Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Joanna Trollope

Readers of Elizabeth Noble, Erica James and Amanda Prowse will love this wise and warm novel from multi-million copy bestselling author Joanna Trollope. A story of delicate family relationships and the catalysts that can change everything... 
 
'Her novels, like family life itself, are built on the tensions between the illusions of permanence and the reality of charm' -- Observer 
'A hugely enjoyable book' -- The Sunday Times 
'I love her wit, her benevolence, her resolve that in even the darkest hour a little light will shine' -- Irish Press 
'Profoundly satisfying as well as acutely querying...A perceptive chronicler of our times' -- Sunday Express 
'Beautifully written' -- ***** Reader review 
Couldn't put this book down 100% excellent -- ***** Reader review 
'Incredible' -- ***** Reader review 
 
*********************************************************************************** 
TWO LIVES INTERTWINED AND SEEMINGLY HARMONIOUS. ONE DECISION THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING. 
 
Lizzie and Frances are twins, together forming part of a unit. Or at least that's the way Lizzie sees things. Lizzie is the twin who has everything: husband, children, a flourishing career and a beautiful house. She worries about Frances, who seems to lead a solitary life in London, ricocheting from one disastrous man to the next. Lizzie just wants Frances to have a complete and satisfying life, just like hers. 
 
 Then one day Frances announces she isn't coming to Lizzie's for Christmas as usual - she's going to Spain instead. 
Suddenly and equally unexpectedly, Lizzie's world begins to tilt. Frances's Christmas defection seems overwhelmingly threatening to their unity. 
 
 As Frances's future begins to change into something exciting and Lizzie's deteriorates as financial pressures eat into her ideal lifestyle, long held assumptions are called into question. 
 
Which twin really is the one with everything?

A Spanish Lover

a compelling and engaging novel from one of Britain’s most popular authors, bestseller Joanna Trollope

Menna van Praag

'Absorbing and beautiful - a great achievement.' BRIDGET COLLINS, bestselling author of The Binding 
 
There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth. 
You may well be one of them, though you might never know it. 
 
This is the story of four sisters Grimm – daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire. 
 
They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again. 
 
In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die. 
 
You’ll have to read on to find out who and why . . . 
___________________ 
 
'A darkly beguiling delight that’s perfect for fans of rich and imaginative fantasy books akin to Erin Morgenstern and Neil Gaiman.' CULTUREFLY

The Sisters Grimm

A darkly beguiling fantasy escape

Julia Widdows

Carol has always resented her family - her mother, endlessly knitting, her father and his obsession with next door's encroaching garden hedge, and her brother, ever silent and scheming. 
 
So when she is invited to meet the vibrant, bohemian family next door in their messy house full of books and paintings and empty of rules, Carol soon begins a secret double life over the much-hated garden hedge. Here Carol voices her greatest fantasy and tells her first major lie...that she is adopted. 
 
But on her 16th birthday Carol receives the shock of her life when her wish comes true. And as, years later, Carol frenetically narrates her story from a psychiatric unit, we realise how it affected her and those around her in the darkest of ways...

Living In Perhaps

Anne Fine

Colin is in many ways an ideal citizen. He holds down a responsible job for the council. He visits his aged mother Nora, shops for her, cooks for her, and listens to her grumbles. He also keeps in touch with his sister Dilys, long estranged from her mother, in a vain attempt to maintain family ties. But neither Dilys, Norah nor Colin's colleagues know about his other - much more secret - life that involves a garden shed, a circus acrobat, a much adored three-year-old charmer, and a certain Mr Haksar's increasingly disquieting penchant for squabbling with his neighbours. 
 
What Colin doesn't know is that, thanks to a house insurance policy incorrectly filled in by his mother, his two lives are set to collide, and there is nothing he can do to stop them. With her customary wit and perception, subtle yet razor sharp in her powers of observation, Anne Fine has produced another tour de force. Her portrait of the complex dynamics of family relationships is as lucid as it is uncomfortable, ending with a climax that in its wry irony and sheer unexpectedness is truly shocking.

All Bones And Lies

Tina Biswas

Set in England, India and Ireland, a comic tale of fish out of water. 
 
When her boorish father dies, fat, unsophisticated Mousumi is sent from India to her cosmopolitan relations in London. For the glamour of the western world, she leaves behind both her forlorn mother and an amorous shopkeeper. 
 
On arrival, she is met by the Majumdar family: Prakash - a doctor with too much heart, great cook and man-about-the-house; Tuhina - a successful investment banker and indulgent mother; and Darshini - a nonchalant eighteen-year-old, audacious coin-flipper and possessor of ethereal beauty. Such an offbeat household terrifies Mousumi - how will she fit in? Can she meet their high standards? And will she begin to question the life she has known? 
 
A witty social comedy of cultural misunderstanding and people who simply don't get on.

Dancing With The Two-Headed Tigress

Annie Barrows

By the co-author of the book behind the new film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. 
 
The New York Times no. 1 bestselling author 
 
'Utterly enthralling' Daily Express 
 
WHAT READERS SAY: 
 
'Definite echoes of Harper Lee! Very well written, using different styles of delivery that really help develop the characters. I enjoyed this book thoroughly' 
 
'An unexpected gem' 
 
'I couldn't put this book down from the moment I started reading it. The characters are so real that one longs to spend some time in the Romeyn household in the company of these warm, colourful and complex people' 
 
********************** 
 
 
Miss Layla Beck despises small-town life 
 
After refusing to marry the man her rich father has picked for her, Layla is banished to the remote town of Macedonia, West Virginia, a place where nothing important ever happens - or so she thinks. 
 
 
Tasked to write down the history of the town, Layla meets the seductive Romeyn clan. As she peels back the layers of family feuds and deceit, she discovers to her cost an unknown story far darker than she could ever have imagined. 
 
The smallest towns have the biggest secrets.

The Truth According to Us

Chitra Divakaruni

Born in a big old Calcutta house on the same night, the wild, tragic night both their fathers were mysteriously lost, Sudha and Anju are cousins. Closer even than sisters, they share clothes, possessions, worries, dreams - and three mothers, who preside over the matriarchal Chatterjee household where the cousins grow up, cocooned in a timeless world of feminine lore. But when Sudha learns a terrible secret about the past, and hides it from her cousin, and then when Anju discovers the sister of her heart is secretly nurturing a forbidden love, their mutual loyalty is sorely tested. 
 
As the day of leaving school draws near, a family crisis forces the cousins to abandon their university plans, and their mothers swiftly start the serious business of arranging their marriages to the sons of suitable families. And thus the inseparable pair is torn apart: Sudha moves to her new family's home in rural Bengal, while Anju joins her immigrant husband in California. But although they have both been trained to be perfect wives, nothing has prepared them for the great challenges, for the pain as well as the joy, that each will have to face in her new life. 
 
Compelling and passionate, rooted in Indian folklore and steeped in the mysticism of ancient tales, this bright, jewel-like novel shines its light on the bonds of family, on love and loss, against a backdrop of the realities of traditional arranged marriages, and the adjustments needed for modern-day life in the West.

Sister Of My Heart

'An elegant, witty and deeply perceptive book' Woman's Journal 
'Bubbly, amusing, touching, and ultimately poignant' Sunday Express 
'Demonstrates again how good Joanna Trollope is at describing village life and how sure is her touch' Evening Standard 
__________________________________ 
 
ONE ENCOUNTER AND LIFE IS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN... 
 
The Logans were an enchanting and admirable couple. Archie had snatched Liza from her own engagement party to someone else, wooed her, swept her off to his father in Scotland, and finally married her. 
 
Now bedded firmly into country life - three children, Archie the village doctor, Liza a teacher, everything comfortable, funny, affectionate - they awaited the arrival of Archie's father, the brilliant Sir Andrew Logan, a widower for over thirty years. 
 
When his city-clean Rover stopped in the drive, Sir Andrew was not alone. Beside him was a golden lady in caramel suede, a warm, witty, desirable widow whom everyone - except Archie - adored at once. 
 
Archie saw his father's mistress as the worm in the bud of his perfect life - a life that was to be wrenched apart before he and Liza could re-create their world. 
_______________________________ 
 
Readers love A Passionate Man: 
 
'Captivating' 
'Brilliant' 
'Her writing is, for me, perfection' 
'One of her best I think' 
'I didn't want it to finish!'

A Passionate Man

another masterful and insightful novel shining a light on the relationships of ordinary people and their ordinary lives from one of Britain’s best loved authors, Joanna Trollope

Tamar Cohen

Mr &amp; Mrs Max Irving request the company of: 
 
Mrs Fran Friedman, mourning her empty nest, the galloping years and a disastrous haircut. 
Mr Saul Friedman, runner of marathons, and increasingly distant husband. 
The two Misses Friedman, Pip and Katy, one pining over the man she can’t have, the other trying to shake off the man she no longer wants. 
 
At the marriage of their son James, forbidden object of troubling desire. For thirty-six hours of secrets and lies, painted-on-smiles and potential ruin. And drinks, plenty of drinks. 
 
There’s nothing like a wedding for stirring up the past. As Fran negotiates her way from Saturday morning to Sunday evening she is forced to confront things she’s long thought buried, and to make decisions about the future that will have far-reaching consequences for them all.

Someone Else's Wedding

Diana Appleyard

Three couples, friends and neighbours... Tom, lazy and charming, looks after the children and thinks about writing a novel while his ambitious wife Sarah pursues her career as a journalist.Nat is married to the unstylish Cassie, who spends her life in jodhpurs, but although an ill-matched couple they have a strong and enduring marriage. Laure, the beautiful half-French wife of Gerard, is being shut out of his life because of financial worries. 
 
One winter's evening, Laure and Tom dance together at a local ball, and suddenly a world of possibilities opens up between them. Can they can forget the troubles of their own home lives and find a new excitement, a new solace? It's only a game, after all, not for real...But playing with fire can hurt, as they both find out.

Playing With Fire

Zane Radcliffe

'She emerged from a flurry of windblown rose petals, her pale skin interrupted at regular intervals by bands of red - scarlet bob, scarlet lips, cropped scarlet top, scarlet mini, scarlet knee socks, scarlet boots. She looked like a barber's pole, or a lolly that had to be licked.' 
 
Scarlet plucks her twelve-string guitar with nails the colour of glazed cherries and Belfast music hack Jessie (Jay to his friends) Black is smitten. He charms his way on to her tour bus as her band head for Dublin, but the second they cross the border he feels the heat of a sniper's bullet... 
 
Who wants Jay dead? Or rather, who doesn't want him dead? Any number of people might, with some justification, have pulled the trigger. There's Scarlet's stalker, the gun-toting shoe fetishist. And the still-grieving widow of Northern Ireland's international goalkeeper, Miles Huggins, who Jay inadvertently killed. Not to mention the property magnate who was blackmailed into handing Jay the key's to Belfast's first-ever million-pound flat. Or the RUC Chief Constable who has given Jay an ultimatum. Or, now you come to mention it, how about Sinn Fein numero uno Martin O'Hanlon, whose cover Jay's been strong-armed into exposing? However it's when Scarlet goes missing that things start getting serious and Jay has to go it alone. 
 
A story of blackmail, corruption and exploding peacocks, 'Big Jessie' is the new firecracker thriller from the author of the WHSmith Award-winning 'London Irish'.

Big Jessie

Jo Baker

BY THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LONGBOURN 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2017 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2017 
 
'Skilful . . . daring . . . extraordinary' The Guardian 
 
'A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett's wartime years' IAN RANKIN 
 
'Beautifully written, empathetic and unflinching, it is very, very good' Daily Mail 
 
'Marvellous, spare, moving' FRANCIS SPUFFORD 
 
'Insightful . . . beautifully paced . . . authentic’ The Irish Times 
 
Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life and those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance... 
 
Spies, artists, deprivation, danger and passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, and of how one man came to translate it all into art. 
 
Sunday Express Book of the Month 
 
Praise for Jo Baker's LONGBOURN: 
'Intoxicating' Guardian 
'Engrossing' Sunday Times 
'Audacious' New York Times

A Country Road, A Tree

Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Memorial Prize for Historical Fiction

Kate Atkinson

The brilliant and profound second novel from the three-times Costa prizewinner and number one bestseller Kate Atkinson. 
 
'Vivid, richly imaginative, hilarious and frightening by turns' Observer 
 
Once it had been the great forest of Lythe. And here, in the beginning, lived the Fairfaxes, grandly, at Fairfax Manor. 
 
But over the centuries the forest had been destroyed, replaced by Streets of Trees. The Fairfaxes have dwindled too; now they live in 'Arden' at the end of Hawthorne Close and are hardly a family at all. 
 
But Isobel Fairfax, who drops into pockets of time and out again, knows about the past. She is sixteen and waiting for the return of her mother - the thin, dangerous Eliza with her scent of nicotine, Arpège and sex, whose disappearance is part of the mystery that still remains at the heart of the forest.

Human Croquet

John Boyne

John Boyne's acclaimed quartet, THE ELEMENTS, is available now. 
 
'A bold, funny epic' Observer 
'Compelling and satisfying . . . At times, incredibly funny, at others, heartrending' Sarah Winman, author of Still Life 
___ 
 
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery. At least, that's what his parents make sure to remind him. Adopted as a baby, he feels more and more disconnected with the family that treats him more as a curious pet, rather than a beloved son. 
 
So, as a young adult, Cyril decides to embark on a quest to find his place in the world. Sometimes misguided and often in the wrong place at the wrong time, life has dealt him a difficult hand but Cyril is resolute that he can change things, and find the courage to be himself. 
 
And in doing so, his story will come across that of Catherine Goggin, a young, pregnant woman finding herself alone and isolated at only sixteen. There is a place in the world for both of them, and Cyril is determined to find it. 
___ 
 
What readers are saying: 
 
'The story of the life of one man, told against the backdrop of twentieth century Ireland' 'Simultaneously heart-breaking, funny and life-affirming.' 
'Fantastic eccentric characters and dark humour is underpinned by a touching love story, perfect.' 
'The saddest and happiest book I have read . . . told with great compassion and ultimately a great love of life.'

The Heart's Invisible Furies

Joanne Harris

The haunting first novel by international multi-million copy bestseller Joanne Harris - a captivating and compelling study of human desires and compulsions. Perfect for fans of Kate Atkinson, Kate Mosse, Eve Chase and Stacey Halls. 
 
'A dark, gothic romance filled with mystery, jealousy, and violence . . . an interesting and thrilling read' - Style Magazine 
 
**************************************************************************** 
 
It's never easy to face the fact that a man you once loved passionately has found the girl of his dreams, as Alice discovers when Joe introduces her to his new girlfriend. 
 
Then Alice finds an old diary and reads about two men and the mysterious woman who bewitched them both, buried in Grantchester churchyard half a century ago. 
 
As the stories seem to intertwine, Alice comes to realize that her instinctive hatred of Joe's new girlfriend may not just be due to jealousy, as she is plunged into a nightmare world of obsession, revenge, seduction - and blood. 
 
Caution - May contain vampires... 
 
What readers are saying: 
***** 'Totally captivating' 
***** 'Had me hooked from the first page, dark, twisting and exciting - a must read' 
***** 'A page-turner' 
***** 'Cracking stuff - I was hooked'

The Evil Seed

an absorbing, dark and chilling novel from bestselling author Joanne Harris

Trisha Ashley

This novel from the Sunday Times bestselling Trisha Ashley will more than satisfy romantic comedy fans. And it also contains recipes! 
 
When Carey Revell unexpectedly becomes the heir to Mossby, his family’s ancestral home, it’s rather a mixed blessing. The house is large but rundown and comes with a pair of resentful relatives who can’t be asked to leave. 
Still, newly dumped by his girlfriend and also from his job as a TV interior designer, Carey needs somewhere to lick his wounds. And Mossby would be perfect for a renovation show. He already knows someone who could restore the stained glass windows in the older part of the house… 
 
Angel Arrowsmith has spent the last ten years happily working and living with her artist mentor and partner. But suddenly bereaved, she finds herself heartbroken, without a home or a livelihood. Life will never be the same again – until old friend Carey Revell comes to the rescue. 
 
They move in to Mossby with high hopes. But the house has a secret at its heart: an old legend concerning one of the famous windows. Will all their dreams for happiness be shattered? Or can Carey and Angel find a way to make this house a home? 
 
Heart-warming, witty and quirkily original, Trisha Ashley's THE HOUSE OF HOPES AND DREAMS will delight both old fans and new readers alike.

The House of Hopes and Dreams

An uplifting, funny novel from the #1 bestselling author

The absorbing and delightful rom-com from the Sunday Times bestseller

Multi-million copy bestselling author Joanna Trollope's insight into human relationships is both unparalleled and fascinating - and in The Men and the Girls she presents an excellent array of characters who interact in a complex and intriguing dance. Fans of Elizabeth Noble, Erica James and Amanda Prowse will not be disappointed... 
 
'One of the finest chroniclers of the way we live now' -- Independent on Sunday 
'The queen of the domestic dilemma...observant and emphatic' -- The Sunday Times 
'A rare pleasure to find characters so likeable that one cares what becomes of them' -- Evening Standard 
'A delight. Trollope is never less than graceful and searchingly observant' -- Independent 
'A great read' -- ***** Reader review 
'Easy to get lost in' -- ***** Reader review 
'Vastly entertaining' -- ***** Reader review 
'Cosy, subtle - a really lovely read!!' -- ***** Reader review 
'A page turner' -- ***** Reader review 
'Loved it from start to finish' -- ***** Reader review 
 
**************************************************************** 
AT FIRST THEIR AGES MADE NO DIFFERENCE... 
 
Julia Hunter and Kate Bain have found true happiness with men old enough to be their fathers. Julia organises her husband Hugh and their cherubic twins with ruthless efficiency and Kate has lived with James, for eight years, and although she refuses to marry him, she's apparently devoted to him. Hugh and James, lifelong friends, feel blessed indeed. 
 
But age differences cannot be ignored forever and when James accidentally knocks a fiercely independent spinster from her bicycle a chain of events is set off in which many suppressed discontents and frustrations emerge. Kate begins to seek out friends of her own age and Julia's career begins to blossom just as her husband's starts to decline ... 
 
The tranquil lives of the men and the girls seem shattered as new relationships develop and old anxieties surface.

The Men And The Girls

a gripping novel about love, friendship and discontent from one of Britain’s best loved authors, Joanna Trollope

Rachel Rhys

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CAPITAL CRIME AWARDS MYSTERY BOOK OF THE YEAR 
 
 
Beneath the beauty of Havana, she will find a bed of lies... 
 
'Transports us to another time and place. I loved it' PRIMA MAGAZINE 
 
'Iris is a heroine you'll absolutely root for in this gripping tale of murder, intrigue and romance' RED MAGAZINE 
 
London 1957: Iris Bailey is bored to death of working in the typing pool and living with her parents in Hemel Hempstead. A gifted portraitist with a talent for sketching party guests, she dreams of becoming an artist. So she can't believe her luck when socialite Nell Hardman invites her to Havana to draw at the wedding of her Hollywood director father. 
 
Far from home, she quickly realizes the cocktails, tropical scents and azure skies mask a darker reality. As Cuba teeters on the edge of revolution and Iris's heart melts for troubled photographer Joe, she discovers someone in the charismatic Hardman family is hiding a terrible secret. Can she uncover the ugly truth behind the glamour and the dazzle before all their lives are torn apart? 
______________________________ 
 
 
OUTSTANDING PRAISE FOR RACHEL RHYS: 
 
'Intoxicating' SANTA MONTEFIORE 
'Tantalising' DINAH JEFFRIES 
'Heart-pounding' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 
'Transporting' SUNDAY TIMES 
'A fabulous summer read' DAILY EXPRESS 
 
READERS ADORE RACHEL RHYS: 
 
'I absolutely adore Rachel Rhys' books, historical mystery with so much added glitz and glamour' 
'Unputdownable. Wonderful characterization and very well researched' 
'A captivating and fascinating read' 
'Recommended for anyone who loves historical fiction with a bit of mystery and a dash of romance' 
'Oh my goodness, I absolutely adored this book!'

Island of Secrets

Escape to Cuba with this gripping beach read

Anna Hope

The unputdownable historical novel by the acclaimed and bestselling author of WAKE and EXPECTATION: a devastating story of love and madness at the brink of the Great War. 
 
'Absolutely heart-breaking. One of the best books I’ve ever read' DINAH JEFFERIES, author of The Tea-Planter's Wife 
 
'Compelling, elegant, insightful' OBSERVER 
 
1911: Inside an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors, where men and women are kept apart by high walls and barred windows, there is a ballroom vast and beautiful. For one bright evening every week they come together and dance. When John and Ella meet it is a dance that will change two lives forever. 
 
Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, THE BALLROOM tells a rivetting tale of dangerous obsession, of madness and sanity, and of who gets to decide which is which. It is a love story like no other. 
 
***************************************** 
 
Praise for Anna Hope's The Ballroom: 
 
'Beautifully wrought, tender, heartbreaking' Sunday Express 5/5 
 
'Moving, fascinating' Times 
 
'A tender and absorbing love story' Daily Mail 
 
'Unsentimental and affecting' Sunday Times 
 
'Exquisitely good' Metro 
 
'Absolutely fantastic . . . I'm in real awe of her writing' ELIZABETH MACNEAL, author of The Doll Factory 
______________

The Ballroom

A Richard and Judy book club pick

Julie Cohen

After years of watching her best friends Ben and Claire try for a baby, Romily offered to give them the one thing they most wanted. 
 
But Romily wasn't prepared for the overwhelming feelings that have taken hold of her and which threaten to ruin her friendship with Ben and Claire – and even destroy their marriage. 
 
Now there are three friends, two mothers and only one baby, and an impossible decision to make . . .

Dear Thing

Paula Wall

Meet Pearl Wilde, one of the unpredictable daughters in the unforgettable family of Wildes. When Pearl discovers her sister, Kat, dressed up in her favourite pair of shoes - and in a compromising position with Pearl's fiancé - she catches the very first express train out of town. Five years later, Pearl returns home to Five Points. This time, her claws are razor sharp and her new demeanour is so cool, the citizens of her home village begin to doubt she even has sweat glands. 
The Wilde Women is a funny, sexy, and bitingly smart story of how love can turn to hate like wine can turn to vinegar - and how one wise, wild woman can turn that bitterness into a sweet, delicious tart.

The Wilde Women

Robert Edric

Autumn 1919. Elizabeth Mortlake, companion to her widowed sister-in-law, meets Jameson and Hunter, two ex-officers striving for some new measure of peace and order amid the ever-lengthening shadows of the war - one still hospitalized and awaiting the judgement of a court martial, the other seeking a more personal atonement for his unimaginable sins. Drawn increasingly into their lives here at the calm centre of the changing world, she gradually understands what a fragile peace they now inhabit, and how the ideals and bonds which once sustained and kept the two men alive, now threaten to destroy them completely.

In Desolate Heaven

Georgia Blain

The story is told through the eyes of Ursula, an out of work actress, who is drifting through life.  She is haunted by her past and, in particular, the fateful summer spent  with her eccentric family as a teenager at a wild and remote farmhouse, Candelo, on the south coast of Australia where she first falls in love.  The holiday ends in disaster: a terrible accident takes place that changes all their lives. Ursula must confront the past and come to terms with truths about herself, and her family, before she can move on and truly exist in the the present.

Snake In The Grass

Sheena Joughin

A wry, spirited look at being glad and young, this foray back into Eighties London explores relations between sisters, mothers, friends and lovers from the vantage point of a girl caught unexpectedly in the middle. 
 
Sisterly sharing is taken beyond the pale when twenty-something Chrissie finds a postcard from her boyfriend to her sister signed, "Kisses, Nick". Within moments she severs her two central relationships and looks boldly forward to the haphazard pleasures of an independent life. 
 
Her lyrical journey, from love-lorn waitress to self-contained mother, takes us through the pubs, parks, parties, patisseries, peeling houseboats and rackety flats of west London to the shores of Lisbon, Ireland and Brighton. But Chrissie's attempts to escape the emotional convolutions of London only ever seem to lead to encounters that intensify rather than dispel her growing sense of how knotty life can be. 
 
Graceful, sensitive, gently humorous, Things to do Indoors captures intimately the bizarre complexity of life for those who yearn to become independent, but can't stop looking for love.

Things To Do Indoors

Rafel Nadal Farreras

A huge international bestseller, this heartbreaking tale of a tiny Italian village during two World Wars will stay with you forever. 
 
Among the olive groves and vineyards of southern Italy, a boy and a girl are born, moments apart. Far away in the trenches of World War I, their fathers have just died. Now all the men in Vitantonio’s family have been wiped out – all twenty-one. All except him. 
 
Growing up together, war seems far away for the two children. But Vitantonio’s mother will do anything to protect her son from the curse of death that seems to hang over the family – and so she tells a lie. It is a lie that will bind Vitantonio and Giovanna, the girl who shares his birthday, together over the years. But as the clouds of another war begin to gather on the horizon, it may ultimately drive them apart...

The Last Son's Secret

Rachel Joyce

From the author of the world-wide bestseller, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: 
 
' A beautiful novel, a tonic for the soul and a complete joy to read.' Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep. 
 
1988. Frank owns a music shop. It is jam-packed with records of every speed, size and genre. Classical, jazz, punk - as long as it's vinyl he sells it. Day after day Frank finds his customers the music they need. 
 
Then into his life walks Ilse Brauchmann. 
 
Ilse asks Frank to teach her about music. His instinct is to turn and run. And yet he is drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with her pea-green coat and her eyes as black as vinyl. But Ilse is not what she seems. And Frank has old wounds that threaten to re-open and a past he will never leave behind ... 
 
'Hits all the right notes...a love story that's as much about the silences between words as what is said - the spaces between people that can be filled with mystery, confusion and misunderstanding as well as hope." Observer

The Music Shop

Judy Astley

If you like Carole Matthews and Milly Johnson, you'll love Judy's delightful and funny novel about changing your luck once and for all . . . 
 
Viola hasn't had much luck with men. Her first husband, Marco, companion of her youth and father of her only child, left her when he realised he was gay. Her second, Rhys, ended his high-octane, fame-filled life by driving his Porsche into a wall. No wonder her family always believes she needs Looking After, and her friends think she really shouldn't be allowed out on her own... 
 
Which is why, at the age of thirty-five, she finds herself shamefully back at home, living with Mum. 
 
Viola knows she has to take charge; she needs to get a life, and fast. With a stroppy teenage daughter, a demanding mother, and siblings who want to control her life for her, where is she going to turn? 
 
Readers love Judy Astley: 
"Warm, funny and unerringly true to life" Katie Fforde 
"Irresistible" Daily Mail 
"An enjoyable light read" Sunday Mirror

I Should Be So Lucky

an uplifting and hilarious novel from the ever astute Astley

Sophie Kinsella

Three women, smart and successful, working in the fast and furious world of magazines, meet for cocktails and gossip once a month. 
 
Roxanne: glamorous, self-confident, with a secret lover - and hoping that one day he will leave his wife and marry her. 
 
Maggie:capable and high-achieving, until she finds the one thing she can't cope with - motherhood. 
 
Candice:honest, decent, or so she believes - until a ghost from her past turns up, and almost ruins her life. 
 
A chance encounter in the cocktail bar sets in train an extraordinary set of events which upsets all their lives and almost destroys their friendship...

Cocktails For Three

Katie Khan

‘A will they, won’t they tale with a jaw-dropping twist at its heart’ Sunday Express 
 
Perfect for fans of Sliding Doors. 
 
Thea and Isaac have always been friends, despite his constant jokes, despite her stubborn belief in time travel . . . despite the distance between them. 
 
But when Isaac returns home from New York when their friend goes missing, suddenly things aren't as they were. Something is different. 
 
Thea and Isaac have always been friends. But maybe that wasn't how it was supposed to be. 
 
* 
 
'Stunning, mesmerising and intricately beautiful. This book is a diamond.' Carrie Hope Fletcher 
 
'A love story with a great twist that takes it beyond a classic 'will they, won't they?'' Stylist 
 
'Gripping, fascinating, funny, romantic, exciting, and hopeful with a great cast of women, The Light Between Us is a cracking good read.' Rowan Coleman

The Light Between Us

Lovers, colleagues, family - Tilly has always been brilliant at pushing people in and out of her life exactly as it suits her. Then along comes Geoffrey, gentle, compassionate, generous to a fault, with his miserable little children and his manipulative ex-wife. 
 
Tilly's own expertise in the arts of deception and avoidance should be enough to make sure she's always one step ahead of Geoffrey's disastrous, crumbling family. But time and again she finds herself staying, brought down by their cowardly backsliding and their barefaced lies. 
 
How has she managed to stay so long in a relationship she knows perfectly well has to be doomed? More importantly, how can Tilly plan her permanent escape?

Raking The Ashes

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