FICTION

King SorrowSOME PROMISES SHOULD NEVER BE MADE...'A monster of a book...a vast, brimstoned, relentless zinger' NICK HARKAWAYBookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Alison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will work: to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.Praise for Sunday Times bestseller Joe Hill:'Fantastically compelling' THE OBSERVER'Clever, gripping and packs a hell of a punch' JOANNE HARRIS'Character-driven stories that enthral and thrill' DAILY MAIL'Original and gripping' GEORGE R. R. MARTIN

Queen EstherAfter forty years, John Irving returns to the world of his bestselling classic novel and Academy Award–winning film, The Cider House Rules, revisiting the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch takes in Esther—a Viennese-born Jew whose life is shaped by anti-Semitism.Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther; in fact, he won’t find any family who’ll adopt her.When Esther is fourteen, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t Jewish, but they despise anti-Semitism. Esther’s gratitude for the Winslows is unending; even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows. In the final chapter, set in Jerusalem in 1981, Esther Nacht is seventy-six.John Irving’s sixteenth novel is a testament to his enduring ability to weave complex characters and intricate narratives that challenge and captivate. Queen Esther is not just a story of survival but a profound exploration of identity, belonging, and the enduring impact of history on our personal lives showcasing why Irving remains one of the world’s most beloved, provocative, and entertaining authors—a storyteller of our time and for all time.

Fruit Of The Dead An electric contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set over the course of one summer on a lush private island, about addiction and sex, family and independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld.Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, afraid to face her high-strung single mother in New York, is no longer sure where home is when the father of one of her campers offers an alternative. The CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, Rolo Picazo is middle-aged, divorced, magnetic. He is also intoxicated by Cory. When Rolo proffers a childcare job (and an NDA), Cory quiets an internal warning and allows herself to be ferried to his private island. Plied with luxury and opiates manufactured by his company, she continues to tell herself she’s in charge. Her mother, Emer, head of a teetering agricultural NGO, senses otherwise. With her daughter seemingly vanished, Emer crosses land and sea to heed a cry for help she alone is convinced she hears.Alternating between the two women’s perspectives, Rachel Lyon’s Fruit of the Dead incorporates its mythic inspiration with a light touch and devastating precision. The result is a tale that explores love, control, obliteration, and America’s own late capitalist mythos. Lyon’s reinvention of Persephone and Demeter’s story makes for a haunting and ecstatic novel that vibrates with lush abandon. Readers will not soon forget it.Praise for Fruit of the Dead‘An unnerving literary thriller... An absorbing exploration of ancient themes like power and temptation.’ Mail on Sunday'Riveting and lush… a spellbinding account of a young woman’s hunger for freedom, the sordid underbelly of big pharma, and the siren call of addiction.' Leslie Jamison, author of Splinters'A gripping literary thriller, Fruit of the Dead presents a coming-of-age tale that is so well-observed and intoxicating that the reader will lose track of time, but won't forget how they spent it. Egan and Cline fans: assemble.' Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Wild Laughter‘Ancient Greece meets Succession by way of Emma Cline, Fruit of the Dead is a deliciously dark examination of agency and power, and the savage complexity of the mother-daughter bond.’ Ruth Gilligan, author of The Butchers‘Mesmerised and profoundly alarmed, I read this in one go; I’ve been haunted by it ever since. I’ve passionately loved Lyon’s writing for years, and Fruit of the Dead further confirms what I’ve long suspected: I want to lunge to read anything she writes.’ R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries

The Anthropologists Asya and Manu are looking at apartments, envisioning their future in a foreign city. Removed from the web of family and its obligations, what traditions and rituals should they establish together?As they dream about the possibilities of each new listing, Asya, a documentary filmmaker, spends her days gathering footage from the neighbourhood park like an anthropologist observing local customs, anxious to know how people really live. ‘Forget about daily life,’ chides her grandmother on the phone, ‘no one cares about that.’Meanwhile, life back in Asya and Manu's respective home countries continues – parents age, grandparents get sick, nieces and nephews grow up – all just slightly beyond their reach. But the world they're making in their new city is growing, too, they hope. As they open up the horizons of their lives, what and whom will they hold onto, and what will they need to release?Praise for Aysegül Savas“Aysegül Savas’ White on White is marvelous, as elegant as an opaque sheet of ice that belies the swift and turbulent waters beneath.” —Lauren Groff“A haunting, irresistible novel. In Agnes, Savas has created one of the great characters of contemporary literature. I loved this book for its depth and perception, for its beauty and eerie rhythms, but most of all for its wonderfully dream-like spell. It’s breathtaking.” —Brandon Taylor“Despite the thriller-ish underpinning of the novel and the propulsive unfolding of the relationship at the book’s heart, Savas’s graceful and intellectual prose is the star of the show here. It makes air-light what might otherwise be a novel ponderous with weighty questions: What is the nature of art? Does it reveal or conceal? What is the nature of human connection? . . . . Like a prism, this novel brilliantly illuminates the human spectrum of connection and longing.” —Kirkus, STARRED review“[A] beguiling little novel… Indeed, going out for a stroll is the activity that most resembles the reading of Savas’s book.” – The New York Times Book Review

Call It What You WantA nostalgic ode to all almost-love stories - the ones with no label and no title but an undeniable intensity. Call it what you want... Was it love?A situationship, a heartbreak, a mistake - you can call it what you want. But was it love?It's 2016, and Sloane Hart's senior year of college is bound to be the best one yet. Her nights consist of drinking cheap vodka and singing along to The Chainsmokers with her friends, and her days are spent writing as she prepares for the post-grad life in New York City she's always dreamed of.The last thing she needs is for a guy to get in the way of her goals. With graduation so close, she just needs to focus on landing a job and enjoying this last year with her best friends all under one roof. But that plan becomes a little more complicated when her upstairs neighbor, Ethan Brady, enters the picture.Ethan's pull is undeniable. He's tall, mysterious, and handsome as hell, and when Sloane is with him, the entire world slows to a halt. But Ethan's guarded past is too hurtful for him to face, and if letting Sloane in means that the walls he's built around his heart would come crumbling down, he may not be willing to let that happen.As their chemistry and connection intensify, Sloane finds herself falling deeper and deeper, but will Ethan ever be ready to catch her?Nostalgic, heartfelt, and profoundly cathartic, Call It What You Want is an ode to almost-love stories - the kinds with no labels, no promises, and the potential to turn your entire world upside down.

On FriendshipFrom the bestselling author of Mayflies and Caledonian Road, a heart-enriching celebration of what makes us great: our friends.

The ForrestsLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013'Perkins is an extraordinary writer ... The Forrests is a novel to be savoured' - Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times'Dexterously communicates some of life's less-syncopated rhythms ... Funny, painful and utterly mesmerising' - Independent on Sunday'The novel I would most like to press into my friends' suitcases this summer ... kept me up reading late into the night' - Helen Brown, Daily TelegraphDorothy Forrest is immersed in the sensory world around her; she lives in the flickering moment. From the age of seven, when her odd, disenfranchised family moves from New York City to the wide skies of Auckland, to the very end of her life, this is her great gift and possible misfortune.Through the wilderness of a commune, to falling in love, to early marriage and motherhood, from the glorious anguish of parenting to the loss of everything worked for and the unexpected return of love, Dorothy is swept along by time. Her family looms and recedes; revelations come to light; death changes everything, but somehow life remains as potent as it ever was, and the joy in just being won't let her go.In a narrative that shifts and moves, growing as wild as the characters, The Forrests is an extraordinary literary achievement. A novel that sings with colour and memory, it speaks of family and time, dysfunction, ageing and loneliness, about heat, youth, and how life can change if 'you're lucky enough to be around for it'.'Literary fiction at its most luscious' - Mail on Sunday'An ambitious family saga flooded with light and life' - Julie Myerson, New Statesman Books of the Year'Exhilarating- intensely attentive, funny, lyrical and moving' - Kate Summerscale, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year'Remarkable' - Tom Sutcliffe, BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review'Extraordinary ... a magnificent novel' - Arifa Akba, Independent'An intelligent and perceptive novel' - Allan Massie, Scotsman

Novel About My WifeRejacketed edition of the darkly gripping novel by the Ockham Prize-winning author of LionessTom Stone is madly in love with his wife Ann. Pushing forty and expecting their first child, they buy a semi-derelict house in Hackney. Despite their spiralling money troubles, they believe this is their settled future. But Ann becomes convinced she's being shadowed by a homeless man whose presence seems like a terrible omen. As their child grows, Ann's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, feverish and disturbed. On the verge of losing everything, Tom makes a decision that he hopes will save their lives.Novel About My Wife is a taut, sensuous and chilling portrait of a marriage beset by paranoia and obsession.Emily Perkins is the author of a prize-winning collection of short stories, Not Her Real Name, and four novels, including Novel About My Wife (winner of the NZ Book Award and the Believer Magazine Book of the Year, The Forrests (longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction) and Lioness (winner of the Ockham NZ Prize for Fiction).

Wreck From the NYT bestselling author of WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS and SANDWICH. One family, one year and a novel that reminds us what it means to be beautifully, messily human.'The kind of book that pulls up a chair, pours the wine, and dives deep... like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it.' Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People'Gorgeously human, tender-hearted, and delightfully funny' Nussaibah Younis, bestselling author of Fundamentally'A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.' Kirkus Reviews (starred review)'Infectiously funny and surprisingly moving, Wreck reminds us that we are each, in our way, trying to make sense of the big things with some very small tools' Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Homemade God_______Rocky, Nick, Willa and Jamie. A normal loving, anxious, messy, relatable, family.Rocky has her own way of processing disasters- 1. This could happen to us. 2. This couldn't happen to us. And then there's a secret third column- 'This could happen to us unless I am very careful/ superstitious/ grateful...'So when a former classmate of Jamie's dies in a seemingly random accident, Rocky becomes obsessed. She's also developed a niggling medical condition that won't go away. On the surface, she is still living her best life as the irreverent, funny, unpredictable beating heart of her family. Her father is his unique, adorable self; Willa is prone to bouts of existential angst whilst berating the fact that her mother has zero filter; Nick is steady, logical, sometimes infuriating.But if accidents can happen - and they do - is it safe to love anyone?Laugh out loud funny and deeply emotional, WRECK follows Rocky and her family through one rollercoaster year as they share the unpredictable, beautiful messiness of life._______PRAISE FOR SANDWICH & WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS-'Breezy New York Nora-Ephron-style wit meets hospice memoir to create something profoundly beautiful...comforting, so funny, moving but never mawkish and packed with all kinds of love. It's one of my favourite books ever' bestselling author, MARIAN KEYES'One of the funniest books I've ever read' FEARNE COTTON, STYLIST'I adored this book. Jubilant, devastating, tender, heartbreaking, I found myself both in tears and 'snorty-laughing'. A masterclass on friendship, family love, memory, and the messiness of life and love and dying. Pure genius' RACHEL JOYCE, author of the bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry'Tragically funny, with moments of clarity and wisdom, Newman writes loss and laughter in equally brilliant amounts' BONNIE GARMUS, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry'Newman is truly a master of taking complex and chaotic human emotion and making sense of it ... wise and exquisitely written' GUARDIAN'Sandwich is joy in book form. I laughed continuously, except for the parts that made me cry. Catherine Newman does a miraculous job reminding us of all the wonder there is to be found in life.' ANN PATCHETT, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Lake

Special Delivery is an exhilarating enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy that will have you laughing out loud. If you enjoyed Book Lovers by Emily Henry and No Hard Feelings by Genevieve Novak, then this is the perfect read for you!

Good Things Come And Go The stunning second novel from the bestselling author of Everything Is Beautiful and Everything Hurts

The Princess BrideThe beloved novel that spawned the cult classic film.Embark on a tale of true love and swashbuckling adventure like no other.Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father; prepare to die!Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Westley, the farm boy.When he departs to make his fortune, she vows never to love another. But when she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts - who never leaves survivors - her heart is broken.Buttercup's charms draw the attention of the relentless Prince Humperdinck who wants a wife and will go to any lengths to make her his bride. But there are other plans afoot. Plans involving mercenaries, giants, criminal philosophers, villainous counts, and pirates. So begins one of modern storytelling's most beloved tales.'As brilliant and funny as its screen version' Observer'One of the funniest, most original, and deeply moving novels I have read in a long time' Los Angeles Times'Both modern and timeless' Neon'A wonderful fairy tale' The Times