FICTION

The new novel from the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature - 'a maestro' (Guardian). A captivating story of the intertwined lives of three young people coming-of-age in postcolonial East Africa Selected as a book to look out for in 2025 by the Guardian, Observer, Irish Times and BBC_________________________________________________________What are we given, and what do we have to take for ourselves? It is the 1990s. Growing up in Zanzibar, three very different young people Karim, Fauzia and Badar are coming of age, and dreaming of great possibilities in their young nation. But for Badar, an uneducated servant boy who has never known his parents, it seems as if all doors are closed. Brought into a lowly position in a great house in Dar es Salaam, Badar finds the first true home of his life and the friendship of Karim, the young man of the house. Even when a shattering false accusation sees Badar sent away, Karim and Fauzia refuse to turn away from their friend. But as the three of them take their first steps in love, infatuation, work and parenthood, their bond is tested and Karim is tempted into a betrayal that will change all of their lives forever.

Self Portrait with BoyRachel Lyon's first novel – soon to be made into a major motion picture starring Zoë Kravitz and Thomasin McKenzieLu Rile is a relentlessly focused young photographer struggling to make ends meet. Working three jobs, and worrying that the crumbling warehouse she lives in is being sold to developers, she is at a point of desperation. Until, by pure chance, Lu discovers she’s captured a tragedy in the background of a self portrait; a boy falling to his death. The photograph turns out to be the best work of art she’s ever made. It’s an image that could change her life – if she lets it.Set in early 90s Brooklyn on the brink of gentrification, Self-Portrait with Boy is a provocative commentary about the emotional dues that must be paid on the road to success.‘Beautifully imagined and flawlessly executed’ Joyce Carol Oates‘A sparkling debut’ New York Times Book Review

Carrion Crow is an enlightening and spine-tingling tale that delves into mother-daughter relationships, sexuality, class, rampant Victorian colonialism, and bodily freedoms.There are some truths about the world that only a mother can impart. Marguerite Perigord has been confined in the attic of her decaying Chelsea home, overlooking the putrid smell of the Thames. Alone with a sewing machine, a copy of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, and sporadic, congealing meals, Marguerite is locked away by her mother, Cecile. Cecile is concerned about Marguerite's engagement to an elderly, financially struggling solicitor, Mr. Lewis, and aims to educate her daughter on proper marital behavior to protect the family's reputation. But why is Marguerite pursuing Mr. Lewis? Why are Cecile's visits becoming less frequent? And how much time has passed since Marguerite was confined to the attic?Carrion Crow is a haunting and atmospheric exploration of societal constraints and the dangers of conformity, unveiling a family's hidden secrets.Heather Parry's Carrion Crow is praised by Alan Moore as a powerful new voice in fiction. Parry skillfully weaves a tale of Gothic horror, drawing inspiration from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. This Edwardian nightmare is elegantly crafted, delving into themes of class and gender with devastating impact.

The South 'A mesmerising tale. Both heartbreaking and joyful' MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM A radiant novel of the longing that blooms between two boys over the course of one summer – about family, desire, and what we inherit – from celebrated author Tash Aw. 'Shimmeringly intelligent and elegiacally intimate' YIYUN LI CHOSEN AS A TIMES, GUARDIAN and FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF 2025. When his grandfather dies, a boy named Jay travels south with his family to the property he left them, a once flourishing farm that has fallen into disrepair. The trees are diseased, the fields parched from months of drought. Still, Jay’s father, Jack, sends him out to work the land, or whatever land is left. Over the course of these hot, dense days, Jay finds himself drawn to Chuan, the son of the farm’s manager, different from him in every way except for one. Out in the fields, and on the streets into town, the charge between the boys intensifies. Inside the house, the other family members confront their own regrets, and begin to drift apart. Like the land around them, they are powerless to resist the global forces that threaten to render their lives obsolete. At once sweeping and intimate, The South is a story of what happens when private and public lives collide. It is the first in a quartet of novels that form Tash Aw’s masterful portrait of a family navigating a period of great change – a reimagined epic for our times.

A stunning and unforgettable novel about the pursuit of a creative and independent life, Barbara Hanrahan’s Sea Green is an Australian feminist classic. With a new introduction from Laura Elizabeth Woollett.  Virginia is on a ship bound for London, lured by her creative dreams, leaving behind her weeping mother and father in Adelaide. On the cocoon-like journey she is struck by the messiness of relationships and her uncontrollable body. But things on the other side of the world are no neater, as she is pulled between her conservative expectations and her magnetic internal life. Â  In innovative poetic prose, artist and author Barbara Hanrahan plunges us into the possibility-filled London of her youth while reflecting the all-but-unchanged experience of finding independence as a creative woman. Originally published in 1974, Sea Green was inspired by Hanrahan’s experiences but has a life and immediacy all its own. Â  This jewel-like new edition, featuring an introduction from Stella Prize–longlisted author Laura Elizabeth Woollett and Hanrahan’s own distinctive artwork, re-establishes Sea Green’s place in hearts and minds. Â  ‘An artistic coming-of-age novel like no other. Barbara Hanrahan is as wonderfully idiosyncratic a writer as she is as a visual artist, her prose both extravagant and frank. I hope this book will be remembered as a modern classic.’ – Laura Elizabeth Woollett   

Dream Count  A publishing event ten years in the making – a searing, exquisite new novel by the best-selling and award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists – the story of four women and their loves, longings, and desires. ‘The major publication milestone of 2025’ OBSERVER 'The return of a literary titan' TELEGRAPH CHOSEN AS A SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, FINANCIAL TIMES, INDEPENDENT, TELEGRAPH, GQ, and COSMOPOLITAN BOOK OF 2025. Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until — betrayed and brokenhearted — she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America – but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve. In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations on the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape. ‘Expect everyone to be talking about this one’ INDEPENDENT

StardustA beautiful and collectable hardback edition of Stardust, celebrating 25 years of one of Neil Gaiman's best-loved and most enchanting novels. 'Beyond all the borders that divide us, there is a place of infinite possibilities and pure magic. I think of Neil Gaiman as a writer who wears the key to that land around his neck - the key to Storyland' ELIF SHAFAK --- At the dawn of the Victorian era, life moves leisurely in the sleepy village of Wall. Young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria Forester and, to win her love, vows to bring her a star they see fall from the night sky. It is an oath that sends him over the town's ancient wall and into the mysterious land of Faerie - a world that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining . . . ** Special edition jacket, foiled boards and bespoke endpapers designed by Micaela Alcaino ** --- STARDUST, A FAIRY TALE FOR EVERYONE... 'Gaiman describes the indescribable' SUSANNA CLARKE 'Neil Gaiman is one of the best fabulists of our age' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Gaiman is, simply put, a treasure-house of story' STEPHEN KING 'A tonic for these turbulent times' IRISH TIMES

A riveting novel of rural suspense from the bestselling Voice of the Outback.

The new novel from the acclaimed author of The Drifter. 'When you look up at that sky, tell me you don't know the world is bigger than this farm.'Â Teddy Broderick is committed to her busy life in the country - seeding, harvest, shearing, and the daily milking of her grandmother's cow - but she dreams of another life, in the world beyond the farm gate. But just as she thinks she knows everything about her family, her grandmother Deirdre announces there is a house buried on the property, and archaeologist Will Hastings is coming to dig it up.What is hidden in Deirdre's childhood home that she needs to see again before she dies? What is preventing Teddy from living the life she truly wants, and will she ever find her freedom? As Teddy and Will work to expose past secrets to the light,the stories they tell bring them together, and unearth a whole world of buried treasures. 'Anthea Hodgson is fast gaining a reputation as one of Australia's best rural fiction novelists, and deservedly so.' AusRom Today

'A beautiful, intensely atmospheric bittersweet dream of a book' - Matt Haig

A darkly epic novel about connection, disconnection and destruction from the New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-winning, Booker Prize-longlisted author of Let the Great World Spin **Named a 2025 book to look out for by the Observer, Financial Times, Irish Times and New European**'Urgent and utterly compelling' KEVIN BARRY 'One of our greatest storytellers' ELIF SHAFAK'A powerfully realist novel of men at sea - It speaks of the brokenness of our time, the successful and unsuccessful attempts at repairs, and the vulnerability of our world' SALMAN RUSHDIE ____________________________________________________Anthony Fennell, a journalist, is in pursuit of a story buried at the bottom of the sea- the network of tiny fibre-optic tubes that carry the world's information across the ocean floor - and what happens when they break. Â So he has travelled to Cape Town to board the George Lecointe, a cable repair vessel captained by Chief of Mission John Conway. Conway is a talented engineer and fearless freediver - and Fennell is quickly captivated by this mysterious, unnerving man and his beautiful partner, Zanele. Â As the boat embarks along the west coast of Africa, Fennell learns the rhythms of life at sea, and finds his place among the band of drifters who make up the crew. But as the mission falters, tensions simmer - and Conway is thrown into crisis. A terrible, violent tragedy is unfolding in the life he has left behind on land; and, trapped out at sea, it seems as if the vast expanse of the ocean is closing in. Â Then Conway disappears; and Fennell must set out to find him. As taut and propulsive as a thriller, and a timeless exploration of narrative and truth, Twist is the work of a master storyteller at the height of his powers.'Electrifying, propulsive ... A masterful exploration of the elemental forces at work just below the surface of all our lives' COLIN WALSH, author of Kala