Showing titles in City Life

Brought to you by Penguin. Life can’t go on like this – can it? An audacious, darkly funny, perfect summer read about a young woman in Madrid whose office persona threatens to crack when she’s forced to attend her company’s annual retreat On the surface, Marisa’s life looks enviable...

Brought to you by Penguin. Who was Gertrude Stein? Avant-garde American poet and art collector who made her home in Paris, godmother of modernism, queer icon, friend to Picasso and Hemingway, self-declared genius — a writer who has baffled readers and critics for a century. And why does she...

An irresistible French sensation - Mr Penumbra's 24- hour Bookstore meets Amélie - The Reader on the 6.27 explores the power of books through the lives of the people they save. It is sure to capture the hearts of book lovers everywhere. Guylain Vignolles leads a dull and solitary life. He hates...

In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of 'Southie', the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart. One night Mary Pat's teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn't come home. That same evening, a young Black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. The two events seem unconnected.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

New York, August 1974: a man is walking in the sky. Between the newly built Twin Towers, the man twirls through the air. Far below, the lives of complete strangers spin towards each other: Corrigan, a radical Irish monk working in the Bronx; Claire, a delicate Upper East Side housewife reeling from the death of her son; Lara, a drug-addled young artist; Gloria, solid and proud despite decades of hardship; Tillie, a hooker who used to dream of a better life and Jazzlyn, her beautiful daughter raised on promises that reach beyond the skyline of New York.

The Devil Wears Prada meets America's Next Top Model meets The Reckoning in this witty debut filled with scandal and romance in the world of publishing from the former editor-in-chief of Honey, Ebony and Teen People… * PICKED AS A BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR BY STYLIST * 'Captures the glamour, danger...

For Damir, time is money. He bikes around the city collecting food orders, rushing through the cycle lanes next to Uber drivers and grocery vans – and all the other people delivering your every desire. He arrives with your sushi rolls and fries and disappears into the night – Ping! Onto the next drop. He is invisible; one player in the boardgame of the city. But one summer’s evening, a chance encounter changes all the rules. Damir arrives on Decca’s doorstep with a bag of spilled edamame beans, in a postcode that could be another universe, and there’s an immediate connection.

Brought to you by Penguin. Her life is so full, so why is she hungry? For Piglet – an unshakable childhood nickname – getting married is her opportunity to reinvent. Together, Kit and Piglet are the picture of domestic bliss – effortless hosts, planning a covetable wedding ... But if a...

When Aleisha discovers a crumpled reading list tucked into a tattered library book, it sparks an extraordinary journey. From timeless stories of love and friendship to an epic journey across the Pacific Ocean with a boy and a tiger in a boat, the list opens a gateway to new and wonderful worlds - just when Aleisha needs an escape from her troubles at home. And when widower Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to connect with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha introduces him to the magic of the reading list.

Coco is having a hell of a month. She’s lost her boyfriend and her business, been forced to uproot her daughter to move back in with her parents in Paris, and now an infuriatingly handsome stranger is yelling at her for acting like a tourist… Right underneath the Eiffel Tower. Storming away from him – and swearing off men for life – she decides she’s going to take the first job that comes her way. Then, as if fate hears her, later that day she stumbles into a little bookshop – but not any old bookshop.

Including an introductory letter written by the author, Hisashi Kashiwai. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, is the second book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese sleuthing series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, and follows on from The...

To the casual observer, the great enlightened city of Edinburgh, home of no-nonsense sermons and cream teas, might appear immune to the rollercoaster of strong emotions. But at 44 Scotland Street, as Matthew and Elspeth embark on the risky enterprise of married love, the raffish portrait painter Angus Lordie has a premonition of disaster. Soon enough Irene Pollock is shocked to learn that her small son Bertie harbours a highly unsuitable ambition; and Angus finds himself facing a large Glaswegian gangster.

Brought to you by Penguin. Zoe, Al, Rachel, Rob, Yas and Indie. Six friends who were inseparable at university, who have all had their secret or not so secret passions for each other, their own hopes and fears. Over the years, they have gone their separate ways. Rob is a history teacher, with a...

In the bustling heart of London’s East End, Maisie, Amanda and Bethan work long hours at the uniform factory. The pay is poor, the shifts relentless and the bombs fall far too close for comfort ­– but these three women refuse to give in to despair. For when not at the factory, the girls spend their days on the markets of Petticoat Lane, trying to source material in order to make dresses ­– doing their best to bring any small amount of joy in these troubled times. When a chance encounter leads them to a bundle of parachute silk, they decide to think bigger.

When newly promoted DI Anna Vaughan is called to a case in remote Knapdale, on the Argyll coast, she welcomes the chance to escape her life in Glasgow - more specifically the mother-in-law from hell… Ellen McIver, Baldrishaig’s local busybody, has been found dead. Run over — repeatedly — by a tractor belonging to local farmer Glen Cameron. The most likely culprit is Old Wullie, Cameron’s elderly father, who, despite his dementia, still likes to drive the tractor about the lanes. But once at the crime scene Anna can tell something sinister is afoot…

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'With Sisters in Yellow, [Kawakami] proves she is still the most exciting Japanese novelist at work today' The Times 'Relentlessly riveting . . . My heart felt very tender reading this. Astonishing Kawakami, as always' Frances Cha, author of If I had Your Face...

As war rages and brave soldiers returning home from the frontline need nurses more than ever, fiercely proud redhead Sylvia Roberts is determined to help in any way she can. In spite of her mother’s belief she isn’t good enough, Sylvia believes that becoming a home front nurse is her calling. Together with the two friends she makes on her first day in the job – Freda and Veronica – she knows she can help save lives. And, as the devastation of war shows no signs of ceasing, their work becomes ever more vital.

After a stint inside, notorious gangster Nathan Conlon is back. He says he’s a changed man, but old habits die hard on Liverpool’s gritty streets. He’ll stop at nothing to reclaim his formidable criminal empire—and his long-suffering ex-wife, Grace. Grace once kissed the ground that Nathan walked on, but not anymore. She’s head of the firm now, commanding respect from the best of them, and she’ll do anything to protect her family—even if it means beating Nathan at the dirtiest of games.

'Feverish, devouring and provocative' LUCY ROSE, author of The Lamb 'Dark, sexy, addictive and beautifully written' KATE DAVIES, author of In at the Deep End ‘Hot, hungry and aching with desire, this book will bite down into you and it won't let go’ TOBI COVENTRY, author of He’s the Devil...