Narrative theme: love / relationships

Book SynopsisBrutal y sobrecogedora, una novela con la dictadura argentina como telón de fondo.Tres historias que forman parte de una misma historia. En 1941, en una ciudad de provincias argentina, una niña confiesa a un sacerdote los primeros y difusos impulsos sexuales que nota en su cuerpo, relacionados con la atracción que siente por un joven apellidado Videla que pasa cada día bajo su ventana. En 1977 un grupo de jóvenes revolucionarios prepara un atentado en un aeródromo para liquidar a un Videla que ya no es joven y es conocido por todos. Y, por último, una anciana –la niña de la primera historia– juega una partida de cartas con su nieto, que ha ido a visitarla a la residencia donde pasa sus días, y entre jugada y jugada le cuenta lo que le sucedió a su hijo, el padre del chico, en lo que resulta una nueva confesión. Tres historias y tres tiempos que se entretejen para forjar una única historia. Tres historias que hablan de dolor, culpa y confesiones.Una novela sobrecogedora y deslumbrante, construida con una brillantísima arquitectura que le permite al autor penetrar hasta la médula de las historias –de la historia– que nos relata.Brutal and overwhelming, Confession wrestles with the legacy of Argentina’s past and the passions of one young girl.There are mysteries in the world of man, just as there are in the Kingdom of God, and that they too, albeit quite differently, are unfathomable.When Mirta López looks out the dining room window, she sees a slim, self-possessed older boy on his way back from school. It’s 1941 in provincial Argentina, and the sight of the Videla’s eldest son has awakened in her the first uncertain, unnerving vibrations of desire. Naturally, she confesses. But she cannot stop herself. Thirty years later, Videla is a general, leading the ruling military junta, and a cell of young revolutionaries plot an ingenious attack on him, and the regime. Writing from the present into the past, Martín Kohan maps the contours of Argentina’s 20th Century, but finds his center in one woman—devout, headstrong, lit up with ideas of right and wrong—not the grand historical figures of her lifetime’s omnipresent, brutalizing history. “There is an art to keeping lives constant, not allowing them to be altered by facts that are merely external.” And there is great beauty in Confession , its decades and landscapes, and the legacy of love and guilt playing out in one family and against the background of dictatorship’s traumas.Trade Review"An expertly structured, morally complicated, and surprisingly timely blend of fact and fiction." —Kirkus"Beguiling." —Publishers Weekly"Hypnotic prose. A writer who owns a literary universe and a style all his own; a writer of unquestionable solidity." —El periódico"A must-read." —Morning Star"A stupendous novel." —El País"One of Argentina’s greatest living writers." —La gaceta literaria"A fantastic writer whose texts question established ideas." —Letras Libres"Kohan works with tradition and with the Borgesian idea of the traitor and the hero. He chooses three situations and explores them minutely." —La Nación"Kohan’s novel understands and helps to understand; it delimits, records, pursues and reaches the most slippery crevices of history." —Letralia"The end result is a fluid, disturbing novel, one that neither resorts to low blows nor commonplaces when it comes to the military regime and the disappeared, but puts its finger on that concept that still causes unease when spoken aloud: civilian complicity." —La primera piedra"Martín Kohan is becoming an obligatory name in Argentinian literature." —Pagina/12************Praise for Martín Kohan"The worthy successor of Borges, Sábato and Bioy Casares." —Le Devoir"An expertly structured, morally complicated, and surprisingly timely blend of fact and fiction." —Kirkus"Beguiling." —Publishers Weekly"The prose of Argentinian writer Martín Kohan, above all in the most recent books, conveys a clinical precision and cool distance. From one novel to another, however, the effects are different. – Edmundo Paz Soldán"" —Edmundo Paz Soldán , author of TURING'S DELIRIUM and NORTE"Hypnotic prose. A writer who owns a literary universe and a style all his own; a writer of unquestionable solidity." —El periódico"Confession delves into Kohan’s poetics in an agile and determined manner, preserving his affectionate distance from the intimate affairs of his characters, as well as his freedom vis-à-vis militant writing" —Latin American Literature Today"A must-read." —Morning Star"A stupendous novel." —El País"One of Argentina’s greatest living writers." —La gaceta literaria"A fantastic writer whose texts question established ideas." —Letras Libres"Kohan works with tradition and with the Borgesian idea of the traitor and the hero. He chooses three situations and explores them minutely." —La Nación"Kohan’s novel understands and helps to understand; it delimits, records, pursues and reaches the most slippery crevices of history." —Letralia"The end result is a fluid, disturbing novel, one that neither resorts to low blows nor commonplaces when it comes to the military regime and the disappeared, but puts its finger on that concept that still causes unease when spoken aloud: civilian complicity." —La primera piedra"Martín Kohan is becoming an obligatory name in Argentinian literature." —Pagina/12"With a gift for totally natural dialogue, Kohan writes with an elegant lightness, paying great attention to rhythm. His specialty is the measured, exact word. Impeccable" —El Mundo************

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Book SynopsisKasia Van Schaik’s debut story collection follows the journey of Charlotte Ferrier, a child of divorce raised by a single mother in a small town in British Columbia after moving from South Africa. Mother and daughter wait out the end of a bad year in a Mexican hotel; a friendship is tested as forest fires demolish Charlotte’s town; a childhood friend disappears while travelling through Europe; and a girl on the beach examines the memories of dying jellyfish. The stories traverse the most intimate and transforming moments of female experience in a world threatened by ecological crisis. Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2023.Trade Review"Full of diffuse longing and hallucinatory memory, these stories shimmer and compel like half-remembered dreams. Van Schaik's poetic linked collection brings the reader on an evocative journey across decades and continents." Saleema Nawaz, author of Songs for the End of the World"We Have Never Lived On Earth contains a bright humour, a sharpness. There's an authentic, human thrumming behind these stories. With their focus on mothers, fathers, and daughters, these linked stories explore how initial models of care feed into our romantic loves. Kasia Van Schaik captures the souring phase of relationships, where the glue has become brittle and two individuals begin to lean away from each other. Yet the characters forge their way through these moments of dislocation with grace, humour, and the perfect amount of self-awareness, which makes the reader laugh out loud, or nod knowingly. At least it did for me." Eliza Robertson, author of Demi-Gods"Few writers can work with memory as vividly as Kasia Van Schaik—fusing fiction and remembrance with confidence, sensitivity and the shivering logic of dream. These are stories that glitter and then duck away from view, like a swimmer half-discerned. A beautiful book you can't forget." Sean Michaels, Giller Prize-winning author of Us Conductors and The Wagers“A riff on loneliness. Exquisitely written. Profoundly moving. A must read.” Rosemary Sullivan, OC, award-winning author"In Kasia Van Schaik’s visionary stories a generation will recognize its rootlessness and frail sense of futurity, as well as its desire for grace. We Have Never Lived On Earth is a beautiful collection that explores all realms of experience—what we see and what we dream. I couldn’t get enough of this work’s exquisite precision and depth." Seyward Goodhand, author of Even That Wildest Hope“We Have Never Lived On Earth speaks to many readers’ own experiences of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, which involve the difficult work of figuring out how to move through loss and grief and, ultimately, how to be most alive in all of our imperfections. I have read many novels and collections that capture the feeling of threat the world can impose upon female bodies, but the quality of Van Schaik’s prose made these experiences alive, honest, and corporeally real throughout each story in a way I had not encountered before." Heather Jessup, author of The Lightning Field and This Is Not a Hoax: Unsettling Truth in Canadian Culture“Traversing themes such as transience, loss, painful attachment, and belonging, Kasia Van Schaik’s stories recall literary icons Mavis Gallant and Alice Munro, though with a more immediate, youthful, contemporary lens. The vital introduction of topics such as parenthood in an age of climate crisis, Canada’s history of genocide against Indigenous peoples, as well as immigrant women and girls’ experiences in Canada, make this a powerful and much-needed addition to Canadian publishing.” Jenna Butler, author of Magnetic North"Charlotte is a compelling heroine whose story captures the specific strangeness of contemporary women’s comings-of-age with pathos, poetry, and humor. The collection is engrossing, compulsively readable, bold in its formal experimentation, and masterful on both the sentence and story levels." Miranda Cooper, Foreword Reviews, September/October 2022 [Full review at https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/we-have-never-lived-on-earth/]"Kasia Van Schaik’s debut short story collection explores the slipperiness of memory, poking at the past to see what kinds of ephemeral meaning might be found there. Throughout, Van Schaik’s craftsmanship is unfaltering. She sketches out fully realized characters with just the lightest of strokes, then traces connections between them that resonate with familiarity… We Have Never Lived on Earth augurs the arrival of a major literary talent, a writer of great skill with an unfailing barometer for emotional resonance. It’s an outstanding debut collection that’s polished and unvaryingly satisfying, leaving an enduring mark on the reader’s memory." Jury comments, Concordia University First Book Prize“Themes of geography, movement, departure, and renewal animate We Have Never Lived on Earth, weaving a narrative cohesiveness that balances the contrast between stories set at various times and in various places…. As a narrator, [Charlotte] is incisive and compelling; as a character, she is appealingly vulnerable. The collection manages to be both dense and sparsely elegant…. The writing is intellectually rich without being obtrusive, and often warm and poignant, sometimes highlighting moments that hover between comedy and pathos…. We Have Never Lived on Earth is bold in the questions it asks, and the scope of the narrative it conveys, but in the tradition of the best short stories, it is the small, precisely rendered moments that make it resonant, familiar, and refreshing.” Danielle Barkley, Montreal Review of Books, December 8, 2022 [Full review at https://mtlreviewofbooks.ca/reviews/we-have-never-lived-on-earth-kasia-van-shaik/]“We Have Never Lived On Earth explores the care that exists between mothers and daughters, and between friends and lovers. It also considers what it means to care for other species — land animals, birds and whales — and, above all, for the planet.” -- Carol Matthews, British Columbia Review of Books, December 8, 2022. [Full review at: https://thebcreview.ca/2022/12/08/1659-matthews-van-schaik/]"Van Schaik debuts with a compelling collection of short stories. The character-driven coming-of-age narratives focus on Charlotte, a South African immigrant raised by her single mother in Canada. The stories explore every intimate aspect of life... Notes of fantasy give the richly detailed writing a dreamlike atmosphere, while topics from objectification to ecology keep listeners tethered to reality... [The stories] will appeal to listeners seeking brief, beautiful stories about family, friendships, and their power to transform. Recommended for fans of Chelsea Bieker, Elizabeth Strout, and Zadie Smith." Lauren Hackert, Library Journal, August 2023"Kasia Van Schaik is an extraordinary writer. She paints story worlds from memory akin to how Isak Dinesen recreated her farm in Africa. She drills into difficult topics like parental neglect, sexual assault, heartbreak, poverty, aloneness and mental illness without shame, and with a tragic beauty that reminds of Elizabeth Smart or Heather O’Neill. And she describes Charlotte’s most vulnerable insecurities – her disappointments, her secrets, the moments that break her heart – in so intimate a way you feel like your own heart is breaking." Wanda Baxter, The Miramichi Reader, March 16, 2023 [Full review at https://miramichireader.ca/2023/03/we-have-never-lived-on-earth-stories-by-kasia-van-schaik/]"We Have Never Lived on Earth is the debut collection of Kasia Van Schaik, a South African-Canadian writer. In this Bildungsroman of linked short stories, Charlotte, a nomadic young woman, leaves home, tries different careers and lovers, travels to Germany to teach, and wanders through Europe. Beautifully written and rich in allusions to women writers (Virginia Woolf, Emily Carr, H.D.), the collection captures the loneliness and chaos of the narrator’s transition to maturity.... Juxtaposing personal truths and imagery of ecological crisis, We Have Never Lived on Earth explores a young woman’s insights into the hazards of living on earth." Kat Cameron, Prairie Fire Magazine, October 23, 2023 [Full review at https://bit.ly/3Qvy3Ri]Table of ContentsHow Will You Prepare for Happiness? Premium Girl Highwayman House on Carbonate The Peninsula of Happiness A Girl in Nova Scotia A Girl Called Helsinki Swimming Upright How to Be Silent in German Notes on a Separation Visitor to Crete Houseboat Youth Orchestra Stingray Cellular Memory The Cascades This Is Fine We Have Never Lived on Earth An Ounce of Care Notes Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisThese twelve new short stories from Astrid Blodgett explore the consequences of grief and denial and single moments that change perceptions, lives, and attachments forever. Crisp prose and unexpected plot twists move relatable characters through vivid outdoor settings and interior depths. A child negotiates adult behaviour when an injured dog is put down. An older sister bribes a younger one to go on her first date. A family canoe trip launches from Disaster Point. A woman wants to hurl her granddaughter’s birthday cake out the window. This Is How You Start to Disappear shows all the heartbreaking ways we evolve when coping with change or trauma.Trade Review“This Is How You Start to Disappear is for readers who revel in stories told with both skill and passion, stories with twists, stories without ready resolutions.” Rona Altrows, author of At This Juncture"In these precisely paced and deceptively dark stories, Astrid Blodgett sweeps out the dust bunnies of contempt and devastation from the junk drawers of her characters’ family homes. These stories do what short stories do best: every word flexes its muscles, every detail teeters on an iceberg of deeper meaning. This Is How You Start To Disappear is a complex and satisfying compilation of unsteady bridge crossings between our childhood and adult selves." Susan Sanford Blades, author of Fake It So Real“This collection is an intimate embrace of the moments and memories that define us. With pitch perfect prose and heaps of tension, Blodgett pierces so deep into her characters’ hearts and minds you feel as if you breathe their same air. Beautifully imagined and bursting with compassion, every story is a stunner!” Fran Kimmel, author of The Shore Girl and No Good Asking“With compassion and acute observation, Astrid Blodgett writes about events, large and seemingly small, that can change the trajectory of a life. Familial fractures spread like cracks in winter ice as Blodgett investigates those moments that divide her characters’ lives into “before” and “after,” whether they are loyalty tests one sister demands of another or a father so preoccupied with his new relationship that he can’t see his young daughter’s struggles at a skating party. At times, Blodgett’s characters recognize a life-changing event only after it has swept past them, but the reverberations will be felt for decades to come. These finely wrought, multigenerational stories pivot around such moments, as ordinary working people cope with the unexpected tragedy and dislocating circumstances of their unfolding lives.” Rachel Rose, Giller-longlisted author of The Octopus Has Three Hearts“Readers will enjoy Astrid Blodgett’s new collection of short stories. Her characters, plots, and incidents have originality and she engages with contemporary social problems, giving psychological depth to the stories.” Michael Trussler, University of Regina“Astrid Blodgett explores intimate relationships, with a focus on family drama and trauma, in 12 absorbing new short stories. As adults, a brother and sister recall the summer that spelled the end of their parents’ marriage. Teen girls at summer camp play a dangerous game that ends in tragedy. And a woman who has already suffered a full share of heartbreak and disappointment in life hits a breaking point when she makes a birthday cake for her granddaughter and the kid’s mother scrapes off the homemade icing and piped-on flowers.” Pat St. Germain, Edmonton Journal, August 12, 2023#5 on Edmonton Bestsellers list, September 3, 2023#8 on Edmonton Bestsellers list, September 10, 2023#1 on Edmonton Bestsellers list, September 17, 2023"In these stories Astrid Blodgett resists flamboyance. But her stories are not quiet. They simmer with a grammar of discontent." W.H. New, The British Columbia Review, September 24, 2023 [Full review at https://thebcreview.ca/2023/09/24/1937-new-blodgett/]#7 on Alberta Fiction Bestsellers list, October 10, 2023#9 on Edmonton Bestsellers list, October 22, 2023#3 on Edmonton Bestsellers list, November 12, 2023"The title of Astrid Blodgett’s latest collection of short stories succinctly describes what could happen to any of us throughout life: we may disappear at the surface, within ourselves, or within relationships.... It’s not often I come across a book of short stories written by the same author where every single story resonates or is worthy of deeper thought or discussion like this one. I’d recommend This Is How You Start to Disappear for a book club or English 101 studies as a model for form, structure and riveting storytelling." Mala Rai, Miramichi Reader, December 31, 2023 [Starred review at https://miramichireader.ca/2023/12/this-is-how-you-start-to-disappear-by-astrid-blodgett/]#4 on Alberta Fiction Bestsellers list, November 2023 https://readalberta.ca/recommendations/bestsellers/alberta-bestsellers-november-2023/#4 on Alberta Fiction Bestsellers list, December 2023 [https://readalberta.ca/recommendations/bestsellers/alberta-bestsellers-december-2023/]Table of ContentsThese People Have Nothing Devil’s Lake Everything’s Fine, Actually Alex and Clayton and Raylene and Me This Will All Be Over Soon The Fainting Game The Kite How to Read Water Dear Hector When Sleep is Easy The Night the Moon Was Bright and We Ate Pigs and Brownies and Drank Fizzy Beer and Didn’t Remember Much at All, in the End The Golden Rice Bowl

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Book SynopsisIn this New York Times bestselling "charming debut" ( People )--soon to...

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Book SynopsisWhen Maddie Dupree enters Hennessy''s Bar in Truly, Idaho, she isn''t looking for a husband, a boyfriend, or even just a drink. She''s looking for the truth about her past, and nothing will stand in her way. Especially not a Hennessy boy. Everyone knows Mick Hennessy is irresistible. So far, he''s managed to keep the ladies in line, but when he claps eyes on gorgeous Maddie, he just can''t help getting involved. But Maddie''s keeping secrets about why she''s in town - and when those secrets are revealed, there''ll be a whole lot of trouble in Truly...

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Book Synopsis‘Compelling' Marie Claire * 'Immensely enjoyable' Observer * 'Fascinating' Red *One week into lockdown, the tenants of a Manhattan apartment building have begun to gather on the rooftop each evening and tell stories in this exciting new twist on the novel.With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned buckets. Gradually the tenants – some of whom have barely spoken to each other before now – become real neighbours.With each character secretly written by a different, major literary voice - from Margaret Atwood to John Grisham and Celeste Ng, Fourteen Days is a heart-warming ode to the power of storytelling and human connection.‘An immensely enjoyable product of an immensely unenjoyable time, Fourteen Days is lively, freewheeling… An impressive achievement’ Observer‘Fourteen Days serves as a valuable reminder that stories can teach, console, provide a place of acceptance and perhaps even change their readers (or listeners)’ Financial TimesIncludes writing from: Margaret Atwood, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Erica Jong, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Doug Preston, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Meg Wolitzer and many more.Trade ReviewFourteen Days serves as a valuable reminder that stories can teach, console, provide a place of acceptance and perhaps even change their readers (or listeners) * Financial Times *If you want to feel well read in double-quick time, try Fourteen Days, which is set in a New York city tenement in the early days of the pandemic. It has a novel twist (pardon the pun) - each character has been secretly written by a different author from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Dave Eggers and Celeste Ng * BBC *While we're really not in a rush to think about the pandemic again, we'll make an exception for Margaret Atwood. Fourteen Days is a collaborative novel edited by Atwood and Douglas Preston, and includes writing from Celeste NG and John Grisham, amongst others. In the novel, the inhabitants of a Manhattan apartment block gather on the roof and tell stories, as more neighbours join people start to form real bonds * Cosmopolitan *Reading Fourteen Days is like sitting by a campfire, with characters taking turns telling tales about their lives * Economist *A heart-warming and surprising narrative, Fourteen Days is an ode to the power of storytelling and human connection * SheerLuxe *

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis‘Compelling' Marie Claire * 'Immensely enjoyable' Observer * 'Fascinating' Red *One week into lockdown, the tenants of a Manhattan apartment building have begun to gather on the rooftop each evening and tell stories in this exciting new twist on the novel.With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned buckets. Gradually the tenants – some of whom have barely spoken to each other before now – become real neighbours.With each character secretly written by a different, major literary voice - from Margaret Atwood to John Grisham and Celeste Ng, Fourteen Days is a heart-warming ode to the power of storytelling and human connection.‘An immensely enjoyable product of an immensely unenjoyable time, Fourteen Days is lively, freewheeling… An impressive achievement’ Observer‘Fourteen Days serves as a valuable reminder that stories can teach, console, provide a place of acceptance and perhaps even change their readers (or listeners)’ Financial TimesIncludes writing from: Margaret Atwood, Sylvia Day, Emma Donoghue, Dave Eggers, Diana Gabaldon, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Erica Jong, Celeste Ng, Tommy Orange, Doug Preston, R.L. Stine, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Meg Wolitzer and many more.Trade ReviewFourteen Days serves as a valuable reminder that stories can teach, console, provide a place of acceptance and perhaps even change their readers (or listeners) * Financial Times *If you want to feel well read in double-quick time, try Fourteen Days, which is set in a New York city tenement in the early days of the pandemic. It has a novel twist (pardon the pun) - each character has been secretly written by a different author from Margaret Atwood and John Grisham to Dave Eggers and Celeste Ng * BBC *While we're really not in a rush to think about the pandemic again, we'll make an exception for Margaret Atwood. Fourteen Days is a collaborative novel edited by Atwood and Douglas Preston, and includes writing from Celeste NG and John Grisham, amongst others. In the novel, the inhabitants of a Manhattan apartment block gather on the roof and tell stories, as more neighbours join people start to form real bonds * Cosmopolitan *Reading Fourteen Days is like sitting by a campfire, with characters taking turns telling tales about their lives * Economist *A heart-warming and surprising narrative, Fourteen Days is an ode to the power of storytelling and human connection * SheerLuxe *

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Book SynopsisA literary psychological thriller about the 'perfect' marriage.Trade Review‘On the surface the book is a highly competent, creepy little chiller, but beneath, like a silent, bolted and half-dark room, there’s a much bigger, equally disconcerting story about the nature of feminine experience.' Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize winning author of Wolf Hall‘Taut, elegant and pitch-perfect. As soon as you've read it you'll want to talk about it’. Evie Wyld, author of After the Fire, A Still Small Voice‘Compelling, edgy and dark – I read How To Be a Good Wife in one sitting’. Jane Rusbridge, author of Rook and The Devil's Music‘An impressive debut novel. Here’s hoping there’ll be more from Emma Chapman’ M. J. Hyland, Man Booker prize shortlisted author of Carry Me Down and This is How‘A tense, unnerving debut, told with precision and control. As unsettling as any ghost story’ Simon Lelic, author of Rupture and The Child Who‘A compelling debut: tightly plotted, tensely written, and subtle in its explorations of motive. Emma Chapman is very accomplished and a bright hope for the future’. Sir Andrew Motion‘Claustrophobic, startling and hauntingly beautiful. It’s that amazing, awful kind of book that will stay with you long after you wish it would let you go’ Liza Klaussmann, author of Tigers in Red Weather ‘This taut debut will have you rooting for Marta as she rediscovers who she was before her marriage. A must-read for fans of S.J.Watson’. Easy Living‘The after-effects of the dark and uncomfortable story linger long after the last page . . . a gripping piece of writing where everything is not quite as it seems’. Psychologies‘An intensifying mood of menace pervades this mesmerising debut. Is the fragile Marta slipping into paranoia? Or glimpsing agonising insights into a devastating nightmare about herself and her “perfect” marriage…?’ David Hewson, author of The Killing‘A compelling, twisty tale of deception and distrust. Beautifully written, and very clever indeed’. Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner‘Fans of Before I Go To Sleep will love this chilling debut from Emma Chapman’. Grazia‘In her first novel, Emma Chapman has managed to walk a delicate, terrifying line. How To Be a Good Wife is at once claustrophobic, startling and hauntingly beautiful. It’s that amazing, awful kind of book that will stay with you long after you wish it would let you go’. Liza Klaussmann, author of Tigers in Red Weather‘A chilling study of paranoia and doubt… Chapman builds the tension, as Marta’s behaviour becomes more erratic and her seemingly benign husband begins to appear in a sinister light. An unnerving tale, where nothing is as it seems.’ Marie Claire‘Compelling and complex, this brave novel offers no safety nets… Not just a gripping read but an essential one. It will provoke questions long after the cover is closed’. Ruth Dugdall, author of The Woman Before Me, winner of the CWA debut dagger award.‘Chilling and original with plenty of tense moments to keep the pages turning'. Simple Things‘Mesmerising. A beautiful and disturbing novel. I loved it’. Susanna Jones, author of When Nights Were Cold‘There is something about the pared-down prose, the increasingly ominous isolation and the sense of unease that our narrator feels that saves the story from melodrama – instead the reader, trapped with a sympathetic yet unreliable narrator, begins to align themselves ever more closely to Marta’s position. This is a tremendous book’. The Huffington Post‘Chapman mines this vein of claustrophobic creepiness to great effect’. The Lady‘Wonderfully assured… This is a tale of the tricks repression, denial and memory can play on us… Set in an eerie, purposefully undefined part of Scandinavia, this is an unnerving, clever read. It’s one of those novels (think Gone Girl) with a big twist. Recommended for fans of S J Watson, Rosamund Lupton and Zoe Heller’. Viv Groskop, Red‘A powerful, original and haunting debut… hard to put down and impossible to forget.’Daily Examiner, Australia‘Something of the hit TV drama The Killing pervades this absorbing and multi-layered debut novel. On one level a chilling tale of suspense among the Norwegian fjords, it offers the reader so much more… You might like to set aside a long winter afternoon for this one. The chances are that one you open it, you’ll want to finish it all in one go.' Daily Mail‘Chapman’s debut can be read both as a taut thriller and an allegory of the female experience in an unhappy marriage, the waning sense of self felt by the woman who attends to the needs of her family before her own… Marta’s gradual slide into madness is brilliantly convincing. As with Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, the narrator’s psychological torment contrasts disconcertingly with the detached language in which it is described. It makes for a darkly fascinating debut’ Financial Times‘So tense. Brilliantly written and utterly gripping. I loved it.’ Hannah Richell, author of Secrets of the Tides‘It is, on the one hand, a taut, economically written and expertly woven thriller – deceptive in its simplicity and chilling in the claustrophobia that builds with each successive page. It is also a deeply unsettling exploration of a fragile mind unravelling, either through the weight of its own paranoid delusions or painful memories too-long suppressed… How To Be a Good Wife is a highly assured, powerful and thought-provoking offering from an author whose best work is surely yet to come. It will stay with you long after you turn the final page.’ Style etc magazine‘An impressive debut’ Sun-Herald, Sydney‘Chapman’s carefully constructed plot slowly but expertly builds the tension…Chapman’s writing is so assured it is difficult to believe this is her first novel… How To Be A Good Wife is not just enthralling fiction, but also social commentary, a combination that provokes the reader to reflect on the fraught and complicated nature of human existence. Chapman has written a book as chilling as a Scandinavian fjord in winter, but also as clear, clean and compelling’The Australian‘Replete with interesting topics and there are twists aplenty. Marta’s voice is compelling and convincing and the prose often Hemingway-esque in style… There’s a narrative bravery to this debut that is rare in contemporary fiction of any genre’ The Big Issue Australia ‘The unnamed Scandinavian setting has all the familiar elements of contemporary northern lights noir, yet its claustrophobic, interior-driven narrative harks back to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s disturbing feminist classic The Yellow Wallpaper, or even Ibsen's A Doll's House… The novel is Chapman's debut, and is eerily well-handled... Chapman shows real empathy for loneliness and the cruelty of ageing… A plausible tale of trauma, a ruthless examination of the many layers of marriage, and a woman's opaque role with it.’ Guardian

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Book SynopsisA complex and truly timeless emotion, love – whether passion or heartbreak, infatuation or flirtation – has provoked some of the greatest names in literature to write verses of outstanding beauty.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, cloth-bound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by bestselling author and Romantic Novelist Association prize-winner Joanna Trollope.There has always been love, and we have been writing poetry about it for over 4,000 years. From John Donne and William Shakespeare to Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, the very best classic love poetry is collected in this elegant anthology, Poems for Love. That we still read and enjoy these heartfelt poems today is a testament both to their individual genius and to the enduring power of love.Table of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction by Joanna Trollope Chapter - 1: What is Love? Chapter - 2: Madam, Will You Walk? - Longing and Courting Chapter - 3: If All the World and Love Were Young - It must be love Chapter - 4: Delight in Disorder - Kissing etc Chapter - 5: Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds - Love & marriage Chapter - 6: My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close - Lost love

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Book SynopsisA lyrical and profoundly moving story of love, loss and civil war, set in Sri Lanka, London and Venice.Trade Review‘Heart-rending…Readers of this powerful novel cannot fail to be moved…but they will also realise that, as well as being a rebuke to indifference, the book is also about hope and survival.’ Christopher Ondaatje, Spectator ‘“Mosquito” plays with sensuous mixes of human bestiality and natural beauty…It is in this continuing agency of remembered love – presented as the colours, sounds and smells of art, in dialogue with beauty and horror – that the uplifting politics of this fine novel lies.’ Independent ‘“Mosquito” lyrically captures a country drenched in both incomparable beauty and the stink of hatred.’ Guardian ‘Lovely, vividly described.’ The Times ‘Tearne brings her skills as a painter to her writing, creating some extraordinarily lovely portraits of Sri Lankan land and seascapes, a stunning backdrop to the changing horrors of the country’s 20-year civil war. Anyone who has visited, or has a passing interest in Sri Lanka, should read this beautiful novel.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘“Mosquito” is a complex, ambitious book from a writer with a real talent for language. We will be hearing a great deal about Ms. Tearne in the future.’ Lauren B. Davis, author of ‘The Stubborn Season’ and ‘The Radiant City’

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Book SynopsisA secret history of scent, memory and desire from the Sunday Times bestselling author of ELEGANCE and THE DEBUTANTE.One letter will turn newly-married Grace Munroe's life upside down:Our firm is handling the estate of the deceased Mrs Eva D'Orsey and it is our duty to inform you that you are named as the chief beneficiary in her will. We request your presence at our offices at your earliest convenience, so that we may go through the details of your inheritance.'There is only one problem. Grace has never heard of Eva D'Orsey.So begins a journey which leads Grace through the streets of Paris and into the seductive world of perfumers and their muses. An abandoned perfume shop on the Left Bank will lead her to unravel the heartbreaking story of her mysterious benefactor, an extraordinary woman who bewitched high society in 1920s New York and Paris.Trade ReviewPraise for The Perfume Collector: ‘This evocative novel spins you back a few decades to the grace and elegance of the ‘20s and ‘50s’ GLAMOUR ‘A mesmerising novel of passion and scent’ – WOMAN AND HOME ‘The joy in Tessaro’s books, however, is her knack for describing glamour. She leaves readers greedy for satin and lace, for angular cocktail dresses and complex scents spilling from beautiful bottles. It’s a voluptuous and desirable world to drop into, but her characters have enough depth and moral ambiguity to lift this above most’ EMERALD STREET Praise for The Debutante: 'It's an elegant and glamorous plot …which means lots of mouth-watering descriptions of decaying stately homes by the sea'Daily Mail ‘The latest from the author of bestseller Elegance. New Yorker Cate immerses herself in the mystery of the Mitford-esque 1920’s London debutante’Red ‘A shoebox filled with mementoes sets artist Cate on a hunt for the truth behind the disappearance of a dazzling 1920’s ‘it’ girl in Kathleen Tessaro’s The Debutante’Good Housekeeping ‘Tessaro gets her story-weaving wand out with a gloriously rich story of past and present love’InStyle ‘Reading The Debutante was the most delicious treat. Engrossing, romantic, wise and witty – the perfect read. I could not put it down’Gillian Greenwood, author of Satisfaction and The Ghost Lover

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Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR BBC ONE DRAMA STARRING HAYLEY ATWELL AND MATTHEW MACFADYENIn spring of 1905 in England, a brief romance between Helen Schlegel and Paul Wilcox ends badly, their two very different families are brought into collision. The liberal, intellectual Schlegels, who had hoped never to see the capitalist, pragmatic Wilcoxes again, learn that Paul''s family are moving from their country estate - Howards End - to a flat just across the road.As the lives of the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes become increasingly entangled, Helen befriends Leonard Bast, a man of lower social status. His presence further inflames the families'' political and cultural differences, which are brought to a head in a fatal confrontation at Howards End.Considered by some to be E. M. Forster''s finest work Howard''s End blends humour and lyricism in this classic exploration of British class and character.

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Book SynopsisThe greatest writer of them all, brought to glorious life.How well do you know the man you love? How much do you think you know about Shakespeare? What if they were one and the same? He is an ordinary man: unwilling craftsman, ambitious actor, resentful son, almost good-enough husband. And he is also a genius. The story of how a glove-maker from Warwickshire became the greatest writer of them all is vaguely known to most of us, but it would take an exceptional modern novelist to bring him to life. And now at last Jude Morgan, acclaimed author of Passion and The Taste of Sorrow, has taken Shakespeare''s life, and created a masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisLiza Klaussmann was born in New York but lives in London. She is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Tigers in Red Weather and Villa America.Trade Review'It’s hard to know where to start a review of this startling debut novel because Tigers in Red Weather is absolutely packed with plot . . . anybody who enjoys Mad Men will almost certainly like this book . . . heady, page-turning stuff — the intelligent beach read of the summer.' Sunday Times‘Postwar America, beautiful and damaged people, secrets and lies and passions and martinis and the smell of something rotting beneath the fragrance of summer . . . an immensely gripping and well-told tale of two generations . . . It is part of the considerable pleasure of this novel that much of it reminds you of other stories, in prose and film. You are on familiar but never stale territory, and you read on with the growing conviction that a nasty surprise lies around the corner.’ Guardian‘What an unexpectedly brilliant read this is. It starts off all Stepford Wives and Valley of the Dolls and ends up somewhere in the territory of Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides or Donna Tartt's The Secret History . . . This is an ambitious undertaking for a first novel but Klaussmann really pulls it off, turning an elegant period piece into a creepy psychological thriller . . . A wonderfully clever, chilling summer read.’ Independent on Sunday'Tigers in Red Weather yokes literary craftmanship to a strong, engaging plot . . . The stakes are raised with artful subtlety over the course of the novel . . . The final sequence, told by a relative outsider, is impressively disquieting and concludes this arresting debut with a flourish of ventriloquism’ Literary Review ‘A scintillating look at a gilded but dysfunctional family grappling with lies, secrets and conspiracies . . . The voices of the five main characters ramp up the tension with languorously graceful prose, perfectly mirroring the book's long, dangerous summers.’ Marie Claire‘The novel you should be tucking into your beach bag this summer is Klaussmann’s excellent Tigers In Red Weather . . . Flipping back and forth across a couple of decades, it gracefully tracks the currents souring the intoxicating cocktail of money, sex, heat, boredom and beauty that constitutes the lives of the wealthy on Martha’s Vineyard following World War II. With a conscious nod to F Scott Fitzgerald, it’s a clever, sensual thriller that combines a smidgen of Klaussmann’s family history with a clear-eyed perspective on the multi-faceted nature of families and the emotional duplicity of the rich.’ Metro'Summers are made for novels like Liza Klaussmann's debut, a sophisticated page-turner, where danger and pain throb in every tight-lipped silence, every casually cruel remark, every misinterpreted gesture . . . Hemingway['s] influence is apparent in the simplicity of her language and observations . . . I read it the first time in one sitting, and envy anyone about to start it, with that delicious pleasure ahead of them.' Sunday Telegraph'Two things set this enjoyably creepy book apart from your average beach read. The plot and pacing are expertly managed . . . But the real selling point is the writing, which is minimalist and evocative at the same time.' Observer‘Tragedy, betrayal and passion . . . A riveting, intelligent read’ Stylist

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Book Synopsis''I loved this book, everyone needs a Jack Eversea in their life'' 5* reader review Following Eversea, Forever, Jack is the second gorgeous Butler Cove novel from Natasha Boyd. Nicholas Sparks introduced you to Noah Calhoun. Jamie McGuire brought you Travis Maddox. Now meet Jack Eversea, and prepare to be swept away...When Hollywood movie star Jack Eversea stumbled into sleepy Butler Cove, he had no idea he would encounter the only ''real'' thing that''s ever happened to him - only to let her slip through his fingers... Small-town girl Keri Ann Butler''s life changed the night she met Jack Eversea. But suddenly he was gone, and she had to pick up the pieces and start again.Now Jack is back, with one thing on his mind. Winning back the girl who stole his heart. Whatever it takes. But is it too late? Passionate. Devastating. Explosive. Unforgettable. <Trade ReviewBoyd creates magic once again * A Bookish Escape *Natasha Boyd weaves a fascinating tale of love, loss, heartache and redemption * Tome Tender Book Blog *A perfect blend of heartbreak, angst, romance, steam and pure love in its rawest and sometimes most painful form * All Romance Reviews *5 Eversea* glass Loving Stars! * Sizzling Pages Reviews *

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Book Synopsis ''Eversea is captivating, romantic and a stunning read to get lost in! I''ll be honest - this is a book that I have been DREAMING of reading'' 5* reader review Eversea is the first gorgeous Butler Cove novel from Natasha Boyd. If you loved Nicholas Sparks'' Noah Calhoun and lusted after Jamie McGuire''s Travis Maddox, you''ll be dreaming about Jack Eversea...An orphaned, small-town, southern girl, held hostage by responsibility and self-doubt.A Hollywood A-list mega-star, on the run from his latest scandal and with everything to lose. A chance encounter that leads to an unlikely arrangement and epic love affair that will change them both for ever.As powerful as the pounding surf, as intoxicating as the sea breeze, this is one love affair you won''t be able to forget about...Don''t miss the electrifying sequel, Forever, Jack, and return to Butler Cove in the noTrade ReviewA completely captivating read * Romfan Reviews *You will get lost in the characters and their stories. This book is escapism at its very best. A beautiful coming of age story with lots of lovely romance mixed in * Bookish Treasures Blog *An absolutely sexy, heart-touching tale of finding oneself and discovering love along the way. Eversea is brilliantly written with lovable characters and wonderful story that left me wanting more * Tome Tender Book Blog *So if you'd like a book that's full of vibrant characters, swoon (fracking hot) males that leave you hot under the collar, and just generally a book that leaves you wanting so much more, then pick this book up! * Book Passion for Life Blog *

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Book SynopsisIt kept me awake desperate to find out what had happened to affect them all so badly.' 5* reader review'This is a beautifully written novel with powerfully drawn characters.' 5* reader review'Had me hooked...

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Book Synopsis** AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVELIST AND BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR 2023 ** ** SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023: DEBUT FICTION ** ‘A voice unlike any other’ OBSERVER ‘I fell in love immediately’ MAX PORTER ‘A writer of imagination and flair’ ECONOMIST ‘Smart, subversive, funny, heartbreaking’ KAMILA SHAMSIE ‘Buoro's writing deserves to inspire a generation of superheroes’ THE TIMES Fifteen-year-old Andrew Aziza lives in Kontagora, Nigeria, where his days are spent about town with his droogs, Slim and Morocca, grappling with his fantasies about white girls – especially blondes – and wondering who his father is. When he’s not in church, at school or attempting to form ‘Africa’s first superheroes’, he obsesses over mathematical theorems, ideas of black power and HXVX: the Curse of Africa. Sure enough, the reluctantly nicknamed ‘Andy Africa’ soon falls hopelessly and inappropriately in love with the first white girl he lays eyes on, Eileen. But at the church party held to celebrate her arrival, multiple crises loom. An unfamiliar man claims, despite his mother’s denials, to be Andy’s father, and the gathering of an anti-Christian mob is headed for the church – both set to shake the foundations of everything Andy knows and loves. The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa announces a dazzling, distinctive, new literary voice. Profound, exhilarating and highly original, this tragicomic novel is a stunning exploration of the contemporary African ‘condition’, the relentless infiltration of Western culture and, most of all, the ordinary but impossible challenges of coming of age in a turbulent world.Trade ReviewThis is extraordinary, driven by a gloriously eccentric central character. It is utterly compelling, not shy about posing difficult questions for the reader * 2023 Nero Book Prize Judges *The pleasure here is as much in the journey as the destination, with sex, terrorism and, er, catechisms in the mix. Buoro has energy to burn -- IndependentCraft and verve abound in this tragicomic coming-of-age debut fuelled by the lapel-grabbing voice of its 15-year-old narrator, Andy . . . Both sweet and sour, it offers a family story, a thwarted romance and a story of friendship * Daily Mail *A smart and incisive coming-of-age tragicomedy * i *The vivid immediacy of Buoro’s prose is transporting, his similes as alive as the scenes he paints . . . [Buoro's] writing deserves to inspire a generation of superheroes * The Times *This ticks all the boxes of a literary blockbuster . . . Buoro commits to representing diversity within Blackness, the way Toni Morrison does . . . You wouldn’t be wrong to read the book as satire of a certain kind of Black aspiration, or as an allegory of Africa and the western imperialist project. Or you could read it as itself, without abstracting its particularities: the story of a boy doing his best under the assault of powerful western influences and illusions * Guardian *An assured debut . . . [Buoro] brings Andy’s world to life with such immediacy * Independent *Buoro is a writer of imagination and flair . . . His sentences are mad, boisterous, incantatory – and, in a continent where rhythm is as common as praying, quite singular. The prose on any page could only be his. And Andy Africa is an unforgettable character … Contemporary African literature is rich in coming-of-age stories. For its sheer energy, The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa is among the best * Economist *An exhilarating, tragicomic novel that questions what it means to come of age in Nigeria today . . . A voice unlike any other * Observer *Beautiful, intelligent and heart-wrenching -- NoViolet Bulawayo, author of GLORY and WE NEED NEW NAMESA barnstorming, heartbreaking debut . . . Tackling the perils of carving out a unique identity in a world of carnage and confusion, in the shadow of colonialism, this assured, engaging book, will make you fall in love with teenager Andy Aziza, and will undoubtedly make a star of Stephen Buoro * Harper's Bazaar, Highlights for 2023 *This novel exudes a wonderfully vivid sense of place and leads the reader inside the head of its teenage hero . . . It’s a narrative of depth that also manages to be instantly engaging -- Ian RankinI fell in love with this novel immediately. [It has] hilarious energy, a satirical but also wildly ambitious philosophical framework … It’s eccentric, profound, timely, specific but it also has global concerns and a really, really brilliant central character -- Max PorterFascinating; unashamedly, brilliantly intelligent. It grapples with ideas around maths, Afrofuturism, biblical myth . . . profound philosophical stuff, but fundamentally it’s a really playful, pleasurable book about young boy who’s falling madly in love, and has a difficult, intense, loving relationship with his mother -- Sarah PerryStephen Buoro’s wonderful The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa is filled with lovable, memorable characters. You’ll meet a young man pining over a fantasy; his fierce mother who tries to shield him as best she can; a friend who confides; and others who just want happiness. This novel is at once funny and heartbreaking. Most importantly, it’s honest -- De'Shawn Charles Winslow, author of DECENT PEOPLE and IN THE WEST MILLSA blazing debut – smart, subversive, funny, heartbreaking. I’m already impatient for Buoro’s next book -- Kamila ShamsieHilarious and heartbreaking and full of surprises, Stephen Buoro’s debut novel puts us inside the head of the titular teenager, a charming, nervous Nigerian kid who is curious about the world but convinced that he lives on a cursed continent. It’s a fun and harrowing place to be * The Philadelphia Inquirer *

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Book SynopsisFunny of course it's funny but also smart, insightful and sincere about heartbreak'' DAVID NICHOLLS, author of ONE DAY''This is the greatest. You''ll cry and laugh. I read it though the night. And I never, ever avoid sleep'' CLAUDIA WINKLEMANI award it 13/10 on my QWJ scale (stands for Queasy With Jealousy that I didn''t write it)' MARIAN KEYES---Every relationship has one beginning.This one has two endings.Andy loves Jen. Jen loved Andy.And he can''t work out why she stopped.Now he is. . .1. Without a home2. Waiting for his stand-up career to take off3. Wondering why everyone else around him seems to have grown up while he wasn''t lookingSet adrift on the sea of heartbreak at a time when everything he thought he knew about women, and flat-sharing, and his friendships has transformed beyond recognition, Andy clings to the idea of solving the puzzle of their broken relationship. Because if he can find the answer to that, then maybe Jen can find her way back to him.Andy still has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend''s side of the story.From the bestselling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a sharply funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely relatable story of heartbreak and friendship, and how to survive both.''The most book-based fun I had this year ... It''s the most I''ve laughed while reading about heartbreak since Nick Hornby''s High Fidelity. A complete delight'' The Sunday Times, Critics'' favourite books of the yearSunday Times bestseller, November 2023Trade ReviewIf Dolly’s memoir Everything I Know About Love summed up being twentysomething then this, her second novel, is a tender and funny love letter to our tumultuous 30s * Red *Brilliantly observed … Beautifully written, pacy and excellent on rejection, friendship and letting go. Fabulous * Daily Mail *Laugh-out-loud dialogue on every page ... No-one has a firmer grasp on the themes she explores. Good material, indeed * Sunday Express *Funny, sad and true; a book she has clearly poured her soul into ... Cements her status as a fiction heavyweight * inews, The best new books to read in November 2023 *This is the greatest. You’ll cry and laugh. I read it through the night. And I never, ever avoid sleep * Claudia Winkleman *It's so good. I loved it * Sharon Horgan *Leaves you heartsore but happier. Irresistible * Richard E. Grant *Made me laugh while punching me in the gut. Loved this book * Aisling Bea *Sharply written and acutely observed ... A beautifully nuanced portrayal of modern love that will have you racing to the last page * Heat *Have you ever wondered what a lost love was thinking? In this ingeniously constructed and endlessly amusing novel, Dolly Alderton flips the script on everything we think we know about romantic loss, to bring us an unforgettable character on a deeply relatable downward spiral. Wise and relatable and pee-your-pants funny. I cried by page 5. Dolly Alderton is, quite simply, the bard of modern day love * Lena Dunham *WONDERFUL ... Shot through with Dolly's characteristic emotional intelligence ... Very funny ... Such a pleasure to read. I devoured it ... I award it 13/10 on my QWJ scale (stands for Queasy With Jealousy that I didn't write it) * Marian Keyes *I adored it! I ... Dolly is THE comic writer of our generation. This feels like her most ambitious book yet, and it delivers on every single page. She uses humour so brilliantly to underpin the quiet roar of romantic despair - this book is raw, smart and human. This makes me believe Dolly knows everything there is to know about love. * Daisy Buchanan *Dolly Alderton just gets better and better. Good Material is both heartbreaking and hilarious with an ending that has you holding your breath. With the wit of Nick Hornby and the emotional scalpel of Nora Ephron, Alderton is one of our greats and this is sure to be an absolute classic * Emma Gannon *A relatable, laugh-out-loud story of a thirtysomething failed comedian struggling with a break-up * Sunday Times Style *Good Material combines Alderton’s wit and eye for detail with a beautiful depth of emotion * Woman & Home *Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny – with characters straight out of a Richard Curtis film – whipsmart dialogue and relatable millennial themes (Alderton’s forte) mean there’s never a dull moment ... Thought-provoking and wise * The Independent, Best New Books to Read This Autumn *The author of Everything I Know About Love nails the zeitgeist with a witty, relatable and acutely insightful page-turner about the trails and tribulations of the lovelorn * Daily Express *Dolly Alderton is the Adele of writing * Esther Coren, The Spike *Witty, warm and well-observed * Fabulous Magazine *A funny, tender novel about human relationships. By turns, laugh-out-loud, eye-roll relatable, and 'stop you in your tracks' heart-wrench. A thoroughly modern romantic masterpiece. * Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina *Highly relatable for millennials navigating dating in London, and hugely insightful for those generations wanting to understand them. Packed with sharp observations and wisdom. A triumph * Sathnam Sanghera *Alderton entertains with observational quips about thirtysomething life ... There's a Hornby-esque charm to her well-meaning characters and their relatable dramas * The Observer *The bestselling author brings her warmth, emotional intelligence and wry observation to bear on her second novel ... Refreshing * The Bookseller, Editor's Choice *Alderton is perceptive about how men deal (badly) with emotional pain * The Times *Relatable, funny and refreshing * Elle *[A] book to be devoured, adored, underlined, and passed on (but only to the friends you know will give it back) ... [Alderton] proves herself once again as having both a deep understanding of the intricacies of relationships and the ability to articulate it better than the majority of us ever could ...Good Material showcases Alderton’s knack for rich characterisation and zippy dialogue like never before ... Genuinely funny – if only more books made you laugh as much as this * The i *All of Alderton's considerable gifts as a writer are on display here: her wit, her ability to capture exchanges that feel real, and her skilful characterisation ... Alderton's work truly shines when she writes about friendship * Sunday Independent *With distinct notes of Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis and Nick Hornby ... Warm and generous ... A writer very much in control of her material * Guardian *Alderton is excellent at fusing poignant tenderness with wry observations about modern life, and that talent is on full display here. Good Material is a highly enjoyable exploration of the messy, non-binary nature of many break-ups, and how two people can simply make a terrible couple ... If you're on the hunt for a readable romcom to inhale in a few sittings, this is very good material * Stylist *Funny, tender and astute on heartbreak * Mail on Sunday *This is Dolly Alderton's best book yet ... Alderton is a great social chronicler: her observations here about thirty-something friendship and the differences (or not) between millennials and Gen Z feel particularly true. But most crucially, this is a tender, bittersweet portrait of the addictive fug of longterm monogamy – and the crushing pain when it ends * The i – All I want for Christmas: Which books should you buy for your loved ones this year? *Brilliantly observed ... addictive * Daily Mail *Comical yet warming * Psychologies *A brilliantly observed portrait of a break-up, which examines how miserable it is to become obsessed with the unknown reasons a relationship has ended. Andy can’t understand why Jen no longer wants to be with him. The more he thinks about it the madder he feels but he can’t stop. Addictive * Daily Mail – Christmas Books: Best way to survive Christmas? Read a really good book! *I’ve already bought several copies of Dolly Alderton’s Good Material for the men and women in my life, and I will continue the rampage through the festive season. It’s the perfect blend of easy to read, funny and extremely astute * The Observer – Books of the year 2023 *Failing stand-up comedian Andy is devastated when his girlfriend Jen breaks up with him out of the blue. Alderton explores the trials and tribulations of finding yourself unexpectedly single in your mid-30s in a novel as witty as it is perceptive * Daily Express – Stocking fillers: What were the must read novels of 2023? *The most book-based fun I had this year ... It’s the most I’ve laughed while reading about heartbreak since Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. A complete delight * The Sunday Times – My favourite read of the year, Charlotte Ivers *

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of the Undead series comes a ride through the lives of three estranged friends as they?re reunited by murder (possible frame job) and mayhem (just the way they like it).Operation Starfish has one goal: to remove domestic violence survivors from danger. But when a mission backfires in tragedy, the band of bikers who founded OpStar dissolves the organization and their ride-or-die friendship.Five years later Amanda, Sidney, and Cassandra are brought back together by the same thing that tore them apart when the man who victimized his wife is murdered, and all signs point to Cassandra.Circumstances being what they are?in a word: dire?the trio reignites their bond, if only to shut and barricade the door to their past once and for all. Their tentative sisterhood is infiltrated by Investigator Sean Beane, whose intentions aren?t as clear as they should be, but even so he?s too tempting for his (or Amanda?s) own good.Despite all reservations, regrets, and blossoming romance, it?s time for these biker babes to strap on their helmets and hit the road?before the real murderer can run them off it.

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Book Synopsis“Masterfully written and pitch perfect, Black Girls Must Be Magic is, simply, magic.”—Good Morning AmericaIn this highly anticipated second installment in the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted series, Tabitha Walker copes with more of life’s challenges and a happy surprise—a baby—with a little help and lots of love from friends old and new.For Tabitha Walker, her grandmother’s old adage, “Black girls must die exhausted” is becoming all too true. Discovering she’s pregnant—after she was told she may not be able to have biological children—Tabitha throws herself headfirst into the world of “single mothers by choice.” Between her job, doctor’s appointments, and preparing for the baby, she’s worn out. And that’s before her boss at the local news station starts getting complaints from viewers about Tabitha’s natural hair.

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Book SynopsisWhat if your work rival was the ex that you’d never actually broken up with? ‘Sizzling’ SOPHIE IRWIN‘Witty’ BETH REEKLES‘Excellent’ JANE CASEY‘Pitch-perfect’ EMMA HUGHESTrade ReviewPraise for Niamh Hargan: 'Could Niamh be Ireland's answer to Nora Ephron?' STELLAR ‘Snap-crackling with wit and energy, ridiculously enjoyable’ MHAIRI MCFARLANE ’Fresh, funny and beautifully written. Niamh Hargan is going to be huge’ SOPHIE COUSENS ’A sweepingly romantic debut . . . it’s sexy, escapist and FUN – everything a romantic comedy should be!’ LAURA JANE WILLIAMS ‘Smart, funny and sizzling with chemistry – but with a big, tender heart’ CRESSIDA MCLAUGHLIN ’I adored this thoughtful, funny, intelligent and very hot romcom’ SARRA MANNING ‘A sparkling, witty debut from a talented new voice’ LAUREN HO ‘Funny, smart and very romantic . . . the perfect escape’ ALEX BROWN

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Book SynopsisDon''t get mad. Get everything.When their best friend commits suicide over her divorce, Elise, Brenda and Annie decide enough is enough. Each was crucial to her husband''s career. But now that the men are successful, they''ve traded in their wives for newer, blonder models.Over lunch one day they form the First Wives Club. But this is no support group. This is the SAS in Chanel. Painstakingly, inexorably, they plan the downfall of the men who''ve wrecked their lives - and know that revenge has never tasted sweeter...Trade Review'A delicious tale of retribution' * Daily Express *'It does what all good books do, forces you to keep turning pages' * Independent on Sunday *'Hilarious, smooth and sexy' * Cosmopolitan *

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Book SynopsisIan McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of seventeen books. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; and Nutshell, which was a Number One bestseller. Atonement and Enduring Love have both been turned into award-winning films, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach are in production and set for release this year, and filming is currently underway for a BBC TV adaptation of The Child in Time.Trade ReviewUtterly compelling * Sunday Times *Hypnotically readable * Sunday Telegraph *Taut with narrative excitement and suspense * Sunday Times *A plot so engrossing that it seems reckless to pick the book up in the evening if you plan to get any sleep that night * Daily Mail *He is the maestro at creating suspense * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisSet in the rural midlands of England, The Rainbow revolves around three generations of the Brangwen family over a period of more than sixty years, setting them against the emergence of modern England. When Tom Brangwen marries a Polish widow and adopts her daughter as his own, he is unprepared for the conflict and passion that erupt. Suffused with biblical imagery, The Rainbow addresses searching human issues in a setting of precise and vivid detail.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Trade Review"Lawrence is the most Dostoevskian of English novelists, in whose best work conflicting ideological positions are brought into play and set up against each other in dialogue that is never simply or finally resolved." -David Lodge

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Book SynopsisWhat happens when a washed-up musician looks for another chance? And miles away, a restless woman looks for a change? NICK HORNBY''S HILARIOUS INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER IS NOW A MAJOR FILM''A comic delight'' Evening Standard _____________In 1986, legendary musician Tucker Crowe disappeared from the public eye and for 20 years, his rabid fans have speculated his whereabouts. Annie lives in Gooleness, the north''s answer to a question nobody asked, and has put fifteen years into a safe relationship with one such Crowe-ologist, Duncan. And she wants her money back, please.Then Tucker releases new material. Duncan thinks it''s genius, Annie does not, and when she dares to go public with her dislike, there are unexpected, life-changing consequences for all three . . .Juliet, Naked is a humblingly humorous novel about music, love, loneliness, and the struggle to live up to our own potential.Trade ReviewA wonderfully assured writer * Sunday Times *Juliet, Naked is ingenious, funny and moving * Daily Mail *A comic delight. In Juliet, Naked the author once again deftly but affectionately anatomizes the foibles of flawed men and women * Evening Standard *Sharp, funny, touching . . . Nick Hornby's triumph is to find infinite amounts of warmth and humour in this seeming world of desolation * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisRichly expansive and deeply moving, an intimate novel of secret lives and painful histories from one of the finest storytellers we have''This brilliant novel examines lives lived, losses accumulated, and the slipperiness of perception. Yiyun Li writes deeply, drolly, and with elegance about history, even as it''s happening. She is one of my favorite writers, and Must I Go is an extraordinary book.'' Meg Wolitzer Lilia Liska is 81. She has shrewdly outlived three husbands, raised five children and seen the arrival of seventeen grandchildren. Now she has turned her keen attention to a strange little book published by a vanity press: the diary of a long-forgotten man named Roland Bouley, with whom she once had a fleeting affair.Increasingly obsessed by this fragment of intimate history, Lilia begins to annotate the diary with her own rather different version of events. Gradually she undercuts Roland''s charming but arrogant voice with an incisive and deeply moving commentary. She reveals to us the surprising, long-held secrets of her past. And she returns inexorably to her daughter, Lucy, who took her own life at the age of 27.Must I Go is an unconventional epistolary novel, a gleefully one-way correspondence between the very-much-alive Lilia and the long-departed Roland. Though mortality is ever-present, this is ultimately a novel about life, in all its messy glory. Life lived, for the extraordinary Lilia, absolutely on its own terms. With exquisite subtlety and insight, Yiyun Li navigates the twin poles of grief and resilience, loss and rebirth, that compass a human heart.Trade ReviewThis brilliant novel examines lives lived, losses accumulated, and the slipperiness of perception. Yiyun Li writes deeply, drolly, and with elegance about history, even as it's happening. She is one of my favorite writers, and Must I Go is an extraordinary book. -- Meg WolitzerThere is no writer like Yiyun Li, no one in contemporary literature who is as masterful at digging into the uncertainty of our existence on this earth. And Must I Go is sheer brilliance. Lilia Liska is one of the most arresting, strangely funny, and complex characters I've ever met . . . Li does something truly transformative. She remakes our world for us, so we can figure out how to keep living in it. -- Kevin WilsonA masterpiece. This book haunts me more than any other novel I've read in recent yearsAny new book by Yiyun Li is cause for celebration, but now more than ever do we need the clarity and humaneness of her vision. Must I Go takes us into her familiar and powerful emotional territory, brilliantly exploring how what we love, what we lose, and what we mourn make, unmake, and remake us into the human beings that we are. -- Sigrid NunezA portrait of resilience like no other, Must I Go takes Yiyun Li-and the reader-into entirely new emotional territory. Bracing and almost unnervingly perceptive, this is wisdom literature for our time. -- Gish JenFierce and intransigent -- Joyce Carol Oates

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE_______________________Near perfection... one of the outstanding works of fiction of the year.'' - The Times''A splendidly bracing experience.'' - New Statesman_______________________Sheila Redden, a quiet, 37-year-old doctor''s wife, has long been looking forward to returning with her husband to the town where they spent their honeymoon over twenty years ago. Little does she suspect that after a chance encounter in Paris she will end up spending her holiday with a man she has only just met, an American man ten years her junior. Four weeks later, Sheila is nowhere to be found. Owen Deane, her brother, follows her steps to Paris in the hopes of shedding some light on her disappearance, but soon begins to wonder if she will ever reappear. Interspersed with Sheila''s harrowing memories of her hometown of Ulster at the height of the troubles, this is a compelling and powerful tale of love, escape and abandon.Trade Review‘The subject - an ordinary woman seized by love for a younger man in the middle of her life - supplies just the right material for Mr Moore's tender, probing technique. It is uncanny: No other male writer, I swear (and precious few females), knows so much about women' * Sunday Telegraph *‘The novel is near perfection. The elegance and clarity of style rides in perfect harmony with the subtlety and depth of feeling. The dialogue is perfect- the author's ear sharp for the cadences of ecstasy, self-pity, love and anger. The feeling for mood and background is perfect... a novel of mature assurance and brilliant insight that must make it one of the outstanding works of fiction of the year.' * The Times *‘Nightmare images of tanks cruising down empty night streets, feverish erotic couplings with a stranger in foreign hotels; a married woman from a provincial backwater breaking out on a trip abroad; a concerned sibling observing a rebellious sister; the palpable absence of God in the central characters' lives and the notion that art and sex might replace Him... a splendidly bracing experience.' * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisCleanness revisits and expands the world of Garth Greenwell’s beloved debut, What Belongs to You, declared ‘an instant classic’ by the New York Times Book Review. In exacting, elegant prose, Greenwell transcribes the strange dialects of desire, cementing his stature as one of our most vital living writers.‘This is an exceptional work of fiction, which places Greenwell among the very best contemporary novelists.’ – IndependentSofia, Bulgaria, a landlocked city in southern Europe, stirs with hope and impending upheaval. Soviet buildings crumble, wind scatters sand from the far south, and political protesters flood the streets with song.In this atmosphere of disquiet, an American teacher navigates a life transformed by the discovery and loss of love. As he prepares to leave the place he’s come to call home, he grapples with the intimate encounters that have marked his years abroad, each bearing uncanny reminders of his past. A queer student’s confession recalls his own first love, a stranger’s seduction devolves into paternal sadism, and a romance with a younger man opens, and heals, old wounds. Each echo reveals startling insights about what it means to seek connection: with those we love, with the places we inhabit, and with our own fugitive selves.Chosen as a book of the year in the New Yorker, Daily Telegraph, Observer and Irish Times.Trade ReviewGreenwell may be the finest writer of sex currently at work. He is certainly the most exhilarating . . . If the book is imagined as a body, then cleanness – a total lack of shame in putting sexual passion on the page – is what it achieves in these refreshing depictions. In one brilliant passage, Greenwell even redeems pornographic language itself . . . a glorious, affirmative vision. -- Michael LaPointe * TLS *Cleanness is stunning, provocatively revelatory and atmospherically profound. Here is love and sex as art, as pulse, as truth. -- Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Womena brilliant examination of love and intimacy -- SJ Watson * The Times *Garth Greenwell is an intensely beautiful and gorgeous writer. I can think of no contemporary author who brings as much reality and honesty to the description of sex—locating in it the sublime, as well as our deepest degradations, our sweetness, confusion, and rage -- Sheila Heti, author of MotherhoodAn unbearably wonderful, eloquently sexual, thoughtful, emotional delight of a novel - Garth Greenwell writes like no one else -- Eimear McBrideCleanness is a impressive book: moving, radical, both beautiful and violent, unexpected. Garth Greenwell is a major writer, and his writing provides us tools to affirm ourselves, to exist - to fight -- Edouard Louis, author of The End of Eddy.Cleanness reaches into the relationship between masculinity and violence with more depth than any book I’ve read in a very long time, and it does it by elaborating both the tender and brutal means that men who try to love other men employ to survive the violence they inherited and the violence they still possess. It is, in the best sense, a disturbing book for the simple reason that it speaks the truth -- Adam Haslett, author of Imagine Me GoneSo rarely do words make comprehensible the inevitability and confusion of desire as Garth Greenwell’s writing does. His sensibility is akin to James Baldwin’s, and he observes the world with eyes like those of Tolstoy. With shimmering prose and undiluted intensity, Cleanness captures the indefinableness of pain and intimacy, love and alienation, vulnerability and sustainability -- Yiyun Li, author of Where Reasons EndIt has been four years since Garth Greenwell’s stunning debut, What Belongs To You, was published. I don’t think I have read a better new novel in all that time, so to discover that his follow-up is every bit as exquisite was a mixture of relief and joy . . . Greenwell’s prose possesses the same luminescence, shimmering with emotional truth . . . This is an exceptional work of fiction, which places Greenwell among the very best contemporary novelists. -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *In Cleanness, I found an end to a loneliness I didn't know — until now — how to describe. Greenwell maps the worlds our language walls off—sex, love, shame and friendship, the foreign and the familiar—and finds the sublime. There are visceral shocks like I’ve never encountered in print, and they delighted me, again and again. With each plunge we take beneath the surface of life, lost and new worlds appear. This could only be the work of a master -- Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical NovelThe casual grandeur of Garth Greenwell’s prose, unfurling in page-long paragraphs and elegantly garrulous sentences, tempts the vulnerable reader into danger zones: traumatic memories, extreme sexual scenarios, states of paralyzing heartbreak and loss . . . These stories are masterpieces of radical eroticism, but they wouldn’t have the same impact if they didn’t appear in a gorgeously varied narrative fabric, amid scenes of more wholesome love, finely sketched vistas of political unrest, haunting evocations of a damaged childhood, and moments of mundane rapture. Tenderness, violence, animosity, and compassion are the outer edges of what feels like a total map of the human condition -- Alex Ross * New Yorker *Garth Greenwell’s sentences are magical and spellbinding. They breathe, and are alive, in completely unpredictable ways. Words are voyages, says John Donne. Greenwell is a novelist whose art makes a poet stand on his toes -- Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf RepublicA novel of devastating honesty and beauty. A gorgeous literary line runs from Death in Venice to Giovanni's Room to A Boy's Own Story to What Belongs to You, and, now, Cleanness, and I will follow it to the last word -- David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th WifeI don't know how Garth Greenwell writes such delicate, profane fiction. Reading this book made me want to sit with my emotions and desires; it made me want to be a better writer. -- Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other PartiesGarth Greenwell, whose first book is a masterpiece, amazingly has written a second book that is also a masterpiece. The great enterprise that Joyce and Lawrence began—to write with utter literal candor about sex, grounding one’s moral life and philosophical insight in what that candor reveals about us—finds fulfillment, a late apotheosis, in Greenwell’s work. Cleanness is the act of a master -- Frank BidartIf Henry James were alive in this strange century, if Thomas Mann had been allowed to write raw sex, if Virginia Woolf had slummed it more, if Proust had been born in Kentucky, if they all commingled their blood and brains, we might get something like Garth Greenwell. Cleanness is indescribable, and it is genius. -- Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great BelieversThe narrator of Greenwell’s debut What Belongs to You returns in this masterpiece of intimacy. An American expat soon to leave his post in Bulgaria, he looks back at his encounters — those rooted in love and those ones where feeling emerged unexpected — recounting, in Greenwell’s seamless, acute prose, the violence and surrender, gestures and codes of love and sex. * Financial Times *

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Book Synopsis'A fragmentary meditation on the nature of love' GuardianA Chinese woman comes to post-Brexit London to start over - just as the Brexit campaign reaches a fever pitch. Isolated and lonely in a Britain increasingly hostile to foreigners, she meets a landscape architect and the two begin to build their future together.Playing with language and the cultural differences that our narrator encounters as she settles into her new life, the lovers must navigate their differences and their romance, whether on their unmoored houseboat or in a cramped apartment in east London. Suffused with a wonderful sense of humour, this intimate novel asks what it means to make a home and a family in a new land.Trade ReviewGuo is an unsparing noticer. The truthfulness and accuracy of Guo's language gives the book mischief and energy. There are shades of Lydia Davis in her carefully etched sentences as she details the ups and downs of the relationship without sentimentality. . . . Along the way, it's capacious enough to touch on moments of real darkness, while somehow managing to be mordant, funny and, ultimately, life-affirming -- Marcel Theroux * New York Times *A fragmentary meditation on the nature of love, on desire and on connection between two humans . . . this book sets off cross-cultural echoes with the lightest of strokes -- Aida Edemariam * Guardian *Xiaolu Guo writes with tremendous delicacy and nuance about migration, language, alienation, and love . . . Guo has pared down every tiny chapter to its poetic essence so as to let the largest themes emerge, thus taking the reader from the verbal to something approaching the numinous -- Mike Cormack * Spectator *A story told with charm that will leave you in a ponderous mood -- Susannah Butter * Evening Standard *Guo's latest novel . . . demonstrates how much can be achieved when narrative is cut loose from plot and scene-setting in favour of free-floating reflection -- Anthony Cummins * i *

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Book SynopsisWhen Andrée joins her school, Sylvie is immediately fascinated. Andrée is small for her age but walks with the confidence of an adult.The girls become close. They talk for hours about equality, justice, war and religion; they lose respect for their teachers; they build a world of their own. But as the girls grow into young women, the pressures of society mount, threatening everything.This novel was never published in Simone de Beauvoir's lifetime. It tells the story of the real-life friendship that shaped one of the most important thinkers and feminists of the twentieth century.'Slim, elegant, achingly tragic and unaffectedly lovely in its evocation of the closeness between girls - and the pressures that sunder them' SpectatorVINTAGE FRENCH CLASSICS - five masterpieces of French fiction in gorgeous new gift editions.TRANSLATED BY LAUREN ELKIN - INTRODUCED BY DEBORAH LEVYTrade Review[An] exquisitely simple tale... The Inseparables invites us to cherish friendship, and how it makes and breaks us in a precarious and cruel world. * Church Times *A short novel that will bring most to tears, it's loving, it's tender, it's heart wrenching and absolutely worth reading * Left Lion *

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Book Synopsis'Prepare to ugly cry and snort laugh with abandon' - Heat'An emotional read with an OMG ending' - Jill MansellOne moment in time can change everything...The day Scarlett dies should have been one of the most important of her life. It doesn't feel fair that she'll never have the chance to fulfil her dreams - all because she stopped to help a stranger. And now, she's still ... here - wherever here is - watching the ripple effect of her death on those she loved the most.Evie cannot contemplate her life without Scarlett, and she certainly cannot forgive Nate, the man she blames for her best friend's death. But Nate keeps popping up when she least expects him to, catapulting Evie's life in directions she'd never let herself imagine possible. If you could go back, knowing everything that happens after, everything that happens because of one choice you made, would you change the course of history or would you do it all again?'A gorgeous love story with a twist' Veronica Henry'Fans of Jojo Moyes will devour Becky Hunter's stunning tale' Sunday ExpressTrade ReviewA thought-provoking and moving novel about loss, love, and the unique and life-affirming power of friendship. Poignant yet unwaveringly hopeful, One Moment is a fresh look at how grief can not only break us, but put us back together again. An unmissable debut. * Holly Miller *'Completely involving. An emotional read about love and trust, with an OMG ending -- Jill MansellA beautiful, bittersweet examination of friendship, love and grief, prepare to ugly cry and snort laugh with abandon * Heat *Wonderful * Marie Claire *This heart-wrenching tale is beautifully written * Sun *A beautifully written novel that captures the joy of a lifelong friendship and the horror of grief. Fans of JoJo Moyes will devour Becky Hunter's stunning tale * Sunday Express *A joy from start to finish -- Sheila O'Flanagan. No. 1 bestselling authorThis emotional read about friendship, love and loss is touching and relatable with an unexpected ending that leaves you reeling * Good Housekeeping *Full of heart and humour and the characters are all so well written * Prima *One Moment is so many things. A gorgeous love story with a twist, a tender portrait of the kind of friendship that transcends everything, and an exploration of the important things in life. It will make you question who you are, and what you want, and how to make the most of every opportunity and every relationship you have. Intimate, thoughtful, beautiful and deeply moving. Becky Hunter will steal your heart! -- Veronica HenryI adored this emotional debut from Becky Hunter. It's such a gorgeous tale of love and friendship, beautifully written and with characters you really believe in. * Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls *An exquisitely written novel about grief, hope and the power of love. I loved every word. -- Cathy Bramley, Sunday Times bestselling authorBeautiful, hopeful, deeply emotional, incredibly wise and wonderfully romantic. One of those books I feel stronger for reading -- Cressida McLaughlinFantastic. Incredibly moving and very thoughtfully written -- Harriet TyceThis stunning debut explores grief, love and friendship in a beautiful and original way - a powerful read full of both moving and joyful moments * My Weekly *A story of friendship, loss and how one moment can change your whole life. A gorgeous debut. * Woman *Sharp, funny, tear-jerking, so assured and well observed. What a debut! -- Elizabeth BuchanA compelling read * Bella *A heart-warming and often heartbreaking read * Daily Express *A beautiful story about love and loss * Best *A warm and thoughtful novel that skewers friendship, loss and negotiating grief in a touching and relatable way. I was completely caught up in Evie and Scarlet's stories. -- Fanny BlakeA page-turner to grip you * Chat *The must-read debut of the year ... brings joy, happiness and pleasure in a story simply not to be missed' * People's Friend *Deeply moving ... truly packs an emotional punch. Heatwarming, witty and brilliantly written. * Press and Journal *A poignant, uplifting and life-affirming tale of friendship, love, grief and learning to let go. It'll have you welling up one moment and smiling the next. And by the end, your heart will feel a little fuller. * CultureFly *A hugely accomplished debut about dying, grief and loss, but also learning to live again. It's about love in all its forms, and, despite its subject matter, it manages to be uplifting and life-affirming. It's a story that will stay with me for a long time. -- Claire FrostSo moving and uplifting - I have no doubt that readers will fall in love -- Emylia HallAn engaging story about love, true friendship and sacrifice * Candis *A touching tale focusing on friendship, grief, and hope * That's Life *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN MCGAHERN PRIZE 2022This critically acclaimed debut will be a guaranteed hit with literary fiction lovers this Christmas._____________A young woman comes of age in the shadow of her family's tragic pastWhen Beth Crowe starts university, she is shadowed by the ghost of her potential as a competitive swimmer. Free to create a fresh identity for herself, she finds herself among people who adore the poetry of her grandfather, Benjamin Crowe, who died tragically before she was born. She embarks on a secret relationship - and on a quest to discover the truth about Benjamin and his widow, her beloved grandmother Lydia. The quest brings her into an archive that no scholar has ever seen, and to a person who knows things about her family that nobody else knows.Holding Her Breath is a razor-sharp, moving and seriously entertaining novel about complicated love stories, ambition and grief - and a young woman coming fully into her powers.SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2021SHORTLISTED FOR THE KATE O'BRIEN AWARD 2022__________'A stunning debut from this new Irish talent' STELLAR'A beautiful coming-of-age story told with impressive skill and lightness of touch . . . I absolutely loved it' LOUISE O'NEILL'Whip smart observations and addictive prose' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'Precise, sure, engaging, and a joy to read' RODDY DOYLE'A moving debut with a satisfying conclusion' IRISH INDEPENDENT'Brilliant, vivid - I enjoyed this book ENORMOUSLY' MARIAN KEYES'Enthralling' IMAGE'A nimble account of student life with a darkly enjoyable undercurrent of secrecy and emotional turmoil' SARA BAUME'A truly compelling read, and one I wholeheartedly recommend' BUZZ'Through the dark sky of our times, Eimear Ryan arrives like a comet, a bright talent scorching through every page' DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA, author of A Ghost in the Throat'Brilliantly realised, gripping, and moving . . . This is absolutely the real thing' KEVIN POWER'Written with a wonderful clarity and insight, Holding Her Breath lingers in the imagination. Beth's unravelling and re-ravelling is drawn with great skill and empathy. A brilliant debut' DONAL RYANTrade ReviewFunny, dark and unexpected -- Kevin Power * The Last Word with Matt Cooper *A stunning debut from this new Irish talent, as well as being an exciting page turner it's also a perfect depiction of how it feels to be lost as you embark on a new chapter of your life * Stellar *From the first sentence to the last, this is a great piece of writing - precise, sure, engaging, and a joy to read -- Roddy DoyleRichly accomplished . . . a true pleasure to read -- Dermot Bolger * Business Post *A moving debut with a satisfying conclusion * Irish Independent *Through the dark sky of our times, Eimear Ryan arrives like a comet, a bright talent scorching through every page. To read this book is to feel it blaze to life. I can't stop thinking about it -- Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the Throat

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Book Synopsis“Moving, poetic and quietly provocative.” – The Independent. A novel sure to appeal to fans of Outlander. When Alys revisits the beautiful Scottish island of Garve after an absence of 25 years, she is captivated by the embroidered casket on display in her hotel. She discovers that it belongs to Donal, her childhood playmate, and soon they resume their old friendship. Interwoven with the story of their growing love is the darker 18th-century tale of Henrietta Dalrymple, kidnapped by the formidable Manus McNeill and held on Garve against her will. Despite the 300 years separating them, the women are strongly connected: their parallel lives are linked by the cabinet and its contents, by the tug of motherhood and by the magic of the Hebridean island itself. But Garve has its secrets, past and present. Donal must learn to trust Alys enough to confide in her and, like Henrietta before her, Alys must earn the right to belong.Trade Review“Elegant, restrained prose...compelling.” * Sunday Times pick of historical fiction *“Historical fiction at its most luxurious.” * Authors Electric *“A powerful story of love and obligation.” * John Burnside *“Moving, poetic and quietly provocative.” * The Independent *“Heart-warming, realistic and page-turning.” * Lorraine Kelly *“Beautiful – lyrical and sensual.” * Hilary Ely *“Blisteringly eloquent.” * The Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisThe chilling psychological thriller from a top ten bestselling author.Trade Review‘Emotional and sensitive, populated with wonderfully real characters, but also underscored by menace which races towards a heart-in-the-mouth denouement.’ Gillian McAllister, author of EVERYTHING BUT THE TRUTH ‘THE SECOND SISTER is both a twisty thriller and a sensitively written story of a family stricken by loss and the fear of not knowing the worst. The strife between the remaining sister and her mother especially is depicted with heart-rending warmth and insight.’ Isabelle Grey, author of THE BAD MOTHER ‘Marvelously tension-filled storytelling’ New York Times ‘A thriller with intelligence and a high creep factor, a genre that’s difficult to get just right…Claire Kendal’s version comes close to perfection’ The Toronto Star PRAISE FOR THE BOOK OF YOU: ‘Any thriller that has you checking over your shoulder and peeking from behind your curtains must be gripping so hats off to Claire Kendal’s hard-hitting debut THE BOOK OF YOU for doing just this’ Stylist ‘Both brutal and unbearably tense, THE BOOK OF YOU announces the arrival of a fierce new talent, a writer not afraid to grasp a woman’s fears in stark detail and to invoke nightmares’ Daily Mail ‘Clever, claustrophobic and chillingly good’ Good Housekeeping ‘THE BOOK OF YOU starts with breathtaking brilliance and then just gets better with every page. Already my book of the year’ Elizabeth Haynes, author of INTO THE DARKEST CORNER ‘Gripping with some very smart twists’ Woman Magazine ‘A gripping read!’ Closer ‘Addictive … I literally hardly breathed as I raced to the end. It's a terrifying thriller’ Samantha Hayes, author of UNTIL YOU’RE MINE ‘Creepy and compelling. What happens when the wrong guy won't take no for an answer?’ Paula Daly, author of JUST WHAT KIND OF MOTHER ARE YOU?

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Book SynopsisPeople die. Love doesn't.A bitter-sweet pang in my heart' Monique RoffeyA beautiful book. Insanely romantic and utterly convincing' Julie MyersonA wonderful and inventive novel, sorrowful and hopeful in equal measure. It was a true pleasure to read' Miranda Cowley HellerLouisa Young is the great chronicler of romantic love and the pain of its loss' Linda GrantHeart-stoppingly romantic A lovely, moving, ultimately hopeful read' MirrorWhat a writer so beautifully earthed in the everyday. Terrific' Elizabeth BuchanA modern day Truly Madly Deeply Rasmus and Roisin both lose their partners, but the ghosts of Nico and Jay stay, unable to leave their loved ones alone as the broken-hearted pair find comfort in each other. Beautifully written, this is a haunting love story literally' Best magazine, Must-ReadsA skilfully calibrated love-after-death tale, it's a four course feast of hearts broken, hearts mended, of songs, laughter, old regrets and fresh desire, that demands a major film deal' PaTrade Review‘Sweetly comic yet deeply moving… Anybody who loves the film Ghost will feel the same way about this wonderful novel, which asks what happens when people cease to live – but love does not’ Daily Mail ‘A modern day Truly Madly Deeply… Rasmus and Roisin both lose their partners, but the ghosts of Nico and Jay stay, unable to leave their loved ones alone as the broken-hearted pair find comfort in each other. Beautifully written, this is a haunting love story – literally’ Best magazine, Must-Reads ‘A beautiful book. Insanely romantic and utterly convincing’ Julie Myerson ‘Heart-stoppingly romantic… A lovely, moving, ultimately hopeful read’ Mirror ‘Twelve Months and a Day is poignant and sad as well as funny and beautifully written and imagined… You will fall in love again as you read this clever book … Hugely engaging and readable. A bitter-sweet pang in my heart as it ended. A page-turner’ Monique Roffey ‘A wonderful novel, charming and surprising, filled with loss and its triumphant opposites’ Susie Boyt ‘A wonderful and inventive novel, sorrowful and hopeful in equal measure. It was a true pleasure to read’ Miranda Cowley Heller ‘A skilfully calibrated love-after-death tale, it’s a four course feast of hearts broken, hearts mended, of songs, laughter, old regrets and fresh desire, that demands a major film deal’ Patrick Gale ‘Louisa Young is the great chronicler of romantic love and the pain of its loss’ Linda Grant ‘Thoughtful, philosophical and clever, it is also funny, and full of poetry, and powered by an unflagging and irresistible belief in the redemptive power of love’ Perspectives magazine ‘What a writer. A raw and beautiful exposition on grief and loss but so beautifully earthed in the everyday. Terrific’ Elizabeth Buchan ‘A beautifully written story that’s very funny, and full of heart and hope’ Best

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Book SynopsisI devoured it.' Erin KellyAn exhilarating voice' Adele ParksUnbelievably tense and twisty.' Laura MarshallLuckyRachel EdwardsThe more she wins, the more she losesAbsorbing, unsettling, unflinching. I've been thinking about it for days and I'll be recommending it to everyone.' Caz Frear, author of Sweet Little LiesSomeone is watching Etta. Footsteps in the night, the security light coming on at strange hours is it all just her curtain-twitching neighbours, who seem to monitor her every move? Or is her little online problem making her paranoid?Because Etta needs to win big. She joined a gambling website to get a bit of cash, hoping to convince her boyfriend Ola that they can afford to get married. And she was so good at it until she wasn't. Luckily, she's made a friend who hit the jackpot and if she plays her cards right, he could lend her the money to win everything back. Easy. So why does she feel so afraid?Trade Review‘Betrayal, blackmail, a marriage on hold…all the ingredients of a page-turning thriller, in a post-Brexit world of debt and insecurity.’ Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch ‘Terrifying. Enough to make the reader break out in a cold sweat.’ Guardian ‘A fresh, exhilarating voice’ Adele Parks ‘Unbelievably tense and twisty’ Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request ‘This deep dive into gambling addiction packs a huge emotional punch. I devoured it’ Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said ‘A brilliant portrayal of one woman’s descent into the world of online gambling – I felt every spin of the wheel; the highs of adrenaline followed by stomach churning nausea’ Nikki Smith, author of All In Her Head ‘Tense beyond belief but impossible to put down. Dark, absorbing and brilliantly terrifying’ Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City ‘Love, chance and betrayal all take a seat at the table in Rachel Edward’s compelling novel, Lucky. Delivered in Rachel’s exciting and original style is a winning storyline, crafted with excellence, packed with suspense and walk-off-the-page characters you’ll think about long after turning the last page’ Olivia Kiernan, author of Play Dead for Me ‘Timely, absorbing, unsettling and unflinching, with a dark, knowing wit. I’ve been thinking about it for days and I’ll be recommending it to everyone’ Caz Frear, author of Sweet Little Lies

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