The School of Night


Louis Bayard - 2010
    Known as the School of Night, they meet in secret to avoid the wrath of Queen Elizabeth. But one of the men, Thomas Harriot, has secrets of his own, secrets he shares with one person only: the servant woman he loves.In modern-day Washington, D.C., disgraced Elizabethan scholar Henry Cavendish has been hired by the ruthless antiquities collector Bernard Styles to find a missing letter. The letter dates from the 1600s and was stolen by Henry's close friend, Alonzo Wax. Now Wax is dead and Styles wants the letter back. But the letter is an object of interest to others, too. It may be the clue to a hidden treasure; it may contain the long-sought formula for alchemy; it most certainly will prove the existence of the group of men whom Shakespeare dubbed the School of Night but about whom little is known. Joining Henry in his search for the letter is Clarissa Dale, a mysterious woman who suffers from visions that only Henry can understand. In short order, Henry finds himself stumbling through a secretive world of ancient perils, caught up in a deadly plot, and ensnared in the tragic legacy of a forgotten genius.

The Streets Keep Calling


Chunichi Knott - 2010
    Determined to stay on a straight and narrow path, he follows all the rules of his probation, and even works a full-time job as a janitor. But when the pressure becomes too much to handle, he reverts back to what he knows best. With everything under control, he's the happiest man alive--that is, until he realizes his happiness was achieved at the cost of another man's losses. This brings Breeze back to a part of his life he'd hoped never to relive. He puts his combat boots on and is ready for war, not knowing if the battle will land him back in lockdown. In order to keep his happiness, Breeze is willing to risk it all. Bestselling author Chunichi brings readers another engaging tale of life on the streets. The Streets Keep Calling will make you ask yourself, "How far would I be willing to go for survival?"

Not Bad People


Brandy Scott - 2019
    Thirty-something Aimee, Melinda, and Lou are best friends reveling in the end-of-year celebrations. And what better way to look ahead to the coming year than to let off Chinese lanterns filled with resolutions: for meaning, for freedom, for money? The fact that it’s illegal to use these lanterns is far in the back of their minds. After the glowing paper bags float away and are lost to sight in the night sky, there’s a bright flare in the distance. It could be a sign of luck—or the start of a complete nightmare that will upend the women’s friendships, families, and careers.Aimee is convinced their little ceremony caused a major accident. The next day, the newspapers report a small plane crashed, and two victims—one a young boy—were pulled from the wreckage. Were they responsible? Aimee thinks they are, Melinda won't accept it, and Lou has problems of her own. It's a toxic recipe for guilt trips, shame, obsession, blackmail and power games.They’re not bad people. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Bricks that Built the Houses


Kate Tempest - 2016
    But can they truly leave the city that's in their bones?Kate Tempest's novel reaches back through time--through tensely quiet dining rooms and crassly loud clubs--to the first time Becky and Harry meet. It sprawls through their lives and those they touch--of their families and friends and faces on the street--revealing intimacies and the moments that make them. And it captures the contemporary struggle of urban life, of young people seeking jobs or juggling jobs, harboring ambitions and making compromises.The Bricks that Built the Houses is an unexpected love story. It's about being young, but being part of something old. It's about how we become ourselves, and how we effect our futures. Rich in character and restless in perspective, driven by ethics and empathy, it asks--and seeks to answer--how best to live with and love one another.Kate Tempest, a major talent in the poetry and music worlds, sits poised to become a major novelist as well.

Run, Run, Run


Mark Capell - 2011
    But even that can't protect him and his wife, Sally. Somebody knows their new identity - somebody who shouldn't.Frank Tong is an artist who finds inspiration for his paintings from the violence of his criminal life. When his brother is put away for murder he wants revenge. And Frank has a mole in the Witness Protection Scheme.Dan and the pregnant Sally have no choice. They have to flee. They go on the run from both sides of the law.They must learn to lie, steal, shoot and fight to survive. They can't use their credit cards, cash machines, mobile phones - anything that will give away their location. They must constantly look over their shoulder. It's living life like a criminal - a difficult task for two law abiding people.What will it take to return to a normal life? How far are they prepared to go? What will they sacrifice for their freedom?'Run, Run, Run' is a crime thriller that will have your heart racing and your mind buzzing....Sometimes the best way to get justice is to run away from it...(2014 REVISED EDITION)

Sophie


Judith Saxton - 1991
    Particularly by Stephen, one of the directors.But despite her newfound confidence, when things start to go wrong, Sophie can’t help wondering whether she’s lost a bit of herself along the way.

Idaho


Emily Ruskovich - 2017
    Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. The two daughters, June and May, aged nine and six, drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, and sing snatches of songs as they while away the time.But then something unimaginably shocking happens, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction.In a story told from multiple perspectives and in razor-sharp prose, we gradually learn more about this act, and the way its violence, love and memory reverberate through the life of every character in Idaho.

Hetty’s Farmhouse Bakery


Cathy Bramley - 2018
    Marriage, motherhood and helping Dan run Sunnybank Farm have certainly kept her hands full for the last twelve years. But when her daughter Poppy has to choose her inspiration for a school project and picks her aunt, not her mum, Hetty is left full of self-doubt.Hetty’s always been generous with her time and until now, her biggest talent – baking deliciously moreish shortcrust pastry pies – has been limited to charity work and the village fete. But taking part in a competition run by Cumbria’s Finest to find the very best produce from the region might be just the thing to make her daughter proud . . . and reclaim something for herself.Except that life isn’t as simple as producing the perfect pie. Changing the status quo isn’t easy – and with cracks appearing in her marriage and shocking secrets coming to light, Hetty must decide where her priorities really lie . . .Your favourite authors have loved reading bestseller Cathy Bramley:'Delightful!' Katie Fforde'Full of joy and fun' Milly Johnson'Delightfully warm with plenty of twists and turns' Trisha Ashley

More Than You Can Say


Paul Torday - 2011
    Finding it difficult to settle into civilian life, he turns to drink and gambling - and is challenged to a bet he cannot resist. All he has to do is walk from London to Oxford in under twelve hours. But what starts as a harmless venture turns into something altogether different when Richard recklessly accepts an unusual request from a stranger ...

Oliver Loving


Stefan Merrill Block - 2018
    One warm, West Texas November night, a shy boy named Oliver Loving joins his classmates at Bliss County Day School’s annual dance, hoping for a glimpse of the object of his unrequited affections, an enigmatic Junior named Rebekkah Sterling. But as the music plays, a troubled young man sneaks in through the school’s back door. The dire choices this man makes that evening —and the unspoken story he carries— will tear the town of Bliss, Texas apart.Nearly ten years later, Oliver Loving still lies wordless and paralyzed at Crockett State Assisted Care Facility, the fate of his mind unclear. Orbiting the still point of Oliver’s hospital bed is a family transformed: Oliver’s mother, Eve, who keeps desperate vigil; Oliver’s brother, Charlie, who has fled for New York City only to discover he cannot escape the gravity of his shattered family; Oliver’s father, Jed, who tries to erase his memories with bourbon. And then there is Rebekkah Sterling, Oliver’s teenage love, who left Texas long ago and still refuses to speak about her own part in that tragic night. When a new medical test promises a key to unlock Oliver’s trapped mind, the town’s unanswered questions resurface with new urgency, as Oliver’s doctors and his family fight for a way for Oliver to finally communicate — and so also to tell the truth of what really happened that fateful night.A moving meditation on the transformative power of grief and love, a slyly affectionate look at the idiosyncrasies of family, and an emotionally-charged page-turner, Oliver Loving is an extraordinarily original novel that ventures into the unknowable and returns with the most fundamental truths.​

Utopia Avenue


David Mitchell - 2020
    Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967 and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet, and blues bassist Dean Moss, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief, blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and drafty ballrooms to Top of the Pops and the cusp of chart success, and on to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968.David Mitchell’s captivating new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue; of riots in the streets and revolutions in the head; of drugs, thugs, madness, love, sex, death, art; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder. Can we change the world in turbulent times, or does the world change us?

Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children


Dave Newman - 2012
    The novel tries to capture the humanity and heartbreak of one man's struggle to navigate the vicissitudes of life as a working writer in America.

The Hundred and Ninety Nine Steps & The Courage Consort


Michel Faber - 2010
    The abbey's one hundred and ninety-nine steps link the twenty-first century with the ruins of the past and Sian is swept into a mystery involving a long-hidden murder, a fragile manuscript in a bottle and a cast of most peculiar characters. Equal parts historical thriller, romance and ghost story, this is an ingenious literary page-turner and is completely unforgettable. THIS EDITION ALSO FEATURES MICHEL FABER'S NOVELLA THE COURAGE CONSORT

Taking Stock


Scott Bartlett - 2013
    Sam gets him professional help, as well as a job at a local grocery store.As he struggles to make sense of his life, Sheldon starts to notice something odd about one of his new co-workers, Gilbert Ryan. Gilbert seems to know about Sheldon's mental health issues - in fact, he seems to know secrets about everyone.And Gilbert sees value in Sheldon...*Winner* of the Percy Janes First Novel Award*Winner* of the Lawrence Jackson Writers' Award

The Essex Serpent


Sarah Perry - 2016
    At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. The depth of feeling that the inhabitants of Aldwinter share are matched by their city counterparts as they strive to find the courage to express and understand their deepest desires, and strongest fears.