Contemporary fiction Books 1240 results

Bobby Finger

From the beloved author of The Old Place comes a tender, funny, and fresh novel about a gay writer in New York City whose life is irrevocably altered once in the '90s, and then again thirty years later.For Artie Anderson to truly live, he'll need to take a chance on himself. Again. In 1992, on his thirtieth birthday, Artie Anderson meets the man who will change his life. Artie...

Rosanna Pike

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Striking, darkly funny and heartfelt ... Grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go' Ferdia Lennon, author of Glorious Exploits 'Crisp, transportive, uplifting ... I loved it!' Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry 'A bold, funny and imaginative journey through Tudor England ... A real treat' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whal...

Alana S. Portero

'I urge you to read Bad Habit' PEDRO ALMODÓVAR 'Had me hooked from the first page ... Savour every word' DUA LIPA 'The book that everyone is reading' NEW YORK TIMES 'Sublime' ÉDOUARD LOUIS A SERVICE95 BOOK CLUB PICK Beautifully written and told in an irresistible voice, Bad Habit is a powerfully moving coming-of-age novel following a young trans woman in 1980s Madrid. An unna...

Rachel Cusk

WINNER OF THE 2024 GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 'A brilliant, stark and unsettling feat.' OBSERVER 'Thoughtful and true ... Cusk is a disciple of the truth and she helps us to see.' INDEPENDENT 'Cusk's most formidable, radical and compelling novel yet.' THE CONVERSATION A path-breaking novel of art, womanhood and violence, from the author of the Outline trilogy. Midway through his life,...

Michelle Tea

The 25th anniversary edition of Michelle Tea's classic coming-of-age story, now with a foreword by Maggie Nelson, award-winning author of The Argonauts ...

Jodi Picoult

They Never Met. But Their Lives Are Bound by a Secret, a Sacrifice, and a Story That Demands to Be Told... The #1 New York Times Bestseller 'Her best one yet' JOJO MOYES 'A timeless classic' CHRIS WHITAKER '[An] inspiring work of feminist literature' ELLE - New York playwright Melina Green has never seen her work on stage. In a man's world, only through a lie can she get ...

Clare Chambers

From the author of bestselling sensation Small Pleasures comes an extraordinary story of love, family and the joy of freedom. 'Clare Chambers is a genius' INDIA KNIGHT 'Just as good - if not better - than Small Pleasures' INDEPENDENT 'As compelling as you want fiction to be' SUNDAY TIMES 'One of our most talented authors' GUARDIAN 'Extraordinary' FINANCIAL TIMES It all sta...

Caroline Blackwood

Discover Caroline Blackwood's darkly brilliant debut - a perfect rediscovered classic for fans of Shirley Jackson and Ottessa Moshfegh 'A bracingly nasty book . . . Splendid, dark, often very funny' MEGAN NOLAN, Telegraph A lavish Upper West Side apartment is the site of a familial cold war about to enter a phase of dangerous escalation. J is a lonely woman without the luxur...

Maria Reva

"Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry to find their activist mother. As Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its-kind snail. This darkly comic novel explores survival, love, and the impact of war"--Amazon. ...

Rachel Kushner

This summer, meet Sadie Smith: seductive, cunning and going undercover - the Booker-shortlisted, wickedly entertaining New York Times bestseller 'Hugely enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES 'Wonderfully seductive' ALAN HOLLINGHURST 'Really fantastic - get it!' SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'Entrancing' MICK HERRON Sadie Smith - a 34-year-old American undercover agent of ruthless tactics and bold o...

Colm Tóibín

Long Island is Colm Tóibín's masterpiece: an exquisite, exhilarating novel that asks whether it is possible to truly return to the past and renew the great love that seemed gone forever. A Book of the Year in The Times, Irish Times, The Guardian, New Statesman, The Independent, The Observer, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times. The love ...

Annie Ernaux

Published in the UK for the first time, The Possession is a striking meditation on jealousy and a major work by the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. ...

Miranda July

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTA BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS PICKA BEST SUMMER READING PICK FOR THE TIMES, THE DAILY MAIL, THE FT AND THE GUARDIANA 2024 BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK FOR BBC R4 OPEN BOOK, THE OBSERVER, THE GUARDIAN, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, GQ, GRAZIA, HERO, i-D, NYLON, VULTURE, READING...

Allen Bratton

'One of the most exciting new novels' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Very funny... Its deeply felt pages flew by' GUARDIAN 'Sexy, compassionate, uncommonly imaginative: I've never read anything quite like it' Oisín McKenna, author of Evenings and Weekends London, 2014. Hal Lancaster - twenty-two, gay, Catholic, chops lines of cocaine with his myWaitrose card - is the reluctant heir of his...

William Rayfet Hunter

AN OBSERVER BEST NEW NOVELIST 2025 WINNER OF THE #MERKY BOOKS 2022 NEW WRITERS' PRIZE 'This summer's hottest read' SUNDAY TIMES 'You won't want to put it down' BRITISH VOGUE 'Sticky, twisting and dangerous' REBECCA K REILLY It's summer and a young man walks through the gates of a luxurious mansion in the South of France. At the dinner table, the Blake siblings await him- ...

Ocean Vuong

THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER AND TIKTOK SENSATION A Most Anticipated Book in Guardian, Financial Times, Sunday Times Style, BBC, GQ, New York Times and AnOther Desperate college dropout Hai is ready to make a devastating choice until a chance meeting with elderly widow Grazina changes the course of his life, in this achingly beautiful novel about chosen family and second chanc...

Jacqueline Harpman

FROM THE AUTHOR OF TIKTOK SENSATION I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN There's a voice in Aline's head: a voice that wants out. Brash, boisterous and sexually adventurous, this voice seems to be the antithesis of Aline, a prim literature professor for whom each day promises to be as quiet and conventional as the last. That is until, after thirty-five years of imprisonment, her alter...

Lucía Lijtmaer

Fantasies, or are they premonitions, of a great wave, an impending apocalypse, threaten to swamp a young woman trapped in a slowly curdling relationship. From the outside it all looks good--the casually elegant apartment, the cocktail parties, the impressive, creative friends--but for all her supposed freedom, her unhappiness means she's not living up to her side of the bargain...

Tucker Shaw

"Deeply moving and thoroughly engrossing." —Kirkus, starred reviewIn this fresh, speculative blend of queer romance and coming-of-age, Eddie meets Theo in present-day New York and Francis in a New York of the past... torn between eras and his heart, he must make a decision that will change his life forever.High school has just ended and Eddie is at a loss for what's next. He ha...

Virginia Evans

In her letters to family and friends we come to know the life of Sybil Van Antwerp- stubborn, cantankerous, opinionated, always steadfast in her belief in the power of the written word. But as the clock begins to tick for Sybil, the need for a few post-scripts to the life she's led becomes apparent. Fixing her difficult relationship with her children. Taking a final chance at ...

Oisín Mckenna

'I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN' SHON FAYE 'A MASTERPIECE. THIS SEARING TALE OF LOVE, SEX AND CLASS WILL RESONATE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME' OWEN JONES 'I WAS DEEPLY MOVED BY ITS BEAUTY AND HUMANITY' COCO MELLORS 'Electric and intimate' Guardian 'Impossibly, ineffably beautiful' Russell T Davies 'Intoxicating' Irish Times London, June 2019. Maggie is 30, pregnant and broke. Faced with mo...

Liane Moriarty

THE THRILLING NOVEL FROM THE WORLDWIDE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'Liane Moriarty is a genuine GENIUS. Here One Moment is off the scale brilliant' Marian Keyes 'A master story teller . . . brilliant and satisfying' Bella Mackie 'You will devour this doorstop of a book' The Times, Book of the Month - On a plane bound for Sydney the unassuming woman from seat 4D walks dow...

Robert Harris

A WORLD ON THE BRINK OF WAR. AN AFFAIR ON THE EDGE OF SCANDAL. FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR 'A riveting tale of politics, war and erotic obsession' Sunday Times 'His most enthralling yet . . . a slam dunk of a plot . . . extraordinary' Nicholas Coleridge, Independent 'Gripping . . . Harris also has the John le Carré gift for showing how meetings can b...

Seán Hewitt

TWO BOYS MEET. EVERYTHING CHANGES. * A Guardian, Irish Times and BBC Book for 2025 * 'Hewitt writes with such tenderness and grace' ANNE ENRIGHT 'I loved it... Beautiful' FERDIA LENNON On the cusp of adulthood, James dreams of another life far away from his small village. As he contends with the expectations of his family, his burgeoning desire - an ache for autonomy, tende...

Pier Vittorio. Tondelli

'Is this overlooked Italian novel the new Call Me by Your Name? A classic of Italian gay fiction . . . the whole thing is bathed in elegiac pathos' THE SUNDAY TIMES 'An Italian novel of imperfect love and urgent grief' NEW YORK TIMES 'Beautiful and poignant' THE TIMES 'A stunning novel . . . prepare to be deeply moved' JACK PARLETT, author of Fire Island 'A discreet, lyrical...

Alia Trabucco Zerán

THE NUMBER 1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER AWARD 2025 'A masterclass in suspense' PAULA HAWKINS 'A spellbinding nightmare' FERNANDA MELCHOR 'A book of intense power' PHILIPPE SANDS 'A compelling book, with a tightly coiled power' PANDORA SYKES The shockingly compulsive new literary thriller from the International Booker-sh...

Emma Gannon

*The unforgettable new novel from the bestselling author of Olive* Funny, fierce and life-affirming, TABLE FOR ONE is a love letter to you. If in doubt, date yourself. *** 'A fast-paced, funny and touching story about smart young women' ELIZABETH GILBERT 'It's a fabulous read' RUTH JONES 'Funny, warm yet galvanising' JENNIE GODFREY 'Joyful and affirming, this is a dopamine hi...

Kristine Reffstrup / Reffstrup Kirstine & Simpson Hunter

A girl is struck down by polio during the terrifying epidemic of the early 1950s. Paralyzed and unable to breathe on her own, she is committed to the hospital in Copenhagen and placed in an iron lung. Forty years earlier, a child grows up in an orphanage for boys outside of Budapest. The child goes by the name of 'Boy' but is not like the others, as their body seems to transcen...

Italo Calvino

I went down, I climbed back up into the light of the jaguar sun - into the sea of the green sap of the leaves. The world spun, I plunged down, my throat cut by the knife of the king-priest ... The solar energy coursed along dense networks of blood and chlorophyll; I was living and dying in all the fibers of what is chewed and digested and in all the fibers that absorb the sun ...

Jack Kerouac

Tristessa is a strange fever-dream of morphine sickness and belly-deep sadness. Or, in the words of Allen Ginsberg: 'a narrative meditation studying a hen, a rooster, a dove, a cat, a chihuahua dog, family meat, and a ravishing, ravished junky lady, first in their crowded bedroom, then out to drunken streets, taco stands, and pads at dawn in Mexico City slums'. ...