Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

You aren't stupid. You know there's no such thing as a perfect mother. Plenty of other books will tell you there is, but this one won't lie to you. I was weak and I cheated and I was punished, but, my god, I loved my child through all of it. Love means you never break, and it means you're stronger than the things they do to you. I know this is true because I have been through fire, and I am the proof that love survives. I am not a perfect mother but I will tell you the perfect truth, because this is you and me talking. This is my story.

Brought to you by Penguin. Dive into the fourth novel in the gripping Will Trent series, from the Sunday Times bestselling crime and thriller author. Now a major TV Series on Disney+ When the body of a young woman is discovered at the bottom of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock suggests...

It’s high summer when Molly Pargeter drags her amiably bickering family to a rented Tuscan villa for the holidays. Molly is sure that the house is the perfect setting for their three-week getaway, but soon she becomes fascinated by the lives of the absent owners and things start to go horribly wrong.

Born to elegant but frivolous parents, Harriet grows up ignored and unguided, and retains a curious innocence that neither her marriage to Freddie Lytton, nor her friendship with the beautiful Tessa can dispel. Freddie is far older than she is - a companion rather than a lover - and slightly disapproving of Tessa and her irresponsible, attractive husband, Jack. Yet all four are bound together: by their backgrounds, their children, by Harriet’s unspoken feelings for Jack and by the tragedy that lies in wait for all of them.

When a young man washes up, naked, on the sands of St Piran, he is quickly rescued by the villagers. From the retired village doctor and the schoolteacher, to the beachcomber and the owner of the local bar, the priest's wife and the romantic novelist, they take this lost soul into their midst. But what the villagers don't know is that Joe Haak worked as an analyst and has fled the City amid fears of a worldwide banking collapse caused by a computer program he invented. But is the end of the world really nigh?

"I'll see you in twenty-five years." Laura Palmer. "Also, ich musste wieder auf ein paar Tage nach Zürich. Es war ganz schrecklich. Aus Nervosität darüber hatte ich mich das gesamte verlängerte Wochenende über so unwohl gefühlt, dass ich unter starker Verstopfung litt. Dazu muss ich sagen, dass ich vor einem Vierteljahrhundert eine Geschichte geschrieben hatte, die ich aus irgendeinem Grund, der mir nun nicht mehr einfällt, 'Faserland' genannt hatte. Es endet in Zürich, sozusagen auf dem Zürichsee, relativ traumatisch."

Even though he is still young, Kenny has just weeks to live. Before he dies, he wants to find his childhood friend Callie Barton and thank her for the kindness she showed him. When Kenny discovers that Callie has gone missing, he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. And knowing that time is running out on him, he's prepared to do whatever it takes....

A medical crisis brings one man close to death – and to love, art, and beauty – in a profound and luminous novel by award-winning author Garth Greenwell. A poet’s life is turned inside out by a sudden, wrenching pain. The pain brings him to his knees, and eventually to the ICU. Confined to...

A heartwarming new book from much-loved author, Morris Gleitzman. Full of his usual trademark humour, pathos and inimitable skill at speaking directly to his audience. What do you do when your mum, your dad and 16 camels are in trouble and only you can save them? The sometimes sad but mostly funny story of a boy, a girl, a dog and four trillion dollars.

The unmissable third and final instalment of Jenny Colgan's return to the Little School by the Sea - perfect for anyone who ever dreamed of going to boarding school!    

Pandora English is no ordinary small-town orphan. When she's invited to live with her mysterious great aunt Celia in New York City, she seizes the opportunity to escape her stifling hometown, break from her tragic past and make it as a writer.Things, however, are not what she is expecting. For starters, her great aunt's gothic mansion is in a mist-wreathed Manhattan suburb that doesn't appear on maps.

Im achtzehnten Jahrhundert lebte in Frankreich ein Mann, der zu den genialsten und abscheulichsten Gestalten dieser an genialen und abscheulichen Gestalten nicht armen Epoche gehörte. Seine Geschichte soll hier erzählt werden.

“Unsparing in her depiction of the disease’s harrowing effects, neuroscientist Genova also celebrates humanity.” —People “Sometimes it’s easier to tell truth in fiction…And she tells it with heart and hope.” —NPR “Her juxtaposition of scientific detail with compassionate...

The terrifying new Hammer novella by Minette Walters, bestselling author of The Sculptress and The Scold's Bridle ‘Muna’s fortunes changed for the better on the day that Mr and Mrs Songoli’s younger son failed to come home from school.’ Before then her bedroom was a dark windowless...

You can never go back - but can you forgive? A gripping story of love and redemption. The Brennans - parents, Finn and Bridget, and their sons, Jarrah and Toby - have made a sea change, from chilly Hobart to subtropical Murwillumbah. Feeling like foreigners in this land of sun and surf, they're...

"Bein' a idiot is no box of chocolates," but "at least I ain't led no hum-drum life," says Forrest Gump, the lovable, surprisingly savvy hero of this wonderful comic tale. When the University of Alabama's football team drafts Forrest and makes him a star, that's only the beginning! He flunks...

Loulou Landers is about to turn 49 and she's feeling seriously overlooked. She hasn't had a relationship for 20 years, her 21-year-old daughter Theo is giving her the cold shoulder, and is that really a bunion making it so painful to walk, or is Christian Louboutin losing his touch? Theo can't see what her mum is so hung up about. It's only another birthday. And she has more important things to think about - mainly herself. For not only is Loulou permanently single, but so is Theo – despite her legendary good looks. But over the course of a summer, everything changes.

Two stunning dramatisations from one of the twentieth century’s most beloved authors Sink into the lyrical landscapes and beautifully observed lives of J. L. Carr’s finest stories, brought to life in these glorious, full-cast dramatisations starring Shaun Dingwall (Noughts and Crosses, Top...

Kitty Montrose is packing up her house and the memories that go with it. Under this roof, she's seen her children grow up, her grandchildren arrive, and her marriage come and go. Kitty knows better than most that the twists and turns of life can bring joy, despair and everything in between. But when she was a little girl, she had hoped for more. She dreamed of finding her true soul mate. Someone to laugh with, cry with and share her twilight years.

Philip Noble is an eleven-year-old in crisis. His pub landlord father has died in a road accident, and his mother is succumbing to the greasy charms of her dead husband's brother, Uncle Alan. The remaining certainties of Philip's life crumble away when his father's ghost appears in the pub and declares Uncle Alan murdered him. Arming himself with weapons from the school chemistry cupboard, Philip vows to carry out the ghost's relentless demands for revenge.