Showing titles in Coming of Age

New to a small town, Jackie and Paula envision a quiet life for their kids: a young adopted son and two teenage foster children, including the troubled Star. However, they quickly butt heads with their neighbor, Clementine, who disapproves of their lifestyle and is incensed when Star befriends her spirited horse, Comet. Haunted by past tragedy and unable to properly care for Comet, Clem nevertheless resents the bond Star soon shares with the horse.

“Wrenching . . . powerfully sensuous.”—New York Times "As searing and unforgettable as an electric shock."—Kirkus Reviews As relevant and urgent as when it was first published more than three decades ago, Scott Heim’s propulsive novel about abuse and its aftereffects in the lives of...

Insightful and full of understanding and warmth, Patrick Gale's FRIENDLY FIRE is a richly compelling story of adolescence, sexuality and the lessons we carry forever. 'An intense tale of love, life, intellectualism and passion. Inspirational' Daily Express 'Utterly compelling from first to last'...

*LONGLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE BOOK AWARDS* 'A moving exploration of family, migration, class, queerness and belonging… beautifully rendered' JESSICA ANDREWS 'A deeply observant, perceptive writer' JOANNA CANNON 'Masterful' JJ BOLA 'Evocative, layered and emotionally resonant… deserves to be on...

Brought to you by Penguin. Sophisticated, mature and richly atmospheric, a debut novel about three young people navigating the risks and possibilities of intimacy For fans of André Aciman, Deborah Levy and the Penguin European Writers series Thora, August and Hugo come from different worlds -...

Eleanor Pilcher is electric in her witty, funny, and heartfelt women’s fiction debut, following polar opposite best friends Beth and Serena. When demisexual Beth decides she’s done with being a virgin and enlists Serena’s help, her new personal journey just might be the thing to end their...

The New Novel from the author of Lie With Me ‘Doomed youth, simmering desire and 100-proof nostalgia is what Besson does - and he does it very well . . . perfect reading for a heatwave . . . this novel made me nostalgic for the sultry summers I never had’ The Times On an island off the coast...

Call Me By Your Name meets Elena Ferrante in this debut coming-of-age novel about a young girl who spends summers working at her family’s timeworn Italian agriturismo, the tragedy that rends her life into “before” and “after,” and her romance with an American girl, which has unexpected...

I never thought I’d find love. I spent all of high school watching others pair up, my little gay heart slowly withering in despair… until the fateful summer night that I met Tim. His meaty muscles and smoldering silver eyes already haunt my dreams. And I know for a fact that he’s lonely like me. I’ve been taking care of Tim ever since he got into an accident that was technically my fault, but the healing he needs goes so much deeper than that. I need him too. With any luck, I’ll end senior year with the man of my dreams at my side.

Desperate to quell her addiction to drugs, disastrous romance, and '90s San Francisco, Michelle heads south for LA. But soon it's officially announced that the world will end in one year, and life in the sprawling metropolis becomes increasingly weird. While living in an abandoned bookstore, dating Matt Dillon, and keeping an eye on the encroaching apocalypse, Michelle begins a new novel, a sprawling and metatextual exploration to complement her promises of maturity and responsibility.

Summer term, 1956. For boys and girls, primary school days mean blackboards and chalk dust, pinafores and short trousers, satchels and skipping ropes. For talented teacher Helen Mercer, returning to her home county of Yorkshire and working in a supply role, it's a term of being sent wherever there's a gap to fill, and getting to grips with idiosyncratic head teachers, eccentric colleagues and new classes of young children. To each school, Helen brings warmth, creativity and a stubborn conviction that every child matters.

'Extraordinary. I loved it' - Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist 'Engrossing and moving . . . gives voice to so much that's unspoken about Ireland' - Emma Donoghue, author of Room 'Wonderfully compelling . . . haunting' - Joseph O'Connor, author of Star of the Sea Delving into the lives of...

A smoldering, soul-splitting debut that tracks three friends through the celestial chaos of adulthood, love, and queer identity. Jordan Caleb is a freshman at McCallen College when she meets Trace. From the moment the confident, tattooed Trace compliments Jordan's Alanis Morissette T-shirt...

Brought to you by Penguin. Seamus, Fyodor, Ivan, Noah and Fatima are running out of time to decide on their futures, in the new novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Real Life. In a university town, a circle of lovers and friends navigate tangled webs of connection while they try to work...

Moving from a Midwestern college to the Stonewall Tavern on the night of the first gay uprising - and populated by eloquent queens, butch poseurs, and a fearfully incompetent shrink - The Beautiful Room is Empty conflates the acts of coming out and coming of age.

Nathan’s used to being alone. Drifting from town to town following his salesman father, he seeks solace in his studies when he can’t find understanding in his own home; his father is abusive and an alcoholic and his mother would rather disappear into the background than protect him. Enter Roy. The older boy next door might have a girlfriend at school and at church, but there’s no question that they’re drawn to one another, and the two quickly become entangled in a covert relationship. 

“Alameddine is a writer with a boundless imagination.” —NPR From National Book Award finalist and winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction comes a tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother. In a tiny...

Brought to you by Penguin. Mona is the eccentric Lady of Easley House, running a bed and breakfast to keep her inherited English manor afloat. Wilfred is Mona's 26-year-old adopted son who spends his weekends in London, looking for love in the gay bars of Soho while pining after his pen pal...

'Heartfelt, poignant, properly gripping and laugh-out-loud funny' TOM ELLEN 'Sharp and witty' SUN 'A modern Bridget Jones' READER REVIEW 'Hilarious, chaotic, and full of heart' READER REVIEW 🃏🃏🃏 When you’ve hit rock bottom, there’s only one way to go. Becky’s not exactly living...

Buying into the dream that education is the road out of poverty, a teen mom takes a chance on bettering herself, gets on welfare rolls, and talks her way into college. But once she's there, phallocratic narratives permeate every subject, and creative writing professors depend heavily on Freytag's pyramid to analyze life. So Ariel turns to a rich subcultural canon of resistance and failure, populated by writers like Audre Lorde, Tillie Olsen, and Kathy Acker. Wryly riffing on feminist literary tropes, We Were Witches documents the survival of a demonized single mother.