Products
A Poet for Every Day of the Year, edited Allie Esiri, (hardback Sept 2021)
£20.00
Allie Esiri's beautiful gift anthology, A Poet for Every Day of the Year, is the perfect introduction to 366 of the world's greatest ever verse writers. Perfect for reading aloud and sharing with all the family, it is bursting at the seams with familiar favourites and exciting new discoveries. Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, Christina Rossetti and Emily Bronte sit alongside Roger McGough, Wendy Cope, Imtiaz Dharker, Leonard Cohen, Sylvia Plath and Ocean Vuong.Each of the 366 poems features a small introduction that gives a sense of who the writer was, and not just the greatness of their work. Some offer insightful biographical details or key historical context, while others may provide quirky, humorous anecdotes. The day-to-day format of the anthology invites readers to make poetry a part of their daily routine, and makes sure that they discover something inspirational, life affirming, provocative, moving or entertaining each and every day.
A River in the Trees, by Jacqueline O'Mahony ( paperback June 2019)
£9.99
Two women. Two stories. One hundred years of secrets.
A sweeping novel of love, loss, family and history for readers who love Maggie O'Farrell, John Boyne and Donal Ryan
1919 : Ireland is about to be torn apart by the War of Independence. Hannah O'Donovan helps her father hide rebel soldiers in the attic, putting her family in great danger from the British soldiers who roam the countryside. An immediate connection between Hannah and O'Riada, the leader of this hidden band of rebels, will change her life and that of her family forever .
2019 :Ellen is at a crossroads: her marriage is in trouble, her career is over and she's grieving the loss of a baby.
After years in London, she decides to come home to Ireland to face the things she's tried so hard to escape. Reaching into the past, she feels a connection to her ancestor, the mysterious Hannah O'Donovan. But why won't anyone in her family talk about Hannah? And how can this journey help Ellen put her life back together?' A gripping novel about two women, their desires and frustrations, about the wars they find themselves fighting .
A Stroke of the Pen, Lost Stories - Terry Pritchett ( paperback Sept 2024)
£20.00
A truly unmissable, beautifully illustrated collection of unearthed stories from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett: award-winning and bestselling author, and creator of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. Twenty early short stories by one of the world's best loved authors, each accompanied by exquisite original woodcut illustrations.These are rediscovered tales that Pratchett wrote under a pseudonym for newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s. Whilst none are set in the Discworld, they hint towards the world he would go on to create, containing all of his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination. Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Ministry of Nuisances with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and go on a dangerous quest through time and space with hero Kron, which begins in the ancient city of Morpork...
A STROKE OF THE PEN is a must-have collection for fans of all ages.
A Thread of Violence, Mark O’Connell ( paperback June 2024)
£16.99
From an award-winning author comes a tale of a notorious double-murder, for readers of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, or Emmanuel Carrere's The Adversary. In 1982 Malcolm Macarthur, the wealthy heir to a small estate, found himself suddenly without money. The solution, he decided, was to rob a bank.To do this, he would need a gun and a car. In the process of procuring them, he killed two people, and the circumstances of his eventual arrest in the apartment of Ireland's Attorney General nearly brought down the government. The case remains one of the most shocking in Ireland's history.
Mark O'Connell has long been haunted by the story of this brutal double murder. But in recent years this haunting has become mutual. When O'Connell sets out to unravel the mysteries still surrounding these horrific and inexplicable crimes, he tracks down Macarthur himself, now an elderly man living out his days in Dublin and reluctant to talk.
As the two men circle one another, O'Connell is pushed into a confrontation with his own narrative: what does it mean to write about a murderer?
A Tidy Ending, Joanna Cannon ( paperback March 2023)
£8.99
From the author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep - she's a clever 'domestic noir' writer with a particularly insightful touch on characters.
Linda lives a nice, normal life, on a nice, normal street with Terry, her perfectly ordinary husband. Linda's not like everyone else, she keeps herself to herself.
But she's good at solving puzzles and there are times she sees things other people might have overlooked. Because nothing on Cavendish Avenue is quite as it seems. People have started to go missing in the neighbourhood and Linda will soon discover that some secrets can't stay buried forever...
------------------------------------------------------------- 'Genuinely haunting' THE TIMES, Thrillers of the Year 'A curtain-twitching, darkly funny tale with a gloriously sinister twist' OBSERVER
A Touch of Chaos, Scarlett St.Clair ( paperback March 2024)
£8.99
The world will burn in the final installment of Scarlett St. Clair's bestselling Hades X Persephone saga. The gods are at war, the Titans have been released, and Hades and Persephone must fight tooth and nail for their happy ending.Persephone, Goddess of Spring, never guessed that a chance encounter with Hades, God of the Underworld, would change her life forever-but he did. Now embroiled in a fight for humanity and battles between the gods, Persephone and Hades have entered a world they never thought they would see. To end the chaos, Persephone must draw upon her darkness and embrace who she's become-goddess, wife, queen of the Underworld.
Once, Persephone made bargains to save those she loves. Now, she will go to war for them.
A Town Called Solace, Mary Lawson ( paperback March 2022)
£9.99
Mary Lawson is an overlooked writer in the UK, but since Graham Norton's approval on a recent BBC bookclub TV show, perhaps this is the year to discover her. This is her new book.
Clara's sister is missing. Angry, rebellious Rose, had a row with their mother, stormed out of the house and simply disappeared. Eight-year-old Clara, isolated by her distraught parents' efforts to protect her from the truth, is grief-stricken and bewildered.
Liam Kane, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town, moves into the house next door, a house left to him by an old woman he can barely remember and within hours gets a visit from the police. It seems he's suspected of a crime. At the end of her life Elizabeth Orchard is thinking about a crime too, one committed thirty years ago that had tragic consequences for two families and in particular for one small child.
She desperately wants to make amends before she dies. Set in Northern Ontario in 1972, A Town Called Solace explores the relationships of these three people brought together by fate and the mistakes of the past. By turns gripping and darkly funny, it uncovers the layers of grief and remorse and love that connect us, but shows that sometimes a new life is possible.
'Poised, elegant prose, paired with quiet drama that will break your heart. The sort of book that seems as if it has always existed because of its timeless perfection' GRAHAM NORTON
( note image is of hardback, now only available as paperback)
A Wild Child’s Book of Birds, Dara McAnulty ( hardback Sept 2022)
£14.99
Join brilliant young naturalist Dara McAnulty - winner of the 2020 Wainwright Prize for his book Diary of a Young Naturalist and author of Wild Child! - on a journey through a year in the life of birds. A Wild Child's Book of Birds is a fantastic nature book, illustrated in full colour by Barry Falls. This beautiful, informative book takes you through a year in the life of the birds you will find in Britain and Ireland and is divided into four sensational seasonal sections.Find out what birds do in each season, learn about birdsong, beaks, nests and eggs, the science of flight, migration, what to grow to attract different birds to your garden and what foods to put out on your bird table. Learn about different ways of recording what you see and about birds in literature. There are sections on birds of prey and corvids too.
A Woman of Opinion, Sean Lusk (paperback May 2025)
£16.99
From the bestselling author of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley, discover the illuminating historical novel about the extraordinary life of pioneering writer, poet and feminist, Mary Wortley Montagu. ‘
'I shall be a thousand different Marys and, in such manner, shall find the one I wish to be...'Lady Mary Wortley Montagu longs for adventure, freedom and love, believing that only by truly living can she ever escape the stalking crow of Death... An aristocratic woman in 18th century England is expected to act in certain ways.
But Mary has never let society's expectations stifle her: she writes celebrated poetry and articles advocating for equality, as well as endless, often scandalous, letters to her many powerful friends. However, Mary wants more from the world. Using her charm and connections, she engineers a job offer for her husband as ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
Travelling to Constantinople, Mary finally discovers the autonomous life she dreams of. And when she observes Turkish women 'engrafting' children against smallpox, she resolves to bring the miracle cure back to England. Despite this, Mary's reputation becomes increasingly tainted.
Her inability to abide by the rules, her outspoken opinions on women's rights, and her search for love and desire at all costs gains her powerful enemies. While Mary tries to ensure her name will live on by arranging the publication of her diaries after her death, her own daughter works against her, afraid of what they might contain... An illuminating and beautiful novel, A Woman of Opinion gives a voice to the tragically unremembered yet extraordinary life of pioneering poet and feminist, Mary Wortley Montagu.
A World For Me and You : Where Everyone is Welcome, by Uju Asika (paperback Sept 2022)
£7.99
In this uplifting picture book, you imagine a world where everyone looks identical, where all food tastes the same, where we all speak the same language. A world that is...well, pretty boring. But with an explosion of colour, the pages soon come to life.This joyful picture book encourages children to imagine the world as a vast library, with room on the shelves for everybody's story. It is a celebration of our incredibly diverse world as it really is: home to 195 countries with thousands of different cultures, 10 million colours and 4,300 religions. Written by Uju Asika, author of Bringing up Race, this beautiful picture book celebrates the beauty and joy of living in a wonderfully diverse world.
A World Full of Winter Stories, Angela McAllister ( hardback Oct 23)
£14.99
Curl up beside the fire and uncover stories from all over the world with this rich resource of wintery folk tales, myths and legends. Featuring stories of Norse gods; hibernating bears; Christmas feasts and wicked witches, there is something for everyone in this collection of winter inspired stories.The perfect anthology for Christmas, or any time you want to uncover chilly tales from lands near and far. Collected and retold by award-winning author Angela McAllister, with enchanting illustrations by Olga Baumert, this is an anthology to be read when the weather turns colder and the nights draw in. Stories include: The Spider and the Christmas Tree (Ukraine) Mother Holle (Germany) Shingebiss (Ojibwe, North America) The First Rabbits (Japan) The Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds (Bulgaria) The First Evergreens (Mongolia) The Snow Man (Denmark) Why the Bear Sleeps All Winter (North America)
A Year in the Woods, Paul Clements
£17.99
Montalto through the seasons: a lovely contemplation of woods, flora and fauna from Paul’s year spent on this Northern Irish estate.
Absolutely and Forever, Rose Tremain ( paperback June 2024)
£9.99
How do you find the courage to make your own life? An electrifying novel about first love Set in 1960s London from the bestselling Rose Tremain.
Marianne is fifteen when she falls helplessly and absolutely in love with Simon. Simon owns a Morris Minor, is in his final year at school and has a dazzling future ahead of him. Desperate to escape the stifling 1950s suburbs she has been raised in, Marianne feels sure she will be able to find true happiness with him.
However a twist of fate sees Simon’s glittering future dashed and with it Marianne’s dreams. He flees the country and Marianne, realising she will now have to make a life of her own, moves to London determined to reinvent herself. But Marianne cannot let go of that first all-encompassing love and all the while Simon is in Paris, nursing a secret that will alter everything.
‘A perfect Tremain novel… English, dark and yearning… Remarkable… Tremain shows us the things that make every human life extraordinary’ The Times
Accidental, Tim James ( paperback 6 March 2025)
£10.99
Accidental : The Greatest (Unintentional) Science Breakthroughs and How They Changed The World
Who said science was dry? Certainly not Tim James' New York Post 'James writes with infectious enthusiasm and optimism' Kirkus Reviews 'A science teacher by profession, Mr. James knows how to get his audience's attention' Wall Street Journal 'Humorous, yet deep' Professor Charles AntoineA rip-roaring adventure through science gone wrong, and accidentally changing humanity (mostly) for the better. We may imagine that science is a process of breakthroughs and light bulb moments.
But in reality, science goes wrong 99% of the time. Almost every idea a scientist comes up with is quickly disproved by a failed experiment or rival research. Science moves at a rate of inches per decade and we often like it that way.
But occasionally, just occasionally, a complete fluke happens and changes everything as we know it. From an untimely sneeze in a petri dish leading to the groundbreaking creation of antibiotics, to the incredible discovery of microwaves via melted chocolate, Accidental is a rip-roaring adventure through science gone wrong, and accidentally changing humanity for the better.
PB cover ( orange ) out early March 2025
Act of Oblivion, Robert Harris ( paperback June 2023)
£9.99
'From what is it they flee?'He took a while to reply. By the time he spoke the men had gone inside. He said quietly, 'They killed the King.'1660.Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. Having been found guilty of high treason for the murder of Charles the I, they are wanted and on the run. A reward hangs over their heads - for their capture, dead or alive.
In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He'll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. Act of Oblivion is an epic journey across continents, and a chase like no other.
'A ripping page-turner' FINANCIAL TIMES'You could not do better than this' DAILY TELEGRAPH
Adam Destroys The Internet, Adam Beales ( hardback Oct 2023)
£12.99
The second PHENOMENALLY FUNNY out-of-this-world adventure from YouTube sensation and TV presenter Adam B.
Thirteen-year-old Adam has made a lot of mistakes in his life, but this has to be the biggest. Thanks to a MASSIVE fight with his little brother Callum, the mysterious and magical computer algorithm Popularis Incrementum has exploded - and accidentally transported them both to a completely different world! No, not just a different world. A different dimension: one where Adam and Callum were never born and the internet doesn't exist, and neither does any of the technology they rely on to make their epic YouTube videos!
Will the brothers survive in this strange Altiverse where everything is ALMOST like home but ISN'T? And how do you stop an evil villain from sabotaging your dad's world-changing technology when in this universe your dad doesn't even know who you are?But for now there's only one question in Adam's mind: how do they get back home?
Africa Is Not A Country, Dipo Faloyin ( paperback April 2023)
£10.99
Warm, funny, biting and essential reading.' Adam Rutherford' Hilarious, ferocious, generous and convincing. It made me reconsider almost everything I thought I knew about Africa.' Oliver Bullough
Africa Is Not A Country is a bright portrait of modern Africa that pushes back against harmful stereotypes to tell a more comprehensive story. 'This book should be on the curriculum.' Nikki May, author of WAHALAY
You already know these stereotypes. So often Africa is depicted simplistically as an arid red landscape of famines and safaris, uniquely plagued by poverty and strife. In this funny and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective. He examines each country's colonial heritage, and explores a wide range of subjects, from chronicling urban life in Lagos and the lively West African rivalry over who makes the best Jollof rice, to the story of democracy in seven dictatorships and the dangers of stereotypes in popular culture.
By turns intimate and political, Africa Is Not A Country brings the story of the continent towards reality, celebrating the energy and fabric of its different cultures and communities in a way that has never been done before.
After A Dance, Bridget O’Connor (paperback Feb 2025)
£10.99
After a Dance is the compiled collection of short stories from acclaimed writer Bridget O'Connor, with an exclusive preface from the author's daughter, Constance Straughan. Bridget O'Connor was one of the great short story writers of her generation. She had a voice that was viscerally funny and an eye for both the glaring reality and the absurdity of the everyday.In After A Dance, we meet a selection of O'Connor's most memorable characters often living on the margin of their own lives: from the anonymous thief set on an unusual prize to the hungover best man clinging to what he's lost, to the unrepentant gold-digger who always comes out on top. From unravelling narcissists to melancholy romantics all human life is here - at its best and at its delightful worst.
After Dad, Claire Shiells (Paperback Sept 2022)
£9.99
A bittersweet love story exploring why good people sometimes do bad things... Millie Malone, a spirited, thirty-something journalist returns home to Northern Ireland after a life-changing decision leaves her London life in ruins. A family reunion soon unravels, opening old wounds and igniting new grievances regarding the murder of her father by the IRA decades earlier.Retreating to the family cottage in Donegal, Millie soon meets Finn McFall, a fisherman originally from west Belfast, who loves to paint and recite Irish poetry. In the new modern Ireland, Millie believes religion is no longer a barrier for love. But she soon finds home is a place still struggling with a fragile peace and simmering sectarianism.
As events unfold, Millie is forced to decide between love and loyalty, eventually having to ask herself the ultimate question: can love really conquer all?
Aftermath, Herald Jähner( paperback)
£12.99
Aftermath : Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich
Germany, 1945: a country in ruins.Cities have been reduced to rubble and more than half of the population are where they do not belong or do not want to be. How can a functioning society ever emerge from this chaos? In bombed-out Berlin, Ruth Andreas-Friedrich, journalist and member of the Nazi resistance, warms herself by a makeshift stove and records in her diary how a frenzy of expectation and industriousness grips the city. The Americans send Hans Habe, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and US army soldier, to the frontline of psychological warfare - tasked with establishing a newspaper empire capable of remoulding the minds of the Germans.
The philosopher Hannah Arendt returns to the country she fled to find a population gripped by a manic loquaciousness, but faces a deafening wall of silence at the mention of the Holocaust. Aftermath is a nuanced panorama of a nation undergoing monumental change. 1945 to 1955 was a raw, wild decade poised between two eras that proved decisive for Germany's future - and one starkly different to how most of us imagine it today.
Featuring black and white photographs and posters from post-war Germany - some beautiful, some revelatory, some shocking - Aftermath evokes an immersive portrait of a society corrupted, demoralised and freed - all at the same time.
Age of Vice, Deepit Kapoor ( paperback 19 Jan 2024)
£9.99
Deftly shifting through time and perspective in contemporary India, Age of Vice is an epic, action-packed story propelled by the seductive wealth, startling corruption, and bloodthirsty violence of the Wadia family-loved by some, loathed by others, feared by all. In the shadow of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals, and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: Ajay is the watchful servant, born into poverty, who rises through the family's ranks.
Sunny is the playboy heir who dreams of outshining his father, whatever the cost. And Neda is the curious journalist caught between morality and desire. Against a sweeping plot fueled by loss, pleasure, greed, yearning, violence, and revenge, will these characters' connections become a path to escape, or a trigger of further destruction?Equal parts crime thriller and family saga, transporting readers from the dusty villages of Uttar Pradesh to the urban energy of New Delhi, Age of Vice is an intoxicating novel of gangsters and lovers, false friendships, forbidden romance, and the consequences of corruption.
Paperback £9.99 coming in January 2024, cover TBC
Age Proof : The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life The No 1 International Bestseller
£10.99
Did you know that we can lead longer and healthier lives by making simple changes right now?Professor Rose Anne Kenny has 35 years of experience at the forefront of ageing medicine. In Age Proof, she draws on her own pioneering research and the latest evidence to demystify why we age and shows us that 80% of our ageing biology is within our control: we can not only live longer lives but become happier and healthier deep into our later years. Effortlessly distilling scientific theory into practical advice that we can apply to our everyday lives, Professor Kenny examines the impact that food, genetics, friendships, purpose, sex, exercise and laughter have on how our cells age.This illuminating book will show you the steps you can take to stay younger for longer - and will prove that you really are just as young as you feel.
Agency, William Gibson ( paperback, Jan 2021 )
£9.99
San Francisco, 2017. Clinton's in the White House, Brexit never happened - and Verity Jane's got herself a new job. They call Verity 'the app-whisperer,' and she's just been hired by a shadowy start-up to evaluate a pair-of-glasses-cum-digital-assistant called Eunice.Only Eunice has other ideas. Pretty soon, Verity knows that Eunice is smarter than anyone she's ever met, conceals some serious capabilities and is profoundly paranoid - which is just as well since suddenly some bad people are after Verity. Meanwhile, in a post-apocalyptic London a century from now, PR fixer Wilf Netherton is tasked by all-seeing policewoman Ainsley Lowbeer with interfering in the alternative past in which Verity and Eunice exist.
It appears something nasty is about to happen there - and fixing it will require not only Eunice's unique human-AI skillset but also a little help from the future. A future which Verity soon fears may never be . .
'One of the most influential writers around...with Gibson's trademark panache, the story rattles along with great pace and suspense' Sunday Times'One of our greatest science-fiction writers' New York Times'
Agent Sonya, Ben McIntyre ( May 2021, paperback)
£9.99
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.
AIR, John Boyne ( hardback May 2025)
£12.99
From internationally bestselling author John Boyne, a contemplative story about one man trying to move forward from the trauma of his youth to become a better father to his son. Being in limbo, 30,000 feet in the air, offers time to reflect and take stock. For Aaron Umber, it’s an opportunity to connect with his 14-year-old son as they travel halfway across the world to meet a woman who isn’t expecting them.
Unsettled by his past, and anxious for his future, Aaron is at a crossroads in life. The damage inflicted upon him during his youth has made him the man he is, but now threatens to widen the growing fissures between him and his only child. This trip could bind them closer together, or tear them further apart.
In this penetrating examination of action and consequence, fault and attribution, acceptance and resolution, John Boyne gives us a redemptive story of a father and a son on a moving journey to mend their troubled lives.
This is book four in the Elements quartet ... each a standalone story but with added layers should you read all four. These are all in the same small hardback format.
'Among the world's greatest storytellers' Donal Ryan'
All I Want is An Octopus, Tracy Gunaratnam ( paperback June 2021)
£7.99
A really fun, rhyming story about the desire for a more unusual pet. Great to see some diversity in the pictures, this is a super read out loud story.
All My Mothers, Joanna Glen ( paperback, 2022)
£9.99
MEET EVA MARTINEZ-GREEN, AN ONLY CHILD FULL OF QUESTIONS ABOUT HER BEGINNINGS. Between her emotionally absent mother and her physically absent father, there is nobody to answer them. Eva is convinced that all is not as it seems.Why are there no baby pictures of her? Why do her parents avoid all questions about her early years? When her parents' relationship crumbles, Eva begins a journey to find these answers for herself. Her desire to discover where she belongs leads Eva on a journey spanning decades and continents - and, along the way, she meets women who challenge her idea of what a mother should be, and who will change her life forever... 'A glorious journey into loving & longing' ANSTEY HARRIS
All That Glitters, Orlando Whitfield ( paperback April 2025)
£10.99
A 2024 Book of the Year pick in the Economist, Independent, Prospect, Apollo, New Yorker and at Waterstones
A 2024 Summer Read in the Economist, Telegraph, Guardian, New Yorker, i, and the Evening Standard'
An art world Great Gatsby, deliciously withering and dishy.' Patrick Radden Keefe
DECEPTION IS A FINE ART. When Orlando Whitfield first meets Inigo Philbrick, they are students dreaming of dealing art for a living. Their friendship lasts for fifteen years until one day, Inigo - by then the most successful dealer of his generation - suddenly disappears, accused of a fraud so gigantic and audacious it rocks the art world to its core. A sparklingly sharp memoir of greed, ambition and madness, All That Glitters will take you to the heart of the contemporary art world, a place wilder and wealthier than you could ever imagine.
All That It Ever Meant, Blessing Musariri ( paperback June 2024)
£8.99
An outstanding YA novel of family love, loss, and life lived between two cultures, by an astonishing, super-stylish new voice. ‘I’m going to tell you exactly how everything happened. Baba always says, Mati mwana’ngu, I love a good story but I don’t have time for a long one, so make it short.’ When Mati and her two siblings travel from London to Zimbabwe with their father, they are forced to confront the knotty family dynamics caused by the loss of their mother.
Along for the trip is Meticais, a fabulously attired gender-neutral spirit—or ghost? or imaginary friend?—who only Mati can see and talk to. Guided by Meticais’s enigmatic advice and wisdom, Mati must come to terms with her grief and with the difficulty of a life lived between two cultures, while her family learn to forge their way in a world without their monumental mother. This is distinctive, stylish, powerful writing by a vital new voice.
All The Broken Places, John Boyne ( paperback July 2023)
£8.99
From the author of the globally bestselling, multi-million-copy classic, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, comes its astonishing and powerful sequel. 'When is a monster's child culpable? Guilt and complicity are multifaceted. John Boyne is a maestro of historical fiction.Ninety-one-year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same mansion block in London for decades. She leads a comfortable, quiet life, despite her dark and disturbing past. She doesn't talk about her escape from Germany over seventy years before.
She doesn't talk about the post-war years in France with her mother. Most of all, she doesn't talk about her father, the commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps. Then, a young family moves into the apartment below her.
In spite of herself, Gretel can't help but begin a friendship with the little boy, Henry, though his presence brings back memories she would rather forget. One night, she witnesses a violent argument between Henry's mother and his domineering father, one that threatens Gretel's hard-won, self-contained existence. Gretel is faced with a chance to expiate her guilt, grief and remorse and act to save a young boy - for the second time in her life.
All the Good Things You Deserve, Elaine Feeney ( poetry April 2024)
£12.99
How do we love, trust and create in the aftermath of trauma? How do we name and speak that love?In this powerful new collection from acclaimed poet and novelist Elaine Feeney, images andmemory circle and recur, and the journey from pain towards a place of greater safety is far from linear. All the Good Things You Deserve juxtaposes violence, hurt and the tyranny of shame with love, beauty and the transformative possibilities of art.
Elaine has also written the novel ' How to Build a Boat' - also available via our website.
All the Little Bird-Hearts, by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (paperback Feb 2024)
£10.99
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023
For readers who loved Sorrow and Bliss or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - an unforgettable story of a mother and daughter whose lives are upended when a charming new couple move in next door.
Sunday Forrester lives with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Dolly, in the house she grew up in. She does things more carefully than most people. On quiet days, she must eat only white foods.
Her etiquette handbook guides her through confusing social situations, and to escape, she turns to her treasury of Sicilian folklore. The one thing very much out of her control is Dolly - her clever, headstrong, teenaged daughter. Into this carefully ordered world step Vita and Rollo, a couple who move in next door, disarm Sunday with their charm, and proceed to deliciously break just about every rule in Sunday's book.
Soon they are in and out of each others' homes, and Sunday feels loved and accepted like never before. But beneath Vita and Rollo's polish lies something else, something darker. For beneath Vita's charm lies a desperation and a certain entitled ambition - to have a daughter just like Dolly, all to herself.
All The Living and The Dead, Hayley Campbell ( paperback Feb 2023)
£8.99
All the Living and the Dead : An Exploration of the People Who Make Death Their Life's Work
In this profoundly moving and remarkable book, journalist Hayley Campbell explores society's attitudes towards death, and the impact on those who work with it every day. 'If the reason we're outsourcing this burden is because it's too much for us,' she asks, 'how do they deal with it?' Would facing death directly make us fear it less?Inspired by her own childhood fascination with the subject, she meets embalmers and a former death row executioner, mass fatality investigators and a bereavement midwife.
She talks to gravediggers who have already dug their own graves and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear. Through Campbell's incisive and candid interviews with people who see death every day, she asks: Does seeing death change you as a person? And are we all missing something vital by letting death remain hidden?
All The Lonely People, Mike Gayle ( Pb, Feb 2021)
£8.99
In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship and fulfilment. But Hubert Bird is lying. The truth is day after day drags by without him seeing a single soul.Until, that is, he receives some good news - good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out. Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all .
. . Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird.
But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows will he ever get to live the life he's pretended to have for so long?From bestselling author Mike Gayle, All the Lonely People is by turns a funny and moving meditation on love, race, old age and friendship that will not only charm and uplift, but also remind you of the power of ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference.
Alone, Barry Falls ( paperback 4 Mar 2021)
£7.99
Barry Falls is a NI based illustrator who brings his wonderful art and comic understanding of reading aloud to this book, it is full of humour, rhyme and joy.
There once was a boy called Billy McGill who lived by himself at the top of a hill. He spent every day in his house all alone for Billy McGill liked to be on his own. But life doesn't always turn out how you plan it...
One day Billy hears the squeak of a mouse - destroying his perfectly peaceful existence. So he gets a cat to catch the mouse. But the cat and the mouse make friends.
So he gets a dog to chase the cat. But they all play together too. So then he gets a bear...
then a tiger... and on it goes, until Billy's house is so filled with characters that he has to move out. Will he find that he still craves peace and quiet, or is it actually quite lovely to have company and friends?The brilliant second book from Barry Falls is a laugh-out-loud tale of growing chaos, with a lovely message about how it's good to have friends.
Along Came A Different, by Tom McLaughlin (paperback Feb 2019)
£7.99
Light hearted take on ‘being different’ using colours. Funny and yet the message is clear.
Reds love being red. Yellows love being yellow. And Blues love being blue.
The problem is that they just don't like each other. But one day, along comes a different colour who likes Reds, Yellows and Blues, and suddenly everything starts to change. Maybe being different doesn't mean you can't be friends ...
A very special picture book that supports the adage that there is more that unites us than divides us. Along Came a Different just goes to show how much better we can all be when we come together to find common ground as friends. Every bookshelf should have a copy.
Paperback ( same cover as hardback, pictured ) from Feb 2019 priced at £7.99
Always, Morris Gleitzman ( paperback October 2021)
£7.99
The much-anticipated final journey in the story of Felix, hero of Morris Gleitzman's multi-award-winning Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe and Now. It's fifteen years since readers were first introduced to Felix in Once and across six celebrated books, our brave young hero has survived many unforgettable and emotional journeys. Now comes the seventh and final part of Felix's story, bringing to a powerful climax a series that countless young readers around the world will remember - Always.
About Once ....
My name is Felix. This is my story. Felix has been living in an orphanage for three years and eight months when the men in armbands arrive to burn the books. Going on the run in search of his parents, Felix soon learns that Poland in 1942 is not a safe place for Jewish boys. But can his gift for storytelling keep him one step ahead of the Nazis and help him find his parents? 'Morris Gleitzman has a rare gift for writing very funny stories and an even rarer gift of wrapping very serious stories inside them' - Guardian
Amari and the Great Game, BB Alston ( paperback May 2023)
£7.99
Sequel to the New York Times bestseller Amari and the Night Brothers!
"Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black" in this magical second book in the New York Times bestselling Supernatural Investigations trilogy, soon to be a major movie starring Marsai Martin. Perfect for 8+ fans of Percy Jackson and Nevermoor. After finding her brother and saving the entire supernatural world, Amari Peters is convinced her first full summer as a Junior Agent will be a breeze.
But between the fearsome new Head Minister's strict anti-magician agenda, fierce Junior Agent rivalries, and her brother Quinton's curse steadily worsening, Amari's plate is full. So when the secretive League of Magicians offers her a chance to stand up for magiciankind as its new leader, she declines. She's got enough to worry about! But her refusal allows someone else to step forward, a magician with dangerous plans for the League.
This challenge sparks the start of the Great Game, a competition to decide who will become the Night Brothers' successor and determine the future of magiciankind. The Great Game is both mysterious and deadly, but among the winner's magical rewards is Quinton's last hope . .. so how can Amari refuse?
Amari and the Night Brothers, BB Alston( Paperback August 2021)
£7.99
Soon to be a major movie starring Marsai Martin. Perfect for readers aged 8+ and fans of Percy Jackson, Nevermoor and Men in Black! Amari Peters knows three things. Her big brother Quinton has gone missing.No one will talk about it. His mysterious job holds the secret ... So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she's certain this is her chance to find Quinton.
But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real, and her roommate is a weredragon. Amari must compete against kids who've known about the supernatural world their whole lives, and when each trainee is awarded a special supernatural talent, Amari is given an illegal talent - one that the Bureau views as dangerous. With an evil magician threatening the whole supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she is the enemy, Amari has never felt more alone.
But if she doesn't pass the three tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton ... B. B.
Alston lives in Lexington, SC. Amari and the Night Brothers is his debut middle grade novel. When not writing, he can be found eating too many sweets and exploring country roads to see where they lead.
