New Titles Fiction August 2018 (arrived in July)

• Adventure
• Fantasy
• Fiction
• Graphic novel
• Historical
• Horror
• Mystery
• New Zealand Fiction
• Romance
• Saga
• Science fiction
• Western

ADVENTURE

The greater good, Tim Ayliffe.

Battered war correspondent John Bailey is haunted by nightmares of being kidnapped and tortured in Iraq and he's drinking too much to drown the memories. As he battles to get his life back together, a story breaks that will force him back into the spotlight and into the crosshairs of a deadly international player.

First family, David Baldacci.

Summoned by First Lady Jane Cox to rescue her niece from kidnappers, investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are pushed to the limit in a search that is hampered by the highest levels of government security and Michelle's personal demons.

A lonely resurrection: a John Rain novel, Barry Eisler.

All John Rain wants is to get out of the killing business. But with his discretion, his reliability, and his unique talent for death by "natural causes," no one is willing to let him just retire.

Extremis: a John Rain novel, Barry Eisler.

Hoping to reconcile with the mother of his child, reluctant contract killer John Rain inadvertently places them in the path of dangerous enemies and is forced to recruit the help of his nemesis from the Japanese FBI and an ex-marine sniper.

Winner take all: a John Rain novel, Barry Eisler.

John Rain has disappeared to Brazil to escape the killing business and the enemies encircling him in Japan. But the CIA isn't willing to lose its premier 'natural causes' contract killer, and they force Rain to take on a high-risk assignment: eliminate a ruthless arms dealer operating in Southeast Asia.

Safe houses: a novel, Dan Fesperman.

Helen Abell oversees the CIA's network of safe houses. But during her routine inspection of an agency property, she overhears a meeting between two people speaking a coded language that hints at shadowy realities and then, before much longer, she witnesses a second unauthorized encounter, one that will place her in the sightlines of the most ruthless and powerful man in the CIA.

Ultimatum, Frank Gardner..

After helping to avert a deadly attack on London, Luke Carlton has been welcomed onboard as a full-fledged member of SIS and is assigned the role of case officer running agents. He is sent undercover into Iran to turn and recruit an officer in that country's infamous Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The encircling sea, Adrian Goldsworthy.

Flavius Ferox, Briton turned Roman centurion, is charged with keeping Rome's empire intact. But from his base at Vindolanda on the northern frontier of Britannia, he feels enemies closing in on him from all sides. Ambitious leaders await the chance to carve out empires of their own.

Nightfall Berlin, Jack Grimwood.

In 1986, news that East-West nuclear-arms negotiations are taking place lead many to believe the Cold War may finally be thawing. For British intelligence officer Major Tom Fox, however, it is business as usual.

Archangel, Robert Harris.

When historian Fluke Kelso learns of the existence of a secret notebook belonging to Josef Stalin he is determined to track it down, whatever the consequences. From the violent political intrigue and decadence of modern Moscow he heads north; to the vast forests surrounding the White Sea port of Archangel, and a terrifying encounter with Russia's unburied past.

Skyjack, K.J. Howe.

When Thea Paris's flight is hijacked over the Libyan Desert, her first priority is the two former child soldiers she is escorting to a new life in London. As an international kidnap specialist, Thea Paris negotiates for hostage release as part of her job. She knows one wrong move could lead to deadly consequences.

Reaper: ghost target: a sniper novel, Nicholas Irving.

Vick Harwood is an esteemed sniper, when he is knocked out under mortar attack in Afghanistan. He wakes up back in the United States with little memory of what happened, his spotter and gun both unrecovered from the battlefield. But when a series of assassinations start occurring in the area, Harwood can't explain why he just happens to be nearby for each killing, or how a sniper rifle that matches the description of the one he lost seems to be involved.

Tall order, Stephen Leather.

He is one of the world's most ruthless terrorists, codenamed Saladin. He plans and executes devastating attacks and then, ghost-like, he disappears. Ten years ago he blew a plane out of the sky above New York and now he's struck again, killing dozens in a London strike.

Tom Clancy's Line of sight, Mike Maden.

Twenty years ago, Dr. Kathy Ryan restored the eyesight of a young Bosnian girl who had been injured during an attack in the Balkan War. Today, her son, Jack Ryan Jr. has decided to surprise his mother by tracking down the young lady. What he finds shocks them both.

Capture or kill, Tom Marcus.

Matt Logan is an MI5 agent for the British government. Working on the frontline of counter-terrorism in the UK he's trained to protect its citizens against all threats. When two brothers known operationally as 'Iron Sword' and 'Stone Fist' are suspected of plotting a major terrorist event, Logan and his team work undercover to track them down.

Dead drift, Dani Pettrey.

Seven years ago, operative Luke Gallagher vanished to become part of an elite team set on capturing a deadly terrorist. When Luke returns to face those he left behind, their help becomes his only hope of stopping his target's latest threat of an attack that would shake America to its core.

Exit strategy: a novel, Charlton Pettus.

For crooked politicians, military brass from third-world nations, and white-collar criminals looking to avoid either prison or a deadlier form of payback, there's Exit Strategy. With just one call, Exit Strategy helps these wealthy-but-wanted types disappear completely.

Firefly, Henry Porter.

From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen-year-old boy is making his way to Germany and to safety. Codenamed "Firefly," he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won't live to pass on the information.

The pharaoh key: a Gideon Crew novel, Douglas Preston.

Gideon Crew is shocked when his former employer, Eli Glinn, vanishes without a trace, and Glinn's high-tech lab Effective Engineering Solutions shuts down seemingly overnight. Crew is contacted by one of his former coworkers at EES, Manuel Garza, who has a bead on one final treasure hinted at in EES's final case, the long-awaited translation of a centuries-old stone tablet of a previously undiscovered civilization: The Phaistos Disc.

At risk, Stella Rimington.

For MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle the nagging complications of her private life are quickly forgotten at Monday's Counter-Terrorist meeting. An invisible may have entered mainland Britain. An 'invisible'; a terrorist who is an ethnic native of the target country, who can cross its borders unchecked and move about unnoticed, is the ultimate nightmare.

The Iberian flame, Julian Stockwin.

1808. With the Peninsula in turmoil, Napoleon Bonaparte signs a treaty to dismember Portugal and put his brother, Joseph, on the throne of Spain. Meanwhile, Nicholas Renzi, the Lord Farndon, undertakes a deadly mission to stir up partisan unrest to disrupt this Napoleonic alliance with Spain.

Spymaster: a thriller, Brad Thor.

Across Europe, a secret organization has begun attacking diplomats. Back in the United States, a foreign ally demands the identity of a highly placed covert asset. In the balance hang the ingredients for all-out war.

The price you pay, Aidan Truhen.

Jack Price's drug operation is the Amazon of cocaine trafficking, and no one can breach his complex security system. But then: His downstairs neighbor is professionally executed. That the murder is a sign for Jack becomes perfectly clear a few days later when he arrives home and is beaten to a bloody pulp by a squad of enforcers. Now revenge is on his mind, and he reaches out to his ex-Soviet associate

The Greek wall, Nicolas Verdan.

A severed head is found on the Greek border near a wall planned to stop Middle Eastern immigrants crossing from Turkey. Intelligence Agent Evangelos wants the truth about the murder, human trafficking into Greece, and about the corruption surrounding the wall's construction.

FANTASY

Iron and magic, Ilona Andrews.

Hugh d'Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be.

A veil of spears, Bradley Beaulieu.

Since the Night of Endless Swords, a bloody battle the Kings of Sharakhai narrowly won, the kings have been hounding the rebels known as the Moonless Host. Many have been forced to flee the city, including Ãeda, who discovers that the King of Sloth is raising his army to challenge the other kings' rule.

Twelve kings in Sharakhai, Bradley P. Beaulieu.

Sharakhai has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings–cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite company of Blade Maidens and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule.

With blood upon the sand, Bradley P. Bealieu.

Ãeda, now a Blade Maiden in service to the kings of Sharakhai, trains as one of their elite warriors, gleaning secrets even as they send her on covert missions to further their rule.

By fire above, Robyn Bennis.

"All's fair in love and war," according to airship captain Josette Dupre, until her hometown of Durum becomes occupied by the enemy and her mother a prisoner of war. Then it becomes, "Nothing's fair except bombing those Vins to high hell." Before she can rescue her town, however, Josette must maneuver her way through the nest of overstuffed vipers that make up Garnia's military and royal leaders in order to drum up support.

The guns above, Robyn Bennis.

They say it's not the fall that kills you. For Josette Dupre, the Corps' first female airship captain, it might just be a bullet in the back. On top of patrolling the front lines, she must also contend with a crew who doubts her expertise, a new airship that is an untested deathtrap, and the foppish aristocrat Lord Bernat, a gambler and shameless flirt with the military know-how of a thimble.

Brief cases: the Dresden files, Jim Butcher.

Magic. It can get a guy killed. Return to the world of the Dresden Files with Harry Dresden (the only wizard in the Chicago phone book) and friends as they solve supernatural mysteries, protect the helpless, and fight evil.

Kushiel's chosen, Jacqueline Carey.

Phèdre nó Delaunay, now ruler of her people, faces new challenges, including court intrigues, factions out to remove her from her throne, the return of the ruthless Melisande Sharizai, and a conspiracy that could destroy all humankind.

Starless, Jacqueline Carey.

Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert. In a world where exiled gods live among mortals, the dark god Miasmus is rising, intent on nothing less than wholesale destruction.

Tomorrow: a novel, Damian Dibben.

Tomorrow, a 217-year-old dog, is searching for his lost master. He has traveled through the courts and battlefields of Europe, and through the centuries, in search of the man who granted him immortality. Befriending both animals and humans, Tomorrow falls in love only once, and gains insight into both the strength and frailties of the human spirit.

The book of hidden things, Francesco Dimitri.

Four old school friends have a pact: to meet up every year in the small town in Puglia they grew up in. Art, the charismatic leader of the group and creator of the pact, insists that the agreement must remain unshakable and enduring. But this year, he never shows up.

Armistice, Lara Elena Donnelly.

Armistice returns to Donnelly's ravishing 1930s Art Deco-tinged fantasy world of Amberlough with a decadent, tumultuous mixture of sex, politics, and spies. In a tropical country where shadowy political affairs lurk behind-the-scenes of its glamorous film industry, three people maneuver inside a high stakes game of statecraft and espionage.

Miss subways, David Duchovny.

Emer is just a woman living in New York City who takes the subway, buys ice cream from the bodega on the corner, has writerly aspirations, and lives with her boyfriend, Con. But is this life she lives the only path she's on?

Venom in the veins: an elemental assassin book, Jennifer Estep.

Blood might be thicker than water, but venom is stronger than just about anything. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet, simple dinner with friends but nothing is ever nice, quiet, or simple when you're Gin Blanco, the Spider, notorious assassin and current queen of the Ashland underworld.

What should be wild: a novel, Julia Fine.

Cursed. Maisie Cothay has never known the feel of human flesh: born with the power to kill or resurrect at her slightest touch, she has spent her childhood sequestered in her family's manor at the edge of a mysterious forest. Maisie's father; an anthropologist who sees her as more experiment than daughter, has warned her not to venture into the wood.

Legendary, Stephanie Garber.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn't yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver.

The hills have spies, Mercedes Lackey.

Heralds Mags and Amily must continue to protect the realm of Valdemar while raising their children and preparing them to follow in their footsteps. The oldest, Justyn, has the Gift of animal Mindspeech; he can talk to animals and persuade them to act as he wishes. Justyn's dream is to follow in his father's footsteps as a Herald Spy, but has yet to be Chosen by his horse companion.

Ravencry, Ed McDonald.

Dark immortals never rest. Neither do the Blackwings who stand against them. Haunted by the bodies he's left in his wake, Blackwing captain Ryhalt Galharrow hunts spies, traitors and sorcerers along a blighted frontier of bad magic and vicious, mutated creatures.

Outcasts of order, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Beltur, an Order mage, discovers he possesses frightening powers not seen for hundreds of years. With his new abilities, he survives the war in Elparta and saves the lives of all. However, victory comes with a price.

The wizard's harvest table, Thomas Mooney.

To silence utterers of magic, to expel imps from the nostrils, the wizard's harvest table lists a set of runes as ancient as the secretive mountain kingdom of Lual. They are the kind of runes that heal, summon, banish, possess. But their power has had its day, and entire worlds are starting to fray and fail.

From unseen fire, Cass Morris.

The Dictator is dead; long live the Republic. But whose Republic will it be? Senators, generals, and elemental mages vie for the power to shape the future of the city of Aven.

Spinning silver, Naomi Novik.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

The empire of ashes, Anthony Ryan.

For hundreds of years, the Ironship Trading Syndicate was fueled by drake blood, and protected by the Blood-blessed, those few who could drink it and wield fearsome powers. But now the very thing that sustained the corporate world threatens to destroy it.

The thousand deaths of Ardor Benn, Tyler Whitesides.

Ardor Benn is no ordinary thief. Rakish, ambitious, and master of wildly complex heists, he styles himself a Ruse Artist Extraordinaire. When a priest hires him for the most daring ruse yet, Ardor knows he'll need more than quick wit and sleight of hand.

FICTION

Elsewhere, home, Leila Aboulela.

A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy Sudanese student in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with a Scottish man. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favourite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity.

The last of the wine: Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice continues, Marsha Altman.

Edmund Bingley is trying to divorce at a time when it takes no less than an Act of Parliament and even a king can't acquire one. His brother Charlie is hopelessly in love with someone he can never marry. And the last Darcy daughter is giving her living legend of a protective father a run for his money.

The trials of George Wickham the Younger: Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice continues, Marsha Altman.

Twenty-five years have passed since the death of the notorious scoundrel George Wickham, but his legacy carries on. His young son George must now make his way through a society where his father's name is not unknown, and his family history not as much of a secret as he would like it to be.

Lullaby road: a novel, James Anderson.

Truck driver Ben Jones, still in mourning over a heartbreaking loss, is just trying to get through another season of treacherous roads and sudden snowfall without an accident. But then he finds a mute Hispanic child who has been abandoned at a truck stop along his route and bearing a note that simply reads "Please Ben. Watch my son. His name is Juan" And then at the bottom, a few more hastily scribbled words. "Bad Trouble. Tell no one.".

I am not Joe Donovan, Robyn Anderson.

When the tech whizz stole the memories of a dead activist she had no idea that within a few days their creator would be pushing himself and his opinions onto the Zontaguard soldier who'd offered them a home. For the tech it's a gut wrenching failure.

The High Tide Club, Mary Kay Andrews.

When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons attorney Brooke Trappnell to her barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never actually met her. Josephine's cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter, but why enlist Brooke and not the prestigious Atlanta law firm she has used for years?

The storm: a novel, Arif Anwar.

Seamlessly interweaves five love stories that, together, chronicle sixty years of Bangladeshi history.

Us against you, Fredrik Backman.

A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don't expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they've always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it's a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded.

The book ninja, Ali Berg.

Frankie Rose is desperate for love. It's not that she hasn't tried - Frankie is the queen of online dating. She decides to embark on the ultimate love experiment, inspired by her job at The Little Brunswick Bookshop. Frankie plants her favourite books on trains with her contact details in order to meet the sophisticated and charming man of her dreams.

The lost family: a novel, Jenna Blum.

In 1960s Manhattan, patrons flock to Masha's for the delicious food, impeccable service, and dashing owner and chef, Peter Rashkin. Peter suffers from the terrible guilt of surviving Auschwitz while his wife and two young daughters perished. Although he is considered the most eligible bachelor in town, Peter has resigned himself to a solitary life.

The Mandela plot, Kenneth Bonert.

As the 1980s draw to a close, South Africa is a maelstrom of political violence with the apartheid regime in its death throes. Young Martin Helger is the struggling odd duck at an elite private boys school in Johannesburg, with his father a rough-handed scrap dealer and his brother a mysterious legend. When a beautiful and manipulative American arrives at the family home, Martin soon finds himself wrenched out of his isolated bubble and thrust into the raw heart of the struggle.

Sealed, Naomi Booth.

Heavily pregnant Alice and her partner Pete are done with the city. Above all, Alice is haunted by the rumours of the skin sealing epidemic starting to infect the urban population. Surely their new remote mountain house will offer safety, a place to forget the nightmares and start their little family.

How do you like me now?, Holly Bourne.

'Turning thirty is like playing musical chairs. The music stops, and everyone just marries whoever they happen to be sitting on.' Who the fck is Tori Bailey? There's no doubt that Tori is winning the game of life. She's inspired millions of women to stick two fingers up at convention with her bestselling memoir, and she has the perfect relationship to boot. But Tori Bailey has been living a lie.

A family romance, Anita Brookner.

Paul and Henrietta Manning and their solitary, academic daughter Jane have nothing in common with Dolly, widow of Henrietta's brother. Corseted and painted, Dolly is a frivolous, superficial woman, who has little time for those without that inestimable quality; charm. Jane, in particular, falls into this category, especially after the death of her parents. But Jane has money, and a conscience, and these bind her to Dolly.

A start in life, Anita Brookner.

Ruth Weiss, an academic, is beautiful, intelligent and lonley. Studying the heroines of Balzac in order to discover where her own childhood and adult life has gone awry, she seeks not salvation but enlightenment. Yet in revisiting her London upbringing, her friendships and doomed Parisian love affairs, she wonders if perhaps there might not be a chance for a new start in life.

Incidents in the Rue Laugier, Anita Brookner.

The heroine is Maud Gonthier, 18, sent for the summer to an aunt in the country. There she meets two Englishmen, David and his friend, Edward. She has an affair with David, which continues in a rented apartment in Paris, becomes pregnant and he deserts her. Whereupon Edward takes over, going as far as to marry her, but that won't bring Maud happiness either.

Social creature, Tara Isabella Burton.

Louise Wilson is an expert at just barely making it. She's mastered the tricks and shortcuts that a penniless small-town girl needs to survive in New York City. When she meets the beautiful, wealthy, eccentric, and aimless Lavinia Williams, she thinks her dreams of a cosmopolitan existence may be coming true.

The lost for words bookshop, Stephanie Butland.

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. Into her hiding place; the bookstore where she works, come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries. Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?

A month of Sundays, Liz Byrski.

For over ten years, Ros, Adele, Judy and Simone have been in an online book club, but they have never met face to face. Until now. Determined to enjoy her imminent retirement, Adele invites her fellow bibliophiles to help her house-sit in the Blue Mountains.

The half sister, Catherine Chanter.

When she was sixteen, Diana left her unhappy family and set out to make a new life. Twenty-five years later, she has arrived. Recently married to Edmund, there are just the two of them living at Wynhope, his family's historic country home, both happy for the past to be locked away and for the future to be free from responsibility.

The last cruise: a novel, Kate Christensen.

The 1950s vintage ocean liner Queen Isabella is making her final voyage before heading to the scrapyard. For the guests on board, among them Christine Thorne, a former journalist turned Maine farmer, it's a chance to experience the bygone mid-20th century era of decadent luxury cruising, complete with fine dining, classic highballs, string quartets, and sophisticated jazz.

The glitch: a novel, Elisabeth Cohen.

Shelley Stone runs the company Conch, the manufacturer of a small wearable device that attaches to the user's ear and whispers helpful advice and prompts. She's married with two small children. But when Shelley meets a young woman named Shelley Stone who has the exact same scar on her shoulder, Shelley has to wonder.

The songs of us, Emma Cooper.

If Melody hadn't run out of de-icer that day, she would never have slipped and banged her head. She wouldn't be left with a condition that makes her sing when she's nervous. And she definitely wouldn't have belted out the Arctic Monkeys' 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' in assembly at her son's school.

The tyranny of lost things, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett.

Having dropped out of university, Harmony returns to the site of the urban commune where she lived as a child, now divided into flats. She rents a room in the hope of uncovering the source of her nightmares about a redheaded woman who haunts the house and, her obsession with lost objects from her childhood.

Falling short, Lex Coulton.

Frances Pilgrim's father went missing when she was five, and ever since all sorts of things have been going astray: car keys, promotions, a series of underwhelming and unsuitable boyfriends. Now here she is, thirty-bloody-nine, teaching Shakespeare to rowdy sixth formers and still losing things.

Agnes & the hitman, Jennifer Crusie.

Rescued during a break-in by an unlikely hit man who has been directed by the mob to protect her, food writer Cranky Agnes finds her situation further complicated by a missing cache of money that becomes a key factor in a Southern mafia wedding.

Boy swallows universe, Trent Dalton.

Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way.

Where the light gets in, Lucy Dillon.

'You know those cracks in your heart, Lorna, where things didn't work out, but you picked yourself up and carried on? That's where the fear gets out. And where the light gets in.' It was Betty, defiant to the end, who sent Lorna back to Longhampton.

Disoriental, Négar Djavadi.

Kimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father in France. Now twenty-five and facing the future she has built for herself as well as the prospect of a new generation, Kimiâ is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors, which come to her in unstoppable, uncontainable waves.

Hold, Michael Donkor.

As a housegirl, Belinda has learnt the right way to polish water glasses, to wash and fold a hundred handkerchiefs, and to keep a tight lid on memories of the village she left behind when she came to Kumasi. Mary is still learning the rules. Eleven-years old and irrepressible, the young housegirl-in-training is the little sister Belinda never had.

Sign, Colin Dray.

Sam is a young boy recovering from an operation that has left him unable to speak ever again. He lives with his mother and sister Katie, all dutifully cared for by Aunt Dettie, their father's sister, who believes herself sympathetic to his pain. After an unexpected phone call, Dettie packs Sam and Katie into the backseat of her car and tells them that she's taking them to Perth to be reunited with their father.

Regrets only: a novel, Erin Duffy.

Claire thought she had everything a woman was supposed to want: a loving husband, a newborn son, a beautiful home in the suburbs. Then she walked in on her husband canoodling with their realtor in their newly renovated kitchen, and in an instant, her perfect life came crashing down.

Girl, balancing & other stories, Helen Dunmore.

In this remarkable, innovative and moving final collection of stories, Helen Dunmore explores the fragile ties between familial love, motherhood, friendship and grief.

In the distance, Hernan Diaz.

A young Swedish boy finds himself in penniless and alone in California. He travels East in search of his brother, moving on foot against the great push to the West. Driven back over and over again on his journey through vast expanses, Håkan meets naturalists, criminals, religious fanatics, Indians, and lawmen, and his exploits turn him into a legend.

Murmur, Will Eaves.

Taking its cue from the arrest and legally enforced chemical castration of the mathematician Alan Turing, Murmur is the account of a man who responds to intolerable physical and mental stress with love, honour and a rigorous, unsentimental curiosity about the ways in which we perceive ourselves and the world.

Jagua Nana, Cyprian Ekwensi.

Jagua Nana, no longer young but still irresistible, lives a life of hedonism in Lagos: men, parties, fights, wild nights in the Tropicana with her handsome young boyfriend Freddie. Rushing from one experience to the next in search of something she can't quite grasp, Jagua finds herself embroiled in shady politics, caught up in village feuds and a source of drama wherever she goes.

Small country, Gaëll Faye.

Burundi, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel, life in his comfortable expat neighbourhood of Bujumbura with his French father, Rwandan mother and little sister, Ana, is something close to paradise. But dark clouds are gathering over this small country, and soon their peaceful idyll will shatter when Burundi and neighbouring Rwanda are brutally hit by war and genocide.

How the light gets in, Clare Fisher.

A book of very short stories that explores the spaces between light and dark and how we find our way from one to the other.

The house swap: a novel, Rebecca Fleet.

When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap; from their city apartment to a house in a leafy, upscale London suburb, they jump at the chance for a week away from home, their son, and the tensions that have pushed their marriage to the brink.

When the curtain falls, Carrie Hope Fletcher.

In 1952 two young lovers meet, in secret, at the beautiful Southern Cross theatre in the very heart of London's West End. Their relationship is made up of clandestine meetings and stolen moments because there is someone who will make them suffer if he discovers she is no longer 'his'.

No live files remain, András Forgách.

He wanted to understand the past. Now he must live with the truth. Thirty years after the fall of communism in Hungary, as Andras Forgach investigated his family's past he uncovered a horrifying truth. His mother, whom he deeply loved, had been an informant for the Kadar regime.

A love made new, Kathleen Fuller.

Abigail Schrock knows God can make all things new, but does that include her broken heart? It seems as if everyone is falling in love in Birch Creek, including Abigail Schrock. But when heartbreak descends on her already fragile world, she can't help but feel that if she'd only been a little prettier, she could be on her way down the wedding aisle.

The promise of a letter, Kathleen Fuller.

Roman is on the verge of leaving the Amish ways. Feeling confined by the strict rules, he longs to do something more with his life. But when things don't go as planned, Roman's prospects outside of the community dwindle.

Words from the heart, Kathleen Fuller.

Ivy Yoder hasn't heard from John King in over a year. She knows it's time to let go of the idea that they will one day marry, but she's humiliated to be one of the oldest single women in her Amish community of Birch Creek.

Written in love, Kathleen Fuller.

Jalon Chupp has a past he isn't proud to claim. He's worked hard to overcome his youthful mistakes, and he has recommitted himself to his faith. When he receives a sweet note included in a piece of misdirected mail, he can't help but write back.

The ensemble, Aja Gabel.

Jana. Brit. Daniel. Henry. They would never have been friends if they hadn't needed each other. They would never have found each other except for the art which drew them together. They would never have become family without their love for the music, for each other.

Ayiti, Roxane Gay.

A married couple seeking boat passage to America prepares to leave their homeland. A mother takes a foreign soldier into her home as a boarder, and into her bed. And a woman conceives a daughter on the bank of a river while fleeing a horrific massacre, a daughter who later moves to America for a new life but is perpetually haunted by the mysterious scent of blood.

A terrible country: a novel, Keith Gessen.

When Andrei Kaplan's older brother Dima insists that Andrei return to Moscow to care for their ailing grandmother, Andrei must take stock of his life in New York.

The mum who'd had enough, Fiona Gibson.

After sixteen years of marriage, Nate and Sinead Turner have a nice life. They like their jobs, they like their house and they love their son Flynn. Until, one morning, he wakes to find Sinead gone and a note lying on the kitchen table listing all the things he does wrong or doesn't do at all.

All our yesterdays, Natalia Ginzburg.

This powerful novel is set against the background of Italy from 1939 to 1944. In the foreground are the members of two families. One is rich, the other is not. In All Our Yesterdays, as in all of Ms. Ginzburg's novels, terrible things happen; suicide, murder, air raids, and bombings.

The hunters, Kat Gordon.

Theo Miller is fourteen years old, bright and ambitious, when he steps off the train into the simmering heat and uproar of 1920s Nairobi. Neither he, nor his earnest younger sister Maud, is prepared for the turbulent mix of joy and pain their new life in Kenya will bring.

Laura & Emma: a novel, Kate Greathead.

Laura hails from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, born into old money, drifting aimlessly into her early thirties. One weekend in 1981 she meets Jefferson. The two sleep together. He vanishes. And Laura realizes she's pregnant.

True: a novel, Karl Taro Greenfeld.

True has a singular path: to be the greatest soccer player of her generation. But to realize her dream, she'll need to make the Under-17 National Team, then the Residency Program, and the ultimate: the US Women's National Team.

Florida, Lauren Groff.

A collection of stories spanning centuries of time in mercurial Florida examines the decisions and connections behind life-changing events in characters ranging from two abandoned sisters to a conflicted family woman.

Her pretty face, Robyn Harding.

Frances Metcalfe is struggling to stay afloat. A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she thought that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into Forrester's world.

The ghost, Robert Harris.

Britain's former prime minister is holed up in a remote, ocean-front house in America, struggling to finish his memoirs, when his long-term assistant drowns. A professional ghostwriter is sent out to rescue the project; a man more used to working with fading rock stars and minor celebrities than ex-world leaders.

The perfect couple: a novel, Elin Hilderbrand.

It's wedding season on Nantucket. When one lavish wedding ends in disaster before it can even begin, with the bride-to-be discovered dead in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony, everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect.

The cowgirl, Anthea Hodgson.

Teddy Broderick has lived on her farm almost all her life, committed to the rhythms of the country seeding, harvest, shearing and the twice daily milking of the cow her grandmother has looked after for years, but she dreams of another life, in the wide world away from the confines of her property.

Days of awe, A.M. Homes.

A.M. Homes returns with signature humour and psychological accuracy, to tell thirteen stories exposing the heart of an uneasy 21st-century America.

The gradual disappearance of Jane Ashland, Nicolai Houm.

An American woman wakes up alone in a tent in the Norwegian mountains. Outside a storm rages and the fog is dense. Her phone is dead. She doesn't have a map or a compass or any food. How she ended up there, and the tragic events of her past emerges over the course of this slim, gripping novel.

Orchid & the wasp: a novel, Caoilinn Hughes.

A tough, thoughtful, and savvy opportunist, Gael is determined to live life on her own terms. Raised in Dublin by single-minded, careerist parents, Gael learns early how a person's ambitions and ideals can be compromised, and she refuses to let her vulnerable, unwell younger brother, Guthrie, suffer such sacrifices.

The key, Kathryn Hughes.

1956. It's Ellen Crosby's first day as a student nurse at Ambergate County Lunatic Asylum. When she meets a young woman committed by her father, and a pioneering physician keen to try out the various 'cures' for mental illness, little does Ellen know that a choice she will make is to change all their lives for ever

The after wife, Cass Hunter.

When Rachel and Aidan fell in love, they thought it was forever. She was a brilliant, high-flying scientist. He was her loving and supportive husband. Now she's gone, and Aidan must carry on and raise their daughter alone.

Heaven adjacent: a novel, Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Roseanna Chaldecott spent her life as a high-powered lawyer in Manhattan. But when her best friend and law partner dies suddenly, something snaps. Unsure of her future, Roseanna heads upstate on one tank of gas and with no plans to return.

Go ask Fannie Farmer, Elisabeth Hyde.

Though the adult Blair siblings have agreed to keep things calm and amiable on a trip to stay with their elderly father, each arrives, in true Blair style, with a secret agenda. But plans are derailed when Lizzie, the youngest, turns up late with a burnt hand, impending criminal charges, and a damp family cookbook.

The perfume burned his eyes: a novel, Michael Imperioli.

Matthew is a sixteen-year-old living in Jackson Heights, Queens, in 1976. After he loses his two most important male role models, his father and grandfather, his mother uses her inheritance to uproot Matthew and herself to a posh apartment building in Manhattan.

You me everything, Catherine Isaac.

Jess and her ten-year-old son William set off to spend the summer at Château de Roussignol, deep in the rich, sunlit hills of the Dordogne. There, Jess's ex-boyfriend and William's father, Adam, runs a beautiful hotel in a restored castle. Jess is bowled over by what Adam has accomplished, but she's in France for a much more urgent reason: to make Adam connect with his own son.

Sugarbread: a novel, Balli Kaur Jaswal.

Pin must not become like her mother, but nobody will tell her why. She seeks clues in Ma's cooking when she's not fighting other battles, being a bursary scholarship girl at an elite school and facing racial taunts from the bus uncle.

The inheritance, Sheena Kalayil.

Ben Martin is charming and successful: an academic who has raised money for children's charities and worked with women's agencies in sub-Saharan Africa, a devoted husband. But when his brother Francois, an artist based in Lisbon, finds out about Ben's affair with a student, Rita Kalungal, he finds himself feeling responsible both for his brother's actions as well as Rita.

My mother's secret, Sanjida Kay.

Lizzie Bradshaw. A student from the Lake District, forced to work away from home, who witnesses a terrible crime. But who will ultimately pay the price? Emma Taylor. A mother, a wife, and a woman with a dangerous secret. Can she keep her beloved family safely together? Stella Taylor. A disaffected teenager, determined to discover what her mother is hiding. But how far will she go to uncover the truth? And one man, powerful, manipulative and cunning, who controls all their destinies.

Ok, Mr Field, Katherine Kilalea.

A pianist has an accident and is forced to abandon his career. He and his wife move to South Africa to live in a house he has developed an obsession with-a house built by a South African architect inspired by Le Corbusier. Within weeks of arriving, Mr Field's wife inexplicably leaves him, to which he has responds with curious lassitude.

To the moon and back: a novel, Karen Kingsbury.

Brady Bradshaw was a child when the Oklahoma City bombing took his mother from him. Every year, Brady visits the site on the anniversary to remember her. A decade ago on that day, he met Jenna Phillips, who was also a child when her parents were killed in the attack.

Little disasters, Randall Klein.

Outside the Brooklyn hospital where their wives, Rebecca and Jenny, had exiled them from the delivery room, Paul turns to Michael for a favor.

Brother in ice, Alicia Kopf.

This hybrid novel; part research notes, part fictionalised diary, and part travelogue, uses the stories of polar exploration to make sense of the protagonist's own concerns as she comes of age as an artist, a daughter, and a sister to an autistic brother.

Another side of paradise: a novel, Sally Koslow.

In 1937 Hollywood, gossip columnist Sheilah Graham's star is on the rise, while literary wonder boy F. Scott Fitzgerald's career is slowly drowning in booze. But the once-famous author, desperate to make money penning scripts for the silver screen, is charismatic enough to attract the gorgeous Miss Graham, a woman who exposes the secrets of others while carefully guarding her own.

Aliens & anorexia, Chris Kraus.

Unfolding like a set of Chinese boxes, with storytelling and philosophy informing each other, the novel weaves together the lives of earnest visionaries and failed artists.

Half gods, Akil Kumarasamy.

A startlingly beautiful debut, Half Gods brings together the exiled, the disappeared, the seekers. Following the fractured origins and destines of two brothers named after demigods from the ancient epic the Mahabharata, we meet a family struggling with the reverberations of the past in their lives.

Gabriel's gift, Hanif Kureishi.

Gabriel's father, a washed-up rock musician, has been chucked out of the house by Gabriel's mother, who works nights and sleeps days. Lonely Gabriel finds solace in a mysterious connection to his deceased twin, Archie, and in his gift for producing real objects simply by drawing them. Then a chance visit with rock star Lester Jones, his father's former band mate, provides Gabriel with a tool that might help mend his family.

The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner.

It's 2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women's Correctional Facility, deep in California's Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed, the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson. Inside is a new reality, thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive.

Crudo, Olivia Laing.

From a Tuscan hotel for the super-rich to a Brexit-paralysed UK, Kathy spends the first summer of her 40s trying to adjust to making a lifelong commitment just as Trump is tweeting the world into nuclear war. But it's not only Kathy who's changing.

Arkady, Patrick Langley.

Brothers Jackson and Frank live on the margins of a big urban sprawl. From abandoned tower blocks to gleaming skyscrapers, their city is brutal, beautiful and divided. As tensions bubble to the surface and the teeming metropolis is pushed to the brink, the young brothers sail off in search of the Red Citadel and its promise of another way of life.

French rhapsody, Antoine Laurain.

Middle-aged doctor Alain Massoulier has received a life-changing letter, thirty-three years too late. Lost in the Paris postal system for decades, the letter from Polydor, dated 1983, offers a recording contract to The Holograms, in which Alain played lead guitar. Back then The Holograms had believed in their cutting-edge sound.

The portrait, Antoine Laurain.

Avid antiques collector Pierre-François Chaumont unearths the find of a lifetime at a Paris auction house: an eighteenth-century portrait of a gentleman who looks just like him. Researching into the painting's history, he has the chance to abandon his tedious existence and walk into a brand new life.

The red notebook, Antoine Laurain.

Bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned handbag on a Parisian street and feels compelled to return it to its owner. The bag contains no phone or contact information. But a small red notebook with handwritten thoughts and jottings reveals a person that Laurent would very much like to meet. Without even a name to go on, how is he to find one woman in a city of millions?

Number one Chinese restaurant: a novel, Lillian Li.

The Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland, is not only a beloved go-to setting for hunger pangs and celebrations; it is its own world, inhabited by waiters and kitchen staff who have been fighting, loving, and aging within its walls for decades. When disaster strikes, this working family's controlled chaos is set loose, forcing each character to confront the conflicts that fast-paced restaurant life has kept at bay.

An ocean of minutes, Thea Lim.

America is in the grip of a deadly flu pandemic. When Frank catches the virus, his girlfriend Polly will do whatever it takes to save him, even if it means risking everything. She agrees to a radical plan; time travel has been invented in the future to thwart the virus.

Graffiti palace, A. G. Lombardo.

It's August 1965 and Los Angeles is scorching - and when white police officers arrest an ordinary black Angeleno named Marquette Frye, they light the touchpaper on six days of rioting. Graffiti Palace follows young African-American graffiti expert Americo Monk as he tries to get home through the chaos, telling the secret history of the riots, and the unfolding story of Los Angeles and black America, along the way.

Come west and see: stories, Maxim Loskutoff.

In an isolated region of Idaho, Montana, and eastern Oregon known as the Redoubt, an armed occupation of a wildlife refuge is escalating into civil war. Against this backdrop, twelve stories of ordinary lives explore the loneliness, fragility, and heartbreak inherent to love.

The first century after Beatrice, Amin Maalouf.

A French entomologist, attending a symposium in Cairo, finds a curious kind of bean being on a market stall. It is claimed the beans, derived from the scarab beetle, have magic powers; specifically the power to guarantee the birth of a male infant, and when the entomologist does some research in to the matter, discovering the incidence of female birth has become increasingly rare, he is left in no doubt that the world has entered intoa critical phase of its history.

The water cure, Sophie MacKintosh.

Once upon a time, damaged women came here to be cured. We took them in, fed them glasses of our clean, good water, let them scream at the waves till their lips split like ripe fruit. Now no one is left but my sisters and me. King died a year ago, quite suddenly. Mother has vanished, no one knows where. And the safe compound they built around us, far away from the toxic world, has finally been breached.

Ike and Kay, James MacManus.

In 1942, Kay Summersby's life is changed forever when she is conscripted to drive General Eisenhower on his fact-finding visit to wartime London. Despite Eisenhower's marriage to Mamie, the pair takes an immediate liking to each other and he buys Kay a rare wartime luxury: a box of chocolates.

The great believers, Rebecca Makkai.

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico's funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself.

A weekend in New York, Benjamin Markovits.

Paul Essinger is a mid-ranking tennis professional on the ATP tour. His girlfriend Dana is an ex-model and photographer, and the mother of their two-year-old son, Cal. Together they form a tableau of the contented upper-middle-class New York family. But summer storms are blowing through Manhattan, and Paul's parents have come to stay in the build-up to the US Open.

Metamorphica, Zachary Mason.

Zachary Mason's Metamorphica transforms Ovid's epic poem of endless transformation. It reimagines the stories of Narcissus, Pygmalion and Galatea, Midas and Atalanta, and strings them together like the stars in constellations, even Ovid becomes a story.

Cloudbursts: collected and new stories, Thomas McGuane.

Thirty-eight stories drawn from Thomas McGuane's much-lauded previous collections, and another seven entirely new pieces appearing for the first time in book form.

A ton of malice: the half-life of an Irish punk in London, Barry McKinley.

March, 1979. Sid Vicious is dead, Margaret Thatcher is very much alive, and Barry has just arrived in London. Twenty years old, Irish and angry, he cons his way into a job at Sellafield, home of Britain's military-grade plutonium.

Love & ruin, Paula McLain.

In 1937, courageous and independent Martha Gellhorn travels to Madrid to report on the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War, and finds herself drawn to the stories of ordinary people caught in devastating conflict. She also finds herself unexpectedly, and uncontrollably, falling in love with Ernest Hemingway.

The hour of separation, Katharine McMahon.

March, 1939. Estelle is the headstrong daughter of Fleur, a Resistance legend who disappeared during the Great War. Only child Christa longs to break free from London suburbia, and fantasises about the Belgian heroine she believes saved her father. When Estelle comes looking for the truth about her mother, the two women become friends.

Daisy's vintage Cornish camper van, Ali McNamara.

Welcome to the gorgeous Cornish town of St Felix, where there's magic in the air. When Ana inherits a broken-down camper van from her best friend, she takes the chance for a quick trip to Cornwall; some sea air and fish and chips on the beach is just the tonic she needs. But St Felix has bigger plans for Ana.

The anniversary, Roisin Meaney.

Lily and Charlie separated after twenty-six years of marriage. Now, with their divorce due to come through in a matter of months, Lily, newly engaged to the dependable Joe, decides to get the whole family together for one last weekend at Land's End, their old summer home by the sea.

Deadly echoes, Nancy Mehl.

After a youth filled with tragedy and upheaval, Sarah Miller's life is finally settled with all echoes of the past silent at last. She happily calls Sanctuary her home and spends her days teaching at the local school. Sarah's joy at her recent reunion with her sister, Hannah, and meeting the niece she didn't know she had is too soon interrupted when Deputy Sheriff Paul Gleason informs Sarah her sister has been killed.

Gathering shadows, Nancy Mehl.

Wynter Evans is a promising young reporter for a television station in St. Louis, but even a bright future doesn't take away her pain over the disappearance of her brother nine years ago. So when she stumbles across a photograph of a boy with an eerie resemblance to him, she can't pass up the chance to track him down.

A place for us, Fatima Farheen Mirza.

A Place for Us catches an Indian Muslim family as they prepare for their eldest daughter's wedding. But as Hadia's marriage; one chosen of love, not tradition, gathers the family back together, there is only one thing on their minds: can Amar, the estranged younger brother of the bride, be trusted to behave himself after three years away?

Beach house reunion, Mary Alice Monroe.

At Cara Rutledge's home on Isle of Palms, everything is comfortingly the same, yet rife with painful memories. Only through reconnecting with family, friends, and the rhythms of the lowcountry can Cara release the hold of the past and open herself to the possibility of a new love, career, and hope for the future.

Those other women: a novel, Nicola Moriarty.

Reeling from deceptions involving the people she loves, Poppy feels as if her world has tipped sideways. Maybe her colleague Annalise is right - Poppy needs to let loose and blow off some steam. What better way to vent than social media? With Annalise, she creates a private Facebook group that quickly takes off.

Like a fading shadow, Antonio Muñoz Molina.

On April 4th 1968, Martin Luther King was murdered by a man named James Earl Ray. Before Ray's capture and sentencing to 99 years' imprisonment, he evaded the FBI for two months as he crossed the globe under various aliases. At the heart of his story is Lisbon, where he spent ten days attempting to acquire an Angolan visa.

Convenience store woman, Sayaka Murata.

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person.

He is mine and I have no other, Rebecca O'Connor.

In 1990s-small-town Ireland, amid the sweaty school discos and first fumblings of adolescence, fifteen-year-old Lani Devine falls in love with Leon Brady, whose mother is buried in the cemetery next to Lani's house. Lani is haunted by the stories of thirty-five orphaned girls, buried in an unmarked grave near Leon's mother.

Promising young women, Caroline O'Donoghue.

Jane Peters is an adrift twenty-something by day, and a world-weary agony aunt by night. But when an office party goes too far, Jane dissolves into the high- stakes world of being the Other Woman: a role she has the right advice for, but not the smarts to follow through on.

Good trouble: stories, Joseph O'Neill.

From bourgeois facial-hair trends to parental sleep deprivation, Joseph O'Neill closely observes the mores of his characters, whose vacillations and second thoughts expose the mysterious pettiness, underlying violence, and, sometimes, surprising beauty of ordinary life in the early twenty-first century.

When Katie met Cassidy, Camille Perri.

Katie Daniels is a perfection-seeking 28-year-old lawyer living the New York dream. She's engaged to charming art curator Paul Michael, has successfully made her way up the ladder at a multinational law firm, and has a hold on apartments in Soho and the West Village. But the rug is swept from under Katie when she is suddenly dumped by her fiancé, Paul Michael, leaving her devastated and completely lost.

Visible empire, Hannah Pittard.

It's a humid summer day when the phones begin to ring: disaster has struck. Air France Flight 007, which had been chartered to ferry home more than one hundred of Atlanta's cultural leaders following a luxurious arts-oriented tour of Europe, crashed shortly after takeoff in Paris. In one fell swoop, most of the city's wealthiest residents perished.

A question of upbringing, Anthony Powell.

A Dance To The Music Of Time chronicles the lives of over three hundred characters, and is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England. This first novel in the sequence follows Nicholas Jenkins, Kenneth Widmerpool and others, as they negotiate the intellectual, cultural and social hurdles which stand between them and the 'Acceptance World'.

The Baghdad clock, Shahad al-R?w?.

Baghdad, 1991. In the midst of the first Gulf War, a young Iraqi girl huddles with her neighbours in an air raid shelter. There, she meets Nadia. The two girls quickly become best friends and together they imagine a world not torn apart by civil war, sharing their dreams, their hopes and their desires, and their first loves.

The peacock summer, Hannah Richell.

Two summers, decades apart. Two women whose lives are forever entwined. And a house that holds the secrets that could free them both.

Eagle & crane, Suzanne Rindell.

Louis Thorn and Haruto "Harry" Yamada, Eagle and Crane, are the star attractions of Earl Shaw's Flying Circus, a daredevil (and not exactly legal) flying act that traverses Depression-era California. The young men have a complicated relationship, thanks to the Thorn family's belief that the Yamadas; Japanese immigrants, stole land that should have stayed in the Thorn family.

My abandonment, Peter Rock.

Thirteen-year-old Caroline and her father live in Forest Park, an enormous nature preserve. Day to day, they live in an elaborate cave shelter, wash in a nearby creek, store perishables at the water's edge, tend a garden and even keep a library of sorts. Once a week they go to the city to buy groceries and otherwise merge with the civilised world. But one small mistake allows a jogger to discover them, which derails their entire existence.

A room at the manor, Julie Shackman.

When her Maltese love affair turns sour, Lara McDonald returns to her quiet Scottish hometown of Fairview heartbroken, yet determined; instead of looking for another PR position, she decides to follow her dream of baking. She impulsively takes the first job offered and finds herself working for local dragon Kitty Walker in her tea room, True Brew.

The love of a family, Rebecca Shaw.

Myra and Graham Butler lead the kind of lives where everything is neat, tidy and predictable. That is until they're named guardians to their young nephews. Myra makes it clear she doesn't want the responsibility.

The occasional virgin, Hanan Al-Shaykh.

Huda and Yvonne are on holiday in the Italian Riviera, enjoying the sun and the sparkling Mediterranean, reminiscent of their childhoods in Lebanon. Yvonne doesn't know what she's doing wrong, either there or back in London where she runs an ad agency; she seems to spend her time waiting for the right man to come along and not leave again just as quickly.

How far we fall, Jane Shemilt.

Meeting Albie gave Beth a fresh start; a chance to leave her past behind. Now she has her new husband; an ambitious, talented young neurosurgeon. Their marriage gives Beth the safe haven she's always wanted, with just one catch. Albie has no idea of the secrets she's keeping.

The book of M, Peng Shepherd.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man's shadow disappears; an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Grace after Henry, Eithne Shortall.

Grace sees her boyfriend Henry everywhere. She doesn't really, of course, because Henry is dead. He died six months earlier, leaving a huge hole in Grace's life and in her heart. But then Henry turns up to fix the boiler one evening, and Grace can't decide if she's hallucinating or has suddenly developed psychic powers.

Days of wonder, Keith Stuart.

Tom, single father to Hannah, is the manager of a tiny local theatre. On the same day each year, he and its colourful cast of part-time actors have staged a fantastical production just for his little girl, a moment of magic to make her childhood unforgettable.

Elefant, Martin Suter.

What would you do if you woke up to see a living, breathing, tiny, glowing, pink elephant? If you're anything like Schoch, who lives on the streets of Zurich and is decidedly down on his luck, you might well think it's time to put away the bottle before your hallucinations get any stranger, and go back to sleep. But what if the tiny pink elephant is still there when you wake up?

The valley at the centre of the world, Malachy Tallack.

Shetland: a place of sheep and soil, of harsh weather, close ties and an age-old way of life. A place where David has lived all his life, like his father and grandfather before him, but where he abides only in the present moment. A place where Sandy, a newcomer but already a crofter, may have finally found a home. A place that Alice has fled to after the death of her husband.

What we were promised, Lucy Tan.

After years of chasing the American dream, the Zhen family has moved back to China. Settling into a luxurious serviced apartment in Shanghai, Wei, Lina, and their daughter, Karen, join an elite community of Chinese-born, Western-educated professionals who have returned to a radically transformed city.

The last children of Tokyo, Yoko Tawada.

Yoshiro celebrated his hundredth birthday many years ago. He is one of the many aged-elderly in Japan and he might, he thinks, live forever. Life for Yoshiro isn't as simple as it used to be. Still, Yoshiro's only real worry is the future of his great-grandson Mumei, who, like other children of his generation, was born frail and grey-haired, old before he was ever young.

Rock and roll is life: the true story of the Helium Kids by one who was there: a novel, D. J. Taylor.

Back in their late '60s and early '70s heyday the Helium Kids appeared on Top of the Tops on 27 separate occasions, and were nearly, but not quite, as big as the Beatles and the Stones. Three decades later, in the big house on the outskirts of Norwich, Nick Du Pont is looking back on the rollercoaster years he spent as their publicist in a world of licensed excess and lurking tragedy.

House of stone, Novuyo Rosa Tshuma.

Bukhosi has gone missing. His father, Abed, and his mother, Agnes, cling to the hope that he has run away, rather than been murdered by government thugs. Only the lodger seems to have any idea.

When elephants fight, Majok Tulba.

In the South Sudanese village of Pacong, Juba is young and old at the same time. Forced to grow up quickly in the civil war, he is nonetheless fun-loving as well as smart. But his little world cannot deflect the conflict raging around it and soon he must flee the life he loves.

Clock dance, Anne Tyler.

Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life. In 1967, she is a schoolgirl coping with her mother's sudden disappearance. In 1977, she is a college coed considering a marriage proposal. In 1997, she is a young widow trying to piece her life back together. And in 2017, she yearns to be a grandmother, yet the prospect is dimming.

Sea of memories, Fiona Valpy.

When Kendra first visits her ailing grandmother, Ella has only one request: that she write her story down, before she forgets. In 1937, seventeen-year-old Ella's life changes forever when she is sent to spend the summer on the beautiful and windswept Ile de Re and meets the charismatic, creative Christophe.

The beekeeper's promise, Fiona Valpy.

Heartbroken and hoping for a new start, Abi Howes takes a summer job in rural France at the Chateau Bellevue. The old chateau echoes with voices from the past, and soon Abi finds herself drawn to one remarkable woman's story, a story that could change the course of her summer; and her life.

We see the stars, Kate van Hooft.

Simon is an eleven-year old boy who lives in a world of silence, lists and numbers. He hasn't spoken for years and he doesn't know why. Everyone at school thinks he's weird and his only friends in the world are his brother Davey and Superman, who's always there when he needs him.

Break.up, Joanna Walsh.

The internet has collapsed the boundaries of time, space, and desire. However far apart lovers are, they can instantly be present. So can they ever really break up? This is the question Walsh's narrator must reckon with as she travels across Europe after the end of a love affair conducted largely online.

The man who didn't call, Rosie Walsh.

When Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love. To Sarah, it seems as though her life has finally begun. And it's mutual: It's as though Eddie has been waiting for her, too. Sarah has never been so certain of anything.

Other people's houses, Abbi Waxman.

Frances Bloom knows her cousin is hiding her desire for another baby from her spouse; Bill Horton's wife is mysteriously missing, and now this! After the shock of seeing Anne Porter in all her extramarital glory, Frances vows to stay in her own lane. But that's a notion easier said than done when Anne's husband throws her out a couple of days later.

When life gives you lululemons: a novel, Lauren Weisberger.

Emily Charlton, ex-assistant to legendary fashion editor Miranda Priestly, does not do the suburbs. She's a successful stylist and image consultant to Hollywood's stars but, thanks to the Snapchatting millennials stealing precious business, her career's under threat.

The life list of Adrian Mandrick: a novel, Chris White.

Anesthesiologist Adrian Mandrick is filled with contradictory impulses. He wants to be a good husband to his wife and a good father to his children; he wants to forgive his once-beloved mother for the crime she committed and the long lost father who accused her.

Attrib. and other stories, Eley Williams.

This debut collection from Eley Williams centres upon the difficulties of communication and the way in which one's thoughts; absurd, encompassing, oblique, may never be fully communicable and yet can overwhelm.

Tell the machine goodnight, Katie Williams.

Happiness is Pearl's job. Using the revolutionary Apricity machine, every day she provides customers with personalized recommendations for their emotional wellbeing; from eating more tangerines to cutting off a finger, from getting a dog to getting a divorce. But Pearl is starting to wonder whether it's even possible to measure an emotion.

The mercy seat, Elizabeth Hartley Winthrop.

As the sun begins to set over Louisiana one October day in 1943, a young black man faces the final hours of his life: at midnight, eighteen-year-old Willie Jones will be executed by electric chair for raping a white girl; a crime some believe he did not commit.

The emperor of shoes: a novel, Spencer Wise.

Alex Cohen, a twenty-six-year-old Jewish Bostonian, is living in southern China, where his father runs their family-owned shoe factory. Alex reluctantly assumes the helm of the company, but as he explores the plant's vast floors and assembly lines, he comes to a grim realization.

Return to Roseglen, Helene Young.

On her remote North Queensland cattle station, Ivy Dunmore is facing the end of her days. Increasingly frail, all she holds dear is threatened not just by crippling drought, but by jealousy and greed; and that's from within her own family.

Meet me at the museum, Anne Youngson.

When Tina Hopgood writes a letter of regret to a man she has never met, she doesn't expect a reply. When Anders Larsen, a lonely museum curator, answers it, nor does he. They're both searching for something, they just don't know it yet.

The warriors, Sol Yurick.

On the 4th of July, a sweltering summer s night, 100,000 New York gang members gather in the Bronx as Cyrus, leader of the city s most powerful gang, proposes that they form an invincible army. When Cyrus is killed, the Coney Island Dominators, the Family, are framed for his murder.

Beautiful music, Michael Zadoorian.

Danny Yzemski is a husky, pop radio-loving loner balancing a dysfunctional homelife with the sudden harsh realities of freshman year at a high school marked by racial turbulence. But after tragedy strikes the family, Danny's mother becomes increasingly erratic and angry about the seismic cultural shifts unfolding in her city and the world.

GRAPHIC NOVEL

Redlands. Volume 1, Sisters by blood, Jordie Bellaire.

A mysterious coven of witches runs the town of Redlands, Florida and in order to stay on top, sacrifices must be made. When possession turns into friendship, and when love evolves into spite, the witches' reign is challenged.

Jessica Jones. [3], Return of the Purple Man, Brian Michael Bendis.

Jessica Jones is many things: Private investigator. Defender, Survivor, Mother. But when the most terrifying villain she's ever faced come back into her life, Jessica finds herself reliving her worst nightmare.

Batwoman. Vol. 2, Wonderland, Marguerite Bennett.

Return to the brief flash of the future seen in Batwoman: Rebirth and meet Commander Kane, a battle-hardened version of Batwoman! Hurting from battles unknown, she's taken control of the deadly Colony and declared war on Gotham City! What could possibly cause Kate Kane to bring the battlefront to her home?

Sabrina, Nick Drnaso.

When Sabrina disappears, an airman in the U.S. Air Force is drawn into a web of suppositions, wild theories, and outright lies. Sabrina depicts a modern world devoid of personal interaction and responsibility, where relationships are stripped of intimacy through glowing computer screens.

Planetary. Book one, Warren Ellis.

This book collects the adventures of Elijah Snow, a powerful hundred-year-old man, Jakita Wagner, an extremely powerful but bored woman, and the Drummer, a man with the ability to communicate with machines.

Planetary. Book two, Warren Ellis.

For Elijah Snow, it's time to look at everything Planetary has encountered during the past year and start piecing it all together. What is the Hark Corporation? Why do they sometimes work with the Four? And the biggest question of all: why are the Four currently in Australia, building a giant gun atop Ayers Rock?

The wild storm. Volume 2, Warren Ellis.

Jack Hawksmoor, Jenny Sparks, the Doctor and more arrive on the scene as the cold war between the covert agency that oversees crises on Earth; International Operations, and the one that manages threats from outer space; Skywatch, heats up. But why is the carefully negotiated peace falling apart in a series of bloody encounters and high-tech infiltrations?

Inu x Boku SS. 2, Cocoa Fujiwara.

Since moving to Maison de Ayakashi, Ririchiyo has resisted lowering her guard around her fellow boarders and classmates. The feeling of being different, of being abnormal, is something all who possess demon blood share.

Inu x Boku SS. 3, Cocoa Fujiwara.

The residents of Ayakashi Hall decide to make a time capsule and bury it on the grounds, so everyone writes letters to their "future selves" to be included within. As Ririchiyo composes her letter, she reflects on her time with Soushi, realizing how much she has grown with the fox at her side.

I am a hero. Omnibus 6, Kengo Hanazawa.

A global zombie outbreak threatens to wipe out civilization! In Japan, some of the infected have been able to hold onto their humanity while exhibiting superhuman ZQN powers. As Hiromi evolves, affected by a zombie baby's bite, will Hideo also exhibit powers linked to the bite on his hand?

Princess jellyfish. 08, Akiko Higashimura.

Kuranosuke charges onwards for Tsukimi's retrieval mission! Hanamori-san also makes his way to Singapore, for less noble reasons, but the biggest showstopper is Shu, who decides to propose; for real this time! Meanwhile, the Jelly Fish line may not be dead yet, but who's crazy enough to take its reins?

Princess jellyfish. 09, Akiko Higashimura.

As a brand, Jelly Fish comes to the conclusion that their dresses are for Amars, by Amars. After embracing the fact that they make clothes for weridos, Tsukimi and the crew must figure out how to see their styles! In true Amars fashion, these beloved otaku girls and eccentric boys struggle and fumble their way to their happy endings!

Tokyo ghoul: re. 5, Sui Ishida.

The Qs Squad once again proves its worth by going undercover to collect vital Ghoul information, allowing the CCG finally move forward with a massive eradication campaign.

Requiem of the rose king. 8, Aya Kanno.

Ten years after the king's death, things have changed for Richard. The siblings' feud has depend, and the witch Jane tempts the new king with her mysterious charms. In this swirl of human desire, Richard reaches toward the future and rises again in defense of the York family!

X-O Manowar. [Vol. 4], Visigoth, Matt Kindt.

Aric of Dacia's bone-crushing climb to the throne of an alien world earned him scores of allies; and a legion of scorned enemies. Now, stripped of his crown and cast out of his kingdom, the man known as X-O Manowar must return to his roots as a sword-wielding warrior of Earth if he is to survive the relentless band of intergalactic bounty hunters that have been hired to kill him cold.

Old Man Logan. [4], Old monsters, Jeff Lemire.

Jubilee is missing! And to find her, Logan will have to team up with a supernatural super-team; the Howling Commandos! But as a monster war begins, will the old man who was Wolverine be prepared for what this investigation will uncover?

Old man Logan. [5], Past lives, Jeff Lemire.

A failure from the past haunts Logan and to correct his mistakes, he'll need magical assistance! But when he faces opposition, the man who was once Wolverine will turn to an unlikely, and potentially treacherous, ally!

Luisa now and then, Carole Maurel.

At 32, Luisa encounters her 15-year-old self in this sensitive, bold story about self-acceptance and sexuality. Single, and having left behind her dream to become a renowned photographer, she is struggling to find out who she is and what she wants.

Joe Golem occult detective. [2], The outer dark, Mike Mignola.

Occult detective Joe Golem invesitgates two supernatural mysteries, while demons from his past seep into the present. When men are being driven mad by otherworldy voices in their heads, Joe's search for an explanation leads to another dimension, and a dangerous man who wants to harness its power.

The ballad of Halo Jones. Volume 1, Alan Moore.

Bored and frustrated with her life in 50th-century leisure-ghetto housing estate 'The Hoop', 18-year-old everywoman Halo Jones yearns for the infinite sights and sounds of the universe.

After hours. 2, Yuhta Nishio.

Emi Ashiana is 24, unemployed and not really sure what she wants to do with her life. When a friend invites her to a dance club, Emi doesn't expect much. But what she finds will change her world!

Golden kamuy. 5, Satoru Noda.

Sugimoto and Asirpa's hunt for the tattooed treasure map has led them to a fishing village on the coast, where a deranged serial killer lies in wait. Lt. Tsurumi and his renegade soldiers are also hot on their trail, and if he catches up to them there will be guaranteed hell to pay.

Dark days: the road to metal, Scott Snyder.

For years, Batman has been tracking a mystery. He's quietly been pulling a thread, conducting research in secret laboratories across the globe and stowing evidence deep in the Batcave, hidden even from his closest allies.

She-hulk. [3], Jen Walters must die, Mariko Tamaki.

The Leader is back! And the heavy-headed villain has decreed it: Jen Walters must die! On a single-minded mission of destruction, the Leader is using all his gamma-enhanced super-intelligence to strike at her, but is his goal more than simply Jen's death?

Food wars!: shokugeki no soma. 24, Welcome to the final battleground, Yuto Tsukuda.

In order to overturn their classmates' expulsions from Totsuki, Soma, Takumi and Megumi challenge Central to a team shokugeki! The big showdown is set to take place at the final stage for the advancement exams.

HISTORICAL

Brigid: the girl from County Clare, Vicky Adin.

Brigid, the talented eighteen-year-old lacemaker, flees starvation and poverty in 19th century Ireland to seek a better life in Australia. As captivating as she is skilful, she must conquer her innate fears if she is to fulfil her dream.

The king's witch, Tracy Borman.

As she helps to nurse the dying Queen Elizabeth, Frances Gorges longs for the fields and ancient woods of her parents' Hampshire estate, where she has learned to use the flowers and herbs to become a much-loved healer. Frances is happy to stay in her beloved countryside when the new King arrives from Scotland, bringing change, fear and suspicion.

The judge hunter, Christopher Buckley.

Baltasar 'Balty' St. Michel is twenty-four and has no skills and no employment. He gets by on handouts from his brother-in-law Samuel Pepys, an officer in the king's navy. Fed up with his needy relative, Pepys offers Balty a job in the New World. He is to track down two missing judges who were responsible for the execution of the last king, Charles I. When Balty's ship arrives in Boston, he finds a strange country filled with fundamentalist Puritans, saintly Quakers, warring tribes of Indians, and rogues of every stripe. Helped by a man named Huncks, an agent of the Crown with a mysterious past, Balty travels colonial America in search of the missing judges. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Samuel Pepys prepares for a war with the Dutch that fears England has no chance of winning.

Sword of justice, Christian Cameron.

Every mercenary knight for hundreds of miles must sharpen his sword and prepare for battle. But Sir William Gold has other problems. Just to reach Europe, he must capture its most unassailable fortress.

The hornet's nest: a novel of the Revolutionary War, Jimmy Carter.

On their homesteads in Georgia, Ethan and his wife form a friendship with neighbors Kindred Morris and his wife, Mavis. Through Kindred and his young Indian friend Newota, Ethan learns about the frontier and the Native American tribes who are being continually pressed farther inland by settlers. As the eight-year war develops, Ethan and Kindred find themselves in life-and-death combat with opposing forces.

The butcher's daughter, Victoria Glendinning.

It is 1535 and Agnes Peppin leaves her family home in disgrace. Banished and forced to abandon her new-born infant, she is meant to live out her days cloistered behind the walls of the Shaftesbury Abbey. But as Agnes grapples with the complex rules and hierarchies of her new life, King Henry VIII has proclaimed himself the new head of the Church.

The Romanov empress: a novel of Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, C. W. Gortner.

Marrying the Romanov heir, nineteen-year-old Danish princess Minnie becomes empress of Russia and treads a perilous path of compromise in a beloved but resistance-torn country where her son becomes the last tsar.

The optickal illusion: a novel, Rachel Halliburton.

American painter Benjamin West is visited by a dubious duo comprised of a blundering father and vibrant daughter, the Provises, who claim they have a secret that has obsessed painters for centuries: the Venetian techniques of master painter Titian.

The desert nurse, Pamela Hart.

It's 1911, and 21-year-old Evelyn Northey desperately wants to become a doctor. Her father forbids it, withholding the inheritance that would allow her to attend university. At the outbreak of World War I, Evelyn disobeys her father, enlisting as an army nurse bound for Egypt and the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

For the immortal, Emily Hauser.

The Amazons are ruled by their queen, Hippolyta, and live on the farthest edges of the earth, fierce warrior women who ride to battle like men. In Greece, the age of heroes has just begun. The hero, Hercules, has twelve labours to complete, set for him by the Greek Admete, and destined to be the subject of song for thousands of years to come.

Juliet & Romeo, David Hewson.

Two young people meet: Romeo, desperate for love before being sent away to study; and Juliet, facing a forced marriage to a nobleman she doesn't know. Fate and circumstance bring them together in a desperate attempt to thwart their parents with a secret marriage.

Mustard seed, Laila Ibrahim.

Lisbeth Johnson was born into privilege in the antebellum South. Jordan Freedman was born a slave to Mattie, Lisbeth's beloved nurse. The women have an unlikely bond deeper than friendship. Three years after the Civil War, Lisbeth and Mattie are tending their homes and families while Jordan, an aspiring suffragette, teaches at an integrated school.

Lancelot, Giles Kristian.

The legions of Rome are a fading memory. Enemies stalk the fringes of Britain. And Uther Pendragon is dying. Into this fractured and uncertain world the boy is cast, a refugee from fire, murder and betrayal. Yet he is gifted, and under the watchful eyes of Merlin and the Lady Nimue he will hone his talents and begin his journey to manhood.

The ragged lion: a memoir, Allan Massie.

In this critically-acclaimed fictional memoir of Sir Walter Scott, Allan Massie recreates the life and times of one of Scotland's greatest writers, convincingly capturing Scott's humour, stoicism and eccentricity.

A corpse at St Andrew's Chapel: the second chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon, Mel Starr.

Alan, the beadle of the manor of Bampton, had gone out at dusk to seek those who might violate curfew. When, the following morning, he had still not returned home, his young wife Matilda sought out Master Hugh de Singleton, surgeon and bailiff of the manor.

HORROR

The Tall Man, Phoebe Locke.

1990: In the darkest woods, three girls devote themselves to a sinister figure. 2000: A young mother disappears, leaving behind her husband and baby daughter. 2018: A teenage girl is charged with murder, and her trial will shock the world. Three chilling events, connected by the shadow he casts. He is the Tall Man. He can make you special.

The Red Hotel: a Sissy Sawyer novel, Graham Masterton.

Sissy Sawyer, an unredeemed hippy, has an uncanny ability to read the future; and the lives of those she holds dear may soon depend on it.

Doctor Perry, Kirsten McKenzie.

Doctor Perry assures his elderly patients at the Rose Haven Retirement Home that he can offer warmth, sympathy, and understanding. Doctor Perry is a liar.

The dead house: a novel, Billy O'Callaghan.

Perched on an incline, with the land spilling down to a glittering sea, sits a ruined cottage. It calls to Maggie Turner, who is running from her own demons. But this house has a long, grim history, and has known hard living and far too much death. In some places, some things are better left undisturbed.

A guide for murdered children, Sarah Sparrow.

We've heard it said that there is no justice in this world. But what if there really was? What if the souls of murdered children were able to briefly return, inhabit adult bodies and wreak revenge on the monstrous killers who stole their lives?

Kill Creek: a novel, Scott Thomas.

At the end of a dark prairie road, nearly forgotten in the Kansas countryside, is the Finch House. For years it has remained empty, overgrown, abandoned. Soon the door will be opened for the first time in decades. But something is waiting, lurking in the shadows, anxious to meet its new guests.

The cabin at the end of the world: a novel, Paul Tremblay.

Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, "None of what's going to happen is your fault".

The job of the wasp: a novel, Colin Winnette.

A new arrival at an isolated school for orphaned boys quickly comes to realize there is something wrong with his new home. He hears chilling whispers in the night, his troubled classmates are violent and hostile, and the Headmaster sends cryptic messages, begging his new charge to confess.

MYSTERY

Lost souls: a Cainsville novella, Kelley Armstrong.

The disappearing hitchhiker is one of the hoariest urban legends, and no one knows that better than Gabriel Walsh, a lawyer who grew up on folklore and myth. When Patrick author of books on the supernatural brings him the case of a hitchhiking woman in white who vanished on a country road after accepting a ride from a businessman, Gabriel knows the Cainsville elder is just trying to wheedle into his good graces.

Operation Napoleon, Arnaldur Indridason.

Why is the US Army trying to secretively remove a plame from an Icelandic glacier, and why are they threatened by a young Icelandic rescue volunteer who manages to contact his sister Kristen before disappearing off the face of the earth?

Sidney Sheldon's The silent widow, Tilly Bagshawe.

A young American au pair, Charlotte Clancy, vanishes without a trace in Mexico City. The case is left cold, but its legacy will be devastating. A decade later, LA is shaken by a spate of violent murders. Psychologist Nikki Roberts is the common link between the victims, her patients at the heart of this treacherous web.

If I live, Terri Blackstock.

Casey Cox is still on the run after being indicted for murder. The hunt that began with her bloody footprints escalates, and she's running out of places to hide. Her face is all over the news, and her disguises are no longer enough.

What happened that night: a novel, Sandra Block.

She doesn't remember that night. But she will never be the same. One moment, Dahlia is a successful Harvard student; the next, she wakes up from a party, the victim of a brutal assault. Her life veers into a tailspin, and what's worse, her memory of the attack has been ripped away, leaving a cold rage in its wake.

Murder takes a turn: a Langham and Dupré mystery, Eric Brown.

When Langham's literary agent receives a cryptic letter inviting him to spend the weekend at the grand Cornish home of successful novelist Denbigh Connaught, Charles Elder seems reluctant to attend. What really happened between Elder and Connaught during the summer of 1917, nearly 40 years before, and why has it had such a devastating effect?

Necessity, D.W. Buffa.

When renowned lawyer Joseph Antonelli; the defense attorney takes on the most shocking and controversial case of his storied career, he has no idea of the depths of trouble he's about to get into. A man has murdered the President of the United States, but has invoked the "Law of Necessity," which states that a crime is justified if it serves the greater good and thus prevents a greater harm from occurring.

First to die, Alex Caan.

Bonfire Night and St James's Park is filled with thousands of Anonymous protesters in a stand-off with the police. When a cloaked, Guido Fawkes mask-wearing body is discovered the following morning, Zain Harris and Kate Riley are called in to investigate.

The lost girls of Rome, Donato Carrisi.

A young girl has mysteriously disappeared in Rome. As rain lashes the ancient streets, two men, Clemente and Marcus, sit in a cafe near the Piazza Navona and pore over the details of the case. They are members of the ancient Penitenzeri; a unique Italian team, linked to the Vatican, and trained in the detection of true evil.

A gathering of secrets: a Kate Burkholder novel, Linda Castillo.

When a historic barn burns to the ground in the middle of the night, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called in to investigate. At first, it looks like an accident, but when the body of Daniel Gingerich is found inside burned alive Kate suspects murder.

Second sight, Aoife Clifford.

Eliza Carmody returns home to the country to work on the biggest law case of her career. The only problem is this time she's on the 'wrong side'; defending a large corporation against a bushfire class action by her hometown of Kinsale.

The puppet show, M. W. Craven.

A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District's prehistoric stone circles. He leaves no clues and the police are helpless. When his name is found carved into the charred remains of the third victim, disgraced detective Washington Poe is brought back from suspension and into an investigation he wants no part of.

Crisis at the cathedral: a Dorothy Martin mystery, Jeanne M. Dams.

When Dorothy Martin and her husband Alan meet the wealthy Ahmad family, they are charmed by their courtesy, their perfect English, their delightful children and their commitment to peace. Following a concert at Sherebury Cathedral, the Ahmads offer to host a party afterwards at the Rose and Crown pub. But Mr and Mrs Ahmad don't show up.

Oliver Twist and the mystery of Throate Manor, David Stuart Davies.

Oliver Twist is a young man in his late twenties and employed as a solicitor. He has taken his old associate Jack Dawkins, aka the Artful Dodger, on as his clerk in attempt to civilise him and keep him out of trouble. Together they become embroiled in a dark and dangerous murder mystery.

Pandora's boy, Lindsey Davis.

First century Rome is not the quiet, orderly city that it pretends to be and in this environment, a very clever private informer can thrive. Flavia Albia, daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, is a chip off the old block. She's taken over her father's old profession, and, like him, she occasionally lets her love of a good puzzle get in the way of her common sense.

Loch of the dead, Oscar de Muriel.

A death threat has been made on the life of a young man set to inherit the best part of a vast estate. Inspectors Frey and 'Nine-Nails' McGray answer a desperate plea to offer him protection and leave Edinburgh for the remote Loch Maree.

Stay hidden, Paul Doiron.

A woman has been shot to death by a deer hunter on an island off the coast of Maine. To newly promoted Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, the case seems open and shut. But as soon as he arrives on remote Maquoit Island he discovers mysteries piling up one on top of the other.

Don't believe it, Charlie Donlea.

Did Grace Sebold murder her boyfriend, Julian, while on a Spring Break vacation, or is she a victim of circumstance and poor police work? Grace has spent the last ten years in a St. Lucian prison, and reaches out to filmmaker Sidney Ryan in a last, desperate attempt to prove her innocence.

Take me in, Sabine Durrant.

A hot beach. A young family on holiday. A fatal moment of inattention. And now Dave Jepsom is in their lives. Dave Jepsom, with his muscles, his pale eyes, his expressionless face. He saved their child. How can they ever repay him? Especially as what he seems to want in return is everything.

Gentlemen formerly dressed: a Rowland Sinclair mystery, Sulari Gentill.

After narrowly escaping Nazi terror, Rowland Sinclair and his companions land in London, believing they are safe. But they are wrong. A bizarre murder plunges the hapless Australians into a queer world of British aristocracy, Fascist Blackshirts, illicit love, scandal and spies. A world where gentlemen are not always what they are dressed up to be.

An unfinished murder, Ann Granger.

Mitchell and Markby come out of retirement to crack a cold case. As young children, Josh Browning and his sister, Dilys, stumbled across a dead body while playing on the outskirts of their Cotswold village. Terrified by what they'd seen, neither of them told a soul. Now, twenty years later, Josh finds the dead woman's charm bracelet among his sister's possessions.

The death knock, Elodie Harper.

Three women have been found dead in East Anglia. The police deny a connection. TV news reporter Frankie smells a story. Ava knows that the threat is real. She's been kidnapped by someone claiming to be the killer.

The waters & the wild, DeSales Harrison.

The death of Jessica Burke was easy to explain: a history of depression, a heroin habit, a girl alone in her bathtub. But when her psychoanalyst, Daniel Abend, receives an ominous, handwritten poem, he quickly realizes that this was not just an overdose.

New Yorked, Rob Hart.

Ashley McKenna is a blunt instrument. Find someone, scare someone, carry something; point him at the job, he gets it done. He generally accepts money upon completion, though a bottle of whiskey works, too; he's comfortable working on a barter system. And now he is searching for his girlfriend's killer.

Body & soul, John Harvey.

Frank Elder has become estranged from his troubled daughter. Up until now, Katherine has been unable to come to terms with the terrible events of her past and her father has been powerless to help her. So when Katherine suddenly appears on his doorstep, Elder knows that something is wrong.

Jar of hearts, Jennifer Hillier.

This is story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years.

Firing line: the Blitz detective, Mike Hollow.

Flames leap skyward from a blitzed factory in West Ham as an air raid destroys all in its path. When the blaze threatens neighbouring houses a volunteer fireman breaks in to rescue a trapped resident, but instead finds only the body of a young woman, strangled in her bedroom.

Hold back the dark, Kay Hooper.

Madness has taken ahold of Prosperity, North Carolina. Residents are killing one another, as if in a dream, and waking up with no memory of the monstrous acts they've committed, or why. As the death toll climbs, the local sheriff's department is further rocked by a murder carried out by one of their own.

Still lives: a novel, Maria Hummel.

A young editor at a Los Angeles art museum finds herself pulled into the disturbing and dangerous world of a famous artist who goes missing on the opening night of her exhibition.

Stick together, Sophie Hénaff.

After their successful solving of three cold cases and exposing corruption at the very highest level of the Paris police force, Anne Capestan's squad of misfits and no-hopers should be in a celebratory mood. However, now despised by their colleagues at 36 quai des Orfevres and worried for their future, morale has never been lower among the members of the Awkward Squad. Capestan does her best to motivate her troops.

It all falls down, Sheena Kamal.

Growing up, Nora Watts only knew one parent; her father. When he killed himself, she denied her grief and carried on with her life. Then a chance encounter with a veteran who knew him raises disturbing questions Nora can't ignore, and dark emotions she can't control.

After the monsoon: an Ernst Grip novel, Robert Karjel.

A Swedish army lieutenant drops dead on a shooting range in the desert. Was it an unfortunate accident, or something more nefarious?

The Great Darkness, Jim Kelly.

The opening weeks of the Second World War, and the first blackout The Great Darkness covers southern England, enveloping the city. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke, a wounded hero of the Great War, takes his nightly dip in the cool waters of the Cam. Daylight reveals a corpse on the riverside, the body torn apart by some unspeakable force.

Providence: a novel, Caroline Kepnes.

Best friends in small-town New Hampshire, Jon and Chloe share a bond so intense that it borders on the mystical. But before Jon can declare his love for his soul mate, he is kidnapped, his plans for a normal life permanently dashed.

The crooked staircase: a Jane Hawk novel, Dean Koontz.

Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane's husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but by the secret cabal behind the plot.

The portrait of Molly Dean, Katherine Kovacic.

In 1999, art dealer Alex Clayton stumbles across a lost portrait of Molly Dean, an artist's muse brutally slain in Melbourne in 1930. Alex buys the painting and sets out to uncover more details, but finds there are strange inconsistencies.

Goldstein, Volker Kutscher.

A power struggle is taking place in Berlin's underworld. The American gangster Abraham Goldstein is in residence at the Hotel Excelsior. As a favour to the FBI, the police put him under surveillance with Detective Gereon Rath on the job. As Rath grows bored and takes on a private case for his seedy pal Johann Marlow, he soon finds himself in the middle of a Berlin street war.

Widows, Lynda La Plante.

Dolly Rawlins, Linda Perelli and Shirley Miller are left devastated when their husbands are killed in a security van heist that goes disastrously wrong. When Dolly discovers her husband Harry's bank deposit box, containing a gun, money, and detailed plans for the hijack, she realises that she only has three options.

Half Moon Bay: a novel, Alice LaPlante.

Jane loses everything when her teenage daughter is killed in a senseless accident. Jane is devastated, but sometime later, she makes one tiny stab at a new life: she moves from San Francisco to the tiny seaside town of Half Moon Bay. And then, children begin to disappear. And soon, Jane sees her own pain reflected in all the parents in the town.

Prayers for rain, Dennis Lehane.

When a former client jumps naked from a Boston landmark, private investigator Patrick Kenzie wants to know why. Once a perky young woman in love with life, her suicide is the final fall in a spiral of self-destruction.

What you want to see: a Roxanne Weary mystery, Kristen Lepionka.

Marin Strasser has a secret. Her fiancé thinks her secret is that she's having an affair, and he hires P.I. Roxane Weary to prove it. Then, just days into the case, Marin is shot to death on a side street in an apparent mugging.

Bitter sun, Beth Lewis.

In the heat-wave summer of 1971, four kids find a body by a lake and set out to solve a murder. But they dig too deep and ask too many questions.

April in Paris, 1921: a Kiki Button mystery, Tessa Lunney.

Paris in 1921 is the city of freedom where Kiki Button can drink champagne and dance until dawn. She works as a gossip columnist using every moment to create a new woman from the ashes of her war-worn self. While on the modelling dais, Picasso gives her a job: to find his wife's portrait, which has gone mysteriously missing.

The honey farm: a novel, Harriet Alida Lye.

The drought has discontented the bees. Soil dries into sand; honeycomb stiffens into wax. But Cynthia knows how to breathe life back into her farm: offer it as an artists' colony. But something lies beneath the surface. The Edenic farm is plagued by events that strike Silvia as ominous: taps run red, scalps itch with lice, frogs swarm the pond.

The blood road, Stuart MacBride.

Logan McRae's personal history is hardly squeaky clean, but now that he works for Professional Standards he's policing his fellow officers. When Detective Inspector Bell turns up dead in the driver's seat of a crashed car it's a shock to everyone. Because Bell died two years ago, they buried him. Or they thought they did.

The only café, Linden MacIntyre.

A son tries to solve the mystery of his father's death - a man who tried but could not forget a troubled past in his native Lebanon.

Mr Churchill's secretary, Susan Elia MacNeal.

Winston Churchill has just been sworn in, war rages across the Channel, and the threat of a Blitz looms larger by the day. But none of this deters Maggie Hope. Ensnared in a web of spies, murder, and intrigue, Maggie must work quickly to balance her duty to King and Country with her chances for survival.

Under attack, Edward Marston.

While another daylight air raid batters London, the body of respected businessman and devoted family man Gilbert Donohoe is fished from the Thames, the victim of strangulation. Inspector Marmion struggles with the case alongside his anxieties for his now-missing son, Paul, but the pressure increases when the Metropolitan Police are the target of a series of vicious press attacks.

The Martian Girl: a London mystery, Andrew Martin.

Jean, a failing journalist finds herself entertaining a married man - a handsome, arrogant ex-barrister, universally known by his surname: Coates. Unsure of the relationship and wanting to develop her career, she begins to write a one-woman show about a mind-reader - a woman who performed in the 19th Century under the name The Martian Girl, before disappearing without a trace.

Black fall: a Jessica Blackwood novel, Andrew Mayne.

Magician-turned-FBI agent Jessica Blackwood investigates a series of seemingly unrelated, but equally bizarre and sinister, crimes that lead her to the Colorado desert and a town that has, simply, disappeared.

Caught in time: a Kendra Donovan mystery, Julie McElwain.

Still stranded in 1815, FBI agent Kendra Donovan finds herself on the trail of a vicious murderer with a shocking secret.

The Quaker, Liam McIlvanney.

In the grip of the worst winter for years, the city is brought to its knees by a killer whose name fills the streets with fear: the Quaker. He takes his next victim, the third woman from the same nightclub, and dumps her in the street like rubbish.

Smoke and ashes, Abir Mukherjee.

Haunted by his memories of the Great War, Captain Sam Wyndham is battling a serious addiction to opium that he must keep secret from his superiors in the Calcutta police force. When Sam is summoned to investigate a grisly murder, he is stunned at the sight of the body: he's seen this before.

Displaced, Barbara Nadel.

Irving Levy is a man with few roots and, now that he is terminally ill, is anxious to find anyone to whom he can leave his considerable property. When he learns that there may be more to the disappearance of his younger sister, who disappeared when she was a baby, he engages the services of Hakim and Arnold to investigate.

Incorruptible, Barbara Nadel.

In the backstreets of Istanbul, a young woman's body is found. Dumped in a dustbin and covered in cut flowers, she is the victim of a frenzied and vicious stabbing. Inspector Ikmen discovers that the woman was well known in Istanbul.

Night-gaunts: and other tales of suspense, Joyce Carol Oates.

Revelling in the uncanny, this taut collection stands at the crossroads of sex, violence, and longing - challenging us to interrogate the intersection of these impulses within ourselves.

The lies we tell, Kristina Ohlsson.

Stockholm criminal lawyer Martin Benner is frantically chipping away at the false confession and fabricated evidence linking the deceased Sara Texas to a string of killings. Mio, Sara's four-year-old son, is missing, and Martin has been dragged into finding the child against his will.

The Dante chamber, Matthew Pearl.

The year is 1870. Five years after a series of Dante-inspired killings disrupted Boston, a man is found murdered in the public gardens of London with an enormous stone around his neck etched with a verse from the Divine Comedy.

The real Michael Swann: a novel, Bryan Reardon.

On a typical late summer day, Julia Swann is on the phone with her husband, Michael, when the call abruptly goes dead. Then the news rolls in: A bomb has gone off at Penn Station, where Michael was waiting for a train home.

The other wife, Michael Robotham.

William and Mary have been married sixty years. Both are strong believers in right and wrong. This is what their son, Joe O'Loughlin, has always believed. But when Joe is summoned to the hospital with news that his father has been brutally attacked, his world is turned upside down. Who is the strange woman crying at William's bedside, covered in his blood - a friend, a mistress, a fantasist or a killer?

The last time I lied: a novel, Riley Sager.

A young woman returns to her childhood summer camp to uncover the truth about a tragedy that happened there fifteen years ago.

Something in the water: a novel, Catherine Steadman.

Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. A shocking discovery on a honeymoon in paradise changes the lives of this picture-perfect couple.

The shimmer, Carsten Stroud.

How do you hunt a killer who can go back in time and make sure you're never born? Sergeant Jack Redding is hot on the trail of a time travelling serial killer who rides The Shimmer across the decades. The stakes turn brutal when the chance to alter past events offers Jack a terrible choice.

A shot in the dark, Lynne Truss.

Inspector Steine rather enjoys life as a policeman. No criminals, no crime, no stress.So it's really rather annoying when an ambitious new constable shows up to work and starts investigating a series of burglaries. And it's even more annoying when Constable Twitten sits next to a vicious theatre critic who is promptly shot dead part way through the opening night of a new play.

That old black magic, Cathi Unsworth.

Four boys playing in Hagley Woods, Essex make a gruesome discovery. Inside an enormous elm tree, there is the body of a woman, her mouth stuffed with a length of cloth.

The lizard strategy, Valerio Varesi.

Parma is blanketed in snow, but this pristine, white veneer cannot mask the stench of corruption. Its officials are no longer working for its people; only for themselves, crime is out of control and resentment festers in every district.

White River burning: a Dave Gurney novel, John Verdon.

Tensions have been running high in White River as it approaches the anniversary of a fatal shooting of a black motorist by a local police officer. The racially polarized city is on edge, confronted with angry demonstrations, arson, and looting. In the midst of the turmoil, a White River police officer is shot dead by an unknown sniper.

A taste for vengeance: a Bruno, Chief of police novel, Martin Walker.

A missing woman, a shocking pregnancy, a dash of international intrigue, and a bottle or two of good Bergerac: it's another case for Bruno, Chief of Police.

The forgotten lands, Justin Warren.

Dylan Harper is a young, up and coming detective, with a point to prove. But when he and his mentor Detective Joe Gardella are summoned to the office of the Chief of Police and given an assignment that is outside their jurisdiction they sense that something is up.

The nowhere child, Christian White.

A gripping mystery about a young woman whose life is turned upside down when she finds out she may actually have been abducted years before by her recently deceased mother.

Turbulence, Stuart Woods.

Stone Barrington and several friends are vacationing in Florida when an extreme weather event puts a damper on their trip. Even worse, the hurricane-force winds blow a powerful, noxious politician straight onto Stone's doorstep. Though they part ways before long, Stone soon learns that he hasn't seen the last of his new acquaintance.

The betel nut tree mystery, Ovidia Yu.

Chen Su Lin, now Chief Inspector Le Froy's secretarial assistant in Singapore's newly formed detective unit, still dreams of becoming a journalist and hopes to cover the story when the Hon Victor Glossop announces he is marrying an American widow of his own, Mrs Nicole Covington. But things go horribly wrong when Victor Glossop is found dead, his body covered in bizarre symbols and soaked in betel nut juice.

Death notice, Zhou Haohui.

Online, a vigilante announces their intention of meting out justice for unpunished crimes. Users are invited to submit names for judgement. Those found guilty will be sentenced. And there is just one punishment: death.

New Zealand Fiction

Rotoroa, Amy Head.

Rotoroa Island in the Hauraki Gulf, tiny and isolated, is home to a Salvation Army facility for alcoholic men. It's also where three people at very different points in their lives share a fleeting encounter.

This mortal boy, Fiona Kidman.

"Albert Black, known as the 'jukebox killer', was only twenty when he was convicted of murdering another young man in a fight at a milk bar in Auckland on 26 July 1955. His crime fuelled growing moral panic about teenagers, and he was to hang less than five months later, the second-to-last person to be executed in New Zealand. But what really happened?

Charlie and Pearl, Tammy Robinson.

Charlie is exactly the kind of guy dads want their daughters to bring home. Reliable, loyal and devastatingly sweet, any girl would be lucky to have him. Or so his mum frequently says. In the small coastal New Zealand town where he was born and grew up though, love has so far managed to elude him, and he passes his days behind the counter of the local bookshop working for a boss suffering from the early onslaught of dementia.

When stars collide, Tammy Robinson.

When Ivy meets Walt at a party she sees past the corny pick up lines (a dare from his friends, or so he tells her) and his t-shirt featuring the immortal slogan, 'Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, hate me because I have big boobs!' and they fall in love. Not only is he Ivy's first love, he's also her first lover, and she's sure nothing could ever come between them.

Missing on Kawau, Patricia Snelling.

When Laura McKenzie returned to Kawau Island with her friend Cass to live in her missing grandmother's cottage, it was a dream come true. The dream turned into a nightmare when she discovered that her grandmother, Nan, had not drowned but mysteriously disappeared.

ROMANCE

Back in the saddle, Jules Bennett.

Sparks fly, passions flare and secrets are revealed in these three stories.

From bags to riches: a Jessie Stanton novel, Sandra D. Bricker.

Jessie Hart worked so hard to put her Adornments boutique on the map, and when renegade husband Jack turns up again, the new and improved Jessie catches his attention. He's making every effort to win her back and marry her for real this time before Danny gets the chance.

Firefly Cove, Davis Bunn.

Since the age of seven, Lucius Quarterfield has known he is dying. Doctors told him he had a "bad ticker" and might not live to see his next birthday. Lucius not only survived to adulthood, he thrived, turning a small car dealership into a successful chain. But now, at twenty-eight, his time is finally running out. So he's returning to the one place he ever felt happy, near the only woman he ever truly wanted; the California seaside town of Miramar Bay.

Somewhere beyond the sea, Miranda Dickinson.

Trying to save the Cornish seaside business her late father built while grieving for his loss Seren MacArthur has put her own dreams on hold and is struggling. Until she discovers a half-finished seaglass star on her favourite beach during an early morning walk. When she completes the star, she sets into motion a chain of events that will steal her heart and challenge everything she believes.

Elsa's stand, Cathryn Hein.

When the sudden death of his mother forces outback opal miner Jack Hargreaves home to Wirralong, his plan is simple: mourn his mother, sort out the family farm, and get the hell out of the town that has always hated him. But Elsa O'Donoghue, the beautiful hairdresser with a big heart and even brighter smile, has other plans.

The kiss quotient, Helen Hoang.

A thirty-year-old woman with Asperger's makes sense of her life using math, but one thing she can't handle is dating and the intimacy she feels it requires. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice–with a professional. She hires the perfect male escort who teaches her that love is the best kind of logic.

California summer, Anita Hughes.

A charming and beautiful love story about a former Hollywood producer who trades her cast list in for cookbooks in the hopes of following her dreams and finding new love.

The Paris wedding: a novel, Charlotte Nash.

Ten years ago, Rachael West chose not to move to Sydney with high-school sweetheart Matthew. Instead, she stayed on the family wheat farm, caring for her seriously ill mother and letting go of her dreams. Now, Matthew is marrying someone else. And Rachael is invited to the wedding, a lavish affair in Paris.

Breathe, Carly Phillips.

Jake Nichols turned his life around from his time in foster care. Divorced and single, he juggles his time between his daughter and his work. Next on his agenda, a new project that is his chance to prove his worth at the job he loves. Except he never anticipates that the only girl he's ever loved and lost as a teen is now a grown and beautiful woman in charge of the project.

SAGA

The narrowboat girls, Rosie Archer.

Elsie Barker is desperate for a new start after her husband leaves her. When her friend Izzy, herself planning an escape from her abusive boyfriend, tells her about the jobs going for women as narrowboat crew on the canals between London and Coventry, she jumps at the chance.

A woman's fortune, Josephine Cox.

In the middle of the night, Evie is torn away from her beloved home and close-knit community, as her family run away to the south. Her father's luck has finally run out but, what should mark a hopeful new beginning, is just the start of young Evie's troubles.

Before and again, Barbara Delinsky.

Mackenzie Cooper took her eyes off the road for just a moment, but the resulting collision was enough to rob her of her life as she knew it. Forced to start again, she moved to a small town under a new name, Maggie Reid, and her only goal is to stay under the radar.

Shadows in heaven, Nadine Dorries.

In post-war Tarabeg, two women are waiting for ambitious Michael Malone to return home. Rosie is the local schoolteacher and most people think she is promised to him. Just a few have guessed that he has secretly begun to woo Sarah, whose brutal fisherman father would kill her if he knew.

In a country garden, Maeve Haran.

Lifelong friends Claudia, Ella, Laura and Sal celebrated sixty as the new forty, determined not to let age change things. But now they are looking at the future and wondering how to make growing old more fun.

The Shanghai wife, Emma Harcourt.

Leaving behind the loneliness and trauma of her past in country Australia, Annie Brand arrives to the political upheaval and glittering international society of Shanghai in the 1920s. Journeying up the Yangtze with her new husband, the ship's captain, Annie revels in the sense of adventure but when her husband sends her back to Shanghai, her freedom is quickly curtailed.

Till the boys come home, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.

Edward, in a bid to run away from problems at home, decides not to resist conscription and ends up at the Front. Sadie's hopes for love are unrequited, and Laura has to flee Artemis House when it is shelled and she finds herself in London driving an ambulance. Ethel, the nursery maid, masks her own pain by caring for other people's children.

Peace comes to Honeyfield, Anna Jacobs.

Armistice Day, London, 1918. Fiercely independent Georgie is tired of being told what's best for her by men. When she defies her father's wishes by going out into the peace festivities, she tries to help a woman being attacked and encounters Patrick, a gallant wounded ex-soldier looking for a new calling now that the fighting is done.

The sapphire widow, Dinah Jefferies.

Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, and her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent.

The lost vintage: a novel, Ann Mah.

To become one of only a few hundred certified wine experts in the world, Kate must pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine examination. She's failed twice before; her third attempt will be her last chance.

The house by the river, Lena Manta.

Theodora knows she can't keep her five beautiful daughters at home forever; they're too curious, too free spirited, too like their late father. And so, before each girl leaves the small house on the riverside at the foot of Mount Olympus, Theodora makes sure they know they are always welcome to return.

The good fight, Danielle Steel.

The daughter and granddaughter of prominent Manhattan lawyers, Meredith McKenzie is destined for the best of everything: top schools, elite social circles, the perfect marriage. Spending her childhood in Germany as her father prosecutes war criminals at the Nuremberg trials, Meredith soaks up the conflict between good and evil.

SCIENCE FICTION

Iron gods: a novel of the Spin, Andrew Bannister.

The Spin, an ancient artificial cluster of eighty-eight planets and twenty-two suns, is in decline. The boundaries of the formerly prosperous Inside have shrunk to a mere eleven planets, their trade routes are cut off, and their last remaining source of income comes from selling the services of their vast industrial slave-colony; The Hive.

Suicide Club, Rachel Heng.

In a near-future New York, medical technology has progressed far enough that immortality is now within reach - but only for the deserving. These people are the lifers, those who display the best chance of living forever.

Drop by drop, Morgan Llywelyn.

In Drop by Drop, the first in a new trilogy, global catastrophe occurs as all plastic mysteriously liquefies. All the small components that make many technologies possible; navigation systems, communications, medical equipment, fail.

The long sunset: an academy novel, Jack McDevitt.

Hutch has been the Academy's best pilot for decades. She's had numerous first contact encounters and even became a minor celebrity. But world politics have shifted from exploration to a growing fear that the program will run into an extraterrestrial race more advanced than humanity and war.

Time was, Ian McDonald.

In the heart of World War II, Tom and Ben became lovers. Brought together by a secret project designed to hide British targets from German radar, the two founded a love that could not be revealed. When the project went wrong, Tom and Ben vanished into nothingness, presumed dead.

Before Mars: a planetfall novel, Emma Newman.

After months of travel, Anna Kubrin finally arrives on Mars for her new job as a geologist and de facto artist-in-residence. Already she feels like she is losing the connection with her husband and baby at home on Earth, and she'll be on Mars for over a year.

Plum rains, Andromeda Romano-Lax.

In Japan, a historically mono-cultural nation, childbirth rates are at a critical low and the elderly are living increasingly long lives. This population crisis has precipitated a mass immigration of foreign medical workers from all over Asia, as well as the development of refined artificial intelligence to step in where humans fall short.

Side life, Steve Toutonghi.

Vin, a down-on-his-luck young tech entrepreneur forced out of the software company he started, takes a job house-sitting a beautiful Seattle mansion. There he discovers that the owner; who has been missing for a year, has built a secret basement lab. In the lab there are computers, wired caskets, and a thick, dog-eared notebook filled with codes, odd symbols and strange drawings.

The golden age: a romance of the far future, John C. Wright.

Phaethon, of Radamanthus House, is attending a glorious party at his family mansion to celebrate the thousand-year anniversary of the High Transcendence. There he meets first an old man who accuses him of being an impostor and then a being from Neptune who claims to be an old friend.