The Mermaid Collection

Tortoise by Candlelight, Mermaid No. 5, is one of the lesser-known novels of beloved writer Nina Bawden, the author of cherished children’s classic Carrie’s War. A charming and absorbing family saga told through the eyes of the teenage Emmie, this novel introduces the reader to the Bean family who live on the fringes of early 1960s London, and their menagerie of animals – a special place in my heart for Murgatroyd the tortoise. But the organised chaos of the Bean family is disrupted when a childless and glamorous couple move in next door. Written in elegant prose with a rich sense of place, this is a coming-of-age story that beautifully explores bohemian family dynamics and the timeless heartache of teenagerhood and first love.

The Cost of Living, Mermaid No. 6, is a witty and characterful novel about the aftermath of a party thrown by singletons Marianne and Alexandra who live in the same apartment building and have decided it's time to meet some men. Neither are particularly desperate to be tied down, but needs must for 1950s women looking to elevate their prospects. Kathleen Farrell wrote six novels in her lifetime, and her unsentimental humour and savage observations often saw her compared to her much better known contemporary Barbara Pym. Exploring social injustices that are eerily relevant to now through a discerning and at times light-hearted lens, this is a sharp novel to be devoured in an afternoon.

Henrietta Hamilton’s Answer in the Negative, Mermaid No. 7, is a must-read for fans of Golden Age Crime and Agatha Christie. Hamilton takes us expertly to the murky nooks and crannies of 1950s Fleet Street, and introduces us to amateur sleuth married couple Johnny and Sally Heldar. Called upon initially to investigate some poison pen letters at the National Press Archives, it looks like our duo may have bitten off more than they can chew when the first body is found . . .  With an immensely satisfying conclusion and plenty of red herrings, Answer in the Negative is a total page-turner and a true gem of the crime genre. You will want Sally and Johnny on hand to sort out your next head scratcher!

Gillian McAllister is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of nine stand-alone novels. Her books have been selected for the Radio 2 Book Club, Reese's Book Club and the Richard & Judy Book Club. Her previous novel, Wrong Place Wrong Time, was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and was shortlisted for The British Book Awards Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Gillian's books are published in thirty-eight languages.

Photo credit: Sam Braithwaite

Lucy Mangan is the TV critic for The Guardian, and a columnist, features writer and reviewer for Stylist magazine, The Telegraph and many other publications. She broadcasts frequently on radio and occasionally on television, and is the author of Bookish, Bookworm, My Family and Other Disasters, The Reluctant Bride, Hopscotch and Handbags and Inside Charlie’s Chocolate Factory.

Photo credit: Stylist Magazine

Jennie Godfrey was raised in West Yorkshire and her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things which was a #1 Sunday Times bestseller, is inspired by her childhood there in the 1970s. Jennie is from a mill-working family, but as the first of the generation born after the mills closed, she went to university and built a career in the corporate world. In 2020 she left and began to write. She is now a writer and part-time Waterstones bookseller and lives in the Somerset countryside.

Photo credit: Esme Mai

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling novels and has won various awards for her writing, including the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance, the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the RNA Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year Award. Her books have sold more than fifteen million copies worldwide and have been published in 36 territories, and in 2015 she was inducted into the Love Stories Hall of Fame. Jenny is married with three children and lives in Scotland.

Photo credit: Kasja Goeransson

Eve Chase writes bestselling, page-turning mysteries. Her novels include The Midnight Hour, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and Amazon no.1; The Glass House, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and Sunday Times bestseller; The Birdcage, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde and Black Rabbit Hall. A winner of the Saint-Maur en Poche prize in Paris for Best Foreign Fiction and longlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award, her work has been translated into twenty languages. She lives in Oxford.

Photo credit: Philippa Gedge

Jane Fallon is the multi-award-winning television producer behind shows such as This Life, Teachers and 20 Things to Do Before You're 30. Her Sunday Times bestselling books - Getting Rid of Matthew, Got You Back, Foursome, The Ugly Sister, Skeletons, Strictly Between Us, My Sweet Revenge, Faking Friends, Tell Me a Secret, Queen Bee, Worst Idea Ever, Just Got Real and Over Sharing - have sold over two million copies in the UK. Getting Rid of Matthew is being adapted for film, starring Luke Wilson and Heather Graham. Got You Back has been adapted into the Roxette jukebox musical Joyride, which premiered at the Malmö Opera in Sweden.

Photo credit: Stuart Simpson

Sophie Hannah is a Sunday Times, New York Times and Amazon Kindle UK No. 1 bestselling writer of crime fiction, published in forty-nine languages and fifty-one territories. Her books have sold millions of copies worldwide. She writes contemporary psychological thrillers and, at the request of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, the new series of Hercule Poirot novels. Sophie’s murder mystery musical, The Mystery of Mr E, was released as a feature film in 2023, directed by Martyn Tott, and is available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ and soon to be on several other platforms too. In 2023, Sophie won the Crime Writers Association’s Dagger in the Library Award for her body of work, and in 2013 her thriller The Carrier won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards.

Photo credit: Onur Pinar