Lighter Reads
Sometimes you don't want your book to take you somewhere dark. You might be looking for family drama, romance or plain escapism, but there will be something here to keep you entertained, whether that is curled up in winter with the rain lashing outside, or some mental diversion on your sunlounger on holidays.
The Lodgers, Eithne Shortall ( paperback May 2024)
£9.99
One house, three strangers... Tessa- Activist, 69 years young. Not ready to sell up her big seaside house, but she knows a little help around the place would do wonders.
Conn - Looking for a quiet place to heal after a family tragedy, this seaside escape would be the perfect haven if it weren't for... Chloe - Arrives to drop off a package and leaves with a room. Her life is a bit of a mess, but this could be the start of a new chapter.
She's ready for change. But is she ready for Conn?'An ideal summer read ... by turns hilarious and heartbreaking' Irish Independent'This moving, funny and charming novel is reminiscent of Marian Keyes' Louise O'Neill
The Book of Witty Women ( paperback April 2024)
£12.99
This anthology showcases the very best in humorous short story writing, by outstanding contemporary women writers, including Kathy Lette, Sadia Azmat, Lucy Vine, Josie Long, Paula Lennon, and many more. It includes the winning and shortlisted stories from the Comedy Women in Print Short Story Prize. From tales of a narcoleptic biscuit lover, con artists with a twist, and the accidental death of a hamster; to consequences of accidental gluing, the imagined world of extreme shopping, and the delightfully surreal world of canine dating, these 15 boldly imaginative stories range across a multitude of genres and themes.
Each proves the power of the short story to disarm, tickle or simply entertain.
Edited and introduced by Helen Lederer , Kathy Lette (Author) , Sadia Azmat (Author) , Josie Long (Author) , Lucy Vine (Author) , Paula Lennon (Author) , Kimberley Adams (Author) , Annemarie Cancienne (Author) , Kim Clayden (Author) , Jean Ende (Author)
Spirit Level, Richy Craven ( paperback May 2024)
£9.99
Spirit Level is an outrageously bingeable read. It is surprising, warm, inventive and a lot of fun' - Louise Nealon'
'Craven pulled me in with his brilliant humour, only to make me feel genuine emotion. I'll never forgive him for this' - Seán Burke
Danny Hook is a directionless twenty-something year old fresh out of therapy. Dealing with his disappointed family and dead-end career, he's sure things couldn't get much worse, until a drink-driving accident leaves his best friend Nudge dead. Danny also discovers he can see ghosts - but only when he's drunk. Saddled with a best friend who can't leave his side, they must figure out what's going on and why Nudge can't cross over. Can Danny negotiate family life, therapy and a ghost that refuses to fade into the background before time runs out?'Spirit Level is a charming, zippy and hilarious read.
Cassandra in Reverse, Holly Smale ( paperback May 2024)
£8.99
where would you start? Cassie has never really fitted in. She remembers everything. Understands nothing.
And consistently says the wrong thing. So when she gets dumped, fired AND her local café runs out of banana muffins - all in one day - it feels like the end of the world. But then Cassie discovers she has the power to go back and change things.
With endless chances to get it right, can she stop it all from going wrong?
Nuclear Family, Kate Davies ( hardback Feb 2024)
£16.99
When Lena buys DNA testing kits for her father Tom and her twin sister Alison, she thinks they’ll enjoy finding out where their ancestors come from, and what percentage Neanderthal they are. She has no idea the gift will blow her family apart. Tom is forced to admit that he isn’t his daughters’ biological father: he and his late wife, Sheila, used a sperm donor.
He's terrified Lena and Alison will reject him, and desperate to win back their trust – whatever it takes. Alison thinks DNA doesn’t matter. She and her wife are trying to start a family using donor sperm, too.
To her, Tom is their dad, and that’s that. But Lena becomes obsessed with tracking down their biological father. And when she discovers she has a half-brother – an actor with a blue tick on Instagram – she becomes obsessed with him, too… From the author of the Polari Prize-winning In at the Deep End, this is a very funny and deeply moving novel about identity, donor conception and what it means to be a family.
‘Funny, poignant, smart and wonderfully, achingly real’ SARAH WATERS 'I can’t think of another author who can make me ricochet so quickly from painful empathy to helpless laughter' ERIN KELLY
The Divorcées, Rowan Beaird ( hardback May 2024)
£16.99
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.
Mrs Porter Calling, A J Pearce ( paperback May 2024)
£9.99
AJ Pearce, the beloved author of Dear Mrs Bird... Brilliant, utterly charming and uplifting’ - Jill Mansell, author of Rumour Has It'
London, April 1943. Emmy Lake is most definitely Doing Her Bit for the war effort. The readers of her magazine, Woman’s Friend, are facing the hardships of life on the Home Front and they need Emmy and her support more than ever.
But when a glamorous new owner arrives at Woman’s Friend, Emmy soon realizes that the Honourable Mrs Porter could destroy everything. And then tragedy strikes. As Emmy’s own happiness turns to devastation, she must ask herself if she can find the strength to keep going.
Can she save the magazine so many people love? And can she weather her own heartbreak?'If ever there was a book to cheer a heart, it’s Mrs Porter Calling’ - Milly Johnson, author of My One True North'
Sandwich, Catherine Newman ( hardback June 2024)
£16.99
One week in Cape Cod. The perfect family holiday. What could possibly go wrong...?For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod.
Their rustic beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, its quirky furniture and mismatched pots and pans greeted like old friends. Now, sandwiched between her children who are adult enough to be fun but still young enough to need her, and her parents who are alive and healthy, Rocky wants to preserve this golden moment forever. This one precious week when everything is in balance; everything is in flux.
But every family has its secrets and hers is no exception. With her body in open revolt and surprises invading her peaceful haven, the perfectly balanced seesaw of Rocky’s life is tipping towards change…
Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books, Kirsten Miller ( Hardback June 2024)
£16.99
From the author of The Change, comes a novel about book banning and those brave enough to stand up against this censorship. In Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean has decided to cleanse the town’s reading habits. All banned books have been removed from public spaces, and the townspeople are only allowed to read books Lula has deemed ‘appropriate’.
But a small group refuse to be told what they can and can’t read. The revolution is coming …
This novel is dealing with some seriously devastating subjects, yet it still retains its sense of humour and a mishievous spirit. It's a bold and rallying cry of a book!
The House of Fever, Polly Crosby ( paperback August 2024)
£9.99
Can she unlock the secrets of The House of Fever? 1935, Hedoné House, a luxurious sanatorium for the creative elite dedicated to the groundbreaking treatment of tuberculosis. As the doctor’s new wife, Agnes Templeton has pledged her life to a house of fever. But Hedoné is no ordinary hospital.
High society rubs shoulders with artists, poets and musicians. No expense is spared on the comfort of the guests, and champagne flows freely. It’s a world away from everything Agnes knows.
Her husband’s methods are unusual. There are whisperings about past patients and even a cure. Hedoné’s secrets draw Agnes in, revealing truths she could never anticipate, and soon she is caught between a past she is desperate to escape and a future she may forever regret.
Praise for Polly Crosby ’Hugely evocative and beautifully written’ Anna Mazzola, author of The Clockwork Girl ‘A thoroughly compelling mystery meets a poignant love story, all wrapped up in beautifully lyrical writing’ Frances Quinn, author of The Smallest Man ‘A beguiling mystery from a gifted storyteller’ Louise Fein, author of People Like Us
Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner ( hardback July 2024)
£20.00
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble comes a darkly exhilarating novel about an American family and its inheritance - the safety and wealth that they fought for, and the precarity of their survival that is their legacy. In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway in the nicest part of the nicest part of Long Island.
He is brutalised, held for ransom and then returned to his family. Miraculously, Carl, his wife and his three kids are left to move on with their lives, and resume their prized places in the ongoing saga of the American dream. But nearly forty years later, when Carl's mother dies, the trauma that has been bubbling beneath the Fletchers' lives all this time surfaces at last.
It becomes apparent that Carl has been quietly pursuing closure to the kidnapping for all these years, and his wife and children must face that the money that they believed bought them safety was actually never capable of doing any such thing. Long Island Compromise spans generations, winding through decades of history all the way through to the wild present, dealing along the way with all the mainstays of American Jewish life and the timeless questions about wealth, trauma, and the American soul.
Too many good reviews to copy!
Welcome to Glorious Tuga, Francesca Segal ( hardback June 2024)
£18.99
’‘Full of romance, intrigue and friendships’‘Blue sea; small island; paradise. Sign me up!’‘
Zoologist Charlotte Walker has taken up a year-long fellowship on the tiny, remote island of Tuga de Oro to study the endangered gold coin tortoises in the jungle interior. She is warmly embraced by the tight-knit community of islanders – and their animals – who are keen to adopt Charlotte as Tuga’s first vet.
But Charlotte has a family secret that connects her to the island. She is determined to solve the mystery: she just needs to make sure she stays focused on her research, and absolutely does not fall in love with the first man she meets…’A much-needed escape, I warmly recommend this beauty’ NIGELLA LAWSON
True Colours, James Simpson
£12.99
Derry on a plate ( with a side order of Strabane)… this book has joy, poignancy and humour all wrapped up in a Derry shaped package. Thoroughly enjoyable, quirky and heartwarming.
signed copies available
