Narrative theme: death, grief, loss

Book Synopsis"A wonderful story. I laughed - and cried - a lot! You have to read this." *****Anne-Christine, Amazon customer"Bitter sweet!" *****Amazon reviewer"A wonderful read full of depth and emotion"****Morgan, Netgalley reviewerAs a childcare centre director, Morgan has to deal with kids every day but would much rather run her own boarding kennel. Snoopy - Morgan's beagle - is indeed the only living being she has considered family these past few years. When her sister and brother-in-law die in a terrible car crash, she has no choice but to adopt their two children.The unexpected addition to her household is clearly unlikely to get her closer to her canine goals. And as if this wasn't enough, she seems to be getting it all wrong with her "stepkids", ordering bedding her new son Elliot finds terribly childish, and forgetting to bake a cake for school on Lea's birthday. Grandma Catherine is convinced she'd do a much better job...When Snoopy sprains his leg, the kids are swept off their feet by the handsome single vet who's nursing him back to health. They're convinced he and Morgan would be a match made in heaven. Now they only need to convince Morgan...

Read more less

Book Synopsis The day she left was only the beginning . . .Sam was eleven when his mother went out and never came back. He waited for her and then he grieved for her, as his family fell apart around him.Sam tried to get on with his life in the intervening years. But it's only as his father lies dying that Sam begins to realise the cracks and inconsistencies in their family history.Who was his mother and why did she need to disappear? Why cover it up? As Sam searches for answers, and the trial leads him from the UK to the US, danger builds around him . . .Taut, thrilling and full of tension, YOU NEVER SAID GOODBYE is about a man who discovers his entire life is built on lies. But what price is the truth?Praise for Luca Veste:'Fantastic' MARK BILLINGHAM'High-concept serial killer thriller with twists and heart. Stunning' STEVE CAVANAGH'Properly Stephen King-style creepy' IAN RANKIN'Perfectly terrifying' AMANDA JENNINGS'Seriously creepy with a killer twist - Luca Veste goes from strength to strength' MARK EDWARDS'Creepy and compelling. The serial killer thriller of the year' MASON CROSS'Urban legend meets serial killer thriller - terrifying' STUART NEVILLETrade ReviewGrips from the first page to the last. A UK thriller writer that gives giants like Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben a run for their money -- Mark BillinghamLocal Woman Missing meets The Fugitive, You Never Said Goodbye breathes new life into the psychological thriller genre with a captivating and gripping storyline that is part missing person mystery, part all out action thriller. A heart-in-mouth story that will pull at your heart strings and keep you on the edge of your seat, You Never Said Goodbye is everything I look for in an action thriller. I couldn't put it down * C.L. Taylor *A truly pulse-pounding thriller. The relentless tension is leavened only by its heart-rending emotion * Christopher Brookmyre *A barnstorming, rocket-paced thriller about an ordinary man thrown into an extraordinary situation. Fans of John Connolly and Linwood Barclay will love it * Mark Edwards *An absolutely gripping and immersive thrill ride from start to finish. A white-knuckle rollercoaster that's also full of heart and soul * Doug Johnstone *Action packed suspense * The Sunday Times Crime Club *This is an electrifying edge-of-the-seat thriller, a must-read for fans of Harlan Coben * Candis *This is a rip-roaring and, at times, a touching thriller from a writer who has been favourably compared to Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay...and rightly so. Heart pumping action...thoroughly recommended and a must for everyone who enjoys high octane thrills * Belfast Telegraph *There are many gasp-inducing revelations before skilful writer Veste produces a gripping and surprise climax. * Peterborough Telegraph *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'A powerful novel about the bond between fathers and daughters, and how stories connect us all. I loved it' Jenny Colgan THE LOST STORYTELLER is the heartwarming and evocative debut novel from a stunning new voice in fiction, Amanda Block. Perfect for fans of Ruth Hogan, Jessie Burton and Diane Setterfield.Rebecca hasn't seen her father Leo since she was six. Her family never talk about him, and she has long since pushed him firmly to the back of her mind. All she knows is that, once upon a time, he was a well-loved children's TV star. But when a journalist turns up uninvited at her office, asking questions about her once-famous father, Rebecca starts to wonder whether there is more to Leo's absence than she realised. Then, looking for answers, she unearths a book of fairy tales written by Leo and dedicated to her - but what use are children's stories to her now, all these years later? Tentatively, Rebecca tries to piece together her father's life, from the people he used to know and her own hazy memories. Yet her mind keeps returning to the magical, melancholic fairy tales, which seem to contain more truth than make-believe. Perhaps they are the key to unlocking the mystery of her father, the lost storyteller; to revealing who he was, what he went through - and even where he might be now...THE LOST STORYTELLER celebrates the power and resilience of imagination.'Absolutely beautiful . . . A cleverly wrought tale of fathers and daughters, and a bond buried so deep that it is lost to folklore' Polly Crosby, author of The Illustrated Child'Captivating, moving and profound. I loved it! A spellbinding novel about the power of the stories we tell both to ourselves and to others' Tracey Emerson, author of She Chose Me'Incredibly moving . . . A genuinely beautiful must-read' Buki Papillon, author of An Ordinary WonderTrade ReviewA powerful novel about the bond between fathers and daughters, and how stories connect us all. I loved it -- Jenny ColganI've been lost in The Lost Storyteller's marvellous pages . . . brilliantly written and high concept with a moving story and vivid characters. But it also has that special indefinable SOMETHING. One of my books of the year -- Tracy Rees, bestselling author of The Rose GardenCaptivating, moving and profound. I loved it! A spellbinding novel about the power of the stories we tell both to ourselves and to others. -- Tracey EmersonAbsolutely beautiful . . . A cleverly wrought tale of fathers and daughters, and a bond buried so deep that it is lost to folklore -- Polly Crosby, author of The Illustrated ChildThe Lost Storyteller is a deeply evocative book about family and the redemptive power of stories, all wrapped up in some of the most beautifully affecting fairy tales I've ever read. If you like stories that tug at your heart and show you a different way of looking at love, loss, betrayal and redemption, you will enjoy this heartwarming tale . . . I loved this book -- Buki Papillon, author of An Ordinary WonderCompletely engaging . . . A lovely reflection on the power and magic of stories -- Marianne Cronin, author of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot. . . Beautifully, sensitively told. Block reminds us that people don't always behave as we want them to, and maybe because of that, there are few things so powerful as the ability to be kind * The Wee Review *Beautifully revealed, with a lovingly drawn conclusion -- Zoe West * Woman and Home *A warm, immersive read that weaves folklore through a story of self-discovery that touches on what it means to be a daughter, the ramifications of the past and daring to follow your heart -- Kate Sawyer, author of The StrandingA captivating and richly mesmerizing read * Buzz Magazine *A beguiling, gorgeous book about fathers and daughters and the stories that bind and redeem us * YOU magazine *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'One of the funniest and most original writers at work today' The TimesA firecracker of a novel by the Booker-shortlisted author of A Fraction of the Whole - a scathingly funny and affecting tale of life, death, love and the questionable existence of God.Angus Mooney is not happy - he's been murdered, cut off in the prime of his life. He feels humiliated - he's never even believed in an afterlife. (How wrong he'd been). He's confused - death has provided more questions than answers. And he desperately misses his audacious and fiery wife, Gracie, who's expecting their first child. The only upside is that Angus has found a way to see what his murderer is up to, and how Gracie is faring. The downside: Gracie and his murderer are getting uncomfortably close, and a worldwide pandemic means the afterlife is about to get very crowded . . .'Toltz takes his time with each book and Here Goes Nothing is a funny, clever, entertaining argument in favour of cultivating the patience to get it right' GuardianTrade ReviewSteve Toltz's fabulously impressive third novel cannonballs straight into heady existential questions, magicking up a vision of human life at once generous and absurd while wearing its considerable ambition lightly . . . Toltz takes his time with each book and Here Goes Nothing is a funny, clever, entertaining argument in favour of cultivating the patience to get it right. -- Rob Doyle * Guardian *A morbidly two-fisted tour de force . . . energetically full of sardonic one-liners . . . it reeks of mortality, but it is thoroughly bracing. -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *Savagely comic . . . Here Goes Nothing is a Jeremiad with jokes . . . But when the story focuses on the end of days on Earth, Toltz abandons existential standup for the detailed horror of what we all might have faced if Covid had triumphed. Wider questions persist about what it means to be alive. * Spectator *In his three books (alas, too few) Steve Toltz has shown that he is one of the funniest and most original writers at work today. -- Robbie Millen * The Times *Toltz refreshingly posits an afterlife without any religious scaffolding . . . He conjures up scenes few other novelists would dare to imagine, let alone write . . . In a book full of narrative tricks, Toltz saves the best, or strangest, for last. -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times *Steve Toltz's first two novels . . . were filled to the brim with exuberant sentences, dark jokes, large philosophical ideas and wildly imaginative, often lurid incidents . . . Now, with Here Goes Nothing he pulls off the same trick again . . . While Toltz obviously has a serious purpose - to rub our noses in what a mess we've collectively made of being alive - his usual high quotient of fizzing one-liners ensures that not many pages go by without at least one laugh -- James Walton * The Times *The greatest Mitteleuropean novelist ever to have come from Australia . . . Toltz's great skill is to make [his] monsters in a lunatic way loveable . . . I read the final pages through a veil of tears. Of course, the flipside to such remorseless, brilliantly withering contempt is sentimentality. It is perhaps the most difficult genre to do well, and Toltz does it humanely, compassionately and unforgettably. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *Toltz is the king of pitch-black comedy and personal catastrophe . . . his new novel grapples with big existential questions but is also stuffed with zingers. If there's no cure for being alive, laughter is still the best medicine. -- Justine Jordan * Guardian *A wildly comic riff on love, mortality and metaphysics; an extended vision of the afterlife that resembles Dante on magic mushrooms . . . Thought-provoking, inventive and full of literary pyrotechnics, this remarkable novel is unlike anything you will read this year. -- Simon Humphreys * Mail on Sunday *Sizzles with black comedy and anarchic energy * Guardian, Hot New Books for the Summer *A moving meditation on all that is wrong with our world today . . . In its epic scope charting this life and beyond, Here Goes Nothing works as a smart social commentary on our fossil fuel-guzzling, warmongering, information-obsessed, pandemic-riddled world. It is a hugely timely book. -- Sarah Gilmartin * Irish Times *I honestly think you have to resort to the likes of Oscar Wilde to find so many maxims per minute in a narrative. The book is the ideal guide to living and dying and living again in this parlous age. * Steve Stern *Clever lines drop down on these pages like flowers thrown on a casket . . . [a] zany, increasingly dark comedy * Washington Post *Dark, twisted and hilarious . . . Toltz is smart, imaginative and funny, unafraid to lob a literary grenade into hard-held beliefs of humankind. He uses Here Goes Nothing as a jumping-off point to parody the perversity and stubbornness of human nature and to highlight our uneasy relationship with mortality. Think of it as a comic, modern-day Divine Comedy with more intercourse and fewer opportunities to reach Paradise. -- Connie Ogle * Star Tribune *A story about the afterlife is ambitious enough but to make this so effortlessly funny is quite an achievement. * Penelope Debelle, Herald Sun (Australia) *What should survive of our past when we can start again from scratch? What do the dead owe the living? The answers Toltz provides are provisional, bleak and often hilarious, but they are never superficial. Here Goes Nothing reads like late-phase Saul Bellow in that it is brilliantly febrile and argumentative, though pessimistic when it comes to the human condition. Yet the implications of its character's actions are at variance to the general melancholy, and gloriously so. -- Geordie Williamson * Australian *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Warm, funny, and bursting with heart' Rebecca Serle'Beautiful, moving, hopeful' Emily StoneGreta James is adrift. Literally.Just after the sudden death of her mother - her most devoted fan - and weeks before the launch of her high-stakes second album, Greta James falls apart on stage. The footage quickly goes viral and she stops playing. Greta's career is suddenly in jeopardy - the kind of jeopardy her father, Conrad, has always warned her about.Months later, Greta - still heartbroken and very much adrift - reluctantly agrees to accompany Conrad on the Alaskan cruise her parents had booked to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. It could be their last chance to heal old wounds in the wake of shared loss. But the trip will also prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both, and for Ben Wilder, a charming historian who is struggling with a major upheaval in his own life.In this unlikeliest of places - at sea and far from the packed venues where she usually plays - Greta must finally confront the heartbreak she's suffered, the family hurts that run deep, and how to find her voice again.'Gorgeous, heartfelt' Amanda Eyre Ward'Moving and beautiful' 5* reader review'Thoughtful and tender and true' Janelle Brown'Full of warmth, heart and music' 5* reader review'Filled with music, passion, and love of all kinds' Jill Santopolo'Wonderful, inspiring and delightful' 5* reader review'A total delight!' Christine Pride'A heartwarming story reminding you to really live' 5* reader review'Full of hope . . . vibrant' Linda HolmesTrade ReviewThis wry, closely observed romance slowly investigates family, love and fame * Daily Mail *Charming, funny, diverting and a cracking good story * Sunday Independent *A warm-hearted story * Irish Independent *Warm, funny, and bursting with heart. A pitch-perfect story about the ways we recover love in the strangest of places. The Unsinkable Greta James is exactly the book you want to read * Rebecca Serle, New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years *Beautiful, moving, hopeful. I loved this book from beginning to end, and will be thinking about it for a long time. A total triumph * Emily Stone, author of Always, In December *Filled with music, passion, and love of all kinds, The Unsinkable Greta James is an unforgettable exploration of family and the choices we make that shape our lives. A fast-paced, emotional novel * Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost *I burst into tears at the end of Jennifer E. Smith's gorgeous, heartfelt The Unsinkable Greta James-tears of surprised happiness. I loved traveling to Alaska with the wild and tender Greta, her escape from her life as a literal rock star an addictive journey. Each evening, I looked forward to opening the novel and re-joining Greta's adventure, and will miss her - and her music - now that I've turned the final, beautiful page * Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters *Thoughtful and tender and true, The Unsinkable Greta James perfectly captures the messiness of loving and being loved. Smith has written a gripping relationship story that's also a perceptive exploration of what it means to dream. I devoured it * Janelle Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things *This novel is unabashedly sentimental, in the best possible way. It's about how family can misunderstand us, grief can undo us and our dreams can save us. The Unsinkable Greta James is as transporting and diverting as the Alaskan cruise Greta herself is on in these pages. In short: it's a total delight! * Christine Pride, co-author of We Are Not Like Them *There's a generosity in the drawing of these characters . . . a vibrant sense of its unusual setting * Linda Holmes, New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over *A tender story * Candis *Tears are likely . . . * Sainsbury's *Poignant and inspiring * Culturefly *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn emotional debut for fans of Elizabeth Strout and Diane Chamberlain, The Ones We Keep follows the splintered lives of four family members in the years following an unthinkable tragedy, and the choices they must make to find their way back to each other.One family. One tragedy. One incredible decision to change their fate.A quiet lakeside resort in Vermont seems like the perfect summer getaway for Olivia and Harry Somerville and their three young boys. But in a single moment, their idyllic family retreat becomes a mother's worst nightmare. Returning from a solo hike one afternoon, Olivia learns from a passing stranger that one of her sons has drowned—but not which one.In that moment, Olivia makes a panicked decision that will change her family forever.If she never knows which son has drowned, can Olivia convince herself that none of them have? By shielding herself from reality, can she continue to live in a world where all three boys are still alive?An emotional and heartfelt meditation on the nature of loss, the gift of recovery, and the bonds of love, The Ones We Keep tells the story of one family as they learn to face their grief and fight for hope.Your next gripping book club read exploring the depths of a mother's love, the endurance of family, and the mind-bending paths we take to shield ourselves from heartache.Trade Review"An elegantly written examination of our ability to control our memories and our grief for the sake of survival." - Jamie Harrison, award-winning author of The Widow Nash and The Center of Everything"In one calamitous moment of loss and denial, Olivia Somerville walks out the back door of grief into a life untethered but far from free. The Ones We Keep tracks her journey, interspersed with the journeys of those she left behind, until a second momentous calamity cracks opens the door to a possibility of return. Bobbie Jean Huff thinks us through the unthinkable with grace and unwavering confidence in this riveting story that is wrenching and tender in equal parts, and in the end so deeply satisfying." - Tim Wynne-Jones, author of The Emperor of Any Place"Bobbie Jean Huff leads the reader sure-footedly through three decades in the life of a family torn apart by a tragic accident, to a moving and uplifting ending." - Jane Rogers, author of Mr. Wroe's Virgins

Read more less

Book SynopsisPaul at Home is Quebecois superstar Michel Rabagliati s most personal book yet, a riveting, emotional, and frequently amusing take on the losses and loneliness of being closer to retirement than to university. Paul is in his mid-50s, a successful cartoonist with an achy shoulder living in a house he once shared with his wife and daughter. The backyard is unkempt, full of weeds. A swing set sits idle, slowly rusting beside a half-dead tree Paul planted with his then-five-year old daughter. The room that belonged to his now-18-year-old daughter is mostly unused, especially once she decides to move overseas. Left unspoken but lingering in the background is Paul s divorce after a three decade relationship with his high school sweetheart. Amid all of this emotional turmoil, Paul visits his ailing mother in the final months of her life. Like Paul, she divorced in mid-life after a long marriage. She spent most of her remaining years alone or in unfulfilling relationships, which Paul implicitly fears might happen to him. Online dating only seems to make the world worse. Rabagliati doesn t shy away from these intimate issues, approaching them as much with self-deprecating humor as with sorrow or pain. Characterized by both a deep insight and a willingness to poke fun at life s shortcomings, Paul at Home is a playful and poetic rumination on loss and the sometimes unsettling changes that come with middle age.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe arrival of the greatest single panel cartoonist since Charles AddamsOne swing trapeze artist prepares to receive a newborn child from another all the while shrieking Support the head! A hopeful, naked Adam reaches high for the largest leaf while a frustrated Eve hands him a smaller, more-appropriately sized leaf. A dejected squid stands in a doorway, shock and dismay on his face, as a ruined surprise party lies in wait before himguests, presents, and birthday cake covered in a blast of ink in mid-Sur as loose balloons butt against the ceiling.Once in generation, a distinctly new perspective emerges from the pages of The New Yorker. In our times, that perspective belongs to Ed Steed. Steeped in the classic formalist tradition of the single-panel gag, Steed possesses a shocking and macabre talent for drawings guaranteed to make even the most composed of casual readers laugh out loud. At times reminiscent of Charles Addams, George Booth, William Steig,

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Noon's storytelling is assured and compelling ... it's a belter' Guardian‘Constantly surprising’ SpectatorA viciously occult murder.A curious clue left on the body.The soundtrack to the murder still playing...It is 1981 and Detective Inspector Henry Hobbes is still reeling in the aftermath of the fire and fury of the Brixton riots. The battle lines of society - and the police force - are being redrawn on a daily basis. With the certainties of his life already sorely tested, a brutal murder will shake his beliefs to their very core once more. The manner of the death and its staged circumstances pose many questions to which there are no obvious answers. To track the murderer, Hobbes must cross boundaries into a subculture hidden beneath the everyday world he thought he knew. His investigation takes him into a twisted reality, which is both seductive and devastating, and asks him the one question he has been dreading: How far will he go in pursuit of the truth?Jeff Noon is the author of six acclaimed novels, Vurt, Pollen, Automated Alice, Nymphomation, Needle in the Groove and Falling Out of Cars, as well as two collections of short fictions, and is also the crime fiction reviewer for The Spectator. He lives in Brighton.Trade ReviewThe obsessive world of pop culture becomes a dangerous, dark, bewitching place in Noon’s utterly brilliant crime fiction debut. * William Shaw *Constantly surprising, the novel takes the form of the police procedural and pushes it in a variety of unexpected directions * Spectator *Noon's storytelling is assured and compelling ... it's a belter * Guardian *Slow Motion Ghosts is a triumph … an ingeniously-plotted and multi-layered tale * Independent *The enjoyably convoluted plot encompasses a heartfelt and moving examination of the other-worldly appeal of glam rock for nerds and outsiders. If you weren't poleaxed by Bowie's death, this very absorbing novel will help to explain why others were. * The Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe breathtaking short story collection from the Costa-shortlisted Irish writerThree gunshots on the Irish border define the course of a young man's life; a writer clings fast to a star-crossed affair with a woman who has never been fully in his reach; a fisherman accustomed to hard labour rolls up his sleeves to dig a grave for his child; a pair of newly-weds embark on their first adventure, living wild on the deserted Beginish Island. Spanning a century and two continents - from the muddy fields of Ireland to a hotel room in Paris, a dingy bar in Segovia to an aeroplane bound for Taipei - these densely layered tales reveal the quiet heroism and gentle dignity of ordinary life. Ranging from the elegiac to the brutally confrontational, Billy O'Callaghan's stories explore the resilience of the human heart and its ability to keep beating even in the wake of grief, trauma and lost love.'The best fiction I have read this year... Taut, subtle and moving, and brought off beautifully' John Banville, Best Books of 2020, Irish TimesTrade ReviewThe best fiction I have read this year is Billy O'Callaghan's short-story collection The Boatman. The book is old-fashioned in the best sense, in that it is written by a grown-up for grown-up persons, as Virginia Woolf said of Middlemarch. The stories are taut, subtle and moving, and brought off beautifully. -- John Banville * Irish Times *Best Books of 2020* *Wonderful stories… A masterclass... The reader is lulled into a false sense of ordinariness that gives way — sometimes gradually, sometimes abruptly — to a moment of cataclysm…that leaves the reader reeling… There is no denying the power of his words… O’Callaghan’s stories are beautiful, plain and simple, and each one is devastatingly good. -- Kathleen MacMahon * Sunday Times *Billy O'Callaghan writes beautifully... In evoking atmosphere, such a key element in the short story, he is matchless... His prose is a feast after a famine... The luxuriance of the language, the agility of the sentences, and the depth of the reflections. These stories are like classical sonatas... The writing is invariably delightful. -- Eilis Ni Dhuibhne * Irish Times *A shining example of how [short stories] can distil and intensify a writer’s gifts… These 12 stories confirm [O’Callaghan’s] delicate craftsmanship, unflashy narrative and descriptive skill, and his deep understanding of powerful and universal emotions… Breathtaking… Masterly… Irish writing has put out many new and more consciously modernist shoots in recent years, all welcome. But Billy O’Callaghan belongs now in the recognised front rank, along with Bernard MacLaverty, Edna O’Brien, William Trevor and Colm Tóibín. -- Ann Chisholm * Tablet, *Novel of the Week* *[Billy O’Callaghan] makes epics out of the unspoken, the barely said, the half-hinted at, the wordless nod… This is O'Callaghan's quest, to reveal who his characters really are, especially when they're burdened with life's cruelties. And in chronicling the bravery sometimes required in simply putting one foot in front of the other, he makes heroes of the humblest of us. -- Anne Cunningham * Sunday Independent *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'A SUSPENSEFUL MYSTERY...DEEPLY MOVING AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY AFFECTING' ALEX MICHAELIDES, AUTHOR OF THE SILENT PATIENT PRAISE FOR KEEP HIM CLOSE:'A tense drama' Sunday Times'A beautiful and heart-breaking story that I can't stop thinking about. Simply stunning.' Jo Jakeman, author of Safe House'Powerfully written and packs a real emotional punch.' Cara Hunter, author of Close to Home'A magnetic, all consuming read. A heart-breaking suspense which deals with love in all its forms.'Gytha Lodge, author of She Lies in Wait_____________________________ONE SON LIED. ONE SON DIED.Alice's son is dead. Indigo's son is accused of murder.Indigo is determined to prove her beloved Kane is innocent. She is helped by a kind stranger who takes an interest in her situation. But little does she know that her new friend has her own agenda...Alice can't tell Indigo who she really is. She wants to understand why her son was killed. But how long will it take for Indigo to discover her identity? And what other secrets will come out as she digs deeper?No one knows a son like his mother. But neither Alice nor Indigo know the whole truth about their boys, and what happened between them on that fateful night.Trade ReviewKeep Him Close was a magnetic, all-consuming read. A heart-breaking suspense which deals with love in all its forms, however it is expressed. * Gytha Lodge, author of She Lies in Wait *A moving account of family relationships and mainly low-level but devastating criminality -- Natasha Cooper * Literary Review *Keep Him Close isn't just a suspenseful mystery about two women's determination to discover the truth about the night that left one of their sons dead. It's also a really well-written, deeply moving and psychologically affecting study of motherhood and heartbreak. Highly recommended. * Alex Michaelides, author of The Silent Patient *Powerfully written and packs a real emotional punch. * Cara Hunter, author of Close to Home *A gripping, dark domestic drama with motherhood at its heart. Beautifully written and emotionally charged, the characters leaped off the page and stayed with me. * Ruth Mancini, author of In the Blood *

Read more less

Book Synopsis‘Liquidation, suspenseful and bleakly comic, reads like a treatise on the mystery of the end of life and the mystery of suicide… A compelling if deeply unsettling work’ Independent Kingbitter, an editor at a failing publishing house, believes himself to have been the closest friend of B., a celebrated writer and Auschwitz survivor, who recently committed suicide. Amongst the papers B. has left him, Kingbitter finds a play entitled Liquidation that uncannily predicts the behaviour of B.'s ex-wife, his mistress and Kingbitter himself. As he obsessively reads and rereads the play, Kingbitter becomes transfixed with the idea that buried within these papers is B.'s great novel: the book that will explain his relationship with Auschwitz.Trade ReviewA beautiful glimpse of the wide-open spaces of storytelling * Daily Telegraph *A masterly, subtle and constantly surprising novel, which, in this fine translation, reads as if it were written in this century, not the last * Sunday Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis**A RICHARD AND JUDY AUTUMN BOOK CLUB PICK AND THE MOST POWERFUL BOOK YOU'LL READ THIS YEAR** 'Poignant and bittersweet, this novel is a joy' Richard & JudyYoung and confident, with a swagger in her step, Sugar arrives in the southern town of Bigelow hoping to start over. Soon Bigelow is alight with gossip and suspicion, and Sugar fears her past is catching up with her. Then she meets Pearl, a woman trying to forget her own traumas. As these next-door neighbours become unlikely friends, they wonder if their lives could finally be changing for the better. But small towns have long memories...Perfect for fans of The Vanishing Half and Where the Crawdads Sing, Sugar is a classic waiting to be rediscovered.Reviewers adore Sugar: 'A page-turning novel guaranteed to be looked back on as a timeless classic' INDEPENDENT 'This book is so engaging and beautiful and intriguing and satisfying that I could not put it down' ELLE 'Riveting... Searing and expertly imagined' TONI MORRISON on Bernice L. McFadden Readers are falling for Sugar 'Such an enjoyable read... beautifully written, raw and impactful' 'Riveting, heart-breaking' 'Very powerful, poignant' 'Beautifully written... brutal and moving... a must read book' 'Well-written with rich characters and many twists and turns' 'So descriptive yet easy to read, and it made me fall in love with all the characters'Trade ReviewSugar follows expertly crafted characters as they wade through grief, sexism, and the bitter judgement of the 1950s Deep South with warmth and heart. Sugar is a page-turning novel guaranteed to be looked back on as a timeless classic * Independent *Riveting...searing -- Toni Morrison (on Bernice McFadden)This book is so engaging and beautiful and intriguing and satisfying that I could not put it down -- Tarana BurkeMcFadden works a kind of miracle - not only do her characters retain their appealing humanity; their story eclipses the bonds of history to offer continuous surprises . . . Beautiful and evocative -- Jesymn WardSugar was a masterful debut, an electrifying and profoundly realized addition to African American women's literary fiction. And importantly, Sugar introduced us to the brilliant author, Bernice L. McFadden, who would bring forth The Book of Harlan, Gathering of Waters, Glorious, and Nowhere is a Place. -- Sapphire

Read more less

Book Synopsis**SHORTLISTED FOR THE T.S. ELIOT PRIZE 2021**A book of loss, looking back, and what binds us to life, by a towering poetic talent, 'one of the poetry stars of his generation' (Los Angeles Times).'We sleep long, / if not sound,' Kevin Young writes early on in this exquisite gathering of poems, 'Till the end / we sing / into the wind.' In scenes and settings that circle family and the generations in the American South - one poem, 'Kith', exploring that strange bedfellow of 'kin' - the speaker and his young son wander among the stones of their ancestors. 'Like heat he seeks them, / my son, thirsting / to learn those / he don't know / are his dead.' Whether it's the fireflies of a Louisiana summer caught in a mason jar (doomed by their collection), or his grandmother, Mama Annie, who latches the screen door when someone steps out for just a moment, all that makes up our flickering, precarious joy, all that we want to protect, is lifted into the light in this moving book. Stones becomes an ode to Young's home places and his dear departed, and to what of them - of us - poetry can save.Trade ReviewOne of the most important poets of his generation... There appears to be no format in which Young does not shine. * Washington Post *Kevin Young perfectly illustrates poetry's enduring vitality. * Entertainment Weekly *Keeping up with him is like trying to keep up with Bob Dylan or Prince in their primes. Even the bootlegs have bootlegs. -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *One of the poetry stars of his generation. * Los Angeles Times *

Read more less

Book Synopsis‘A treat of a book about love and friendship - sip a Prosecco and enjoy!’ Jacqueline Wilson, bestselling author of The Story of Tracy Beaker How do you move on after The One?April 16th is always one of Charley’s worst days of the year. It’s her husband’s birthday, a painful reminder of his death four years ago.So naturally, her car breaks down.She nearly gets run over trying to catch the bus.And then she’s made redundant.Her friends see the redundancy as a chance for her to start again and live the life she always wanted, but since being widowed Charley has clung to familiarity and avoided change like the plague. Then, out of the blue, her mother-in-law Pam pitches up in need of a place to stay after walking out on her 40-year marriage.Together, Charley and Pam find themselves at a crossroad. It’s not easy to move on after The One, but they can’t stand still forever. A gorgeously heartwarming and feel-good story for fans of Libby Page and Nicola Gill.Praise for After the One ‘I loved this sweetly engaging story of two women overcoming heartbreak at different stages of life – it envelopes the reader in a warm hug of friendship and hope.’ Sarah Steele, USA Today bestselling author of The Missing Pieces Of Nancy Moon‘This was such a sweet and cheering read. With the first fictional mother-in-law I’d actually be glad to have! Everyone needs a Pam.’ Joanna Nadin, author of The Queen of Bloody Everything'A feel-good story which will appeal to many ages and I look forward to recommending it to customers.' Coles Books, Bicester‘A beautifully written and heartwarming story about love, loss and finding the courage to start again ... so witty and yet packed full of emotion throughout. I totally loved every second of this story – it really is a must-read!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review'I fell in love with the story from the start. The relationship between Pam and Charley is delightful’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘This is my first Cass Lester book but I'm hoping it won't be my last! This book is full of emotion and truthfulness so you may need a few tissues to hand if you tend to get a bit blubbery but I just absolutely loved it!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review

Read more less

Book SynopsisShortlisted for Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year 2023‘A remarkable suspense debut… exciting and unsettling.’ A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the WindowHe won’t rest until he finds out the truth…Cal Lovett is obsessed with finding justice for the families of missing people. His true crime podcast is his way of helping others, even if he can’t help himself.His sister, Margot, disappeared when he was a child. Only one man seems to know something. But he’s behind bars and can’t be trusted.So when the family of a missing Scottish woman begs for his help, he heads to Aberdeenshire in search of the truth.Does Cal have what it takes to unearth the secrets hiding in the hills? And what if he finds something that leads him back to the heart of his own family’s past?A gripping crime thriller by a brilliant debut novelist, perfect for fans of Jane Casey, Fiona Barton and Loreth Anne White.Praise for Unsolved ‘One to watch’ The Critic‘Evocative, with immersive descriptions of the Highlands setting… tightly plotted, well written and nicely characterised with a compelling mystery at its heart.’ Harriet Tyce, author of It Ends at Midnight‘An assured and compelling debut. Elegant, reflective cold case mystery with a thriller’s pace, beautifully written to boot.’ Dominic Nolan, author of Vine Street‘Gripping and taut, Heather Critchlow’s prose is as beautiful as it is exciting… A confident debut.’ Sam Holland, author of The Echo Man‘A gripping, chiller of a debut. A darkly twisted tale with a touch of grace.’ Rachael Blok, author of The Fall‘I loved Unsolved. It is both compelling and assured with a wonderful sense of time and place. The whole thing sang to me.’ James Delargy, author of Vanished‘A nimble plot showcases Critchlow’s keen observation of human nature and the dark motivations of ordinary people… it got right under my skin!’ Jo Furniss, author of All the Little Children‘Whip-smart and razor-sharp… had me turning the pages into the small hours.’ Alison Belsham, author of Death in Helmand‘All the nuance of a Booker winner, all the pace of a bestselling thriller, this spectacular mystery will keep you reading long after you should have turned out the light.’ Kate Simants, author of Freeze‘A beautifully written, perfectly plotted novel that’s a cracking start to an exciting new crime series.’ Sheila Bugler, author of Black Valley Farm‘Completely enthralling. Critchlow has perfectly built suspense and tension for the reader. A must for the TBR.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘Unsolved had me hooked right from the beginning. The characters were all well-developed. Kept me guessing right up to the very end.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘A brilliant crime thriller. Critchlow does a fantastic job of capturing the reader and building empathy for Cal’s situation. The pace of storytelling is excellent, the narrative is skilfully plotted, and the characters come alive in the reader’s imagination.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review‘An exceptionally assured debut from a writer who is surely one to watch. This crime novel is character-led and beautifully written, with the added tension of a twisty plot and the gorgeous backdrop of Scotland.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review

Read more less

Book SynopsisELEVATED HORROR!Max, the A.I. superintendent of Maxwell Towers has found a kindred soul in one of his residents, a young, disturbed boy call Sam Bowers. Together they work to rid the building of all the ne'er do wells who lurk in the dark corridors of the block, luring them to the dreaded thirteenth floor. But this power has started to corrupt Sam, surprising even Max - and their activities have not gone unnoticed, as WPC Hester Benedict becomes more aware of the sinister events taking place at the building.The breakout star of legendary British comic Scream! Max and his thirteenth floor are back in a brand-new story written by Guy Adams (Heavens Gate) and includes art by Frazer Irving (Batman and Robin), John Stokes (Star Wars), Tom Paterson (Sweeny Toddler), Kelley Jones (The Sandman), VV Glass (Dr Who) and Vince Locke (A History of Violence).Table of ContentsScream! & Misty Special 2017 Thirteenth Floor story - Writer Guy Adams, Artists John Stokes, Frazer IrvingScream! & Misty Special 2018 Thirteenth Floor *story - Writer Guy Adams, Artists John Stokes, Frazer IrvingScream! Presents the Thirteenth Floor - Home Sweet Home! writer Guy Adams, artists John Stokes, Frazer Irving, Henrik Sahlstrom, Tom Paterson, Abigail Harding, Vince Locke, Jimmy Broxton, VV Glass, Kelley Jones, Kyle Hotz Includes bonus strip from Home Sweet Home!, The Romantic writer Keith Richardson, artist Andreas Butzbach

Read more less

Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEARA BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK1628. Embarking on a journey in search of her father, a young girl called Mayken boards the Batavia, the most impressive sea vessel of the age. During the long voyage, this curious and resourceful child must find her place in the ship's busy world, and she soon uncovers shadowy secrets above and below deck. As tensions spiral, the fate of the ship and all on board becomes increasingly uncertain.1989. Gil, a boy mourning the death of his mother, is placed in the care of his irritable and reclusive grandfather. Their home is a shack on a tiny fishing island off the Australian coast, notable only for its reefs and wrecked boats. This is no place for a child struggling with a dark past and Gil's actions soon get him noticed by the wrong people.The Night Ship is an enthralling tale of human brutality, providence and friendship, and of two children, hundreds of years apart, whose fates are inextricably bound together.Trade ReviewLyrical, haunting, a beautiful and elegant fictional interpretation of history, I loved it -- KATE MOSSEMajestic . . . Kidd packs the story with superb characters, high emotion and drama . . . this gripping story ebbs and bobs with surprises from Kidd's sparkling imagination * * Independent * *The ambition and execution of [Jess Kidd's] new book The Night Ship is breathtaking! Sweet and grim, epic and domestic - I loved it . . . readers are in for a treat -- GRAHAM NORTON[A] consistently gripping and impressively constructed novel . . . Kidd builds an immersive visual and olfactory world of the 17th century ship . . . since her first novel Himself [Kidd] has displayed a voracious talent for storytelling . . . [a] marvellous, spirited novel * * Financial Times * *Jess Kidd's extraordinary evocation of a place gruesome with ghosts and the stranglehold of the past is nothing short of brilliant. I loved it -- HANNAH KENTGripping . . . The Night Ship is immersive, vivid and immediate, teeming with sensory detail that could only have come from extensive and diligent research and told in beautifully assured prose * * Irish Times * *Fabulous . . . Beautifully pitched, and told in the present tense, there's a wonderful immediacy to the children's stories as they cope with the harsh reality of their worlds but yearn for the magical and mystical, in this briny, beguiling book * * Daily Mail * *Kidd's writing is beautiful, a seemingly effortless layering of small details to create a vivid sense of place and geography . . . wonderful . . . memorable * * Sunday Independent * *I absolutely loved it . . . Fantastic -- STEPHEN MANGANCompelling . . . [Possesses] great energy and originality * * Sunday Times, Historical Fiction Book of the Month * *

Read more less

Book SynopsisSarah Sak's son, Anthony Walgate, was murdered by gay serial killer Stephen Port after they met on dating app Grindr. Stephen Port was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Old Bailey in November 2016. The case received extensive press coverage not only because of the horrific nature of the crimes but also because the police refused to investigate Anthony's death despite three more bodies being found in near identical circumstances. It was not until Scotland Yard's crime squad took over that Stephen Port was arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Sarah Sak's courage and perseverance helped to achieve justice for her much-loved son and now she campaigns for better policing, to recognise and link crimes, support families, counter homophobia and raise greater public awareness of the dangers of dating sites/apps, to prevent further deaths. She wants to tell the story of the murder of son and the other men who died in an attempt to understand how this could have happened and the role that social media played in their death.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBy the bestselling author of Black Narcissus and The Battle of the Villa Fiorita'The River will make you laugh, make you cry and, in its way, change you forever' JULIE MYERSON'Her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty' NEW YORK TIMES'Bold, beautiful . . . everyone's appetites will be satisfied' ELLEThe River is Rumer Godden's beautiful tribute to India and childhood, made into a film by Jean Renoir. And in a preface for this novel she explains how the classic tale came to be written.Harriet is caught between two worlds: her older sister is no longer a playmate, her brother is still a little boy. And the comforting rhythm of her Indian childhood - the sounds of the jute factory, the colourful festivals that accompany each season and the eternal ebb and flow of the river on its journey to the Bay of Bengal - is about to be shattered by a tragic event.Intense, vivid, and with a dark undertow, The River is a poignant portrait of the loss of a young girl's innocence.Available with Virago Modern Classics. Trade Review[Godden's] distinctive, poised and unsentimental books have never lost a shred of their almost hypnotic appeal -- Rosie Thomas * Guardian *Her craftsmanship is always sure; her understanding of character is compassionate and profound; her prose is pure, delicate, and gently witty * New York Times *The River will make you laugh, make you cry and, in its way, change you forever -- Julie MyersonBold, beautiful . . . everyone's appetites will be satisfied * Elle *A small masterpiece, a near perfect account of how childhood has to come to an end and the serpent must enter the garden . . . In The River she celebrates a passion for the people, colours, sounds and even the smells of India . . . She evokes, in simple, flawless prose, a young girl's first encounters with jealousy, sex, guilt and death -- Anne Chisholm * Spectator *The grace, the fragility, associated with Rumer Godden, again most evident in this new book * Kirkus Reviews *So intense, so quietly demanding of attention, that at the time there will be nothing in your thoughts but a small girl in India, and the people and places that were her world * Saturday Review *Compassionate wisdom and serene understanding . . . with each book she writes Miss Godden's position as one of the finest of English novelists becomes more secure -- Orville Prescott

Read more less

Book Synopsis‘The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day …’ Thomas Gray’s 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' has been loved and admired throughout the centuries. First circulated to a select group of friends, it was rushed to official publication in 1751 in order to avoid pirated copies being sold without the young poet’s permission. Praised by Samuel Johnson, reprinted over and over again in Gray’s lifetime and recited by generations of school children, it is one of the most famous poems in the English language. This edition reproduces the exquisite wood engravings made by Agnes Miller Parker in 1938. Parker visited the churchyard at St Giles, Stoke Poges, where the poem is set, in order to make her sketches, and all thirty-two stanzas of the poem are accompanied by detailed full-page illustrations. Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the poet’s death, this edition will not only bring new readers to the 'Elegy' but will also appeal to those already familiar with its riches.Table of ContentsContents Loss Transformed - Carol Rumens Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Read more less

Book SynopsisFour strangers from around the world arrive in India for a wedding. Together, they climb a mountain — but will they see the same thing from the top? Londoner Reema, who left India before she could speak, is searching for a sign that will help her make a life-changing decision. In pensioner Jackson’s suitcase is something he must let go of, but is he strong enough? Together with two unlikely companions, they take a road trip up a mountain deep in the Himalayas, heading for the snow line, where the ice begins. But even standing in the same place, surrounded by magnificent views, they see things differently. As they ascend higher and higher, they must learn to cross the lines that divide them.Trade Review‘Tessa McWatt is one of our greatest living writers. The Snow Line, her new novel, is a profound meditation on love, ageing, and what it is to be a woman of mixed racial identity and culture. Profoundly moving and epic in its scope, this book provides us with wisdom and reckoning on today’s world, one that is ecologically fragile and only just coping with a pandemic. Like all mature writers, McWatt’s range of reference is vast and her understanding of humanity plunges us into depths we all long to inhabit. She writes her characters with such intimacy we are thunderstruck by the book’s final pages. I closed this book and shed tears.’ -- Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch‘Vivid, rich, and melodic ... Layers of images, memories, and facts ask questions of connections, accountability, and desire — political and personal — and how we meet the complexities that make us. A beautiful read!’ -- Olumide Popoola, author of When We Speak of Nothing‘Tessa McWatt’s writing is tender, unforgettable, utterly precise. Like performing surgery on a peach.’ -- Leone Ross, author of This One Sky Day‘A profound meditation on the music that strangers in a place can make together, and on how the music of a strange place can get inside us, and change us forever. I loved the journey the book takes us on, revisiting some of the geographies readers will remember from The Far Pavilions, while the echoes of King Lear provide an undercurrent of nature’s aloofness, its potential for violence.’ -- Preti Taneja, author of We That Are Young‘An exceptional, riveting read. Tessa McWatt's rare gifts never fail to enthrall me.’ -- Irenosen Okojie, author of Butterfly Fish‘The Snow Line holds up a mirror to the ways India is reflected in today’s diaspora.’ -- Anjali Joseph, author of Saraswati Park‘Tessa McWatt’s The Snow Line reveals life in overlapping panels: consciousness, memory, scenes of violence, and of untenable beauty, “everything dangerous enfolded into everything else.” Her prose has Michael Ondaatje’s elliptical exactitude, Jane Gardam’s terse confidence, but it accumulates, on behalf of her characters — a young woman and an old man, friends — a singular, lingering effect. The Snow Line is a small marvel.’ -- Padma Viswanathan, author of The Ever After of Ashwin Rao‘McWatt is a writer who tackles race and identity with great nuance, and from a very broad reach ... The Snow Line suggests that she has done a lifetime of thinking and reading about structural injustice … The Snow Line is about the displacement of people, the stories that never get told, the commonality of our humanity, and the ever presence of God. We don’t feel the full effect of its rare wisdom and gravitational pull until we are finished. The final pages had me in tears.’ -- Monique Roffey * The Guardian *‘Delicate and ruminative … A sympathetic and serious-minded exploration of how well-meaning individuals can abet the misery of others.’ -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail *‘Tessa McWatt has constructed a moving epic that rises from intimate, complex character portraits written with tenderness and precision.’ -- Cameron Woodhead * The Sydney Morning Herald *‘At its core … The Snow Line is a book about belonging. It conveys a message that many migrants to Australia will understand — carrying feelings of longing and displacement even as they try to carve their place in a new landscape.’ -- Rhea L Nath * IndianLink News *‘The Snow Line has wonderful moments of contemplation and compassion for the complexity of lives lived. We are reminded of the beauty of life, in the place where strangers’ lives may intersect. Throughout the book, we are transported, in our minds, to the smells, sounds, beauty, and madness of India.’ -- Brid Conroy * Mayo News *‘In itself this is an excellent story, but it’s the way it’s told that makes the novel stand out … you’ll have to read this beautiful, subtle, keenly observed novel to see how things develop in the end.’ * Shiny New Books *‘UK-based author Tessa McWatt’s narrative is densely, nay immersively detailed, both bleak and rich. Overarching is an intimate understanding of India with a nod to the magnanimity of Sikhs.’ -- Samela Harris * The Herald Sun *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisRosie Goodwin brings back Catherine Cookson's classic family in this fantastic sequel to the Mallen trilogyTrade ReviewPraise for Rosie's first novel, THE BAD APPLE: 'Rosie Goodwin is a born storyteller - she'll make you cry, she'll make you laugh, but most of all you'll care for her characters and lose yourself in her story. An author destined for the top * Jeannie Johnson, author of THE REST OF OUR DAYS *Rosie deserves all her success. She is a talented storyteller and will go all the way to the top * Dee Williams *The tearjerker of the season...[a] heart-rending tale * Western Mail *A promising and well-drawn debut * Lancashire Evening Post *A good tearjerker...compelling * Reading Evening Post *A gifted writer... Not only is Goodwin's characterisation and dialogue compelling, but her descriptive writing is a joy * Nottingham Evening Post *A heart-throbber of a story from Goodwin that puts many other so-called emotional blockbusters in the shade * Northern Echo *Goodwin is a fabulous writer...she reels the reader in surprisingly quickly and her style involves lots of twists and turns that are in no way predictable * Worcester Evening News *A touching and powerful new novel from a wonderful writer * Bookseller *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisDetective Superintendent Andy Dalziel investigates a murder close to home in this first crime novel featuring the much-loved detective team of Dalziel and Pascoe.So far out in front that he need not bother looking over his shoulder' Sunday TelegraphHome from the rugby club after taking a nasty knock in a match, Sam Connon finds his wife more uncommunicative than usual. After passing out on his bed for a few hours, he comes downstairs to discover communication has been cut off forever by a hole in the middle of her forehead.Andy Dalziel, a long-standing member of the club, wants to run the murder investigation along his own lines. But DS Peter Pascoe's loyalties lie elsewhere and he has quite different ideas about how the case should proceedTrade Review'He is probably the best living male crime writer in the English-speaking world.' The Independent 'He just keeps getting better and better … Hill, a true master, never fails to shock and surprise.' Ian Rankin 'The finest male English contemporary crime writer. Compassionate, intelligent and entertaining' Val McDermid 'One of Britain's most consistently excellent crime novelists.' The Times 'An increasingly lyrical and always humorous writer, he is first and foremost an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift.' The Mail on Sunday ‘Hill is among the most consistently excellent and invigorating detective novelists’ TLS 'Few writers in the genre today have Hill's gifts: formidable intelligence, quick humour, compassion and a prose style that blends elegance and grace' Sunday Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisReissue to follow up publication of Paul Bailey’s new novel Kitty and Virgil. Two of his previous novels ‘Peter Smart’s Confessions’ and ‘Gabriel’s Lament’, were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. First published in 1980, Old Soldiers is Bailey’s most elegantly simple and perhaps most moving novel. The eponymous soldiers are two old men who (as his own father had been) are still haunted by First World War memories. Victor Harker – a survivor from the Somme, dazed with grief after his wife’s recent death – gets entangled with another man, who splits himself into an ‘unholy trinity’ of parts; by turns a military man, a tramp and a poet, he performs each part enthusiastically, with a loving attention to verisimilitude. It’s only at the end that we glimpse the sixty-year-old shame and grief which he has wasted a life time denying.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review“If you stare deeply enough into the bottomless abyss of black dots that serve as the eyes of Nancy and Sluggo, would you live to tell the tale? Well, Bill Griffith has. And the tale he tells is a complex, peculiar, and funny graphic biography of Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the brilliantly strange (and strangely brilliant) Nancy and Sluggo (as well as Fritzi Ritz and Phil Fumble). As the widest-ranging cartoon chronicler of American absurdity in our time, Bill Griffith has topped himself. This is an instant comic-strip classic!” * Matt Groening *“For many years, I’ve devoured Bill Griffith’s work. It’s always inspiring and engrossing. As it never fails to do, Griffith’s brilliance and consummate drawing chops shine through. Three Rocks is amazing!” * Emil Ferris *“I inhaled this book. If there’s one Nancy mystery greater than the peculiar, clean hum of the strip itself, it’s what Ernie Bushmiller, the man, was actually like. In this last, best volume of a three-book talismanic paean to the inspirations that have sustained and formed him for the past half century, underground comix legend Bill Griffith grafts all the real messiness of life—research, anecdotes, and interviews with those who knew Bushmiller—to perfect examples of the distilled graphic haiku of the Connecticut Zen master of the comic strip. The result, quite simply, is a page-turning, standard-setting, must-have work of biographical art. Two words: Three Rocks. Five stars!” * Chris Ware *“As the curator of the fictional Bushmiller Museum in Altadena, California, I was thrilled to learn from reading Three Rocks that there’s a fictional one in Stamford, Connecticut, too!” * Tom Gammill *“Bill Griffith is a master of pen-and-ink graphic storytelling. This delightful book is, first and foremost, a well-researched biography of Ernie Bushmiller, creator of Nancy and one of the unsung geniuses of the comics business. It is also a thought-provoking discourse on the inner dynamics of cartooning and its relationship to fine art. The narrative alternates deftly between realistically rendered scenes of Bushmiller’s life and career to flashbacks, future fantasies, dream sequences, clever asides by Nancy herself, and informative insights from the author. It is a thoroughly entertaining journey into Bushmillerland that is destined to take its place among the select group of classic graphic novels.” * Brian Walker *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA short, intense and profoundly moving debut novel about race, identity, sex and death from one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35Thandi is a black woman, but often mistaken for Hispanic or Asian.She is American, but doesn't feel as American as some of her friends.She is South African, but doesn't belong in South Africa either.Her mother is dying.Trade Review‘The debut novel of the year … visceral, cerebral, provocative, elegiac. One can’t help but think of Clemmons as in the running to be the next-generation Claudia Rankine’ Vogue ‘Luminescent’ Independent ‘A lovely little headrush of a novel … if you enjoyed Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing then try this’ Sunday Times Style ‘Bracingly clear-eyed … the tension between her steady prose and turbulent emotions is beautifully sustained’ Daily Mail ‘Highly original. Zinzi Clemmons deftly explores grief, sex and identity’ Elle ‘Concise and powerful. This original and challenging debut is a must-read for fans of literary fiction and memoir’ Bookriot ‘Penetratingly good and written in vivid still life, What We Lose reads like a guided tour through a melancholic Van Gogh exhibit – wonderfully chromatic, transfixing and bursting with emotion. Zinzi Clemmons’s debut novel signals the emergence of a voice that refuses to be ignored’ Paul Beatty ‘What We Lose navigates the many registers of grief, love and injustice . . . acutely moving’ Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland 'I loved this beautiful, honest and entrancing meditation on love, loss and the relationships that enrich and complicate our lives’ Bernardine Evaristo

Read more less

Book SynopsisYou can trust your family, can't you?Tess Piper was fourteen when her adored twin sister Edie disappeared.She has spent the last twenty years building a life away from her fractured family, desperate to escape the shadow of the past.Only now she needs to confront the huge hole her sister's disappearance left in her life, because a body has been found. The police are shining a spotlight on the Piper family. And secrets are about to surface.After all, it's common knowledge that more often than not, these crimes are committed by someone close to the victim. Someone they trust. Someone they knowWhat really happened to Edie Piper?A gripping thriller perfect for fans of C.L. Taylor, K.L. Slater and Rachel Abbott.Reader reviewsI totally devoured this the ending is a killer! Loved how the pages just blurred into one another and was seriously gutted when I'd finished it and wanted more.'A great read, fascinating and intriguing kept me guessing right until the end'Dark, twisted, creepy, atmospheTrade Review‘An excellent debut with a sinister sting. Reveals and plot twists delivered so skilfully that you won’t know who to trust.’ Mel Sherratt ‘Someone You Know is such a compelling, page-turning read – full of secrets, intrigue, and twists. Isaac-Henry has created a wonderful cast of characters – I doubted almost all of them, but how wrong I was. Highly recommended.’ Elisabeth Carpenter ‘The first page hooked me, the brilliant writing, fabulous characters and tight plot reeled me in, and the skilfully revealed twists kept me enthralled until the final page.’ Sam Carrington ‘Someone You Know is a tale that evokes the well-used phrase ‘a page turner’ but manages to do so without compromising on language or intelligence. Very well-written with an original plot that kept me guessing till the end. Isaac-Henry has a unique voice and brings a thoroughly fresh perspective to the crime novel genre. Heartily recommended. Can't wait for her next offering.’ Syd Moore ‘Olivia Isaac-Henry very skillfully leads her readers a macabre dance into the heart of a community and family where everyone has their secrets … I would highly recommend this tightly-plotted, clever debut.’ NetGalley reviewer ‘Dark, twisted, creepy, atmospheric, engaging, unputdownable brilliance. Read this book in 2019. I implore you.’ NetGalley reviewer ‘An intense, creepy and pacy thriller.’ NetGalley reviewer ‘A must-read for any fan of mystery, murder, and twists that you don’t see coming!’ NetGalley reviewer ‘A creepy tale that had me hooked from the opening pages and held me right up until the final paragraph.’ NetGalley reviewer ‘This story peels back in layers to reveal the truth about what really happened to Edie. A gripping story that has a couple of surprises.’ NetGalley reviewer

Read more less

Book SynopsisSeven guests. One killer. A holiday to rememberAddictive and fun' Daily MailNot all the guests will survive their stayYou use an app, called Cloud BNB, to book a room online. And on a cold and windy afternoon you arrive at The Guesthouse, a dramatic old building on a remote stretch of hillside in Ireland.You are expecting a relaxing break,but you find something very different. Something unimaginable. Because a killer has lured you and six other guests here and now you can't escape.One thing's for certain: not all of you will come back from this holiday aliveAddictive'SunDark, claustrophobic and full of suspense: The Guesthouse is a gripping mystery, and a fantastic debut' Alex Lake, author of Seven DaysCreaking floorboards, secret passages, plaintive cries, howling winds all the mystery and mayhem you need on a dark winter night' Rachel Sargeant, author of The RoommatesTruly gripping' Sunday ExpressTrade Review‘Addictive and fun’ Daily Mail ‘Dark, claustrophobic and full of suspense: The Guesthouse is a gripping mystery, and a fantastic debut’ Alex Lake ‘Creaking floorboards, secret passages, plaintive cries, howling winds – all the mystery and mayhem you need on a dark winter night’ Rachel Sargeant ‘Addictive’ Sun ‘Truly gripping’ Sunday Express ‘A chilling thriller’ Waitrose magazine 'Claustrophobic tension, atmospheric, an amazing finish. I loved every page of this book' Book Blog London 'Intriguing, interesting, and chilling – what more can you ask for?' The Writing Garnet 'An emotional rollercoaster' Travelling Book Junkie ‘Gripping and tense’ Jen Med’s Book Reviews ‘Everything a thriller should have: suspense, mystery, tension, good characters and a little death’ Books Love Readers ‘Excellent characterisation’ Books by Bindu ‘So well written…with vivid and and realistic characters. Worth more than five stars and very very highly recommended’ Nicki’s Life of Crime ‘So many twists and tension reaching an explosive ending’ Divine World of Books ‘Adding her own unique style and intricacies to the story, Frost’s dark, creepy and atmospheric work is relentlessly exciting. Dark, claustrophobic and full of suspense, this is a scintillating read.’ The Courier

Read more less

Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES STYLE RECOMMENDLyrical, moving, revealing'TRACY CHEVALIERBrilliant' NIKITA LALWANISuch beautiful writing A little bit Rear Window, a little bit Home Fire, a little bit Shameless. I loved it'' LOUISA YOUNGDaring and devastating' FIONA MOZLEYA young woman spends her days watching the neighbours through their windows. She is a refugee, who has seen the failure of the Arab Spring in her homeland and who has been traumatized into silence by her brutal journey from Syria to Britain.As an outsider, a mute voyeur, she sees everything, she hears everything: the love, the fighting, the families, the secrets, the lies, the sex, the shame. Slowly drawn into the community that surrounds her, she begins to come to terms with all she has lost. After a brutal attack on the local mosque, she realises she is the only witness to the truth behind the violence. But will she finally speak of all she''s seen?Rear Window meets Exit West, this beautifully written novel tells the powerful story oTrade Review‘Compelling and original, Silence Is a Sense is uncomfortably close to the bone, depicting a country riven by racism and violence’ OBSERVER ‘Silence is a Sense is a fierce novel. The prose is ferocious, the pace is ferocious… Layla AlAmmar has skilfully woven a narrative of memory and grief with an illuminating social critique of the position of asylum seekers within contemporary British society. It is daring and devastating’ FIONA MOZLEY ‘Silence is a Sense is not an easy read, but it is a necessary one’ TLS ‘A powerful new voice, full of brilliant, sharp observational detail’ NIKITA LALWANI ‘I admire this book. It is an intelligent, insightful novel that asks vital questions about how we can begin to express trauma, and in what form’ GUARDIAN ‘Silence is a Sense opens the door on lives we need to hear more about. Lyrical, moving, revealing, it made me understand better the very human need for safety and contact’ TRACY CHEVALIER ‘I was properly enthralled: such intelligence, such a deep pure standard of human decency and connection, such beautiful writing. So intriguing and at the same time revelatory, and absolutely on point about trauma. A little bit Rear Window, a little bit Home Fire, a little bit Shameless. I loved it' LOUISA YOUNG ‘A haunting, lyrical novel about hope, healing and redemption’ RED MAGAZINE ‘The new genre: suburbanoir… Expect more riffs on the dark side of the picket fence to come: out this week is Silence Is a Sense by Layla AlAmmar described as “Rear Window meets [Mohsin Hamid’s] Exit West”, which follows a mute Syrian refugee watching her neighbours from her new apartment’ STYLE MAGAZINE ‘A stunning, evocative read’ J NEWS

Read more less

Book Synopsis?????'Well this book blew my mind! What a delicious plot twist. One of the best psychological thrillers I have read in a very long time' Michelle, reader reviewShe told you her secret. Now she's dead and it's your faultAs the local doctor, Kate O''Leary has the respect of her community, after all she''s helped generations of those in need.But then a teenage patient is murdered. And her blood is found in Kate''s house.Her neighbours turn against her and rumours start to spread. Alone and under arrest, Kate turns to the one person who can help. But she knows that even an official verdict can mean nothing if those looking for revenge find you guilty.Kate knows she''s not a killer. But if it''s not her, then who? And finding the truth might be the only way to stay aliveLocal Whispers is a gripping and twisty psychological crime thriller perfect for fans of Claire Douglas and Gillian McAllister.See what readers are saying:?????'So many hidden surprises and twists and turns, amazing and darkTrade Review What others are saying about Flowers for the Dead: 'Wow, I loved this book very much. It's dark, intense and quite chilling at times, and it really made for some harrowing reading.' Sarah, NetGalley reviewer 5* 'Bar none, this one of my top favorite thrillers to date. Whoa! Damn… You've gotta read it! 5+ stars.' Olivia, NetGalley reviewer 5* 'I would fully recommend this well written book. Strap yourself in – the subject matter is harrowing but expertly woven into a tale of secrets, mis-truths and ulterior motives.' Mark, NetGalley reviewer 5* ‘One of the best novels I read for 2019. The rough storyline hit a nerve and didn't stop until the end. I loved the strong and determined main character.’ Reva, Netgalley reviewer ‘A great psychological thriller which will keep you reading until the last page.’ Sharon, Netgalley reviewer ‘I thought I knew the culprit and then thought it was first one character and then another. Isn’t this what makes a great mystery?’ Sallie, Netgalley reviewer ‘An exhilarating read, everything I would hope for in a psychological thriller.’ Netgalley reviewer

Read more less

Book Synopsis''YES SAM CARRINGTON, YES. This is how you write a thriller I read this in one three-hour sitting and I regret nothing.'' Goodreads reviewer ?????From bestselling author Sam Carrington who also writes as Alice Hunter comes another nail-biting thriller.You never really know what goes on behind closed doorsWhen Isla McKenzie is brutally mugged, it's her boyfriend Zach who's there for her, who moves in to look after her when she can barely bring herself to leave the house.But then something else happens, right on their doorstep. And it's almost like someone's out to get herCan Isla and Zach find out the truth before it's too late? Or at least before the secrets they're hiding from each other surface?Because those may be even deadlierFrom the USA Today bestselling author Sam Carrington comes an absolutely compelling psychological thriller that will make you question how well you know those closest to youand how safe you ever are. Perfect for fans of Behind Closed Doors,The Girl on the Train, and Gillian Flynn.Readers love The Couple on Maple Drive:Phew! This is a real edge of your seat gripping story. My heart was pounding and I was screaming!' Goodreads reviewer ?????WOW!! Incredible, from the prologue to the end. I was hooked and the twist at the end!! O M G I did not see that coming Guys, This is a MUST read!!!' Goodreads reviewer ?????Amazing. Icould not put the book down for even a minutemind blowing I spent the whole day telling my sister about it.'' NetGalley reviewer ?????''I can''t speak highly enough of this It kept me up reading til the early hours.'' NetGalley reviewer ?????I devoured this One of the best books I've read this year.' Goodreads reviewer ?????A fantastic page turner just all round amazing Had me feeling every single moment of fear, unease, and creepiness. One thriller you won''t want to miss!' Rubie_reads ?????Wow! fantastic I loved it so much!so addictiveIt felt as though I was watching a movie.' Goodreads reviewer ?????Trade Review PRAISE FOR SAM CARRINGTON ‘Another belter from Sam Carrington. Beautifully written. Cleverly constructed… I couldn’t put it down.’ Amanda Robson, Sunday Times bestselling author ‘A claustrophobic, creepy tale of secrets, betrayal and deceit. Well-written and well-plotted. Very well done!’ Diane Jeffrey ‘Lacing everyday life with menace is Sam Carrington’s greatest strength as a storyteller.’ The Times ‘The premise grabbed me right away and the novel itself didn’t disappoint!… A creepy, compelling read, full of twists and turns with well-drawn, unreliable characters that kept me guessing!’ Sarah Pearse ‘A pacy read, packed with surprises. Will keep you on your toes.’ Jane Corry ‘I devoured this story in one sitting’ Louise Jensen ‘Expertly written … with plentiful twists and unforgettable characters.’ Caroline Mitchell ‘Keeps you guessing right to the end' Sue Fortin ‘A kick-ass page turner … I was knocked senseless by the awesome twist.’ John Marrs ‘A gripping read which moved at a head-spinning pace … I simply couldn't put this book down until I reached the dramatic and devastating conclusion.’ Claire Allan ‘Engrossing psychological suspense… Sam Carrington had me hooked!’ Emma Curtis ‘Utterly original and thought provoking … This cries out to be made into a TV series.’ Amanda Robson Psychologist Connie Summers is a fascinatingly flesh-and-blood guide through this twisty thriller.' Louise Candlish ‘Tense, convincing … kept me guessing’ Caz Frear ‘A claustrophobic psychological thriller that had me double checking my doors and windows were locked!’ Vicki Bradley ‘There were so many unexpected twists; just when I thought I had everything worked out, bam! Everything flipped. It’s Sam Carrington’s best yet!’ Libby Carpenter

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewReaders are gripped by Sarah Goodwin: ‘Suspense, twists, deceit… I had my heart in my mouth the whole time’ NetGalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘IT WAS SO GOOD’ NetGalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Utterly unputdownable… You’re going to love every single twisty page!!’ NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘INTENSE… My heart was pounding’ NetGalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I started this book today and finished it in one sitting. I literally could not put it down’ NetGalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Definitely a five-star read. I couldn't put this one down. It never failed to keep me on the edge of my seat… Such a great ending too!!’ NetGalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Wow! I read this way too quickly, I really didn't want it to end… Amazing… Loved it!’ NetGalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘You'll be on the edge of your seat, racing to finish this book… I read this book one afternoon. I simply could not put it down. I cannot wait until a friend reads this book because I want to discuss it… Get a copy now!!’ NetGalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read more less

Book SynopsisHeart-breaking but so uplifting Kerry really is a hugely talented voice.' Nicola Cornick, author of The Forgotten SisterInspired by an incredible true story, this is an unforgettable novel about love, loss and one impossible choiceLondon, 1940When nurse Elsie offers to send a reassuring letter to the family of a patient, she has an idea. She begins a book of last letters: messages to be sent on to wounded soldiers' loved ones should the very worst come to pass, so that no one is left without a final goodbye.But one message will change Elsie's life forever. When a patient makes a devastating request, can Elsie find the strength to do the unthinkable?London, present dayStephanie has a lot of people she'd like to speak to: her estranged brother, to whom her last words were in anger; her nan, whose dementia means she is only occasionally lucid enough to talk.When she discovers a book of wartime letters, Stephanie realises the importance of our final words and uncovers the story of a secrTrade Review‘Wonderful… Both heart-warming and heart-breaking… Unputdownable.’ Kathleen McGurl, author of The Girl from Bletchley Park ‘Poignant and full of heart, this is a beautiful read about love, kindness and impossible choices… Heart-breaking but ultimately uplifting.’ Annie Lyons, author of Eudora Honeysett Is Quite Well, Thank You

Read more less

Book SynopsisA powerful and moving summer read that explores love, grief and the reality of the contemporary American immigrant experienceJonas, fresh from a failed marriage, is desperate to make sense of the ties that have forged him. How can he dream of a future when he can''t make sense of his past? He hits the road, tracing the route that his parents - young Ethiopians in search of an identity as an American couple - took thirty years earlier to Nashville, Tennessee. In a stunning display of imagination he weaves together a history that takes him from the war-torn Ethiopia of his parents'' youth to a brighter vision of his own life in contemporary America, a story - real or invented- that holds the possibility of reconciliation and redemption.A story of exile and redemption, beautifully written' The TimesTrade ReviewA straight-forward, compassionate, keenly sensitive observer of real life -- James Lasdun * Guardian *A story of exile and redemption, beautifully written -- Kate Saunders * The Times *[Mengestu has] pulled off a narrative sleight of hand, weaving two - or is it three? - beautiful fictions, while reminding us subtly that the most seductive may be the least true * Los Angeles Times *How To Read the Air is deeply thought out, deliberate in its craftsmanship and in many parts beautifully written...remarkably talented -- Miguel Syjuco * The Scotsman *Challenging -- Peter Carty * Independent *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A novel of female friendship . . . startling and moving'' New York Times _______________________________________________''In the first few months after Charlie died, I began hearing from her much more frequently . . .''When Helen Clapp gets a missed call from best friend Charlie, she knows it''s a mistake. Because Charlie''s dead. Ghosts break so many fundamental laws of the universe that Helen, a physicist, shouldn''t believe in them. Should she?As this question draws Helen to Charlie''s grieving husband and daughter, she finds herself entangled in the forgotten threads of lost friendship and her own paths not taken . . . ______________________________________________________''There aren''t many novels that bring to mind both Middlemarch and Bridget Jones''s Diary - but Lost and Wanted is one of them'' The Times''Dazzling. Freudenberger explores the nature of aTrade ReviewEndlessly rich . . . It is Freudenberger's willingness to accept human contradictions here - and to lay them out with a combination of calm rigour and rueful comedy - that so triumphantly makes Lost and Wanted the real thing * The Times *Dazzling . . .[Freudenberger explores] the nature of ambition, success and grief . . . brilliant -- Francesca Segal * Financial Times *Freudenberger has a real eye for the subtle differences in how people react to adversity, an ear for the way children talk, and an artist's clear-sighted commitment to seeing the totality of her characters * Sunday Times *The effect is beautiful . . . Reading it, I was moved by intimacies near and far, real and imagined, lost and found in all the echoing corners of the expanding universe * New York Times *This spooky mystery fuses nimbly explained science with a finely calibrated meditation on grief and paths not taken -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *Tender, sharply observed and marvellously rich * Daily Mail *Are we connected? Are we alone? Freudenberger's brilliant and compassionate novel takes on the big questions of the universe and proves, again, that she is one of America's greatest writers -- Andrew Sean Green, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Less'[A] stunning portrayal of grief . . . The integration of ideas from physics sparks in the reader new ways of thinking about the nature of time and existence as well as, on a less cosmic scale, about human relationships . . .This is a beautiful and moving novel * Publishers' Weekly *Dazzling . . . [Freudenberger] dramatizes, through Helen, both the dawning awareness that life doesn't always allow for second chances and the great midlife consolation prize: a greater appreciation for those chances - and people - one has been given. * Washington Post *With page-turning acceleration, Lost and Wanted is a piercing meditation on the immutable truths that mourning calls into question. Freudenberger [has a] gravity-defying gift * O, the Oprah Magazine *Deeply involving, substantial, suspenseful, and psychologically lush . . . With daring, zest, insight, wit, and compassion, Lost and Wanted gracefully and thrillingly bridges the divide between science and art * Booklist *Before the full scope of the accomplishment has sunk in-the lucid, compassionate portraits of a wide array of characters, the meticulous hand with which Freudenberger paints their world-you'll be beguiled, as I was, by Helen's narration, so full of humble longing and deep, sweet ruefulness -- Jonathan Lethem, author of 'A Gambler's Anatomy'This tender, engaging story takes a physicist for its heroine, and boldly bends the forces of the universe to the binding love between friends, between partners, between parents and their children. It's a literary and emotional adventure peopled by complex, sympathetic characters, some of whom happen to do science as they navigate their most important relationships -- Dava SobelGorgeous, brainy, and passionate. Lost and Wanted is the best kind of big American novel: a majestic book that takes on nothing less than the nature of the universe-literally-while probing that similarly infinite mystery known as the human heart. Nell Freudenberger's writing is fearless and profound, as it absolutely must be in order to pull off this very modern ghost story that unfolds in the life of an MIT physicist. Freudenberger is one of our best novelists, and she's delivered a real powerhouse of a novel -- Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime WalkLike the finely calibrated tools of particle physics described in its pages,NellFreudenberger's novel demonstrates an astonishing sensitivity to the forces that move us all. Her rendering of grief-with its shadings of denial, anger, longing, dark humor, and magic-is nothing short of perfection -- Julie Orringer, author of 'The Invisible Bridge'An iridescent story of friendship. Lost and Wanted is an extraordinary book, startling in its open curiosity and love -- Rivka Galchen, author of 'Atmospheric Disturbances'Intellectually dazzling and almost unbearably moving, Lost and Wanted stayed with me long after I read it, its characters still moving in my brain like free electrons. Probing the mysteries of the physical universe and the equally mysterious nature of human connection, Nell Freudenberger writes fearlessly and lyrically about physics and grief; parenthood and friendship; the subtleties of race and the seriousness of female ambition. I've read many novels that make me think and some that made me cry, but few that did both as powerfully as this one did -- Amy Waldman, author of 'The Submission'A great work of art treads the line between the ingenious and the improbable. This is true of Nell Freudenberger's remarkable Lost and Wanted. It somehow combines particle physics and paranormal phenomena to present a lucid, humane and wryly comic view of the way we live today. One reads the novel with pleasure and marvels at Freudenberger's courage and intelligence -- David Bezmozgis, author of 'The Betrayers'Brimming with wit and intelligence and devoted to things that matter: life, love, death, and the mysteries of the cosmos. Nell Freudenberger is good at explaining physics, but her real genius is in the depiction of relationships. Each one in the novel-whether between adults, adults and children, or among children-is unique, finely calibrated, and real. The title is a line from a poem by W.H. Auden, which doesn't fully hit until the end of the book, when it takes on heart-rending poignancy * Kirkus *I love novels that are obsessed with the "erotics of knowledge," books that understand how ideas are not the opposite of feelings but rather their intense distillation. A. S. Byatt's "Possession," Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder," Barbara Kingsolver's recent "Unsheltered," and Nell Freudenberger's forthcoming "Lost and Wanted" all are marvelous depictions of the direct link between the body's cravings and the passions of the mind -- Richard Powers * New York Times *Freudenberger's outstanding achievement is that Lost and Wanted is also a moving story about down-to-earth issues like grief and loneliness * NPR *

Read more less

Book Synopsis WHAT DID YOU SEE? WHAT DID YOU DO? ''Gripping, poignant...I read it in one sitting'' ROSAMUND LUPTON''Brilliantly compulsive and with one hell of a twist!'' CLAIRE DOUGLAS____________________________Sixty seconds after she wakes from a coma, Maggie''s world is torn apart.The police tell her that her daughter Elspeth is dead. That she drowned when the car Maggie had been driving plunged into the river. Maggie remembers nothing.When Maggie begs to see her husband Sean, the police tell her that he has disappeared. He was last seen on the day of her daughter''s funeral.What really happened that day at the river?Where is Maggie''s husband?And why can''t she shake the suspicion that somewhere, somehow... her daughter is still alive? An emotional page-turner with amazing characters from the Top Ten bestselling author of My Sister''s Bones, this tTrade ReviewA stunning book. Compelling, unsettling and powerful -- C. L. TaylorYou won't see the big twist coming in this haunting thriller. A worthy successor to My Sister's Bones * Daily Express *Memorable, jaw-dropping * Sunday Times *Compelling and intriguing, right from the very first page -- Sharon BoltonA clever, twisty plot that takes psychological mind games to a new level. Nuala Ellwood has done it again! -- Jane CorryThe Day of the Accident had me gasping for breath and on the verge of tears from the get-go. Twisty, haunting, and completely heart-wrenching, you won't breathe until you've turned the very last page. -- Carolyn Jess-CookeGrabbed me on the first page and didn't let go * Woman and Home *Gripping, engrossing and surprising at every turn -- Rowan ColemanA raw, shocking, and serpentine mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end -- Nicolas Obregon, author of 'Blue Light Yokohama'This book will take all your expectations and upend them, making you question everything you thought you knew -- Emma Kavanagh Twisty and unpredictable. Kept me guessing until the end -- Karen Cleveland, author of 'Need to Know'Absolutely brilliant - exciting, clever, it deserves to be a bestseller -- Priscilla Masters

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn February 2015, Ivan Maisel received a call that would alter his life forever: his son Max''s car had been found abandoned in a parking next to Lake Ontario. Two months later, Max''s body would be found in the lake. There''d been no note or obvious indication that Max wanted to harm himself; he''d signed up for a year-long subscription to a dating service; he''d spent the day he disappeared doing photography work for school. And this uncertainty became part of his father''s grief. I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye explores with grace, depth, and refinement the tragically transformative reality of losing a child. But it also tells the deeply human and deeply empathetic story of a father''s relationship with his son, of its complications, and of Max and Ivan''s struggle-as is the case for so many parents and their children-to connect.I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye is a stunning, poignant exploration of the father and son relationship, of how our tendency t

Read more less

Book SynopsisAll three books (Iris, Iris and the Friends, and Widower's House) are now available in a single edition, told by the person who knew her best, with gentle humour - at times unbearably moving - in Bayley's portrayal of a remarkable woman.Trade Review'The greatest love story of our age' Observer'A unique glimpse into the alchemy of marriage... a work of art’ Victoria Glendinning, Daily Telegraph'Love has everything and nothing to do with it. John Bayley has set the gold standard for a debased currency' Guardian'It is hard to do justice to the tenderness with which, in exquisite, measured prose and surprising detail, he evokes their marriage' Sunday Times

Read more less

Book SynopsisAnna Jacobs was born in Lancashire at the beginning of the Second World War. She has lived in different parts of England as well as Australia and has enjoyed setting her modern and historical novels in both countries. She is addicted to telling stories and recently celebrated the publication of her one hundredth novel, as well as sixty years of marriage. Anna has sold over four million copies of her books to date.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis''A bracing, heart-lifting read. Patterson is a superb writer'' Observer OUTSIDE, THE SKY IS BLUE is a heart-breaking yet also truly joyful and wise memoir of growing up, of dealing with mental health and illness, and of what it means to be part of a family that, despite everything, is able to laugh and to love.''A memoir about the loss of faith and hope. A memoir about the loss of faith and hope. The book journeys to dark places but it''s too honest and well written to be dispiriting. She perseveres in her quest to understand'' GuardianWhen Christina Patterson''s brother Tom died suddenly, she faced the harrowing task of clearing out his house. Tom had always been the one who held on to the family treasures and memories, but now Christina had to sift through boxes of letters, photos and belongings, not just of Tom''s, but of their parents and their older sister, Caroline.The contents of those boxes teTrade ReviewA bracing, heart-lifting read. Patterson is a superb writer - part of the redemptive message of this memoir is that beautiful prose can make almost anything bearable. Outside the Sky is Blue is a lesson in generosity, in accommodation, but most of all it's a lesson in resilience * Observer *Written with savage honesty about grief and sibling rivalry, this book slices deeply. A memoir about family loyalty and gut-wrenching goodbyes but it serves too as a wise guide from someone who has endured more than her share of life's slings and arrows, and has still come out swinging * Sunday Times (Culture) *A compelling memoir of faith, hope and loss. Her beautifully written and insightful account of a family living with mental and physical ill health * Daily Express *A hymn to optimism, and a beacon of unflagging hope * iPaper *A memoir about the loss of faith and hope. The book journeys to dark places but it's too honest and well written to be dispiriting - she perseveres in her quest to understand * Guardian *A superbly told, heart-buffeting memoir - a powerful account of how we carry the distress that life's blows cause to us; of how we keep sane and carry on; and of how love within a family can endure even the sternest tests * Bookseller, Book of the Month *Patterson has poured every ounce of love and compassion she possesses into this compelling memoir * Daily Mirror *'I read this beautiful and exceptional book in one sitting' * Kate Mosse *A powerful and honest, personal memoir of love and loss * Woman's Own *She has a talent for vivid, visual description and writes about her sister's schizophrenia with candour and sensitivity * Spectator *Christina Patterson's beautifully written memoir spans all the emotions, from joyful to heart-breaking and back again * Choice magazine *A memoir full of wit, wisdom, tenderness and heart. Deeply moving on the devastating impact of childhood schizophrenia on a family. Christina Patterson writes so beautifully, and with searing honesty. I loved this book * Dr Rachel Clarke, author of Dear Life and Your Life in My Hands *Moving and ultimately uplifting and beautifully written * David Nicholls *She writes beautifully - crisp, yet emotional and page-turning. For me, it is something about her clarity and brutal honesty in describing both heartbreak and heart bursting life and love. In the end it is only the love that matters. Her memoir will give hope to those that are suffering and cannot see the light * Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass *Devastating, funny, wise, intimate and beautifully written. It's filled with empathy and light. This is a handbook for loving and living fully. The writing shines, celebrating life without ever shying away from the sharpness of grief and pain. It's truly life affirming, strengthening and hope filled. This book has never been more needed, it's essential reading for us all right now * Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable *This is a beautiful book. Heartbreaking and heartwarming, it's an immersive family memoir that is deeply personal and yet somehow universal. Highly recommended * Adam Hamdy, author of Black 13 *A book about illness, both mental, in all its variety, and physical. One of the things that stands out is the tone, a crystal-clear capturing of intensity of feeling without resorting to hysteria or hyperbole * Strong Words magazine *This is a joyful book. Despite the sorrows, there is a determined joy to this tale, a pattern of finding the good despite the bad, of turning to face the sun so the shadows fall behind. It's a wonderful, heart-wrenching, compelling read * Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of With the End in Mind *All families have stories of mental health struggles but Christina and her family have had more than their fair share. She tells their story with candour and compassion. It makes for an intense and moving read. Having had a brother who had schizophrenia all his adult life I was especially struck by her portrayal of her sister Caroline. There is a lot of death and suffering in this book yet precisely because Christina is so candid and compassionate there is hope within it too. I am sure this will be a welcome addition to the books helping to break down stigma and taboo about mental illness * Alastair Campbell, author of Living Better *This is a profound and beautiful memoir. Anyone who reads it will go on an extraordinary journey - you will learn about a remarkable individual, and also about our shared humanity * Johann Hari, author of Lost Connections *A tender, candid, sometimes heartbreaking, ultimately joyful account of family life, overcoming illness and loss, and embracing happiness * Bookanista *'Tremendous. For me, this is a book about forgiveness, but I think you can find what you want in it' * Suzanne Moore *A tender, funny chronicle of a loving family and the many sorrows and joys they endured . . . Exquisite, brave and highly recommended' * Independent.ie *

Read more less