FICTION

Your Friend And MineA warm, witty and wise novel about second chances, friendship, and romance for readers of Marian Keyes and Liane Moriarty.

I Cheerfully Refuse Barnes & Noble's April Book Club Pick An Amazon Top 10 Editors' Pick A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 from Literary Hub Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved musician taking to Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved bookselling wife. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, crumbled infrastructure and a lawless society. Amid the Gulliver-like challenges of life at sea, Rainy is lifted by physical beauty, surprising humour, generous strangers and an unexpected companion in a young girl who comes aboard. As his essentially guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy's private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his strengthening wake. A rollicking narrative in the most evocative of settings, I Cheerfully Refuse is a symphony against despair and a rallying cry for the future.

The beautiful novel of female friendship and family secrets on a small Korean island, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook’s differences are impossible to ignore. The Island of Sea Women is an epic set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wetsuits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story—one of women’s friendships and the larger forces that shape them—The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce and unforgettable female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives. ‘For centuries, women on Korea’s Jeju island have been free-diving into the sea, a practice explored through this fictionalized story of two friends who struggle to stay close amid war, family rivalries, and a shifting cultural landscape. It’s riveting, historical, and heartbreaking all at once’ Marie Claire ‘Lisa See excels at mining the intersection of family, friendship and history... This novel spans wars and generations, but at its heart is a beautifully rendered story of two women whose individual choices become inextricably tangled’ Jodi Picoult, author of A Spark of Light ‘I was spellbound the moment I entered the vivid and little-known world of the diving women of Jeju… No one writes about female friendship… with more insight and depth than Lisa See’ Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees

A collection of delightful short stories from one of Ireland's greatest ever writers, Brian Friel 'A fake! A quack! A charlatan! Get a grip on yourself, woman! We'll say another rosary and then I'll leave you home.'Stories of Ireland is a brilliant, colourful compendium of mid-century Irish experience from one of Ireland's greatest ever writers, Brian Friel. Demonstrating all of Friel's peerless instinct for voice, scene, and the uncanny mystery found in the everyday, these tales tell of beauty, struggle and discovery- from the drowning of a man in the bog-black waters of Lough Keeragh, to the camaraderie of teenage potato gathers in County Tyrone, and from the careful work of the German War Graves Commission in Glenn na fuiseog, to trawlermen's talk of sunken gold off the coast of Donegal.Selected by Friel himself, and introduced by acclaimed author Louise Kennedy, this delightful, heartful collection truly offers some of the best stories ever written.

Second Chance Family A moving and heart-warming new rural romance from internationally acclaimed author Barbara Hannay that proves it's never too late to start over. Callie Madden, a grieving widow and single mother of three, is stunned to learn she's inherited one half of Hawkridge, a beautiful acreage in the Misty Mountains of Far North Queensland. A potential family scandal surrounds the reasons for this bequest and there are additional complications. Callie is to share the inheritance with Ben Galbraith, a Scotsman, who'd helped Hawkridge's owner in his final years. Also, the property can't be sold for twelve months. Callie's life is in Townsville with her teenage twin daughters and six year old son. Ben plans to return to Scotland. How can they negotiate an entire year of caring for Hawkridge? And as they try to work together, is there more at stake than the property's future? Set on the picturesque hinterland of Australia's tropical far north, this is a deeply moving and uplifting story about making the most of the unexpected opportunities life throws your way. Ideal for fans of Tricia Stringer and Fiona Lowe.

A Thousand Blues From a massive rising star in the world of Korean female sci-fi comes the gripping, heartrending tale of how two sisters train a worn-out racehorse to run the slowest race of its life - for fans of KLARA AND THE SUN and CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN THE #1 KOREAN INSTANT BESTSELLER AND PRIZEWINNER Discover the original and uplifting sensation for fans of CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN and KLARA AND THE SUN 'A stunning story of love, care and sacrifice' - Bora Chung, author of Cursed Bunny  'Feels like a feather softly descending and tickling my heart' - Reader review ***** 'A breath of fresh air' - Reader review ***** 'Full of human warmth' - ***** From its perch on top of a pile of junk inside a shed, Coli, a robot with powerful observational qualities, waits patiently for someone to find it. Coli is special among AI robots. This is because Coli has the capacity for emotion. Today, Coli is feeling particularly in awe - of the sky in all its wondrous shades of blue. Luckily for Coli, a young girl is about to pass by. She is obsessed with robots. Together, they will save a life. But first, they must make friends, put themselves at risk, and pull off the mother of all deceptions. 'Engaging, touching, subtly disturbing' - K-Lit Review 'A stunningly crafted novel, evoking a myriad emotions' - Kim Bo-young 'A dazzling, warm novel that shows us how to move forward as a society without leaving anyone or anything behind' - Choi Jin-young, author of To the Warm Horizon

Caught Up From the author of TikTok's favourite dark and steamy romance, Lights Out, comes Navessa Allen's second book in the New York Times bestselling Into Darkness trilogy  I want this woman, and I'm a man who always gets what he wants. Nico 'Junior' Trocci knows Lauren Marchetti is off limits. Men like him don't get to have women like her. It's why he pushed her away in high school and still keeps his distance. But Junior follows Lauren online, and now that the shy, bookish girl he remembers is gone, he can't stop obsessing over the strikingly beautiful woman who has taken her place. He's ruthless; a walking red flag. Good thing red is my favorite color. Lauren 'Lo' Marchetti knows Junior is dangerous. He broke her heart once and she won't let him do it again. But as their flirtatious encounters escalate, Lauren starts to remember why she fell for the brooding antihero all those years ago. As old obstacles resurface, Junior and Lauren are forced to face their true feelings for each other and decide just how far they're willing to go for a second chance at love. Caught Up is a fast-paced dark romance with a morally grey male lead. Some themes and scenes may be disturbing to readers. Please check the content warning at the beginning of the book. 18+ mature content. Not suitable for younger readers. Readers LOVE Caught Up!  ''Deliciously hot, emotionally deep, and incredibly paced' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  'Darker, sexier, and somehow even more addictive. I couldn't put it down' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Had me hot under the collar. Stunning. 10/10. Perfection' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Sexy, fun, full of tension and so much chemistry' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Intense and unforgettable' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

New Skin A powerful debut about first love and second chances from a stunning new voice in Australian fiction

Cockatoo Cove is a charming rural romance filled with new friends, family, and community spirit. From the bestselling author of Wallaby Lane, this story is delightfully packed with love and camaraderie.

A Beautiful Family  An eventful summer forever changes the lives of a family in the most engrossing debut you'll read this year.

Aftertaste: Feast Upon This Year'S Most Delicious Debut Novel'A Fun Romp Through New York'S Food Scene' Sunday Times'Practically exploding with love, life and flavour' LOUISE KENNEDY'Bitingly inventive, written with humour and heart' ELIZABETH DAY'A hauntingly evocative journey through the realms of pain, pleasure and the power of food' NIGELLA LAWSON A food story to binge. A ghost story to devour. A love story to savour. When dead-end dishwasher Kostya discovers the ability to summon spirits through the food he cooks, he embarks on a journey to open a New York City restaurant that serves closure something he's craved for as long as he can remember. There are just three problems-1. Kostya has some ghosts of his own.2. His advancing menu of spirit cuisine is threatening the stability of the Afterlife itself.3. He's falling in love with Maura, a party psychic with her own secret connection to the Afterlife who also happens to be the one person who knows he must be stopped. A bittersweet cocktail of humour and heart, Aftertaste is an imaginative odyssey through food and love, life and death- the things that sustain us, connect us, transport us, and remind us who we are.

Notes On Infinity Normal People meets The Dropout with a dash of Tomorrow x3 in this epic love story of two young Harvard students with a shared dream who are drawn into the vortex of American start-up culture. When Zoe and Jack meet in a chemistry classroom in Harvard, they couldn't be more different- she's the daughter of a renowned MIT professor, he's escaping an upbringing steeped in poverty - but they are immediately drawn to one another. Neither knows it yet, but in two years' time, they will have dropped out of college and become business partners in a billion-dollar company that promises longer life. But as they become wrapped up in a maelstrom of insatiable ambition, greed and ultimately deceit, their love for each other will be tested to its very limit...

An Academic Affair The Love Hypothesis meets The Hating Game in a new standalone rom-com from New York Times acclaimed author and romance academic Jodi McAlister. Sadie Shaw and Jonah Fisher have known each other for fifteen years – and they’ve disliked each other for every one of them. It started with a minor altercation in an undergrad literature class, but as their academic careers developed, so did the intensity of their arguments. By the time they graduate with their doctorates, they’re embroiled in a full-on rivalry. So when a position comes up that Sadie and Jonah are both perfect for, their ongoing enmity explodes into a red-hot competition. But as Sadie fights to secure her future, she realises there might be a way for both of them to get their dream job. There's just one catch –they'll have to get married first. When things get personal, though, Sadie will have to keep her eye on the prize. A fake marriage isn't worth jeopardising her real career over, is it?

RipenessSarah Moss has written several novels including the Sunday Times top ten bestseller Summerwater, and Ghost Wall, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She has also written a memoir of her year living in Iceland. She was born in Glasgow and grew up in the north of England. After moving between Oxford, Canterbury, Reykjavik, west Cornwall and the Midlands, she now lives in Dublin, where she teaches English and creative writing at UCD.