Steve Roud was Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore, plus other books on traditional drama and folk song, and the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004. His publications include London Lore (2008) and The Lore of the Playground (2010). He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song. He lives in Sussex.

Steve Roud

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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

Kim Hana

Hwang Sunwoo

At some point between living alone and becoming single, Hwang Sunwoo and Kim Hana found each other, and decided to live together in a nice apartment where their four cats would finally have the freedom to run around. Together they became a family - and redefined it. 
 
At a time housing costs have skyrocketed whilst the birth rates plummets, these two independent Korean women in their late forties share their views on society and its expectations of them. And, intent neither to marry or to live alone, they reflect on the comfort of their cohabiting friendship as it blossoms into a life full of joy and meaning. 
 
From housing insecurity and access to health care, to solo dining and stigmatised cat ladies, the loaded, self-sacrificing demands of filial piety and obligations to in-laws, Two Women Living Together impugns social scripts by spelling them out plainly. But also, and especially, by showing what it’s like to choose differently. 
 
Quietly radical, full of warmth and wit, Two Women Living Together celebrates carving out your own path, cats, female friendship, and a different kind of family.

Two Women Living Together

Bella Jackson

There is a narrative we’ve become comfortable with: Mental health services are underfunded and understaffed. But that is only half the story. The other half is messy and confronting; uncomfortable enough to make us look sharply away. 
 
It is the story of the staff who believed they could make a difference, but were worn down by morally ambiguous tasks, impossible workloads and a systemic resistance to change. It is the story of the patients who are failed by hastily made diagnoses, overreliance on medication, coercion, stigma and inconsistency of care, and of the inspiring individuals struggling for justice and revolution. 
 
Beautifully wrought and staggeringly urgent , Fragile Minds documents Bella Jackson's time as a trainee mental health nurse, and the devastation and hope she encountered in winding corridors and behind locked doors. With compassion and care Bella introduces us to a vivid cast of staff and patients, prompting us to look closer, ask questions and demand more for them.

Fragile Minds

Stories from an NHS mental health ward

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

Yehudis Fletcher

As the daughter of a rabbi raised in an Orthodox Jewish community, Yehudis struggled to conform to the strict expectations placed upon her and her siblings. Outspoken, curious and desperate to know more about G-d, she felt fenced in by arbitrary rules and questions left unanswered. 
 
As she grew older, these restrictions intensified and her questions for G-d hung heavier than ever. Repeatedly let down by those who were supposed to protect her and pushed on to a path that seemed to take her further away from who she really was, she began to yearn for a life where she could embrace all facets of herself. 
 
When Yehudis’s sexuality came to blows with the expectations of her family and her community, the pressure to inhabit a binary position reached fever pitch. Confronted with either losing the faith she loved or losing herself, Yehudis made the most daring decision of all: she decided to stay. 
 
Wry and exhilarating, Chutzpah is a fearless exploration of what is possible when one person simply refuses to choose between abandoning their roots and abandoning themselves.

Chutzpah

A memoir of faith, sexuality and daring to stay

Virginia Roberts Giuffre

‘If books can shape history, this is one.’ DAILY MAIL 
 
‘Both devastating and uplifting … fearless and frank - angry and empowering. It speaks to the thousands of other victims out there about how to start fighting back.’ EMILY MAITLISDaughter. Prisoner. Survivor. Warrior. Nobody’s Girl ... This is Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s last word. 
 
In 2011, Virginia Roberts Giuffre hit the headlines as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison and whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But first and foremost, she became known as a voice of courage and resilience for women everywhere. This is her story, in her own words. A story that has never been told in full before now. It demonstrates with extraordinary power that victims are made, not born. And that once you come to truly understand the horrifying impact of abuse, you will never again question why a victim stays, or returns over and over again. 
 
In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind a memoir written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. This is the powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront adversity and trauma of the darkest form, yet found the strength to move forwards, reclaim her voice and shine a light on evil – advocating for others and fighting for a safer, fairer world. 
 
Nobody’s Girl is a remarkable recounting of one woman’s fortitude in the face of depravity and despair, and the legacy she leaves behind. 
 
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Nobody's Girl

A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice

Anthony Delaney

Mother Clap's Holborn coffee house is open to all comers, a place of companionship and community, until a tip-off leads to a midnight raid. 
 
Two women, exiled from their families, set up a utopian homestead in a remote Welsh cottage, inspiring a generation of Romantic poets. 
 
The celebrated Chevalier d'Eon, soldier, diplomat and spy, challenges a rival to a fencing match. The sweepstake is not over who will win, but whether the Chevalier is a man or a woman. 
 
In this dazzling work of restorative history, Dr Anthony Delaney has traced the stories of people daring to challenge society's expectations, unearthing archives and court records to reveal the tragedies and the joys of queer life three centuries ago. Breathing new life into the forgotten and offering radical new interpretations of celebrated figures such as Anne Lister, Queer Georgians is an invitation to view our shared history in a whole new light.

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