Products
The Boy Who Saved A Bear, Nizrana Farook ( paperback April 2023)
£7.99
A boy and a bear meet, become friends and have the adventure of their lives! From the author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant comes another brilliant escapade. The fourth thrilling adventure set in a fictional Sri Lanka is jam-packed with peril, thieves and a terrifying bear!Nuwan works at the library, delivering books. One day, he accidentally takes away a very valuable key that's been hidden inside one of the books, and in the process thwarts the plans of some very dangerous thieves.On the run, he hides in a cave, only to discover in the middle of the night that he is sharing it with a big, hairy, terrifying bear! After some hair-raising moments, he and the bear reach an understanding and they travel on together, evading the bad guys and hoping the key will unlock the answers to the mystery so that they can stop running and return home... Cover and inside illustrations by David Dean.
The Boy Whose Wishes Came True, Helen Rutter ( pb, Feb 2022)
£6.99
Archie Crumb is having a tough time.Picked-on at school, picked last for any team; his home has been sad and quiet since Dad left and his luck feels like its run out. But things start looking up when Archie bumps his head and literally sees stars: his favourite famous football player standing in front of him, granting him nine wishes. This is INCREDIBLE! Unlimited ice cream, a whole day of eating pizza and playing on the X-Box, revenge on the bullies, becoming the star player in a televised football tournament: finally, all his dreams can come true! Will Archie wish his way to happiness? Or will he realise that magic wishes may be wonderful, but only he has the true power to change his life? Perfect for fans of Lisa Thompson, David Baddiel and Jacqueline Wilson Helen Rutter's debut novel The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh was chosen as a Waterstones Children's Book of the Month Funny, moving, inventive, uplifting children's fiction at its finest.
Praise for The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh 'Very funny, very touching, very truthful - a total delight to read.' Jacqueline Wilson 'Amazing' Noel Fielding 'This incredibly debut tugs at your heartstrings and makes you laugh out loud in equal measure. I guarantee you'll be cheering along in the final pages!' Lisa Thompson '
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse : The Animated Story, Charlie Mackesy( November 2022)
£20.00
The Animated Story....
A journey, in search of home. Charlie Mackesy's beloved The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse has been adapted into an animated short film, coming to BBC One and iPlayer this Christmas. This beautifully made hardback celebrates the work of over 100 animators across two years of production - with Charlie's distinctive illustrations brought to life in full colour with hand-drawn traditional animation and accompanying hand-written script. "I made a film with some friends about a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse - their journey together and the boy's search for home.
I hope this book gives you courage and makes you feel loved." Love Charlie x
The Boy: His Stories and How they Came to Be, by Oliver Jeffers ( 2018 hardback)
£25.00
A spectacular collection of four much-loved modern classics from the multi award-winning, internationally best-selling picture book creator, Oliver Jeffers, along with a captivating behind-the-scenes look at the making of each in four fascinating sketchbook sections. Oliver Jeffers is originally from NI, although now based in New York.
Contains the following stories: How to Catch a Star, Lost and Found, The Way Back Home, & Up and Down. Also within the pages of this exquisite collection is a special letter from Oliver Jeffers and more than 100 wonderfully distinctive sketches, notes and ideas, carefully chosen from his archives and revealed here for the first time. A real collectible edition.
The Broken House, Growing Up Under Hitler, Horst Kruger ( Paperback June 2022)
£9.99
'Exquisitely written... haunting... Few books, I think, capture so well the sense of a life broken for ever by trauma and guilt' - Sunday Times'
( image of hardback only)
In 1965 the German journalist Horst Kruger attended the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt, where 22 former camp guards were put on trial for the systematic murder of over 1 million men, women and children.
Twenty years after the end of the war, this was the first time that the German people were confronted with the horrific details of the Holocaust executed by 'ordinary men' still living in their midst. The trial sent Kruger back to his childhood in the 1930s, in an attempt to understand 'how it really was, that incomprehensible time'. He had grown up in a Berlin suburb, among a community of decent, lower-middle-class homeowners.
This was not the world of torch-lit processions and endless ranks of marching SA men. Here, people lived ordinary, non-political lives, believed in God and obeyed the law, but were gradually seduced and intoxicated by the promises of Nazism. He had been, Kruger realised, 'the typical child of innocuous Germans who were never Nazis, and without whom the Nazis would never have been able to do their work'.
This world of respectability, order and duty began to crumble when tragedy struck. Kruger's older sister decided to take her own life, leaving the parents struggling to come to terms with the inexplicable. The author's teenage rebellion, his desire to escape the stifling conformity of family life, made him join an anti-Nazi resistance group.
He narrowly escaped imprisonment only to be sent to war as Hitler embarked on the conquest of Europe. Step by step, a family that had fallen under the spell of Nazism was being destroyed by it. Written in accomplished prose of lingering beauty, The Broken House is a moving coming-of-age story that provides an unforgettable portrait of life under the Nazis.
Yet the book's themes also chime with our own times - how the promise of an 'era of greatness' by a populist leader intoxicates an entire nation, how thin is the veneer of civilisation, and what makes one person a collaborator and another a resister.
The Bureau, Eoin McNamee ( hardback April 2025)
£18.99
Lorraine would say afterwards that she was smitten straight off with Paddy Farrell. You could tell that he was occupying the room in a different way, he found the spaces that fitted him. She was the kind of girl the papers called vivacious, always a bit of dazzle to her.
Could she not see there was death about him? Could he not see there was death about her? Paddy worked the border, a place of road closures, hijackings, sudden death. Everything bootleg and tawdry, nobody is saying that the law is paid off but it is. This is strange terrain, unsolid, ghosted through.
There's illicit cash coming across the border and Brendan's backstreet Bureau de Change is the place to launder it. Brendan knows the rogue lawyers, the nerve shot policemen, the alcoholic judges and he doesn't care about getting caught. For the Bureau crew getting caught is only the start of the game.
Paddy and his associates were a ragged band and honourless and their worth to themselves was measured in thievery and fraud. But Lorraine was not a girl to be treated lightly. She's cast as a minx, a criminal's moll but she's bought a shotgun. And she's bought a grave.
Some of the most beautiful prose being written in Ireland today' Irish Time
The Cabin At the End of the World, Paul Tremblay ( paperback, 2018)
£9.99
The Stoker Award-winning, taut and propulsive twist on home invasion horror, packed psychological suspense. Soon to be a major film, Knock At the Cabin, directed by M. Night Shyamalan.Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake, with their closest neighbours more than two miles in either direction. As Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen but he is young and friendly.
Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologises and tells Wen, "None of what's going to happen is your fault". Three more strangers arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out, "Your dads won't want to let us in, Wen.
But they have to. We need your help to save the world."So begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are intertwined.
The Career Workbook, School of Life
£22.00
A thought-provoking and practical workbook with exercises to help you discover a career that is truly fulfilling. There are few questions harder or lonelier than, ‘What should I do with the rest of my working life?’ We are often simply meant to know the answer. But in private, some of us are acutely aware that we aren’t happy where we are and would love to find a way towards a job that is truly fulfilling.Tantalisingly, many of the answers we need to better direct our futures are inside us, but we need help getting them out, making sense of them and assembling them into a plan. This workbook contains a series of prompts, questions and essays designed to help us systematically understand more about our working identities and to guide us (with something like the skill of a great career therapist) towards an approach to work that will honour our talents and allow us to thrive.
The Cat Prince, Michael Pederson ( hardback July 2023)
£12.99
Open-hearted, gut-wrenching and yet elegiac, these poems pack a hefty emotional punch. Michael Pederson's poems display a huge vocabulary for love, love in all its many forms and guises. These poems chart the journey from boyhood to manhood, the highs and the lows, the losses and the gains, always working their way towards an essential, emotional truth' Jackie Kay'If the alphabet is a piano keyboard then Michael Pedersen plays it with the confidence and panache of a jazz improviser who knows that every note can have the potential to change someone's life.
Be amazed by this book' Ian McMillan'Michael's poems are so physical you can almost touch the images in them. Fabulously sensual and alive. I adore poetry like this' Stephen FryThe Cat Prince & Other Poems is the third collection from prize-winning poet, and author of Boy Friends, Michael Pedersen.
Paperback available from July 2024, at £10.99
The Cat Who Saved Books, Sosuke Natsukawa ( paperback Sept 2022)
£9.99
Grandpa used to say it all the time: books have tremendous power. But what is that power really? Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books.Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.
After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help.
The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone .
. . The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming story about finding courage, caring for others - and the tremendous power of books. If you enjoyed Tales from the Cafe, and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, you will love this.
Sosuke Natsukawa's international bestseller, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.
The Christmas Owl, Gideon Sterer ( paperback Oct 2023)
£7.99
Bursting with Christmas magic, discover the heart-warming true story of a little owl who is discovered living in the world's most famous Christmas tree.
When Little Owl's home is cut down by people saying it will make a beautiful Christmas tree, she's not sure she wants anything to do with Christmas, whatever that is. But when she wakes up, she finds that her tree has been transported to the Big City! Far from home, she's soon to find out the true meaning of Christmas.
Inspired by the real life story of the little owl who found her way to New York in the famous Christmas tree outside the Rockefeller Center and who featured in Marvel's hit series Hawkeye on Disney+. Co-written by Ellen Kalish, caretaker of the real owl, The Christmas Owl is a charming story of friendship, compassion and Christmas spirit.
The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
£25.00
A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a parable for these strange times. STEP INTO THE CITY. .
. When a young man’s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he sets his heart on finding the imaginary city where her true self lives. His search will lead him to take a job in a remote library with mysteries of its own.
When he finally makes it to the walled city, a shadowless place of horned beasts and willow trees, he finds his beloved working in a different library – a dream library. But she has no memory of their life together in the other world and, as the lines between reality and fantasy start to blur, he must decide what he’s willing to lose. A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, The City and Its Uncertain Walls is a parable for these strange times.
The City Changes Its Face, Eimear McBride ( hardback Feb 2025)
£20.00
'Eimear McBride does extraordinary things with language . . .she breaks every rule in the grammar book and gleefully gets away with it.' GUARDIAN
'A typical McBride work. Praise doesn't come much higher.' FINANCIAL TIMES
So, all would be grand then, as far as the eye could see. Which it was, for a while.
Up until the city, remembering its knives and forks, invited itself in to dine. It's 1995. Outside their grimy window, the city rushes by.
But in the flat there is only Stephen and Eily. Their bodies, the tangled sheets. Unpacked boxes stacked in the kitchen and the total obsession of new love.
Eighteen months later, the flat feels different. Love is merging with reality. Stephen's teenage daughter has re-appeared, while Eily has made a choice, the consequences of which she cannot outrun.
Now they face a reckoning for all that's been left unspoken - emotions, secrets and ambitions. Tonight, if they are to find one another again, what must be said aloud?Love rallies against life. Time tells truths.
The city changes its face.
The City of God, Michael Russell ( paperback April 2024)
£9.99
Italy, 1943. Irish detective Stefan Gillespie leaves the chaos of Nazi-occupied Rome for neutral Switzerland on a mission his government knows nothing about. Waiting for a late-night connection in Zurich he sees a train that shouldn't be there.
The train's SS guards, who shouldn't be there either, beat him to within an inch of his life. But Stefan's perilous journey begins in Rome with the barbaric murder of an idealistic young Irish priest. The Eternal City is a place of vengeance, duplicity and betrayal that has even infected the City of God itself, the Vatican.
In a war that is everywhere, not even neutrals, can escape the surrounding darkness. Praise for Michael Russell'In The City of God, Michael Russell again captures wartime Europe's uncertainties through his richly drawn Garda inspector Stefan Gillespie' Irish Times'Complex but compelling . .
. utterly vivid and convincing' Independent on Sunday'A superb, atmospheric thriller' Irish Independent'A thriller to keep you guessing and gasping' Daily Mail'Atmospheric' Sunday Times
The Coast Road - Alan Murrin (paperback from May 2025)
£16.99
It’s 1994 in County Donegal, Ireland, and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley – the writer, the bohemian, the woman who left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship with a married man in Dublin.
But now Colette is back, and nobody knows why. Returning to the community to try and reclaim her old life, Colette quickly learns that they are unwilling to give it back to her. The man to whom she is still married is denying her access to her children, and while the legalisation of divorce might be just around the corner, Colette finds herself caught between her old life and the freedom for which she risked everything.
Desperate to see her children, she enlists the help of Izzy, a housewife and mother of two, and the women forge a friendship that will send them on a spiralling journey – one toward a path of self-discovery, and the other toward tragedy. Brilliantly observed from a sharp new literary talent, The Coast Road is a novel about a closed community and the consequences of daring to move against the tide.
‘A beautiful, accomplished debut’ LOUISE KENNEDY
The Colony, Audrey Magee ( Feb 2023, paperback)
£9.99
He handed the easel to the boatman, reaching down the pier wall towards the sea. Mr Lloyd has decided to travel to the island by boat without engine - the authentic experience. Unbeknownst to him, Mr Masson will also soon be arriving for the summer.Both will strive to encapsulate the truth of this place - one in his paintings, the other by capturing its speech, the language he hopes to preserve. But the people who live on this rock - three miles long and half-a-mile wide - have their own views on what is being recorded, what is being taken and what is given in return. Soft summer days pass, and the islanders are forced to question what they value and what they desire.
As the autumn beckons, and the visitors head home, there will be a reckoning. ''Beautifully written.' STELLA, The Telegraph'The Colony contains multitudes - on families, on men and women, on rural communities - with much of it just visible on the surface, like the flicker of a smile or a shark in the water.' John Self, The Times'Austere and stark . .
. a story about language and identity, about art, oppression, freedom and colonialism. The Colony is a novel about big, important things.' Financial Times'The Colony is a beautiful, haunting and incredibly powerful book; a reading experience unlike any other, so vivid you can see it all unfold in front of your eyes.
Audrey Magee has a true storytelling gift. Absolutely mesmerising.' FIONA SCARLETT
The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas (paperback)
£7.99
One day, Colour Monster wakes up feeling very confused. His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad and scared all at once! To help him, a little girl shows thim what each feeling means through colour. What is the Colour Monster feeling? And can you help him feel a little less mixed up? A gentle exploration of feelings for young and old alike.
The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder ( paperback) by Sarah J Harris
£7.99
`A beautiful, original novel, at once funny and tragic and brave' Sarah Pinborough
There are three things you need to know about Jasper.
1.He sees the world completely differently. 2. He can't recognise faces - not even his own.
3. He is the only witness to the murder of his neighbour, Bee Larkham. But uncovering the truth about that night will change his world forever...
An extraordinary and compelling debut which will make you see the world in a way you've never seen it before.
For fans of Mark Haddon and Joanna Cannon.
The Continental Affair, Christine Mangan ( paperback June 2024)
£9.99
With gorgeous prose, European glamour, and an expansive wanderlust, Christine Mangan's The Continental Affair is a fast-paced, Agatha Christie-esque caper packed full of romance and suspense. 'Reads as if Jean Rhys and Patricia Highsmith collaborated on a script for Alfred Hitchcock; it is an elegant, delirious fever dream of a book.' The Irish TimesMeet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, travelling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul.
Except this isn't the first time they have met. It's the 1960s, and Louise is running. From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen-and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it.
Across the Continent-from Granada to Paris, from Belgrade to Istanbul-Henri follows. He's desperate to leave behind his own troubles and the memories of his past life as a gendarme in Algeria. But Henri soon realises that Louise is no ordinary traveller.
As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold-and whether it involves one another. Stylish and atmospheric, The Continental Affair takes you on an unforgettable journey through the twisty, glamorous world of 1960s Europe.
The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese ( paperback March 2024)
£10.99
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water follows a family in southern India that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning - and in Kerala, water is everywhere.
At the turn of the century a twelve-year-old girl, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this poignant beginning, the young girl and future matriarch - known as Big Ammachi - will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life, full of the joys and trials of love and the struggles of hardship. A shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today.
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, Martin Wolf ( paperback Feb 2024)
£12.99
From the author of The Shifts and the Shocks, and one of the most influential writers on economics, a reckoning with how and why the relationship between democracy and capitalism is coming undone We are living in an age when economic failings have shaken faith in global capitalism. Political failings have undermined trust in liberal democracy and in the very notion of truth. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained and rejected, even in democracy's notional heartlands.Around the world, democratic capitalism, which depends on the determined separation of power from wealth, is in crisis. Some now argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others that democracy is better without capitalism. This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views.
It analyses how the marriage between capitalism and democracy has become so fraught and yet insists that a divorce would be an almost unimaginable calamity. Martin Wolf, one of the wisest public voices on global affairs, argues that for all its recent failings - slowing growth, increasing inequality, widespread popular disillusion - democratic capitalism, though inherently fragile, remains the best system we know for human flourishing. Capitalism and democracy are complementary opposites: they need each other if either is to thrive.
Wolf's superb exploration of their marriage shows us how citizenship and a shared faith in the common good are not romantic slogans but the essential foundation of our economic and political freedom.
The Cures of Ireland : A Treasury of Irish Folk Remedies by Cecily Gilligan
£22.99
It’s said that almost everyone in Ireland, particularly in rural communities, will know of someone with a ‘cure’. It might be for the mumps, a stye in the eye, or a sprain. Indeed the author of Cures of Ireland, Cecily Gilligan was herself cured of jaundice and ringworm by a ‘seventh son’ in her local Sligo during her childhood.
Cecily Gilligan has been researching the rich world of Irish folk cures for almost forty years and, given the tradition has largely been an oral one, has been interviewing a broad range of people from around the country who possess these mystical cures, and those who have benefited from their gifts. One has a cure for eczema that comprises herbal butter balls, another ‘buys’ warts from the sufferer with safety pins. There are stories of clay from graves with precious healing properties and pieces of cords from potato bags being sent across the world to treat asthma.
While the Ireland of the twenty-first century continues to develop at lightning speed, there is something deeply comforting and reassuring in the fact that these ancient healing traditions, while fewer in number, do survive to this day. Cures of Ireland is an exquisite book that will be treasured by many generations to come.
The Cut Out Girl ( paperback) by Bart Van Es
£9.99
WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY Category Award 2018
'Superb. This is a necessary book - painful, harrowing, tragic, but also uplifting' Times
Little Lien wasn't taken from her Jewish parents - she was given away in the hope that she might be saved. Hidden and raised by a foster family in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation, she survived the war only to find that her real parents had not.
Much later, she fell out with her foster family, and Bart van Es - the grandson of Lien's foster parents - knew he needed to find out why. His account of tracing Lien and telling her story is a searing exploration of two lives and two families. It is a story about love and misunderstanding and about the ways that our most painful experiences - so crucial in defining us - can also be redefined.
'Luminous, elegant, haunting - I read it straight through' Philippe Sands, author of East West Street.
The Dagger and the Flame, Catherine Doyle ( hardback Oct 2024)
£16.99
The City of Fantome, Book 1
From the number one bestselling author Catherine Doyle comes the most fiery enemies-to-lovers romantasy of the year. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo and Stephanie Garber. In the dark underbelly of a beautiful city, two rival assassins are pitted against each other in a deadly game of revenge, where the most dangerous mistake of all is falling in love… In Fantome, a kingdom of cobbled streets, flickering lamplight, beautiful buildings, and secret catacombs, Shade-magic is a scarce and deadly commodity controlled by two enemy guilds: the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins.
On the night of her mother’s murder, 18-year-old Seraphine runs for her life. Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge. But are her secret abilities a match for the dark-haired boy whose quicksilver eyes follow her around the city? Nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face with Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers.
And Ransom is shocked to discover that this unassuming farmgirl wields a strange and blazing magic he has never seen before… Among rumours of monsters stalking the streets and the rival guilds grappling for control of Fantome’s underworld, Sera and Ransom are drawn together by something more than just magic and must face a deadly choice - forgiveness or vengeance? Kiss or kill? Dagger or Flame?
The Dance Tree, Kiran Millwood Hargrave ( paperback May 2023)
£9.99
The gripping historical novel from Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mercies. The Dance Tree is the perfect book club read, as seen on BBC Two's Between the Covers.
Lisbet is pregnant, and frightened she will lose this child, too, when the arrival of a stranger upends her world, and promises to change her understanding of love forever.
Ida's life seems simple - she is married, her family fully formed - but a buried secret threatens to destroy her peaceful existence. Nethe has just returned from years in exile, punishment for a crime no one will name. As a mysterious dance plague takes hold of the city of Strasbourg, all three women become entangled in a web of deceit and clandestine passion that has them dancing to a dangerous tune.
The Dangerous Sisters of Indigo McCloud, John Hearne ( PB 2021)
£7.99
Indigo McCloud's sister Peaches is every adult's favourite child: pretty, golden-haired, polite and charming. But the children of Blunt know better: Peaches and her sisters are a gang of bullies who will stop at nothing to get their way. This is the story of Indigo's battle to stop his sisters.
Leaping across the rooftops of Blunt, he tries to keep one step ahead of their wicked schemes -but he has to tangle with 437 hungry geese, an avalanche of toilets, curry farts, bungling policemen, vicious eels, a pig in a witch's hat, a three legged spider with a toilet brush and a dangerous villain in odd socks ...
A very clever, funny book for fans of Roald Dahl, Terry Pratchett. 9- 12 ish.
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, Silvia Moreno-Garcia ( paperback July 2023)
£9.99
From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic, this is a reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. These books are properly gothic in the sense that they are otherworldly, a bit creepy, with romance and intrigue woven into the page turning story.
Carlota Moreau: A young woman, growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatan peninsula, the only daughter of a genius - or a madman. Montgomery Laughton: A melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol, an outcast who assists Dr Moreau with his scientific experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas with plentiful coffers.
The hybrids: The fruits of the Doctor's labour, destined to blindly obey their creator while they remain in the shadows, are a motley group of part-human, part-animal monstrosities. All of them are living in a perfectly balanced and static world which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Doctor Moreau's patron - who will, unwittingly, begin a dangerous chain-reaction. For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and in the sweltering heat of the jungle passions may ignite.
The Day The Screens Went Blank ( paperback, March 2021)
£7.99
Can you imagine a world with no screens? Don't miss the hilarious new 'what-if' adventure from bestselling author, comedian, and presenter Danny Wallace, with illustrations throughout from Gemma Correll. When ten-year-old Stella wakes up to discover a world full of BLANK screens, her family, town, and in fact the whole world seems to have been thrown into chaos. And what about poor Grandma who is stranded at the other end of the country? Cue a rollicking madcap road trip, full of driving disasters and family fallouts, as they set off on a rescue mission.And along the way Stella and her family discover that being away from screens might not be the WORST THING EVER, and even though they might not be able to rely on technology anymore, they can rely on each other instead.
The Detective Society Presents: The Most Unladylike Puzzle Book, by Robin Stevens ( paperback Sept 2024)
£9.99
Could you be a detective? Do you love puzzles and mysteries? Do you see patterns where no one else does?In this book you can really put your problem-solving to the test as you work alongside characters from bestselling series, Murder Most Unladylike and The Ministry of Unladylike Activity. From codebreaking with Hazel, to logic and reasoning with Daisy, and problem-solving with Beanie and Kitty, test your sleuthing skills with pages of playful puzzles and riveting riddles, before using what you’ve learned to crack a brand-new case!From the imagination of award-winning author Robin Stevens, The Most Unladylike Puzzle Book features a fabulous flip-book design and over 100 puzzles to solve, making it the perfect activity book for keen detectives age 9+.
The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree, by Paola Peretti
£7.99
A simply told, bitter-sweet story, with a powerful poetic message'
Nominated for the CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019. A novel for all ages about a young girl losing her sight, inspired by the author's own life story. For fans of Wonder, or The Little Prince. Mafalda is a nine-year-old girl who knows one thing: some time in the next six months her sight will fail completely.
Can Mafalda find a way through a seemingly dark future and still go to school, play football and look after her beloved cat? With the help of her family, and her friends, Mafalda needs to discover the things that will be important to her when her sight has failed. A moving, empowering tale of courage and determination that will inspire young and old. It's uplifting and not depressing!
The Divorcées, Rowan Beaird ( paperback June 2024)
£9.99
Lois Saunders thought that marrying the right man would finally cure her loneliness. But as picture-perfect as her husband is, she is suffocating in their loveless marriage.
In 1951, though, unhappiness is hardly grounds for divorce - except in Reno, Nevada. At the Golden Yarrow, the most respectable of Reno's 'divorce ranches' Lois finds herself living with half a dozen other would-be divorcees, all in Reno for the six weeks' residency that is the state's only divorce requirement. They spend their days riding horses and their nights flirting with cowboys, and it's as wild and fun as Lake Forest, Illinois, was prim and stifling.
But it isn't until Greer Lange arrives that Lois's world truly cracks open . . .
Gorgeous, beguiling, and completely indifferent to societal convention, Greer is unlike anyone Lois has ever met - and she sees something in Lois that no one else ever has. Under her influence, Lois begins to push against the limits that have always restrained her. But how much can she really trust her mysterious new friend? And how far will she go to forge her independence, on her own terms?Set in the glamorous, dizzying world of 1950s Reno, THE DIVORCEES is a deliciously slow-burn, atmospheric page-turner and a dazzling exploration of female friendship, desire, and freedom.
The Dog Man series, Dave Pilkey ( paperback)
£9.99
A super successful and fun series, books featured here are Books 1 -4 but meanwhile we are up to Book 12 and still counting. Please email if you would like a specific title.
The hilarious full-colour illustrated series, Dog Man, is from the creator of Captain Underpants! George and Harold (the co-stars of the enormously popular Captain Underpants series) are in big trouble again! George and Harold have created a new breed of justice -- one that is part dog, part man, and ALL HERO! With the head of a dog and the body of a human, this heroic hound digs into deception, claws after crooks, rolls over robbers, and scampers after squirrels. Will he be able to resist the call of the wild to answer the call of duty? Dav Pilkey's wildly popular Dog Man series appeals to readers of all ages and explores universally positive themes, including empathy, kindness, persistence, and the importance of being true to one's self. Full colour pages throughout.
The Dress In the Window, Robert Tregoning ( paperback Oct 2023)
£7.99
One day a boy is walking past a second-hand shop when he sees a dress. It's no ordinary dress - it's glittering, sparking, dazzling, and red. For the boy it's love at first sight. Yes, he's a boy and yes, he wants to wear the dress.His mum suggests he do some odd jobs to save the necessary money, but what if someone else buys it first? An affirming, uplifting tale about love, acceptance, and being true to yourself.
The Edible Flower, Erin Bunting and Jo Facer ( hardback March 2023)
£30.00
On a seven-acre small holding in rural Northern Ireland, organic gardener Jo Facer and head chef Erin Bunting run fork-to-fork supper club, organic small-holding and fledgling cooking and growing school, The Edible Flower. In their first cookbook, learn to grow and cook edible flowers with Jo and Erin's delicious recipes inspired by the seasonal produce they grow in their kitchen garden and the wild food they forage from their local shores and hedgerows. Feast, celebrate and bring people together with over 50 recipes for small plates, mains, desserts, baking, snacks and drinks, at once fresh and flavourful and absolutely stunning to serve.Recipes include: Ribboned Courgette & Avocado Salad with Poppy Seeds & Calendula, Pot Marigold Soda Bread,Lilac Panna Cotta with Strawberries,Rice with Lemon Verbena, Cardamom & Edible Flower Petals,Marigold Petal Pasta,Courgette Flower Tacos,Carnation and Blackberry Cooler,Slow Roast Lamb with Lavender, Lemon & Apricots, Blackberry & Sweet Geranium Tart,Vietnamese Summer Rolls with Violas,Aubergine Katsu Curry with Pickled Magnoliaand many more ...
The Eighth Girl, Maxine Mei Fung Chung ( paperback Nov 2022)
£8.99
- One woman, many personas. But which one is telling the truth? Alexa Wu is a brilliant yet darkly self-aware young woman whose chaotic life is manipulated and controlled by a series of alternate personalities. Only three people know about their existence: her therapist Daniel; her stepmother Anna; and her enigmatic best friend Ella.
When Ella gets a job at a high-end gentleman's club, she is gradually drawn into London's cruel underbelly. With lives at stake, Alexa follows her friend on a daring rescue mission. Threatened and vulnerable, she will discover whether her multiple personalities are her greatest asset, or her biggest obstacle.
The Eights, Joanna Miller ( hardback April 2025)
£16.99
Entertaining and moving…I came to love these four women as though they were my sisters’ TRACY CHEVALIER
They knew they were changing history.They didn’t know they would change each other. Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1000-year history, the world’s most famous university has admitted female students.
Giddy with dreams of equality, education and emancipation, four young women move into neighbouring rooms on Corridor Eight. They have come here from all walks of life, and they are thrown into an unlikely, life-affirming friendship. Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place.
Beatrice, politically-minded daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way – and her own friends – for the first time. Socialite Otto fills her room with extravagant luxuries but fears they won’t be enough to distract her from her memories of the war years. And quiet, clever, Marianne, the daughter of a village vicar, arrives bearing a secret she must hide from everyone – even The Eights – if she is to succeed.
But Oxford’s dreaming spires cast a dark shadow: in 1920, misogyny is still rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War are still very real indeed. And as the group navigate this tumultuous moment in time, their friendship will become more important than ever. The Eights is a captivating debut novel about sisterhood, self-determination, courage, and what it means to come of age in a world that is forever changed.
-'Beautifully captures the power of friendship ... A pleasure to read' PIP WILLIAMS
The Electricity of Every Living Thing, Katherine May ( paperback 2019)
£9.99
A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home
Perfect for fans of The Salt Path and The Outrun, this book is a life-affirming exploration of wild landscapes, what it means to be different and, above all, how we can all learn to make peace within our own unquiet minds. 'A windswept tale, beautifully told' Raynor Winn - The Salt Path 'A manifesto for the value of difficult people. I loved it' Amy Liptrot - The OutrunIn August 2015, Katherine May set out to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path.
She wanted to understand why she had stopped coping with everyday life; why motherhood had been so overwhelming and isolating, and why the world felt full of inundation and expectations she can't meet. Setting her feet down on the rugged and difficult path by the sea, the answer begins to unfold. It's a chance encounter with a voice on the radio that sparks a realisation that she has Asperger's Syndrome.
The Electricity of Every Living Thing tells the story of the year in which Katherine comes to terms with her diagnosis. It leads to a re-evaluation of her life so far - a kinder one, which finally allows her to be different rather than simply awkward, arrogant or unfeeling. The physical and psychological journeys become inextricably entwined, and as Katherine finds her way across the untameable coast, she also finds the way to herself.
