''My name is August.
I won''t describe to you what I look like.
Whatever you''re thinking, it''s probably worse.'' Ten-year-old August Pullman wants to be ordinary. He does ordinary things. He eats ice-cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside.
But Auggie is far from ordinary. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, he has been home-schooled by his parents his entire life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, Auggie''s parents are sending him to a real school. Can he convince his new classmates that he''s just like them, underneath it all?
Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches, Wonder is a frank, funny, astonishingly moving debut to be read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.
This blockbuster disaster thriller has sold over a million copies in Germany and been translated into 15 languages. Civilisation falls apart when a terrorist group turns off the power all over Europe. As the death toll soars, former hacker Manzano becomes a prime suspect. But he is the only man capable of finding the real attackers. Can he bring down a major terrorist network before its too late?
An unapologetic novel of ideas which is also wise, funny and paced like a thriller' Observer The magnificent new novel by bestselling award-winning Kate Atkinson In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past for ever.
Ten years later, now a producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.
Transcription is a work of rare depth and texture, a bravura modern novel of extraordinary power, wit and empathy. It is a triumphant work of fiction from one of this country's most exceptional writers.
'How vehemently most novelists will wish to produce a masterpiece as good' Telegraph
Nine year old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no-one to play with.
An exotic stranger opens a chocolate boutique in a French village at the beginning of Lent, the traditional season for self-denial, dividing the community and causing a conflict that escalates into a "Church not Chocolate" battle.
THE RUNAWAY SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER AND THRILLER OF THE YEAR, NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING EMILY BLUNT ''Really great suspense novel. Kept me up most of the night. The alcoholic narrator is dead perfect'' STEPHEN KING Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She''s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ''Jess and Jason'', she calls them. Their life - as she sees it - is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It''s only a minute until the train moves on, but it''s enough. Now everything''s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she''s only watched from afar. Now they''ll see; she''s much more than just the girl on the train...
A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK AUTUMN 2016 'Absolutely heart-breaking. One of the best books I've ever read' DINAH JEFFERIES, author of The Tea-Planter's Wife 'Compelling, elegant and insightful' Observer 'Beautifully wrought, tender, heartbreaking' Sunday Express 5/5 'Moving, fascinating' Times 'A tender and absorbing love story' Daily Mail 'Unsentimental and affecting' Sunday Times 'Exquisitely good' Metro 1911: Inside an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors, where men and women are kept apart by high walls and barred windows, there is a ballroom vast and beautiful.
For one bright evening every week they come together and dance.
When John and Ella meet It is a dance that will change two lives forever.
Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, THE BALLROOM is a historical love story. It tells a page-turning tale of dangerous obsession, of madness and sanity, and of who gets to decide which is which.
Profoundly intelligent and humane. Deserves to feature on many a prize shortlist' GUARDIAN 'A brilliant exploration of friendship, feminism and thwarted ambition' PANDORA SYKES 'If you wished Normal People had tackled female friendship, try Expectation' GRAZIA ______________________ What happened to the women we were supposed to become?
Hannah, Cate and Lissa are young, vibrant and inseparable. Living on the edge of a common in East London, their shared world is ablaze with art and activism, romance and revelry - and the promise of everything to come. They are electric. They are the best of friends.
Ten years on, they are not where they hoped to be. Amidst flailing careers and faltering marriages, each hungers for what the others have. And each wrestles with the same question: what does it take to lead a meaningful life?
The most razor-sharp and heartbreaking novel of the year, EXPECTATION is a novel about finding your way: as a mother, a daughter, a wife, a rebel.
FOR FANS OF SALLY ROONEY, DIANA EVANS, DOLLY ALDERTON, ELIZABETH DAY AND FLEABAG ___________________ 'Thoughtful, beautifully written, honest. A sensual book. I URGE YOU TO READ IT' MARIAN KEYES 'Beautiful, sharp, moving. I urge you to read it'' ELIZABETH DAY 'Will resonate with approximately 99% of women' RED MAGAZINE summer pick 'One of the most intensely readable novels this year' METRO 'One of our most gifted contemporary writers' WATERSTONES 'The story of 3 college friends, if you're a fan of Sally Rooney, you'll love EXPECTATION' IRISH EXAMINER 'A must-read' FABULOUS MAGAZINE 'Exceptional.. I highly recommend it' STACEY HALLS 'A generation-defining book on motherhood, ambition and sex. Like Normal People with female friendship under the microscope.' ERIN KELLY 'Jaw-droppingly good' SARRA MANNING 'SO GOOD. A 'What they did next' story of characters from a Sally Rooney novel' SARAH FRANKLIN 'Few novels leave me so genuinely breathless with their brilliance' HANNAH BECKERMAN 'The perfect summer reading' STYLIST 'Sublime' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Dark, relatable, elegant' LIZA KLAUSSMANN 'Intimate and touching' NINA POTTELL 'A marvellously tangy London novel' DAILY MAIL 'A grown-up, honest take on female camaraderie. Packed with talking points' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Hugely absorbing, massively enjoyable' LISSA EVANS 'An observant look at the complexities of modern female friendships' I-NEWSPAPER 'Perceptive, intelligent, bittersweet, and beautifully written' BOOKBRUNCH
The New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller'A novel of breathtaking scope' Guardian1939.SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATHThis new edition features exclusive first chapter from Markus Zusak's brand new literary novel BRIDGE OF CLAY, out in autumn 2018.
Wondering if Into the Water could be as good as The Girl on the Train? It's better. A triumph.' Clare Mackintosh, bestselling author of I Let You Go The addictive No. 1 psychological thriller from the author of The Girl on the Train, the runaway Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller and global phenomenon.
***** Just days before her sister plunged to her death, Jules ignored her call.
Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules must return to her sister's house to care for her daughter, and to face the mystery of Nel's death.
But Jules is afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of this small town that is drowning in secrecy . . .
And of knowing that Nel would never have jumped.
***** 'Paula Hawkins does it again! Into the Water is a moody and chilling thriller that will have you madly turning the pages. A gripping, compulsive read!' Shari Lapena, bestselling author of The Couple Next Door 'Fans of Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train rejoice: her second novel Into the Water is even better. A brilliantly plotted and fast-paced juggernaut of a read that hurtles to a heart-stopping conclusion.' Good Housekeeping (Book of the Month) 'A twisting whodunnit that leaves you both gratified and surprised (also the best kind) . . . Not just a brilliant thriller but also a furious feminist howl . . .' Stylist 'Dark, gothic and twisty as a snake in the grass. I read it in one sitting.' Erin Kelly, author of He Said, She Said 'Into the Water is superb. Sinister layers, complex characters and a plot that'll keep you guessing.' Ali Land, author of Good Me, Bad Me
All Wingos share one heritage... shrimp fishing, poverty and the memory of a terrifying event - the source of Tom Wingo's self-hatred and his sister Savannah's despair. To save himself and Savannah, Tom confronts the past with the help of New York psychologist Susan Lowenstein. This work chronicles the family of Wingos of Colleton, South Carolina.
It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life - a large portion of it quite deadly. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else.
Ignoring such dangers - and yet curiously obsessed by them - Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging: their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn't get much better than this...
Remembrance Day 1920: A wartime secret connects three women's lives: Hettie, whose brother won't speak; Evelyn, who still grieves for her lost lover; and Ada, who has never received an official letter about her sons' death, and is still waiting for him to come home. As the mystery that binds them begins to unravel, far away, in the fields of Northern France, the Unknown Soldier embarks on his journey home. The mood of the nation is turning towards the future - but can these three women ever let go of the past?
Imagine living in a world in which you were routinely patronised by women. Imagine having your views ignored or your expertise frequently challenged by them. Imagine people always addressing the woman you are with before you. Now imagine a world in which the reverse of this is true. The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Would you believe that US Supreme Court Justices are interrupted four times more often than male ones... 96% of the time by men? Or that British parents, when asked to estimate their child''s IQ will place their son at 115 and their daughter at 107? Marshalling a wealth of data with precision and insight, and including interviews with pioneering women such as Baroness Hale, Mary Beard and Bernadine Evaristo, Mary Ann exposes unconscious bias in this fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all. Includes interviews with pioneering women such as: Baroness Hale Mary Beard Bernadine Evaristo Mary McAleese Julia Gillard Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes Cherie Blair Liz Truss Amber Rudd Frances Morris Laura Bates __________ ''Deeply researched, profoundly thoughtful and a book very much for the here and now: Mary Ann Sieghart''s The Authority Gap is the book she was probably born to write'' - Andrew Marr ''At last here is a credible roadmap that is capable of taking women from the margins to the centre by bridging the authority gap that holds back even the best and most talented of women. - Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland
The Berry family are different. Love abounds - both healthy and incestuous. It is the overwhelming desire of the Berry father to run a hotel, which he does, with dubious success, in both a former girls' school in New Hampshire, and in Vienna. This is a conventional family saga.
Set among the apple orchards of rural Maine, it is a peverse world in which Homer Wells' odyssey begins. As the oldest unadopted offspring at St Cloud's orphanage, he learns about the skills which, one way or another, help young and not-so-young women, from Wilbur Larch, the orphanage's founder -- a man of rare compassion and an addiction to ether.
A young secretary forsakes Cleveland for San Francisco, tumbling headlong into a brave new world of laundromat Lotharios, cut throat debutantes, and Jockey Shorts dance contests. The saga that ensues is manic, romantic, and outrageous.
Merging family saga with a fluid sense of time and an extraordinarily vivid sense of history at its most human level. A dizzying and dazzling tour de force' Daily Mail WINNER OF THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD: the acclaimed number one bestselling novel.
What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath.
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale.
What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?
Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. With wit and compassion, Kate Atkinson finds warmth even in life's bleakest moments, and shows an extraordinary ability to evoke the past. Here she is at her most profound and inventive, in a novel that celebrates the best and worst of ourselves.
**WINNER of the EU Prize for Literature** 'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES 'Gripping, affecting, surprising. I inhaled it' LISA MCINERNEY 'Captivating, intelligent and courageous' IRISH TIMES 'Spectacular. At once grittily real, wildly magical and insanely alluring - a siren-song of a novel. DONAL RYAN 'Jan Carson seems to have invented a new Belfast in this gripping, surprising, exhilarating novel. RODDY DOYLE 'A brilliant, wry novel, fizzing with energy.' BARNEY NORRIS Dr Jonathan Murray fears his new-born daughter is not as harmless as she seems.
Sammy Agnew is wrestling with his dark past, and fears the violence in his blood lurks in his son, too.
The city is in flames and the authorities are losing control. As matters fall into frenzy, and as the lines between fantasy and truth, right and wrong, begin to blur, who will these two fathers choose to protect?
Dark, propulsive and thrillingly original, this tale of fierce familial love and sacrifice fizzes with magic and wonder.
The Richard and Judy Bookclub pick that readers are falling in love with.
'It's been a long time since I read anything so compelling and satisfying. At times, incredibly funny, at others, heartrending' - Sarah Winman, author of Tin Man Forced to flee the scandal brewing in her hometown, Catherine Goggin finds herself pregnant and alone, in search of a new life at just sixteen. She knows she has no choice but to believe that the nun she entrusts her child to will find him a better life.
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery, or so his parents are constantly reminding him. Adopted as a baby, he's never quite felt at home with the family that treats him more as a curious pet than a son. But it is all he has ever known.
And so begins one man's desperate search to find his place in the world. Unspooling and unseeing, Cyril is a misguided, heart-breaking, heartbroken fool. Buffeted by the harsh winds of circumstance towards the one thing that might save him from himself, but when opportunity knocks, will he have the courage, finally, take it?
Winner of the 2018 Glass Bell Award for standout storytelling.
NEW UPDATED EDITION Was the Battle of Hastings a French victory?
Non! William the Conqueror was Norman and hated the French.
Were the Brits really responsible for the death of Joan of Arc?
Non! The French sentenced her to death for wearing trousers.
Did the French write "God Save the Queen"?
Non! But that's what they claim.
Ten centuries' worth of French historical 'facts' bite the dust as Stephen Clarke looks at what has really been going on since 1066 ...
Featuring new annoyances - both historical and recent - inflicted on the French, including Napoleon's "banned" chamber pot, Louis XIV's painful operation, Anglo-French jibes during the 2012 London Olympics, French niggles about William and Kate's royal wedding, and much more ...
Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack.
After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move back to the USA. Before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, he took one last trip around the UK, and in this book, he turns an affectionate but laconic eye on his adopted country.
Self-published in France, and a subsequent bestseller, the hilarious story of a year in the life of a young Englishman abroad. Less quaint than 'A Year in Provence', less chocolatey than 'Chocolat', 'A Year in the Merde' will tell you how to get served by the grumpiest Parisian waiter; how to make the perfect vinaigrette every time; how to make amour - not war; and how not to buy a house in the French countyside.
