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From the bestselling author of The Ghost Cat comes an epic new adventure for feline fans. The Ships Cat is the Odyssey with cats - a heroic yet feel-good tale of unlikely friendship on the high seas. When street-savvy London stray Archie accidentally stows away on a flight to Turkey, hes just looking for shelter. But after stumbling onto a fishing boat in a quiet cove, Archie discovers hes no ordinary feline - for with his polydactyl paws, he brings uncanny good fortune to vessels at sea. From the sun-drenched harbours of the Mediterranean to the bustling decks of ocean racers, Archie becomes a legend among sailors. Yet beneath the viral fame and whispered tales of the magical ships cat, Archie yearns for something deeper: a forever-human who will love him not as a talisman, but as a companion. It may be luck that drives Archie on this great Odyssey around the world, but love will be what calls him home - not to some place, perhaps, but to someone. Heartwarming, adventurous and quietly profound, The Ships Cat is a tale of resilience, belonging, unexpected friendship and the mysterious ways love finds us.

The worst monsters are the human kind . . . Dundee, 1812. Isabel Baxter awaits the arrival of Mary Godwin, a girl of fierce intelligence and grand passions, sent north to recover from a mysterious ailment. The Baxter family home, nestled in woodland by the river Tay, seems the perfect retreat. But The Cottage is a place of secrets, and Mary is no ordinary guest. As the girls grow closer, their friendship becomes all-consuming, haunted by memory, fuelled by feverish creativity, and shadowed by something monstrous. Inspired by true events, this is an immersive reimagining of the young Mary Shelley before she became the author of Frankenstein. A story of girlhood, obsession, and the birth of a literary legend. Years before Frankenstein, this is a story of emerging womanhood and literary intrigue, exploring the many monsters in young Mary Shelley's life. From the bestselling author of Waterstones Scottish Book of the month, the Specimens, Poor Creatures is perfect for fans of Stacey Halls, Sara Sheridan and Ambrose Parry.

Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Light on Dark Days is Donna Ashworth's powerful new collection of wisdom to help us find hope, peace, self-acceptance and inspiration on the days we feel worn down, helpless or sad. Written with love and understanding, Donna - who is also the bestselling author of I Wish I Knew - reminds us that amidst our daily struggles and constant outpourings of bad news we have so much to hope for, and that every one of us can play a part, big or small, in making the world a better place. With poems such as 'Surrounded by Treasure', 'That Thing You Do', 'Through the Wringer' and 'Rope Ladder', Donna helps us to remember that most people in this world are good, and that acts of kindness and love within our individual spheres of influence, however small, all contribute to a better future. She also gently guides us, no matter how busy or overburdened we may be, to practice better self-care and self-acceptance. Hope exists when nothing else can. On the darkest of days Wild Hope will help you find more light. Wild Hope was a no 1 Sunday Times bestseller from 21st January 2024-28th January 2024.

Welcome to the Killer Lines Crime Festival! In the quaint town of Hoslewit, the biggest names in crime writing have congregated to celebrate all things bookish and murderous. With a programme packed with seminars and signings, egos and alcohol, it's sure to be a thrilling weekend. Author Jane Hepburn is determined this is going to be her year. She's not quite reached the heady heights of best-sellerdom yet, but is convinced that if she can just make the right connections at the festival, it could be the start of a whole new chapter for her and her books. Then her literary agent is killed, and Jane's plans are derailed. But if she can solve the murder, perhaps it will provide the boost her writing career needs? If she lives to tell the tale, that is. Set in the world of books, and for fans of Richard Osman and Richard Coles, Janice Hallett and Nita Prose, A Novel Murder is the book you'll be dying to read.

At seven o'clock one Tuesday evening, in a perfectly ordinary tower block near Westminster, four strangers meet for the first time. They each have three things in common: all suffered a traumatic experience six months earlier; all exhibit a dogged inability to put it behind them; and all accepted an invitation to attend tonight's counselling session with the unconventional Genevieve - a determined woman with an unusual theory to test. But this isn't a novel about psychotherapy or self-forgiveness. Because there is another reason these four people have been brought together. And when that perfectly ordinary tower block near Westminster turns out to be not quite so ordinary, all five are forced to make some unexpected - and, for some, impossible - decisions . . . A novel about friendship, strength and love, The Seven O'Clock Club is a reminder that life can give you hope. Even in the darkest of spaces.

Sometimes the greatest spectacle hides the darkest secrets . . . In an alternate London, the city's Theatre District is a walled area south of the river where an immersive production - the Show - has been running for centuries, growing ever bigger, more sprawling and lavish. The Show is open to anyone who can afford a ticket but the District itself is a closed world; even the police have no jurisdiction within its walls. Juliet's mother died when she was a baby. Brought up by her emotionally distant father and even more distant stepmother, she has never felt wanted. It's only when her father passes away that Juliet - now nineteen - learns her birth was registered in the District. Desperate to belong somewhere at last, she travels to London where she hopes to unearth the truth about her identity, her mother's death and her father's years of silence - and claim her birthright.

From the bestselling author of Devil's Breath, Jill Johnson is back with another gripping Professor Eustacia Rose Mystery... Betrayal is a bitter poison . . . After a nerve-racking investigation, Professor Eustacia Rose's life is returning to normal. She is finally back teaching at UCL and her relationship with Matilde is blossoming. But when a man is found dead with a needle in his neck, and a disturbing painting of Eustacia links her and the body, her fragile peace suddenly begins to crumble. At work, there's another threat for Eustacia to deal with. A PhD student is desperate to get access to her poisonous plant collection and begins to stalk her. When she refuses to help him, he starts buying illegal synthetic plant toxins from an unknown source then turns up dead. Once again, Eustacia is the link. With no leads and the body count rising, Eustacia, now firmly in the frame, is left with no choice but to investigate the deaths in earnest herself, however dangerous it may become. With a quirky protagonist, dark academia aesthetic and an array of exotic poisonous plants, this unique spin on the classic murder mystery novel will hook fans Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project and Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club.

'I want to live, not merely survive' This collection of words from Havva Ramadan will resonate with her rapidly growing online community. With a million followers, Havva's words have struck a chord with people all around the world, including celebrities such as Annie Lennox, Khloe Kardashian and Alison Hammond. Now, in her first book, A Voice: Turning Pain into Power, those words take a different form, collected to give us a very personal journey that we can all relate to, reflecting the pain of grief, the struggle of mental health and the journey we need to take to help us collect our pieces and find a way to rebuild ourselves once again. A Voice is a beautiful new collection of Havva's work. With a mix of material that her audience knows and loves plus additional unpublished work, Havva also now shares secrets she has never posted online, revealing her troubled early life and heart and soul through her work in the hope that she can help others through life after loss, as she has had to do herself, and learn to live again by turning our pain into power.

It's 1995, and Alex Dean has it all: a place at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter with a ghost from his past sees him beaten, battered and almost drowning in the Thames. He wakes the next day to find he's in a messy, derelict room he's never seen before, in grimy clothes he doesn't recognise. A glimpse in the mirror tells him he's older-much older-his features ravaged by time and poor decisions. It's 2010-fifteen years since the fight. After finally managing to sleep, Alex wakes the following morning to find it's now 2019, another nine years later. But the next day, it's 1999. Never knowing which day is coming, he begins to piece together what happens in his life after that fateful night. But what exactly is going on? Why does his life look nothing like he thought it would? What about Cambridge, and Holly? In this page-turning adventure, Alex must navigate his way through the years to learn that good decisions can have untold impact. And that might be all he needs to save the people he loves and, equally importantly, himself.

Early morning, 1902. At 7/7 Marchmont Crescent, Eilidh the charlady tips coal into a fire grate and sets it alight. Overhearing, Grimalkin the cat ambles over to curl up against the welcome heat and lick his favourite human's hand. But this is to be his last day on earth ... before he becomes the Ghost Cat. Follow Grimalkin as he witnesses the changes of the next 120 years, prowling unseen among the inhabitants of an Edinburgh tenement, while unearthing some startling revelations about the mystery of existence, the unstoppable march of time and the true meaning of feline companionship. This unique tale provides a feel-good read full of charm for any fan of history, humour and fur-ridden fun. Perfect for fans of Matt Haig's How to Stop Time and V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

She stayed in your house. Now she wants your life . . . We all have that friend - the one who doesn't quite belong. Dinah Marshall is that person and knows it. After someone drops out, she's invited to spend the weekend at a luxury holiday home with women she's known since university. However, the gulf between them has widened since then, and Dinah is conscious of being the only one with no money, career, partner or children. Feeling like an outsider, she takes to snooping around the house. She's fascinated by its owners, Sarah and Isaac Rivers - and when she discovers she can secretly stay an extra night, that fascination quickly spirals into obsession. When Isaac Rivers meets 'Diana Malone' at an exclusive members club, he introduces her to his wife and friends, and she's soon welcomed into the group. She seems to be trying a little too hard, however, and as her somewhat intense behaviour starts to raise both eyebrows and questions, one of her new acquaintances begins to suspect she isn't who she says she is. For Diana - or is it Dinah? -this is a disaster: she's worked hard to get where she has, and these suspicions threaten everything. But Diana isn't the only one with secrets, and if she's going down, then she might just take everyone else with her . . .

I've always been better with plants than people . . . Eustacia Rose is a Professor of Botanical Toxicology who lives alone in London with only her extensive collection of poisonous plants for company. She tends to her garden with meticulous care. Her life is quiet. Her schedule never changes. Until the day she hears a scream and the temptation to investigate proves irresistible. Through her telescope, Professor Rose is drawn into the life of an extraordinarily beautiful neighbour, Simone, and nicknames the men who visit her after poisonous plants according to the toxic effect they have on Simone. But who are these four men? And why does Eustacia Rose recognise one of them? Just as she preserves her secret garden, she feels inexplicably compelled to protect her neighbour, but Eustacia soon finds herself entangled in a far more complicated web than she could ever have imagined. When her precious garden is vandalised and someone close to Simone is murdered with a toxin derived from a rare poisonous plant, Eustacia becomes implicated in the crime. After all, no one knows toxic plants like she does . . .

Since his adventure in Grunsby-on-Sea, Steven Percival has been thriving. He's kept his powers under control, come out of the closet, and been with his handsome American boyfriend, Troy, almost every day this summer. He can't wait to start uni in London with his best friend, Freya, especially as Troy is going to a different university just a quick train ride away. But Grunsby won't let him go. Around every corner, he's convinced that he's seeing Zachary, the evil emomancer who tried to leech his powers away. Steven also suspects Alice, a girl on his course, of being an emomancer, but the truth is even more surprising when it comes out: she can read and implant thoughts in people's minds, and has been causing a rift between Steven and his friends. Steven, Freya, and Troy turn to DEMA for help, but even the secret organisation may not be safe anymore. Steven was right: Zachary has been keeping a close eye on the three friends, and from deep inside the organisation too...

Inspired by the true story of the last person to be tried and executed as a witch in the British Isles, The Last Witch of Scotland reimagines how Janet Horne came to be accused of witchcraft. Being a woman was her only crime. Scottish Highlands, 1727. In the aftermath of a tragic fire that kills her father, Aila and her mother, Janet, move to the remote parish of Loth, north-west of Inverness. Blending in does not come easily to the women: Aila was badly burned in the fire and left with visible injuries, while her mother struggles to maintain her grip on reality. When a temporary minister is appointed in the area, rather than welcome the two women, he develops a strange curiosity for them that sets them even further apart from the community. Then arrives a motley troupe of travelling entertainers from Edinburgh, led by the charismatic but mysterious Jack. It is just the distraction Janet, and particularly Aila, needs: for the first time in a long while, their lives are filling with joy and friendship, and a kind of hope Aila hasn't known since her father's death. But in this small community, faith is more powerful than truth, and whispers more dangerous even than fire. Haunting and deeply moving, The Last Witch of Scotland is a story of love, loyalty and sacrifice, inspired by the true story of the last person to be executed for witchcraft in Britain. Perfect for fans of Outlander, The Mercies and The Witches of Vardo, or for anyone with an interest in the history of witchcraft, late renaissance Scotland and Highland history.

An ocean-drenched, atmospheric horror debut! Liv's best friend disappears on their first night aboard their dream semester-at-sea program - but is he really sick, like everyone says, or is something darker lurking beneath the water? It should have been the trip of a lifetime. When Liv lands an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study aboard the luxury cruise ship the Eos for a semester, she can't believe her luck. Especially since it will offer her the chance to spend time with Will, her ex-best friend, who's barely spoken to her since the night their relationship changed forever. But as soon as she steps on board, Liv realizes just how out of her depth she is. With Will, with the rest of the Seamester students - including the brittle and beautiful Constantine, who may be hiding his own ties to the Eos - and most of all, with the Sirens, three glamorous and mysterious influencers who seem to have the run of the ship. Liv quickly discovers that the only reason she was invited to join the trip is because another girl disappeared shortly after enrolling-and no one seems to know what happened to her. When further disappearances rock the ship and strange creatures begin haunting Liv's dreams, she wonders: Is the Eos hiding a dark secret within its shadowy decks? The truth will come at a price... only, how much is Liv willing to pay?