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Margo Lanagan

RED SPIKES - ten stabs to the heart. 
 
Ten tales to jab and poke - at your darkest fears, your secret desires. 
 
Margo Lanagan's short stories take place in worlds not quite our own, and yet each one illuminates what it is to be human. They are stories of yearning for more, and learning to live with what you have. Stories that show the imprint love leaves on us all. 
 
For anyone who likes to be surprised, touched, unsettled, intrigued, or scared, prepare to be dazzled by what a master storyteller can do in a few short pages.

Red Spikes

Linda Newbery

Following the success of The Shell House, Linda Newbery again demonstrates her brilliance at weaving thought-provoking subjects into a wholly satisfying and sensitively drawn novel. 
 
Hilly's German grandmother, HeidiGran, comes to live with her family after she gets Alzheimer's disease; but as her mind becomes more muddled, secrets from her memories of life during the Second World War start to emerge. 
 
Why does HeidiGran keep talking about a girl called Rachel? And why does she make racist remarks about Hilly's friend, Reuben? As Hilly struggles to cope with revelations about her family's past, she encounters racism and prejudice for herself when a friend becomes the victim of a mindless attack. She also falls in love for the first time. 
 
This is a wonderfully evocative novel exploring the recurring prejudices that affect every generation.

Sisterland

Catherine Fisher

Rob's sister Chloe lies in a coma after a riding accident, trapped in a forest of dreams between life and death. But when a dark druid shape-shifts his way into Rob's life, despair turns to hope. Because the druid knows the way through the Unworld, where he claims Chloe is imprisoned. Could the ominous black ring of timbers slowly emerging from a secret archaeological dig hold the key to rescuing her? And will Chloe want to be rescued from a world where the landscapes of story merge and blur, and she has the chance to be Queen? Catherine Fisher's new novel combines a fascinating exploration of Celtic myth with a modern quest for understanding. Where is the land of the imagination? And if we found our way would we ever want to come back?

Darkhenge

Jan Mark

Set in a highly realistic dystopic future, where the lowlands of Britain are flooded, this beautifully realised novel explores a world where archaeology is controlled for fear of social unrest. One bleak morning, a storm across the North Sea unveils a human skull, which leads to a series of events that changes the lives of those involved. Merrick, a young graduate archaeology student becomes embroiled in the task of discovering the origins of the skull. His interest in this bizarre case brings him into contact with the Inglish, a remnant tribe eking out an existence on the edge of Europe. In this wildly progressive new world, it is they who will be affected the most. This is a compelling vision of England as it could be in the not-so-distant future.

Useful Idiots

Jenny Downham

When Mikey's sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart. 
 
When Ellie's brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel. 
 
When Mikey and Ellie meet, their worlds collide. 
 
A brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die, about first love, loyalty, betrayal and truth.

You Against Me

Tabitha Suzuma

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. 
He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. 
And now they have fallen in love. 
 
But . . . 
They are brother and sister. 
 
Forbidden will take you on an extraordinary emotional journey. Passionate and shocking, this is a book you will remember long after you have put it down.

Forbidden

Kate Thompson

I could hear Dennis talking to my ma. 'She was little,' he said. 'Little like me. But old. Older than you.' Those words gave me a cold shock. I could see Dennis imagining fairies, but old ones? 
 
When Bobby's mother moves the family into a rented house in the country, a neighbour tells him that a child was once murdered there. Bobby doesn't care. All he wants is to get back to Dublin and to resume his wild life there, stealing from the crowded shopping streets and racing stolen cars at night. But getting his old life back doesn't turn out to be so easy, and the longer he spends in the old cottage, the more convinced he becomes that something very strange is going on there. Was there really a murder? And if so, was it the one he has been told about?

Creature of the Night

Time out of time, people call it, but they're wrong. It's all time, like white light is all colours, or white noise is all pitches of noise coming at you together. 
 
In this transcendent collection of short stories, Lanagan deftly navigates a new set of worlds in which the boundaries between reality and possibility are paper-thin . . . and sometimes disappear altogether. 
 
Prepare to be unsettled, intrigued and dazzled by what a master storyteller can do in a few short pages.

White Time

Alan Durant

From the ruins of an ancient abbey, British archaeologists unearth the skull of a young monk. Using the very latest technology, Liam's dad must attempt to put the flesh back on the bone and give life back to the skull. What did the young man look like? 
 
But as his dad works, Liam finds himself submitting to an irresistible force. As he looks into the cavities where eyes had once been, he hears a voice calling out across the centuries - "Foul deeds. Murder. The Black Arts." 
 
Who was this young monk and how did he die? The questions keep coming as Liam is drawn into a centuries-old mystery, embarking on a journey that will force him and his father to confront their own recent loss.

Flesh And Bones

K M Peyton

When Josie is evacuated to her aunt and uncle's farm in Essex, she meets and falls in love with seventeen year old Jumbo, a happy-go-lucky optimistic young man who doesn't let his disability interrupt a life full of fun. Their relationship takes off, despite the difficulties of the war, which interrupts their idyll from time to time with stories of tragedy and death. 
 
But when Josie meets Chris, Jumbo's heroic fighter pilot brother, she experiences feelings that are out of control and dangerous; is this what real love feels like? She is torn between the two young men - one who is steady and loving, the other wayward and challenging. Yet it may not be her choice to make, as the German attack on England becomes more and more dangerous... 
 
Set against the backdrop of the second world war, where people diced with life and death every day, this is a wonderfully moving story of love, passion and tragedy.

Blue Skies and Gunfire

Monika Feth

Eighteen-year-old Jenna is sharing a flat in Bröhl, Germany, with her friends Caro and Merle when a girl is killed nearby. The murder seems to have parallels with two other frightening crimes. 
 
Then one day Caro is found murdered - stabbed seven times and with her necklace missing, just like the other girls. At the funeral Jenna swears revenge in front of everybody, and in turn attracts the attention of Nat, a handsome and mysterious strawberry picker. With Jenna sidetracked by love, Merle sets about solving Caro's murder herself. But as the answer dawns on her, another horrifying reality emerges.

The Strawberry Picker

Keith Gray

'It's not really kidnapping, is it? He'd have to be alive for it to be proper kidnapping.' 
 
Kenny, Sim and Blake are about to embark on a remarkable journey of friendship. Stealing the urn containing the ashes of their best friend Ross, they set out from Cleethorpes on the east coast to travel the 261 miles to the tiny hamlet of Ross in Dumfries and Galloway. After a depressing and dispiriting funeral they feel taking Ross to Ross will be a fitting memorial for a 15 year-old boy who changed all their lives through his friendship. Little do they realise just how much Ross can still affect life for them even though he's now dead. 
 
Drawing on personal experience Keith Gray has written an extraordinary novel about friendship, loss and suicide, and about the good things that may be waiting just out of sight around the corner . . .

Ostrich Boys

Aidan Chambers

United under the banner of flash fiction, this is a collection of stories, or little 'cells', complete in themselves but connected by the overarching themes of betrayal and revenge. All featuring teenagers and often with an unexpected twist, these frighteningly realistic stories will take you to the very edge and beyond.

The Kissing Game

Fox Benwell

And these are they. My final moments. They say a warrior must always be mindful of death, but I never imagined that it would find me like this . . . 
 
Japanese teenager Sora is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Lonely and isolated, Sora turns to the ancient wisdom of the samurai for guidance and comfort. But he also finds hope in the present; through the internet he finds friends that see him, not just his illness. This is a story of friendship and acceptance, and testing strength in an uncertain future.

The Last Leaves Falling

John Rowe Townsend

The inhabitants of Halcyon Island are ruled by the laws of the Deliverer and follow the same customs and traditions that have prevailed for hundreds of years. The laws state 'No incomers', but when Thomas and Molly find a shipwrecked canoe with a boy and girl, barely alive, inside they are determined not to reject them outright. New blood on the island is bound to cause a disturbance, but the effects the incomers have on the close-knit community are beyond anyone's predictions.

The Islanders

Robert Westall

There were three people, standing in the darkest place, watching him. 
 
Simon is outraged that his Mum plans to remarry. He can't bear her new fiancé or the way his mother and sister seem to have forgotten his late father. Overwhelmed by hatred and anger he seeks solace in a nearby abandoned water mill. But another, powerful hatred lingers within its walls. And it is about to be unleashed... 
 
Westall's immense talent is evident from the opening line - Simon's anger and unhappiness are tangible, and the Scarecrows' ill-intentions terrifying.

Scarecrows

Gayle Forman

Post-graduation, Allyson Healey decided to embark on a three week tour of Europe. It all goes according to plan until she meets Willem. He is everything she is not; free spirited, a risk taker. She allows herself to be swept away by him for just 24 hours, and then returns home the next day. Willem, determined to find her, puts his trust in fate and travels the world hoping that somewhere he will come across her. This sweepingly romantic trio of novels is filled with emotion, romance and a life affirming belief in fate.

From the author of the international bestseller, IF I STAY, now a major film starring Chloe Grace Moretz. 
 
When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines. 
 
Perfect for fans of John Green, Just One Day is the first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story – Just One Year – is out now.

Just One Day

Sangu Mandanna

Eva's life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination – an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her 'other', if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it's like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready. 
 
But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this. 
 
Now she must abandon everything she's ever known – the guardians who raised her, the boy she's forbidden to love – to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive . . .

The Lost Girl

Mary Hooper

In 1650 Anne Green, a young servant girl, gave birth prematurely to an illegitimate child. Sadly the baby died and poor Anne was falsely accused of infanticide. In front of a large crowd she was hanged and then carried to the College of Physicians to be dissected for medical science. But as Anne's corpse lay on the table and the doctors assembled, a strange rattle was heard in her throat. Could she still be alive?

Newes from the Dead

From the author of the international bestseller, IF I STAY, now a major film starring Chloe Grace Moretz. 
 
Twenty-four hours can change your life . . . 
 
Allyson and Willem share one magical day together in Paris, before chance rips them apart. 
 
The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents life throws at us. 
 
But is one day enough to find your fate? 
 
Perfect for fans of John Green and David Levithan.

Just One Year

Elsie Aidinoff

When the book opens Eve, who is the narrator ,is just coming into consciousness. She has been given by God to the Serpent to raise. Her sense of wonder as the Serpent introduces her to life in Paradise is a strength of the book; she learns about nature, love and the way that the new and fascinating world works. When she comes into contact with God - who rears Adam - she is wary of his dominance and egotism.One day, becoming impatient to discover whether or not he`s designed the male and female to procreate properly, God rushes Adam and Eve into intercourse.The Serpent alone regcognizes the consequences of God`s act. `Until today Eve has felt...that the world was good...' but ' Adam as good as raped her.' Eve is devastated by the experience. 
Eve leaves the Garden to gain some distance from God and to discover what exists in the outside world; the Serpent accompanies her. They make several journeys - one to a volcano, one to a desert, one to a mountain range and one to the sea (where Eve swims out to sea against the instructions of the Serpent and nearly drowns.) On their return to the Garden, the roots of the apple tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil begin to grow; the Serpent sensing that time is running out to teach Eve that love making is good, changes into a man and makes love to her with great sensitivity. After this she is prepared to accept her role as the mother of humankind. 
God is outraged by Eve's - and also Adams's - interest in the tree of knowledge. He is at his capricious worst: everything must bow to his wishes. They realise that if they are to have any freedom of will they must leave God and the garden . The Serpent warns them that this will involve future suffering but Eve feels she must develop and be her own person.They go forth...

The Garden

In the beginning...

Set just after the Napoleonic wars, Small Gains is the story of Clara, a true heroine who struggles to keep her head above water in a time of poverty and prejudice. Nat, the cruel but incredibly attractive son of the local rich family, turns Clara and her family's lives upside down, both in the world of racing and in the flushes of first love. And with the threat of tuberculosis hanging over them all, Clara faces up to her extraordinary life and loves with certainty and passion.

Small Gains

At seventeen, Matheo Walsh is Britain’s most promising diving champion. He is wealthy, popular - and there's Lola, the girlfriend of his dreams. 
 
But then there was that weekend. A weekend he cannot bring himself to remember. All he knows is that what happened has changed him. 
 
Mathéo is faced with the most devastating choice of his life. Keep his secret, and put those closest to him in terrible danger. Or confess, and lose Lola for ever . . .

Hurt

Following a horrific car accident in which she was the only survivor, seventeen year old Mia is faced with a choice. Does she stay, living with her grandparents and her loving boyfriend, or does she leave? She makes a difficult decision, leaving  it all behind her, breaking Adam's heart. Three years later, and the pair find themselves thrown together in New York, reminding Mia of her past and everything that she left behind her. If I stay and Where She Went are simultaneously tragic and hopeful, exploring grief, romance and memory.

The stunning sequel to Gayle Forman's international best seller, If I Stay - Now a major film starring Chloe Grace Moretz. 
 
If you had a second chance at first love . . . would you take it? 
 
It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life. And three years he’s spent wondering why. When their paths cross again in New York, Adam and Mia are brought back together for one life-changing night. 
 
Perfect for fans of John Green and David Levithan, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Where She Went

Flightsend is Charlie's new home, whether she likes it or not. Her mother sees it as an end to all that's gone so tragically wrong, but for Charlie it's the end of her family, not to mention her social life. 
 
They had been a proper family. Mum, Sean and Charlie, with a new baby sister on the way. But the baby died before she was born and everything changed. Gradually, her mother pushed Sean away, before resigning from her job and selling the house, forcing Sean to find somewhere else to live. 
 
Although Charlie believes her mother is making a terrible mistake, she can only offer support - but who will support Charlie, with Sean cut out of their lives? She's certain that the move to a ramshackle cottage, miles from anywhere, can only make things worse. 
 
She couldn't be more wrong. This first summer at Flightsend proves to be a turning point for them both. For Charlie's mum there's a new business and the fresh start that she knew she needed. And for Charlie there's a new job, new friends, a newly discovered talent for art and new feelings for two very different men. It's a summer of beginnings, not ends; a summer that Charlie will never forget.

Flightsend

NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING CHLOE GRACE MORETZ 
 
'Just listen,' Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.' I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen. 
'Stay,' he says. 
 
Everybody has to make choices. 
 
Some might break you. 
 
For seventeen-year-old Mia, surrounded by a wonderful family, friends and a gorgeous boyfriend decisions might seem tough, but they're all about a future full of music and love, a future that's brimming with hope. 
 
But life can change in an instant. 
 
A cold February morning . . . a snowy road . . . and suddenly all of Mia's choices are gone. Except one. 
 
As alone as she'll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all. 
 
Haunting, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, If I Stay will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you've lost - and all that might be. 
 
Includes interviews with the stars of the film, Chloe Moretz and Jamie Blackley.

If I Stay

Cheap tabloid headlines scream the brutal facts at 17-year-old Robert Harrison: his parents have been shot dead in the sitting room of their suburban home. Robert's initial shock and anger is soon replaced by a growing sence of a conspiracy to protect him from the truth. So he decides to investigate the murder himself and the secrets he uncovers about his parents lead him to the brink of sanity and put his life in danger . . .

Blood

In his final year at the Royal College of Music, star pianist Flynn Laukonen has the world at his feet. He has moved in with his girlfriend Jennah and is already getting concert bookings for what promises to be a glittering career. Yet he knows he is skating on thin ice - only two small pills a day keep him from plunging back into the whirlpool of manic depression that once threatened to destroy him. Unexpectedly his friends seem to be getting annoyed with him for no apparent reason, he needs less and less sleep, he is filled with unbridled energy. Events begin to spiral out of control and Flynn suddenly finds himself in hospital, heavily sedated, carnage left behind him. The medication isn't working any more, the dose needs to be increased, and depression strikes again, this time with horrific consequences. His freedom is snatched away and the medicine's side-effects threaten to jeopardize his chances in one of the biggest piano competitions of his life. It seems like he has to make a choice between the medication and his career. But in all this he has forgotten the one person he would give his life for, and Flynn suddenly finds himself facing the biggest sacrifice of all.

A Voice in the Distance

Markus Zusak

Rube never loved any of them. He never cared about any of them. He just wanted each one because she was next, and why not take the next thing if it was better than the last? Needless to say, Rube and I aren't too much alike when it comes to women. 
 
Cameron and Ruben have always been loyal brothers, but that loyalty is about to be tested to the limit when Cam falls for Octavia - Rube's latest girlfriend. Will he get the girl? Will his love for her tear their brotherly bond apart? And would Octavia ever go for a guy like him anyway?

Getting the Girl

I say, 'Don't lose your heart, Rube.' And very clearly, without moving, my brother answers me. He says, 'I'm not tryin' to lose it, Cam. I'm tryin' to find it.' 
 
The Wolfe brothers know how to fight. They've been fighting all their lives. Now there's something more at stake than just winning. 
 
A powerful, poignant novel from the author of the international bestseller, The Book Thief.

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