Literature & Fiction

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.,,,

The top 10 list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face....

Discover the deliciously dark and fantastically funny No. 1 bestseller about a woman living life rather too well and being whisked away from it all, from the No. 1 bestselling author of Grown Ups.

Mark Manson turns his gaze from the inevitable flaws within each individual self to the endless calamities taking place in the world around us....

Gary Thorn goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn’t catch her name, but falls for her anyway....

Les Norton, a big red-headed country boy from Queensland, has just arrived in the big smoke and is set to make his mark....

Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes....

Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness....

Unlike the rest of her family, Maggie Walsh has always done the right thing....

Large chests are said to encompass all manner of hopes and dreams. Men covet them. Women envy them. But one fact holds true - everyone wants to get their hands on some big ones....

One bachelorette party. One stag do. One double-booked villa and only one way to decide who gets it: a competition.

When the neighbours in question are the proud empires of Klatch and Ankh-Morpork, those are going to be some pretty large garden tools indeed....

'Look after the dead,' said the priests, 'and the dead will look after you.' Wise words in all probability, but a tall order when, like Teppic, you have just become the pharaoh of a small and penniless country rather earlier than expected....

For the first time in one audio collection, all sixteen Yes Minister radio episodes plus six further TV episodes....

For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution....

Lisa Edwards, top London magazine editor, has been fantasizing about promotion to New York. Instead, she's asked to launch a new women's magazine in Dublin....

Through the ages of Britain, from the 15th century to the 21st, Edmund Blackadder has meddled his way along the bloodlines, aided by his servant and sidekick, Baldrick, and hindered by an assortment of dimwitted aristocrats....

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime… In reality it was a business trip, prettied up as a romantic mini break, but the man behind the wheel was meant to be Candice Hart’s boss and (married but separated, I swear!) lover. Not Danny the new guy!

Les Norton is not finding much joy in his search for the missing fim script. Especially not while fighting a sadistic giant, when the only thing that can save him is the Mongolian Death Lock....

What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds - and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept....

Join Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android in their first series of adventures as they witness the destruction of Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass....

Newly minted doctor Jane McGill is in hell. Not literally, of course. But between her drug addict patients, sleepless nights on call, and battling wits with the sadistic yet charming Sexy Surgeon, Jane can’t imagine an afterlife much worse than her first month of internship at County Hospital.

This funny, down-to-earth parody of Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up hands listeners the most useful tools for keeping crap clean and organized without all the pressure....

A story close to Sandi Toksvig's heart, Friends of Dorothy is a wonderful, funny, touching novel about making a family that is not biological, but logical.

Armageddon Day. That is how history will remember the date when two Overlords clashed amidst the war-torn streets of New Whitehall....

Vienna, 1911. Gustav Klimt, the most famous painter in the Austrian Empire, the darling of Viennese society, spots a woman’s nude body in the Danube canal. He knows he should summon a policeman, but he can’t resist stopping to make a sketch first. And as he draws, the woman coughs. She’s alive! Back at his studio, Klimt and his model-turned-muse Wally tend to the erstwhile-drowned girl. She’s nearly feral and doesn’t remember who she is, or how she came to be floating in the canal. Klimt names her Judith, after one of his most famous paintings, and resolves to help her find her memory.

Accidentally buying a Sicilian villa for just one euro is not the great Eat, Pray, Love game changer that Brian Chapman hopes it would be. Instead, tumbledown buildings, a shortage of plumbers, and resentful locals make Brian’s drunken whim look like the biggest mistake of his chequered career so far. Who could believe that an outbreak of swearing would lead not only to cultural reconciliation but to this very Australian fish out of water finding true love in Italy?

Alter egal – alles Liebe! Anne kriegt die Krise. Da hat sie monatelang die Goldene Hochzeit ihrer Eltern vorbereitet, dann verkündet ihre Mutter, sie werde sich scheiden lassen. Altersstarrsinn oder Late Life Crisis? Als die alte Dame noch dazu einen deutlich jüngeren Mann präsentiert, wendet sich Anne verzweifelt an Tom, den Sohn des neuen Lovers – doch der hat kein Problem damit. Prompt bringt eine ganz und gar überraschende Versuchung auch Annes Leben durcheinander, und sie muss sich fragen: Ist die Liebe zu einem jüngeren Mann wirklich so abwegig?

In the early 1970s, Poe is living a nomadic life, hopping trains, sleeping rough, and juggling to feed himself. He eventually settles in Philadelphia and masters his street act before ever-growing crowds. When one of his fellow buskers presents him with an opportunity—a bank heist—he should have refused, an innocent bystander is killed, and he splits town a felon.

I'm willing to admit that I shouldn't read spicy scenes in public. But in my defense, the opportunity rarely rises elsewhere. As a single mom and farm owner, my time is stretched thinner than horse hair. Besides, I'd reached a pivotal peak in the story and couldn't put it down. That is, until someone bumps into me. My phone launches into the air like a base hit, but the device is caught before smashing into the ground. It comes as no surprise, considering the guy is a professional baseball star.

Sir Lenny Henry has had a long and successful career as a comedian, impressionist, actor and presenter. Having starred in several plays in the West End and on radio, he was inspired to complete an MA in screenwriting and in 2011 penned his first radio drama, Corrinne Come Back and Gone, which opens this collection. He continued his writing career with three more Radio 4 plays and nine episodes of his comic monologue series Lenny Henry’s Rogues Gallery. Collected here for the first time, listen to these poignant and humorous original dramas.

Penelope and Chase make a lovely couple. She’s a bubbly Southern California girl with killer work ethic. Chase is smart and charming and has political aspirations. They’re planning a spectacular California wedding, wrapped in peonies and thousands of little white lights, soaked in custom cocktails and romantic hashtags. Everyone’s excited about Penny and Chase’s wedding­­­­­­—except their mothers.

Cultivation is all fun and games. Until someone kills Merlin. Apparently, the only logical response to this fairly important change to Arthurian lore is for me to be reincarnated into Dark Age Cornwall. But don't worry, I have an absolute understanding of feudal power dynamics, Qi cycling, and anti-Saxon spell flinging. Oh, I also lie a lot. There's just the smallest chance that our timeline is doomed.

Ever since she was a child, Cléo, the French-American daughter of two academics, has had only one obsession: becoming a famous singer. Over the years, to everyone’s surprise but her own, she overcomes every obstacle and becomes a global superstar with millions of dollars, countless awards, and several Los Angeles villas to her name. But as any celebrity will tell you, getting to the top is one thing; staying there is another. Now thirty-three years old, Cléo is taking her first real vacation in years, on a remote island with no one else in sight.

Maggie Flynn isn’t your typical 1960s mum. She’s a spy, an unsuspecting operative for MI5, stalking London’s streets in myriad disguises. Widowed and balancing her clandestine career with raising a Beatles-mad teenage daughter, Maggie finds comfort and purpose in her profession – providing a connection to her late husband, whose own covert past only surfaced after his death. But Maggie’s world spins out of control when a chance encounter with a mysterious Russian agent triggers a chilling revelation: he knew her husband.

In these twelve new stories, Richard Bausch explores the passions of men and women facing unex­pected circumstances and the complications of modern life and love. In the novella “Donnaiolo,” for instance, the parents of a young divorcée who has returned from Italy and a failed marriage must deal with the completely different, and unappealing, person she has become. In “Isolation,” a happily married woman who has con­ceived an unexpected passion for another man learns, in lockdown during the pandemic, that this man—into whose life Bausch also gives us a window—has become ill with Covid.

In the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, on a chain of manmade islands, Steve Bennett finds himself thrust into a world he doesn't understand. An unexpected inheritance places him among the world's wealthiest people. His best friend, Paul, is more than happy to stand by him, as Steve works through his newfound affluence, right until the pair stumbles upon a secret that could change the world forever.

On Our Selection is a collection of humorous short stories by Australian author Steele Rudd. It follows the trials and tribulations of the Rudd family, pioneers carving out a living in the Australian bush. The book humorously depicts the struggles of farming life, the resilience of the settlers, and the quirks of rural Australian society.

Denk an das schlimmste Date deines Lebens – und du bist noch nicht einmal nahe dran! Ein ebenso humorvoller wie lebenskluger Roman, eine grandiose Mischung aus Humor und existentiellen Fragen. The Walking Date ist keine normale Dating-Plattform: Hier können sich Menschen, die nicht mehr lange zu leben haben, noch ein letztes Mal verlieben. Deshalb hat sich auch Patient Raphael bei TWD angemeldet, und tatsächlich funkt es zwischen ihm und der ebenfalls erkrankten Nala. Doch am Tag ihres ersten Blind Dates geht es Raphael nicht gut.

In the summer of 1987, StarBright Shopping Mall is the place to be—until a masked killer with a bizarre fixation on butts turns it into a slaughtering ground. As the booty count rises, panic spreads faster than parachute pants on an ironing board. With a mix of laugh-out-loud humor and spine-chilling terror, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering, “Why did anyone write this?” and “Is my butt truly safe?”

In Roughing It, Mark Twain recounts his real-life journey across the American West with wit, grit, and wide-eyed wonder. Originally published in 1872, this semi-autobiographical travelogue follows Twain as he joins his brother—appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory—on an epic overland stagecoach ride from Missouri to the frontier. Along the way, he encounters a colorful cast of characters, from outlaws and prospectors to pioneers and desperados, all set against the backdrop of dusty deserts, fledgling mining towns, and gold rush chaos.

Allan sitter med vännen Julius på Bali och har nästan lika långtråkigt som strax innan han klev ut genom sitt fönster på hundraårsdagen ett år tidigare. Nu väntar ny födelsedag. Julius bestämmer sig för att fira sin vän med en luftballongfärd. Allan föreslår att de i så fall tar med sig något att dricka, ifall det skulle bli stiltje där uppe i luften. Det som följer är allt utom stiltje. Vinden och omständigheterna tar vännerna på en resa genom all världens galenskap.

Hon började arbeta som femåring, blev föräldralös vid tio, överkörd vid femton. Ingenting tydde på annat än att hon skulle leva ett tag i sitt skjul i Sydafrikas största kåkstad och sedan dö, saknad av ingen. Om hon nu inte varit den hon var, men det var hon ju. Nombeko Mayeki var analfabeten som kunde räkna. Ödet tillsammans med hennes talang för henne bort från Soweto, till internationell storpolitik, till andra sidan jordklotet, till två identiskt lika och väldigt olika bröder.

Efter ett långt och synnerligen händelserikt liv hamnar Allan Karlsson på det äldrehem han tänker ska bli hans sista anhalt på jorden. Problemet är bara att hälsan vägrar ge vika, och en dag bär det sig inte bättre än att det är dags för honom att fylla tresiffrigt. Pompa och ståt väntar, med kommunalråd och lokaltidning på plats. Ett spektakel så oönskat av Allan att han i stället kliver ut genom fönstret. Därmed är han på rymmen från sitt eget födelsedagskalas.

Huis Madeliefie word deur die staat se vlak 5-inperking in die gesig gestaar, maar die drakoniese reëls van die tehuis se interne bevelsraad kry nie vatplek by Hans en kie nie. Hans se plan om die inwoners met die verbode vrug se sap aan sy kant te kry, boemerang egter sleg. Hy sal die raad op ’n ander manier moet vasvat . . .

That someone might end up dead at the Palms School’s annual glamping trip in Santa Barbara wasn’t far-fetched. Taking city people into the woods was begging for murder. What was surprising was how far these mothers would go to cover it up.

Sam and Daisy have been best friends since university. Back then Daisy was a wild, Fleetwood Mac-obsessed girl descended from the Yorkshire Moors, while Sam’s youth was misspent traipsing around Liverpool on shopping trips and nights out. But as they lean against each other on a wooden bench in the tired garden of their beloved local pub, gazing out at Sam’s wedding, they have no idea that their paths are about to truly diverge for the first time.

Una novela divertidísima que se ha convertido en un best seller instantáneo de The New York Times y ha causado furor entre los lectores. Una noche, en su piso, Lauren encuentra a un desconocido que dice ser su marido. Todas las pruebas que aporta apuntan a que es cierto. Poco a poco, Lauren se da cuenta de que es el ático de su casa el que le está creando un sinfín de maridos.

Frances Partridge, fifty-five, is a beloved children’s author. Geraint Blevins, forty-one, is an auto mechanic and devoted family man. Parker Poplawski, twenty-three, is just starting her career as a wardrobe assistant on a hit TV show. What do these people have in common? Nothing, that’s what. Until each of them reaches a breaking point and snaps in spectacular fashion. They meet in a court-mandated anger management class: three very different people, forced to spend a lot of time together, who slowly end up bonding and helping one another in unexpected ways.

John O’Driscoll is madly in love with Karen Black but is so mesmerised by her beauty that in her presence his brain refuses to function. He walks in fear of school governor Father Kennedy, a man with nasal hair so terrifying it gives grown men nightmares and sends small animals scurrying for cover. And all O’Driscoll’s efforts to impress Karen seem to end in disaster and public humiliation at the hands of the cantankerous cleric. Will O’Driscoll stay out of the pub long enough to win Karen over? Will he stay out of Father Kennedy’s reach for long enough to have his teaching contract renewed?