Showing titles in Coming of Age

Greenville County, South Carolina, is a wild, lush place that is home to the Boatwright family - a tight-knit clan of rough-hewn, hard- drinking men who shoot up each other's trucks, and indomitable women who get married young and age too quickly. At the heart of this story is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a bastard child who observes the world around her with a mercilessly keen perspective.

In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America’s rising eugenics movement—when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin—in this tragic and uplifting novel of social injustice, survival, and hope for listeners of Susan Meissner, Kristin Hannah, and Christina Baker Kline.

Following the accidental drowning of her sister, 16-year-old Nif and her family move to a small village on the Welsh borders to escape their grief. But rural seclusion doesn't bring any relief. As her family unravels, Nif begins to put together her own form of witchcraft, collecting talismans from the sun-starved land. That is, until she meets Mally, a teen boy who takes a keen interest in her and has his own secret rites to divulge.

Life-long friends Louisa, Jeannie and Kate are following in the footsteps of their families, working at the Clarks shoe factory. But when Britain declares war on Germany, the Somerset village of Street is shaken to its core. The Clarks factory is at the heart of life in the village, but the Clark family are Quakers and pacifists. Before long, there are fierce debates amongst the workers and tensions between those who oppose the war and those who believe the village men should go to fight.

Global box office sensation Ruby Locke is a long way from her Yorkshire roots. Together with her fiancé, movie heartthrob Tyler Harrison, they are Hollywood’s new glitterati. Overnight, however, Ruby’s life implodes when her social media accounts are hacked with a multitude of vile posts, turning her into an international pariah. Even Tyler breaks off their engagement. Confused and heartbroken, Ruby escapes to the beautiful island of Sicily to avoid the media scrutiny and clear her name.

1932: Located on the banks of the Gilead River in Minnesota, Lincoln School is home to hundreds of Native American boys and girls who have been separated from their families. The only two white boys in the school are orphan brothers Odie and Albert, who, under the watchful eyes of the cruel superintendent Mrs. Brickman, are often in trouble for misdeeds both real and imagined. The two boys' best friend is Mose, a mute Native American who is also the strongest kid in school. And they find another ally in Cora Frost, a widowed teacher who is raising her little girl, Emmy, by herself. 

On the tiny island of Rokesby, Addie helps her mother run a women's retreat. On the neighbouring island, joined to Rokesby by a bridge at low tide, Sol has sought refuge at a wind-swept prayer house, grieving both his mother’s death and his father’s devastating betrayal. Alone and anxious, he takes comfort in birdwatching, books and the sounds of the sea. Introverts with turbulent pasts and wary hearts, Sol and Addie are both drawn to nature far more than to people – until they catch sight of one another in the wild.

Ruby Lennox was conceived grudgingly by Bunty and born while her father, George, was in the Dog and Hare in Doncaster telling a woman in an emerald dress and a D-cup that he wasn't married. Bunty had never wanted to marry George, but here she was, stuck in a flat above the pet shop in an ancient...

Sunny is the queen of living a double life. On the one hand, she's 30, flirty and thriving. But on the other, she's just moved back in with her parents while all her friends are getting married, buying houses and having babies. To complicate matters further, she's a secret serial dater, sneaking out of the house every night, leaving her parents with a trail of little white lies. But one day, her two lives collide in her parents' hallway as she's trying to slip out the front door under the cover of darkness.

‘That time is upon us. I can feel it coming. That evil barbarian will not be satisfied until he has engulfed the whole world in war and death. I fear for us all.’ In a triumphant return to his much-loved Courtney series, Wilbur Smith introduces us to the bravest new member of the famed...

One little lie just became deadly… 'Utterly absorbing, I couldn't put this thrilling whodunnit down' C.L. Taylor ‘A compelling page-turner’ Fiona Cummins ***** Perfect mother. Perfect wife. Jane Goodwin has spent years building her picture-perfect life in the quiet town of Ashdon. So when...

From Sunday Times bestseller Anne O’Brien . . . To those around her she was a loyal subject. In her heart she was a traitor. 1399: England’s crown is under threat. King Richard II holds onto his power by an ever-weakening thread, with exiled Henry of Lancaster back to reclaim his place on...

Jenna Metcalf was with her mother the night she disappeared in tragic and mysterious circumstances, but she remembers nothing. Over ten years have passed, and still Jenna reads and rereads her mother's journals, hoping to find some clue hidden there, in the meticulous recording of her scientific...

You’ve heard of the Afterlife. Welcome to the Beforelife. There are four of us: Samuel, Lucy, Thomas, and me – Eliza. We came into being the day Becca Valentine was born. We’ve been by her side ever since. What she doesn’t know yet, is that one day she might become our mother. Then two men come into her life. Both seeking her heart. And then we realise: everything rests on Becca’s love story. Because one of the men is Lucy and Thomas’s father. And the other is mine and Samuel’s. And there’s simply no way we can all be born.

The gripping and emotional novel from the million-copy bestselling author of PS, I Love You. She knows your secrets. Now discover hers… You’ve never met anyone like Alice. She sees the best in people. And the worst. She always seems to know exactly what everyone around her is feeling: a...

The haunting love story that turned Murakami into a literary superstar. When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a...

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 -...

Once upon a time in the land of Oz, a green little girl was born... ELPHIE: A WICKED CHILDHOOD is the captivating coming-of-age story of the most iconic witch ever to grace our screens and bookshelves. Young Elphaba is destined to be a witch, she bears the markings from childhood. But what...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Anna Popplewell, best known for her leading role as Susan Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia films. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Stevie Davies. Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt...

This Christmas, love is top of Florence Fairfax’s wish list 'Like eating a box of chocolates where every one is a violet cream' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'My only complaint is I can't put Sophia Money-Coutts' books down!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Hugely enjoyable novel from a mistress of the genre'...