FICTION CATALOGUE JANUARY - JUNE 2020
1 Who Did You Tell? From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Rumour Lesley Kara
You thought your darkest secret was safe. You were wrong.
The addictive new stand alone psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Rumour.
Every town has its secrets. Lesley Kara knows them all . . .
From the author of 2019's biggest crime thriller debut, The Rumour, comes an addictive new novel . . .
It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around.
Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She's going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she's wronged.
But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won't stop until she learns that some mistakes can't be corrected.
Some mistakes, you have to pay for . . . January 2020 9781787630055 Lesley Kara is an alumna of the Faber Academy ‘Writing a £12.99 : Hardback Novel’ course. She lives on the North Essex coast. Her first 400 pages novel, The Rumour, was a Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller. Her second novel, Who Did You Tell?, is out soon.
2 Mix Tape Jane Sanderson
This is a love story to rival the very best. Caught up in the nostalgia for first love and the type of music that they don't make any more, Mix Tape asks the biggest question of all: what if 'what could have been' is still to come?
‘A lovely novel, delicately drawn, with characters that really linger in the mind and memory. A clever and compelling blend of realism and idealism - I got really swept up in it.’ Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us
You never forget the one that got away. But what if ‘what could have been’ is yet to come?
* Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape.
But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; after all, she’d been the one to run.
Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past.
For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her skin-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind.
And so begins a new mix tape. January 2020 9781787631922 Ali and Dan exchange songs – some new, some old – across £12.99 : Hardback oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different 416 pages experiences, until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything…
Because what if ‘what could have been’ is yet to come?
Jane Sanderson is a writer and journalist. She has worked as a producer for BBC Radio 4, first on the World at One, and then on Woman’s Hour. She lives with her husband and children in rural Herefordshire.
3 The Bear King James Wilde
James Wilde brings his epic reimagining of the story of the Pendragon bloodline (and so the most enduring legend of all - of Arthur, King of the Britons) to a nail-biting, cataclysmic conclusion . . .
Bridging the gap between 'Game of Thrones' and Bernard Cornwell comes the third and final chapter in James Wilde's epic adventure of betrayal, battle and bloodshed . . .
AD 375 - The Dark Age is drawing near . . . As Rome's legions abandon their forts, chaos grows on the fringes of Britannia. In the far west, the shattered forces of the House of Pendragon huddle together in order to protect the royal heir – their one beacon of hope.
For Lucanus, their great war leader, is missing, presumed dead. And the people are abandoning them. For in this time of crisis, a challenger has arisen, a False King with an army swollen by a horde of bloody-thirsty barbarians desperate for vengeance.
One slim hope remains for Lucanus’ band of warrior-allies, the Grim Wolves. Guided by the druid, Myrrdin, they go in search of a great treasure – a vessel that is supposedly a gift from the gods. With such an artefact in their possession, the people would surely return and rally to their cause? Success will mean a war unlike any other, a battle between two kings for a legacy that will echo down the centuries. And should they fail? Well, then all is lost.
In The Bear King, James Wilde’s rousing reimagining of how the myth of King Arthur, Excalibur and Camelot rose out of the fragile pages of history reaches its shattering conclusion . . . January 2020 James Wilde is a Man of Mercia. Raised in a world of books, the 9781787632165 £16.99 : Hardback author studied economic history at university before travelling the world in search of adventure. He first encountered the great English 400 pages warrior, Hereward, in the pages of a comic. It was while visiting the B & W map haunted fenlands of Eastern England, Hereward's ancestral home, that he became convinced that this legendary figure should be the subject of his first novel. The 'Hereward' series now runs to six novels, the most recent of which is Hereward - The Bloody Crown. James Wilde divides his time between London and the family home in Derbyshire.
4 Pine Francine Toon
Dark secrets lie at the heart of this haunting and powerful novel set in an isolated village in the Scottish Highlands.
'It's both eerie and thrilling at once, and had me under its spell until the end.' Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure
They are driving home from the search party when they see her. The trees are coarse and tall in the winter light, standing like men.
Lauren and her father Niall live alone in the Highlands, in a small village surrounded by pine forest. When a woman stumbles out onto the road one Halloween night, Niall drives her back to their house in his pickup. In the morning, she’s gone.
In a community where daughters rebel, men quietly rage, and drinking is a means of forgetting, mysteries like these are not out of the ordinary. The trapper found hanging with the dead animals for two weeks. Locked doors and stone circles. The disappearance of Lauren’s mother a decade ago.
Lauren looks for answers in her tarot cards, hoping she might one day be able to read her father’s turbulent mind. Neighbours know more than they let on, but when local teenager Ann-Marie goes missing it’s no longer clear who she can trust. January 2020 In the shadow of the Highland forest, Francine Toon captures 9780857526700 the wildness of rural childhood and the intensity of small-town £12.99 : Hardback claustrophobia. In a place that can feel like the edge of the 288 pages word, she unites the chill of the modern gothic with the pulse of a thriller. It is the perfect novel for our haunted times.
Francine Toon grew up in Sutherland and Fife, Scotland. Her poetry, written as Francine Elena, has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Best British Poetry 2013 and 2015 anthologies (Salt) and Poetry London, among other places. Pine was longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. She lives in London and works in publishing.
5 Hold Your Tongue Deborah Masson
He'll silence them all - unless she can stop him . . . The first novel in an exciting new detective series from a fresh talent in crime writing.
A brutal murder. A young woman’s body is discovered with horrifying injuries, a recent newspaper cutting pinned to her clothing. A detective with everything to prove. This is her only chance to redeem herself. A serial killer with nothing to lose. He’s waited years, and his reign of terror has only just begun . . .
Introducing DI Eve Hunter, HOLD YOUR TONGUE is your new obsession.
*****
Readers can't stop talking about HOLD YOUR TONGUE:
'A brilliant debut' '[Deborah Masson] has a long and bright future ahead if this book is anything to go by' 'Hold Your Tongue is incredible . . . You're in for a treat!' 'Wow, what a page-turner!' 'I can't wait to read more of this series'
Deborah Masson was born and bred in Aberdeen, Scotland. Always restless and fighting against being a responsible adult, January 2020 she worked in several jobs including secretarial, marketing, 9780552176521 reporting for the city's freebie newspaper and a stint as a £7.99 : Paperback postie - to name but a few. 400 pages
Through it all, she always read crime fiction and, when motherhood finally settled her into being an adult (maybe even a responsible one) she turned her hand to writing what she loved. Deborah started with short stories and flash fiction whilst her daughter napped and, when she later welcomed her son into the world, she decided to challenge her writing further through online courses with Professional Writing Academy and Faber Academy. Her debut novel, Hold Your Tongue, is the result of those courses.
6 Unexpected Lessons in Love Lucy Dillon
Lucy Dillon's books make your world better. The thought-provoking, romantic and ultimately uplifting new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Where the Light Gets in and All I Ever Wanted.
From the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author of Where the Light Gets in and All I Ever Wanted
'Real, heart-breaking - I loved it' Katie Fforde
What happens when 'I do' turns into 'I don't know'?
Jeannie always wanted to fall in love, and now she’s finally got the whirlwind romance she dreamed of. Dan’s gorgeous, he’s a successful young vet, and he flew her to New York and proposed on Brooklyn Bridge. Jeannie has to remind herself this is actually her life. It seems too perfect, too magical, to be real. Yet it is.
But now she’s on her way to the wedding she can’t shake off the tight sensation crushing her chest. Is it just nerves . . . or is this all happening a bit too fast?
Jeannie has one last chance to shout, ‘Stop!’ But just as she grabs it, a twist of fate throws everything she knows into the air like confetti. What Jeannie learns about Dan, about her own heart, and about the power of love itself, will change her world for ever . . . ______
PRAISE FOR LUCY DILLON:
'Bittersweet, lovely and ultimately redemptive; the kind of book that makes you want to live your own life better' Jojo Moyes January 2020 9781784162108 £7.99 'No one tugs at the heartstrings quite like Lucy Dillon' Red magazine UK C/Wealth + EU ex Can : Paperback 'Satisfying and clever and deeply moving' Sophie Kinsella 464 pages
Sunday Times bestselling author Lucy Dillon grew up in Cumbria and read English at Cambridge, then read a lot of magazines as a press assistant in London, then read other people's manuscripts as a junior fiction editor. She now lives in a village outside Hereford with a Border terrier, an otterhound and her husband.
Lucy won the Romantic Novelists' Association Contemporary Romantic Novel prize in 2015 for A HUNDRED PIECES OF ME, and the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2010 for LOST DOGS AND LONELY HEARTS. You can find out more at www.lucydillon.co.uk, follow her on Twitter @lucy_dillon, on Instagram @lucydillonbooks or find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/LucyDillonBooks.
7 Truth Hurts A captivating, breathless read Rebecca Reid
From an exciting and very well-connected new voice in fiction. Poppy has a secret and her new husband says he has nothing to hide. But he is lying. What is more dangerous, a secret or a lie?
Poppy has a secret.
It was a whirlwind romance. And when Drew, caught up in the moment, suggests that he and Poppy don’t tell each other anything about their past lives, that they live only for the here and now, for the future they are building together, Poppy jumps at the chance for a fresh start.
Drew says he has nothing to hide.
But it doesn’t take long for Poppy to see that this is a two-way deal. Drew is hiding something from her. And Poppy suddenly has no idea who the man she has married really is, what he is hiding from her or what he might be capable of.
Drew is lying.
Which is more dangerous, a secret or a lie?
Rebecca is a freelance journalist. She is a columnist for the Telegraph Women’s section, works for Metro Online and has written for Marie Claire, the Guardian, the Saturday Telegraph, January 2020 the Independent, Stylist, Glamour, the iPaper, the Guardian, 9780552175616 Indy100, LOOK and the New Statesmen amongst others. £7.99 : Paperback 384 pages Rebecca is a regular contributor to Sky News and ITV’s This Morning as well as appearing on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, LBC, BBC News 24 and the BBC World Service to discuss her work.
She graduated from Royal Holloway’s Creative Writing MA in 2015 and Perfect Liars is her debut novel.
Rebecca lives in North London with her husband.
8 The Illness Lesson Clare Beams
Sarah Waters meets The Girls in this haunting, wickedly perceptive debut set in an all-girl school and seeking to answer the timeless question: Who has authority over a woman's body?
"Brilliant, suspenseful, beautifully-executed. With power, subtlety, and keen intelligence, Clare Beams has somehow crafted a tale that feels like both classical ghost story and like a modern (and very timely) scream of female outrage. A masterpiece." Elizabeth Gilbert
It is 1871. At the farm of Samuel Hood and his daughter, Caroline, a mysterious flock of red birds has descended. Samuel, whose fame as a philosopher is waning, takes the birds’ appearance as an omen that the time is ripe for his newest venture. He will start a school for young women, guiding their intellectual development as he has so carefully guided his daughter’s. Despite Caroline’s misgivings, Samuel’s vision – revolutionary, as always; noble, as always; full of holes, as always – takes shape.
It’s not long before the students begin to manifest bizarre symptoms: rashes, seizures, verbal tics, night wanderings. In desperate, the school turns to the ministering of a sinister physician – just as Caroline’s body, too, begins its betrayal. As the girls’ condition worsens, Caroline must confront the all- male, all-knowing authorities of her world, the ones who insist the voices of the sufferers are unreliable. February 2020 9780857526311 Written in intensely vivid prose and brimming with insight, The £12.99 : Hardback Illness Lesson is a powerful exploration of women’s bodies, 288 pages women’s minds and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both.
Clare Beams' short story collection was published in October 2016. It won the Kirkus Best Debut and was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. Clare lives in Pittsburgh, where she teaches creative writing, most recently at Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh Centre for the Arts. This is her first novel.
9 The Sisters Grimm Menna van Praag
A tour de force of fairytale and imagination, The Sisters Grimm is a magical tale of life, death and sisterhood that brings to mind Beautiful Creatures, Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Stardust.
'Vividly drawn, evocative and complex, The Sisters Grimm is both absorbing and beautiful - a great achievement' Bridget Collins, bestselling author of The Binding
There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth. You may well be one of them, though you might never know it. You think you’re ordinary. You never suspect that you’re stronger than you seem, braver than you feel or greater than you imagine. But I hope that by the time you finish this tale, you’ll start listening to the whispers that speak of unknown things, the signs that point in unseen directions and the nudges that suggest unimagined possibilities. I hope too that you’ll discover your own magnificence, your own magic . . . ______
This is the story of four sisters Grimm – daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright- white wishing and black-edged desire. They found each other at eight years-old, were separated at thirteen and now, at nearly eighteen, it is imperative that they find each other once again. February 2020 9781787631663 In thirty-three days they will meet their father in Everwhere. £12.99 : Hardback Only then will they discover who they truly are, and what they 496 pages can truly do. Then they must fight to save their lives and the lives of the ones they love. Three will live, one will die. You’ll have to read on to find out who and why…
Menna van Praag has lived in Cambridge all her life, except when she was studying at Oxford University. She has worked as a reader for BBC Films & TV and as a script editor for a number of independent production companies. Menna is the author of five novels of magical realism and one novella which have sold over 150,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 26 languages.
10 The Memory Wood Sam Lloyd
Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known. Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape.
The must-read novel of 2020. Chilling, moving and unputdownable, The Memory Wood is a thriller like no other.
'An intense, atmospheric, and truly original thriller' Shari Lapena, author of The Couple Next Door
*************
Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known.
Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape.
When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn’t want Elissa to leave.
Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn’t the first girl he’s found inside the Memory Wood.
As her abductor’s behaviour grows more erratic, Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat- and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood . . . February 2020 9781787631847 £12.99 : Hardback ************* 400 pages WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:
'Very, very clever'
'Brilliantly written'
'So tense'
'It’s going to be one of those books that I remember for a long time.'
Sam Lloyd grew up in Hampshire, making up stories and building secret hideaways in his local woods. These days he lives in Surrey with his wife, three young sons and a dog that likes to howl. He enjoys craft beer, strong coffee and (rarely) a little silence. The Memory Wood is his debut thriller.
11 The Book Of Echoes Rosanna Amaka
A powerful debut from an authentic new voice for the Doubleday list. THE BOOK OF ECHOES is a tender and intimate story of an African slave in search of her scattered descendants. For readers of SMALL ISLAND, WASHINGTON BLACK and THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD.
'A searing, rhapsodic novel. The Book of Echoes is filled with beauty, devastation and the power of ancestral connections that ripple through the ages' IRENOSEN OKOJIE Narrated by the soul of an enslaved African woman, this is a searing debut novel about hope, redemption and the scars of history
Over two hundred years ago in Africa, a woman tosses her young son to safety as she is hauled away by slavers. After a brutal sea passage, her second child, a baby girl, is snatched away. Although the woman doesn’t know it yet, her spirit is destined to roam the earth in search of her lost children.
Her spirit will make its way to modern-day England, where she watches teenage Michael trying to stay out of trouble as riots spit and boil on the streets of Brixton, and to a sun-baked village in Nigeria, where Ngozi struggles to escape her low- caste status.
As the invisible threads that draw these two lives together are pulled ever tighter, The Book of Echoes asks: how can we overcome the traumas of the past when they are woven so February 2020 inextricably with the present? Humming with horror and 9780857526717 beauty, Rosanna Amaka’s remarkable debut marks her as a £12.99 : Hardback vibrant new voice in fiction. 384 pages
ROSANNA AMAKA was born to African and Caribbean parents. She began writing THE BOOK OF ECHOES twenty years ago to give voice to the Brixton community in which she grew up. Her community was fast disappearing – as a result of gentrification, emigration back to the Caribbean and Africa, or simply with the passing away of the older generation. Its depiction of unimaginable pain redeemed by love and hope was also inspired by a wish to understand the impact of history on present-day lives. Rosanna Amaka lives in South London. This is her first novel.
12 The Perfect Dress Louisa Leaman
This is a warm, relatable debut romance novel that will appeal to readers of Debbie Johnson, Trisha Ashley and Sue Watson.
______
'I thoroughly enjoyed this... it's an utterly charming and sigh-worthy romance.' Josie Silver, author of One Day in December ______
Fran’s wedding dress shop isn’t like any other. A treasure trove of history, filled with gowns from every decade for every type of bride. But not as you’d expect.
Something bold for the shy and retiring. Something simple for the woman who is unafraid to stand out. And something dazzling for the bride who wouldn’t normally dare to be different.
No matter your expectations, you’d never guess your own perfect dress. But Fran knows… she feels the wisdom woven into every gown, a gift from the previous owner waiting to be handed down to the next bride.
When Fran finds a dress that seems to be perfect for her she can’t wait to know its complex history which starts with her getting to know the son of the previous owner…
______
Louisa Leaman was born, raised and now lives near Epping Forest. She studied Art History at Leeds University before becoming a teacher working with children with special needs. After winning the Times February 2020 Education Supplement’s New Writer’s Award, she turned her hand to 9780552176620 £7.99 : Paperback writing books for children. Louisa currently writes content for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but has also been published in 312 pages the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent and The Times Educational Supplement. Her interest in the arts is often inspiration for her plots and her first book, The Perfect Dress, was inspired by the V&As large wedding dress collection and fulfils her dream of writing romantic fiction. When she isn’t busy writing or rearing her three lively children, she paints portraits, takes long walks and spends far too long browsing vintage clothing shops.
13 Away with the Penguins Hazel Prior
Veronica McCreedy is about to have the a journey of a lifetime . . .
A warm, witty story of late life revelations (and penguins), as one unique octogenarian decides it's time to visit Antarctica.
Veronica McCreedy is about to have the a journey of a lifetime . . .
Eighty-six-year-old Veronica McCreedy’s days consist of collecting litter from the beach, forgetting where she put her glasses and shouting instructions to her assistant, Eileen.
But Veronica has recently begun to wonder if she should be doing something more with her life – and more for the world – and where she should leave her considerable wealth when she dies.
As she sits in her armchair in her huge house on the Scottish coast, watching a documentary about the endangered penguins of Antarctica, Veronica suddenly knows exactly what she has to do.
She may be eighty-four, but it is (obviously) imperative that Veronica McCreedy takes a trip to Antarctica, to see the penguins . . .
HAZEL PRIOR lives on Exmoor with her husband and a huge March 2020 ginger cat. As well as writing, she works as a freelance harpist. 9781787630932 £12.99 : Hardback 320 pages
14 The Second Wife Rebecca Fleet
She's part of the family now. For better - and for worse . . . In this dark, menacing thriller, Rebecca Fleet shows us a suspenseful, twisty yet emotionally devastating portrait of a family in turmoil.
Everyone brings baggage to a new relationship.
When Alex met Natalie she changed his life. After the tragic death of his first wife, which left him a single parent to teenage daughter Jade, he’s determined to build a happy family.
But his new-found happiness is shattered when the family home is gutted by fire and his loyalties are unexpectedly tested. Jade insists she saw a man in the house on the night of the fire; Natalie denies any knowledge of such an intruder.
Alex is faced with an impossible choice: to believe his wife or his daughter? And as Natalie’s story unravels, Alex realises that his wife has a past he had no idea about, a past that might yet catch up with her.
But this time, the past could be deadly . . .
*******************
Praise for Rebecca Fleet:
‘This is very much a heart-thumping, read-in-one-sitting story, and absolutely delivers on its smart and original hook’ Heat
‘A fantastic thriller – dead-on domestic noir, full of tension and surprises. I loved it.’ Lee Child March 2020 ‘An enthralling thriller that lives up to its chilling premise.’ Renee 9780857525499 £12.99 Knight, author of Disclaimer Royal Octavo : Hardback ‘Rebecca Fleet has created a perfectly contained cast of credible 384 pages characters in a story so intriguing that you will be guessing right up to the last page. And it’s beautifully written too. I loved this book.’ Liz Nugent, author of Lying in Wait
'Dark, smart, sexy, gripping, totally brilliant.’ Erin Kelly, author of He Said She Said
'Sinister and compelling' Woman & Home
'You'll be whipping through the pages' Stylist
Rebecca Fleet lives in London and works in Windsor. Her debut thriller, The House Swap, was published in 2018 to great acclaim. The Second Wife is her eagerly anticipated second thriller.
15 Coming Up for Air Sarah Leipciger
For fans of The Hours & based on true events, a rich, powerful story of a toy-maker, a journalist & the girl whose life - and death - links them across oceans & centuries.
An extraordinary, three-century braid of air and water: the way we float, the way we drown, the way we surface again against the odds.' Francis Spufford
Three extraordinary lives intertwine across oceans and time
On the banks of the River Seine in 1899, a young woman takes her final breath before plunging into the icy water. Although she does not know it, her decision will set in motion an astonishing chain of events. It will lead to 1950s Norway, where a grieving toy-maker is on the cusp of a transformative invention, all the way to present-day Canada where a journalist, battling a terrible disease, risks everything for one last chance to live.
Taking inspiration from a remarkable true story, Coming Up for Air is a bold, richly imagined novel about the transcendent power of storytelling and the immeasurable impact of every human life. The legacy of the woman at its heart touches the lives of us all today, and this book reveals just how.
Born and raised in Canada, Sarah Leipciger lives in London with her three children, and teaches creative writing to prisoners. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the Asham March 2020 Award, the Fish Prize and the Bridport Prize. Her first novel, the 9780857526519 critically acclaimed THE MOUNTAIN CAN WAIT, was published in £12.99 : Hardback 2015. COMING UP FOR AIR is her second novel. 320 pages
16 More Than a Mum Charlene Allcott
An addictively fresh and sharp novel from the author of The Single Mum's Wish List, exploring themes of motherhood and identity.
What do you do when you want to be more than just a mum?
A married working mother of two, Alison packs lunches, goes to work, makes dinner, deals with arguing daughters, goes to bed. She can't help but question what on earth has become of her life...
Bored, restless and hungry for some excitement, when she meets the charismatic Frank she assumes he's what she's missing. But is Frank all he makes out to be? And what if Alison isn't quite as happy in her new, glamorous life as she thought she'd be?
Praise for Charlene Allcott:
'One of the freshest, funniest, most exciting new voices I've read for a long time.' Jane Fallon
'Fresh and funny and REAL...' Veronica Henry
'Very funny and delightfully relatable - this was a real treat.' Trisha Ashley
Born and raised in London and now living in Brighton with her five-year-old son, Charlene Allcott works part-time with young March 2020 people in a residential care home. She writes a parenting blog 9780552175807 at http://www.moderatemum.co.uk/. MORE THAN A MUM is her Wrld All Lan(US+CA Pend) second novel. £8.99 : Paperback 320 pages
17 You Never Told Me Sarah Jasmon
Is it ever too late to learn the truth? An emotionally gripping novel about the power of family secrets.
A year ago, Charlie’s life seemed to be following a plan: she had a beautiful house, a lovable dog and an upcoming wedding. But she felt trapped. A few months before the big day, ignoring the warnings from her family, she abandoned her life and fled to the other side of the world in a bid for freedom.
But when her mother unexpectedly falls ill, Charlie has to cut her trip short. She flies home, but by the time she gets to the hospital, it’s too late.
Her mother is gone, but she’s left a mystery behind. Why did she buy a canal boat, and where did the money for it come from? As Charlie attempts to work through her grief and pick up the pieces of her life, she follows the threads of her mother’s secret past – but has she missed her chance to learn the truth?
Praise for Sarah Jasmon:
‘Evocative and atmospheric’ Carys Bray ‘Lyrical and sensuous’ Elizabeth Forbes ‘Spellbinding’ Bella
Sarah Jasmon lives on a canal boat in Lancashire, which is also the setting for her two novels – The Summer of Secrets and You Never Told Me. She has written short stories for a wide March 2020 selection of publications and in 2018 was shortlisted for the 9780552774048 Harper’s Bazaar short story competition. She is an Associate £8.99 : Paperback Tutor in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan 384 pages University, and is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Geography.
18 You Let Me In Camilla Bruce
From a startling new voice in contemporary Gothic fiction comes a superbly creepy debut about the elusive nature of truth, the stories we choose to believe (or not), and how we choose to tell those tales . . .
Everyone knows bestselling novelist Cassandra Tipp twice got away with murder. Even her family are convinced of her guilt. So when she disappears, leaving only a long letter behind, they suspect her conscience finally got the better of her.
But the letter is not what anyone expected. Instead of a confession, it tells two chilling, equally dark, equally disturbing stories.
One is a story of bloody nights and magical gifts, of children lost to the woods, of husbands made from twigs and leaves and feathers and bones. The other is the story of a little girl who was cruelly treated and grew up crooked in the shadows.
Both stories might be true. Both stories end in murder. But is this a tale of supernatural seduction? Or the story of a broken child? It is up to you, the reader, to decide.
Crossing the boundary between reality and somewhere else entirely, You Let Me In offers a glimpse of another, rather different place that is hidden to most of us.
CAMILLA BRUCE was born central Norway and grew up in an old forest, next to an Iron Age burial mound. She has a March 2020 master’s degree in comparative literature from The Norwegian 9781787633162 University of Science and Technology and a varied work history £12.99 : Hardback in communications and project management. Camilla currently 288 pages lives in Trondheim with her son and cat. You Let Me In is her first novel.
19 The Deep Alma Katsu
With its brilliantly evoked historical backdrop, including on board the Titanic, and a rich cast of characters, both real and imaginary, The Deep is the heart-stopping new supernatural chiller from the author of the acclaimed The Hunger.
'This dark, terrifying tale of possession and haunting is phenomenal . . . beautifully written, thoroughly absorbing and totally terrifying.' C.J. Tudor, bestselling author of The Chalk Man
Someone, or something, is haunting the Titanic.
This is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the passengers of the ship from the moment they set sail: mysterious disappearances, sudden deaths. Now suspended in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone during the four days of the liner's illustrious maiden voyage, a number of the passengers - including millionaires Madeleine Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim, the maid Annie Hebbley and Mark Fletcher - are convinced that something sinister is going on . . . And then, as the world knows, disaster strikes.
Years later and the world is at war. And a survivor of that fateful night, Annie, is working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, now refitted as a hospital ship. Plagued by the demons of her doomed first and near fatal journey across the Atlantic, Annie comes across an unconscious soldier she recognises while doing her rounds. It is the young man Mark. And she is convinced that he did not - could not - have survived the sinking of the Titanic . . .
Brilliantly combining fact and fiction, the historical and the horrific, The Deep reveals a chilling truth in an unputdownable narrative full of March 2020 unnerving moments and with a growing, inexorable sense of 9781787631342 £12.99 : Hardback foreboding. 320 pages A graduate of the Masters writing program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Alma Katsu worked briefly in advertising and PR before moving into the intelligence world, working as a senior analyst for several US agencies, including the CIA and the American equivalent of GCHQ. She was also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post. Alma Katsu lives in the Washington, DC area. To find out more, visit her website almakatsubooks.com
20 The Weight of Love Hilary Fannin
Maggie O'Farrell with bite: a powerful love story set between London & Dublin, from the much lauded Irish Times columnist who counts Roddy Doyle among her fans.
London 1996. Two young Irish emigres – Ruth, a classroom assistant, and Robin, a teacher – meet in a city energised by a mood of cultural optimism and a sense of tentative political revival. Both are escapees: Robin, fleeing the wilds of West Cork and his German hippie mother’s ferocious affection; Ruth is attempting to outrun grief after the death of her father.
Robin, already in love with Ruth, introduces her to his childhood friend, artist Joseph, a fragile, beautiful young Londoner unable to cope with the sudden attention his work is receiving. Ruth and Joseph begin a passionate affair, one ultimately destined for tragedy.
Dublin 2016. Ruth and Robin are married and living in Dublin with their son, Sid, who is about to emigrate to Berlin. After eighteen years of marriage Robin, always cautious, ever the realist, has long since understood that Ruth believes it was Joseph, not Robin, who was the great love of her life. Derailed by his own mother’s illness, Robin begins an affair with the mother of one of his pupils.
Ruth, meanwhile, returns to London to confront her memories and reappraise a past that has haunted her present.
The Weight of Love is a beautiful exploration of how we manage life when the notes and beats of our existence, so carefully arranged, begin to slip off the stave.
Hilary Fannin is a playwright and columnist. Her plays, including Mackerel Sky, Doldrum Bay, Famished Castle and an adaptation of March 2020 Racine’s Phaedra, have been performed in Ireland, London, Europe 9781781620458 £13.99 : Trade Papberback and America. She was writer in association at the Abbey Theatre in its centenary year, 2004. She has also written extensively for radio, both 256 pages for BBC and RTÉ. As a journalist, she wrote the TV review for The Irish Times for almost five years, passing on the baton when her eyes turned square. She now writes an occasionally humorous weekly column for the paper. Hilary lives in Dublin with her husband and two sons, Peter and Jake. Her memoir, Hopscotch, was published in 2015. The Weight of Love is her first novel.
21 The Authenticity Project Clare Pooley
THE 2020 DEBUT NOVEL EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT. Our lives aren't always what we make them out to be. What would happen if we told the truth instead?
One green notebook. Six strangers. The chance to start being honest...
Six strangers with one universal thing in common: their lives aren’t always what they make them out to be.
But what would happen if they told the truth instead?
Julian begins The Authenticity Project – a small green notebook containing his ‘truth’ – to pass on and encourage others to share their own.
Little does he know that this small act of honesty will impact all those who come into contact with the book, and lead to a life- changing world of friendship and forgiveness…
Clare Pooley graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge and spent twenty years in the heady world of advertising, where the line between authenticity and fiction is constantly blurred, before becoming a full-time mum. She is the author of the hugely popular blog, Mummy was a Secret Drinker, under the pseudonym Sober Mummy and her memoir, The Sober Diaries was published in 2017 to critical acclaim. Her blog has had over two million hits and her TEDx talk, Making Sober Less Shameful, has had over 110,000 views. April 2020 9781787631793 Clare’s debut novel The Authenticity Project is inspired by her £12.99 : Hardback decision to expose the rather grubby truth about her 368 pages seemingly perfect life in her memoir.
Clare writes from her kitchen table in Fulham, London where she lives with her long-suffering husband, three children, dog and an African pygmy hedgehog.
22 Second Eyes Simon Mayo
From one of our best-loved radio presenters comes a race- against-time thriller, chillingly resonant with today's headlines.
6.27am. The sky is blue. The air is warm with a summer breeze. And in the last 27 minutes, seven people have been murdered.
In a series of coordinated attacks, seven men and women across London have been targeted. For journalist Famie Madden, the horror unfolds as she arrives for the morning shift.
The victims have one thing in common: they made up the investigations team at the news wire service where Famie works. The thought in everyone's minds, what were they working on that could prompt such brutal devastation? And as Famie starts to receive mysterious messages, she has to find out whether she is being warned of the next attack, or being told that she will be the next victim...
In this gripping, fast-paced thriller that could have been ripped from tomorrow's headlines, Simon Mayo has written an electrifying novel about the dangerous world we live in.
Simon Mayo is one of Britain’s best-loved radio presenters. He is also the presenter of Simon Mayo’s Books of the Year podcast. Mad Blood Stirring is his first adult novel. April 2020 9780857526595 £12.99 : Hardback 480 pages
23 The Spitfire Girls Fly for Victory Jenny Holmes
The exciting new novel from Jenny Holmes, author of The Spitfire Girls and Wedding Bells for the Land Girls - for readers of Donna Douglas, Elaine Everest and Nancy Revell.
A heart-warming, romantic story of friendship, camaraderie and triumph over adversity that fans of Donna Douglas, Nancy Revell and Elaine Everest will adore.
Bobbie Fraser, Mary Holland and Jean Thornton are Atta Girls - part of the Air Transport Auxiliary team flying planes between bases. Their work is dangerous and they constantly put themselves at risk, but their courage always comes through.
Now there's a new girl joining the ranks - Canadian Viv Robertson, who is bright, brash and brave. But can Viv settle into British life with the other girls? And when life on the ground leaves them as vulnerable as in the air, can they stick together through the tough times ahead and ultimately fly to victory?
Jenny Holmes lives in a beautiful part of Yorkshire and sets her sagas in the industrial heartland nearby. She enjoys horse riding, gardening and walking her dog in the dales. She also writes children’s books as Jenny Oldfield.
April 2020 9780552175838 £6.99 : Paperback 320 pages 0
24 We Are Not in The World Conor O'Callaghan
An exquisitely powerful story of grief, shame and love in all its complex, glorious, dark and painful manifestations, from the critically acclaimed author of Nothing on Earth.
Heartbroken after a long, painful love affair, a man takes a job driving a haulage lorry through France. Travelling with him is a secret passenger - his daughter. Twenty-something, unkempt, off the rails.
With a week on the road together, man and girl must attempt to restore themselves and each other, and to repair a relationship that is at once fiercely loving and deeply scarred.
As the pair journey down the motorways and through the service stations of France, a devastating picture reveals itself: a story of grief, of shame, and of love in all its complex, dark and glorious manifestations.
Conor O'Callaghan is originally from Dundalk, and now divides his time between Dublin and the North of England. His critically acclaimed first novel Nothing on Earth was published by Doubleday Ireland in 2016.
May 2020 9780857526854 £14.99 : Hardback 276 pages
25 The Stray Cats of Homs Eva Nour
An unforgettable debut novel, inspired by the true story of one boy's extraordinary life in Syria. For fans of The Kite Runner, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, The Pianist of Yarmouk and The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
‘This is a searing and incredibly important book, storytelling at its best’ Donal Ryan
‘A cat has seven souls in Arabic. In English cats have nine lives. You probably have both nine lives and seven souls, because otherwise I don’t know how you’ve made it this far.'
Growing up in Syria, Sami’s childhood is like that of any ordinary child’s - an innocent blend of home and school, of friends and siblings and pets (including stray cats and dogs, and the turtle he keeps on the roof).
But everything changes when his country fractures into civil war, and young Sami is forced to leave his family and train as a map maker.
Inspired by extraordinary true events, The Stray Cats of Homs started out as a love story, and turned into a novel.
Eva Nour is a journalist writing under a pseudonym. She was inspired to write The Stray Cats of Homs, her debut novel, by meeting and falling in love with the real 'Sami'. Today the couple share a life together in Paris.
May 2020 9780857526755 £12.99 : Hardback 300 pages
26 Us Three Ruth Jones
A funny, moving and uplifting novel about life’s complications, the power of friendship and how it defines us all, from Ruth Jones, co- writer of Gavin & Stacey and author of the smash-hit, number one bestselling debut, Never Greener.
The new novel from Ruth Jones, author of the smash-hit, number one bestselling debut, Never Greener.
Meet Lana, Judith and Catrin. Best friends since primary school when they swore an oath on a Curly Wurly wrapper that they would always be there for each other, come what may.
After the trip of a lifetime, the three girls are closer than ever. But an unexpected turn of events shakes the foundation of their friendship to its core, leaving their future in doubt – there’s simply too much to forgive, let alone forget. An innocent childhood promise they once made now seems impossible to keep . . .
Packed with all the heart and empathy that made Ruth’s name as a screenwriter and now author, Us Three is a funny, moving and uplifting novel about life’s complications, the power of friendship and how it defines us all. Prepare to meet characters you’ll feel you’ve known all your life – prepare to meet Us Three.
AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW
Praise for Ruth Jones:
‘Ruth Jones is excellent on human nature and why we make the mistakes we do. I felt for every character. Unputdownable.’ Jojo Moyes, bestselling author of ME BEFORE YOU May 2020 ‘I love books about gnarly, messy relationships and this one kept me 9781787632257 £14.99 : Hardback gripped from the beginning. A great read.’ Jane Fallon, bestselling author of TELL ME A SECRET 336 pages
‘Easy to read and full of laughter - and truth’ Daily Mail
‘Thought-provoking, compelling and ultimately redemptive’ Sunday Express
Ruth Jones is best known for her outstanding and award-winning television writing - BBC 1's Gavin and Stacey, in which she played the incorrigible Nessa, and Sky 1's Stella, in which she played the titular role. She has won acclaim for her performances in BBC dramas Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Little Dorrit and Hattie, as well as comedies Little Britain, Saxondale and Nighty Night. Her debut novel Never Greener was a number one bestseller, and her second - Us Three - is out in 2020.
27 Camelot Giles Kristian
Following on from the top 10 bestseller Lancelot, Giles Kristian returns to Britain's greatest island history - the Arthurian legend - for this new novel: a rich tale of passion, heart-ache, adventure, war and wonder: the story of Galahad, son of Lancelot . . .
Following his acclaimed Sunday Times bestseller, Lancelot, Giles Kristian's new novel returns us to the realms of Arthurian legend . . . Britain is a land riven by anarchy, slaughter, famine, filth and darkness. Its armies are destroyed, its heroes dead, or missing. Arthur and Lancelot fell in the last great battle and Merlin has not been seen these past ten years. Now, the Saxons are gathering again, their warbands stalking the land, their king seeking dominion. For the lords and kings of Britain look only to their own survival and will not unite as they once did under Arthur and his legendary sword Excalibur. Meanwhile, in an isolated monastery in the Avalon marshes, a novice of the order is preparing to take his vows when the life he has known is ripped away in a welter of blood. Two strangers, the wild-spirited, Saxon-killing Iselle, and the ageing warrior Gawain, will pluck the young man from the wreckage of his simple existence. Together, they will seek the last druid and the cauldron of a god. And the young man must come to terms with his legacy and fate as the son of the most celebrated yet most infamous of Arthur's warriors: Lancelot. For this is the story of Galahad, Lancelot’s son – the reluctant warrior who dared to keep the dream of Camelot alive . . .
Acclaim for Lancelot:
'A masterpiece.' Conn Iggulden
'Stands head and shoulders above the rest.' Manda Scott May 2020 'Glorious. Tragic. Lyrical. Totally gripping.' Ben Kane 9781787632295 £12.99 : Hardback 'A gorgeous, rich retelling.' The Times 450 pages
'An extraordinary writer . . . an exceptional book.' Dr Janina Ramirez
Family history (he is half Norwegian) and a passion for the fiction of Bernard Cornwell inspired GILES KRISTIAN to write. Set in the Viking world, his bestselling ‘Raven’ and ‘The Rise of Sigurd’ trilogies have been acclaimed by his peers, reviewers and readers alike. In The Bleeding Land and Brothers’ Fury, he tells the story of a family torn apart by the English Civil War. He also co-wrote Wilbur Smith’s No.1 bestseller, Golden Lion. In his most recent novel, the Sunday Times bestseller Lancelot, Giles plunged into the rich waters of the Arthurian legend. For his next book, he continues his epic reimagining of our greatest island 'history'. Giles Kristian lives in Leicestershire.
28 Enter the Aardvark Jessica Anthony
A budding politician’s career is put in jeopardy when he receives a large stuffed aardvark in the post. Brilliantly funny, a biting satire about politics, love, and taxidermy for fans of Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen and Joshua Ferris.
Only one thing stands between Alexander Paine Wilson and his destiny… and it has long ears, spoon-like claws and a tubular snout.
Republican congressman Alexander Paine Wilson is determined that nothing will stop him in his campaign for re-election. Not the fact that he is a bachelor, not the fact that his main adversary Nancy Beavers – married, with children – is rising in the polls. Nothing. That is, until one hot day in August, he receives a large parcel via FedEx. Inside is a gigantic taxidermied aardvark.
This aardvark has a surprising history – from the Victorian naturalist who discovered it to the taxidermist who deemed it his finest creation. But for Wilson, the entrance of the aardvark sets off a chain of events that threaten to ruin his entire career.
Constantly surprising, brilliantly comic and piquantly provocative, Enter the Aardvark is a tale for our times, a biting satire with a tender underbelly.
‘Enter Jessica Anthony. With her highly inventive, ever attentive, and morally serious (as all great comedy must be) Enter the Aardvark, she estranges all over again our deplorable political moment, and thereby helps make it bearable.' JOSHUA FERRIS, author of THEN WE CAME TO THE END
‘Mischievously zoological and darkly satirical – a brilliant novel' John Ironmonger, author of NOT FORGETTING THE WHALE May 2020 9780857526991 £12.99 : Hardback 'I've been waiting a long time for a book like Jessica Anthony's Enter the Aardvark, a book that not only manages to bridge supposedly 256 pages unbridgeable divides in politics, in time, in geography, in love and sex, but also manages to do so by way of a time-traveling taxidermied aardvark. If that sounds unlikely, well, yes, exactly, that's why I've been waiting for so long for it—this unlikely, hilarious, moving, ingenious book. Enter the Aardvark is an absolute original.' Brock Clarke, author of Who are You, Calvin Bledsoe? '
'Enter the Aardvark is one wild ride: a condemnation, a haunting, a song of love, a madcap political thriller—and it is absolutely unputdownable.' Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel
'Jessica Anthony is a writer possessed of mind-bending talents.'Heidi Julavits, author of The Folded Clock
Jessica Anthony is the author of The Convalescent (McSweeney’s/Grove), a Barnes and Noble “Discover Great New Writers” selection, and Chopsticks (Razorbill), a multimedia novel created in collaboration with designer Rodrigo Corral. Chopsticks, was an Amazon Book of the Month and won App of the Year. Anthony’ short stories can be found in Best New American Voices, Best American Nonrequired Reading, McSweeney’s, The Idaho Review and elsewhere. She is the inaugural winner of McSweeney’s “Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award,” and has recently received fellowships from the Creative Capital Foundation for Innovative Literature, the Bogliasco Foundation in Bogliasco, Italy, and the Maine Arts Commission. Anthony has
29 Lost Leona Deakin
How can you solve a crime if you can't remember the clues? With explosions, missing people, and a global mystery, Dr Bloom returns in the gripping follow up to GONE.
HOW CAN YOU SOLVE A CRIME IF YOU CAN'T REMEMBER THE CLUES? ______
**DR BLOOM IS BACK IN THE SENSATIONAL FOLLOW UP TO GONE - AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW** ______
There is an explosion at a military ball. The casualties are rushed to hospital in eight ambulances, but only seven vehicles arrive. Captain Harry Peterson is missing.
His girlfriend calls upon her old friend Dr Augusta Bloom, who rushes to support the investigation. But no one can work out what connects the bomb and the disappearance.
When Harry is eventually discovered three days later, they hope he holds the answers to their questions. But he can’t remember a single thing.
Leona Deakin started her career as a psychologist with the West Yorkshire Police. She is now an occupational psychologist and lives with her family in Leeds. May 2020 9781784164096 Wrld All Lan(US+CA Pend) £7.99 : Paperback 480 pages
30 A Daughter's Price Emma Hornby
She thought she was finally safe... but a roof over her head comes with a price to pay...
A gritty and page-turning historical saga, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin.
She thought she was finally safe...
Laura Cannock is on the run. Suspected of killing her bullying husband, his family are on a merciless prowl for revenge. Fleeing from her beloved home of Bolton to Manchester, Laura seeks refuge with her coal merchant uncle. But it soon becomes clear that a roof over her head comes with a price – of the type so unbearable she must escape once more.
Destitute and penniless, a stench-ridden housing court in the back streets of the factories is Laura’s only hope of a dwelling – a place where both the filth and the kindness of neighbours overwhelm. Here people stick together through the odds, leading Laura to true friendship, and possibly love. But with the threat of her past still hanging over her, there’s still one battle she must fight – and win – alone…
A gritty and page-turning historical saga set in Northern England in the late 1800s, perfect for fans of Dilly Court and Rosie Goodwin.
Emma Hornby lives on a tight-knit working-class estate in Bolton and has read sagas all her life. Before pursuing a career May 2020 as a novelist, she had a variety of jobs, from care assistant for 9780552175760 the elderly, to working in a Blackpool rock factory. She was £6.99 : Paperback inspired to write after researching her family history; like the 448 pages characters in her books, many generations of her family eked out life amidst the squalor and poverty of Lancashire's slums.
31 Miss Benson's Beetle Rachel Joyce
A story about the smallest insect and the deepest friendship from the author of THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY and THE MUSIC SHOP
Margery Benson’s life ended the day her father walked out of his study and never came back. Forty years later, abandoning a dull job, she advertises for an assistant. The successful candidate is to accompany Margery on an expedition to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist. Enid Pretty is not who she had in mind. But together they will find themselves drawn into an adventure that exceeds all Margery’s expectations, eventually finding new life at the top of a red mountain.
This is a story that is less about what can be found than the belief it might be found; it is an intoxicating adventure story and it is also a tender exploration of a friendship between two unforgettable women that defies all boundaries.
Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Her books have been translated into thirty-six languages and two are in development for film.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book prize and longlisted for the Man Booker June 2020 Prize. Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book 9780857521989 Awards ‘New Writer of the Year’ in December 2012 and £16.99 : Hardback shortlisted for the ‘UK Author of the Year’ 2014. 304 pages
Rachel has also written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4, including all the Bronte novels. She moved to writing after a long career as an actor, performing leading roles for the RSC, the National Theatre and Cheek by Jowl.
She lives with her family in Gloucestershire.
32 Bryant & May - Oranges and Lemons Christopher Fowler
Detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, assisted by the oddballs and eccentrics who make up the Peculiar Crimes Unit, return to break rules, infuriate officialdom and maybe, just maybe, catch the criminal in this hugely entertaining and unorthodox new investigation...
One Sunday morning the Speaker of the House of Commons hurls himself from the window of his apartment, leaving behind a bizarre clue; someone had just sent him a crate of oranges and lemons. The government needs to know; who did he talk to while of unsound mind? Did the keeper of parliament’s biggest secret put the future of the government at stake? It should be the perfect case for Bryant & May, but unfortunately one detective is in hospital, the other is missing and the staff have all been dismissed. As the long-suffering head of the Peculiar Crimes Unit leaves his garden and sets about reuniting the unit, events escalate and a series of brutal crimes threatens to undermine the very foundation of London. But if two elderly detectives, ‘old men in a woke world’, can set aside their differences and discover why some of London’s most influential figures are under life-threatening attack they might do more than just save the unit – they could stop the entire city from descending into chaos.
Christopher Fowler is the author of more than forty novels (sixteen of which feature the detectives Bryant and May and June 2020 the Peculiar Crimes Unit) and many short story collections. A 9780857525703 multiple award-winner, including the coveted CWA ‘Dagger in £16.99 : Hardback the Library’, Chris has also written screenplays, video games, 360 pages graphic novels, audio plays and two acclaimed memoirs, Paperboy and Film Freak. His most recent non-fiction book is The Book of Forgotten Authors. Chris divides his time between London's King’s Cross and Barcelona. You can find out more by visiting his website and following him on Twitter.
33 Tennis Lessons Susannah Dickey
Fleabag meets Animals and Ladybird in this achingly honest, deeply touching debut about a spirited young misfit and her rocky route to womanhood, stopping at every year along the way.
You know you're strange and wrong. You've known it from the beginning.
This is the voice that rings in your ears. That worries you never say the right thing and you’re probably a disappointment to your parents. That you’re a far cry from pretty – and your thoughts are ugly too. It says no one will ever like you just as you are.
But you know what it is to laugh with your best friend until your stomach hurts, to feel the first delicious tingles of attraction, to take exquisite pleasure in the goriness of your ingrowing toenail.
There is a place for you out there. You just need to find it.
TENNIS LESSONS is the unflinchingly honest story of one misfit and her uncertain journey to something like happiness. Stopping by each year along the way, she navigates disastrous dates, dead pets, crashed cars, best friends and lost loves. Susannah Dickey reminds us that we're all a bit weird. And that's just fine.
Susannah Dickey is from Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland. June 2020 She is the author of two poetry pamphlets, I had some very 9780857526861 slight concerns (2017) and genuine human values (2018). Her £12.99 : Hardback poetry has been published in Ambit, The White Review, Poetry 240 pages Ireland Review and Magma, amongst others. In 2018 she was shortlisted for The White Review short story prize, and in 2017 she was the winner of the inaugural Verve Poetry Festival competition. Her debut novel, Tennis Lessons, will be published in June 2020.
34 The Art of Living Stephen Bayley
Some people make living an art, none more so than Eustace Dunne, entrepreneur, maverick, magpie, media darling, advisor to government, bon viveur. Over the course of his long and storied life and career, he will straddle the worlds of design and cuisine and in so doing change them and the tastes of the nation forever….
In the 1970s, Terence Conran plucked Stephen from the obscurity of provincial academe to do his good works. One result was The Boilerhouse Project, promoting design in London's V&A, which became the most successful gallery of the eighties. Another result was the influential Design Museum. Stephen has since become one of the world's best-known commentators on design and popular culture. Intelligence Made Visible, a book he wrote with Terence, has been translated into Estonian, Korean and Mandarin. Terence came to Stephen's wedding and complained about the food. Over the years, they often fell out, but always fell back in.
June 2020 9780857526397 £16.99 : Hardback 352 pages
35 Outbreak Frank Gardner
Frank Gardner's former SBS officer and now MI6 operative Luke Carlton returns to the fray in his third, roller-coaster of an adventure . . . and this time he - and the world - are facing the all-too -real horrors of 21st century bio-terrorism . . .
Deep within the Arctic Circle, three muffled figures trudge through a blindingly white, bitterly cold and barren landscape landscape. They are environmental scientists from the UK's Arctic Research Station, forced by a raging blizzard to abandon their fieldwork and go in search of shelter. The cabin they're heading for seems abandoned. No tell tale smoke or lights glowing. No snow-cat parked outside. The first thing they notice when they enter is the smell - rank, rotting - and then there's movement. A man, barely recognisable, lies on a sofa, his face hideously disfigured by livid pustules, rivulets of blood run from his nostrils, his neck swollen, his chest covered in black bile. Momentarily, the team's medic Dr Sheila Mackenzie, can't comprehend what she's seeing but then the alarm bells begin to ring ... These are the sure signs of chronic infection. The man is trying to say something, she edges closer to hear and it's then that he begins to convulse, and coughs suddenly, violently, vomiting out a rank mix of blood, bile and mucus...contaminating Dr Mackenzie and two companions and setting in train a terrifying chain of events that points to an extraordinary conspiracy that threatens millions with a deadly contagion.
And so begins the third terrifying roller coaster of a thriller from BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and former SBS officer and now MI6 operative Luke Carlton must confront the all-too-real horrors of 21st century bio-terrorism . . .
Born in 1961, Frank Gardner is the BBC's Security Correspondent, reporting for television and radio on issues of domestic and June 2020 international security, notably on Islamist extremist related terrorism. 9781787632387 £12.99 : Hardback A fluent Arabist, with a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies, he was previously the BBC's Middle East Correspondent based in Cairo, and 320 pages before that in Dubai. In June 2004, while reporting in Riyadh, Frank and his cameraman, Simon Cumbers, were ambushed by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed outright, Frank was shot multiple times and left for dead. Against all expectations, he survived and, in 2006, published his acclaimed and bestselling memoir, Blood and Sand. In 2009 he published Far Horizons, a much praised account of his life as an inveterate traveller and explorer. His first novel, the thriller Crisis, was a No.1 bestseller. Awarded an OBE for services to journalism, Frank has also written for the Economist, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Time Out and has been published in The Best of Sunday Times Travel Writing. He lives in London with his family.
36 Untitled 1 Jo Thomas
A heart-warming tale of a woman reclaiming her life amongst the lavender fields of Provence. Perfect escapism from the author of Late Summer in the Vineyard and The Honey Farm on the Hill!
After watching one too many episode of Escape to the Chateau, Del and her husband made the move to their own French farmhouse. But just weeks later, the house is back on the market – a little worse for wear after some bad DIY – and Del is at a loss.
Should she follow her husband back home? Back to her old job and the life that she’d been trying to escape. In a moment, she’s decided – she’s staying. Determined to make the most of her new beginning, Del begins to bake using the one ingredient she’s surrounded by… lavender!
Along the way she rediscovers herself and the key to happiness…
A heart-warming tale of a woman reclaiming her life amongst the lavender fields of Provence. Perfect escapism from the author of Late Summer in the Vineyard and The Honey Farm on the Hill.
Jo Thomas worked for many years as a reporter and producer, first for BBC Radio 5, before moving on to Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Radio 2's The Steve Wright Show. June 2020 In 2013 Jo won the RNA Katie Fforde Bursary. Her debut novel, 9780552176842 The Oyster Catcher, was a runaway bestseller in ebook and £7.99 : Paperback was awarded the 2014 RNA Joan Hessayon Award and the 384 pages 2014 Festival of Romance Best Ebook Award. Jo lives in the Vale of Glamorgan with her husband and three children.
37 Island of Secrets Rachel Rhys
MYSTERY, ROMANCE, SCANDAL in bestselling Rachel Rhys immersive new novel - set in the fabulous city of Havana on the cusp of revolution - for fans of Dinah Jeffries, Lucinda Riley and Santa Montefiore.
'Rachel Rhys should be on everyone's summer reading lists' CLARE MACKINTOSH
1958: Set in the fabulous city of Havana on the cusp of revolution, an English woman discovers mystery, romance and scandal - the stunning new novel by Rachel Rhys for fans of Dinah Jeffries, Lucinda Riley and Santa Montefiore.
An artistic young English woman travels to Havana on the island of Cuba where she has been hired to sketch portraits of the guests at a high society wedding. Little does she know that beneath the glittering veneer of glamorous socialites lies a web of deceit and secrecy.
As her heart breaks over the love of a handsome Cuban, she is drawn into the dark history of a wealthy family ....
'Transporting' SUNDAY TIMES 'A fabulous summer read' DAILY EXPRESS 'Escapist fun' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Delicious' SARRA MANNING 'Intoxicating' SANTA MONTEFIORE
RACHEL RHYS is the pen-name of a much-loved psychological suspense author. A Fatal Inheritance is her second novel under this name. Her debut Dangerous Crossing a Richard and Judy bookclub pick, was published around the world. Rachel Rhys lives in North London with her family. June 2020 9781784164898 £8.99 : Paperback 256 pages
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