Jessica Zhan Mei Yu

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Ohio

"Having been Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina and Esther Greenwood all my life, my writing was an opportunity for the reader to have to be me..." Girl was born on the very day her parents and grandmother immigrated from Malaysia to Australia. The story goes that her mother held on tight to her pelvic muscles in an effort to gift her the privilege of an Australian passport. But it's hard to be the embodiment of all your family's hopes and dreams, especially in a country that's hostile to your very existence. When Girl receives a scholarship to travel to the UK, she is finally free for the first time. In London and then Scotland she is meant to be working on a PhD on Sylvia Plath and writing a postcolonial novel. But Girl can't stop thinking about her upbringing and the stories of the people who raised her. How can she reconcile their expectations with her reality? Did Sylvia Plath have this problem? What even is a 'postcolonial novel'? And what if the story of becoming yourself is not about carving out a new identity, but learning to understand the people who made you who you are?

But the Girl

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Josephine Tey

Marion Shape and her mother are quiet and ordinary villagers, enjoying a peaceful life in their country home, the Franchise. Everything changes when a local schoolgirl accuses them of kidnap and abuse, describing the attic room of the house as her prison. Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant is called to solve the mystery of the Franchise, but will he fall right in the middle of nightmarish affair that will change a town, and its locals' lives, forever?

The Franchise Affair

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Natalie Haynes

A Novel

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Gorgeous.... With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War."--Madeline Miller, author of Circe Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, a gorgeous retelling of the Trojan War from the perspectives of the many women involved in its causes and consequences--for fans of Madeline Miller. This is the women's war, just as much as it is the men's. They have waited long enough for their turn . . . This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . . In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen. From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war. A woman's epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world's great tale ever told.

A Thousand Ships

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Julian Barnes

From the Booker Prize-Winning Author of the SENSE of an ENDING

The Sunday Times Bestseller from the Winner of the Booker Prize She will change the way you see the world . . . 'I'll remember Elizabeth Finch when most other characters I've met this year have faded' The Times Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration. Neil is just one of many who fell under her spell during his time in her class. Tasked with unpacking her notebooks after her death, Neil encounters once again Elizabeth's astonishing ideas on the past and on how to make sense of the present. But Elizabeth was much more than a scholar. Her secrets are waiting to be revealed . . . and will change Neil's view of the world forever. 'Enthralling . . . A connoisseur and master of irony himself, [Barnes] fills this book with instances of its exhilarating power' Sunday Times 'A lyrical, thoughtful and intriguing exploration of love, grief and the collective myths of history' Booklist

Elizabeth Finch

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Richard Osman

A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment “Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining.” —Wall Street Journal “Don’t trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman’s own laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Parade Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her first big case A brutal murder Welcome to... THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?

The Thursday Murder Club

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Ben Hopkins

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS CHOICE "An expansive fictional epic addressing themes of art, religion and power in the mode of Ken Follett or Umberto Eco... Hopkins's compelling and descriptive tale will leave readers eager for more."--Shelf Awareness (Starred Review) The Cathedral. A grandiose edifice seemingly with a life of its own in the center of the medieval Rhineland town of Hagenburg. It will decide the fortunes of men and women, and fill wide-eyed children with dreams that are as extravagant as its own awe-inspiring form. Over almost two centuries, the Cathedral's design and construction unites a vast array of unforgettable characters whose destinies are inseparable from the shifting political factions and economic interests vying for supremacy. Immersive, atmospheric, entertaining, Cathedral tells a sweeping story about obsession, mysticism, art, and earthly desire, combining historical fiction with a gripping tale of adventure and intrigue. "Hopkins weaves together a multitude of voices to examine the relationship between medieval worship and the era's politics and economics. The resulting epic is both sweeping and human."--The New Yorker "A clever (even postmodern?) commentary on the ironies of history."--Alida Becker, The New York Times Book Review

Cathedral

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Celeste Ng

'There is much here that might impress Pulitzer and Man Booker judges...Ng brilliantly depicts the destruction that parents can inflict on their children and on each other' Mark Lawson, Guardian

Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue - in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the centre of every party. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970s small town Ohio. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting.

When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest in the family - Hannah - who observes far more than anyone realises and who may be the only one who knows what really happened.

And if you loved Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, pre-order Celeste Ng's brilliant new novel, Our Missing Hearts, now

What readers are saying:

'Devastating...A truly tragic but devastatingly well written book'

'Ng is a true craftsman. I implore you to read this. Also my favourite ending of a novel so far this year'

'This is the best book I have read this year'

'Really enjoyed this book, deeply moving, sad and thought provoking'

Everything I Never Told You

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Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

The startling, witty, highly anticipated second novel from the critically acclaimed author of Atmospheric Disturbances The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch. Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children, including her eldest, Johannes, who is the Imperial Mathematician and renowned author of the laws of planetary motion. It's enough to make anyone jealous, and Katharina has done herself no favors by being out and about and in everyone's business. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold (or as Katharina calls her, the Werewolf) accuses Katherina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, Katharina is in trouble. Her scientist son must turn his attention from the music of the spheres to the job of defending his mother. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture, and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets. Drawing on real historical documents but infused with the intensity of imagination, sly humor, and intellectual fire for which Rivka Galchen is known, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch will both provoke and entertain. The story of how a community becomes implicated in collective aggression and hysterical fear is a tale for our time. Galchen's bold new novel touchingly illuminates a society and a family undone by superstition, the state, and the mortal convulsions of history.

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

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The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America

“One of the 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Last 25 Years”—Slate On New Year’s Day 2013, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Gene Weingarten asked three strangers to, literally, pluck a day, month, and year from a hat. That day—chosen completely at random—turned out to be Sunday, December 28, 1986, by any conventional measure a most ordinary day. Weingarten spent the next six years proving that there is no such thing. That Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s turned out to be filled with comedy, tragedy, implausible irony, cosmic comeuppances, kindness, cruelty, heroism, cowardice, genius, idiocy, prejudice, selflessness, coincidence, and startling moments of human connection, along with evocative foreshadowing of momentous events yet to come. Lives were lost. Lives were saved. Lives were altered in overwhelming ways. Many of these events never made it into the news; they were private dramas in the lives of private people. They were utterly compelling. One Day asks and answers the question of whether there is even such a thing as “ordinary” when we are talking about how we all lurch and stumble our way through the daily, daunting challenge of being human.

One Day

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When ten-year-old Fanny Price is plucked from squalor to be raised in comfort at elegant Mansfield Park, home of her well-off relatives, the Bertrams, only her teenage cousin Edmund notices her homesickness and distress. He comforts her, instructs her, and helps her to become a competent, self-possessed young woman. Fanny thrives as a useful and happy member of the household, while her natural feelings of gratitude and respect for Edmund grow into something deeper--but then trouble arrives at Mansfield Park. Rich, sophisticated Londoners Henry and Mary Crawford are a brother-and-sister act to be reckoned with. Mary sets her romantic sights on Edmund, and Fanny is faced not only with a powerful rival, but also with Edmund's need to talk endlessly about his infatuation with the dark-eyed beauty. Forced to hide her abiding love for Edmund, Fanny must soon fend off amorous advances from a most unwelcome source--advances that Edmund encourages her to accept. With further help from Henry and Mary, even a bad situation can become much worse.

Mansfield Park

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Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A mesmerizing debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller's Circe Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice every year. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved little sister she leaves behind? Hypnotic, propulsive, and utterly transporting, Ariadne forges a new epic, outside the traditional narratives of heroism and glory that leave no room for women.

Emily Hirsch

@emily30870

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Jessica Zhan Mei Yu

But the Girl

Josephine Tey

The Franchise Affair

Natalie Haynes

A Thousand Ships

Julian Barnes

Elizabeth Finch

Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club

Ben Hopkins

Cathedral

Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You

Rivka Galchen

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Gene Weingarten

One Day

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

Jennifer Saint

Ariadne

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Jessica Zhan Mei Yu

But the Girl

Josephine Tey

The Franchise Affair

Natalie Haynes

A Thousand Ships

Julian Barnes

Elizabeth Finch

Richard Osman

The Thursday Murder Club

Ben Hopkins

Cathedral

Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You

Rivka Galchen

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch

Gene Weingarten

One Day

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

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Ariadne

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