Contemporary fiction Books 1151 results

Ellie Midwood

"Nobody leaves Auschwitz alive. Mala, inmate 19880, understood that the moment she stepped off the cattle train into the depths of hell. As an interpreter for the SS, she uses her position to save as many lives as she can, smuggling scraps of bread to those desperate with hunger. Edward, inmate 531, is a camp veteran and a political prisoner. Though he looks like everyone else,...

Nathan Hill

'American storytelling at its era-spanning best . . . An immersive, multi-layered portrait of a marriage, Nathan Hill's follow-up to The Nix is a work of quiet genius.' - The Observer 'The incredible scope of this dazzlingly detailed state-of-the-nation satire almost defies description . . . Brilliant doesn't begin to describe it, but I'll say it anyway.' - Daily Mail 'I doub...

Syou Ishida

On the top floor of an old building at the end of a cobbled alley in Kyoto lies the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul. Only a select few - those who feel genuine emotional pain - can find it. The mysterious centre offers a unique treatment for its troubled patients: it prescribes cats as medication. Get ready to fall in love: Bee, an eight-year-old female, mixed breed helps a disheart...

Roberto Bolaño

Santa Teresa, on the Mexico-US border- an urban sprawl that draws lost souls to it like a vortex. Convicts and academics find themselves here, as does an American sportswriter, a teenage student with her widowed father, and a reclusive, 'missing' author. But, there is a darker side to the town. Girls and women are disappearing at an alarming rate. As a sense of conspiracy gro...

Mary Renault

A VIVID, SWEEPING SAGA OF QUEER LOVE AND POLITICS IN ANCIENT GREECE, FROM THE QUEEN OF HISTORICAL FICTION 'Renault's eye for intimacy is amazing' DOUGLAS STUART 'Arresting and beautiful and moving . . . decades ahead of its time' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS Your love made me. Do not take it away; for without love I am a temple forsaken by its god Athens and Sparta, the mighty ci...

Richard Powers

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022 FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR 'Extraordinary' New York Times 'Remarkable' Observer 'Heartfelt' Guardian Theo Byrne is a promising young scientist who has found a way to search for life on other planets dozens of light years away. He is also the widowed father of a most unusual nine-year-old. His son Ro...

Daniel Mason

?? A SPELLBINDING MASTERPIECE. READ IT ONCE, REMEMBER IT FOREVER. ?? 'North Woods is a monumental achievement of polyphony and humanity. Relating the narrative of an entire country via a single plot of land, it sweeps the reader through hundreds of years and an array of protagonists with a deft, heartbreaking, idiosyncratic zeal' Maggie O'Farrell OVER FOUR CENTURIES, 'This i...

Emily H. Wilson

The second book in the enthralling and lyrical Sumerians trilogy, retelling the Epic of Gilgamesh, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Lucy Holland and Jennifer Saint.Now is the time for the gods of warGilgamesh, soon to be crowned King of Uruk, travels north to find his homelands in flames and his family on the run. A blood-red moon brings warnings of a new kind of war, and i...

Patricia. Roman

Mothers Daughters Liars is a story of transgenerational trauma. Or at least that's what Mariangeles believes. There is a mantra in her family that declares "Las penas y las olas nunca llegan solas" which translates as "Sorrows and waves never arrive alone" and Mariangeles repeats this until she believes it to the point of insanity. In chapter one she asks "What if the sorrows o...

August Thompson

'It should be placed alongside modern love stories such as Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow' - Crack 'This new novel is a real heart-squeezer. Beautiful, one of a kind and perfectly titled' - Matt Berninger of The National 'Genuinely powerful' - The Irish Times A gorgeous modern love story about the lives that change us, and the loves that haunt us. Set ...

Cormac Mccarthy

Set in rural Tennessee between the world wars, The Orchard Keeper is the unique, darkly biblical debut novel from the legendary author of Blood Meridian and The Road, Cormac McCarthy. 'McCarthy has the best kind of Southern style' - New York Times John Wesley Rattner is a young boy when his father is murdered. Marion Sylder, an outlaw and bootlegger, strangled him to death. ...

Hwang Bo-Reum

WATERSTONES BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2023 PICK WOMAN & HOME NOVEMBER BOOK OF THE MONTH iPaper TOP FICTION PICK'An absolutely charming novel that all bookworms will adore' Red'A balm for the soul and a glorious love letter to books and reading' iPaperThere was only one thing on her mind.'I must start a bookshop.' Yeongju did everything she was supposed to, go to university, marry a...

Samantha Harvey

Life on our planet as you've never seen it before 'A slim, profound study of intimate human fears set against epic vistas' GUARDIAN 'Stunning... An uplifting book' SUNDAY TIMES A team of astronauts in the International Space Station collect meteorological data, conduct scientific experiments and test the limits of the human body. But mostly they observe. Together they watch ...

Michiko Aoyama

***THE FAVOURITE READ FOR ALL BOOK-LOVERS*** The irresistible Times bestseller A Time Magazine Book of the Year 'I ADORED this uplifting, hopeful novel ' Daily Mail 'It made me laugh and cry and feel comforted' 5***** Reader review 'A tribute to the transformative power of books and libraries' Irish Times Already loved by thousands of readers, an inspirational tale of the lo...

Satoshi Yagisawa

In Tokyo, there is a neighbourhood with the highest number of bookstores in the world. It is called Jinbocho where book lovers can browse to their heart's delight and where hunters of first editions or autographed copies prowl the bookcases. The Morisaki bookshop, a small family-run shop, is so packed with books that barely five people can fit inside. Books crowd the shelves an...

Claire Daverley

THE LOVE STORY THAT WILL KEEP YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT ''If you love really gentle, beautiful and very cleverly written love stories, then this is the book for you' FEARNE COTTON 'Moving and beautifully told... gave me One Day vibes' LIBBY PAGE 'A beautifully observed, tender, grown up love story' JOJO MOYES 'Basically impossible to put down' BOBBY PALMER 'Deeply romantic' LAURA BAR...

Bella Mackie

**Order the paperback of Bella Mackie's latest hilarious novel, WHAT A WAY TO GO, now** THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'I loved this book' RICHARD OSMAN 'Funny, sharp, dark and twisted' JOJO MOYES 'Chilling, but also laugh-out-loud funny. Another corker' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ufeffThey say you can't choose your family. But you can kill them... Meet Grace Bernard. Daughter, sister,...

Shirley Jackson

Eighteen-year-old Merricat may, or may not be, a mass murdererSix years ago everyone in the Blackwood family was poisoned by sugar laced with arsenic - everyone, that is, apart from Merricat and her elder sister Constance. They live in peaceful, ordered isolation, away from prying eyes in the nearby village, until one day boorish cousin Charles arrives with designs on their fat...

K. Patrick

An Observer Best Debut of the Year A Granta Best Young British Novelist 'I loved this book' JULIA ARMFIELD 'Exhilarating' MONICA HEISEY 'Astonishing' ANDREA LAWLOR 'Should be on everyone's summer reading list' iNEWS 'Scorching ... One of our favourite reads' TIME OUT A Guardian Essential Summer Read A sensual debut novel of the forbidden love between a young woman and a headmas...

Una Mannion

Deena Garvey disappeared in 2004. She left behind a daughter and a sister. Deena's daughter grows up in the country. She learns how to hunt, when to seed the garden, how to avoid making her father angry. Never to ask about her absent mother. Deena's sister stays stuck in the city, getting desperate. She knows the man responsible for her sister's disappearance, but she can't pro...

Sara Mesa

On the heels of a cryptic mistake, Nat arrives in the rural village of La Escapa. She rents a small house from a negligent landlord, adopts a dog and begins to work on her first literary translation. But nothing in La Escapa is easy: her dog is ill tempered and skittish, and mutual misunderstandings with her neighbours simmer below the surface. When conflict arises over repairs...

Matt Cain

Two men. Twenty years of friendship. One love. 'Lovely, funny, kind and truthful . . . I was expecting a simple will-they-won't-they, but it's wiser than that . . . challenging who we are, and why, and how we can change' Russell T. Davies 'A great eye-opening and heart-warming read' Fabulous 'A rich, funny, poignant and unflinchingly honest portrayal of friendship, love and e...

Jean-Baptiste Del Amo

After several years of absence, a man reappears in the life of a woman and their young son. Intent on being a family again, he drives them to Les Roches, a dilapidated house in the mountains, where the man grew up with his own ruthless father. While the mother watches the passing days with apprehension, the son discovers the enchantment of nature, savage and bewitching. As the ...

Jenny Erpenbeck

"Jenny Erpenbeck (the author of Go, Went, Gone and Visitation) is an epic storyteller and arguably the most powerful voice in contemporary German literature. Erpenbeck's new novel Kairos--an unforgettably compelling masterpiece tells the story of the romance begun in East Berlin at the end of the 1980s when nineteen-year-old Katharina meets by chance a married writer in his fif...

Paul Lynch

'IF THERE WAS EVER A CRUCIAL BOOK FOR OUR CURRENT TIMES, IT'S PAUL LYNCH'S PROPHET SONG... BRILLIANTLY HAUNTING.' OBSERVER * THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER * The explosive literary sensation: a mother faces a terrible choice as Ireland slides into totalitarianism On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on...

Rebecca F. Kuang

The Number One Global Sensation *Foyle's Fiction Book of the Year* *Amazon Book of the Year* *Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year* 'Addictive' Grazia 'Hugely entertaining' Observer 'Provocative' Mail on Sunday THIS IS ONE HELL OF A STORY. IT'S JUST NOT HERS TO TELL. When failed writer June Hayward witnesses her rival Athena Liu die in a freak accident, she sees her opp...

Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The regulars at the magical Cafe Funiculi Funicula are well acquainted with its famous legend and extraordinary, secret menu time travel offering. Many patrons have reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family, and visited loved ones. But the journey is not without risks and there are rules to follow. Travellers must have visited the cafe previously and most impo...

Maud Ventura

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER PRIZE WINNER OF FRANCE'S FIRST NOVEL AWARD 'Riveting' OBSERVER 'Totally addictive' ALICE SLATER 'I couldn't put it down' JOHN BOYNE From the outside, she has an enviable life- a successful career, stunning looks, a beautiful house in the suburbs, two healthy children, and most importantly, an ideal husband. After fifteen years together, she is still b...

Eliza Clark

It's been nearly a decade since the horrifying murder of sixteen-year-old Joan Wilson rocked Crow-on-Sea, and the events of that terrible night are now being published for the first time. That story is 'Penance', a dizzying feat of masterful storytelling, where Eliza Clark manoeuvres us through accounts from the inhabitants of this small seaside town. Placing us in the capable ...

Margaret Mcdonald

This coming-of-age story is an incisive look at young masculinity and the way even the most fraught childhood is not without hope. Neither Finlay or Banjo can remember the last time they had a hug. Against all odds, 18-year-old Finlay has begun his nursing degree at Glasgow University. But coming straight from the care system means he has no support network. How can he write es...