The Borough Press

The first time Joe plays Percy one of his songs in his college room in 2000, she instantly realises three things: One, she is watching a star in the making. Two, she can shape his music into something extraordinary. Three, she will always be on the sidelines. She swallows her jealousy and throws herself into collaboration, transforming Joe’s songs into indie hits with her blistering critiques. But there’s an undercurrent to the music they’re making – something undeniably electric, hurtling towards love. And then, almost inevitably, towards heartbreak. As Joe steps into the spotlight, can Percy bear to watch on in silence? And can he exist there without her? Deep Cuts is an irresistible novel about passion and obsession, love and longing and, above all, our need to be heard.

The story of two people who have no idea how to fall in love… On the tiny island of Rokesby, Addie helps her mother run a women's retreat. Dreaming daily of escape, she consoles herself by swimming in the ocean that surrounds them. On the neighbouring island, joined to Rokesby by a bridge at low tide, Sol has sought refuge at a wind-swept prayer house, grieving both his mother’s death and his father’s devastating betrayal. Alone and anxious, he takes comfort in birdwatching, books and the sounds of the sea. Introverts with turbulent pasts and wary hearts, Sol and Addie are both drawn to nature far more than to people – until they catch sight of one another in the wild. Can they break free from past lessons in love to risk a better future together? From the Costa-shortlisted author of THE OTHER HALF OF AUGUSTA HOPE and ALL MY MOTHERS, this is a beautifully observed and life-affirming novel about finding yourself, and then allowing someone else to find you.

‘When my mother washed my hair she crooned, mamele, mamele, into my ear. Little mother, meaning little daughter, meaning you’re a good girl, Edie.’ Edie lives with her partner Joanna in a crumbling country house in Broadstairs. They have spent over a decade together since the death of Harry, the third member of their polyamorous relationship. It’s a quiet, comfortable existence – but conversations about the mother who abandoned her have recently awoken in Edie feelings she long thought buried. Mamele is a stylish, searing drama about the complicated love between mothers and daughters, the indelible impact of estrangement and one woman fiercely coming into her own.

THIS IS ONE HELL OF A STORY. IT'S JUST NOT HERS TO TELL. When failed writer June Hayward witnesses her rival Athena Liu die in a freak accident, she sees her opportunity... and takes it. So what if it means stealing Athena's final manuscript? So what if it means 'borrowing' her identity? And so what if the first lie is only the beginning... Finally, June has the fame she always deserved. But someone is about to expose her... What happens next is entirely everyone else's fault.

She’s human in every way that matters. Annie is a robot, created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug. Playful and eager to please, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the outfits he buys for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his whims. Maybe the apartment isn’t always spotless, but she’s trying to be good enough for Doug. She’s trying really hard. But as Annie grows more self-aware, she begins to chafe against the borders of her life: the empty weeks spent confined to the apartment, the fitness regimens designed to keep her part-organic body toned, the service appointments to increase her bra size and shave inches off her waistline. Worst of all are Doug’s unpredictable moods, and the way he can punish her without even raising his voice. Annie starts to imagine the impossible – what would life be like outside Doug’s apartment? What could she be like without Doug? This powerful, provocative novel from a bold new voice examines the intricate relationship between creator and creation, between human and AI, exploring issues of trust, intimacy, power and autonomy. Is a human soul something we are born with? Or is it something – through love, pain and other people – we can learn?

Three women, five centuries, one spellbinding story In the present day, Kate flees a traumatic relationship to the Cumbrian cottage she inherited from her great-aunt; but the cottage hides secrets of its own. In 1942, Violet rebels against her father's ideas of a 'proper young lady'.... until he takes matters into his own hands. In 1619, Altha is on trial for witchcraft, implicated in the gruesome death of a local man. Three women they tried to cage - but Weyward women belong to the wild. And they cannot be tamed...

FROM THE GLOBALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING'Bittersweet ... dazzling' Guardian'Deeply pleasurable ... the ending made me cry' The Times'Told with a wealth of detail and narrative intensity' Penelope LivelyViolet is 38.The First World War took everything from her. Her brother, her fiance - and her future. She is now considered a 'surplus woman'.But Violet is also fiercely independent and determined. Escaping her suffocating mother, she moves to Winchester to start a new life -a change that will require courage, resilience and acts of quiet rebellion. And when whispers of another world war surface, she must live with a secret that could change everything...

After years of struggling as a writer in 1990s New York City, James Smale finally gets his big break when his novel sells to an editor at a major publishing house:none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie, or Mrs. Onassis as she's known in the office, loves James's candidly autobiographical novel, about his own dysfunctional family. As Jackie and James develop an unexpected friendship, she pushes him to write an authentic ending, encouraging him to confront the truth about his relationship with his mother. But when a long-held family secret is revealed, he realises his editor may have had a larger plan that goes beyond the page...

This is a work of fiction. Keep telling yourself that. America has changed. For women, it has changed for the worse. Ro, a single high-school teacher, is desperate to become a mother. But with IVF now illegal - along with abortion and other reproductive rights - parenthood looks increasingly unlikely for her. Her best friend Susan is trapped in a failing marriage with two children, her star student Mattie is unwillingly pregnant and Gin, an outcast offering other women natural remedies, has become the centre of a modern-day witch-hunt. With warmth, wit and ferocious inventiveness, Red Clocks shows us an all-too plausible near-future: like The Handmaid's Tale, it is a call to arms, set to become a modern classic.

Until recently, Julia hadn't had sex in three years.But now:* a one-night stand is accusing her of breaking his penis;* a sexually confident lesbian is making eyes at her over confrontational modern art;* and she's wondering whether trimming her pubes makes her a bad feminist.Julia's about to learn that she's been looking for love - and satisfaction - in all the wrong places...Frank, filthy and very, very funny, In at the Deep End is a brilliant debut from a major new talent. #ImInAtTheDeepEnd

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER `I couldn't stop reading or caring about the juicy and dysfunctional Plumb family' AMY POEHLER `A masterfully constructed, darkly comic, and immensely captivating tale...Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney is a real talent' ELIZABETH GILBERT When black sheep Leo has a costly car accident, the Plumb siblings' much-anticipated inheritance is suddenly wiped out. His brother and sisters come together and form a plan to get back what is owed them - each grappling with their own financial and emotional turmoil from the fallout. As `the nest' fades further from view, they must decide whether they will build their lives anew, or fight to regain the futures they had planned . . . Ferociously astute, warm and funny, The Nest is a brilliant debut chronicling the hilarity and savagery of family life.

A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher New England, The 1890s When a young doctor begins work at an isolated mental asylum, he is expected to fall in with the shocking regime for treating the patients. He is soon intrigued by one patient, a strange amnesiac girl who is fascinated by books but cannot read. He embarks upon a desperate experiment to save her but when his own dark past begins to catch up with him, he realises it is she who is his only hope of escape. In this chilling literary thriller from a master storyteller, everyone has something to hide and no one is what they seem.

The astounding new novel from the master of science fiction. What would happen if the world were ending? When a catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb, it triggers a feverish race against the inevitable. An ambitious plan is devised to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere. But unforeseen dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain...Five thousand years later, their progeny - seven distinct races now three billion strong - embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown, to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is at once extraordinary and eerily recognizable. He explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.

Beloved and bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith lends his delightful touch to the Austen classic, Emma. ‘It's comfort reading at its most soothing’ Independent Sometimes it takes time to discover who you really are. And for Emma Woodhouse the journey is only just beginning. After graduating, Emma returns home to Norfolk, where she plans to set up a design business. But that summer, as Emma begins to match-make various friends and neighbours, some important lessons about life and relationships await her…

A modern re-imagining of the Gothic Classic Northanger Abbey by the bestselling crime author Val McDermid. The second book in The Austen Project. Seventeen-year-old Catherine 'Cat' Morland has led a sheltered existence in rural Dorset, a life entirely bereft of the romance and excitement for which she yearns. So when Cat's wealthy neighbours, the Allens, invite her to Edinburgh Festival, she is sure adventure beckons. Edinburgh initially offers no such thrills: Susie Allen is obsessed by shopping, Andrew Allen by the Fringe. A Highland Dance class, though, brings Cat a new acquaintance: Henry Tilney, a pale, dark-eyed gentleman whose family home, Northanger Abbey, sounds perfectly thrilling. And an introduction to Bella Thorpe, who shares her passion for supernatural novels, provides Cat with a like-minded friend. But with Bella comes her brother John, an obnoxious banker whose vulgar behaviour seems designed to thwart Cat's growing fondness for Henry. Happily, rescue is at hand. The rigidly formal General Tilney invites her to stay at Northanger with son Henry and daughter Eleanor. Cat's imagination runs riot: an ancient abbey, crumbling turrets, secret chambers, ghosts...and Henry! What could be more deliciously romantic? But Cat gets far more than she bargained for in this isolated corner of the Scottish Borders. The real world outside the pages of a novel proves to be altogether more disturbing than the imagined world within...

WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2013. ‘I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’ There are books you can’t stop reading, which keep you up all night. There are books which let us into the hidden parts of life and make them vividly real. There are books which, because of the sheer skill with which every word is chosen, linger in your mind for days. The Shock of the Fall is all of these books. The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices in fiction.