Published September 14th, 2023 by Transworld Romantic Comedy, Humorous Fiction, Uplit, Adventure Fiction, Holiday Fiction
Happy Publication Day to Life and Otter Miracles! I’m delighted to be sharing my review for this uplfiting story on such a special day. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part and to Transworld for the gifted copy of the book.
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SYNOPSIS:
From the bestselling author of Richard & Judy’s pick Away with the Penguins comes this ‘otterly’ delightful, heart-warming and feel-good story about the healing power of nature.
‘A lovely holiday read . . . Packed full of humanity and otters!’ Sally Page
‘This book was just amazing. It made me laugh and cry!’ ***** ‘There is so much to love and treasure in this story’ ***** ‘This book was a delight from start to finish!’ ***** ‘Glorious dose of otter cuteness’ ***** You loved Veronica McCreedy. Now meet Phoebe Featherstone . . ._____
Down by the river, Phoebe Featherstone is about to make a life-changing discovery . . .
Clever, nosy Phoebe is unable to get out much, but she has a talent for uncovering her neighbours’ secrets by examining the parcels delivered by her courier father, Al.
When they discover an abandoned baby otter on the riverbank, Phoebe must step out of her comfort zone – and she experiences an unexpected sense of happiness that she has not felt in a very long time. But now, further secrets are coming to light.
Phoebe soon realizes that something is amiss at the local otter sanctuary. She will need to overcome her own closely guarded issues and put all her sleuthing skills to good use if she wants to save the otters . . . and in the process, change her life for ever.
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MY REVIEW:
“In this moment, Phoebe felt it for the first time: A curious concentration of joy that had nothing to do with her own state, that was activated by focusing wholly on the baby otter. It was a new and glorious phenomenon. It should have a name. Perhaps she would call it ‘the Otter Effect’. Like the Butterfly Effect, only much, much better.”
Be prepared to feel ‘the Otter Effect’.
A story of family, friendship, community, and self-discovery, I adored this beautifully told gem of a story told with wit, warmth, and wisdom that is a balm for the soul. It is the book I never knew I needed and I’ll never be the same again after reading. Hazel Prior has been a favourite and auto-buy author for me ever since I read Away with the Penguins, and with every book she just gets better. Life and Otter Miracles showcases her gift for writing animals you’ll fall in love with, humans you’ll relate to, and stories you won’t forget to perfection. I loved the attention to the tiniest details such as the chapter names and the otter illustrations at the start of each one. But this is the book I never knew I needed and I’ll never be the same after reading it.
19-year-old Phoebe Featherstone and her father, Al, who have just moved to the small Exmoor village of Darleycombe and are out exploring the beauty their new home has to offer when they come across an otter cub abandoned on the riverbank. Phoebe is soon struck with what she calls ‘the Otter Effect’; the warm, happy feeling that these animals bring and can’t bear to be parted from her, so after they take the little creature to the local otter sanctuary she volunteers to help care for the cub and prepare her for release back into the wild. There’s a varied cast of characters that I loved, particularly Phoebe, Al, and Christina – a woman Phoebe quickly becomes friends with and hopes to set up her father with. Phoebe is a big fan of detective shows such as Poirot and I loved how she used this knowledge to play amateur detective at various points in the story, particularly when it seems clear that someone is trying to sabotage the otter sanctuary. By this point in the story, Phoebe has found her own kind of sanctuary there, and the idea of it closing is devastating. She is determined to catch the culprit, and I enjoyed following the clues along with her to try and figure out the answers. One of my favourite aspects of the book was the relationship between Phoebe and Al and it was great to read a story that focused on a single father. Phoebe’s attempts to play matchmaker for him were fun to read, though I did doubt they’d be successful. But the stars of the show are undoubtedly the otters. Coco is the cutest little animal ever and everyone will fall for the charms of her and the other otters in this book. I wanted to immediately find the nearest otter sanctuary to visit and now understand why they are my eldest son’s favourite animal.
But although it was the amazing writing, compelling characters, and adorable otters that drew me to this book, it is the author’s depiction of Phoebe’s chronic pain that had the greatest impact on me. I developed chronic pain at a similar age to Phoebe and I have never seen myself or my experience so evocatively represented in a book. It brought me to tears and means more than I could ever express. I can honestly say I have never felt so seen as I did when reading Phoebe talk about the little things she has to think about just to get through the day. It’s woven into every facet of her life and I lost it all over again a couple of times when Phoebe’s struggle was especially palpable. Ms. Prior’s familiarity with chronic pain is evident in the raw, honest, and sensitive way that Phoebe’s experience is written and I don’t think anyone who hasn’t lived it could have conveyed the brutal, devastating reality of living in agony day after day. I am so grateful to her for being brave enough to write this character so that those of us with chronic pain can feel seen and those who don’t know how it feels are educated by reading her words. Thank you Hazel.
Compassionate, heartwarming, moving, and uplifting, Life and Otter Miracles is the perfect book to cosy under the blanket with on a cold night. But be warned—you will fall in love.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Hazel Prior lives on Exmoor with her husband and a huge ginger cat. As well as writing, she works as a freelance harpist. Hazel is the author of Ellie and the Harp-Maker, the #1 ebook and audiobook bestseller Away with the Penguins and its follow-up, Call of the Penguins. Life and Otter Miracles is her fourth novel.
September is almost upn us and its time to look at what books are coming our way. It’s another great month with some of my most anticipated books of the year such as The Wake-Up Call, Divine Might, Once A Monster, Upon A Frosted Star, and The Stargazers.
Here are the books out next month that I’m most looking forward to:
Holly by Stephen King
Published September 5th by Hodder & Stoughton Horror Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thriller
SYNOPSIS: Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a Midwestern town.
Stephen King’s HOLLY marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harbouring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmanoeuvre the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
‘I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.’ STEPHEN KING
Published September 5th by Headline Suspense, Mystery, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A remote winery. A missing friend. And a bunch of sour grapes.
An ambitious screenwriter tries to solve her friend’s disappearance by recreating their fateful final girls’ trip in this riveting locked-room mystery from the author of The Murder Weekend. Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley. ………………………………
It should have been the perfect spring break. Five girlfriends. A remote winery on the Oregon coast. An infinite supply of delicious wine at their manicured fingertips. But then their centre-beautiful, magnetic Vanessa Morales-vanished without a trace.
Emily Fischer was perhaps the last person to see her alive. But now, years later, Emily spots Vanessa’s doppelganger at a local café. At the end of her rope working a lucrative yet mind-numbing gig on a network sitcom, Emily is inspired to finally tell the story that’s been percolating inside her for so long: Vanessa’s story. But first, she needs to know what really happened on that fateful night. So she puts a brilliant scheme into motion.
She gets the girls together for a reunion weekend at the scene of the crime under the guise of reconnecting. There’s Brittany, Vanessa’s cousin and the inheritor of the winery; Paige, a former athlete, bullish yet easily manipulated; and Lydia, the wallflower of the group.
One of them knows the truth. But what have they each been hiding? And how much can Emily trust anything she learns from them… or even her own memories of Vanessa’s last days?
Published September 5th by Hot Key Books Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Everyone has a secret. Everyone has a motive. But only one of them brought a knife to the party . . .
To celebrate the end of high school, Izzy Morales joins her best friend Kassidy and five friends on a luxury 1920s-themed getaway at the glamorous Ashwood Manor. There, Izzy and her friends party in vintage dresses and expensive diamonds – until Kassidy’s boyfriend turns up dead.
And when a raging storm traps them on the island with two detectives, the sparkling young socialites become the prime suspects in his murder. There’s the girlfriend, and the other girl. The old friend, and the new friend. The brooding enigma. And then, there’s Izzy – the girl who brought the knife . . .
A glamorous and scandalous modern murder mystery that’ll have you reading through the night to find out whodunnit! Perfect for fans of ONE OF US IS LYING, THE INHERITANCE GAMES and KNIVES OUT.
Published September 7th by Hamish Hamilton Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction,Saga, Biographical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Truth and fiction. Jamaica and Britain. Who gets to tell their story? Zadie Smith returns with her first historical novel.
Kilburn, 1873. The ‘Tichborne Trial’ has captivated the widowed Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet and all of England. Readers are at odds over whether the defendant is who he claims to be – or an imposter.
Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her novelist cousin and his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects England of being a land of façades, in which nothing is quite what it seems.
Andrew Bogle meanwhile finds himself the star witness, his future depending on telling the right story. Growing up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica, he knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise.
Based on real historical events, The Fraud is a dazzling novel about how in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what’s true can prove a complicated task.
Published September 7th by Pan Macmillan Horror Fiction, Young Adult Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A teenage girl is pulled into investigating the truth behind her new boarding school’s decades-old legend, in this debut speculative mystery by Tomi Oyemakinde.
Just because they let you in . . . it doesn’t mean they’ll let you out.
When Ife joins Nithercott School through its prestigious Urban Achievers Program, she knows immediately that she doesn’t fit. Wandering its echoing halls, she must fend off cruel taunts from the students and condescending attitudes from the teachers. When she finds herself thrown into detention for the foreseeable future, she strikes up an unlikely alliance with Ben, a troublemaker with an annoyingly cute smile. They’ve both got reasons to want to get out of Nithercott – Ben’s brother is missing, and no one seems to be bothering to find him.
For Ife, it’s just another strange element of this school that doesn’t care about its students. But as more and more people start going missing, including one of Ife’s only friends, she starts to feel haunted.
Who is the figure she’s started seeing in the shadowy halls, who looks mysteriously like herself? And is there any truth in to the strange urban legend that travels the school like mist . . . the legend of the Changing Man?
The View From Down Here : Life as a Young Disabled Woman by Lucy Webster
Published September 7th by DK Biography, Autobiography
SYNOPSIS: Women’s lives are shaped by sexism and expectations. Disabled people’s lives are shaped by ableism and a complete lack of expectations. But what happens when you’re subjected to both sets of rules?
This powerful, honest, hilarious and furious memoir from journalist and advocate Lucy Webster looks at life at the intersection; the struggles, the joys and the unseen realities of being a disabled woman. From navigating the worlds of education and work, dating and friendship; to managing care; contemplating motherhood; and learning to accept your body against a pervasive narrative that it is somehow broken and in need of fixing, The View From Down Here shines a light on what it really means to move through the world as a disabled woman.
Published September 12th by Titan Books Historical Fantasy, Fairy Tale
SYNOPSIS: A vividly stunning reimagining of the myth of Medusa and the sisters who loved her, in this captivating, moving debut novel, perfect for fans of Stone Blind and Ariadne.
Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters Stheno and Euryale were unique among immortals. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves at the perilous center of a dangerous Olympian rivalry and learned – too late – that a god’s love is a violent one.
Forgotten by history and diminished by poets, the other two Gorgons have never been more than horrifying hags, damned and doomed. But they were sisters first, and their journey from seaborne origins to the outskirts of the Pantheon is a journey that rests, hidden, underneath their scales.
Monsters, but not monstrous, Stheno and Euryale will step into the light for the first time to tell the story of how all three sisters lived and were changed by each other, as they struggle against the inherent conflict between sisterhood and individuality, myth and truth, vengeance and peace.
Published September 12th by Titan Books Horror Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Dystopian Fantasy, Myths & Legends
SYNOPSIS: A frightening dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind – a nightmarish mix of 1984 and Never Let Me Go.
Sorrow is inefficient. It’s also inescapable.
Lieutenant Dev Singh dutifully spends his days recording the memories of people who, struck with incurable depression, will soon have their minds erased in order to be more productive members of society.
At night though, hidden in the dark, Dev remembers and writes in his secret journal the special moments shared with him–the small laugh of a toddler, the stillness of a late afternoon. The first flutter of love. But when the Bureau finds out he’s been recounting the memories–and that the depression is in him, too– he’s sent to a sanitarium to heal.
After all, the Bureau knows what’s best for you. A nightmarish descent from sadness to madness, THE COLLECTOR is a dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind.
Published September 14th by Headline Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Sunday Times Top 5 bestselling author Harriet Evans returns with an unputdownable tale of the infinite possibilities of familes – how they can anchor you or unseat you – and why unconditional love holds the key to true freedom.
‘Immersive, engrossing and ultimately beautiful’ Marian Keyes
‘No one except Harriet Evans writes books like this anymore; The Stargazers is a work of genius and a future classic’ Jane Casey
‘Don’t you think there should be a name for people like us?’ he said. ‘Who look up and who dream of more, who dream of escaping? Who never lose faith, no matter how hard it becomes?’
‘Stargazers,’ I said. ‘That’s what we are’
It’s the 1970s, and Sarah has spent a lifetime trying to bury memories of her childhood: the constant fear, the horror of her school days, and Fane, the vast, crumbling house that was the sole obsession of her mother, Iris, a woman as beautiful as she was cruel. Sarah’s solace has been her cello and the music that allowed her to dream, transporting her from the bleakness of those early years to her new life with her husband Daniel in their safe, if slightly chaotic, Hampstead home and with a concert career that has brought her fame and restored a sense of self.
The past, though, has a habit of creeping into the present, and as long as Sarah tries to escape, it seems the pull of her mother, Fane Hall and the secrets hidden there cannot be suppressed, threatening to unravel the fragile happiness she enjoys now. Sarah will need to travel back to Fane to confront her childhood, and search for the true meaning of home.
Deliciously absorbing and rich with character and atmosphere, The Stargazers is the story of a house, a family, and finding the strength inside yourself to carry on.
Published September 14th by Orenda Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Gothic Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Horror Fiction, Religious Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A young woman starts experiencing terrifying premonitions of people dying, as it becomes clear that a family curse known only as The Murmurs has begun, and a long-forgotten crime is about to be unearthed…
On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream. And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die.
How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions … a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family – a wicked gift known only as ‘the murmurs’…
With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson.
And this time, it will never let go…
A compulsive gothic thriller and a spellbinding supernatural mystery about secrets and small communities, about faith, courage and self-preservation, The Murmurs is a startling and compulsive read from one of Scotland’s finest authors.
Published September 14th by Transworld Romantic Comedy, Humorous Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Holiday Fiction
SYNOPSIS: From the bestselling author of Richard & Judy’s pick Away with the Penguins comes this ‘otterly’ delightful, heart-warming and feel-good story about the healing power of nature.
‘A lovely holiday read . . . Packed full of humanity and otters!’ Sally Page
‘This book was just amazing. It made me laugh and cry!’ ***** ‘There is so much to love and treasure in this story’ ***** ‘This book was a delight from start to finish!’ ***** ‘Glorious dose of otter cuteness’ ***** You loved Veronica McCreedy. Now meet Phoebe Featherstone . . ._____
Down by the river, Phoebe Featherstone is about to make a life-changing discovery . . .
Clever, nosy Phoebe is unable to get out much, but she has a talent for uncovering her neighbours’ secrets by examining the parcels delivered by her courier father, Al.
When they discover an abandoned baby otter on the riverbank, Phoebe must step out of her comfort zone – and she experiences an unexpected sense of happiness that she has not felt in a very long time. But now, further secrets are coming to light.
Phoebe soon realizes that something is amiss at the local otter sanctuary. She will need to overcome her own closely guarded issues and put all her sleuthing skills to good use if she wants to save the otters . . . and in the process, change her life for ever.
The Last Devil to Die (Thursday Murder Club Book 4) by Richard Osman
Published September 14th by Viking Mystery, Thriller, Cozy Mystery, Humorous Fiction,Crime Fiction, Domestic Fiction
SYNOPSIS: THE FOURTH NOVEL IN THE RECORD-BREAKING, MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING THURSDAY MURDER CLUB SERIES BY RICHARD OSMAN
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Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club.
An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing.
As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home.
With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?
Published September 14th by Orion Mystery, Suspense, Pscyhological Thriller, Crime Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Leaving isn’t safe… But staying would be deadly.
‘An addictive read. . . Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson’ – GILLIAN MCALLISTER ‘The Short Straw practically pulses with foreboding and menace. Get ready to stay up all night! Fans of Shirley Jackson and Ruth Ware will love this. No one writes of family dynamics quite like Holly Seddon.’ – JACK JORDAN
Three sisters find themselves lost in a storm at night, and seek safety at Moirthwaite Manor, where their mother once worked. They are shocked to find the isolated mansion that loomed so large through their troubled childhoods has long been abandoned. Drawing straws to decide who should get help, one sister heads back into the darkness. With the siblings separated, the deadly secrets hidden in the house finally make themselves known and we learn the unspeakable secret that binds the family together.
Published September 14th by Michael Joseph Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Cozy Mystery
SYNOPSIS: Six contestants. The nation’s favourite baking show. And a prize worth killing for…
‘I loved it. The Great British Bake Off meets And Then There Were None’J.M. HALL, author of A Spoonful of Murder ‘A delectably fun mystery’ The Washington Post __________
For six amateur bakers, competing in Bake Week is a dream come true.
But for the show’s famous host, Betsy Martin, it’s more than a competition. It’s her legacy. As she welcomes contestants to her ancestral home, Grafton Manor, she’s excited to discover who will have what it takes win the ultimate prize: The Golden Spoon. Quickly, though, things start to go wrong. The contestants are jittery – they’ve heard strange noises in the manor at night. Betsy is irate – a new co-host has arrived, and he’s out for her spotlight. Then, the sabotage begins. At first, it’s small. Sugar switched for salt. A hob turned too high. But when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect. Because someone at Bake Week wants to settle old scores…
Before We Say Goodbye (Beofre the Coffee Gets Cold 4) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Published September 14th by Picador Contemporary Fantasy, Lierary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s poignant Before We Say Goodbye, translated from Japanese, explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?
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 importantly, must return to the present in the time it takes for their coffee to go cold.
In the tradition of Kawaguchi’s sensational ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ series, readers are be introduced to a new set of visitors:
– The husband with something important left to say – The woman who couldn’t bid her dog farewell – The woman who couldn’t answer a proposal – The daughter who drove her father away . . .
In the hauntingly beautiful Before We Say Goodbye, Kawaguchi invites us to join his characters as they embark on a journey to revisit one crucial moment in time.
Catch up on the rest of the series with Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Tales from the Cafe and Before Your Memory Fades.
The Opposite of Lonely (Skelfs Volume 5) by Doug Johnstone
Published September 14th by Orenda Thriller, Suspense, Crime Ficiton, Mystery, Urban Fiction, Crime Series, Lesbian Literature, LGBT Literature, Religious Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A body lost at sea, arson, murder, astronauts, wind phones, communal funerals and existential angst … This can ONLY mean one thing! The Skelfs are back, and things are as tense, unnerving and warmly funny as ever!
The Skelf women are recovering from the cataclysmic events that nearly claimed their lives. Their funeral-director and private-investigation businesses are back on track, and their cases are as perplexing as ever.
Matriarch Dorothy looks into a suspicious fire at an illegal campsite and takes a grieving, homeless man under her wing. Daughter Jenny is searching for her missing sister-in-law, who disappeared in tragic circumstances, while grand-daughter Hannah is asked to investigate increasingly dangerous conspiracy theorists, who are targeting a retired female astronaut … putting her own life at risk.
With a body lost at sea, funerals for those with no one to mourn them, reports of strange happenings in outer space, a funeral crasher with a painful secret, and a violent attack on one of the family, The Skelfs face their most personal – and perilous – cases yet. Doing things their way may cost them everything…
Tense, unnerving and warmly funny, The Opposite of Lonely is the hugely anticipated fifth instalment in the unforgettable Skelfs series, and this time, danger comes from everywhere…
Published September 14th by Harper Collins Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Domestic Fiction, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Nothing brings a family together like a murder next door.
A lighthearted whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio of amateur sleuths. Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder.
“Mother-Daughter Murder Night is the perfect mix of family drama and murder mystery.” — Kellye Garrett, award-winning author of Like a Sister
High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of:her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she’s built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepycoastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage—and hoping that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does.
Then Jack—tiny in stature but fiercely independent—happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.
With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they’ve always resisted: depend on each other.
Published September 14th by Bedford Square Publishers Contemporary Fiction, Humorous Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Eleanor Oliphant meets About a Boy’ – Gillian Harvey
‘A beautiful read full of heart and depth’ – Nina Pottell, Prima Magazine
Funny, heartbreaking and life-affirming, Swimming for Beginners will show you how a child can open your heart even if you aren’t a mother.
Loretta has life under control.
She’s good at avoiding things that make her uncomfortable, she’s chasing a big promotion at work, and she’s marrying a man whose five-year plan aligns perfectly with her own.
Children do not come into the mix.
This all changes, however, when a stranger in an airport asks Loretta to keep an eye on her sleeping six-year-old, Phoebe. The stranger never comes back.
Loretta knows that Phoebe’s life will change forever from that moment. But so will hers.
This strange little person in fairy wings will turn Loretta’s world upside down and cause her to question everything she knows about herself.
Dive into Nicola Gill’s heart-warming and relatable journey into the power of a child’s love and its ability to transcend motherhood.
Published September 14th by Faber & Faber Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Biographical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: THE DEBUT NOVEL FROM THE BESTSELLING AND AWARD-WINNING COMEDIAN, WRITER AND ACTOR SARA PASCOE
‘Quietly profound and laughing-in-public funny’ CAITLIN MORAN ‘Funny. . . the humour is always anchored in spot-on observation’ ELIZABETH DAY ‘An incredible read’ AISLING BEA ‘I loved every page’ NATHAN FILER ‘A tragicomic masterpiece’ DAISY BUCHANAN ‘A tremendously exciting voice.’ The Times
“I USED TO THINK MY MUM COULD SEE ME THROUGH THE CAT”
Deep in Essex and her own thoughts, Sophie had a feeling something was going to happen and then it did. Chris has entered the pub and re-entered her life after Sophie had finally stopped thinking about him and regretting what she’d done.
Sophie has a chance at creating a new ending and paying off her emotional debts (if not her financial ones). All she has to do is act exactly like a normal, well-adjusted person and not say any of her inner monologue out loud. If she can suppress her light paranoia, pornographic visualisations and pathological lying maybe she’ll even end up getting the guy she wants? Then she could dump her boyfriend Ian and try to enjoy Christmas.
Published September 14th by Simon & Schuster UK Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: Sunday Times bestseller Rachel Hore’s captivating new novel of secrets, loss and betrayal – set on the beautiful Cornish coast during World War Two and the heady days of the 1960s.
When talented musician Gray Robinson persuades Belle to abandon her university studies and follow him to Silverwood, home to an artistic community on the Cornish coast, Belle happily agrees even though they’ve only just met. She knows she is falling in love, and the thought of spending a carefree summer with Gray is all she can think about.
But being with Gray isn’t the only reason Belle agrees to accompany him to Silverwood.
Why does the name Silverwood sound so familiar? What is its connection to a photo of her as a baby, taken on a nearby beach? And who is Imogen Lockhart, a wartime nurse who lived at Silverwood many years ago?
As the summer months unfold, Belle begins to learn the truth – about secrets from the past that have been kept hidden, but also about the person she wants to be.
Published September 14th by HQ Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Urban Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A sultry, immersive exploration of 30s New York with a taut plot and a vivid soundtrack. The perfect escape – evocative, smooth prose’ Harriet Tyce, Sunday Times bestselling author
* * *
1936, September 17th, 1am…
In the middle of Harlem, in the dead of night, a woman falls from a second storey window. In her hand, she holds a passport and the name written on it is Lena Aldridge…
Nine days earlier…
Lena arrived in Harlem less than two weeks ago, full of hope for her burgeoning romance with Will Goodman, the handsome musician she met on board the Queen Mary. Will has arranged for Lena to stay with friends of his, and this will give her the chance to find out if their relationship is going anywhere. But there is another reason she’s in Harlem – to find out what happened in 1908 to make her father flee to London.
As Lena’s investigations progress, not only does she realise her father lied to her, but the man she’s falling too fast and too hard for has secrets of his own. And those secrets have put Lena in terrible danger…
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child – not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long – and among her island’s guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything.
So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss – the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man’s world.
Companion to the bestselling special hardback edition of The Song of Achilles
Published September 14th by Gallery Books Memoir, Autobiography
SYNOPSIS: For the first time, discover the unedited truth about the Duggars, the traditional Christian family that captivated the nation on TLC’s hit show 19 Kids and Counting. Jill Duggar and her husband Derick are finally ready to share their story, revealing the secrets, manipulation, and intimidation behind the show that remained hidden from their fans.
Jill and Derick knew a normal life wasn’t possible for them. As a star on the popular TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jill grew up in front of viewers who were fascinated by her family’s way of life. She was the responsible, second daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle’s nineteen kids; always with a baby on her hip and happy to wear the modest ankle-length dresses with throat-high necklines. She didn’t protest the strict model of patriarchy that her family followed, which declares that men are superior, that women are expected to be wives and mothers and are discouraged from attaining a higher education, and that parental authority over their children continues well into adulthood, even once they are married.
But as Jill got older, married Derick, and they embarked on their own lives, the red flags became too obvious to ignore.
For as long as they could, Jill and Derick tried to be obedient family members—they weren’t willing to rock the boat. But now they’re raising a family of their own, and they’re done with the secrets. Thanks to time, tears, therapy, and blessings from God, they have the strength to share their journey. Theirs is a remarkable story of the power of the truth and is a moving example of how to find healing through honesty.
Published September 19th by John Murray Press Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A monumental achievement . . . I loved it’ Maggie O’Farrell
FOUR CENTURIES. A SINGLE HOUSE DEEP IN THE WOODS OF NEW ENGLAND.
A young Puritan couple on the run. An English soldier with a fantastic vision. Inseparable twin sisters. A lovelorn painter and a lusty beetle. A desperate mother and her haunted son. A ruthless con man and a stalking panther. Buried secrets. Madness, dreams and hope.
All are connected. The dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive.
Exhilarating, daring and playful, NORTH WOODS will change the way you see the world.
‘Ambitious, alive, and lush with generosity . . . an immersive sprint through time’ Tess Gunty
Published September 19th by Del Rey Historical Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy, Historical Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A love letter to stories – and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling.’ Allison Saft, author of A Far Wilder Magic.
Effy has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad – a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.
Effy’s tattered copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author’s family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.
But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud.
As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them – and the truth may bring them both to ruin.
Published September 21st by Pan Macmillan Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Mythology
SYNOPSIS: ‘A labyrinthine delight of a novel . . . Dickensian darkness is infused with ancient myth. Historical writing at its finest . . . .’ Essie Fox, bestselling author of The Somnambulist and The Fascination
London, 1861: Ten-year-old Nell belongs to a crew of mudlarks who work a stretch of the Thames along the Ratcliffe Highway. An orphan since her mother died four years past, leaving Nell with only broken dreams and a pair of satin slippers in her possession, she spends her days dredging up coals, copper and pieces of iron spilled by the river barges – searching for treasure in the mud in order to appease her master, Benjamin Murdstone.
But one day, Nell discovers a body on the shore. It’s not the first corpse she’s encountered, but by far the strangest. Nearly seven feet tall, the creature has matted hair covering his legs, and on his head are the suggestion of horns. Nell’s fellow mudlarks urge her to steal his boots and rifle his pockets, but as she ventures closer the figure draws breath and Nell is forced to make a decision which will change her life forever . . .
From the critically acclaimed author of The Toymakers comes an imaginative retelling of the legend of the Minotaur, full of myth and magic and steeped in the grime of Victorian London; perfect for lovers of historical fiction with a mythical twist.
Published September 21st by HQ Fairy Tale, Fantasy Fiction, Romance Novel, Magical Realism, Historical Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
SYNOPSIS: When the snow falls, she will be free…
The invitations always arrive the same way – without warning, appearing around the city on the first snowfall of the year, simply inscribed with ‘Tonight.’
When struggling artist, Forster, finds an invitation, he’s bewitched by the magic of the evening, swept up in the glamour of this notorious annual party and intrigued as to who is behind them.
Determined to find out more about the mysterious host, Forster discovers an abandoned manor house silent with secrets and a cursed woman who is desparate to be free…
From the bestselling author of Midnight in Everwood, comes another spellbinding literary fairy tale that’s The Great Gatsby meets Swan Lake.
Published September 21st by Viper Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Dark Comedy, Ghost Story
SYNOPSIS: ‘Refreshingly original and laugh-out-loud funny’ – CLARE MACKINTOSH ‘Delightfully shocking and irreverently funny’ – JANICE HALLETT
I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die. Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them.
The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.
The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Claire will do anything to keep her secret hidden – not to mention the bodies buried in her garden. Let the games begin…
Dexter meets Killing Eve in this superb thriller, perfect for fans of How To Kill Your Family and My Sister, the Serial Killer. ‘I doubt I’ll read a more original thriller this year’ – JACK JORDAN ‘If Bret Easton Ellis ever went to grief counselling, this would be just the kind of brilliant book he’d write’ – PHILIPPA EAST
Published September 21st by Corvus Historcial Thriller
SYNOPSIS: A sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.
Berkeley, California 1944: A former presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms at the opulent Claremont Hotel. A rich industrialist, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of adversaries. But Detective Al Sullivan’s investigation brings up the spectre of another tragedy at the Claremont ten years earlier: the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the wealthy and influential Bainbridge family. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now adults: Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth – not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of Chinese first lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek – Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and ground-breaking forensic advances, when access to power, and therefore justice, hinged on gender, race and class.
Published September 21st by Hutchinson Heinmann Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Adventure Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A profound and explosive novel about a spirited girl alone in the wilderness, trying to survive
A servant girl escapes from a settlement. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief of everything that her own civilization has taught her.
The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how -and if – we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves.
Published September 21st by Allison & Busby Mystery, Dark comedy, Cozy Mystery, Thriller
SYNOPSIS: One murder to solve and another to cover up. It’ll be tricky, but the OAP residents of Sunset Hall are going to give it their best shot.
Sunset Hall is a house share for the old and unruly, led by Agnes Sharp. It’s an eventful day when this group of idiosyncratic seniors gets a visit from the police to inform them of some shocking news. A body has been discovered next door. Everyone puts on a long face, but they are secretly relieved the body in question is not the one they’re currently hiding in the shed (sorry, Lillith). It seems the answer to their little problem with Lillith may have fallen right into their lap. All they have to do is find out who murdered their neighbour, so they can pin Lillith’s death on them, thus killing two old birds with one stone. To investigate, the group (not forgetting Hettie the tortoise) will venture into the not-so-idyllic village of Duck End and tangle with sinister bakers, broken stair lifts, inept criminals and their own dark secrets. ———
‘A mystery like a gingerbread house, rich and warm and sweet and dark. Fans of Richard Osman’s superannuated detectives, welcome to your new club.’ – A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
‘The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp is utterly superb. It is as rich and enticing as a perfect cup of cocoa – sweet at first taste, but with something delightfully, deeply, deliciously dark within. A beguiling and unforgettable read.’ – Deanna Raybourn, author of Killers of a Certain Age
Published September 26th by Quercus Contemporary Roomance, Romance Novel, Holiday Fiction, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘Beth O’Leary is that rare, one-in-a-million talent who can make you laugh, swoon, cry and ache all in the same book’ Emily Henry
Two sworn enemies. One failing hotel. Love is the last thing they need . . .
It’s the busiest time of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when sworn enemies Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel’s front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside.
The hotel won’t stay afloat without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest’s lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management this might fix everything. With four rings still sitting in lost property, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel – and their jobs.
As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than the hotel’s future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?
Published September 26th by Hodder & Stoughton Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Noir Fiction
SYNOPSIS: A lover in peril. A nation under threat. The clock is ticking . . .
‘AMAZING, SHOW-STOPPING, SPECTACULAR’ XIRAN JAY ZHAO The captivating sequel to Foul Lady Fortune, by the New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights. Winter is drawing thick in 1932 Shanghai, as is the threat of a Japanese invasion.
Rosalind Lang’s identity as a national spy has been exposed. With the media camped outside her apartment, she’s barely left her bedroom in weeks, plotting her next course of action after Orion was taken and his memories wiped. Their marriage might have been a sham, but his absence hurts more than any physical wound. She won’t rest until she gets him back.
But with her identity in the open, the task is near impossible. The only way to rescue Orion is under the guise of a national tour. It’s easy to convince her superiors that the countryside needs unity more than ever, and who better than an immortal girl to stir pride and strength?
When the tour goes wrong, everything Rosalind once knew is thrown up in the air. Taking refuge outside Shanghai, old ghosts return and adversaries turn to allies. To save Orion, they must find a cure to his mother’s invention and steal this dangerous weapon away from foreign invasion -but the clock is ticking, and if Rosalind fails, it’s not only Orion she loses, but her nation itself . . .
Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth by Natalie Haynes
Published September 28th by Picador Greek Mythology, History
SYNOPSIS: In Divine Might Natalie Haynes, author of the bestselling Pandora’s Jar, returns to the world of Greek myth and this time she examines the role of the goddesses.
We meet Athene, who sprang fully formed from her father’s head: goddess of war and wisdom, guardian of Athens. We run with Artemis, goddess of hunting and protector of young girls (apart from those she decides she wants as a sacrifice). Here is Aphrodite, goddess of sex and desire – there is no deity more determined and able to make you miserable if you annoy her. And then there’s the queen of all the Olympian gods: Hera, Zeus’s long-suffering wife, whose jealousy of his dalliances with mortals, nymphs and goddesses lead her to wreak elaborate, vicious revenge on those who have wronged her.
We also meet Demeter, goddess of agriculture and mother of the kidnapped Persephone, we sing the immortal song of the Muses and we warm ourselves with Hestia, goddess of the hearth and sacrificial fire. The Furies carry flames of another kind – black fires of vengeance for those who incur their wrath.
These goddesses are as mighty, revered and destructive as their male counterparts. Isn’t it time we looked beyond the columns of a ruined temple to the awesome power within?
Published September 28th by Headline Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: In her irresistible new novel, Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people – and countries – will pay to cling on to them.
Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from the Bronze Age and they are highly sought after by collectors – and looters – alike.
When Helena inherits her grandparents’ apartment in Athens, she is overwhelmed with memories of the summers she spent there as a child, when Greece was under a brutal military dictatorship. Her remote, cruel grandfather was one of the regime’s generals and as she sifts through the dusty rooms, Helena discovers an array of valuable objects and antiquities. How did her grandfather amass such a trove? What human price was paid for them?
Helena’s desire to find answers about her heritage dovetails with a growing curiosity for archaeology, ignited by a summer spent with volunteers on a dig on an Aegean island. Their finds fuel her determination to protect the precious fragments recovered from the baked earth – and to understand the origins of her grandfather’s collection.
Helena’s attempt to make amends for some of her grandfather’s actions sees her wrestle with the meaning of ‘home’, both in relation to looted objects of antiquity … and herself.
Published September 28th by Harper Collins UK Romance Novel, Humourous Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Saga
SYNOPSIS: From the author of the phenomenal bestseller The Keeper of Stories, comes an utterly beautiful and charming novel full of mystery and secrets waiting to be uncovered…
Her new chapter starts now…
Jo Sorsby is hiding from her past when she agrees to run her uncle’s beloved stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble little notes and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from her bruised heart.
When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian still finding himself, she suddenly realizes she isn’t alone.
They each have a story that can transform Jo’s life… if only she can let them in.
The perfect gift for book lovers, The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Bookshop in this gorgeous novel about secrets, second chances and finding friendship in the most unlikely places.
Published September 28th by Pan Macmillan Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Fiction
SYNOPSIS: ‘A compelling, almost hypnotic read’ – LIsa Jewell, bestselling author of None of This is True
‘Bright Young Women is Jessica Knoll at her best: an unflinching and evocative novel’ – Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me
January 1978. Tallahassee. When sorority president Pamela Schumacher is startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she’s shocked to encounter a scene of implausible violence – two of her friends dead and two others, maimed. Thrust into a terrifying mystery, Pamela becomes entangled in a crime that captivates public interest for more than four decades . . .
On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. When Ruth, her best friend, goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her.
When Tina hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she suspects the same man the papers refer to is responsible. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela – and one last impending tragedy.
From the author of the New York Times bestseller and #1 Netflix movie Luckiest Girl Alive comes Jessica Knoll’s extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America’s first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree.
‘Haunting and surreal, And Then She Fell had me questioning reality alongside Alice as she grappled with motherhood, being a writer, a wife, and feeling like an outsider in her own life. With its sharp wit and beautiful writing, this book had me flying through the pages.’ Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines
‘A towering achievement, stunningly good storytelling.’ Melissa Lucashenko, Miles Franklin Award winning author of Too Much Lip
On the surface, Alice is exactly where she should be in life: she’s just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her ever-charming husband Steve-a white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk culture-is nothing but supportive; and they’ve moved into a new home in a wealthy neighbourhood in Toronto, a generous gift from her in-laws.
But Alice could not feel more like an imposter. She isn’t bonding with Dawn, a struggle made more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother. Every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their picture-perfect neighbours, amongst whom she’s the sole Indigenous resident.
Her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story.
And then strange things start happening.
Alice finds herself hearing voices she can’t explain and speaking with things that should not be talking back to her, all while her neighbours’ passive aggression begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve urges her this is all in her head, Alice suspects something is very, very wrong, and that her creation story holds the key to her, and Dawn’s, survival… She just has to finish it before it’s too late…
Published September 28th by Zaffre Books Historical Fiction, War Story, Literary Fiction
SYNOPSIS: The phenomenal new novel, based on a true story, from the international bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
1942. Singapore is falling to the Japanese Army. English musician Norah Chambers places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe. As the island burns, Australian nurse Nesta James joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the HMS Vyner Brooke. After only two days at sea, the ship is bombarded and sunk.
Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of Indonesia only to be captured and held in one of the notorious Japanese POW camps, places of starvation and brutality. But even here joy can be found, in music, where Norah’s ‘voice orchestra’ transports the internees from squalor into light. The friendships they build with the dozens of other women in the camps will give them the hope, strength and camaraderie they need in order to stay alive.
Sisters under the Rising Sun?tells the story of women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery and resilience in the darkest of circumstances, from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka’s Journey and Three Sisters.
Published September 28th by Hachette Books True Crime, Biography
SYNOPSIS: Former CNN/HLN anchor and veteran broadcast journalist Susan Hendricks takes an investigative deep-dive into the still-unsolved double homicide of two teens in Delphi, Indiana-and its lasting impact on the community
On February 13, 2017, two teenage girls-13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German-decided to enjoy a day off from school by exploring the popular hiking trails near the Monon High Bridge just a few minutes’ drive from Libby’s home in Delphi, Indiana. Libby’s sister, Kelsi, dropped the two girls off at the head of the trail and waved to them as they walked down the path, which was the last time they’d ever be seen alive. Less than 24 hours later, their bodies were found on the north bank of Deer Creek, about a mile from where they were last seen. There were few clues and little to go on in terms of physical evidence, except for the visual and audio remnants of a strange encounter the girls had with a stranger just hours before their disappearance, an encounter unsettling enough that Libby had thought to record it on her cellphone as it unfolded. In the years since the murders were first made public, Libby’s audio and video recordings have been released and two very different composite sketches of the suspect have been shown, but local law enforcement remained vague about developments for years-until finally, in October 2022, the long-awaited suspect was arrested and a trial date was set.
Longtime anchor and journalist Susan Hendricks was one of the first reporters to cover the case. A broadcast veteran with decades’ worth of experience under her belt, she was no stranger when it came to sharing the tragedies of the day with viewers. But there was something about this case that rattled her to her core. A year after the murders, Susan went to Delphi to interview the victims’ families for an in-depth special report where Kelsi drove Susan down the same path that she drove her sister down on the last day of her life. Over the years, Susan has built close relationships with family members, and law enforcement officials and armchair detectives alike who are determined to get justice for Abby and Libby.
In Down the Hill, Hendricks digs deeper in into the mystery that has captivated our nation for years, exploring the family’s enduring resilience and advocacy, as well as the rippling impact the case has had on not just Delphi, but the very heart of the American heartland. As a result, this book is more than just a book about a double homicide; it’s about a small town in middle America that’s been haunted by an unfathomable act of violence; it’s about the ways families and communities cope with grief and move forward after tragedy; it’s about the limitations of local law enforcement and the rise of technology in helping to solve cases in new ways. But it’s also about compassion, connection, empathy, and resilience-on a very real, very human level.
As much as I enjoy darker reads, there’s nothing better than a light-hearted and uplifting story. And if there’s some romance or a pensioner in the pages, even better! Here are the light-hearted books out this year I’m most anticipating.
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Becoming Ted by Matt Cain
SYNOPSIS: A charming, joyful and surprising story about love, friendship and learning to be true to yourself, Becoming Ted will steal your heart.
Ted Ainsworth has always worked at his family’s ice-cream business in the quiet Lancashire town of St Luke’s-on-Sea.
But the truth is, he’s never wanted to work for the family firm – he doesn’t even like ice-cream, though he’s never told his parents that. When Ted’s husband suddenly leaves him, the bottom falls out of his world.
But what if this could be an opportunity to put what he wants first? This could be the chance to finally follow his secret dream: something Ted has never told anyone …
Published January 19th by Headline Pre-order here*
The House That Made Us by Alice Cavanagh
SYNOPSIS: One Day meets Up: The House That Made Us is a love story – and a life story – told through a series of photographs and inspired by a true story
When Mac and Marie marry and find a home of their own, Mac takes a snap of them outside their newbuild bungalow, the garden bare and the paint on the front door still wet. It becomes a tradition, this snap, and slowly the photographs build into an album of a fifty-year relationship.
Every year they take a photo and though things change around them – the garden matures, the fashions change, they grow older – the one constant is their love. Every year, come rain, come shine, from the Seventies through the decades, every photo tells the story of their love. But life never travels the path you expect it to, though they know that a life with love is a life lived to the full.
Now, in the present day, the photo album belongs to someone who doesn’t know the people in its pages. As they watch the lives from the past unfold, will the truth of their love story be told…?
A heart-breaking story about life and love for readers who love Holly Miller, Jojo Moyes and Hazel Prior.
Published January 19th by Simon & Schuster UK Pre-order here*
Looking Out For Love by Sophia Money-Coutts
SYNOPSIS: … But is she searching in the right places?
Stella Shakespeare isn’t having a good day, or month come to think of it. She’s been unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend,cut off from the bank of dad and at thirty-two years old, she doesn’t know what she’s doing with her life.
What Stella really wants is to find love. She wants all-consuming, can’t-think-about-anything-else, can’t-even-manage-to-eat kind of love. What she found beside her in bed that morning wasn’t love. But when a tall, handsome man in a well-fitting suit walks into a Notting Hill pub, she thinks she’s finally found The One.
Everything seems to be falling into place now Stella has met the man of her dreams and has an actual job working with a private investigator nicknamed ‘The Affair Hunter’. Although sadly, life is never that straightforward and Stella starts to question whether she’s been looking for love in the wrong places all along…
SYNOPSIS: A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from international sensation Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars
Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?
Meet Sam . . . She’s not got much, but she’s grateful for what she has: a job she’s just about clinging on to and a family who depend on her for everything. She knows she’s one bad day away from losing it all – and just hopes today isn’t it . . .
Meet Nisha . . . She’s got everything she always dreamed of – and more: a phenomenally rich husband; an international lifestyle; and . . . she’s just been locked out of all of it after her husband initiates divorce proceedings . . .
Sam and Nisha should never have crossed paths. But after a bag mix-up at the gym, their lives become intertwined – even as they spiral out of control.
Each blames the other as they feel increasingly invisible, forgotten, lost – and desperately alone.
But they’re not.
No woman is an island. Look around. Family. Friends. Strangers. Even the woman you believe just ruined your life might turn out to be your best friend. Because together you can do anything – like take back what is yours . . .
Published Februrary 2nd by Michael Joseph Pre-order here*
Do I Know You? by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
SYNOPSIS: After five years’ marriage they’re about to have their first date . . .
Eliza and Graham’s marriage is quietly failing. With their five-year anniversary approaching, neither of them are thrilled about the weeklong getaway they’ve been gifted. The luxury retreat prides itself on being a destination for those in love and those looking to find it – but for Eliza and Graham it’s the last place they want to be.
After a well-meaning guest mistakes Eliza and Graham as being single and introduces them at the hotel bar, they don’t correct him. Suddenly, they’re pretending to be perfect strangers and it’s unexpectedly fun. Eliza and Graham find themselves flirting like it’s their first date.
Everyone at the retreat can see the electric chemistry between Eliza and Graham’s alter egos. But as their game continutes they realize this performance could be the very thing that saves their marriage . . .
Published February 2nd by Pan Macmillan Pre-order here*
The Vintage Shop of Second Chances by Libby Page
SYNOPSIS: Among the cobbled streets of the Somerset town of Frome, Lou is embarking on the start of something new. After the death of her beloved mother, she takes a deep breath into the unknown and is opening her own vintage clothes shop.
In upstate New York, Donna has just found out some news about her family which has called into question her whole upbringing. The only clue she has to unlock her past is a picture of a yellow dress, and the fact it is currently on display in a shop in England.
For Maggy, she is facing life as a 70-something divorcee and while she got the house, she’s not sure what to fill it with now her family have moved out. The new vintage shop in town sparks memories of her past and reignites a passion she’s been missing…
Together, can these three women find the answers they are searching for and unlock a second chance at a new life?
SYNOPSIS: From the author of modern classic The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets comes a feel-good novel about hope, love and the powerful bond between sisters.
It’s 1990. The Happy Mondays are in the charts, a 15-year-old called Kate Moss is on the cover of the Face magazine, and Julia Roberts wears thigh-boots for the poster for a new movie called Pretty Woman.
February Kingdom is nineteen years old when she is knocked sideways by family tragedy. Then one evening in May she finds an escaped canary in her kitchen and it sparks a glimmer of hope in her. With the help of the bird called Yellow, Feb starts to feel her way out of her own private darkness, just as her aunt embarks on a passionate and all-consuming affair with a married American drama teacher.
THIS COULD BE EVERYTHING is a coming-of-age story with its roots under the pavements of a pre-Richard Curtis-era Notting Hill that has all but vanished. It’s about what happens when you start looking after something more important than you, and the hope a yellow bird can bring…
Published February 16th by Simon & Schuster UK Pre-order here*
Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams
SYNOPSIS: One damsel + one wolf + many, many, many frogs = DISTRESS
Gloriously fun, romantic and feel-good, discover a 21st century London fairytale with an unforgettable twist . . .
Bella Marble is a true, hopeless, despairing romantic. Above all things, even above her wish to be a writer, she wants love.
But when her beautiful best friend moves out of their flat share to live with the most boring ogre in history, and her perfectly paired parents tell her their own love story is coming to an end, Bella’s illusions of a happily ever after start to shatter. If they can’t find ‘the one’, what chance does she have?
Disenchanted, Bella throws herself into looking for love in all the wrong places. London may be fresh out of knights in shining Armani, but it’s got a surplus of frogs – and as Bella learns, kissing frogs can be extremely fun.
But Bella is forgetting the essential rule of all fairytales.
There is nothing more powerful than a first kiss . . .
Published Feburary 16th by Little Brown Book Group Pre-order here*
One Moment by Becky Hunter
SYNOPSIS: One moment in time can change everything…
The day Scarlett dies should have been one of the most important of her life. It doesn’t feel fair that she’ll never have the chance to fulfil her dreams. And now, she’s still … here – wherever here is – watching the ripple effect of her death on the lives of those she loved the most.
Evie cannot contemplate her life without Scarlett, and she certainly cannot forgive Nate, the man she blames for her best friend’s death. But Nate keeps popping up when she least expects him to, catapulting Evie’s life in directions she’d never let herself imagine possible. Ways, perhaps, even those closest to her had long since given up on.
If you could go back, knowing everything that happens after, everything that happens because of that one moment in time, would you change the course of history or would you do it all again?
SYNOPSIS: A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances and the joy in finding the perfect match
Dr Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalised, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants…? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin’-seven on Briana’s ‘pain in my ass’ scale.
But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter. It’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her ‘sob closet’ and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses.
When Jacob turns out to be the perfect donor for her brother, Bri starts to realise that this quietly sexy new doctor might just be her perfect match, too.
SYNOPSIS: Don’t miss the next heartwarming, uplifting and painfully relatable book from Amy Lavelle…
‘If you loved Fleabag, you’ll love this’ Laura Kemp on Definitely Fine
Four sisters. One house. It’s about to get messy…
Poppy, Saffron, Rosemary and Sorrell might be sisters, but they could not be more different…
Oldest Poppy has hit all the milestones before turning thirty, but constantly being in control is starting to feel a bit suffocating; peacemaker Saffron will do anything to keep her sisters together even at her own expense; Rosemary has crafted a perfect façade, but cracks in her engagement are beginning to surface; youngest Sorrell is pregnant after a one-night stand, and is determined to do it all on her own for once – without any help from her sisters!
But when they inherit their family home, the four must make the decision to keep or sell the house – and they’re about to discover that no one gets under your skin quite like family…
Can they ever put their differences aside and find a way to move forward together?
Heartwarming, uplifting and hilarious, Home Sweet Home is a novel about sisters, misunderstandings and growing up. Perfect for fans of Emma Gannon, Olivia Beirne and Helly Acton.
Years ago, Juliet left a little piece of her heart in Paris – and now, separated from her husband and with her children flying the nest, it’s time to get it back!
So she puts on her best red lipstick, books a cosy attic apartment near Notre-Dame and takes the next train out of London.
Arriving at the Gare du Nord, the memories come flooding back: bustling street cafés, cheap wine in candlelit bars and a handsome boy with glittering eyes.
But Juliet has also been keeping a secret for over two decades – and she begins to realise it’s impossible to move forwards without first looking back.
Something tells her that the next thirty days might just change everything…
SYNOPSIS: Two exes. One pact. Could this holiday change everything?
Harriet and Wyn are the perfect couple – they go together like bread and butter, gin and tonic, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.
Every year for the past decade, they have run away from their lives to drink far too much wine and soak up the sea air with their favourite people in the world.
Except this year, they are lying through their teeth. Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago. And they still haven’t told anyone.
But this is the last time they’ll all be together here. The cottage is for sale, and since they can’t bear to break their best friends’ hearts, they’ll fake it for one more week.
But how can you pretend to be in love – and get away with it – in front of the people who know you best?
Brimming with characters you can’t help but fall for and off-the-charts chemistry, HAPPY PLACE is Emily Henry doing what she does best!
SYNOPSIS: Dear Lost for Words, We are trying to stay at home . . . I am enclosing a cheque and I hope that you will use it to send us some books. Please choose books that we might think are wonderful.
Rosemary
Loveday Cardew’s beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, or escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the first letter comes.
Rosemary and George have been married for fifty years. Now their time is running out. They have decided to set out on their last journey together, without ever leaving the bench at the bottom of their garden in Whitby. All they need is someone who shares their love of books.
Suddenly it’s clear to Loveday that she and her team can do something useful in a crisis. They can recommend books to help with the situations their customers find themselves in: fear, boredom, loneliness, the desire for laughter and escape.
And so it begins.
Published April 27th by Headline Review Pre-order here*
Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon
SYNOPSIS: Neither of them expected to fall in love. But sometimes life has other plans.
When Wren realises her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.
On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.
Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and step-family on their farm in Indiana will help her to heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths and their worlds are turned upside-down again.
But Wren doesn’t know that Anders is harbouring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren it will have serious fall-out for everyone.
Walking away would hurt Wren more than she can imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?
Published April 27th by Penguin UK Pre-order here*
Preloved by Lauren Bravo
SYNOPSIS: A love story about things…
Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?
When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change. Over what might be the best – and most solitary – meal she’s ever eaten, Gwen vows to find something meaningful to do with her life, reconnect with her family and friends – and finally book herself a dentist appointment.
Her search for meaning soon leads her to volunteer in a local charity shop where she both literally and metaphorically unloads her emotional baggage. With the help of the weird and wonderful people she meets in the shop and the donated items bursting with untold stories that pass through its doors, Gwen must finally address the events and choices that led her to this point and find a way to move forward with bravery, humanity and more regular dental care.
Brimming with life, love and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss, being true to oneself no matter the expectations – and the enduring power and joy of charity shops.
Published April 27th by Simon & Schuster Pre-order here*
The Cassandra Complex by Holly Smale
SYNOPSIS: Cassandra Penelope Dankworth is a creature of habit.
She likes what she likes (museums, jumpsuits, her boyfriend Will) and strongly dislikes what she doesn’t (mess, change, her boss drinking out of her mug). Her life runs in a pleasing, predictable order. Until now.
She’s just been dumped. She’s just been fired. Her local café has run out of banana muffins.
Then, something truly unexpected happens: Cassie discovers she can go back and change the past.
Now, Cassie should be able to find a way to fix the life she accidentally obliterated. And with time on her side, how hard can it be…?
SYNOPSIS: Find out why readers LOVE Christina Lauren . . .
A romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker set out to craft the ultimate movie romance – but only if they can keep their own feelings for each other under control in this electrifying love story from the author of The Unhoneymooners.
SYNOPSIS: 19-year-old Phoebe and her courier father Al have recently moved to Devon, to a small cottage with a river at the end of the garden.
Struggling with her health, Phoebe doesn’t go out much these days. Instead, she spends her time playing detective – trying to deduce from her father’s deliveries what kinds of lives her neighbours lead.
When Phoebe finds an abandoned baby otter by the river, it’s just the push she needs to finally step into her new community. Taking the otter to the local sanctuary, she feels a joy that she has not felt in a very long time. But she soon starts to suspect that something is amiss at the local sanctuary – and she will need to put her detective skills to good use if she wants to save the otters.
A gorgeous feel-good novel about a young woman finding the courage to step back into the world, with the help of new friends and some very cute otters.
SYNOPSIS: Esther is out with her two friends, bemoaning her lack of relationship, when she finds a magazine from the noughties. Seeking comfort – and a laugh – she turns to the dating advice only to find an article that feels a little too close to home. According to the journalist, there are seven people a woman will date before finding the one:
The First Love, The Work Mistake, The Friend with Benefits, The Overlap, The Missed Chance, The Bastard and The Serious One.
Her friends laugh but Esther realises each of her exes fits these roles perfectly. Deciding that she’s mistaken her true love in the reject pile she decides to contact each of her exes to find out which is the one that got away…
Published May 25th by Simon & Schuster UK Pre-order here*
Lovestruck by Laura Jane Williams
SYNOPSIS: This isn’t one love story. It’s two.
Becca Calloway is calling it: she’s ready for Mr Right, and she’s ready now.
She even goes as far as to hold a manifestation ceremony for him – and when she receives a text from her ex five minutes later, she knows it’s a sign.
The problem is, she doesn’t know which way it’s pointing…
Should Becca reply and reignite things with her old flame Mike? Or delete and block, moving forward with the new man in her life?
Becca has one choice, with two ways this could go. And in Lovestruck, you’re about to see them both…
SYNOPSIS: From the author of tiktok sensations and global bestsellers The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain
Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom.
The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people-pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig – until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and arrogant older brother of her favourite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And he’s the same Jack Smith who rules over the physics department at MIT, standing right between Elsie and her dream job.
Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but… those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
SYNOPSIS: As the bombs began to fall, the book club kept their hopes alive…
The most emotional, uplifting and captivating story of wartime London and the extraordinary power of books to shine a light and draw people together in the darkest of days, inspired by true events.
London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times, having just lost her beloved husband, Harry, and with a lingering sadness at never having been able to have a child of her own. Struggling to face running the bookshop she and Harry opened together, Gertie is preparing to sell up and move away when she is asked if she would be willing to take in a young Jewish refugee from Germany. Gertie is unsure and when sullen teenager Hedy Fischer arrives, Gertie fears she has nothing left to give the troubled girl.
But when the German bombers come and the lights go out over London, Gertie and Hedy realise that joining forces will make them stronger, and that books have the power to bring young and old together and unite a community in need in its darkest hour…
Published July 11th by Headline Review Pre-order here*
The Art of Belonging by Eleanor Ray
SYNOPSIS: Grace’s life is perfectly fine, thank you very much. A widow of seventy-two, she lives quietly, and although hearing a little more from her daughter and granddaughter would be nice, she has her health, her friends, her octogenarian yoga (however reluctantly attended) and most of all her weekly club where she creates exquisite, miniature train sets.
However, when her estranged daughter rings her in shock, about to lose her home, Grace invites Amelia and her daughter Charlotte to live with her. With them, they bring all the messy, complicated feelings from the past, and the more Grace gets to know her granddaughter Charlotte, the more she adores her. As Charlotte enlists her help to solve a mystery at school, the small family begin to find each other again. Grace is about to discover that although opening her heart again may be painful, in the end it’s the only thing that makes life worth living . .
SYNOPSIS: When a relationship expert’s own marriage falls apart, she invites four strangers to Italy for a vacation of healing and second chances in this uplifting new novel from the author of The Messy Lives of Book People.
Ginny Splinter, acclaimed radio host and advice expert, prides herself on knowing what’s best for others. So she’s sure her husband, Adrian, will love the special trip to Italy she’s planned for their thirtieth wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents the gift to Adrian, he surprises her with his own very different plan—a divorce.
Beside herself with heartache, Ginny impulsively invites four heartbroken listeners to join her in Italy instead while live on air. From hiking the hills of Bologna to riding a gondola in Venice to sharing stories around the dining table of the little Italian hotel, Ginny and her newfound company embark on a vacation of healing.
However, when Adrian starts to rethink their relationship, Ginny must decide whether to commit to her marriage or start afresh, alone. And an unexpected stranger may hold the key to a very different future… Sunny, tender and brimming with charm, The Little Italian Hotel explores marriage, identity and reclaiming the present moment—even if it means leaving the past behind.
SYNOPSIS: Bridesmaids meets Emily in Paris–in London–this is a hilarious and heartfelt story of one woman who escaped to London after her moment of ridiculous revenge on an ex went viral, and the life-changing summer she discovers new love and her best self–and finally gets the sweetest revenge.
“I love-love-love Lizzy Dent.”–Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers
Her past is a mess. But her present is about to get delicious.
Amy is more than the one disastrous night that ended in drunken revenge on her boss/ex-boyfriend’s canvas top Audi. The night that tanked her rising TV career and led to a hasty move to London for a fresh start. She is thirty-two years of awesomeness. At least, that’s what Amy tells herself every morning before trekking to her mediocre job making trailers at a failing British TV channel.
Two years later, she’s finally starting to believe it. But just as sparks fly between her and her handsome new downstairs neighbor and she starts to make inroads at work, the ex-boyfriend who wrecked her life is hired as her new boss and past and present are about to epically collide.
Published July 25th by Viking
The Wake-Up Call by Beth O’Leary
SYNOPSIS: ‘Beth O’Leary is that rare, one-in-a-million talent who can make you laugh, swoon, cry and ache all in the same book’ Emily Henry
Two sworn enemies. A failing hotel. One chance to save the season…
It’s the busiest season of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel’s front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and see it through.
The hotel won’t stay afloat beyond Christmas without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest’s lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management that this might be the way to fix everything. With four rings still sitting in lost property, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel – and their jobs.
As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than the hotel’s future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?
Published September 28th by Quercus Pre-order here*
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Are any of these on your TBR? Let me know in the comments below
Emma's Biblio Treasures 