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

Wind And Truth The long-awaited explosive climax to the first arc of the Number One New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive.Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare-and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium's place has thrown everything into disarray.Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide-Adolin in Azimir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah at Thaylen City. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiants killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium's champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.

The Housemaid THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"Welcome to the family," Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I'll soon learn that the Winchesters' secrets are far more dangerous than my own . . .Every day I clean the Winchesters' beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew's handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it's hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina's life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.I only try on one of Nina's pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it's like. But she soon finds out... and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it's far too late.But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don't know who I really am.They don't know what I'm capable of . . .An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won't be able to put this down!Read what everyone's saying about The Housemaid:"I got severe whiplash from the twistiest turns... Every time I thought I had it figured out... WRONG!!!... I am still reeling... outstanding... If you love a top notch psychological thriller that will have you questioning your own sanity, then this 5-star read is for you" NetGalley reviewer, FIVE STARS"What a wild ride!!! Freida definitely delivered the best twisty ending... Gripping from start to finish... honestly, I just could not put it down... An absolutely mind-blowing shocker that kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat literally until the very end" Goodreads reviewer, FIVE STARS"So many twists and turns... I was hooked right away - I even read my Kindle while waiting in my kid's school pick-up line so I wouldn't have to put this book down!... addictive... pure perfection!" Goodreads reviewer, FIVE STARS

The American BoysOlivia Spooner is the number one bestselling author of two historical novels, The Girl from London and The Songbirds of Florence. She is also the author of two contemporary novels, A Way Back to Happy and A Bumpy Year. A former bookshop owner, Olivia is a strong advocate for the importance of books and reading. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her family.

Wicked [Movie Tie-In #2]: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West <strong>The #1 <em>New York Times</em> bestseller and basis for the smash hit musical and two major motion pictures. Look for part one of WICKED the movie, now streaming, and the stunning conclusion WICKED: FOR GOOD, coming November 21, 2025.</strong>With millions of copies in print around the world, Gregory Maguire’s <em>Wicked</em> is established not only as a commentary on our time but as a novel to revisit for years to come. <em>Wicked</em> relishes the inspired inventions of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, <em>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</em>, while playing sleight of hand with our collective memories of the 1939 MGM film. In this fast-paced, fantastically real, and supremely entertaining novel, Maguire has populated the largely unknown world of Oz with the power of his own imagination. Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin—no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz’s most promising young citizens.But Elphaba’s Oz is no utopia. The Wizard’s secret police are everywhere. Animals—those creatures with voices, souls, and minds—are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals—even if it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Ever wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas. Recognized as an iconoclastic tour de force on its initial publication, the novel has inspired the blockbuster musical of the same name—one of the longest-running plays in Broadway history. Popular, indeed. But while the novel’s distant cousins hail from the traditions of magical realism, mythopoeic fantasy, and sprawling nineteenth-century sagas of moral urgency, Maguire’s Wicked is as unique as its green-skinned witch. <strong>"Maguire did something truly remarkable with this novel, in managing to inhabit, enlarge, deepen and find new dimensions in a world that had been invented by another writer, and in doing so make something entirely new. It’s an astonishing achievement." –Phillip Pullman</strong><strong>"Gregory gets the complications and uniqueness of women very well."-- Kristen Chenoweth</strong><strong>"It's a staggering feat of wordcraft, made no less so by the fact that its boundaries were set decades ago by somebody else. Maguire's larger triumph here is twofold: First, in Elphaba, he has created (re-created renovated) one of the great heroines in fantasy literature: a fiery, passionate, unforgettable and ultimately tragic figure. Second, Wicked is the best fantasy novel of ideas I've read since Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast or Frank Herbert's Dune. Would that all books with this much innate consumer appeal were also this good. And vice versa." –Los Angeles Times</strong>

To Bleed A Crystal BloomA darkly romantic Rapunzel reimagining from the number one Sunday Times bestselling author of WHEN THE MOON HATCHED."What a pretty flower to keep locked in a big, rocky tower."Nineteen years ago, I was plucked from the heart of a bloody massacre that spared nobody else. Small. Fragile. An enigma.Now ward to a powerful High Master who knows too much and says too little, I lead a simple life, never straying from the confines of an imaginary line I've drawn around the castle grounds. Stay within. Never leave.Out there, the monsters lurk. Inside, I'm safe … though at a cost far greater than the blood I drip into a goblet daily.Toxic, unreciprocated love for a man who's utterly unavailable. My savior. My protector. My almost executioner. I can't help but be enamored with the arcane man who holds the power to pull my roots from the ground.When voracious beasts spill across the land and threaten to fray the fabric of my tailored existence, the petals of reality will peel back to reveal an ugly truth. But in a castle puddled with secrets, none are greater than the one I've kept from myself.No tower is tall enough to protect me from the horror that tore my life to shreds.Book one in the Crystal Bloom series. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros and Jennifer L. Armentrout.

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.

Word Cloud Classics: Horror CollectionDive into these six volumes of classic stories from the masters of the dark and macabre...if you dare.This collection of dark and haunting stories is an essential addition to the bookshelf of anyone who enjoys classic literature and tales of horror. The six volumes in this boxed set include short stories from esteemed authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft; macabre works by Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving; the novels Dracula and Frankenstein; and more than 100 memorable fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. Whether you’re in need of a few stories to tell around the campfire or a longer read at home on a cold winter’s night, you’ll find what you need in this specially designed Word Cloud collection. Full-color illustrations sprayed on the edges and a heat-burnished montage across all six spines make this a compelling addition to your bookshelf.This set includes the following titles:- Classic Horror Tales (selected short stories)- Dracula, by Bram Stoker- The Brothers Grimm: 101 Fairy Tales- Selected Works of Edgar Allan Poe- Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories, by Washington Irving