Categories
Book Features Emma's Anticipated Treasures

Emma’s Anticipated Treasures – June 2025

June is almost upon us, so it’s time for my most anticipated June releases. There’s some exciting debuts from authors including Charlotte Runcie, Jemimah Wei, Mel Pennant, Jennifer Treveylan, Anne Senes and Xenobe Purvis. And there are fantastic new releases from authors I love, including Taylor Jenkins Reid, C.L. Taylor, A. A. Chaudhuri, Sarah Pinborough, V. E. Schwab, Riley Sager, Will Carver, Caroline Lea, Fiona Cummins, Karin Slaughter, Beth Morrey, Lucy Vine and Ruth Hogan.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published June 3rd by Hutchinson Heinmann
Psychological Fiction, Romance, Lesbian Literature

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
AN EPIC NOVEL SET AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE 1980S SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM ABOUT THE EXTRAORDINARY LENGTHS WE GO TO LIVE AND LOVE BEYOND OUR LIMITS.

In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houstonโ€™s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond; mission specialists John Griffin and Lydia Danes; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer. As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love โ€“ this time among the stars.

Pre-order here*

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

Published June 3rd by Headline
Historical Fiction, Gaslamp Fantasy, Fantasy Anthologies

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The Avallon Hotel offers unrivalled luxury in the wild Appalachian Mountains, its curative sweetwater washing away the troubles of high society. June ‘Hoss’ Hudson, a local girl turned general manager, has known its power since she first stepped through the century-old doors – and into the fold of the Gilfoyle family, the hotel’s aristocratic owners.

But in 1942, the real world intrudes. War comes to the Avallon dressed in fine furs and government suits. Under the State Department’s watchful eye, the Gilfoyle heir welcomes three hundred enemy diplomats and Nazi sympathisers. And June must play host.

As dark alliances and unexpected desires crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, not every guest is who they seem. Not least Agent Tucker Minnick, listening for secrets through the hotel walls, whose coal tattoo threatens to betray his past and undo June. And more troubling is the secret she has guarded for years – that the mountain waters can harm as much as heal…

The extraordinary, genre-defying debut adult novel by the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author.

Pre-order here*

It’s Always the Husband by C. L. Taylor

Published June 5th by Avon Books
Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Welcome to Lowbridge. Where secrets hide behind every doorโ€ฆ

When newly divorced Jude arrives in the small town of Lowbridge, she is soon drawn to widower Will, the father of her young daughter’s best friend.

But Will’s past is shrouded in tragedy, with questions that no one knows the answer to โ€“ and after two tragedies tore his life apart in just a few short years, gossip and rumours abound about what really happened to the women he loved.

As whispers of murder surround Will, Jude becomes determined to uncover the truth โ€“ and with her own father’s tragic fate haunting her, she refuses to let another innocent man suffer.

Yet in Lowbridge the darkness runs deep, and nothing is as it seems. Can Jude protect Will from a community out for blood? Or will she become the next victim in this web of deceit?

Because whilst one dead wife is tragic, two starts to look like murderโ€ฆ

Pre-order here*

The School Gates by A. A. Chaudhuri

Published June 5th by Hera Books
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction, Noir Ficiton, Urban Fiction, Domestic Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
First comes gossip โ€ฆ then comes revenge

When single mum Lola Martinezโ€™s son, Luca, starts school, she feels that sheโ€™ll never fit in with the yummy mummies in the playground. Confident, married to wealthy men, with ample free time, they are everything she isnโ€™t.

However, Lola is invited into the inner circle, surrounded by seemingly friendly people, even if Lolaโ€™s silence about her childโ€™s father puzzles them. Despite herself, Lola quickly becomes involved in playground politics, making as many enemies as friends.

But then Lola is brutally murdered, her death rocking the close-knit community. As the police investigate the case, they discover that Lola was hiding many secrets โ€“ as are the mums in her new social circle. But who had the most reason to kill her? And who else might unwittingly hold the answers to what happened that night?

An addictive psychological thriller with an end twist that will make you gasp, for fans of Lisa Jewell, T.M. Logan and Frieda McFadden. If you loved Big Little Lies, youโ€™ll adore this.

Pre-order here*

Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivener

Published June 5th by Pan Macmillan
Crime Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Lesbian Literature

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Why would my best friend want to destroy my life? Girl Falling is an atmospheric, psychological mystery from the award-winning author of Dirt Town.

Finn and her closest friend Daphne grew up in the imposing shadow of Australiaโ€™s Blue Mountains. Their uneasy bond forged from both losing their sisters at a young age. Now in their twenties, Daphne is at university, while Finn remained in the mountains, falling in love with newcomer Magdu. A young woman with troubles of her own.

After tensions arise during Magdu and Daphneโ€™s first meeting, Finn is looking forward to a day of rock climbing and bonding for the three women on the cliffs near their town. But nothing goes as planned, and in a horrific accident, Magdu falls to her death.

In the aftermath, the friends become the focus of a police investigation. Was it really an accident? Or did something far more sinister play out that day?

Bold, dramatic and utterly compelling, Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivenor forces us to confront the stories we tell ourselves about the people we love.

Pre-order here*

Into the Fire by G. D. Wright

Published June 5th by Avon Books
Crime Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Police Procedural, Legal Story

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Don’t miss the gripping crime novel in which a heroic act ends up ripping a small town apart with devastating consequencesโ€ฆ

โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“

HE RUNS INTO THE FLAMES A HERO.

Steve thought he had left his troubled past behind. Living a quiet life with his wife and children, everything changes the night he rescues a baby from a burning house, becoming an unexpected national hero.

HE EMERGES FROM THE ASHES A SUSPECT.

But as the spotlight shines brighter, so does the scrutiny, and a shocking accusation is made โ€“ that Steve is the man responsible for an unsolved murder in Beachbrook years prior.

BUT WHICH ONE IS HE REALLY?

As his world unravels, public opinion is firmly divided. Steve pleads his innocence, but DS Sue Willmott is determined to get to the bottom of what really happened all those years ago.

After all, even heroes hide secrets of their own.

Pre-order here*

Death of a Diplomat by Eliza Reid

Published June 5th by Sphere
Mystery, Crime Fiction, Women Sleuths

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A remote Icelandic island. A diplomatic dinner party. And a murderer in the midst.

The stakes at dinner couldn’t be higher.

The Canadian embassy are visiting a remote Icelandic island and the great and the good have gathered to welcome them. But beneath the glamour, tensions are bubbling.

When the deputy Canadian ambassador is poisoned at dinner, suspicion falls on everyone present, but particularly on the ambassador himself. Jane, the ambassador’s wife, knows that she has to solve the murder if she is to save her husband and her marriage. But Jane knows better than anyone that, when it comes to protecting scandalous secrets, there are no lengths to which people won’t go.

So soon the question becomes: can she track down the killer before they strike again?

Pre-order here*

We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough

Published June 5th by Orion
Thriller, Suspense, Gothic Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Ghost Story

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
If their new new home doesn’t break them, their secrets will…

When Emily wakes from a coma following an accident that nearly kills her, she finds herself agreeing to move from London to the wild moors of Devon with her husband Freddie. A fresh start is exactly what their marriage needs.

As their car pulls up to Larkin Lodge, their dream country home, Emily’s heart sinks. Outside, everything is covered in an icy gray mist. Inside, the air is filled with dust and abandonment.

And then she finds the empty suite on the second floor. A room so bleak, so cold, so void of anything good. Something bad happened in here. Someone dies in here. Why can’t Freddie feel the darkness that stirs within its walls?

There’s something wrong with the house, this strange house, where the floorboards creak at night, the doors rattle, the windows slam shut, the taps turn on and off – and on and off.

But if the house is hiding something, so are Emily and Freddie…

Pre-order here*

Whistle by Linwood Barclay

Published June 5th by HQ
Thriller, Suspense, Horror Ficiton, Supernatural Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Evil has a one track mindโ€ฆ

Celebrated childrenโ€™s author and illustrator Annie Blunt has had a dreadful year. Her husband was killed in a tragic accident, then one of her childrenโ€™s books ignited a major scandal. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her young son Charlie to a charming small town in upstate New York where they can begin to heal.

But Annieโ€™s year is about to get worse.

Bored and lonely in their isolated new surroundings, Charlie is thrilled when he finds a forgotten train set in a locked shed in the grounds of their new house. While Annie is pleased to see Charlie happy, thereโ€™s something unsettling about his new toy. Strange sounds wake Annie in the night โ€“ sheโ€™s sure she can hear a train in the middle of the night, although there isnโ€™t an active line for miles. And then bizarre things start happening in the neighbourhood. But even stranger, Annie canโ€™t seem to stop drawing a disturbing new character that has no place in a childrenโ€™s bookโ€ฆ

Grief plays tricks on the mind, but Annie is beginning to think sheโ€™s walked out of one nightmare straight into another, only this one is far more terrifyingโ€ฆ

Sunday Times bestselling author Linwood Barclay enters new territory with a fiendishly twisted supernatural chiller.

Pre-order here*

A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor

Published June 5th by Hemlock Press
Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Suspense, Horror Ficiton, Ghost Story

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
England, May 1945

Monkshill Park School for Girls seems a world away from the violence that engulfed Europe during World War II. Yet its lonely, decaying grounds have witnessed a murder.

Annabel Warnock, a teacher with a secretive past, left for the holidays and never came back. Both teachers and girls assume she simply walked out, but the truth is quite different. Her body tumbled from the Maidenโ€™s Leap, a viewpoint on the clifftop Gothic Walk, and was washed out to sea.

But Annabel herself is still trapped at Monkshill, unable to move on. As she haunts the grounds and school, she discovers a hidden world โ€“ students, staff and servants are riven with deadly rivalries and dangerous tensions.

And one of them is her killerโ€ฆ

Pre-order here*

Secrets of the Bees by Jane Johnson

Published June 5th by Apollo
Mystery, Contemporary Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Time has forgotten this remote corner of West Cornwall, and left its many secrets undisturbed. Until now…

Ezra Curnow has lived in the little cottage on the Trengrose estate all his life. He was born there, as was his
father, and his grandfather before that. It is his own little Cornish paradise.

Then the mistress of the estate, Eliza, dies without leaving a will, putting the cottage’s ownership into question. London financier Toby and his wife Minty are soon enticed by Trengrose’s charm and, worse still, see a lucrative rental opportunity in Ezra’s cottage.

But Ezra is prepared to battle to save his beloved home, and has a number of secret weapons in his armoury. What Ezra doesn’t know is that Eliza also took some secrets to her grave – and she doesn’t intend to rest quietly until they come to light…

A sumptuous Cornish tale packed with heart, relationships and mysteries from the past, from the bestselling author of The Sea Gate.

Pre-order here*

Bring Down the House by Charlotte Runcie

Published June 5th by The Borough Press
Literary Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Urban Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A one woman show
A one night stand
A one star review

Theatre critic Alex Lyons made his name from his brutal, brilliant reviews.

So when he sees Hayley Sinclair’s dismal one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe, he thinks nothing of dashing off another of his trademark one-star pans for the newspaper. He also thinks nothing of taking her home after the performance, failing at any point to mention who he is.

What he doesn’t expect is for Hayley to revamp her show into a review of Alex’s entire life, exposing what an awful person he really is. Worse, the show is a smash hit, and Alex is about to become national news. But can Hayley bring the establishment down without taking herself with it?

Funny and thrilling, Bring the House Down gives you a front row seat to the downfall of the people who tell us what to think. It’s about art, performance, female rage, and how while revenge may be sweet, it can also be perilous.

Pre-order here*

The Book Game by Frances Wise

Published June 5th by Fourth Estate
Psychological Ficiton, Romantic Comedy, Literary Ficiton

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
What if your perfect life was a charade?

It is August, and eight old friends have gathered at a country house for a writers’ retreat. By day, there is reading beside the pool or writing in the shady corners of the estate. In the evenings โ€“ drinks, dinner outdoors, games, midnight swimming.

But as temperatures rise in the stifling last days of summer, tensions do too. Old jealousies, new temptations and bitter rivalries bubble to the surface. By the end of the week, friendships โ€“ and lives โ€“ will have changed forever.

Astute, witty and page-turning, The Book Game is a novel about ambition, competition, regret and desire; about paths not taken and last chances suddenly seized; about the games people play. It asks what it means, in all senses, to be in the middle of life.

Pre-order here*

The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei

Published June 5th by W&N
Literary Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
WHO WOULD YOU SACRIFICE AT THE ALTAR OF AMBITION? A dazzling story of ambition and sisterhood in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore by National Book Award ‘5 Under 35’ honouree Jemimah Wei?

Singapore, 1996. Before Arin, Genevieve Yang was an only child. Living with her parents and grandmother in a single-room flat in Bedok, she is saddled with an unexpected sibling when Arin appears, the shameful legacy of a grandfather long believed to be dead.

At once collaborators and sisters, Gen and Arin grow up inseparable, navigating the intensity of life in working-class Singapore – where urgent insistence on achievement demands self-immolation in the realms of imagination, work, and play. But as the rapidly modernising, winner-takes-all world threatens to leave one behind as the other’s star rises exponentially, the sisters must weigh their allegiances and bonds, the cost of success and ultimately reckon with who they’ve become. What results is a story that cracks open the fault lines of Singaporean society, our desperate need for acceptance and our yearning to be loved.

Vivid and visceral, The Original Daughter is a breathtaking act of empathy by a new literary star.

Pre-order here*

The Passengers on the Hankyu Line by Hiro Arikawa

Published June 5th by Doubleday
Literary Fiction, Translated Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
DISCOVER YOUR NEXT FEELGOOD JAPANESE NOVEL, BY THE AUTHOR OF THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES

Over 1.4 million copies sold in Japan
_________


The contents of each traveller’s heart is a mystery known only to themselves

Trundling through the scenic countryside of Kyoto and Osaka is the Hankyu line, a burgundy-coloured electric train that has been carrying its commuters to their destinations for decades.

Over the course of a single journey in springtime, and the return journey six months later just as the leaves begin to fall:

– a young man meets the woman who happens to take out the last copy of the library book he was about to borrow;
– an angry wedding guest dresses in a white gown to upstage the bride;
– a university student leaves home for the first time;
– a twenty-something finally grows the courage to walk away from an abusive partner
– a widow learns independence, as she and her granddaughter meet their new dog.

As the seasons and the landscapes change, passengers jostle and connect, as this gentle timeless train carries each one forward towards the person they intend to become.

Pre-order here*

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Published June 5th by Zaffre
Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The brand-new standalone thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight, Julie Clark. Perfect for fans of Gillian McAllister, Lisa Jewell and Claire Douglas.

“I know what your dad did.”

I set down my sandwich. “He wrote a book.”

The boy, whose name I no longer remember, had shaken his head, eyes sparkling with glee to be the one to tell me. To shatter my childhood right there in the school cafeteria. “Your dad killed his brother and sister. Murdered them in their own home.”

Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of legendary horror author Vincent Taylor, famous not only for his novels, but for being the prime suspect in the brutal slaying of his siblings.

On the brink of financial ruin, Olivia reluctantly agrees to ghostwrite her father’s last book, not realising that she will be forced to reckon with the ghosts that live at the centre of her family. Because after fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk. But is he ready to tell the truth?

Pre-order here*

The Countdown Killer by Sam Holland

Published June 5th by Hemlock Press
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Police Procedural, Noir Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
He’s tracking people down one by one

And you’re next on the listโ€ฆ

A MAN MURDERED, LIVE ON CAMERA

When a DVD is delivered in the dead of night, DCI Cara Elliott hits play on a horrifying showreel of violenceโ€ฆ This is death, on demand.

A KILLER COUNTING DOWN

Avid viewers are paying for the killings, with twisted specifications. A request, an abduction, a murder. And always in a forty-eight-hour pattern.

A MISSING DETECTIVE

But when the killer finds out theyโ€™re being investigated, they reveal their next target. In forty-eight hours, a police officer will be the one in front of the camera. The hunters have become the hunted, and the clock is tickingโ€ฆ

Pre-order here*

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab

Published June 10th by Tor
Fantasy Fiction, Dark Fiction, Contemporary Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Lesbian Literature

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
From V. E. Schwab, the No. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: a new genre-defying, unforgettable novel to sink your teeth into.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.
London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.

Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.

One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.

And all of them grow teeth.

Pre-order here*

The Rush by Beth Lewis

Published June 10th by Viper Books
Mystery, Crime Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Adventure Fiction, Western Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
* A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK *

Gold fever has taken him. I believe he means to kill me…

Canada, 1898. The gold rush is on in the frozen wilderness of the Yukon. Fortunes are made as quickly as they’re lost, and Dawson City has become a lawless settlement.

In its midst, three women are trying to survive on the edge of civilisation. Journalist Kate has travelled hundreds of miles after receiving a letter from her sister, who fears that her husband will kill her. Martha’s hotel is under threat from the local strongman who is buying up the town. And down by the river, Ellen feels her future slip away as her husband fails to find the gold they risked so much to seek.

When a woman is murdered, Kate, Martha and Ellen find their lives, fates and fortunes intertwined. But to unmask her killer, they must navigate a desperate land run by dangerous men who will do anything for a glimpse of gold…

Rich in its setting and characters, The Rush is a gripping historical crime novel perfect for readers of Stef Penney by way of Kristin Hannah and C Pam Zhang.

Pre-order here*

A Murder For Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant

Published June 12th by Baskerville
Mystery, Crime Fiction, Cozy Mystery

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Death has come to her doorstep . . .

Retired nurse, avid gardener, renowned cake maker and fearless sleuth Miss Hortense has lived in Bigglesweigh, a quiet Birmingham suburb, since she emigrated from Jamaica in 1960. She takes great pride in her home, starching her lace curtains bright white, and she can tell if she’s been short-changed on turmeric before she’s even taken her first bite of a beef patty. Thirty-five years of nursing have also left her afraid of nobody – be they a local drug dealer or a priest – and an expert in deciphering other people’s secrets with just a glance.

Miss Hortense uses her skills to investigate the investments of the Pardner network – a special community of Black investors, determined to help their people succeed. But when an unidentified man is found dead in one of the Pardner’s homes, a Bible quote noted down beside his body, Miss Hortense’s long-buried past comes rushing back to greet her, bringing memories of the worst moment of her life, one which her community has never let her forget.

It is time for Miss Hortense to solve a mystery that will see her, and the community she loves, tested to their limits.

Pre-order here*

With A Vengeance by Riley Sager

Published June 12th by Hodder & Stoughton
Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Horror Fiction, Hardboiled, Political Thriller

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
One train. No stops. A deadly game of survival and revenge.

A locked room thriller at its best! Nonstop suspense with twists and turns that will leave your head spinning’ FREIDA MCFADDEN

In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson’s family. Twelve years later, she’s ready for retribution.

Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family’s downfall onto a luxury train from Philadelphia to Chicago, an overnight journey of fourteen hours. Her goal? Confront the people who’ve wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served.

But Anna’s plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge-and that they won’t stop until everyone else is dead.

With time running out before the train reaches its destination, Anna is forced to hunt the killer in their midst while protecting the people she hates the most. In order to destroy her enemies, she must first save them-even though it means putting her own life at risk.

Pre-order here*

The Treasures by Harriet Evans

Published June 12th by Viking
Historical Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Saga

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Every familyโ€™s story starts somewhere.
Alice and Tomโ€™s begins here.


On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Alice Jansen collects her treasures โ€“ the keepsakes, figurines and mementoes that help her make sense of her fragile family. But the next day her heart is broken, and the final treasure, a gift from her father, is lost. Two years later, Alice answers a phone call from a stranger and runs away to New York, and tries to forget her last golden summer at the orchard on the banks of the Hudson.

Tom Raven canโ€™t understand why he keeps losing so many of the things and people that really matter to him, but he knows for certain that something important is missing from his life. One day, he remembers a forgotten letter and makes a phone call, then leaves Sevenstones, the only place that feels like home, for a strange cityโ€ฆ

Harriet Evansโ€™s gorgeous new novel is the unputdownable story of Alice, Tom, and Sevenstones. Of a family and a house over fifty years and three generations, of their beginning and their ending, and of finding the treasures that symbolise the most important memories in our lives.

Pre-order here*

Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski

Published June 12th by Virago
Speculative Romance, Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
There’s no such thing as an ordinary love story

When Emily catches sight of Gennifer Hall at a party, she is transported back to the moment they fell in love as teenagers. Their connection was electric, and they thought it was forever.

Twenty years later, Gen is an Olympic runner, the career she strived for, while Emily is living a picture-perfect life: Manhattan townhouse, two young children and a wealthy husband, Jack. But Jack’s controlling behaviour is spiralling, and Emily has lost sight of who she once was.

Now, despite Emily’s fracturing marriage and the pressures of Gen’s career, they are drawn back together by a magnetic attraction. After years of heartbreak, missed chances and misunderstandings, will they finally get a second chance at first love?

A sweeping love story about desire, friendship, mistakes and the possibility of second chances, for fans of The Paper Palace and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Pre-order here*

Births, Deaths and Marriages by Laura Barnett

Published June 12th by Doubleday
Coming-of-Age Story, Urban Fiction, Literary Fiction, Psychological Ficiton

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
From the author of the Sunday Times Number One Bestseller, The Versions of Us. A novel about six lifelong friends and one unforgettable year.

Zoe, Al, Rachel, Rob, Yas and Indie. Six friends who were inseparable at university, who have all had their secret or not so secret passions for each other, their hopes and fears.

Over the years, they have gone their separate ways. Rob is a history teacher, with a string of broken relationships behind him. Yas is a surgeon and very much her own woman. Indie is married and a successful coffee entrepreneur. Rachel is a stay at home mum with two children. Al, widowed young, is about to take over his father’s funeral business.

When Rob’s engagement party throws the gang together once more, some passions are reignited, old connections and resentments resurface. Over the next twelve months, there will, among the friends, be a birth, a marriage, and a death โ€“ but whose?

BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES is an era-spanning, globe-trotting novel about love, friendship, and how to stay at least relatively sane in an ever crazier world. Itโ€™s about a group of friends growing older, the possibility of second chances, about kindness and joy. Itโ€™s about births, deaths, marriages… and everything in between.

Pre-order here*

Actually, I’m A Murderer by Terry Deary

Published June 12th by Constable
Mystery, Crime Fiction, Dark Comedy

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A hilarious and whip-smart crime novel by the multimillion-copy bestselling author of the Horrible Histories. The perfect mystery for fans of Anthony Horowitz, Richard Osman and Janice Hallett.

Four strangers on a train. An unlikely introduction:

‘Actually, I’m a murderer.’

It is 1973 and the lives of four people are thrown into turmoil when sharing a carriage with an unremarkable little man with glasses, on the night train back to Newcastle.

By the end of the following day, one of them will be dead, one will turn blackmailer and another forced to commit a crime. And all of them will be under the astute observation of Aline, the local police officer with her own agenda to fulfil.

When the body count begins to rise, the question is: just how many murderers are out there… and who will be the next victim?

Pre-order here*

When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin

Published June 17th by Quercus
Historical Fiction, War Story

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Hong Kong, 1941. Following the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the wealthy Tang family flee to Hong Kong.

As the First Wife of the family, Mingzhu leads a sheltered – if lonely – existence overseeing her daughter Qiang and managing the household alongside her devoted maid, Biyu.

But when the Japanese army invade, the three women are scattered. Mingzhu is coerced into working for a Japanese captain. Qiang and Biyu escape the island, only to be forced into factory work then separated after an encounter with the East River Column Resistance fighters.

The longer the brutal occupation lasts, the more determined the women are to resist. And as war rages around the world, each is holding onto the hope that the other is alive.

Beautifully told and compulsively written, When Sleeping Women Wake is an utterly transporting story of female resistance and untold bravery, at once epic and intimate, heartbreaking and hopeful.

Perfect for fans of Lisa See, Nguyแป…n Phan Quแบฟ Mai and Kristin Hannah.

Pre-order here*

Kill Them With Kindness by Will Carver

Published June 19th by Orenda
Crime Fiction, Psychological Ficion, Medical Ficiton, Alternative History, Dystopian Ficiton, Political Thriller, Metaphysical Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A Japanese scientist thwarts an international plot to release a deadly virus by mutating it to make people kinder, but something goes horribly wrong โ€ฆ A darkly funny, mind-blowing speculative thriller from the โ€˜most original writer in Britainโ€™ (Daily Express)โ€ฆ
 
_________
 
Compassion may be humanityโ€™s deadliest weaponโ€ฆ
 
The threat of nuclear war is no longer scary. This is much worse. Itโ€™s invisible. It works quickly.
 
And itโ€™s coming.
 
The scourge has already infected and killed half the population in China and it is heading towards the UK. There is no time to escape. The British government sees no way out other than to distribute โ€˜Dignity Pillsโ€™ to its citizens: One last night with family or loved ones before going to sleep forever โ€ฆ together. Because the contagion will kill you and the horrifying news footage shows that it will be better to go quietly.
 
Dr Haruto Ikeda, a Japanese scientist working at a Chinese research facility, wants to save the world. He has discovered a way to mutate a virus. Instead of making people sick, instead of causing death, itโ€™s going to make them… nice. Instead of attacking the lungs, it will work into the brain and increase the hostโ€™s ability to feel and show compassion. It will make people kind.
 
Ikedaโ€™s quest is thoughtful and noble, and it just might work. Maybe humanity can be saved. Maybe it doesnโ€™t have to be the end.
 
But kindness may also be the biggest killer of allโ€ฆ

Pre-order here

Love, Sex and Frankenstein by Caroline Lea

Published June 19th by Michael Joseph
Historical Fiction, Gothic Ficiton, Historical Mystery, Regency Romance, Biographical Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A suspense-filled retelling of the summer that should have broken Mary Shelley – but inspired her to write Frankenstein instead . . .

—-

Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, 1816.

The dark summer that birthed a monster . . .


Eighteen-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. Tormented by Shelleyโ€™s betrayals, haunted by the loss of their baby and suspicious of her sisterโ€™s intentions, Mary seeks sanctuary.

But Lord Byronโ€™s villa, lying under ominous, ash-shrouded skies, feels more like a trap. When Byron suggests each guest write a supernatural tale, Mary is as drawn to the challenge as she is, unexpectedly, to Byron himself.

And so an idea begins to form in her mind . . .

It spills out of her in thick, black ink.
A thing given life is before her.

Day and night, she is possessed.
Heart and mind. Body and soul.

But is she in control, or is it?

In this hauntingly evocative feminist retelling, Caroline Lea delves into the female rage, creative madness and steamy scandal that bore the world’s most famous work of gothic fiction. Perfect for fans of The Essex Serpent and The Manningtree Witches.

Pre-order here*

The Tarot Reader of Versailles by Anya Bergman

Published June 19th by Manilla Press
Historical Fiction, Gaslap Fantasy, Contemporary Horror, Fantasy

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Two women. An extraordinary power. An explosive bond.
In a time of revolution, their fates will lie in the turn of a card . . .

It is the early days of the French Revolution and, on the streets of Paris, terror reigns.

Marie Anne Adelaide Lenormand is a young woman with an extraordinary power – through her tarot cards, she can commune with the dead, revolutionaries and the aristocracy alike seeking her out to divine their fortunes. Lenormand is loyal to Marie Antoinette and the dauphin of France, but she has seen the queen’s fate in the cards and must take care that it doesn’t become her own.

Then, one fateful day, she comes across Cait, a scullery maid from Ireland who has travelled to Paris for love. Cait has powers too – she can read people’s pasts as Lenormand reads their futures. The two young women share an electrifying connection, drawn to each other’s abilities. But Cait is hiding something. What will she do – and who will she betray – to bring revolution to the shores of her beloved Ireland too?

Inspired by the astonishing true story of Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand, The Tarot Reader of Versailles is a sweeping, powerful novel where allegiances, betrayals and even fate itself can be forged or broken by the turn of a card . . .

Pre-order here*

What Happens in the Dark by Kia Abdullah

Published June 19th by Harper Collins UK
Thriller, Mystery, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Domestic Fiction, Political Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Donโ€™t miss the brand-new gripping thriller and courtroom drama full of twists and turns that will keep you up at night!

* * * *

Lily and Safa were best friends growing up. Now, Lily is the nationโ€™s favourite breakfast TV presenter and Safa, once a renowned journalist, is reeling from a recent fall from grace.

When news breaks about suspicious bruises on Lilyโ€™s body, Safa attempts to rekindle their old friendship. But Lily claims the bruises are nothing to worry about.

And then one night the police are called to Lilyโ€™s home. Lily is strangely calm โ€“ and a body lies dead at her feet.

Lily pleads not guilty, and then says nothing more. Driven by her desire to give a voice to all victims, Safa begins her own investigation into what happened that night.

But Safa is not prepared for what her quest for justice will uncover โ€ฆ

Pre-order here*

We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

Published June 19th by Harper Collins UK
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Psychological Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The gripping and exciting first book in a brand new crime thriller series from the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling author.

***

Welcome to North Falls. A small town where everyone knows everyone. But nobody knows the truth.

Emmy Clifton has lived here all her life. She thinks she knows her neighbours. She’s wrong.

She thinks itโ€™s just another hot summer night: a night like any other. She’s wrong.

When her best friend’s daughter asks for help, she thinks itโ€™s just some teenage drama. She thinks it can wait. Sheโ€™s never been more wrong in her life.

As the town ignites in the wake of the girls’ disappearance, Emmy throws herself into the search. But then she realises: You never really know a town until you know its secrets.

Is Emmy ready for the truth?

Pre-order here*

Some of Us Are Liars by Fiona Cummins

Published June 19th by Pan Macmillan
Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Police Procedural, Domestic Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Thereโ€™s your side. My side. And the truth.

Lisa Jewell meets Jodi Picoult in a story of betrayal and deception in the aftermath of family tragedy.

She must face justice. As her sister it kills me to say it. As his mother I demand it.


When Jen Miller entrusts her youngest child to the care of her beloved sisters, she has no idea of the devastating tragedy that is about to unfold.

To celebrate her sister’s wedding, global superstar Winter Kellaway throws the party of the decade at her luxurious beachside estate. The decorations are flawless. The champagne is on ice. The guests have arrived. But one misstep will have heartbreaking consequences that will rock this close-knit family to their core.

With her life in pieces, how can Jen ever begin to forgive?

Saul Anguish, a brilliant but tormented young detective, is called in to investigate and uncovers a long-buried and shocking family secret. As the trail takes a dramatic turn, they must now all face the truth that you can never truly leave the past behind . . .

Pre-order here*

The Break In by Katherine Faulkner

Published June 19th by Raven Books
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
You know who.
You don’t know why.

The play date started well. The children happy in one room while their mothers relaxed and drank wine in another.

But then the stranger appeared at the window. And then he was inside the house. And then he grabbed the knife…

Alice only means to stop him. She doesn’t mean to hit him so hard. She didn’t mean to kill him.

The police conclude that she acted in self-defence, but wracked with guilt, Alice sets out to apologise to Linda, the mother of the young man she killed – only to find she is unable to come clean about who she really is. But as Alice learns more about Ezra and why he was at her house, she starts to wonder whether she really has the full picture about what happened that day…

This latest simmering suspense novel from the internationally bestselling Katherine Faulkner is a unputdownable must-read that will have you hooked from the first twist to the last.

Pre-order here*

No One Would Do What The Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah

Published June 19th by Bedford Square Publishers
Mystery, Susupense, Crime Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Adventure Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
You think it will never happen to you: the ring of the bell, the policeman on the doorstep. What he says traps you in a nightmare that starts with the words, ‘I’m afraidโ€ฆ’

Sally Lambert is also afraid, and desperate enough to consider the unthinkable. Is it really, definitely, impossible to escape from this horror? Maybe not. There’s always something you can do, right?

Of course, no one would ever do this particular something โ€“ except the Lamberts, who might have to.

No one has ever gone this far. Until Sally decides that the Lamberts willโ€ฆ

Pre-order here*

Double Room by Anne Senes

Published June 19th by Orenda Books
Crime Fiction, Psycholgoical Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Translated Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
When his life falls apart after a horrific tragedy, a composer returns to his native France, where he creates an AI machine with his dead wifeโ€™s voice, with unexpected, devastating consequencesโ€ฆ

โ€“โ€“โ€“

London, late 1990s. Stan, a young and promising French composer, is invited to arrange the music for a theatrical adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The play will never be staged, but Stan meets Liv, the love of his life, and their harmonious duo soon becomes a trio with the birth of their beloved daughter, Lisa. Stanโ€™s world is filled with vibrant colour and melodic music, and under his wife and daughterโ€™s gaze, his piano comes to life.
 
Paris, today. After Livโ€™s fatal accident, Stan returns to France surrounded by darkness, no longer able to compose, and living in the Rabbit Hole, a home left to him by an aunt. He shares his life with Babette, a lifeguard and mother of a boy of Lisaโ€™s age, and Laรฏvely, an AI machine of his own invention endowed with Livโ€™s voice, that he spent entire nights building after her death.
 
But Stan remains haunted by his past. As the silence gradually gives way to noises, whistles and sighs โ€“ sometimes even bursts of laughter โ€“ and Laรฏvely seems to take on a life of its own, memories and reality fade and blurโ€ฆ
And Stanโ€™s new family implodesโ€ฆ
 
For readers who love Laura Kasischke, David Nicholls and Kazuo Ishiguro

Pre-order here

A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan

Published June 19th by Mantle
Suspense, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Discover this breathtaking debut novel of family secrets and searing atmosphere set over one long, hot summer on the New Zealand coast.

In the past, we had always spent our summer holidays in remote places. That had always been my motherโ€™s preference. This year was different . . .

As the long summer holiday stretches ahead, ten-year-old Alix wants to spend every second on the beach and in the water. But, with her parents unusually distracted and her older sister now more interested in boys, she finds herself alone.

Then she meets Kahu at the beach and he tells her about The Mystery. Two years ago, a girl went missing and none of the adults could find her. So the new friends decide to investigate โ€“ because people donโ€™t just disappear.

But, as Alex and Kahu search for clues, they stumble upon secrets they wish theyโ€™d left alone. Is Alix’s holiday house as safe as it seems? And is her sister putting her trust in the wrong people?

Brilliantly page-turning and tensely atmospheric, Jennifer Trevelyan’s A Beautiful Family will leave a lump in your throat and a hole in your heart.

Pre-order here*

Private Lives by Emily Edwards

Published June 19th by Bantam
Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
In the sleepy seaside sleepy town of Waverly, Rosie and Seb Kent are happily married. Now that Seb has achieved his dream of becoming headmaster of the local school, their lives couldn’t be any better.

Then Abi arrives.

Abi, a young, single mother, has come to Waverly for a fresh start. She plans to reinvent herself and give her children a new life.

Then she sees Seb.

As their complicated hidden past threatens to destroy them both, they try their hardest to keep it contained. But in a small town, secrets donโ€™t stay hidden for long and soon, what should be their private business becomes a very public scandal. How far will everyone โ€“ them, their families and the whole community โ€“ go to protect everything they hold dearest?

Pre-order here*

The Bodies by Sam Lloyd

Published June 19th by Bantam
Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction, Domestic Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
How many times would you let your child get away with murder?

The new break-out thriller from Sam Lloyd, author of Richard & Judy Book Club pick The Memory Wood.


When you look down at your newborn baby, you realise they were right, those smug parents youโ€™ve always rolled your eyes at: youโ€™d do literally anything for your child. To make them happy, keep them safe.

So when Joseph Carver wakes one night to find his teenage son Max scrubbing the kitchen, hands wet with blood and panic flooding his voice as he promises it was an accident, he didnโ€™t mean to do it, Joseph does the only thing he can. He helps Max bury the body.

Joseph thinks thatโ€™s the end of the nightmare. Until he finds Max with stricken eyes and bloody hands once again . . .

Youโ€™d do anything for your child โ€“ even cover up a murder.

But how many times?

Pre-order here*

The Counting Game by Sinead Nolan

Published June 19th by HarperNorth
Crime Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Fairy Tale, Horro Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
*A SUNDAY INDEPENDENT HOT DEBUT AUTHOR OF 2025*

Into the woods.

Count to ten.

Only one of us comes home again.

1995, Ireland. Panic grips the village of Drumsuin when a teenage girl goes missing in the nearby forest.

Saoirse is not the first girl to disappear in those woods. And when itโ€™s revealed she was playing the Counting Game that day โ€“ a ritual believed to ward off the forestโ€™s evils โ€“ old superstitions send the community into turmoil.

One person saw what happened to Saoirse. But 9-year-old Jack wonโ€™t tell the Gardai. Freya, an English psychotherapist with her own history of grief, is brought in to help the investigators break his silence.

As the race to find Saoirse alive accelerates, can Freya make Jack talk? Why is he keeping the forestโ€™s secrets? And who is hell bent on driving Freya out of Drumsuin before the truth is discovered?

The Counting Game is a deeply haunting, atmospheric and emotional mystery, from an unmissable new voice in Irish crime fiction, perfect for fans of Tana French, Erin Kelly and Belinda Bauer

Pre-order here*

The Six Murders of Daphne St Clair by Mackenzie Common

Published June 19th by Mountain Leopard Press
Mystery, Thriller, Suspense,

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Meet Daphne St Clair: glamorous ninety-year-old grandmother, care home resident, and your new favourite serial killer.

Meet Ruth Robinson: broke, depressed, aspiring true crime podcaster.

When Daphne confesses to killing a number of men throughout her lifetime, she chooses Ruth to produce the podcast reporting her story. Each episode charts Daphne’s humble beginnings from the Dust Bowl in Canada to her glittering life in 70s New York – and a string of murders in her wake.

Daphne tells her story. Ruth listens. And edits it.

The public are hooked. Is she a feminist icon taking revenge on bad men? Or just a ruthless criminal? Then, as the podcast finale approaches, it becomes clear that neither woman has been entirely honest with the other. Who has been controlling the narrative?

After all, the truth doesn’t always make for the best story…

A darkly witty thriller, sparking conversations around true crime and female serial killers, for fans of Janice Hallett, Bella Mackie and Katy Brent.

Pre-order here*

Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor

Published June 19th by Orion
Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The greatest journey is the one you least expectโ€ฆ

Long before Dorothy visits Oz, her aunt, Emily Gale, sets off on her own unforgettable adventure much closer to homeโ€ฆ

When news reaches Kansas that her beloved sister has tragically died, Emily Gale must become a mother overnight. Her sisterโ€™s orphaned child, Dorothy, desperately needs a home.

But Emily doubts her ability to fill her sisterโ€™s shoes; her life on the barren Kansas prairies is no place for a child.

On the unforgiving plains, Emily’s courage is endlessly tested. The prolonged drought and relentless dust storms threaten to destroy everything โ€“ including her home and her marriage.

Can Emily overcome her grief and let Dorothy heal her heart?

From the promise of Chicago in the 1920s to the harsh beauty of the Kansas prairie during the dust bowl of the 1930s, this is a story of family, duty and one womanโ€™s journey of self-discovery.

Pre-order here*

Isabella’s Not Dead by Beth Morrey

Published June 19th by Harper Collins UK
Literary Fiction, Humorous Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
‘Isabella’s NOT dead.’

Every time someone asks Gwen about her best friend โ€“ you know, the one who ghosted them all fifteen years ago โ€“ this is what Gwen tells them.

But where is Isabella? Why did she leave, just when Gwen needed her the most?

Setting out to solve the mystery, in an adventure that takes Gwen across the country then across Europe; that tests her friendships and strains her marriage, Gwen searches for Isabella.

But Isabella’s not the only one who’s lost. Is Gwen also searching forโ€ฆ herself?

Pre-order here*

The Original by Nell Stevens

Published June 19th by Scribner UK
Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction, LGBT Literature

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
โ€˜There was a painting my family set on fire. It burned to ashes, and then it came back.โ€™Oxfordshire, 1899. Grace Inderwick grows up on the peripheries of a once-great household, an unwanted guest in her uncleโ€™s home. She has unusual skills and unusual predilections: for painting, though faces elude her; for lurking in the shadows; for other girls.

Then a letter arrives, postmarked Saint Helena. After years missing at sea, Graceโ€™s cousin Charles is ready to come home. When Charles returns, unrecognisable and uncanny, a rift emerges between those who claim he is an imposter and Graceโ€™s aunt, who insists he is her son. And Grace, whose intimate knowledge of forgeries is her own closely-guarded secret, must decide who and what to believe in, and what kind of life she wants to live.

Deftly-plotted and shimmering with Nell Stevensโ€™s distinctive intelligence, style and wit, THE ORIGINAL is a novel about the value of authenticity in art and in love, and what it means to be a true original.

Pre-order here*

Book Boyfriend by Lucy Vine

Published June 19th by Simon Schuster UK
Romance, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Jemma has lived a thousand lives through books. The only life she isnโ€™t living is her own.
That is, until the day she finds a note from a stranger in her favourite library book. When she replies, the pair begin a longhand conversation about their love of novels that sees Jemma finally coming out of her shell. Is she ready to fall in love for the first time โ€“ with someone sheโ€™s never met?
 
Clara has always run away from her problems, but this might finally be one she canโ€™t escape.
Everyone wants to know what happened to Clara in America โ€“ but Clara isnโ€™t talking. Instead sheโ€™s focusing all her energy obsessing over a hot new actor, starring in the TV adaptation of her twin Jemma’s favourite book. Soon, Clara is reading every interview, trawling his social media, and following him to showbiz parties in the hopes heโ€™ll notice sheโ€™s The One.
 
As the sisters fall hard for two men theyโ€™ve never met, itโ€™s time to ask the question: Can either relationship survive the real world?

Pre-order here*

Island Calling by Francesca Segal

Published June 19th by Chatto & Windus
Romance, Humorous Fiction, Medical Romance

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
What if your mother knows you better than you know yourself?

On remote Tuga de Oro, vet Charlotte Walker has been taken to the islandersโ€™ hearts and, between days on the farms and nights with a new love interest, sheโ€™s content to remain in blissful retreat from her real life, in London.

Just for now, obviously.

Until real life hits the island with the force of a tropical storm: Charlotteโ€™s mother arrives.

Lucinda Compton-Neville knows an identity crisis when she sees one, and has come to haul her daughter back on course: back to England, back to her career, back home where she belongs.

Funny, moving, and hope-filled, Island Calling is the joyous second novel in the Tuga Trilogy โ€“ about mothers and daughters; about holding on and letting go.

Pre-order here*

The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Ho-Yeon

Published June 19th by Pan Macmillan
Literary Fiction, Psychological Ficiton, Crime, Mystery, Translated Ficiton

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
‘Holding on to the belief that life had meaning and must go on, I, too, would carry on.’

In this million-copy bestseller from Korea, the owner of a corner store takes in a homeless man who does a good deed โ€“ a kind soul whose presence will transform the whole neighbourhood.


Seoul Station is home to Dokgo, a man with no memories of his past. Until one day his subdued existence is disrupted when he stumbles upon a lost wallet, triggering a chain of events that will change the course of his life.

Enter Mrs. Yeom, a retired teacher turned convenience-store owner, who, upon discovering Dokgo’s act of kindness in returning her purse, offers him a meal as a token of her gratitude. Their chance encounter blossoms into an unexpected alliance when the manโ€™s bravery saves the store from ruin, earning him not just a job but a place in the heart of the neighbourhood.

But just when things are looking up for Dokgo, Mrs. Yeom’s troubled son, eager to sell the store, hires a detective to dig into the mysterious man’s past and unearth what he seems to be trying so hard to forget . . .

The Second Chance Convenience Store by Kim Ho-Yeon, translated form Korean by Janet Hong, is a moving and joyful story of a woman fighting for her community and a man who has lost everything except the will to try again.

Pre-order here*

The Light a Candle Society by Ruth Hogan

Published June 26th by Corvus
Romance Novel, Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Every flame tells a story…

George McGlory has been struggling since the death of his beloved wife, Audrey. But when he witnesses a public health funeral – with no flowers and no mourners – he is inspired to create The Light a Candle Society.

As George and his friends join together to celebrate forgotten lives, their care, compassion, humour and friendship become gifts not only to the people they are remembering, but to each other.

And the kindness of strangers gives them strength to confront the secrets of their own histories, forging joyful and unexpected new connections…

Pre-order here*

The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis

Published June 26th by Hutchinson Heinmann
Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction, Domestic Ficiton

BOOK DESCRIPTION:
The season of strangeness has begun . . .

Many stories are told about the five Mansfield sisters. They are haughty, thinking themselves better than their neighbours in the picturesque village of Little Nettlebed. They have taken the death of their grandmother hard. They are liars, troublemakers, untamed and dangerous… Accounts of their behaviour differ, but the villagers all agree that the girls are odd.

One long summer, a heatwave descends. Bloated sea creatures wash up along the parched riverbed, animals grow frenzied, ravens gather on the roofs of those about to die. As the stifling heat grips the village, so does a strange rumour: the Mansfield sisters have been seen transforming into a pack of dogs.

With the witch trials only a recent memory, hysteria sets in. Slowly but surely, the villagers become convinced that something strange is taking root in Little Nettlebed. And when a bark finally leads to a bite, the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.

Visceral and richly atmospheric, The Hounding plunges its reader into 18th century Oxfordshire, where the power of a manโ€™s word is absolute, and it is safer to be a wild animal than an unconventional young woman.

Pre-order here*

********

Are any of these on your wishlist? Let me know in the comments

********

*These links are affiliate links

Categories
Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2023

Emma’s Anticipated Treasures – February 2023

I can’t believe we’re almost in February already. And while it may be the shortest month of the year, there’s certainly no shortage of exciting new books being released next month, including new books from some of my favourite authors such as Laura Purcell, Tina Baker, Libby Page looksand Linwood Barclay, and an array of debuts I can’t wait to read. So, here are the books released in February that I’m most aniticpating.

The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Raven Books
Genre: Gothic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Gothic Romance

SYNOPSIS:
Be careful what you wish for… it may just come true.

At The Mercury Theatre in London’s West End, rumours are circulating of a curse.

It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees.

What Jenny finds is a woman as astonishing in her performance as she is provocative in nature. On stage, it’s as though Lilith is possessed by the characters she plays, yet off stage she is as tragic as the Muse who inspires her, and Jenny, sorry for her, befriends the troubled actress. But when strange events begin to take place around the theatre, Jenny wonders if the rumours are true, and fears that when the Muse comes calling for payment, the cost will be too high.

Pre-order here*

Weyward by Emilia Hart

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: The Borough Press
Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic Fiction, Contemporary Horror, Gothic Romance

SYNOPSIS:

UNLEASH 2023โ€™S BIGGEST DEBUT

*One of Cosmopolitan‘s Best Books for 2023
*As seen on BookTok
*โ€˜A generational tale of female resilienceโ€™ GUARDIAN
*โ€˜A much-heralded epicโ€™ OBSERVER

________________________________________________________

โ€™Alive, vivid and grippingโ€™ ABIGAIL DEAN
โ€˜Humming with a sly, exhilarating magicโ€™ BRIDGET COLLINS
โ€˜Totally uniqueโ€™ GILLIAN MCALLISTER

KATE, 2019
Kate flees London โ€“ abandoning everything โ€“ for Cumbria and Weyward Cottage, inherited from her great-aunt. There, a secret lurks in the bones of the house, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

VIOLET, 1942
Violet is more interested in collecting insects and climbing trees than in becoming a proper young lady. Until a chain of shocking events changes her life forever.

ALTHA, 1619
Altha is on trial for witchcraft, accused of killing a local man. Known for her uncanny connection with nature and animals, she is a threat that must be eliminated.

But Weyward women belong to the wild. And they cannot be tamedโ€ฆ

Weaving together the stories of three women across five centuries, Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

Pre-order here*

Clara & Olivia by Lucy Ashe

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Magpie
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Historical Fiction, Crime Ficiton

SYNOPSIS:
โ€œSurely you would like to be immortalised in art, fixed forever in perfection?โ€

Sadler’s Wells, 1933.

I would kill to dance like her.

Disciplined and dedicated, Olivia is the perfect ballerina. But no matter how hard she works, she can never match identical twin Clara’s charm. 

I would kill to be with her.

As rehearsals intensify for the ballet Coppรฉlia, the girls feel increasingly like they are being watched. And, as infatuation turns to obsession, everything begins to unravel.

Pre-order here*

The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: John Murray Press
Genre: Historical Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story

SYNOPSIS:
Lena has her life mapped out. While her sister obsesses about fortune-telling gypsies and marriage, Lena studies the way the heart works. She isn’t going to let being a girl stop her from becoming one of Poland’s first female doctors. But the world has other plans for Lena. Instead of university she finds herself a reluctant army wife, lonely and unmoored by the emotions of motherhood. And as she tries to accept a different future from the one she wanted, the threat of global war becomes reality. Lena must face just how unpredictable life can be.

Deemed Enemies of State by the invading Soviets, she and her family are exiled from their Polish village to a work camp in the freezing hell of Siberia. It’s here, despite the hunger and back-breaking work, Lena learns something remarkable; it is possible to fall in love even at the edge of life. And for that love, Lena must make a decision, the consequences of which will haunt her for ever.

Tender, brutal and passionate, The Snow Hare is about living with impossible choices and our incredible ability to cultivate hope in the darkest places.

Pre-order here*

The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Urban Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
*** PRE-ORDER THE NEW CAUTIONARY TALE OF OBSESSION, LOVE, JEALOUSY AND DECEPTION FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF OUR HOUSE AND THE OTHER PASSENGER *** 
 
Thereโ€™s the obvious story. And then thereโ€™s the truth.
 
Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so heโ€™s not the most outgoing guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but heโ€™s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.
 
Thatโ€™s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site thatโ€™s been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now heโ€™s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread . . .
 
As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alexโ€™s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.
 
And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed.
 
And it still isnโ€™t.

Pre-order here*

Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Urban Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
They think as one. They act as one. They kill as one.

โ€˜Look Both Ways is devilishly good โ€“ exciting, thrilling โ€“ Barclay at his best!โ€™ SHARI LAPENA, No. 1 internationally bestselling author

The residents of Garrett Island are part of a visionary experiment. Their cars have been sent to the mainland and for one month, theyโ€™ve got self-driving vehicles called Arrivals. With just a voice command, an Arrival will take you where you want to go, and as the cars are all aware of each other, road accidents should be a thing of the past.

As the worldโ€™s press arrives for a glimpse of this driverless future, islander and single mom Sandra Montrose preps for the huge media event. Sheโ€™s ready for this new world. Her husband died when he fell asleep at the wheel, and sheโ€™s relieved her two teens, Archie and Katie, may never need driverโ€™s licenses.

But as the day gets underway, there are signs all is not well. A member of the press has vanished. There are rumours of industrial sabotage.

Before long, the sleek driverless cars are no longer taking orders. Theyโ€™re starting to organize. Theyโ€™re starting to hunt. And theyโ€™ve got the residents of Garrett Island in their sights.

From the international bestseller Linwood Barclay comes a breakneck new thriller.

Pre-order here*

The Murder Game by Tom Hindle

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Century
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
One house. Nine guests. Endless motives for murder…

In the seaside town of Hamlet Wick, nine guests assemble for a New Year’s Eve party to remember.

The owner of Hamlet Hall has organised a murder mystery evening with a 1920s twist, and everyone has their own part to play.

But the game has barely begun when one guest is found dead – killed by a fatal injury to the head.

With no phone signal and no way out of the house, the others are trapped with a killer in their midst.

Someone is playing by their own rules. And in a close-knit community, old rivalries run deep…

Pre-order here*

Exiles by Jane Harper

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Crime Series, Police Procedural

SYNOPSIS:
Critically acclaimed international bestseller Jane Harper returns.

A mother disappears from a busy festival on a warm spring night.

Her baby lies alone in the pram, her motherโ€™s possessions surrounding her, waiting for a return which never comes.

A year later, Kim Gillespieโ€™s absence still casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather to welcome a new addition to the family.

Joining the celebrations on a rare break from work is federal investigator Aaron Falk, who begins to suspect that all is not as it seems.

As he looks into Kimโ€™s case, long-held secrets and resentments begin to come to the fore, secrets that show that her community is not as close as it appears.

Falk will have to tread carefully if he is to expose the dark fractures at its heart, but sometimes it takes an outsider to get to the truth…

An outstanding novel, a brilliant mystery and a heart-pounding read from the author of The DryForce of NatureThe Lost Man and The Survivors.

Pre-order here*

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: HarperVoyager UK
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, High Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to its forgotten past โ€“ and the demons that sleep at its heartโ€ฆ

Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her peopleโ€™s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haakโ€™gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and spends her days scavenging for remnants of the past. For anything that might help her understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother, in her last act before she died.

No one can see the mysterious mark, an untranslatable Hin character, except Lan. Until the night a boy appears at the teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner โ€“ one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom, whose abilities were rumoured to be drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Magic to be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world.

A ferocious tale of romance and fate, SONG OF SILVER, FLAME LIKE NIGHT is a gift to those seeking adventure with a mythological twist.

Perfect for fans of DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS by Sue Lynn Tan, THE FINAL STRIFE by Saara El-Arifi, and IRON WIDOW by Xiran Jay Zhao.

Pre-order here*

Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Romance Novel, Literary Fiction

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

‘A delightful reverse-Cinderella story of two women who seem polar opposites – until circumstance forces them to experience each other’s lives. Nobody writes women the way Jojo Moyes does – recognizably real and complex and funny and flawed’ JODI PICOULT

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 . . .

Pre-order here*

Looking Out For Love by Sophia Money-Coutts

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Romance Novel, Coming-of-Age Story, Contemporary Romance

SYNOPSIS:
โ€ฆ But is she searching in the right places?

Pre-order the laugh-out-loud and heart-warming new novel from Sophia Money-Coutts

Stella Shakespeare isnโ€™t having a good day, or month come to think of it. Sheโ€™s been unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend,cut off from the bank of dad and at thirty-two years old, she doesnโ€™t know what sheโ€™s doing with her life.

What Stella really wants is to find love. She wants all-consuming, canโ€™t-think-about-anything-else, canโ€™t-even-manage-to-eat kind of love. What she found beside her in bed that morning wasnโ€™t love. But when a tall, handsome man in a well-fitting suit walks into a Notting Hill pub, she thinks sheโ€™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 โ€˜The Affair Hunterโ€™. Although sadly, life is never that straightforward and Stella starts to question whether sheโ€™s been looking for love in the wrong places all alongโ€ฆ

Pre-order here*

Do I Know You? by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance

SYNOPSIS:
โ€˜Honest to the bone, refreshing, and . . . deliciously surprisingโ€™ – Jodi Picoult

After five yearsโ€™ marriage theyโ€™re about to have their first date . . .


Eliza and Grahamโ€™s marriage is quietly failing. With their five-year anniversary approaching, neither of them are thrilled about the weeklong getaway theyโ€™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 itโ€™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 donโ€™t correct him. Suddenly, theyโ€™re pretending to be perfect strangers and itโ€™s unexpectedly fun. Eliza and Graham find themselves flirting like itโ€™s their first date.

Everyone at the retreat can see the electric chemistry between Eliza and Grahamโ€™s alter egos. But as their game continutes they realize this performance could be the very thing that saves their marriage . . 

Pre-order here*

Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs

Published: February 2nd, 2023
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy

SYNOPSIS:
‘A heroine with a generous spirit, an unshakable will and a dragon’s fury.’ H. M. Long

Having grown up hearing tales of her uncle, the great King Beowulf, Fryda’s one desire is to become a shield maiden in her own right. Yet a terrible childhood accident has left Fryda disabled – thus, she believes, thwarting her dream of becoming a warrior-woman for good. But still, somehow, she feels an uncontrollable power begin to rise within herself.

Meanwhile, a great celebration of Beowulf’s reign is underway, and Fryda’s house is soon overrun with foreign kings and chieftains. Amidst the drunken revelry, a discovery is made that threatens the safety of Fryda’s entire clan – and her own life. Enraged, Fryda resolves to fight for her people, no matter the cost… and all the while, her powers seem only to grow stronger.

But she is not the only one to feel its effects. For, buried deep in her gilded lair, a dragon is drawn to Fryda’s untamed power, and is slowly awakening from a long, cursed sleep…

Pre-order here*

The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

Published: February 7th
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Historical Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.

Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his par-ents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby–and fitting in–is easier said than done.

With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.

Pre-order here*

The Heroines by Laura Shepperson

Published: February 9th, 2023
Publisher: Sphere
Genre: Mythology, Fairy Tales, Legal Thriller, Greek Mythology

SYNOPSIS:
‘A deft and clever retelling full of intrigue, rage and pathos’ JENNIFER SAINT, author of Ariadne

‘An intelligent, highly crafted and necessary book’ CLAIRE NORTH, author ofIthaca

‘Urgent and furious’ ROSIE ANDREWS, author of The Leviathan
___________________

In Athens, crowds flock to witness the most shocking trial of the ancient world. The royal family is mired in scandal. Phaedra, young bride of King Theseus, has accused her stepson, Hippolytus of rape.

He’s a prince, a talented horseman, a promising noble with his whole life ahead of him. She’s a young and neglected wife, the youngest in a long line of Cretan women with less than savoury reputations.

The men of Athens must determine the truth. Who is guilty, and who is innocent?

But the women know truth is a slippery thing. After all, this is the age of heroes and the age of monsters. There are two sides to every story, and theirs has gone unheard.

Until now.

Pre-order here*

A Gift of Poison by Bella Ellis (The Bronte Mysteries)

Published: February 9th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Book Series

SYNOPSIS:
Haworth 1847 – Anne and Emily Brontรซ have had their books accepted for publication, while Charlotte’s has been rejected everywhere, creating a strained atmosphere at the parsonage.

At the same time, a shocking court case has recently concluded, acquitting a workhouse master of murdering his wife by poison. Everyone thinks this famously odious and abusive man is guilty. However, he insists he is many bad things but not a murderer. When an attempt is made on his life, he believes it to be the same person who killed his wife and applies to the detecting sisters for their help.

Despite reservations, they decide that perhaps, as before, it is only they who can get to the truth and prove him innocent – or guilty – without a shadow of doubt.

Pre-order here*

What July Knew by Emily Koch

Published: February 9th, 2023
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
A moving mystery about family secrets, grief and growing up
___________________________________

Summer, 1995.

July Hooper knows eighteen things about her mother.

Like number thirteen: she loved dancing on the kitchen table. And number eight: she was covered in freckles.

And then there’s number two: she died after being hit by a car when July was small.

She keeps this list hidden in a drawer away from her father. Because they’re not allowed to talk about her mother. Ever.

But an anonymous note slipped into July’s bag on her tenth birthday is about to change everything she thinks she knows about her mum.

Determined to discover what really happened to her, July begins to investigate, cycling around the neighbourhood where her family used to live. There she meets someone who might finally have the answers.

July wants her family to stop lying to her, but will the truth be harder to face?

Pre-order here*

The Silence Project by Carole Hailey

Published: February 9th, 2023
Publisher: Corvus
Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Dystopian Fiction, Political Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
A BBC RADIO 2 BOOKCLUB PICK

‘Engrossing and original, political and unpredictable, The Silence Project will get people talking’ Bernardine Evaristo


Monster. Martyr. Mother.

On Emilia Morris’s thirteenth birthday, her mother Rachel moves into a tent at the bottom of their garden. From that day on, she never says another word. Inspired by her vow of silence, other women join her and together they build the Community. Eight years later, Rachel and thousands of her followers around the world burn themselves to death.

In the aftermath of what comes to be known as the Event, the Community’s global influence quickly grows. As a result, the whole world has an opinion about Rachel – whether they see her as a callous monster or a heroic martyr – but Emilia has never voiced hers publicly. Until now.

When she publishes her own account of her mother’s life in a memoir called The Silence Project, Emilia also decides to reveal just how sinister the Community has become. In the process, she steps out of Rachel’s shadow once and for all, so that her own voice may finally be heard.

Pre-order here*

Maame by Jessica George

Published: February 14th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Coming-of-Age Story, Contemporary Literature

SYNOPSIS:
Hilarious, honest and heartbreaking, MAAME is the most moving debut of 2023 – and a heroine you’ll never forget.

A 2023 DEBUT OF THE YEAR, AS CHOSEN BY:
SUNDAY TIMES, STYLIST, VOGUE, RED MAGAZINE, INDEPENDENT, BELFAST TELEGRAPH, HUFFINGTON POST UK, POP SUGAR, HARPERS BAZAAR, MY WEEKLY, EVENING STANDARD, COSMOPOLITAN, BUSTLE

‘Lively, funny, poignant . . . Prepare to fall in love with Maddie. I did!’
BONNIE GARMUS, Sunday Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

‘Utterly charming and deeply moving . . . Maddie’s journey will resonate with anyone who’s had to grow up – or who’s still trying to’
CELESTE NG, New York Times bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere

‘I loved every page of this beautiful, heartwarming, empowering book. An exceptional debut from an incredibly exciting new talent’
BETH O’LEARY, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Flatshare

***

Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi, but in my case, it means woman.

Meet Maddie Wright.

All her life, she’s been told who she is. To her Ghanaian parents, she’s Maame: the one who takes care of the family. Her mum’s stand-in. The primary carer for her father, who suffers from Parkinson’s. The one who keeps the peace – and the secrets.

It’s time for her to speak up.

When she finally gets the chance to leave home, Maddie is determined to become the kind of woman she wants to be. One who wears a bright yellow suit, dates men who definitely aren’t on her mum’s list of prospective husbands, and stands up to her boss’s microaggressions. Someone who doesn’t have to google all her life choices.

But when tragedy strikes, Maddie is forced to face the risks – and rewards – of putting her heart on the line.

But will it take losing everything to find her voice?

As blisteringly funny and achingly relatable as its heroine, MAAME is an unforgettable coming-of-age story about finally becoming the heroine of your own life.

Pre-order here*

The Vintage Shop of Second Chances by Libby Page

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: Orion
Genre: Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
The uplifting new novel from the bestselling author of The Lido

‘Libby Page is a literary burst of sunshine . . . Utterly delightful’ VERONICA HENRY
‘I simply adored this gloriously uplifting story about friendship and fashion’ KATE EBERLEN

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?

It’s never too late to start again…

Pre-order here*

Make Me Clean by Tina Baker

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: Viper
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
She will leave your surfaces sparkling.
But she may well leave you dead…

Maria is a good woman and a good cleaner. She cleans for Elsie, the funny old bird who’s losing her marbles, with the terrible husband. She cleans for Brian, the sweet man with the terrible boss. She cleans for the mysterious Mr Balogan, with the terrible neighbours.

If you’re thinking of hiring her, you should probably know that Maria might have killed the terrible husband, the terrible boss and the terrible neighbours. She may also have murdered the man she loved.

She didn’t set out to kill anyone, of course, but her clients have hired her to clean up their lives, and she takes her job seriously – not to mention how much happier they all are now. The trouble is, murder can’t be washed out. You can only sweep it under the carpet, and pray no one looks too closely…

Darkly funny and completely gripping from the first page to the last, Make Me Clean is one thriller you won’t be able to scrub from your mind. Perfect for fans of Harriet Tyce, Fiona Cummins and My Sister the Serial Killer.

Pre-order here*

Dazzling by Chikodili Cmelumadu

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: Wildfire
Genre: Fairy Tale, Literary Fiction, Mythology

SYNOPSIS:
Soon you will become the thing all other beasts fear.

Treasure and her mother lost everything when Treasure’s daddy died. Haggling for scraps in the market, Treasure meets a spirit who promises to bring her father back – but she has to do something for him first.

Ozoemena has an itch in the middle of her back that can’t be scratched. An itch that speaks to her patrilineal destiny, to defend her people by becoming a leopard. Her father impressed upon her what an honour this was before he vanished, but it’s one she couldn’t want less.

But as the two girls reckon with their burgeoning wildness and the legacy of their fathers’ decisions, Ozoemena’s fellow students at her new boarding school start to vanish. Treasure and Ozoemena will face terrible choices as each must ask herself: in a world that always says ‘no’ to women, what must two young girls sacrifice to get what is theirs?

Pre-order here*

The Forcing by Paul E. Hardisty

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: Orenda
Genre: Suspense, Dystopian Fiction, Political Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Lured by rumours of tropical sanctuary, a disparate group of men and women escape their inhospitable exile to seek freedom, in a near future where civilisation has collapsed โ€ฆ A cataclysmic, clarion-call climate-change thriller from one of the worldโ€™s leading environmental scientistsโ€ฆ 

‘Hardisty is a fine writerโ€™ Lee Child 
_________________

Civilisation is collapsing. Frustrated and angry after years of denial and inaction, a ‘government of youth’ has taken power in North America, and deemed all those older than a prescribed age responsible for the current state of the world, and decreed they should be ‘relocated’, their property and assets confiscated.

David Ashworth, known by his friends and students as Teacher, and his wife May, find themselves among the thousands being moved to โ€˜new accommodationโ€™ in the abandoned southern deserts โ€“ thrown together with a wealthy industrialist and his wife, a high court lawyer, two recent immigrants to America, and a hospital worker. Together, they must come to terms with their new lives in a land rendered unrecognisable.

As the terrible truth of their situation is revealed, lured by rumours of a tropical sanctuary where they can live in peace, they plan a perilous escape. But the world outside is more dangerous than they could ever have imagined. And for those who survive, nothing will ever be the same againโ€ฆ

Pre-order here

The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Saga, Contemporary Romance, Domestic Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
A powerful, big-hearted debut of love, sisterhood and what it means to be home โ€“ warm, joyful and tender

  • One of the most talked about debuts for 2023
  • Picked by Stylist as a Big Fiction Debut for 2023
  • Georgina Moore was chosen by Observer as One of the Ten Best New Novelists for 2023
    ____________________________________

โ€˜Sun-drenched escapism with a hint of Mary Wesley โ€ฆ the ideal way to escape a dreary winter and revel in other peopleโ€™s messy livesโ€™ Stylist

โ€˜With Mooreโ€™s evocative proves itโ€™s easy to see why The Garnett Girls is being likened to works by commercial fiction queens Penny Vincenzi and Maeve Binchyโ€™ The Observer

โ€˜A brilliantly readable debutโ€™ Fabulous

Forbidden, passionate and all-encompassing, Margo and Richardโ€™s love affair was the stuff of legendโ€“ but, ultimately, doomed.

When Richard walked out, Margo locked herself away, leaving her three daughters, Rachel, Imogen and Sasha, to run wild.

Years later, charismatic Margo entertains lovers and friends in her cottage on the Isle of Wight, refusing to ever speak of Richard and her painful past. But her silence is keeping each of the Garnett girls from finding true happiness.

Rachel is desperate to return to London, but is held hostage by responsibility for Sandcove, their beloved but crumbling family home.

Dreamy Imogen feels the pressure to marry her kind, considerate fiancรฉ, even when life is taking an unexpected turn.

And wild, passionate Sasha, trapped between her fractured family and controlling husband, is weighed down by a secret that could shake the family to its coreโ€ฆ

The Garnett Girls, the captivating debut from Georgina Moore, asks whether children can ever be free of the mistakes of their parents.

Pre-order here*

The Thorns Remain by JJA Harwood

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: HarperVoyager UK
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, Romantic Fantasy, Historical Fantasy

SYNOPSIS:
From the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling historical fantasy author of THE SHADOW IN THE GLASS comes a tour-de-force of faerie bargains, perfect for fans of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE, MEXICAN GOTHIC, and TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

A dance with the fae will change everything

1919. In a Highland village forgotten by the world, the young people who remain after war and flu will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends venture to the forest for a last night
of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She too planned to leave once โ€“ but her lover died in France and, with him, her future. The friends light a fire and dance. But, with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The Fae have joined the dance.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away.

For the Fae feel left behind and forgotten too. Led by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends โ€“ and fast, for the longer they spend with the Fae, the less like themselves they will be upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltane, they will be lost foreverโ€ฆ

Bewitching, threaded with Highland charm, and sparkling with romance, this fairy tale will carry you away.

Pre-order here*

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Gothic Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, Fantasy Romance, Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
Do not look. Do not ask. Do not pry.

A sumptuous, gothic story about an obsessive female friendship cursed to end in tragedy, a marriage unraveled by dark secrets, and the danger of believing in fairy tales – the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteรฑada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after – and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom soon finds himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend, who disappeared without a trace.

As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRueThe Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Pre-order here*

Not That Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Humorous Fiction

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 . . .

Pre-order here*

Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson

Published: February 16th, 2023
Publisher: One More Chapter
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Urban Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
โ€˜A heartfelt and exciting debut . . . a wise and honest story of how it feels to be a young woman in search of yourselfโ€™
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Meet Nora Hughes โ€“ the overworked, underpaid, last bookish assistant standing. At least for now.

When Nora landed an editorial assistant role at Parsons Press she thought it would be The Dream Job. But after five years of admin and taking lunch orders, Nora has come to the conclusion: Dream Jobs do not exist.

With her life spiralling and unable to afford her rent, Nora does the only thing she can think of and starts freelancing for a rival publisher.

But when Andrew Santos, a bestselling author (who also happens to be quite attractive), is thrown into Noraโ€™s life, she must decide where her loyalties lie, and whether sheโ€™s ready to choose herself and her future over her jobโ€ฆ

Your next book club read touching on mental health, happiness and the ups and downs of being a young woman trying to figure it all out.

Pre-order here*

The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood

Published: February 21st, 2023
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Novel, Fairy Tale, Mythololgy

SYNOPSIS:
History remembers him as a hero. But the women who knew him best remember a different man…

Perseus grows up wanting to be a hero, but he cannot become one if his mother Danae still sees him as a boy. When his stepfather Polydektes casts him away on a voyage across the sea, Perseus is determined to fulfil the great destiny of the son of a god and the grandson of a king. But the line between heroism and monstrosity is thin, and when Perseus attempts to seduce first gentle Medusa and then beautiful Andromeda, before finally reuniting with Danae, they each learn of the dangers of resisting a boy prepared to risk it all for greatness . . .

Pre-order here*

Nocturne by Alyssa Wees

Published: February 21st, 2023
Publisher: Del Rey
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, High Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Adventure Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
In this gorgeous and haunting fantasy set in 1930s Chicago, a talented ballerina finds herself torn between her dreams and her desires when she’s pursued by a secretive patron who may be more than he seems.

“A mix of dreamlike fairytale and enchanting historical fantasy, Nocturne has a real flavour of Phantom of the Opera. Add in a touch of Beauty and the Beast and this is the perfect escape from reality.” Culturefly

Grace has always wanted to be a ballerina, ever since she first peered through the windows of the Near North Ballet company. The elegance of the dance seemed transcendent to an immigrant child of the working poor, and so, when she is orphaned, it is to the ballet that she flees.

Years later, Grace is on the verge of becoming the company’s new prima ballerina – though she is beginning to realise that achieving her long-held dream may not be the triumph she once envisioned. Then Grace attracts the attention of the enigmatic Master La Rosa, and realises that the world may not be as small or constricted as she had come to fear.

But who is her mysterious patron, and what does he want from her? As Grace begins to unlock the Master’s secrets, she discovers that there may be another way entirely to achieve the transcendence she has always sought.

Pre-order here*

The Witch in the Well by Camilla Bruce

Published: February 23rd, 2023
Publisher: Bantam Press
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Horror Fiction, Paranormal Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Over a hundred years ago, the citizens of F- did something rather bad. And local school teacher Catherine Evans has made writing the definitive account of what happened when Ilsbeth Clark drowned in the well her life’s work.

The town’s people may not want their past raked up, but Catherine is determined to shine a light upon that shameful event. For Ilsbeth was an innocent, after all. She was shunned and ostracised by rumour-mongers and ill-wishers and someone has to speak up for her. And who better than Catherine, who has herself felt the sting and hurt of such whisperings?

But then a childhood friend returns to F -. Elena is a successful author whose book, The Whispers Inside: A Reawakening of the Soul, has earned her a certain celebrity. In search of a new subject, she takes an interest in the story of Ilsbeth Clark and announces her intention to write a book about the long-dead woman, focusing on the natural magic she believes she possessed.

And Elena has everything Catherine has not, like a platform and connections and no one seems to care that Elena’s book will be pure speculation, tainting Ilsbeth’s memory rather than preserving it. Catherine is determined that something must be done and plots to blunt her rival’s pen. However she had not allowed for the fact that the past might not be so dead after all – that something is reaching out from the well, disturbing her reality.

Before summer’s over, one woman will be dead, the other accused of murder . . . but is she really guilty, or are there other forces at work? And who was Ilsbeth Clark, really? An innocent? A witch? Or something else entirely?

Pre-order here*

Other Women by Emma Flint

Published: February 23rd, 2023
Publisher: Picador
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Crime Fiction, Historical Mystery

SYNOPSIS:
Six years after the end of the Great War, a nation is still in mourning. Thousands of husbands, fathers, sons and sweethearts were lost in Europe; millions more came back wounded and permanently damaged.

Beatrice Cade is an orphan, unmarried and childless – and given the dearth of men, likely to remain that way. London is full of women like her: not wives, not widows, not mothers. There is no name for these invisible women, and no place for their grief. Determined to carve out a richer and more fulfilling way to live as a single woman, Bea takes a room in a Bloomsbury ladiesโ€™ club and a job in the City. Then a fleeting encounter changes everything. Bea’s emerging independence is destroyed when she falls in love for the first time.

Kate Ryan is an ordinary wife and mother who has managed to build an enviable life with her handsome husband and her daughter. To anyone looking in from the outside, they seem like a normal, happy family – until two policemen knock on her door one morning and threaten to destroy the facade Kate has created. Suddenly, two women who never should have met are connected for ever . . .

Mesmerising, haunting and utterly remarkable, this is a devastating story of fantasy, obsession inspired by a murder that took place almost a hundred years ago.

Pre-order here*

Immortality: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Published: February 28th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Gothic Romance, Historical Romance, Fantasy Fiction, Paranormal Fantasy

SYNOPSIS:
The eagerly-anticipated sequel to Dana Schwartz’s Reese’s Book Club Winter YA Pick and No.1 New York Times bestselling gothic romance, Anatomy: A Love Story

Hazel Sinnett is alone. She’s half-convinced the events of the year before – the immortality, Beecham’s vial – were a figment of her imagination. She doesn’t even know if Jack is alive or dead. All she can really do is run her free clinic, helping people and maintaining Hawthornden Castle as it starts to decay around her.

When saving a life leads to her arrest, Hazel seems doomed to rot in prison until a message intervenes: Hazel has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly daughter of King George IV. Soon Hazel is dragged into the glamour and romance of a court where everyone has something to hide, especially the ladies of the princess’s close circle, who never seem to stay hurt for long . . .

Meanwhile, Jack Currer has been trying to find a way to die. He’s been traveling across the Atlantic, hoarding any information that could cure his immortality and let him spend a normal life with Hazel. When he hears that Beecham has died, he immediately goes to London to find out how he achieved it – and reunites with Hazel once again.

As their search for the immortality cure entangles them more and more with the British court, Hazel and Jack realize that a life together is not the only thing at stake. Malicious forces are at work in the monarchy, and they are very interested in living forever . . .

Pre-order here*

A Day of Fallen Night by Samanth Shannon

Published: February 28th, 2023
Published: Bloomsbury
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, High Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Coming-of-Age Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
A return to the world of Samantha Shannon’s Sunday Times and New York Times-bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree
____________________
Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory’s purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hrรณth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother’s past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

Intricate and epic, A Day of Fallen Night sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come.

**Chosen as a book of 2023 by the MetroCosmopolitanNerd DailyPinkNews and Waterstones**

Pre-order here*

Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong

Published: February 28th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy Fiction, Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Chloe Gong comes two captivating new novellas surrounding the events of Foul Lady Fortune and following a familiar cast of characters from the These Violent Delights Duet!

In A Foul Thing, Roma and Juliette have established themselves as the heads of an underground weapons ring in Zhouzhuang, making a living the way they do best while remaining anonymous in their peaceful, quiet life. But when they hear about several Russian girls showing up dead in nearby towns, they decide to investigate-and ultimately discover that this mystery is much closer to home than they ever imagined.

In This Foul Murder, Benedikt and Marshall have been summoned by Roma to find the elusive scientist, Lourens, and bring him to Zhouzhuang. Time is of the essence aboard the week-long Trans-Siberian Express, but when someone is murdered on board, Benedikt and Marshall convince the officer in charge not to stop the train so that they aren’t thrown off-schedule. Instead, they pretend that they are investigators and promise they can solve the murder, but as they dig deeper, they realize that the murder might having surprising ties to their own mission…

Pre-order here*

Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

Published: February 28th, 2023
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance Novel, New Adult Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Forgetting is terrifying. Remembering is worseโ€ฆ

Charlie Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morningโ€ฆ they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in loveโ€ฆ every memory has vanished.

Now Charlie and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to beโ€ฆ the more they question why they were ever together to begin with.

Forgetting is terrifying, but remembering may be worse.

The Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us joins forces with the New York Times bestselling author of The Wives for a gripping, twisty, romantic mystery unlike any other.

Pre-order here*

********

Are any of these on your TBR? Let me know in the comments.

********

Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxx

*These purchase links are affiliate links

Categories
Uncategorised

Emma’s Anticipated Treasures, Most Anticipated 2023: Tantalising Thrillers

Today I have another list of exciting 2023 releases for you. Thrillers are one of my favourite and most read genres so this was always going to be an extensive list. There are books here from much loved authors, auto-buy authors, favourite series, and authors I’m still yet to read.

********

I’ll Never Tell by Philippa East

SYNOPSIS:
Gripping new suspense from the author of Little White Lies

Keep your family close, and your secrets closerโ€ฆ

To the outside world, the Goodlights are perfect.

Julia is a lawyer, Paul a stay-at-home dad who has dedicated his life to helping their daughter Chrissie achieve her dreams as a talented violinist.

But on the night of a prestigious music competition, which has the power to change everything for Chrissie and her family, Chrissie goes missing.

She puts on the performance of a lifetime, then completely disappears. Suddenly every single crack, every single secret that the family is hiding risks being exposed.

Because the Goodlights arenโ€™t perfect. Not even close.

Published January 5th by HQ. Buy here*

Dead Man’s Creek by Chris Hammer

SYNOPSIS:
Old bones sink – but secrets always rise to the surface.

‘A commanding, consuming and outright thrilling mystery. Chris Hammer’s first-class series goes from strength to strength.’ 
– Chris Whitaker, bestselling author of We Begin at the End

Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her hometown, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder – a ‘file and forget’.

But this is no ordinary cold case, her arrival provoking an unwelcome and threatening response from the small-town community. As more bodies are discovered, and she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her, Nell realises that finding the truth could prove more difficult – and dangerous – than she’d ever expected.

The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more treacherous her path becomes. Can she survive to root out the truth, and what price will she have to pay for it?

Gripping and atmospheric, Dead Man’s Creek is a stunning multi-layered thriller from Chris Hammer, the award-winning author of Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year Scrublands (2019) and Times Crime Book of the Month Opal Country (January 2022).

Published January 5th by Wildfire
Pre-order here*

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett

SYNOPSIS:
*** THE NEW MYSTERY PHENOMENON FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE APPEAL AND THE TWYFORD CODE ***

Open the safe deposit box. Inside you will find research material for a true crime book. You must read the documents, then make a decision. Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police?

Everyone knows the sad story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl and convinced her that her newborn baby was the anti-Christ. Believing they had a divine mission to kill the infant, they were only stopped when the girl came to her senses and called the police. The Angels committed suicide rather than stand trial, while mother and baby disappeared into the care system.

Nearly two decades later, true-crime author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the Angels. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen and can finally be interviewed; if Amanda can find them, it will be the true-crime scoop of the year, and will save her flagging career. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and is also on the baby’s trail.

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that what everyone thinks they know about the Angels is wrong. The truth is something much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined. And the story of the Alperton Angels is far from over..

After all, the devil is in the detail…

Published January 12th by Viper.
Buy here*

The Marriage Act by John Marrs

SYNOPSIS:
From the bestselling author of The One, now an eight-part Netflix series. Set in the same world as The OneThe Marriage Act is a dark, high-concept thriller.

โ€˜One of the most exciting original thriller writersโ€™ Simon Kernick

What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey?

Britain. The near-future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to societyโ€™s ills โ€“ the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.

But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives, monitoring every word, every minor disagreement . . . and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honour and obey.

Black Mirror meets thriller with a dash of Naomi Aldermanโ€™s The Power.

Published January 19th by Pan Macmillan.
Buy here*

The Drift by C.J. Tudor

SYNOPSIS:
Survival can be murder . . .

During a deadly snowstorm, Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. Evacuated from a secluded boarding school, her coach careered off the road, trapping her with a handful of survivors.

Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She’s in a cable car stranded high above snowy mountains, with five strangers and no memory of how they got on board.

Carter is gazing out of the window of an isolated ski chalet that he and his companions call home. As their generator begins to waver in the storm, the threat of something lurking in the chalet’s depths looms larger.

Outside, the storm rages. Inside one group, a killer lurks.

But which one?

And who will make it out alive?

Published January 19th by Michael Joseph.
Buy here*

Those People Next Door by Kia Abdullah

SYNOPSIS:
You can choose your house. Not your neighbours.

WELCOME TO YOUR DREAM HOMEโ€ฆ
Salma Khatun is extremely hopeful about Blenheim, the safe suburban development to which she, her husband and their son have just moved. Their family is in desperate need of a fresh start, and Blenheim feels like the place to make that happen.

MEET YOUR NEW NEIGHBOURSโ€ฆ
Not long after they move in, Salma spots her neighbour, Tom Hutton, ripping out the anti-racist banner her son put in their front garden. She chooses not to confront Tom because she wants to fit in. It’s a small thing, really. No need to make a fuss. So Salma takes the banner inside and puts it in her window instead. But the next morning she wakes up to find her window smeared with paint.

AND PREPARE FOR THE NIGHTMARE TO BEGINโ€ฆ
This time she does confront Tom, and the battle lines between the two families are drawn. As things begin to escalate and the stakes become higher, it’s clear that a reckoning is comingโ€ฆ And someone is going to get hurt.

A gripping thriller about nightmare neighbours, Those People Next Door explores the loss of innocence and how far weโ€™re prepared to go to defend ourselves and the people we love.

Published January 19th by HQ.
Buy here*

The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish

SYNOPSIS:
Thereโ€™s the obvious story. And then thereโ€™s the truth.
 
Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so heโ€™s not the most outgoing guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but heโ€™s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.
 
Thatโ€™s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site thatโ€™s been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now heโ€™s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread . . .
 
As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alexโ€™s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.
 
And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed.
 
And it still isnโ€™t.

Published February 2nd by Simon & Schuster
Pre-order here*

The Murder Game by Tom Hindle

SYNOPSIS:
One house. Nine guests. Endless motives for murder…

In the seaside town of Hamlet Wick, nine guests assemble for a New Year’s Eve party to remember.

The owner of Hamlet Hall has organised a murder mystery evening with a 1920s twist, and everyone has their own part to play.

But the game has barely begun when one guest is found dead – killed by a fatal injury to the head.

With no phone signal and no way out of the house, the others are trapped with a killer in their midst.

Someone is playing by their own rules. And in a close-knit community, old rivalries run deep…

Published February 2nd by Century Pre-order here*

Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay

SYNOPSIS:
They think as one. They act as one. They kill as one.

The residents of Garrett Island are part of a visionary experiment. Their cars have been sent to the mainland and for one month, theyโ€™ve got self-driving vehicles called Arrivals. With just a voice command, an Arrival will take you where you want to go, and as the cars are all aware of each other, road accidents should be a thing of the past.

As the worldโ€™s press arrives for a glimpse of this driverless future, islander and single mom Sandra Montrose preps for the huge media event. Sheโ€™s ready for this new world. Her husband died when he fell asleep at the wheel, and sheโ€™s relieved her two teens, Archie and Katie, may never need driverโ€™s licenses.

But as the day gets underway, there are signs all is not well. A member of the press has vanished. There are rumours of industrial sabotage.

Before long, the sleek driverless cars are no longer taking orders. Theyโ€™re starting to organize. Theyโ€™re starting to hunt. And theyโ€™ve got the residents of Garrett Island in their sights.

Published February 2nd by HQ
Pre-order here*

Exiles by Jane Harper

SYNOPSIS:
A mother disappears from a busy festival on a warm spring night.

Her baby lies alone in the pram, her motherโ€™s possessions surrounding her, waiting for a return which never comes.

A year later, Kim Gillespieโ€™s absence still casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather to welcome a new addition to the family.

Joining the celebrations on a rare break from work is federal investigator Aaron Falk, who begins to suspect that all is not as it seems.

As he looks into Kimโ€™s case, long-held secrets and resentments begin to come to the fore, secrets that show that her community is not as close as it appears.

Falk will have to tread carefully if he is to expose the dark fractures at its heart, but sometimes it takes an outsider to get to the truth…

An outstanding novel, a brilliant mystery and a heart-pounding read from the author of The DryForce of NatureThe Lost Man and The Survivors.

Published February 2nd by Pan Macmillan
Pre-order here*

What July Knew by Emily Koch

SYNOPSIS:
A moving mystery about family secrets, grief and growing up

Summer, 1995.

July Hooper knows eighteen things about her mother.

Like number thirteen: she loved dancing on the kitchen table. And number eight: she was covered in freckles.

And then there’s number two: she died after being hit by a car when July was small.

She keeps this list hidden in a drawer away from her father. Because they’re not allowed to talk about her mother. Ever.

But an anonymous note slipped into July’s bag on her tenth birthday is about to change everything she thinks she knows about her mum.

Determined to discover what really happened to her, July begins to investigate, cycling around the neighbourhood where her family used to live. There she meets someone who might finally have the answers.

July wants her family to stop lying to her, but will the truth be harder to face?

Published February 9th by Harvill Secker
Pre-order here*

Make Me Clean by Tina Baker

SYNOPSIS:
She will leave your surfaces sparkling.
But she may well leave you dead…

Maria is a good woman and a good cleaner. She cleans for Elsie, the funny old bird who’s losing her marbles, with the terrible husband. She cleans for Brian, the sweet man with the terrible boss. She cleans for the mysterious Mr Balogan, with the terrible neighbours.

If you’re thinking of hiring her, you should probably know that Maria might have killed the terrible husband, the terrible boss and the terrible neighbours. She may also have murdered the man she loved.

She didn’t set out to kill anyone, of course, but her clients have hired her to clean up their lives, and she takes her job seriously – not to mention how much happier they all are now. The trouble is, murder can’t be washed out. You can only sweep it under the carpet, and pray no one looks too closely…

Darkly funny and completely gripping from the first page to the last, Make Me Clean is one thriller you won’t be able to scrub from your mind. Perfect for fans of Harriet Tyce, Fiona Cummins and My Sister the Serial Killer.

Published February 16th by Viper Books.
Buy here*

The Witch in the Well by Camilla Bruce

SYNOPSIS:
Over a hundred years ago, the citizens of F- did something rather bad. And local school teacher Catherine Evans has made writing the definitive account of what happened when Ilsbeth Clark drowned in the well her life’s work.

The town’s people may not want their past raked up, but Catherine is determined to shine a light upon that shameful event. For Ilsbeth was an innocent, after all. She was shunned and ostracised by rumour-mongers and ill-wishers and someone has to speak up for her. And who better than Catherine, who has herself felt the sting and hurt of such whisperings?

But then a childhood friend returns to F -. Elena is a successful author whose book, The Whispers Inside: A Reawakening of the Soul, has earned her a certain celebrity. In search of a new subject, she takes an interest in the story of Ilsbeth Clark and announces her intention to write a book about the long-dead woman, focusing on the natural magic she believes she possessed.

And Elena has everything Catherine has not, like a platform and connections and no one seems to care that Elena’s book will be pure speculation, tainting Ilsbeth’s memory rather than preserving it. Catherine is determined that something must be done and plots to blunt her rival’s pen. However she had not allowed for the fact that the past might not be so dead after all – that something is reaching out from the well, disturbing her reality.

Before summer’s over, one woman will be dead, the other accused of murder . . . but is she really guilty, or are there other forces at work? And who was Ilsbeth Clark, really? An innocent? A witch? Or something else entirely?

Published February 23rd by Michael Joseph.
Buy here*

Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher

SYNOPSIS:
Forgetting is terrifying. Remembering is worseโ€ฆ

Charlie Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morningโ€ฆ they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in loveโ€ฆ every memory has vanished.

Now Charlie and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to beโ€ฆ the more they question why they were ever together to begin with.

Forgetting is terrifying, but remembering may be worse.

The Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us joins forces with the New York Times bestselling author of The Wives for a gripping, twisty, romantic mystery unlike any other.

Published February 28th by HQ Pre-order here*

The Institution by Helen Fields

SYNOPSIS:
Theyโ€™re locked up for your safety.
Now, youโ€™re locked in with them.

Dr Connie Woolwine has five days to catch a killer.

On a locked ward in the worldโ€™s highest-security prison hospital, a scream shatters the night. The next morning, a nurseโ€™s body is found and her daughter has been taken. A ransom must be paid, and the clock is ticking.

Forensic profiler Dr Connie Woolwine is renowned for her ability to get inside the mind of a murderer. Now, she must go deep undercover among the most deranged and dangerous men on earth and use her unique skills to find the girl โ€“ before itโ€™s too late.

But as the walls close in around her, can Connie get the killer before The Institution gets her?

A claustrophobic, haunting crime thriller that will keep you up at night, perfect for those who couldnโ€™t put down The Sanatorium and Amy McCullochโ€™s Breathless.

Published March 2nd by Avon
Pre-order here*

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

SYNOPSIS:
From the Number 1 bestselling author of Our Little Cruelties and Skin Deep

Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.

Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends and big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say.

But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally’s trust issues are about to be severely challenged . . .

Published March 2nd by Sandycover
Pre-order here*

Freeze by Kate Simants

SYNOPSIS:
ON THE TOUGHEST REALITY SHOW ON TELEVISION
A KILLER IS HIDING OUT OF SHOT

Frozen Out is set to be a TV sensation. On a small ship off the coast of Greenland, eight contestants will push themselves to breaking point for a ยฃ100,000 prize.

The show is Tori Matsuka’s baby. After years working her way up the ladder, she’s finally launching her own production company with Frozen Out, and the late nights, the debts, the strain on her relationship will all be worthwhile. Everything is riding on the next twelve days. For camerawoman Dee, it’s a chance to start again after the tragedy that tanked her undercover journalism career. Not even Tori, her oldest friend, knows the full truth of why Dee left her previous job, and she plans to keep it that way.

But as errors and mishaps mount on set, tempers among the cast and crew start to fray. And when one of the contestants is found dead, only Dee realises the death wasn’t natural – and from what she’s seen from behind the camera, it won’t be the last. As the Arctic ice closes in around them and all chance of escape is cut off, it becomes clear that although the world outside wants them dead, it’s the secrets inside the ship that might cost them their lives.

Packed with suspense from the first page to the last, Freeze is a must-read for fans of Shiver, The Sanatorium and One By One. This thriller isn’t just chilling: it’s sub-zero.

Published March 2nd by Viper
Pre-order here*

The Ugly Truth by L.C. North

SYNOPSIS:
Melanie Lange has disappeared.

Her father, Sir Peter Lange, says she is a danger to herself and has been admitted to a private mental health clinic.

Her ex-husband, Finn, and best friend, Nell, say she has been kidnapped.

The media will say whichever gets them the most views.

But whose side are you on?
#SaveMelanie
#HelpPeter

Told via interviews, transcripts and diary entries, The Ugly Truth is a shocking and addictive thriller about fame, power and the truth behind the headlines.

‘#FreeBritney meets The Appeal in this addictively unique thriller. Get ready to be utterly hooked’ Jack Jordan, author of DO NO HARM

Published March 16th by Bantam Press
Pre-order here*

End of Story by Louise Swanson

SYNOPSIS:
Too much imagination can be a dangerous thing

It has been five years since writing fiction was banned by the government.

Fern Dostoy is a criminal. Officially, she has retrained in a new job outside of the arts but she still scrawls in a secret notepad in an effort to capture what her life has become: her work on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children; Hunter, the young boy who calls her and has captured her heart; and the dreaded visits from government officials.

But as Fern begins to learn more about Hunter, doubts begin to surface. What are they both hiding?

And who can be trusted?

Published March 23rd by Hodder & Stoughton
Pre-order here*

The Half Burnt House by Alex North

SYNOPSIS:
ARE YOU READY TO ENTER THE HALF BURNT HOUSE?

The spine-tingling new thriller from the internationally bestselling author of THE WHISPER MAN, a Richard and Judy pick.

*****

Katie always looked after her beloved younger brother Chris – until she left him alone for one selfish afternoon, and their picture-perfect family fell apart. Although Chris survived the attack, the scars ran deeper than the ones left across his face. Now they’re adults, and they haven’t spoken in years. Then she gets a call, from Detective Laurence Page.

Page is facing an unusually disturbing crime scene. Alan Hobbes, a distinguished and wealthy philosophy professor, has been brutally murdered. Hobbes was living in a sprawling mansion – but one that remains half-ruined by a decades-old fire, wind and rain howling through the gaping, creaking roof.

Page only has one suspect: Chris, caught on CCTV at the house. But he has plenty of questions. What could cause a man as wealthy as Hobbes not to repair his home? Why did he seem to know his death was coming, yet do nothing to stop it? And why was he obsessed with a legendary local serial killer?

But Katie only has one thing on her mind. She knows this is her last, best chance to finally save her brother, and make up for her negligence all those years ago.

But she can’t possibly imagine just how much danger he’s in…

Published March 30th by Michael Joseph
Pre-order here*

The Favour by Nicci French

SYNOPSIS:
A good deed
Can turn deadlyโ€ฆ
 
When Liam unexpectedly turns up in Judeโ€™s life after ten years of no contact, asking her for a favour, she just canโ€™t say no. He was her first love, and even though she is now a successful doctor and about to get married, he will always be someone special to her.
But after she does the favour, she is contacted by the police, informing her that Liam has been found dead, and suddenly she is caught up in a murder investigation.
 
And she realises this one decision could cost her everything โ€“ even her lifeโ€ฆ

Published March 30th by Simon & Schuster
Pre-order here*

Every Happy Family by Sarah Stovell

SYNOPSIS:
The closer you are, the more damage they do.

Minnie and Bert are over the moon to have their three grown-up children home for the first time in a decade. But having Lizzie, Jess, Owen and the grandchildren under one roof isnโ€™t without its dramas.

Lizzie is off the alcohol (although emergency gin doesnโ€™t count), Jess is juggling a toddler and a newborn, but itโ€™s Owen who has the power to throw a grenade into everything.

It all stems from an incident that happened years ago. And it involves Nora Skelly โ€“ a name you don’t mention in front of Minnie.

With Nora also back in town, the past is about to come crashing into the present. And what better time to revisit old secrets and resentments than around the family dinner table?

Published March 30th by HQ
Pre-order here*

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop

SYNOPSIS:
Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Her former professor, Patrick is much older than J.B.. But when they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all new gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. He is a film director. A cult figure. But now his success is starting to wane and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his.
For days they sail in the sun. They lie about drinking, reading, sleeping, having sex. There is nothing but dark water all around them.
Then a storm hits and Patrick falls off the ship. J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick – and the truth about their marriage – begins.

Published March 30th by W&N
Pre-order here*

A Truth For A Truth by Carol Wyer (Detective Kate Young 4)

SYNOPSIS:
DI Kate Youngโ€™s team is hunting for a killer. What they donโ€™t knowโ€ฆis that the killer is her.

DI Kate Young has known for years that her boss, Superintendent John Dickson, is a violent and evil man. But when she finally confronts him and accidentally shoots and kills him, sheโ€™s forced to cover her tracks before anyone can pin his death on her. With revelations about his corruption soon to become public knowledge, Kate sets up a trail of evidence to make it seem that Dickson has conveniently vanishedโ€ฆ

But Kate knows the corruption doesnโ€™t end with Dickson. As she heads up the team investigating his supposed disappearance, she also pursues other loose ends. Stanka, the sex worker who supplied the evidence against Dickson, leads her to crucial information on another corrupt officer, DI Harriet Khatri, and her dubious involvement with sex traffickers.

As the noose starts to tighten on Kate, she finds herself targeted by traffickers, the bent cops on her force and even her own team of detectives. Can she stay one step ahead of them all and bring Harriet to justice? Can she trust anyone around her? And can she possibly get away with murder?

Published April 4th by Thomas & Mercer Pre-oder here*

Her Sweet Revenge by Sarah Bonner

SYNOPSIS:
THE SENSATIONAL NEW THRILLER FROM SARAH BONNER – REVENGE IS BEST SERVED SWEET.

Secrets and lies ruin lives

Two women receive an anonymous note.For one it’s a threat.For the other it’s an invitation for revenge.Helena is beautiful, successful, and living in married bliss in Exeter. But she’s hiding a secret that could tear her perfect life apart. When the notes begin to arrive, she realises someone else must know her secret. But what might her husband and his overbearing family do if they find out the truth?Thea is reeling from her best friend Helena’s death. But when she starts digging into the circumstances, she receives a threatening note warning her to stopShe knows her friend’s death wasn’t an accident. This was murder. And she is determined to get revenge . . .

Published April 6th by Hodder & Stoughton
Pre-order here*

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

SYNOPISIS:
The new dark thriller from the bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street

In a windswept cottage overlooking the sea, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood companions and the killer that stalked their small New England town. Of the body they found, the horror of that discovery echoing down the decades. And of Sky, Wilder’s one-time friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel, The Sound and the Dagger.

This book will be Wilder’s revenge on Sky, a man who betrayed his trust and died without ever telling him why. But as he writes, Wilder begins to find notes written in Sky’s signature green ink and events in his manuscript start to chime eerily with the present. Is Sky haunting him? Did Wilder have more to do with Sky’s death than he admits? And who is the woman drowning in the cove, whom no-one else can see?

No longer able to trust his own eyes, Wilder begins to wonder: is he writing the book, or is the book writing him?

Published April 20th by Viper Pre-order here*

The Fall by Louise Jensen

SYNOPSIS:
She promised she wouldnโ€™t tell. They made sure she couldnโ€™tโ€ฆ

At her surprise 40th birthday party, Kate Granger feels like the luckiest woman in the world but just hours later her fifteen-year-old daughter, Caily, is found unconscious underneath a bridge when she should have been at school.

Now, Caily lies comatose in her hospital bed, and the police donโ€™t believe it was an accident. As the investigation progresses, it soon becomes clear that not everyone in the family was where they claimed to be at the time of her fall.

Caily should be safe in hospital but not everyone wants her to wake up. Someone is desperate to protect the truth and it isnโ€™t just Cailyโ€™s life that is in danger.

Because some secrets are worth killing forโ€ฆ

Published April 27th by HQ
Pre-order here*

Conviction by Jack Jordan

SYNOPSIS:
HE TRUSTS HIS LAWYER WITH HIS LIFE . . . HE SHOULDN’T
 
Wade Darling stands accused of killing his wife and teenage children as they slept and burning their house to the ground. 
 
When the case lands on barrister Neve Harperโ€™s desk, she knows it could make her career. 

A matter of days before the case, as Neve is travelling home for the night, she is approached by a man. He tells her she must throw the case or the secret about her husbandโ€™s disappearance will be revealed. Failing that, he will kill everyone she cares about, until she does as she is told.
 
Neve must make a choice โ€“ go against every principle she has ever had, or the people she loves will die.

For fans of Steve Cavanagh, Linwood Barclay and Gillian McAllister, this is the latest novel from the master of the moral dilemma, Jack Jordan.

Published June 22nd by Simon & Schuster
Pre-order here*

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister

SYNOPSIS:
OLIVIA:
22 years old.
No history of running away.
Last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley.
And not coming back out again.
Missing for one day and counting . . .

Julia is the detective heading up the case.

She knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her daughter.

But Julia has no idea how close to home it’s going to get.

Because her family’s safety depends on one thing: Julia must NOT find out what happened to Olivia – and must frame somebody else for her murder . . .

What would you do?

Published May 11th by Michael Joseph
Pre-order here*

The Last Passenger by Will Dean

SYNOPSIS:
The electrifying new stand-alone thriller from the author of THE LAST THING TO BURN and FIRST BORN.

My phone has no reception, something we’ve been told to expect from time to time out here, and my stomach feels uneasy. Maybe it’s the motion of the waves or maybe it’s the fact that Pete didn’t leave a note or a text. He usually leaves a note with a heart.
I pull on jeans and a jumper and scrunch my hair on top of my head and take my key card and step out into the corridor.
Thirty seconds later it hits me.
All the other cabin doors are wedged open.
Every single one is unoccupied and unlocked.
My heart starts beating harder. I break out into a run. At the end of the long corridor I take a lift down to the Ocean Lobby.
There’s nobody here.
My mouth is dry.
It’s like I’m trapped on a runaway train.
No, this is worse.
The RMS Atlantica is steaming out into the ocean and I am the only person on board.

This was supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime for Cas. Now she just needs to survive.

With the drama of The Woman in Cabin 10 and the tension of And Then There Were None , The Last Passenger is a psychological thriller set aboard a cruise ship about a woman whose seemingly ordinary life is suddenly thrown dramatically off course. Will Dean is The Master of Intense Suspense and this novel is full of his trademark twists and turns.

Published May 11th by Hodder & Stoughton
Pre-order here*

The Final Party by A. A. Chaudhuri

SYNOPSIS:
SIX FRIENDS.

In a luxury villa set high in the hills above the glamorous town of Sorrento, southern Italy, three couples gather for the perfect 40th birthday celebration.

ONE BODY.

Before the week is out, one of them is dead.

COUNTLESS LIES.

Their perfect reunion quickly becomes the holiday from hell when one of the group starts receiving anonymous messages, threatening to expose a dark secret from their university days.

As old friendships are tested to the limit, itโ€™s clear that what happens in the dark past wonโ€™t stay buriedโ€ฆ

A heart-racing psychological thriller that will hook you from the very first page, with twist after twist that will make your jaw drop. Fans of B.A. Paris, My Husband’s Killer and Lucy Foley wonโ€™t be able to put this down. If you were hooked by The White Lotus or The Watcher, you’ll love this. 

Published May 25th by Hera
Pre-order here*

Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang

SYNOPSIS:
One of TIMEโ€™s most anticipated books of 2023

Athena Liu is a literary darling. Juniper Hayward is literally nobody.

White lies
When Athena dies in a freak accident, Juniper steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name June Song.

Dark humour
But as evidence threatens Juniperโ€™s stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Deadly consequencesโ€ฆ
What happens next is entirely everyone elseโ€™s fault.

Published May 25th by The Borough Press
Pre-order here*

Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal

SYNOPSIS:
We are invisible: we clean your houses, we look after your children, we know your secrets.
But now you know one of oursโ€ฆ

Rules for being a maid:
โ€ข No smoking
โ€ข No boyfriends
โ€ข No visitors
โ€ข And most importantly: be invisibleโ€ฆ

Corazon, Angel and Donita have all come to Singapore to work for a living. The thing that unites them? Their labour must remain unseen.

But when a friend is accused of murdering her employer, everything changes. The accused could be any of them; they all know the stories of women who were scapegoated or even executed for crimes they didnโ€™t commit.

Each woman has secrets to keep, yet they must gather every ounce of bravery, fearlessness and complete audacity to clear the name of one of their own.

After all, no-one knows the secrets of Singaporeโ€™s elite quite like the women who work in their homesโ€ฆ

Published May 25th by Harper Collins
Pre-order here*

Keep Her Secret by Mark Edwards

No synopsis available

Published May 30th by Thomas & Mercer Pre-order here*

The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner

SYNOPSIS:
The outstanding new thriller from the author of international bestseller and Waterstones Thriller of the Month pick, Greenwich Park

Ex journalist Tash has been searching for a story to launch her freelance career. But she has also been searching for something else. New friends to help her navigate motherhood.

She sees them at her son’s new playgroup. The other mothers. The sleek, the sophisticated, the successful mothers. The women she wants to be.

And then one day they welcome her into their circle and Tash discovers the kind of life she has always dreamt of; their elegant London townhouses a far cry from her cramped basement flat and endless bills.

These families seem to have everything. But they also have their secrets.

And it’s soon clear that not everyone at the playgroup can be trusted.

Published June 8th by Raven
Pre-order here*

The Woman Inside by M. T. Edvardsson

SYNOPSIS:
The Woman Inside is a breathless page-turner from international master of suspense M. T. Edvardsson. Three suspects, two deaths and the truth that binds them together.

Three Suspects.

Bill, a widowed single dad, has urgent bills to pay when he rents out a room in his apartment to Karla.

Karla left home to study law and, in need of cash, begins working as a cleaner for a doctor and his wife. But inside their palatial house itโ€™s clear that something is wrong with the wife who never leaves her bedroom.

Jennica is single and career-less when she meets her perfect match on Tinder. But just as she thinks her luck is changing, she finds out that he is hiding secrets of his own . . .

Two murders.

In a few short weeks, the doctor and his wife will be found dead in their home and the questions will begin . . .

One truth.

Ordinary people will do things they never thought possible when faced with extraordinary circumstances, and the woman inside the house will hold the key to it all . . .

Published June 15th by Pan Macmillan
Pre-order here*

Midnight by Amy McCulloch

SYNOPSIS:
When she’s gifted a once-in-a-lifetime Antarctic cruise, Olivia has never been anywhere so spectacular.

Huge cliffs of ice loom up to the sky.
The sun never sets over the sparkling sea.
And there’s a killer on board…

Unable to sleep in the endless eerie daylight, Olivia has no idea who she can trust. And if she can’t figure it out soon, she won’t make it back alive…

Publsihed June 22nd by Michael Joseph
Pre-order here*

Night Will Find You by Julia Heaberlin

SYNOPSIS:
Vivvy Bouchet saved a boy’s life when she was a child, after a premonition.
That boy is now a Texas police officer, who has always believed Vivvy is psychic.

He convinces her to help him solve a high-profile cold case: three-year-old Lizzie Solomon disappeared in broad daylight from her home. A body was never found, but the child’s mother, Nicolette, is in prison for the disappearance, loudly proclaiming her innocence.

When a popular podcaster hears of Vivvy’s involvement in the case, his conspiracy theories about the missing child, and Vivvy too, have an army of fans hanging on every dangerous word.

But when it becomes clear there may be a kidnapper – or killer – still on the loose, Vivvy knows there’s more to lose than her reputation.

Because the difference between the truth and a lie can mean life or death . . .

Night Will Find You is a sharply observed psychological thriller exploring the dangerous meeting of conspiracy theories and our need to believe.

Published June 22nd by Michael Joseph
Pre-order here*

The Launch Party by Lauren Forry

SYNOPSIS:
Agatha Christie meets Andy Weir in the ultimate locked room mystery set in the first hotel on the moon. Perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Anthony Horowitz and Hanna Jameson.

FEATURED IN THE EVENING STANDARD‘S BOOKS TO WATCH IN 2023

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME. YOU’D DIE TO BE THERE.

Ten lucky people have won a place at the most exclusive launch event of the century: the grand opening of the Hotel Artemis, the first hotel on the moon. It’s an invitation to die for. As their transport departs for its return to Earth and the doors seal shut behind them, the guests take the next leap for mankind.

However, they soon discover that all is not as it seems. The champagne may be flowing, but there is no one to pour it. Room service is available, but there is no one to deliver it. Besides the ten of them, they are completely alone.

When one of the guests is found murdered, fear spreads through the group. But that death is only the beginning. Being three days’ journey from home and with no way to contact the outside, can any of the guests survive their stay?

Published June 22nd by Zaffre
Pre-order here*

The Beach Party by Nikki Smith

SYNOPSIS:
Six friends.
The holiday of their dreams.
One night that changed it all . . .

1989: The tunes are loud and the clothes are louder when a group of friends arrives in Mallorca for a post-graduation holiday of decadence and debauchery at a luxury villa.

A beach party marks the pinnacle of their fun, until it isn’t fun any longer. Because amidst the wild partying – sand flying from dancing feet and revellers leaping from yachts – an accident happens. Suddenly, the night of a lifetime becomes a living nightmare.

Now: The truth about that summer has been collectively buried. But someone knows what happened that night.

And they want the friends to pay for what they did.

Published July 6th by Penguin
Pre-order here*

Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena

SYNOPSIS:
Welcome to Stanhope – a safe neighbourhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery’s family declare her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery’s neighbours become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth.

Published July 6th by Bantam Press
Pre-order here*

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

SYNOPSIS:
Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for Alix’s series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Alix agrees to a trial interview. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep digging.

Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life – and into her home.

Soon she begins to wonder who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

Published July 20th by Century
Pre-order here*

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

SYNOPSIS:
The second novel from the author of THE PUSH, 2021’s most explosive Sunday Times bestseller!

‘Utterly addictive’ Paula Hawkins on The Push

***

One morning on Harlow Lane, four families’ lives are changed forever.

Whitney Loverly can only sit by her son’s hospital bed after he falls from his bedroom window in the middle of the night. She refuses to speak to anyone.

Back at home, the Loverlys’ neighbours must reckon with their own roles in the tragedy – their selfless best friends who live across the street, the ambitious Goldsteins who desperately want a family of their own, and the quiet elderly couple who spend their days people watching on the front porch.

But what happens next, when over the course of a week, the hidden and explosive truths that connect these families must come out?

Exploring envy, motherhood and the intuitions that we silence, this is a novel that asks what happens when good people make bad choices.

Perfect for fans of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere and Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies.

Published July 20th by Michael Joseph
Pre-order here*

All of Us Are Broken by Fiona Cummins

No synopsis available

Published July 20th by Pan Macmillan
Pre-order here*

The Short Straw by Holly Seddon

SYNOPSIS:
‘An addictive read. . . Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson’ – GILLIAN MCALLISTER

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 July 20th by Orion
Pre-order here*

A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing

SYNOPSIS:
From the bestselling author of My Lovely Wife comes a reckless, delicious thriller about a young couple that gives a whole new meaning to the dangers of modern dating.

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. They’ve never felt anything like it. It’s the kind of romance people write stories about.

But what kind of story?

Because when it’s good, it’s great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears.

When it’s bad, it’s really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants.

But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconnections needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy–and she’s a detective.

There’s something Wes and Ivy never talk about–in good times or bad. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead.

If they can stick together, they can survive anything–even the tightening net of a police investigation.

Because one more breakup might just be their last…

Published August 3rd by Penguin Books UK
Pre-order here*

DC Ffion Morgan Book 2 by Clare Mackintosh

SYNOPSIS:
DC FFION MORGAN AND DS LEO BRADY RETURN IN THE THRILLING SEQUEL TO THE LAST PARTY

Published August 3rd by Sphere
Pre-order here*

The Good Daughter by Laure van Rensburg

SYNOPSIS:
Abigail is a proud member of the New America Baptist Church. Living miles away from the nearest town in South Carolina, she is safe from the depraved modern world.

She is a good daughter. A valued member of the community.

So when she is the sole survivor of a fire that burns her family’s home to the ground, it seems like a tragic accident.

Until a surprising discovery is made: before the fire, Abigail let a stranger in.

Who was the stranger? What started the fire? And was the outside world always the threat – or did danger lurk within the community’s walls?

Published August 3rd by Michael Joseph
Pre-order here*

These Still Black Waters by Christina McDonald

SYNOPSIS:
Two women struggle toward a dark truth as a killer avenges the sins of the past in a twisting novel of suspense by the USA Today bestselling author of Do No HarmBehind Every Lie, and The Night Olivia Fell.

After a violent home invasion, Neve Maguire returns with her daughter to Black Lake, her childhood summer home, hoping for a fresh start. But when the body of a woman is found floating among the reeds in the lake behind her house, she fears she has made a horrible mistake.

Neve is hiding secrets, though. Detective Jess Lambert can tell. Recently back after her own personal tragedy, Jess knows what itโ€™s like to live with skeletons in your closet, and sheโ€™s sure Neve has a few of her own.

When another womanโ€™s body is found, Jess and Neve are forced to confront a horrible truth. Because one thing is clear: the darkness of the past is waiting. And the secrets of Black Lake are only just beginning to surface.

Published August 8th by Thomas & Mercer
Pre-order here*

I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto

SYNOPSIS:
Some friends–and friendships–are worth killing for in this dark, twisty suspense novel by national bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto.

Jane is unhappy.

A struggling midlist writer whose novels barely command four figures, she feels trapped in an underwhelming marriage, just scraping by to pay a crippling Bay Area mortgage for a house–a life–she’s never really wanted.

There’s only ever been one person she cared about, one person who truly understood her: Thalia. Jane’s best and only friend nearly a decade ago during their Creative Writing days at Oxford. It was the only good year of Jane’s life–cobblestones and books and damp English air, heady wine and sweet cider and Thalia, endless Thalia. But then one night ruined everything. The blood-soaked night that should have bound Thalia to Jane forever but instead made her lose her completely. Thalia disappeared without a trace, and Jane has been unable to find her since.

Until now.

Because there she is, her name at the top of the New York Times bestseller list: A Most Pleasant Death by Thalia Ashcroft. When she discovers a post from Thalia on her website about attending a book convention in New York City in a week–“Can’t wait to see you there!”–Jane can’t wait either.

She’ll go to New York City, too, credit card bill be damned. And this time, she will do things right. Jane won’t lose Thalia again.

Published August 17th by HQ Pre-order here*

********

What do you think of my list? Are any of these on your TBR? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxx

*All purchase links are affiliate links

Categories
Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2022

Emma’s Anticipated Treasures – February 2022

Welcome to my list of Emma’s Anticipated Treasures for February. It’s another fantastic month with so many books I’ve been eagerly awaiting for a long time finally being published. There’s books from authors I’ve loved before like Marian Keyes, Beth Morrey, Eve Smith and Linwood Barclay, as well as some amazing debuts such as The Leviathan, The Hemlock Cure and The Embroidered Book.

It was hard to narrow down my list, but here are the 25 books I’m most anticipating that are released next month:

The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Raven Books
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, Magical Realism, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Metaphysical Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
SELECTED AS ONE OF THE OBSERVER’S 10 BEST DEBUT NOVELISTS OF 2022

A beguiling tale of superstition, myth and murder, perfect for fans of The Binding, The Essex Serpent and Once Upon a River.

SHE IS AWAKE…

Norfolk, 1643. With civil war tearing England apart, reluctant soldier Thomas Treadwater is summoned home by his sister, who accuses a new servant of improper conduct with their widowed father. By the time Thomas returns home, his father is insensible, felled by a stroke, and their new servant is in prison, facing charges of witchcraft.

Thomas prides himself on being a rational, modern man, but as he unravels the mystery of what has happened, he uncovers not a tale of superstition but something dark and ancient, linked to a shipwreck years before.

Something has awoken, and now it will not rest.

Richly researched, incredibly atmospheric, and deliciously unsettling, The Leviathan is set in England during a time of political and religious turbulence. It is a tale of family and loyalty, superstition and sacrifice, but most of all it is a spellbinding mystery and a story of impossible things.

Buy here*

Em & Me by Beth Morrey

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Harper Collins UK
Genre: Humorous Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story

SYNOPSIS:
A mother.
A daughter.
A secret waiting to be discovered.

For too long โ€“ since the sudden death of her mother as a teenager, since the birth of her daughter, Em, when she was just seventeen โ€“ Delphine has been unable to let go of the past, obsessed with protecting Em and clinging to a secret that could ruin everything. Sheโ€™s been living life in safe shades of grey.

The day that Delphine finally stands up for herself is the day that changes everything.

Delphine begins to remember what itโ€™s like to want more: rediscovering her singing voice, opening herself to friendship, and reviving not only her motherโ€™s roots, but her motherโ€™s memories. As her life begins to fill with colour, can she be brave for herself and for Em? And what would happen if she finally told the truth?

A big-hearted, hopeful novel about finding second chances โ€“ and taking them.

Buy here*

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Genre: Historical Fiction, Saga, Romance Novel

SYNOPSIS:
An expansive epic spanning the turbulent decades of Korea’s fight for independence, perfect for fans of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko

Beasts take many shapes…

It is 1917, and Korea is yet to be divided into north and south. With the threat of famine looming, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver’s courtesan school in cosmopolitan Pyongyang, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. But the city’s days as a haven are numbered. 

Jade flees to Seoul where she forms a deep friendship with an orphan boy called JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets. As Jade becomes a sought-after performer with unexpected romantic prospects, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence. Soon Jade must decide between following her own ambitions, or risking everything for the one she loves. 

From the perfumed chambers of the courtesan school to the glamorous cafes of a modernising Seoul, the unforgettable characters of Beasts of a Little Land unveil a world where friends become enemies and enemies become saviours, where heroes are persecuted and beasts take many shapes.

Buy here*

Devotion by Hannah Kent

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Picador
Genre: Historical Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
1836, Prussia. Hanne is nearly fifteen and the domestic world of womanhood is quickly closing in on her. A child of nature, she yearns instead for the rush of the river, the wind dancing around her. Hanne finds little comfort in the local girls and friendship doesn’t come easily, until she meets Thea and she finds in her a kindred spirit and finally, acceptance.

Hanne’s family are Old Lutherans, and in her small village hushed worship is done secretly – this is a community under threat. But when they are granted safe passage to Australia, the community rejoices: at last a place they can pray without fear, a permanent home. Freedom.

It’s a promise of freedom that will have devastating consequences for Hanne and Thea, but, on that long and brutal journey, their bond proves too strong for even nature to break . . .

From the bestselling author of Burial Rites and The Good PeopleDevotion is a stunning story of girlhood and friendship, faith and suspicion, and the impossible lengths we go to for the ones we love.

Buy here*

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Phoenix
Genre: Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours.

He knows what he’s done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn’t want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood.

But this is not his story.

As the clock ticks down, three women uncover the history of a tragedy and the long shadow it casts. Lavender, Ansel’s mother, is a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation. Hazel, twin sister to his wife, is forced to watch helplessly as the relationship threatens to devour them all. And Saffy, the detective hot on his trail, is devoted to bringing bad men to justice but struggling to see her own life clearly.

This is the story of the women left behind.

Blending breathtaking suspense with astonishing empathy, Notes On An Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our cultural obsession with crime stories, and asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the minds of violent men.

Buy here*

The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Romance Novel

SYNOPSIS:
YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP READING.
BECAUSE YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENS NEXT . . .
________

When her husband Harry walks out after just six months, a girls’ weekend away with two friends seems like just what Sam needs.

But they aren’t even halfway to their destination when things start to go wrong: car trouble that just happens to leave them stranded in the town where Harry lives.

And that’s only the beginning.

Because there are three things Sam doesn’t yet know:

One of her friends is lying about what happened.
One is lying about who she is.
And one of them will never make it home . . .

Buy here*

Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Urban Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
A missing woman. A husband suspected.
The truth will โ€ฆ Take Your Breath Away

Itโ€™s always the husband, isnโ€™t it? 

One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most people assumed Andy had got away with murder, but the police couldnโ€™t build a strong case against him. For a while, Andy hit rock bottom โ€“ he drank too much, was abandoned by his friends, nearly lost his business and became a pariah in the place he had once called home.

Now, six years later, Andy has put his life back together. Heโ€™s sold the house he shared with Brie and moved away for a fresh start. When he hears his old house has been bulldozed and a new house built in its place, heโ€™s not bothered. Heโ€™s settled with a new partner, Jayne, and life is good.

But Andyโ€™s peaceful world is about to shatter. One day, a woman shows up at his old address, screaming, โ€˜Whereโ€™s my house? Whatโ€™s happened to my house?’ And then, just as suddenly as she appeared, the woman โ€“ who bears a striking resemblance to Brie โ€“ is gone. The police are notified and old questions โ€“ and dark suspicions โ€“ resurface.

Could Brie really be alive after all these years? If so, where has she been? It soon becomes clear that Andyโ€™s future, and the lives of those closest to him, depends on discovering what the hell is going on. The trick will be whether he can stay alive long enough to unearth the answersโ€ฆ

Buy here*

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Harper Collins UK
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
She thought the murders had stopped. She was wrong.

Soon to be a major TV series, developed by Emma Stone

Chloe Davisโ€™ father is a serial killer.
He was convicted and jailed when she was twelve but the bodies of the girls were never found, seemingly lost in the surrounding Louisiana swamps. The case became notorious and Chloeโ€™s family was destroyed.

His crimes stalk her like a shadow.
Now Chloe has rebuilt her life. Sheโ€™s a respected psychologist in Baton Rouge and has a loving fiancรฉ.
But she just canโ€™t shake a tick-tick-tick of paranoia that, at any moment, it might all come crashing down.

As does something darker.
It is the anniversary of her fatherโ€™s crimes, and Chloe is about to see her worst fears come true โ€“
a girl she knows goes missing.  

The nightmare has started againโ€ฆ

Buy here*

A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Psychological Fiction, Urban Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story

SYNOPSIS:
CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2022 BY VOGUE AND ESQUIRE

A bitingly honest, darkly funny debut about love, sex, power and desire, by a major new British talent

Anna is struggling to afford life in London as she trains to be a singer. During the day, she vies to succeed against her course mates with their discreet but inexhaustible streams of cultural capital and money, and in the evening she sings jazz at a bar in the City to make ends meet.

It’s there that she meets Max, a financier fourteen years older than her. Over the course of one winter, Anna’s intoxication oscillates between her hard-won moments on stage, where she can zip herself into the skin of her characters, and nights spent with Max in his glass-walled flat overlooking the city.

But Anna’s fledgling career demands her undivided attention, and increasingly – whether he necessarily wills it or not – so does Max.

Buy here*

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Literature, Domestic Fiction, Saga, Coming-of-Age Story

SYNOPSIS:
**A Grazia Instagram ‘IT’ book to watch out for**

________

‘We can’t go to the island, Bryon. We don’t really know what we’re getting into . . .’

Eleanor Bennett won’t let her own death get in the way of the truth. So when her estranged children – Byron and Benny – reunite for her funeral in California, they discover a puzzling inheritance.

First, a voice recording in which everything Byron and Benny ever knew about their family is upended. Their mother narrates a tumultuous story about a headstrong young woman who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder, a story which cuts right to the heart of the rift that’s separated Byron and Benny.

Second, a traditional Caribbean black cake made from a family recipe with a long history that Eleanor hopes will heal the wounds of the past. Can Byron and Benny fulfil their mother’s final request to ‘share the black cake when the time is right’?

Will Eleanor’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Buy here*

Nights of Demons and Saints by Menna van Praag

Published: February 3rd
Publisher: Bantam Press
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy, Fantasy Series

SYNOPSIS:
And then there were three . . .

Three years ago, the sisters confronted their demon father in that strange other-world called Everwhere. It was a battle that ended in a devastating loss, and the scars they carry seem to have slowly pushed the sisters apart . . .

One sister, still raw with grief, is now a near recluse but determined to use her powers to resurrect what she has lost.

Another has made the journey to learn more of her family, her culture and her roots.

And another seems to have turned her back on what she is and opted to lead a more normal life.

But now the sisters are about to be brought together once more. Because when the clock strikes midnight, when October ticks into November, when autumn wilts into winter, when All Hallows’ Eve becomes All Saints’ Day, the sisters Grimm will turn twenty-one and reach the zenith of their powers.

And on this night, at this time, in this place called Everwhere, anything is possible . . .

Buy here*

The Hemlock Cure by Joanne Burn

Published: February 10th
Publisher: Sphere
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

SYNOPSIS:
It is 1665 and the women of Eyam keep many secrets.

Isabel Frith, the village midwife, walks a dangerous line with her herbs and remedies. There are men in the village who speak of witchcraft, and Isabel has a past to hide. So she tells nobody her fears about Wulfric, the pious, reclusive apothecary.

Mae, Wulfric’s youngest daughter, dreads her father’s rage if he discovers what she keeps from him. Like her feelings for Rafe, Isabel’s ward, or that she studies from Wulfric’s forbidden books at night.

But others have secrets too. Secrets darker than any of them could have imagined.

When Mae makes a horrifying discovery, Isabel is the only person she can turn to. But helping Mae will place them both in unspeakable peril.

And meanwhile another danger is on its way from London. One that threatens to engulf them all . . .

Based on the real history of an English village during the Great Plague, The Hemlock Cure is an utterly beguiling tale of fear and ambition, betrayal, self-sacrifice and the unbreakable bond between two women.

Buy here*

I, Mona Lisa by Natasha Solomons

Published: February 10th
Publisher: Hutchinson Heinemann
Genre: Literary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Listen to my history. My adventures are worth hearing. I have lived many lifetimes and been loved by emperors, kings and thieves. I have survived kidnap and assault. Revolution and two world wars. But this is also a love story. And the story of what we will do for those we love.

In Leonardo da Vinci’s studio, bursting with genius imagination, towering commissions and needling patrons, as well as discontented muses, friends and rivals, sits the painting of the Mona Lisa. For five hundred tumultuous years, amid a whirlwind of power, money, intrigue, the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo is sought after and stolen.

Over the centuries, few could hear her voice, but now she is ready to tell her own story, in her own words – a tale of rivalry, murder and heartbreak. Weaving through the years, she takes us from the dazzling world of Florentine studios to the French courts at Fontainebleau and Versailles, and into the Twentieth Century.

I, Mona Lisa is a deliciously vivid, compulsive and illuminating story about the lost and forgotten women throughout history.

Buy here*

House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City 2) by Sarah J. Maas

Published: February 15th
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Romantic Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy, High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy Series

SYNOPSIS:
Sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller. Sarah J. Maas’s sexy, groundbreaking CRESCENT CITY series continues with this second installment.

Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar have made a pact. As they process the events of the Spring they will keep things . platonic . until the Solstice. But can they resist when the crackling tension between them is enough to set the whole of Crescent City aflame?

And they are not out of danger yet. Dragged into a rebel movement they want no part of, Bryce, Hunt and their friends find themselves pitted against the terrifying Asteri – whose notice they must avoid at all costs. But as they learn more about the rebel cause, they face a choice: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode – and the people who will do anything to save it.

Buy here*

Off Target by Eve Smith

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Orenda Books
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
When a one-night stand leads to a long-desired pregnancy, Susan will do anything to ensure her husband wonโ€™t find out โ€ฆ including the unthinkable. But when something horrendous is unleashed around the globe, her secret isnโ€™t the only thing that is no longer safeโ€ฆ

โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“โ€“

A longed-for baby
An unthinkable decision
A deadly mistake

In an all-too-possible near future, when genetic engineering has become the norm for humans, not just crops, parents are prepared to take incalculable risks to ensure that their babies are perfect โ€ฆ altering genes that may cause illness, and moreโ€ฆ

Susan has been trying for a baby for years, and when an impulsive one-night stand makes her dream come true, sheโ€™ll do anything to keep her daughter and ensure her husband doesnโ€™t find out โ€ฆ including the unthinkable. She believes her secret is safe. For now.

But as governments embark on a perilous genetic arms race and children around the globe start experiencing a host of distressing symptoms โ€“ even taking their own lives โ€“ something truly horrendous is unleashed. Because those children have only one thing in common, and people are starting to ask questionsโ€ฆ

Bestselling author of The Waiting Rooms, Eve Smith returns with an authentic, startlingly thought-provoking, disturbing blockbuster of a thriller that provides a chilling glimpse of a future thatโ€™s just one modification awayโ€ฆ

Buy here

The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, Romantic Fantasy, Coming-of-Age Story

SYNOPSIS:
Brimming with romance, betrayal, and enchantment, The Embroidered Book reveals and reimagines a dazzling period of history as you have never seen it before.

โ€˜Power is not something you are given. Power is something you take. When you are a woman, it is a little more difficult, thatโ€™s allโ€™

1768. Charlotte, daughter of the Habsburg Empress, arrives in Naples to marry a man she has never met. Her sister Antoine is sent to France, and in the mirrored corridors of Versailles they rename her Marie Antoinette.

The sisters are alone, but they are not powerless. When they were only children, they discovered a book of spells โ€“ spells that work, with dark and unpredictable consequences.

In a time of vicious court politics, of discovery and dizzying change, they use the book to take control of their lives.

But every spell requires a sacrifice. And as love between the sisters turns to rivalry, they will send Europe spiralling into revolution.

Buy here*

The Gifts by Liz Hyder

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Manilla Press
Genre: Gothic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy

SYNOPSIS:
The luminous debut adult novel from the Waterstones Prize Winner, perfect for fans of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, The Essex Serpent and The Doll Factory

In an age defined by men, it will take something extraordinary to show four women who they truly are . . .

October 1840. A young woman staggers alone through a forest in Shropshire as a huge pair of impossible wings rip themselves from her shoulders.

Meanwhile, when rumours of a ‘fallen angel’ cause a frenzy across London, a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grip of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the women he seeks in the most terrible danger . . .

THE GIFTS is the astonishing debut adult novel from the lauded author of BEARMOUTH. A gripping and ambitious book told through five different perspectives and set against the luminous backdrop of nineteenth century London, it explores science, nature and religion, enlightenment, the role of women in society and the dark danger of ambition.

Buy here*

Breathless by Amy McCulloch

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Adventure Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
IT’S ICE COLD. YOU’RE MILES FROM HELP. AND ONE OF YOU WILL BE NEXT . . . 

When struggling journalist Cecily Wong is invited to join an expedition to climb one of the world’s tallest mountains, it seems like the chance of a lifetime.

She doesn’t realise how deadly the climb will be.

As their small team starts to climb, things start to go wrong. There’s a theft. Then an accident. Then a mysterious note, pinned to her tent: there’s a murderer on the mountain.

The higher they get, the more dangerous the climb becomes, and the more they need to trust one another.

And that’s when Cecily finds the first body . . .

Buy here*

Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Domestic Ficiton

SYNOPSIS:
Twenty-five years after the iconic, 1.5 million-copy bestseller Rachel’s Holiday burst into our lives, Rachel’s BACK!

Pre-order Marian Keyes’ hilarious, heart-warming sequel, Again, Rachel, NOW.

Back in the long ago nineties, Rachel Walsh was a mess.

But a spell in rehab transformed everything. Life became very good, very quickly. These days, Rachel has love, family, a great job as an addiction counsellor, she even gardens. Her only bad habit is a fondness for expensive trainers.

But with the sudden reappearance of a man she’d once loved, her life wobbles.

She’d thought she was settled. Fixed forever. Is she about to discover that no matter what our age, everything can change?

Is it time to think again, Rachel?

Buy here*

The Dictator’s Wife by Freya Berry

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Headline Review
Genre: Historical Fiction, Legal Story

SYNOPSIS:
‘I am not my husband. I am innocent. Do you believe me?’

The beautiful, enigmatic wife of a feared dictator stands trial for her late husband’s crimes against the people. The world will finally know the truth. But whose?

__________

WOMAN
I learned early in life how to survive. A skill that became vital in my position.

WIFE
I was given no power, yet I was expected to hold my own with the most powerful man in the country.

MOTHER OF THE NATION
My people were my children. I stood between him and them.

I am not the person they say I am.
I am not my husband.
I am innocent.
Do you believe me?

Visceral and thought provoking, haunting and heartbreaking, The Dictator’s Wife will hold you in its grip until its powerful conclusion and keep you turning the pages long into the night.

Buy here*

A Good Day to Die (Pretty Boy Thriller Bool 1) by Amen Alogne

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Crime Series

SYNOPSIS:
Meet Pretty Boy. Vengeance is on his mind.

His real name:
Unknown

His code of conduct:
Don’t be a pawn in someone else’s game.
Never underestimate the enemy.
Above all, survive. There is no glory in death.

His mission:
It’s been ten years since Pretty Boy left the big city – today he’s back. No one knows why, but it’s clear that revenge is on his mind: he is determined to make the person responsible for his exile from the London scene finally pay. But his plans seem derailed when he takes possession of a bracelet, unaware that its original owner has set a high price for its safe return. Suddenly, the hunter becomes the hunted and Pretty Boy will have to find out if it is indeed a ‘good day to die’.

Jam-packed with action, an unforgettable cast of characters and peppered with dry humour, A Good Day to Die marks the arrival of a fresh and exciting new voice in thriller writing.

Buy here*

The Secrets of Sainte Madeleine by Tilly Bagshawe

Published: February 17th
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, Saga

SYNOPSIS:
Deep in the French countryside, inside the walls of a family chateau, a remarkable legacy awaits . . .

From the international bestselling author comes an escapist, glamorous tale spanning generations & sweeping from Burgundy to Greece and beyond . . .

ONE FAMILY
THREE GENERATIONS
SOME SECRETS NEVER DIE . . .

Elise would do anything to inherit Sainte Madeleine, the vineyard thatโ€™s been home to the Salignacs for generations. Only Laurent Senard, a distant cousin, is a rival for her heart โ€“ yet when a family rift sends her on a new and dangerous path, she risks losing them both . . .
 
Alexandre, Eliseโ€™s brother, canโ€™t bear to see their capricious father put the vineyard โ€“ and Alex’s birthright โ€“ in jeopardy. He leaves to carve out his own fortune in the rich hills of Napa, California. But will turning his back on the chateau be his biggest mistake?
 
Laurent Senardโ€™s love for Elise was planted at Sainte Madeleine long ago. But with the shadow of war sweeping over Europe, Laurent must leave France to fight. Through the years of longing, secrecy and tragedy that follow, he vows to find his way back โ€“ if only it isnโ€™t too late . . .
 
Sweeping through the 1920s to WWII and beyond, this is the story of the Salignac family โ€“ the loves that bind them, the secrets that threaten to divide them, and the chateau that will always call them home.

Buy here*

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Published: February 22nd
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Fairy Tale, Myth and Legend

SYNOPSIS:
Don’t chase fate. Let fate chase you.

For generations, deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curse them with death and despair. To appease him, each year a maiden is thrown into the sea, in the hopes that one day the ‘true bride’ will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe Shim Cheong – Mina’s brother’s beloved – to be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is sacrificed, Mina’s brother follows her, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina finds the Sea God, trapped in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man and a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits, Mina sets out to wake him and bring an end to the storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: a human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking . . .

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is a magical feminist retelling of a classic Korean legend, perfect for fans of Uprooted and Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.

Buy here*

Daughters of a Dead Empire by Carolyn Tara O’Neil

Published: February 22nd
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Genre: Historical Fiction, Young Adult Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
From debut author Carolyn Tara O’Neil comes a thrilling alternate history set during the Russian Revolution.

Russia, 1918: With the execution of Tsar Nicholas, the empire crumbles and Russia is on the edge of civil war–the poor are devouring the rich. Anna, a bourgeois girl, narrowly escaped the massacre of her entire family in Yekaterinburg. Desperate to get away from the Bolsheviks, she offers a peasant girl a diamond to take her as far south as possible–not realizing that the girl is a communist herself. With her brother in desperate need of a doctor, Evgenia accepts Anna’s offer and suddenly finds herself on the wrong side of the war.

Anna is being hunted by the Bolsheviks, and now–regardless of her loyalties–Evgenia is too.

Daughters of a Dead Empire is a harrowing historical thriller about dangerous ideals, inequality, and the price we pay for change. An imaginative retelling of the Anastasia story.

Buy here*

Nasty Little Cuts by Tina Baker

Published: February 24th
Publisher: Viper Books
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Crime Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
WHO WILL SURVIVE THE NIGHT?

A nightmare jolts Debs awake. She leaves the kids tucked up in their beds and goes downstairs. There’s a man in her kitchen, holding a knife. But it’s not an intruder. This is her husband Marc, the father of her children. A man she no longer recognises.

Once their differences were what drew them together, what turned them on. Him, the ex-army officer from a good family. Her, the fitness instructor who grew up over a pub. But now these differences grate to the point of drawing blood. Marc screams in his sleep. And Debs hardly knows the person she’s become, or why she lets him hurt her.

Neither of them is completely innocent. Neither is totally guilty. Marc is taller, stronger, and more vicious, haunted by a war he can’t forget. But he has no idea what Debs is capable of when her children’s lives are at stake…

A powerful exploration of a relationship built on passion, poisoned by secrets and violence. Perfect for readers of Blood Orange and Big Little Lies.

Buy here*

**********

Are any of these on your tbr? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading Bibliophiles ๐Ÿ˜Š Emma xxx

*These are affiliate links.

Categories
Book Features Emma's Anticipated Treasures Support Debuts

4th February 2021: A Bumper Publication Day

Hello Bibliophiles! Today is a busy day in the book world with a vast array of amazing books out in Kindle, Hardback, Paperback and Audio Today. This is a last minute post so it is in no way comprehensive, but I’ve put together a list of many of the amazing books out today. Thank you to Publishers for my gifted copies of some of the books pictured above.

THE DEBUTS

The Long, Long Afternoon by Inga Vesper

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Manilla Press

SYNOPSIS:
The sunniest places hold the darkest secrets . . .

A stunning 1950s set debut mystery brimming with atmosphere and perfect for fans of Tangerine, Small Pleasures and Mad Men.
________

Yesterday, I kissed my husband for the last time . . .

It’s the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified children and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor.

While the Haney’s neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is Ruby Wright, the family’s ‘help’, who may hold the key to this unsettling mystery. Ruby knows more about the secrets behind Sunnylakes’ starched curtains than anyone, and it isn’t long before the detective in charge of the case wants her help. But what might it cost her to get involved? In these long hot summer afternoons, simmering with lies, mistrust and prejudice, it could only take one spark for this whole ‘perfect’ world to set alight . . .

A beguiling, deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, The Long, Long Afternoon is at once a page-turning mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated.

Buy the book*

Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift

Genre: Humour, Science Fiction Comedy, Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

SYNOPSIS:
THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNING

It’s December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended.

The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM (‘Six Days Maximum’ – the longest you’ve got before your body destroys itself).

But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own.

Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth.

And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she’s completely alone?

Buy the book*

The Downstairs Neighbour by Helen Cooper

Genre: Thriller, Suspense , Psychological Thriller, Domestic Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

SYNOPSIS:
In a converted Georgian townhouse in south west London, three families live under one roof.

The large flat that takes up the top two floors is home to the Harlow family: happily married Paul and Steph, and their bubbly teenage daughter Freya. The smaller first floor flat is rented by Emma, who spends most of her time alone, listening to people coming in and out of the building. And the basement flat belongs to Chris, a local driving instructor, who prefers to keep his personal life private from the neighbours.

But their lives are all upended when Freya vanishes. As the police become involved and a frantic Paul and Steph desperately search for answers, they begin to realise that the truth behind their daughter’s disappearance may lie closer to home than they were expecting.

When everyone has something to hide, can you ever really know those closest to you? Or will some secrets be taken to the grave?

Buy the book*

The Art of Death by David Fennell

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Police Procedural, Crime Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Zaffre

SYNOPSIS:
AN INTENSELY CREEPY SERIAL KILLER THRILLER DEBUT, FOR FANS OF CHRIS CARTER, M. W. CRAVEN AND THE WHISPER MAN.

Death is an art, and he is the master . . .

Three glass cabinets appear in London’s Trafalgar Square containing a gruesome art installation: the floating corpses of three homeless men. Shock turns to horror when it becomes clear that the bodies are real.

The cabinets are traced to @nonymous – an underground artist shrouded in mystery who makes a chilling promise: MORE WILL FOLLOW.

Eighteen years ago, Detective Inspector Grace Archer escaped a notorious serial killer. Now, she and her caustic DS, Harry Quinn, must hunt down another.

As more bodies appear at London landmarks and murders are livestreamed on social media, their search for @nonymous becomes a desperate race against time. But what Archer doesn’t know is that the killer is watching their every move – and he has his sights firmly set on her . . .

He is creating a masterpiece. And she will be the star of his show.

Buy the book*

Before I Saw You by Emily Houghton

Genre: New Adult Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Medical Romance
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Bantam Press

SYNOPSIS:
CAN YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN?

Alice and Alfie are strangers. But they sleep next to each other every night.

Alfie Mack has been in hospital for months recovering from an accident. A new face on the ward is about as exciting as life gets for him right now, so when someone moves into the bed next to him he’s eager to make friends. But it quickly becomes clear that seeing his neighbour’s face won’t happen any time soon.

Alice Gunnersley has been badly burned and can’t even look at herself yet, let alone allow anyone else to see her. She keeps the curtain around her bed firmly closed, but it doesn’t stop Alfie trying to get to know her. And gradually, as he slowly brings Alice out of her shell, might there even be potential for more?

Buy the book*

Lightseekers by Femi Kayode

Genre: Mystery, Crime Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Raven Books

SYNOPSIS:
Winner of the 2019 UEA Crime Writing Prize, Lightseekers is the start of a major new crime series introducing investigative psychologist Dr Philip Taiwo.

When three young students are brutally murdered in a Nigerian university town, their killings – and their killers – are caught on social media. The world knows who murdered them; what no one knows is why.

As the legal trial begins, investigative psychologist Philip Taiwo is contacted by the father of one of the boys, desperate for some answers to his son’s murder. But Philip is an expert in crowd behaviour and violence, not a detective, and after travelling to the sleepy university town that bore witness to the killings, he soon feels dramatically out of his depth.

Will he finally be able to uncover the truth of what happened to the Okiri Three?

Buy the book*

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Genre: Coming-of-Age Fiction, Urban Fiction, Political Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Viking

SYNOPSIS:
Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists – he a photographer, she a dancer – trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.

At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years.

Buy the book*

The Crow Folk: The Witches of Woodville 1) by Mark Stay

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Coming-of-Age Fiction, Adventure Fiction, War Fiction
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

SYNOPSIS:
As Spitfires roar overhead and a dark figure stalks the village of Woodville, a young woman will discover her destiny . . .

Faye Bright always felt a little bit different. And today sheโ€™s found out why. Sheโ€™s just stumbled across her late motherโ€™s diary which includes not only a spiffing recipe for jam roly-poly, but spells, incantations, runes and recitations . . . a witch’s notebook.

And Faye has inherited her motherโ€™s abilities. 

Just in time, too. The Crow Folk are coming. Led by the charismatic Pumpkinhead, their strange magic threatens Faye and the villagers. Armed with little more than her mum’s words, her trusty bicycle, the grudging help of two bickering old ladies, and some aggressive church bellringing, Faye will find herself on the front lines of a war nobody expected.

For fans of Lev Grossman and Terry Pratchett comes this delightful novel of war, mystery and a little bit of magic . . .

Buy the book*

Space Hopper by Helen Fisher

Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Domestic Fiction, Coming-of-Age Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

SYNOPSIS:
This is a story about taking a leap of faith
And believing the unbelievable
 
They say those we love never truly leave us, and Iโ€™ve found that to be true. But not in the way you might expect. In fact, none of this is what youโ€™d expect.
 
Iโ€™ve been visiting my mother who died when I was eight.
And Iโ€™m talking about flesh and blood, tea-and-biscuits-on-the-table visiting here.
 
Right now, you probably think Iโ€™m going mad. 
Let me explainโ€ฆ
 
Although Faye is happy with her life, the loss of her mother as a child weighs on her mind even more now that she is a mother herself. So she is amazed when, in an extraordinary turn of events, she finds herself back in her childhood home in the 1970s. Faced with the chance to finally seek answers to her questions โ€“ but away from her own family โ€“ how much is she willing to give up for another moment with her mother?
 
Space Hopper is an original and poignant story about mothers, memories and moments that shape life.

Buy the book*

The Man I Didn’t Marry by Anna Bell

Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Domestic Fiction
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: HQ

SYNOPSIS:
What happens when the man she married canโ€™t remember her?

Ellie has the perfect life: a happy marriage, a gorgeous daughter and a baby on the way. But when her husband Max develops amnesia, he forgets everything about the last five years . . . including their relationship.

Now the man she said โ€˜I doโ€™ to has become a stranger, and she has no idea why. Yet Ellie is determined to reconnect and find her Max again โ€“ he has to be in there somewhere, right?

As they get to know one another afresh, Ellie finds herself seeing Max clearly for the first time. But then she discovers that before his memory loss, Max was keeping a huge secret from her. Will their new beginning prove to be a false start, just as it seemed they might fall in love all over again?

Buy the book*

Black Widows by Cate Quinn

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Police Procedural, Domestic Fiction, Religious Fiction, Southern Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Orion

SYNOPSIS:
Blake’s dead. His wife killed him.
The question is: which one?

Blake Nelson moved into a hidden stretch of land – a raw paradise in the wilds of Utah – where he lived with his three wives:

Rachel, the chief wife, obedient and doting to a fault.
Tina, the other wife, who is everything Rachel isn’t.
And Emily, the youngest wife, who knows little else.

When their husband is found dead under the desert sun, the questions pile up.
But none of the widows know who would want to kill a good man like Blake.

Or, at least, that’s what they’ll tell the police…

Buy the book*

The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames: A Foundling Story by Justine Cowan

Genre: Biography, Autobiography
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Virago Press

SYNOPSIS:
A gripping memoir and revelatory investigation into the history of the Foundling Hospital and one girl who grew up in its care – the author’s own mother.

Growing up in a wealthy enclave outside San Francisco, Justine Cowan’s life seems idyllic. But her mother’s unpredictable temper drives Justine from home the moment she is old enough to escape. It is only after her mother dies that she finds herself pulling at the threads of a story half-told – her mother’s upbringing in London’s Foundling Hospital. Haunted by this secret history, Justine travels across the sea and deep into the past to discover the girl her mother once was.

Here, with the vividness of a true storyteller, she pieces together her mother’s childhood alongside the history of the Foundling Hospital: from its idealistic beginnings in the eighteenth century, how it influenced some of England’s greatest creative minds – from Handel to Dickens, its shocking approach to childcare and how it survived the Blitz only to close after the Second World War.

This was the environment that shaped a young girl then known as Dorothy Soames, who was left behind by a mother forced by stigma and shame to give up her child; who withstood years of physical and emotional abuse, dreaming of
escape as German bombers circled the skies, unaware all along that her own mother was fighting to get her back.

Buy the book*

Waiting For Superman: One Family’s Struggle To Survive – and cure – Chronic Illness by Tracie White

Genre: Biography
Format: Papernack, Kindle
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

SYNOPSIS:
For the past six years, Whitney Dafoe has been confined to a bedroom in the back of his parents’ home, unable to walk, eat or speak. His diagnosis? The mysterious disease myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) which affects 20 million people around the world who largely suffer in silence because the condition is little known and much misunderstood.

Waiting for Superman follows Whitney’s father, groundbreaking geneticist Ron Davis, as he uncovers new possibilities for treatments and potentially a cure. At its heart, this book is about more than just cutting-edge research or a race to find an answer – it’s about the lengths to which a parent will go to save their child’s life.

Buy the book*

The Santatorium by Sarah Pearse

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Gothic Fiction, Police Procedural, Crime Fiction
Format: Kindle (Hardcover published 18th February)
Publisher: Bantam Press

SYNOPSIS:
‘An eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat.’ Reese Witherspoon

EVERYONE’S IN DANGER. ANYONE COULD BE NEXT.

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother’s recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it’s beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous – as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancรฉe Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin’s unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they’re all in . . .

Buy the book*

Everything Is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray

Genre: Humorous Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Format: Kindle (Hardcover publisher March 25th)
Publisher: Piatkus

SYNOPSIS:
When Amy Ashton’s world fell apart eleven years ago, she started a collection.

Just a few keepsakes of happier times: some honeysuckle to remind herself of the boy she loved, a chipped china bird, an old terracotta pot . . . Things that others might throw away, but to Amy, represent a life that could have been.

Now her house is overflowing with the objects she loves – soon there’ll be no room for Amy at all. But when a family move in next door, a chance discovery unearths a mystery, and Amy’s carefully curated life begins to unravel. If she can find the courage to face her past, might the future she thought she’d lost still be hers for the taking?

Perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant and The Keeper of Lost Things, this exquisitely told, uplifting novel shows us that however hopeless things might feel, beauty can be found in the most unexpected of places

Buy the book*

The Favour by Laura Vaughan

Genre: Coming-of-Age Fiction, Holiday Fiction
Format: Kindle (Hardcover published March 4th)
Publisher: Corvus

SYNOPSIS:

Fortune favours the fraud…

When she was thirteen years old, Ada Howell lost not just her father, but the life she felt she was destined to lead. Now, at eighteen, Ada is given a second chance when her wealthy godmother gifts her with an extravagant art history trip to Italy.

In the palazzos of Venice, the cathedrals of Florence and the villas of Rome, she finally finds herself among the kind of people she aspires to be: sophisticated, cultured, privileged. Ada does everything in her power to prove she is one of them. And when a member of the group dies in suspicious circumstances, she seizes the opportunity to permanently bind herself to this gilded set.

But everything hidden must eventually surface, and when it does, Ada discovers she’s been keeping a far darker secret than she could ever have imagined…

Buy the book*

If I Can’t Have You by Charlotte Levin

Genre: Romance Novel, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Urban Fiction
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: HQ

SYNOPSIS:
If I Can’t Have You by Charlotte Levin is an all-consuming novel about loneliness, obsession and how far we go for the ones we love.

My name is Constance Little.
This is my love story.
But this isnโ€™t the way it was supposed to end.

After fleeing Manchester for London, Constance attempts to put past tragedies behind her and make a fresh start. When she embarks on a relationship with the new doctor at the medical practice where she works, sheโ€™s convinced sheโ€™s finally found the love and security she craves.

Then he ends it.

But if life has taught her anything, itโ€™s that if you love someone, you should never let them go.

That’s why for Constance Little, her obsession is only just beginning . . .

Buy the book*

THE VETERANS

The Shadow Man by Helen Fields

Genre: Crime Thriller
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Avon Books

SYNOPSIS:
He collects his victims. But he doesnโ€™t keep them safe.

Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are locked in a flat. They donโ€™t know where they are, and they donโ€™t know why theyโ€™re there. They only know that the shadow man has taken them, and he wonโ€™t let them go.
 
Desperate to escape, the three of them must find a way out of their living hell, even if it means uncovering a very dark truth.
 
Because the shadow man isnโ€™t a nightmare. Heโ€™s all too real.
 
And heโ€™s watching.

Buy the book*

Find You First by Linwood Barclay

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Urban Fiction
Format: Hardcover. Kindle, Audio
Publisher: HQ

SYNOPSIS:
One will change your life.
One will end it.
Who will โ€ฆ FIND YOU FIRST?

Itโ€™s a deadly race against timeโ€ฆ

Tech billionaire Miles has more money than he can ever spend, and everything he could dream of โ€“ except time. Now facing a terminal illness, Miles knows he must seize every minute to put his life in order. And that means taking a long hard look at his past.

Somewhere out there, Miles has children. And they might be about to inherit both the good and bad from him โ€“ possibly his fortune, or possibly something more sinister.

So Miles decides to track down his missing children. But a vicious killer is one step ahead of him. One by one, people are vanishing. Not just disappearing, every trace of them is wiped.

Number One Sunday Times bestseller Linwood Barclay returns with his electrifying new thriller, Find You First.

Buy the book*

A Net For Small Fished by Lucy Jago

Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Bloomsbury

SYNOPSIS:
Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family – and is the most unhappy creature in the world.

Anne Turner has wit and talent – but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution.

When these two very different women meet in the strangest of circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court whose foreign king is a stranger to his own subjects; where ancient families fight for power, and where the sovereign’s favourite may rise and rise – so long as he remains in favour.

With the marriage of their talents, Anne and Frankie enter this extravagant, savage hunting ground, seeking a little happiness for themselves. But as they gain notice, they also gain enemies; what began as a search for love and safety leads to desperate acts that could cost them everything.

Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is the most gripping novel you’ll read this year: an exhilarating dive into the pitch-dark waters of the Jacobean court.

Buy the book*

Pippo and Clara by Diana Rosie

Genre: Historical Fiction, Domestic Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Mantle Press

SYNOPSIS:
Italy, 1938. Mussolini is in power and war is not far away . . .

Clara and Pippo are just children: quiet, thoughtful Clara is the older sister; Pippo, the younger brother, is forever chatting. The family has only recently arrived in the city carrying their few possessions.

When Mamma goes missing early one morning, both Clara and Pippo go in search of her. Clara turns right; Pippo left.

As a result of the choices they make that morning, their lives will be changed forever.

Diana Rosieโ€™s Pippo and Clara tells the story of a family and a country divided. But will Clara and Pippo โ€“ and their mother โ€“ find each other again?

Buy the book*

The Children God Forgot by Graham Masterson

Genre:Thriller, Suspense, Horror Fiction, Medical Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Head of Zeus

SYNOPSIS:
Forsake the living. Forget the dead. Fear the children… The brand new chilling page-turner from the master of horror

A TERRIFYING BIRTH
A young woman is rushed to the hospital with stabbing pains in her stomach. The chief surgeon delivers a living child with the face of an angel and the body of a tentacled monster. The doctors are unanimous that the baby must die.

AN ESCAPE FROM THE DARK
Engineer Gemma is plunged into darkness in a tunnel beneath London. Before she escapes, a strange green light illuminates a cluster of ghostly figures. Gemma is certain they were children.

A SUPERNATURAL THREAT
DC Jerry Pardoe and DS Jamila Patel, of Tooting Police, have investigated the occult before – but nothing as strange and horrible as what they must confront in the city sewers. Down here in the dark, where the dead come back to life, witchcraft is the only force strong enough to save you…

Buy the book*

Passenger 23 by Sebastian Fitzek

Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Head of Zeus

SYNOPSIS:
A high concept thriller from the author of The Package, international number one bestseller Sebastian Fitzek.

On average 23 people a year disappear from the world’s cruise ships. They are written off as accidents or suicides. But what if they’re not?

Five years ago Martin Schwarz, a police psychologist, lost his wife and son. They were holidaying on a cruise ship when they simply vanished. A lacklustre investigation was unable to shed any light on what happened – murder-suicide being the coroner’s verdict. It is a verdict that has haunted Martin ever since, blighting his life. But then he is contacted by an elderly woman, a writer, who claims to have information regarding their fate and wants him to come on board The Sultan of the Seas immediately.

She explains that his wife and son are not the only mother and child pair to have disappeared. Only a few months ago another mother and daughter also vanished. She believes there may be a serial killer on board.

But when the missing daughter reappears – carrying the teddy bear of Martin’s missing son – it becomes apparent that the truth could be much, much worse…Sebastian Fitzek is Germany’s most successful author. His books have sold 13 million copies, been translated into more than thirty-six languages and are the basis for international cinema and theatre adaptations. Sebastian Fitzek was the first German author to be awarded the European Prize for Criminal Literature. He lives with his family in Berlin.

Buy the book*

The Gilded Ones (Deathless #1) by Namina Forma

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd

SYNOPSIS:
The must-read epic fantasy of 2021, as featured on Cosmo, Buzzfeed, BookRiot and Refinery 29. In this West African-inspired world, girls are outcasts by blood and warriors by choice, perfect for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and Black Panther.

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in Otera, a deeply patriarchal ancient kingdom, where a woman’s worth is tied to her purity, and she must bleed to prove it. But when Deka bleeds gold – the colour of impurity, of a demon – she faces a consequence worse than death. She is saved by a mysterious woman who tells Deka of her true nature: she is an Alaki, a near-immortal with exceptional gifts. The stranger offers her a choice: fight for the Emperor, with others just like her, or be destroyed…

Buy the book*

Mother For Dinner by Shalom Auslander

Genre: Humorous Fiction, Religious Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle,
Publisher: Picador

SYNOPSIS:
Seventh Seltzer has done everything he can to break from the traditions of the past, but in his overbearing, narcissistic motherโ€™s last moments, she whispers in his ear the two words he always knew she would: โ€˜Eat meโ€™.

This is not unusual, as the Seltzers are Cannibal-Americans, a once proud and thriving ethnic group, but for Seventh, it raises some serious questions. Of practical concern, sheโ€™s six-foot-two and weighs over thirty stone โ€“ even divided up between Seventh and his eleven brothers, that’s a lot of red meat. Plus, Second keeps kosher, Ninth is vegan and Sixth is dead. To make matters worse, even if he can wrangle his brothers together for a feast, the Can-Am people have assimilated, and the only living Cannibal who knows how to perform the ancient ritual is their Uncle Ishmael, a far from reliable guide.

Beyond the practical, Seventh struggles with the sense of guilt and responsibility he feels โ€“ to his mother, to his people and to his unique cultural heritage. His mother always taught him he was a link in a chain, stretching back centuries. But heโ€™s getting tired of chains.

Shalom Auslander’s Mother for Dinner is an outrageously tasty comedy about identity and inheritance, the things we owe our families and the things we owe ourselves.

Buy the book*

The Moroccan Daughter by Deborah Rodriguez

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Domestic Fiction
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Publisher: Sphere

SYNOPSIS:
The BRAND NEW novel from the internationally bestselling author of THE LITTLE COFFEE SHOP OF KABUL

In Morocco, behind the ancient walls of the medina, secrets will be revealed . . .

Amina Bennis has come back to her childhood home in Morocco to attend her sister’s wedding. The time has come for her to confront her strict, traditionalist father with the secret she has kept for more than a year – her American husband Max.

Amina’s best friend Charlie, and Charlie’s feisty grandmother Bea, have come along for moral support, staying with Amina and her family in their palatial riad in Fรจs, and enjoying all that the city has to offer. But Charlie is also hiding someone from her past – a mystery man from Casablanca.

And then there’s Samira, the Bennis’s devoted housekeeper for many decades. Hers is the biggest secret of all – and the one that strikes at the very heart of the family . . .

From the twisted alleyways of the ancient medina of Fรจs to a marriage festival high in the Atlas Mountains, Deborah Rodriguez’s entrancing new bestseller is a modern story of forbidden love set in the sensual landscape of North Africa.

Buy the book*

Serpentine (Alex Delaware 36) by Jonathan Kellerman

Genre: Thriller, Suspense
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Century

SYNOPSIS
The electrifying new Alex Delaware thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Ellie Barker never knew her mother.

When she was barely three years old, her mother was found with a bullet in her head inside a torched Cadillac, overturned on Mulholland Drive. No physical evidence, no witness and no apparent motive.

Twenty-five years on, many detectives tried and failed to get to the bottom of the case.

Desperate for answers, Ellie hires LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis, who calls in the expertise of brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware, to investigate.

But as the duo start digging, the mystery becomes even more twisted. And they soon discover a string of dangerous threats still lurking in the present…

Buy the book*

The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin

Genre: Literary Fiction, Suspense
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: John Murray Press

SYNOPSIS:
Nessa McCormack’s marriage is coming back together again after her husband’s affair. She is excited to be in charge of a retrospective art exhibit for one of Ireland’s most beloved and enigmatic artists, the late sculptor Robert Locke. But the arrival of two outsiders imperils both her personal and professional worlds: a chance encounter with an old friend threatens to expose a betrayal Nessa thought she had long put behind her, and at work, an odd woman comes forward claiming to be the true creator of Robert Locke’s most famous work, The Chalk Sculpture.

As Nessa finds the past intruding on the present, she must decide whether she can continue to live a lie – or whether she’s ready to face the consequences once everything is out in the open. In this gripping debut, Danielle McLaughlin reveals profound truths about love, power, and the secrets that rule us.

Buy the book*

The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe

Genre: Young Adult, Thriller
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books

SYNOPSIS:
Soon to be a Netflix film starring Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown – this must-read psychological thriller, perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying, will leave you guessing until the final page.

As an ex con artist, Nora has always got herself out of tricky situations. But the ultimate test lies in wait when she’s taken hostage in a bank heist. And this time, Nora doesn’t have an escape plan …

Meet Nora. Also known as Rebecca, Samantha, Haley, Katie and Ashley – the girls she’s been.

Nora didn’t choose a life of deception – she was born into it. As the daughter of a con artist who targeted criminal men, Nora always had to play a part. But when her mother fell for one of the men instead of conning him, Nora pulled the ultimate con herself: escape.

For five years Nora’s been playing at normal – but things are far from it when she finds herself held at gunpoint in the middle of a bank heist, along with Wes (her ex-boyfriend) and Iris (her secret new girlfriend and mutual friend of Wes … awkward). Now it will take all of Nora’s con artistry skills to get them out alive.

Because the gunmen have no idea who she really is – that girl has been in hiding for far too long.

Buy the book*

The Last Snow by Stina Jackson

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction, Noir Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Corvus

SYNOPSIS:
What secrets are hidden within the walls of a desolate farmhouse in a forgotten corner of Lapland?

Early spring has its icy grip on ร–desmark, a small village in northernmost Sweden, abandoned by many of its inhabitants. But Liv Bjรถrnlund never left. She lives in a derelict house together with her teenage son, Simon, and her ageing father, Vidar. They make for a peculiar family, and Liv knows that they are cause for gossip among their few remaining neighbours.

Just why has Liv stayed by her domineering father’s side all these years? And is it true that Vidar is sitting on a small fortune? His questionable business decisions have made him many enemies over the years, and in ร–desmark everyone knows everyone, and no one ever forgets.

Now someone wants back what is rightfully theirs. And they will stop at nothing to get it, no matter who stands in their way…

Buy the book*

His Hidden Wife by Wendy Clarke

Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Bookouture

SYNOPSIS:
The first time you see them, out for an evening walk on the cliffs, youโ€™ll think theyโ€™re the perfect family. Youโ€™ll see a wife who looks so happy, strolling peacefully beside her husband in his dark winter coat, holding her daughterโ€™s hand. But you have no idea whatโ€™s really happening in their houseโ€ฆ

If you come a little closer you might hear the way the man speaks to his wife.

You might notice that the woman doesnโ€™t have any close friends. That sometimes her husband doesnโ€™t want her to leave the house. You might wonder if thatโ€™s a scar her beautiful daughter is hiding on her neck.

When you read the local newspaper and hear the news that the wife has fallen from the cliffs, youโ€™ll question whether it was really an accident at all.

And when the husband starts dating someone new โ€“ a woman with the same long dark hair and big blue eyes as his wife โ€“ will you say something this time?

Because someone has to protect the little girl and stop history from repeating itself. And it may already be too late.

A thrilling and twisty tale, His Hidden Wife will keep you up all night, desperate to race through to its final conclusion. Readers of Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door and Lisa Jewell will be hooked.

Buy the book*

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Romance Novel, Domestic Fiction, Urban Fiction
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

SYNOPSIS:
Hubert Bird is not alone in being alone.
He just needs to realise it.

In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship and fulfilment.

But Hubert Bird is lying.

The truth is day after day drags by without him seeing a single soul.

Until, that is, he receives some good news – good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on.

Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.
Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . .

Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows will he ever get to live the life he’s pretended to have for so long?

From bestselling author Mike Gayle, All the Lonely People is by turns a funny and moving meditation on love, race, old age and friendship that will not only charm and uplift, but also remind you of the power of ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference.

Buy the book*

Grown Ups by Marian Keyes

Genre: Humour, Domestic Fiction
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Penguin

SYNOPSIS:
MEET JESSIE, CARA AND NELL.

Married to brothers Johnny, Ed and Liam Casey.

Three very different women tied to three very different men.

Every family occasion is a party – until the day the secrets spill out.

PLAYTIME IS OVER.

BUT WHERE ARE THE GROWN-UPS?

Buy the book*

Written In Blood by Chris Carter

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Book Series
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK

SYNOPISIS:
A serial killer who will stop at nothingโ€ฆ
 
The Killer
His most valuable possession has been stolen.
Now he must retrieve it, at any cost.
 
The Girl
Angela Wood wanted to teach the man a lesson. It was a bag, just like any other.
But when she opens it, the worst nightmare of her life begins.
 
The Detective
A journal ends up on Robert Hunterโ€™s desk. It soon becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose.
And if Hunter canโ€™t stop him in time, more people will die.
Starting with Angela.
 
If you have read it
You must die.

Buy the book*

Six Tudor Queens: Katheryn Howard, The Tainted Queen by Alison Weir

Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Headline

SYNOPSIS:
‘This six-book series looks likely to become a landmark in historical fiction’ The Times

Alison Weir, historian and author of the Sunday Times-bestselling Six Tudor Queens series, relates one of the most tragic stories in English history: Katheryn Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth queen.

A NAIVE YOUNG WOMAN AT THE MERCY OF HER AMBITIOUS FAMILY.

At just nineteen, Katheryn Howard is quick to trust and fall in love.

She comes to court. She sings, she dances. She captures the heart of the King.

But Henry knows nothing of Katheryn’s past – one that comes back increasingly to haunt her. For those who share her secrets are waiting in the shadows, whispering words of love… and blackmail.

The fifth of Henry’s queens.
Her story.

Acclaimed, bestselling historian Alison Weir draws on extensive research to recount the tale of a vivacious young woman used by powerful men for their own gain.

HISTORY TELLS US SHE DIED TO SOON.
THIS MESMERISING NOVEL BRINGS HER TO LIFE.

Buy the book*

20th Victim by James Patterson

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Legal Thriller, Book Series
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Arrow

SYNOPSIS:
THREE CITIES. THREE BULLETS. THREE VICTIMS.

Simultaneous murders hit LA, Chicago and San Francisco. SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer is tasked with uncovering what links these precise and calculated killings.

Lindsay discovers that the victims all excel in lucrative, criminal activity. As the casualty list expands, fear and fascination with this shocking spree provoke debate across the country.

Are the killers villains or heroes? And who will be next?

Buy the book*

A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry

Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Faber & Faber

SYNOPSIS:
Even when you come out of bloodshed and disaster in the end you have got to learn to live.

Winona is a young Lakota orphan adopted by former soldiers Thomas McNulty and John Cole.
Living with Thomas and John on the farm they work in 1870s Tennessee, she is educated and loved, forging a life for herself beyond the violence and dispossession of her past. But the fragile harmony of her unlikely family unit, in the aftermath of the Civil War, is soon threatened by a further traumatic event, one which Winona struggles to confront, let alone understand.

Told in Sebastian Barry’s rare and masterly prose, A Thousand Moons is a powerful, moving study of one woman’s journey, of her determination to write her own future, and of the enduring human capacity for love.

Buy the book*

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Genre: Literary Fiction
Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Picador

SYNOPSIS:
Recently out of a devastating love affair and mourning the loss of her beloved mum, Casey is lost. The novel she has been writing for six years isnโ€™t going anywhere, her debt is soaring, and at thirty-one, with all her friends getting married and having kids, she feels too old for things to be this way.

Then she meets Silas. He is kind, handsome, interested. But only a few weeks later, Oscar โ€“ older, fascinating, troubled โ€“ walks into her life, his two boys in tow. Suddenly Casey finds herself at the point of a love triangle, torn between two very different relationships that promise two very different futures. And sheโ€™s still got to write that book…

Buy the book*

Take A Chance On Me by Beth Moran

Genre: Romance Novel, Domestic Fiction, Travel Literature, Holiday Fiction
Format: Paperback, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Boldwood Books

SYNOPSIS:
Meet Patrick Cooperโ€“ desperately down on his luck, and head-over-heels in unrequited love with his best friend Bridget.
Meet Bridget’s sister, Emma Donovan -eternally single maker-of-cakes for many a happy couple, whilst never making it down the aisle herself.

Emma has four younger sisters, all of whom are married or getting married, and an Italian mother who canโ€™t understand what is โ€˜wrongโ€™ with her eldest daughter, who seems to be stranded on the shelf. Despairing of her own ability to find a suitable husband, Emma agrees to be part of a compatibility project to get married at first sight.

Meanwhile Cooper is struggling to get over his crush on Bridget and seems destined to stay firmly on the shelf too. Perhaps itโ€™s time his fate was taken out of his handsโ€ฆ

Is happily-ever-after just about daring to take a chance, or do you need some extra magic to make love last?

Join Beth Moran, Cooper and the Donovan sisters on this life-affirming and uplifting tale of love, family, friendship, and risking it all for happiness.

Buy the book*

Lullaby Beach by Stella Duffy

Genre: Historical Fiction, Domestic Fiction
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audio
Publisher: Virago Books

SYNOPSIS:
A compelling novel about family secrets and the legacy of trauma, set against the changing fortunes of an English seaside town, from award-winning writer Stella Duffy.

When Lucy discovers the body of her great aunt Kitty, with a puzzling note and empty pill bottles by her bed, she can’t believe that the formidable woman who held her family together is gone – or understand why she has taken her own life.

Lucy is determined to decipher Kitty’s final message. What she finds will overturn everything she thought she knew about her family.

Lullaby Beach takes the reader on a journey through three generations of a complicated, close-knit family whose joys and misfortunes track many of the most pressing conflicts and concerns of post-war Britain, from the promise and hypocrisies of 1950s London to the political divides and risky freedoms of the present day.

Told with the warmth, generosity and fierce passion which has won Stella Duffy so much praise over her career, Lullaby Beach is a brilliant story of loss and love, revenge and redemption.

Love Letters of Kings and Queens by Daniel Smith

Genre: Biography
Format: Hardcover, Kindle
Publisher: Greenfinch

SYNOPSIS:
Tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations.

From Henry VIII’s lovelorn notes to Anne Boleyn and George IV’s impassioned notes to his secret wife, to Queen Victoria’s tender letters to Prince Albert and Edward VIII’s extraordinary correspondence with Wallis Simpson – these letters depict romantic love from its budding passion to the comfort and understanding of a long union (and occasionally beyond to resentment and recrimination), all set against the background of great affairs of state, wars and the strictures of royal duty.

Here is a chance to glimpse behind the pomp and ceremony, the carefully curated images of royal splendour and decorum, to see the passions, hopes, jealousies and loneliness of kings and queens throughout history. By turns tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations, whose actions (and passions) changed the course of history, for good and bad.

This morning I received your dear, dear letter of the 21st. How happy do you make me with your love! Oh! my Angel Albert, I am quite enchanted with it! I do not deserve such love! Never, never did I think I could be loved so much. Queen Victoria to Prince Albert (28 November 1839)

Buy the book*


Are any of these on your tbr? If so, which ones?

Thank you for reading. Until next time Bibliophiles, Emma xx

Categories
Emma's Anticipated Treasures

Emma’s Anticipated Treasures – February 2021

We’re already almost into the second month of the year which seems unreal. There are some great books out this month, with February 4th being a particularly big publication day. Half of the books on this list are published that day!

An Eye For An Eye (Detective Kate Young 1) by Carol Wyer

Published: February 1st
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction, Crime Series

SYNOPSIS:
A killer running rings around the police. A detective spiralling out of control.

DI Kate Young is on leave. Sheโ€™s the forceโ€™s best detective, but her bosses know sheโ€™s under pressure, on medication and overcoming trauma. So after her bad judgement call leads to a narrowly averted public disaster, theyโ€™re sure all she needs is a rest.

But when Staffordshire Police summon her back to work on a murder case, itโ€™s a harder, more suspicious Kate Young who returns. With a new ruthlessness, she sets about tracking down a clinical, calculating serial killer who is torturing victims and leaving clues to taunt the police. Spurred on by her reporter husband, Young begins to suspect that the murderer might be closer than she ever imagined.

As she works to uncover the truth, Young unravels a network of secrets and lies, with even those closest to her having something to hide. But with her own competenceโ€”and her grip on realityโ€”called into question, can she unmask the killer before they strike again?

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
Carol is one of my favourite crime writers so I was excited to learn she was releasing a new series. I’m lucky enough to have already read this book and let me tell you it is one not to be missed.
Keep an eye out for my review on February 1st as part of the blog tour and an interview with Carol and giveaway of the book the week of publication.
Buy the book*

The Long, Long Afternoon by Inga Vesper

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Manilla Press
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery

SYNOPSIS:
Yesterday, I kissed my husband for the last time . . .

It’s the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified children and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor.

While the Haney’s neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is Ruby Wright, the family’s ‘help’, who may hold the key to this unsettling mystery. Ruby knows more about the secrets behind Sunnylakes’ starched curtains than anyone, and it isn’t long before the detective in charge of the case wants her help. But what might it cost her to get involved? In these long hot summer afternoons, simmering with lies, mistrust and prejudice, it could only take one spark for this whole ‘perfect’ world to set alight . . .

A beguiling, deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, The Long, Long Afternoon is at once a page-turning mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
Historical Fiction merged with mystery? My ideal book! This is one of the debuts of 2021 I’m most excited about and it featured in my 21 Books In 21 -The Debuts list.
Keep an eye out for my review on February 2nd as part of the blog tour.
Buy the book*

The Shadow Man by Helen Fields

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Avon Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
He collects his victims. But he doesnโ€™t keep them safe.

Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are locked in a flat. They donโ€™t know where they are, and they donโ€™t know why theyโ€™re there. They only know that the shadow man has taken them, and he wonโ€™t let them go.
 
Desperate to escape, the three of them must find a way out of their living hell, even if it means uncovering a very dark truth.
 
Because the shadow man isnโ€™t a nightmare. Heโ€™s all too real.
 
And heโ€™s watching.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
Helen has been a crime fiction favourite since I discovered her Perfect series in 2018. This standalone is one of the most exhilarating and spine-tingling thrillers I’ve read in a long time. It’s one not to be missed.
Buy the book*

The Art of Death by David Fennell

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Zaffre
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural

SYNOPSIS:
Death is an art, and he is the master . . .

Three glass cabinets appear in London’s Trafalgar Square containing a gruesome art installation: the floating corpses of three homeless men. Shock turns to horror when it becomes clear that the bodies are real.

The cabinets are traced to @nonymous – an underground artist shrouded in mystery who makes a chilling promise: MORE WILL FOLLOW.

Eighteen years ago, Detective Inspector Grace Archer escaped a notorious serial killer. Now, she and her caustic DS, Harry Quinn, must hunt down another.

As more bodies appear at London landmarks and murders are livestreamed on social media, their search for @nonymous becomes a desperate race against time. But what Archer doesn’t know is that the killer is watching their every move – and he has his sights firmly set on her . . .

He is creating a masterpiece. And she will be the star of his show.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
My love of crime fiction and crime series is no secret on this blog so I couldn’t miss including what sounds like one of the most thrilling new series in the genre.
Buy the book*

Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Humour, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Comedy

SYNOPSIS:
THE END OF EVERYTHING WAS HER BEGINNING

It’s December 2023 and the world as we know it has ended.

The human race has been wiped out by a virus called 6DM (‘Six Days Maximum’ – the longest you’ve got before your body destroys itself).

But somehow, in London, one woman is still alive. A woman who has spent her whole life compromising what she wants, hiding how she feels and desperately trying to fit in. A woman who is entirely unprepared to face a future on her own.

Now, with only an abandoned golden retriever for company, she must travel through burning cities, avoiding rotting corpses and ravenous rats on a final journey to discover if she really is the last surviving person on earth.

And with no one else to live for, who will she become now that she’s completely alone?

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
The premise for this debut is just so fresh and original that it lured me in. Plus, who could resist that stunning cover.
Keep an eye out for my review on February 2nd as part of the blog tour.
Buy the book*

Find You First by Linwood Barclay

Published: February 4th
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Urban Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
One will change your life.
One will end it.
Who will โ€ฆ FIND YOU FIRST?

Itโ€™s a deadly race against timeโ€ฆ
Tech billionaire Miles has more money than he can ever spend, and everything he could dream of โ€“ except time. Now facing a terminal illness, Miles knows he must seize every minute to put his life in order. And that means taking a long hard look at his past.

Somewhere out there, Miles has children. And they might be about to inherit both the good and bad from him โ€“ possibly his fortune, or possibly something more sinister.

So Miles decides to track down his missing children. But a vicious killer is one step ahead of him. One by one, people are vanishing. Not just disappearing, every trace of them is wiped.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
I’ve been a huge fan on Linwood Barclay ever since reading No Time For Goodbye many years ago so his books are always an auto-buy for me.
Buy the book*

The Downstairs Neighbour by Helen Cooper

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Domestic Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
In a converted Georgian townhouse in south west London, three families live under one roof.

The large flat that takes up the top two floors is home to the Harlow family: happily married Paul and Steph, and their bubbly teenage daughter Freya. The smaller first floor flat is rented by Emma, who spends most of her time alone, listening to people coming in and out of the building. And the basement flat belongs to Chris, a local driving instructor, who prefers to keep his personal life private from the neighbours.

But their lives are all upended when Freya vanishes. As the police become involved and a frantic Paul and Steph desperately search for answers, they begin to realise that the truth behind their daughter’s disappearance may lie closer to home than they were expecting.

When everyone has something to hide, can you ever really know those closest to you? Or will some secrets be taken to the grave?

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
I’ll be honest, it was the stunning proof cover that first caught my eye with this book. But when I read the synopsis I knew it was one I needed to read.
Buy the book*

Before I Saw You by Emily Houghton

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Bantam Press
Genre: New-Adult Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Medical Romance

SYNOPSIS:
CAN YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN?

Alice and Alfie are strangers. But they sleep next to each other every night.

Alfie Mack has been in hospital for months recovering from an accident. A new face on the ward is about as exciting as life gets for him right now, so when someone moves into the bed next to him he’s eager to make friends. But it quickly becomes clear that seeing his neighbour’s face won’t happen any time soon.

Alice Gunnersley has been badly burned and can’t even look at herself yet, let alone allow anyone else to see her. She keeps the curtain around her bed firmly closed, but it doesn’t stop Alfie trying to get to know her. And gradually, as he slowly brings Alice out of her shell, might there even be potential for more?

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
I’ve definitely found myself become a fan of uplit more and more the past year and the synopsis for this one sounds so fun and original that I can’t wait to read it.
This is another book that I’m taking part in the blog tour for. My review will be posted on January 30th.
Buy the book*

Pippo and Clara by Diana Rosie

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Mantle
Genre: Historical Fiction, Domestic Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
A country torn apart by war. Two siblings divided by fate.

Italy, 1938. Mussolini is in power and war is not far away . . .

Clara and Pippo are just children: quiet, thoughtful Clara is the older sister; Pippo, the younger brother, is forever chatting. The family has only recently arrived in the city carrying their few possessions.

When Mamma goes missing early one morning, both Clara and Pippo go in search of her. Clara turns right; Pippo left.

As a result of the choices they make that morning, their lives will be changed forever.

Diana Rosieโ€™s Pippo and Clara tells the story of a family and a country divided. But will Clara and Pippo โ€“ and their mother โ€“ find each other again?

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
I’m going to cry reading this. I know I am. But I love historical fiction and this one just spoke to me.
Buy the book*

Waiting For Superman: One Family’s Struggle to Survive โ€“ and Cure โ€“ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Tracie White

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Genre: Biography

SYNOPSIS:
For the past six years, Whitney Dafoe has been confined to a bedroom in the back of his parents’ home, unable to walk, eat or speak. His diagnosis? The mysterious disease myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) which affects 20 million people around the world who largely suffer in silence because the condition is little known and much misunderstood.

Waiting for Superman follows Whitney’s father, groundbreaking geneticist Ron Davis, as he uncovers new possibilities for treatments and potentially a cure. At its heart, this book is about more than just cutting-edge research or a race to find an answer – it’s about the lengths to which a parent will go to save their child’s life.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
As someone with M.E/CFS this book is a must read for me. I’m interesting in their experiences, the research they found and hearing the experience from another perspective. I often think how it must feel for my parents, partner and children to see me so sick. This is another book where I have no doubt I’ll need the tissues.
Buy the book*

The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames by Justine Cowan

Published: February 4th
Publisher: Virago
Genre: Biography, Autobiography

SYNOPSIS:
A gripping memoir and revelatory investigation into the history of the Foundling Hospital and one girl who grew up in its care – the author’s own mother.

Growing up in a wealthy enclave outside San Francisco, Justine Cowan’s life seems idyllic. But her mother’s unpredictable temper drives Justine from home the moment she is old enough to escape. It is only after her mother dies that she finds herself pulling at the threads of a story half-told – her mother’s upbringing in London’s Foundling Hospital. Haunted by this secret history, Justine travels across the sea and deep into the past to discover the girl her mother once was.

Here, with the vividness of a true storyteller, she pieces together her mother’s childhood alongside the history of the Foundling Hospital: from its idealistic beginnings in the eighteenth century, how it influenced some of England’s greatest creative minds – from Handel to Dickens, its shocking approach to childcare and how it survived the Blitz only to close after the Second World War.

This was the environment that shaped a young girl then known as Dorothy Soames, who was left behind by a mother forced by stigma and shame to give up her child; who withstood years of physical and emotional abuse, dreaming of escape as German bombers circled the skies, unaware all along that her own mother was fighting to get her back.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
I am fascinated by foundling stories, particularly since reading The Foundling by Stacey Halls last year. I’ve read a lot online about the subject and love the sound of Dorothy’s story.
Buy the book*

A Net For Small Fishes by Lucy Jago

Published: February 11th
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is the most gripping novel you’ll read this year: an exhilarating dive into the pitch-dark waters of the Jacobean court

Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family – and is the most unhappy creature in the world.

Anne Turner has wit and talent – but no stage on which to display them. Little stands between her and the abyss of destitution.

When these two very different women meet in the strangest of circumstances, a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court whose foreign king is a stranger to his own subjects; where ancient families fight for power, and where the sovereign’s favourite may rise and rise – so long as he remains in favour.

With the marriage of their talents, Anne and Frankie enter this extravagant, savage hunting ground, seeking a little happiness for themselves. But as they gain notice, they also gain enemies; what began as a search for love and safety leads to desperate acts that could cost them everything.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
I’ve heard this book referred to as a ‘Historical Thelma and Louise’. What’s not to love?
Buy the book*

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Mass

Published: February 16th
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy

SYNOPSIS:
Sarah J. Maas’s sexy, richly imagined A Court of Thorns and Roses series continues with the journey of Feyre’s fiery sister, Nesta

Nesta Archeron has always been prickly – proud, swift to anger and slow to forgive. And since the war – since being made High Fae against her will – she’s struggled to forget the horrors she endured and find a place for herself within the strange and deadly Night Court.
The person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred, winged warrior who is there at Nesta’s every turn. But her temper isn’t the only thing Cassian ignites. And when they are forced to train in battle together, sparks become flame.
As the threat of war casts its shadow over them once again, Nesta and Cassian must fight monsters from within and without if they are to stand a chance of halting the enemies of their court. But the ultimate risk will be searching for acceptance – and healing – in each other’s arms.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
Last year I finally took the plunge and read the first four books in this series thanks to readalongs with Tandem Collective. I have been eagerly awaiting this conclusion ever since and am giddy with excitement at being offered the chance to take part in an exclusive readalong of this book.
Keep an eye out on my channels from February 23rd for updates from the readalong.
Buy the book*

Dead Head by C. J. Skuse

Published: February 18th
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Dark Comedy, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Victim. Murderer. Serial Killer. What next?
The third darkly comic thriller in the highly addictive Sweetpea series featuring serial killer Rhiannon Lewis.

Can a serial killer ever lose their taste for murder?

Since confessing to her bloody murder spree Rhiannon Lewis, the now-notorious Sweetpea killer, has been feeling out-of-sorts.

Having fled the UK on a cruise ship to start her new life, Rhiannon should be feeling happy. But itโ€™s hard to turn over a new leaf when sheโ€™s stuck in an oversized floating tin can with the Gammonati and screaming kids. Especially when they remind her of Ivy โ€“ the baby she gave up for a life carrying on killing.

Rhiannon is all at sea. Sheโ€™s lost her taste for blood but is it really gone for good? Maybe Rhiannon is realising that thereโ€™s more to life than deathโ€ฆ

The third book in the critically-acclaimed series following Sweetpeaand In Bloomfeaturing everyoneโ€™s favourite truly original girl-next-door serial killer Rhiannon Lewis.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
The Sweatpea series is one of my favourite series ever. They are just so original and darkly funny. I finished this latest installment tonight and it certainly holds up to the reputation of the previous books. I can’t wait to share my review with you soon. Dead Head is one of my most anticipated books of 2021.

The Santorium by Sarah Pearse

Published: February 18th
Publisher: Bantam Press
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Gothic Fiction, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Guidebook

SYNOPSIS:
EVERYONE’S IN DANGER. ANYONE COULD BE NEXT.

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother’s recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it’s beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous – as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancรฉe Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin’s unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they’re all in . . .

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
The haunting cover. The remote setting. A missing woman. Three perfect ingredients in any book. This debut is one I’ve been impatiently awaiting for months and I can’t wait to finally devour it.
Buy the book*

One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Published: February 18th
Publisher: Doubleday
Genre: Literary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
An extraordinary friendship. A lifetime of stories.
Their last one begins here.


Life is short. No-one knows that better than seventeen-year-old Lenni living on the terminal ward. But as she is about to learn, it’s not only what you make of life that matters, but who you share it with.

Dodging doctor’s orders, she joins an art class where she bumps into fellow patient Margot, a rebel-hearted eight-three-year-old from the next ward. Their bond is instant as they realize that together they have lived an astonishing one hundred years.

To celebrate their shared century, they decide to paint their life stories: of growing old and staying young, of giving joy, of receiving kindness, of losing love, of finding the person who is everything.

As their extraordinary friendship deepens, it becomes vividly clear that life is not done with Lenni and Margot yet.

Fiercely alive, disarmingly funny and brimming with tenderness, THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LENNI AND MARGOT unwraps the extraordinary gift of life even when it is about to be taken away, and revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we need them most.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
This book just sounds extraordinarily beautiful. I’m expecting to feel all the feelings when I read this.
I’m taking part in the blog tour for this book and my review will be published on February 21st.
Buy the book*

The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson

Published: February 18th
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Horror Fiction, Police Procedural

SYNOPSIS:
There’s a serial killer on the loose.
When bodies start washing up along the banks of the River Thames, DI Henley fears it is the work of Peter Olivier, the notorious Jigsaw Killer. But it canโ€™t be him; Olivier is already behind bars, and Henley was the one who put him there.

The race is on before more bodies are found.
Sheโ€™d hoped sheโ€™d never have to see his face again, but Henley knows Olivier might be the best chance they have at stopping the copycat killer. But when Olivier learns of the new murders, helping Henley is the last thing on his mind . . .

Will it take a killer to catch the killer?
Now all bets are off, and the race is on to catch the killer before the body count rises. But who will get there first โ€“ Henley, or the Jigsaw Killer?

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
This debut thriller sounds like just the kind of dark, twisted crime fiction that makes my heart sing.
Buy the book*

Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Published: February 18th
Publisher: Mantle
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
From the pleasure palaces and gin-shops of Covent Garden to the elegant townhouses of Mayfair, Laura Shepherd-Robinsonโ€™s Daughters of Night follows Caroline Corsham as she seeks justice for a murdered woman whom London society would rather forget . . .

Luciaโ€™s fingers found her own. She gazed at Caro as if from a distance. Her lips parted, her words a whisper: โ€˜He knows.โ€™

London, 1782. Desperate for her politician husband to return home from France, Caroline โ€˜Caroโ€™ Corsham is already in a state of anxiety when she finds a well-dressed woman mortally wounded in the bowers of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The Bow Street constables are swift to act, until they discover that the deceased woman was a highly paid prostitute, at which point they cease to care entirely. But Caro has motives of her own for wanting to see justice done, and so sets out to solve the crime herself. Enlisting the help of thieftaker Peregrine Child, their inquiry delves into the hidden corners of Georgian society, a world of artifice, deception and secret lives.

But with many gentlemen refusing to speak about their dealings with the dead woman, and Caroโ€™s own reputation under threat, finding the killer will be harder, and more treacherous, than she can know . . .

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
Once again, this is a case of Historical Fiction and Mystery equaling book heaven for me. I was gutted when it was delayed from June last year and can’t wait to finally read it.
Buy the book*

The Upstairs House by Julia Fine

Published: February 23rd*
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Literary Fiction
*This is a US release. There is currently no UK publication details.

SYNOPSIS:
Buzzfeed Most Anticipated Book of the Year – A The Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year

In this provocative meditation on new motherhood–Shirley Jackson meets The Awakening–a postpartum woman’s psychological unraveling becomes intertwined with the ghostly appearance of children’s book writer Margaret Wise Brown.

There’s a madwoman upstairs, and only Megan Weiler can see her.

Ravaged and sore from giving birth to her first child, Megan is mostly raising her newborn alone while her husband travels for work. Physically exhausted and mentally drained, she’s also wracked with guilt over her unfinished dissertation–a thesis on mid-century children’s literature.

Enter a new upstairs neighbor: the ghost of quixotic children’s book writer Margaret Wise Brown–author of the beloved classic Goodnight Moon–whose existence no one else will acknowledge. It seems Margaret has unfinished business with her former lover, the once-famous socialite and actress Michael Strange, and is determined to draw Megan into the fray. As Michael joins the haunting, Megan finds herself caught in the wake of a supernatural power struggle–and until she can find a way to quiet these spirits, she and her newborn daughter are in terrible danger.

Using Megan’s postpartum haunting as a powerful metaphor for a woman’s fraught relationship with her body and mind, Julia Fine once again delivers an imaginative and “barely restrained, careful musing on female desire, loneliness, and hereditary inheritances” (Washington Post).

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
This sounds like a truly amazing novel. Though this book doesn’t yet have a publisher or release date in the UK, it is available to purchase through Amazon and other retailers and I have no doubt I’ll end up paying the high price of the hardback as I’m so impatient to have this book in my hands.
Buy the book*

Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker

Published: February 25th
Publisher: Viper Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
THIS MOTHER’S DAY YOU WILL CALL HER MUMMY

Glamorous, beautiful Mummy has everything a woman could want. Except for a daughter of her very own. So when she sees Kim – heavily pregnant, glued to her phone and ignoring her eldest child in a busy shop – she does what anyone would do. She takes her. But foul-mouthed little Tonya is not the daughter that Mummy was hoping for.

As Tonya fiercely resists Mummy’s attempts to make her into the perfect child, Kim is demonised by the media as a ‘scummy mummy’, who deserves to have her other children taken too. Haunted by memories of her own childhood and refusing to play by the media’s rules, Kim begins to spiral, turning on those who love her.

Though they are worlds apart, Mummy and Kim have more in common than they could possibly imagine. But it is five-year-old Tonya who is caught in the middle…

CALL ME MUMMY. IT’LL BE BETTER IF YOU DO.

WHY I’M ANTICIPATING THIS BOOK:
Though it was the synopsis that caught my interest and this sounds like the kind of book that is right up my street, part of my excitement for this debut is the author herself. Tina Baker is one of the most hilarious women I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting online and regularly makes my day with her videos and pictures.
My review will be published February 18th as part of the blog tour.
Buy the book*

Are any of these books on your wishlist? Which one will you read first? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading Bibliophiles. Until next time, Emma xx

*All links in this post are affiliate links.

Categories
Blog Tours book reviews

Blog Tour Review: โ€˜Elevator Pitchโ€™ by Linwood Barclay โญโญโญโญ.5

IMG_20190907_124832

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the shocking new thriller from Linwood Barclay. Thank you to HQ, NetGalley and Linwood Barclay for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and to HQBloggers for the invitation to be part of the blog tour.ย ย 

SYNOPSIS:

โ€œYou should read ELEVATOR PITCH by Linwood Barclay as soon as possible. Itโ€™s one hell of a suspense novelโ€ STEPHEN KINGย 

It all begins on Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds non-stop to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds and then plummets.

Right to the bottom of the shaft.

It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world – and the nationโ€™s capital of media, finance and entertainment – is plunged into chaos.

Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And itโ€™s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men and women working in offices across the city refuse to leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.

Who is behind this? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find out.

Pulsing with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible..and will chill readers to the bone.

ElevatorPitch-Cover-0319-UK

MY REVIEW:

Wow! What a spectacular, breathtaking, terrifying and thrilling ride! As Iโ€™m writing this, it’s been over a day since I finished reading this book and Iโ€™m yet to pick up my jaw from the floor.ย 

Chaos. Panic. Fear. Sabotage. Murder. The ingredients are all there for an electrifying thriller and Linwood Barclay has delivered his best yet. Iโ€™ve never had a problem with elevators, my health problems mean I need to use them and the last few years itโ€™s been a fun game finding which ones bear my nephewโ€™s name – Otis. But now I will never look at one the same and whenever I get in one I knowย  I will be apprehensive, thinking of this book and wishing I could take the stairsโ€ฆ

On Monday office tower in Manhattan is the scene of a terrible accident. Four people are killed when an elevator seems to malfunction and plummets to the ground. On Tuesday another elevator loses control leaving one person dead. Officials are concerned. Elevator deaths are rare and two in two days seems like more than a coincidence. On Wednesday two more are killed in another elevator incident and itโ€™s now obvious that someone is deliberately sabotaging them. With no idea where they might strike next, New York is in chaos as officials search for the culprit and the reason for the attacks. Also looking for answers is reporter Barbara Matheson. What does the perpetrator want, what will it take to stop them, and how many will have died before someone does?

With a multifaceted plot and numerous characters, a lot of the first part of the book was a little slower paced as they were introduced and the scene was set. As the tension ramped up the pieces slowly began to fit together and the picture began to emerge. My mind was a whirl of questions as I tried to figure out who was terrorising the city and why. In the jarring prologue he sets the tone for what he will make you will feel. It was like I was there with the characters and I felt every bit of the crushing panic and terror as they realise theyโ€™re trapped, the desperate hope of rescue, the horror and dread as they accept thereโ€™s no way out and, finally, the hope to simply survive.

Masterfully plotted, gripping, taut and twisty, this had me on the edge of my seat. As we got closer to the finale I couldnโ€™t read fast enough, the suspense almost painful as I waited for the perpetrator to be unveiled. I was sure I knew who it was only to be blindsided when the identity was revealed.ย 

It was the little things that I enjoyed most reading this book.I loved the depth he brought to his characters, especially those who play a larger role. They each had a complex honesty about them that made them feel real and I even cared about the fate of those I didnโ€™t like. Thatโ€™s how good he is! The author has a talent for being able to connect you with a minor character instantly that was used to perfection. We would be given little snapshots of their lives and watch as those everyday, mundane decisions you think nothing of, were leading them unawares to catastrophe. As the crisis spread we followed people affected in different ways, saw people fleeing landmarks fearing theyโ€™d be targeted next, and watched as some heard the word โ€˜terroristโ€™ and used it as an excuse for racism. These short stories were some of the most poignant moments of the book and brought home that the victims arenโ€™t nobodies but people with full lives that will be mourned.ย  Another thing I loved was the imagery of New York. While itโ€™s familiar from pictures, movies and TV, itโ€™s somewhere Iโ€™ve never visited. Yet the author paints such a vivid picture of life in the city, I felt like I was there.

Elevator Pitch is, in two words, bloody brilliant! It could easily be the plot of a blockbuster film and showcases why Linwood Barclay is an internationally best-selling author. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys suspense, as long as you donโ€™t mind a few grisly crime scenes thrown in. Just make sure youโ€™ve got lots of time to spare and no plans to ride an elevator in the near future.

Available now from your favourite bookseller.

Linwood-Barclay-HR

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Linwood Barclay is an international bestselling crime and thriller author with over twenty critically acclaimed novels to his name, including the phenomenal number one bestseller No Time For Goodbye. Every Linwood Barclay book is a masterclass in characterisation, plot and the killer twist, and with sales of over 7 million copies globally, his books have been sold in more than 39 countries around the world and he can count Stephen King, Shari Lapena and Peter James among his many fans. Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, and Linwood wrote the screenplay for the film based on his bestselling novel Never Saw It Coming. He is currently working with eOne to turn the Promise Falls trilogy into a series.