Auto-da-Fé is the story of Peter Kien, a distinguished, reclusive sinologist living in Vienna between the wars. With masterly precision, Canetti reveals Kien's character, displaying the flawed personal relationships which ultimately lead to his destruction.

Manipulated by his illiterate and grasping housekeeper, Therese, who has tricked him into marriage, and Benedikt Pfaff, a brutish concierge, Kien is forced out of his apartment – which houses his great library and one true passion – and into the underworld of the city. In this purgatory, he is guided by a chess-playing dwarf of evil propensities, until he is eventually restored to his home.

But on his return, he is visited by his brother, an eminent psychiatrist who, by an error of diagnosis, precipitates the final crisis...

This novel, first published in Germany in 1935 as Die Blendung ("The Blinding" or "Bedazzlement"), still towers as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Canetti's incisive vision of an insular man battling against the outside world is as fresh and rewarding today as when it first appeared in print.

At dusk on a November evening in 2020, a woman slips out of her garden gate and turns up the hill. Kate is in the middle of a two-week quarantine period, but she just can't take it anymore - the closeness of the air in her small house, the confinement. And anyway, the moor will be deserted at this time. Nobody need ever know.

But Kate's neighbour, Alice, sees her leaving and Matt, Kate's son, soon realizes she's missing. And Kate, who planned only a quick solitary walk - a breath of open air - falls and badly injures herself. What began as a furtive walk has turned into a mountain rescue operation.

Unbearably suspenseful, witty and wise, The Fell asks probing questions about the place the world has become since March 2020, and the place it was before. Sarah Moss's novel is a story about compassion and kindness and what we must do to survive, and it will move you to tears.

We Are Not Like Them is a riveting novel about the lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event. Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions.

Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia. However, the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager.

Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend.

This story is a powerful and poignant exploration of race in America today and its devastating impact on ordinary lives, offering a story of enduring friendship—a love that defies the odds even as it faces its most difficult challenges.

Stalking and restraining orders are a thing of Alayna Wither's past. With her MBA newly in hand, she has her future figured out—move up at the nightclub she works at and stay away from any guy who might trigger her obsessive love disorder. A perfect plan.

But what Alayna didn't figure on is Hudson Pierce, the new owner of the nightclub. He's smart, rich, and gorgeous—the kind of guy Alayna knows to stay away from if she wants to keep her past tendencies in check. Except, Hudson's fixed his sights on her. He wants her in his bed and makes no secret of it.

Avoiding him isn't an option after he offers a business proposition she can't turn down and she's drawn further into his universe, unable to resist his gravitational pull.

When she learns Hudson has a dark history of his own, she realizes too late that she's fallen for the worst man she could possibly get involved with. Or maybe their less than ideal pasts give them an opportunity to heal each other and finally find the love their lives have been missing.

A novel from the author of A Separation, a taut and electrifying story about a woman caught between many truths.

An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home.

She's drawn into simmering personal dramas: her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister. And she's pulled into explosive political fires: her work interpreting for a former president accused of war crimes becomes precarious as their relationship is unbound by shifting language and meaning.

This woman is the voice in the ear of many, but what command does that give her, and how vulnerable does that leave her? Her coolly impassioned views on power, love, and violence, are tested, both in her personal intimacies and in her role at the Court. She is soon pushed to the precipice, where betrayal and heartbreak threaten to overwhelm her; it is her drive towards truth, and love, that throws into stark relief what she wants from her life.

On the longest day of summer, the rain falls heavily on a small rural village in the Scottish Highlands. Twelve people sit with their families in their worn-out wooden cabins, with little to do to overcome the boredom of the rain — except, of course, to watch the other residents.

A woman runs as if she is fleeing from something; a retired couple reminisces about neighbors who moved away long ago; a teenager braves the dark waters of the loch in his red kayak. Each person is wrapped up in their own concerns, yet increasingly aware of the community around them. One family in particular — a mother and daughter without the right clothes or manners — begins to attract the attention of the others. Tensions rise as everyone becomes watchful, unaware of the impending tragedy as night finally falls.

As the summer rain and day progress, tensions escalate, and with the darkness will come an irreversible turn of events.

Published to tie in with the world premiere at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

In Chekhov's tragi-comedy - perhaps his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces, forces rooted deep in history, and in the society around them. Their estate is hopelessly in debt: urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, they struggle to act decisively.

Tom Murphy's fine vernacular version allows us to re-imagine the events of the play in the last days of Anglo-Irish colonialism. It gives this great play vivid new life within our own history and social consciousness.

I was brave. She was reckless. We were trouble.

Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen, Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny, and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting, and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated.

As Suzanne’s past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realizes, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own.

Small Sacrifices is Ann Rule's shocking and powerful account of the destructive forces that drove Diane Downs, a beautiful young mother, to shoot her three young children in cold blood.

The mesmerizing story unfolds with the shooting of three children, and follows a detailed uncovering of facts that seems to lead to the mother as the prime suspect. Diane Downs, a beautiful, brilliant sociopath, commits the ultimate evil to gain the love of a married man.

Ann Rule provides an insight into the horrifying personality of Downs, who never confesses to her crimes. Her conduct during the trial is as disturbing as the act itself. She taps her foot and smiles while listening to "Hungry Like the Wolf," the song that played in her car during the crime. She laughs when she should cry, and cries only when it benefits her. One daughter is dead, another has lost the use of her arm and speech, and the little boy is paralyzed. None of this horror seems to penetrate Diane, who appears to have no feelings for her children's suffering.

This book is a must-read for all true crime buffs, as Ann Rule meticulously presents every piece of evidence, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.

It’s a nasty kind of love. The kind you can’t escape from even if you want to.

Petra should’ve known better. But her heart has always beaten for the one man that she can’t have: her beloved godfather, Alexander Van Dieren. And despite the firm disapproval from her mother, the rising politician and activist, Tess Hagen, Petra is determined to take her life into her own hands and fight for him, no matter the price.

But she can only do so if Alexander will go just as far for her. So after waking up from her coma, she asked him one question. He gave her one answer. And from there, nothing will ever be the same...

This book is for mature audiences.

La Confusion des sentiments is a profound novella by Stefan Zweig that explores the intricate emotions and passions of a young student. At the twilight of his life, a seasoned professor reflects on an adventure that left an indelible mark on his existence. At nineteen, he was captivated by the charismatic personality of one of his professors, leading to a complex mix of idolization, submission, and a near-morbid love.

Freud himself acknowledged the precision and truth with which Zweig depicted the turmoil of a passion and the discomfort it causes to its subject. Published in 1926, this brief yet deep story achieved rapid success due to its bold and novel subject matter. It undoubtedly remains one of the masterpieces of the great Austrian writer.

The story unfolds as a young man, initially lost in the wilds of Berlin, is sent to a provincial university by his father. There, a brilliant lecture ignites in him a fervent passion for learning and a peculiar fascination with the aging professor who delivered the talk. The young man becomes a frequent visitor to the professor's home, which he shares with his much younger wife, and encourages him to complete his long-gestating scholarly work. However, the professor's behavior oscillates between welcoming and scornful, leaving the young man puzzled and wounded.

It is the professor's wife who comprehends the situation fully and helps the young man understand the complex dynamics at play. This novella is not just a tale of academic life but an exploration of the heart's tumultuous journey, a celebration of intellectual passion, and a reflection on the often-painful intersections of personal and professional admiration.