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Everyone knows that if you fall afoul of the People, you must travel the miles to Gyrford, where uncounted generations of fairy-smiths have protected the county with cold iron, good counsel and unvarnished opinions about your common sense. But shielding the weak from the strong can make enemies. Ephraim Brady has money and power, and the bitter will to hurt those who cross him. And if he can't touch elder farrier Jedediah Smith, he can harm those the Smiths care about. The Smiths care about Tobias Ware, born on a night when the blazing fey dog Black Hal roared past the Wares' gate. Tobias doesn't understand the language or laws of men, and he can't keep away from the Bellame woods, where trespass is a hanging offence. If Toby is to survive, he needs protection. It should be a manageable job. Jedediah Smith has a head on his shoulders, and so too (mostly) does his son Matthew. Only Matthew's son John has turned out a little . . . uncommon. But he means well. It wasn't his fault the bramble bush put on a berry-head and started taking offence. Or that Tobias upset it. But John's not yet learned that if you follow the things other folk don't see, they might drag those you love into the path of ruin.

From Andrew Caldecott, the author of the Rotherweird trilogy, comes a dark, enigmatic, compelling new adventure: think Alice in Wonderland meets Station Eleven, played out in places where paintings come to life. The world is on the brink of utter destruction. Despite the climate activists' best efforts, the atmosphere has turned toxic, destroying plant life, animals, and most of humanity too. The few survivors live in domes protected from the lethal smog, serving Tempestas and Genrich, the world's last two great companies. They both have plans for mankind's future, but their visions are very different - and an uneasy collaboration between them is about to end, with desperate consequences. But not everyone is bound to the companies: far from these centres of power stands the Museum Dome, where persons unknown have assembled mankind's finest paintings and artefacts. Fogg, the curator, thinks he must be the last man left alive, for in the three years he's been there, he's not had a single visitor, and his only company is AIPT, his automated physical trainer, who's very good when it comes to hamstrings and push-ups, but rubbish at actual conversation. Then a single mysterious pill - a momenticon - appears in the Museum, proving he's not alone after all. Before Fogg knows what's hit him, he is embroiled in a desperate fight against time and the rival forces which threaten to overwhelm all that remains.

*Find out how to live a more harmonious life thanks to NAGOMI, the ancient Japanese philosophy that helps you find balance and peace in everything you do* There is no translation for the word nagomi in the English language, and yet it at the very heart of the Japanese way of life. A popular and common concept in Japan, to achieve nagomi is to have peace of mind, emotional balance and wellbeing, ranging from the way food is prepared (mixing sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami) to the way the ephemerality of the cherry blossom season is celebrated. Global bestselling author Ken Mogi illustrates why it's important to value both the positive and negative experiences in life so that you can truly find a balance and live more harmoniously. In The Way of Nagomi, Ken explains how to apply nagomi to every aspect of life so you can: - Maintain happy relationships with loved ones, even if you disagree with them - Learn new things while always staying true to yourself - Find a sense of peace in whatever you are doing - Mix and blend unlikely components to strike a harmonious balance - Have a greater understanding of the Japanese philosophy of life By delving into Japan's history, traditions and culture and providing a toolkit to help us to achieve satisfaction in our lives, Ken shows how we can all create nagomi in our lives and enjoy the benefits of a more peaceful and satisfactory life.

'An absolute breeze to read; funny and enlightening and revealing' - Guardian How can we live a more ethical life? This question has plagued people for thousands of years, but it's never been tougher to answer than it is now, thanks to challenges great and small that flood our day-to-day lives and threaten to overwhelm us with impossible decisions and complicated results with unintended consequences. Plus, being anything close to an 'ethical person' requires daily thought and introspection and hard work; we have to think about how we can be good not, you know, once a month, but literally all the time. To make it a little less overwhelming, this fascinating, accessible and funny book by one of our generation's best writers and adept minds in television comedy, Michael Schur, boils down the whole confusing morass with real life dilemmas (from 'should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?' to 'can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people?'), so that we know how to deal with ethical dilemmas. Much as Chidi used humour and philosophy to make Eleanor a less selfish person, Schur takes us on a journey through the 2,500-year discussion of ethics, sketching a roadmap for how we ought to act along the way. By the time the book is done, we'll know exactly how to act in every conceivable situation, so as to produce a verifiably maximal amount of moral good. We will be perfect, and all our friends will be jealous. OK, not quite. Instead, we'll gain fresh, funny, inspiring wisdom on the toughest issues we face every day With contributions from Professor Todd May of Clemson University, who served as an advisor on The Good Place, this is a brilliant, clever and hugely entertaining book about one of the most important topics in the world.

These are the books you should read. This is the canon. Joan Anim-Addo, Deirdre Osborne and Kadija Sesay have curated a decolonized reading list that celebrates the wide and diverse experiences of people from around the world, of all backgrounds and all races. It disrupts the all-too-often white-dominated 'required reading' collections that have become the accepted norm and highlights powerful voices and cultural perspectives that demand a place on our shelves. From literary giants such as Toni Morrison and Chinua Achebe to less well known (but equally vital) writers such as Caribbean novelist Earl Lovelace or Indigenous Australian author Tony Birch, the novels recommended here are in turn haunting and lyrical; innovative and inspiring; edgy and poignant. The power of great fiction is that readers have the opportunity to discover new worlds and encounter other beliefs and opinions. This is the Canon offers a rich and multifaceted perspective on our past, present and future which deserves to be read by all bibliophiles - whether they are book club members or solitary readers, self-educators or teachers.

Emily Ratajkowski is an acclaimed model and actress, an engaged political progressive, a formidable entrepreneur, a global social media phenomenon, and now, a writer. Rocketing to world fame at age twenty-one, Ratajkowski sparked both praise and furor with the provocative display of her body as an unapologetic statement of feminist empowerment. The subsequent evolution in her thinking about our culture's commodification of women is the subject of this book. My Body is a profoundly personal exploration of feminism, sexuality, and power, of men's treatment of women and women's rationalizations for accepting that treatment. These essays chronicle moments from Ratajkowski's life while investigating the culture's fetishization of girls and female beauty, its obsession with and contempt for women's sexuality, the perverse dynamics of the fashion and film industries, and the grey area between consent and abuse. Nuanced, unflinching, and incisive, My Body marks the debut of a fierce writer brimming with courage and intelligence.

After breaking ties with Yugoslavia, the USSR and then China, Enver Hoxha believed that Albania could become a self-sufficient bastion of communism. Every day, many of its citizens were thrown into prisons and forced labour camps for daring to think independently, for rebelling against the regime or trying to escape - the consequences of their actions were often tragic and irreversible. Mud Sweeter than Honey gives voice to those who lived in Albania at that time - from poets and teachers to shoe-makers and peasant farmers, and many others whose aspirations were brutally crushed in acts of unimaginable repression - creating a vivid, dynamic and often painful picture of this totalitarian state during the forty years of Hoxha's ruthless dictatorship. Very little emerged from Albania during communist times. With these personal accounts, Rejmer opens a window onto a terrifying period in the country's history. Mud Sweeter than Honey is not only a gripping work of reportage, but also a necessary and unique portrait of a nation. With an Introduction by Tony Barber *Winner of the Polityka Passport Prize**Winner of the Koscielski Award* Translated from the Polish by Zosia Krasodomska-Jones and Antonia Lloyd-Jones "[An] incredibly moving collection of oral histories . . . important enough to be added to the history curriculum" Telegraph "A moving evocation of the 'everyday terror' systematically perpetrated over 41 years of Albanian communism . . . An illuminating if harrowing insight into life in a totalitarian state." Clarissa de Waal, author of ALBANIA: PORTRAIT OF A COUNTRY IN TRANSITION "Albania, enigmatic, mysterious Albania, was always the untold story of the Cold War, the 1989 revolutions and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mud Sweeter Than Honey goes a very long way indeed towards putting that right" Charlie Connelly, New European

Manuscripts teem with life. They are not only the stuff of history and literature, but they offer some of the only tangible evidence we have of entire lives, long receded. Hidden Hands tells the stories of the artisans, artists, scribes and readers, patrons and collectors who made and kept the beautiful, fragile objects that have survived the ravages of fire, water and deliberate destruction to form a picture of both English culture and the wider European culture of which it is part. Without manuscripts, she shows, many historical figures would be lost to us, as well as those of lower social status, women and people of colour, their stories erased, and the remnants of their labours destroyed. From the Cuthbert Bible, to works including those by the Beowulf poet, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Sir Thomas Malory, Chaucer, the Paston Letters and Shakespeare, Mary Wellesley describes the production and preservation of these priceless objects. With an insistent emphasis on the early role of women as authors and artists and illustrated with over fifty colour plates, Hidden Hands is an important contribution to our understanding of literature and history.

1973: a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny module, a quarter of a million miles from home. A quarter of a million miles from help. As Russian and American crews sprint for a secret bounty hidden away on the lunar surface, old rivalries blossom and the political stakes are stretched to breaking point back on Earth. Houston flight controller Kazimieras 'Kaz' Zemeckis must do all he can to keep the NASA crew together, while staying one step ahead of his Soviet rivals. But not everyone on board Apollo 18 is quite who they appear to be. Full of fascinating technical detail, twists and tension, The Apollo Murders puts you right there in the moment. Experience the dark majesty of space, the fierce G-forces of launch and the rush of holding on to the outside of a spacecraft travelling at 17,000 mph, as told by a former Commander of the International Space Station who has done all of those things in real life. Strap in and count down for the ride of a lifetime.

They say you die three times. The first time for me was when my heart stopped beating beneath his hands by the lake. The second was when what was left of me was lowered into the ground in front of Ivan and Raksha at Bromma Church. The third will be the last time my name is spoken on earth. "A haunting portrait of the starkest meanings of love and family. Stridsberg's literary talent left me awestruck" Kate Reed Petty, author of True Story "A disturbingly beautiful book" Expressen Inni lives her life on the margins, but it is a life that is full and complex, filled with different shades of dark and light... Until she is brutally murdered one summer's day, on a lake shore at the heart of a distant, rain-washed forest. On the surface, this is the story of the moment her life is violently extinguished - a moment that will never end, not ever - but it is also about the time before, and about the lives that carry on afterwards. It's about her children, her parents, her childhood of neglect, her volatile adolescence, and the chain of choices, tragedies and accidents that lead her to a life on the streets and take her into the wrong crowd, the wrong places and, finally, the wrong car with the wrong person. Sara Stridsberg's new novel is about absolute vulnerability, brutality and isolation. At times disturbing, this is a devastating story of unexpected love, tenderness and light in the total darkness.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'A tale of enduring power' Paula McLain From the author of the No.1, two million-copy bestseller Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic story of a family separated, their search for answers, and an epic journey to reunite the missing... Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest. For heiresses Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery's end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question. Could her long-lost family still be out there? Louisiana, 1987: Arriving in Augustine, Louisiana, first-year teacher Benedetta Silva finds herself teaching students whose poverty-stricken lives she can scarcely comprehend. The town is impossibly set in its ways, suspicious of new ideas and new people. But amid the gnarled live oaks and ancient plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything. A heart-wrenching novel inspired by little-known historical events, based on actual "Lost Friends" advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones, lost to them when their families were sold off. 'Tragic, thought-provoking but ultimately uplifting . . . an enthralling adventure' Lancashire Evening Post

'Joyful and uplifting' Sheila O'Flanagan 'O'Leary's best yet' Gillian McAllister 'A charming, heartfelt story of love found and love potentially lost' Laura Jane Williams 'This book is perfect' Rosie Walsh 'So romantic and moving and brilliantly told' Louise O'Neill 'O'Leary does it again! The Road Trip is another sure-fire hit, filled with characters you won't forget' Mike Gayle 'An achingly tender love story' Richard Roper 'Completely fresh and unpredictable, The Road Trip is so compelling' Paige Toon 'Beth is quite rightly earning her title as "Queen of Uplit"' Prima 'Funny, relatable and tender' Red

"The Icelandic Dickens" Irish Examiner "Stefansson shares the elemental grandeur of Cormac McCarthy" EILEEN BATTERSBY, T.L.S. Supplement "A wonderful, exceptional writer . . . A timeless storyteller" CARSTEN JENSEN "Sometimes, in small places, life becomes bigger" Sometimes a distance from the world's tumult opens our hearts and our dreams. In a village of four hundred souls, the infinite light of an Icelandic summer makes its inhabitants want to explore, and the eternal night of winter lights up the magic of the stars. The village becomes a microcosm of the age-old conflict between human desire and destiny, between the limits of reality and the wings of the imagination. With humour, with poetry, and with a tenderness for human weaknesses, Stefansson explores the question of why we live at all.

A disturbing portrait of a modern American family 'Imagine Richard Yates becoming fascinated by Donald Antrim before writing Revolutionary Road and you'll have some idea of Love Orange. One of the most satisfying novels you will read this year. This book rules' Christian Kiefer, author of Phantoms 'I enjoyed every minute of it' Chris Power, author of Mothers 'A stunningly accurate portrayal . . . shining with vivid dialogue and observation' Chloe Aridjis, author of Sea Monsters '[A]n exuberant, comic, irresistibly dark examination of contemporary anxieties' Vanity Fair 'An exquisite balance of humour and pathos' Lunate An extraordinary debut novel by Natasha Randall, exposing the seam of secrets within an American family, from beneath the plastic surfaces of their new 'smart' home. Love Orange charts the gentle absurdities of their lives, and the devastating consequences of casual choices. While Hank struggles with his lack of professional success, his wife Jenny, feeling stuck and beset by an urge to do good, becomes ensnared in a dangerous correspondence with a prison inmate called John. Letter by letter, John pinches Jenny awake from the "marshmallow numbness" of her life. The children, meanwhile, unwittingly disturb the foundations of their home life with forays into the dark net and strange geological experiments. Jenny's bid for freedom takes a sour turn when she becomes the go-between for John and his wife, and develops an unnatural obsession for the orange glue that seals his letters... Love Orange throws open the blinds of American life, showing a family facing up to the modern age, from the ascendancy of technology, the predicaments of masculinity, the pathologising of children, the epidemic of opioid addiction and the tyranny of the WhatsApp Gods. The first novel by the acclaimed translator is a comic cocktail, an exuberant skewering of contemporary anxieties and prejudices.

The first in a rich historical trilogy that draws on legend, by a literary craftsman and the author of The Sixteen Trees of the Somme Norway, 1880. Winter is hard in Butangen, a village secluded at the end of a valley. The lake has frozen, and for months the ground is too hard to bury the dead. Astrid Hekne dreams of a life beyond all this, beyond marriage, children, and working the land to the end of her days. Then Pastor Kai Schweigaard takes over the small parish, with its 700-year-old stave church carved with pagan deities. The two bells in the tower were forged by Astrid's forefather in the sixteenth century, in memory of conjoined twins Halfrid and Gunhild Hekne. They are said to hold supernatural powers. The villagers are wary of the pastor and his resolve to do away with their centuries-old traditions, though Astrid also finds herself drawn to him. And then a stranger arrives from Dresden, with grand plans for the church itself. For headstrong Astrid this may be a provocation too far. Talented architecture student Gerhard Schonauer is an improbable figure in this rugged community. Astrid has never met anyone like him; he seems so different, so sensitive. She finds that she must make a choice: for her homeland and the pastor, or for an uncertain future in Germany. Then the bells begin to ring .

'SMART, EMOTIONAL, INTRIGUING AND COMPELLING - I LOVED IT!' JILL MANSELL 'Full of twists and turns, this is a heart-breaking yet uplifting story about love and friendship, and is one of this year's must-reads' Heat magazine ***** Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day, this heart-breaking story of love, loss and life will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about destiny... Where do you see yourself in five years? Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan has been in possession of her meticulously crafted answer since she understood the question. On the day that she nails the most important job interview of her career and gets engaged to the perfect man, she's well on her way to fulfilling her life goals. That night Dannie falls asleep only to wake up in a different apartment with a different ring on her finger, and in the company of a very different man. The TV is on in the background, and she can just make out the date. It's the same night - December 15th - but 2025, five years in the future. It was just a dream, she tells herself when she wakes, but it felt so real... Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind. That is, until four and a half years later, when Dannie turns down a street and there, standing on the corner, is the man from her dream... In Five Years is a love story, brimming with joy and heartbreak. But it is definitely not the love story you're expecting. 'What a clever, beautiful, special book. The writing is stunning, the concept is so original - it just has everything going for it. I loved every page!' BETH O'LEARY, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Flatshare 'I adored In Five Years, it's so poignant and tender. It broke my heart' JOSIE SILVER, author of One Day in December 'I loved In Five Years. A beautiful, intelligent story about friendships and love' CLARE MACKINTOSH, Sunday Times bestselling author of After the End 'A rare love story with an unexpected ending' Bella magazine 'I read it in one late night. Very, very clever. And lovely. The end is EXACTLY what it should be' ANSTEY HARRIS, author of Richard & Judy Book Club pick The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton 'In Five Years is as clever as it is moving, the rare read-in-one-sitting novel you won't forget' CHLOE BENJAMIN, author of The Immortalists 'Clever, heartbreaking and beautifully written. The perfect story' HOLLY MILLER, author of The Sight of You 'A wonderfully unique read. Clever, compelling and always surprising' HEIDI SWAIN, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Christmas Wish List 'Smart, clever and achingly beautiful. Not many love stories surprise me, but this one did. I really loved it' DANI ATKINS, bestselling author of Fractured and A Million Dreams 'An exquisite portrayal of friendship and love at its purest. Stunning' EMMA COOPER, author of The Songs of Us 'Deeply moving and emotional - I absolutely adored it' SUSAN ELLIOT WRIGHT, author of The Flight of Cornelia Blackwood 'What a wonderful book. So moving and such an amazing, satisfying ending. Excellently done' TRACY REES, author of The House at Silvermoor