NEWEST IN
We are constantly scouring the new publications for the best, the most interesting and the innovative. Here is a brief selection of what's noteworthy and just out.
Please note that we don't have a comprehensive list of everything new on our website, but if you send us an email to linda@bookspaperscissors.co.uk, we can source (almost) anything!
The Benefactors- Wendy Erskine ( hardback June 2025)
£18.99
From the prize-winning author of Dance Move and Sweet Home, this is an astounding novel about intimate histories, class and money - and what being a parent means. Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to 18-year-old boys.
Gorgeous Frankie, now married to a wealthy, older man, grew up in care. Miriam has recently lost her beloved husband Kahlil in ambiguous circumstances. Bronagh, the CEO of a children's services charity, loves celebrity and prestige.
When their sons are accused of sexually assaulting a friend, Misty Johnston, they'll come together to protect their children, leveraging all the powers they possess. But on her side, Misty has the formidable matriarch, Nan D, and her father, taxi-driver Boogie: an alliance not so easily dismissed.
'Erskine's great gift is for character. Not a single figure in this novel feels contrived'Guardian
'A writer of an unrivalled range of imaginative empathy'Financial Times'
Among Friends, Hal Ebbott ( hardback July 2025)
£18.99
Four friends. A betrayal that should shatter their seemingly perfect lives.
But will they let it?Amos and Emerson have been friends for more than thirty years. Despite vastly different backgrounds, the two now form an enviable portrait of middle age: their wives are close, their teenage daughters have grown up together, their days are passed in the comfortable languor of New York City wealth. They share an unbreakable bond, or so they think.
This weekend, however, something is different. After gathering for Emerson’s birthday at his country home, celebration gives way to old rivalries and resentments which erupt in a shocking act of violence, one that threatens to shatter their finely made world. In its wake, each must choose: between whom and what they love most.
Hal Ebbott's Among Friends explores themes of class, marriage, friendship, and power, as well as the things we tell ourselves to preserve our finely made worlds. 'A powerful, elegant novel that offers unsparing insight into the lives of others' - Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
Bitter Sweet, Hattie Williams ( Hardback July 2025)
£16.99
In my life, there are things that have happened to me, and things that I have done, that have proven to be moments that have a clear before and an after. One of those moments, perhaps in some ways the biggest, was the day that I met Richard Aveling for the first time.'Charlie is twenty-three, single and the new publicity assistant at the independent London publishing house Winden & Shane.
Richard Aveling is fifty-six, married and the author that has defined his generation. Charlie has long idolised the charming, illustrious writer, who also represents a link to her late mother, who loved his work. But as they embark on an illicit and all-consuming affair, Charlie is forced to hide the relationship from everyone she cares about.
And when the success of Richard's latest book launches him to a new level of fame where all anonymity is lost, she realises she might just be in too deep... A thought-provoking exploration of a relationship founded in power, control and silence, Bitter Sweet is perfect for book clubs and will appeal to fans of Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason and Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors. **
**'Brutal but tender, entertaining, compelling and completely believable' LAUREN BRAVO'
Notes on Infinity, Austin Taylor ( hardback July 2025)
£16.99
The moment Zoe notices Jack in their Harvard chemistry class, with his scruffy clothes and casual self-assurance, she knows he’s the one to beat. When Zoe starts trying to outsmart Jack in chemistry, he knows she’s the person he’s been looking for. Because Jack has dreams that go far beyond the classroom.
And while he and Zoe might be from different worlds, they share the same thirst for knowledge and fierce ambition. When he invites her to partner with him on some research, she puts aside her pride, and joins him. Apart they are brilliant, but together they are unstoppable, and within two years, they are at the helm of a thriving start-up company, and deep in a relationship that seems a perfect match in every sense.
Until a shocking accusation is levelled against Jack which threatens everything they’ve built – their company, their reputation, and most importantly, their love. Are some dreams too big to come true? And how far would you go to achieve them anyway?A captivating, deeply poignant novel about ambition, deceit, the recklessness that comes with early success and the way that love can make us feel invincible
Seascraper, Benjamin Wood - hardback July 2025
£14.99
A mesmerising portrait of a young man confined in by his class and the ghosts of his family's past, dreaming of artistic fulfilment. It confirms Benjamin Wood as an exceptional talent in British literature.
Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa’s trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream. When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future.
But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?Haunting and timeless, this is the story of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.
The Compound, Aisling Rawle ( hardback July 2025)
£16.99
You wake up in a compound in the middle of the desert, along with nine other women. All of you are young, all beautiful, all keen to escape the grinding poverty, political unrest and environmental catastrophe of the outside world.
You realise that cameras are tracking your every move, broadcasting to millions of reality TV fans. Soon, ten men will arrive on foot – if they all survive the journey. What will you have to do to win? And what happens to the losers? The Compound is an addictive literary satire on modern excess: it holds a twisted mirror up to our obsession with winning, losing and, above all, watching.
Fans of Black Mirror and The Hunger Games will find The Compound both thought-provoking and disturbingly relevant.
Long Distance, Aysegul Savas ( paperback July 2025)
£14.99
Acclaimed author of The Anthropologists Aysegül Savas’s acute and tender first collection explores the distances we keep, and those we try to close, in the age of connectivity. A researcher abroad in Rome eagerly awaits a visit from her long distance lover, only to find he is not the same man she remembers. An expat meets a childhood friend on a layover and is dismayed by her unexpected contentment.
A newly pregnant woman considers the taboo of sharing the news too soon, but can't resist when an opportunity comes to patch up a damaged friendship. Long Distance showcases Savas's devastating talent for the short story. Her shrewd encapsulations of contemporary life often centre on characters displaced more by choice than circumstance, characters both determined to install themselves in new lives and preoccupied with the people they've left behind.
‘Don’t be deceived by Savas’s cool, matter-of-fact tone – beneath it lie layers of wisdom, delicacy and subtlety’ Guardian ‘An exceptionally elegant, intelligent, and original writer’ Sigrid Nunez
Want, collected by Gillian Anderson ( paperback July 2025)
£10.99
Want : Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous
What do you want when no one is watching?What do you want, when the lights are off?What do you want, when you are anonymous?When we talk about sex, we talk about womanhood and motherhood, infidelity and exploitation, consent and respect, fairness and egalitarianism, love and hate, pleasure and pain.
And yet so many of us don’t talk about it at all. In this groundbreaking book, Gillian Anderson collects and introduces the anonymous sexual fantasies of women from around the world (along with her own anonymous submission). They are all extraordinary: full of desire, fear, intimacy, shame, satisfaction and, ultimately, liberation.
From dreaming about someone off-limits to conjuring a scene with multiple partners, from sex that is gentle and tender to passionate and playful, from women who have never had sex to women who have had more sex than they can remember, these fantasies provide a window into the most secret part of our minds. Want reveals how women feel about sex when they have the freedom to be totally themselves.
Two Kinds of Stranger, Steve Cavanagh ( hardback 31 July 2025)
£16.99
Ellie Parker had everything. Perfect husband.
Perfect apartment. Perfect friends and the perfect job. As an internet celebrity - famed for her random acts of kindness - everyone knew it.
So when a betrayal causes her to lose it all, millions of people are watching. But even at her lowest, Ellie will always help someone in need. Which makes her the perfect target for a sadistic game.
Because as she soon learns, you can never trust a stranger - and a seemingly random encounter plunges her into a nightmare worse than she ever imagined. The only person she can turn to is conman turned trial lawyer Eddie Flynn, who must take on a case where nothing is what it seems. With the most cruelly ingenious mind manipulating events from the shadows, everyone is in danger - including Eddie and his family.
The award-winning, Sunday Times Top Five bestseller returns with a brand new thriller featuring the unforgettable Eddie Flynn. 'This crime thriller is fast and relentless and the plot throws some real shockers.
MODERATION, Elaine Castillo ( hardback July 2025)
£17.99
Thirty-something Girlie Delmundo works a day job as a content moderator, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She's one of the best at it, too - dispassionate, unflinching, maybe because she learned by necessity to wall off all her emotions when she was still a kid - so it's no surprise to anyone when the social-media company for which she works offers her a big salary rise and an office to start moderating its new venture: virtual-reality theme parks, lush and near-perfect simulations of civilizations long since dead. Girlie takes the job, and getting paid to spend her days wandering the crowds of medieval jousts or exploring romantic Left Bank Paris seems too good to be true.
Almost. Sure, she signed up for having to deal with the sordidness of pretty much any virtual space, but as she begins to explore the intricate worlds that she moderates, she notices two deeply troubling things: that there might be something much darker built into the very code of the company, and that William, technically her new boss, a man whose barriers are as mighty as her own, might just be that long-forgotten thing... Girlie's type.
If you liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, you'll like this'Pandora Sykes
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?
Shred Sisters, Betsy Lerner ( paperback August 2025)
£10.99
No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister. It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds.
Ollie is the sister in the spotlight until her stunning confidence becomes erratic and unpredictable, a hurricane leaving people wrecked in her wake. Younger sister Amy, cautious and studious to the core, believes in facts, proof and the empirical world. None of that explains what's happening to Ollie, whose physical beauty and charisma mask the mental illness that will shatter Amy's carefully constructed life.
As Amy comes of age and seeks to find her place - first in academia, then New York publishing, and through a series of troubled relationships - every step brings collisions with Ollie, who slips in and out of the Shred family without warning. Yet for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Ollie cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them. Spanning two decades, Shred Sisters is an intimate and bittersweet story exploring the fierce complexities of sisterhood, mental health, loss and love.
Earth Shapers, Maxim Samson ( hardback August 2025)
£22.00
Mountains, meridians, rivers and borders; these are some of the features that carve up the world on our maps and in our minds. But geography is far less set in stone than we might believe and, over time, we have become experts at reshaping our surroundings. From the Qhapaq Ñan, South America's 'Great Road', and the Panama Canal to Mozambique's railways and Korea's sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range, Samson explores how we mould the world around us.
And how, as we etch our needs onto the natural landscape, we alter the course of history. An immense work of cultural geography touching on ecology, sociology, history and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being constrained by geography, we are instead its creators. Readable and fascinating.
The Wild HooBoo, Barry Falls (hardback August 2025)
£12.99
When the selfish King captures the wish-granting wild HooBoo, he is taught a lesson he won't forget!The wild HooBoo sings a magical song – coo, chit churp churee! – that can grant you anything you wish for, if your heart is good and true. But the King’s only desire is selfish and cruel, so when he captures the HooBoo and starts making demands, things don’t quite go as he’d planned . .
. Stunningly illustrated and bursting with colour and kindness, this is a new cautionary tale with a classic feel from award-winning Irish children's author Barry Falls.
Night Swimming : How to swim through the darkness by Al Mennie ( paperback August 2025)
£14.99
Al grew up in Castlerock in Northern Ireland after moving there as a child. He became a fearless surfer and swimmer, with an emotional connection to the sea which he shares here in this hugely informative and original book.
Discover the unmatched beauty of wild swimming by night. Combining motivational writing with evocative storytelling, international big wave surfer and night swimmer Al Mennie gives readers the tools to discover their own methods of navigating through darkness to find clarity and focus. Weaving together swim stories with the practicalities of how and when he swims at night, along with the benefits that connecting with nature has on the mind, this book is perfect for wild swimmers who want to experience their favourite waterhole after sundown. Discover what drew Al into the waters of the North Atlantic, how he found community after initially seeking isolation, his pre-swim rituals, and everything he has learnt along the way, including how he "found his moon" – something that shines brightly in his life.
The book will feature:Tides, currents, weather and seasonsHow the senses adaptNavigating by landscape, moon and starsPreparation, what to wear, pre-swim rituals Route planning, back-up plans and support teamsThe importance of community With illustrations of landscapes, moon phases, constellations and tidal patterns, and templates for planning routes and logging swims, this book will help readers find a new perspective on life, opening their mind to a deeper connection with themselves and with their local environment.
The Scarediest Bear, Frances Stickley ( paperback August 2025)
£7.99
Everyone’s frightened we all feel afraid, But the more that you face it the more it will fade. Bear isn’t scared of his snuggly lair or of his best friend, Hare, but he is scared of pretty much everything else. And when he starts to feel that he’s missing out, the two embark on a mission to discover that special something that unlocks Bear’s courage and reignites his love for life.
The Scarediest Bear is the story of how courage can be found in the most unexpected places. This reassuring, funny story by Frances Stickley, stylishly illustrated by Alice McKinley, is the perfect way to open up discussions about worries and anxiety with young children. Children won’t be able to resist adorable double-act Bear and Hare as they take on their fears, one step at a time
Our Beautiful Mess, Adele Parks ( hardback August 2025)
£16.99
Connie can’t wait to have all her daughters back home for the holidays.
It’s not just the excitement of the girls being together under one roof; uni student Fran is bringing a new boyfriend to stay. The empty nest will once again be full of friends, family and young love. Yet from the moment she sees Zac, Connie feels a deep unease.
Zac reminds her of the worst mistake she has ever made: a man whose charm and good looks nearly destroyed her marriage. Then, Fran announces she’s pregnant. Reeling from Fran’s news and terrified that her past might threaten her family’s future, Connie desperately tries to navigate a path forward.
But there’s a much greater menace looming, because she’s not the only one who has something to hide. Someone in the house has another devastating secret. A deception which will put everyone Connie loves in shocking danger, and one of them will pay the ultimate price.
Number One bestseller Adele Parks returns with an explosive and deeply emotional family drama which explores the lengths a parent will go to protect a child; for there’s nothing stronger than a woman whose family is under threat.
Gold Rush, Olivia Petter ( paperback July 2025)
£9.99
We give celebrities a power they don’t deserve. Power they haven’t earned. What happens when they exploit it? Imagine you’ve just spent the night with the most famous man on the planet. Except you don’t quite remember it. That is what happens to Rose, a twenty-something woman who seemingly has everything going for her. Working for one of the most powerful news outlets in the country, Rose spends her days doing PR for glossy magazines.
There are tedious spreadsheets, fashion divas, and many A-list parties. It’s at one of those parties where she meets Milo Jax, the world-famous, globally adored, British pop sensation. An unlikely flirtation turns into an even more unlikely evening and then Rose wakes up, unable to piece it all together.
What happens next changes everything. Gold Rush is a story about consent, celebrity culture, and trying to figure out where women fit in a world that consistently devalues and disrespects their bodies.
‘Addictive writing wrapped up in a compelling page turner that makes you deeply think and feel’ YOMI ADEGOKE
The Cut Throat Trial, by The Secret Barrister writing as SJ Fleet (hardback August 2025)
£20.00
It is one of the biggest trials of the year. Three seventeen-year-old boys are accused of the brutal murder of an elderly teacher on New Year's Eve. Each boy denies it.
Each points the finger at the other two. But they can’t all be innocent. The three defence barristers have only one job: to persuade the jury that their client is not guilty.
But they’re up against a prosecutor who needs to win the case, no matter the cost. Because when the game is murder, the competition is deadly. Launching a brilliant new voice in crime fiction, a criminal barrister with an incomparable insider’s knowledge, The Cut Throat Trial is the most gripping thriller of the year.
A Long Winter, Colm Toibin ( hardback Aug 2025)
£12.99
An unforgettable story about loss and new love from the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island. 'The most striking example of Tóibín's emotional control . .
[An] eloquent expression of the bond between a mother and a son' – Guardian.
One snowy morning, after arguing with her husband, Miquel’s mother walks out from their home high up in the Pyrenees and does not return. With his younger brother stationed far away on military service and his father cast out by the people of the town, Miquel and his father are left to fend for themselves.
Together they will be forced to battle the elements, and their resentment of each other, through the long winter. Miquel’s desperate searching for his mother is only interrupted when Manolo, an orphaned servant boy from the next village, arrives to help out in the house. As Miquel is forced to confront the reality of his mother's absence, Manolo, with his silences and longing gaze, offers the promise of new love, and another kind of life.
'A Long Winter evokes loss, loneliness, guilt and survival in a few masterly strokes' – Independent
Buckeye, Patrick Ryan (hardback Sept 2025)
£16.99
As news of the Allied victory in Europe reaches the small town of Bonhomie, Ohio, a woman named Margaret Salt walks into a hardware store and asks the man behind the counter, Cal Jenkins, for a radio. What happens next will change both of their lives forever. While the country reconstructs in the post-war boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie – and nothing can remain hidden in a small town.
The consequences of that long-ago encounter will intertwine the fates of two families, rippling through the next generation and compelling them to re-examine who they thought they were and what the future might hold. Full of compassion, humour and charm, Buckeye is a dazzling portrait of the human spirit by way of one unforgettable community; the twisted roads we take to achieve forgiveness and redemption; and above all a universal longing for love and connection.
Omniscient, sweeping, almost defiantly sentimental’ New York Times‘
It’s not just a great Midwestern novel, it’s a great novel, period’ Financial Times
The Country Girls, Edna O’Brien ( hardback August 2025)
£12.99
A beautiful hardback re-issue of the first volume in Edna O'Brien's iconic book of the 60's - which caused huge controversy in Ireland at the time.
We want to live. Drink gin. Squeeze into the front of big cars and drive up outside big hotels.
We want to go places. Caithleen is a romantic: she dreams of finding a handsome man who will sweep her away and look after her. Her friend Baba thinks this makes her a right-looking eejit.
What she wants is money and glamour. Life. As much of it as she can get.
But neither love nor excitement seem possible in their small village, or their convent school. And when they finally make it to Dublin, they find that home isn't as easy to escape as they thought.
Tracks on the Ocean : A History of Trailblazing, Maps and Maritime Travel by Dr Sara Caputo
£12.99
In Tracks on the Ocean, Sara Caputo tells how our journeys around the globe became fixed lines on maps - and how journey lines themselves reshaped maps and the way that we view the world. From Captain Cook's route across the South Seas to the disorientating power of digital technology, the tracks we've left on the oceans - trading, exploring and conquering - are a hidden record of humanity's impact on the planet. Revealing their histories, Caputo uncovers a fascinating new history of maritime travel and modernity.
Weaving human history, cartography, literature and climate science, Tracks on the Ocean reveals how, on the path to discovery, we have changed the world.
The City and Its uncertain Walls, Murakami ( Paperback Sept 25 )
£10.99
A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, a breathtaking new novel about the boundaries between worlds and individuals, from the Sunday Times bestseller. 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.
