Author: Booklover2

It’s that time of the year when we celebrate the love in our life and what better way to show that special person how much they mean to you than with the gift of a book? Books are the biggest love in our lives so whether you celebrate big on February 14th or prefer to ignore it, these books about love in all its forms are perfect for spoiling the one you love or just treating yourself this Valentine’s Day.

Love and Choice by Lucy Fry

What, in your relationships, have you chosen? What would you choose, if you felt able?

In Love and Choice, therapist and journalist Lucy Fry explains why relationships should start with these simple questions. Most of us are brought up with a blueprint for our most important and intimate relationships. It comes from family, the media, or even the government’s tax policies, and the message is simple:

The (gold) standard for a romantic relationship is one that is heterosexual, between two people, and monogamous.

Lucy invites us to examine this blueprint consciously, accept that it may not be for everyone, and consider something outside the ordinary. By offering us a window into a life built on choice, and a radical approach, Lucy helps us explore what we really want, and what our relationship needs. With care, wit and candour, Fry blends insightful psychological and philosophical ideas with case studies drawn from interviews with experts, real people, and experiences in her own life.

Love and Choice gives readers everything they need to choose what, who, and how to love.

The Year of the Cat by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

When Rhiannon fell in love with, and eventually married her flatmate, she imagined they might one day move on. But this is London in the age of generation rent, and so they share their home with a succession of friends and strangers while saving for a life less makeshift.

The desire for a baby is never far from the surface, but can she be sure that she will ever be free of the anxiety she has experienced since an attack in the street one night? And after a childhood spent caring for her autistic brother, does she really want to devote herself to motherhood?

Moving through the seasons over the course of lockdown, The Year of the Cat nimbly charts the way a kitten called Mackerel walked into Rhiannon’s home and heart, and taught her to face down her fears and appreciate quite how much love she had to offer.

Darling by India Knight

Delight the bookworm in your life with the gift of this hilarious and heartbreaking modern-day adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s classic, The Pursuit of Happiness.

Marooned in a sprawling farmhouse in Norfolk, teenage Linda Radlett feels herself destined for greater things. She longs for love, but how will she ever find it? She can’t even get a signal on her mobile phone. Linda’s strict, former rock star father terrifies any potential suitors away, while her bohemian mother, wafting around in silver jewellery, answers Linda’s urgent questions about love with upsettingly vivid allusions to animal husbandry.

Eventually Linda does find her way out from the bosom of her deeply eccentric extended family, and she escapes to London. She knows she doesn’t want to marry ‘a man who looks like a pudding’, as her good and dull sister Louisa has done, and marries the flashy, handsome son of a UKIP peer instead.

But this is only the beginning of Linda’s pursuit of love, a journey that will be wilder, more surprising and more complicated than she could ever have imagined.

The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan

Meet the wedding party:

THE BRIDE AND GROOM
Celine and Luke are meant to get married and live happily ever after. But Celine’s more interested in playing the piano, and Luke’s a serial cheater.

THE BRIDESMAID
Phoebe, Celine’s sister, is meant to finish college and get a real job. Instead she pulls pints, lives with six flatmates, and has no long-term aspirations beyond smoking her millionth cigarette.

THE BEST MAN
Archie, Luke’s best friend and ex-boyfriend, is meant to move up the corporate ladder and on from Luke. Yet he stands where he is, admiring the view.

THE GUEST
Vivian, Luke’s other best friend and other ex, was meant to put up with Luke’s bullshit when they dated. But she didn’t. And now she is contented, methodically observing her friends like ants.

As the wedding approaches and these five lives intersect, each character will find themselves looking for a path to their happily ever after – but does it lie at the end of an aisle?

Bellies by Nicola Dinan

It begins as your typical boy meets boy. While out with friends at a university drag night, Tom buys Ming a drink.

Confident and witty, a charming young playwright, Ming is the perfect antidote to Tom’s awkward energy, and their connection is instant.

Tom finds himself deeply and desperately drawn into Ming’s orbit, and on the cusp of graduation, he’s already mapped out their future together. But, shortly after they move to London to start their next chapter, Ming announces her intention to transition.

From London to Kuala Lumpur, New York to Cologne, we follow Tom and Ming as they face shifts in their relationship in the wake of Ming’s transition.

Through a spiral of unforeseen crises – some personal, some professional, some life-altering – Tom and Ming are forced to confront the vastly different shapes their lives have taken since graduating, and each must answer the essential question: is it worth losing a part of yourself to become who you are?

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

One by one, she undid each event, each decision, each choice. If Davy had remembered to put on a coat. If Seamie McGeown had not found himself alone on a dark street. If Michael Agnew had not walked through the door of the pub on a quiet night in February in his white shirt.

There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael, a married man from Belfast, in the pub owned by her family. But here, love is never far from violence, and this encounter will change both of their lives forever.

As people get up each morning and go to work, school, church or the pub, the daily news rolls in of another car bomb exploded, another man beaten, killed or left for dead. In the class Cushla teaches, the vocabulary of seven-year-old children now includes phrases like ‘petrol bomb’ and ‘rubber bullets’.

And as she is forced to tread lines she never thought she would cross, tensions in the town are escalating, threatening to destroy all she is working to hold together.

Absolutely & Forever by Rose Tremain

How do you find the courage to make your own life?

Marianne Clifford, teenage daughter of a peppery army colonel and his vain wife, falls helplessly and absolutely for eighteen-year-old Simon Hurst, whose cleverness and physical beauty suggest that he will go forward into a successful and monied future, helped on by doting parents.

But fate intervenes. Simon’s plans are blown off course, he leaves for Paris and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together.

Finding her way in 1960s Chelsea, and supported by her courageous Scottish friend, Petronella, she continues to seek the life she never stops craving. And in Paris, beneath his blithe exterior, Simon Hurst continues to nurse the secret which will alter everything.

Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola

Bolu Babalola finds the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology and rewrites them with incredible new detail and vivacity in this debut collection. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines iconic Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from countries that no longer exist in our world.

A high-born Nigerian goddess feels beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover and longs to be truly seen.

A young businesswoman attempts to make a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life.

A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether to uphold her family’s politics, or to be true to her heart.

Whether captured in the passion of love at first sight, or realising that self-love takes precedent over the latter, the characters in these vibrant stories try to navigate this most complex human emotion and understand why it holds them hostage.

Moving exhilaratingly across perspectives, continents and genres, from the historic to the vividly current, Love in Colour is a celebration of romance in all of its forms.

Alexa, what is there to know about love? by Brian Bilston

The perfect, witty gift for Valentine’s and beyond.

Alexa, what is there to know about love? is a wonderful collection of poems by Brian Bilston, Twitter’s ‘unofficial poet laureate’, in which he frets over the challenges of modern life, extols the pleasures of books, broods over politics, and ponders the curiosities of language.

But at its heart, this is a collection of poems about love. From our caveman days to the internet era, from first dates to love in old age, Alexa, what is there to know about love? has a love poem for every time, place and occasion – and will stir the soul of even the most jaded romantic.

We made it! We survived what always feels like the longest month of the year. If you achieved your goals such as dry January, Veganuary, starting your fitness regime etc, etc then we applaud you. Our booksellers’ new year resolutions are always to read more and they didn’t let us down in January. Here are our top picks from last month.

The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore

Sister Perpetue is not to move. She is not to fall asleep. She is to sit, keeping guard over the patient’s room. She has heard the stories of his hunger, which defy belief: that he has eaten all manner of creatures and objects. A child even, if the rumours are to be believed. But it is hard to believe that this slender, frail man is the one they once called The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon.

Before, he was just Tarare. Well-meaning and hopelessly curious, born into a world of brawling and sweet cider, to a bereaved mother and a life of slender means. The 18th Century is drawing to a close, unrest grips the heart of France and life in the village is soon shaken. When a sudden act of violence sees Tarare cast out and left for dead, his ferocious appetite is ignited, and it’s not long before his extraordinary abilities to eat make him a marvel throughout the land.

Following Tarare as he travels from the South of France to Paris and beyond, through the heart of the Revolution, The Glutton is an electric, heart-stopping journey into a world of tumult, upheaval and depravity, wherein the hunger of one peasant is matched only by the insatiable demands of the people of France.

Confessions with Blue Horses by Sophie Hardach

Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2019. Tobi and Ella’s childhood in East Berlin is shrouded in mystery. Now adults living in London, their past is full of unanswered questions. Both remember their family’s daring and terrifying attempt to escape. But what happened next? Where did their parents disappear to, and why? What happened to Heiko, their little brother? And was there ever a painting of three blue horses?

In contemporary Germany, Aaron works for a Stasi archive, making his way through old files, reconstructing the tragic history of thousands of families. But one file in particular catches his eye; and soon unravelling the secrets at its heart becomes an obsession.

When Ella finds a stash of her mother’s notebooks, she and Tobi embark on a search that will take them back to Berlin. Her fate clashes with Aaron’s, and they piece together the details of Ella’s past… and a family torn apart.

Devastating and beautifully written, funny and life-affirming, Confession with Blue Horses explores intimate family life and its strength in the most difficult of circumstances.

The Hunger of Women by Marosia Castaldi

Rosa, midway through life, is alone. Her husband passed away long ago, and her cosmopolitan daughter is already out the door, keen to marry and move to the city. At loose ends, Rosa decides to transplant herself to the flat, foggy Lombardy provinces from her native Naples and there finds a way to renew herself-by opening a restaurant, and in the process coming to a new appreciation of the myriad relationships possible between women, from friendship to caregiving to collaboration to emotional and physical love.

Unconventional in style and yet rivetingly accessible, The Hunger of Women is a novel infused with the pleasures of the body and the little shocks of daily life. Made up of Rosa’s observations, reflections, and recipes, it tracks her mental journey back to reconnect with her own embattled mother’s age-old wisdom, forward to her daughter’s inconceivable future, and laterally to the world of Rosa’s new community of lovers and customers. A tribute not only to the tradition of women’s writing on hearth and home but to the legacy of such boundary-breaking feminist writers as Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, and Helene Cixous, The Hunger of Women is nothing less than a literary feast.

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle

In phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun and friendship.

But Hubert Bird is lying.

Something has made him turn his back on people, and he hardly sees a soul.

So when his daughter announces she’s coming to visit, Hubert faces a race against time: to make his real life resemble his fake life before he’s found out.

Along the way Hubert renews a cherished friendship, is given a second chance at love and even joins an audacious community scheme. But with the secret of his earlier isolation lurking in the shadows, is he destines to always be one of the lonely people?

Kick the Latch by Kathryn Scanlan

About one woman’s fine, hard life at the racetrack, Kick the Latch – with its ruthless concision and artful mysteries – is lightning in a bottle

Kathryn Scanlan’s Kick the Latch vividly captures the arc of one woman’s life at the racetrack – the flat land and ramshackle backstretch; the bad feelings and friction; the winner’s circle and the racetrack bar; the fancy suits and fancy boots; and the ‘particular language’ of ‘grooms, jockeys, trainers, racing secretaries, stewards, pony people, hotwalkers, everybody’ – with economy and integrity.

Based on transcribed interviews with Sonia, a horse trainer, the novel investigates form and authenticity in a feat of synthesis reminiscent of Charles Reznikoff’s Testimony. As Scanlan puts it, ‘I wanted to preserve – amplify, exaggerate – Sonia’s idiosyncratic speech, her bluntness, her flair as a storyteller. I arrived at what you could call a composite portrait of a self.’ Whittled down with a fiercely singular artistry, Kick the Latch bangs out of the starting gate and carries the reader on a careening joyride around the inside track.

I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet by Shauna Niequist

When everything we’ve been clinging to falls apart, how do we know what to keep and what to let go of?

I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet , now a New York Times bestseller, is a clear-eyed look at where we go from here–and how we can transform our lives along the way. Just after her fortieth birthday, author Shauna Niequist found herself in a season of chaos, change, and loss unlike anything she’d ever faced.

She discovered that many of the beliefs and practices that she usually turned to were no longer serving her. After trying–and failing–to pull herself back up using the same old strategies and systems, she realized she required new courage, curiosity, and compassion. S

he discovered the way through was more about questions than answers, more about forgiveness than force, more about tenderness than trying hard. In I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet , Niequist chronicles her journey–from her life-changing move from the Midwest to Manhattan to the power of unlearning what is no longer helpful and accepting the unknowns that come with midlife, heartbreak, and chronic pain. With her characteristic candor and grace, Niequist writes about her experience learning how Follow Niequist as she endeavors to understand grief, to reshape her faith, and to practice courage when it feels impossible.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

This is a story about Peter Duke who went on to be a famous actor. This is a story about falling in love with Peter Duke who wasn’t famous at all. It’s about falling so wildly in love with him – the way one will at twenty-four – that it felt like jumping off a roof at midnight.

There was no way to foresee the mess it would come to in the end. It’s spring and Lara’s three grown daughters have returned to the family orchard.

While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the one story they’ve always longed to hear – of the film star with whom she shared a stage, and a romance, years before.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents lead before their children are born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart.

Cathedral by Ben Hopkins

A sweeping story about obsession, mysticism, art, and earthly desire.

At the centre of this story, is the Cathedral. Its design and construction in the 12th and 13th centuries in the fictional town of Hagenburg unites a vast array of unforgettable characters whose fortunes are inseparable from the shifting political factions and economic interests vying for supremacy.

From the bishop to his treasurer to local merchants and lowly stonecutters, everyone, even the town’s Jewish denizens, is implicated and affected by the slow rise of Hagenburg’s Cathedral, which in no way enforces morality or charity.

Around this narrative core, Ben Hopkins has constructed his own monumental edifice, a choral novel that is rich with the vicissitudes of mercantilism, politics, religion, and human enterprise. Ambitious, immersive, a remarkable feat of imagination, Cathedral deftly combines historical fiction, the literary novel of ideas, and a tale of adventure and intrigue.

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini’s Italy to 1940s Los Angeles-a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice.

Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every Sunday her father took her to the cinema instead of church, Maria immigrates with her mother to Los Angeles after a childhood transgression leads to her father’s arrest.

Fifteen years later, on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart. Her mother won’t speak to her. Her boss, a man of many toupees, has been summoned to Washington by congressional investigators.

Her boyfriend, a virtuoso Chinese American actor, can’t escape the studio’s narrow typecasting. And the studio itself, Maria’s only home in exile, teeters on the verge of bankruptcy. Over the coming months, as the bright lights go dark across Los Angeles, Mercury Pictures becomes a nexus of European emigres: modernist poets trying their luck as B-movie screenwriters, once-celebrated architects becoming scale-model miniaturists, and refugee actors finding work playing the very villains they fled.

While the world descends into war, Maria rises through a maze of conflicting politics, divided loyalties, and jockeying ambitions. But when the arrival of a stranger from her father’s past threatens Maria’s carefully constructed facade, she must finally confront her father’s fate – and her own.

The Woman In Me by Britney Spears

The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court.

The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others.

The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

Written with remarkable candour and humour, Spears’s ground-breaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

Her decision changed history. Now her family must survive it.

British Malaya, 1930s. Discontented housewife Cecily is seduced by Japanese general Fujiwara and the glorious future he is promising for ‘independent’ Malaya, free from British colonialism.

As she becomes further embedded as his own personal spy, she unwittingly alters the fate of her country by welcoming in a punishing form of dictatorship under the Japanese in WWII.

Japanese-occupied Malaya, 1945. Cecily and her family are barely surviving. Her children, Jujube, Abel and Jasmin, are surrounded by threat, and look to their mother to keep them safe. But she can’t tell them about the part she played in the war – and she doesn’t know how to protect them.

Can Cecily face up to her past to save her children? Or is it already too late… ?

We can’t believe it’s almost February already, we hope you read some great books in January! This year we get an extra day to squeeze in a bit more reading so here are some new titles to tempt you next month.

This Love by Lotte Jeffs

Find yourself in this sweeping tale of queer friendship and chosen families that will keep you laughing, crying and endlessly turning the page.

When Mae and Ari meet their final year at the University of Leeds, their connection is magnetic. Mae, whilst stubborn and no stranger to breaking hearts, needs Ari’s bright light to guide her out of her self-centred ways; Ari, vibrant, charming and reeling in the aftermath of a scandal in New York, clings to Mae as his grounding anchor.

As the years sweep by, the two traverse the tumult of life: toxic partners and hidden secrets, the heavy weight of grief, and a complicated, unignorable desire to start a family . . . If they can hold onto one another in the face of the relentless past and the inevitable future, they might discover how to build something beautiful out of their expansive, boundary-breaking love.

Spanning ten years of extraordinary friendship, This Love is a vivid and epic tale of finding your soulmates, building an unconventional family, and the limitless, ever-changing forms love can take.

Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee

Jonathan Abernathy is a loser. Unemployed and behind on his student loan repayments, the only thing Abernathy has in abundance is debt.

When a secretive government loan forgiveness programme offers him a job he can literally do in his sleep, Abernathy thinks he’s found his big break. Hired as a dream auditor, he finds himself entering the dreams of white-collar workers to flag their anxieties for removal at night so they’ll be more productive in the day. If Abernathy can at least appear competent, might he have a chance at a new life?

As Abernathy tries to find his footing in this new gig, reality and morality begin to warp around him. Soon, the lines between life and work, right and wrong, and even sleep and consciousness, have blurred and Abernathy begins to wonder just what he might have signed away…

Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook

In deepest winter, beware the coldest hearts . . .

London, 1850. Constance Horton has disappeared.

Maude, her older sister, knows only that Constance abandoned the apothecary they call home, and, disguised as a boy, boarded a ship bound for the Arctic. She never returned. ‘A tragic accident’, the Admiralty called it. But Maude Horton knows something isn’t right.

When she finds Constance’s journal, it becomes clear that the truth is being buried by sinister forces. To find answers – and deliver justice for her sister – Maude must step into London’s dark underbelly, and into the path of dangerous, powerful men. The kind of men who seek their fortune in the city’s horrors, from the hangings at Newgate to the ghoulish waxworks of Madame Tussaud’s.

It is a perilous task. But Maude has dangerous skills of her own . . .

Pity by Andrew McMillan

The town was once a hub of industry. A place where men toiled underground in darkness, picking and shovelling in the dust and the sleck. It was dangerous and back-breaking work but it meant something. Once, the town provided, it was important; it had purpose. But what is it now?

Brothers Alex and Brian have spent their whole life in the town where their father lived and his father, too. Now in his middle age and still reeling from the collapse of his personal life, Alex must reckon with a part of his identity he has long tried to conceal. His only child Simon has no memory of the mines. Now in his twenties and working in a call centre, he derives passion from his side hustle in sex work and his weekly drag gigs.

Set across three generations of South Yorkshire mining family, Andrew McMillan’s magnificent debut novel is a lament for a lost way of life as well as a celebration of resilience and the possibility for change.

Glorious People by Sasha Salzmann

What did the disintegration of the Soviet Union feel like for the people who lived through it? Award-winning writer Sasha Salzmann tells this story in a remarkable novel about two women in extraordinary times

As a child, Lena longs to pick hazelnuts in the woods with her grandmother. Instead, she is raised to be a good socialist: sent to Pioneer summer camps where she’s taught to worship Lenin and sing songs in praise of the glorious Soviet Union. But perestroika is coming. Lena’s corner of the USSR is now Ukraine, and corruption and patronage are the only ways to get by – to secure a place at university, an apartment, treatment for a sick baby.

For Tatjana, the shock of the new means the first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union and certified foreign whisky, but no food in the shops; it means terrible choices about how to love. Eventually both women must decide whether to stay or to emigrate, but the trauma they carry is handed down to their daughters, who struggle to make sense of their own identities.

Glorious People is a vivid depiction of how the collapse of the Soviet Union reverberated through the lives of ordinary people. Engrossing, rich in detail and unforgettable characters, this is a captivating love letter to mothers and daughters.

A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo

A dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession and political corruption.

Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job, so Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor and begging, dreaming of a big future.

Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of family friends.

When a local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Wuraola and Eniola’s lives become unexpectedly intertwined. In this breathtaking novel, Ayobami Adebayo shines her light on Nigeria, the gaping divides in its society, and the shared humanity that lives in between.

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

In 1792, formerly enslaved Benjamin Honey and his Irish wife, Patience, discover an island where they can make a life together. More than a century later, the Honeys’ descendants remain, with an eccentric, diverse band of neighbours. But during one tumultuous summer at the dawn of the twentieth century, one prejudiced missionary lands on the island’s shores, disrupting the community’s fragile balance with everlasting consequences.

Full of lyricism and power, Paul Harding’s This Other Eden explores the hopes and dreams and resilience of those seen not to fit a world brutally intolerant of difference.

January 25th is Burns Night so here at Parade’s End we will be pouring a wee dram, tucking into the tatties and neeps and settling in with a good book. Here are 9 of our favourites set in Scotland or by Scottish authors.

A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin

John Rebus stands accused: the once legendary detective is on trial, facing the rest of his life behind bars.

How does a hero turn villain?

Or have times changed, and the rules with them?

Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke tackles Edinburgh’s most explosive case in years, as a corrupt cop harbouring huge secrets goes missing.

But is her loyalty to the police or the public? And who can she trust when nobody is truly innocent – including her former mentor Rebus – and a killer walks among them?

As the time comes to choose sides, it becomes clear: after a lifetime of lies, the truth will break your heart…

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

It is summer, it is the Edinburgh Festival.

People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a road-rage incident – a near-homicidal attack which changes the lives of everyone involved.

Jackson Brodie, ex-army, ex-police, ex-private detective, is also an innocent bystander – until he becomes a murder suspect.

As the body count mounts, each member of the teeming Dickensian cast’s story contains a kernel of the next, like a set of nesting Russian dolls.

They are all looking for love or money or redemption or escape: but what each actually discovers is their own true self.

The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G. Maclean

After Culloden, Iain MacGillivray was left for dead on Drummossie Moor. Wounded, his face brutally slashed, he survived only by pretending to be dead as the Redcoats patrolled the corpses of his Jacobite comrades.

Six years later, with the clan chiefs routed and the Highlands subsumed into the British state, Iain lives a quiet life, working as a bookseller in Inverness. One day, after helping several of his regular customers, he notices a stranger lurking in the upper gallery of his shop, poring over his collection. But the man refuses to say what he’s searching for and only leaves when Iain closes for the night.

The next morning Iain opens up shop and finds the stranger dead, his throat cut, and the murder weapon laid out in front of him – a sword with a white cockade on its hilt, the emblem of the Jacobites. With no sign of the killer, Iain wonders whether the stranger discovered what he was looking for – and whether he paid for it with his life. He soon finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit and a series of old scores to be settled in the ashes of war.

The Last Witch of Scotland by Philip Paris

Being a woman was her only crime.

Scottish Highlands, 1727.

In the aftermath of a tragic fire that kills her father, Aila and her mother, Janet, move to the remote parish of Loth, north-west of Inverness. Blending in does not come easily to the women: Aila was badly burned in the fire and left with visible injuries, while her mother struggles to maintain her grip on reality. When a temporary minister is appointed in the area, rather than welcome the two women, he develops a strange curiosity for them that sets them even further apart from the community.

Then arrives a motley troupe of travelling entertainers from Edinburgh, led by the charismatic but mysterious Jack. It is just the distraction Janet, and particularly Aila, needs: for the first time in a long while, their lives are filling with joy and friendship, and a kind of hope Aila hasn’t known since her father’s death. But in this small community, faith is more powerful than truth, and whispers more dangerous even than fire.

Haunting and deeply moving, The Last Witch of Scotland is a story of love, loyalty and sacrifice, inspired by the true story of the last person to be executed for witchcraft in Britain.

1989 by Val McDermid

1989.

The world is on the brink of revolution and journalist Allie Burns is a woman on a mission.

When she discovers a lead about the exploitation of society’s most vulnerable, Allie is determined to investigate and give voice to the silenced.

Elsewhere, a ticking clock begins the countdown to a murder.

As Allie begins to connect the dots and edges closer to exposing the truth, it is more shocking than she ever imagined.

There’s nothing like a killer story, and to tell it, Allie must risk her freedom and her life . . .

A Song of Comfortable Chairs by Alexander McCall Smith

THE ONE WHERE MMA POTOKWANI SAVES THE DAY

Grace Makutsi’s husband, Phuti, is in a bind. An international firm is attempting to undercut his prices in the office furniture market.

To make matters worse, they have a slick new advertising campaign that seems hard to beat. Nonetheless, with Mma Ramotswe’s help, Phuti comes up with a campaign that may just do the trick.

Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi is approached by an old friend who has a troubled son. Grace and Phuti agree to lend a hand, but the boy proves difficult to reach, and the situation is more than they can handle on their own.

It will require not only all of their patience and dedication, but also the help of Mma Ramotswe and the formidable Mma Potokwani.

The Long Knives by Irvine Welsh

In Edinburgh, Detective Inspector Ray Lennox is investigating a brutal crime…

Ritchie Gulliver MP is dead.

Castrated and left to bleed in an empty Leith warehouse. Vicious, racist and corrupt, many thought he had it coming. But nobody could have predicted this.

After the life Gulliver has led, the suspects are many – corporate rivals, political opponents, the countless groups he’s offended.

And the vulnerable and marginalised, who bore the brunt of his cruelty.

As Lennox unravels the truth, and the list of shocking attacks grows, he must put his personal feelings aside. But one question refuses to go away: who are the real victims here?

The Romantic by William Boyd

One man, many lives. Born in 1799, Cashel Greville Ross experiences myriad lives: joyous and devastating, years of luck and unexpected loss. Moving from County Cork to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, Cashel seeks his fortune across continents in war and in peace.

He faces a terrible moral choice in a village in Sri Lanka as part of the East Indian Army. He enters the world of the Romantic Poets in Pisa. In Ravenna he meets a woman who will live in his heart for the rest of his days.

As he travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, a father, a lover, he experiences all the vicissitudes of life and, through the accelerating turbulence of the nineteenth century, he discovers who he truly is. This is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic. From one of Britain’s best-loved and bestselling writers comes an intimate yet panoramic novel set across the nineteenth century.

Companion Piece by Ali Smith

‘A story is never an answer. A story is always a question.’

Here we are in extraordinary times. Is this history? What happens when we cease to trust governments, the media, each other? What have we lost? What stays with us? What does it take to unlock our future? Following her astonishing quartet of Seasonal novels, Ali Smith again lights a way for us through the nightmarish now, in a vital celebration of companionship in all its forms.

January is National Dog Walking month but whether you are a dog owner or not, getting out for some fresh air and exercise is great for your physical and mental well-being, especially in these bleak Winter months. We may live in the city but there is plenty to explore in and around London. Here’s our favourite walking books to inspire you to wrap up warm and get out there this January.

Walking London: Thirty Original Walks In and Around London

Walking London is the essential companion for any urban explorer—visitor or native—committed to discovering the true heart of one of the world’s greatest capital cities.

In 30 original walks, distinguished historian Andrew Duncan reveals miles of London’s endlessly surprising landscape.

From wild heathland to formal gardens, cobbled mews to elegant squares and arcades, bustling markets to tranquil villages.

Duncan reveals the pick of the famous sights, but also steers walkers off the tourist track and into the city’s hidden corners.

Handsomely illustrated with specially commissioned colour photographs and complete route maps, the book provides full details of addresses, opening times and the best bars and restaurants to visit en route.

Walks for Each Season: 26 great days out in the countryside near London

Julia’s carefully curated collection of walks proves that the seasons are just a train ride away from London’ Lara Maiklem author of Mudlarking. Seize the moment, escape the city and fully experience the beauty of each season.

These 26 fabulous walks, all within easy reach of London, showcase each season’s highlights, leading you through bluebells in spring, among poppies and wildflower meadows in summer, into the glory of beechwoods in autumn and to the breathtaking display of a starling murmuration in winter.

Routes are plotted on Ordnance Survey maps alongside clear, easy-to-follow directions and each walk starts and ends at a station, so you can discover the gems of the south east with ease. Walks range from four to 14 miles, from gentle rambles to ambitious hikes, and take you to stunning views, sparkling chalk streams, lazy rivers, clifftops, secret beaches and ancient woodlands.

Gorgeous colour photographs and delightfully honest descriptions introduce each walk, interpret the landscape and highlight what to look for – from flowers to fossils. You’ll also find the optimum time of year to enjoy each walk, how to get there, good picnic spots, pubs and cafes along the way. Which makes this book altogether the perfect guide and companion for both walkers and armchair ramblers.

Rather Splendid London Walks: Joolz Guides’ Quirky and Informative Walks Through the World’s Greatest Capital City

Pip-pip and Tally-Ho… meet the most famous tour guide on YouTube, Joolz Guides!

In Rather Splendid London Walks you can join Joolz himself on 20 fun-packed walks around the city, picking out the top sights, sounds and secret features that you wouldn’t spot without an expert guide on hand.

On your journey you will learn about London’s finest palaces, historic houses and murky drinking dens, visiting unscrupulous politicians, literary figures, scientific heroes, notorious criminals, and stars of the stage and screen along the way. Highlighting historical features and oddities en route, including stink pipes, cattle troughs and parish boundary markers, Joolz has more tales, facts and anecdotes than you’ve had hot dinners.

From Pimlico to Peckham, Holland Park to Highgate, Southwark to Soho, Joolz Guides unveils the hidden gems and fantastic follies around every corner of the metropolis.

A -Z London Hidden Walks: Discover 20 Routes in and Around the City

Discover hidden gems around London with 20 walking routes.
Featuring 20 walks in and around the city, including lesser-known circuits and details on popular walks. Accompanied by guided walking instructions and written by a local expert, A-Z London Hidden Walks is the perfect way to explore the city in a new light.

Small enough to fit in a bag or pocket, this handy guidebook is ideal for tourists or locals looking to discover more about the city. Each route varies in length from 1 to 6 miles (1.6 to 9.6 km), and is clearly outlined on detailed A-Z street mapping.
• 20 walking routes with instructions and maps
• Full-colour photographs of hidden gems and city attractions
• Key sights and locations clearly marked on map
• Information such as start/finish points, nearest postcodes, distance and terrain included.

London Tree Walks

Paul Wood’s brilliant and acclaimed London’s Street Trees sold out three printings in its first edition, is a fixture in London’s bookshops and museum and gallery gift shops, and was republished in Spring 2020 in a new, revised and expanded edition.

One of its most popular features is the handful of ‘tree walks’ at the back, while the author is still leading his own guided ‘street tree walks’ every weekend somewhere in the capital.

So now here is a whole book of tree walks around the capital – some for an hour or two, others for an afternoon, and several to while away a whole day.

They take you to Ealing and Highgate, to see nineteenth-century London Planes lining the Embankment, newly-planted Persian Silk Trees in Brockley, and a whole Dawn Redwood forest at Canary Wharf – while pointing out the architecture and social and natural history along the way.

You’ll find trees taking you to the haunts of Seventies rock stars, in search of a long-buried circus elephant, and to some London’s highest ground with the most stunning views over the capital.

Time Out Country Walks Near London Volume 1

The first volume of the Time Out Book of Country Walks has been fully revised and updated and is now beautifully illustrated with colour photography.

It features 52 country walks within easy reach of London – one for every week of the year.

They take you through glorious countryside, up hills and along river valleys, to historic sights and into charming small towns and villages, all on scenic footpaths with a minimum of road walking.

Between seven and fifteen miles long, the walks are graded for difficulty, from family rambles to challenging upland hikes and contain meticulous directions.

The Joy of Walking

Just like the best walks, The Joy of Walking takes you on a journey with lots to surprise and enjoy along the way. Through the best of classic writing, this inspiring anthology shows how the simple act of walking goes to the heart of life itself.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics, this edition is edited and introduced by Suzy Cripps.

Whether walking through awe-inspiring countryside or weaving your way through crowds in the hustle and bustle of great cities, we take thousands of steps a day. Finding meaning in movement can be difficult in today’s frenetic world. This may seem like a modern problem, but putting one foot in front of the other is something that authors have been writing about for centuries. Some like Gaskell, Wordsworth and Whitman extol the virtues of walking in the countryside, be it on one’s own connecting with nature or as the means to really good conversation with friends. Others like Dickens and E. M. Forster explore the thrill and dangers of moving about the city, by day or by night.

In The Joy of Walking you’ll find a wealth of essays, poetry and fiction celebrating and exploring the joy of walking.

The start of a new year is not just a time to start getting excited about what new books to read but also a time to reflect on how you could improve your life. These 6 books are recommended by our booksellers to help inspire you for a better 2024!

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Transform your life with tiny changes in behaviour, starting now.

People think that when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions: doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call.

He calls them atomic habits.

In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy.

These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life.

Skincare by Caroline Hirons

Caroline Hirons knows skin. An established industry expert and aesthetician, she knows what works, what doesn’t, what you need and what you absolutely do not.

Whether you are a skincare pro or overwhelmed by information, Skincare: The New Edit covers where to start, how to build a routine, ingredients to look for and things to avoid, whatever your age, skin concerns or budget.

Fully revised and updated, this book is packed with all the latest skincare recommendations, brands
and techniques… and no nonsense. Including:

• Brand new photography
• All new product recommendations
• Industry updates
• Fully restructured for maximum usability
• New sections on black skin, SPF, maskne, perimenopause and menopause

This Book May Save Your Life by Dr. Karan Rajan

The hilarious, myth-busting survival guide to the human body from TikTok’s favourite General Surgeon.

Though the odds are stacked against us, the human body has an extraordinary tendency to survive…

Full of hard-learned lessons and health hacks from Dr Karan Rajan’s years working the hospital wards, This Book May Save Your Life is a head-to-toe ode to our amazing bodies – warts and all – that will help you to worry less and live better for longer.

Here, Dr Karan explains the weird and wonderful bodily functions that keep us going, and offers practical advice to help you thrive when things go wrong, including:

THE DANGERS OF PLUCKING YOUR NOSE HAIRS

YOUR UNTAPPED NATURAL REFLEXES TO COMBAT STRESS

HOW TO MANAGE PAIN WITH SIMPLE MIND TRICKS

AND WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER HOLD IN A FART

How to Argue with a Meat Eater by Ed Winters

Challenge their beliefs; change the world

If you are a vegan, you’ll know all too well how provocative it can be – you never know when you’ll be challenged or how. But being able to face down and rebut arguments against veganism is hugely important. Not just because many of the arguments lack substance, but because every interaction provides a pivotal moment to create change.

How to Argue With a Meat Eater will teach you to not only become a skilled debater, sharing the secrets of renowned vegan educator Ed Winters, but it will arm you with powerful facts and insights that will give pause to even the most devout meat eater.

Providing you with the knowledge to become a better conversationalist and critical thinker, and the motivation to create a more ethical, kind and sustainable world, let this book be your guide and inspiration to know that, no matter what the argument, you can win every time.

How Life Works by Philip Ball

A cutting-edge new vision of biology that proposes to revise our concept of what life is – from Science Book Prize winner and former Nature editor Philip Ball.

Biology is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Several aspects of the standard picture of how life works have been exposed as incomplete, misleading, or wrong.

In How Life Works, Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. With this knowledge come new possibilities. Today we can redesign and reconfigure living systems, tissues, and organisms. We can reprogram cells, for instance, to carry out new tasks and grow into structures not seen in the natural world. Some researchers believe that ultimately we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined.

Incorporating the latest research and insights, How Life Works is a sweeping journey into this new frontier of the nature of life, a realm that will reshape our understanding of life as we know it.

The Book You Want Everyone You Love to Read by Philippa Perry

Get closer the people who matter the most with the help of the nation’s favourite therapist, PHILIPPA PERRY

Life is all about relationships and the quality of those connections, whether that’s with family, partners, friends, colleagues or most importantly yourself. If you can get those relationships on a functional and even keel, then the other tricky stuff that life throws your way becomes easier to manage. In this warm, practical and witty book, No.1 Sunday Times bestselling psychotherapist Philippa Perry shows you how to approach life’s big problems.

How do you find and keep love? What can you do to manage conflict better? How can you get unstuck and cope with change and loss? What does it mean to you to be content? Are other people just annoying or are you the problem? With a healthy dose of sanity, Philippa Perry’s compassionate advice could help you become a happier, wiser person. Includes some material adapted from the Ask Philippa columns in Observer Magazine.

The big day is rapidly approaching and if you are looking for some inspiration or guidance on producing the perfect meals this Christmas, look no further. Whether you are cooking for yourself, friends, a family the size of a small army, for vegans or even guests who are gluten-free, we have a selection Christmas cookbooks for you!

Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook

Can you taste Christmas yet? . . .

Cook up the ultimate Christmas feast with Jamie’s Christmas Cookbook

Jamie’s got you covered with his ultimate festive guide.

From mouth-watering classics to tasty veggie alternatives, this is the perfect gift for anyone hosting Christmas which they’ll come back to year after year

A 400-page-plus volume featuring recipes that will become your go-tos for the festive period and beyond.

With classic recipes for every part of Christmas dinner, veggie alternatives, clever ways to use up all of those leftovers, top tips for cooking meat perfectly, and even recipes for edible gifts and Christmas cocktails – he really has thought of everything!

Ginger Pig Christmas Cook Book

From the award-winning Ginger Pig butchers, here are all the recipes you need for the most important meal of the year, plus all the other get-togethers of the festive season. In addition to delicious dishes there’s a wealth of helpful advice, from how to stuff a bird to the art of building a festive cheese board.

‘Much though we love it, Christmas day is not just about poultry, so although this book has recipes for turkey and goose, we’ve included plenty of alternatives, like stuffed porchetta, rib of beef or celeriac steaks. Because families and friends get together before and after the big day, we have included ideas for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, canapés and puddings for the days between Christmas and the New Year, together with advice on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. For New Year’s Eve itself, choose between our recipes for a formal dinner or a more relaxed get-together.’ Tim Wilson, Founder of Ginger Pig

Packed with recipes for every possible Christmas, whether you’re feeding a crowd or cooking for just a few, this is the ultimate culinary guide for a stress-free, luxurious Christmas.

Melissa Forti’s Christmas Baking Book

Christmas is the time of year when people reach for their aprons and measuring spoons to transform butter, sugar, and flour into delectable treats.

Melissa Forti’s contemporary, yet steeped in tradition, approach to baking appeals to beginner and seasoned bakers alike. As the author of the acclaimed book The Italian Baker and owner of the utterly charming Melissa’s Tea Room and Cakes in her hometown of Sarzana, Italy, Forti combines a modern sensibility with old-world tradition. A self-taught baker, Forti’s artistry is based on centuries of Italian and European baking traditions.

In this new book, she treats her readers to recipes that she has collected and modernized, as well as those she’s created herself. There’s Panettone revisited, a usually labor- intensive dish that Forti has simplified so people can make their own at home; Bonet, a chocolate caramel pudding, straight from the region of Piedmont; Torta delle rose, a brioche type of cake from the Lombardia region, shaped like a bouquet of roses, that will surely be a showstopper on any Christmas table! Each recipe is illustrated with a mouthwatering, full-color photograph. Forti knows that Christmas is more than a day—it’s a season for gathering with loved ones and celebrating the past as well as the present.

Her Christmas baking book will help you make delicious treats as well as great memories during the coziest time of the year.

Nigel Slater – The Christmas Chronicles

The Christmas Chronicles is the story of Nigel Slater’s love for winter, the scent of fir and spruce, ghost stories read with a glass of sloe gin, and beeswax candles with shadows dancing on the ceiling. With recipes, decorations, fables and quick fireside suppers, Nigel guides you through the essential preparations for Christmas and the New Year, with everything you need to enjoy the winter months.

Taking you from 1 November all the way to the end of January, The Christmas Chronicles covers everything from Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year to Epiphany. Throughout the season, Nigel offers over 100 recipes to see you through the build-up, the celebrations and the aftermath. Here are much-loved classics such as goose and turkey (and making the most of the leftovers), mincemeat and the cake; recipes to make the cold months bearable, like ribsticker bread pudding with Comté and Taleggio, salt crust potatoes with blue cheese and goat’s curd, and hot-smoked salmon, potatoes and dill; as well as bright flavours to welcome the new year, including pink grapefruit marmalade, pear and pickled radish salad and rye, linseed and treacle bread.

Packed with feasts, folktales, myths and memoir and all told in Nigel’s warm and intimate signature style, The Christmas Chronicles is the only book you’ll ever need for winter.

Donna Hay Christmas

Donna Hay’s bestselling classic Christmas Feasts and Treats – now fully revised and updated with many new recipes to make, enjoy and give away – will make your Christmas cooking and entertaining fabulously easy and delicious.

Donna Hay takes the stress out of Christmas cooking and entertaining with this must-have collection of over 170 stunning yet simple festive recipes. Featuring all the nostalgic favourites and some fun twists on the classics, this is the only cookbook you need for the festive season.

From easy starters to show-stopping mains – including a cheat’s glazed ham that doesn’t need studding or basting – to dazzling desserts that are sure to impress, and some special edible gifts, these recipes are peppered with Donna’s best-ever tricks and shortcuts to make it the most relaxing Christmas yet. You’ll also find plenty of beautiful styling tips to add some extra sparkle to the festivities.

Also included are step-by-step images to walk you through it all, whether you’re attempting a glossy ham, succulent bird, fruity pudding or a shimmering trifle. Or perhaps you want to try your hand at a roast pork with the perfect crackle, a gingerbread wreath or a rocking rocky road?

No matter what’s on the menu, Christmas Feasts and Treats will give you the confidence to have a very delicious and stress-free Christmas.

Christmas with Good Housekeeping

The ultimate Christmas cookery companion for every household from Britain’s most trusted kitchen.

Christmas with Good Housekeeping provides every recipe you need for the most delicious festive season with family and friends. With over 140 recipes for jovial perfection, chapters offer mouth-watering ideas for canapes, starters, vegan & vegetarian options, baked goods, showstopper desserts, edible gifts, and not to forget Christmas lunch with all the trimmings!

Accompanied with stunning photography, specially curated to answer key questions for readers surrounding Christmas cookery, Good Housekeeping reveals not only their tried and tested recipes, but also their tips for getting ahead, saving time, loving your leftovers, and making the most out of your festive gatherings.

With all bases covered for the big day, this definitive cookbook will be one you’ll come back to year after year.

A Very Vegan Christmas

Enjoy plant-based twists on iconic Christmas dishes and discover some new festive favourites, with more than 70 recipes for the holiday season.

Christmas can often be a feast of meat, cheese and chocolate, but whether you are reducing your meat intake or catering for plant-based friends and family, A Very Vegan Christmas will provide amazing food that everyone will love.

Each recipe is simple to make and packed full of flavour, making sure each meal is a true celebration.

With beautiful photography and illustrations throughout, this book would also make a wonderful gift for the vegan in your life.

Contents include party food, leftovers, baking, desserts and much more…

Gluten Free Christmas

Fuss-free, simple and delicious recipes to see you through the festive season, that all of the family will love!

Gluten Free Christmas will show you just how simple it is to recreate all your festive favourites, from Christmas Eve nibbles and the main event, to sweet treats, edible gifts and a Boxing Day feast.

Best-selling author Becky Excell has spent years developing delicious dishes and sharing them with her followers on Instagram.

She is here to show you that a gluten-free Christmas can be enjoyable and easy, without having to miss out on anything.

An essential book when it comes to gluten-free home cooking, Gluten Free Christmas will ensure that you have the best Christmas ever.

Nigella Christmas

With her no-nonsense approach and inspirational ideas, combined with reassuring advice and easy-to-follow, reliable recipes, Nigella Christmas is guaranteed to bring comfort and joy, and make sure the season of good will stays that way.

Here is everything you need to make your Christmas easy and enjoyable, from scrumptious cakes and puddings to the main event itself – turkey with all the trimmings, a vegetarian Christmas dinner or a wide range of delicious alternatives.

With lusciously warm photography, evocative food writing and a beautiful hardback design, this is a book you will treasure for many years as well as a delicious Christmas present for friends and family.

Here at Parade’s End we don’t mind a grey, rainy month as it gives us an excuse to turn down all those invitations and stay home in the warm with a good book. Here’s what our booksellers read in November.

Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart

The long-awaited memoir from iconic, beloved actor and living legend Sir Patrick Stewart.

From his acclaimed stage triumphs to his legendary onscreen work, Sir Patrick Stewart has captivated audiences around the world and across multiple generations in a career spanning six decades with his indelible command of stage and screen. 

No other British working actor enjoys such career variety, universal respect and unending popularity, as witnessed through his seminal roles – whether as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek fame, Professor Charles Xavier of Marvel’s X-Men hit film franchise, his more than forty years as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company and in such critically lauded roles for Hamlet and The Tempest on the West End and Broadway, his unforgettable one-man show adapted from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, or his comedic work in American Dad!, Ted, Extras and Blunt Talk, among many others.

Now, he presents his long-awaited memoir, Making It So, a revealing portrait of a driven artist whose astonishing life – from his humble and hardscrabble beginnings in Yorkshire, to the dizzying heights of Hollywood and worldwide acclaim – proves a story as exuberant, definitive and enduring as the author himself. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night cleaner shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Ever since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat over thirty years ago keeping busy has helped her cope.

One night she meets Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium who sees everything, but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors – until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late…

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

Reichl knows that to be a good critic she has to be anonymous – but her picture is posted in every four-star, low-star kitchen in town and so she embarks on an extraordinary – and hilarious – undercover game of disguise – keeping even her husband and son in the dark.

There is her stint as Molly, a frumpy blonde in an off-beige Armani suit that Ruth takes on when reviewing Le Cirque resulting in a double review of the restaurant: first she ate there as Molly; and then as she was coddled and pampered on her visit there as Ruth, New York Times food critic. Then there is the eccentric, mysterious red head on whom her husband – both disconcertingly and reassuringly – develops a terrible crush. She becomes Brenda the earth mother, Chloe the seductress and even Miriam her own (deceased) mother.

What is even more remarkable about Reichl’s spy games is that as she takes on these various guises, she finds herself changed not just physically, but also in character revealing how one’s outer appearance can very much influence one’s inner character, expectations, and appetites.

Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado

You’ve never met anyone like her . . .

Antonia Scott is special. Very special. She is not a policewoman or a lawyer. She has never wielded a weapon or carried a badge, and yet, she has solved dozens of crimes.

But it’s been a while since Antonia left her attic in Madrid. The things she has lost are much more important to her than the things awaiting her outside.

She also doesn’t receive visitors. That’s why she really, really doesn’t like it when she hears unknown footsteps coming up the stairs.

Whoever it is, Antonia is sure that they are coming to look for her.

And she likes that even less . . .

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

Banneker Terrace on 129th and Fred Doug ain’t pretty, but it’s home. Home to young and old, folk just trying to get by. Cookouts with beer and wings, summertime with souped-up cars bumpin music. People don’t come here for the bad; they came here to make a good life.

It is home to Swan down in 6B, reconnecting with his boy Boons, just out of prison. Home to Mimi in 14D, raising Swan’s child, doing hair on the side. Home to Quanneisha in 21J, longing to leave but it’s where she grew up. Home to Mr Murray in 2E, who has played chess outside on the sidewalk for years. Some of the residents of Banneker have got it together, some can’t make rent or pay bills, some are raising kids, some are hustling on the side, all are living.

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs expertly showcases the strengths, struggles and hopes of one Harlem community, who are grappling with the effects of gentrification alongside their own personal challenges. It captures the joy and pain of the human experience and heralds the arrival of a uniquely talented writer.

Our Strangers by Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis is a virtuoso at detecting the seemingly casual, inconsequential surprises of daily life and pinning them for inspection.

In Our Strangers, conversations are overheard and misheard, a special delivery letter is mistaken for a rare white butterfly, toddlers learning to speak identify a ping-pong ball as an egg and mumbled remarks betray a marriage.

In the glow of Davis’s keen noticing, strangers can become like family and family like strangers.

Our Strangers is a fascinating collection of short stories that confirms the genius of a writer whose every attention is transformative.

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

‘Maudie, why are all the best characters men?’ Maudie closes the book with a clllump. ‘We haven’t read all the books yet, Miss Cristabel. I can’t believe that every story is the same’. Cristabel Seagrave has always wanted her life to be a story, but there are no girls in the books in her dusty family library.

For an unwanted orphan who grows into an unmarriageable young woman, there is no place at all for her in a traditional English manor. But from the day that a whale washes up on the beach at the Chilcombe estate in Dorset, and twelve-year-old Cristabel plants her flag and claims it as her own, she is determined to do things differently. With her step-parents blithely distracted by their endless party guests, Cristabel and her siblings, Flossie and Digby, scratch together an education from the plays they read in their freezing attic, drunken conversations eavesdropped through oak-panelled doors, and the esoteric lessons of Maudie their maid.

But as the children grow to adulthood and war approaches, jolting their lives on to very different tracks, it becomes clear that the roles they are expected to play are no longer those they want. As they find themselves drawn into the conflict, they must each find a way to write their own story…

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto

Put the kettle on, there’s a mystery brewing…

Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective? Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things.

Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.

Dead of Winter by S.J.Parris

Three gripping tales from No.1 Sunday Times bestseller S. J. Parris.

The Secret Dead
Summer 1556. A girl’s body is found in a Neapolitan monastery. Novice monk Giordano Bruno is determined to uncover what happened, but his investigation could deliver him into the hands of the Inquisition.

The Academy of Secrets
Autumn 1568. An invitation arrives for Giordano Bruno from a secret society of philosophers. Bruno is delighted, but keeping their heretical secrets soon becomes a matter of life or death.

A Christmas Requiem
Winter 1569. Giordano Bruno is summoned by the Pope, who is intrigued by his talent for memory games. But Rome is a den of iniquity, and Bruno will be lucky to escape the Eternal City alive.

Christmas!! December is here and time is running out to get those book gifts for your friends and loved ones this Christmas. Here are 8 new books with a Christmas theme to get you started.

The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan

A long-lasting friendship
Every year, Erica, Claudia, and Anna reunite for their book club holiday. They’re bonded by years of friendship and a deep love of books, but there is still so much they keep from each other . . .

A perfect Christmas escape
At the cosy Maple Sugar Inn, Hattie specialises in making her guests’ dreams come true, but this Christmas all she wants is to survive the festive season. Between running the inn and being a single mother, Hattie is close to breaking point.

The start of a brand-new story…?
Over the course of an eventful week, Hattie sees that the friends are each carrying around unspoken truths, but nothing prepares her for how deeply her story will become entwined in theirs. Will this Christmas be the end of the book club’s story or the start of a whole new chapter?

Christmas by Candlelight by Karen Swan

Snowed in for the holidays, old truths rise to the surface. Christmas by Candlelight is a cosy Christmas story from Karen Swan, bestselling author of The Stolen Hours.

It’s three days before Christmas and starting to snow when high-flier Libby and her new boyfriend reluctantly attend her university reunion.

Hosted by Archie Templeton – the heartbreaker of their group – at his grand family estate in Yorkshire, the night is a great success until they go to leave: the road is now blocked with snow.

At first, being snowed in together is fun. But as hours pass everyone grows restless.

Then the power goes out . . .

Hunkered down together by candlelight, they reminisce about old times – and tensions soon start to rise. Secrets from the past begin to unravel and Libby is confronted with a truth she has long tried to deny.

Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick

A village of secrets
It’s December 1952, and a dead stranger has been found lodged up the chimney of Holly House in the remote town of Elderby. Is he a simple thief, or a would-be killer? Either way, he wasn’t on anyone’s Christmas wish list.

A mystery that can’t be solved
Inspector Frank Grasby is ordered to investigate. The victim of some unfortunate misunderstandings, he hopes this case will help clear his name. But as is often the way for Grasby, things most certainly don’t go according to plan.

A Christmas to remember
Soon blizzards hit the North York Moors, cutting off the village from help, and the local doctor’s husband is found murdered. Grasby begins to realise that everyone in Elderby is hiding something – and if he can’t uncover the truth soon, the whole country will pay a dreadful price…

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

When Ashley Smith – a bright-eyed but lonely American studying in London – is invited to spend Christmas with her classmate’s family at their Cotswolds manor house, it seems like a perfect country idyll.

And for Ashley – who records it all in her diary – there’s the added romantic potential of her friend’s twin brother, Adam, who she thinks could be her wildest dream come true.

But is there something strange about the old house, both stately and rundown? What could the motives of the mysterious Chapman family be? And what holiday horrors might be lying in wait?

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict

THIS CHRISTMAS, A KILLER TAKES FAMILY GAMES TO A MURDEROUS NEW LEVEL.

On 19th of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner and Christmas sceptic Edie O’Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.

Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.

Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer – and finally lay her past to rest.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

One dead Santa. A town full of suspects. Will you discover the truth?

Christmas in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking amongst the amateur dramatics enthusiasts.

Sarah-Jane is fending off threats to her new position as Chair, the fibreglass beanstalk might be full of asbestos, and a someone is intent on ruining the panto even before the curtain goes up.

Of course there’s also the matter of the dead body. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they read the round robins, examine the emails and pore over the police transcripts. Will the show go on?

Mistletoe Malice by Kathleen Farrell

The fire is on, sherry poured, presents wrapped, and claws are being sharpened. In a seaside cottage perched on a cliff, one family reunites for Christmas.

While snow falls, a tyrannical widowed matriarch presides over her unruly brood.

Her niece tends to her whims, but fantasises about eloping; and as more guests arrive, each bringing their secret truths and dreams, the Christmas tree explodes, a brawl erupts, an escape occurs – and their ‘midwinter madness’ climaxes …

And So This Is Christmas by Brian Bilston

It’s that time of year again . . .

With his signature wit, Brian Bilston returns with And So This is Christmas, fifty-one poems in celebration of the festive season: from bizarre family traditions to the office Christmas party; from voting day for turkeys to the impossible art of gift-giving.

So hang your stockings, grab your mistletoe and curl up with this heart-warming collection of Christmas crackers.

The most magical time of the year is rapidly approaching and it’s time to start thinking about those letters to Santa. If your little ones love books then here are our suggestions of some new books for kids this Christmas.

The Completely Chaotic Christmas of Lottie Brooks

From hilarious bestselling author, Katie Kirby, comes a brand-new Lottie Brooks story. This time it’s CHRISTMAS!!!

Dear Santa,

For Christmas this year, I would like:

Two hundred KitKat chunkies (full-size not multipack)
Baby Bella to stop shouting ‘BUM’ in public spaces
A new brother who doesn’t fart on me and call it a ‘tasty air biscuit’
Antoine or Daniel (I can’t decide!) to surprise me on Christmas Day with a grand romantic gesture
Cash (lots of it!)
A new diary (I’m really getting through them!)

Lots of love,

Lottie xxx

PS. Please could you put a chocolate orange instead of a real orange in my stocking this year?

Lottie Brooks LOVES Christmas – there’s presents, all the KitKat Chunkys you can eat AND no school for two weeks! But this year, Christmas might be a bit more chaotic than usual. The whole Brooks family are visiting for the festive break (along with some surprise visitors . . .), there’s a Secret Santa to organise, and the hammies won’t stop attacking Gavin, the Elf on the Shelf!

Will Lottie survive the festivities intact or will she have to hide in the fort of shame until it’s all over?

What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas

Packed full of fun, What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas is a perfect gift for the festive season from the bestselling picture book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks.

In a big old house, the ladybird is visiting her friend the spider for the festive season. But those two bad men, Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len, are up to no good again.

They have a devious plan – to steal the children’s Christmas presents from their stockings! It’s a good thing that the clever little ladybird has overheard their awful plotting, and she has a cunning plan to make sure they don’t get away with it.

The fifth title in the Number One bestselling series from the award-winning team of Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks, which has been enjoyed by over four million children worldwide.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King’s Christmas Shenanigans

The perfect gift for any child this Christmas. From Alex T. Smith, bestselling author of festive favourites How Winston Delivered Christmas, How Winston Came Home for Christmas and The Grumpus, comes a gorgeous retelling of children’s Christmas classic The Nutcracker – a Christmas Story in twenty-four-and-a-half chapters.

The Mouse King is up to some very sneaky shenanigans.

The night before Christmas, he steals the key to the Kingdom of Sweets and sets out to cause as much festive mayhem as he can!

Clara and Fritz Strudel, and their new friend the Nutcracker, are the only ones who can stop him. But when a magical curse is put on Fritz, it’s a race against time to make it to the Kingdom of Sweets and find the Sugar Plum Fairy – the only one who can break the spell!

Can the adventurers stop the Mouse King’s naughty plan and save Fritz, before it’s too late?

With irresistible colour illustrations, a festively foiled cover and a chapter to enjoy each day in December, The Nutcracker And the Mouse King’s Christmas Shenanigans is a gorgeous hardback, perfect for reading together.

The Robin Who Stole Christmas

Join Rotten Robin and his gang of feathered friends as they hatch a plan to steal Christmas in this hilariously unconventional festive tale!

A little red robin – who just so happens to be the world’s most wanted thief – has a rather unusual plan this festive season. He hates Christmas, and so he’s going to STEAL it – baubles, mince pies, Santa, and all!

But Rotten Robin hadn’t realised the feathers he’d ruffle by taking away the Yuletide celebrations – and when he’s forced to give back everything he’s stolen, he realises that Christmas might not be that bad after all…

This brand new Christmas story from picture book rising star Rachel Morrisroe and illustrator talent Richard Merritt is a unique take on a festive tale, full of humour and heart – and the perfect Christmas gift.

Santarella

Santa meets Cinderella in this funny, fractured fairy tale by bestselling author Suzy Senior (Octopants, Unicorn Club, The Hotel for Bugs).

Oh no! It’s a chilly, frosty Christmas Eve and Santa’s hurt his back. He cannot fly the sleigh or even lift his sack! Is Christmas ruined? Not if Cinderella has anything to do with it! Leaving her mean step-sisters behind, she offers to give Santa a hand, and – along the way – travels the world. But Santa has one more gift in his sleigh. Could it be the chance for Cinderella to write her own happily-ever-after?

Packed with a rollicking rhyme and hilarious illustrations from Lucy Semple (Watch Out, Wolf! There’s a Baddie in Your Book) this fab feminist retelling of a classic fairy tale challenges stereotypes and is a joy to read aloud. Fans of fractured fairy tales like Little Red by Bethan Woollvin, Fearless Fairy Tales by Konnie Huq, James Kay and Rikin Parekh, and The Fairytale Hairdresser and Father Christmas by Abie Longstaff and Lauren Beard, will love this joyous story full of festive magic and wonder.

The Winter Wish

A glorious Christmas story, full of festive sparkle from the illustrator of The Primrose Railway Children.

William lives in Words of Wonder, a perfect bookshop full of stories and delights. He has always lived there with his family, ever since he was a baby, and now he is thirty-seven books tall.

But times are hard, and the bookshop is struggling, so William takes it upon himself to create the most beautiful Christmas window to draw people in – with a leaping reindeer, pulling a sleigh full of stories.

And then one night, as Christmas draws near, the reindeer comes to life and all William’s wishes for his family and all the shops around come true . . . making a Christmas to remember through the power of words and hope.

A beautiful new picture book, full of the magic of Christmas!

Santa’s Marvellous Mechanical Workshop

A gorgeously illustrated celebration of creativity, upcycling and Christmas magic!

It’s Christmas Eve at Lily’s new house, but Lily misses the old one. Then, in a moment of magic, she is whisked away to the North Pole! Santa’s elfbots need her help to invent new toys from used, discarded ones.

Lily comes to learn that with a dash of imagination, she can make anything – even, perhaps, a new home…

The perfect give for young budding engineers who love to invent things! Perfect for fans of The Polar Express and Rosie Revere, Engineer.

This is the picture-book debut of Vashti Hardy, the Blue-Peter-Book-Award-winning author of children’s novels known for their distinctive fusion of imagination and invention. Illustrator and rising star Katie Cottle was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

The Christmas Songbook

Sing along with 8 festive tunes as you join in the Mouse Family’s preparations for a magical day!

Simply press the page to hear the songs in this interactive sound book, which also includes the song lyrics and sheet music for budding musicians.

Songs include: · We Wish You a Merry Christmas · Jingle Bells · Deck the Halls · O Holy Night · Silent Night · Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer · Joy to the World · O Christmas Tree Packed with Christmas spirit, this is the perfect book to help readers aged 4+ celebrate the festive season. · Press-activated sound chips · 8 favourite Christmas songs with music and lyrics to sing along with · Cosy Christmas story with rhyming texts · The perfect gift to get into the festive spirit