Heidi Perks is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Now You See Her, which was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick, Come Back for Me, Three Perfect Liars, The Whispers and The Other Guest. The Last Resort is her sixth novel. Heidi is a voracious reader of crime and thrillers and is fascinated by the darker side of our closest relationships. Heidi lives in Bournemouth with her husband and two children.

Heidi Perks

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Douglas Coupland

A real-time five-hour story set in an airport cocktail lounge during a global disaster. Five disparate people are trapped inside: Karen, a single mother waiting for her online date; Rick, the down-on-his-luck airport lounge bartender; Luke, a pastor on the run; Rachel, a cool Hitchcock blonde incapable of true human contact; and finally a mysterious voice known as Player One. Slowly, each reveals the truth about themselves while the world as they know it comes to an end. 
 
In the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and J.G. Ballard, Coupland explores the modern crises of time, human identity, society, religion and the afterlife. The book asks as many questions as it answers and readers will leave the story with no doubt that we are in a new phase of existence as a species - and that there is no turning back.

Player One

Paula Lichtarowicz

Brilliantly inventive and original. This debut novel tells the story of Calamity Leek: a girl who has never been allowed beyond the garden wall, until now. 
 
Lying in her hospital bed, broken, burned and scared, Calamity still believes that Aunty loved her. For as long as she can remember, Calamity, along with her sixteen sisters, lived in a Garden behind the Wall of Safekeeping. Like it said in Aunty's Appendix on the first page of the Ps: 'Everything has a purpose', and they were being trained for a very special one. In the Ns the Appendix said, 'Nosiness leads to nonsense'. As Calamity sees it, this is what led to their Garden's downfall, because when the sisters started questioning what was outside the Wall, they started questioning what was happening inside it too. 
 
But doubt is contagious. 
Watching your world crumble is frightening. 
And people who are frightened can be dangerous.

The First Book of Calamity Leek

Marc Morris

This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king. Edward I is familiar to millions as 'Longshanks', conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace ('Braveheart'). Edward was born to rule England, but believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale, and leaving a legacy of division that has lasted from his day to our own. 
 
In his astonishingly action-packed life, Edward defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled across Europe to the Holy Land on crusade; conquered Wales, extinguishing forever its native rulers, and constructed - at Conwy, Harlech, Beaumaris and Caernarfon - the most magnificent chain of castles ever created. After the death of his first wife he erected the Eleanor Crosses - the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch.

A Great and Terrible King

Edward I and the Forging of Britain

Anna Quindlen

It's an otherwise ordinary Monday when Meghan Fitzmaurice's perfect life hits a wall. A household name as the host of 'Rise and Shine', the country's highest-rated morning talk show, Meghan cuts to a commercial break, but not before she mutters two forbidden words into her open mike. 
 
In an instant, it's the end of an era - not only for Meghan, who is unaccustomed to dealing with adversity, but also for her younger sister, Bridget, a social worker in the Bronx who has always lived in Meghan's long shadow. 
 
The effect of Meghan's on-air foible reverberates through their lives, affecting Meghan's son, husband, friends, and fans, as well as Bridget's perception of her sister, their complex childhood, and herself. What follows is a story about how the Fitzmaurice women adapt, survive, and manage to bring the whole teeming world of New York to heel, by dint of their smart mouths, quick wits, and their powerful connection, one that even the worst tragedy cannot shatter.

Rise and Shine

'The first time my husband hit me I was nineteen years old.' 
 
For eighteen years Fran Benedetto kept her secret, hid her bruises. She stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father, and because, in spite of everything, she loved him. Then one night, when she saw the look on her ten-year-old son's face, Fran finally made a choice - she ran for both their lives. 
 
Now she is starting over in a city far from home, far from Bobby. She uses a name that isn't hers, watches over her son, and tries to forget. For the woman who now calls herself Beth, every day is a chance to heal, to put together the pieces of her shattered self. And every day she waits for Bobby to catch up with her. Bobby always said he would never let her go, and Fran Benedetto is certain of one thing: it is only a matter of time.

Black And Blue

Aimee Bender

_______________________________ 
On the eve of her ninth birthday, Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother's emotions in the slice. All at once her cheerful, can-do mother tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes perilous. Anything can be revealed at any meal. 
 
Rose's gift forces her to confront the truth behind her family's emotions - her mother's sadness, her father's detachment and her brother's clash with the world. But as Rose grows up, she learns that there are some secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. 
 
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is about the pain of loving those whom you know too much about, and the secrets that exist within every family. At once profound, funny, wise and sad, this is a novel to savour. 
_______________________________ 
Now available to preorder: Aimee Bender's new novel, The Butterfly Lampshade

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The heartwarming Richard and Judy Book Club favourite

Matthew Sullivan

'Not for the faint-hearted.' Scotsman 
 
What do you do when the life you’ve carefully built for yourself comes apart? 
 
Lydia Smith lives a quiet life, spent in the company of her colleagues and customers at the bookstore where she works. But when Joey Molina, a young and mysterious regular, hangs himself in the bookstore and leaves Lydia secret messages hidden in the pages of his books, her world starts to unravel. 
 
Why did Joey do it? 
 
What did he know? 
 
And what does it have to do with Lydia?

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

Alexandra Heminsley

_____________________________ 
'If you've ever wept, "Why Do I Want To Run?", your answer is here.' CAITLIN MORAN 
 
Alexandra Heminsley had high hopes: the arse of an athlete, the waist of a supermodel, the speed of a gazelle. Defeated by gyms and bored of yoga, she decided to run. 
 
Her first attempt did not end well. 
 
Six years later, she has run five marathons in two continents. 
 
But, as her dad says, you run with your head as much as with your legs. So, while this is a book about running, it's not just about running. 
 
You could say it's about ambition (yes, getting out of bed on a rainy Sunday morning counts), relationships (including talking to the intimidating staff in the trainer shop), as well as your body (your boobs don't have to wobble when you run). But it's also about realising that you can do more than you ever thought possible. 
 
Very funny, very honest and very emotional, whether you're in serious training or thinking about running for the bus, this is a book for anyone who after wine and crisps for supper a few too many times thinks they might . . . just might . . . like to run like a girl. 
_____________________________ 
Here's what people are saying about Running Like A Girl - and what it's inspired them to do! 
 
'This book has changed my attitude, I loved it from page one and found it totally relatable for the normal woman... A real inspiration' - Clairol on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'I adored this book... this is a must read' - Emily on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'really opened my eyes and inspired me to continue running, fantastic read' - Kiyone on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'I was so happy to start reading this fabulous book and realise that there was someone else out there who thought exactly as I did about 'not being a runner'' - J. Watson on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'It's not often I find a book that I can't put down and this is the first for ages! ... this book echoes so many of my own limiting beliefs constructed around this subject and it was a delight to hear how Alex faced up to her own demons and finally freed her running spirit. Even if you never want to be a runner this is a fun read and an inspirational journey.' - Joy on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'Inspirational... Would recommend this book to anyone thinking of running! Very well put together and has lots of information and tips' - Maria on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'I laughed out loud... for anyone wanting to get into running you will be thinking of Alexandra when you are out there taking your first few strides, and you will be grinning!' - J. Dunne on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'The best thing about it is how inspiring the journey it is, how much it makes you want to get out there and run yourself. Such a fantastic aid to the beginning of your running journey' - Emma on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'I have been fighting with my running demons for over 12 months and had convinced myself that I couldn't run. This book has inspired me to put my trainers on, join a club and enter three events' - Chimaera on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'Laugh-out-loud funny in places but real, genuine experience of the world of running from someone who's been there, picked up the battered trainers and just run with it' - Helen on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
'hilarious - it just kept me hooked!' - Denise on Amazon, 5 stars

Running Like a Girl

Sarah Ridgard

Desiree White was walking through the fields of winter wheat and oilseed rape when she saw it. 
 
She picked the newspaper bundle out of the ditch and took it to the phone box. 
 
Across the baby’s tiny body she could see a faint tattoo of Lady Di’s face where some of the newsprint had rubbed off. It was like finding a featherless bird fallen out of its nest. 
 
No-one had ever bothered much about Desiree but now everyone is interested in her, in what she saw, in who the parents might be and why they’d dump a baby. 
 
As years go by and everyone else moves on with their lives, Desiree feels stuck, unable to forget what she saw that day. But when she starts to make connections which bring the truth dangerously close to home, it seems that some secrets are best left alone.

Seldom Seen

Tess Callahan

April and Oliver are soul mates, the attraction between them has always been palpable. But as the years have passed this once inseparable couple have become strangers. Only after the sudden death of April's brother do their wildly different lives collide once again. Oliver, the responsible, newly engaged law student, finds himself drawn ever closer to the reckless, mystifying April - and cracks begin to appear in his carefully constructed life. 
 
Even as Oliver attempts to rescue his childhood friend from her grief, her menacing boyfriend, and herself, it is obvious that Oliver has some secrets of his own - secrets he has never shared with anyone. April alone knows, and her reappearance derails him. 
 
But is it April's life that is unravelling, or his own? And will their magnetic attraction for one another ever lead to happiness? Or are they better apart?

April & Oliver

Brooke Davis

‘If you liked Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, you'll like this’ Metro 
 
‘Will generate the same feel-good word of mouth as last year’s bestseller, The Rosie Project’ Sydney Morning Herald 
 
Millie Bird is seven-years-old. On a shopping trip with her mum, Millie is left alone beneath the Ginormous Women’s underwear rack in a department store. Her mum never returns. 
 
Agatha Pantha is eighty-two and hasn’t left home since her husband died. Instead, she fills the silence by yelling at passers-by, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule. Until the day Agatha spies a little girl across the street. 
 
Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven and in a nursing home. He remembers how he once typed love letters with his fingers on to his wife’s skin. Now widowed, he knows that somehow he must find a way for life to begin again. In a moment of clarity, he escapes. 
 
Together, Millie, Agatha and Karl set out to find Millie’s mum. And along the way, they will discover that the young can be wise, that old age is not the same as death, and that breaking the rules once in a while might just be the key to a happy life.

Lost & Found

Carys Bray

Clover Quinn was a surprise. She used to imagine she was the good kind, now she’s not sure. She’d like to ask Dad about it, but growing up in the saddest chapter of someone else’s story is difficult. She tries not to skate on the thin ice of his memories. 
 
Darren has done his best. He's studied his daughter like a seismologist on the lookout for waves and surrounded her with everything she might want - everything he can think of, at least - to be happy. 
 
What Clover wants is answers. This summer, she thinks she can find them in the second bedroom, which is full of her mother's belongings. Volume isn't important, what she is looking for is essence; the undiluted bits: a collection of things that will tell the full story of her mother, her father and who she is going to be. 
 
But what you find depends on what you're searching for.

The Museum of You

Lisa O'Donnell

WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH BOOK PRIZE 2013 
 
Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved. 
 
Marnie and her little sister Nelly have always been different. Marnie leads a life of smoking, drinking and drugs; Nelly enjoys playing the violin, eating cornflakes with Coke and reading Harry Potter. But on Christmas Eve, the sisters have to join forces and put their differences aside. And when Lennie, the old guy next door, starts to get suspicious, it’s only a matter of time before their terrible secret is discovered.

The Death of Bees

The Lathams seem to have it all. 
 
Health, wealth, a vibrant family life - as Mary Beth Latham contemplates a life built around home, friends and community, she has every reason to feel fulfilled and content. 
 
That is, until one of her sons begins to unravel. 
 
As Mary Beth focuses on him, she discovers that the comfortable life she has spent years constructing has been shattered by a single traumatic moment. Forced to confront her own demons, Mary Beth must face the knowledge that one secret, shameful act has set the course of her fate... 
___________________ 
 
Every Last One is a mesmerising and devastating portrait of family life, and a testament to the power of a mother's love and determination. It is Anna Quindlen's finest work to date.

Every Last One

The stunning Richard and Judy Book Club pick

John Niven

GARY is a sweet and decent man. Only two things would improve his life - having children with his gorgeous wife Pauline, and a lower golf handicap. Both are unlikely. 
 
PAULINE is wondering how she ended up living in an ugly little house, driving a second-hand car and making a living dressing up as Tinkerbell. She's planning to leave Gary for a self-made carpet millionaire. 
 
FINDLAY, the Carpet King of Scotland, wants to trade in his obese wife for a younger model. But if he goes for a divorce she'll take him to the cleaners. If only there was some way she could be made to disappear... 
 
LEE, Gary's luckless brother, has botched one too many drug deals. Local crime overlord Ranta Campbell gives him one more job - one last chance to get it right. Lee's done some bad things - but murder? 
 
When Gary gets smashed on the head by a golf ball and miraculously develops an absolutely perfect swing, everyone finds their fates rest on the final day of the Open Championship...

The Amateurs

'Remarkable' Observer 
'A joy to read' Daily Telegraph 
'Soaringly beautiful' Sunday Times Magazine 
'Genuine and persuasive' Guardian 
 
Alexandra Heminsley thought she could swim. She really did. 
 
It may have been because she could run. It may have been because she wanted to swim; or perhaps because she only ever did ten minutes of breaststroke at a time. But, as she learned one day while flailing around in the sea, she really couldn’t. 
 
Believing that a life lived fully isn’t one with the most money earned, the most stuff bought or the most races won, but one with the most experiences, experienced the most fully, she decided to conquer her fear of the water. 
 
From the ignominy of getting into a wetsuit to the triumph of swimming from Kefalonia to Ithaca, in becoming a swimmer, Alexandra learns to appreciate her body and still her mind. As it turns out, the water is never as frightening once you're in, and really, everything is better when you remember to exhale. 
 
 
What Hemmo's readers are saying: 
 
‘This book is funny, engaging, entertaining, informative, suspenseful, motivating, and inspiring... I've never read anything quite like it’ 
 ­– Nina on Goodreads, 5 stars 
 
 ‘Just like Running Like a Girl, this was an absolute joy to read. A beautifully written story of swimming, family and being a woman’ 
 – Violet on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
‘Fantastic book… Entertaining – often laugh-out-loud funny – and full of really useful advice’ 
 – J. Edwards on Amazon, 5 stars 
 
‘A fabulous book that’s beautifully written’ 
 – Nik on Goodreads, 5 stars 
 
‘I can't recommend this book enough! I absolutely love Alexandra Heminsley's writing, her attitude towards exercise and her passion for swimming’ 
 – Sarah on Goodreads, 5 stars 
 
‘an inspirational and encouraging read’ 
 – Stephanie on Goodreads, 5 stars 
 
‘the author’s enthusiasm is contagious… one cannot help but yearn to join in. … A thoroughly inspiring book with a likeable narrator unafraid to share her personal life’ 
 – Eleanor on Goodreads, 5 stars 
 
 ‘This is a delightful book, a pleasure to read… Unbelievably well written, it flows like the water she loves’ 
 ­– Bobby on Amazon, 5 stars

Leap In

A Woman, Some Waves, and the Will to Swim

Rachel Heath

In a small English town, everyone is silently struggling to be the person they think they should be. Tacita is pretending to ignore her husband's affair; Theresa is determined to stay so busy she won’t have time to feel guilty; and Stella just wants everything to stay the same. But when Sheila, a widow, mother and grandmother, disappears from the town, their private lives start to collide and change ...

Part of the Spell

Andre Dubus III

One early September night, at the moment before the world changes, a young woman brings her daughter to work. 
 
April's usual babysitter, Jean, has had a panic attack that's landed her in hospital. April doesn't really know anyone else, so decides it's best to have her three-year-old daughter close by, watching children's videos in the office, while she works. 
 
But April is a stripper at the Puma Club for Men. And tonight she has an unusual client, a foreigner both remote and too personal, and free with his cash. His name is Bassam. Meanwhile, another man, AJ, has been thrown out of the club for holding hands with his favourite stripper, and he's drunk and angry and lonely. 
 
From these explosive elements comes a relentless, raw, searing, passionate page-turning narrative, a big-hearted and painful novel about sex and parenthood, honour and masculinity. Set in the seamy underside of American life at the moment before the world changed, it juxtaposes lust for domination with hunger for connection, sexual violence with family love. It seizes the reader by the throat with the same psychological tension, depth and realism that characterised Andre Dubus's bestselling House of Sand and Fog - and with an even greater sense of the dark and anguished places in the human heart.

The Garden of Last Days

Alissa Nutting

A HBO Max series starring Ray Romano and Cristin Milioti 
 
'Exudes valiant charm' New Yorker 
 
'Blisteringly smart and feverishly inventive' Garth Greenwell 
 
'Brilliant... hilarious... both satisfying and unexpected' Roxane Gay 
 
Hazel has just moved into a trailer park of senior citizens, with her father and Diane - his sex doll companion. Life with Hazel's father is strained at best, but it's got to be better than her marriage to dominating tech billionaire, Byron Gogol. For over a decade, Hazel has been quarantining in Byron's family compound, her every movement and vital sign tracked. So when Byron demands to wirelessly connect the two of them via brain chips, turning Hazel into a human guinea pig, Hazel makes a run for it. Will Hazel be able to free herself from Byron's virtual clutches before he finds her? 
_________________________ 
A gloriously absurd and hugely entertaining satire about intimacy and love from the provocative writer of the acclaimed novel Tampa.

Made for Love

Rachel Simon

A RICHARD &amp; JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 
 
Pennsylvania, 1968. 
 
'Hide her.' 
 
Two words that would change all of their lives - for ever. 
 
On a stormy night in small-town America, a couple, desperate and soaked to the skin, knock on a stranger's door. When Martha, a retired schoolteacher, answers their knock, her world changes for ever. 
 
Her visitors are Lynnie and Homan, who have fled The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded with their newborn baby. But the police are closing in and their freedom is about to be snatched away. Moments before she is taken back to the School, bound and tied, Lynnie utters two words to Martha: 'Hide her.' And so begins the heart-rending story of Lynnie, Homan, Martha and baby Julia - lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but drawn together by a secret pact and extraordinary love.

The Story of Beautiful Girl

The beloved Richard and Judy Book Club pick

One night a young couple sneak onto the estate of wealthy Lydia Blessing and leave a box in the driveway. In the box is a baby and Skip Cuddy, the caretaker who finds her decides secretly to keep her. When Lydia Blessing discovers this she has choices to make, as she had many years before.

Blessings

Nick Harkaway

From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World - an adventure story, a war story, and a love story, all wound into one brilliant narrative that runs like clockwork. 
 
Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction Literature. 
 
Joe Spork, son of the infamous criminal Mathew ‘Tommy Gun’ Spork just wants a quiet life, repairing clockwork in a wet, unknown bit of London. 
 
Edie Banister, former superspy, lives quietly and wishes she didn’t. She’s nearly ninety and the things she fought to save don’t seem to exist anymore. She's beginning to wonder if they ever did. 
 
When Joe is asked to fix one particularly unusual device, his life is suddenly upended. The client? Unknown. The device? A 1950s doomsday machine. Having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator, Edie’s old arch-nemesis. Joe’s once-quiet world is now populated with mad monks, psychopathic serial killers, scientific geniuses and threats to the future of conscious life in the universe. The only way he can survive, is to muster the courage to fight, help Edie complete a mission she gave up years ago, and pick up his father’s old gun...

Angelmaker

Ayana Mathis

A NEW EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL 
An Oprah's Book Club Pick 
 
'Remarkable' Sunday Times 
 
'Ms. Mathis has a gift for imbuing her characters' stories with an epic dimension that recalls Toni Morrison's writing' New York Times 
 
'Vibrant and compassionate . . . a work of great humanity' Marilynne Robinson 
 
1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a better life. When Hattie marries and gives birth to her children, she raises them with grit and mettle, preparing them for a world that will challenge and wound them. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie tells the story of a mother's monumental courage, the resilience of human spirit and the myth of the American dream.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Olivia Manning

'Her gallery of personages is huge, her scene painting superb, her pathos controlled, her humour quiet and civilised' Anthony Burgess 
 
'So glittering is the overall parade - and so entertaining the surface - that the trilogy remains excitingly vivid; it amuses, it diverts and it informs, and to do these things so elegantly is no small achievement' Sunday Times 
 
'A fantastically tart and readable account of life in eastern Europe at the start of the war' Sarah Waters 
 
The Balkan Trilogy is the story of a marriage and of a war, a vast, teeming, and complex masterpiece in which Olivia Manning brings the uncertainty and adventure of civilian existence under political and military siege to vibrant life. 
 
At the heart of the trilogy are newly-weds Guy and Harriet Pringle, who arrive in Bucharest - the so-called Paris of the East - in the autumn of 1939, just weeks after the German invasion of Poland. Guy's lecturing job awaits, alongside friends and the ever-ardent Sophie - but for Harriet, alone and naive, it's a strange new life. Other surprises follow: Romania joins the Axis, and before long German soldiers overrun the capital. The Pringles flee south to Greece, part of a group of refugees made up of White Russians, journalists, con artists, and dignitaries. In Athens, however, the couple will face a new challenge of their own...

The Balkan Trilogy

Jess Phillips

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY BOOK AWARDS 
 
‘Jess Phillips writes like she talks: brilliantly. Her humour and passion shine through every page. Loved it.’ ROBERT WEBB 
_____________________ 
If you’re thinking, ‘Jess who?’ then I’m glad that there was something about ‘Everywoman’ and ‘truth’ that caught your eye. 
 
Or you might already know me as that gobby MP who has a tendency to shout about the stuff I care about. Because I’m a woman with a cause, I have been called a feminazi witch, a murderer and threatened with rape. The internet attracts a classy crowd. 
 
So, speaking the truth isn’t always easy but I believe it’s worth it. And I want you to believe it too. The truth can be empowering, the truth can lead to greater equality, and the world would be incredibly boring if we let all of those people who allegedly know everything, say everything. 
 
By demanding to be heard, by dealing with our imposter syndrome, by being cheerleaders, doers not sayers, creating our own networks and by daring to believe that we can make a difference, we can. 
 
We’re women and we’re kick-ass. And that’s the truth. 
_____________________ 
'Joyfully candid and very funny.' Guardian 
 
'Jess Phillips knows the truth . . . and here she shows how scary and sad as well as joyful and liberating the answers can be.' Damian Barr 
 
'Everywoman has all the laughs [of Lena Dunham and Caitlin Moran] with a backbone of real glinting anger . . .there were so many funny and wise things on each page that whittling them down into a review seemed impossible.' Julie Birchill, Spectator 
 
'As fresh as mountain air amid the Westminster tumbleweed.' Metro 
 
'Arresting.' Observer 
_____________________ 
This title now has a new cover and there is a chance that you may receive the edition with the old cover instead of the cover displayed here.

Everywoman

One Woman’s Truth About Speaking the Truth

Pandora Sykes

__________________ 
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
Stop searching for the answers - and start delighting in the questions with Pandora Sykes, co-host of The High Low podcast. 
 
'Deliciously fascinating' MARIAN KEYES 
'Refreshing ... thoughtful, considered' STYLIST 
'Brilliant' EVENING STANDARD 
'Timely and fulsome' CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS 
'Joyful and wise' LISA TADDEO 
 
Modern life is full of choices - but how do we know we're making the right ones? Why, in our attempts to make life easier, do we often make it harder? 
 
With a light touch and plenty of humour, Pandora Sykes delves into the myths we've been sold and the stories we tell ourselves, in a timely bid to encourage us to consider the lives we once led, and how they might better serve us. It's time to stop looking for the answers - and start delighting in the questions. 
__________________ 
'Thoughtful and funny' DOLLY ALDERTON 
 
'Like a very clever, lucid, charming friend unpacking all the messy anxieties of modern existence with tremendous intelligence and elan. Read this book. It will help your life' INDIA KNIGHT 
 
'Had me cackling. So smart but so well-researched' CANDICE BRATHWAITE 
 
'Energetic and compelling' OLIVIA SUDJIC 
 
'Navigates complicated issues with great humanity, humour and humility ... [it] left me wanting more' SATHNAM SANGHERA 
 
'Self-aware, self-deprecating, relatable, funny, and brilliantly curious' STACEY DOOLEY 
 
'Witty and zeitgeisty ... strikes a fresh, honest note' VANITY FAIR 
__________________ 
Readers love Pandora's first book: 
 
'A truly marvellous debut' 
'Insightful and beautifully written' 
'Totally brilliant ... I devoured this masterpiece in one sitting' 
'A bright book in a gloomy year' 
'Feeling a lot better about life after finishing this!' 
'I adored Pandora's book and will be thinking about it for a long time.' 
'So clever and thought-provoking' 
'Pandora is a wonderful writer and I found myself unexpectedly in tears by the end' 
 
INCLUDES A NEW PROLOGUE

How Do We Know We're Doing It Right?

And Other Thoughts On Modern Life

Tessa McWatt

‘I think I have found the way to talk to her in the present. The past takes too much language.’ 
 
So much is taken for granted in a long marriage, so much is relied upon, resented, and never spoken of. When Anna begins to mangle her sentences as a result of a brain aneurysm that could kill her at any moment, her husband Mike uses his talent as a graphic artist to draw his way closer to his wife. Trying to communicate with her, and himself too, through signs and symbols, he wants to show his wife that she has been his entire universe. But Mike is deeply flawed, hovering on the knife-edge of a confession, he selfishly looks to the woman he loves for absolution. Not knowing how much time they have left together and incoherent with guilt, will he finally confess all the ways in which he rebelled against her power over him, the way he betrayed her?

Vital Signs

Ellen Gulden is a successful, young New York journalist. But when her mother, Kate, is diagnosed with cancer, she leaves her life in the city to return home and care for her. In the short time they have left, the relationship between mother and daughter - tender, awkward and revealing - deepens, and Ellen is forced to confront painful truths about her adored father. 
 
But in the weeks that follow Kate's death, events take a shocking and unexpected turn. Family emotions are laid bare as a new drama is played out, and overnight Ellen goes from devoted daughter to prime suspect, accused of the mercy killing of her 'one true thing'. 
 
One True Thing is the devastating story of a mother and daughter, of love and loss, and of shattering choices.

One True Thing

Jasmin Darznik

'With this one word, Lili had finally understood many things: that no matter what she promised or sacrificed or gave, she would always be 'broken' to her daughter.' 
 
When Jasmin Darznik finds a photo among her father's possessions shortly after his death, she recognises the child in the veil and bride's clothes as her mother, Lili, but the groom is unfamiliar. 
 
Who had her mother married all those years before? A few months later Lili sends Jasmin ten cassette tapes which reveal the secret history of their family: the true story of the abusive man she married, and the daughter she was forced to leave behind. 
 
This is an unforgettable story of secrets, betrayal and exile, and of an unshakeable mother-daughter bond.

The Good Daughter

My Mother's Hidden Life

Sophie McManus

CeCe Somner, an eccentric heiress once known for her cruel wit as much as for her tremendous generosity, now faces opulent decline. Afflicted with a rare disease and touched by mortality for the first time, her gilded, bygone values collide with an unforgiving present. As her troubled, spoiled son George and his outsider wife Iris struggle to resolve mounting financial and familiar troubles, Cece must face the Somner dynasty’s dark legacy. But when George’s secrets culminate in an unexpected crime, no riches can put things right for the unfortunate Somners. What will become of all three, who must learn what life will be like beyond the long, shimmering shadow cast by the family’s past?

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