Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

Rudy Sharpe is the irrepressible owner of a tiny, ramshackle record store, stacked from floor to ceiling with piles of vinyl. It’s a place with real soul, where the slogan is ‘If we don't have it – them don't mek it’. Helping out behind the counter is Tasha, Handsworth’s only Black goth girl, while Rudy’s best friend Clifton regularly drops in to talk music, women and rum.

Funny, heart-warming and ultimately triumphant, The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard is a story for anyone who doesn’t quite fit in – and for everyone who chooses not to. Perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. 'Wonderful' – Rosie Walsh, author of...

Between 1954 and 1959, BBC Radio recorded 102 episodes of the hugely popular comedy classic, Hancock's Half Hour. The first modern sitcom, Hancock's Half Hour made stars of Tony Hancock, Sid James and Kenneth Williams, and launched Ray Galton and Alan Simpson as one of the most successful comedy-writing partnerships in history. Sadly, 22 episodes of the show went missing from the BBC archives, and have not been heard since their original transmission nearly 60 years ago - until Radio 4 lovingly recreated them over four highly-acclaimed series between 2014 and 2020.

In David Sedaris's world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz and the National Enquirer, Sedaris's collection of stories and essays is a rollicking tour through the American Zeitgeist: a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of...

George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution has become an intimate part of our contemporary culture, with its treatment of democratic, fascist, and socialist ideals through an animal fable.

In a prosperous yet gruesomely violent near future, superhero vigilantes battle thugs whose heads are full of supervillain fantasies. The peace is kept by a team of smooth, well-dressed negotiators called The Men in Fancy Suits. Meanwhile a young girl is caught in the middle and thinks the whole thing is ridiculous. Zoey, a recent college graduate with a worthless degree, makes a reluctant trip into the city after hearing that her estranged con artist father had died in a mysterious yet spectacular way.

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam return as the married couple who met in the Summer of Love and are still passionate about music, life - and each other. Once again, we listen in on their warm, witty 'conversations', which dance around topics big and small: from health scares and jealousy to disagreements about TV viewing and sourdough bread. There's laughter, bickering, banter - and some loving one-upmanship from both parties, as Roger gives Joanna a masterclass in dishwasher stacking, while Joanna instructs him on how to wave goodbye to departing guests.

Brought to you by Penguin. In his most exhilarating novel yet, Britain’s greatest storyteller transports you from the vibrant streets of sixties London to the sun-soaked cobbles of Cadiz and the frosty squares of Warsaw, as an accidental spy is drawn into the shadows of espionage and obsession...

MEET LINDA. Linda lives a nice, normal life, on a nice, normal street with Terry, her perfectly ordinary husband. Linda’s not like everyone else, she keeps herself to herself. But she’s good at solving puzzles and there are times she sees things other people might have overlooked. Because nothing on Cavendish Avenue is quite as it seems. People have started to go missing in the neighbourhood and Linda will soon discover that some secrets can’t stay buried forever…

Brought to you by Penguin. Smooth-talking, sensual and self-deluded, Gregory Riding leads an existence of formidable foppishness, his days and nights a series of effortless, titillating conquests and tireless sex - sister, employers, acquaintances are but co-stars among a cast of thousands to...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'One of the best expressions of his unstoppable flow of comic invention' The Times The Discworld is very much like our own - if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . . The...

Marooned in a sprawling farmhouse in Norfolk, teenage Linda Radlett feels herself destined for greater things. She longs for love, but how will she ever find it? She can't even get a signal on her mobile phone. Linda's strict, former rock star father terrifies any potential suitors away, while her bohemian mother, wafting around in silver jewellery, answers Linda's urgent questions about love with upsettingly vivid allusions to animal husbandry.

Beauty of Britain breaks the embarrassed silence about what happens to us when we get old and start to lose our faculties. It shows the process in all its chaotic tragi-comedy but it does so from the point of view of a migrant worker, Beauty, whose Zimbabwean Shona background has taught her to respect age. Beauty sees Britain at its best and its worst and also sometimes without its clothes on running the wrong way down the M6 with a toy dog shouting, 'Come on!' 

The sequel to Jonas Jonasson’s international best seller The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. It all begins with a hot air balloon trip and three bottles of champagne. Allan and Julius are ready for some spectacular views, but they’re not expecting to land in the sea and be rescued by a North Korean ship, and they could never have imagined that the captain of the ship would be harbouring a suitcase full of contraband uranium on a nuclear weapons mission for Kim Jong-un....

Ein Doppelagent will in Kasachstan ein letztes großes Ding drehen, ein Dichter hofft auf das Abenteuer seines Lebens und eine Italienischlehrerin versucht, das Schlimmste zu verhindern. Der junge Dichter wird in Rom für sein Werk gefeiert, der Kalte Krieg ist endlich Geschichte und die russische Botschaft lädt zum Gartenfest mit Krimsekt und Piroggen. Germeshausen braucht einen Plan, so viel steht fest. Und er braucht Jakob Dreiser. Denn für seinen großen Coup gibt es keine bessere Tarnung als einen international gefeierten Dichter.

Satan is made redundant from Hell and sent to live in suburbia. Getting fired can ruin a day… especially when you were the Prince of Hell. Will Satan survive in English suburbia?

Kevin Kwan, best-selling author of Crazy Rich Asians, is back with a wickedly funny new novel of social climbing, secret e-mails, art-world scandal, lovesick billionaires and the outrageous story of what happens when Rachel Chu, engaged to marry Asia's most eligible bachelor, discovers her birth father. On the eve of her wedding to Nicholas Young, heir to one of the greatest fortunes in Asia, Rachel should be over the moon.

Ex-con Bob has done his time. After five years at Her Majesty's pleasure, he's been released on licence with an ankle tag registered to his estranged son's address. Uptight Gruff isn't too happy about it - he's just become a father himself and the last thing he needs is his delinquent dad back in his life. But Bob turns on the charm, persuading sympathetic daughter-in-law Alice that his heart's in the right place and manages to inveigle his way into moving in. 

Heidi is tired. Tired, grumpy and hot as hell. Juggling the demands of her stressful job whilst parenting two children with a significant age gap is proving chaotic, and Heidi has well and truly run out of f--ks to give. When her menopause symptoms skyrocket, Heidi dives headfirst into a sea of comically contradictory advice, absurd doctors' appointments, and the wild world of online support forums that range from cult-like to totally bloody batshit. The last straw comes when Heidi receives a patronising company-wide email from HR supporting ‘women of a certain age’.

Bill works as an economist in a right-wing institute giving succour to bankers and businessmen. Bella is a confirmed socialist who teaches yoga and waters the plants in Canary Wharf. Years ago they shared a flat before Bill got married and moved to America. Now he's back and feeling a little off-kilter, so he decides to rekindle his friendship with Bella. Once a month they get together for lunch, where they talk about everything from politics to Proust, parenting and the perils of online dating. The only thing they never discuss is how much they love each other....