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It's early 2020, and with the world in chaos as covid spreads, two lonely people, both seeking to break with their pasts, meet and start sharing a home. One is a former security guard who was captured on video knocking down a protester who died soon afterward; the other, a former teacher accused of driving a student to suicide. In an oppressive atmosphere of tension and fear, the pair avoid direct contact and communicate through notes and their shared presences, close yet distant. Their odd connection, with neither affection nor trust, brings them a kind of privacy and safety they both need - but at what cost? The book's creeping tension draws out an unforgettable story of disconnection and disruptive change.

Growing up in a remote mountain village, Kazue always nurtured a spirit of independence. Ignoring the values of her traditional community, she rejects an early arranged marriage and embarks on a scandalous affair. Exiled from her home, Kazue departs to follow her impulses wherever they might lead. Driven by her enduring hope and resilience, Kazue goes first to Korea and then to Tokyo, taking up with a series of men but always casting out again on her own path. Sparklingly beautiful, The Story of a Single Woman is an autobiographical account of desire and freedom by a trailblazing Japanese writer. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Rebecca Copeland

A fearsomely dark, incantatory new dystopia set in a post-apocalyptic convent from the author of viral sensation Tender is the Flesh In the House of the Sacred Sisterhood, the unworthy live in fear of the Superior Sister's whip. Seething with resentment, they plot against each other and await who will ascend to the level of the Enlightened - and who will suffer the next exemplary punishment. Risking her life, one of the unworthy keeps a diary in secret. Slowly, memories surface from a time before the world collapsed, before the Sacred Sisterhood became the only refuge. Then Lucía arrives. She, too, is unworthy - but she is different. And her presence brings a single spark of hope to a world of darkness.

Young Tokunaga is struggling to make a name for himself on the Tokyo comedy circuit when he is taken under the wing of Kamiya, a crazy genius – or perhaps just crazy. Kamiya’s indestructible confidence inspires the younger man, and the two form a double act to perform the strange art of Manzai comedy. But as they become increasingly entwined, Tokunaga begins to doubt the limits of his own talent and of his dedication to the craft. Spark is a story about art and friendship, about countless bizarre drunken conversations and how far it’s acceptable to go for a laugh.

Perfectly paced and brimming with passion - twenty-two tales from a master storyteller of the twentieth century In this indispensable collection of short stories, Stefan Zweig captures the best and worst of human nature. At the heart of these tales lies passion - from a humble waiter's love for an aristocratic guest to an exiled Frenchwoman's longing for the glitter of court life, and a bookseller's fatal lust for print in wartime Vienna. Translated by the award-winning Anthea Bell, and spanning a prolific literary career, these stories form a map of the human soul, drawn by a writer both tender and perceptive. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. Translated by Anthea Bell.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (MARIE CLAIRE): A sweeping historical fiction novel about the fall of the Soviet Union, told through the eyes of Ukrainian mothers and daughters over 4 decades "An astute, deeply empathic portrayal of the dislocation of first-generation immigrants and intergenerational trauma" - Financial Times In this stunning work of political historical fiction, loaded with "vibrancy and humour", the collapse of the Soviet Union reverberates throughout multiple generations of 2 families-presaging and foreshadowing conflicts in Russia's Ukraine War (TLS). As a child, Lena longs to pick hazelnuts in the woods with her grandmother. Instead, she is raised to be a good socialist: sent to Pioneer summer camps where she's taught to worship Lenin and sing songs in praise of the glorious Soviet Union. But perestroika is coming. Lena's corner of the USSR is now Ukraine, and corruption and patronage are the only ways to get by-to secure a place at university, an apartment, treatment for a sick baby. For Tatjana, the shock of the new means the first McDonald's in the Soviet Union and certified foreign whisky, but no food in the shops; it means terrible choices about how to love. Eventually both women must decide whether to stay or to emigrate, but the trauma they carry is handed down to their daughters, who struggle to make sense of their own identities. Engrossing, rich in detail, and full of unforgettable characters, this is a captivating love letter to mothers and daughters from one of Europe's most powerful voices in political fiction.

Painter Ithell Colquhoun arrives in Cornwall in the late 1940s, searching for a studio and a refuge from bombed-out London. So begins a profound lifelong relationship with Britain's westernmost county, a land surrounded by sea and steeped in myth, where the ancient Celtic past reaches into the present. Sacred and beautiful, wild and weird, Colquhoun's Cornwall is a living landscape, where every tree, standing stone and holy well is a palimpsest of folklore - and a place where everyday reality speaks to the world beyond. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe. With a new introduction by Edward Parnell, the PEN Ackerley shortlisted author of Ghostland and The Listeners Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) was born in British India and brought up in the United Kingdom. She studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and started exhibiting her paintings in the 1930s, gaining some renown as one of the few women associated with British Surrealism. She began visiting Cornwall during the Second World War, and eventually moved there, continuing to write, paint, and pursue the study of the occult until her death. As well as The Living Stones: Cornwall, she is the author of The Crying of the Wind: Ireland and the novel Goose of Hermogenes, both forthcoming from Pushkin Press.

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest – the beautiful Carmilla. So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her mysterious, entrancing companion. But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day… Pre-dating Dracula by twenty-six years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in sexual tension and gothic romance.

Ice will soon cover the entire globe. As the glacial tide creeps forward, society breaks down. Hurtling through the frozen chaos is a nameless narrator, seeking the white-haired girl he once loved, desperate to rescue her - or perhaps to annihilate her. Through nightmarish, ever-shifting scenes, she flees him and his powerful enemy, the Warden. But none of them can outrun the ice. Anna Kavan's masterwork is an apocalyptic vision of environmental devastation and possessive violence, rendered in unforgettable, propulsive, hallucinatory prose. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.

A Japanese mystery bestseller, revolving around a series of creepy drawings, in which the reader is the detective - from the Youtube sensation Uketsu A series of drawings made by a young woman before her death. A child's disturbing picture of his home. A desperate sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments. Each contains a chilling warning. Each reveals a terrible secret, hidden in plain sight. Uketsu's eerie mysteries have captivated millions of readers. Can you find the clues in these strange pictures and uncover the sinister truth that connects them all?

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: The first in a series of witty, philosophical animal stories with whimsical illustrations - for adult fans of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and His Horse! We've all been there: When a lonely hedgehog hosts a party for his friends, he's suddenly wracked by social anxiety and self-doubt... The hedgehog is feeling rather lonely, so one day he decides to invite all the other animals for a party. But the hedgehog is also rather a shy, reserved animal, and is terribly worried about doing or saying something he shouldn't, and about all the things that could go wrong. What if nobody comes? What if too many of them come? What if the elephant shows up and breaks all the furniture? Will anyone be able to hear the hedgehog talk above the frog's croaking? Maybe inviting the others over wasn't such a good idea after all... An international bestseller, with more than 1 million copies sold in the Netherlands, The Hedgehog's Dilemma is the perfect gift for the shy, retiring 'hedgehog' in your life. This lovely-and loving book-addresses deep emotional and philosophical themes with humor, kindness, and intelligence.

A voice that must be heard - Patti Smith An exhilarating, immersive journey into the Exclusion Zone of Chornobyl with the disaffected adventurers who illegally stalk its ruins Amidst the toxic desolation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, a subculture has sprung up. They call themselves ‘stalkers’: wild adventurers who sneak past border controls to get lost in this apocalyptic environment of dense swampland and rusted ruins. Markiyan Kamysh is one, and here he takes us on a hallucinatory journey into an alien world. With reckless energy, Kamysh tells of escapes from the police, hedonistic nights in bombed-out buildings and the spectral beauty that got him hooked on returning to the Zone. Brash, immersive and ecstatic, this is a singular document of a dystopian reality.

Soon to be a major motion picture They call him the Wizard of the Kremlin. Working at the heart of Russian power, spin doctor Vadim Baranov has used his background in reality TV to turn the entire country into an avant-garde political stage. Here truth and lies, news and propaganda have become indistinguishable. But Vadim is growing increasingly entangled in the dark secret workings of the regime he has helped build, and now he is desperate to get out... Sweeping from the fall of the Soviet Union to the invasion of Ukraine, this breathless story of politics and power has become an international sensation.

Chrysantha Stathos has won. By hiding her intelligence and ambition behind the mask of a beautiful air-headed girl, she has become a wealthy duchess. And, once her elderly husband dies, she will have all the freedom, money, and safety she's ever wanted. Or so she thought. A man claiming to be the estranged grandson of Chrysantha's lecherous late husband has turned up to steal her inheritance. To make matters worse, her little sister is going to be queen and is rubbing it in her face. Chrysantha decides that the only thing to do is upstage Alessandra at her own wedding. And as for this grandson, he has to go. Never mind that he's extremely handsome and secretive with mysterious powers... No, Chrysantha wants Eryx Demos dead, and in the end, a Stathos girl always gets what she wants.

Shiori knows at heart that she’s a troubadour. She may be completely tone-deaf, but she won’t let that stop her living a life dedicated to music. Even when her dominant older sister, Nozomi, forces Shiori to accept that her wild singing provokes only revulsion, she decides to forge a career as a lyricist instead. At eighteen, she moves to Tokyo to pursue her dream. Isolated and struggling in this unfamiliar city, Shiori seeks connection online, where her trusting outlook leaves her vulnerable to exploitation – with potentially explosive results. Shot through with dark irony and a playful sense of the absurd, Mysterious Setting is a propulsive and gloriously strange novel from one of Japan’s most distinctive contemporary writers.

Tricia Levenseller, author of Daughter of the Pirate King, is back with an epic YA tale of ambition and love in the New York Times bestselling novel, The Shadows Between Us… “They’ve never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will.” Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power: 1) Woo the Shadow King. 2) Marry him. 3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself. No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it. But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen?all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen? “Tricia Levenseller’s latest, The Shadows Between Us, is a decadent and wickedly addictive fantasy, full of schemes and court intrigue, and delightful descriptions of food, which I am always a fan of.” ?Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series And don't miss the companion novel, The Darkness Within Us?an instant #1 New York Times-bestseller!