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Hye-Young Pyun

Fall into the chilling and claustrophobic psychological novel and Korean bestseller from the award-winning author, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, and Olga Ravn. 
 
WINNER OF THE SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD 
SOON TO BE A MAJOR FILM STARRING THEO JAMES AND SQUID GAME'S HOYEON 
 
'A superbly insidious and atmospheric chiller about caring and cruelty: grief, isolation, helplessness and existential fear' Guardian 
 
‘Korea's answer to Stephen King . . . a thoughtful and elegant exploration of a relationship . . . increasingly unnerving’ Observer 
 
‘Beautifully haunting… Probably my favourite book I’ve ever read.’ 5-star reader review 
 
Following a devastating car crash that killed his wife, Oghi wakes in hospital to find himself trapped in his own body and under the control of his vengeful mother-in-law as she grieves the loss of her only child. 
 
Isolated from his friends and neglected by his nurse, Oghi’s world shrinks to the room he lies in and his memories of his wife, a sensitive woman who found solace in cultivating her garden. 
 
But as Oghi remains alone and paralysed, his mother-in-law is hard at work in the now-abandoned garden, uprooting what her daughter had worked so hard to plant and obsessively digging larger and larger holes… 
 
A bestseller in Korea, The Hole is a superbly crafted and deeply unnerving novel about the horrors of isolation and neglect in all of its banal and brutal forms. 
 
Praise for The Hole 
 
‘A gripping read for fans of literary horror’ The Bookseller 
 
‘Will stay with you long after you turn the last page’ Heather Parry, author of Carrion Crow and Orpheus Builds a Girl 
 
‘Masterfully unsettling.’ Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells 
 
'Like Hitchcock or Abe, Pyun peers head on into the unnerving depths of human grief' Blake Butler, author of 300,000,000 
 
'A Korean take on Misery' Time 
 
'Suspenseful, eerie and surprisingly profound' Big Issue 
 
'While reading The Hole, you’ll find yourself suddenly doubting everything' Kyung-sook Shin, New York Times bestselling author of Please Look After Mother 
 
‘A chilling psychological thriller . . . the reader is drawn in deeper with each new revelation’ PA Media

The Hole

Syou Ishida

Cats once again prove to be the best medicine in the wonderful third book following the award-winning, bestselling Japanese novel We’ll Prescribe You a Cat. 
 
When you are lost, the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul will find for you. 
 
Dr. Nikké and his clinic are always ready to offer their unconventional approach to healing. Although one never quite understands how they ended up there, each person who has walked through the door has left with a cat and a deeper understanding of themselves. Every time, the clinic reaffirms that the unbreakable bond between cats and people has the potential to heal and transform lives. 
 
With Dr. Nikké as the constant that weaves each of these stories together, we meet a woman anxious about an upcoming competition, an overwhelmed young father, an illustrator questioning her career, and a young woman burdened with guilt. Digging ever deeper into the complicated minds of humans - and the love of their feline companions—this poignant story provides something richer and more challenging than mere comfort: compassion. 
 
 Translated by E. Madison Shimoda with illustrations by @LevysFriends

Welcome to the Kokoro Cat Clinic

Bill Bryson

In this fully revised and updated edition of the best-selling popular science book of the 21st century, Bill Bryson makes complex subjects clear and compelling for everyone with an interest in the world around them. 
 
NOW FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED. 
 
'Possibly the best scientific primer ever published.' Economist 
 
'Truly impressive...It's hard to imagine a better rough guide to science.' Guardian 
 
Bill Bryson can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 is the result of his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization – how we got from being nothing at all to what we are today. Now fully updated to reflect the many scientific discoveries in the last twenty years since this book was first published, it explains among much else: 
<ul><li>why Pluto is no longer a planet</li><li>how the number of moons in the solar system has more than doubled in 20 years</li><li>how scientists used advances in genetics to discover previously unknown species of early humans</li><li>why we still don't know what most of the universe is made of</li><li>how the little Higgs boson transformed physics</li></ul>This journey through time and space will inform a new generation of readers, young and old, as well as those who read this book on first publication with a new perspective based on what we know now. 
 
Written in his inimitable style, Bryson makes complex subjects fascinating and accessible to everyone with an interest in the world around them. 
 
A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0 reveals the world in a whole new way. 
 
Praise for A Short History of Nearly Everything: 
 
‘I doubt that a better book for the layman about the findings of modern science has been written.’ Sunday Telegraph 
 
‘Bill Bryson has an unmatched gift for explaining the most difficult subjects in the clearest possible way.’ Mail on Sunday 
 
'A travelogue of science, with a witty, engaging, and well-informed guide' The Times 
 
‘Hugely readable and never obfuscating.’ Sunday Times 
 
‘A genuinely useful and readable book... A thoroughly enjoyable, as well as educational, experience. Nobody who reads it will ever look at the world around them in the same way again’ Daily Express 
 
‘The very book I have been looking for most of my life... Bryson wears his knowledge with aplomb and a lot of very good jokes.’ Daily Mail 
 
‘Destined to become a modern classic of science writing’ The New York Times

A Short History of Nearly Everything 2.0

Terry Pratchett

A Discworld series tie-in book, a companion to Raising Steam (part of the Industrial Revolution novels). Go beyond the novels to discover more about the fantastically funny and gloriously inventive world of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. 
 
Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook is the complete guide to the railways of Sir Terry Pratchett's number one bestseller Raising Steam. 
 
Authorised by Mr Moist von Lipwig of the Ankh-Morpork and Sto Plains Hygienic Railway himself, Mrs Georgina Bradshaw's invaluable guide to the destinations and diversions of the railway deserves a place in the luggage of any traveller, or indeed armchair traveller, upon the Disc. 
 
The ultimate Discworld artefact - Fully illustrated and replete with useful titbits, Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook offers a view of the Sto Plains like no other. 
 
A must-purchase for any fan of the legendary Sir Terry Pratchett. 
 
___________________ 
 
What fans are saying... 
 
'A must have for any Discworld fan' - ***** Reader review 
'No Discworld fan should have this missing from their collection' - ***** Reader review 
'An absolute gem with all the wit and sarcasm we expect from a Terry Pratchett book' - ***** Reader review 
'Just brilliant!! Typically what you would expect from Terry Pratchett - couldn't put it down' - ***** Reader review

Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook

the essential travel guide for anyone wanting to discover the sights and sounds of Sir Terry Pratchett’s amazing Discworld

Kate Atkinson

The perfect Christmas stocking filler: three festive tales from the brilliant pen of Kate Atkinson. 
 
'Lucy would have challenged anyone not to cry at the sight of their child in a Nativity play. Even a sheepish Maude, even a scowling Beatrice – currently attempting a Chinese burn on an adjacent angel. A shepherd shouted something incomprehensible to Joseph. One of the Wise Men wet himself. Beatrice waved enthusiastically – a little too enthusiastically – at Lucy from the angelic choir. It was better than any religion, Lucy thought.' 
 
From the award-winning author of LIFE AFTER LIFE, SHRINES OF GAIETY and DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK

Festive Spirits

Three Christmas Stories

A beautiful clothbound pocket edition of Sir Terry Pratchett’s essay on why we all deserve a life worth living and a death worth dying for. 
 
With a new Afterword by Peter Serafinowicz 
and an updated Introduction by Rob Wilkins 
 
'Eloquent and essential' Guardian 
 
'A poignant, thought-provoking, sometimes funny, always brilliant read' 5-star reader review 
 
 
‘Most men don’t fear death. They fear those things – the knife, the shipwreck, the illness, the bomb – which precede, by microseconds if you’re lucky, and many years if you’re not, the moment of death.’ 
 
When Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in his fifties he was angry - not with death but with the disease that would take him there, and with the suffering disease can cause when we are not allowed to put an end to it. 
 
In this essay, broadcast to millions as the BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture, he argues for our right to choose – our right to a good life, and a good death too.

Shaking Hands With Death

Caryl Lewis

From the multi award-winning author of Drift, winner of the Welsh Book of the Year 
 
'Extraordinary…this book will absolutely tug at your soul. One to re-read and treasure….glorious, heart-breaking, yet ultimately full of hope.' Liz Hyder, author of The Twelve 
 
'A gentle and tender novel about the power of forgiveness and how humans might thrive when given the space to grow. Richly rewarding fiction.' Kirsty Capes, author of Careless and Girls 
____ 
 
‘A seed in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible’ Old Welsh Proverb 
 
Hannah has lived at Berllan Deg all her life, her husband came to live at the orchard when they got married. Tonight, she prepares for his funeral as he lies in the parlour. Over fifty years of marriage, a lifetime of memories dissipating in the impossibility of his stillness. He was a writer and a beekeeper who came to understand the world through the language of bees. He has left her eleven letters; the exact same number as there are frames in a bee’s nest. Each letter is an examination of an aspect of their marriage. The morning of the funeral, Sadie, Hannah’s estranged little sister comes back home for the service. As the letters unfold, they reveal a devastating secret that will make Hannah have to re-evaluate her whole life. 
 
Bitter Honey is a novel which brings three very different women together into a broken Eden and examines how they rebuild it on their own terms.

Bitter Honey

Kim Ryeo-ryeong

**NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX TV SERIES, STARRING GONG YU AND SEO HYUN-JIN ** 
 
Read the gripping international feminist satire for fans of KIM JIYOUNG BORN 1982, CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN and YELLOWFACE. 
 
‘So this is the world we live in, where even spouses can be rented’ 
 
Meet Noh Inji: thirty years old, five wedding rings so far, and she’s never once been in love. 
 
When Inji takes a job at Wedding & Life, the popular matchmaking service, she never imagines her role will be with NM, their secretive marriage division that rents out ‘field spouses’ for a fixed period to their elite clientele. Just like a real marriage, Inji’s assignments involve a wedding, some sex and a spot of housework. It’s all tailored exactly to the client’s desires - no legal battles, no fights, no emotional baggage. 
 
In no way is Inji interested in finding real love, because accidents happen when you mistakenly assume that you are somehow special. 
 
When one of Inji’s old husbands, a mysterious high-profile music producer, requests her back for another year of marriage, Inji’s own dark past will begin to unravel – as well as the sinister underbelly of the NM management, who will stop at nothing to preserve their reputation - and that of their wealthiest clients … 
 
Readers love THE TRUNK!!!: 
 
‘It enraged me, it made me laugh, it was everything’ 
‘Intriguing and gripping’ 
‘Unique and intriguing and perfect for fans of Kim Jiyoung, born 1982’ 
‘Absorbing and consistently fascinating’ 
‘Really interesting book full of social commentary, rich characters … I had vibes of The Handmaid's Tale meets Convenience Store Woman’ 
___________

The Trunk

Marisa Kashino

'I promise you, you have no idea where this story is going' Taylor Jenkins Reid, recommended for her Must-Read Book of the Year in TIME Magazine 
 
A Good Morning America Book Club Pick * A Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick * An ELLE Best Mystery/Thriller * A BookRiot Best Mystery/Thriller 
 
‘Not since Gone Girl have I been so gripped by a narrative voice’ Alex Michaelides, bestselling author of The Silent Patient 
 
‘Darkly satirical and wildly entertaining… a riveting thriller from the first page to the last’ Amy Tintera, New York Times bestselling author of Listen for the Lie 
 
How far would you go to get the perfect home? 
 
There was a time when Margo thought she knew. But that was before a soul-destroying eighteen months of house-hunting hell. 
 
Now she’s not sure. Her life, her marriage, her family, her career are dangerously out of control and all she needs is a new home to get them all back on track. 
 
So when the ideal house comes up, desperate measures are called for. A little online stalking. Some sneaky surveillance of the property in question. Befriending the owner. All reasonable enough, right? 
 
But soon it’s clear that nothing is off limits, because when your best offer might not win, then you just need to do what it takes… 
 
Praise for Best Offer Wins: 
 
'A twisty domestic thriller that had me guessing until the final pages' Lottie Hazell, author of Piglet 
 
‘A cross between Gone Girl and Selling Sunset’ Elizabeth Day, Sunday Times bestselling author of Magpie 
 
‘Genius’ Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us 
 
‘Dark, hilarious, and totally gripping, with a jaw-dropping twist that closes the deal’ Ryan Serhant, CEO and star real estate broker, author of Sell It Like Serhant, producer and star of Netflix’s Owning Manhatta

Best Offer Wins

Diana Preston

On May 7th, 1915 a passenger ship crossing the Atlantic sank with the loss of 1200 lives. On board were some world-famous figures, including multimillionaire Alfred Vanderbilt. But this wasn't the Titanic and there was no iceberg. The liner was the Lusitania and it was torpedoed by a German U-boat. 
 
Wilful Murder is the hugely compelling story of the sinking of the Lusitania. The first book to look at the events in their full historical context, it is also the first to place the human dimension at its heart. Using first-hand accounts of the tragedy Diana Preston brings the characters to life, recreating the splendour of the liner as it set sail and the horror of its final moments. Using British, American and German research material she answers many of the unanswered and controversial questions surrounding the Lusitania: why didn't Cunard listen to warnings that the ship would be a target of the Germans? Was the Lusitania sacrificed to bring the Americans into the War? What was really in the Lusitania's hold? Was she armed? Had Cunard's offices been infiltrated by German agents? And did the Kaiser's decision to cease unrestricted U-boat warfare in response to international outrage expressed after the sinking effectively change the outcome of the First World War? 
 
Highly readable, meticulously researched, this special centenary edition casts dramatic new light on one of the world's most famous maritime disasters.

Wilful Murder: The Sinking Of The Lusitania

Sverker Sörlin

A beautiful and profound natural history of snow from the bestselling, award-winning Swedish environmentalist Sverker Sörlin, exploring the cultural, scientific, artistic and existential significance of what is, due to climate-change, fast-becoming a vanishing fact of nature. 
 
Selected as one of the Financial Times Best Books on the Environment. 
 
‘Amazing anecdotes … thrilling and moving.’ Nature 
 
'Snö is full of character, as condensed with detail as firn (compacted, heavy, old snow) and as beautifully constructed as a snowflake.' Times Literary Supplement 
 
Snow. A single word, for an infinite variety of water formulations, frozen in air. The study of snow is physics, chemistry, meteorology, anthropology, geography, poetry and art. It is hope – annually renewed. And it is history, too. 
 
Earth saw its first snowfall 2.4 billion years ago. The world's oldest skis, made by hand five thousand four hundred years old, pre-date the pyramids of ancient Egypt. To humanity, snow has variously been an ally and an adversary; an inspiration to countless artists and a place of breathtaking tragedy and survival. But it’s always been there. And now it is melting. 
 
In 1927, the snow was already more than nine metres deep on Japan's Mount Ibuki when a remarkable 230cm fell in 24 hours, bringing about the greatest depth of snow - 11.82m - ever recorded. Yet it is a fact today that, ironically not only has this mountain's resort been forced to close due to lack of snow, most people in the world have never been near snow: never felt the soft crunch of snow underfoot, never held snow to see it melt in their hands, let alone stood on a pair of skis. 
 
As the seasons lose their rhythm, and whole landscapes risk vanishing, shrinking too our planet's ability to reflect sunlight, Swedish environmentalist Sverker Sörlin urges that we take the time to look - really look - at what it is we’re losing, in all its multifaceted wonder. And to question, what comes next? 
 
'Part a love letter to snow, part a goodbye, Snö is extraordinary.' Sally Coulthard - Author of The Secret World of Twilight: A Natural History of Dusk & Dawn 
 
'Arresting facts and extraordinary insights. Sverker Sörlin is a scholar and writer at the height of his creative powers.' Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics, Royal Holloway, University of London

A History

Hiro Arikawa

**THE SPECIAL EDITION HARDBACK FOR ALL CAT-LOVERS !** 
 
Discover the fabulous new double volume hardback gifting edition containing two bestsellers by Hiro Arikawa: The Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Goodbye Cat. 
 
This edition includes extra sparkle and elegance, with brand new front-cover illustrations, full-colour inside endpapers and sprayed edges 
 
‘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 
‘Quirky and life-enhancing’ THE TIMES 
___ 
 
Set against the backdrop of Japan’s changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, The Travelling Cat Chronicles 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. 
 
In The Goodbye Cat, seven cats weave their way through their owners' lives. Bursting with empathy and love, it explores the unstoppable cycle of life as we see how the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. 
 
Both huge bestsellers in Japan, at the heart of these books is a powerful message about the importance of kindness. Every page is a joyous celebration of cats and how we cannot resist sharing our lives with them. 
 
___ 
 
Readers adore THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES and THE GOODBYE CAT: 
 
‘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 yet filled me with hope too’ 5 stars ***** 
‘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 Travelling Cat Chronicles and The Goodbye Cat

Mark Z Danielewski

*Special hardback edition with foil cover* 
The first-ever UK hardback publication of the cult horror classic, featuring a special embossed ‘maze’ case design and full-colour text. Get ready to (re)discover the terrifying, thrilling, and mind-expanding immersive classic horror that redefines the boundaries of a novel . . . 
 
 
'Phenomenal . . . thrillingly alive, sublimely creepy, distressingly scary, breathtakingly intelligent.' Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho 
'A genuinely scary chiller, a satire on the business of criticism and a meditation on the way we read.' OBSERVER 
'I've never read anything like it' ***** Reader review 
 
 
A young couple - Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson and his partner Karen Green - move into a small house on Ash Tree Lane. 
 
It soon becomes clear that something is terribly wrong - their new home is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside . . . 
 
Neither Will nor Karen are prepared to face the consequences of this impossibility until the day their two small children wander off, and their voices eerily begin to tell another story - of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams and create nightmares. 
 
What happened next is loosely recorded on videotapes and in interviews, and impelled an eccentric old man to compile - on loose sheets of paper, stained napkins, crammed notebooks - a definitive account of what took place at Ash Tree Lane that seems to unveil a thrilling and terrifying history. 
 
Because these scraps prove to be far more than the deranged ramblings of a reclusive old man . . . 
 
Immensely imaginative. Impossible to put down. Impossible to forget. 
House of Leaves is thrilling, terrifying and unlike anything you have read before. 
 
 
Praise for House of Leaves: 
'Genuinely clever and learned, often funny, brilliantly constructed and surprisingly touching . . . a debut of scintillating intelligence and scope.' Mail on Sunday 
‘An astonishing book . . . buy it, read it, be scared. – SFX 
‘Intricate, erudite and deeply frightening.’ – Wall Street Journal 
‘A fascinatingly insane triumph.’ – Independent on Sunday 
‘Demonically brilliant’ - Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn 
'Strange, highly addictive and slowly creepy' ***** Reader review 
‘Genuinely chilling… I can't recommend this book highly enough.’ ***** Reader review 
'The creativity and originality is astonishing' ***** Reader review

House Of Leaves

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev is the man who changed everything. It was Gorbachev's initiative that raised the Iron Curtain; his actions that resulted in one of the era's most symbolic events, the demolition on the Berlin Wall; his reforms that set in train events leading to the fall of Communism. 
Twelve years ago, when Gorbachev came to power, the globe was still divided into two armed camps, one for each superpower - as it had been ever since 1945. The Cold War dominated international politics, from Angola to Afghanistan. The man who became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 was much younger than his predecessors, yet there was little else to distinguish him from the stony-faced apparatchiks waving from the Kremlin. He seemed a model Communist, ideologically committed to socialism, raised wholly within the confines of the Party. Yet Gorbachev realized that the system could not continue. What was it about this man which enabled him to see so much more clearly than his colleagues? 
Like most who start a revolution, Gorbachev has been left behind. No longer in power, he has been forced to endure criticism from those wise after the event - most notably Boris Yeltsin, who became undisputed leader after the failed military coup that finally displaced Gorbachev from office. In these memoirs Gorbachev reveals his feelings about the sad state of his country today. He tells us of his childhood in the North Caucasus during the Second World War, of coming to Moscow as a student and meeting Raisa Maksimovna, of his glittering career as a Party functionary, eventually becoming one of the most powerful men in the world. This is a historical document of the first importance. It is also a fascinating human story, an insider's account of the events that we never dared believe could happen.

Mikhail Gorbachev: Memoirs

A Discworld graphic novel omnibus featuring The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic in a full-colour edition. Go beyond the novels to discover more about the fantastically funny and gloriously inventive world of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. 
 
Stunningly depicted in comic format for the first time - a fun read for established fans and new audiences alike. 
 
'Excellent and wacky as a good Pratchett should be' -- ***** Reader review 
'A must-have for any Discworld fan' -- ***** Reader review 
'Awesome' -- ***** Reader review 
 
************************************************************* 
Imagine a flat world, sitting on the backs of four elephants, who hurtle through space balanced on a giant turtle. This is the Discworld - a place (and a time) parallel to our own - but also very different. 
 
The Discworld Graphic Novels presents the very first two volumes of this much-loved series (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic) in graphic novel form. Introduced here are the bizarre misadventures of Twoflower, the Discworld's first ever tourist, and possibly - portentously - its last, and his guide Rincewind, the spectacularly inept wizard. Not to mention the Luggage, which has a mind of its own... 
 
A gift like no other, this stunning package expertly conjures up the sights, sounds, people and places of Sir Terry Pratchett's incredible Discworld in ways fans have previously only been able to imagine.

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