Dealing with Issues
Grief is the thing with Feathers, Max Porter ( 2016)
£9.99
An extraordinary debut novella by Max Porter, loosely about a family dealing with the immediate period of grief following their mother’s death. Crow is the metaphorical visitor. Recently performed as a powerful stage play with Cillian Murphy.
In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness.
In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. This extraordinary debut, full of unexpected humour and emotional truth, marks the arrival of a thrilling and significant new talent.
Stitches: A handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair
£9.99
A wise and compassionate exploration of how we ‘stitch by stitch ‘ put our lives back in order after loss or personal chaos. From the best selling American novelist and nonfiction writer.
What do we do when life lurches out of balance? How can we reconnect to one another and to what's sustaining, when evil and catastrophe seem inescapable?These questions lie at the heart of Stitches, Anne Lamott's follow-up to her New York Times-bestselling work, Help, Thanks, Wow. In this book, she explores how we find meaning and peace in these loud and frantic times; where we start again after personal and public devastation; how we recapture wholeness after loss; and how we locate our true identities in this frazzled age. We begin, Lamott says, by collecting the ripped sheets of our emotional and spiritual fabric and sewing them back together - one stitch at a time.
It's in these stitches that the quilt of life begins, and embedded in them are strength, warmth, humour and humanity.
Wonder, by RJ Palaccio
£7.99
Auggie just wants to be a normal 10 year old ... but as he was born with a facial abnormality he has been homeschooled by his parents his whole life. Now it’s time to face the real world and a normal school ... Wonder is a funny frank and astonishingly moving book.
Suitable for both boys and girls 9-12.
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.
A Little Bit Brave by Nicola Kinnear ( children's picture book, paperback)
£7.99
Logan is a stay-at-home bunny - but he's about to discover how brave he really is. It's time for his first adventure, and he doesn't want to go. But there's an amazing world outside, if he can just pluck up courage to look .
A LITTLE BIT BRAVE is a funny, reassuring picture book which shows that we're all a lot braver than we think. It's a good story with enough message to reassure the timid amongst us.
The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree, by Paola Peretti
£6.99
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!
Love Frankie, by Jacqueline Wilson, paperback
£7.99
ROWING UP. FALLING IN LOVE. COMING OUT.Frankie is nearly fourteen and teenage life certainly comes with its ups and downs. Her mum is seriously ill with MS and Frankie can feel herself growing up quickly, no thanks to Sally and her gang of bullies at school. When Sally turns out to be not-so-mean after all, they strike up a friendship and are suddenly spending all of their time together.
But Frankie starts to wonder whether these feelings she has for Sally are stronger than her other friendships. Might she really be in love? Frankie doesn't want Sally to just be her friend. She wants her to be her girlfriend.
But does Sally feel the same? The must-have new novel about falling in love for the first time from bestselling, much-loved children's author, Jacqueline Wilson.
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.
Stick Boy, Paul Coomey ( Jan 2021)
£7.99
It's tough fitting in when you're born to stick out! From the moment Stick Boy and his family move to Little Town, there is way more to worry about than being the new kid. There's a mysterious plot involving Baron Ben's new Mega Mall, pop star Jonny Vidwire and the highly suspicious HomeBots that are infiltrating every home in town. Can Stick Boy and his friends uncover the evil plan behind it all before it's too late?An incredibly exciting and extremely funny new world for middle grade readers and fans of DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, TOM GATES and TIMMY FAILURE.
Would You Like A Banana? Yasmeen Ismail ( paperback)
£7.99
SHORTLISTED FOR OSCAR BOOK AWARD ( best book for under 5's) Award-winning illustrator Yasmeen Ismail's delightfully funny picture book featuring a very stubborn gorilla will have the whole family laughing. Gorilla is hungry but there is absolutely no way he's going to eat a banana. Not even a teeny taste. Not with some bread or standing on his head.Even if you eat one too, which is something you might do. This brilliant and hilarious picture book from award-winning illustrator Yasmeen Ismail will have everyone laughing at this all-too familiar family situation!
What Happened To You? James Catchpole & Karen George ( April 2021)
£7.99
The first ever picture book addressing how a disabled child might want to be spoken to. What happened to you? Was it a shark? A burglar? A lion? Did it fall off? Every time Joe goes out the questions are the same . .. what happened to his leg? But is this even a question Joe has to answer? A ground-breaking, funny story that helps children understand what it might feel like to be seen as different.
Frog Vs Toad, Ben Mantle ( picture book, June 2021)
£7.99
A hilarious, light-hearted fable about seeing past our differences. Frog is a frog. And Toad is a toad.They are totally different from each other. So when a fly mistakes Frog and Toad for two FROGS, it's not long before things get a bit fruity... Luckily, a too-close call with a snappy alligator makes Frog and Toad join forces to see that they're not THAT different after all...
At heart, a laugh-out-loud journey about togetherness, putting differences aside and realizing that friends don't need to be just like you, but they come in all shapes and sizes!
No Cure For Being Human, Kate Bowler ( paperback October 2022)
£10.99
The bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved) asks, how do you move forward with a life you didn't choose?
Hailed by Glennon Doyle as 'the Christian Joan Didion', Kate Bowler used to accept the modern idea that life is an endless horizon of possibilities, a series of choices which if made correctly, would lead us to a place just out of our reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner.
A promotion on the horizon. But then at thirty-five she was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, and now she has to ask one of the most fundamental questions of all: How do we create meaning in our lives when the life we hoped for is put on hold indefinitely?In No Cure for Being Human, Kate searches for a way forward as she mines the wisdom (and absurdity) of our modern 'best life now' advice industry, which offers us exhausting positivity, trying to convince us that we can out-eat, out-learn and out-perform our humanness. With dry wit and unflinching honesty she grapples with her cancer diagnosis, her ambition and her faith and searches for some kind of peace with her limitations in a culture that says that anything is possible.
Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate's irreverent, hard-won observations in No Cure For Being Human chart a bold path towards learning new ways to live.
The River, Tom Percival ( picture book, March 2022)
£6.99
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.
History Is All You Left Me , Adam Silvera ( paperback, 2017)
£8.99
From the author of the INTERNATIONAL NO. 1 BESTSELLER THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END comes an explosive examination of grief, mental illness, and the devastating consequences of refusing to let go of the past. You're still alive in alternate universes, Theo, but I live in the real world where this morning you're having an open casket funeral.I know you're out there, listening. And you should know I'm really pissed because you swore you would never die and yet here we are. It hurts even more because this isn't the first promise you've broken.
Griffin has lost his first love in a drowning accident. Theo was his best friend, his ex-boyfriend and the one he believed he would end up with. Now, reeling from grief and worsening OCD, Griffin turns to an unexpected person for help.
Theo's new boyfriend. But as their relationship becomes increasingly complicated, dangerous truths begin to surface. Griffin must make a choice: confront the past, or miss out on the future...
PRAISE FOR HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME: 'There isn't a teenager alive who won't find their heart described perfectly on these pages.' Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go
One Day At a Time, Hilary Scott ( paperback April 2022)
£11.99
Hilary Scott is a psychologist and bereavement counsellor. Her book is based on years of personal experience and training, supporting the bereaved through a structure and pace that offers practical and psychological support on a day by day basis.
A thoughtful gift for anyone going through the different phases of grief, to understand that this range of emotions is normal and part of the healing process. A really practical and comforting guide.
How To Live When a Loved One Dies, Thich Nhat Hanh ( paperback July 2021)
£7.99
A comforting book that will offer relief to anyone moving through intense grief and loss, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh shares accessible, healing words of wisdom to transform our suffering. In the immediate aftermath of a loss, sometimes it is all we can do to keep breathing. With his signature clarity and compassion, Thich Nhat Hanh will guide you through the storm of emotions surrounding the death of a loved one.How To Live When A Loved One Dies offers powerful practices such as mindful breathing that will help you reconcile with death and loss, feel connected to your loved one long after they have gone and transform your grief into healing.
Sympathy Card ( Louise Mulgrew artist)
£3.00
We stock a range of cards suitable for bereavement and sympathy. These cards are blank inside for your own message.
Stock may vary, alternatives will be suggested if these are currently unavailable.
Hope On the Horizon, Onjali Q Rauf (May 2022)
£9.99
No one is too small to make a change." Growing up, there is so much out of our control and so much we can feel helpless about. But together, we can make a difference. In this inspiring and practical handbook, bestselling children's author and Human Rights campaigner, Onjali Rauf, shares her top ten ways for creating change.With the help of her favourite fictional characters and some of the most inspiring people she has ever met, Onjali invites readers to dive in and discover everything there is to know about kindness, empathy, friendship and fighting for the things that matter. (Plus cool stuff like X-ray vision and deflecting negative forces.)Because with a bit of compassion, a big dollop of hope and even the smallest act of kindness, we can all make the world a better place. Hope is on the horizon; you just have to find it.
Parental guidance recommended: issues related to discrimination, injustice and prejudice are included.
I Got This, Cara Mailey ( paperback April 2022)
£6.99
A funny, big-hearted novel about loving yourself for being exactly who you are! When a mega-famous pop group announces a competition for fans to be part of their next music video, Erin decides to go for it. She wants to show her younger brother that in life, there are no limits - even if you don't look like most other kids.
But making an audition video is proving more difficult than Erin expected; it's almost like her best friend is trying to ruin it! And when an opportunity comes up that might increase her chances, Erin begins to wonder: can she stay true to herself and pursue her dreams?
Erin's character is inspired by NI co-author Cara Mailey, who has achondroplasia (the most common form of dwarfism) and was featured on CBBC's documentary "My Life: Made to Measure" and BBC One's "Keeping Up with the Maileys"Co-author Chrissie Sains is also the author of AN ALIEN IN THE JAM FACTORY Perfect for fans of THE AMAZING EDIE ECKHART by Rosie Jones, A KIND OF SPARK and CAN YOU SEE ME?
Weirdo, Zadie Smith ( paperback June 2022)
£7.99
Meet Maud: a guinea pig who inexplicably wears a judo suit - and not everyone understands or approves. When Maud is thrown into a new and confusing situation, it takes brave decisions and serendipitous encounters for her to find her place and embrace her individuality. The charming characters of Magenta Fox, whose work is evocative of Raymond Briggs and Janet Ahlberg, perfectly offset Zadie and Nick's warm, wry prose.Weirdo is an endearing story about the quiet power of being different by two veteran writers, and introduces an exciting debut illustrator. Together they have created a picture book that adults and children alike will treasure.
Mother Ship, Francesca Segal ( paperback 2020)
£9.99
Heart-wrenching, funny and heartfelt - Mother Ship is a beautifully crafted, warts-and-all love letter to our wonderful NHS' Adam Kay,
After her identical twin girls are born ten weeks prematurely, Francesca Segal finds herself sitting vigil in the 'mother ship' of neonatal intensive care, all romantic expectations of new parenthood obliterated. As each day brings a fresh challenge for her and her babies, Francesca makes a temporary life among a band of mothers who are vivid, fearless, and inspiring, taking care not only of their children but of one another. Mother Ship is a hymn to the sustaining power of women's friendships, and a loving celebration of the two small girls - and their mother - who defy the odds.
A comforting and encouraging read, especially for others enduring the same experience. 'A heart-wrenching insight into what must have been such a fragile, overwhelming and terrifying time - yet there's humour in there too. Beautiful' Giovanna Fletcher
Usborne : All About Worries and Fears, Felicity Brooks
£9.99
There can be a lot to worry about when you are little, from monsters under the bed to Monday's maths test, but one person's scary spider is another's perfect pet, so how can we learn to stop everyday fears and worries from growing out of proportion or even overwhelming us? This book helps children understand why we have different fears and worries and the physical effects they can have on our bodies. It then offers all sorts of fun and helpful activities and strategies to help manage and even overcome them.
Now only available in paperback
Starting School, Janet and Allan Ahlberg ( paperback, 2013)
£6.99
Are you starting school? How exciting! Following a number of children's first experiences, this picture book takes children right from their very first day to the end of the school year. This reassuring read will support even the most nervous school-starter, exploring each emotion, from fear to excitement, with care. The perfect read to start a conversation about any pre-school nerves, packed with playful illustrations and easy to understand explanations.This is a book that you'll want to read again and again - far beyond the last day of the school year.
A Little Unsteadily into Light : New Dementia-Inspired Fiction ( 2 Sept 2022)
£14.99
To live with dementia is to develop extraordinary and various new ways of being – linguistically, cognitively and practically. The storyteller operates similarly, using words and ideas creatively to reveal a slightly different perspective of the world.
In this anthology of fourteen new short stories, commissioned by Jan Carson and Jane Lugea, some of the best contemporary writers from Ireland and the UK powerfully and poignantly explore the depths and breadth of the real dementia experience, traversing age, ethnicity, class and gender, sex and consent.
Each writer’s story is drawn from their own personal experience of dementia and told with outrageous and dark humour, empathy and startling insight. Here are heroes and villains, tricksters and saints, mothers, fathers, lovers, friends, characters whose past has overshadowed their present and characters who are making a huge impact on the world they currently find themselves in. They might have dementia, but dementia is only a small part of who they are. They will challenge, frustrate, inspire and humble you.
Above all, these brilliant pieces of short fiction disrupt the perceived notions of what dementia is and, in their diversity, honesty and authenticity begin to normalise an illness that affects so many and break down the stigma endured by those living with it every day.
How to Live when You could be Dead, Deborah James ( hardback September 2022)
£14.99
I was alive when I should have been dead.In another movie, I missed the sliding door and departed this wondrous life long ago. Like so many others, I had to learn to live not knowing if I have a tomorrow, because, statistically, I didn't. At the age of 35, I was blindsided by incurable bowel cancer - I was given less than an 8 per cent chance of surviving five years.
Five years later, my only option was to live in the now and to value one day at a time. How do you turn your mind from a negative spiral into realistic and rebellious hope? How do you stop focusing on the why and realise that 'why not me' is just as valid a question? When Deborah James was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer at just 35, she learned a powerful lesson: the way we respond to any given situation empowers or destroys us. And with the right skills and approach, we can all face huge challenges and find strength and hope in the darkest of places.
How to Live When You Could Be Dead will show you how. It will awaken you to question your life as if you didn't have a tomorrow and live it in the way you want to today. By harnessing the power of positivity and valuing each day as though it could be your last, you'll find out, as Deborah did, that it is possible to live with joy and purpose, no matter what.
Ebury, a division of Penguin Random House, will pay GBP3 from the sale of each copy of How To Live When You Could Be Dead by Deborah James sold in the UK to Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.
Maybe Now, Colleen Hoover ( paper back Sept 2022)
£8.99
The long-awaited finale to the New York Times bestselling Maybe Someday series returns with all the characters you fell in love with.What is more important? Friendship, loyalty, or love?Ridge and Sydney are thrilled to finally be together guilt-free. But as the two of them navigate this freedom, Warren and Bridgette's relationship is as tumultuous as ever, and Maggie grapples with her illness. When she comes across an old list of things she wanted to do "maybe one of these days," Maggie decides to live life to the fullest and accomplish these dreams.Maggie keeps Ridge updated on her adventures, but he can't help but worry, even as Sydney grows more and more suspicious about their friendship. But if she's going to move past this jealousy, she'll need to reconcile how she and Ridge came together with the fact that Maggie will always be in their lives somehow...or end up walking away from the man she loves so much. Featuring new songs by Griffin Peterson, this emotive and satisfying finale proves that maybe someday might be right now.
Landlines, Raynor Winn ( paperback May 2023)
£10.99
Some people live to walk. Raynor and Moth walk to live . Raynor Winn knows that her husband Moth's health is declining, getting worse by the day. She knows of only one cure.It worked once before. But will he - can he? - set out with her on another healing walk? The Cape Wrath Trail is over two hundred miles of gruelling terrain through Scotland's remotest mountains and lochs. But the lure of the wilderness and the beguiling beauty of the awaiting glens draw them northwards.
Being one with nature saved them in their darkest hour and their hope is that it can work its magic again. They embark on an incredible thousand-mile journey from Scotland back to the familiar shores of the South West Coast Path. From Northumberland to the Yorkshire moors, Wales to the South West, Raynor and Moth map with each step the landscape of an island nation facing an uncertain path ahead.
In Landlines, she records in luminous prose the strangers and friends, wilderness and wildlife they encounter on the way - it's a journey that begins in fear but can only end in hope.
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.
Menopausing : The Positive Roadmap to Your Second Spring, by Davina McCall ( hardback Sept 2022)
£22.00
Menopausing is more than just a book, it's a movement. An uprising. Menopause affects every woman, and yet so many approach it with shame, fear, misinformation or silence.Why is no one talking about this? Who has the correct information? And how can we get it? That's how this book has come about. We are going to tell you the truth, so you can make an informed decision about your life and your body ... mic drop.' For too long, women have had to keep quiet about the menopause - its onset, its symptoms, its treatments - and what it means for us.
Menopausing will build an empowered, supportive community to break this terrible silence once and for all. By exploring and explaining the science, debunking damaging myths, and smashing the taboos around the perimenopause and menopause, this book will equip women to make the most informed decisions about their health... and their lives.
Menopausing will also celebrate the sharing of stories, enabling women to feel less alone and more understood, and talk openly and positively about menopause. No more scaremongering: just evidence-based info.No shame: real women, real menopause stories, real empathy, real community.Honest, no-holds-barred advice: Dry vagina? Zero sex drive? Hair loss? We've got it covered. The start of a movement: to get everyone talking about the menopause in every home, GP surgery and workspace.
The Body Image Book for Girls, Charlotte Markey ( large paperback Sept 2022)
£9.99
It is worrying to think that most girls feel dissatisfied with their bodies, and that this can lead to serious problems including depression and eating disorders. Can some of those body image worries be eased? Body image expert and psychology professor Dr Charlotte Markey helps girls aged 9-15 to understand, accept, and appreciate their bodies. She provides all the facts on puberty, mental health, self-care, why diets are bad news, dealing with social media, and everything in-between.Girls will find answers to questions they always wanted to ask, the truth behind many body image myths, and real-life stories from girls who share their own experiences. Through this easy-to-read and beautifully illustrated guide, Dr Markey teaches girls how to nurture both mental and physical health to improve their own body image, shows the positive impact they can have on others, and enables them to go out into the world feeling fearless!
Poems for When You Can't Find the Words : A comforting collection from Irish Hospice Foundation.
£15.99
From Irish Hospice Foundation, who so compassionately provide end-of-life and bereavement care, this collection provides the gift of words at a time when words can be hard to find and is designed to speak to the fears and concerns that illness and approaching death awaken. Created in conjunction with Poetry Ireland and including poems from Seamus Heaney, Brendan Kennelly, Emily Dickinson and Paul Durcan, this is a collection of words to comfort in the most troubled times. Whether you or a loved one are facing the end of life, or if you're grieving the loss of someone close, you will find solace and refuge here.
Life Is Hard : How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way, Kieran Setiya (Hardback |October 2022)
£16.99
Reading this book is like speaking with a thoughtful friend who never tells you to cheer up, but, by offering gentle companionship and a change of perspective, makes you feel better anyway" The New York Times Book Review'From personal trauma to the injustice and absurdity of the world, sometimes simply going on can feel too much. But could there be solace - and even hope - in acknowledging the hardships of the human condition? Might doing so free us from the tyranny of striving for our "best lives" and help us find warmth, humanity, and humour in the lives we actually have? Could it inspire in us the desire for a better world? In this profound and personal book, Kieran Setiya shows how philosophy can help us find our way. He shares his own experience with chronic pain and the consolation that comes from making sense of it.
He asks what we can learn from loneliness and loss about the value of human life. And he explores how we can fail with grace, confront injustice, and search for meaning in the face of despair. Drawing on ancient and modern philosophy, as well as fiction, comedy, social science and personal essay, Life is Hard is a book for this moment - a work of solace and compassion.
The Good Drinker : How I Learned to Love Drinking Less by Adrian Chiles (paperback June 2023)
£9.99
The popular broadcaster and columnist sets out to discover the unsung pleasures of drinking in moderation. The recommended alcohol limit is 14 units a week. Adrian Chiles used to put away almost 100.Ever since he was a teenager, drinking was his idea of a good time - and not just his, but seemingly the whole nation's. Still, it wasn't very good for him: the doctor made that clear. If you lined them up, Adrian must have knocked back three miles of drinks.
How many of them had he genuinely wanted? A mile?There's an awful lot of advice out there on how to quit booze completely. If you just want to drink a bit less, the pickings are slim. Yet while the alcohol industry depends on a minority of problem drinkers, the majority really do enjoy in moderation.
What's their secret? Join the inimitable Chiles as he sets out around Britain and plumbs his only slightly fuzzy memories of a lifetime in pubs in a quest to find the good drinker within.
We Are All Constellations, Amy Beashel ( paperback October 2022)
£8.99
A heartbreaking but hope-filled tale about the stories we tell ourselves to survive... You are strong. You are brave.You are not alone. Seventeen-year-old Iris is happy. She's fearless, she's strong.
She is everything but a girl who lost her mum. But Iris's dad and step-mum have been keeping a secret. One big enough to unravel her.
Only the magnetic Orla can provide an escape, until things get...complicated. As Iris questions who she is, it becomes clear she can't run away from grief. What happens when someone who has never faced up to the darkness lets it in?
Our Daily Bread : From Argos to the Altar - a Priest's Story, Father Alex Frost ( paperback July 2023)
£9.99
A warmly funny, intensely moving and startlingly personal account of the lives of an urban parish priest and his parishioners. Father Alex Frost was not always a man of the cloth. He found his calling while running an Argos store in his native Burnley, moonlighting as a stand-up comedian and die-hard fan of The Clarets and Depeche Mode.But having achieved his profession, Fr Alex quickly recognised the 17,000 inhabitants of his new parish were in dire need of help. Burnley is typical of many towns across Britain: a place of run-down council estates, severe poverty litter, crime and drugs, but also a place where the sacred sits alongside the secular in an intimate and personal way. And so it was that he found himself running a food bank from a car park, helping the desperate amid his flock as the pandemic raged.
Fr Alex's down-to-earth style of ministry struck a chord with people of all faiths, cultures and class at a time when the divide between rich and poor is widening cataclysmically. But amid the tragedy, addiction, appalling loss, illness and neglect, there also lies hope, joy and moments of comedy. Our Daily Bread is as much the story of the rich cast of characters that cross the threshold of any church as it is our vicar's.
Through them it shows the continued relevance of the church for those in peril: the poor and the marginalised. This heartfelt and moving book seeks to give a voice to the voiceless, charting the tragedy and pain, humour and hope which are ever-present in his community. It is ultimately about modern poverty - and how we all can, and should, espouse Christian virtues of love, kindness, tolerance.
Activist, Louisa Reid ( paperback Oct 2022)
£7.99
When an anonymous student posts on a website about the sexual abuse she suffered, and the school fails to deal with the situation, Cassie and her friends know it is time to act. A powerful verse novel** about speaking and standing up for what's right. Cassie goes to a prestigious academic school where girls have only just been admitted after decades of it being single-sex.
She and her friends prepare for battle - with a strike, an assembly, as well as outside school spending their weekends protesting to save the woodland from development. But will her activism only make things worse, or will she succeed in righting the wrongs that so many choose to ignore? And could there be a more personal reason for her behaviour? A powerful, timely verse novel about the need to act and stand up for what's right.
** Verse novels! Please don't be put off by thinking this is poetry, or difficult to read ... it's actually the complete opposite. If you are a reluctant reader, or dyslexic, this is a perfect way to get into a gripping and intense story without having to read as many lines of words. Try it!
We All want Impossible Things , Catherine Newman ( PAPERBACK JULY 2023)
£8.99
Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self? Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years. Since childhood they have seen each other through life's milestones: stealing vodka from their parents, the Madonna phase, REM concerts, unexpected wakes, marriages, infertility, children. As Ash notes, 'Edi's memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.'So when Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Ash's world reshapes around the rhythms of Edi's care, from chipped ice and watermelon cubes to music therapy; from snack smuggling to impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night.
Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment, about building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go. For fans of Nora Ephron and Sorrow & Bliss, We All Want Impossible Things is a deeply moving, jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best.
Really Good, Actually - Monica Heisey ( paperback end Sept 2023)
£9.99
I feel like when you get a divorce everyone's wondering how you ruined it all, what made you so unbearable to be with.If your husband dies, at least people feel bad for you. Maggie's marriage has ended just 608 days after it started, but she's fine - she's doing really good, actually. Sure, she's alone for the first time in her life, can't afford her rent and her obscure PhD is going nowhere .
. . but at the age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new status as a Surprisingly Young Divorcee (TM).
Soon she's taking up 'sadness hobbies' and getting back out there, sex-wise, oversharing in the group chat and drinking with her high-intensity new divorced friend Amy. As Maggie throws herself headlong into the chaos of her first year of divorce, she finds herself questioning everything, including: Why do we still get married? Did I fail before I even got started? How many Night Burgers until I'm happy? Laugh-out-loud funny, razor sharp and painfully relatable, Really Good, Actually is an irresistible debut novel about the uncertainties of modern love, friendship and happiness from a stunning new voice in fiction, Monica Heisey. 'A smart, funny and warm debut with such a strong voice' Cathy Rentzenbrink
The Light in Everything, Katya Balen ( paperback Jan 2023)
£7.99
From the author of October, October, winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal 2022, comes a life-affirming story about blended families and learning to find room in your heart for new life and new love. Tom is still quiet and timid, even though his dad has been gone for nearly two years now.Zofia has a raging storm that makes her want to fight the whole world until she gets what she wants. And what she wants is for scaredy-cat Tom to get out of her life. Tom hates loud, unpredictable Zofia just as much, but he's moving into Zofia's house.
Because his mum and Zofia's dad are in love ... and they're having a baby. Tom and Zofia both wish the stupid baby had never happened.
But then Tom's mum gets ill, and it begins to look horribly like their wish might come true ... A story of learning to trust, trying to let go and diving into the unknown with hope in your heart.
