Leona Deakin
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FICTION……………1-18 NON FICTION……20-42 BACKLIST…………44-46 Fiction 1 PERFECT LIARS Rebecca Reid Publication: February 2019 Format/extent: Pbk, 352 Material: MS A compulsively readable and scarily true-to-life thriller for fans of THE GIRLFRIEND, Liane Moriarty and Jane Corry. They have it all. And they’ll do anything to keep it that way. Sixteen years ago best friends Nancy, Georgia and Lila did something unspeakable. Their crime forged an unbreakable bond between them, a bond of silence. But now, one of them wants to talk. It’s up to Georgia to call a crisis dinner; they’ve been through this before and they can do it again. But this time it’s different. Three women walk in to the dinner, but only two will leave. Murder isn’t so difficult the second time around. Told through two timelines, ‘then’ and ‘now’, PERFECT LIARS tells the story of a group of friends bound by their dark pasts and their desperate need to keep their secrets hidden from the world around them. How far would you go to protect the life you’ve built? Rebecca Reid is a prolific freelance press and broadcast journalist. She writes regularly for Metro, Telegraph and Evening Standard and appears regularly on Sky News and ITV’s This Morning. 2 MIND GAMES Leona Deakin Publication: April 2019 Format/extent: Pbk, 320 pp Material: MS An addictive, twisting debut in the vein of M. J. Arlidge's EENY MEENY, that turns the missing person plot on its head Four strangers are missing with no clues to their whereabouts. Except one. On the day they disappeared, they each received a little white birthday card with a message: YOUR GIFT IS THE GAME DARE TO PLAY? The police aren’t worried; it’s a game. But the families are frantic. The daughter of one of the victims persuades psychologist and private detective Dr Augusta Bloom to investigate. As she delves into the lives of the missing people – their behaviours, their motives, their personalities – she finds something that binds them all together. And makes them very dangerous indeed. As the game gathers players and more families lose their loved ones, Dr Bloom must race to find its organisers. But is she playing into their hands? Leona Deakin began her career as a psychologist for the West Yorkshire Police and now works as an occupational psychologist. This is her debut thriller. 3 SLOW MOTION GHOSTS Jeff Noon Publication: August 2018 Format/extent: Hbk, 384 pp Material: May 2018 A dark and labyrinthine thriller from a bold new voice in crime fiction It is 1981, London is bruised by austerity, social unrest and racial tension, and the police are at war. Anger has erupted in the Brixton Riots and is finding expression in protest, anarchy and punk. For Detective Inspector Hobbes, the battle lines are being redrawn within his own ranks as right and wrong are clouded by prejudice. Into this mess comes a murder. A promising young singer has been maimed and killed and the artistry of the crime is disturbing. On the hunt for the killer, Hobbes begins an investigation that will lead him deep into a subculture hidden beneath the everyday. A cult of personality that hides from the problems of the city and escapes to a world of its own, a world that is at once seductive and devastating. How far will Hobbes have to go to learn the truth? And how many more must die before he does? Bringing the trademark imagination of his acclaimed early novels, Jeff Noon has delivered a police procedural with a difference - an intricate, twisting crime novel that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. Jeff Noon is the author of six acclaimed novels, Vurt, Pollen, Automated Alice, Nymphomation, Needle in the Groove and Falling Out of Cars, as well as two collections of short fictions, and is also the crime fiction reviewer forThe Spectator. He lives in Brighton. 4 WHAT ALICE KNEW T.A. Cotterell Publication: May 2017 Format/extent: Pbk, 384 pp Rights sold: Euromedia (Czech); Goldmann (German); Amber (Polish) An addictive debut for fans of tense, thought-provoking novels such as Liane Moriarty’s The Husband’s Secret and Clare Macintosh’s I Let You Go Alice is a portrait painter, obsessed with capturing the ‘truth’ of her sitters. She has always trusted her instincts and knows that she married a good man. Until her husband doesn’t come home one night, and ends up in a young woman’s flat. A young woman whose murder is now all over the news. Alice knows she isn’t married to a murderer, but the police will see it differently. The facts are stacked against him and every minute of delay is a sign of guilt. So she covers for him. And the lying begins. But one lie inevitably leads to another. As the secret grows, Alice must choose between her family and her integrity. What would you do? ‘You’ll want to talk about it to anyone who will listen. An impressive debut’ - Shari Lapena, author of The Couple Next Door ‘An intriguing, well-constructed and dramatic debut’ Times Literary Supplement T.A. Cotterell read History of Art at Cambridge University. He worked in the City before leaving to become a freelance writer. He has written for The Telegraph, The Spectator and assorted magazines and is now a writer and editor at the research house, Redburn. He is married with three children and lives in Bristol. 5 THE REINVENTION OF MARTHA ROSS Charlene Allcott Publication: July 2018 Format/extent: Pbk, 320 pp Material: MS A fizzingly fresh and exciting new voice in fiction: this is an addictive, sharp and hilarious debut about one single mother's attempts to start over after her marriage falls apart Martha Ross is starting over. At thirty-five, she's separating from her husband, the father of her two-year-old son. She harbours dreams of becoming a singer, but in order to make ends meet, took a job in a call centre for six months. That was eighteen months ago. And now she and her son are moving back home to Mum and Dad. In an attempt to help Martha get up and move on, her friends encourage her to write a list of all the things she’d look for in a new relationship. But starting over is more complicated than just finding new love. There’s a horrendous boss to contend with, a half-marathon she hasn’t trained for and a singing gig that goes disastrously wrong. In looking for love, Martha discovers she needs to learn to love herself. The reinvention of Martha Ross is just beginning . Charlene Alcott lives in Brighton and works part time in a residential care home for young people. She writes a parenting blog, Moderate Mum. 6 Untitled Mahsuda Snaith Publication: March 2019 Format/extent: Hbk, 304 pp Options: Piper (German); Garzanti (Italian) Material: MS May A contemporary fairy-tale from one of our most exciting new voices In this modern retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, homeless girl Molly is swept up on an adventure across the country with her best friend, Jules, and new acquaintance, Luca. Their unusual quest leads them on train rides through sunflower fields, to suburban manor houses and to beachside resorts at the very edge of their world. They come face-to-face with old adversaries and new challenges, but never waver in their pursuit of courage, love, safety and – most importantly – a place to call home. Mahsuda Snaith promises another heart-warming, poignant, powerful novel about resilience, imagination and the power of never-ending hope. Praise for The Things We Thought We Knew: ‘An original and affecting coming-of-age novel’ - The Observer ‘An original, heartfelt read by a new British talent’ Independent ‘A delightfully fresh voice’ Daily Mail Mahsuda Snaith is a writer of novels, short stories and plays and the winner of the Leeds Literary Prize 2014, Bristol Short Story Prize 2014 as well as a finalist for the Mslexia Novel Competition 2013. Mahsuda was picked as one of The Observer’s New Faces of Fiction for 2017. 7 FROM A LOW AND QUIET SEA Donal Ryan Publication: March 2018 Format/extent: Hbk, 224 pp Rights sold: Jensen & Dalgaard (Danish); Yakin Kitabevi (Turkey); Penguin Books (US) Option publishers: Kniha Zlin (Czech); Kopernik (Dutch); Albin Michel (French); Diogenes Verlag (German); The eagerly anticipated new novel from award-winning literary sensation, Donal Ryan Set across Syria and Ireland, From a Low and Quiet Sea is Donal’s most ambitious, sweeping story yet - a drama of the interwoven lives of three men, each searching for something they have lost. Farouk has protected his wife and daughter as best he can from the war that has torn Syria apart. But if they flee, they will lose all they have known of home, all for an intangible dream of refuge in some faraway land across the sea. For Lampy, that faraway land is home, but he wishes it wasn’t. He has the city girl for a bit of fun, but she’s not Chloe, and Chloe took his heart away when she left him. John’s heart has always beaten to the thrill of manipulating people. But it was never enough. And now it’s cold - so very cold - and that heart is slowing down, and he’s not sure if God will listen to his pleas for forgiveness. Three men, searching for some version of home, their lives moving inexorably towards a reckoning that will draw them all together.