The Weight of Love, Hilary Fannin ( paperback, March 2021)

£8.99

Robin and Ruth meet in the staff room of an East London school.

Robin, desperate for a real connection, instantly falls in love. Ruth, recently bereaved and fragile, is tentative. When Robin introduces Ruth to his childhood friend, Joseph, a tortured and talented artist, their attraction is instant.

Powerless, Robin watches on as the girl he loves and his best friend begin a passionate and turbulent affair. Dublin 2017. Robin and Ruth are married and have a son, Sid, who is about to emigrate to Berlin.

Theirs is a marriage haunted by the ghost of Joseph and as the distance between them grows, Robin makes a choice that could have potentially devastating consequences. The Weight of Love is a beautiful exploration of how we manage life when the notes and beats of our existence, so carefully arranged, begin to slip off the stave. An intimate and moving account of the intricacies of marriage and the myriad ways in which we can love and be loved.

'Delicate, powerful, hypnotic' DONAL RYAN'

Fannin's novel is already likely to be a serious contender for one of the books of the year' SUNDAY TIMES

Here Is The Beehive, Sarah Crossan ( paperback July 2021)

£8.99

What would you do if you lost someone the world never knew was yours? For three years, Ana has been consumed by an affair with Connor, a client at her law firm. Their love has been consigned to hotel rooms and dark corners of pubs, their relationship kept hidden from the world. So the morning that Ana's company receives a call to say that Connor is dead, her secret grief has nowhere to go.

Desperate for an outlet, Ana seeks out the shadowy figure who has always stood just beyond her reach - Connor's wife Rebecca...

'Utterly gripping' RODDY DOYLE'

One of Paul and I's favourites - really engrossing read - Linda 

Yours Cheerfully, AJ Pearce ( hardback, July 2021)

£14.99

From the author of Sunday Times Bestseller, Dear Mrs Bird, comes a much hoped-for follow up. Charming, hilarious and inspiring, Yours Cheerfully is just the tonic we've all been waiting for. '

'Full of wit, friendship and the uplifting knowledge that when people come together, great changes can be made' - Katie Fforde

London, September, 1941.
Following the departure of the formidable Editor, Henrietta Bird, from Woman's Friend magazine, things are looking up for Emmeline Lake as she takes on the challenge of becoming a young wartime advice columnist. Her relationship with boyfriend Charles is blossoming, while Emmy's best friend Bunty, is still reeling from the very worst of the Blitz, but bravely looking to the future. Together, the friends are determined to Make a Go of It.

When the Ministry of Information calls on Britain's women's magazines to help recruit desperately needed female workers to the war effort, Emmy is thrilled to be asked to step up and help. But when she and Bunty meet a young woman who shows them the very real challenges that women war workers face, Emmy must tackle a life-changing dilemma between doing her duty, and standing by her friends. Every bit as funny, touching and cheering as AJ Pearce's debut, Dear Mrs Bird, Yours Cheerfully is a celebration of friendship, a testament to the strength of women and the importance of lifting each other up, even in the most challenging times.

Pure Gold, John Patrick McHugh ( hardback, June 24th 2021)

£12.99

'Ireland produces writers the way some countries produce footballers, and the latest is John Patrick McHugh' Sunday Times 'One of the most exciting writers working in Ireland today' SALLY ROONEY, author of Normal People 

You had to scrap for love. In this stunning debut short story collection exploring betrayal and longing on an imagined island off the west coast of Ireland, John Patrick McHugh takes us deep into a community of individuals who are lost, yearning, and self-deceiving.

We see two boys set fires while their worlds fall apart, follow a couple driving out to the hills in a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, watch a widow seek a stranger's help to bury her grief, see a horse crash a house party. Whether falling in love or turning on one another the residents here are united by a quest for connection in the treacherous waters of small-town boredom. In stories that are bitterly funny, profoundly moving and crackling with wild energy, McHugh embeds us in the fragile moments on which a life can twist and turn.

Pure Gold heralds the arrival of a thrilling new literary voice.

Devotion, Madeline Stevens ( paperback, 1 July 2021)

£8.99

'Sexy-but-literary' Sunday Times

[A] literary psychological smoulderer' Metro

Desire. Deception. Destruction. Devotion. Ella is 26, lonely, hungry and far from home. Lonnie is also 26, but rich, talented and beautiful - with a husband and son to match.

Their fates intertwine the day Ella is hired as the family's nanny. She finds herself mesmerised by Lonnie's girlish affection and disregard for the normal boundaries of friendship and marriage, but soon resentment grows too. Crackling with sensuality and suspense, Madeline Stevens's debut novel is a dizzying thriller in which roles are confused and reversed and nothing is ever quite as it seems.

The Promise, Damon Galgut ( hardback, 17 June 2021)

£16.99

A masterpiece of a family in crisis from twice Booker-shortlisted author Damon Galgut'

Astonishing' Colm Toibin'

The Promise charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living on a farm outside Pretoria. The Swarts are gathering for Ma's funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for -- not least the failed promise to the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life.

After years of service, Salome was promised her own house, her own land... yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled. The narrator's eye shifts and blinks: moving fluidly between characters, flying into their dreams; deliciously lethal in its observation.

And as the country moves from old deep divisions to its new so-called fairer society, the lost promise of more than just one family hovers behind the novel's title. In this story of a diminished family, sharp and tender emotional truths hit home. Confident, deft and quietly powerful, The Promise is literary fiction at its finest.

The most important book of the last ten years' Edmund White. Tipped for future Booker success?! 

Frog Vs Toad, Ben Mantle ( picture book, June 2021)

£7.99

What Happened To You? James Catchpole & Karen George ( April 2021)

£6.99

Class War, A Teachers Diary (Anon, 15 June 2021)

£16.99

Rumour has it this anonymous teacher is from a Belfast school ... can anyone guess?!!

Twenty-five years a teacher. I could have committed a double murder and been out by now.' Ever wondered what life is really like for today's teachers? Reasoning that it's either laugh or cry, this author does both while intoning a mantra of 'July, July, July' and praying for a minor heart attack in return for a foot in the door to early retirement. From fending off inspectors to dealing with the alarming rise in mental health issues and increasing alienation of young people, it's fair to say the job has never been more difficult.

Written by an anonymous author working in a state secondary school, this uproariously funny, desperately necessary book takes us inside the classroom to see morale at rock-bottom and a system on its knees. Hilarious, heart-breaking and impassioned, Class War is about the importance of good schools and talented teachers at a time when they have never been more essential. Painting a heartfelt portrait of the profession and an education system where no one should be left behind but too many are, this book reveals there is laughter to be found even as a river of effluent is sluicing down the pipe.

Love In Five Acts, Daniela Krien (hardback, 29 April 2021)

£14.99

"A beautiful novel of what it is to be a women in modern Europe" New European"

 Paula has lost a child, and a husband. Where will she find her happiness? Fiercely independent Judith thinks more of horses than men, but that doesn't stop her looking for love online. Brida is a writer with no time to write, until she faces a choice between her work and her family.

Abandoned by the "perfect" man, Malika struggles for recognition from her parents. Her sister Jorinde, an actor, is pregnant for a third time, but how can she provide for her family alone? Love in Five Acts explores what is left to five women when they have fulfilled their roles as wives, mothers, friends, lovers, sisters and daughters. As teenagers they experienced the fall of the Berlin Wall, but freedom brings with it another form of pressure: the pressure of choice.

Punchy and entirely of the moment, Love in Five Acts engages head-on with what it is to be a woman in the twenty-first century. Translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

Wild Child, Dara McAnulty ( 8th July 2021)

£14.99

The Wind In The Willows - 90th Anniversary picture book version

£6.99

A stylish foiled picture book adaptation - celebrating 90 years of E. H. Shepard's iconic original illustrations!

Story beautifully abridged by Timothy Knapman, perfect for 3 -6  year olds to introduce them to the classic story. 

"Don't you know?" grinned Rat. "Oh, Mole! There is nothing half so much fun as simply messing about in boats!" A world of wonders awaits Mole as he emerges from his little underground home one spring day.

He discovers the sights and delights of the river aboard Rat's rowing boat. He ventures into the Wild Wood, home to kindly Badger. In the company of fun-loving Toad, he feels the thrill of the open road.

But Mole soon learns that where there is Toad, there is trouble. Toad has a dangerous new hobby, and Mole and his friends must use all their wits and courage to keep him from disaster! Kenneth Grahame's delightful characters, Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad, have entertained generations of children. 

Yours Cheerfully, A J Pearce ( hardback, June 2021)

£14.99

The Lost Cafe Schindler, Meriel Schindler ( hardback, May 2021)

£20.00

by Meriel Schindler (Author)

Kurt Schindler was an impossible man. His daughter Meriel spent her adult life trying to keep him at bay.

Kurt had made extravagant claims about their family history. Were they really related to Franz Kafka and Oscar Schindler, of Schindler's List fame? Or Hitler's Jewish doctor - Dr Bloch? What really happened on Kristallnacht, the night that Nazis beat Kurt's father half to death and ransacked the family home? When Kurt died in 2017, Meriel felt compelled to resolve her mixed feelings about him, and to solve the mysteries he had left behind. Starting with photos and papers found in Kurt's isolated cottage, Meriel embarked on a journey of discovery taking her to Austria, Italy and the USA.

She reconnected family members scattered by feuding and war. She pieced together an extraordinary story taking in two centuries, two world wars and a family business: the famous Cafe Schindler. Launched in 1922 as an antidote to the horrors of the First World War, this grand cafe became the whirling social centre of Innsbruck.

And then the Nazis arrived. Through the story of the Cafe Schindler and the threads that spool out from it, this moving book weaves together memoir, family history and an untold story of the Jews of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It explores the restorative power of writing, and offers readers a profound reflection on memory, truth, trauma and the importance of cake.

'Rigorously researched, The Lost Cafe Schindler successfully weaves together a compelling and at times deeply moving memoir and family history that also chronicles the wider story of the Jews of the Austro-Hungarian Empire... It distinguishes itself through its combination of mystery and reconciliation.' -- The Times T2

The Passenger, (hardback, June 2021)

£14.99

Why The Germans Do It Better, John Kampfner ( paperback June 2021)

£9.99

Excellent and provocative... a passionate, timely book.' Sunday Times'A fine new book... thoughtful, deeply reported and impeccably even-handed.' The Times

Emerging from a collection of city states 150 years ago, no other country has had as turbulent a history as Germany or enjoyed so much prosperity in such a short time frame.

Today, as much of the world succumbs to authoritarianism and democracy is undermined from its heart, Germany stands as a bulwark for decency and stability. Mixing personal journey and anecdote with compelling empirical evidence, this is a critical and entertaining exploration of the country many in the West still love to hate. Raising important questions for our post-Brexit landscape, Kampfner asks why, despite its faults, Germany has become a model for others to emulate, while Britain fails to tackle contemporary challenges.

Part memoir, part history, part travelogue, Why the Germans Do It Better is a rich and witty portrait of an eternally fascinating country.

Agent Sonya, Ben McIntyre ( May 2021, paperback)

£8.99

Agent Sonya : From the bestselling author of The Spy and The Traitor

by Ben MacIntyre (Author)

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'His best book yet' The Times'

'Macintyre has found a real-life heroine worthy of his gifts as John le Carre's nonfiction counterpart' New York Times

From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, to preventing nuclear war (or so she believed) by stealing the science of atomic weaponry from Britain to give to Moscow, Ursula Kuczynski Burton conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century. Born to a German Jewish family, as Ursula grew, so did the Nazis' power. A fanatical opponent of the fascism that ravaged her homeland, she was drawn to communism as a young woman, motivated by the promise of a fair and peaceful society.

She eventually became a spymaster, saboteur, bomb-maker and secret agent. In Agent Sonya, Britain's most acclaimed historian vividly reveals the fascinating tale of a life that would change the course of history. Classic Ben Macintyre - a gripping ride, based on meticulous research, that reads like a novel - this is the greatest spy story never told.

Should We Stay or Should We Go? Lionel Shriver ( hardback 10 June 2021)

£18.99

Disgust expands and bursts into belly laughs... a very funny book' Sunday Times 'I think Shriver's novels are wonderful... fun, smart and, perhaps because of their author's unconventional political views, unlike anything else you'll read' Financial Times

When her father dies, Kay Wilkinson can't cry. Over ten years, Alzheimer's had steadily eroded this erudite man. Surely one's own father passing should never come as such a relief? Both healthy and vital medical professionals in their early fifties, Kay and her husband Cyril have seen too many of their elderly NHS patients in similar states of decay. Determined to die with dignity, Cyril makes a modest proposal: they should agree to commit suicide together once they've both turned eighty.

When their deal is sealed in 1991, the spouses are blithely looking forward to another three decades together. But then they turn eighty. By turns hilarious and touching, playful and grave, Should We Stay or Should We Go portrays twelve parallel universes, each exploring a possible future for Kay and Cyril, from a purgatorial Cuckoo's-Nest-style retirement home to the discovery of a cure for ageing, from cryogenic preservation to the unexpected pleasures of dementia.

Weaving in a host of contemporary issues - Brexit, mass migration, the coronavirus - Lionel Shriver has pulled off a rollicking page-turner in which we never have to mourn deceased characters, because they'll be alive and kicking in the very next chapter.

Summer water, Sarah Moss ( paperback, 24 June 2021)

£8.99

The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2021

It is the summer solstice, but in a faded Scottish cabin park the rain is unrelenting. Twelve people on holiday with their families look on as the skies remain resolutely grey. A woman goes running up the Ben as if fleeing; a teenage boy chances the dark waters of the loch in his kayak; a retired couple head out despite the downpour, driving too fast on the familiar bends.

But there are newcomers too, and one particular family, a mother and daughter with the wrong clothes and the wrong manners, start to draw the attention of the others. Who are they? Where are they from? Should they be here at all? As darkness finally falls, something is unravelling . .

From the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss' Summerwater is a devastating story told over twenty-four hours in the Scottish highlands, and a searing exploration of our capacity for both kinship and cruelty in these divided times. 

This Eden, Ed O’Loughlin ( 10 June, hardback)

£16.99

This Eden is a smart modern-day adventure reminiscent of both the cyber noir novels of William Gibson and the golden age of espionage fiction. 'An incredibly fast-paced literary thriller, tricksy & crammed with ideas, beautifully written, occupying its own unique territory somewhere between Graham Greene & William Gibson' Kevin Power

Ever felt like you were living in a dystopian tech thriller? That's because you are... Michael is out of his depth.  The closest he ever came to working in tech was when he rode a delivery bike for a food app in Vancouver. Yet when his coder girlfriend dies, he is inexplicably headhunted by sinister tech mogul Campbell Fess, who transplants him to Silicon Valley. There, a reluctant female spy named Aoife lures him into the hands of Towse, an enigmatic war-gamer, who tricks them both into joining his quest to save the world, and reality itself, from the deadliest weapon ever invented.

Hunted by government agents and corporate goons, manipulated at every turn by the philosophising Towse, Aoife and Michael find themselves in an intercontinental chase which will take them from California to New York, from the forests of Uganda to Jerusalem, Gaza, Alexandria and Paris, and to a final showdown with the truth in Aoife's native Ireland. Fast-moving, exhilarating and tense, This Eden is both a classic spy novel and speculative fiction for the here and the now. O'Loughlin adapts the propulsive thriller form to create a sharp yet passionate account of a world under mortal threat from cyber-warfare, feral money, runaway technology, and a cynical onslaught on truth itself.