Showing titles in City Life

An unexpected love story from Marc Levy, international bestselling author of The Last of the Stanfields, and the most widely read French author in the world.

Dinner is served - with a little something on the side. A Brooklyn wife is too sharp to allow her husband’s wandering eye to get the best of her in this witty short story of a dinner party with a delicious comeuppance. Eleanor and Jonathan have joined a few of their most irritating best friends for an intimate catered gathering. Through all the intellectual chatter, Eleanor’s on watch. Jonathan has already confessed to wanting an open marriage, and tonight, Eleanor has decided to accommodate him. Just not quite the way he expects.

A disillusioned nurse suddenly learns how to care. An injured young sportsman wakes up find that he can see only in black and white. A desperate old widower takes too many pills and believes that two angels have arrived to usher him through purgatory. Two agoraphobic men called Dave share the symptoms of a brain tumour, and frequently waken their neighbour with their ongoing rows. Separate lives, running in parallel, destined to collide and then explode.

Looking up at the departures board in Heathrow airport, her flight to New York boarding soon, she knows that getting on that plane changes everything. Her life in London has grown stale, her relationship with boyfriend Dom has run its course, and New York has always been her dream. But it’s a risk – she’ll miss her parents, her friends, her job. What if Bea could live both lives? In one she goes back home for Christmas, and in another she heads to the Big Apple.

Jo Waterstone knows what you should read next. She’s honed the skill of sizing up a person and recommending their next book in the decades she’s worked at Bruebaker’s Books. Her life has been shaped by the store, the bustle of customers exploring the stacks, and managing the eager staff. She can honestly say it’s the best job she’s ever had. Then the store’s elderly owner, Mr. Bruebaker, suffers a stroke, and just like that Jo’s perfect job is on the chopping block. Mr. B’s daughters and the bookstore’s icy CEO think the time is right to close for good, and they order Jo to lock up.

Youth by Kevin Curran dives into the lives of four teenagers in Ireland's most diverse town, Balbriggan. Angel is about to finish school and discover if Drill music and his YouTube fame can deliver on their promises. Princess is battling to escape her claustrophobic surroundings and go to university. Dean is ready to come out from under his famous father's shadow. Tanya, struggling with the spotlight of internet infamy, is still posting her dream life for all of her faithful followers.

Time has started to move faster, with three years having passed in the blink of an eye. Jamie has used the time well, managing a gut renovation on a Victorian charmer just a block away. Ryan’s been chipping away at her dissertation. Not exactly the path she thought she’d be on, but she’s finally come to accept that she’s a happier person when she lets life happen. But even a laid-back Ryan is not a Ryan without plans, and she’s been nipping at Jamie’s heels on a routine basis, certain now is the time to start their family.

Sayon Hughes, a young Black man from Bristol, dreams of a world far removed from the one in which he was raised. Far removed from the torn slips outside the bookie's, the burnt spoons and the crooked solutions his community embraces; most of all, removed from the Christianity of his uncaring parents and the prejudice of law-makers.

Inspired by the Nipsey Hussle mixtape, Mailbox Money, this collection of twelve interconnected short stories explores what it means to chase more than money; to chase a name, a future, a reason to keep running. Each story draws from a track off the mixtape, pulling its emotion and message into the lives of characters hustling on the corners of New York streets, plotting their next move, or standing under stage lights they once only dreamed of.

When a chaotic subway delay throws graphic designer Maya Delgado into the path of charming chef Noah Carter, a spilled coffee and a shared laugh ignite an unexpected connection. Their daily commutes transform into flirty banter, filled with sketches and mismatched socks, as the vibrant pulse of New York City hums around them. But when Noah’s beloved restaurant, Carter’s Kitchen, faces closure, Maya must decide whether to risk her guarded heart to help save his dream.

In a city built on illusions, Liv Mathers craved something real. A survivor in more ways than one, she's used to dancing through life alone—until a night at Los Angeles' most exclusive nightclub puts her in the path of Damon Lautner, a man as guarded as he is magnetic. Their connection is immediate, electric—the kind that feels impossible to ignore, even as the world outside begins to fall apart. As a pandemic shutters the city and forces everyone behind closed doors, Liv and Damon find themselves confronting not only their growing feelings, but the secrets and scars they each try to hide.

Travis trabaja en una revista y es día de cierre. Mientras le ronda la pavorosa idea de que van a despedirlo, no dejan de sucederse a su alrededor imprevistos de toda clase. Anne, por su parte, se siente harta del departamento de atención al cliente en el que está destinada, donde la relación con algunos de sus compañeros amenaza con hacer saltar la oficina por los aires. En vísperas de comenzar sus vacaciones, bajo un calor insoportable, ambos tienen mil cosas en la cabeza que resolver, y todas ellas parecen urgentes.

An aspiring artist gets a seven-figure offer that could change her life forever in this provocative and surprising short story of a woman torn between saying yes and saying no. Alicia could do a lot with a million dollars. But what’s she willing to do for it? Her top client, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has made a very intimate business proposal. In the world of finance, it’s just another transaction, right? An efficient supply-demand exchange. At least that’s what Alicia tries to tell herself.

It was a whirlwind romance. And when Drew, caught up in the moment, suggests that he and Poppy don’t tell each other anything about their past lives, that they live only for the here and now, for the future they are building together, Poppy jumps at the chance for a fresh start. But it doesn’t take long for Poppy to see that this is a two-way deal. Drew is hiding something from her. And Poppy suddenly has no idea who the man she has married really is, what he is hiding from her or what he might be capable of.

Dating in the 90s sucks. Meet Jack: twenty-seven-year-old commitment-phobe and serious partier. Meet Amy: while she's stuck in dead-end temp jobs, her friends are settling down and her mother is despairing of her. Now find out what happens when they meet each other. They don't want the same things, they're caught up in the whirlwind of distractions offered by 1990s London and they can only communicate by landline – do they have a chance?

Annie Lewin is at the end of her rope. She’s a mother of three young children, her workaholic husband is never around, and the vicious competition for spots in New York City’s kindergartens is heating up. A New York Times journalist-turned-parenting-advice-columnist for an internet start-up, Annie can’t help but judge the insanity of it all—even as she finds herself going to impossible lengths to secure the best spot for her own son.

Like Jim Sheridan’s acclaimed movie, In America, Me and Five Guys tells the story of a first-generation immigrant family’s life in New York, relating both the good and the bad events with bold, straightforward charm. The listeners first meets Frankie, the winsome narrator, in the birth canal on the day JFK is shot. Her Irish father is in the bar, drinking away his sorrow at the president’s murder. Her Italian mother, who is delighted to finally have a daughter, chooses an Italian name for her, Francesca.

Life can change in the blink of an eye. That's a truth Andy Slater learns as a young man in 1982, taking the Chicago "L" to work every morning. Andy's life is laid out before him: a good job, marriage to his female college sweetheart, and the white picket fence existence he believes in. But when he sees Carlos Castillo for the first time, Carlos’ dark eyes and Latin appeal mesmerize him. Flash forward to present day. Andy is comfortable but alone, and has never forgotten the powerful pull of Carlos’ gaze on the "L" train. He vows to find him once more, hoping for a second chance.

On the eve of the Occupy Wall Street protests, C is flat broke. Once a renowned textile artist, she’s now the sole proprietor of an arts supply store in Lower Manhattan. Divorced, alone, at loose ends, C is stuck with a struggling business, a stack of bills, a new erotic interest in her oldest girlfriend, and a persistent hallucination in the form of a rogue garden gnome with a pointed interest in systems collapse. Replaying recent history through a distorting glass, The Visitors charts the last days of a broken status quo as the path is cleared for something new.

Since moving to a new city, once-adventurous Steph is doing her best to prove to her friends and family back home that her life is as fulfilling and envy-inducing as ever. The truth? She is broke and has found that making new friends isn't as easy as she expected. Eric has lost his way in life since his breakup with perfect Clarissa. Now that all his friends are buying homes, getting married and starting families, Eric is still living in a house share, feeling left behind. Eric and Steph are strangers, but with one connection - they live on the same street, on either side of number 26.