Showing titles in Literary Fiction

Of all of John Irving's books, this is the one that lends itself best to audio. In print, Owen Meany's dialogue is set in capital letters; for this production, Irving himself selected Joe Barrett to deliver Meany's difficult voice as intended. In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys – best friends – are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary and terrifying.

Famous author Olive Wellwood writes a special private book, bound in different colours, for each of her children. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh they play in a story-book world - but their lives, and those of their rich cousins and their friends, the son and daughter of a curator at the new Victoria and Albert Museum, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets.

Shortlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction Named one of the best New Novelists for 2025 by The Observer. Bradford, December 1962. A precocious Mercy makes her reluctant entrance into the world, torn from the warm embrace of her mother’s womb, to a chaotic household that seems to have...

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother of four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist. Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling. How far will she go to save her family? And what – or who – is she willing to leave behind?

'I couldn't put it down. I'll never stop thinking about it' Ann Patchett 'One hell of a novel about a good woman on the run with her beautiful boy' Stephen King FEAR KEEPS THEM RUNNING. HOPE KEEPS THEM ALIVE. Vivid, visceral, utterly compelling, AMERICAN DIRT is the first novel to explore the...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE The beloved first novel featuring Olive Kitteridge, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of My Name is Lucy Barton and the Oprah’s Book Club pick Olive, Again “Fiction lovers, remember this name: Olive Kitteridge. . . . You’ll never forget her...

FROM THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF MY FRIENDS. 'I utterly believed in the residents of Beartown, and felt ripped apart by the events in the book' JOJO MOYES WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO STAND TOGETHER? ‘It’s often said that winners write history, but there are no...

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Transcription by Kate Atkinson, read by Fenella Woolgar. THE MAGNIFICENT NEW NOVEL BY BESTSELLING AWARD-WINNING KATE ATKINSON ‘Think of it as an adventure, Perry had said right at the beginning of all this.And it had seemed like one. A bit of a...

For 15 years the weaver Silas Marner has plied his loom near the village of Raveloe, alone and unjustly in exile, cut off from faith and human love, he cares only for his hoard of golden guineas. But two events occur that will change his life forever; his gold disappears and a golden-haired baby girl appears. But where did she come from and who really stole the gold? This moving tale sees Silas eventually redeemed and restored to life by the unlikely means of his love for the orphan child Eppie.

Winner of The British Book Awards Fiction Audiobook of the Year The Number One Sunday Times Bestseller A Selection of Dua Lipa's Service95 Bookclub 'Beautiful and moving, a gay Romeo and Juliet set in the brutal world of Glasgow’s housing estates' – The Observer From the Booker Prize-winning...

THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING PHENOMENON This is the story of Sam and Sadie. It's not a romance, but it is about love. When Sam catches sight of Sadie at a crowded train station one morning he is catapulted straight back to childhood, and the hours they spent immersed in playing games. Their...

Understandably, Lord Burford had some misgivings about hosting another house party at Alderley, his beautiful country mansion. After all, the previous two could at best be described as disastrous, since a couple of their guests were bumped off during their stay on each occasion. But with family members travelling down for the funeral of an elderly relative, the Earl really had no choice but to offer them accommodation.

A SWEEPING NOVEL RICH IN PASSION AND LEGEND FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PHILIPPA GREGORY ‘This is a man’s world, Jacquetta, and some women cannot march to the beat of a man’s drum. Do you understand?’ 1435. Rouen. Jacquetta of Luxembourg is left a wealthy young widow when her...

This is the story of a quiet man, destined to be a farmer but who becomes an academic. It is book in which nothing and everything happens and is possibly the greatest novel you've never read. William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English...

Drifters in search of work, George and simple-minded friend Lennie have nothing in the world except each other - and a dream. A dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie - struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and jealousy - becomes a victim of his own strength. 

Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Brown was promised her freedom on her eighteenth birthday. But when her birthday finally comes around, instead of the idyllic life she was hoping for with her true love, she finds herself thrust into the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil's Half-Acre, a jail where slaves are broken, tortured, and sold every day. Forced to become the mistress of the brutal man who owns the jail, Pheby faces the ultimate sacrifice to protect her heart.

Shame and longing can flow through generations, but the secrets of the heart will not be buried for ever. It is 1987 and a small Irish community is preparing for a wedding. The day before the ceremony a group of young friends, including bride and groom, drive out to the beach. There is an...

Bloomsbury presents The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, read by Frazer Douglas. **OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD** WINNER OF THE ORANGE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION THE INTERNATIONAL SENSATION A SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Captivating' DONNA TARTT 'I loved it' J K ROWLING...

To Porterhouse College, Cambridge, famous for rowing, low academic standards. and a proud cuisine, comes a new Master, an ex-grammar-school boy, demanding Firsts, women students, a self-service canteen, and a slot-machine for contraceptives. There is considerable opposition to this challenge to the established order, in the form of Skullion, the intransigent porter at Porterhouse, who is determined that the hallowed traditions of the College will never change.

Brought to you by Penguin. Unforgettably funny and painfully honest, Jonathan Coe's tale of Benjamin Trotter and his friends' coming of age during the 1970s is a heartfelt celebration of the joys and agonies of growing up. Featuring, among other things, IRA bombs, prog rock, punk rock, bad...