftly written, and led by a truly unforgettable protagonist in Molly. I''m recommending it to everyone I know'' EMMA STONEXI loved everything about this book' READER REVIEW ?????I didn't think I could love a character any more than I loved Eleanor Oliphant but along comes Molly the Maid. God, I love her' READER REVIEW ?????Fresh, fiendish and darkly beguiling. The Maid is so thrillingly original, and clever, and joyous. I just adored every page' CHRIS WHITAKERFelt like a modern day homage to Agatha Christie' READER REVIEW ?????Lots of twists and turns and highly gripping' READER REVIEW ?????A Sunday Times No.4 bestseller for w/c 24/01/2022A New York Times No.1 bestseller for w/c 31/01/2022Trade Review‘Excellent and totally entertaining… the most interesting (and endearing) main character in a long time’ Stephen King ‘A smart, riveting, and deliciously refreshing debut. Prose knows how to pen a murder mystery with tremendous heart’ Lisa Jewell ‘The book’s endearing central character and atmospheric hotel setting make it an escapist pleasure — a mini-break between the pages’ Sunday Times ‘Nita Prose has created a true 21st Century heroine in a brilliantly-written, transformative story’ Janice Hallett ‘Finally booksellers have a concrete answer to the question 'I loved Eleanor Oliphant – what should I read next?'’ Bookbrunch ‘A gripping and heart-warming whodunnit narrated by an intriguing and original heroine. Skilfully layered and masterfully told. I loved it’ Santa Montefiore ‘An endearing debut . . . Prose threads a steady needle with the intricate plotting’ New York Times ‘The Maid is elegant, warm-hearted and wry, and Molly the most winningly off-beat narrator since Eleanor Oliphant. An absolute joy’ Louise Candlish ‘An instantly gripping and delightful whodunnit’ Stylist ‘I enjoyed every minute of this twisty yet tender thriller. The Maid is gripping, deftly written, and led by a truly unforgettable protagonist in Molly. I'm recommending it to everyone I know' Emma Stonex ‘Molly the Maid has captured my heart! I loved this charming and utterly original whodunit . . . Put this on your to-read pile immediately’ Sarah Pearse ‘Unlike anything else I’ve read, this kept me up way past lights out’ Katie Fforde ‘This is going to be HUGE! A heroine as loveable and quirky as Eleanor Oliphant, caught up in a crime worthy of Agatha Christie. Loved it!’ Clare Pooley ‘A contemporary murder mystery with a unique heroine who will appeal to Eleanor Oliphant fans’ Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisA QUEEN'S READING ROOM PICK 2023The multi-million-copy bestseller. A New York Times bestseller for over two years. Long-listed for the Orange Prize.Trade ReviewMoving, original, and accomplished ... wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous, and takes a line which is - refreshingly - strongly female without being cliche-feminist. It is also deliciously eccentric, which lifts it out of the usual category of a rite-of-passage novel into the realms of real distinction. Do read it * Joanna Trollope *Charming, funny, moving and unmistakeably from the American South... a story that whips together heat, violence, eccentricity, madness and the Gothic * The Times *This is a wonderful book, by turns funny, sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris. * The Daily Telegraph *Eccentric, inventive, and ultimately forgiving... a truly original Southern voice * Anita Shreve *Monk Kidd has created a narrative as skilful and sweet as a honeycomb. Uplifting and warm-hearted, this is a moving novel and Lily is a fascinating, funny and clever narrator * Literary Review *Sue Monk Kidd... Illuminates what is beautiful... THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is a gift, filled with hope * Luanne Rice *This is the story of a young girl's journey toward healing, and of finding, at its end, not only wholeness, but the intrinsic sacredness of living in the world. I think it is simply wonderful * Anne Rivers Siddons *A wonderfully written debut novel * Kirkus Reviews *With imagination as lush and colorful as the American South, a clutch of deliciously eccentric characters, and vivid prose, Sue Monk Kidd creates a rich, maternal haven in a harsh world * Christina Schwarz *As original as its title and rivetingly so... It is one of the most inventive books I have read in a long time, and utterly compelling... This book demands to be read again and again, for it is not so much the solving of the mystery that is compulsive, but the gentle, sensitive, humorous and intensely colourful creation of a world far from our own * Oxford Times *Sue Monk Kidd has written a wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love * Connie May Fowler *Lily is a wonderfully petulant and self-absorbed adolescent, and Kidd deftly portrays her sense of injustice as it expands to accomodate broader social evils...August and her sisters, June and May, are no mere vehicles for Lily's salvation; they are individuals as fully imagined as the sweltering, kudzu-carpeted landscape that surrounds them * New York Times Book Review *What a splendid novel! It's wonderfully thoughtful and sensitive and compulsively readable * Susan Isaacs *An incredibly original and imaginative book with great charm and atmosphere * Glasgow Evening Times *A wonderful modern fairy tale...a touching story with a memorable cast of characters * The Big Issue *A hive's worth of appealing female characters, an off-beat plot and a lovely style... Deeply satisfying * Publishers Weekly *A honey-sweet novel * Elle *Superb * Woman & Home *Maybe it is true that there are no perfect books, but I closed this one believing that I had found perfection. The language is never anything short of crystalline and inspired. The plotting is subtle and careful and exquisitely executed...The characters are lovable and deep-hearted, fully dimensional, never pat. The story endures long after the book is slipped back onto the shelf * Book magazine *I am amazed that this moving, original, and accomplished book is a first novel. It is wonderfully written, powerful, poignant, and humorous, and takes a line which is - refreshingly - strongly female without being cliche-feminist. It is also deliciously eccentric, which lifts it out of the usual category of a rite-of-passage novel into the realms of real distinction. Do read it * Joanna Trollope *Charming, funny, moving and unmistakeably from the American South... a story that whips together heat, violence, eccentricity, madness and the Gothic * The Times *Lily is a wonderfully petulant and self-absorbed adolescent, and Kidd deftly portrays her sense of injustice as it expands to accomodate broader social evils...August and her sisters, June and May, are no mere vehicles for Lily's salvation; they are individuals as fully imagined as the sweltering, kudzu-carpeted landscape that surrounds them * New York Times Book Review *This is a wonderful book, by turns funny, sad, full of incident and shot through with grown-up magic reminiscent of Joanne Harris. * The Daily Telegraph *Eccentric, inventive, and ultimately forgiving... a truly original Southern voice * Anita Shreve *Sue Monk Kidd... Illuminates what is beautiful... THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES is a gift, filled with hope * Luanne Rice *This is the story of a young girl's journey toward healing, and of finding, at its end, not only wholeness, but the intrinsic sacredness of living in the world. I think it is simply wonderful * Anne Rivers Siddons *A wonderfully written debut novel * Kirkus Reviews *With imagination as lush and colorful as the American South, a clutch of deliciously eccentric characters, and vivid prose, Sue Monk Kidd creates a rich, maternal haven in a harsh world * Christina Schwarz *As original as its title and rivetingly so... It is one of the most inventive books I have read in a long time, and utterly compelling... This book demands to be read again and again, for it is not so much the solving of the mystery that is compulsive, but the gentle, sensitive, humorous and intensely colourful creation of a world far from our own * Oxford Times *Sue Monk Kidd has written a wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love * Connie May Fowler *What a splendid novel! It's wonderfully thoughtful and sensitive and compulsively readable * Susan Isaacs *Monk Kidd has created a narrative as skilful and sweet as a honeycomb. Uplifting and warm-hearted, this is a moving novel and Lily is a fascinating, funny and clever narrator * Literary Review *An incredibly original and imaginative book with great charm and atmosphere * Glasgow Evening Times *A wonderful modern fairy tale...a touching story with a memorable cast of characters * The Big Issue *A hive's worth of appealing female characters, an off-beat plot and a lovely style... Deeply satisfying * Publishers Weekly *A honey-sweet novel * Elle *Superb * Woman & Home *Maybe it is true that there are no perfect books, but I closed this one believing that I had found perfection. The language is never anything short of crystalline and inspired. The plotting is subtle and careful and exquisitely executed...The characters are lovable and deep-hearted, fully dimensional, never pat. The story endures long after the book is slipped back onto the shelf * Book magazine *'Kidd's first novel is well placed, gentle and deeply moving' The Times * The Times *'A personal favourite, one of those infectiously written books you can't get out of your mind...a lovely tale' Bookseller * Bookseller *'A tale that's beautifully and movingly written' Buzz * Buzz *

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Book Synopsis**AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO FOUR**Set in the frozen north of Canada in 1972, this is a novel of painful histories and the moments in life when we can change for the better.Clara's rebellious older sister is missing. Grief-stricken and bewildered, she yearns to uncover the truth about what happened.Liam, newly divorced and newly unemployed, moves into the house next door and within hours gets a visit from the police.Elizabeth is thinking about a crime committed thirty years ago, one that had tragic consequences for two families. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies.**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE**'I've been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel' Anne Tyler'Close to perfection' The Times'Exquisitely poignant' Liane MoriartyTrade ReviewIt's already one of my favourite books of the year * Rachel Joyce *She has the God-given ability to convey the complexities of human nature in everyday language... Like a magician, Lawson hides her technique, and makes it all seem as natural as breathing -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *A contemplative story about loss and regret, a slow burn of a read with a fire at its heart -- John Boyne * Irish Times *Lawson's writing is such that it appears effortless but, as all the strands come together to create a rich and satisfying tapestry, her genius for storytelling becomes apparent * Irish Independent *The doubts, difficulties and uncertainties of the human condition are carefully examined in a way that is both heartbreaking and joyful * Scotsman *Subtle and darkly funny, this tender novel unspools the interconnected lives of her beautifully drawn characters * Daily Express *An absorbing novel * Sunday Express *Lawson has carved out a world in Northern Ontario that's vividly, absorbingly real... Carries you along from midnight to dawn, oblivious of the time * Literary Review *A Town Called Solace keeps you breathless with anxiety, then relief and finally even joy -- Ferdinand Mount * Observer *Close to perfection * The Times *

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Book Synopsis'When I'd slept enough, I'd be okay. I'd be renewed, reborn.' This is the story of a woman with no name. Young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, she lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like everything else, by her inheritance. Yet she longs to lose herself completely. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a savagely funny novel of a woman looking out from the abyss.Meet ten of literature's most iconic heroines, jacketed in bold portraits by female photographers from around the world.Trade ReviewMoshfegh's stunning 2018 novel has a haunting ending... [and] relentlessly vicious humour. -- Gwendolyn Smith * i *This razor sharp satirical novel has achieved near mythical status... [a] compelling and clever take on a female character that isn't afraid to speak her mind * Glamour *Ottessa is one of our newest, most dazzling, daring and outrageous voices in literature -- Gwendoline Christie * Vogue *

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Book SynopsisInspired by his experiences as a reporter during the Spanish Civil War, Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls tells the story of Robert Jordan, an American volunteer in the International Brigades fighting to defend the Spanish Republic against Franco. After being ordered to work with guerrilla fighters to destroy a bridge, Jordan finds himself falling in love with a young Spanish woman and clashing with the guerrilla leader over the risks of their mission.One of the great novels of the twentieth century, For Whom the Bell Tolls was first published in 1940. It powerfully explores the brutality of war, the loss of innocence and the value of human life.This stunning edition features an afterword by Ned Halley.Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

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Book SynopsisAfter spending several years in a sanatorium recovering from an illness that caused him to lose his memory and ability to reason, Prince Myshkin arrives in St Petersburg and is at once confronted with the stark realities of life in the Russian capital – from greed, murder and nihilism to passion, vanity and love. Mocked for his childlike naivety yet valued for his openness and understanding, Prince Myshkin finds himself entangled with two women in a position he cannot bring himself to resolve. Dostoevsky, who wrote that in the character of Prince Myshkin he hoped to portray a “wholly virtuous man”, shows the workings of the human mind and our relationships with others in all their complex and contradictory nature. Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters, from the beautiful, self-destructive Nastasya Filippovna to the dangerously obsessed Rogozhin and the radical student Ippolit, The Idiot is one of Dostoevsky’s most personal and intense works of fiction.

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Book Synopsis Thomas Piketty’s powerful and bestselling Capital and Ideology is now available in this accessible and richly illustrated full-color graphic novel format. Praised by Piketty himself as a “magnificent adaptation” of his original book, this graphic novel adaptation is perfect for anyone looking to understand the wealth gap and why society is the way it is today. Claire Alet and Benjamin Adam make the original work’s ideas more accessible through the addition of a family saga. Jules, the main character, is born at the end of the 19th century. He is a person of private means, a privileged figure representative of a profoundly unequal society obsessed with property. He, his family circle, and his descendants will experience the evolution of wealth and society. Eight generations of his family serve as a connecting thread running through the book, all the way up to Léa, a young woman today, who discovers the

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Book Synopsis'Absolutely breathtaking' Christy Lefteri, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo.We all have something to tell those we have lost . . .On a windy hill in Japan, in a garden overlooking the sea stands a disused phone box. For years, people have travelled to visit the phone box, to pick up the receiver and speak into the wind: to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us.When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she is plunged into despair and wonders how she will ever carry on. One day she hears of the phone box, and decides to make her own pilgrimage there, to speak once more to the people she loved the most. But when you have lost everything, the right words can be the hardest thing to find . . .Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking . . . The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is an unforgettable story of the depths of grief, the lightness of love and the human longing to keep the people who are no longer with us close to our hearts.Everyone is talking about The Phone Box at the Edge of the World'A moving and uplifting anatomisation of grief and the small miraculous moments that persuade people to start looking forward again' Sunday Times'Strangely beautiful, uplifting and memorable, it's a book to savour' Choice, Book of the Month'A poignant, atmospheric novel dealing with love, coming to terms with loss and the restoration of one's self' Daily Mail'A story about the dogged survival of hope when all else is lost . . . A striking haiku of the human heart' The Times'Beautiful. A message of hope for anyone who is lost, frightened or grieving' Clare Mackintosh, Sunday Times bestselling author of After the End'Incredibly moving. It will break your heart and soothe your soul' Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars'Mesmerising . . . beautiful . . . a joy to read' Joanna Glen, Costa shortlisted author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope'Spare and poetic, this beautiful book is both a small, quiet love story and a vast expansive meditation on grieving and loss' Heat'A perfect poignant read' Woman & HomeTrade ReviewIncredibly moving, but also heartwarming and positive * SixtyPlusSurfers.co.uk *

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Book SynopsisA novel from internationally acclaimed author Paulo Coelho a dramatic story of love, life and death that shows us all why every second of our existence is a choice we all make between living and dying.Veronika has everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty, has plenty of boyfriends, a steady job, a loving family. Yet she is not happy; something is lacking in her life, and one morning she decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up some time later in the local hospital. There she is told that her heart is damaged and she has only a few days to live.The story follows Veronika through these intense days as to her surprise she finds herself experiencing feelings she has never really felt before. Against all odds she finds herself falling in love and even wanting to live againTrade Review‘Coelho’s writing is beautifully poetic but his message is what counts… he gives me hope and puts a smile on my face’DAILY EXPRESS ‘His books have had a life-enhancing impact on millions of people’THE TIMES ‘One of the few to deserve the term “Publishing Phenomenon”’THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

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

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Book SynopsisDeftly entertaining satisfyingly pushes all the requisite Agatha Christie-style buttons'Barry Forshaw, The IndependentDEATH IN PARADISE is one of BBC One's most popular series which averages 9 million viewers.DI Richard Poole is hot, bothered and fed up. He's stuck on the tropical island of Saint-Marie, forced to live in a rickety old shack on a beach, and there isn't a decent cup of tea to be found anywhere.When a boat explodes in the harbour, Richard and his team soon realise there's a new murderer on the loose. But who is it? And why did the killer leave behind a ruby at the scene of the crime?As the police dig deeper, they uncover secrets that go back decades, and a crime from the past that can never be forgiven.Worse still, they soon realise this is only the beginning. They've got to catch the killer before there''s another death in paradiseAn original story from the creator and writer of the hit BBC One TV series, Death in Paradise, featuring on-screen favourite detective, DI RiTrade Review‘Very funny and dark with great pace. I love Robert Thorogood’s writing’Peter James ‘This second DEATH IN PARADISE NOVEL is a gem’DAILY EXPRESS ‘Deftly entertaining … satisfyingly pushes all the requisite Agatha Christie-style buttons’Barry Forshaw, THE INDEPENDENT ‘For fans of Agatha Christie’MAIL ON SUNDAY ‘A treat.’RADIO TIMES ‘This brilliantly crafted, hugely enjoyable and suitably goosebump-inducing novel is an utter delight from start to finish’HEAT ‘Plenty of red herrings and twists to keep readers guessing’ DAILY EXPRESS 'Fans will enjoy returning to DI Richard Poole… just switch off and relax'LOVE READING

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe Pulitzer Prize-winning, Booker-longlisted, bestselling author returns to her beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any point in lifeLucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband - and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait, stunning in its subtlety, of a tender, complex, decades-long partnership.Oh William! captures the joy and sorrow of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that alter everything we think we know about those closest to us; and the way people live and love, against all odds. At the heart of this story is the unforgettable, indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who once again offers a profound, lasting reflection on the mystery of existence. ''This is the way of life,'' Lucy says. ''The many things we do not know until it is too late.''''A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own'' Hilary Mantel''A terrific writer'' Zadie Smith''She gets better with each book'' Maggie O''Farrell''One of America''s finest writers'' Sunday Times''This is meticulously observed writing, full of probing psychological insight. Lucy Barton is one of literature''s immortal characters-brittle, damaged, unravelling, vulnerable and, most of all, ordinary-like us all'' Booker Prize JudgesElizabeth Strout''s new novel Tell Me Everything is available now!Trade ReviewOne proof of Elizabeth Strout's greatness is the sleight of hand with which she injects sneaky subterranean power into seemingly transparent prose. Strout works in the realm of everyday speech, conjuring repetitions, gaps and awkwardness with plain language and forthright diction, yet at the same time unleashing a tidal urgency that seems to come out of nowhere even as it operates in plain sight -- Jennifer Egan * New York Times *Strout is not only mercilessly funny on the page, she's also unerringly precise about the long-term effects of loneliness, parental neglect and betrayal . . . The final scene between William and Lucy has been carouselling in my mind for days now . . . devastating and vital, bleak and tender * Sunday Times *What sets Strout's work apart is her characterisation . . . Long on empathy while steering clear of sentimentality, her prose bears the minerality of a crisp white wine, with a seeming simplicity that belies its profound power * FT *

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Book SynopsisAfter her ex-husband dies unexpectedly, Nora García travels to the funeral, back to a Mexican village from her past and the art and music of their life together.The way you hold a cello, the way light lands on a Caravaggio, the way the castrati hit notes like no one else could—a lifetime of conversations about art and music and history unfolds for Nora García as she and a crowd of friends and fans send off her recently deceased ex-husband, Juan. Like any good symphony, there are themes and repetitions and contrapuntal notes. We pingpong back and forth between Nora’s life with Juan (a renowned pianist and composer, and just as accomplished a raconteur) and the present day (the presentness of the past), where she sits among his familiar things, next to his coffin, breathing in the particular mix of mildew and lilies that overwhelm this day and her thoughts. In Glantz’s hands, music and art access our most intimate selves, illustrating and creating our identities, and offering us ways to express love and loss and bewilderment when words cannot suffice. As Nora says, “Life is an absurd wound: I think I deserve to be given condolences.”Trade Review"An erudite meditation on the link between mortality and the nature of art." —Publishers Weekly"An original and highly recommended masterstroke." —Library Journal"A fine novel, full of engaging curiosities." —Irish Times"Reading Margo Glantz's virtuoso novel is like letting oneself go while listening to Glenn Gould interpret Mozart."" —Ilan Stavans , author of ON BORROWED WORDS: A MEMOIR OF LANGUAGE and DICTIONARY DAYS: A DEFINING PASSION

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Book SynopsisThe innovative, dramatic graphic novel based on the life of the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis* AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST FOR 2024 * ‘A spellbinding achievement’ FINANCIAL TIMES ‘Poignant and often painfully comic’ OBSERVER ‘I gasped, laughed, and wept my way through it’ KHALED HOSSEINI ‘Hugely impressive’ NEW EUROPEAN ‘Novels like this might help light the way’ GUARDIAN Tbilisi’s littered with memories that await me like landmines. The dearly departed voices I silenced long ago have come back without my permission. The situation calls for someone with a plan. I didn’t even bring toothpaste. Saba’s father is missing, and the trail leads back to Tbilisi, Georgia. It’s been two decades since Irakli fled his war-torn homeland with two young sons, now grown men. Two decades since he saw their mother, who stayed so they could escape. At long last, Tbilisi has lured him home. But when Irakli’s phone calls stop, a mystery begins... Arriving in the city as escaped zoo animals prowl the streets, Saba picks up the trail of clues: strange graffiti, bewildering messages transmitted through the radio, pages from his father’s unpublished manuscript scattered like breadcrumbs. As the voices of those left behind pull at the edges of his world, Saba will discover that all roads lead back to the past, and to secrets swallowed up by the great forests of Georgia. In a winding pursuit through the magic and mystery of returning to a lost homeland, Hard by a Great Forest is a rare, searching tale of home, memory and sacrifice – of one family’s mission to rescue one another, and put the past to rest.Trade ReviewA compelling novel about war, family separation and ambivalent homecoming, its tale of sacrifice, guilt and betrayal is propelled by dark mysteries and offset by glorious shafts of humour ...Novels such as this might help light the way * Guardian *A family story in an unfamiliar setting, the journey affords us glimpses of Georgian history, swearing, wine, eyebrows and mordant humour ... An intriguing treasure hunt, self-consciously picaresque and peppered with references to magic, myths and miraclesA captivating star-burst of a novel ... An all-consuming, deeply affecting story of family, memory, courage, perseverance, and brutality, leavened with a little magic and a touch of madness ... I urge you to read it * Country & Townhouse *The stakes could barely be higher in Leo Vardiashvili’s propulsive page-turner Hard by a Great Forest ... Taking its title from a line in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Vardiashvili’s sprawling narrative, part comic, part tragic, abounds in mysteries, monsters, magic and terrors. It’s a spellbinding achievement * Financial Times *War trumps most things, Leo Vardiashvili observes early on in his poignant and often painfully comic novel about the effect of violence and conflict on those who must live through them * Observer, 10 Best New Novelists for 2024 *It is a testament to Vardiashvili’s writing that he converts the grief and yearning of the forcibly displaced into such a pacy and frequently funny novel ... Vardiashvili’s hugely impressive debut might be about a place that many of us will not know well but its themes are representative of the wider story of our era ... In this wise, moving and instructive book Vardiashvili, with extraordinary maturity and lightness of touch, cuts through the deafening white noise of sloganeering arguments to present the intimate lives of traumatised people doing their best * New European *Vardiashvili has captured the winking, world-weary humor and magic-realist touches that mark a lot of literature from Europe’s war-torn corners ... Like the voices on the radio, people can keep speaking out their dreams of rescue. And the book persuades you that sometimes, a form of it might arrive * Los Angeles Times *This powerful debut draws on the legacy of the war in Georgia in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union ... A fairytale tone allows Vardiashvili to creep up on his theme of survivor’s guilt * Mail on Sunday *Hard by a Great Forest has the offbeat lucidity of a waking dream ... a novel that indeed resembles a walk through a dark forest, Vardiashvili’s imaginative powers render his timely subject matter at once strange, disorientating and – occasionally – even magical * Daily Mail *A stupendous debut, by turns nerve-shredding, heart-rending and hilarious * Saga *Vardiashvili pushes the story on at pace as Saba searches for clues in the colourful enclaves of Georgia ... This debut is a heartfelt, lively story * i (Press Association) *This debut novel captures both the long scars of collective trauma and the indomitable spirit of those determined to remember and survive * Oprah Daily, Most Anticipated Books of 2024 *A sensitive exploration of grief, memory, loss and the immigrant experience woven seamlessly into a propulsive narrative * Perspective magazine *Rich with irony and animated with astonishing humanity, this tale of a young Georgian refugee’s odyssey into his birthplace to rescue family left my heart bruised and battered and aching for more -- Khaled HosseiniA wildly charming debut – propulsive, funny, and profound -- Elif BatumanAstonishingly crafted with history, candour, beauty, grief and just a little magic. A book like no other, from an imagination like no other. Vardiashvili has written a triumph -- Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of LESS IS LOSTThis novel blows open the heart of the past. It's a mystery, it's a picaresque, it's a comedy, and it's an authentic song of belonging and unbelonging ... By turns political and philosophical, it introduces a fine new voice in contemporary fiction -- Colum McCannPropulsive, profoundly moving and rich with humour and heartbreak, Hard by a Great Forest mesmerised me from the very first page. Inspired by Vardiashvili's own family story, this novel will capture your heart -- Jean KwokA sweeping, ambitious, and almost unbelievably assured debut. Exploring the long shadow of trauma cast by any war, Vardiashvili’s novel pummels the reader with an emotional force that few can match * Booklist (starred review) *Hard By A Great Forest movingly evokes the complicated feelings of trying to recapture and redefine what home looks and feels like * Bookreporter *Lushly haunted debut * Shelf Awareness *

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Book SynopsisKristin Hannah is a New York Times bestselling author. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle, and Hawaii. Her first novel published in the UK, Night Road, was one of eight books selected for the UK's 2011 TV Book Club Summer Read, and her novel The Nightingale was a New York Times number one bestseller, selling almost three million copies worldwide.Trade ReviewBy reversing traditional expectations, Hannah calls attention to the modern female soldier and offers a compassionate, poignant look at the impact of war on family * Publishers Weekly *A wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath * Kirkus Reviews *An unusual premise, with mum going to war as an army reserve whilst dad has to stay home and keep things together. Interesting characters and the very real depiction of ‘life must go on’ as tragedy strikes and everyone comes to terms with what’s going on. Brilliant dialogue makes this a compulsive read * Books Monthly *

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Book SynopsisA remarkably accomplished, polished debut. - Malorie Blackman.'You can't stop birds from flying, can you, Sameer? They go where they will...' 1960s UGANDA. Hasan is struggling to run his family business following the sudden death of his wife. Just as he begins to see a way forward, a new regime seizes power, and a wave of rising prejudice threatens to sweep away everything he has built.Present-day LONDON. Sameer, a young high-flying lawyer, senses an emptiness in what he thought was the life of his dreams. Called back to his family home by an unexpected tragedy, Sameer begins to find the missing pieces of himself not in his future plans, but in a past he never knew.Trade ReviewRightfully tipped for greatness. * Sunday Times *Unflinchingly honest but tempered by its humanity, this is a novel for our times... * iPaper *An extremely readable and fascinating dual narrative about the expulsion of East African Ugandans under Idi Amin in the 70s and the journey taken by Sameer, born in modern day Leicester, to understand his familial legacy. * Pandora Sykes *[A] sprawling and epic dual narrative, spoke of her lived experience, but that which she'd seldom seen in the books she read: a story of cross-generational divides, and being both Black and South Asian ... It's woven together with gentle urgency; sensitive and with a rare perspective on how our mixed race backgrounds can help form feelings of both internal power and conflict.' * i-D Magazine *The issues and subjects it takes on are big ... All are explored with great intelligence and sensitivity ... Zayyan's writing finds the lightness and fluency of a much more experienced novelist ... It is an epic novel in terms of historical, geographic, and cultural scope. It has much to recommend it: the tone, the structure, the ambition, and the clarity that enables the story to cover so much ground without ever becoming confused or lost during its 360-pages. * BBC News *

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

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

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Book Synopsis**Sally Page''s remarkable new novel The Secrets of Flowers is available now**From the author of the phenomenal bestseller The Keeper of Stories, comes an utterly beautiful and charming novel full of mystery and secrets waiting to be uncoveredFilled with compassion and insight a true ode to friendship' HAZEL PRIORMasterful storytelling' CELIA ANDERSONA powerful ode to friendship'FabulousHer new chapter starts nowJo Sorsby is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle's beloved stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart.When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn't alone.They each have a story that can transform Jo's life if only she can let them in.The perfect gift for book lovers, The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Bookshop in this gorgeous novel about secrets, second chances and finding friendship in the most unlikely places.Netgalley reviewers LOVE The Book of Beginnings!''Another extraordinary read by the author of The Keeper of Stories'' ?????''What a gem of a book!''?????''Everything about the story moved me''?????''I am in awe of Sally Page's writing'' ?????''So refreshingly original'' ?????''You just have to read it'' ?????''A read cover-to-cover-in-one-sitting book that gives all the feels'' ?????''Wonderful, just wonderful''?????Trade Review Praise for The Keeper of Stories ‘I absolutely loved it! So different, clever, funny and charming’ Sunday Times bestseller Katie Fforde ‘Funny, wise, moving and full of lovely moments…The characters are endearing and unforgettable’ Hazel Prior, author of the Richard & Judy Book Club Pick Away with the Penguins ‘Janice is a wonderful woman whose authenticity pulls you along…the breadth and originality of supporting characters makes this debut an immersive delight’ Dorset Magazine ‘Absolutely spellbinding…a warm-hearted, thoughtful, funny and yet deeply poignant’ Celia Anderson, author of 59 Memory Lane ‘A treasure of a book. Beautiful, emotional and heartfelt with a cornucopia of characters you’ll love spending time with’ Phaedra Patrick, author of The Library of Lost and Found

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