Recreation

New Titles Fiction January 2018 (arrived in December 2017)

ADVENTURE

The burden of lies, Richard Beasley.
Cocaine. Construction. Corruption. The unholy trinity of Sydney. Self-made property mogul Tina Leonard has already lost her business, her home and custody of her children because South East Banking Corporation left her bankrupt. Now it appears she is being framed for the murder of her banker Oliver Randall, a senior executive of the corporation.
The Armageddon file, Stephen Coonts.
After one of the most contentious and divisive elections in American history, the new president is finally settling into the West Wing. But when his chief of staff discovers evidence that voting machines in key counties in swing states were tampered with, the whole administration is in danger of unraveling.
Operation Janus, JP Cross.
Skinny Chinese taxi-girls dance with off-duty British military personnel at the Yam Yam nightclub to the strains of 'Rose, Rose, I love you' and 'Terang Bulan'. Attractively dressed in their long, tight-fitting, slit-sided cheongsams, the girls also listen out for loose talk, which they feed back to their Communist handlers.
The quantum spy: a thriller, David Ignatius.
A hyper-fast quantum computer is the digital equivalent of a nuclear bomb: whoever possesses one will be able to shred any encryption in existence, effectively owning the digital world. The question is: Who will build it first?
Hunter killer: the war with China: the battle for the Central Pacific, David Poyer.
Hector Ramos, an unwilling recruit, learns the Marine Corps has an ethos all its own. And in Washington, DC, Dan's wife Blair Titus helps formulate America's political response to overwhelming setbacks in the Pacific and at on the home front.
The Baltic prize, Julian Stockwin.
1808. Parted from his new bride, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is called away to join the Northern Expedition to Sweden, now Britain's only ally in the Baltic. Following the sudden declaration of war by Russia and with the consequent threat of the czar's great fleet in St Petersburg, the expedition must defend Britain's dearly-won freedom in those waters.
Besieged, A. J. Tata.
Powerful, thrilling, and explosively authentic, Besieged, he tackles the rise of domestic terrorism in America and puts his hero, Jake Mahegan, in the crackling center of a firestorm. It starts with the unthinkable.

FANTASY

The stone in the skull, Elizabeth Bear.
The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from a the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom.
Seventh decimate, Stephen Donaldson.
The war between Amika and Belleger has raged for generations. Its roots lie in the distant past, beyond memory. Sorcerers from both sides rain destruction down on the battlefield, wielding the six deadly Decimates of fire, earth, wind, water, lightning, and pestilence.
Moonbreaker, Simon R. Green.
My name is Eddie Drood, aka Shaman Bond, the very secret agent. And I am a dead man walking. I've been poisoned by Dr. DOA. There is no cure, no treatment, no chance of a last-minute miracle. So all that is left to me and my love, Molly Metcalf, is to track down my killer and stop him before he can murder anyone else.
The complete Sookie Stackhouse stories, Charlaine Harris.
For the first time together in one volume, here is the complete short story collection starring Louisiana's favorite telepathic waitress, Sookie Stackhouse. New fans can fill in the gaps in their Sookie lore while old friends can revisit some of their favorite moments and characters.
The trouble with twelfth grave, Darynda Jones.
Ever since Reyes Farrow escaped from a hell dimension in which Charley Davidson accidentally trapped him, the son of Satan has been brimstone-bent on destroying the world his heavenly Brother created. His volatile tendencies have put Charley in a bit of a pickle. But that's not the only briny vegetable on her plate.
The bloodprint, Ausma Zehanat Khan.
A dark power called the Talisman, born of ignorance and persecution, has risen in the land. Led by a man known only as the One-Eyed Preacher, it is a cruel and terrifying movement bent on world domination; a superstitious patriarchy that suppresses knowledge and subjugates women. And it is growing.
Apollyon: the Destroyer is unleashed, Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins.
The continuing saga of the coming of the end of the earth, as the Fifth Judgment, Apollyon, leads his legions of scorpion-like locusts to plague the earth.
Beasts of extraordinary circumstance, Ruth Emmie Lang.
Raised by wolves after being orphaned in childhood, Weylyn Grey, a man with astonishing powers, is evaluated by the people who care or wonder about him, including a woman who falls in love with him after he saves her from an angry wolf.
Road brothers: tales from the Broken Empire, Mark Lawrence.
This is a collection of fourteen stories of murder, mayhem, pathos, and philosophy, all set in the world of the Broken Empire. Within these pages, you will find tales of men such as Red Kent, Sir Makin, Rike, Burlow and the Nuban, telling of their origins and the events that forged them.
Jade city, Fonda Lee.
Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed for, and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion. Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon's bustling capital city.
The mongrel mage, L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
In the world of Recluce, powerful mages can wield two kinds of magic; the white of Chaos or the black of Order. Beltur, however, has talents no one dreamed of, talents not seen in hundreds of years that blend both magics. On the run from a power hungry white mage, Beltur is taken in by Order mages who set him on the path to discover and hone his own unique gifts and in the process find a home.
Year one, Nora Roberts.
An epic of hope and horror, chaos and magic, and a journey that will unite a desperate group of people to fight the battle of their lives. It began on New Year's Eve. The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them.
Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson.
In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe whose numbers are as great as their thirst for vengeance.
The way of kings, Brandon Sanderson.
A new epic series by the best-selling writer of Robert Jordan's final Wheel of Time novels introduces the world of Roshar through the experiences of a war-weary royal compelled by visions, a highborn youth condemned to military slavery and a woman who would save her impoverished house.
The book of lost tales. Part 1, J.R.R. Tolkien; edited by Christopher Tolkien.
The first of a two-book set that contains the early myths and legends which led to the writing of Tolkien's epic tale of war, The Silmarillion. The Book of Lost Tales stands at the beginning of the entire conception of Middle-earth and Valinor for the Tales were the first form of the myths and legends that came to be called The Silmarillion.
The war of the jewels: the later Silmarillion. Part two, The legends of Beleriand, J.R.R. Tolkien; Christopher Tolkien.
In The War of the Jewels Christopher Tolkien takes up his account of the later history of The Silmarillion from the point where it was left in Morgoth's Ring. The story now returns to Middle-earth, and the ruinous conflict of the High Elves and the Men who were their allies with the power of the Dark Lord.
The war of the ring: the history of the Lord of the Rings. Part three, J.R.R. Tolkien; Christopher Tolkien.
The third part of The History of The Lord of the Rings, an enthralling account of the writing of the Book of the Century which contains many additional scenes and includes the unpublished Epilogue in its entirety.
Age of iron, Angus Watson.
Dug Sealskinner is a down-on-his-luck mercenary traveling south to join up with King Zadar's army. But he keeps rescuing the wrong people. First Spring, a child he finds scavenging on the battlefield, and then Lowa, one of Zadar's most fearsome warriors, who has vowed revenge on the king for her sister's execution.

FICTION

The sister: a novel, Poppy Adams.
The tale of two sisters, Ginny and Vivian, reunited after a 40 year estrangement. Their father was a lepidopterist who was obsessed with his work, neglecting the girls and their mother who became an alcoholic with violent mood swings. Now, so many years later, the sisters are drawn back into this stormy world of their childhood.
The travelling cat chronicles, Hiro Arikawa.
Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn't know why and Satoru won't say.
The death of the Fronsac, Neal Ascherson
This is an unforgettable recreation of life in wartime, and of the tragic fate of Poland in the 20th century: a novel about sabotage, betrayal, and the terrible sadness of exile. In 1940, during the Phoney War, Fronsac (as Maillé Brézéa) a French destroyer sinks after an accidental explosion in the Firth of Clyde.
Mrs Osmond, John Banville.
Isabel Archer is a young American woman, swept off to Europe in the late nineteenth century by an aunt who hopes to round out the impetuous but naive girl's experience of the world. When Isabel comes into a large, unexpected inheritance, she is finagled into a marriage with the charming, penniless, and, as Isabel finds out too late, cruel and deceitful Gilbert Osmond, whose connection to a certain Madame Merle is suspiciously intimate.
The invisible life of Euridice Gusmao, Martha Batalha.
Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious, but when her rebellious sister Guida elopes, she sets her own aspirations aside and vows to settle down as a model wife and daughter. And yet as her husband's professional success grows, so does Euridice's feeling of restlessness.
The Christmas guest, Daisy Bell.
A puppy for Christmas. A friend for life. When Teddy runs away from home a week before Christmas, he's far too excited to worry about what lies ahead. But all too soon Teddy realises just how cold and scary the world really is, and what was supposed to be the perfect adventure now seems like a terrible mistake.
The dreams of Bethany Mellmoth, William Boyd.
A philandering art dealer tries to give up casual love affairs - seeking only passionate kisses as a substitute. A man recounts his personal history through the things he has stolen from others throughout his life. A couple chart the journey of their five year relationship backwards, from awkward reunion to lovelorn first encounter.
The relive box and other stories, T. Coraghessan Boyle.
From the title story, which features a so-called relive box that allows users to experience anew almost any moment from their past, to 'The Five-Pound Burrito,' the tale of a man aiming to build the biggest burrito in town, the twelve stories in this collection represent a whole new way of looking at the world.
Love & fame, Susie Boyt.
Eve a nervous young actress from a powerful theatrical dynasty has found herself married to an international expert on anxiety called Jim. Could it work? Should it work? Across town, tabloid journalist Rebecca Melville is burning all her bridges while her devoted sister Beatrice, a therapist, tries her hardest not to intervene.
The beginning of the world in the middle of the night, Jen Campbell.
Spirits in jam jars, mini-apocalypses, animal hearts and side shows. A girl runs a coffin hotel on a remote island. A boy is worried his sister has two souls. A couple are rewriting the history of the world. And mermaids are on display at the local aquarium.
A long way from home, Peter Carey.
The two-time Booker Prize-winning author now gives us a wildly exuberant, wily new novel that circumnavigates 1954 Australia, revealing as much about the country- continent as it does about three audacious individuals who take part in the infamous 10,000 mile race, the Redex Trial.
The impostor, Javier Cercas.
Who is Enric Marco? An old man from Barcelona who claims to be a Nazi concentration camp survivor and rises to be president of Spain's leading Holocaust survivor movement, the Friends of Mauthausen. By the time he is unmasked in Austria in 2005 on the eve of the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the camp, he has become a civic hero.
Everything you do is wrong, Amanda Coe.
Harmony's teenage craving for drama is answered when a body is discovered by her aunt Mel on Evensand beach. But the naked, lifeless young woman turns out, problematically, to be alive. Unable to speak or remember where she came from, the woman is named Storm by her nurses.
Pigeon, Alys Conran.
An incongruous ice-cream van lurches up into the Welsh hills through the hail, pursued by a boy and girl who chase it into their own dark make-believe world, and unfurl in their compelling voices a tale which ultimately breaks out of childhood and echoes across the years. Pigeon is the tragic, occasionally hilarious and ultimately intense story of a childhood friendship and how it's torn apart.
After the snow, Susannah Contantine.
Christmas morning, 1969. Eleven year old Esme Lonsdale is opening her stocking. Its contents are thoughtless and wrapped in a bizarre concoction of birthday paper and wet towels, yet Esme is filled with wonder that Father Christmas could have been so ingenious.
The rest of their lives, Jean-Paul Didierlaurent.
It's difficult to find love in a profession like Ambroise's, even his father despises what he does. And while Manelle, a home-help for the elderly in the same small French town, adores her days spent with her eccentric clients, she too often ends her evenings alone.
The Noel diary: from the Noel collection, Richard Paul Evans.
Bestselling romance author Jacob Churcher hasn't been home for almost twenty years, not since his mentally ill mother kicked him out of the house when he was just sixteen. When a lawyer calls, days before Christmas, to inform him that his estranged mother has passed away and left her house to him, Jacob returns not just to settle the estate but to try and reconcile with the past and the pain and abuse he experienced as a child.
The ballad of Banjo Crossing, Tess Evans.
Jack McPhail is a man on the run from his past, a drifter who lands by accident in a sleepy outback Australian town called Banjo Crossing. Jack, almost despite himself, becomes slowly drawn into the town, its community, its characters and its concerns.
The Christmas stocking and other stories, Katie Fforde.
Your cosiest Christmas yet; this collection contains six delightfully festive Katie Fforde short stories, including: Christmas in Disguise. When Jo's friend Andi asks if she'll stand in to cook Christmas lunch for her employer. Jo reluctantly agrees, wanting to help out her friend. If the girls get away with it it will be the perfect Christmas disguise.
The Pacific room, Michael Fitzgerald.
This remarkable debut novel tells of the last days of Tusitala, 'the teller of tales', as Robert Louis Stevenson became known in Samoa where he chose to die. In 1892 Girolamo Nerli travels from Sydney by steamer to Apia, with the intention of capturing something of Jekyll and Hyde in his portrait of the famous author.
Twin Peaks: the final dossier, Mark Frost.
The subject of endless speculation, shrouded in mystery, fans will come flocking to see Mark Frost and David Lynch's inimitable vision once again grace the screen. Featuring all the characters we know and love from the first series, as well as a list of high-powered actors in new roles, the show will be endlessly debated, discussed, and dissected.
The experience of pain, Carlo Emilio Gadda.
At the height of Fascist rule in Italy and following the death of his mother, Carlo Emilio Gadda began work on his first novel, The Experience of Pain. This portrait of a highly educated young man whose anger and frustration frequently erupt in ferocious outbursts directed towards his ageing mother is a powerful critique of the society of his time and the deep wounds inflicted on his generation.
Swallowing mercury, Wioletta Greg.
While political change hums in the background, Wiola looks back on her youth in a close-knit agricultural community in 1980s Poland: the superstitions of the village women, rumored visits from the Pope, and the locked room in the dressmaker's house.
A field guide to the North American family, Garth Risk Hallberg.
For years, the Hungates and the Harrisons have coexisted peacefully in the same Long Island neighborhood, enjoying the pleasures and weathering the pitfalls of their suburban habitat. But when the patriarch of one family dies unexpectedly, the survivors face a stark imperative: adapt or face extinction.
The benefactor, Sebastian Hampson.
Magazine editor Henry Calder's ordered life has unravelled. He's just been ousted from the glamorous job that gave his life meaning, and he lost his wife, Martha, less than a year ago. Then he meets Maggie, a rebellious young artist working as a bartender.
Uncommon type: some stories, Tom Hanks.
A gentle Eastern European immigrant arrives in New York City after his family and his life have been torn apart by his country's civil war. A man who loves to bowl rolls a perfect game; and then another and then another and then many more in a row until he winds up ESPN's newest celebrity, and he must decide if the combination of perfection and celebrity has ruined the thing he loves.
Gnomon, Nick Harkaway.
In the world of Gnomon, citizens are ceaselessly observed and democracy has reached a pinnacle of "transparency." When suspected dissident Diana Hunter dies in government custody during a routine interrogation, Mielikki Neith, a trusted state inspector, is assigned to the case.
The woman at 72 Derry Lane, Carmel Harrington.
On a leafy suburban street in Dublin, beautiful, poised Stella Greene lives with her successful husband, Matt. The perfect couple in every way, Stella appears to have it all. Next door, at number 72 however, lives Rea Brady. Gruff, bad-tempered and rarely seen besides the twitching of her net curtains, rumour has it she's lost it all, including her marbles if you believe the neighbourhood gossip.
Sugar money: a novel, Jane Harris.
Martinique, 1765, and brothers Emile and Lucien are charged by their French master, Father Cleophas, with a mission. They must return to Grenada, the island they once called home, and smuggle back the 42 slaves claimed by English invaders at the hospital plantation in Fort Royal.
Before this is over, Amanda Hickie.
A normal family. A quiet, leafy street. A terrifying epidemic. It's been coming for a while: a lethal illness. With sons of five and fourteen to look out for, Hannah has been stockpiling supplies, despite everyone telling her that it's unnecessary. Then it arrives. At first there are a few unconfirmed cases. Then a death. Now the whole city is quarantined.
One, Patrick Holland.
The last bushrangers in Australian history, James and Patrick Kenniff, were at the height at their horse thieving operation at turn of the 20th century. In One, troops cannot pull the Kenniff Gang out of the ranges and plains of Western Queensland the brothers know the terrain too well, and the locals are sympathetic to their escapades.
Fish have no feet: a family history, Jón Kalman Stefánsson.
Keflavik: a town that has been called the darkest place in Iceland, surrounded by black lava fields, hemmed in by a sea that may not be fished. Its livelihood depends entirely on a U.S. military base, a conduit for American influences that shaped Icelandic culture and ethics from the 1950s to the dawning of the new millennium.
The star side of Bird Hill, Naomi Jackson.
Suddenly sent from their home in Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados after their mother can no longer care for them, sisters Phaedra and Dionne spend the summer of 1989 living with their grandmother Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah.
Coming home to Island House, Erica James.
It's the summer of 1939, and after touring an unsettled Europe to promote her latest book, Romily Temple returns home to Island House and the love of her life, the charismatic Jack Devereux. But when Jack falls ill, his estranged family are called home and given seven days to find a way to bury their resentments and come together.
A tangled mercy: a novel, Joy Jordan-Lake.
After the sudden death of her troubled mother, struggling Harvard grad student Kate Drayton walks out of her lecture and her entire New England life. Haunted by unanswered questions and her own uncertain future, she flees to Charleston, South Carolina, the place where her parents met, convinced it holds the key to understanding her fractured family and saving her career in academia.
The future won't be long, Jarett Kobek.
It's the tail-end of 1986 and Baby is the freshest-faced, starriest-eyed young homo in all of New York City, straight off the bus from closeted backwoods Wisconsin. Adeline is his rich-art-school-kid saviour with a bizarre transatlantic drawl and a spare bed.
The way back, Kylie Ladd.
Charlie Johnson is 13 and in her first year of high school. She loves her family, netball and Liam, the cute guy who sits next to her in Science, but most of all she loves horses and horse-riding. Charlie's parents have leased her a horse, Tic Tac, from the local pony club, but one day they go out for a ride in the national park and only Tic Tac returns.
Six ways to Sunday, Karly Lane.
When city naturopath Rilee Summers meets gorgeous farmer Dan Kincaid, sparks fly. A whirlwind romance follows, and the next thing Rilee knows she's married and living on her husband's family property in a small rural community.
Invisible women, Sarah Long.
Tessa, Sandra and Harriet have been best friends through first crushes, careers, marriage and the trials of motherhood. After twenty years of taking care of everyone else's every need, they've found themselves hitting the big 5-0 and suddenly asking themselves: 'what about me?!'
The history of bees, Maja Lunde.
England, 1852. William is a biologist and seed merchant, who sets out to build a new type of beehive; one that will give both him and his children honor and fame. United States, 2007. George is a beekeeper and fights an uphill battle against modern farming, but hopes that his son can be their salvation.
Black Moses, Alain Mabanckou.
It's 1970, and in the People's Republic of Congo a Marxist-Leninist revolution is ushering in a new age. But over at the orphanage on the outskirts of Pointe-Noire where young Moses has grown up, the revolution has only strengthened the reign of terror of Dieudonn. Ngoulmoumako, the institution's corrupt director.
Sweet William, Iain Maitland.
A father desperate to be with his young son escapes from a secure psychiatric hospital, knowing he has just one chance for the two of them to start a new life together. His goal is to snatch the three-year-old, a diabetic who needs insulin to stay alive and run away to France.
The boy made of snow, Chloë Mayer.
In a sleepy English village in 1944, Annabel and her son Daniel live in the shadow of war. With her husband away, an increasingly isolated Annabel begins to lose her grip on reality. When mother and son befriend Hans, a German PoW consigned to a nearby farm, their lives are suddenly filled with thrilling secrets.
The street where you live, Roisin Meaney.
It's the hottest heatwave in years and as preparations for an end-of-summer concert get underway, the notes soar. But so, too, do the scandals and secrets. Choir member Molly sees a young boy who she's convinced is her grandson, but how does she find out the truth when her son Philip ran away to New Zealand five years ago?
The maid's room, Fiona Mitchell.
Sisters Dolly and Tala have never felt further from home. In the blistering heat of Singapore, they spend their days enabling ex-pats to have lives they could never afford for themselves. Even though she has little freedom, Dolly can just about live with her job if it means she's able to support her beloved young daughter back in the Philippines.
The boat runner: a novel, Devin Murphy.
In the tradition of All The Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale, comes an incandescent debut novel about a young Dutch man who comes of age during the perilousness of World War II. Beginning in the summer of 1939, fourteen-year-old Jacob Koopman and his older brother, Edwin, enjoy lives of prosperity and quiet contentment.
The magic lamp: dreams of our age, Ben Okri.
Twenty-five stories, twenty-five paintings, five years to write, ten years to paint. This is an extraordinary collaboration between artist and artist: the Booker Prize- winning writer Ben Okri and the painter Rosemary Clunie. Together they have created a world, and peopled it with dreams.
Norma, Sofi Oksanen.
When Anita Naakka jumps in front of an oncoming train, her daughter, Norma, is left alone with the secret they have spent their lives hiding: Norma has supernatural hair, sensitive to the slightest changes in her mood and the moods of those around her moving of its own accord, corkscrewing when danger is near.
Surviving the Fatherland: a true coming-of-age love story set in WWII Germany, Annette Oppenlander.
Surviving the Fatherland tells the true stories of a boy and girl struggling with the terror-filled reality of life in the Third Reich, each embarking on their own dangerous path toward survival, freedom, and ultimately each other. Based on the author's own family and anchored in historical facts, this story celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the strength of war children.
Atlantic black, A. S. Patri?.
A seventeen-year-old girl called Katerina Klova is travelling with her mother. The story begins with the collapse of Katerina's mother, a complete psychotic breakdown, leaving Katerina alone for the first time in her life. This novel subtly explores the legacy of violence, of how the First World War precipitated the Second World War, and with this narrative lens we can understand the ongoing nature of violence now.
George & Lizzie: a novel, Nancy Pearl.
George and Lizzie have radically different understandings of what love and marriage should be. George grew up in a warm and loving family; his father an orthodontist, his mother a stay-at-home mom, while Lizzie grew up as the only child of two famous psychologists, who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love.
How hard can it be?, Allison Pearson.
Kate Reddy is counting down the days until she is fifty, but not in a good way. Fifty, in Kate's mind, equals invisibility. And with hormones that have her in shackles, teenage children who need her there but won't talk to her and ailing parents who aren't coping, Kate is in the middle of a sandwich that she isn't even allowed to eat because of the calories.
Snowflakes on Christmas Street, Ivy Pembroke.
Bill has lived on Christmas Street since he was a young man. He's seen families come and go, watched children grow up. Now he wants to be left alone. Everything seven-year-old Teddy loves is in America. But his widowed father, Sam, has brought them both back to England to be closer to their family. Sam's one wish is for Teddy to be happy again.
Demi-gods, Eliza Robertson.
It is 1950, and nine-year-old Willa's sheltered childhood is about to come to an end when her two new stepbrothers arrive at her family's summer home in British Columbia. When, one afternoon, Patrick lures Willa into a dilapidated rowboat, Willa embarks upon an increasingly damaging relationship with Patrick, one that will forever reconfigure her understanding of herself and her place in a menacing, male-dominated world.
The girl from Krakow, Alex Rosenberg.
It's 1935. Rita Feuerstahl comes to the university in Krakow intent on enjoying her freedom. But life has other things in store–marriage, a love affair, a child, all in the shadows of the oncoming war. When the war arrives, Rita is armed with a secret so enormous that it could cost the Allies everything, even as it gives her the will to live.
The standing chandelier, Lionel Shriver.
When Weston Babansky receives an extravagant engagement present from his best friend (and old flame) Jillian Frisk, he doesn't quite know what to make of it, or how to get it past his fiancee. Especially as it's a massive, handmade, intensely personal sculpture that they'd have to live with forever.
Why Mummy drinks: the diary of an exhausted mum, Gill Sims.
It is Mummy's 39th birthday. She is staring down the barrel of a future of people asking if she wants to come to their advanced yoga classes, and polite book clubs where everyone claims to be tiddly after a glass of Pinot Grigio and says things like `Oooh gosh, are you having another glass?'
I too had a love story, Ravinder Singh.
I too had a love story is the tender and heartfelt tale of Ravin and Khushi; two people who found each other on a dating website and fell in love, until life put their love to the ultimate test. Do love stories ever die? How would you react if a beautiful person came into your life, and then left it, forever?
Winter, Ali Smith.
Winter? Bleak. Frosty wind, earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. The shortest days, the longest nights. The trees are bare and shivering. The summer's leaves? Dead litter. The world shrinks; the sap sinks. But winter makes things visible. And if there's ice, there'll be fire.
Black teeth and a brilliant smile, Adelle Stripe.
Best known for her classic black comedy Rita, Sue and Bob Too, Andrea Dunbar wrote three plays before dying at a tragically young age. This new literary portrayal features a cast of real and imagined characters set against the backdrop of the infamous Buttershaw estate during the Thatcher era.
The fortunate ones: a novel, Ellen Umansky.
One very special work of art; a Chaim Soutine painting, will connect the lives and fates of two different women, generations apart, in this enthralling and transporting debut novel that moves from World War II Vienna to contemporary Los Angeles. It is 1939 in Vienna, and as the specter of war darkens Europe, Rose Zimmer's parents are desperate.
Heather, the totality, Matthew Weiner.
The Breakstone family arrange themselves around their daughter Heather, and the world seems to follow: beautiful, compassionate, entrancing, she is the greatest blessing in their lives of Manhattan luxury.
The invisible crowd, Ellen Wiles.
2nd March 1975. In Asmara, Eritrea, Yonas Kelati is born into a world of turmoil. At the same time, on the same day, Jude Munroe takes her first breath in London, England. Thirty years later. Blacklisted in his war-ravaged country, Yonas has no option but to flee his home.
The resurrection of Joan Ashby, Cherise Wolas.
An audacious and dazzling novel, epic in scope but intimate in its portrayal of one woman's triumphs and catastrophes.
The stolen bicycle, Wu Ming-Yi.
On a quest to explain how and why his father mysteriously disappeared twenty years ago, a writer embarks on an epic journey in search of a stolen bicycle and soon finds himself immersed in the strangely overlapping histories of the Japanese military during World War II, Lin Wang, the oldest elephant who ever lived, and the secret world of antique bicycle collectors in Taiwan.
The years, months, days, Yan Lianke.
The Years, Months, Days is a profound and moving fable about the deep love between an old man and his blind dog trying to survive in a terrible drought there is no food, the villagers have left, but the old man has managed to nurture a corn seed that has germinated on a mountain top.

GRAPHIC NOVEL

Jojo's bizarre adventure. Part 3, Stardust crusaders. 05, Hirohiko Araki
Doctor Strange/the Punisher. Magic bullets, John Barber.
Harrow County. [6], Hedge magic, Cullen Bunn.
Darkness visible, Mike Carey & Arvind Ethan David.
The wild storm. Volume 1, Warren Ellis, writer.
House of women, Sophie Goldstein.
Lucifer. [3], Blood in the streets, Richard Kadrey.
Lone Wolf & Cub. Omnibus 2, Kazuo Koike.
Baltimore. Volume 8, The Red Kingdom, Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden.
Mr. Higgins comes home, Mike Mignola.
Golden kamuy. 2, Satoru Noda.
Gamora. Memento Mori, Nicole Perlman.
Demon. Volume 4, Jason Shiga.
Grandville force majeure: a fantasy, Bryan Talbot.
Batman/Superman. Volume 6, Universe's finest, Tom Taylor, Peter J. Tomasi, Frank Tieri.
Satania, Vehlmann, Kerascoët.

HISTORICAL

Enchantress of numbers: a novel of Ada Lovelace, Jennifer Chiaverini.
The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth.
Ada: comedian, dancer, fighter, Kaz Cooke.
'It's not every day a handsome young man appears on your doorstep to ask if you're a respectable womana' Miss Ada Delroy and her famous vaudeville troupe stormed five continents, enchanting royalty, miners and larrikins alike with her wit, illusions, and breathtaking dances.
Fools and mortals, Bernard Cornwell.
Fools and Mortals follows the young Richard Shakespeare, an actor struggling to make his way in a company dominated by his estranged older brother, William. As the growth of theatre blooms, their rivalry, and that of the playhouses, playwrights and actors vying for acclaim and glory, propels a high-stakes story of conflict and betrayal.
The sound: a novel, Sarah Drummond.
Set in the 1820s, in the violent and lawless world just before the English established their own law in Western Australia and follows the journey of Wiremu Heke of Aramoana, in the South Island of New Zealand, who begins his journey on the quest to avenge the destruction of his village, but ends it in a way he never could have dreamed.
Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas goose, Stephanie Laurens.
Three years after being widowed, Therese, Lady Osbaldestone finally settles into her dower property of Hartington Manor in the village of Little Moseley. However, she questions whether life in a small village will generate sufficient interest to keep her amused during those months when she is not in London or visiting friends.
Into the world, Stephanie Parkyn.
In the midst of the French Revolution, in 1791, unwed mother Marie-Louise Girardin takes one last look at her baby son before thrusting him into the arms of her friend, the revolutionary Olympe de Gouges. She must escape, and only the most daring plan will bring her both the anonymity she needs and the independence to return one day for her son.
Day of the Caesars, Simon Scarrow.
AD 54. Claudius is dead. Rome is in turmoil. And two brave heroes of the Roman army face the challenge of their lives. The Emperor Claudius is dead. Nero rules. His half- brother Britannicus has also laid claim to the throne. A bloody power struggle is underway.
Miss Kopp's midnight confessions, Amy Stewart.
Deputy sheriff Constance Kopp is outraged to see young women brought into the Hackensack jail over dubious charges of waywardness, incorrigibility, and moral depravity. The strong-willed, patriotic Edna Heustis, who left home to work in a munitions factory, certainly doesn't belong behind bars.

HORROR

Hunt you down, Christopher Farnsworth.
Working for the Los Angeles-based clandestine organisation, One Percent, John Smith cleans up the messes of those rich enough to afford him. But he's no ordinary fixer. Smith is a man of rare gifts, including the ability to read minds.
Dark legacy, Christine Feehan.
In a beautiful compound hidden away from the world, Emeline Sanchez tries to blunt the pain that has wracked her body ever since her terrifying ordeal in the labyrinth beneath the city, when she was forced to exchange blood with an evil master vampire.
Strange weather: four short novels, Joe Hill.
Four short novels ranging from creepy horror to powerful explorations of our modern society. One autumnal day in Boulder, Colorado, the clouds open up in a downpour of nails, splinters of bright crystal that tear apart anyone who isn't safely under cover.
Devil's Day, Andrew Michael Hurley.
In the wink of an eye, as quick as a flea, The Devil he jumped from me to thee. And only when the Devil had gone, Did I know that he and I'd been one. Every autumn, John Pentecost returns to the farm where he grew up to help gather the sheep down from the moors for the winter.
The Silent Companions, Laura Purcell.
Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband's crumbling country estate, The Bridge. With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband's awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks.

MYSTERY

Death in St. Petersburg, Tasha Alexander.
After the final curtain of Swan Lake, an animated crowd exits the Mariinsky theatre brimming with excitement from the night's performance. But outside the scene is somber. A ballerina's body lies face down in the snow, blood splattered like rose petals over the costume of the Swan Queen.
Little sister, Isabel Ashdown.
After sixteen years apart, sisters Jessica and Emily are reunited. With the past now behind them, the warmth they once shared quickly returns and, before long, Jess has moved into Emily's comfortable island home. Life couldn't be better. But when baby Daisy disappears while in Jess's care, the perfect life Emily has so carefully built starts to fall apart.
Justice returns, William Bernhardt.
Attorney Ben Kincaid's childhood friend, Oscar Kirby, appears in his office a changed man. His name is now Omar al-Jabbar, he has converted to the Islamic faith, and his activities on behalf of an Arab-American rights organization have brought him to the attention of the CIA.
If I'm found, Terri Blackstock.
From New York Times bestselling author Terri Blackstock, If I'm Found continues the heart pounding story of Casey Cox as she races to escape capture and bring the true killer to justice.
The ghost of Christmas past, Rhys Bowen.
Semi-retired private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is suffering from depression after a miscarriage following her adventure in San Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. She and her husband, Daniel, are invited for Christmas at a mansion on the Hudson, and they gratefully accept, expecting a peaceful and relaxing holiday season.
Jack the Ripper: case closed, Gyles Brandreth.
London. 1894. 'I am not a detective, chief constable.' 'No, but you are a poet, a freemason and a man of the world. All useful qualifications for the business in hand.' So says Police Chief Macnaghten to Oscar Wilde, in a Chelsea drawing room in the company of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Crazy like a fox: a novel, Rita Mae Brown.
The crisp October winds bode well for this year's hunting season as Sister Jane drives up the Blue Ridge Mountains for a board meeting at the Museum of Hounds and Hunting. The mansion is plunged into mystery when a venerable hunting horn is stolen right out of its case.
The accident on the A35, Raymond Brunet.
There does not appear to be anything remarkable about the fatal car crash on the A35. But one question dogs Inspector Georges Gorski: where has the victim, an outwardly austere lawyer, been on the night of his death?
The disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, Raymond Brunet
Manfred Baumann is a loner. He has always lived in the nondescript French town of Saint-Louis. Shy and awkward, a man of habit, he spends his days working in the local bank and his evenings in the drab Restaurant de la Cloche where he can surreptitiously observe AdèBedeau, its sullen but alluring waitress.
The girl in the fog, Donato Carrisi.
Sixty-two days after the disappearance a man is arrested after a road accident in the small town of Avechot. His shirt is covered in blood. Could this have anything to do with a missing girl called Anna Lou? Detective Vogel is on the case, but his unconventional means of investigation end up unsettling the locals.
Date with malice, Julia Chapman.
When Mrs Shepherd arrives at the Dales Detective Agency on a December morning, quite convinced that someone is trying to kill her, Samson O'Brien dismisses her fears as the ramblings of a confused elderly lady. But after a series of disturbing incidents at Fellside Court retirement home, he begins to wonder if there is something to her claims after all.
The last Mrs. Parrish, Liv Constantine.
Amber Patterson is fed up. She's tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more; a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.
The downside, Mike Cooper.
In an age of cybercrime, Finn is the last hardhat. He's a professional thief with a unique specialty: He only steals big things; autoracks, factory lines, machinery. You might call what he does "heavy lifting." And he's no stranger to the downside of his chosen profession; he's done seven years' hard time to prove it.
The watchman, Robert Crais.
A long time ago, Joe Pike asked for help. In return, he would, one day, be called upon to return the favour, no questions asked. That day has come. Joe Pike is asked to protect the life of Larkin Conner Barkley, a spoiled rich girl who happens to be a federal witness in a major case.
The girl with no past, Kathryn Croft.
Leah Mills lives a life of a fugitive; kept on the run by one terrible day from her past. It is a lonely life, without a social life or friends until, longing for a connection, she meets Julian. For the first time she dares to believe she can live a normal life.
The missing masterpiece: a Dorothy Martin mystery, Jeanne M. Dams.
When Dorothy Martin goes to France; alone because Alan is stuck back home in Sherebury with a broken ankle, she worries about her ability to get along in a language she barely speaks, and in a country she hasn't seen for over fifty years. But by the time Alan joins her a week later, Dorothy has found herself embroiled in one mystery after another.
The stone monkey, Jeffery Deaver.
Lincoln and Amelia are recruited to track down a cargo ship carrying two dozen illegal Chinese immigrants, as well as the notorious human smuggler and killer known as the Ghost.
Elementary, she read: a Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery, Vicki Delany.
Gemma Doyle, a transplanted Englishwoman, has returned to the quaint town of West London on Cape Cod to manage her Great Uncle Arthur's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. The shop, located at 222 Baker Street, specializes in the Holmes canon and pastiche, and is also the home of Moriarty the cat.
Under the cold bright lights, Garry Disher.
The young detectives call Alan Auhl a retread, but that doesn't faze him. He does things his own way and gets results.He still lives with his ex-wife, off and on, in a big house full of random boarders and hard-luck stories. And he's still a cop, even though he retired from Homicide some years ago. He works cold cases now.
Heaven's crooked finger, Hank Early.
Earl Marcus thought he had left the mountains of Georgia behind forever, and with them, the painful memories of a childhood spent under the fundamentalist rule of his father RJ's church a church built on fear, penance, and the twisting, writhing mass of snakes.
Sun and shadow, +ke Edwardson.
A couple entertain a stranger in their Gothenburg apartment, but his choice of death metal music isn't quite what they had in mind this particular illicit rendezvous will be prove to be their last. For more than a week a newspaper boy has watched his deliveries piling up behind a front door.
Hardcore 24, Janet Evanovich.
Headless bodies have started appearing across town in Trenton, New Jersey. At first, it's just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. Then a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church. Stephanie Plum knows that she's the only one with a prayer of catching this killer.
Resort to murder, T. P. Fielden.
'There you have it–' Miss Dimont smiled and, lifting her dark glasses, turned to face the trainee reporter '–in a nutshell. A mystery death. Needs looking into, wouldn't you say?' Death stalks the beaches of Devon With its pale, aquamarine waters and golden sands, the shoreline at Temple Regis was a sight to behold.
Sweet after death, Valentina Giambanco.
In the dead of winter Homicide Detective Alice Madison is sent to the remote town of Ludlow, Washington, to investigate an unspeakable crime. Together with her partner Detective Sergeant Kevin Brown and crime scene investigator Amy Sorensen, Madison must first understand the killer's motives but the dark mountains that surround Ludlow know how to keep their secrets and that the human heart is wilder than any beast's.
Big Easy evil, Heather Graham.
Michael Quinn and Danni Cafferty are far too familiar with the question. At the death of her father, Danni inherited his house and shop on Royal Street in New Orleans-and much more than she ever anticipated, including a book kept by her family for generations on how to combat the most unusual forces.
The vanishing box, Elly Griffiths.
Christmas 1953. Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining Brighton Hippodrome, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savoury support act: a tableau show of naked 'living statues'.
The death messenger, Mari Hannah.
Track a stalker. Catch a killer. When a mysterious DVD is delivered to Northumbria Police Headquarters, DS Matthew Ryan and Detective Superintendent Eloise O'Neil are among the few to view its disturbing content. With little to go on the only lead comes from the anonymous and chilling woman's voice narrating the blood-soaked lock-up depicted on screen.
Death on the canal, Anja de Jager.
Drinking outside a canalside bar on a perfect summer's evening, Lotte is witness to the fatal stabbing of Piotr Mazur, a Polish security guard working in one of the city's department stores. And as Lotte starts to investigate Mazur's death she keeps finding facts that potentially link him to the case of the dead tourists.
Sleep no more: six murderous tales, P. D. James.
Six of P. D. James's short stories are published here together for the first time. As the six murderous tales unfold, the dark motive of revenge is revealed at the heart of each.
The gift, Louise Jensen.
The perfect daughter. The perfect girlfriend. The perfect murder? Jenna is given another shot at life when she receives a donor heart from a girl called Callie. Eternally grateful to Callie and her family, Jenna gets closer to them, but she soon discovers that Callie's perfect family is hiding some very dark secrets.
The hanged man, Simon Kernick.
A house deep in the countryside where the remains of seven unidentified women have just been discovered. A cop ready to risk everything in the hunt for their killers. A man who has seen the murders and is now on the run in fear of his life.
Shadow man, Margaret Kirk.
Two brutal killings rock Inverness, and bring ex-Met Detective Inspector Lukas Mahler the biggest challenge of his career. The body of the queen of daytime TV, Morven Murray is discovered by her sister, Anna, on the morning of her wedding day. But does Anna know more about the murder than she's letting on?
The Anthill murders, Hans Olav Lahlum.
1972. Across Oslo, a serial killer is hunting down young women. Each victim found strangled and with a peculiar calling-card placed upon their bodies: a cut-out picture of an ant. The first victim is a timid theology student, the next a jazz singer, followed by the heir to one of the largest fortunes in Oslo.
District VIII, Adam LeBor.
Life's tough for a Gypsy cop in Budapest. The cops don't trust you because you're a Gypsy. Your fellow Gypsies, even your own family, shun you because you're a cop. The dead, however, don't care.
Now we are dead, Stuart MacBride.
Detective Chief Inspector Roberta Steel got caught fitting up Jack Wallace that's why they demoted her and quashed his sentence. Now he's back on the streets and women are being attacked again. Wallace has to be responsible, but if Detective Sergeant Steel goes anywhere near him, his lawyers will get her thrown off the force for good.
Evil games, Angela Marsons.
When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal stabbing, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But as further disturbing events come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone even more sinister at work.
The deceiver: a Claire Roget mystery, Priscilla Masters.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget finds it impossible to refuse when she receives a desperate phone call from an old acquaintance, obstetrician Charles Tissot. One of his patients, Heather Kimble, alleges that Tissot seduced her at a party and that he is the father of her unborn child.
The runner, Peter May.
A prodigious Chinese swimmer kills himself on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. Days later, a champion weightlifter suffers a fatal heart attack prior to competition. Detective Li Yan senses a conspiracy surrounding the fatalities, and finds a female athlete willing to talk. But she will only trust one person: Li's fiancee, Margaret Campbell.
The unquiet grave: a novel, Sharyn McCrumb.
Lakin, West Virginia, 1930. Following a suicide attempt and consigned to a segregated insane asylum, attorney James P. D. Gardner finds himself under the care of Dr. James Boozer. Fresh out of medical school, Dr. Boozer is eager to try the new talking cure for insanity, and encourages his elderly patient to reminisce about his experiences as the first black attorney to practice law in nineteenth-century West Virginia.
Trust no one, Mark McGinn.
In this legal thriller, elderly Sydney rest home residents die mysteriously in the middle of the night: natural causes or suffocation? The home's chairman falls to his death from a clifftop in Watsons Bay: accident, suicide or murder?
The blackbird season: a novel, Kate Moretti.
In a quiet Pennsylvania town, a thousand dead starlings fall onto a high school baseball field, unleashing a horrifying and unexpected chain of events that will rock the close-knit community. Beloved baseball coach and teacher Nate Winters and his wife, Alicia, are well respected throughout town.
Double kiss, Ronnie O'Sullivan.
There's no such thing as a quiet life for Frankie James. With his brother out of jail and his debts cleared, Frankie's thinking about his future – until a postcard arrives from Mallorca. It reminds Frankie of something his mother said to him, and is signed off with a kiss. But his mother's been missing for six years, everyone thought she was dead.
When she's gone: a thriller, Jane Palmer.
Ara Zuyev, a highly discreet bodyguard to a powerful billionaire's family, falls under suspicion when the sixteen-year-old in her care is kidnapped, a situation that forces her to team up with savvy FBI agent Luke Patrick, who believes she knows more than she is admitting.
Bonfire: a novel, Krysten Ritter.
It has been ten years since Abby Williams left home and scrubbed away all evidence of her small town roots. Now working as an environmental lawyer in Chicago, she has a thriving career, a modern apartment, and her pick of meaningless one-night stands.
Playing with fire: an Inspector Banks mystery, Peter Robinson.
In the early hours of a cold January morning, two narrow boats catch fire on the dead-end stretch of the Eastvale canal. When signs of accelerant are found at the scene, DCI Banks and DI Annie Cabbot are summoned. But by the time they arrive, only the smouldering wreckage is left, and human remains have been found on both boats.
Killing pace, Douglas Schofield.
It's been two months since Lisa Green crawled barefoot and bleeding out of a terrible car accident. Her boyfriend Roland has been nursing her back to health under close watch. Lisa has amnesia. They both know that, but only Lisa knows that she hasn't lost her ability to reason.
The hit, Anna Smith.
Rosie Gilmour is hot on the trail of a ring of baby-sellers and people-traffickers. The problem is, her main suspect is a dead man. Or is he? A money-laundering accountant disappears in Romania. The hitman hired to disappear him is found dead in a Glasgow flat.
The girl in the green dress, Cath Staincliffe.
How far would you go to protect your child? Can you really keep them safe? What if who they are puts them at risk? And what if they have blood on their hands? Teenager Allie Kennaway heads off for prom night, cheered on by her dad Steve and little sister Teagan.
A casualty of war: a Bess Crawford mystery, Charles Todd.
Caring for an unstable soldier who believes his distant cousin is responsible for his injuries, battlefield nurse Bess Crawford investigates the patient's claims, only to find herself in unexpected danger.
Fire, L. C. Tyler.
1666. London has been destroyed by fire and its citizens are looking for somebody, preferable foreign, to blame. Only the royal Court, with its strong Catholic sympathies, is trying to dampen down the post-conflaguration hysteria.
Nine lessons, Nicola Upson.
Josephine Tey is in Cambridge, a town gripped by fear and suspicion as a serial rapist stalks the streets, and in the shadow of King's College Chapel, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose faces some of the most horrific and audacious murders of his career.
Clear to the horizon, Dave Warner.
In 1999 and 2000, three young women disappear from outside the Autostrada nightclub in the Perth suburb of Claremont. The knockabout Snowy Lane (City of Light) is hired as a private investigator but neither he nor the cops can find the abductor.
The essence of malice, Ashley Weaver.
When Milo Ames receives a troubling letter from his childhood nanny, Madame Nanette, he and Amory travel to Paris where they are soon embroiled in a mystery surrounding the death of a famous parfumier.
Even if it kills her: a Bailey Weggins mystery, Kate White.
Bailey Weggins' great new friend in college, Jillian Lowe, had everything going for her. Pretty, popular, and whip-smart, she lit up any room that she walked into. All of that dramatically changed during her sophomore year, when a neighbour became unhinged and murdered her family.
The other woman, Laura Wilson.
Shortly after Christmas, a message arrives at Sophie's house, scrawled across her own round robin newsletter: "He's going to leave you. Let's see how smug you are then, you stupid bitch". Perhaps she should ignore it, but she ignored the last one. And the one before that. Now it's time to take action.

New Zealand Fiction

A suitable time for vengeance: an Inspector O'Rorke novel, Edmund Bohan.
London 1887: a year of Continental anarchist- and American-financed Fenian violence. The suspicious death of Patrick O'Rorke's boyhood friend Tom O'Brien – the internationally famous tenor known as Tomaso Briani – propels the former colonial detective into dangerous places when he is called on to investigate by both Briani's mysterious widow, the Contessa di Stephani, and ambitious but devious Detective Chief Inspector Wilson of Scotland Yard.
Harvest: a novel, Christine Carrell.
It's 1931. Rose drops her bike in the orchard, little suspecting that the Napier earthquake is about to tip her life sideways. Ten years later she's a university student in Wellington where warships fill the harbour and blackout curtains drape the church supper room. But who's that handsome man in khaki about to go to war?
The beat of the pendulum: a found novel, Catherine Chidgey.
The Beat of the Pendulum is the result of one year in which Chidgey drew upon the language she encountered on a daily basis, such as news stories, radio broadcasts, emails, social media, street signs, TV, and many conversations.
The Peacock Room at Sammezzano Castle, Merryn Corcoran.
When Allegra discovers her husband's infidelity, her world crashes around her. It is the ramblings of her elderly grandfather that waken her interest in historic, interior architecture. On a trip to Florence she visits her grandfather's birth village in Tuscany.
Murder on Muritai, Genesis Cotterell.
When your planet's sun is dying, what can you do? Find a new home! That's what the Ryxins did throughout the galaxy, and 150 of them secretly arrived on Earth in 1905. Once they'd changed into Human form they began to infiltrate Earth's population. By the year 2020, long after their presence was discovered, Curtis McCoy, half-blood Ryxin and newly trained private investigator, is on his first case.
A stitch in time, Lynley Dear.
The year is 1930 and a failed dressmaker, a 'man about town', two 'Stars of Stage and Screen' and a jilted fiancée have washed up on the shores of Sydney Harbour. These five people, who have experienced the glamour of movie making and fashion in the era of Art Deco, are down on their luck and now seeking to find their fortunes in Sydney.
A southern strait, Anya Forest.
Rebecca Ryan's marriage is on the rocks. She's at an impasse, torn between the stress of fertility treatments and a husband who refuses to love a childless wife. Rebecca hopes a trip to a remote southern coast will clear her mind, but when a storm disrupts her search for serenity, she's left stranded and alone.
East: a novel, Peri Hoskins.
It's 1994. Junior lawyer, Vince Osbourne, leaves behind a small, mean and viciously circular life in the city representing petty criminals and takes to the road. He's lived 30 years. The wide continent of Australia is out in front. He's almost young. Where will the road lead?
Navigator: a novel, Anne Moir.
They all knew bomber boys generally didn't last long. Death was fast and fiery … But Lancaster navigator Joe Hassen does survive the war and a terrifying final sortie into the deadly skies above Dresden. When the fighting is over he returns to Dunedin, to Molly, his love, and to a settled future as a teacher with a family.
False river: stories, essays, secret histories, Paula Morris.
Fictional characters muse upon the truth behind real people, non-fiction pieces contain short interludes of fiction, fiction is written to read like an essay, made-up elements slip into true accounts.
Eye of the songbird, Michael Munro.
She???s the target, the scientist he's been told to bring down and here she is swinging helpless in a crevasse in Antarctica. What should Kirk Barnby, secret service agent, do? Cut the rope? In this taut and exciting clash between environmental activism and nation-state power, which veers across Antarctica, New Zealand, Hong Kong, London and Istanbul, two very determined people have to make a series of time-critical choices – political and personal.
Gone tomorrow, Felicity Price.
Gone Tomorrow is about an engagingly vulnerable woman approaching retirement who feels too old to find love again and worries she is passing her use-by sate. Until her beloved granddaughter goes missing. Then she learns the hard way it's best to make the most of today, because it could all be gone tomorrow.
Pohutukawa Highway, Tammy Robinson.
It's January, the height of a New Zealand summer and the Gilbert family have gathered at the campground they've been coming to since the seventies to scatter the ashes of youngest son Jeffrey into the sea. For Jess, the campground holds bittersweet memories. It's where she passed a childhood of carefree summers, but it's also the scene of her first heartbreak at the hands of Hunter Aarden.
Murder on Broadway: a goldfields murder mystery novel, John Rosanowski.
It's Broadway in Reefton, the new, booming 1870s gold town. Suspiciously, Gordon Trembath, a naive young police constable, has been left in charge over Christmas and New Year. He is immediately faced with investigating a murder carried out by sly-groggers in the valley.
The last newspaper in the world, Mick Stone.
When the mayor of his small town is found dead in a drain, reluctant reporter Bill Brown is drawn in to chase down the biggest ever story in Coastlands for his family-owned newspaper. Bill would rather go surfing, drink coffee and flirt with the mysterious Angelique, anything rather working on The Last Newspaper in the World.
The mud, Mick Stone.
Mick Stone's new crime novel explores the life of Emily Lewis in the beautiful landscape of Whakatane as she tries to hide the mud of her life, until the truth surfaces when her mother is found with a knife in her back.

ROMANCE

Twins for the billionaire, Sarah M. Anderson.
Their mistletoe baby, Karin Baine.
Someone to wed, Mary Balogh.
The rescue doc's Christmas miracle, Amalie Berlin.
A night, a consequence, a vow, Angela Bissell.
The sultan demands his heir, Maya Blake.
A spy's devotion, Melanie Dickerson.
After suffering a battlefield injury, wealthy, well-connected British officer Nicholas Langdon returns home to heal and to fulfill a dying soldier's last wish by delivering his coded diary.
One more song, Nicki Edwards.
Much has changed for Harry since he escaped his home town of Yallambah ten years ago, headed for the bright lights of the big city. Now he's the star of Melbourne's hottest musical, chasing only the next standing ovation.
Snowbound with an heiress, Jennifer Faye.
Kidnapped for the tycoon's baby, Louise Fuller.
The Spanish duke's holiday proposal, Robin Gianna.
A diamond for the sheikh's mistress, Abby Green.
Christmas with her daredevil doc, Kate Hardy.
Their pregnancy gift, Kate Hardy.
Darker, E L James.
E L James revisits the world of Fifty Shades with a deeper and darker take on the love story that has enthralled millions of readers around the globe. Their scorching, sensual affair ended in heartbreak and recrimination, but Christian Grey cannot get Anastasia Steele out of his mind, or his blood.
Claiming his scandalous love-child, Julia James.
The Italian's Christmas secret, Sharon Kendrick.
An irresistible alliance, Stephanie Laurens.
Lord Michael Cynster learns of the mission his brother and his brother's fiancee have been assisting with and volunteers to help by hunting down a hoard of gunpowder now stashed somewhere in London.
The greatest challenge of them all, Stephanie Laurens.
A nobleman devoted to defending queen and country and a noblewoman wild enough to match his every step race to disrupt the plans of a malignant intelligence intent on shaking England to its very foundations.
The lady by his side, Stephanie Laurens.
A marquess in need of the right bride. An earl's daughter in search of a purpose. A betrayal that ends in murder and balloons into a threat to the realm. Sebastian Cynster knows time is running out. If he doesn't choose a wife soon, his female relatives will line up to assist him.
His mistletoe proposal, Christy Mckellen.
Newborn under the Christmas tree, Sophie Pembroke.
The Texan takes a wife, Charlene Sands.
Valdez's bartered bride, Rachael Thomas.
Christmas with her millionaire boss, Barbara Wallace.
The Greek's forbidden princess, Annie West.
A family made at Christmas, Scarlet Wilson.

SAGA

Secrets of Cavendon, Barbara Taylor Bradford.
For years things have run smoothly at Cavendon Hall, with very few quarrels, dramas, or upsets among the Inghams and the Swanns. But since the end of World War II, things have changed. The Secrets of Cavendon picks up in the summer of 1949, with the new generation of the estate at the forefront of the scandal and intrigue.
A sister's bond, Kay Brellend.
After her mother dies, Livvie Bone knows it's down to her to support her family and protect her younger siblings from their drunken father. But life in Wood Green in 1913 is hard and full of danger, and one night she needs protection herself.
The stolen marriage, Diane Chamberlain.
In 1944, Tess DeMello abruptly ends her engagement to the love of her life, marries a mysterious stranger and moves to Hickory, North Carolina. Tess's new husband, Henry Kraft, is a secretive man who often stays out all night and hides money from his new wife and Tess quickly comes to realise that she is now trapped in a strange and loveless marriage.
Christmas angels, Nadine Dorries.
The nurses of Lovely Lane face Christmas dramas at the busiest time of the St Angelus year. Christmas may be the season of goodwill, festive cheer and family cheer for some, but not for the poor of 1950's Liverpool.
Christmas at Woolworths, Elaine Everest.
Best friends Sarah, Maisie and Freda are brought together by their jobs at Woolworths. With their loved ones away on the front line, their bonds of friendship strengthen each day. Betty Billington is the manager at Woolworths, and a rock for the girls, having given up on love.
Snow angels, Elizabeth Gill.
Abby Reed, grieving after the loss of her mother, finds an unexpected source of comfort exploring the rugged, snowy countryside with the brooding Gillan Collingwood. And it isn't long before tender hopes are raised that she and Gill may someday be more than friends.
The little angel, Rosie Goodwin.
1896, Nuneaton. Left on the doorstep of Treetops Children's Home, young Kitty captures the heart of her guardian, Sunday Branning, who has never been blessed with a child of her own. Kitty brings sunshine and joy wherever she goes, and grows into a beguiling and favoured young girl.
The land girls at Christmas, Jenny Holmes.
It???s 1941 and as the Second World War rages on, girls from all over the country are signing up to the Women's Land Army. Renowned for their camaraderie and spirit, it is these brave women who step in to take on the gruelling farm work from the men conscripted into the armed forces.
The evacuee Christmas, Katie King.
Autumn 1939 and London prepares to evacuate its young. In No 5 Jubilee Street, Bermondsey, 10-year-old Connie is determined to show her parents that she's a brave girl and can look after her twin brother, Jessie.
Liverpool Annie, Maureen Lee.
Annie Harrison has a difficult childhood, and she eventually goes to live in the Grand Hotel with a rich schoolfriend. Marriage follows and when her husband dies, she throws herself into providing for her children.
Secrets of the shipyard girls, Nancy Revell.
Sunderland, 1941. As the world war continues the shipyard girls face hardships at home, but work and friendship give them strength to carry on. Gloria is smitten with her newly arrived bundle of joy, but the first weeks are bittersweet.
Past perfect, Danielle Steel.
Past Perfect is a spellbinding story of two families living a hundred years apart who open the door to an unimaginable friendship. Sybil and Blake Gregory live a well-ordered, predictable Manhattan life; she as a cutting-edge design authority and museum consultant, he in high-tech investments, raising their teenagers Andrew and Caroline and six-year-old Charlie.

SCIENCE FICTION

The best science fiction of the year. Volume 2, Neil Clarke.
Award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and twenty-seven of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2016.
America city, Chris Beckett.
America, one century on: a warmer climate is causing vast movements of people. Droughts, floods and hurricanes force entire populations to simply abandon their homes. Tensions are mounting between north and south, and some northern states are threatening to close their borders against homeless fellow-Americans from the south.
Breach of containment, Elizabeth Bonesteel.
When hostilities between factions threaten to explode into a shooting war on the moon of Yakutsk, the two major galactic military powers, Central Corps and PSI, send ships to defuse the situation. But when a strange artifact is discovered, events are set in motion that threaten the entire colonized galaxy-including former Central Corps Commander Elena Shaw.
Places in the darkness, Chris Brookmyre.
Ciudad de Cielo is the 'city in the sky', a space station where hundreds of scientists and engineers work in earth's orbit, building the colony ship that will one day take humanity to the stars. When a mutilated body is found on the CdC, the eyes of the world are watching.
Stories of your life and others, Ted Chiang.
Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change; the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens, while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy.
Notice of death, Genesis Cotterell.
This is a psychological thriller involving the death of a Ryxin woman. Her body is found washed up on a beach and Curtis is called upon by a prison inmate called Alys. She believes her friend Maggie has been murdered and wants Curtis and Janux to investigate.
The forbidden gene, Genesis Cotterell.
The year is 2021 and Ryxins have been on Earth since 1905. When they came they knew no other rule but that of King Dymon, the last ruler of the doomed planet Ryxin. He'd made a law that permitted only men to keep the innate telepathy gene. But most gladly forgot the stringent laws.
Anatomy of thought-fiction: CHS Report, April 2214, Joanna Demers.
The Anatomy of thought-fiction is a philosophical novella that asks why we believe things that we know are untrue. In the year 2214, the Center for Humanistic Study has discovered an unpublished manuscript by Joanna Demers, a musicologist who lived some two centuries before.
Strange music: a Pip & Flinx adventure, Alan Dean Foster.
The unexpected return of an old friend draws Flinx and Pip to the backward planet of Largess, whose seal-like denizens' primitive technology and fractious clan politics have kept a wary Commonwealth from a profitable trade relationship. But now a rogue human employing forbidden advanced weaponry threatens to ignite a war among the Larians.
Aurora rising, Alastair Reynolds.
Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect, a policeman of sorts, and one of the best. His force is Panoply, and his beat is the multi-faceted utopian society of the Glitter Band, that vast swirl of space habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone. These days, his job is his life.
First-person singularities, Robert Silverberg.
A collection of eighteen first-person stories by the science fiction master includes tales featuring such diverse narrators as a dolphin in love with a human and an alien visitor living in disguise in a New York hotel.
Sweet dreams, Tricia Sullivan.
Charlie is a dreamhacker, able to enter your dreams and mould their direction. Forget that recurring nightmare about being naked at an exam; Charlie will step in to your dream, bring you a dressing gown and give you the answers. As far as she knows, she's the only person who can do this.
Dogs of war, Adrian Tchaikovsky.
My name is Rex. I am a good dog. Rex is also seven foot tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy calibre weaponry and his voice resonates with subsonics especially designed to instil fear.
Beyond the empire, K.B. Wagers.
Gunrunner-turned-Empress Hail Bristol was dragged back to her home planet to take her rightful place in the palace. Her sisters and parents have been murdered, and the Indranan Empire is reeling from both treasonous plots and foreign invasion.
The last dog on Earth, Adrian J. Walker.
Every dog has its day. And for Lineker, a happy go lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be. Reg, an agoraphobic writer with an obsession for nineties football, plans to wait out the impending doom in his second floor flat, hiding himself away from the riots outside.
Artemis, Andy Weir.
Jazz is a small time criminal, subsidising work as a porter on the moon with smuggling a little contraband. But it's never enough. When she's offered the chance to get rich quick, she jumps at it.
The God peak, Patrick Hemstreet.
When three of his test subjects take the world hostage, neuroscientist Chuck Brenton, horrified by what he did, comes out of hiding to stop the monsters he created.