Narrative theme: love / relationships

Book SynopsisWilliam Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and lived in Paris until he was ten. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Heidelberg University. He spent some time at St. Thomas' Hospital with the idea of practising medicine, but the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, published in 1897, won him over to literature. Of Human Bondage, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915, and with the publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence his reputation as a novelist was established. At the same time his fame as a successful playwright and writer was being consolidated with acclaimed productions of various plays and the publication of several short story collections. His other works include travel books, essays, criticism and the autobiographical The Summing Up and A Writer's Notebook. In 1927 Somerset Maugham settled in the South of France and lived there until his death in 1965Trade ReviewReveals many of Maugham's strengths: an understanding of women, meticulous craftsmanship and raw emotion' * Daily Mail *A work of art * Spectator *An expert craftsman... His style is sharp, quick, subdued, casual * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe new novel from Salley Vickers, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Librarian and Grandmothers Artist, Hassie Days, and her sister, Margot, buy a run down Jacobean house in Hope Wenlock on the Welsh Marches. While Margot continues her London life in high finance, Hassie is left alone to work the large, long-neglected garden. She is befriended by eccentric, sharp-tongued, Miss Foot, who recommends, Murat, an Albanian migrant, made to feel out of place among the locals, to help Hassie in the garden.As she works the garden in Murat''s peaceful company, Hassie ruminates on her past life: the sibling rivalry that tainted her childhood and the love affair that left her with painful, unanswered questions.But as she begins to explore the history of the house and the mysterious nearby wood, old hurts begin to fade as she experiences the healing power of nature and discovers other worlds.In her haunting new novel, Salley Vickers, the Trade ReviewSalley Vickers sees with a clear eye and writes with a light hand. She's a presence worth cherishing -- Philip PullmanThe Gardener is a novel of regrowth & regeneration, of sisters overcoming a toxic parental legacy & of the healing power of seed packets -- Patrick GaleSteeped in a sense of the redemptive power of place, Sally Vickers's 11th novel is a paean to green-fingered regeneration that is both rigorous and charming * Observer *Vickers writes of relationships with undaunted clarity -- Adam PhillipsNo one can dig down into the shrouded recesses of the human heart quite as forensically as Vickers * Sunday Times *An escapist, involving novel about relationships and two siblings coming to terms with their childhood and each other * Saga *With its sensitively drawn characters, this is a quiet and intelligent hymn to the restorative power of nature. Delightful * Mail on Sunday *The bestselling author of Miss Garnet's Angel and The Librarian, Vickers has been a Jungian therapist and her novels have always featured personal growth and transformation. This is no exception, as Hassie weathers bereavement, abreak-up and midlife despair, but finds a sense of new beginnings and a feeling for the power of place. It also has some sharp social observation about the reality of moving out to the sticks in post-Brexit Britain * Sunday Times *Salley Vickers is skilled at transforming the everyday into something haunting. This tale of a woman's search for inner peace is no exception * Daily Express *Profoundly moving, healing and wise, this is the perfect antidote to our urban anxiety -- Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat

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Book SynopsisA mindbending new collection of short stories from the unique, internationally acclaimed author of Norwegian Wood and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe eight masterly stories in this new collection are all told in the first person by a classic Murakami narrator. From nostalgic memories of youth, meditations on music and an ardent love of baseball to dreamlike scenarios, an encounter with a talking monkey and invented jazz albums, together these stories challenge the boundaries between our minds and the exterior world. Occasionally, a narrator who may or may not be Murakami himself is present. Is it memoir or fiction? The reader decides.Philosophical and mysterious, the stories in First Person Singular all touch beautifully on love and solitude, childhood and memory. . . all with a signature Murakami twist.A GUARDIAN AND SUNDAY TIMES 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICKTrade ReviewFirst Person Singular is a patch of intense variety and colour... Murakami's protagonists tend to be introspective, ordinary men who find themselves confronted by women and unusual situations. It is as much their reactions to events as the events themselves that make his books so brilliant -- Arjun Neil Alim * Evening Standard *Mind-bending...touches beautifully on love, solitude, childhood memories, dreamlike scenarios, invented jazz albums and meditations on music. In true Murakami tale-telling perfection, it's devourable * Irish Daily Mail *I never tire of re-entering Murakami's world, finding his Proustian ability to covey the texture of memory exhilarating, and his fatalistic heroes and their deadpan response to the melodramatic and the outré soothing -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *These stories are unmistakably Murakami's for the way they traffic in his signature themes of time and memory, nostalgia and young love... each one [story] has insights that remain with you long after they are done -- Alexander Nurnberh * Sunday Times *The hallmarks of Haruki Murakami's longer fiction are all here; an enigmatic eeriness which hints at the supernatural in everyday situations, a love of jazz and baseball, and the nourishing nostalgia of pop music * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisThought-provoking, comforting and wise, the simple truths of The Prophet remain compelling and rewarding to this day.Complete & Unabridged. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.Utterly unique and beloved around the world, The Prophet is a collection of twenty-six poetic essays by the Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer Khalil Gibran. Telling the story of the prophet Al-Mustafa and his conversations with various acquaintances as he returns home after a long absence, the book touches on subjects of universal concern, including love, friendship, passion, pain, religion and freedom.Trade ReviewI have loved many books over the years, but the one I would never be parted from and read again and again is The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran . . . Each time I open the book I find myself feeling that if the whole world was to read it, it would be a far better place -- Lesley Pearse * Independent *

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Book Synopsis_______________''A brilliantly pacy adventure story ... Ward writes like a dream'' - The Times''Fresh and urgent'' - New York Times''There's something of Faulkner to Ward's grand diction'' - Guardian_______________WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDHurricane Katrina is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch''s father is growing concerned. He''s a hard drinker, largely absent, and it isn''t often he worries about the family.Esch and her three brothers are stockpiling food, but there isn''t much to save. Lately, Esch can''t keep down what food she gets; at fifteen, she has just realized that she''s pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pit bull''s new litter, dying one by one. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child''s play and shTrade ReviewFresh and urgent * New York Times *Masterful ... A palpable sense of desire and sorrow animates every page ... Salvage the Bones has the aura of a classic about it * Washington Post *A brilliantly pacy adventure story ... Ward writes like a dream. A real dream: uneasy, vivid and deep as the sea * The Times *Beautifully written ... A powerful depiction of grinding poverty, where somehow, amid the deprivation, the flame of filial affection survives and a genuine spirit of community is able to triumph over everything the system and nature can throw at it * Daily Mail *There’s something of Faulkner to Ward’s grand diction * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-SmithCelebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Published when she was only eighteen, Françoise Sagan''s astonishing novella, Bonjour Tristesse, became an instant bestseller. It tells the story of Cécile, who leads a carefree life with her widowed father and his young mistresses until, one hot summer on the Riviera, he decides to remarry - with devastating consequences.

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Book SynopsisTHE TIMES NOVEL OF THE YEARA GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2022A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BOOK OF THE YEAR'It takes the most ferocious intelligence, skill, and a deep reservoir of sadness to write a novel as funny as this. I adored it' - Meg Mason, author of Sorrow & Bliss'A devastating treat of a novel: funny, furious, dark and delicious' - Sarah Waters, author of FingersmithMeet the Hanrahan family, gathering for a momentous weekend as famous artist and notorious egoist Ray Hanrahan prepares for a new exhibition of his art – the first in many decades – and one he is sure will burnish his reputation for good.His three children will be there: beautiful Leah, always her father’s biggest champion; sensitive Patrick, who has finally decided to strike out on his own; and insecure Jess, the youngest, who has her own momentous decision to make . . .And what of Lucia, Ray’s steadfast and selfless wife? She is an artist, too, but has always had to put her roles as wife and mother first. What will happen if she decides to change? For Lucia is hiding secrets of her own, and as the weekend unfolds and the exhibition approaches, she must finally make a choice.The longer the marriage, the harder truth becomes . . .The Exhibitionist is the extraordinary fifth novel from Charlotte Mendelson, a dazzling exploration of art, sacrifice, toxic family politics, queer desire, and personal freedom. 'Delicious, heartbreaking . . . Fabulously written and utterly compelling' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown-UpsTrade ReviewIn The Exhibitionist Mendelson brings a forensic eye to family dynamics, laying bare the agonies of rage, frustration and longing that lie just beneath the surface of domestic life. The result is a devastating treat of a novel: funny, furious, dark and delicious -- Sarah Waters, bestselling author of FingersmithIt takes the most ferocious intelligence, skill, and a deep reservoir of sadness to write a novel as funny as this. I adored it -- Meg Mason, bestselling author of Sorrow & BlissA delicious, heartbreaking family snapshot about thwarted ambition, misplaced loyalty and good and bad love. Secrets abound. Fabulously written and utterly compelling -- Marian Keyes, bestselling author of Grown-UpsMendelson is a master at family drama, and plots don’t get much more dramatic than this . . . Exhilarating * The Times *Soul-scouringly good -- Nigella LawsonSex, desire, deep-seated marital resentment, monstrous artists, determined wives: it's a delicious, piquant comedy of manners, and Mendelson's serrated prose will have you wincing at every word * Daily Mail *Like Katherine Heiny and Maria Semple, Mendelson is skilled at rendering the grotesque fascinating . . . It is also funny; so funny . . . Reading The Exhibitionist is like eating a rich, delicious and wildly elaborate cream cake. You know you'll regret devouring the whole thing at once, but it's very hard to stop * The i *One of the funniest writers in Britain . . . [The Exhibitionist] is so devoid of secondhand sentences that it’s quite possible [Mendelson] spent all nine years since its predecessor polishing her jokes and turning phrases round until they shine . . . A precision of observation that made me laugh frequently and smile when I wasn’t laughing * The Guardian *Electric . . . and has a hint of HBO's Succession . . . The Exhibitionist is both a roiling family drama and a chilling portrait of enmeshment, coercive control and enabled addiction -- Madeleine Feeney * The Sunday Telegraph *Unutterably brilliant -- Lucy WorsleyA deliciously evocative novel laced with sex and art -- Financial TimesA magnificent book, witty and furious and not a word out of place. I am obsessed -- Elizabeth Macneal, bestselling author of The Doll Factory and Circus of WondersExceptional * Woman & Home *A compulsive distillation of artistic ego, midlife passion and family dysfunction . . . Hilarious, sexy and thoughtful * Mail on Sunday *A devastating, blackly comic portrait of middle-class dysfunction . . . A fine and haunting book -- Sarah Moss * Guardian *A truly wonderful novel, and a funny and wise one, too; the individual components sparkle, the whole movement beguiles -- Sunjeev Sahota, author of 2021 Man Booker-longlisted The China RoomI don't think I've ever read anything that is simultaneously so elegant and so propulsive - every single sentence Charlotte Mendelson writes is arrestingly powerful. I think this book is beautiful, but it's also funny, furious, sexy, blissfully hot and cold and wild in its rage -- Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable The unhappy Hanrahans fall apart, their story playing out with devastating, exuberant glee . . . Honest and frenetically paced, this is a painfully funny look at art, ambition and damaging family dynamics * Sunday Express (S Magazine) *Mendelson's great success is to make the endless sacrifices, self-conscious denials and forbidden emotions of the Hanrahans heartbreakingly relatable . . . The Exhibitionist is an undeniable success * Literary Review *Sharp and sad, witty and hopeful, as with all Mendelson’s work, The Exhibitionist is both forensically aware of all the flaws of humanity but also able to be forgiving and compassionate -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Everyone Is Still AliveA welcome return for the chronicler of family secrets, with a tale of art, ego and marriage * Guardian *The blackly amusing story of how [Lucia] finds her voice and rediscovers her sexuality in midlife is hilariously traced here by one of my favourite waspish writers -- Mariella Frostrup * Sunday Times *A treat . . . Excoriating observation of the art world, crazy toxic family intrigues, wit, wisdom and brilliant writing -- Muriel GrayCharlotte Mendelson has created a magnificently monstrous character . . . It's finely observed, witty and incredibly tense * The Times (Summer Reads Picks) *Longlisted for the Women's Prize, this is a darkly funny portrait of a dysfunctional family bent out of shape over decades by its narcissistic artist patriarch -- and of what happens when his wife will no longer squahs her own creative energies. Wise, waspish and emotionally astute, it's addictive reading * Guardian (Summer Books) *Read it for the characters (some you’ll love, some you’ll want to shake!), who I missed when I finished this funny family drama * Good Housekeeping (Best Summer Reads) *A masterful observation of the privileged corners of the art world: power dynamics, narcissistic tendencies and ego-boosting exhibitions * The Big Issue *In this excoriating spin on the bourgeois Hampstead novel, a portrait of an artistic marriage in free fall doubles as a savagely funny take-down of male entitlement * Telegraph's 50 Best Books of 2022 *The Times Book of the Year . . . A superb and eccentric family comedy, set across a single weekend. But it’s also really, horribly dark in its depiction of cruelty and crushing love. -- Susie Goldsbrough * The Times *The Exhibitionist is the funniest novel I read this year. It is one of those rare books that could be driven purely on the strength of its witty, flexible sentences, even if there wasn't an emotional payload and (a bit of) a plot. It will delight anyone who takes pleasure in words, and what is reading but taking pleasure in words? -- John Self * The Critic (Fiction Books of the Year) *

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Book Synopsis***A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB book 2023***'Nora-Ephron-style wit...comforting, so funny, moving... one of my favourite books ever' MARIAN KEYES'Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts.' BONNIE GARMUS'Dazzling, heart-wrenching, snorty-hilarious... An utter joy to read' RACHEL JOYCE'An absolute masterpiece in characterisation... utterly beautiful.' JOANNA CANNON_______Who knows you better than your best friend? Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self? Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years. Since childhood they have seen each other through life's milestones: stealing vodka from their parents, the Madonna phase, REM concerts, unexpected wakes, marriages, infertility, children. As Ash notes, 'Edi's memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.' So when Edi is diagnosed with cancer, Ash's world reshapes around the rhythms of Edi's care, from making watermelon ice cubes to music therapy; from snack smuggling to impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night. Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment, about building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go.For fans of Nora Ephron and Sorrow & Bliss, We All Want Impossible Things is a deeply moving, jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best.***COMING SOON: SANDWICH, the new novel from CATHERINE NEWMAN***_____'You'll stay up late devouring every word' KATHERINE HEINY'One of the best novels on friendship I've ever read' AJ PEARCE'I absolutely adored this...what a beautiful, emotional novel' JILL MANSELL'Shot through with whip-smart humour and boundless compassion. It's one of the best debuts I've read in a long time.' HANNAH BECKERMANTrade ReviewRather a treat ... this novel is less about death than it is about life - the messy unpredictability, hideous unfairness and perplexity of it, as well as its one magnificent certainty: love. * THE SUNDAY TIMES *Remarkable ... A whip-smart, funny, beautifully observed and exquisitely characterised novel about how even the deepest of losses can be accompanied by a joyous affirmation of life. * OBSERVER *Imbued with love and humour ... this special book is in a class of its own. * EVENING STANDARD *Newman's clearsighted and bracingly funny first novel is a moving celebration of friendship, love and cherished memories * DAILY MAIL *I adored this book. Jubilant, devastating, tender, heartbreaking, I found myself both in tears and 'snorty-laughing'. I know it will be one of those novels I return to time and time again, and recommend to everyone. There is so much love, funniness, honesty, courage, mess, bounce and surprise in this book, and not shred of it is mawkish. Loss might be the central theme but it is also the most robust and glorious affirmation of life. A masterclass on friendship, family love, memory, and the messiness of life and love and dying. Pure genius. * RACHEL JOYCE *

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Book SynopsisShe’s hated him since they were teenagers.He’s missed her just as long.The last time Daniel Rosenberg and Liyah Cohen-Jackson spoke to each other was as teenagers, sharing a first kiss. But when the path of young love didn’t run smooth, and Liyah found her heart bruised by Daniel, they parted ways for ever… until they are seated together on an aeroplane fourteen years later, butting heads just as badly but consoling themselves that at least they will never have to see each other again.That is, until Daniel’s marketing firm gets hired by the museum where Liyah works as a junior curator, and they’re forced to work together on a project that will change both of their careers.With every meeting, the tension (and chemistry) between Daniel and Liyah builds until they’re forced to confront the baggage from their childhood to work together.Despite themselves, their friendship blooms once again, each of them finding comfort in their shared experience as Jews of Colour. And as they try and fail to ignore their growing feelings for one another, Liyah must face the fears that she’s been running from her whole adult life and open her heart to love.This sizzling, utterly romantic and emotional debut will sweep you away in a captivating must-read for autumn 2023. Fans of Mhairi Macfarlane, Emily Henry and Talia Hibbert will love this.Praise for Thank You For Sharing:‘This book wrapped a fist around my heart and refused to let go…Rachel Runya Katz is a true talent.’ Rachel Lynn Solomon‘A magical love story. This is a poignant, sharp and sexy romance with the kind of complex, big-hearted characters and emotional honesty readers will adore. I loved it!’ Carley Fortune‘Impossible to put down! A delicious pressure-cooker-style slow burn of a romance…I have no doubt that readers will fall head over heels for Liyah and Daniel!’ Alexandria Bellefleur‘I can’t wait for everyone to fall head-over-heels for Thank You For Sharing…I treasured every moment I spent with Daniel, Liyah, and the rest of the vivid, complex supporting cast. This book is a gift.’ Ava Wilder

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Book SynopsisThese inventive and entertaining pieces display the early sparkles of wit and imagination of Jane Austen’s mature fiction. Written when she was only in her teens, they are by turns amusing, acerbic and occasionally downright silly. ‘Love and Friendship’ and ‘Lesley Castle’ provide parodies of the gentry and the fashionable idea of sensibility of the time. ‘A History of England’ supplies us with a lively chronicle of English monarchic history. Also included in this collection are ‘The Three Sisters’, ‘Catharine’, the series of vignettes known as ‘A Collection of Letters’ and ‘Lady Susan’, an epistolary story which was recently adapted for the cinema. Taken together, these pieces display all the wry humour, shrewd observation and satirical insight of Emma or Pride and Prejudice.Trade Review“Jane Austen is one of my favourite writers... very acute, very perceptive, and writing in close and honest detail about the tiny preoccupations of women’s lives – preoccupations which speak of much larger social and human issues. -- Helen Fielding

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Book Synopsis"We are told there was a time when men were men and women were women You know men dressed in bowler hats or whatever hats of their choice And fine suits And the ladies too, along with their fine modest dresses No hair out of place ..." From genteel ladies and gentlemen sipping tea, to defiant expressions of independence, this is a complete and entertaining examination of one woman's search for the perfect relationship The fifth brilliant prose poetry collection from Beverley GordonTrade Review'I wanted to savour every word and pace my way through, but I couldn't put it down' -- READER REVIEW; 'Finds a way to the deepest corner of the heart' -- READER REVIEW; 'Could not put it down the poems are beautifully written ... really touched me. 5 stars this is a poetry book I will keep for life' -- Emma Fitzgerald, book reviewer

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Book SynopsisHailed as a masterpiece from its first publication, Revolutionary Road is the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright young couple who are bored by the banalities of suburban life and long to be extraordinary.Trade ReviewHere is more than fine writing; here is what, added to fine writing, makes a book come immediately, intensely and brilliantly alive...a masterpiece -- Tennesse WilliamsThe literary discovery of the year... It's as brilliantly nuanced as Updike's Rabbit sequence, and as sad as anything by Fitzgerald -- Nick Hornby * Guardian Books of the Year *I hand out copies of Revolutionary Road to anyone who will take them...one of the most moving and exact portraits of suburbia in all of American literature -- David Hare * Observer *The Great Gatsby of my time... One of the best books by a member of my generation -- Kurt VonnegutThe best novel ever written about the death of the American dream -- Kate Atkinson * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisFew books have been as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince.A beautiful gift edition of this touching and wise classic children''s book, with the original translation by Katherine Woods and full-colour illustrations.A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see the most extraordinary little fellow standing before him. Please, asks the stranger, draw me a sheep.And the pilot realises that when life's events are too difficult to understand, there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries. He pulls out a pencil and paper and thus begins this wise and enchanting fable that, in teaching the secret of what is really important in life, has changed the world forever for its readers.This stunning new edition of the classic children''s book The Little Prince, includes the classic English translation by Katherine Woods and original colour illustrations which will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) was

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Book SynopsisI absolutely loved this book . . . It was a lovely story of snow, romance and Christmas' Reader review ??????????A beautiful, tentative romance. Wonderful' Reader review ??????????An absolute gem of a novel and one that I will be reading again and again!' Reader review ??????????Sarah Morgan never fails to write the most magical and lovely stories that make you continue turning the pages long in to the night' Reader review??????????* * *Once upon a time Kayla loved Christmas Now she's more dedicated to her job than decking the halls, and can't wait for the most wonderful time of the year' to be over.Until she arrives at the enchanting Snow Crystal ski resort, determined to win gorgeous owner Jackson as a marketing client.But wooing Jackson professionally quickly turns personal as they spend flirty festive nights in this glittering winter wonderland.With snowflakes swirling and sleigh bells ringingcould Jackson be the one to make Kayla fall back under the Christmas spell?Tropes:?? Findi

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Book SynopsisOne Good Thing is the heartwarming, hilarious alternative love story, from the internationally bestselling author of Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up, Alexandra PotterIn life, nothing is certain. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something can happen to change the course of everything . . .Liv Brooks is still in shock. Newly-divorced and facing an uncertain future, she impulsively swaps her London Life for the sweeping hills of the Yorkshire Dales, determined to make a fresh start. But fresh starts are harder than they look and, feeling lost and lonely, she decides to adopt Harry, an old dog from the local shelter, to keep her company.But Liv soon discovers she isn’t the only one in need of a new beginning. On their daily walks around the village, they meet Valentine, an old man who suffers from loneliness who sits by the window and Stanley, a little boy who is scared of everyone, hides behind the garden gate and Maya, a teenager who is angry at everyone and everything. But slowly things start to change . . .Utterly relatable, hilarious and heart-breakingly honest, this is a novel about friendship, finding happiness and living the life unexpected. And how, when everything falls apart, all you need is one good thing to turn your life around – and make it worth living again.Praise for Alexandra Potter:'The new Bridget Jones' – Celia Walden, Telegraph'A funny, feisty tale' – Mike Gayle, author of Half a World Away'Pacy, absorbing, witty and tender' – Karen Swan, author of The Last SummerTrade ReviewThe new Bridget Jones for our Covid-ridden times -- Celia Walden, on Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up * Telegraph *Say hello to a book that will have you laughing with every page, whether you're twenty, forty or eighty -- Heat on Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k UpFunny but layered, light-hearted but surprisingly deep, this is a perfect and inspiring new year read -- Red magazine on Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k UpFeistily funny . . . and so relatable -- Fabulous magazine on Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up * Sun on Sunday *A warm, very funny read -- Bella magazine on Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up

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Book SynopsisErnest Miller Hemingway was born in Chicago in 1899 as the son of a doctor and the second of six children. After a stint as an ambulance driver at the Italian front, Hemingway came home to America in 1919, only to return to the battlefield this time as a reporter on the Greco-Turkish war in 1922. Resigning from journalism to focus on his writing instead, he moved to Paris where he renewed his earlier friendship with fellow American expatriates such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Through the years, Hemingway travelled widely and wrote avidly, becoming an internationally recognized literary master of his craft. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.Trade ReviewRemarkable, startling, disquieting * Spectator *Some of the finest and most restrained writing that this generation has produced * New York World *Hemingway captures atmosphere by reticence and breathes life into his characters by pages left unsaid... It is American; it is literature; and it is a first novel by a genius * Evening News *It is a truly gripping story, told in a lean, hard, athletic narrative prose that puts more literary English to shame . . . This novel is unquestionably one of the events of an unusually rich year in literature * New York Times (1926) *Hemingway captures atmosphere by reticence and breathes life into his characters by pages left unsaid ... It is American; it is literature; and it is a first novel by a genius * Evening News *

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Book SynopsisA RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK SCREEN RIGHTS SOLD TO THE PRODUCTION COMPANY OF BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA ''One of the best suspenseful dramas I''ve read in years'' ASHLEY AUDRAIN ''A sprawling, stunning, twisting triumph'' CHRIS WHITAKER ''Intelligent and nuanced . . . raises a host of difficult but fascinating questions'' GUARDIAN ''Breath-taking and brimming with empathy, exploration of motherhood, marriage, and the consequences that come from obsessions with true crime'' COSMOPOLITAN _______ A secret double life, a tragic murder. Lore Rivera was married to two men at once, until on a baking hot day in 1986, one of them found out and shot the other. That''s the story the world knows. It''s not the story that fascinates Cassie Bowman. Carrying the weight of her own family tragedy, true-crime writer Cassie wants to know more about Trade ReviewIntelligent and nuanced . . . raises a host of difficult but fascinating questions * GUARDIAN *A sprawling, stunning, twisting triumph. By turns heart-pounding and heart-wrenching, this is a story of marriage and murder, of the secrets we endure and the lies we tell ourselves to keep them. So achingly clever and stylish, More Than You'll Ever Know is a special novel from a very special writer -- Chris WhitakerBreath-taking and brimming with empathy, exploration of motherhood, marriage, and the consequences that come from obsessions with true crime * Cosmopolitan *I was enthralled with More Than You'll Ever Know from the very first pages of Gutierrez's rich and assured writing. A gripping and thoughtful exploration of motherhood and marriage, the complexity of female desire, and the consequence of our obsession with true crime, it's one of the best suspenseful dramas I've read in years. An exceptional, stunning debut-I absolutely loved it -- Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The PushA sweeping novel, unflinching and evocative in its engrossing study of love, motherhood, sex, Mexico, journalism and more * Washington Post *A stunning portrait of female reckoning - Katie Gutierrez creates layered and vivid characters, forced to confront the complexities of their own desires. An immaculate novel that explores marriage and choice, partnership and autonomy, More Than You'll Ever Know is a wonder to behold -- Danya Kukafka, bestselling author of Notes On An ExecutionSmart, sophisticated and sly, Katie Gutierrez masterfully weaves a tale of two families, a double life and an ultimate act of passion that will have you on the edge of your seat as the truth is revealed. There are thrillers that tease, but More Than You'll Ever Know will haunt your dreams. A stunning debut from a magnificent storyteller -- Adriana TrigianiA tale of two women, two timelines, two sides of a border and two husbands, More Than You'll Ever Know is a novel both compelling and resonant - a novel which grips you like a thriller as you are reading it, with characters and themes which linger in the mind like the best literary fiction. This is an unforgettable story, told brilliantly - one of those novels where from the first page you know you are in the hands of a writer of verve, confidence and conviction -- Ellery LloydA taut, unputdownable thriller, but also a gorgeously written examination of motherhood, ambition, and sacrifice, set between Texas and Mexico city. I loved every moment. -- Grace Li, Sunday Times bestselling author of Portrait of a ThiefThis is a crime book unlike any I've read before. More Than You'll Ever Know is written with such beauty and tenderness - about the ferocity of love, the lure of desire, and the strength of family bonds. It blew me away -- L.V. Matthews * bestselling author of Richard & Judy pick, The Twins *What happens when a mother wants more? A seductive, urgent tale about desire, family, the pursuit of truth, and the art of storytelling, More Than You'll Ever Know will astonish readers with its vastness, romance, tragedy, and abundant heart. I became obsessed with Katie Gutierrez's restless, secret-keeping heroines and didn't want this book to ever end -- Jessamine Chan, New York Times bestselling author of The School for Good MothersI love a complicated female character, someone who doesn't behave as society dictates, and I was hooked by both Cassie and Lore's stories. A brilliant debut that doesn't just tiptoe around the grey edges of morality, but dives right in -- Louise HareMy favourite book club book so far . . . Brilliantly observed, psychological drama -- Tim Smith * BBC Radio 2 Book Club *Enthralling, breathtaking, and propulsive, MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW is the kind of book that only comes around once every decade. With hypnotic, shimmering prose set against a masterful plot, Katie Gutierrez has crafted an explosive modern classic--a groundbreaking, razor-sharp exploration of what it means to be a woman in all its complexity, as well as a deep dive into the morally gray areas of the double lives we all lead. Equal parts literary tour de force and domestic suspense, with a sweeping, sprawling narrative, More Than You'll Ever Know is poised to become the buzziest book of the year -- May Cobb, author of The Hunting WivesSuch a great story . . . with a sense of time and place in America and Mexico -- Bobby Pryor * BBC Radio 2 Book Club *I love this book more than Dolores "Lore" Rivera loves both her families and now you have to read this book to understand what I mean * CrimeReads *Every book here does something new and exciting within the genre, managing to tackle big, weighty themes while also being exceptionally readable . . . An unapologetic, unflinching examination of love, sacrifice and desire -- Grace Li, Sunday Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief * Washington Post *As addictive as a real-life who-dunnit, with thoughtful attention to the ethical implications of the true crime genre, More Than You'll Ever Know explores how we entangle ourselves one choice at a time, and what it costs to unravel the damage. Crystalline and multi-faceted, this is a page-turner brimming with empathy, a window into 1980s Mexico City and Laredo, and the ways community both bouys and pulls us under. Katie Gutierrez is a force, and she writes fabulously complicated, fully-realized characters who will linger with you long after the final page -- Julia Fine, author of The Upstairs House and What Should Be WildIt's difficult to believe that this masterful novel is a first book. Katie Gutierrez handles its dangerous turns like a Formula One driver. That elegance, darkness, even fear are deftly intertwined in the story make it a wonderful read. More books, please -- Luis Alberto UrreaI really enjoyed this book . . . A warning against self-deception . . . Appeals to people who enjoy domestic noir -- Ann Cleeves * BBC Radio 2 Book Club *An electrifying debut * Woman's Own *Doesn't read like a debut . . . Everybody should be picking this book up * BBC Radio 2 Book Club *With thrilling, atmospheric prose set against an intricate plot, Katie Gutierrez's debut More Than You'll Ever Know is both a suspenseful mystery, a family drama, and an astute examination of motherhood, love, and secrets. I read this morally complex novel ravenously, desperate to discover the fates of the two women at its center. You won't be able to put this book down -- Lara Prescott, New York Times bestselling author of The Secrets We KeptWith beautifully written prose and razor-sharp insight, Katie Gutierrez draws us into More Than You'll Ever Know's gripping and complex world. Even as the dual storylines left me breathless, I found myself more captivated by Gutierrez's intimate and compassionate portrayal of these women, their men, and the many secrets they kept. Passionate, supremely intelligent, and thrilling -- Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie LeeA complex portrait of marriage and desire, a thought-provoking exploration of motherhood, and a fascinating look at our collective obsession with true crime . . . Combining domestic drama, crime, slow-burn psychological mystery and a touch of historical fiction, More Than You'll Ever Know is a true page-turner * Culturefly *Enthralling and beautifully written * Boston Globe *An evocative drama . . . This masterful work of literary suspense marks the debut of an extraordinary new writer * Mummy Pages UK *Suspenseful, seductive, gorgeously written * Minneapolis Star Tribune *An intriguing story of complex characters and their long-buried secrets * Daily Express *A must-read for true crime lovers * Buzzfeed Books *'I can hear the book club discussions now... undeniably powerful' -- New York Times * Chandler Baker *Infuses the summer mystery genre with some serious ideas about our obsession with crime stories and our sense of women's identities. -- Los Angeles TimesA taut, unputdownable thriller but also a gorgeously written examination of motherhood, ambition, and sacrifice, set between Texas and Mexico City. I loved every moment. -- Grace Li, Sunday Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief

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Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Beautiful, bored and bourgeoise, Sabina leads a double life inspired by her relentless desire for fleeting romance. But when the secrecy of her affairs becomes too much to bear, Sabina makes a late night phone-call to a stranger from a bar, and begins a confession that captivates the unknown man and soon inspires him to seek her out...

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Book SynopsisIn this memoir of loss, acclaimed writer and comedian Rob Delaney grapples with the fragile miracle of life, the mysteries of death, and the question of purpose for those left behind.When you''re a parent and your child gets hurt or sick, you not only try to help them get better but you also labour under the general belief that you can help them get better. That''s not always the case though. Sometimes the nurses and the doctors can''t fix what''s wrong. Sometimes children die.Rob Delaney''s beautiful, bright, gloriously alive son Henry died. He was one when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. An experience beyond comprehension, but an experience Rob must share. Why does he feel compelled to talk about it, to write about it, to make people feel something like what he feels when he knows it will hurt them? Because, despite Henry''s death, Rob still loves people. For that reason, he wants them to understand.A Heart That Works is an intimate, unfTrade ReviewThis book is so rich with grief and love and pain and humor and an incandescent, purifying, flame-throwing wrath. Though Delaney can't bring Henry back, he can - and does - show enough of him to the world to make a reader see him a little bit, know him a little bit, and fully love him. What an unbelievable gift -- Lauren GroffWhat a read. Its beauty and pain and humour and anger will help many people. This is a beautiful monument -- Richard OsmanThe weaving of the joy and pain, the love and loss, the absurdity of grief, is done so beautifully. It feels like a message in a bottle, a despatch, a communication from the depths of suffering and despair that ultimately brings a message of great hope -- Cathy RentzenbrinkIt is a gift, it's an immense piece of work. It's brilliant. It's needed, like a deep, physical draught of something strong and cold -- Russell T. DaviesI could have read about Henry for a thousand pages. It is impossible not to share in Delaney's tenderness, his attention, his anger, his night-black humor, and impossible not to see his son through his eyes: loved, learning, smiling ecstatically. I will turn to this book again and again, to feel deeply and to learn about this world from Henry -- Patricia LockwoodWarm and vivid and heartbreaking, humane and somehow even funny, Rob Delaney has written a very special tribute to a very special boy, and a beautiful treatise on what really matters in life -- Monica HeiseyI got to know Henry through Rob's words. His sweet soft head. His amazing smile . . . I cried a lot but also felt hopeful because life goes on and Rob talks you through how that happens. I am in awe. It's a love letter to fatherhood and the most beautiful tribute to a child who is so deeply adored. This book will sit with me for a very long time -- Dawn O'PorterDelaney is a phenomenal storyteller . . . A Heart That Works is in the same league as The Year of Magical Thinking in its stark, clarified articulation of grief * Buzzfeed *I love this book, and it is a tough ride, filled with grace and beauty and unimaginable pain. I cried a number of times, laughed a lot, grieved with the Delaneys, and underlined so many moments of courage, exposure, humanity and the deepest meaning. All I can say is Wow -- Anne Lamott, author of BIRD BY BIRDThis book is unlike anything I've ever read. Brutally honest, powerful, like a beautiful howl. A love letter to Delaney's precious boy. To his wife. His family. To parenthood. It is a book that will help so many grieving parents. I loved everything about it -- Laura Zigman, author of SEPARATION ANXIETYEmotionally raw, yet masterfully told. At the heart of this intimate story of coming to terms with the death is a stubborn embrace of life itself -- Mat Johnson, author of PYMI don't think I've ever read anything before that captures the enormity and power of parental love, how radical it is, how transformative and total -- Eleanor CattonIt taught me a lot about grieving, life, death and parenting. Every parent should read it. Every human should read it -- Philippa PerryThis is such an important, intimate and powerful book. It's unflinching. It stares grief right in the eyes and forces you to do the same -- Sue PerkinsBeautiful, funny, tender -- Lauren Laverne, Radio 6 Music Breakfast ShowSimply beautiful -- Nihal Arthanayake, Radio 5 LiveTender, perceptive and strangely, darkly funny amid unconscionable tragedy... This is a rallying call against the polite timidity that we often show grief * The i *A viscerally extraordinary book -- Elizabeth Day * How To Fail *Vital and very, very funny... As much as I wish he hadn't had to write it, I am glad he did. Because such deaths do happen. And they largely happen in private... That he is able to do so with such guiltless, funny and disarming honesty is testament to the profound effect of Henry's short but meaningful life -- Rory Kinnear * Guardian *Rob Delaney shows us his big, beautiful, messy, angry, kind, wise heart and gives us a full life to live instead of the half-life we have been living. I can't say enough about the seismic shift this book created in me -- Sarah PolleyLike Catastrophe, which laughs at and celebrates the messiness of married life, A Heart That Works is tragicomic, a jumble of joy and fear and laughter and pain... bleakly fun * Observer Magazine *A devastatingly candid account of a parent's grief that will have readers laughing and crying in equal measure... Few would attempt to bring humor and levity to such an unbearably sad story, but Delaney manages to do so with grace, sincerity, and warmth * Kirkus Starred Review *The book is remarkable for how deeply it delves into the granular aspects of death... This memoir is a big-hearted depiction of personal pain, urging readers to appreciate what they have * Sunday Independent *The most moving, thought-provoking and intimate account of navigating grief that you're likely to read... Delaney's book is shot through with profound anger, flashes of humour and most of all the enormous, all-encompassing love he feels for Henry and his family * Daily Express *How do you go on when the very worst happens? That's the question Catastrophe star and comedian Delaney grapples with in this raw account of losing his two-and-a-half-year-old son Henry to brain cancer in 2018. There are moments of dark humour amid the heartbreak, but expect to start crying on page 17 * Grazia *Wrenching . . . A Heart That Works is heartbreaking (and how can it not be?), but it's also an affecting portrait of a father's love for his son * Time *A heart-breaking, consoling, funny and angry lament . . . life-changing * Irish Times *[Delaney's] meditations on loss, family and hope are so profound you'll come out the other side of this book a different person * i news, Best Books of 2022 *A raw, painful and, at times, darkly funny memoir . . . As heartbreaking as the book may be, Delaney's pitch black humor buoys even the toughest moments . . . Delaney's book is ultimately about all-encompassing, heart-exploding love. * New York TImes *A love story unlike any other -- Mia FarrowThe pain comes less from horrifying details than from the way Delaney lures us into contact with the very aspects of our lives that are easiest to ignore: our fragilities, our constant proximity to calamity, our powerlessness to control what life brings, or when * New Yorker *A wrenching, unflinching and somehow often funny memoir * USA Today *It is a relief to read an account of grief that is not a series of hard-won life lessons wrapped in a gratitude journal . . . The result is a book that sings with life . . . That a book about a dead child is at times laugh-out-loud funny is a testament to Delaney's skill; in the hands of a lesser writer, the humor could seem dismissive or grasping instead of the natural release valve of a person who is highly attuned to the absurdity of the awful * Washington Post *A book that'll break a heart, and put it back together again...A life changing read * Stylist *Achingly beautiful * People *Extraordinary . . . it brims with chaotic life * Sunday Times *It is laugh out loud funny, and cry out loud sad, and warm as a huge log fire in winter and I could have carried on reading it for 1000 pages. * Mark Haddon *

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Book Synopsis'Her gallery of personages is huge, her scene painting superb, her pathos controlled, her humour quiet and civilised' Anthony Burgess'So glittering is the overall parade - and so entertaining the surface - that the trilogy remains excitingly vivid; it amuses, it diverts and it informs, and to do these things so elegantly is no small achievement' Sunday Times'A fantastically tart and readable account of life in eastern Europe at the start of the war' Sarah WatersThe Balkan Trilogy is the story of a marriage and of a war, a vast, teeming, and complex masterpiece in which Olivia Manning brings the uncertainty and adventure of civilian existence under political and military siege to vibrant life.At the heart of the trilogy are newly-weds Guy and Harriet Pringle, who arrive in Bucharest - the so-called Paris of the East - in the autumn of 1939, just weeks after the German invasion of Poland. Guy's lecturing job awaits, alongside friends and the ever-ardent Sophie - but for Harriet, alone and naive, it's a strange new life. Other surprises follow: Romania joins the Axis, and before long German soldiers overrun the capital. The Pringles flee south to Greece, part of a group of refugees made up of White Russians, journalists, con artists, and dignitaries. In Athens, however, the couple will face a new challenge of their own...Trade ReviewMagnificent ... full of wit, sharp insight and vivid description. * The Times *A fantastically tart and readable account of life in eastern Europe at the start of war -- Sarah WatersSo glittering is the overall parade- and so entertaining the surface that the trilogy remains excitingly vivid; it amuses, it diverts and it informs, and to do these things so elegantly is no small achievement. * Sunday Times *Wonderfully entertaining * Observer *One must salute the brilliance ... the exactness of sights and sounds, the precise touches of light and scent, the gestures and entrances * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis"Sense and Sensibility" is famously characterised as the story of two Dashwood sisters who embody the conflict between the oppressive nature of 'civilised' society and the human desire for romantic passion. However, there is far more to this story of two daughters made homeless by the death of their father. Elinor, 19, and Marianne, 17, initially project the opposing roles with Elinor cautious and unassuming about romantic matters, while Marianne is wild and passionate when she falls hopelessly in love with the libertine Mr Willoughby. But the lessons in love and life see the two characters develop and change with sense and sensibility needing to be compromised as a matter of survival.Written when Austen was just nineteen, this story has been read as a biographical reflection of her relationship with her own sister Cassandra, with the younger Jane being the victim of 'sensibility.' However, the novel is far more than a simple case of passion versus manners, and depicts the romantic complications of two women made highly vulnerable by the loss of their father and estate. With a raw and intense quality Austen creates a romantic masterpiece on the backdrop of a fragile social context.Trade Review"As a creative realist, giving to her characters the very body and pressure of actual life, no writer, living or dead, has surpassed her." - John Cowper Powys - "The technique of [Jane Austen's novels] is beyond praise... Her mastery of the art she chose, or that chose her, is complete." --Elizabeth Bowen - "The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste." --Virginia Woolf

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Book SynopsisA beautiful and unique retelling of Medea. I loved it!' Sunday Times bestselling author Sophie IrwinAbsorbing and thoughtfulfull of page-turning drama and vibrantly drawn characters. Bold and illuminating' Claire Heywood, author of Daughters of SpartaA propulsive retelling inspired by the Greek myth of Medea Calcutta, 1757.Bengal is on the brink of war. The East India Company, led by the fearsome Sir Peter Chilcott, are advancing and nobody is safe. Meena, the Nawab's neglected and abused daughter, finds herself falling under the spell of James Chilcott, nephew of Sir Peter, who claims he wants to betray the company . . . for a price.Caught between friend and foe, Meena and James escape Calcutta, their hands stained in blood and pockets filled with gold. In Ceylon, they're cleansed of their sins by Meena's beloved aunt Kiran, before the young lovers set sail for the Dutch controlled Cape of Good Hope, with the promise of a new life.Yet past resentments and present betrayals begin to piTrade Review'Savage Beasts is a powerful, exquisitely crafted story with astutely drawn parallels to myth. It is as sharply clever as it is utterly gripping'Bea Fitzgerald, author of Girl, Goddess, Queen ‘Rani Selvarajah is a sublime storyteller. Savage Beasts is a searing excoriation of colonialism and a chilling interrogation of the compromises required by foreign women to survive brutal so-called civilised societies’Jennifer Hayashi Danns, author of Beneath the Burning Wave ‘Selvarajah skilfully explores the evils of colonialism and the particular demonisation and dehumanisation of foreign women as her fierce and tragic heroine hurtles towards the inevitable, and yet cleverly twisted, ending’Nikki Marmery, author of On Wilder Seas ‘Man oh man, I cannot wait to throw this book at everyone I know’ Pyae Moe Thet War, author of You’ve Changed, a Malala Bookclub Pick Readers love Savage Beasts: ‘Wow. So Medea is one of my all time favorite characters in Greek mythology. And I have been dying for someone to write a book worthy of her.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This book is nothing short of spectacular.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This was a great concept for a Medea retelling.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I really loved this story. The world building and the characters were excellent.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Book SynopsisToni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. She was the author of many novels, including The Bluest Eye, Sula, Beloved, Paradise and Love. She received the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize for her fiction and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honour, in 2012 by Barack Obama. Toni Morrison died on 5 August 2019 at the age of eighty-eight.Trade ReviewA great storyteller * Guardian *Jazz blazes with an intensity more usually found in tragic poetry of the past, not in fiction today.... Morrison's voice transcends colour and creed and she has become one of America's outstanding post-war writers... A great storyteller, her characters have amazing and terrible pasts - they must find them out, or be haunted by them * Guardian *Morrison’s writing of a black romance pays its debt to blues music, the rhythms and the melancholy pleasures of which she has so magically transformed into a novel * London Review of Books *The author conjures up worlds with complete authority and makes no secret of her angst at the injustices dealt to black women * New York Times Book Review *Wonderful... A brilliant, daring novel... Every voice amazes * Chicago Tribune *

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Book SynopsisCan you fall in love with someone you've never met? A will-they-won't-they romance which will break your heart and put it back together again, for fans of The Man Who Didn't Call and This Time Next Year. 'A total delight. Achingly romantic, full of suspense and a beautiful cast of characters. This is going to be huge!' Laura Jane Williams ____________________________________________________ Two lives are about to be changed by one phone call... When Davey misdials Hannah's number, at first they think nothing of it. After all, Davey lives in Texas and Hannah lives in London. But when Davey gets a job in London, their paths are sure to cross. As messaging turns to video calling, this feels like the start of something. Weeks later, Hannah is waiting for Davey at the airport, but he never walks into Arrivals. When Hannah finds out why, her world is turned on its head. And with their future so uncertain, each must pick up the pieces of their lives. Will fate intervene once more to bring them together? Or will Davey always be the man that Hannah never met?Trade ReviewA total delight. Achingly romantic, full of suspense and a beautiful cast of characters. This is going to be huge! * Laura Jane Williams *

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Book Synopsis*Shortlist, Debut Fiction, 2023 Nero Book Awards * The Sunday Times Novel of the Year *London, 1894. John and Henry have a vision for a new way of life. But as the Oscar Wilde trial ignites public outcry, everything they long for could be under threat.'Beautifully written' Graham Norton'Subtle, sexy and beautifully crafted' Sarah Waters'Lavishly imagined' Sunday Times______________After a lifetime spent navigating his desires, John has finally found a man who returns his feelings. Meanwhile, Henry is convinced that his new unconventional marriage will bring freedom.United by a shared vision, they begin work on a revolutionary book arguing for the legalisation of homosexuality.Before it can be published however, Oscar Wilde is arrested and their daring book threatens to throw them, and all around them, into danger. How high a price are they willing to pay for a new way of living?______________'A very fine new writer' Kate Atkinson'I loved this book' Zadie Smith'Some of the best writing on desire I've read' Douglas Stuart'Extraordinary' Jonathan Bailey'Filled with nuance and tenderness . . . charting the lives of men and women who inspired not only political progress but an entire new way of living and loving' Colm TóibínTrade ReviewI loved this book -- Zadie SmithCompletely engrossed by this fascinating story of gay life in the London of the 1890’s. Beautifully written with fantastically complicated characters -- Graham Norton'Tom Crewe inhabits the minds, lives and bodies of his visionary late-nineteenth century characters with almost eerie precision and intensity. The result is subtle, sexy and beautifully crafted - a wonderful book' * Sarah Waters *'Clever and kind, The New Life is a book of wonderful generosity and compassion' * Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam *It is a pleasure to discover a young novelist with such a wise sensibility - and also, one who can construct such convincing characters. * Sunday Times *This is a corker... one of the literary debuts of the year * The Times, *Books to Look Out For 2023* *'Extraordinary in its depiction of reform and liberalism in Britain in the late-1800s' * Jonathan Bailey, star of Bridgerton *The New Life is filled with nuance and tenderness, steeped in the atmosphere of late nineteenth century London, a world on the brink of social and sexual change. Tom Crewe's brilliant novel dramatizes the relationship between the visionary and the brave, charting the lives of men and women who inspired not only political progress but an entire new way of living and loving. -- Colm Tóibín'A beautifully written debut set in Victorian London... some of the best writing on desire I've read' * Douglas Stuart *[Tom Crewe is] a very fine new writer -- Kate AtkinsonElectrifying. Tom Crewe's forensic love of the physical puts the body back into history and makes the past a living, changing place -- Anne EnrightAn excellent debut . . . It's extraordinary to think that this impeccably crafted, lyrically phrased and muscular book is Crewe's first . . . a brilliant evocation of the radical politics of turn-of-the-century Britain * Michael Donkor, Guardian *Emotionally vivid and erotically charged, The New Life brilliantly reveals a 'seething and boiling' world of 'loneliness and anger and lust,' as Crewe's complicated, compelling protagonists battle the restrictive mores of the day * Daily Mail *Powerful themes and lovingly polished prose . . . a fictional debut of rare quality and promise * Daily Telegraph *Intense and precise . . . It is refreshing to find any contemporary novel, let alone a debut, which is first and foremost one of ideas * Financial Times *[An] excellent new novel * Independent *'[An] intricate and finely crafted debut novel . . . The New Life brims with intelligence and insight, impressed with all the texture (and fog) of fin de siècle London' * New York Times *'Crewe distinguishes himself both as novelist and as historian . . . He has, more unusually, found a prose that can accommodate everything from the lofty to the romantic and the shamelessly sexy' * New Yorker *Unflinchingly bold . . . Crewe's language is striking in its originality, his protagonists are colourful and passionate, and their principles are brilliantly drawn * i paper *Sexy, cerebral and moving * Mail on Sunday *'Atmospheric . . . Extraordinary . . . Crewe's taut prose is shot through with descriptive vividness' -- James Cahill * TLS *Exhilarating . . . An adroit novel of ethics * New Statesman *'Lyrical, piercing . . . The New Life is a fine-cut gem, its sentences buffed to a gleam . . . [Crewe's book] brims with élan and feeling, an ode to eros and a lost world, and a warning about the dangers ahead' * Hamilton Cain, Washington Post *'Crewe deserves applause for his vivid scene-setting . . . There's much to admire in this meticulously researched, boldly envisioned debut' * Prospect *'Nothing less than remarkable . . . A beautiful, brave book that reminds us of the terrible human cost of bigotry; this is a novel against forgetting' * Michael Schaub, Boston Globe *'Rich and engrossing . . . blending the graceful ambiguity of literary fiction with the deftness of a page-turner . . . A smart, sensual debut' * Kirkus (starred review) *A few established novelists continue to write first-class literary fiction on LGBTQ themes... The debut novel by Tom Crewe...reveals a new talent in the field. It is underpinned by extensive research... [with] a great story at its heart. * Literary Review *The New Life drives with a satisfying pace and a pleasing sense of both conclusion and open endings... how impressive it is that Crewe has synthesised a coherent and compelling fiction from his elements * Critic *Superb . . . Remarkably sensuous and intimate * Spectator *Crewe demonstrates rare promise in this beautifully crafted story about two real-life pioneers who tried to make a case for homosexuality in Victorian Britain... Crewe brings this era pungently to life * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.She had...

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Book Synopsis'Riveting work' Patti Smith'Vivid . . . it communicates a real power' Sunday Times'A wild ride of a book' MetroActor William Harding has been caught cheating on his rock star wife and the press have descended upon him. Amid the headlines and worldwide disdain towards him, he takes on the part in Henry IV. He must examine himself, and who he has become, under the brightest of lights and the keenest of eyes.'A considered meditation on the evil of celebrity and the demanding yet restorative power of theatre' New Statesman'An emotional ode to theatre as medicine for heartbreak, and an interesting meditation on fame' Radio Times'A witty, wise heartfelt novel' Washington PostTrade ReviewEthan Hawke is a true writer and his duality as an artist is skilfully reflected in A Bright Ray of Darkness. Hawke circles, descends, and crawls into his characters' skin. Grimy shadows pass over the footlights, into the bowels of the theatre, where a struggling actor, perhaps mirroring the writer, seeks the vine of redemption, and claws his way into becoming. Bright Ray is a riveting work. -- Patti SmithWilliam is the star of this vivid drama from Ethan Hawke ... this is ultimately a book about the transcendent value of great art ... it communicates a real power. * Sunday Times *Film star William Harding is fed up with having his personal life examined in public. The protagonist of this novel, the first in five years from Hawke (best known for his acting role in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy), is also disgusted at the ways in which he has allowed his marriage to collapse around him. His debut Broadway role offers him a chance at redemption and turns this bracing book into a considered meditation on the evil of celebrity and the demanding yet restorative power of theatre. * New Statesman *Ethan Hawke, whose acting career has combined celebrity wattage with indie integrity, brings hard-won experience to his latest literary endeavour ... [A] wild ride of a book ... Written with real fire & originality. Not many novels combine scenes of lying semi-conscious by a motel toilet with thoughts on the perfection of the iambic pentameter. * Metro *An emotional ode to theatre as medicine for heartbreak, and an interesting meditation on fame. * Radio Times *Ethan Hawke has got a lot of nerve. But he's also got a lot of talent ... What's most irritating about A Bright Ray of Darkness is that it's really good ... A novel that explores the demands of acting and the delusions of manhood with tremendous verve and insight ... Hawke is a genius at conjuring the hush of the auditorium, the thrill of live actors, the magical sense of a performance moving through time. Amid the endless pandemic lockdown, reading this novel with its spirited scene-by-scene re-enactments is the closest I've gotten to live theatre in 10 months ... I want to be immune to Hawke's charms, but I admit it: He's written a witty, wise and heartfelt novel about a spoiled young man growing up and becoming, haltingly, a better person. A Bright Ray of Darkness is a deeply hopeful story about the possibility of rising above one's narcissism. Bravo. * Ron Charles, Washington Post *Hawke blurs the boundaries between past roles and autobiography and brings a world of fame, longing and oblivion into sharp focus. * BuzzMag *William Harding is a successful film star whose life is in turmoil. Outed by the press as an adulterer, he is now holed up in a New York hotel, divorcing his popstar wife while preparing to make his Broadway debut in Henry IV. In his first novel for 20 years, Hawke has obeyed the adage 'write what you know', bringing the theatrical world, from first rehearsal to final performance, thrillingly to life. * Mail on Sunday *...a fine book, full of narrative drive, illuminating information about the power of the stage, and a storyline that goes at quite a pace, but still has much room for humanity, showing that however big the mistakes people make, and however many people know about those mistakes, there is still the chance of redemption, if you look for it. * NB *This enjoyable literary outing is in the American tradition of writers like Saul Bellow ... The Bellow vibe comes with Harding's active wrestling with his own conscience and it is never a sterile or bloodless reflection as he's a charged-up, sex-driven, cocaine-fuelled, whiskey drinking bloke with chips on his shoulder ... it is Harding's failures as a person that make him real for the reader ... a highly engaging and enjoyable read ... lively and spirited ... As we get on with lockdown after lockdown and a world without plays, gigs, and the community of shared experience this is a novel reminding us to cherish what we are missing. * Irish Examiner *A rather easier read is Ethan Hawke's A Bright Ray of Darkness: a smart novel about Broadway, acting, marriage, love and fame. -- David MitchellDelightfully, Hawke goes full throttle, conjuring a world of thespian grandiosity, engorged egos, brittle self-doubt and callow celebrity with a bravura performance. * Financial Times *A thumpingly accomplished novel about art, the heart, the Way of the Actor and scandal in the social media age. Whip smart and dripping with one-liners, A BRIGHT RAY OF DARKNESS is an urbane, uplifting blast of a write-what-you-know novel. -- David Mitchell

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Book SynopsisRose Tremain's novels and short stories have been published in thirty countries and have won many awards, including the Orange Prize (The Road Home), the Dylan Thomas Award (The Colonel's Daughter and Other Stories), the Whitbread Novel of the Year (Music & Silence) the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Prix Femina in France (Sacred Country) and the South Bank Sky Arts Award (The Gustav Sonata). Her most recent novel is Lily, a Richard and Judy Book Club selection. Rose Tremain was made a CBE in 2007 and a Dame in 2020. She lives in Norfolk and London with the biographer, Richard Holmes.Trade ReviewThe best thing from Denmark since Hamlet. * John Julius Norwich *A magnificent novel... a brilliant book which will repay many readings * The Times *She is the best historical novelist of her generation. She evokes the past with sensuality, wit and superb sleights of hand... The plot is ingenious...an unforgettable tapestry of Eros and of art -- A. N. WilsonTremain's achievement in Music & Silence is extraordinary ... A narrative as funny as it is compelling * Daily Telegraph *Tremain weaves her web of stories with great visual flair and emotional acuity: This is a fabulous cacophony of passion and despair * Metro *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction''Exquisite'' The New York Times''A tale of grief and memory awash with dark humour and wit'' Spectator____________________________________________________Up there, she says, I''m just another little old lady. But down here, at the pool, I''m myself.For the people who swim there each day, the local pool is a haven of unexpected kinship and private solace. For Alice, her daily laps have become the ritual that gives her life meaning, even though she may not remember the combination to her locker or where she put her towel.But one day, a crack appears deep beneath the surface of the water, and then another, and then another. The pool must close for repairs, and with that Alice is plunged into dislocation and chaos.Away from the steady routines of her swimming, she is engulfed by difficult memories of her own past. And as her sense of home, and of herself, slip further out of her grasp, her daughter must navigate the newly fractured landscape of their relationship.From the internationally bestselling author of The Buddha in the Attic comes a novel about memory and loss, mothers and daughters, the stories that make up a life, and what happens when they start to unravel.______________________________________________''I''m in awe of how this beautiful, graceful novel can hold so much grief and loss and love in its pages: a literary gem.'' Nicci Gerrard''An unforgettable novel about mothers and daughters by a spellbinding talent'' Daily MailTrade ReviewHer wisdom is staggeringly beautiful, implicating each of us * The Irish Times *Here comes the new Julie Otsuka novel, so we can begin to live again * Colson Whitehead, author of Harlem Shuffle *Heartbreaking and astoundingly good * Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers *I'm in awe of how this beautiful, graceful novel can hold so much grief and loss and love in its pages: a literary gem. * Nicci Gerard, author of Soham: A Story Of Our Times *'If it wasn't tragedy it would be comedy, and it nimbly treads the very narrow line between' * The Tablet *'One of the marvels of The Swimmers is its unshowy portrayal of the immense drama inherent in losing the mind before the body has expired. But perhaps even more impressive is its respect for the general confusion of living' * Financial Times *Poignant and funny, I've never read such a brilliant account of this devastating illness, nor for that matter of the compulsive nature of swimming lengths in a pool. * Collagerie *"The Swimmers" is an exquisite companion. Though it doesn't answer the unanswerable, the novel's quiet insistence resonates: that it is our perfectly ordinary proclivities that make us who we are. * New York Times *An unforgettable novel about mothers and daughters by a spellbinding talent * Daily Mail *Stylistically ambitious and deeply moving * Kirkus Reviews *A goddamn heartbreaker * Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers *A story of memory loss and its fallout for family, and of the power of pool friendship. Glittering and tender. * Sainsbury's Magazine *As a regular and sedate swimmer, I loved this novel...A quiet and thoughtful story about the small, steady joys of life and how quickly and irrevocably they can become disrupted. * Red Magazine *A story about mothers and daughters, love and loss, it will make you reconsider what's truly important in life * Kintsugi Magazine *Haunting, ironic and poetic in its resonance, this slender volume is a must-read...Don't miss this beautifully written, heartfelt, wry and wistful exploration of loss. * Woman & Home *With shrewd characterisation and original observations, Otsuka tells a tale of grief and memory that's quietly observed yet awash with dark humour and wit. * Spectator *Amid an incantatory litany of totalising losses, there are snapshots of a unique life with all its complications. Superbly realised and incredibly moving * Daily Mail *Haunting, ironic and poetic in its resonance, this slender volume is a must-read * Woman's Weekly *What makes a good life? What is a good death? The answers to these questions shimmer elusively just below the surface of The Swimmers * Stylist *Otsuka's slender, stylistically ambitious third novel is a marvel, capturing the hypnotic rhythm of lane-swimming and the devastating decline of memory and connection as dementia takes hold...Heartbreakingly powerful * Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction *

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Book SynopsisIn The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the flamboyance, the carelessness and the cruelty of the wealthy during America's Jazz Age. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by David Stuart Davies.The Great Gatsby lives mysteriously in a luxurious Long Island mansion, playing lavish host to hundreds of people. And yet no one seems to know him or how he became so rich. He is rumoured to be everything from a German spy to a war hero. People clamour for invitations to his wild parties. But Jay Gatsby doesn't heed them. He cares for one person alone - Daisy Buchanan, the woman he has waited for all his life. Little does he know that his infatuation will lead to tragedy and end in murder.Trade ReviewFitzgerald's slim tale of the jazz age became the most celebrated and beloved novel in the American canon. It's more than an American classic; it's become a defining document of the national psyche, a creation myth, the Rosetta Stone of the American dream -- Jay McInerney * The Observer *Fitzgerald’s novel is a portal to the savage heart of the human spirit, affords a glimpse at our humanity and wonders at our enormous capacity to dream, to imagine, to hope and to persevere -- Anne O’Neill * The Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisTHE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLEROne day, five lives, but whose heart will be broken by nightfall? It started like any other day in the picturesque village of Weirbridge. Tress Walker waved her perfect husband Max off to work, with no idea that she was about to go into labour with their first child. And completely unaware that when she tried to track Max down, he wouldn’t be where he was supposed to be. At the same time, Max’s best friend Noah Clark said goodbye to his wife, Anya, blissfully oblivious that he would soon discover the woman he adored had been lying to him for years. And living alongside the two couples, their recently widowed friend, Nancy Jenkins, is getting ready to meet Eddie, her first true love at a school reunion. Will Nancy have the chance to rekindle an old flame, or will she choose to stay by Tress’s side when she needs her most? One Day with You - two fateful goodbyes, two unexpected hellos, and 24 hours that change everything.

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Book SynopsisBorn into a poor family, Fanny Price is raised amid the daunting splendour of Mansfield Park by her rich uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram. Treated as an inferior by most of the family, Fanny forms a close attachment to her cousin Edmund, the only person to show her kindness. With the departure of her uncle to the West Indies and the arrival from London of the fashionable Henry and Mary Crawford, flirtation and romantic intrigue abound. As Fanny becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the conduct of her companions, she finds herself isolated and forced to face the conflict between her sense of integrity and social expectation.

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Book SynopsisSunday Times bestseller Tessa Hadley explores the big consequences of small events in this new collection'You've either got it or you haven't. Hadley's got it' FINANCIAL TIMESHeloise's father died in a car crash when she was a little girl; at a dinner party in her forties, she meets someone connected to that long-ago tragedy. Janey's bohemian mother plans to marry a man close to Janey's own age - everything changes when an accident interrupts the wedding party. A daughter caring for her elderly mother during the pandemic becomes obsessed with the woman next door; in the wake of his best friend's death, a man must reassess his affair with the friend's wife. Teenager Cecilia wakes one morning on vacation with her parents in Florence and sees them for the first time through disenchanted eyes.These stories illuminate the enduring conflicts between responsibility and freedom, power and desire, convention and subversion, reality, and dreams.***A GUARDIAN AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023******ONE OF THE BBC’S '25 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023'***Trade ReviewConsistently pulls you in from the first sentence... The capacity to make readers care from the off about what happens to these imaginary people next is an unquantifiable, indefinable talent that cannot be taught. You've got it or you haven't. Hadley's got it * Financial Times *One of our finest novelists and a short story supremo... It is hard to imagine stories more skilfully paced and polished than these * Observer *After the Funeral is a brilliant collection. From the virtuosity of Hadley's technique to the clarity of her moral vision and the warmth of her humour, what she has achieved in After the Funeral is nothing short of masterful. Her stories are surprising, profound, and each feels as full as a world -- Brandon Taylor, author of The Late AmericansBeautifully done... The strongest stories resonate, offering glimpses of the hidden selves we all conceal * Sunday Times *She has such great psychological insights into human beings, which is rare... One of the best fiction writers writing today -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of AmericanahShort stories tend to be literary Marmite, but the dozen tales in Hadley's classy new collection are a testament to the startling power of both their author and the form itself` * Mail on Sunday *After the Funeral draws us into situations that bear out Tolstoy’s famous line, “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. Each story explores a way of coping with a peculiar challenge… Hadley elicits the answer with an acumen that puts her among the great detectives of human nature * New Statesman, *Books of the Year* *Tessa Hadley is my favourite author -- Kate Atkinson, author of Shrines of GaietyHadley has elevated middle-class domesticity, and the emotional ripples beneath it, into the realms of high art... Her depictions of buried disappointment and quiet yearning are timeless... A reminder of just how sublime an experience reading a Tessa Hadley book is * i *Few writers give me such consistent pleasure -- Zadie Smith, author of White Teeth

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Book Synopsis''It would be a dull world if we all thought alike.''After seven years of marriage, the beautiful Lady Brenda Last is bored with life at Hetton Abbey, the Gothic mansion that is the pride and joy of her husband, Tony. She drifts into an affair with the shallow socialite John Beaver and forsakes Tony for the Belgravia set. Brilliantly combining tragedy, comedy and savage irony, A Handful of Dust captures the irresponsible mood of the ''crazy and sterile generation'' between the wars. The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.

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Book SynopsisWith a new introduction by Polly Samson, Sunday Times bestselling author of A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS ''Gorgeous... the written equivalent of lying in the sun eating figs'' India Knight, Sunday Times''That summer we bought big straw hats. Maria''s had cherries around the rim, Infanta''s had forget-me-nots, and mine had poppies as red as fire. . .''Three Summers is a warm and tender tale of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a ramshackle old house with their divorced mother are flirtatious, hot-headed Maria, beautiful but distant Infanta, and dreamy and rebellious Katerina, through whose eyes the story is mostly observed. Over three summers, the girls share and keep secrets, fall in and out of love, try to understand the strange ways of adults and decide what kind of adults they hope to become.''The sun has disappeared from books these days... You are one of Trade ReviewThe written equivalent of lying in the sun eating figs. I liked it much more than Elena Ferrante's books, but that's the general ballpark, except jollier. As Polly Samson writes in the preface, it brings to mind I Capture the Castle. Gorgeous -- India Knight * Sunday Times *A dreamy modernist gem of a novel... elegant and striking * Publishers Weekly *A dreamy, cinematic tapestry of Greek village life * NPR *A leisurely, large-hearted coming-of-age novel, earthy and innocent, nostalgic and beautifully rendered * Kirkus *We must be grateful to the Penguin European Writers series, a precious venture in these dark times -- John BanvilleThe sun has disappeared from books these days... You are one of those who pass it on -- Albert Camus to Margarita LiberakiDrifting blossom, girlish secrets and lantern-lit dances pervade the 1946 Greek classic Three Summers, by Margarita Liberaki, featuring three sisters on the brink of adulthood on a pre-civil-war country estate at Kifi ssia, outside Athens. Just reissued, this innocent gem is often compared to Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle * Country & Townhouse *With its sensuous prose, nostalgic charm, playful humour and evocation of burgeoning sexuality, this novel is the literary equivalent of a sun-soaked holiday in Greece * CultureWhisper *

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Book SynopsisA New York Times 10 Best Books of 2022 Selection 'Extraordinary . . . radiant' Sunday Times'An existential tour-de-force' Eimear McBride'Elatingly risky' Guardian 'We read in order to come to life.'With fierce imagination, a woman revisits the moments that shape her life; from crushes on teachers to navigating relationships in a fast-paced world; from overhearing her grandmothers' peculiar stories to nurturing her own personal freedom and a boundless love of literature.Fusing fantasy with lived experience, Checkout 19 is a vivid and mesmerising journey through the small traumas and triumphs that define us - as readers, as writers, as human beings.* A 'Books of 2021' pick in the Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Irish Times Culture and New Statesman *'This is her new book to shake the world anew' Sebastian Barry'Mesmerising, whip-smart, full of genius . . . It is also very funny' Elaine Feeney'Her voice is all her own' Anne EnrightTrade ReviewCheckout 19 beautifully explores the makings of a young woman writer. -- Stephanie Cross * Daily Mail, *Books to Look Out For 2021* *Mesmerising, whip-smart, full of genius and utterly singular, Checkout 19 is one of the most beautiful and political books I've read. Put simply, it's all about books. Bennett is a master at sweeping the caverns of life's minutiae with her uncanny observations and stunning prose, arriving at the most pressing things that haunt the human condition. It is also very funny (and very sad) and very very relatable. Just exquisite. -- Elaine FeeneyCheckout 19 is a beautiful, hurt, unsettled, funny, and moving book about meaning and reading and recalling, but most of all about coming to life. -- David HaydenReading Checkout 19 is not unlike coming back to life after a long and brutal winter. Highly original and deeply felt. I'm so glad Claire-Louise Bennett exists. A writer to fall in love with. -- Nicole FlatteryA deeply personal, completely singular book that somehow also spoke directly to my own private impressions and experiences. Extremely funny, extremely sharp, devastating, invigorating. -- Lisa OwensBrilliant, singular, feminist, ambitious - Claire-Louise Bennett is an extraordinary writer. -- Sinéad GleesonI fell into Checkout 19 and didn't want to climb back out. It is wonderful - I'm not sure why, and that makes it all the more wonderful. -- Roddy DoyleBennett is a leading exponent of a new modernism, but her voice is all her own. Her prose is profoundly surprising; she gets to places you didn't know were there. -- Anne EnrightReading Checkout 19 filled me with joy, it is so good! The writing is exceptional; rich, playful and at the same time full of presence and urgency. It is a book about literature, how reading both expands our world and takes us away from it, and it is also a book about life {when it is] at its most vulnerable, and these two merge into the question: how can we take back our own story? What is our own story? Bennett writes like no one else, she is in complete control of the language, skilfull and innovative in an almost joycean way. She is a rare talent, and Checkout 19 is a masterful novel. -- Karl Ove KnausgaardI'll remember this book for its disarmingly figurative language and its subtle observational humour...Bennett...traces one person's idiosyncratic, recursive artistic becoming - not just the reading, writing, and cigarette smoking but the relationships and experiences that unlock new ways of seeing. * Vulture, *Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2022* *This is the book - the one you've been looking for. It really is. It's full of desire, rage, mischief, opulence. This is the book. It's about what's important - about finding it, grasping it, losing it. This is the book. -- Toby LittOn the basis of just one book, the mysterious Pond, Claire-Louise Bennett established a devoted following pretty much worldwide. This is her new book to shake the world anew. -- Sebastian BarryCHECKOUT 19 has radically altered my idea of what is possible in a novel, while being continuously gripping, sometimes deeply moving and often very funny. There are long passages in here which feel touched by the hand of god, more channelled than written. -- Mark HaddonThere's no one in whose language and rhythms I'd rather immerse than Claire-Louise Bennett, as her character plumbs her own past and a personal history of literature, via classrooms and train stations, supermarket aisles and Viennese opera houses, pickled cucumber and cheese on toast. Witty, moving and propulsive, Checkout-19 makes a triumphant case for what novels - and reading - can do. * Francesca Wade *A profound and very funny book about growth and promise, and how not to kill them off; about women reading and writing and how they survive... thrilling. * London Review of Books *An extraordinary document about the richness of inner life... It is rare to feel the sensation of another mind as vividly as in this radiant book. -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *Unconventional and imaginative... this is a book about memory, reading and writing that is intelligent and often absorbing. -- Fanny Blake * Daily Mail *Checkout 19 inches close to what it is to love... The novel is defiantly told through impulse - the impulse to write a certain character, to read a particular book, to say something or stay quiet - and in this way, a woman, and a writer, emerges. -- Rebecca Watson * Financial Times *Checkout 19 is a fresh take on the coming-of-age novel-one in which we don't already know how the story will end, or if it will have an 'ending' at all. Bennett manages to convince the reader that somewhere, her narrator continues to think and ponder and live and wrestle with being in a body, like the rest of us. * Lit Hub, *Most Anticipated Books of 2022* *A fantastically various novel consisting of seven sections in which we loosely follow a narrator...at different ages and in different places - through an intricate collage of ideas, sensations and emotions. -- Alex Clark * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis‘Funny and barbed, and the twists at the end had me shocked’ MONICA HEISEY, author of Really Good, ActuallyWIFE. HUSBAND. BEST FRIEND. What if your two favourite people hated each other with a passion?A nice house, a carefree life, a doting husband, a best friend who never leaves your side. What more could you ask for? There's just one problem: your husband and best friend love you, but they hate each other.Set over a single day, husband, wife and best friend Temi toe the lines of compromise and betrayal. Told in three parts, three people's lives, and their visions of themselves and one another begin to slowly unravel, until a startling discovery throws everyone's integrity into question.'Dazzling, dextrous and droll, this millennial noir is a taut exploration of culture and the politics of relationships’ BOLU BABALOLA, author of Love in Colour'Sharp, astute... Packs a serious punch' YOMI ADEGOKE, author of The List'Wickedly enjoyable' NAOISE DOLAN, author of Exciting Times'Has that elusive Sally Rooney style of writing' STYLISTTrade ReviewSharp, astute and wickedly funny - Ore Agbaje-Williams' sharp wit and perfectly realised protagonists make for a taut, darkly comic read that packs a serious punch -- Yomi Adegoke, author of THE LISTA funny, terrifically entertaining read * Daily Mail *A treat of a debut. Agbaje-Williams has a gift of gliding between the sharpest driest humour and damning emotional revelations that incisively exposes the vulnerabilities, fallacies and messiness that line the relationships with those we are closest to. Dazzling, dextrous and droll, this millennial noir is a taut exploration of culture and the politics of relationships -- Bolu Babalola, author of LOVE IN COLOURDeftly plotted and wickedly enjoyable... I tore through this, and you will, too. The triad of voices seems to flow spontaneously, but is intricately assembled to result in maximum drama -- Naoise Dolan, author of EXCITING TIMESOre Agbaje-Williams has that elusive Sally Rooney style of writing: it seems simple and easy to do but is incredibly difficult to pull off... Enjoy * Stylist *Unique and completely captivating, The Three of Us absorbed me. When I finished I wanted to go back and read it from the beginning again -- Annie Lord, author of NOTES ON HEARTBREAKAn astute, composed and quietly hilarious observation of identity, marriage and friendship from a unique storyteller -- Diana Evans, author of ORDINARY PEOPLESwitching points of view among the three, this debut is viciously funny, different than anything you’ve read lately, and at the same time, strangely relatable * Oprah Daily *Taut and precise, as honest as it is hilarious, I consumed The Three of Us in a single sitting. Not to be missed -- Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of OPEN WATERRich, dazzling and deeply possessive... At just 192 pages, The Three of Us is as short and sharp as a paring knife * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisPoems deal with writing, death and immortality, literature, city life, illness, war, and the past.

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in Italy in 1928, and unavailable in Britain until 1960, when it was the subject of an infamous obscenity trial, Lady Chatterley's Lover is now regarded as one of the pivotal novels of the twentieth century. Lawrence's determination to explore every aspect - sexual, social, psychological - of Lady Chatterley's adulterous liaison with the gamekeeper Oliver Mellors makes for a profound meditation on the human condition, the forces of nature and the social constraints that people struggle to overcome. Containing autobiographical elements and set in the author's native Nottinghamshire, Lawrence's final novel had a profound impact on twentieth-century culture and sexual attitudes, while confirming his standing as one of the most eminent fiction writers that England has produced.Trade ReviewHe's an intoxicator... Has there ever been anyone like him for bringing places and people so vividly to life? -- Doris Lessing

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Book SynopsisTHE BREATHTAKING RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB SELECTION, SUNDAY TIMES AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER ABOUT MOTHERHOOD AND OBSESSION . . .OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE''Utterly addictive'' PAULA HAWKINS''Compulsive'' VOGUE''Gripping'' GUARDIAN''Inventive'' SUNDAY TIMES''Suspenseful'' HEAT''Not to be missed'' LISA JEWELL________Blythe and Violet. Mother and daughter.It''s a bond like no other.But what if your little angel is a monster?And what if no one sees it but you?________AS RECOMMENDED ON BBC RADIO 2**Nominated for two Goodreads Choice Awards**''Like The Girl on the Train - but better!'' DAILY MAIL''A blockbusting debut about the dark side of motherhood. Gripping, clever, vividly realised . . . the ending left me flabbergasted'' Trade ReviewUtterly addictive -- Paula HawkinsThe mother of all thrillers! Like The Girl on the Train - but better! * Daily Mail *A gripping debut that explores and manipulates the fears and insecurities of mothers everywhere . . . Well thought out, vividly realised and gripping * Guardian *An inventive twist on the psychological thriller formula . . . Audrain sustains the suspense expertly through assured handling of her unravelling protagonist's voice * Sunday Times *Ashley dares us to find the relatable in the worst we can imagine . . . the knife-edge between relatability and horror keeps the reader hooked * Grazia *I was gripped from the first word to the last. I've been wanting a book to take me back to how I felt when I first read We Need to Talk About Kevin. When you close the book but can't function until you know how it ends ... I really recommend this one -- Dawn O'PorterI was gripped . . . dazzling and gloriously complete -- Daisy BuchananThe Push was a poetic, propulsive read that set my nerves jangling in both horror and recognition. I read it one sitting and it stayed with me for days afterwards. Not to be missed -- Lisa JewellA compelling, compulsively readable thriller that never lets up and will keep you guessing right to the very last page * Daily Express *Powerful and immersive -- Emma Stonex, author of The LamplightersI was completely engrossed in The Push from the very first page. So tense, so all-encompassing! It's a jet-black story of motherhood, inheritance and expectations, and I loved it -- Abigail Dean, author of Girl AA provocative, compulsive novel about modern motherhood * Vogue *This has all the hallmarks of a best seller . . . Riveting . . . An intelligent, painstaking and thought-provoking account of parenting that will move anyone * Daily Mail *A bold exploration of motherhood, as well as a suspenseful thriller, this will have you in its grips from the very first page - and will stay with you long after you've put it down. Do not miss * Heat, 'Book of the Week' *I read it in two nights . . . it's giving us The Girl On The Train, it's giving us We Need to Talk About Kevin, it's going to be one of the books of the year . . . it has absolutely blown me away . . . it will spark conversation and divide people . . . I can't stop thinking and talking about it -- Candice Brathwaite * BBC Radio 2 *With its riveting prose and deep convictions, Ashley Audrain's The Push had me in its clutches from the first page. Audrain's astute portrayal of motherhood was unsettling in its insights, yet highly entertaining on the page. Complex, nuanced, and unflinching, I inhaled this debut in one sitting -- Karma Brown * bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife *Audrain nimbly stokes the mystery as to whether nature or nurture is at play in Violet's increasingly hostile disposition. Executed with gripping precision * New York Times *Starkly original and compulsively readable, Ashley Audrain's The Push is a deep dive into the darkest nooks and crannies of motherhood. Raw, visceral, and often disturbing, this is an intense psychological drama that will be embraced by serious book clubs and fans of Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Kristin HannahYou're drawn into this world . . . it is a difficult read but no wonder it's a cause celebre in the publishing world, trust me everyone wants this book . . . a publishing sensation -- Nihal Arthanayake * BBC Radio 5 Live *I was totally hooked. Compelling, addictive, chilling. Smashing read -- Elizabeth MacnealThe most thought-provoking exploration of motherhood I've come across since We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Clare PooleyThe Push is a freight train of a read - it barrels into you and propels you along, taking you places you're not sure you want to go. I found it disturbing, upsetting, and utterly compelling -- Beth Morrey, author of Saving MissyIntensely absorbing, gripping until the final page, The Push excavates the myths of motherhood, deftly exploring the shape-shifting landscape of parenting, the powerful impact of the past on the present, and the deep unease of our inability to ever fully know even those we hold the closest -- Kim Edwards, bestselling author of The Memory Keeper's DaughterSuspenseful with extreme We Need To Talk About Kevin vibes, this is the Book Club Book that'll have everyone talking next year * Grazia *Stayed up too late finishing [Audrain's] deeply unsettling The Push about the darkest reaches of motherhood . . . Visceral, provocative, compulsive, and with the most graphic and relatable description of childbirth I've read (or written) -- Sarah Vaughan, bestselling author of Anatomy of a ScandalI loved it - such a dark and compelling exploration of motherhood. Absolutely haunting: a brilliant, thought-provoking page-turner -- Caroline LeaThe Push is written on the edge of a knife. It's a howl in the face of what we think we know - or want to believe - about motherhood. Relentlessly compelling, distressing and beautiful, Ashley Audrain's debut is the next Gone Girl, with shades of We Need to Talk About Kevin. I devoured it whole -- Marissa Stapley, bestselling author of The Last ResortThe Push is not a book you'll be able to forget easily . . . an unputdownable story that will be the book everyone is talking about in 2021 * Grazia *Compelling, beautifully written and wickedly entertaining... A tremendously thought-provoking read -- Liz Nugent, author of Little Cruelties and Lying in WaitAstonishingly good. Beautifully written, gripping, disturbing -- Jane Fallon, author of Queen BeeA tense and unsettling thriller that's immersive, chilling, and provocative. A book that's best read in one sitting -- Iain Reid, author of I'm Thinking of Ending ThingsAshley Audrain's The Push is not only a propulsively entertaining, read-in-one-sitting novel, it is also a deeply provocative and fearless look at motherhood written in some of the prettiest prose you'll read all year -- Aimee Molloy, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect MotherWritten with a courage that borders on audacity, and with uncanny emotional and psychological precision, Ashley Audrain's The Push is a taut, tour-de-force literary thriller that draws you in from the very first pages and plunges you into the most harrowing of journeys: parenthood -- Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of Did You Ever Have A Family?A meteoric debut. Ashley Audrain's The Push is a force of nature, an unforgettable arrival that will linger in your heart--shimmer, darken and then haunt you. Every sentence is just so achingly alive. Audrain descends with near pointillistic precision into the gore of motherhood and love. Perhaps if Stephen King had experienced motherhood--the singular exaltation and morbid terror of that state--he might have been able to dream up this book. Wise, monstrous, and tender, The Push operates at a different frequency. It seemed to pulse in my hands. I could not put it down. I could not look away -- Claudia Dey, author of Heartbreaker and StuntOne to watch ... The Push is told from the point of view of Blythe Connor, whose experience of motherhood is not what she hoped for * The Bookseller *Staggering - it is an intoxicating rush of a book that grips you tight from the first few pages and will not let you go * Cambridge Edition *Most anticipated books of 2021 'Pre-order now and thank yourself later' * Marie Claire *A thrilling debut * Harper's Bazaar, This Winter's Best New Releases from Rising Novelists *The Push is a vivid and complex spiral of questioning your grasp on reality, of uttering unspeakable thoughts, when the world tells you it's all in your head. Book blurbs often say they'll be devoured in one sitting - it's rare it proves so true * The Skinny *Suspenseful, dark and intriguing . . . It's going to be a big discussion point in 2021 * Stylist, Book to Watch 2021 *A haunting tale about the expectations and reality of motherhood. Stunning . . . You end up staying up all night to finish The Push * E! Online *Visceral, compulsive and astonishing. I could not put this down -- Raynor Winn, bestselling author of The Salt Path'Best books to look forward to in 2021' * Cosmopolitan *The chilling novel that caused a bidding frenzy more than lives up to the hype * Red Online *A terrifying, psychological suspense tale of motherhood and nature versus nurture * Sunday Mirror *This chilling tale barrels along towards a dark, thought-provoking ending * Good Housekeeping *The tense, gripping novel - which, after a nine-way bidding war, has already been optioned for film by the producer of ugly-cry-inducing Marriage Story - will stay with you long after you finish the last page * Refinery29 *This psychological family drama will be your next one-sit read . . . you won't want to miss it * Silversurfers *A creepy, nuanced story that, with a growing sense of dread, subverts the ideals of motherhood so often presented as inviolable * Publishers Association *Buckle up for a riveting read . . . will have you alternately whizzing through the pages to see what happens next, and reading slowly with widened eyes * Prima, 'My Book of the Month' *[An] exploration of love, obsession and the dark truths of motherhood * Cosmopolitan, Best Books 2021 *Reminiscent of We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ashley Audrain has delivered a provocative, compulsive novel about modern motherhood * Vogue UK *Compelling . . . A disturbing and complex tale about dysfunctional mother-daughter relationships. It's not always an easy read but it's absolutely one you won't be able to put down * Culturefly *Included in 'Books for 2021' * Sun *The mother of all thrillers! Like The Girl on the Train - but better! * Daily Mail *Utterly mesmerising. Ashley Audrain's powerful debut novel explores the challenges of motherhood and the terrifying isolation of being trapped within a sinister truth that no-one else believes. -- Fiona Valpy, bestselling author of The Beekeeper's PromiseOne of the most anticipated novels of this year . . . fast-paced, it has the ability to distract you from anything. Exactly what we need right now * Grazia *Written with an unflinching eye and a stylistically sharp, tight economy The Push is a single-sitting read, as suspenseful as any thriller, as thoughtful as any literary novel, with an almost physical force behind each of its turns and revelations. By the end, the reader will feel wrung out in the way only the best of books leaves you. Audrain's debut is a stunning, devastating novel and, frankly, one hell of a way to start a year of reading * Toronto Star *Included in 'Books to Watch 2021' * Evening Standard *Hooks you from the very first page and will have you racing to get to the end -- Book Club Selection * Good Morning America *Included in 'Best New Books' * New York Post *This is a sterling addition to the burgeoning canon of bad seed suspense, from an arrestingly original new voice * Publishers Weekly *This taut and tense hurricane of a debut is best devoured in one sitting * Newsweek *This dazzling debut mixes page-turning suspense with a psychological drama * Working Motheer *Once you start in on this story, it becomes difficult to control yourself. A twisted, tight, and exhilarating drama * Goop *This psychological thriller about a mother's bond with her daughter will keep you turning pages * Woman's Day *This nuanced book challenges the notion of nature versus nurture, and whether a mother's love is enough. It's disturbing, painful and brilliant, holding a mirror up to society * Woman's Weekly *The Push is a thriller that is also a compelling examination of motherhood and of how trauma is passed down through generations * Herald *A tense, chilling dip into the dark side of motherhood . . . The Push is uncomfortable and provocative, like a train wreck that demands your gaze * Washington Post *The most tense, thrilling read that will chill and enthral in equal measure * Sun *Disturbingly brilliant . . . will render you speechless * Woman & Home 'Book of the Month' *A page-turning debut crafted with shrewd expertise - read it before the inevitable screen adaptation * Metro *Unflinching, moving and very, very powerful * Grazia *The clever and powerful psychological thriller everyone has been talking about . . . an unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page * My Weekly *Audrain has the ability to mesmerise . . . heart-wrenching. A dark, pacy read * My Weekly *A compelling, visceral and bruising portrayal of motherhood that once read cannot ever be forgotten * Woman & Home *A chilling and beautifully written novel that will strike dread into the heart of any new parent. The ending gave me goosebumps -- Mark Edwards, bestselling author of Here To StayA powerful debut about obsession and our deepest fears . . . will have you hooked * Living North *Exploring the dysfunctional lives of three generations of women, The Push deals with the way damage is handed down * Literary Review *A thought-provoking novel that delves deep into the emotional crevices of motherhood * Courier *Taut and gripping, this is a provocative look at motherhood * Psychologies *The Push is an unsettling and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page * Eastern Daily Press *A gripping and vivid thriller . . . It's easy to understand why The Push has caught the attention of Hollywood film producers * Business Post *Compelling * The Herald *Remarkably told story which I couldn't put down. Deftly drawn characters...What a book! And the last line is creepy, haunting perfection -- Christina Sweeney Baird, author of The End of MenThe danger that simmers throughout is so unbearably tense! A wonderful incisive look at maternal guilt ... the effect is staggering -- Imran MahmoodFasten your seatbelt because this book is a face paced, page turning, psychological drama that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very last line * The Avondhu *Challenges the idyllic picture of motherhood, and will change what you know about being a mother. It is tenacious and really makes you think about what it's like when women aren't taken seriously * Female First *For fans of mum noir, The Push is an unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page * Eastern Daily Press *This dark, psychological thriller offers such twists and turns that we start to doubt what we believe . . . And that sharp-intake-of-breath ending! * Manx Independent *I didn't sleep for a week after I finished it, but that's a small price to pay for a great book -- Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears PradaAn unflinching examination of motherhood. Audrain lets no one in the Connor family off the hook, yet every character managed to elicit my sympathy. Brilliant, insightful, compassionate, and horrifying. I wish I could read it for the first time over and over. One of the best books I've read all year -- Stephanie WrobelOne of the most talked-about books of the year. This nuanced psychological book will make you question the notion of nature vs nurture. Disturbing, painful and brilliant * Woman & Home *This unsettling debut was so riveting it had me devouring pages and then reading slowly with widened eyes * Prima *Addictively readable . . . shines a disturbing light into the darkest recesses of motherhood * Daily Mail, Must Read Paperbacks *Compulsively readable * Daily Express *An unsettling, breathtaking and powerful read about obsession and our deepest fears that will stay with you long after you turn the final page. * Eastern Daily Press *A raw and visceral exploration of a mother-daughter relationship; a haunting and heartbreaking novel that will leave you thinking about it for days after you finish the last page * Female First *

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Book SynopsisA symphony of hope. A symphony of love. A symphony of them. Cromwell Dean is a rising star in the British music scene. Broody, talented and handsome, thousands of people adore him. But no one knows him. Not really. Until he meets her. The girl in the purple dress. Late one night on a beach in Brighton - never to see each other again. When Cromwell leaves England for college in South Carolina, the last person he expects to run into is her. Bonnie Farraday knows Cromwell is bad news, but something draws her to him. He''s the beat that makes her heart skip. And she''s the light to his darkness. But when a shadow falls across her fragile heart it''s up to him to keep her strong. With a symphony only he can compose. And a love only they can share. A heart shattering story about two lost souls and a love that could heal both their hearts.

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Book SynopsisA reissue of the powerful and troubling debut sensation - which spent over six months at top of the New York Times bestseller list on its original publication thirty years ago Recently divorced, Anna Dunlap has two passionate attachments: her daughter, four-year-old Molly, and her lover, Leo, the man who makes her feel beautiful - and sexual - for the first time. Swept away by happiness and passion, Anna feels she has everything she’s ever wanted. Then come the shocking charges that would threaten her new love, her new family - that force her to prove she is a good mother.Trade ReviewThanks to Sue Miller's gift for precise psychological detail, her sure sense of narrative and her simple compassion for ordinary lives, this powerful novel proves as subtle as it is dramatic, as durable - in its emotional afterlife - as it is instantly readable -- MICHIKO KAKUTANI * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW *“This powerful novel proves as subtle as it is dramatic, as durable—in its emotional afterlife—as it is instantly readable.” * New York Times *A remarkable accomplishment * Chicago Tribune *Praise for Monogamy: One of the most emotionally truthful novels I have ever read * Daisy Buchanan *Almost every line glows with even-handed wisdom - a superb novel, beautifully put together * Daily Mail *An invaluably moving book * Juliet Nicholson *One to read first for the story and then to re-read at leisure and marvel at how real these people feel * Erin Kelly *Penetrating, intelligent, humane, funny too ... Smart and powerfully alive * Tessa Hadley *An underrated master of US fiction ... Miller asks big questions about marriage and whether it's worth the sacrifices involved. And these fascinating insights are wrapped up in a page-turning plot, too * Sunday Express *A poignant page-turner, delving deep into our most intimate relationships * Evening Standard *Miller is concerned with deeper mysteries of human motivation . A writer with an uncanny compass for the contrary * Sunday Telegraph *Miller's thoughtful, searching prose fills in all the background details, and her vivid characters are utterly believable. Brilliant * The Times *An eloquent chronicler of the complexities of ordinary relationships, whose informal language belies the depths of her insights . Miller nails the contradictory emotions and desires that are responsible for people so often bypassing the seemingly easy road to happiness * Independent *Miller writes with grace and poise, crafting an examination of love and loss that is both understated and emotionally charged * Guardian *Miller writes with tremendous subtlety and perception * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisAgainst the unforgiving landscape of a hospital, I fell in love with a mischievous, sun-eyed boy who became my only joy in that desolate place. That’s what made it all the more soul-crushing when he committed suicide in front of me. Since then, I've sworn never to love anyone again. With three exceptions: My friends, Sony, Neo, and Coeur, a little gang of rebellious, dying kids. Sony leads the charge with the air of freedom and only one lung to breathe it. Neo, a bad-tempered and wheel-chaired writer, keeps track of our great deeds from stealing to terrorizing our nurse. Coeur is the beautiful boy, the muscle, the gentle giant with a failing heart. Before death inevitably knocks down our doors, my thieves and I have one last heist planned. A great escape that will take us far from abusive parents, crippling loss, and the realities of our diseases. So what happens when someone else walks through the door? What happens when a girl joins our party and ren

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Book SynopsisFew books have been as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince.A beautiful gift edition for adults of this touching and wise classic book. Featuring the original translation by Katherine Woods and full-colour illustrations by the author.A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see the most extraordinary little fellow standing before him. Please' asks the stranger, draw me a sheep'And the pilot realises that when life's events are too difficult to understand, there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries. He pulls out a pencil and paper and thus begins this wise and enchanting fable that, in teaching the secret of what is really important in life, has changed the world forever for its readers.This stunning new edition for adults of the classic book The Little Prince, includes the classic English translation by Katherine Woods and original colour illustrations which will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.This beautiful cloth-bou

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of the 2 million+ copy, worldwide bestseller, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, - soon to be a major movie starring Jim Broadbent - an exquisite, funny and heartrending parallel story.When Queenie Hennessy discovers that Harold Fry is walking the length of England to save her, and all she has to do is wait, she is shocked. Her note had explained she was dying. How can she wait? A new volunteer at the hospice suggests that Queenie should write again; only this time she must tell Harold everything. In confessing to secrets she has hidden for twenty years, she will find atonement for the past. As the volunteer points out, 'Even though you've done your travelling, you're starting a new journey too.' Queenie thought her first letter would be the end of the story. She was wrong. It was the beginning.Told in simple, emotionally-honest prose, with a mischievous bite, this is a novel about the journey we all must take to learn who we are; it is about loving and letting go. And most of all it is about finding joy in unexpected places and at times we least expect.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------'A beautiful story which will grip you, make you laugh and cry, uplift your spirit and leave you feeling profoundly grateful' DAILY MAIL'Will leave you wide-eyed and wanting to read it all again . . . wondrous' THE TIMES........................................................................................................................................................................................................RACHEL JOYCE'S NEW NOVEL MAUREEN FRY AND THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH - THE FINAL PART OF THE HAROLD FRY TRILOGY - IS PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER 2022Trade Review5 stars * The Telegraph *Touching ... a quiet, gentle, moving novel. Joyce's writing has a simplicity that sings and she captures hope best of all. * The Observer *If you loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, you'll be thrilled with this sequel. * The Sun *Invest in a box of Kleenex before you start this tear-jerker - [one of] this month's big reads. * Women & Home *A beautiful story which will grip you, make you laugh and cry, uplift your spirit and leave you feeling profoundly grateful and changed by the reading experience ... This is a wonderful book about loss, redemption and joy – and I give it my own prize. -- Bel Mooney * The Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisThis collection is stormy, romantic, strong the Full Brontë' The TimesA collection of short stories celebrating Charlotte Brontë, published in the year of her bicentenary and stemming from the now immortal words from her great work Jane Eyre.The twenty-one stories in Reader, I Married Him one of the most celebrated lines in fiction are inspired by Jane Eyre and shaped by its perennially fascinating themes of love, compromise and self-determination.A bohemian wedding party takes an unexpected turn for the bride and her daughter; a family trip to a Texan waterpark prompts a life-changing decision; Grace Poole defends Bertha Mason and calls the general opinion of Jane Eyre into question. Mr Rochester reveals a long-kept secret in Reader, She Married Me, and The Mirror boldly imagines Jane's married life after the novel ends. A new mother encounters an old lover after her daily swim and inexplicably lies to him, and a fitness instructor teaches teenage boys how to handle a pit bull terrTrade Review‘Dazzling’ DAILY MAIL ‘The success of this book owes much to [Chevalier’s] enthusiasm … it’s quite amazing to see the quality of work on show’ EVENING STANDARD ‘These stories will enrich and complicate future readings of Jane Eyre, as the best fan fiction should … If Brontë was going to drop in on any of the celebrations for her bicentenary, I can’t help but think she would get a kick out of this collection’ GUARDIAN ‘A terrific set of stories by some of our leading novelists, each of whom engages with a chosen aspect of Jane Eyre’ THE NEW STATESMAN ‘This collection is stormy, romantic, strong – the Full Brontë’ The Times ‘A clever idea well-executed; a treat for fans of short fiction and for Brontë's many ardent fans’ KIRKUS REVIEWS ‘Exemplary…written by some of today's best female writers’ THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE ‘Absorbing and entertaining, READER, I MARRIED HIM is an inventive and a satisfying tribute to a great novel’ Book Reporter ‘These pieces create a beguiling picture of women and men and desire, in which everyone is searching, like Jane, for happiness and wondering whether marriage is really an answer. The book acts as a prism spreading all kinds of literary and historical refractions, and it’s a reminder that Charlotte Brontë, too, has many sides’ GLOBE AND MAIL

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Book SynopsisFor fans of I MAY DESTROY YOU and FLEABAG and for readers who want to laugh and cry: the brave, beautiful, sometimes brutal story of a young misfit and her rocky road to womanhood, stopping at each year along the way.'I loved Tennis Lessons so much. Susannah is a phenomenally talented writer' ELIZABETH DAY'A raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story' LOUISE O'NEILL 'Incredibly funny . . . by turns charming and disgusting and I loved it' NELL FRIZZELL You're strange and wrong. You've known it from the beginning.This is the voice that rings in your ears. Because you never say the right thing. You're a disappointment to everyone. You're a far cry from beautiful - and your thoughts are ugly too.You seem bound to fail, bound to break. But you know what it is to laugh with your best friend, to feel the first tentative tingles of attraction, to take exquisite pleasure in the affront of your unruly body.You just need to find your place.From dead pets and crashed cars to family traumas and misguided love affairs, Susannah Dickey's revitalizing debut novel plunges us into the private world of one young woman as she navigates her rocky way to adulthood.'Brilliant . . . a wonderful writer, hugely talented, very funny and insightful' ALAN DAVIES'Propulsive . . . brilliantly vivid . . . stays in the mind long after reading' IRISH TIMES'A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch' OBSERVERTrade ReviewThis is a raw, fierce, shockingly honest coming-of-age story. Tennis Lessons heralds the arrival of a startling new voice in literary fiction * Louise O'Neill *I loved Tennis Lessons so much * ELIZABETH DAY *An incredibly funny and poignant portrait of what it is to be young, female and human. The whole thing is witty - the narrative voice, the dialogue, the plot and the detail - while also having searing moments of sadness, discomfort and cruelty. Susannah Dickey has created a world and a main character that is by turns disgusting and charming and I loved it. * Nell Frizzell *A beautifully written and psychologically incisive bildungsroman...the arrival of a young writer to watch * Observer *Brilliant . . . a wonderful writer, hugely talented, very funny and insightful. * Alan Davies *

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