Alan McDonald

Alan Melville

Alan Moore

Alan Moorehead was born in Melbourne, Australia. He travelled to England in 1937 and became a renowned foreign correspondent for the London Daily Express. Writer, world traveller, biographer, essayist, journalist, Moorehead was one of the most successful writers in English of his day. During World War II he won an international reputation for his coverage of campaigns in the Middle East and Asia, the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe. He died in 1983.

Alan Moorehead

Alan Paton

Alan Pattullo

Alan Pauls

Alan Pollock is a playwright, translator and screenwriter. His numerous plays include One Night in November, Pigs and All Tomorrow's Parties.

Alan Pollock

Alan Root was born in London in 1937 but moved to Kenya as a young boy. He dropped out of school at sixteen but soon found himself behind the camera. He married Joan Thorpe in 1961 and together they produced an array of award-winning wildlife films including Baobab: Portrait of a Tree, commissioned by David Attenborough, Safari by Balloon, The Year of the Wildebeest and Castles of Clay, which was nominated for an Oscar. Alan won over sixty awards during his career, including an Emmy, three Lifetime Achievement Awards an OBE. Alan Root died in August 2017.

Alan Root

Alan Rosenthal

Alan Ruddock

Alan Rugman

Alan Rusbridger

Alan Ryan

Alan S. Blinder

Alan Shearer CBE  grew up in Newcastle, leaving home as a  teenager to pursue a career in professional football with his first  team, Southampton. He went on to  reach football stardom, winning the Premier League with Blackburn in  1995, breaking the world transfer record by signing to Newcastle United  in 1996 and achieving international success as the Captain of England.  Alan also holds the record for most goals scored in Premier League history.

Alan Shearer

Alan Siegel

Alan Simpson

Alan Spence

Alan Stewart

Alan Taylor

Alan Tennant

Alan Thompson

Alan Titchmarsh MBE is known to millions through his career as a television presenter of shows including Love Your Weekend, Love Your Garden, Ground Force, Gardeners' World, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Spring Into Summer. He has written more than forty gardening books, as well as twelve novels and three volumes of memoirs. He was made MBE in the millennium New Year Honours list and holds the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Royal Horticultural Society's highest award.

Alan Titchmarsh

Alan Unterman

Alan Watts was a British philosopher, writer and speaker who was best known for his expertise in Eastern philosophies including Zen Buddhism and Taoism. He wrote over 25 books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, the meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the non-material pursuit of happiness.

Alan W Watts

Alan Warner is the author of eight novels: Morvern Callar, These Demented Lands, The Sopranos, The Man Who Walks, The Worms Can Carry Me to Heaven, The Stars in the Bright Sky, which was longlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, The Deadman's Pedal and Their Lips Talk of Mischief. He is Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University.

Alan Warner

Alan Watts

Alan Weisman is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including the global bestseller The World Without Us, which has been translated into 34 international languages and was nominated for numerous awards. His writing has appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Vanity Fair, The Los Angeles Times Magazine and many other places. Alan has worked on all seven continent and reported from 58 countries, and lives in western Massachusetts.

Alan Weisman

Alanna Mitchell

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Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag is most often remembered as a brilliant essayist - inquisitive, analytical, fearlessly outspoken. Yet all throughout her life, she also wrote short stories: fictions which wrestled with those ideas and preoccupations she couldn't address in essay form. These short fictions are allegories, parables, autobiographical vignettes, each capturing an authentic fragment of life, dramatizing Sontag's private griefs and fears. 
 
Stories collects all of Sontag's short fiction for the first time. This astonishingly versatile collection showcases its peerless writer at the height of her powers. For any Sontag fan, it is an unmissable testament to her creative achievements.

Stories

Collected Stories

Harriet Kline

'An exquisitely beautiful and compelling novel about love, loss and life' Rachel Joyce 
'This captivated me...This beautiful book shows us that grief is not a problem to solve, but an expression of love, as we watch a family come together in the most heartwarming way.' Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward 
________________________ 
For Rich, life is golden. 
He fizzes with happiness and love. 
But Rich has an incurable brain tumour. 
 
When Rich dies, he leaves behind a family without a father, a husband, a son and a best friend. His wife, Ruth, can't imagine living without him and finds herself faced with a grief she's not sure she can find her way through. 
At the same time, their young son Ollie becomes intent on working out the meaning of life. Because everything happens for a reason. Doesn't it? 
 
But when they discover a mismatched collection of presents left by Rich for his loved ones, it provides a puzzle for them to solve, one that will help Ruth navigate her sorrow and help Ollie come to terms with what's happened. Together, they will learn to lay the ghosts of the past to rest, and treasure the true gift that Rich has left them: the ability to embrace life and love every moment.

This Shining Life

A moving, powerful novel about love, loss and treasuring life

a powerful novel about treasuring life

Taylor Jenkins Reid

From the bestselling author of DAISY JONES & THE SIX and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO 
 
'Thank you Taylor Jenkins Reid for the escapism we all need- a sex-on-the-beach cocktail (quite literally) of a book' 
PANDORA SYKES 
 
'I LOVE it . . . I can't remember the last time I read a book that was so fun' 
DOLLY ALDERTON 
 
'It's 365 pages of pure exhilaration' 
THE TIMES 
 
August, 1983, it is the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone who is anyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: surfer and supermodel Nina, brothers Jay and Hud, and their adored baby sister Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over - especially as the children of the legendary singer Mick Riva. 
 
By midnight the party will be completely out of control. 
 
By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. 
 
But before that first spark in the early hours of dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family will all come bubbling to the surface. 
 
'The perfect, literal, beach read, with the emotional depth of the ocean' 
HOLLY BOURNE 
 
'It's a full on escapist delight' 
STYLIST 
 
'This summer's must-read novel' 
RED 
 
 
Taylor Jenkins-Reid, Sunday Times bestseller, April 2023

Malibu Rising

John le Carré

Julian Lawndsley has renounced his high-flying job in the City for a simpler life running a bookshop in a small English seaside town. But after only a couple of months into his new career, Edward, a Polish émigré, shows up at his door with a very keen interest in Julian's new enterprise and a lot of knowledge about his family history. And when a letter turns up at the door of a spy chief in London warning him of a dangerous leak, the investigations lead him to this quiet town by the sea . . . 
 
Silverview is the mesmerising story of an encounter between innocence and experience and between public duty and private morals. In this last complete masterwork from the greatest chronicler of our age, John le Carré asks what you owe to your country when you no longer recognise it.

Silverview

Miranda Cowley Heller

Before anyone else is awake, on a perfect August morning, Elle Bishop heads out for a swim in the glorious fresh water pond below 'The Paper Palace' - the gently decaying summer camp in the back woods of Cape Cod where her family has spent every summer for generations. As she passes the house, Elle glances through the screen porch at the uncleared table from a dinner party the previous evening; empty wine glasses, candle wax on the table cloth, echoes of laughter of family and friends. Then she dives beneath the surface of the freezing water to the shocking memory of the sudden passionate encounter she had the night before, up against the wall outside the house, as her husband and mother chatted to the dinner guests inside. 
 
So begins a story that unfolds over 24 hours and across 50 years, as decades of family legacies, love, lies, secrets, and one unspeakable incident in her childhood lead Elle to the precipice of a life-changing decision. Over the next 24 hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her much-loved husband, Peter, and the life she imagined would be hers with her childhood love, Jonas, if a tragic event hadn't forever changed the course of their lives.

The Paper Palace

Helen Paris

One lost purse. One lost woman. 
A chance encounter that changes everything. 
 
Dot Watson has lost her way. Wracked with guilt and struggling with grief, she has tucked herself away in the London Transport Lost Property office, finding solace in the process of cataloguing misplaced things. It's not glamorous or exciting, but it's solitary - just the way Dot likes it. 
 
That is, until elderly Mr Appleby walks through the door in search of his late wife's purse and Dot immediately feels a connection to him. Determined to help, she sets off on an extraordinary journey, one that could lead Dot to reclaim her life and find where she truly belongs... 
 
Perfect for fans of Matt Haig, Rachel Joyce and AJ Pearce, this is a moving and uplifting novel about finding your place in the world. 
 
Readers have fallen in love with Lost Property: 
 
'A beautiful book and one of my best reads this year' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
'An emotional journey that had me hooked' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
'A wonderful, uplifting debut novel' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
'Dot is an inspiration' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
'Full of sorrow, love and a light humour' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; 
'I am so pleased to have found Dot' &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088; &#11088;

Lost Property

An uplifting, joyful book about hope, kindness and finding where you belong

Jamie O’Connell

A young woman's body floats in the Dubai marina. Her death alters the fates of six people, each one striving for a better life in an unforgiving city. 
 
A young Irish man comes to stay with his sister, keen to erase his troubled past in the heat of the Dubai sun. A Russian sex worker has outsmarted the system so far - but will her luck run out? A Pakistani taxi driver dreams of a future for his daughters. An Emirate man hides the truth about who he really is. An Ethiopian maid tries to carve out a path of her own. 
 
From every corner of the globe, Dubai has made promises to them all. Promises of gilded opportunities and bright new horizons, the chance to forget the past and protect long-held secrets. 
 
But Dubai breaks its promises, with deadly consequences. In a city of mirages, how do you find your way out?

Diving for Pearls

Catherine Menon

Mary is a difficult grandmother for Durga to love. Sharp-tongued and ferocious, Durga hopes simply to endure her and the memories of her past when she visits rural Malaysia. But when a reckoning comes, both women find they must unravel generations of secrets. What happened to Durga's mother? Why did so many of their family members disappear during the war? And who is to blame for the childhood tragedy that haunts Durga to this day? 
 
Tracing one family's story from 1920 to the present, Fragile Monsters is a thrilling tale of love, family and betrayal set against the backdrop of natural disasters and fallen empires.

Fragile Monsters

Elif Shafak

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. The taverna It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic, chilli peppers and wild herbs. This is where one can find the best food in town, the best music, the best wine. But there is something else to the place: it makes one forget, even if for just a few hours, the world outside and its immoderate sorrows. 
 
In the centre of the tavern, growing through a cavity in the roof, is a fig tree. This tree will witness their hushed, happy meetings, their silent, surreptitious departures; and the tree will be there when the war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to rubble, when the teenagers vanish and break apart. 
 
Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis has never visited the island where her parents were born. Desperate for answers, she seeks to untangle years of secrets, separation and silence. The only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a Ficus Carica growing in the back garden of their home. 
 
In The Island of Missing Trees, prizewinning author Elif Shafak brings us a rich, magical tale of belonging and identity, love and trauma, memory and amnesia, human-induced destruction of nature, and, finally, renewal.

The Island of Missing Trees

Yaa Gyasi

As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away. 
 
Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother's life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought, deep into the dark heart of modern America. 
 
Transcendent Kingdom is a searing story of love, loss and redemption, and the myriad ways we try to rebuild our lives from the rubble of our collective pasts.

Transcendent Kingdom

Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021

Elizabeth Lee

ONE OF GRAZIA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2021 
 
'I loved it. Atmospheric and so good' MARIAN KEYES 
'A dark, bewitching and captivating read that had my heart in my mouth by the ending' JENNIFER SAINT, author of ARIADNE 
 
Lancashire, 1620. Young Sarah Haworth and her family live as outcasts. They are 'cunning folk', feared by the local villagers by day, but called upon under cover of darkness for healing balms and spells. 
 
Against the odds, love blossoms when Sarah meets Daniel, the local farmer's son. 
 
But when a new magistrate arrives to investigate a spate of strange deaths, his gaze inevitably turns to Sarah and her family. In a world where cunning women are forced into darkness by powerful men, can Sarah reckon with her fate to protect all she holds dear? 
 
'Fans of intensely atmospheric historical fiction will love this' STYLIST 
'Elizabeth Lee's debut novel is timely in its depiction of hysteria and persecution, and beautifully evokes a historical period poised between dark ignorance and long-overdue enlightenment' OBSERVER 
'Wonderfully original . . . devastating . . . and fabulously atmospheric' ELODIE HARPER, author of THE WOLF DEN

Cunning Women

A feminist tale of forbidden love after the witch trials

Eimear Ryan

When Beth Crowe starts university, she is shadowed by the ghost of her potential as a competitive swimmer. Free to create a fresh identity for herself, she finds herself among people who adore the poetry of her grandfather, Benjamin Crowe, who died tragically before she was born. She embarks on a secret relationship - and on a quest to discover the truth about Benjamin and his widow, her beloved grandmother Lydia. The quest brings her into an archive that no scholar has ever seen, and to a person who knows things about her family that nobody else knows. 
 
Holding Her Breath is a razor-sharp, moving and seriously entertaining novel about complicated love stories, ambition and grief - and a young woman coming fully into her powers.

Holding Her Breath

Ericka Waller

Discover the moving, life-affirming book club read about new beginnings and finding friendship in unexpected places; the perfect gift for dog lovers from the author of Goodbye Birdie Greenwing 
 
'The perfect mix of humour and heartache' Good Housekeeping 
 
'A charming, surprising and moving story' Clare Chambers, bestselling author of Small Pleasures 
 
'Perfect for fans of A Man Called Ove and Eleanor Oliphant...laugh out loud funny and immensely moving' AJ Pearce, bestselling author of Dear Mrs Bird 
 
_______________________________________________ 
 
George is angry at the world. His wife has died and now all he wants to do is sit in his underpants and shout at the cricket. The last thing he needs is his cake-baking neighbour Betty trying to rescue him. And then there's the dog, a dachshund puppy called Poppy. George doesn't want a dog - he wants a fight. 
 
Dan is a counsellor with OCD who is great at helping other people - if only he were better at helping himself. His most meaningful relationship so far is with his labrador Fitz. But then comes a therapy session that will change his life. 
 
Lizzie is living in a women's refuge with her son Lenny. Her body is covered in scars and she has shut herself off from everyone around her. But when she is forced to walk the refuge's fat terrier, Maud, a new life beckons - if she can keep her secret just a while longer... 
 
Dog Days is a novel about those small but life-changing moments that only come when we pause to let the light in. It is about three people learning to make connections and find joy and comfort in living life off the leash. 
 
__________________________________________________ 
 
Praise for Dog Days: 
 
 
'Uplifting, full of charm and warmth' Emma Stonex, bestselling author of The Lamplighters 
 
'If you read one book this year, make sure it's this one' 5-star reader review 
 
'A soulful, lyrical tale... a treat.' Beth Morrey, bestselling author of Saving Missy 
 
'Tender, humorous and hopeful' Lissa Evans, author of Small Bomb at Dimperley 
 
'A book with a big heart' 5-star reader review 
 
'Dog Days had me feeling all the emotions, it broke my heart and gently pieced it back together.' 5-star reader review 
 
'Wonderful journey of three complicated characters and the dogs that saw them through their individual journeys' 5-star reader review 
 
'A joy to read from start to finish.' 5-star reader review 
 
'Perfectly shows the true healing power of dogs, and how we are so lucky to have them around us' 5-star reader review

Dog Days

Joshua Ferris

Charlie Barnes is a mid-century man devoted to his newspaper and his landline. But Charlie is about to get dragged into our troubled age by his storyteller son, who has a different idea of him than he has of himself. Then there are his other children, his ex-wives, present wife, business clients, friends and acquaintances, all of whom have their competing opinions of Charlie. 
 
A striver, romantic, and thoroughgoing capitalist, he's blindsided by the Great Recession and a dose of bad news. Rethinking his entire life, he starts to wonder: what makes a man real? What makes him good? And how does the story we tell about ourselves line up with the lives that we actually live?

A Calling for Charlie Barnes

Annie Garthwaite

'A startling heroine' SARAH MOSS, Summerwater 
'A vividly female perspective on the Wars of the Roses' IMOGEN HERMES GOWER, The Mermaid and Mr Hancock 
'Wolf Hall for the 2020s' MANDA SCOTT, Boudica 
'Absorbing' TIMES 
 
__________ 
 
1431 is a dangerous time for a woman to be defiant. 
 
England has been fighting France for 100 years. At home, power-hungry men within a corrupt government manipulate a weak king - and name Cecily's husband, York's loyal duke, an enemy. As the king's grasp on sanity weakens, plots to destroy York take root... 
 
It will take all of Cecily's courage and cunning to save her family. But when the will to survive becomes ambition for a crown, will she risk treason to secure it? 
 
Inside closed bedchambers and upon bloody battlefields, CECILY portrays war as women fight it. 
 
__________ 
 
ACCLAIM FOR CECILY - AN EPIC FEMINIST RETELLING OF THE WAR OF THE ROSES 
 
'Has the new Hilary Mantel arrived?' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 
 
'Masterful and majestic; England's unspoken history told by one brilliant woman through the life of another. This important novel blazes on every page from its brutal first scene to its glittering final act' CHRIS CLEAVE, author of Everyone Brave is Forgiven 
 
'Entirely absorbing and utterly compelling. Fifteenth century England leaps from the page, with all its political turmoil and bloodshed. I loved it' CAROLINE LEA, author of The Glass Women 
 
'Cecily stalks the corridors of power like a female Thomas Cromwell. A vividly female perspective on the Wars of the Roses - what a feat' IMOGEN HERMES GOWER, author of The Mermaid and Mr Hancock 
 
'Masterfully written and wholly immersive, with characters that live and breathe. Cecily is a tour de force. I loved every sentence' JOANNE BURN, author of The Hemlock Cure 
 
'Annie Garthwaite writes about the past with the sort of intimacy, immediacy and empathy that can only come from graft and craft' TOBY CLEMENTS, author of Kingmaker 
 
'BLOODY GREAT. So modern, so political, it could almost be set in Downing Street' KATE SAWYER, author of The Stranding 
 
'Shines a light into a dark corner of our history and reclaims the voice and story of a powerful and forgotten woman' LIZ HYDER, author of The Gifts 
 
'An extraordinary achievement . . .I could touch and breathe Cecily's world as if I was walking in her shadow' CAROL MCGRATH, author of The Silken Rose 
 
'Impeccably researched, written with style and shot through with energy, heart and power. A perfectly paced tale of intrigue, influence and victory wrenched from defeat. Cecily has been overlooked for centuries. Not anymore' A J WEST, author of The Spirit Engineer

Cecily

An epic feminist retelling of the War of the Roses

Karla Neblett

CHOSEN AS BOOK OF THE MONTH BY AFRORI BOOKS 
FEATURED ON BBC RADIO 4: OPEN BOOK 
 
'It's hard not to fall for the main character . . . you can see the car crash coming, but you can't look away' CLAIRE FULLER 
 
'A brilliantly crafted story about class and race, and the failure of society to catch children who fall through the cracks' INDEPENDENT 
 
Kai lives on a rural council estate in Somerset with his three older sisters, and his mum who is being led into an addiction by his troubled father. Kai adores three things: his dad, his friend Saffie and the school rabbit Flopsy - and is full of ambition to be the fastest runner in Middledown Primary. But Kai's natural optimism and energy collide with an adult world he doesn't understand. And when his life drifts towards an event that will change everything, will his love of nature and the wild rabbits in the woods provide him with the resilience he needs to overcome the odds? 
 
'A heartfelt novel about poverty, race and trauma' GUARDIAN 
 
'A brilliant debut; vivid and compelling' JENNI FAGAN

King of Rabbits

Anna Bailey

The gripping Sunday Times top ten bestseller, Book of the Month in the Guardian, Grazia and Observer, longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year. 
 
'Irresistible, a compelling and nuanced psychological thriller suffused with small town prejudice and dark family secrets.' PAULA HAWKINS, author of bestselling The Girl on the Train 
 
'Conjuring up... Twin Peaks and Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects' STYLIST 
 
'One of the most exciting debuts of the year' SUNDAY EXPRESS 
________________________________________________ 
 
When Emma leaves her friend Abi at a party in the woods, she believes that their lives are just beginning. Many things will happen that night, but Emma will never see her friend again. 
 
Yet what happens next in Whistling Ridge is so much more than the story of a missing girl. 
 
It's a story of surprises and secrets, regrets and rage, love and lies. Abi's disappearance cracks the surface of this small town, peeling away the layers to reveal a darkness at the heart of the community. 
 
Even within Abi's own family there are questions to be asked - of the older brother whom Abi betrayed, of the younger sibling who hides his wounds, of her mother and her father - both in thrall to the fiery preacher who has an unsettling grasp on the town. 
 
And then there is Rat, the outsider, whose exciting presence is a catalyst for change. 
 
Anything could happen in a tinder-box like Whistling Ridge. All it will take is just one spark...the truth of what happened that night at the Tall Bones.... 
______________________________________ 
 
Praise for TALL BONES: 
 
'Compelling, beautifully nuanced, brilliant' SJ WATSON, bestselling author of Before I Go to Sleep 
 
'Spellbinding and darkly beautiful...a stunning debut' WOMEN & HOME 
 
'Haunting... small-town intrigue, exquisitely drawn' JANE HARPER, bestselling author of The Dry 
 
'As atmospheric as it gets... a stunning debut that delivers on every level' RENEE KNIGHT, bestselling author of Disclaimer 
 
'Its portrait of small-town intrigue is scarily credible. Bailey understands that the dynamics that drive small-town relationships are the same the world over' VAL McDERMID 
 
'Packed with secrets like firecrackers ready to ignite.' FRANCINE TOON, author of Pine 
 
'One of my all-time favourite reads' 5-star reader review 
'I loved this book from the very first line' 5-star reader review 
'Wow!! This book was incredible! I never saw any of the twists coming' 5-star reader review 
'A gritty, haunting and intricately woven, explosive firecracker of a thriller' 5-star reader review 
 
DISCOVER OUR LAST WILD DAYS - the stunning new novel from Anna Bailey, 'Propulsive, bold and brutal. A truly atmospheric thriller' Chris Whitaker

Tall Bones

Colm Tóibín

From one of our greatest living writers comes a sweeping novel of unrequited love and exile, war and family. The Magician tells the story of Thomas Mann, whose life was filled with great acclaim and contradiction. He would find himself on the wrong side of history in the First World War, cheerleading the German army, but have a clear vision of the future in the second, anticipating the horrors of Nazism. He would have six children and keep his homosexuality hidden; he was a man forever connected to his family and yet bore witness to the ravages of suicide. He would write some of the greatest works of European literature, and win the Nobel Prize, but would never return to the country that inspired his creativity. Through one life, Colm Tóibín tells the breathtaking story of the twentieth century.

The Magician

Winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize

Patrick McGrath

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ASYLUM, TRAUMA AND THE WARDROBE MISTRESS 
 
'Wonderful, thrilling' JOHN BANVILLE 
'Has pleasure on every page' TIMES 
 
It's 1975 and Francis McNulty, ageing poet, retired, is living in his childhood home in Cleaver Square with his daughter Gilly. Haunted by memories of the Spanish Civil War, in which he drove an ambulance, he sees awful visions of his old nemesis, General Franco, and is powerfully reminded of a terrible act of betrayal he committed in Spain. When Gilly announces her upcoming marriage, Francis is forced to confront his past, once and for all. 
 
'Impressive' GUARDIAN 
'A very moving portrayal of a complicated father-daughter relationship, neither of them fully able to break away' RACHEL JOYCE

Last Days in Cleaver Square

Julietta Henderson

The inspiring, feel-good Richard & Judy Book Club pick about a small boy with a big heart - and even bigger dreams. 
 
'One of those gorgeous books that completely lifts your spirits and restores your faith in humanity' - Ruth Jones, co-creator of Gavin and Stacey and bestselling author of Us Three 
 
It was a journey they would always remember . . . for a friend they'd never forget. 
 
Norman and Jax are a legendary comedic duo in waiting, with a five-year plan to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe by the time they're fifteen. But when Jax dies before they turn twelve, Norman decides a tribute act for his best friend just can't wait, so he rewrites their plan: 
 
1. Look after Mum | 2. Find Dad | 3. Get to the Edinburgh Fringe 
 
Sadie knows she won't win Mother of the Year and she's not proud she doesn't know who her son's father is. But when she finds Norman's list, all she wants is to see her son smile again. So, enlisting the help of eccentric friend Leonard - an 84-year-old veteran with superior planning skills and a thirst for adventure! - they set off on a pilgrimage to Edinburgh, making a few stops to find Norman's dad along the way. 
 
- 
 
'An uplifting tale of love, loss and the redemptive power of humour' - Mail on Sunday 
'Charming, funny and cheering' - Beth Morrey, author of Saving Missy 
'As moving as it is funny. And it's very funny' - Romesh Ranganathan 
'He's wheedled his way into my heart, and I suspect I'll have a Norman-shaped hole there forever' - Clare Pooley, author of The Authenticity Project 
 
Readers are in love with Norman: 
 
***** 'This has everything a feel good book should have. I loved it' 
***** 'Norman is one of the most lovable characters I have ever met' 
***** 'A book to make you laugh and cry in the same moment, a bittersweet read' 
***** 'A charming, uplifting tale of love, family, friendship and hope' 
***** 'A beautifully written novel about having the courage to hold on to and chase your dreams' 
 
 
Richard and Judy Book Club Pick, Spring 2022

The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman

Victoria Mas

'A darkly sumptuous tale of wicked spectacle, wild injustice and the insuppressible strength of women' EMMA STONEX, author of THE LAMPLIGHTERS 
 
'An essential story of women resisting the unjust exertion of male power' SUNDAY TIMES 
 
____________________ 
 
 The Salpêtrière asylum, 1885. All of Paris is in thrall to Doctor Charcot and his displays of hypnotism on women who have been deemed mad or hysterical, outcasts from society. But the truth is much more complicated - for these women are often simply inconvenient, unwanted wives or strong-willed daughters. Once a year a grand ball is held at the hospital. For the Parisian elite, the Mad Women's Ball is the highlight of the social season; for the women themselves, it is a rare moment of hope. 
 
 Geneviève is a senior nurse. After the childhood death of her sister, she has shunned religion and placed her faith in Doctor Charcot and his new science. But everything begins to change when she meets Eugénie, the 19-year-old daughter of a bourgeois family. Because Eugénie has a secret, and she needs Geneviève's help. Their fates will collide on the night of the Mad Women's Ball... 
 
____________________ 
 
'In this darkly delightful Gothic treasure, Mas explores grief, trauma and sisterhood behind the walls of Paris' infamous Salpetriere hospital' PAULA HAWKINS, author of A SLOW FIRE BURNING 
 
 'A beautifully written debut...I have absolutely no doubt it will be one of my favourite novels of 2021.' AJ PEARCE, author of DEAR MRS BIRD 
 
'Essential reading' COSMOPOLITAN 
 
 'A deftly woven tale of hope and pain, judgement and redemption, cruelty and kindness. Utterly captivating and profoundly affecting.' Sunday Times bestseller, MIRANDA DICKENSON 
 
 'Enter the dance of this little masterpiece and let yourself be dazzled. Assured of hitting the bestseller lists' THE PARISIAN 
 
____________________ 
 
AN AMAZON PRIME ORIGINAL FILM STARRING MÉLANIE LAURENT

The Mad Women's Ball

The prize-winning, international bestseller and Sunday Times Top Fiction selection

Ashley Audrain

'I think she pushed him,' I said to you quietly. 'I think she pushed him . . .' 
 
The arrival of baby Violet was meant to be the happiest day of my life. But as soon as I held her in my arms I knew something wasn't right. 
 
I had always known that the women in my family aren't meant to be mothers. My husband Fox says I'm imagining it. He tells me I'm nothing like my own mother, and that Violet is the sweetest child. 
 
But something feels very wrong. Is it her? Or is it me? Is she the monster? Or am I?

The Push

Sam Lloyd

The new pulse-pounding thriller from the bestselling author of THE MEMORY WOOD. 
 
'Beautifully written, incredibly evocative with a real sense of place and of the sea. Heart-stoppingly tense' Catherine Cooper, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE CHALET 
 
'Fiendishly clever' Sunday Times 
 
****** 
 
HOW DID IT COME TO THIS? 
 
The news doesn't strike cleanly, like a guillotine's blade. Nothing so merciful. This news is a slovenly traveller, dragging its feet, gradually revealing its horrors. And it announces itself first with violence - the urgent hammering of fists on the front door. 
 
Life can change in a heartbeat. 
 
Lucy has everything she could wish for: a beautiful home high on the clifftops, a devoted husband and two beloved children. 
 
Then one morning, time stops. Their family yacht is recovered, abandoned far out at sea. Lucy's husband is nowhere to be found and as the seconds tick by, she begins to wonder - what if he was the one who took the boat? 
 
And if so, where is he now? 
 
As a once-in-a-generation storm frustrates the rescue operation, Lucy pieces together what happened onboard. And then she makes a fresh discovery. One that plunges her into a living nightmare . . . 
 
Wherever her husband is, he isn't alone. Because their children are missing, too. 
 
****** 
 
Praise for Sam Lloyd: 
 
'Lloyd is a rare new thriller talent.' Daily Mail 
 
'Stunning prose and compulsive reading.' Lesley Kara 
 
'An intense, atmospheric, and truly original thriller.' Shari Lapena 
 
'A beautifully written, fast-paced thriller.' Heat 
 
'A darkly chilling and original novel . . . a series of twists keeps readers captivated until a shocking climax.' Daily Express 
 
'Brilliant writing, a terrifying story, and characters so real it feels like you know them.' Samantha Downing 
 
'A truly chilling story.' Woman & Home 
 
 
Sam Lloyd, Richard and Judy Book Club Pick, Winter 2020

The Rising Tide

Ethan Hawke

'Riveting work' Patti Smith 
'Vivid . . . it communicates a real power' Sunday Times 
'A wild ride of a book' Metro 
 
Actor William Harding has been caught cheating on his rock star wife and the press have descended upon him. Amid the headlines and worldwide disdain towards him, he takes on the part in Henry IV. He must examine himself, and who he has become, under the brightest of lights and the keenest of eyes. 
 
'A considered meditation on the evil of celebrity and the demanding yet restorative power of theatre' New Statesman 
'An emotional ode to theatre as medicine for heartbreak, and an interesting meditation on fame' Radio Times 
'A witty, wise heartfelt novel' Washington Post

A Bright Ray of Darkness

Jess Walter

Spokane, 1909. The Dolan brothers are living by their wits, jumping freight trains and lining up for day work at crooked job agencies. While sixteen-year-old Rye yearns for a steady job and a home, his dashing older brother Gig dreams of a better world, fighting alongside other union men for fair pay and decent treatment. When Rye finds himself drawn to suffragette Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, her passion sweeps him into the world of protest and dirty business. But a storm is coming, threatening to overwhelm them all . . .The Cold Millions is an intimate story of brotherhood, love, sacrifice and betrayal set against the panoramic backdrop of an early 20th century America.

The Cold Millions

Elizabeth Knox

Taryn Cornick can barely remember the library in her old family home. Since her sister was murdered, she's forgotten so much. 
 
 Now it's all coming back. The fire. The thief. The scroll box. 
 
 People are asking questions about the library. Questions that might relate to her sister's death. 
 
 And something called The Absolute Book. 
 
 A book in which secrets are written - and which everyone believes only she can find. 
 
 They insist Taryn be the hunter. But she knows the truth. 
 
 She is the hunted . . .

The Absolute Book

Sinéad Moriarty

Three couples. One therapist's couch ... 
 
Alice and Niall used to be lovers, best friends and parents, in that order. Now they're no longer on the same page or even reading from the same book. 
 
Ann thought when she and Ken retired, it would be their second spring. Instead, it feels more like an icy winter. 
 
Orla is falling in love with boyfriend Paul, but her complicated past makes her unsure if she can ever be intimate with anyone. 
 
Three couples find themselves telling a stranger about the most private part of their lives - their hopes, their disappointments, their awkward realisations. 
 
Can they learn to be honest with each other? And what life-changing decisions will be made when they do?

About Us

Conor O'Callaghan

'Stylish, deft...an absolutely fascinating novel' Guardian 
 
'Haunting, mesmerising, and so deeply intelligent' Kamila Shamsie, author of Women's Prize for Fiction winning Home Fire 
 
'Powerful...compelling and profoundly moving' Irish Times 
 
'Heartbreaking, sweetly logical and tentatively hopeful' Spectator 
 
Heartbroken after a long, painful love affair, a man drives a haulage lorry from England to France. Travelling with him is a secret passenger - his daughter. Twenty-something, unkempt, off the rails. 
 
With a week on the road together, father and daughter must restore themselves and each other, and repair a relationship that is at once fiercely loving and deeply scarred. 
 
As they journey south, down the motorways, through the service stations, a devastating picture reveals itself: a story of grief, of shame, and of love in all its complex, dark and glorious manifestations. 
______________ 
 
What readers are saying: 
***** 'The prose is sublime and deeply moving . . . a stunning novel' 
***** 'Beautifully written, lyrical and unsettling in its exploration of human frailties, family, love, and loss, grief' 
**** 'A haunting, tragic and highly original story of a father and daughter travelling across England and France in a haulage truck, and discovering more about their relationship and past in all its raw candour' 
 
 
MORE PRAISE FOR WE ARE NOT IN THE WORLD: 
'Unusual, utterly original and mysterious . . . a must read' Elaine Feeney 
'...the book stays with you, a haunting presence you cannot - and do not want to - escape...astounding.' Ruth Gilligan Extraordinary...achingly sad and tender and sexy, and the writing is very beautiful.' Louise Kennedy 
'Wonderful, wrenching . . . full of enormous feelings very precisely rendered' Sara Baume 
'Elusive, unsettling, beautiful, haunting. This is a complex, devastating study of human relations; a portrait of intense love and damage in equal measure.' Lisa Harding 
'A whirlpool of memories, regrets and hopes' Tim Pears 
'An uncanny ability to turn the seemingly insignificant into something monumental' Jan Carson

We Are Not in the World

‘compelling and profoundly moving’ Irish Times

Gytha Lodge

Louise wakes up. Her head aches, her mouth is dry, her memory is fuzzy. But she suspects she's done something bad. 
 
She rolls over towards her husband, Niall. The man who, until recently, made her feel loved. 
 
But it's not Niall who's lying beside her. In fact, she's never seen this man before. 
 
And he's not breathing . . . 
 
 As Louise desperately struggles to piece her memories back together, it's clear to Detective Jonah Sheens and his team that she is their prime suspect - though they soon find she's not the only one with something to hide. 
 
Did she do it? And, if not, can they catch the real killer before they strike again?

Lie Beside Me

Abbie Greaves

'A remarkable tale of love and loss' KATIE FFORDE 
'Tender and intriguing' RACHEL HORE 
'An enthralling, moving read - I loved it' HOLLY MILLER 
_____________ 
 
Some love stories change us for ever. 
 
For the last seven years, Mary O'Connor has waited for her first love. Every evening she arrives at Ealing Broadway station and stands with a sign which simply says: 'Come Home Jim'. 
 
Commuters might pass her by without a second thought, but Mary isn't going anywhere. Until an unexpected call turns her world on its head. 
 
It will take the help of a young journalist called Alice, and a journey across the country for Mary to face what happened all those years ago, and to finally answer the question: where on earth is Jim? 
 
 
'Poignant and moving, this is 2021's standout love story so far - and one that shines a light on some very important issues. Exceptional.' THE SUN, Pick of the Week 
 
'Oh, this gorgeous book. I absolutely loved it... A book that can make me both laugh and cry is an absolute winner in my book and The Ends of the Earth did just that. It offers all that I want in a book and it will be one of my books of the year.' NB MAGAZINE 
 
'Fans of Jojo Moyes will love this intricate tale of a woman searching for answers about a lost lover.' NEW MAGAZINE 
_____________ 
PRAISE FOR ABBIE GREAVES: 
 
'A remarkable debut' JOJO MOYES 
 
'It's beautiful, so moving and clever. I truly adored it.' JOSIE SILVER 
 
'Beautifully written in Greaves's unique voice... Poignant, heart-breaking and insightful.' WOMAN &amp; HOME 
 
'A must read' SUNDAY EXPRESS 
 
'Empathetic, beautifully written ... will resonate with fans of Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls and Gail Honeyman.' DAILY EXPRESS 
 
'Such stunning prose, and such insight for a debut author... I was bowled over by Abbie's writing.' CLARE MACKINTOSH 
 
'An unforgettable love story with a mystery that had me captivated until the last, heart-wrenching page. It deserves to be huge' CATHERINE ISAAC, author of You Me Everything 
 
'Greaves's insightful account of a long marriage kept us gripped till the very last page' INDEPENDENT 
 
'Beautifully written... Poignant, heart-breaking and insightful.' WOMAN 
 
'Abbie Greaves masterfully unpicks a history of ordinary lives facing extraordinary challenges. I found it impossible to look away from the relationship at the heart of this novel.' GILLY MACMILLAN, author of The Nanny 
 
'I really loved it...It's a very moving book' JO WILEY

The Ends of the Earth

Find Spot

Finn Fitzpatrick Series

First Favourite Tales

The First Festivals series invites children to explore the world's culture from the comfort of their home, encourages the development of hand-eye coordination and is recommended for children aged 2 and over.

First Festivals

First Impressions

First Steps with Spot

Five Minute Mum

Flaptastic

Fluffy

Folk Art

Foolproof

Football Academy

Football Skills

Forbidden Spaces Trilogy

Fortuna Sworn

Foul Play

DICK FRANCIS was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys and author of forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), the biography of Lester Piggott and his own autobiography (The Sport of Queens). He was rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world. 
 
 Since his death, his son FELIX FRANCIS has taken over the literary reigns from his father and Dick's legacy lives on through the Dick Francis novels. The Francis flair is clear for all to see in these national treasure thrillers, and readers will appreciate the sporadic reappearance of beloved series characters Sid Halley and Jeff Hinkley.

Francis Thriller

Frank Behr

Once a Detective Inspector in the Nottinghamshire Force, Frank Elder has retired to an isolated cottage in Cornwall, and is trying to live the quiet life. The past, however, is never far behind him.

Frank Elder

Fred

Free Collars Kingdom

Jean Plaidy combines imagination with facts to bring the French Revolution alive in this dynamic historical fiction series. From Louis XV’s debauchery to Marie Antionette’s demise, it is clear there was only one way this was going to end.

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