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Hala Alyan

'A piercingly elegant novel . . . with the power to both break and mend your heart.' Ru Freeman, author of On Sal Mal Lane 
 
'Epic in scope and uniquely relevant in its concern for displacement. Particularly well-suited for our times, then.' Red 
 
Where do you go when you can’t go home? 
 
On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. 
 
Although she keeps her predictions to herself that day, they soon come to pass in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967. Caught up in the resistance, Alia’s brother disappears, while Alia and her husband move from Nablus to Kuwait City. Reluctantly they build a life, torn between needing to remember and learning to forget. 
 
When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait, Alia and her family yet again lose their home, their land, and their story as they know it. Scattering to Beirut, Paris and Boston, Alia’s children begin families of their own, once more navigating the burdens and blessings of beginning again.

Salt Houses

Kim Barnes

Behind every man is a woman with a story to tell ... 
 
When Gin McPhee’s husband Mason takes a job at the Arabian American Oil Company in Saudi Arabia, it unlocks a glamorous new lifestyle far from their humble beginnings in Oklahoma. It is a life of private clubs, dinner parties, and a houseboy at their disposal; all kept within the confines of the company compound. 
 
But as Gin tires of the cocktails and an absent husband, the illusion of freedom is shattered, leaving boredom and curiosity for life beyond the gates - a world she soon finds is one of danger and corruption. And when a young woman is discovered dead in the bay and suspicions point to Mason, the one person she can trust is nowhere to be found.

In the Kingdom of Men

Olivia Manning

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RACHEL CUSK 
 
'A fantastically tart and readable account of life in eastern Europe at the start of the war' Sarah Waters 
 
'Wonderfully entertaining' Observer 
 
Autumn, 1939. Newly-weds Guy and Harriet Pringle step aboard the train to Bucharest. Guy's lecturing job awaits, alongside friends and the ever-ardent Sophie - but for Harriet, alone and naive, it's a strange new life. As Guy's world collides with that of his new bride, Harriet realises how little she knows the man she has married. Manning's masterpiece, alive with exhilarating characters, is a haunting evocation of young love and the uncertainty of war.

The Great Fortune

The Balkan Trilogy 1

Jenni Fagan

JENNI FAGAN HAS BEEN NAMED AS ONE OF GRANTA MAGAZINE'S BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELISTS 2013 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION AND THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2013 
 
'One of the most cunning and spirited novels I've read for years' Ali Smith 
 
'An utterly magnificent achievement' Irvine Welsh 
 
Fifteen-year old Anais Hendricks is smart, funny and fierce, but she is also a child who has been let down, or worse, by just about every adult she has ever met. Sitting in the back of a police car, she finds herself headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders where the social workers are as suspicious as its residents. But Anais can't remember the events that have led her there, or why she has blood on her school uniform...

The Panopticon

Tom Shone

You meet everyone in the rooms... 
 
English literary agent Patrick Miller came to New York dreaming of joining the big league, only to find himself selling celebrity dog books. 
 
But when he spots the legendary novelist Douglas Kelsey on the street and follows him into an AA meeting, a world of opportunity beckons. Patrick enters a den of sex addicts, junkies and pill-poppers, all rubbing shoulders with the reclusive Kelsey. 
 
Who knew that sobriety offered such networking possibilities? Or that the women would be so attractive? 
 
There's only one small problem. Patrick doesn't have a problem - not with alcohol, nor with drugs, just with that little thing they call the truth. As everyone is beginning to find out... 
 
Part Nick Hornby, part Jay McInerney, with a dash of vermouth, In the Rooms is a warm, sharply observed comedy about sex, lies and second chances.

In the Rooms

Augustus Rose

An addictive literary puzzle that introduces an unforgettable young heroine plunged into the twisted world of a secret society with a dark agenda. 
 
Lee Cuddy is seventeen years old and on the run, alone on the streets of Philadelphia. 
 
A fugitive with no money, no home and nowhere to go, Lee finds refuge in a deserted building known as the Crystal Castle. But the Castle conceals a sinister agenda, one master-minded by a society of fanatical men set on decoding a series of powerful secrets hidden in plain sight. And they believe Lee holds the key to it all. 
 
Aided by Tomi, a mysterious young hacker, Lee escapes into the unmapped corners of the city. But the deeper she goes underground, the more tightly she finds herself bound in the strange web of the men she’s trying to elude. Aware that the lives of those she cares for are in increasing danger, it is only when Lee steps from the shadows to confront who is chasing her that she discovers what they’re really after, and why. 
 
Part literary detective novel, part art history, part conspiracy thriller, The Readymade Thief introduces a singular, indomitable heroine and the arrival of a spellbinding and original new talent in fiction.

The Readymade Thief

John Niven

Susan Frobisher and Julie Wickham are turning sixty. Susan has just discovered that her recently deceased husband was not only a swinger but had run up a fortune in debts in pursuing his extravagant double life. Julie's not faring better: living in a council house and working in an old people's home, she's desperate for excitement. 
 
When the bank threatens to take Susan's beloved home to clear the debt, the women seek the help of an octogenarian gangster named Nails. Rather than let the bank take everything Susan has, they're going to take the bank. With the help of Nails and a thrill-crazy, wheelchair-bound friend they pull off the daring robbery, and discover that getting away with it is not so easy and that the adventure is only just beginning.

The Sunshine Cruise Company

Nicola Barker

'Extremely ambitious' Financial Times 
 
'An imaginative tour de force ... She really is a genius' Guardian 
 
'A delight' New Statesman 
 
FROM THE MAN BOOKER-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR NICOLA BARKER 
 
To the world he is Sri Ramakrishna - godly avatar, esteemed spiritual master, beloved guru. To temple owner, Rani Rashmoni, he is the Brahmin fated to defy tradition. But to Hriday, his nephew and long-time caretaker, he is just Uncle - maddening, bewildering Uncle, prone to entering trances at the most inconvenient of times, known to perform dangerous acts of self-effacement, who must be vigilantly safeguarded not only against jealous enemies but also against that most treasured yet insidious of sulphur-rich vegetables: the cauliflower.

The Cauliflower®

Sloane Crosley

'Glitters with wit and wisdom' Guardian 
'A thing of pure joy' Stylist 
'I couldn't put it down' Grazia 
 
Back in college, Victor loved Kezia, Kezia loved Nathaniel and Nathaniel loved himself. 
 
Now, ten years on and reunited at the wedding of a friend, it’s as if nothing has changed. Almost. 
 
Victor has just been fired from a middling search engine, Kezia is second-in-command to an eccentric jewellery designer, and Nathaniel, former literary cool kid, is now one of LA’s two million aspiring TV writers. As the champagne flows, Victor finds himself sharing a bizarre encounter with the mother of the groom that triggers an obsession over a legendary necklace. 
 
Could a trip to Paris in search of the missing piece of jewellery doom or save their friendship?

The Clasp

Rebecca Makkai

The acclaimed author of The Borrower returns with a dazzlingly original, mordantly witty novel about the secrets of an old-money family and their turn-of-the-century estate, Laurelfield. 
 
Meet the Devohrs: Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parents’ wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house; Gracie, her mother, who claims she can tell your lot in life by looking at your teeth; and Bruce, her step-father, stockpiling supplies for the Y2K apocalypse and perpetually late for his tee time. Then there’s Violet Devohr, Zee’s great-grandmother, who they say took her own life somewhere in the vast house, and whose massive oil portrait still hangs in the dining room. 
 
Violet’s portrait was known to terrify the artists who resided at the house from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it served as the Laurelfield Arts Colony – and this is exactly the period Zee’s husband, Doug, is interested in. An out-of-work academic whose only hope of a future position is securing a book deal, Doug is stalled on his biography of the poet Edwin Parfitt, once in residence at the colony. All he needs to get the book back on track – besides some motivation and self-esteem – is access to the colony records, rotting away in the attic for decades. But when Doug begins to poke around where he shouldn’t, he finds Gracie guards the files with a strange ferocity, raising questions about what she might be hiding. The secrets of the hundred-year house would turn everything Doug and Zee think they know about her family on its head – that is, if they were to ever uncover them. 
 
In this brilliantly conceived, ambitious, and deeply rewarding novel, Rebecca Makkai unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in time on a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth about these strange people and this mysterious house. With intelligence and humor, a daring narrative approach, and a lovingly satirical voice, Rebecca Makkai has crafted an unforgettable novel about family, fate and the incredible surprises life can offer.

The Hundred-Year House

Paula Cocozza

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2018 
 
'In evocative and elegant prose Cocozza delves deep into the psyche of a strange and troubled woman. The reader is invited to share in her intense connection to a fox and will admire the author’s mordantly witty dissection of contemporary manners.' -Sarah Perry, chair of Judges for Desmond Elliott Prize 
 
You’ve seen a fox. 
 
Come face to face in an unexpected place, or at an unexpected moment. 
 
And he has looked at you, as you have looked at him. As if he has something to tell you, or you have something to tell him. 
 
But what if it didn’t stop there? 
 
When Mary arrives home from work one day to find a magnificent fox on her lawn - his ears spiked in attention and every hair bristling with his power to surprise - it is only the beginning. He brings gifts (at least, Mary imagines they are gifts), and gradually makes himself at home. 
 
And as he listens to Mary, Mary listens back. 
 
She begins to hear herself for the first time in years. Her bullish ex-boyfriend, still lurking on the fringes of her life, would be appalled. So would the neighbours with a new baby. They only like wildlife that fits with the decor. But inside Mary a wildness is growing that will not be tamed. 
 
In this extraordinary debut, the lines between sanity and safety, obsession and delusion blur, in a thrilling exploration of what makes us human. 
__________________________________ 
 
'An intriguing and subversive debut, charged with the power of the ignored and the suppressed.' HILARY MANTEL 
 
'Enchanting . . . restrained . . . startling.' TLS 
 
'A thrilling psychodrama . . . She brilliantly captures a sense of Hitchcockian, curtain-twitching intensity.' Economist 
 
‘Sharp, thoughtful . . . exhilarating . . . the plot slips from urban pastoral to tense thriller.’ Newsweek 
 
'Cocozza has a wonderful eye for detail, and her descriptions of the natural world are uncanny.' Guardian 
 
'The tricky, shifting substance of relationships is so insightfully drawn and constantly surprises.' Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us 
 
'Taut, shimmering.' Richard Beard, author of The Acts of the Assassins

How to Be Human

Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2018

Marina Endicott

Absorbed in her own failings, 43-year-old Clara Purdy crashes her life into a sharp left turn, taking the young family in the other car along with her. When bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer, Clara moves the three children and their terrible grandmother into her own house while Lorraine undergoes treatment at the local hospital. 
 
We know what is good, but we don't do it. In Good to a Fault, Clara decides to give it a try, and then has to cope with the consequences : exhaustion, fury, hilarity, and unexpected love. But she questions her own motives. Is she acting out of true goodness, or out of guilt? And most shamefully, has she taken the family over simply because she wants one of her own? 
 
In Good to a Fault, award-winning writer Marina Endicott examines what we owe in this life and what we deserve. And the result is a profound and unforgettable novel.

Good to a Fault

Jonathan Evison

‘As sweet as it is inventive, profound as it is hilarious, unflinching as it is big-hearted.’ 
Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette 
 
Harriet Chance has spent the last seventy-eight years following the rules… 
 
Career girl (brief) 
Wife (fifty-five years) 
Mother of two (ongoing) 
 
Now widowed, Harriet discovers that her late husband had been planning an Alaskan cruise. Ignoring the advice of her children and wanting to make the most of the opportunity, she decides to set sail. 
 
There, amid the buffets and lounge singers, between the imagined appearances of Bernard and the very real arrival of her daughter, Harriet is forced to take a long look back, confronting the truth about pivotal events that changed the course of her life. 
 
What she will discover is that she has lived the best part of her life under entirely false assumptions. Confronted with the notion that her past could have been different, will she take a second chance at life?

This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

Haley Tanner

Funny, heartbreaking, rich and wise, this is a story with the power to cast a spell all of its own. 
 
Vaclav and Lena seem destined for each other. They first meet as children at their English class in Brooklyn. Vaclav dreams of becoming a famous magician with Lena as his lovely assistant. But then Lena disappears; it seems that life can play cruel tricks too. Vaclav says goodnight to Lena every night for seven years to keep her safe, and then discovers why she was taken from him. Is their connection strong enough to survive the truth, or is happily ever after only an illusion?

The Adventures of Vaclav the Magnificent and his lovely assistant Lena

Anna Quindlen

It is the 1960s, in suburban New York City, and twelve-year-old Maggie Scanlan begins to sense that despite the calm surface of her peaceful life, everything is going strangely wrong. 
 
When her all-powerful grandfather is struck down by a stroke, the reverberations affect Maggie's entire family. Her normally dispassionate father breaks down, her mother becomes distant and unavailable, and matters only get worse when her cousin and her best friend start doing things to each other that leave Maggie confused about sex and terrified of sin. 
 
With all of this upheaval, how can she be sure that what she wants is even worth having?

Object Lessons

Heather Clay

Born and raised on a thoroughbred horse farm in the green hills of Kentucky, Knox Bolling has grown up steeped in the comforting rhythms of family life. Deep ties bind her to this safe, predictable existence, but Knox knows the world has more to offer - excitements that her tempestuous and beautiful older sister, Charlotte, seems to have within her grasp when she marries and moves away to Manhattan's West Village. 
 
Then disaster strikes. Nothing could have prepared Knox for the loss of her sister. But the powerful bond remains, and she finds her loyalty to Charlotte tested more profoundly and fatefully than she could have imagined. As she starts to come to terms with her elusive sister's life, Knox learns deeply moving lessons for her own . . .

Losing Charlotte

Sara Taylor

'A writer of real gravitas and potency.' Ali Smith 
 
'An extraordinary journey ... Engrossing, original and eloquent.' Helen Dunmore 
 
'Elegiac and beautifully observed.' Observer 
 
'Vivid and captivating.' Stylist 
 
I didn’t realise my mother was a person until I was thirteen years old and she pulled me out of bed, put me in the back of her car, and we left home and my dad with no explanations. I thought that Ma was all that she was and all that she had ever wanted to be. I was wrong... 
 
As Ma and Alex make their way from Virginia to California, each new state prompts stories and secrets of a life before Alex. Together they put to rest unsettled scores, heal old wounds, and search out lost friends. But Alex can't forget the life they've left behind.

The Lauras

Lucy Hull, a young children’s librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both kidnapper and kidnapped when her favourite patron, ten-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. The precocious Ian is addicted to reading, but needs Lucy’s help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly anti-gay classes. When Lucy finds Ian camped out in the library after hours with a backpack of provisions and an escape plan, she allows herself to be hijacked by him and the pair embark on a spontaneous road trip. But is it just Ian who is running away? And should Lucy really be trying to save a boy from his own parents?

The Borrower

Ray Robinson

Zoë Nielsen was just like any other ten-year-old walking to school, not knowing that a chance encounter with Thurman Hayes would lead to her abduction and imprisonment in a converted nuclear bunker, 4,000 miles away, beneath a remote ranch house in Arizona. Enslaved in her underground tomb, deprived of food and light and water, the girl Zoe once was steadily begins to disappear... But over time Thurman grows tired of the rapidly maturing Zoë, and when he decides it is time to get rid of her, Zoë must finally make her bid for freedom. 
 
Forgetting Zoë is a moving, epic tale of courage, survival, horror and loss, that explores how a bond of affection and intimacy can develop between captive and captor.

Forgetting Zoe

Ruth Whippman

'Essential reading. So funny, so relevant, so fascinating ... I loved it' Marian Keyes 
 
'A whip-sharp British Bill Bryson' Sunday Times 
 
'Ruth Whippman is my new favorite cultural critic, and her book was such a joy to read' Adam Grant, author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B (co-authored with Sheryl Sandberg) 
 
When British journalist Ruth Whippman moved to America it seemed that everyone she met was obsessed with one thing: finding happiness. Americans spend more money and energy on becoming happier than anyone on earth, but yet they are some of the least happy people in the developed world. 
 
So Ruth sets off on a journey to work out what’s going wrong, and most importantly, what lessons we can all learn about what truly makes for a happy life. 
 
From nearly falling apart during a controversial self-help course promising total transformation, to investigating a 'happiness city' in the Nevada desert, from spending time with the Mormons in Utah to exploring the darker truths behind the positive psychology movement, Ruth tries it all. Along the way she stumbles upon a more effective, less anxiety inducing path to contentment.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Why are we driving ourselves crazy and how can we stop?

Zaiba Malik

For Zaiba Malik, growing up in Bradford in the '70s and '80s certainly has its moments - staying up all night during Ramadan with her father; watching mad Mr Aziz searching for his goat during Eid; dancing along to Top of the Pops (so long as no-one's watching). And, of course, there's her mother - whether she's writing another ingratiating letter to the Queen or repeatedly referring to Tom Jones as 'Thumb Jone'. 
 
But Zaiba's story is also one of anxiety and seemingly irreconcilable opposites. Growing up she is constantly torn between two identities: 'British' and 'Muslim'. Alienated at school and confused at home, the racism she encounters as a child mirrors the horrors she experiences at the hands of Bangladeshi interrogators 
as a journalist years later. 
 
We Are A Muslim, Please is a stirring and enchanting memoir. We see, through Zaiba's childhood eyes, the poignancy of growing up in a world whose prejudices, contradictions and ambiguities are at once distressing and utterly captivating.

We Are a Muslim, Please

_____________________________ 
'Hilarious' ADAM KAY 
'Mind-blowingly brilliant' DAILY MAIL 
'Highly entertaining' EVENING STANDARD 
'Loved it' ROBERT WEBB 
_____________________________ 
Frank Brill, a retired small-town newspaper editor, has just been given a terminal diagnosis. 
 
Rather than compile a bucket list of all the things he's ever wanted to do in his life, he instead has at the ready his 'fuck-it list'. Because Frank has had to endure more than his fair share of personal misfortune, not to mention having to live through two terms of a Trump presidency. 
 
Armed with the names of all those who are to blame for the tragedies that have befallen him, it's time for revenge.

The F*ck-it List

Is this the most shocking thriller of the year?

Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott

WINNER OF THE McKITTERICK PRIZE 
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSBORO BOOKS GLASS BELL AWARD 
 
AS SEEN ON RYAN MURPHY'S FEUD SEASON 2 
 
'Sparkling' GUARDIAN 
'Fascinating' RED 
'Remarkable' WOMAN AND HOME 
'Astounding' EMERALD STREET 
'Glamorous' IRISH TIMES 
'Scandalous' DAILY MAIL 
'Spellbinding' SUNDAY EXPRESS 
___________________________ 
 
To the outside world, they were the icons of high society - the most glamorous and influential women of their age. To Truman Capote they were his Swans: the ideal heroines, as vulnerable as they were powerful. They trusted him with their most guarded, martini-soaked secrets, each believing she was more special and loved than the next... 
 
Until he betrayed them. 
 
'Writers write. And one can't be surprised if they write what they know.' 
______________________________ 
 
'The new Donna Tartt' VOGUE 
 
'A dazzlingly assured first novel... This clever book, with the moreish astringency of a negroni, is a perfect summer cocktail.' SUNDAY TIMES 
 
'A whirlwind of a first novel. There is great pathos in the Swans' woundings and in their inevitable decline. And the character of Truman himself shimmers through the novel in a wonderful blaze of eccentricity and excess. Outstanding.' ROSE TREMAIN 
 
'A completely fascinating novel and a marvellously skilful re-imagining of real people, times and places. Outstanding.' WILLIAM BOYD 
 
'Our generation's The Secret History' PENDORA 
 
'Brilliantly written, deeply researched, funny, sharp and moving.' - KATE WILLIAMS, bestselling author of Josephine 
 
'Brilliantly captures Capote's acid wit and his dramatic downfall.' THE TIMES, Books of the Year 
 
'This is a first novel of extraordinary skill, a book of which Capote would have been proud' OBSERVER 
 
'Greenberg-Jephcott's debut is a devastating read that blurs the lines between vulnerability and narcissism; sex and power... will have you racing breathlessly towards the end' THE POOL

Swan Song

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019

David Vann

'Startlingly brilliant' Spectator 
 
'A triumph' Daily Mail 
 
'One of America's most powerful writers' Times Literary Supplement 
 
Twelve-year-old Caitlin lives alone with her mother - a docker at the local container port - in subsidised housing next to an airport in Seattle. Each day, while she waits to be picked up after school, Caitlin visits the local aquarium to study the fish. Gazing at the creatures within the watery depths, Caitlin is transported to a shimmering universe beyond her own. 
 
When she befriends an old man at the tanks one day, who seems as enamoured by the fish as she, Caitlin cracks open a dark family secret and propels her once-blissful relationship with her mother towards a precipice of terrifying consequence.

Aquarium

Krysten Ritter

'A phenomenal, haunting debut.' Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl 
 
Kaycee Mitchell died. And everyone has been lying about it. For years. 
 
Ten years ago, Abby Williams left her hometown behind. Ever since, she has tried her best to forget the past. The sinister ‘Game’; the merciless bullying; the night of the bonfire, when The Game stopped. 
 
Most of all, she wants to forget Kaycee Mitchell. 
 
But now Abby must return home. Her task at hand: to investigate Optimal Plastics, the corporation that forms the backbone of the small town. A successful environmental lawyer, she swears things will be different. She is older. Sophisticated. Confident. But once she begins digging, the memories start creeping back and as past and present collide, the investigation turns deadly. 
 
How far would you go to keep the past hidden? 
 
'Packed with suspense ... This portrait of small-town life by Breaking Bad and Jessica Jones actress is spot on.' Daily Mail 
 
'Excellent ... an appealingly feisty yet vulnerable heroine.' The Times

Bonfire

The debut thriller from the star of Jessica Jones

Lara Prescott

________________________ 
'Utterly compelling... I absolutely loved it' Sarah Winman 
'Tantalising' Sunday Times 
'Thoroughly enjoyable' Guardian 
________________________ 
No one looks twice at the women in the typing pool. 
 
No one knows that two of them are trading secrets. 
 
The secret is a book, the size of the one in your hands, and within its pages, a love story that could change the world. 
 
But where there is love there is pain. And where there is deception, formidable danger... 
________________________ 
'Mixing Mad Men and John le Carré ... addictive' i paper 
 
'Irresistibly charged' Mail on Sunday

The Secrets We Kept

The sensational Cold War spy thriller

Rachel Heath

It is 1946, and seventeen-year-old Laura Telling is stagnating in her dilapidated Sussex family home, while her eccentric parents slip further into isolation. A chance encounter with Paul Lovell offers her the chance to alter the course of her destiny - and to embark on a new life in South Africa. 
 
Many miles north, sixteen-year-old Gay Gibson is desperate to escape Birkenhead. When the girls' paths cross in Johannesburg, Laura is exposed to Gay's wild life of parties and inappropriate liaisons. Each in their own worlds, but thrown together, the girls find their lives inextricably entangled, with fatal consequences...

The Finest Type of English Womanhood

Aimee Bender

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE - A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 
 
LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD 
 
'The Butterfly Lampshade is an unflinching, empathetic portrayal of a childhood touched by mental illness. As always, Aimee Bender's respect for the child and the child within translates into wisdom and magic on the page.' Jing-Jing Lee, author of How We Disappeared 
 
On the night her mother is taken to a mental health hospital after a psychotic episode, eight year-old Francie is mesmerised by a lamp adorned with butterflies as she falls asleep. When she wakes, Francie sees a dead butterfly matching the ones on the lamp floating in a glass of water. She drinks it before anyone sees. Twenty-years later, Francie is compelled to make sense of that moment and two other incidents that have haunted her life. But how close are her memories to reality, and will she ever be free of them?

The Butterfly Lampshade

T. Christian Miller

________________________________________ 
The real-life investigation behind the hit Netflix series, from two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists. 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLD DAGGER AWARD 
 
She said she was raped. 
Police said she lied. 
She was made to retract the report – but the nightmare only got worse. 
 
On 11 August 2008, eighteen-year-old Marie reported that a masked man had broken into her home and raped her. Within days, police – and even those closest to Marie – became suspicious of her story. Confronted by these minor inconsistencies and doubt, Marie broke down and said her story was a lie. The police charged her with making a false report. 
 
Two years later, Colorado detective Stacy Galbraith was assigned to a case of sexual assault. It bore an eerie resemblance to a rape that had taken place months earlier in a nearby town. Joining forces with the detective on that case, Edna Hendershot, the two soon discovered they were dealing with a serial rapist. As their investigation deepened, it became clear that numerous police departments had extremely similar cases on their hands – and that Marie's story bore an eerie resemblance to the cases they were investigating. 
 
Unbelievable is a chilling tale of doubt, lies, and the hunt for justice, unveiling the disturbing reality of how sexual assault is investigated and the long history of scepticism toward its victims. 
________________________________________ 
Previously published as A False Report

Unbelievable

The shocking truth behind the hit Netflix series

Caitlin Davies

In a small Kent town in the 1950s, a bewildered little girl is growing up. Ostracised because of her colour, she tries her best to fit in, but nobody wants anything to do with her. 
 
A nanny climbs the steps of a smart London address. She’s convinced that her connection to the family behind the door is more than professional. 
 
And on the walls of an English stately home, amongst the family portraits, hangs an eighteenth-century oil painting of a mysterious black woman in a silk gown. 
 
In ways both poignant and unexpected, the three lives are intertwined in a heartbreaking story of prejudice and motherless children, of chances missed, of war time secrets and the search for belonging...

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