Neil MacGregor was Director of the National Gallery, London from 1987 to 2002 and of the British Museum from 2002 to 2015, and Chair of the Steering Committee of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin from 2015 to 2018. His previous books include A History of the World in 100 Objects, Shakespeare's Restless World and Germany: Memories of a Nation, all available in Penguin and now between them translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2010, he was made a member of the Order of Merit, the UK's highest civil honour. In 2015 he was awarded the Goethe Medal and the German National Prize. In 2018 the radio series Living with the Gods received the Sandford Saint Martin Award for Religious Broadcasting.

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M L Stedman

The mesmeric new novel from the author of the award-winning global bestseller, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS 
____________ 
 
'Heart-wrenching and beautifully set. A gorgeous feast of a novel about family, community, love and the lengths we will go to save them all’ RACHEL JOYCE, author of The Homemade God 
 
‘A big, bold story of resilience and hope. I was completely swept away’ BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry 
 
'One of those rare books that fill the soul' DONAL RYAN, author of Heart be at Peace and The Spinning Heart 
 
‘Truly a masterpiece. The kind of book you will remember for the rest of your life, and I love the very bones of it’ JOANNA CANNON, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep 
 
'Epic, intimate and aching. I loved it’ MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER, author of The Paper Palace 
 
'A world, a story, a cast of characters I truly lost myself in' JENNIE GODFREY, author of The List of Suspicious Things 
____________ 
 
Outback Western Australia, 1958: for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a remote sheep station, Meredith Downs. A million arid acres, it’s an ocean of land, where the weather is a capricious god, and time still roams untamed. 
 
One ordinary day, on a lonely road, under the unending blue sky, patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In seconds the lives of the entire MacBride family are shattered. Then, instead of leaving wounds to heal, Fate comes for them yet again, in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life, and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child. Matt, the youngest MacBride, is plunged into a moral and emotional journey for which there is no map, no guide, as he is forced to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness. 
 
A tale of family and belonging, of compassion and hope, A Far-flung Life is about people trying to do their best, each, for private reasons, seeking shelter from the storm of life. Exploring the lives of a handful of isolated souls and the secrets they shield in order to survive, this epic novel stands 
as a testament to the enduring power of love.

A Far-flung Life

Laura Barnett

From Sunday Times Number 1 bestselling author of Richard & Judy Book Club Pick, The Versions of Us, a beautiful novel about six lifelong friends and one unforgettable year, perfect for fans of David Nicholls and Jojo Moyes. 
 
‘A perfect, can’t-put-down summer read!’ Red 
 
‘A beautifully written story about second chances…couldn’t turn the pages fast enough’ Heat 
 
'Relatable, funny, moving and hopeful… a fantastic read’ 5-star reader review 
____ 
 
Six friends who were inseparable at university find themselves reunited at an engagement party twenty years later... 
 
Rob is a history teacher, with a string of broken relationships behind him. Yas is a surgeon and very much her own woman. Indie is married and a successful coffee entrepreneur. Rachel is a stay-at-home mum with two children. Al, widowed young, is about to take over his father's funeral business. 
 
When Rob's engagement party throws the gang together once more, some passions are reignited, old connections and resentments resurface. 
 
Over the next twelve months, there will, among the friends, be a birth, a marriage, and a death – but whose? 
 
Births, Deaths And Marriages is an era-spanning, globe-trotting novel about love, friendship, and how to stay at least relatively sane in an ever crazier world. It’s about a group of friends growing older, the possibility of second chances, about kindness and joy. 
 
It’s about births, deaths, marriages... and everything in between. 
 
Praise for Laura Barnett and Births Deaths and Marriages: 
 
‘My first read by Laura Barnett and won’t be my last…richly written and so moving’ Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things 
 
‘A must-read’ Closer 
 
‘I loved Births, Deaths and Marriages. Laura’s ability to jump between so many different lives and to keep those strands alive in the reader’s mind reminded me of Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors’ Georgina Moore, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Garnett Girls 
 
'A compelling and comforting read that reminds us about the power, support and importance of found family' Kate Sawyer, Costa Prize shortlisted author of The Stranding 
 
‘Barnett has that rare talent, like Curtis Sittenfeld or Kate Atkinson, of building up the mundane aspects of everyday life until they acquire meaning’ The Times 
 
Readers love Births, Deaths & Marriages: 
 
‘Four Weddings and a Funeral meets One Day...I couldn't put it down.’ 
 
'A rich, emotional read. I laughed, I cried, and I found myself rooting for each of them.' 
 
'An emotional, heartfelt book about the joys and sorrows of life. It is about love in all its forms, the friendships that shape us, and the quiet moments that define who we become.' 
 
'Perfect blend of humour, poignancy, and authenticity' 
 
‘Wow! Just wow! A book for anyone who has loved, for anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one, for anyone who has contemplated or been married, for every parent, indeed, for anyone who has lived.’ 
 
‘A hugely enjoyable novel which celebrates the durability of friendships that have weathered the storm of growing up.’ 
 
'Relatable, funny, moving and hopeful — a fantastic, life-affirming read.' 
 
'Characters so real you feel they could be your friends.' 
 
'A celebration of life’s milestones and the friendships that endure them.' 
 
'I couldn’t bear to leave that world behind — I wanted more!'

Births, Deaths and Marriages

John Boyne

The first thing Vanessa Carvin does when she arrives on the island is change her name. To the locals, she is Willow Hale, a solitary outsider escaping Dublin to live a hermetic existence in a small cottage, not a notorious woman on the run from her past. 
 
But scandals follow like hunting dogs. And she has some questions of her own to answer. If her ex-husband is really the monster everyone says he is, then how complicit was she in his crimes? 
 
Escaping her old life might seem like a good idea but the choices she has made throughout her marriage have consequences. Here, on the island, Vanessa must reflect on what she did - and did not do. Only then can she discover whether she is worthy of finding peace at all.

Water

A haunting, confronting novel from the author of The Heart’s Invisible Furies

Jane Flett

The year that Florida fell into the sea, I killed a man and joined a cult and ran away to Mexico. I ate human flesh for the first time. 
 
It’s another sticky summer in New Orleans and the world is ending. Natural disasters abound, tourists are descending on the Old Town and Marcy’s old wrestling scar has reopened. It’s enough to make any girl want to take her seemingly perfect husband and tedious job and set it all on fire. 
 
So when Marcy meets a crew of degenerate filmmakers who are keen to whisk her away from her ordinary life, she lets herself be swept into their world of filth, arson and debauchery. 
 
For their part, they’re convinced Marcy’s strange scar is a sign she’s the Chosen One they need to lead their community through the end of times. For hers, she’s never been able to resist that kind of flattery. 
 
Praise for Freakslaw 
'A transgressive, inventive dark fantasy' Guardian 
'Cracking with desire, hedonism, angst, violence and sex' Heat 
'A celebration of the marginalised' Observer 
'As frightening as it is seductive' Herald

Welcome to the Chaoskampf

Jan Carson

From the award-winning author of The Raptures and The Fire Starters, a stunning, imaginative novel about a community living on a small group of islands. Sometimes a utopia is not all that it seems... 
 
In Few & Far Between, award-winning writer Jan Carson, imagines an alternative version of Northern Ireland’s recent past. A prime minister with a mad plan to create a new county. An archipelago of haunted islands. A community seeking refuge from the Troubles. The perfect place to escape to - or so it appears. 
 
It’s summer 2017 and the last few residents of the Lough Neagh Archipelago are facing imminent eviction. The flood planned to combat a devastating algae outbreak will submerge their homes, forcing them back to the Mainland for the first time in fifty years. How will they cope with modern life? Will the Ark give up its secrets before it sinks? 
 
_____ 
 
Praise for Jan Carson: 
 
'Jan Carson is a born storyteller: her work is so imaginative, whimsical, mischievous and brave, but tender and curious too — you never know where she's going to take you next, so reading her is always an adventure. Exactly how it should be' Lisa McInerney, author of The Glorious Heresies 
 
'Jan Carson is a unique and very special writer, one of the greatest of the modern fabulists' Donal Ryan, author of Heart be at Peace 
 
'[The Fire Starters] blew me away with its power, anger and wit' Joseph O'Connor, Books of the Year 
 
'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation.' Sunday Times 
 
'Absolutely magnificent: dark, witty, charming' Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake 
 
'Heart-rending, hilarious . . . It's a belter.' Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses

Few and Far Between

Francine Toon

From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller, Pine, comes a haunting and atmospheric new gothic thriller, set in the brooding Scottish landscape. 
 
In this corner of Fife, summer nights meant parties on wind-blown beaches, wrapped in hoodies and denim jackets, pretending you weren’t cold in the stubborn evening light. 
 
JOANIE, 2013. Desperate to flee the claustrophobia of St Rule, Joanie has been looking forward to her big escape. But at the eleventh hour this dream slips through her hands. Devastated, Joanie falls into the orbit of an enigmatic couple – a pair of charismatic academics at the town’s university – who offer her a new kind of freedom. 
 
CAMERON, 2023. When Cameron arrives back in St Rule for Christmas, a question burns in his mind: whatever happened to Joanie? It’s been a decade since he saw his former friend. But as he starts to look for answers, it becomes clear that someone wants to keep this secret buried at all costs. How far should he go in pursuit of the truth? 
 
Praise for Francine Toon: 
 
'Dark, beguiling, and steeped in menace, Francine Toon spins a brooding mystery which shimmers with unease' Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb 
 
'A chilling, slow-burn novel' i Newspaper 
 
'A taut, eerie exploration of memory, belief, and the treacherous edges of girlhood. Francine Toon has a knack for getting deep under the skin' Kirsty Logan, author of Things We Say in the Dark 
 
‘Toon’s gift for creating an otherworldly atmosphere in small towns with big secrets is present once again in a novel that explores the desire to escape the ordinary’ Scotsman 
 
'A menacing, wind-swept thriller that creeps up on you as stealthily as a figure in the dark' Anna Bailey, author of Tall Bones

Bluff

Being in limbo, 30,000 feet in the air, offers time to reflect and take stock. For Aaron Umber, it’s an opportunity to connect with his 14-year-old son as they travel halfway across the world to meet a woman who isn’t expecting them. 
 
Unsettled by his past, and anxious for his future, Aaron is at a crossroads in life. The damage inflicted upon him during his youth has made him the man he is, but now threatens to widen the growing fissures between him and his only child. This trip could bind them closer together, or tear them further apart. 
 
In this penetrating examination of action and consequence, fault and attribution, acceptance and resolution, John Boyne gives us a redemptive story of a father and a son on a moving journey to mend their troubled lives.

Eliana Ramage

A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK | A LITHUB MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025 | AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF 2025 
 
The astounding and expansive coming-of-age novel about a young woman whose quest to become the first Cherokee astronaut irrevocably alters the fates of the people she loves most. 
 
‘Will break your heart and take you to the stars. I loved it.’ Kiley Reid, bestselling author of Such a Fun Age 
 
‘A breathtaking debut about family, identity, and love across generations.’ Reese Witherspoon 
 
‘A powerful story about the mixture of combativeness, compromise and love that forms the heart of a family.’ Kaliane Bradley, bestselling author of The Ministry of Time 
 
Steph Harper is on the run. 
 
When she was five, her mother ran – with Steph and her younger sister in tow – from an abusive husband into the arms of a small Cherokee community, where she hoped they might finally belong. 
 
But Steph soon sets her sights as far away as she can get, vowing that she will let nothing interfere with her dream to become an astronaut, and ultimately, to go to the moon. 
 
In Steph’s certainty that only her ambition can save her, she will stretch her bonds with the three women who know and love her most dearly: her younger sister Kayla, an artist whose determination to appear good takes her life to unexpected places; her college girlfriend Della, who strives to reclaim her identity as an adult after being removed from her family as a young girl through a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and her mother Hannah, who has held up her family’s history as a beacon of inspiration to her kids, all the while keeping the truth about her own past a secret. 
 
Told through these women’s interwoven lives, and spanning three decades and several continents, To the Moon and Back is an astounding and expansive coming-of-age novel of mothers and daughters, love and sacrifice, alienation and heartbreak, terror and wonder. At its core, it is the story of the extraordinary lengths one woman will go to find a little space for herself. 
 
Praise for To The Moon and Back 
A singular, sonorous, wholehearted novel, one I wanted to devour and savour at once.’ Claire Lombardo, bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had 
 
‘A brilliant, faceted, warm-hearted novel, with characters to love and truly root for, and pages that seem to turn themselves.’ Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of the National Book Award Finalist All This Could Be Different 
 
‘A captivating debut about family, queer identity, love, career and heritage. This novel has something for everyone.’ De'Shawn Charles Winslow, author of In West Mills 
 
‘A soaring masterpiece… Every character in this novel will stay with you forever. I love this book.’ Casey Plett, author of A Dream of a Woman 
 
‘A passionate and compulsively readable novel. Dare I say, a stellar debut.’ Margot Livesey, author of The Road to Belhaven

To the Moon and Back

Madeline Cash

The funny and compassionate new literary novel that turns family dysfunction into an art form. 
 
‘A voice like no other’ Lena Dunham, award-winning writer, director and creator of comedy-drama Girls 
 
'Loud, hilarious, shocking and sensitive' Megan Nolan, prize-listed author of Acts of Desperation 
 
For the three Flynn daughters, it’s been disastrous since their parents opened up their marriage. Abigail, the eldest, is dating an ex-soldier several years her senior nicknamed ‘War Crimes Wes’. Louise, the middle child, maintains a secret correspondence with an online terrorist. And the brilliant youngest, Harper, is being sent to a wilderness reform camp due to her insistence that someone – or something – is monitoring the town’s citizens. 
 
Casting a shadow across their lives is Paul Alabaster, a nefarious local billionaire. Rumours of corruption circulate, but no one dares dig too deep. No one except Harper, whose obsession with Alabaster’s machinations sends the family hurtling into a criminal conspiracy – one that may just, finally, bring them closer together. 
 
Rippling with humour, warmth and style, Lost Lambs turns family dysfunction into an art form. 
 
 
Praise for Lost Lambs: 
 
‘Goes off like a firework. As sincere as it is funny (and it’s very funny)’ Ramona Ausubel, bestselling author of The Last Animal 
 
‘A great, great American novel’ Samantha Hunt, Women’s Prize Shortlisted author of The Seas 
 
‘A dazzling and singular new voice in literary fiction… Loud, hilarious, shocking, and sensitive’ Megan Nolan, award-winning author of Ordinary Human Failings 
 
‘With a big surge of energy, Lost Lambs splits the nucleus of the American family’ Tony Tulathimutte, author of Rejection – National Book Award Finalist 
 
‘Madeline Cash is a humourist in the darkly humanist tradition of George Saunders and Lorrie Moore, of Vonnegut and Twain’ Tim Kreider, author of We Learn Nothing 
 
‘Immersive and propulsive and I never wanted it to end. I can’t remember the last time a novel made me laugh so hard or feel so much tenderness for its characters… I loved it. I devoured it’ Leslie Jamison, author of Splinters

Lost Lambs

Kate Hope Day

'A gorgeous literary novel that asks us to imagine all the possible versions of ourselves that we can imagine' J COURTNEY SULLIVAN 
'A suburban srama build to leap form page to screen' Kirkus Reviews 
'Fascinating and moving' EOWYN IVEY 
----------------------- 
In a sleepy Oregon town at the base of a dormant volcano, four neighbours find their lives upended when they see visions of themselves in an alternate reality, and have to question the choices they’ve made as natural disaster looms. 
 
For fans of Celeste Ng's LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE and TV serial SIX FEET UNDER. 
 
In the shadow of a dormant volcano in Oregon lies a small town much like any other – though mistier perhaps, and greener. Look closely and you’ll see four neighbours plagued by strange visions. 
 
 Ginny, a devoted surgeon, is troubled by thoughts of a beautiful colleague in her bed. 
 
 Mark, a wildlife scientist, foresees imminent and devastating natural disaster. 
 
 Cass, a brilliant scholar struggling with the demands of a small baby, envisages herself pregnant once more – just as she is returning to her game-changing research. 
 
 And then there’s Samara, a young estate agent, who glimpses images of her dead mother alive again, healthy and vibrant. 
 
 As the volcano begins to rumble, it becomes clear that these visions mean more than at first it seemed, and that the fate of this close-knit community hangs in the balance.

If, Then

On the face of it, Freya lives a gilded existence, dancing solely to her own tune. She has all the trappings of wealth and privilege, a responsible job as a surgeon specialising in skin grafts, a beautiful flat in a sought-after development, and a flash car. But it wasn’t always like this. Hers is a life founded on darkness. 
 
Did what happened to Freya as a child one fateful summer influence the adult she would become – or was she always destined to be that person? Was she born with cruelty in her heart or did something force it into being? 
 
In Fire, John Boyne takes the reader on a chilling, uncomfortable but utterly compelling psychological journey to the epicentre of the human condition, asking the age-old question: nurture – or nature?

Fire

Anna Bailey

For fans of All the Colours of the Dark and Where the Crawdads Sing, a beautiful atmospheric thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones 
 
THE TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH 
 
'Propulsive, bold and brutal...A truly atmospheric thriller.' Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of All the Colours of the Dark 
 
'Bewitching... thought provoking, character driven crime fiction.' Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train 
 
‘Sublime. The best thing I’ve read in ages.’ Will Dean, bestselling author of The Chamber 
 
_______ 
 
The Labasques aren’t like other families. 
 
Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are trouble-makers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want living on your doorstep. 
 
So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother. 
 
Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed everything she valued most. Now, there may be no way for her to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution, if she can find out what really did happen to Cutter... 
 
Set against the haunting beauty of Southern Louisiana, Our Last Wild Days is a compulsive, evocative novel about a tight-knit community and the secrets they want to keep hidden. 
‘What lifts Anna Bailey’s marvellous second novel is the hothouse lyricism of their writing, which is as lush as the setting’ The Times Book of the Month 
 
‘A brooding, evocative novel’ i paper best new crime and thriller books‘The author hit the Sunday Times bestseller list with their debut… and I’m certain this will follow’ Prima‘A remarkable job of conjuring up the haunted swamplands of southern Louisiana…A particularly spicy gumbo of a thriller’ Daily Mail 
 
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WHAT READERS & AUTHORS ARE SAYING ABOUT OUR LAST WILD DAYS: 
 
'A masterpiece...you will be hooked!' 5-star reader review 
 
'A sweltering fever dream of a novel – brimming with atmosphere, tension, and a truly unforgettable cast of characters.' Colin Walsh, bestselling author of Kala 
 
'If you like Chris Whitaker (another Brit who does small-town America so well) this is for you' 5-star reader review 
 
'The heat and humidity sink into your bones as you are sucked into the lives of the people of the backwaters' 5-star reader review 
 
'With a setting as atmospheric as Where the Crawdads Sing...a stunningly written thriller' Nikki Smith, author of Look What You Made Me Do 
 
'A brooding atmosphere with loads of twists along the way that will keep you guessing' 5-star reader review 
 
'Exquisite. A rare, extraordinary talent' C.J.Cooke, bestselling author of The Lighthouse Witches 
 
 
'Every page is enthralling and to be read with your breath held against what's coming next.' 5-star reader review 
 
'Likely to be one of my books of the year' 5-star reader review 
 
'Filled with lines worth tattooing and passages worth framing.' Megan Collins, author of Cross my Heart 
 
'Anna Bailey is the master of things that move in the dark, with language so lush you feel like you could reach out and touch it' Hayley Scrivenor, bestselling author of Dirt Town 
 
'Raw and unflinching...a stunner.' Ashley Winstead, author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour 
 
'I didn't want this one to end...a perfect crime thriller' 5-star reader review

Our Last Wild Days

John Crace

John Sutherland

‘Give me the daggers and I’ll pin the blame/ On Duncan’s grooms who both are also slain. /A little water clears us of this deed /Though a large scotch might also do the trick...’  To celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, this is the first of a new collection of the Bard's greatest plays, digested to a few thousand words with invaluable side notes from John Sutherland.  Funny and incredibly clever, these parodies are a joy for those who know their Shakespeare, perfect for the theatre goer needing a quick recap, and a massive relief for those just desperate to pass their English exam.

Incomplete Shakespeare: Macbeth

Catherine Newman

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
'The kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep... like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it.' Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People 
 
'Gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny' Nussaibah Younis, bestselling author of Fundamentally 
 
'A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.' Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 
 
'Infectiously funny and surprisingly moving, Wreck reminds us that we are each, in our way, trying to make sense of the big things with some very small tools' Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Homemade God 
_______ 
 
Rocky, Nick, Willa and Jamie. A normal loving, anxious, messy, relatable, family. 
 
Rocky has her own her way of processing disasters: 1. This could happen to us. 2. This couldn’t happen to us. And then there’s a secret third column: ‘This could happen to us unless I am very careful/ superstitious/ grateful…’ 
 
So when a former classmate of Jamie’s dies in a seemingly random accident, Rocky becomes obsessed. She's also developed a niggling medical condition that won't go away. On the surface, she is still living her best life as the irreverent, funny, unpredictable beating heart of her family. Her father is his unique, adorable self; Willa is prone to bouts of existential angst whilst berating the fact that her mother has zero filter; Nick is steady, logical, sometimes infuriating. 
 
But if accidents can happen – and they do – is it safe to love anyone? 
 
Laugh out loud funny and deeply emotional, WRECK follows Rocky and her family through one rollercoaster year as they share the unpredictable, beautiful messiness of life. 
 
_______ 
 
PRAISE FOR SANDWICH & WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS: 
 
'Breezy New York Nora-Ephron-style wit meets hospice memoir to create something profoundly beautiful...comforting, so funny, moving but never mawkish and packed with all kinds of love. It's one of my favourite books ever' bestselling author, MARIAN KEYES 
 
'One of the funniest books I've ever read' FEARNE COTTON, STYLIST 
 
'I adored this book. Jubilant, devastating, tender, heartbreaking, I found myself both in tears and 'snorty-laughing'. A masterclass on friendship, family love, memory, and the messiness of life and love and dying. Pure genius' RACHEL JOYCE, author of the bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry 
 
'Tragically funny, with moments of clarity and wisdom, Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts' BONNIE GARMUS, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry 
 
'Newman is truly a master of taking complex and chaotic human emotion and making sense of it ... wise and exquisitely written' GUARDIAN 
 
'Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life.' ANN PATCHETT, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

Wreck

Wasteland Girls is a collection of lyrical, incisive and luminous stories by the Sunday Times bestselling author of Tall Bones and Our Last Wild Days. 
 
In 'Long Way to Come for a Sip of Water', which was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award, Texan man Ready drives through a divided US to see his dying brother. Wasteland Girls, the title story, is a powerful tale of a family of hoarders, of magic and revenge. In Yukon 1940, a woman sits beside the body of her husband in a remote cabin, trapped by the frozen sea. The Girl in the Ground follows a woman who suddenly reappears after twenty years of absence, but for whom the past is a void. 
 
Deeply atmospheric and soulful, the stories in Wasteland Girls are inspired by the author's experience of living amid the beautiful but often ferocious remote landscapes of the US, and among the wild and secretive people who inhabit them.

Wasteland Girls

Kang Jiyoung

A hilariously unsettling tale of love, food and one woman's unconventional quest to support her family. 
_____________ 
 
I am no ordinary ajumma. I am a killer 
 
When Mrs Shim - widowed, unemployed, with two children at home and a fridge to fill - answers a job ad at the Smile Detective Agency, she boosts its fortunes forever. For Mrs Shim is sharp as a blade, handles business cleanly and is like a padlock when it comes to keeping secrets. 
 
By day, she prepares kimchi for her family and her neighbour with dementia; by night Mrs Shim is out on a contract. 
 
But what starts as a need for survival escalates into a thirst for vengeance. For Mrs. Shim is done with being everyone’s doormat. 
 
Diving headfirst into her new career among petty criminals, crooked cops, ghosts and assassins, Mrs Shim's past comes hurtling towards her. 
 
Savage and unexpectedly moving, Kang Jiyoung presents a kaleidoscopic tale of twisted love, unhinged loathing and hopeful reinvention. Her world of endearing misfits, dead bodies and good food marks the exuberant arrival of a major new international literary voice.

Mrs Shim is a Killer

Terry Pratchett

A Discworld series tie-in book exploring the city of Ankh-Morpork with full colour illustrations and fold out map. Go beyond the novels to discover more about the fantastically funny and gloriously inventive world of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. 
 
Essential for any fan of Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld, this stunning and beautifully illustrated gift book - complete with pull out map - details everything you could possibly want and need to know about Ankh-Morpork, Discworld's principal city. Maps, directories, walking tours, accommodation, food and drink - everything is included. No traveller destined for Ankh-Morpork should leave home without it! 
 
What readers are saying... 
'Marvellous - had me giggling like a loon for hours' -- ***** Reader review 
'A work of art' -- ***** Reader review 
'I started laughing 2 seconds after opening this book' -- ***** Reader review 
'Sumptuous' -- ***** Reader review 
'Amazing' -- ***** Reader review 
'A must have for all Discworld fans' -- ***** Reader review 
 
******************************************************************************** 
Greetings, adventurer! We lay before you this most comprehensive gazetteer encompassing all the streets of Ankh-Morpork, as well as information on its principal businesses, hotels, taverns, inns, and places of entertainment and refreshment - all enhanced by the all-new and compleat map of our great city state. 
 
We ask that when you pore over this glorious work, you spare some thought for the humble cartographers and surveyors who made journeys into the darker corners of our metropolis - no less dangerous than the wilds of Skund or Bhangbhangduc. To some the only memorial is the map you now possess. Others, in their quest for knowledge, paid the highest price that scholarship demands, which is to say, a day off in lieu. 
 
And so we dedicate this map and these accompanying words to the officers, councillors and members of the Merchants' Guild and to all who will find in its pages paths yet to tread and places yet to explore within the magnificent wonder that is the city of Ankh-Morpork. 
 
A gift like no other, this stunning package expertly conjures up the sights, sounds, people and places of Ankh-Morpork in ways fans have previously only been able to imagine.

The Compleat Ankh-Morpork

the essential guide to the principal city of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, Ankh-Morpork

Kate Atkinson

It's the summer of 1951 and everyone is looking to put the dark days of the war behind them. The government’s solution: The Festival of Britain, a celebration of the country’s creativity, grit and ingenuity. 
 
For foreign correspondent-turned-war reporter, Harry Flynn, it might offer the chance of redemption after a bad war in the Far East. But when he returns to London, the peace proves no less easy to negotiate. Having failed to resume his journalistic career, he reluctantly joins an oddball team of misfits, ne'er do wells and downright chancers helping to ready the Festival of Britain for launch. 
 
Flynn’s attempts at some semblance of a romantic life also founder when one of his dates goes missing and he is deemed the last person to see her alive. Could he have been in some way responsible for her disappearance? 
 
Little does he realise that the answer to some of his mounting problems may lie in the hands of a precocious straight-talking thirteen-year-old called Veronica and a rather scruffy terrier who goes by the name of Mrs Betty… 
 
Brilliantly plotted, witty and compelling, Our Noble Selves once again affirms Kate Atkinson’s place as one of the greatest chroniclers of our times.

Our Noble Selves

Zoe Dubno

The funny, propulsive new novel about hating your friends, hating what they bring out in you, hating how you pander to them, the perfect satirical summer read for fans of Emma Cline, Curtis Sittenfeld, and Ottessa Moshfegh. 
 
A LitHub most anticipated book of 2025 
 
‘Exceptionally funny and entertaining’ Katy Hessel, bestselling author of The Story of Art Without Men 
 
‘A gorgeous book on being a hater, and I inhaled this in one sitting’ Stylist 
 
 
Years after escaping her unbearable artworld friends in New York for a new life in London, an unnamed writer finds herself once more at their dinner table for a single, hideous evening. 
 
It’s the day after the funeral of their mutual friend, a failed actress and – Eugene and Nicole, an artist-curator couple – are hosting a dinner party. If the narrator once loved and admired the couple and their important friends, she now despises them all. 
 
Most of all, however, she despises herself for being lured back to this cavernous apartment, to this hollow, bourgeois social set, for a dinner party that isn’t even being thrown in their deceased friend’s honour, but in the honour of an up-and-coming actress who is by now several hours late. 
 
As the guests sip at their drinks and await the actress’s arrival, the narrator, from her vantage point in the corner seat of a white sofa entertains herself - and us - with a silent, tender, merciless takedown. 
 
A satire about friendship, capitalism, culture, and art, Happiness and Love is the razor-sharp new novel from an exciting literary voice. 
 
 
‘Bracing and funny and fiercely clever’ Orlando Whitfield, Nero-award listed author of All that Glitters 
 
‘An ecstatic performance of heightened perception’ Chris Kraus, bestselling author of I Love Dick 
 
‘Zeitgeist and timeless, cynical but not soulless. Fabulous!’ Melissa Broder, author of Milk Fed and The Pisces

Happiness and Love

Mariam Rahmani

A most anticipated book of the season for Oprah Daily, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Book Riot, WBUR and LGBTQ Reads. 
 
'Sexy, sly, daring' Justin Torres, National Book Award-winning author of Blackouts 
 
'The smoothest, smartest book I’ve read in quite some time' Paul Beatty, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sellout 
 
'Loving, cutting, mournful, and hilarious' Bryan Washington award-winning author of Family Meal and Memorial 
 
 
‘My career had gone nowhere. My love life was non-existent. And as for s*x – here I was, home alone on a Saturday night with a chick flick playing on my laptop because I didn’t own a TV. You can draw your own conclusions.’ 
 
Our protagonist always believed herself to be the smartest person in the room. But a couple of years on from earning a fancy PhD, she’s still broke, single and stuck in a job going nowhere. One option remains: marry rich. 
 
Her summer becomes a whirlwind of dating: martinis with a lazy heir, board games with a butch producer and a Venmo request from a ‘socialist’ trust-fund babe. However, when some unexpected and tragic news takes her – and her project – to Tehran she is forced to ask and answer some overdue questions about family, connection and, terrifyingly, her own purpose in life and in love. 
 
A riveting spin on a classic romantic comedy, Liquid delivers a modern tale of romance, loss and belonging in a gorgeous high-wire voice that explodes off the page with wit, verve and originality.

Liquid

Syou Ishida

For fans of THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES, discover the award-winning Japanese sensation - a charming celebration of the HEALING POWER of CATS. 
 
A cat a day keeps the doctor away ... 
 
On the top floor of an old building at the end of a cobbled alley in Kyoto lies the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul. Only a select few - those who feel genuine emotional pain - can find it. 
 
The mysterious centre offers a unique treatment for its troubled patients: it prescribes cats as medication. 
 
Get ready to fall in love: 
- Bee, an eight-year-old female, mixed breed helps a disheartened businessman as he finds unexpected joy in physical labour; 
- Margot, muscly like a lightweight boxer, helps a middle-aged callcentre worker stay relevant at work and at home; 
- Koyuki, an exquisite white cat brings closure to a young mother troubled by the memory of the rescue kitten she was forced to abandon; 
- Tank and Tangerine bring peace to a hardened handbag designer, as she learns to be kinder to herself; 
- Mimita, the Scottish Fold kitten helps a broken-hearted Geisha to stop blaming herself for the cat she lost years ago; 
 
As the clinic's patients navigate their inner turmoil and seek resolution, their feline companions lead them towards healing, self-discovery and newfound hope. 
 
**Contains five exquisite cat line-drawings** 
 
Japanese bestseller, October 2023 
 
Readers adore WE'LL PRESCRIBE YOU A CAT: 
‘The most wonderful book I've ever read’ ***** 
‘A terrific idea, a powerful ending, brilliant storytelling’ ***** 
‘The story drew me in instantly, and I laughed so much’ ***** 
‘I definitely want everyone to read this book’ ***** 
‘There are so many wonderful lines to underscore, but if I write them here, there will be spoilers!’ *****

We'll Prescribe You a Cat

Hiro Arikawa

THE INSTANT TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
DISCOVER YOUR NEXT FEELGOOD JAPANESE NOVEL, BY THE AUTHOR OF THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES 
 
Over 1.4 million copies sold in Japan 
 
'You will be wrapped in laughter and tears' Reader review***** 
'What I love about it is its Kindness' Reader review***** 
'I wanted to tap the shoulders of the characters' Reader review***** 
‘Imagine Murder on the Orient Express without the untimely fatalities and you'll be halfway towards this cosy and affecting read' Harper's Bazaar 
_________ 
 
The contents of each traveller's heart is a mystery known only to themselves 
 
Trundling through the scenic countryside of Kyoto and Osaka is the Hankyu line, a burgundy-coloured electric train that has been carrying its commuters to their destinations for decades. 
 
Over the course of a single journey in springtime, and the return journey six months later just as the leaves begin to fall: 
 
- a young man meets the woman who happens to take out the last copy of the library book he was about to borrow; 
- an angry wedding guest dresses in a white gown to upstage the bride; 
- a university student leaves home for the first time; 
- a twenty-something finally grows the courage to walk away from an abusive partner 
- a widow learns independence, as she and her granddaughter discuss their new dog. 
 
As the seasons and the landscapes change, passengers jostle and connect, as this timeless train carries each one forward towards the person they intend to become.

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

Melvyn Grant

A Discworld series tie-in picture book, a companion to Thud! (part of the City Watch novels). Go beyond the novels to discover more about the fantastically funny and gloriously inventive world of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. 
 
At six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, Sam Vimes must go home to read Where's My Cow?, with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do.It is the most loved and chewed book in the world. 
 
But his father wonders why it is full of moo-cows and baa-lambs when Young Sam will only ever see them cooked on a plate. He can think of a more useful book for a boy who lives in a city. 
 
So Sam Vimes starts adapting the story. A story with streets, not fields. A book with rogues and villains. A book about the place where he'll grow up.

Where's My Cow?

(Discworld Novels)

The highly anticipated new novel - The Kokoro Clinic for the Soul reopens in this delightful follow-up to the award-winning, bestselling Japanese novel We'll Prescribe You a Cat for fans of The Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Cat Who Saved Books 
 
It’s time to revisit the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul. 
 
Though it is mysteriously located at an uncertain address, the Kokoro clinic can always be found by those who need it. And it has proven time after time that a prescribed cat has the power to heal the emotional wounds of all its patients. 
 
This irresistible sequel introduces a new loveable cast of healing cats, from Kotetsu, a four-month-old Bengal who unleashes his energy by demolishing bed linen, to curious Shasha, who won't let her tiny size stop her, and lazy Ms. Michiko, who is as soft and comforting as mochi. 
 
As characters from one chapter re-appear as side characters in the next, we follow a young woman who cannot help pushing away the man who loves her; a recently widowed grandfather whose grandson refuses to leave his room; and an anxious man working at a cat shelter who seeks to show how difficult cats can be the most rewarding. 
 
This moving, magical novel proves just how eternally unknowable cats are for we humans, even while we continue to cherish their special gift of transforming our lives. 
 
**Contains five exquisite line drawings by artist Alissa Levy @levysfriends

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat

Sophie Haydock

On France's golden Riviera, the wife of an artist gives him an ultimatum: her or me. The dazzling new novel from Sophie Haydock, author of The Flames 
 
'Deliciously immersive . . . Think of [Haydock] as the art world’s answer to Philippa Gregory . . . I took Madame Matisse on a wet, grey holiday and it swept me into a world of startling, splashy colour' The Spectator 
 
'[A] sizzling story of the art world, where sidelined women take centre stage. It’s an immersive tale of muses, betrayal, sex and bad behaviour' Daily Mail 
 
This is the story of three women - one an orphan and refugee who finds a place in the studio of a famous French artist, the other a wife and mother who has stood by her husband for nearly forty years. The third is his daughter, caught in the crossfire between her mother and a father she adores. 
 
Amelie is first drawn to Henri Matisse as a way of escaping the conventional life expected of her. A free spirit, she sees in this budding young artist a glorious future for them both. Ambitious and driven, she gives everything for her husband's art, ploughing her own desires, her time, her money into sustaining them both, even through years of struggle and disappointment. 
 
Lydia Delectorskaya is a young Russian emigree, who fled her homeland following the death of her mother. After a fractured childhood, she is trying to make a place for herself on France's golden Riviera, amid the artists, film stars and dazzling elite. Eventually she finds employment with the Matisse family. From this point on, their lives are set on a collision course.... 
 
Marguerite is Matisse's eldest daughter. When the life of her family implodes, she must find her own way to make her mark and to navigate divided loyalties. 
 
Based on a true story, Madame Matisse is a stunning novel about drama and betrayal; emotion and sex; glamour and tragedy, all set in the hotbed of the 1930s art movement in France. In art, as in life, this a time when the rules were made to be broken...

Madame Matisse

John Boyne's acclaimed quartet of Water, Earth, Fire and Air come together at last. 
 
Human life is governed by the elements – water, earth, fire and air. They are fundamental to our existence. They sustain us, but they also challenge us. 
 
In The Elements, John Boyne has created a vivid kaleidoscope to reflect that contradiction: a quartet of intertwined narratives, each providing a different perspective on cause and effect from the points of view of the enabler, the accomplice, the perpetrator and the victim. 
 
From a mother on the run from her past, to a young football star on trial, a successful surgeon grappling with childhood trauma, and finally a father on a transformative journey with his son, the four strands weave together to form a tapestry of intersecting lives. 
 
Boyne’s most ambitious work yet, The Elements is both an engrossing drama and a moving examination of the fault lines inherent to human experience. In crisp, spellbinding prose, he navigates a complex subject with extraordinary empathy and unflinching honesty, at every step challenging us to confront our own perceptions of who we are and what made us that way.

The Elements

Carmella Lowkis

'Carmella Lowkis has done it again with this deeply satisfying and gothic stunner' ALLY WILKES 
'One of the best gothic novels the genre has to offer' JOHANNA VAN VEEN 
'Full of rich gothic decay and ratcheting tension ... twist after twist left me reeling' DANIELLE GILES 
 
'We are cursed, here at Harfold, whether you believe in it or not.' 
 
1922, Wiltshire. When Vee Morgan accepts the job of gardener at a crumbling stately home, she's hoping for a fresh start where nobody knows her troubled history. 
 
But Harfold Manor is shadowed by grief and the memories of long-faded glory, its rooms haunted by the only surviving member of the family, Lady Arabella Lascy. Vee is fascinated by her enigmatic new employer, a woman obsessed with the curse she believes has killed her family one by one. A curse that is coming for her next. 
 
As Vee immerses herself in the world of Harfold, she finds herself increasingly entranced by Arabella and the secrets that poison her. 
 
But Vee has her own things to hide: secrets that caused her to flee Cardiff, secrets that estranged her from her own family, secrets that might finally catch up to her…

A Slow and Secret Poison

Philippe Collin

An Immediate Bestseller | A Bloomberg Best Book of 2025 
 
'Philippe Collin is a magnificent storyteller. This novel fascinates at every turn.' Elle 
 
When the Ritz becomes the Nazis’ favourite spot, its Jewish bartender has no choice but to keep working. 
 
Paris, 1940. Despite the Occupation, the prestigious Ritz Hotel has managed to remain open. Its bar becomes a favorite spot for Nazis eager for a taste of French refinement. Its celebrated barman, Frank Meier, is forced to adapt to this new clientele. But he is hiding a secret that no one can find out: he is Jewish. 
 
With every word and smile, the atmosphere becomes more and more suffocating. Yet Frank refuses to flee. With the unwitting help of the Nazis, Frank eventually uncovers secrets that help keep him and his loved ones alive—especially Luciano, his young apprentice, and Blanche, wife of the director of the Ritz and Frank’s impossible love—both of whom are Jewish too. 
 
Betrayal, lies, and backstabbing raise the stakes for the bartender—with Frank always just one step ahead of fate. 
 
Based on a true story, The Barman of the Ritz is as chilling as it is fascinating.

The Barman of the Ritz

The uplifting new cat novel from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of The Travelling Cat Chronicles 
 
'Quirky and life-enhancing' THE TIMES Biggest Books of the Autumn 
_____________________ 
Against changing seasons in Japan, seven cats weave their way through their owners' lives. 
 
- A needy kitten rescued from the recycling bin teaches a new father how to parent his own human baby 
- An elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be together for ever 
- A colony of wild cats on a holiday island shows a young boy not to stand in nature's way 
- A family is perplexed by their cat's devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father 
- A woman curses how her cat constantly visits her at night 
 
Bursting with empathy and love, THE GOODBYE CAT explores the unstoppable cycle of life as we see how the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. 
 
A huge bestseller in Japan, every page is a joyous celebration of cats and how we cannot resist sharing our lives with them. 
 
'A book for every cat lover. An enchanting insight into the mysterious world of cats and their humans' CELIA HADDON, author of Being Your Cat 
 
**Includes seven beautiful cat drawings** 
_____________________ 
READERS ADORE THE GOODBYE CAT 
 
- 'Wonderful! These cats are charming and truly come alive. The book is full of human - or rather, cat kindness' ***** 
- 'Irresistible. This is the first time since The Travelling Cat Chronicles that I cried my eyes out over a book' ***** 
- 'I'm glad I didn't read it outside because I couldn't stop crying. Truly life-enhancing' *****

The Goodbye Cat

The uplifting tale of wise cats and their humans by the global bestselling author of THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES

THE PERFECT CURL-UP READ FOR CAT LOVERS 
 
'Bewitching... as self-possessed and comforting as - well, a cat' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 
 
'A book about kindness and love, and how the smallest things can provide happiness' STYLIST 
___ 
 
It's not the journey that counts, but who's at your side. 
 
Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. 
 
Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn't know why and Satoru won't say. 
 
Set against the backdrop of Japan's changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana's story explores the wonder and thrill of life's unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take. 
 
At the heart of this book is a powerful message about the importance of kindness. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives. 
___ 
 
Readers love THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES: 
 
'Delightful, insightful, full of warmth with plenty of humour' 5 stars ***** 
'Uplifting and heart wrenching in equal measure' 5 stars ***** 
'It had me in floods of tears but filled me with hope too' 5 stars *****

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