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In Luke Kennard's audacious new novel, a penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr Blend's students react to someone zipped into on oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of autumn term lectures? The role, eagerly accepted, soon has unexpected consequences. A professor of post-humanism develops research questions of her own, in particular can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag? Meanwhile, the actor's childhood friend and flatmate forms a vision for monetising this new situation . . . A warped campus novel, an investigation into the crisis of masculinity and an off-kilter love story, Black Bag is a firework of a novel: blazingly funny and profoundly humane.
Broke and directionless, our young protagonist takes a job in the Italian countryside as the assistant to Lisabetta - better known to her friends as Coco - a strong-willed, wealthy aristocrat of great local renown. Trained as an archivist, he thinks he's been hired to catalogue the contents of the beautiful, crumbling mansion nestled in the green Tuscan hills. But what are his actual duties? Days are spent in a series of increasingly eccentric pursuits: entertaining an endless carousel of guests (from bohemian painters to elderly princesses to unnervingly handsome nephews), attending a funeral in order to make off with the urn, and aiding and abetting Coco's great and final plan - to reunite with the lost love of her life before it's too late. As summer turns into autumn and the Italian countryside begins to work its magic, the secrets of Villa Coco and its inhabitants are slowly brought to light - and with them, an unforgettable story of the enduring power of friendship. A 'charm novel' for our times, Villa Coco is a sun-drenched paean to youth, to age and to the fulfilment of love - filled with great wisdom and a spirit of unadulterated joy.
"You don't have to love your body every single day. That's unrealistic to expect, but I'll be here loving it for the days you can't. ZANDERS Chicago hockey isn't complete without me - everyone's favourite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night. What I don't like is the new flight attendant on our team's private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I'll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she'll be begging to quit her job. But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can't quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons, or if it's more than that. STEVIE I've been a flight attendant for years. I thought I'd seen it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again .  . . no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be.  Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it. Everything but him. Mile High is the first book in the sensational Windy City series which has gripped over a million readers across the world. But don't worry if you're new round here, there's still time to fall in love . .
From the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Henna Artist, this captivating novel follows a young Anglo-Indian nurse who embarks on a journey from her home in Bombay to uncover a mystery and prove her innocence after a famous painter dies in her care. 1937. Young nurse Sona is drawn to the renowned, feisty, scandalous painter Mira Novak when they meet while the latter is recovering at a Bombay hospital, and the two women bond over their half-Indian identities. But when Mira dies suddenly and mysteriously, Sona falls under suspicion. The key to proving Sona's innocence may lie in a cryptic note and four paintings Mira left in her care, sending the young woman across a tumultuous Europe to meet Mira’s former lovers and friends. As Sona travels from Bombay to Istanbul, Prague, Paris, Florence and London uncovering Mira's life story, she learns that behind the charming facade was a complicated, troubled woman with dangerous secrets. But will Sona discover them in time to clear her name?
From the author of Reese's Book Club Pick The Henna Artist, the final chapter in Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestselling Jaipur trilogy takes readers to 1970s Paris, where Radha’s budding career as a perfumer must compete with the demands of her family and the secrets of her past. Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents. She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her. Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage. The Jaipur Trilogy Book 1: The Henna Artist Book 2: The Secret Keeper of Jaipur Book 3: The Perfumist of Paris
'You will never understand how the land remembers, how deep the roots grow' A spellbinding story of separation, longing, recovery and survival as a family makes a new home in the aftermath of tragedy. On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomas and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomas, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster. The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomas is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomas and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home? Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE PULITZER-WINNING, BOOKER-SHORTLISTED ELIZABETH STROUT COMES A STUNNING STANDALONE NOVEL OF LOVE, LONELINESS AND NEW BEGINNINGS Artie Dam is a man with a secret. He spends his days teaching history to high schoolers, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbours, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: how is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us? And then, one day, Artie learns that life has been keeping a secret from him, one that threatens to upend his entire world. Once he learns it, he is forced to chart a new course, to reconsider the relationships he holds most dear—and to make peace with the mysteries at the heart of our existence. With exquisite prose and profound insight, Elizabeth Strout captures the way grief reverberates through decades, the comfort found in deep friendships and the freedom that comes when we break free of our secrets. The Things We Never Say is a stunning new novel from one of our most acclaimed observers of the human heart.
'One of the greatest storytellers of our time' - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie comes to the painful realization that the years have eroded not just her confidence but also her self-esteem, and she's no longer the woman she once was. Devastated, Annie retreats to Mystic, the remote lakeside town in the Pacific Northwest where she grew up, hoping that she can start to rebuild her life and rediscover herself. There, she is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, recently widowed and trying to cope with his emotionally scarred young daughter. Together, the three of them begin to heal. But just when Annie believes she's been given a second chance at happiness, her world is turned upside down again and she is forced to make a choice that no woman in love should ever have to make.
One final letter. His last wish. Go and be with her... Beckett,If you're reading this, well, you know the last-letter drill. You made it. I didn't. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have. I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride. My little sister Ella's raising the twins alone. She's too independent and won't accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It's too much for anyone to endure. It's not fair. So if I'm gone, that means I can't be there for Ella. I can't help them through this. But you can. So I'm begging you, as my best friend, go take care of my sister, my family. Please don't make her go through it alone. Ryan
The sixth book in the multi-million-copy bestselling series about a cosy Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time. In a special seat in a fabled Tokyo cafe, you're offered something irresistible - not just a warm, comforting coffee, but the chance to go back in time to revisit the ones you love . . . In Before I knew I loved you, Toshikazu Kawaguchi takes us back to the warm heart of the mysterious Funiculi Funicula Cafe, with another four guests whose luminous stories of love, lost and won again, will reaffirm your belief in its eternal potential. In this book, we meet: - The girl who wishes to make amends with the mother she never accepted - The man who waited for a reply from his girlfriend, and never heard from her - The woman anxious to travel ahead to know what her future holds - The student who travels back to meet his father again, who passed away many years before. Yet the same rules always apply - you must return before the coffee gets cold. And while it does, memories are revisited, people are changed forever, and the enduring power of love transcends the boundaries of time. The sixth book in the phenomenal, bestselling series, translated from Japanese, Before I knew I loved you asks the irresistible question: what would you do if you were offered the chance to go back in time?
When your life flashes before your eyes, what will matter most? For Wilbur it was his time with Maggie, the love of his life. Their honeymoon in Venice. Before he threw it all away. Years later, on the brink of his own death, a train arrives. It can take Wilbur back in time. To relive his most important moments. Soon he realises just how much he would have changed. An adventure through time, The Midnight Train is a story of love and second chances, from the world of The Midnight Library.
The stunning new novel from the Booker Prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author of SHUGGIE BAIN and YOUNG MUNGO. Out of money and with little to show for his art school education, John-Calum Macleod takes the ferry home to the island of Harris to find that not much has changed except for him. In the windswept croft where he grew up, Cal resumes his old life, caught between the two poles of his childhood: his father John, a sheep farmer, weaver, and pillar of their local Presbyterian church, and his Glaswegian grandmother Ella, who has kept a faltering peace with her son-in-law for decades. While Cal wonders if any lonely men might be found on the barren hillsides of home, John is dismayed by his son's long hair and how he seems unwilling to be Saved. As the seasons pass, everything is poised to change as the threads holding together the fragile community become increasingly entangled. John of John is the heartbreaking story of a young man's return home and how the bonds of family life are torn by the weight of expectation. It confirms Douglas Stuart as one of the great British writers at work today.
From the NYT bestselling author of We All Want Impossible Things ‘Sandwich is joy in book form. One week by the beach in their favourite spot, the perfect family holiday. What could possibly go wrong?For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape. The humble, quirky beach house they rent has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, shared mishaps and memories. It is a place where her family comes together and Rocky wants to cling to every moment. Now, sandwiched between her children who are adult enough to be fun but still young enough to need her, and her parents who are ageing but healthy, Rocky wants to preserve this precious moment of balance for ever. But life is always full of surprises and this week will be no exception. With her body in open revolt and surprises invading her peaceful haven, the seesaw of Rocky’s life is tipping towards change… If you are after a book to pack on your next holiday, look no further. 
The gripping new mystery from the million-copy-bestselling author of In the Woods and The Hunter, perfect for fans of Jane Harper and Chris Whitaker. Crime fiction s biggest contemporary star Guardian A masterpiece Liz Nugent, bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond On a cold night in the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty, a girl goes missing. Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she s dead in the river. In a place like this, her death isn t simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now and he owes them loyalty, but his fianc e Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty s tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel s death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line . . .
Recommended for mature readers only. The next book in the KINGS OF SIN series by No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Ana HuangShe's his greatest rival . .  . and his greatest weakness. Handsome, talented, and beloved by (almost) everyone, Sebastian Laurent is used to being on top. The heir to a culinary empire, his sharp instincts and effortless charm have made him a legend. What people don't see are the demons lurking beneath his golden-boy façade. There's only one person who's come close to knowing the real him - Maya Singh, his childhood rival and secret obsession. She's also the only one who's ever successfully challenged him. He can't stand her, but if that's true . .  . why can't he stop thinking about her? Smart, witty, and competitive to a fault, top marketing executive Maya Singh is used to winning - unless her opponent is Sebastian. It's something that's infuriated and motivated her her entire life. So when a series of unfortunate events forces her to work with her sworn enemy, she's determined to one-up him and show the world who's the best once and for all. What she didn't count on? Not hating their time together. To her horror, she might even .  . . like it. There may be a thin line between love and hate, but that's one line she'll never cross. Not with him. Not ever.
A girl so desperate to belong that she lets herself be remade…Jessica and Linda have been inseparable since childhood. At Wilde, an elite Dublin university, they arrive determined to remake themselves. Jessica, her fierce ambition set on the theatre, is used to leading. Linda, more fragile, follows. But when they meet Mark, an older student with a magnetic presence, the balance between them begins to shift. Linda becomes Mark’s girlfriend, then his project. Jessica becomes his actress, her ambition pulling her deeper into his orbit. Under Mark’s influence, reshaped by his attention, old loyalties between the girls begin to fracture. By the end of that year, under the sway of his influence, a line is crossed that leads to devastating consequences. A compulsive and gripping story about exploitation and control, toxic female friendship, desire and shame, The Wildelings is your next dark academia obsession.
THE READS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2026 - Times BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2026 - Guardian 2026 FICTION HIGHLIGHTS - Observer WHAT TO READ IN 2026 - Financial Times BOOKS YOU NEED TO READ IN 2026 - BBC Culture THE MOST HYPED BOOKS WE CAN'T WAIT TO READ IN 2026 - Elle Magazine The past is never done with: always the song continues Harlow Donne has devoted his life to the Classical world. When a chance comes up to study an obscure collection of papyrus fragments at Oxford University, he seizes it. Though it means leaving his daughter and fracturing marriage back home in Canada, this is the kind of career break he desperately needs. In the depths of the Bodleian Library, Harlow discovers a lost account of the Trojan War, a glimpse into the founding of Western civilization itself. He names the epic poem The Psoad, after its protagonist, a Greek commoner identified as Psoas of Midea but known to all as 'son of nobody'. As sole translator and interpreter of the Psoad, Harlow dedicates the poem and its modern footnotes to his daughter, Helen. Under his gaze, the text unlocks echoes of Ancient Greece into the present day, and a personal message to his beloved child appears. Despite the three-thousand-year gap between the two, a thread hasn't frayed: the universal song of homesickness and regret, of ambition and grief. In this masterpiece of myth and history, Son of Nobody explores how stories become facts, the price we pay to share them and how we live - then, now and always.
Explosive and timely, DEAR DARLING cuts to the heart of a conversation - and gives a woman her voice. An unforgettable novel for those who loved My Dark Vanessa and Half His Age Dear Darling, So begins the letter from Daniel Prior.The man Lauren had sex with when she was fourteen years old.The man she fell in love with, long before conversations about power and consent and #MeToo.The man she locked away in the deepest part of her memory.Eighteen years later, the world is changed, and Lauren, a wife and mother, is changed too.But now, fresh out of prison, Daniel wants to meet.And Lauren must finally confront the electricity and devastation of the man who's loved and harmed her more deeply than anyone in her life... From bold new voice Ella King, Dear Darling cuts to the heart of some of the most complex issues of our age.
AN EPIC NOVEL SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE 1980S SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM ABOUT THE EXTRAORDINARY LENGTHS WE GO TO LIVE AND LOVE BEYOND OUR LIMITS. In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston's Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond; mission specialists John Griffin and Lydia Danes; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer. As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant. Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love - this time among the stars.
In the aftermath of a national disaster, a couple look back on their marriage and what it cost them in this groundbreaking novel about capitalism’s effect on the human heart Maggie and Kurt are struggling to hold their marriage together after their only daughter has left home. They live in an old farmhouse in Nyborg but somehow keep missing each other, unable to discuss the events that brought them together. Decades ago, a passenger ferry called the Scandinavian Star caught fire, killing 159 people. The event is still considered a national tragedy in Denmark and Norway. Years later, it was revealed not to be an accident, but the result of an insurance scam gone wrong. How is the Scandinavian Star disaster connected to Maggie and Kurt? How does money affect and infect our closest relationships? And is it ever possible to escape?
The captivating and moving follow-up to the international bestseller Beartown, from the 18 million copy bestselling author of Anxious People, A Man Called Ove and My Friends Can a broken town survive a second tragedy? By the time the last goal is scored, someone in Beartown will be dead . . . Us Against You is the story of two towns, two teams and what it means to believe in something bigger than yourself. It's about how people come together - sometimes in anger, often in sorrow, but also through love. And how, when we stand together, we can bring a town back to life.
Once upon a time, not very far from now, two children come home to find a line of wet red paint round the outside of their house . .  .  So begins the freewheeling and urgent new novel from Ali Smith – the story of two young people and a horse called Gliff, on the run from history as it takes a turn for the worse.  SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BOWKER VOLCANO PRIZE 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2024 LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2026
The deliciously dark new suspense novel from the international bestselling author of Strange Sally Diamond If my sister hadn t been beautiful, none of it would have happened. Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family s world to implode. Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston. Not that Ruby wants to think about the past. But it can t stay a secret forever. Liz Nugent at the top of her game a proper work of art nuanced, messy and complicated, just like real-life.
Glyph follows Ali Smith's 2024 novel Gliff and tells a story hidden in the first novel. Gliff is set in a near future rife with surveillance, where people can be labelled 'unverifiable' by the state. It follows siblings Briar and Rose as they attempt to survive in a world that strives to crush curiosity and meaning.
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