The First Man

James Meek

An explosive modern novel from the award-winning writer of The People's Act of Love Mr Burman is unmoored. Still reckoning with the death of his wife Ada, and struggling to understand his grown-up daughter Leila, he finds himself on a train to London, at the invitation of the police. He is to meet Raf, a young man suspected of trying to blow up St Paul's cathedral - and a m...

Daniel Kehlmann

'Supple, horrifying and mordantly droll' New York Times 'Nothing short of brilliant' Wall Street Journal 'A subtle, often darkly funny novel about the relationship between art and power' Sunday Times 'A dazzling performance and a real page turner' Salman Rushdie From 'one of the brightest, most pleasure-giving writers at work today' (Jeffrey Eugenides), a visionary tale ins...

Douglas Stuart

The stunning new novel from the Booker Prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author of Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo.'John of John has the emotional range and sense of sympathy of his earlier books, but this book is special, it has an urgency, an immediacy, a brilliant sense of place, the drama of fierce emotion repressed, concealed and volcanically exposed' - Colm Tóibín'To r...

Elizabeth Strout

FROM THE PULITZER-WINNING, BOOKER-SHORTLISTED ELIZABETH STROUT COMES A STUNNING STANDALONE NOVEL OF LOVE, LONELINESS AND NEW BEGINNINGS 'Emotionally stunning, devastatingly wise . . . her best novel yet' RACHEL JOYCE 'A moving, tender and wise novel about a committed teacher who is utterly confounded by the emotional complexities of daily life. This might be Elizabeth Strout'...

Chloe Michelle Howarth

January 1965. The orphaned O'Leary siblings - Tom, Jack, Anna and Peggy - arrive in the village of Ballycrea, tightlipped about their troubled past and desperate for a fresh start. After being met with suspicion from most of the locals, the family are thrilled when they're taken under the wing of their well-respected neighbours, Bill and Betty Nevan, who offer them work, compan...

Wendy Erskine

AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 'What a joy it is to read' Michael Magee, author of Close to Home 'I couldn't put this book down' Sheena Patel, author of I'm A Fan 'Powerful, moving, compelling, utterly enthralling' Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13 'A prodigiously t...

Albert Camus

'When silence or tricks of language contribute to maintaining an abuse that must be reformed or a suffering that can be relieved, then there is no other solution but to speak out'Written when execution by guillotine was still legal in France, Albert Camus' devastating attack on the 'obscene exhibition' of capital punishment remains one of the most powerful, persuasive arguments...

Albert Camus

Is it possible to die a happy death?This is the central question of Camus's astonishing early novel, published posthumously and greeted as a major literary event. It tells the story of a young Algerian, Mersault, who defies society's rules by committing a murder and escaping punishment, then experimenting with different ways of life and finally dying a happy man. In many ways A...

Albert Camus

The unfinished manuscript of The First Man was discovered in the wreckage of car accident in which Camus died in 1960. Although it was not published for over thirty years, it was an instant bestseller when it finally appeared in 1994. The 'first man' is Jacques Cormery, whose poverty-stricken childhood in Algiers is made bearable by his love for his silent and illiterate mother...

Albert Camus

Albert Camus

Albert Camus