Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Author)
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. FIGHT FOR LOVE. WELCOME TO THE KILLING GROUND.
'America's new Hunger Games' Sunday Times
'So good. This one is from the heart' Stephen King
‘Brutal, thrilling, devastating and beautiful’ The Times
Enter a world where, livestreamed to millions, prisoners fight like gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.
Fan-favourite female stars Loretta Thurwar and Hamara ‘Hurricane Staxxx’ Stacker are teammates and lovers. Thurwar is nearing the end of her time on the circuit, free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. But as protestors clash with the baying crowds and the programme’s corporate owners stack the odds against her – will the price be simply too high?
‘So compelling – right up to the final, fatal blow’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Vividly imaginative and startling’ Elle
‘The new maestro of dystopian lit’ Wired
Imani Erriu (Author)
You know the most dangerous kind of villain? A woman with nothing left to lose.
In a world ruled by the Stars, cruel and merciless gods, Elara has been cursed by fate.
A prophecy promises she will fall for a Star, but that it will kill them both.
Yet when the Star of Wrath and War descends to hunt Elara, the neighbouring kingdom sees an opportunity to take her from her home, the Kingdom of Night, to Helios, Kingdom of Light. Where she strides straight into the arms of an enemy prince.
There, Elara is forced to either let Prince Lorenzo train her into a weapon worthy of battling against the tyrannical reign of the Stars, or to accept her fate.
But there are shadows even within the Kingdom of Light – and they threaten to reveal the darkness in Lorenzo’s past and the ancient magic that slumbers in Elara’s veins.
And with it all, the undeniable, star-crossed pull between them...
Ursula Le Guin (Author)
A Wizard of Earthsea * The Tombs of Atuan * The Farthest Shore * Tehanu
Ged is but a young goatherd on the island of Gont when he comes by his strange powers over nature. Sent to the School of Wizards on Roke, he learns the true way of magic and proves himself a powerful magician.
Over the years and distances, he hones his craft and helps the High Priestess Tenar escape the labyrinth of darkness. But it is as Archmage Sparrowhawk that Ged witnesses true magic and the ancient ways submit to the forces of evil and death. Will he too succumb, or can he hold them back?
Philip Pullman (Author)
Winner - Author of the Year, British Book Awards
Philip Pullman's magnificent bestseller now in paperback, with new additional illustrations. A coming of age story like no other . . .
Malcolm Polstead's Oxford life has been one of routine, ordinary even. He is happiest playing with his daemon, Asta, in their canoe, La Belle Sauvage. But now as the rain builds, the world around Malcolm and Asta is, it seems, set to become increasingly far from ordinary.
Finding himself linked to a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua, Malcolm is forced to undertake the challenge of his life and to make a dangerous journey that will change him and Lyra for ever . . .
Emma Törzs (Author)
Not all books should be opened.
'A book of magic about books of magic . . . a bold, new novel from an extraordinary new voice.' Marlon James, Sunday Times bestselling author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Joanna Kalotay lives alone in the woods of Vermont, the sole protector of a collection of rare books; books that will allow someone to walk through walls or turn water into wine. Books of magic.
Her estranged older sister Esther moves between countries and jobs, constantly changing, never staying anywhere longer than a year, desperate to avoid the deadly magic that killed her mother. Currently working on a research base in Antarctica, she has found love and perhaps a sort of happiness.
But when she finds spots of blood on the mirrors in the research base, she knows someone is coming for her, and that Joanna and her collection are in danger.
If they are to survive, she and Joanna must unravel the secrets their parents kept hidden from them - secrets that span centuries and continents, and could cost them their lives ...
Leigh Bardugo (Author)
AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘A richly imagined, intricate tale of magic and intrigue’ DEBORAH HARKNESS, #1 bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches
‘Riveting… Leigh Bardugo's characters are so three dimensional you want to reach through the page’ DIANA GABALDON, #1 bestselling author of Outlander
‘A wonderful, transporting ride through history… a deeply romantic novel’ KATHERINE ARDEN, bestselling author of The Bear and The Nightingale
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FATE CAN BE CHANGED.
CURSES CAN BE BROKEN.
In a shabby house in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil. But when her scheming mistress discovers her scullion is hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to win over the royal court.
Determined to seize this chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of power-hungry nobility, desperate kings, holy men and seers, where the lines between magic, science and fraud blur. With the pyres of the Inquisition burning, she must use every bit of her wit and resilience to win fame and hide the truth of her ancestry – even if that means enlisting the help of an embittered immortal familiar, whose own secrets could cost her everything.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes a bewitching novel, brimming with peril in a world where a woman’s ambition can prove deadly.
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PRAISE FOR LEIGH BARDUGO'S BOOKS
‘Reading Bardugo is an immersive, sensual experience... One can’t help sinking into Luzia and Santángel’s world and wishing never to leave’ THE NEW YORK TIMES
‘A compelling, well-researched and vividly written tale of magic and desire’
THE GUARDIAN
‘The Familiar feels distinct from similar tales ? including Bardugo’s own ? because it explores a brutal and shameful real-life history... Bardugo brilliantly explores the wavy line between the supernatural and the divine’
WASHINGTON POST
'A pacy read with electric prose'
INDEPENDENT on Six of Crows
'Impossible to put down'
STEPHEN KING, on Ninth House
C. K. McDonnell (Author)
The Stranger Times - winner of the 2023 British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work!
Love can be a truly terrible thing.
Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.
Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?
With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn't have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?
As if that wasn't enough, one of the paper's ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.
Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.
Ava Reid (Author)
'Channelling the dark magic at the heart of one of Shakespeare's most intriguing anti-heroes, this reimagining of Lady Macbeth is full of witchcraft, deadly power games, dark schemes, supernatural elements, and a touch of romance.'
Cosmopolitan
'A gargantuan hit...Dark and brooding, skillful storytelling and intricate character development breathe new life into literature's most enigmatic character. Dripping in atmosphere...One to order immediately.'
Glamour
'Ava Reid has done it again in this gothic, atmospheric reclamation of the story of Lady Macbeth.'
Vaishnavi Patel, New York Times bestselling author of Kaikeyi
'A triumph of a retelling.'
Shelley Parker-Chan, bestselling author of She Who Became the Sun-------------------------------------------------------------
Fair is foul and foul is fair.
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of A STUDY IN DROWNING comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.
The Lady knows the stories: that her eyes induce madness in men.
The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.
The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of survival, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.
But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armour. She does not know that her magic is greater, and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.
She does not know this yet. But she will.
