Books with category 🇬🇧 UK
Displaying books 1-48 of 159 in total

Blue Sisters

2024

by Coco Mellors

Three estranged siblings return to their family home in New York after their beloved sister's death in this unforgettable story of grief, identity, and the complexities of family.

The three Blue sisters are exceptional—and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction, and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment they were raised in.

But coming home is never as easy as it seems. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize the greatest secrets they've been keeping might not have been from each other, but from themselves.

The Ministry of Time

2024

by Kailane Bradley

Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kailane Bradley. This book is a time travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power. It is also a story about the potential for love to change it all.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams. Shortly afterward, she is told about the project she'll be working on: a recently established government ministry is gathering "expats" from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a "bridge": living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as "1847" or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by concepts such as "washing machine," "Spotify," and "the collapse of the British Empire." But he adjusts quickly; after all, he is an explorer by trade. Soon, what the bridge initially thought would be a seriously uncomfortable housemate dynamic, evolves into something much more. Over the course of an unprecedented year, the bridge will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks the universal question: What happens if you put a disaffected millennial and a Victorian polar explorer in a house together?

The Hypocrite

2024

by Jo Hamya

From a fiercely talented writer poised to be a new generation's Rachel Cusk or Deborah Levy, The Hypocrite is a novel set between the London stage and Sicily, about a daughter who turns her novelist father's fall from grace into a play, and a father who increasingly fears his precocious daughter's voice.

August 2020. Sophia, a young playwright, awaits her father's verdict on her new show. A famous author whose novels haven't aged as gracefully into the modern era as he might hope, he is completely unaware that the play centers around a vacation the two took years earlier to an island off Sicily, where he dictated to her a new book. The play has been met with rave reviews but Sophia's father has studiously avoided reading any of them. But when the house lights dim, he understands that his daughter has laid him bare, used the events of their summer to create an incisive, witty, skewering critique of the attitudes and sexual mores of men of his generation.

Set through one staging of the play, The Hypocrite seamlessly and scorchingly shifts through time and perspective, illuminating an argument between a father and his daughter that, with impeccable nuance, examines the fraught inheritances each generation is left to contend with, and the struggle to nurture empathy in a world changing at lightning-speed.

The Alternatives

2024

by Caoilinn Hughes

The Alternatives is a tale about sisterhood, a novel of ideas, and a chronicle of our collective follies. It unfolds in prose full of gorgeous surprises and glows with intelligence, compassion, and beauty.

The Flattery sisters were plunged prematurely into adulthood when their parents died in tragic circumstances. Now in their thirties—all single, all with PhDs—they are each attempting to do meaningful work in a rapidly foundering world. The four lead disparate, distanced lives, from classrooms in Connecticut to ritzy catering gigs in London’s Notting Hill.

One day, their oldest sister, a geologist haunted by a terrible awareness of the earth’s future, abruptly vanishes from her work and home. Together for the first time in years, the Flatterys descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn’t want to be found. Sheltered in a derelict bungalow, they reach into their common past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future.

Warm, fiercely witty, and unexpectedly hopeful, The Alternatives is an unforgettable portrait of a family perched on our collective precipice, told by one of Ireland’s most gifted storytellers.

Normal Women

The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus—a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history.

Most histories have been written by men, about men, relegating women—with the exception of a few queens—to the shadows of time. Now, bestselling author Philippa Gregory reveals the importance of ordinary women, providing a more balanced and truer chronicle that expands and adds rich detail to the story of Great Britain.

In Normal Women, Gregory draws on an enormous archive of primary and secondary sources to rewrite British history, focusing on the agency, persistence, and effectiveness of everyday women throughout periods of social and cultural transition. She sweeps from the making of the Bayeux tapestry in the eleventh century to the Black Death in 1348—after which women were briefly paid the same wages as men, the last time for seven centuries—to the 1992 ordination of women by the Church of England, when the church accepted, for the first time, that a woman could perform the miracle of the mass.

Through the stories of the female soldiers of the civil war, the guild widows who founded the prosperity of the City of London, highwaywomen and pirates, miners, ship owners, international traders, the women who ran London theaters and commissioned plays from Shakespeare, and the "female husbands" who married each other legally in church and lived as husband and wife, Gregory redefines "normal" female behavior to include heroism, rebellion, crime, treason, money-making, and sainthood. As she makes clear, normal women make history.

Normal Women will include black-and-white illustrations throughout and a full-color insert.

Never Met a Duke Like You

2023

by Amalie Howard

Never Met a Duke Like You is a tale of opposites attracting in a dazzling Regency romance that's been compared to Clueless meeting Bridgerton. We meet Lady Vesper Lyndhurst, a beautiful and clever duke's daughter who revels in luxury and has a special talent for matchmaking. Although she's taken a vow against love for herself, she excels at arranging it for others.

Enter the Duke of Greydon, who, burdened by an insolvent estate, reluctantly returns to England to save his family's dwindling fortunes. He's been away for years, content to be free from his mother's grasp and the trivialities of high society. But upon his return, he finds that little has changed, including his feelings for the infuriatingly attractive heiress who lives next door.

An unforeseen incident lands the pair, who have evolved from friends to adversaries, trapped in an attic. In the close quarters, their undeniable chemistry sparks into a fiery connection that they find increasingly difficult to deny. Despite being complete opposites with seemingly incompatible lives, destiny, the ever-persistent matchmaker, seems to have a different plan in store for them.

Julia

2023

by Sandra Newman

Julia: A Novel is an imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell's 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith's lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman. Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It's 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania.

Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember, and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell's 1984. All her life, Julia has known only Oceania, and, until she meets Winston Smith, she has never imagined anything else.

Seventy-five years after Orwell finished writing his iconic novel, Sandra Newman has tackled the world of Big Brother in a truly convincing way, offering a dramatically different, feminist narrative that is true to and stands alongside the original. For the millions of readers who have been brought up with Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, here, finally, is a provocative, vital and utterly satisfying companion novel.

The Last Devil to Die

2023

by Richard Osman

Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club.

An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.

As the gang springs into action, they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters, and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.

With the body count rising, the package still missing, and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?

Unearthing

2023

by Kyo Maclear

An unforgettable memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the indelible power of love.

Three months after Kyo Maclear’s father dies in December 2018, she gets the results of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, unravelling a family mystery piece by piece, and assembling the story of her biological father. Along the way, larger questions arise: what exactly is kinship? And what does it mean to be a family? Thoughtful in its reflections on race and lineage, unflinching in its insights on grief and loyalty, Unearthing is a captivating and propulsive story of inheritance that goes beyond heredity. What gets planted, and what gets buried? What role does storytelling play in unearthing the past and making sense of a life? Can the humble act of tending a garden provide common ground for an inquisitive daughter and her complicated mother? As it seeks to answer these questions, Unearthing bursts with the very love it seeks to understand.

The Bullet That Missed

2023

by Richard Osman

The Bullet That Missed is the latest installment in the thrilling series by Richard Osman. While the description is not provided, readers can expect the same wit and intrigue that have become synonymous with Osman's work. This book promises to deliver another compelling mystery filled with unexpected twists and a touch of humor, set against the backdrop of English society.

Spare

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.

For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother's death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn't find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple's cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

The Sweetest Revenge

2023

by Lizzy Dent

Bridesmaids meets Emily in Paris—in London—in this hilarious and heartfelt story of one handsome neighbor, one no-good ex, and the summer Amy Duffy makes the comeback of her life.

Her past is a mess. But her present is about to get delicious. Amy is more than one disastrous night of drunken revenge on her boss/ex-boyfriend’s Audi—the night that tanked her rising TV producer career and led to a hasty move to London for a fresh start. She is thirty years of awesomeness. At least, that’s what Amy tells herself every morning before trekking to her mediocre job making trailers at a failing British TV channel.

Two years later, she’s finally starting to believe it. Sparks are flying between her and Jake, her handsome new downstairs neighbor, and there’s a competition at work that just might get her career back on track while bringing her and Jake even closer. But then, in a twisted turn of fate, the ex-boyfriend who wrecked her life is hired as her new boss and past and present are about to epically, hilariously collide.

Shrines of Gaiety

2022

by Kate Atkinson

London 1926. Roaring Twenties.
Corruption. Seduction. Debts due.

In a country still recovering from the Great War, London is the focus for a delirious nightlife. In Soho clubs, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time.

There, Nellie Coker is a ruthless ruler, ambitious for her six children. Niven is the eldest, his enigmatic character forged in the harsh Somme. But success breeds enemies. Nellie faces threats from without and within. Beneath the gaiety lies a dark underbelly, where one may be all too easily lost.

Babel : Or the Necessity of Violence

2022

by R.F. Kuang

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

Babel is a profound exploration of the complexities of language, power, and colonialism, set against the backdrop of the British Empire's expansion.

When orphan Robin Swift is brought from Canton to London by Professor Lovell, he embarks on an intense education in languages and translation, aiming for a bright future at Oxford University's Royal Institute of Translation, known as Babel. This institution stands at the heart of the Empire's superiority, harnessing the mystical power of silver working to manifest the elusive meanings lost in translation.

As Robin becomes entrenched in the scholastic utopia of Babel, his ties to his heritage pull him into an inner conflict. When an aggressive war threatens China over silver and opium, Robin is torn between the comfort of academia and the call for justice. He must confront a crucial question: Can change come from within, or is violence an inevitable part of revolution?

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes

2022

by Cat Sebastian

Cat Sebastian returns to Georgian London with a stunning tale of a reluctant criminal and the thief who cannot help but love her. Marian Hayes, the Duchess of Clare, just shot her husband. Of course, the evil, murderous man deserved what was coming to him, but now she must flee to the countryside. Unfortunately, the only person she can ask for help is the charismatic criminal who is blackmailing her—and who she may have left tied up a few hours before...

A highwayman, con artist, and all-around cheerful villain, Rob Brooks is no stranger to the wrong side of the law or the right side of anybody's bed. He never meant to fall for the woman whose secrets he promised to keep for the low price of five hundred pounds, but how could he resist someone who led him on a merry chase all over London, left him tied up in a seedy inn, and then arrived covered in her husband's blood and in desperate need of his help?

As they flee across the country—stopping to pick pockets, drink to excess, and rescue invalid cats—they discover more true joy and peace than either has felt in ages. But when the truth of Rob's past catches up to him, they must decide if they are willing to reshape their lives in order to forge a future together.

The Seven Dials Mystery

2022

by Agatha Christie

Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper, so the other houseguests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight alarm clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6:30 a.m.

But when morning arrived, one clock was missing and the prank then backfired, with tragic consequences. For Jimmy Thesiger in particular, the words "Seven Dials" were to take on a new and chilling significance...

Join Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent and friends as they unravel this mystery and discover why a heavy sleeper would die of an overdose of a sleeping draught. Why were there only seven of the eight clocks found, neatly and sinisterly arranged on the mantelpiece? The answers lie within the enigmatic Seven Dials Society.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

2021

by India Holton

A prim and proper lady thief must save her aunt from a crazed pirate and his dangerously charming henchman in this fantastical historical romance.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

Hamnet

A luminous portrait of a marriage, a shattering evocation of a family ravaged by grief and loss, and a tender and unforgettable re-imagining of a boy whose life has been all but forgotten, and whose name was given to one of the most celebrated plays of all time, Hamnet is mesmerizing, seductive, impossible to put down—a magnificent leap forward from one of our most gifted novelists.

In 1580’s England, during the Black Plague a young Latin tutor falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman in this best-selling winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. 

Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever. 

Doctor Who: At Childhood's End

Once, a girl called Ace travelled the universe with the Doctor – until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Now, decades on, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire philanthropist who heads global organisation A Charitable Earth.

But Dorothy is haunted by terrible nightmares, vivid dreams that begin just as scores of young runaways are vanishing from the dark alleyways of London. Could the disappearances be linked to sightings of sinister creatures lurking in the city shadows? Why has an alien satellite entered a secret orbit around the Moon? Investigating the satellite with Ryan, Graham and Yaz, the Doctor is thrown together with Ace once more. Together they must unravel a malevolent plot that will cost thousands of lives.

But can the Doctor atone for her past incarnation’s behaviour – and how much must Ace sacrifice to win victory not only for herself, but for the Earth?

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

2019

by Robert Tressell

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is a semi-autobiographical novel by Robert Tressell, following the struggle of a house painter to find employment in the fictional town of Mugsborough, based on Hastings. Originally published after Tressell's death, the novel tells a compelling tale of a working-class family trying to avoid the workhouse.

The book captures the desperation and misery of a twelve-month struggle to survive, offering a unique insight into the lives of the working poor during the early 20th century. A remarkable and poignant work of social commentary that remains relevant to this day.

Through its emblematic characters, the novel argues for a socialist politics as the only hope for a civilized and humane life for all. It is a timeless work whose political message is as relevant today as it was in Tressell's time.

Parade's End

2019

by Ford Madox Ford

Parade's End is an acclaimed masterpiece by Ford Madox Ford, who endeavored to capture the essence of his era as a historian of his own time. The novel's subject is the world as it culminated in war, a backdrop that frames the story of Christopher Tietjens, an officer and gentleman often described as the last English Tory.

Ford intricately follows Tietjens from the secure, orderly world of Edwardian England into the chaotic madness of the First World War. Amidst the backdrop of war, Ford explores the complex sexual warfare between Tietjens and his faithless wife, Sylvia. This narrative is a work of truly amazing subtlety and profundity.

Parade's End stands as a testament to Ford's literary prowess, offering a gripping study of character and a vivid portrayal of a world at war.

Barchester Towers

Barchester Towers, published in 1857, is the sequel to Trollope’s The Warden and continues the story of the clerical doings in the fictional cathedral town of Barchester. As this novel opens, the old Bishop of Barchester lies dying, and there is considerable doubt as to who will replace him. The Bishop’s son Dr. Grantly, the Archdeacon, has high hopes of succeeding him, but these hopes are dashed and a new Bishop, Dr. Proudie, is appointed.

Along with Dr. Proudie comes his domineering wife and their ambitious chaplain the Reverend Mr. Slope. The old clerical party headed by Dr. Grantly and the new, championed by Mrs. Proudie and Mr. Slope, are soon in contention over Church matters. These two parties represent a then-significant struggle between different evangelical approaches in the Church of England.

One local issue in particular is fought over—the appointment of a new Warden for Hiram’s Hospital, the focus of the preceding book. Mrs. Eleanor Bold is the daughter of Mr. Harding, the prior Warden. She has recently been widowed. The wealth she inherited from her late husband makes her an attractive match, and her affections are in contention from several prospective suitors, including the oily Mr. Slope. All of this lends itself to considerable humor and interest.

Though not well received by critics on its initial publication, Barchester Towers is now regarded as one of Trollope’s most popular novels.

Bringing Down the Duke

2019

by Evie Dunmore

England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.

Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he? Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke....

A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford suffragists in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a powerful duke in a fiery love story that threatens to upend the British social order.

Lethal White

Lethal White is a gripping mystery and a thrilling installment in the ongoing story of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. Written by the international bestselling author Robert Galbraith, this novel is a masterpiece of suspense and intrigue.

When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office, he asks for help investigating a crime he believes he witnessed as a child. Billy is clearly mentally distressed and cannot recall many concrete details, yet there is something sincere and compelling about his story. Before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from the office in panic.

Determined to uncover the truth behind Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott—once his assistant, now a partner in the agency—embark on a twisting journey. Their investigation leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

Throughout this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward. His newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Moreover, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than ever. Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.

This novel is a testament to Galbraith's wizardry as a writer, offering readers both a captivating mystery and an engaging continuation of the Cormoran Strike series.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway

2019

by Ruth Ware

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the centre of it.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

Queenie

Queenie is a disarmingly honest, boldly political, and truly inclusive novel that speaks to anyone who has gone looking for love and found something very different in its place.

Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she's constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places—including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, "What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?"—all of the questions today's woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

With fresh and honest prose, Queenie is a remarkably relatable exploration of what it means to be a modern woman searching for meaning in today's world.

The Diary of a Nobody

The Diary of a Nobody began as a serial in Punch and the book which followed in 1892 has never been out of print. The Grossmith brothers not only created an immortal comic character but produced a clever satire of their society. Mr. Pooter is an office clerk and upright family man in a dull 1880s suburb. His diary is a wonderful portrait of the class system and the inherent snobbishness of the suburban middle classes. It sends up contemporary crazes for Aestheticism, spiritualism, and bicycling, as well as the fashion for publishing diaries by anybody and everybody.

Weedon Grossmith's illustrations add to the humor and depth of the story, making it both a celebration and critique of the mundane yet decent suburban life. The hilarious and painfully familiar world of Charles Pooter is a testament to the timeless nature of English suburban life.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

2018

by Stuart Turton

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton is described as a unique murder mystery that combines elements of classic whodunnits with a twist of time travel. Aiden Bishop knows that Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until he can identify her killer. Each day, he wakes up in the body of a different guest at Blackheath Manor, and he must navigate through the different perspectives to solve the mystery. This breathlessly addictive mystery delivers inventive twists, and readers will be left guessing until the very last page.

The Casual Vacancy

2018

by J.K. Rowling

A big novel about a small town... When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils... Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town's council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity, and unexpected revelations?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking, and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a charming and moving novel set in the aftermath of World War II. In January 1946, London is in the process of reconstruction, and writer Juliet Ashton is on a quest for her next literary project. Unexpectedly, she receives a letter from a man she has never met, Dawsey Adams from Guernsey, who found her name in a book by Charles Lamb.

Through their exchange of letters, Juliet becomes captivated by the idiosyncratic world of Dawsey and his friends. They are members of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club that was inadvertently formed as a clever ruse during the German occupation of the island. The society comprises a delightful mix of characters, including pig farmers and phrenologists, all united by their love of literature.

As Juliet learns more about the islanders and the impact that the occupation has had on their lives, she is irresistibly drawn to visit Guernsey. What she discovers on the island will forever alter the course of her life. Told with genuine affection and humor, this epistolary novel celebrates the power of books and the profound connections that can emerge from the most unexpected circumstances.

The China Garden

2018

by Liz Berry

When Clare moves with her mother from London to Ravensmere, an historic English estate, she can't shake the feeling that the residents already know her, especially Mark, a maddeningly attractive biker. Clare also feels compelled to take midnight walks in Ravensmere's abandoned China Garden.

As her mother reveals that their own past is tragically linked to the estate, Clare discovers that Ravensmere is in grave danger. Will she risk her future—and Mark's—to save it?

The Girl in the Ice

2018

by Robert Bryndza

Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…

She is not the only one. When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound, and dumped in water around London.

What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding? As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika. The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong, resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her own personal demons as well as a killer more deadly than any she’s faced before. But will she get to him before he strikes again?

The Go-Between

2018

by L.P. Hartley

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

Summering with a fellow schoolboy on a great English estate, Leo, the hero of L. P. Hartley's finest novel, encounters a world of unimagined luxury. But when his friend's beautiful older sister enlists him as the unwitting messenger in her illicit love affair, the aftershocks will be felt for years.

The Go-Between is a masterpiece—a richly layered, spellbinding story about past and present, naiveté and knowledge, and the mysteries of the human heart.

The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall: A Fairytale of Grimm Art

2018

by Ki Longfellow

Twenty three years ago, Vivian Stanshall tragically died in a fire, trapped in a north London flat. Drunk, he slept through his own death. Vivian was the ineffable, unflappable, elegant, and irreverently funny frontman and songwriter for the Bonzo Dog Dada Band, a group of art students who created a band unlike any other. They are still adored by thousands long after their short time in the sun was knocked on the head by Vivian himself.


"We were art students. We were Dada. We were making fun of the worst excesses of rock 'n roll. One day I looked around to discover we'd become what we were parodying," he once reflected.


Written by his wife of 18 years, herself an artist, this is a behind-the-scenes, beneath-the-sheets, under-the-bed tale of an actual genius—few who admired him would disagree. In many ways, this is Vivian through his own private words gleaned from his personal journals.


The book is also full of up-close and revealing portraits of legends: Keith Moon, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, John Peel, Joe Cocker, and so many more. But even more than all that, it’s an ART BOOK: crammed full of Vivian’s paintings, sketches, unpublished family photos, letters, and poems.


Vivian Stanshall was the last of the true Bohemians. This is also a tale of Dada, a mad, sad, glad voyage through life on a grand scale made by one of England’s greatest treasures: the genius who was Vivian Stanshall.

Kim

2018

by Rudyard Kipling

Kim is Rudyard Kipling's story of an orphan born in colonial India, torn between love for his native India and the demands of Imperial loyalty to his Irish-English heritage, and to the British Secret Service. The novel unfolds against the backdrop of The Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. Set after the Second Afghan War which ended in 1881, but before the Third, the story is probably set in the period 1893 to 1898.

At the novel's heart are two men - a boy who grows into early manhood and an old ascetic priest, the lama. They embark on a quest that faces them both; Kim, born in India, is nevertheless white, a sahib. While he aspires to play the Great Game of Imperialism, he is also spiritually bound to the lama, and his aim is to reconcile these opposing strands of his identity. As Kim moves chameleon-like through the two cultures, the lama searches for redemption from the Wheel of Life.

Kim captures the opulence of India's exotic landscape, overlaid by the uneasy presence of the British Raj, presenting a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road. Long recognized as Kipling's finest work, Kim was a key factor in his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.

The Loved One

2017

by Evelyn Waugh

"The Loved One" is a delightful and dark satire that swirls together the cultural nuances of America and Britain. The story follows Dennis Barlow, a British expatriate and aspiring poet, who finds himself in the peculiar world of Hollywood.

After a failed stint as a screenwriter, Dennis takes up a job at a pet cemetery, much to the surprise of his fellow British expats. However, the community is soon distracted by the suicide of one of their own, and Dennis is tasked with arranging the funeral.

As the plot unfolds, Dennis enters the artificial paradise of the Whispering Glades Memorial Park, where he meets the beautiful Aimée Thanatogenos, a junior cosmetician, and the master embalmer, Mr. Joyboy. Can Dennis navigate the bizarre world of American-style death rituals and maintain his reputation among his countrymen?

This novel is a savage critique of the Anglo-American cultural divide, depicting a world where love, reputation, and death come at a very high cost. Join Dennis on this hilarious journey through the surreal landscape of Hollywood's funeral industry.

A Murder Is Announced

2016

by Agatha Christie

The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn are agog with curiosity when the Gazette advertises: “A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6:30 p.m.”

Is it a childish practical joke? Or perhaps a spiteful hoax? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, the locals arrive at Little Paddocks at the appointed time.

Without warning, the lights go out and a gun is fired. When they come back on, a gruesome scene is revealed. An impossible crime? Only the astute Miss Marple can unravel it.

Elephants Can Remember

2016

by Agatha Christie

Elephants Can Remember is a classic Hercule Poirot investigation where the expert detective delves into an unsolved crime from the past involving the mysterious death of a husband and wife.

Poirot stood on the clifftop, the very place where, many years earlier, a tragic accident had occurred, followed by the grisly discovery of two bodies—a husband and wife, both shot dead. But the question remained, who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder?

As Poirot delves into the past, he discovers that old sins leave long shadows. With his sharp mind and keen instincts, he is determined to solve this old double murder mystery that still stands as an open verdict.

Evil Under the Sun

2016

by Agatha Christie

Set at the Jolly Roger, a posh vacation resort for the rich and famous on the southern coast of England, Evil Under the Sun is one of Agatha Christie’s most intriguing mysteries. When a gorgeous young bride is brutally strangled to death on the beach, only Hercule Poirot can sift through the secrets that shroud each of the guests and unravel the macabre mystery at this playground by the sea.

The beautiful bronzed body of Arlena Stuart lay facedown on the beach. But strangely, there was no sun and Arlena was not sunbathing…she had been strangled. Ever since Arlena’s arrival, the air had been thick with sexual tension. Each of the guests had a motive to kill her, including Arlena’s new husband. But Hercule Poirot suspects that this apparent “crime of passion” conceals something much more evil.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective Sherlock Holmes. These tales showcase Holmes' remarkable powers of deduction and the wide variety of cases that come his way, ranging from the bizarre to the highly dangerous. Aided by his loyal friend Dr. John Watson, Holmes solves each mystery with his signature wit and ingenuity.

This edition of the timeless classic ensures that the reader will be engrossed in the thrilling adventures of one of literature's most enduring characters. From the enigmatic 'Red-headed League' to the chilling 'The Adventure of the Speckled Band,' and the peculiar 'The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,' readers will be taken on a journey through the dark, foggy streets of Victorian London, where danger and intrigue lurk around every corner.

Career of Evil

Cormoran Strike is back, with his assistant Robin Ellacott, in a mystery based around soldiers returning from war. When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men.

But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…

Career of Evil is the third in the series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. A mystery and also a story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

Sorcerer to the Crown

2015

by Zen Cho

Magic and mayhem collide with the British elite in this whimsical and sparkling debut. At his wit’s end, Zacharias Wythe, freed slave, eminently proficient magician, and Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers—one of the most respected organizations throughout all of Britain—ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up.

But when his adventure brings him in contact with a most unusual comrade, a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery in all of Britain—and the world at large…

The Girl on the Train

2015

by Paula Hawkins

The debut psychological thriller that will forever change the way you look at other people's lives, from the author of Into the Water and A Slow Fire Burning.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She's even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life-as she sees it-is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. UNTIL TODAY And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

The Paying Guests

2014

by Sarah Waters

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa—a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants—life is about to be transformed as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.


With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,” the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life—or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.


A love story, a tension-filled crime story, and a beautifully atmospheric portrait of a fascinating time and place, The Paying Guests is Sarah Waters’s finest achievement yet.

Rose Under Fire

2014

by Elizabeth Wein

While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration camp. Trapped in horrific circumstances, Rose finds hope in the impossible through the loyalty, bravery, and friendship of her fellow prisoners. But will that be enough to endure the fate that's in store for her?

Elizabeth Wein, author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling Code Name Verity, delivers another stunning WWII thriller. The unforgettable story of Rose Justice is forged from heart-wrenching courage, resolve, and the slim, bright chance of survival.

The 39 Steps

2014

by John Buchan

Adventurer Richard Hannay, just returned from South Africa, is thoroughly bored with London life—until he is accosted by a mysterious American, who warns him of an assassination plot that could completely destabilize the fragile political balance of Europe.

Initially skeptical, Hannay nonetheless harbors the man—but one day returns home to find him murdered...

An obvious suspect, Hannay flees to his native Scotland, pursued by both the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. His life and the security of Britain are in grave peril, and everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the 'thirty-nine steps?'

Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, began her working life at the age of thirteen as a servant in a Belgravia mansion, only to be discovered reading in the library by her employer, Lady Rowan Compton. Fearing dismissal, Maisie is shocked when she discovers that her thirst for education is to be supported by Lady Rowan and a family friend, Dr. Maurice Blanche.

But The Great War intervenes in Maisie’s plans, and soon after commencement of her studies at Girton College, Cambridge, Maisie enlists for nursing service overseas.

Years later, in 1929, having apprenticed to the renowned Maurice Blanche, a man revered for his work with Scotland Yard, Maisie sets up her own business. Her first assignment, a seemingly tedious inquiry involving a case of suspected infidelity, takes her not only on the trail of a killer, but back to the war she had tried so hard to forget.

The Shock of the Fall

2013

by Nathan Filer

The Shock of the Fall is a poignant tale of loss and resilience, exploring the depths of the human psyche. What begins as the story of a lost boy turns into a narrative of a brave man yearning to understand his past and himself.

While on vacation with their parents, Matthew Homes and his older brother snuck out in the middle of the night. Only Matthew came home safely. Ten years later, Matthew reveals he has found a way to bring his brother back...

Unafraid to look at the shadows of our hearts, Nathan Filer's rare and brilliant debut shows us the strength rooted in resilience and love.

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