John Murray Press strana 5 z 16

'Mesmeric from the first page. A twisting, haunting tale.' Lucy Steeds, author of THE ARTIST'A searing debut' Sunday Times *THE POP CULTURE MOMENTS EVERYONE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT IN 2026*The Knock hill is a carcass unintelligible as any dream. Wouldn't you rather be a witch than a victi? didn't realise those were my only options. In need of a fresh start, Thomasin leaves her toxic boyfriend, absent father and empty friendships to spend the summer in the Scottish Highlands with her eccentric Aunt Agnes and stern little cousin, Nina. But amidst the sprawling fields and ragged hills thrums a secret that has cursed the land for generations. 300 years earlier, Kate McNiven labours in The Big House by the Knock hill, wishing for a brighter future far away from the lecherous clutches of her master, the Laird. When she is exiled as a witch for refusing to succumb to his advances, Kate finds the escape she so desperately seeks in Thomasin, whose vulnerable body becomes her unwilling host. In the thin place between centuries, through a pulsing wound that bleeds out history, the truth of the past is finally ready to be revealed . . .

'A campus novel for our end times . . . Black Bag fizzes with wit and invention and winningly communicates a very human concern for meaning and connection' Observer 'A triumph of deadpan comedy . . . As surreal and ambitious as Tom McCarthy's Remainder, only written by someone with the comic instincts of Peep Show's Jesse Armstrong . . . [Kennard is] so generous with the jokes that I found myself laughing on almost every page. A brilliant comic tour de force' Sunday Times'Hilarious and poignant . . . Luke's prose ripples with unusual images and wry aphorisms. The tone throughout is delightfully mordant. This is a very modern novel with a comfortingly familiar core: that of an ode to the importance of friendship, tenderness and love' TLSA penniless and out-of-work actor picks up a job working for Dr Blend, a university professor who is conducting a psychological experiment. How will Dr Blend's students react to someone zipped into on oversized bag, sitting at the back of the lecture hall over a series of autumn term lectures? The role, eagerly accepted, soon has unexpected consequences. A professor of post-humanism develops research questions of her own, in particular can you love someone secreted away inside a black bag? Meanwhile, the actor's childhood friend and flatmate forms a vision for monetising this new situation . . . A warped campus novel, an investigation into the crisis of masculinity and an off-kilter love story, Black Bag is a firework of a novel: blazingly funny and profoundly humane.

From the prize-winning author of The Giant Dark comes a beautiful exploration of the ties that bind us and the scars they leave when they break.Aliyah and Ava arrive in England from opposite corners of the world with dreams built upon Emily Brontë, Brideshead Revisited and Richard Curtis films. Instead, in the shadow of their historic, fairytale campus, they get the sense that they don''t belong. The two form a Vita-and-Virginia-like bond, building a world full of stories that they write together. For a time, they are inseparable in their identity as ''strange girls''. When the end of university looms, they will have to return to the world where a devotion like this seems impossible to maintain.Years later, Aliyah has everything Ava wants - a room of her own and a publishing deal - and, worse, the thing Ava was certain neither of them had ever wanted: a sensible doctor husband. Arriving back in London for a mutual friend''s hen party, Ava is desperate to unpack the truth of what she really meant to Aliyah.Was what they had - whatever you call it - real?And what will become of the stories they tell themselves about one another?

A MISSING TEENAGER. A CITY FULL OF SECRETS... When the daughter of the Swedish Ambassador disappears from her prestigious London school in broad daylight, the authorities are on high alert. There are no witnesses and no ransom demand: thirteen-year-old Freya Sjöberg has vanished into thin air. With the Metropolitan Police out of their depth, specialist agent DS Madeleine Farrow is called in to handle the case. As a former pupil at Wimpole Girls, she knows the school's affluent corridors only too well. But even she can't anticipate the dark secrets held within its walls. With the clock ticking since Freya's disappearance, Madeleine must return to a place that holds painful memories to find a girl who has left no trace. For help, she calls on dogged - and occasionally maverick - young private investigator Ramona Chang. Together the unlikely pair find themselves plunged into a world of extreme wealth and dangerous secrets. The deeper they dig, the more they uncover - exposing a tangled web of conspiracy and lies that could change everything they thought they knew about the case, and each other. PRAISE FOR THE FARROW & CHANG SERIES:'Deftly riffing on actual news events, Lost Girls is another assured outing for Charlotte Philby's female odd couple ... [with] its depiction of a London ever more divided between haves and have-nots' Sunday Times'Brilliant! Effortlessly cool and clever. Cracking plot too' Jane Casey, author of The Killing Kind'A dazzling crime story' Woman's Own'Slick, stylish, glimmering with menace and introducing two unforgettable new leads' Lucy Foley, author of The Guest List

21 Day Abundance Challenge combines the empowering concepts of abundance and the law of attraction with  with a clear, three week program of reflective exercises, meditations and facts. With this deeply practical book, you'll learn how to stop being satisfied with less, focus on what really mattered to you, and learn how to use positive thinking, mental alertness and good energy to attract abundance to your life. Every day you'll learn (at least!) three new approaches, and will discover: - How abundance is a state of mind that you can tune in to. - How improving your self-esteem will help you attract happiness and success. - How to move towards a life of effortless prosperity. - Why three weeks is enough to change your attitude and begin creating an abundant life.

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is on a quest to encourage African women across the globe to live their best sex lives. As co-founder of the sex-positive feminist blog, Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women, she has promoted sexual pleasure for African women for over a decade. In this book she shares lessons she''s learnt along the way, and insights gained from research and conversations with sex-positive African feminists, as well as knowledge gained from a series of sexual freedom workshops she has run with diverse groups of women.Seeking Sexual Freedom also excavates and reclaims traditional African sexual knowledge and practices in ways that can serve the contemporary African woman. Nana recounts conversations with women who hold responsibilities for organising traditional practices such as the dipo puberty rites in Ghana and the Ssengas (traditional marriage counsellors) in Uganda. And each chapter of the book ends with a bulleted list of journal prompts, and exercises that you can do on their own to find your own way towards sexual liberation.

A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Powerful . . . a coming-of-age story with a twist' Guardian'Heart-wrenching . . . We need accounts like this haunting, compelling book' Telegraph'A profound and moving tribute . . . It is Lana's inside perspective on what it was like to grow up within this society that makes this such a unique and powerful book' Sunday Times'Wonderfully brave, beautifully written and utterly authentic' TLS'Haunting' Radio Times'Please live' were the last words fifteen-year-old Lana said to her mother. Shortly afterwards Natalia Estemirova was kidnapped outside their apartment block in Grozny, Chechnya. On 15th July 2009, she was murdered for telling the truth. A mountainous sliver of land which creates a natural boundary between Europe and Asia, for centuries Chechnya had been a sharp bone in Russia's throat. Three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, frustrated by the continued presence of the independence movement within Chechnya, Russia invaded. It was a war of extraordinary brutality. It turned Lana's mother, Natalia Estemirova, from a teacher into a human rights investigator. She became a dedicated member of Memorial, intent on exposing the kidnappings, bombings, torture and murders committed by Russian forces and Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed Chechen President. Natalia Estemirova's life, assassination, and the impunity that followed it, tell the story of Putin's Russia. This is Lana's story of growing up in a war. Of the intense bond between a mother and daughter, desperate to be together even though it was so much safer for Lana to live elsewhere, often for months at a time. It is a book both about being brave and about being ordinary in extraordinary times. It's the fulfilment of a promise Lana made at her mother's grave.

21 Day Abundance Challenge combines the empowering concepts of abundance and the law of attraction with  with a clear, three week program of reflective exercises, meditations and facts. With this deeply practical book, you'll learn how to stop being satisfied with less, focus on what really mattered to you, and learn how to use positive thinking, mental alertness and good energy to attract abundance to your life. Every day you'll learn (at least!) three new approaches, and will discover: - How abundance is a state of mind that you can tune in to. - How improving your self-esteem will help you attract happiness and success. - How to move towards a life of effortless prosperity. - Why three weeks is enough to change your attitude and begin creating an abundant life.

'INSTANTLY GRIPPING' JENNIFER EGANThe lives of five women collide in the Arabian Gulf as each looks for a way to rewrite their future. Dounia, a young Saudi finds herself alienated and alone as she prepares for motherhood in an air-conditioned mansion in the middle of the desert. After losing her home and baby in a natural disaster, Flora does the unthinkable and leaves her surviving child in the Philippines to become an overseas domestic worker. Pushed by her family to marry a jihadist, Zeinah, a Syrian woman finds herself joining the city's morality police. Justine uproots her progressive New York family to curate an exhibit in Abu Dhabi, where she must reckon with her ethical limitations. And Eskedare, a spirited and defiant Ethiopian teenager, flees an arranged marriage to search for her friend. The consequences of their meetings are devastating and profound as they all discover how far they're willing to go in order to survive. Written with unsettling intimacy and fierce empathy, GULF is a blazingly powerful and original novel about cruelty, rebellion and resilience. Most of all it's about the power of hope.

"Sohrab Ahmari is emerging as one of the finest minds and writers of his generation, and the story of his conversion recounted here will stay with the reader for a very long time." --Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, from the ForewordRaised under the shadow of Iran's ayatollahs, Sohrab Ahmari rejected God as a teenager. Nearly twenty years later, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church while working as a journalist in London. In From Fire, by Water, Ahmari tells the dramatic story of that transformation - from a restless youth shaped by Marxism and atheism on both sides of the Atlantic to a moral and spiritual awakening sparked by the beauty and discipline of the Mass. Both an intellectually rigorous memoir and a cultural reckoning, the book traces a life formed by the defining ideas and upheavals of our time and presents a powerful and compelling Catholic voice. This new edition features a fresh preface by the author, in which Ahmari reflects on the profound cultural shifts since his conversion in 2016, revisits the convictions that first drew him to the Church, and considers the demands of faith in an age of moral and political uncertainty.

?STEP INTO YOUR NEW FANTASY OBSESSION? 'Perfect for fans of darkly twisted court politics, morally grey characters, and a whole heaping of female rage' HAZEL McBRIDE, bestselling author of A Fate Forged in Fire 'A gripping, darkly lush fantasy tale . . . You won't want to put this one down' KATE GOLDEN, bestselling author of Half City'Profoundly dystopian . . . The Debtor's Game is fantasy at its most hard-hitting' SHALINI ABEYSEKARA, bestselling author of This Monster of Mine DEBT OR DEATH, THOSE ARE OUR OPTIONSIn the kingdom of Amyria, the High Fae rule all. Faeries are born with rings of debt tattoos and things have never been fair. As a palace faerie, Avery must ensure her ruthless mistress Lady Kassandra of the House of Illusion catches the eye of the alluring and powerful King Maxian. Both of their freedoms depend on it: Kassandra, to escape her violent brother and Avery, to pay off the debt keeping her indentured to the High Fae. But after a series of tragic events, Avery finds herself at the centre of vicious court politics and High Fae plots. Determined to free her family, Avery agrees to spy on the king - forming a dangerous triangle only further fuelled by her warring desire and resentment for both Maxian and Kassandra. As her loyalties are tested and the ruling houses begin to crack, Avery uncovers earth-shattering secrets that force her to make an impossible choice. Faeries might not be as powerless against the High Fae as they seem . . . and Avery just might hold the key to freeing them all. Lush, intoxicating and subversive epic fantasy about obsession, deadly intrigue and generational poverty and wealth. Perfect for fans of The Jasmine Throne, The Raven Scholar and The Cruel Prince. READERS LOVE THE DEBTOR'S GAME? 'Kept me awake reading until 2am this morning!' ? 'An ambitious and thoughtfully executed debut that blends fantasy with complex real-world themes in a way that feels both original and relevant' ? 'Fast paced, gritty, and impossible to put down, The Debtors' Game pulled me in from page one' ? 'Thrilling, compelling, dark and dangerous this book is my new fantasy obsession' ? 'Dark yet enchanting. Thrilling, yet compelling. This Cruel Prince-esque style story has the potential to be one of the books of 2026!' ? 'Wow, wow, wow! The Debtor's Game blew me away' ? ? 'One of my favorite recent fantasy reads!!! So smart and subversive' ?

THE PULSE-POUNDING TRUE STORY BEHIND THE ASSASSINATION THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY'Elegant, unshowy and gripping in the manner of a dependable le Carré' THE TIMES'The page-turning pace of a thriller . . . A first-class historian' ANDREW ROBERTS'Breathtaking . . . This is lucid, kaleidoscopic history' RORY CARROLL'Gripping . . . Full of treachery, intrigue and betrayal' DAMIEN LEWIS In August 1940, a man walked into Leon Trotsky's study in Mexico City and drove an ice pick into his skull. The killer? Ramón Mercader - an aristocratic Spaniard turned Soviet assassin. The mastermind? Joseph Stalin. But this was no simple hit. It was the climax of a decade-long global hunt: a story of seduction and betrayal, of fake identities and secret loyalties, of idealists and fanatics, lovers and spies. While Trotsky raged in exile - still clinging to his revolutionary dream - Stalin's agents closed in. At the heart of it all was Mercader: a man trained to lie, charm and ultimately to kill. Tracing a path from the cafés of Paris to the battlefields of Spain, from Stalin's Kremlin to a bloodied study in Mexico, The Death of Trotsky unfolds like a spy thriller - a story of obsession and betrayal, of dreams destroyed and loyalties twisted, culminating in one of the most shocking murders of the modern age. 'Hugely compelling' ROGER MOORHOUSE'As good as any thriller' HELEN RAPPAPORT

'Inventive, intimate, often devastating . . . packs a heavy emotional punch, producing a deeply affecting account of power and connection and its ability to entrap us, even in love' Irish Times'Smart, formally playful, and psychologically astute, Rousseau's Lost Children is a novel of ideas with moral insight and real emotional power' Ferdia Lennon, author of Glorious ExploitsParis, 1777. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau receives a mysterious letter from a foreign visitor, Gavin Mulvany, asking whether the great man will take walks with him. Against his better judgement, Rousseau agrees. Might this stranger, who claims to be from the twenty-first century, be the true friend that Rousseau has been searching for his whole lif? aris, 2022. Gavin, a middle-aged academic, leaves his husband behind in Ireland to finish a long-delayed biography of Rousseau. While in Paris, he avoids work on his book by instead taking walks with Rousseau himself. As they wander the streets, Gavin and Rousseau open up about certain past actions that have come to define them. Was Rousseau justified in abandoning his children? Should Gavin be forgiven for the terrible crime he committed to protect a man he once loved? Can talking and walking together lead both Gavin and Rousseau to finally be honest with themselves and their loved ones, and to a better understanding of what love, family, and society really mea? ousseau's Lost Children is a thrilling epistolary novel cast across centuries, a bold and illuminating investigation into the boundaries of personal liberty and matters of morality, desire and loyalty.

THESE ARE THE REAL RESILIENCE INSIGHTS YOU NEED TO GET AHEADWHAT DO RESILIENT PEOPLE KNOW THAT THE REST OF US DON'T? Do they have a secret recipe for success? Is there a special alchemy? The 50 secrets in this book will help you develop the kind of resilience you need for maintaining equilibrium during tough times. Every one of the 50 secrets in this book contains 3 strategies you can put into practice right now to get better results. Some of the ideas will surprise you, all will inspire you. Put these simple strategies together and you have a recipe for success, a formula that will unlock your potential. Resilience made easyResilience comes more naturally to some, but the good news is that those of us who are not born robust can work in the right direction. Resilience is an apporaoch; a way of putting your brain in a different gear. Whether you want to build the ability to bounce back or adjust habits and adopt new ways of thinking, this book provides the tools and techniques you need. ABOUT THE SERIESSecrets books are designed to be easy to incorporate into your daily life. They boil down the essentials of important topics into short, quick lessons giving expert advice on a wide range of challenges that you can apply instantly. Each chapter outlines one of the 50 secrets and gives three strategies for putting the ideas into action. Whether you want to improve your efficiency, clear your desk, or be on top of your work, these books give the answers you're looking for.

*** IRELAND'S INSTANT NO.1 PAPERBACK NON-FICTION BESTSELLER ***'This book goes far beyond the realm of self help. It is beautiful, kind and unpatronizing, and it is genuinely helpful' Katriona O'Sulivan, bestselling author of Poor. In a world often marked by chaos and uncertainty, it's easy to feel unmoored, as if the ground beneath you is always shifting. This book is your compass: a steady reminder that even when the way forward seems unclear, a path always exists. In The Place That Has Never Been Wounded, bestselling author, musician and mental health advocate Niall Breslin draws on the principles of mindfulness - and years spent helping people navigate anxiety, overwhelm and emotional strain - to offer a grounded, compassionate guide for turbulent times. This is not a book of rigid rules or quick fixes. Instead, it offers practical ways to: - Reconnect with your inner stillness - Meet life's challenges with patience and clarity - Release what no longer serves you - Trust the quiet wisdom that already exists within Accompanied by deeply beautiful meditations, this book will anchor you when life feels turbulent, guide you back when you drift, and help you make sense of life's heaviest moments. At its core is a simple but powerful reminder: everything you need to endure, heal and move forward is already within you. With Niall as your guide, you'll reconnect with your unshaken self - the part that has never been wounded - and find your way home.

*Winner of the 2025 CARICON FICTION PRIZE / Shortlisted for the 2025 ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE*'The past is uprooted, the present holds on by thread, and in the midst of it all is Miss Pauline, strong, conflicted, driven and remarkable.' Marlon James, Booker Prize-winning author of Moon Witch, Spider King'Delightful and big-hearted . . . It kept me turning pages deep into the night, and left me full of admiration at the end.' Guardian'One of the Caribbean's finest writers.' Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black ConchWhen the stones of her home begin to rattle and call out to her in the quiet of the night, Pauline Sinclair knows she will not live to see her 100th birthday. From educating herself through stolen books to becoming one of the most successful ganja farmers in the area and raising a family, Pauline has lived a life on her own terms in Mason Hall, a rural Jamaican village. Yet these whispering walls promise to topple the foundations of her security and exhume Pauline's many buried secrets, including the mysterious disappearance of the man who came to claim the very land on which she built her home, stone by stone, from the ruins of a plantation. Compelled to make peace before she dies, Pauline decides to leave the only home she has ever known on a final, desperate mission to uncover truths she could never have imagined . . . 'History's crimes unfurl in this magical story . . . McCaulay's immaculate, breathtaking writing carries it with poise and conviction.' Lisa Allen-Agostini, author of The Bread the Devil Knead'A vivid story of inheritance and belonging, informed by the author's own fascinating family history.' Daily Mail