Showing titles in City Life

Climbing in Heels, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas's debut, is a fictional tale of the rise of three secretaries at the hottest agency in 1980's Hollywood, giving you a glimpse into the boys-will-be-boys club and the women who wanted a seat at a table where they were expected to serve. It's the story of friendship, betrayal, survival, standing up when they pass you by, and saying I won't go when they want you gone. And it's also a story about how some of those women became very much like the monsters who trained them.

I’d given up everything to fight for the Resistance. But nothing prepared me for discovering my sister was a traitor. Kept by a Nazi SS officer, outwardly she barely resembles my beloved Justine anymore. But I guessed her secret. About her beautiful, fragile little child. The baby she’ll do anything to protect. And I believe that deep down she still knows what is right. As the Nazis threaten everything we ever held dear, I know I have one chance. I must convince her to betray the evil she seems to have chosen. I need her to find her true self once more.

Ivy Edwards is 31 years old, funny, shameless and a bit of a romantic. She's also currently trying not to cry in the office toilet. Partly because she's just run out of money for fags. A bit because her mum continues to annoy her. Definitely not because she's just been dumped by her fiancé. With her London life in shambles and her family miles away in the Welsh valleys, Ivy doesn't actually feel like she belongs anywhere.

When Daisy Kennedy risked everything to rescue her twin sister, Lily, from the clutches of a ruthless gang, she thought it would finally mend the cracks in their fractured relationship. But Lily sees it differently. She’s convinced Daisy’s reckless choices are what put her in harm’s way to begin with, and forgiveness feels as far away as ever. Then Daisy is kidnapped by another notorious gangland boss. His demand? Repay their father’s crippling debt by working as a prostitute in his seedy club. Trapped, terrified, and with no one to trust, Daisy clings to the hope that Lily will come for her.

When her mother emigrates to China for work, twenty-year-old Chizu moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, an eccentric distant relative, taking a room in her ramshackle Tokyo home, with its two resident cats and the persistent rattle of passing trains. Living their lives in imperfect symmetry, they establish an uneasy alliance, stress tested by Chizu's flashes of youthful spite. As the four seasons pass, Chizu navigates a series of tedious part-time jobs and unsatisfying relationships, before eventually finding her feet and salvaging a fierce independence from her solitude.

When Ryan spots a young woman on the tube on his commute, he can’t take his eyes off her. Instantly attracted and intrigued, he’s keen to find out more about his mysterious fellow passenger. The woman he thinks of as Millie spends all day travelling the Underground, unable to leave for reasons unbeknownst to Ryan. For some inexplicable reason, he just can’t shake the feeling he wants to help her escape her endless commute.

Is the world ready for The Velveteens? An all-girl punk band try to make it to the top Get your crimper out, your mohawk ready and your best punk pout on - the Queens of Noise have arrived! Set in 1980s London, this modern music drama charts the rise of a girl punk band. Packed with classic hits...

Amjad cradles his baby daughter in the middle of the night. He has no time to mourn his wife’s death. Saahil and Zahra, his two small children, are relying on him. Amjad vows to love and protect them always. Years later, Saahil and his best friend, Ehsan, have finished university and are celebrating with friends. But when the night turns dangerous, its devastating effects will ripple through the years to come. Zahra’s world is alight with politics and activism. But she is now her father’s only source of comfort, and worries she’ll never have time for her own aspirations.

Brought to you by Penguin. Agnes Maurer has a plan. Before tomorrow’s spin class, she will find someone willing to kill her. New York City, 2014: a place of gleaming towers, boutique fitness, designer handbags and, of course, existential despair. As Agnes wipes away the sweat from her...

Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people’s homes by his bullying older siblings, he’s also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum. On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that’s just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh’s biggest crime lord, Deke Holt.

Diary of a Drug Fiend. This captivating novel, first published in 1922, explores the alluring highs and harrowing lows of addiction through the lens of Crowley’s unique philosophical and occult perspective. Perfect for fans of historical fiction, esoteric literature, and compelling narratives, this audiobook is an essential addition to your collection.

Breathtakingly tender, Seven Days in Tokyo is an astonishing debut about the intricacies of desire and a search for belonging. It is a lyrical, immersive portrait of how some things, however beautiful and profound, are destined to be as short-lived as the cherry blossoms.

1938: Divya has made the long sea journey from India to England, employed as a nanny by a British family. But once they arrive, she is cruelly abandoned, with no means to return home. Afraid and alone, she faces prejudice and rejection… until she finds her way to an Irish-run boarding house on West India Dock Road and meets Jack, Charity and a host of unexpected friends.

Audrey Wade longs to escape her domineering father and the bleak streets of post-war Yorkshire. Hollywood glitters with glamour, freedom, and the promise of a life with her best friend Freddie. But when Freddie abandons her, Audrey is left to chase her dreams alone. Rex Trent is more than Hollywood’s leading man. Charismatic and dangerously handsome, he’s adored by millions and watched by powerful enemies in a paranoid 1950s America. One wrong move could destroy him. When Rex proposes, Audrey is swept into Hollywood’s glamour and high-stakes secrets.

On the night her younger sister, Giulia, moves in with Risa to recover from a bad break-up, a fateful accident occurs: Risa, boiled over with anger and fear, strikes a drunk, erratic Sav with a cast-iron pan, killing him on the spot. The sisters are left with a choice: notify the authorities and make a case for self-defense, or bury the man’s body and go on with their lives as best they can. In a moment of panic, in the late hours of the night, they call upon Sav’s childhood friend—the sweet, loyal Christopher Gardini—to help them, hoping they can trust him to carry a secret like this.

Acclaimed author of The Anthropologists Aysegül Savaş’s acute and tender first collection explores the distances we keep, and those we try to close, in the age of connectivity. A researcher abroad in Rome eagerly awaits a visit from her long distance lover, only to find he is not the same...

Brought to you by Penguin. Writer, Samson Young, is staring death in the face, and not only his own. Void of ideas and on the verge of terminal decline, Samson’s dash to a decaying, degenerate London has brought him through the doors of the Black Cross pub and into a murder story just waiting...

* OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * * NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, WASHINGTON POST, VULTURE, GLAMOUR, FRESH AIR, NPR, THE GUARDIAN, THE ECONOMIST, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, THE TIMES (London), THE IRISH TIMES, THE NEW STATESMAN...

The Mudlark is a captivating tale of courage, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of dreams against all odds. It’s a whirlwind ride, coursing through the riveting life of an intrepid young heroine who challenges her fate with every rising sun.

It is 2003 – ten years since Spud Milton’s class of 93 matriculated and the boys went their separate ways. Despite their seemingly unbreakable bond, the Crazy Eight – Rambo, Mad Dog, Vern, Fatty, Garth Garlic, Boggo, Simon and Spud – have not kept in touch. Or at least, not as far as...