Valley Press

In her debut collection of poetry, award-winning translator and novelist Maithreyi Hughes explores what it means to be vulnerable and curious in the wilderness of civilisation. Politics becomes an instinctive expression of morality; animals are fellow travellers; travel a form of detachment rather than escape. Myth and irony share a lens; belonging folds into longing. This is a fierce, daring introduction to an incisive and eloquent poetic voice, claiming the English language as both microscope and mirror.

The year is 2010. An Icelandic volcano has thrown an ash cloud into the atmosphere and, across the world, planes have stopped flying. Leah and Niall, twenty-somethings in love, find themselves strangely restless, and set out on different but parallel paths; Niall travels to a polar station in Antarctica, where the strange, lonely beauty of the ice mirrors the fragility of his hopes, while Leah studies writing in England, surrounded by tradition yet struggling to find her place. Separated by thousands of miles, but determined to stay connected, they learn that true communication can be as fragile as the melting landscape between them. Ice Shock is a love story that asks what it means to stay close even when we are far apart – and how love can endure, in a world changing catastrophically by the day.

What does love look like in life’s later chapters? In this tender, mischievous new collection, Zack Rogow answers with the hard-won wisdom of a man newly single in his senior years. From the awkward hilarity of reentering the world of romance, to the sweetness of new connections, to the lively chaos of grandchildren, these poems celebrate aging with humor, grace, and an open heart. With deep affection – for all that has gone, all that remains, and all that still lies ahead – Rogow reminds us that desire, intimacy, and joy are ageless companions.

How does it feel to go to work as an agency carer on Monday morning, only to be accused of robbery and murder by coffee-time? Betty Reilly; incredibly clever, undervalued and overworked, has an absent husband and a demanding job. She finds herself suddenly embroiled in the complex and erratic lives of the comically and dangerously eccentric inhabitants of Eagle''s Nest, Cornwall. Betty knows she didn''t kill Lady Legeia, but the daughters, and their friend the Police Commissioner appear determined to pin the crime on her. Set against the backdrop of a community and a castle harbouring secrets, and the shadowy activity of a global mining company, our magnificent heroine Betty must use her wit,wiles and investigative skills to prove her innocence.

The UK is flooded, and the world has become a global disaster zone. Order has broken down, and the systems that all society had relied on have collapsed. NOAH - a group of vicious and powerful religious extremists - emerge to rule with terrifying violence and archaic notions of oppression. Anna and Robbie flee the water plains of London and become refugees, alongside millions of others, making their way north. They take the perilous journey to join a small and remote community in a Cumbrian watermill. While they find solace and solidarity in the group, their safety is soon put in jeopardy by the arrival of a desperate stranger and her children. When people begin to go missing, Anna must use all her powers of trust, love and resilience to save her friends and the man she loves.

Simon, Tim and Ruth are childhood friends, growing up in a small, quiet English village in the 1960s. Their pleasure are found in the natural world around them; climbing and caving, motor-bikes, and each other. Their lives remain intertwined even when Simon and Tim leave the confines of the village to attend university in Manchester and Cambridge. Breaking Shells is a tender, challenging novel, dealing with the heartbreaks and confusions of first love, interracial relationships, religious strictures and the shame and dangers of buried secrets. Set within a period of huge social shifts, Breaking Shells charts the coming of age enduring friendship of a trio who prove that bonds and loyalty can triumph over adversity.

“I have grown older and loved others, but I shall always carry some notes of your music in my pockets, like petals, wherever I go.”In his fourth collection of sonnets – bookended by two free-form pieces – James Nash sets out to celebrate what may be gone, or flag up what might be celebrated before it goes.From the simple music of the bottle bank (a favourite task), to the biggest questions of the human experience, the poet''s gentle, perceptive gaze illuminates all it surveys, delighting and moving in equal measure.This is a book to be savoured slowly and cherished often – a quiet companion for the heart and mind.

Characterised by its warmth, wisdom and wit, Norah Hanson''s poetry has earned her thousands of devoted readers over the past three decades.With not a word wasted, the poet takes in the landmarks both of her native Hull and life itself, finding joy in the company of family and friends – but also in unhooking clasps, undoing buttons and donning pyjamas in an empty house (albeit one in which chores are never quite finished).In one perfectly-staged scene after another, love and beauty rub shoulders with tragedy and loss, while eighty years of history – an "era" in the truest sense – happen all at once, childhood and retirement walking hand-in-hand together across the page.