Products
The Panda's Child, Jackie Morris and Cathy Fisher (hardback Oct 23)
£16.99
In a faraway forest a baby is lost and found, protected by a she-panda. Nine years later another baby, the panda's child, is in great danger, and only a boy and the spirit of the forest can save him. This magical, powerful story by Jackie Morris, co-creator of The Lost Words, and award-winning illustrator Cathy Fisher, is a book for all ages to treasure, exploring our most vital connection with wild nature.
It's emotional and enthralling, as well as a great story.
The Pandas Who Promised, Rachel Bright ( paperback May 2024)
£7.99
High on a misty mountainside, red panda cubs Popo and Ketu live happily with their mama. As the sisters grow, they promise Mama that they will always stay close to home. But while cautious Popo is content to spend her days in the family's cosy treetop nest, bold Ketu dreams of excitement and exploration.
So when Ketu creeps off down the mountain in search of adventure, Popo must make a choice: will she keep her promise to Mama, or look after her sister?An action-packed, heart-warming tale of being true to your word and true to yourself, from the creators of the international bestseller The Lion Inside.
The Paris Bookseller, Kerri Maher ( Paperback Dec 2022)
£9.99
A vivid evocation of the famous female-owned Parisian bookshop... Kerri Maher writes a love letter to books, bookstores and booklovers everywhere' Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network'PARIS, 1919. Young, bookish Sylvia Beach knows there is no greater city in the world than Paris. But when she opens an English-language bookshop on the bohemian Left Bank, Sylvia can't yet know she is making history.
Many leading writers of the day, from Ernest Hemingway to Gertrude Stein, consider Shakespeare and Company a second home. Here some of the most profound literary friendships blossom - and none more so than between James Joyce and Sylvia herself. When Joyce's controversial novel Ulysses is banned, Sylvia determines to publish it through Shakespeare and Company.
But the success and notoriety of publishing the most infamous book of the century comes at deep personal cost as Sylvia risks ruin, reputation and her heart in the name of the life-changing power of books... -
The Paris Dancer, Nicola Rayner ( Paperback Feb 2025)
£9.99
Paris, 1938.
Annie Mayer arrives in France with dreams of becoming a ballerina. But when the war reaches Paris, she's forced to keep her Jewish heritage a secret. Then a fellow dancer offers her a lifeline: a ballroom partnership that gives her a new identity.
Together, Annie and her partner captivate audiences across occupied Europe, using her newfound fame and alias to aid the Resistance. New York, 2012. Miriam, haunted by her past, travels from London to New York to settle her great-aunt Esther’s estate.
Among Esther’s belongings, she discovers notebooks detailing a secret family history and the story of a brave dancer who risked everything to help Jewish families during the war. As Miriam uncovers Esther’s life in Europe, she realises the story has been left for her to finish. Grappling with loss and the possibility of new love, Miriam must find the strength to reconcile her past and embrace her future.
Immaculately researched and exquisitely written... historical fiction at its best' - Louise Fein
The Paris Dancer, Nicola Rayner ( paperback Feb 2025)
£9.99
Paris, 1938. Annie Mayer arrives in France with dreams of becoming a ballerina. But when the war reaches Paris, she's forced to keep her Jewish heritage a secret. Then a fellow dancer offers her a lifeline: a ballroom partnership that gives her a new identity.
Together, Annie and her partner captivate audiences across occupied Europe, using her newfound fame and alias to aid the Resistance. New York, 2012. Miriam, haunted by her past, travels from London to New York to settle her great-aunt Esther’s estate.
Among Esther’s belongings, she discovers notebooks detailing a secret family history and the story of a brave dancer who risked everything to help Jewish families during the war. As Miriam uncovers Esther’s life in Europe, she realises the story has been left for her to finish. Grappling with loss and the possibility of new love, Miriam must find the strength to reconcile her past and embrace her future.
'Immaculately researched and exquisitely written... historical fiction at its best' - Louise Fein
The Paris Express, Emma Donoghue ( hardback March 2025)
£18.99
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Room and The Pull of The Stars, Emma Donoghue takes readers on a thrilling ride through a simmering turn-of-the-century Paris on the edge of a dazzling future.
Autumn, 1895. Paris is as chaotic as it is glamorous, with industry and invention creating huge wealth and terrible poverty. One morning, an anarchist boards the ill-fated Granville to Paris express train, determined to make her mark on history.
Aboard the train are others from across the globe: the railway crew who have built a life together away from their wives, a little boy travelling alone for the first time, an artist far from home, a wealthy statesman and his invalid wife, and a young woman with a secret. Truths are revealed and relationships forged as the train speeds towards the City of Light and a future that will change everything . .
. 'An edge-of-your-seat historical thriller that I couldn't put down' – Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
The Partition : IRELAND DIVIDED, 1885 - 1925, Charles Townsend ( paperback April 2022)
£25.00 £10.99
And then, as these bitter disputes continued, it became clear that under no circumstances would the Protestants be party to any of it. The Partition is a remarkable, clear-sighted and thoughtful account of how two unthinkable events - full Irish independence and the creation of the state of Northern Ireland - came to pass. The Irish nationalist claim to leave ran into a loyalist demand to remain, increasingly centred on the north-eastern Protestant community, threatening large-scale violent resistance.
Here Charles Townshend lays out what is ultimately a tragic story, as partition became the only answer to an otherwise insoluble problem. The settlement of the Irish question drew in every major politician, conjured up heroes and villains, led to civil war and finally to Ulster's catastrophic Troubles. The hard border has always been seen as a failure of both British and Irish statecraft, but has endured now for a century.
The Partition brilliantly brings to life the contingency and uncertainty that created it.
The Passenger, Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz (paperback Sept 2021)
£10.99
Berlin, November 1938. With storm troopers battering against his door, Otto Silberman must flee out the back of his own home. He emerges onto streets thrumming with violence: it is Kristallnacht, and synagogues are being burnt, Jews rounded up and their businesses destroyed.Turned away from establishments he had long patronised, betrayed by friends and colleagues, Otto finds his life as a respected businessman has dissolved overnight. Desperately trying to conceal his Jewish identity, he takes train after train across Germany in a race to escape this homeland that is no longer home. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace.
Shot through with Hitchcockian tension, The Passenger is a blisteringly immediate story of flight and survival in Nazi Germany.
The Peacock and the Sparrow, IS Berry ( paperback Oct 2024)
£9.99
WINNER OF THE 2024 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL - WINNER OF THE 2024 BARRY BEST FIRST MYSTERY OR CRIME NOVEL AWARD - WINNER OF THE 2024 MACAVITY BEST FIRST MYSTERY AWARD
‘Gritty, propulsive, dark and twisty’ David McCloskey, author of Damascus Station
‘It’s fantastic, I loved it’ Steve Cavanagh, author of Thirteen
‘..the most impressive debut of the year to date and a spy novel to rank alongside the best of Mick Herron’s Slough House series.’ The Irish Times
‘Sensational…feels like every inch of the real world of espionage’ Alex Gerlis, author of Every Spy a Traitor
‘I.S. Berry is at the vanguard of a new generation of American spy novelists who have electrified the genre.’ Charles Cumming, author of Judas 62
The thrilling debut from author and former CIA officer I.S. Berry, following an American spy’s last dangerous mission.
Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. Stationed in Bahrain for his final tour, he’s anxious to dispense with his mission — uncovering Iranian support for the insurgency. But then he meets Almaisa, an enigmatic artist, and his eyes are opened to a side of Bahrain most expats never experience, to questions he never thought to ask.
When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict, his romance and loyalties upended. In an instant, he’s caught in the crosswinds of a revolution. He sets out to learn the truth behind the Arab Spring, win Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin.
The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall ( paperback)
£8.99
The Penderwicks: four sisters, as different as chalk from cheese, yet as close as can be. The eldest, Rosalind, is responsible and practical; Skye, stubborn and feisty; dreamy, artistic, budding novelist, Jane; and shy little Batty, who doesn't go anywhere without her butterfly wings. And not forgetting Hound, their large lumbering lovable dog.The four girls and their absent-minded father head off for their summer holidays, but instead of the cosy tumbledown cottage they expect, they find themselves on a huge estate called Arundel, with magnificent gardens ripe for exploring. It isn't long before they become embroiled in all sorts of scrapes with new-found friend, Jeffrey - but his mother, the icy-hearted Mrs Tifton, must be avoided at all costs. Chaotic adventures ensue, and it soon becomes a summer the sisters will never forget...
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories ( pb 2020)
£9.99
The perfect gift this Christmas season: a generous selection of some of the greatest festive stories of all time.
This is a collection of the most magical, moving, chilling and surprising Christmas stories from around the world, taking us from frozen Nordic woods to glittering Paris, a New York speakeasy to an English country house, bustling Lagos to midnight mass in Rio, and even outer space. Here are classic tales from writers including Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Dylan Thomas, Saki and Chekhov, as well as little-known treasures such as Italo Calvino's wry sideways look at Christmas consumerism, Wolfdietrich Schnurre's story of festive ingenuity in Berlin, Selma Lagerlof's enchanted forest in Sweden, and Irene Nemerovsky's dark family portrait. Featuring Santas, ghosts, trolls, unexpected guests, curmudgeons and miracles, here is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short story writers of all time.
The People Immortal, Vasily Grossman ( paperback 2023)
£12.99
One of Grossman's three great war novels - alongside Life and Fate and Stalingrad. "A significant, valuable addition to Grossman's small but powerful body of work" WILLIAM BOYD"
Set during the catastrophic defeats of the war's first months, it tracks a Red Army regiment that wins a minor victory in eastern Belorussia but fails to exploit this success. A battalion is then entrusted with the task of slowing the German advance, and eventually encircled, before ultimately breaking out and joining with the rest of the Soviet forces.
Grossman's descriptions of the natural world - and his characters' relationship to it - are both vivid and unexpected, as are his memorable character sketches: eleven-year-old Lionya is determined to hang on to his toy revolver as he walks a long distance behind German lines; and Semion Ignatiev, a womanizer and gifted story-teller, turns out to be the boldest and most resourceful of the rank-and file soldiers. Grossman spent most of the war years close to the front line. But The People Immortal is far from being mere morale-boosting propaganda.
On the contrary, as letters included in this volume make clear, it was read as a textbook, and as a work of military education. This edition includes not only the unredacted novel itself, translated here for the first time since 1946, but also a wealth of background material. A heavily redacted English translation of The People Immortal was published in 1946.
This current edition is the first that reflects Grossman's original text. Translated from the Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler
The Perfect Parent Project, Stewart Foster ( pb Jan 2021)
£7.99
From the award-winning author of THE BUBBLE BOY comes a heart-warming and unforgettable story that follows one boy's search for the perfect family, with surprising and unexpected results. Perfect for fans of Onjali Q. Rauf and Lisa Thompson.'Friendship, laughter, suspense and more!' - Ross Welford, author of TIME TRAVELLING WITH A HAMSTER and THE 1000-YEAR-OLD BOY THINGS MY PERFECT PARENTS MUST HAVE: 1. A mega mansion like the ones footballers live in 2. A garage wall with a basketball hoop 3.
No gerbils 4. Holidays to Disneyland All Sam wants is a family of his own, a home instead of a 'house' and parents he knows will still be there when he wakes up. Because Sam has been in and out of foster care his whole life and he can't imagine ever feeling like he truly belongs.
Then his best friend Leah suggests that rather than wait for a family to come to him, he should go out and find one. So begins The Perfect Parent Project ... But Sam may just discover that family has a funny way of finding you.
The Pet Potato, Josh ( paperback March 2023)
£7.99
Albert is so desperate to get a pet, he'll take anything - a cat, a dog, giraffe... he's not fussy, so he's super excited when Dad finally brings a pet home. There's just one problem: it's a potato.Potatoes can't do anything a proper pet does... can they?!Branford Boase Award shortlisted Josh Lacey and World Illustration Award shortlisted Momoko Abe bring warmth and humour in perfect measure to this story, perfect for any child who's desperate for a pet!
The Philosophy Resistance Squad, Robert Grant ( paperback 2021)
£7.99
Milo (He's about 11) is thrilled to be starting at the country's fanciest, shiniest, most prestigious school. But it soon becomes clear that something sinister is going on. The headmaster, Dr Pummelcrush, is bent on brainwashing the students and turning them into mindless, unthinking human robots.
When Milo stumbles across a bright and colourful secret garden and meets its joyous gardener, he and his friends begin to open their minds to a whole new way of thinking: philosophy. Can the Philosophy Resistance Squad use their new questioning skills to resist Pummelcrush's evil project and save their classmates from being zombified?
An exciting and witty, dystopian story - if you like this you'll enjoy The Hunger Games, Terry Pratchett and Philip Reeve when you're a little older!
The Planet’s Most Spiritual Places, Quarto Publishing ed Malcolm Croft (HB)
£25.00
This illustrated and deeply insightful guide explores 100 of the most spiritually significant places throughout the world, seeking to understand what it is that defines these sites. Spirituality has a multitude of meanings for the many who seek deeper significance in their lives. From ancient religions with their timeless places of worship to modern, contemporary followers of faith and new age travellers seeking enlightenment and illumination, we are drawn to all kinds of places in the search for profound meaning.
From a Polish Catholic praying in a large cathedral to a Portuguese surfer speechless in wonder at the majesty of the ocean, spirituality knows no bounds. The Planet's Most Spiritual Places brings together all definitions to present some of the most important places of spiritual significance, in stunning and immersive detail. We recognize that one person's spirituality can inspire another no matter their origin, history or nationality. We have included sites of spirituality from all around the world, from the established to the exotic, determining a number of fundamental definitions for our spiritual destinations:
1.Ancient Monuments 2. Places of Worship 3. Natural Wonders 4.Centres of Enlightenment 5. Pilgrimage 6. Living Landmarks
As readers will discover, the complex history of the world often defines where - and how - spirituality can be found.
The Poetry Pharmacy Forever, William Sieghart ( hardback Sept 2023)
£14.99
The Poetry Pharmacy Forever : New Prescriptions to Soothe, Revive and Inspire
The powerful final instalment in the hugely beloved series. After the tumult of the last years, William Sieghart is back to prescribe the perfect poem for a variety of life's ailments, offering hope and comfort to readers in need. Here, he draws on the emails he received from the public during multiple lockdowns, as well as tried-and-true classics from his in-person pharmacies, to create an essential anthology of poetry for our times. Through his expert curation and insightful commentary, he reminds us of the power of words to help us heal, to reconnect us with the world and to recover what has been lost.
From weathering sorrow and sudden loss, to dealing with environmental despair and burnout, this new selection speaks directly to a society in urgent need of comfort and compassion. Whether you're searching for guidance, hope, or simply a moment of beauty, The Poetry Pharmacy Forever is here to provide solace, joy and inspiration, one verse at a time.
The Poetry Pharmacy, edited by William Sieghart ( clothbound hardback)
£14.99
Not just poems, but words of wisdom and solace for a whole range of spiritual ailments. A lovely thing indeed.
'Truly a marvellous collection ... There is balm for the soul, fire for the belly, a cooling compress for the fevered brow, solace for the wounded, an arm around the lonely shoulder - the whole collection is a matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss' Stephen FrySometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice offer comfort, delight and inspiration for all; a space for reflection, and that precious realization - I'm not the only one who feels like this.
In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. This pocket-sized book presents the most essential poems in his dispensary: those which, again and again, have really shown themselves to work. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even from an excess of ego, there is something here to ease your pain.
New volume available from September 2019 'The Poetry Pharmacy Returns' with new reader chosen options and most popular requests.
The Polite Act of Drowning by Charleen Hurtubise (paperback July 2024)
£9.99
An atmospheric, emotional coming-of-age novel with themes of generational trauma, sexual identity and coping with mental illness at its heart, as well as the silence of women drowning in plain view in their daily lives.
Michigan, 1985. The drowning of a teenage girl causes ripples in the small town of Kettle Lake, though for most the waters settle quickly. For sixteen year old Joanne Kennedy, however, the tragedy dredges up untold secrets and causes her mother to drift farther from reality and her family. When troubled newcomer Lucinda arrives in town, she offers Joanne a chance of real friendship, and together the teenagers push against the boundaries of family, self-image, and their sexuality during the tension of a long, stifling summer. But the undercurrents of past harms continuously threaten to drag Joanne and those around her under...
If you enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen you will like this.
The Poppy Fields, Nikki Erlick (hardback August 2025)
£18.99
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Measure comes a stunning speculative story of healing, self-discovery, forgiveness, and found friendship. "A masterful, tender exploration of love, loss, and the poignant echoes of memory...
What if there were a cure for the broken-hearted?Welcome to the Poppy Fields, where there’s hope for even the most battered hearts to heal. Here, in a remote stretch of the California desert, lies an experimental and controversial treatment center that allows those suffering from the heartache of loss to sleep through their pain...and keep on sleeping. After patients awaken from this prolonged state of slumber, they will finally be healed.
But only if they’re willing to accept the potential shadowy side effects. On a journey to this mystical destination are four very different strangers and one little dog: Ava, a book illustrator; Ray, a fireman; Sasha, an occupational therapist; Sky, a free spirit; and a friendly pup named PJ. As they attempt to make their way from the Midwest all the way west to the Poppy Fields—where they hope to find Ellis, its brilliant, enigmatic founder—each of their past secrets and mysterious motivations threaten to derail their voyage.
A high-concept speculative novel about heartache, hope, and human resilience, The Poppy Fields explores the path of grief and healing, a journey at once profoundly universal and unique to every person, posing the questions: How do we heal in the wake of great loss? And how far are we willing to go in order to be healed?
The Power of Geography : Ten Maps That Reveals the Future of Our World, Tim Marshall ( paperback October 2021)
£9.99
Tim Marshall's global bestseller Prisoners of Geography showed how every nation's choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Since then, the geography hasn't changed. But the world has.In this revelatory new book, Marshall explores ten regions that are set to shape global politics in a new age of great-power rivalry: Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Greece, Turkey, the Sahel, Ethiopia, Spain and Space. Find out why Europe's next refugee crisis is closer than it thinks as trouble brews in the Sahel; why the Middle East must look beyond oil and sand to secure its future; why the eastern Mediterranean is one of the most volatile flashpoints of the twenty-first century; and why the Earth's atmosphere is set to become the world's next battleground. Delivered with Marshall's trademark wit and insight, this is a lucid and gripping exploration of the power of geography to shape humanity's past, present - and future.
The Premonitions Bureau, Sam Knight ( paperback May 23)
£9.99
The story of a strange experiment - a journey into the oddest corners of 60s Britain and the outer edges of science and reason. Premonitions are impossible. But they come true all the time.You think of a forgotten friend. Out of the blue, they call. But what if you knew that something terrible was going to happen? A sudden flash, the words CHARING CROSS.
Four days later, a packed express train comes off the rails outside the station. What if you could share your vision, and stop that train? Could these forebodings help the world to prevent disasters?In 1966, John Barker, a dynamic psychiatrist working in an outdated British mental hospital, established the Premonitions Bureau to investigate these questions. He would find a network of hundreds of correspondents, from bank clerks to ballet teachers.
Among them were two unnervingly gifted "percipients". Together, the pair predicted plane crashes, assassinations and international incidents, with uncanny accuracy. And then, they informed Barker of their most disturbing premonition: that he was about to die.
The Premonitions Bureau is an enthralling true story, of madness and wonder, science and the supernatural - a journey to the most powerful and unsettling reaches of the human mind.
The Prey, Yrsa Sigurdardottir (paperback May 2024)
£9.99
Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year 2023
Kolbeinn has been called to his old home. The new owners uncovered some photos, and a muddied child's shoe bearing the name 'Salvor'. A name Kolbeinn doesn't recognise. Soon after, he hears news of his mother's deteriorating health. Her carers say she has been asking for her daughter, his sister: Salvor.
THE SECOND TRACKS TWO MISSING COUPLES. Jóhanna is working with the search and rescue team in Höfn to find two couples from Reykjavik. Their phones' last location has been pinpointed to the road leading up into the highlands.
In a harsh winter, the journey is treacherous, and they soon find the first body. More troubling, Johanna senses her team is being tracked through the snow.
A THIRD FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE? Hjörvar works at the Stokksnes Radar Station in the highlands.
He's alone when the phone connected to the gate rings: the first time it's done so since he began working there five months ago. When he answers, he can only hear interference, and what sounds like a child's voice asking for her mother. How are these events connected? And what may be searching for its prey out on the ice?
The Promise, Damon Galgut ( Paperback 3 March 2022)
£9.99
Booker Winner !
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.
The Psychology of Secrets : BY Andrew Gold ( paperback from May 2025)
£10.99
Take a deep dive into the bizarre psychology of secrecy with Andrew Gold, award-winning investigative journalist and host of Heretics.
We all keep secrets. 97 per cent of us are hiding a secret right now, and on average we each hold thirteen at any one time. There’s a one-in-two chance that those secrets involve a breach of trust, a lie or a financial impropriety.
They are the stuff of gossip, of novels and of classic dramas; secrets form a major part of our hidden inner lives. Andrew Gold knows this better than anyone. As a public figure, he has found himself the unwitting recipient of hundreds of strangers' most private revelations.
This set him on a journey to understand this critical part of our societies and lives. Why do we keep secrets? Why are we fascinated by those of others? What happens to our mind when we confess?Drawing from psychology, history, social science, philosophy and personal interviews, The Psychology of Secrets is a rollicking journey through the history of secrecy. --'Andrew Gold is - but should not be - one of our culture’s best kept secrets.
He is a truly edgy journalist, broadcaster and writer' - David Baddiel, bestselling author of The God Desire
note paperback image is similar but cover is red *
The Puzzle Wood, Rosie Andrews ( paperback Feb 2025)
£9.99
In the outstanding new novel from the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Leviathan, an isolated forest becomes the unsettling, beguiling backdrop to a tale of myths, memory and murder…
Deep in the woods, something is stirring…When Miss Catherine Symonds arrives to take up a position as governess at remote Locksley Abbey in the foothills of the Black Mountains, where England bleeds into Wales, she is apprehensive. It is not the echoing, near empty house with its skeleton staff that frightens her, nor the ancient woods that surround the Abbey or even the dogs that the owner, Sir Rowland, encourages to stalk the grounds, baying for blood. It is Catherine herself who fears scrutiny: her reference and very identity are fraudulent.
She is travelling in disguise to investigate the fate of the last governess at the house, who took her own life out in the woods. For that governess was Catherine’s own sister, but until now she had believed Emily had died many years before, when they were just children.
The Queen of Dirt Island, Donal Ryan (paperback June 23)
£9.99
A number one bestseller from the prizewinning author; a soaring novel about four generations of strong women and fierce love. From the award-winning, Booker longlisted author of the number one bestseller, STRANGE FLOWERS, a searing, jubilant novel about four generations of women and the love and stories that bind them.The Aylward women are mad about each other, but you wouldn't always think it. You'd have to know them to know - in spite of what the neighbours might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes - that their house is a place of peace, filled with love, a refuge from the sadness and cruelty of the world.Their story begins at an end and ends at a beginning. It's a story of terrible betrayals and fierce loyalties, of isolation and togetherness, of transgression, forgiveness, desire, and love. About all the things family can be and all the things it sometimes isn't.
'One of the finest novelists writing today...a haunting, exquisite masterpiece.' RACHEL JOYCE'A generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family' COLUM McCANN' Beautiful, compassionate ... Donal Ryan at his inimitable best.' MAGGIE O'FARRELL
The Quiet Whispers Never Stop, Olivia Fitzsimons ( paperback March 2023)
£8.99
In 1982, Nuala Malin struggles to stay connected, to her husband, to motherhood, to the smallness of her life in the belly of a place that is built on hate and stagnation. Her daughter Sam and baby son PJ keep her tethered to this life she doesn't want. She finds unexpected refuge with a seventeen-year-old boy, but this relationship is only temporary, a sticking plaster on a festering wound.
It cannot last and when her chance to leave Northern Ireland comes, Nuala takes it. In 1994, Sam Malin plans escape. She longs for a life outside her dysfunctional family, far away from the North and all its troubles, free from her quiet brooding father Patsy, who never talks about her mother, Nuala; a woman Sam barely knew, who abandoned them twelve years ago.
She finds solace in music, drugs and her best friend Becca, but most of all in an illicit relationship with a jagged, magnetic older man.
I found this coming of age story powerful, toxic and very very readable - loved the imaginative voice and thoughts of Sam - Linda, BPS
The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty ( Paperback 8 June 2023)
£9.99
The standout literary debut that everyone is talking about*'Inventive, heartbreaking and acutely funny' Guardian ... I really loved the writing style of this one! Linda
Blandine isn't like the other residents of her building. An online obituary writer. A young mother with a dark secret. A woman waging a solo campaign against rodents - neighbours, separated only by the thin walls of a low-cost housing complex in the once bustling industrial centre of Vacca Vale, Indiana. Welcome to the Rabbit Hutch. Ethereally beautiful and formidably intelligent, Blandine shares her flat with three teenage boys she neither likes nor understands, all, like her, now aged out of the state foster care system that has repeatedly failed them, all searching for meaning in their lives.
Set over one sweltering week in July and culminating in a bizarre act of violence that finally changes everything, The Rabbit Hutch is a savagely beautiful and bitingly funny snapshot of contemporary America, a gorgeous and provocative tale of loneliness and longing, entrapment and, ultimately, freedom.
The Rachel Incident, Caroline O’Donogue (paperback June 2024)
£9.99
The Rachel Incident is an all-consuming love story. But it's not the one you're expecting. It's unconventional and messy.
It's young and foolish. It's about losing and finding yourself. But it is always about love.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr Byrne, her best friend James helps her devise a plan to seduce him. But what begins as a harmless crush soon pushes their friendship to its limits. Over the course of a year they will find their lives ever more entwined with the Byrnes' and be faced with impossible choices and a lie that can't be taken back...
'A deliciously complicated and very real romance with some refreshing twists. O'Donoghue captures all the intensity of messy young love' MAIL ON SUNDAY
Order now for delivery with paperback publication around 6th June !
The Racket : On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99% by Conor Niland ( paperback june 2025)
£10.99
Conor Niland may only have managed a career-high ranking of 129 – only? that is some achievement in itself! – but The Racket, his account of how he managed this, is up there with the best half-dozen books on tennis ever written.' Geoff Dyer
WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024
When Conor Niland was 16, he was chosen to hit with Serena Williams at Nick Bollettieri's famed tennis academy. Conor, the Irish junior number one, was feeling a bit homesick. Serena, also 16, already owned her own house beside the academy.
Conor Niland knows what it's like when Roger Federer walks into the dressing room ('Ciao, bonjour, hello!'), and he has had the exquisitely terrible experience of facing Novak Djokovic in the world's biggest tennis stadium - while suffering from food poisoning. But he never reached the very top. The Racket is the story of pro tennis's 99%: the players who roam the globe in hope of climbing the rankings and squeaking into the Grand Slam tournaments.
It brings us into a world where a few dozen super-rich players - travelling with coaches and physios - share a stage with lonely touring pros whose earnings barely cover their expenses. Painting a vivid picture of the social dynamics on tour, the economics of the game, and the shadows cast by gambling and doping, The Racket is a witty and revealing underdog's memoir and a unique look inside a fascinating hidden world.
The Rainbow Flamingo, Catherine Emmet with Claire Powell ( paperback May 2024)
£7.99
This one young flamingo, Adele was her name, Knew under HER wings something wasn’t the same. Whilst quite unremarkably pink from outside … Inside were some colours she struggled to hide! Adele wants nothing more than to be just like all the other flamingos. But hiding who she really is feels horribly tough.
Can Adele find the courage to celebrate her true colours? Perfect for fans of Perfectly Norman, this thought-provoking and touching story empowers children to embrace their uniqueness and have the courage to stand out. ‘A riotous, dazzling, joy-filled book, brimming with hope and warmth.
The Raptures, Jan Carson ( paperback from Jan 2023)
£9.99
When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences. It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks' reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.As others fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help.
Elsewhere in the village, tempers simmer, panic escalates and long-buried secrets threaten to emerge. Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community - and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl.
As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available. Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022.
The Red Bird Sings, Aoife Fitzpatrick ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
West Virginia, 1897. When young Zona Heaster Shue dies only a few months after her wedding, her mother Mary Jane becomes convinced that Zona was murdered - and by none other than her husband, Trout, the handsome blacksmith beloved in their small Southern town. But when Trout is put on trial, no one believes he could have done it, apart from Mary Jane and Zona's best friend Lucy, who was always suspicious of Trout.
As the trial raises to fever pitch and the men of Greenbrier County stand aligned against them, Mary Jane and Lucy must decide whether to reveal Zona's greatest secret in the service of justice. But it's Zona herself, from beyond the grave, who still has one last revelation to make.
'Keeps you turning pages right until the end.
Based on a real-life murder trial in 1897 West Virginia, this dazzling debut arrives with a Southern Gothic slant and a feminist spirit' DAILY MAIL
The Rescue of Ravenwood, Natasha Farrant ( paperback March 2023)
£7.99
From the Costa Award winning author of Voyage of the Sparrowhawk comes an epic adventure with a call to arms: we must fight to save the most treasured things on our planet. On the top of the hill, overlooking the sea, that's where you'll find a magical place . .. To Bea and Raffy, Ravenwood is home. In its own way, the house rescued them, even if it did have a fallen-down tree taking up most of the kitchen.
So the idea that it could be sold. Demolished even. Well, that's unthinkable.
Then again, it's not like the children get a choice. But the truth is, we can all make our own choices, especially if we care enough . .
. A beautiful, soulful, exciting story about holding onto what's precious, and guarding the extraordinary nature that surrounds us.
The Returned, Amanda Cassidy ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
When she re-lives this night, over and over, Nancy will wonder if she’d just gone upstairs a few minutes earlier, what might have been…A devastating fire. A grieving mother.A picture-perfect village full of dark secrets. And now, a son who has seemingly come back from the dead. A detective called back to her hometown, back to the memories she thought she’d left behind…An electrifying novel from a compelling new voice in Irish crime fiction, perfect for fans of Liz Nugent and Claire Mackintosh.
The River, Tom Percival ( picture book, March 2022)
£7.99
An exquisite, thought-provoking book to help children understand the idea of ever-changing emotions. Rowan loves the river; it's just like he is. On some days, it's quiet and calm, on others it's light and playful, and then there are the days when it roars along, wild and angry.But when Rowan goes through a particularly difficult winter, the river freezes - just like Rowan. Can Rowan find a way to release his frozen feelings, and allow the river to flow freely once more? The wise and reassuring new picture book from the creator of The Invisible and Ruby's Worry.
The Roads That Lead Us Home, Lynne Kennedy ( paperback July 2024)
£10.99
Amsterdam 1648, Captain Andrew Ross, a young soldier of the Scots Brigade serving in the Dutch Republic falls in love with the beautiful Catharina Meyer, daughter of a rich merchant family of Amsterdam. Newly married Captain Andrew begins to plan a life for himself and his bride in his beloved Scotland but soon the newly weds find themselves caught up in a web of deception and lies which changes the course of their young lives forever.
New England 2016 and Janey McKay leaves New York and makes her way back to her childhood home after the collapse of her marriage. She fills her first long, lonely New England winter by joining the local Historical Society, embarking on a journey of ancestral discovery which takes her back along the ancient roads of Scotland, Ireland and The Netherlands in search of her ancestors. What she discovers challenges everything she thought she knew about her family's past.
