- Translated from the French by Robin Buss272pp The Plague is Albert Camus's world-renowned fable of fear and courage The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror.An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation, and a story of bravery and determination against the precariousness of human existence.'A matchless fable of fear, courage and cowardice' Independent'Magnificent' The Times
- Winner of the Costa Book Award for Best First Novel (2015)The British Book Awards Book of the Year 2016360ppThe Loney recounts the Easter of 1976 when a group of Catholic pilgrims from London journey to the wilds of Lancashire for a retreat, during which they hope to cure the narrator's mute, mentally disabled brother, Hanny.
- For centuries, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck, a remote valley on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise their families, work the land, and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river.As one generation gives way to the next and ancient land is carved up in the name of progress, darkness gathers. The people of Barrowbeck have forgotten that they are but guests in the valley. Now there is a price to pay. Two thousand years of history is coming to an end.
- After the blizzard of a century ago, it was weeks before anyone got in or out. By that time, what had happened there, what the Devil had done, was already fable. Devil's Day is a day for children now, of course. A tradition it's easy to mock, from the outside. But it's important to remember why we do what we do. It's important to know what our grandfathers have passed down to us. Because it's hard to understand, if you're not from the valley, how this place is in your blood. That's why I came back, with Kat; it wasn't just because the Gaffer was dead.Though that year we may have let the Devil in after all . . .
- Illustrated by Isabelle FollathSigned by Katherine Woodfine96ppThis beloved childhood classic by Lucy Maud Montgomery is now available in a stunning gift book edition with exquisite new art.The relatable mishaps and adventure of Anne are brought to life for a new generation in this enchanting abridgement by bestselling author, Katherine Woodfine, accompanied by Isabelle Follath's engaging and witty artwork.
- Ttranslated from the Japanese by Polly Barton464ppInspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, "The Konkatsu Killer", Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, unsettling exploration of misogyny, obsession, romance and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine.Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking. The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press, entertaining no visitors. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back.Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen. As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body, might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought?‘Nothing short of ingenious’ INEWS‘Ambitious and unsettling’GUARDIAN'It isn’t entirely clear whether to read the novel or devour it’ OBSERVER
- Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith160ppAs cryptic and compelling as a fever dream... Bae Suah is one of the most unique and adroit literary voices working today' Sharlene TeoFinishing her last shift at Seoul's only audio theatre for the blind, Kim Ayami heads into the night with her former boss, searching for a missing friend. The following day, she looks after a visiting poet, a man who is not as he seems. Unfolding over a night and a day in the sweltering summer heat, their world's order gives way to chaos, the edges of reality start to fray, and the past intrudes on the present in increasingly disorientating ways.Untold Night and Day is a hallucinatory feat of storytelling from one of the most radical voices in contemporary Korean literature. '[A] highly original novel, full of unsolved mysteries, repeated motifs and startling prose… Remarkably fresh… Exhilarating… Once I finished it, much of it slipped into my unconscious. All that remains is a sense of Bae's boundless yet precise imagination' Luiza Saum, Daily TelegraphA metaphysical detective story, Untold Night and Day...draws on ideas from Korean shamanism...to venture in style and ambition far from the conventions of mystery narratives...Storylines echo one another and are braided into multilayered fictional universe with extraordinary skill… Bae’s novel complicates the boundaries between self and other reality and make-believe, night and day' Sarah Shin, Observer'Bae Suah is one of Korea’s most radical contemporary writers… Untold Night and Day is a hallucinatory novel propelled by the logic of dreams… Bae masterfully layers [her] themes into an almost hidden code beneath the novel’s meditative surface' Jay G Ying, GuardianBae Suah’s disturbing, beautifully controlled novel Untold Night and Day is a book of doubles, shadows and parallel worlds... a slim yet labyrinthine twist on a “choose your own adventure” story that disarms even as it disorients' Catherine Taylor, Financial Times
- The new novel from the twice Booker Prize-nominated Sarah Hall. An electrifying novel of passion, connection and transformation from "a writer of show-stopping genius" (The Guardian)''In many ways ... Burntcoat feels like a culmination of Hall’s work and, in my opinion, it is her finest yet" - Ruth Gilligan, The Independent"You were the last one here before I closed the door of Burntcoat, before we all shut our doors. In the bedroom above her immense studio at Burntcoat, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness is making her final preparations. The symptoms are well known: her life will draw to an end in the coming days. Downstairs, the studio is a crucible glowing with memories and desire. It was here, when the first lockdown came, that she brought Halit. The lover she barely knew. A presence from another culture. A doorway into a new and feverish world." (Excerpt)"Burntcoat is a book full of wisdom about the crisis of our times" - Sarah Gilmartin, Irish Times"Burntcoat hovers somewhere between the literal truth and what, during the worst moments of the pandemic, many of us feared the truth might be" - Claire Allfree, The Times
- Sale!"Marvellous and terrifying” – Sunday Times"Superb” – Daily MailSpecial Offer: We are offering this title at 50% off the publisher’s RRP
- Sale!184ppThe electrifying novel from the Booker shortlisted author of Everything Under.'A short sharp explosion of a gothic thriller' Observer
- Sale!202ppGoing to the Moon is SO last century, so how difficult can it be-even for a ten-year-old-to follow in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong and the Apollo astronauts? Meet Matilda, the girl who'll give it her best shot to learn everything she needs to learn in order to get there herself.
- Sale!What happens to Ordinary lives when international concerns intrude? What does it mean to belong when the various strands of our identity are brought into conflict? How do we survive to re-invent ourselves when we have seen the world torn apart?Special Offer: We are offering this title at 50% off the publisher’s RRP
- Sale!320ppHeart-achingly funny, touching and brilliantly clever, Millions is a fantastic adventure about two boys, one miracle and a million choices.'Pure gold' Scotsman
- Sale!320ppPacked with mystery, adventure and laughs, Noah's Gold is the exciting novel from the bestselling, multi-award-winning author of Millions and Cosmic, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Fully illustrated in black and white throughout by Steven Lenton, this is perfect for readers of 9+.
- Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann272pp'When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed.'Metamorphosis, Kafka's masterpiece of unease and black humour, is one of the twentieth century's most influential works of fiction, and is accompanied here by two more classic stories.This collection of new translations brings together the small proportion of Kafka's works that he himself thought worthy of publication. It includes 'Meditation', a collection of his earlier studies; 'The Judgement', written in a single night of frenzied creativity; 'The Stoker', the first chapter of a novel set in America and a fascinating occasional piece, and 'The Aeroplanes at Brescia', Kafka's eyewitness account of an air display in 1909. Together, these stories reveal the breadth of Kafka's literary vision and the extraordinary imaginative depth of his thought.
- ISBN: 0954791312Genre: FictionPublisher: Tindal Street Press
- Sale!224ppTranslated by Polly Barton, Sam Bett, David Boyd, Daniel Joseph, Aiko Masubuchi, and Helen O’HoranNamed a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Thrillist, The Millions, Frieze, and Metropolis JapanThe first English-language publication of the work of Izumi Suzuki, a legend of Japanese science fiction and a countercultural icon.
- Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLeanWinner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2004n the final moments of the Spanish Civil War, fifty prominent Nationalist prisoners are executed by firing squad. Among them is the writer and fascist Rafael Sanchez Mazas. As the guns fire, he escapes into the forest, and can hear a search party and their dogs hunting him down. The branches move and he finds himself looking into the eyes of a militiaman, and faces death for the second time that day.But the unknown soldier simply turns and walks away. Sanchez Mazas becomes a national hero and the soldier disappears into history. As Cercas sifts the evidence to establish what happened, he realises that the true hero may not be Sanchez Mazas at all, but the soldier who chose not to shoot him. Who was he? Why did he spare him? And might he still be alive?'This is a masterly parable of political violence, of suffering, but also, and decisevely, of the strange logic of compassion and healing . . . should become a classic' George Steiner'With irresistible directness and delicacy, Javier Cercas engages in a quick-witted, tender quest for truth and the possibility of reconciliation in history, in our everyday lives - which happens to be the theme of most great European fiction . . . a marvellous novel' Susan Sontag'He has succeeded, with one perfectly crafted book, in single-handedly redeeming the epic genre' Alberto Manuel
- 304pp'Dark, compelling, beautifully written' Andrew Michael HurleyIn this eerie, atmospheric and mysterious tale, a woman returns to the house in Morecambe Bay where she grew up in the 1960s to find it falling apart, undermined by the roots of two huge sycamores. She is unaware that she has awoken the spirits of her parents, Jack and Nettie Clifford, who watch anxiously as their daughter Annette is overwhelmed by the state of the house and realise too late how far they neglected her as a child.As their memories come alive, the story unfolds of a crucial summer when Annette was 8 and Nettie became too ill to run their boarding house. The lodgers have to go - all except the newly arrived butcher's apprentice, because he seems to have miraculous healing powers and is Jack and Nettie's last, desperate hope.'A disturbing, precisely rendered tale of charisma, misplaced faith and transgenerational trauma, with a touch of the supernatural . . . [it] brings to mind the claustrophobic, suburban world of Dennis Potter's great play Brimstone and Treacle' Alex Clark, Spectator"This marvellous novel is both haunted and haunting, as Ashworth expertly blurs the boundaries between the past and the present, the homely and the uncanny, the quick and the dead. Touching on profound questions of myth, mortality and redemption, it is both sinister and beautiful - and ultimately tender' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent
- 304pp'Unnerving, absorbing . . . Laurie is a miraculous creation . . . Piercingly human and darkly funny' Sunday TimesOne ordinary morning, Laurie's husband disappears, leaving behind his phone and wallet. For weeks she tells no one, carrying on her cleaning job at the university, visiting her tricky, dementia-suffering father and holing up in her high-rise flat with a bottle to hand. When she finally reports him as missing, the police are suspicious. What took her so long?Laurie can't fully explain her behaviour even to herself, or the strange presence she senses in the flat. Only when she looks back on the ensuing wreckage does she begin to understand, and see how she might repair the damage.
- Sale!A Story Told In Poems By Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate MilnerNominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal 21, and shortlisted for CILLIP Carnegie Medal 21Intense imaginative power combines with brilliant poetic technique in a major new work by one of the leading poets writing for young people.
- Sophie and Lil are on their very first case for the Secret Service Bureau in this thrilling adventure. They travel to the seaside town of Rye where – despite its sleepy appearance – they have evidence that a band of German spies are plotting dastardly deeds. Can our two brave detectives navigate smugglers tunnels, make it through treacherous sea mists and decode a secret message to solve the mystery?
- Taylor and Rose Secret Agents Series Book 4Top Secret Agents Sophie Taylor and Lil Rose have set sail to New York City on an elegant ocean liner, ready to face their enemies and settle old scores. These two brave friends will need all of their detective skills, courage and derring-do as they race against time to rescue a beloved friend and save the city - and its inhabitants - from destruction and certain death....
- Taylor and Rose Secret Agents Series Book 1It’s 1911, and the young detectives of Taylor & Rose are turning their talents to espionage. On a case for the mysterious Secret Service Bureau, the daring Miss Sophie Taylor and Miss Lilian Rose must leave London for the boulevards and grand hotels of Paris.But danger lurks beneath the bright lights of the city - and intrigue and murder lie in store. As aeroplanes soar in the skies overhead, our heroines will need to put all their spy skills to the test to face the peril that awaits them...
- Taylor and Rose Secret Agents Series Book 2With Sophie still missing in action after their explosive mission in Paris, Lil decides to take matters into her own hands. On a new mission for the Secret Service Bureau, can Lil find Sophie in misty, mysterious St Petersburg?Can they uncover the identity of their true enemy and can they trust anyone - even the Bureau?
- The Sinclair Mysteries Book 1You are cordially invited to attend the Grand Opening of Sinclair’s department store!Enter a world of bonbons, hats, perfumes and MYSTERIES around every corner. WONDER at the daring theft of the priceless CLOCKWORK SPARROW! TREMBLE as the most DASTARDLY criminals in London enact their wicked plans! GASP as our bold heroines, Miss Sophie Taylor and Miss Lilian Rose, CRACK CODES, DEVOUR ICED BUNS and vow to bring the villains to justice…
- The Sinclair Mysteries Book 2Wonder at the puzzling disappearance of the Jewelled Moth! Marvel as our heroines, Sophie and Lil, don cunning disguises, mingle in high society and munch many cucumber sandwiches to solve this curious case! Applaud their bravery as they follow a trail of terrible secrets that leads straight to London’s most dangerous criminal mastermind, and could put their own lives at risk too....A fast-paced historical mystery adventure with gorgeous Edwardian period detail; perfect for fans of Chris Riddell, Enid Blyton and Robin Stevens.
- The Sinclair Mysteries Book 4The festive season has come to Sinclair’s, and Sophie and Lil are spending the holidays at snowy Winter Hall. But it turns out that this is no ordinary house party....As sinister secrets come to light, our intrepid heroines find themselves faced with a more baffling mystery than ever before! With the help of their friends, can they uncover the truth in time to foil a truly diabolical plot? Or will Mr Sinclair’s New Year’s Eve Midnight Peacock Ball spell disaster for the dauntless young detectives?
- The Sinclair Mysteries Book 3When a priceless painting is stolen, our dauntless heroines, Sophie and Lil, find themselves faced with forgery, trickery and deceit on all sides!Be amazed as the brave duo pit their wits against this perilous puzzle! Marvel at their cunning plan to unmask the villain and prove themselves detectives to be reckoned with - no matter what dangers lie ahead....It’s their most perilous adventure yet!
- Taylor and Rose Secret Agents Series Book 3After the dramatic events of their mission to St Petersburg, Sophie and Lil know the truth - there's a double-agent at work at the Secret Service Bureau. Whilst Lil pursues a dangerous line of enquiry in London, Sophie must set out on a new mission to Venice, following a twisted trail to discover long-buried secrets. But there are villains lurking amongst the city's piazzas, canals and crumbling palaces, and in the shadows an old enemy lies in wait....
- Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize"A remarkable novel” - The Irish Times"An unputdownable read" - The ScotsmanSpecial Offer: We are offering this title at 25% off the publisher's RRP
- Sale!A Man Booker Prize shortlisted author"heartbreaking and compelling” - The Observer"shimmers with edgy brilliance" - Sunday HeraldSpecial Offer: We are offering this title at 25% off the publisher's RRP
- Sale!Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize "Remarkable” - Daily Mail"A true virtuoso" - Sunday Telegraph"a novel of extraordinary power" - GuardianSpecial Offer: We are offering this title at 25% off the publisher's RRP
- Translated from the Czech by Michael Henry Heim320pp'A modern classic ... As relevant now as when it was first published. ' John BanvilleA young woman is in love with a successful surgeon: a man torn between his love for her and his womanising. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals, while her other lover stands to lose everything because of his noble qualities. In a world where lives are shaped by choices and events, and everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance and weight - and we feel 'the unbearable lightness of being'.
- A little babushka is made when you’re young and something happens to you that leaves a scar…Cerys Williams has swapped her village in the Welsh Valleys for art college in London and the spare room in glamorous Auntie Wyn’s flat. Cerys knows there’s more out there for her in the world; it’s the year 2000 – she definitely doesn’t have to just get married and have babies and wear beige and cook stews for the rest of her life, even if Mam thinks she should.But Cerys’s London is not glossy or cool or sophisticated, despite what Adept, her favourite magazine, has told her. It’s lonely and overwhelming and confusing. Until, that is, she meets him…
- Llewella has straight-A grades, a lead in the school play, a prefect badge, a successful blog and a comfortable life. Despite this, she feels like a brown, chubby square peg at a school full of thin, white girls. She's never had a best friend. Could the new student at sixth form - glamorous, streetwise Aretha - be the one?
- Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones336pp In September 1913, a young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone – or something – seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world. Little does the newcomer realize, as he tries to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target. A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.
- Translated from the Turkish by Erdag Goknar704ppMy Name is Red is an unforgettable murder mystery, set amid the splendour of sixteenth century Istanbul, from the Nobel prizewinning authorIn the late 1590s, the Sultan secretly commissions a great book: a celebration of his life and his empire, to be illuminated by the best artists of the day - in the European manner. At a time of violent fundamentalism, however, this is a dangerous proposition. Even the illustrious circle of artists are not allowed to know for whom they are working. But when one of the miniaturists is murdered, their Master has to seek outside help. Did the dead painter fall victim to professional rivalry, romantic jealousy or religious terror?'Wonderful' The Spectator 'Magnificent' Observer 'Unforgettable' Guardian
- A family cohabits with a horse; three riots are tucked up safely in their beds; a tumbleweed takes up a career in comedy; the giant flag crossing a football crowd has a strange effect on those underneath; a rampaging fifty-foot poem brings terror to a city . . .As always in Paul Farley’s work, the quotidian and the cosmic are braided together in surprising, funny, or disconcerting ways. And as always, his poems inhabit and explore intermediate, uncertain spaces; a Farley poem may be filled with recognisable objects and events, but is always alert to wider resonances.
- Sale!Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022240pp'An artfully plotted tale about race, privilege and guilt... careful reading proves richly rewarding' Lucy Poescu, The Observer'A compelling exploration of the fraught reality of race relations in Brazil ... there is much that English-speaking readers stand to gain from the considered, quiet fury of Paulo Scott's novel, not least the expansion of and challenge to modern-day discourses on race.' Laura Garmeson, Times Literary Supplement
- A laugh-out-loud, warm-hearted picture book about friendship and forgiveness.Blue Monster wants to play with Rabbit – but Rabbit is sleeping and doesn’t want to play. SO... what should Blue Monster do?Blue Monster does something you should NEVER do and then... he does it again and again!
- Tom and Mot are best friends. On their birthday, Tom gives Mot a feather – but could it be a feather from the most spectacular bird in the world? Mot gives Tom a marble – or is it the smallest planet in the universe?Tom would like to give a whale, a dolphin, a sea monster, an elephant, while Mot would give rivers, mountains, forests and even the sun!But after a joyful day playing together, what is the best present of all? This beautiful story of imagination and friendship is perfect for sharing.
- Peggy and her dog Beau are inseparable: the only thing that can ever come between them is war. Peggy is evacuated to the safety of the coast, but Beau is left behind in the city. He becomes the most extraordinary and unlikely of war heroes, searching the streets after the bombs fall for survivors. Then disaster strikes when Peggy's parents are killed, leaving her and Beau alone, hundreds of miles apart. But Beau has a plan to reunite them...
- Winner of the British Book Award 2022 for Children's Fiction Book of the Year.Winner of the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Children’s FictionThe Times Children's Book of the Year Litfest Big Read 20251941. War is raging. And Joseph has been sent to live in the city, where bombers rule the skies. There, he will live with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no fondness for children. Her only loves are the rundown zoo she owns and its mighty silverback gorilla, Adonis.
- September 1939. The world is on the brink of war. As his dad marches off to fight, Noah makes him a promise, to keep their beloved family dog safe. When the government advises people to have their pets put down in readiness for the chaos of war, Noah and his two best friends go on the run to save his dog and as many animals as they can...
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