Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

A counter-terror operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted in Britain's most precious colony, Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, and a private defence contractor who is also his close friend. So...

Loretta has run the little sewing shop in Butterbury for years, while bringing up her three headstrong daughters. Her own grandmother taught her how to quilt, and Loretta always found time to sit with Daisy, Ginny and Fern, pulling together scraps of material - and their hopes and dreams - into a beautiful whole. But this Christmas the family is coming apart at the seams.

Once it had been the great forest of Lythe - a vast and impenetrable thicket of green.And here, in the beginning, lived the Fairfaxes, grandly, at Fairfax Manor, visited once by the great Gloriana herself. But over the centuries the forest had been destroyed, replaced by Streets of Trees.The...

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...

A masterpiece from one of the great contemporary American writers. 'A wonderful novel, full of energy and art, at once funny and heartbreaking...terrific' WASHINGTON POST Anniversary edition with a new afterword from the author. A worldwide bestseller since its publication, Irving's classic is...

A marriage on the rocks. A family in disarray. A weekend in the sun at a luxury, all-inclusive hotel. What could possibly go wrong? Jo and Dave haven't had a holiday in years. They've had other things on their plate: failed IVF, the death of Dave's mother, doing up the bathroom. So when Dave’s...

Another incredible novel from the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Alchemist. July 14, 1099. The city of Accra awaits the invasion of the crusaders who have surrounded the gates. There, within the city walls, men and women of every age have gathered to hear the words of a mysterious...

When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper's archives for a story, she discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband.... In 1960, Jennifer wakes up in hospital after a car accident with no memory. And then, when she returns home, she uncovers a hidden letter, and begins to remember the lover she was willing to risk everything for.

'A thrilling work' TA-NEHISI COATES 'Lovely and lyrical . . . warm and wonderful' KILEY REID 'An absolutely brilliant book' SARA COLLINS A queen of punk before her time. A duo on the brink of stardom. A night that will define their story for ever. Opal is a fiercely independent young woman...

As a librarian, Imogen read a lot of books, but none of them covered real life on the Riviera. Her holiday with tennis ace Nicky and the whole glamorous coterie of journalist, playboy, photographer was a revelation. But the path of a jet-set virgin in that lovely wicked world was a hard one. Imogen began to wonder if virtue really was its own reward....

The irrepressible Russell "Buffy" Buffery has upped sticks from London and moved to Knockton, Powys, to a B&B inherited from an old flame. With his future spread before him, and a string of failed marriages behind him, Buffy decides it's time for a new challenge. Meanwhile: Harold's wife has run off with a younger woman leaving him alone with his as-yet-unwritten novel narrated by Mary Pickford's cat; Amy's weedy boyfriend has turned out to be not so needy after all; and Andy's partner's corset-and-suspender-clad attempts at seduction are having anything but the desired effect.

Compton Magna and Nether Bagot sit high on the Fosse Hills to either side of the Gloucestershire/Warwickshire border, just half a mile apart. They form the backdrop to this rich story of secrets and rivalries, as glamorous Ronnie Ledwell returns to take up the reins of her father's horse...

It was a preference for cricket over schoolwork that united Mike and Psmith in their reluctance to attend their new school, Sedleigh. The school insists that its attendees be keen, but it is sorely unprepared for boys of such foresight and resources as Mike and Psmith who have decided to indulge in all manner of high-jinks and adventures.

There is an important decision to be made. The Cornish Foundation must choose a worthy undertaking upon which to expend a portion of its considerable funds. As the Foundation's chairman, Arthur Cornish believes they should select a project worthy of the risk taker whose name the Foundation bears. And so it is decided: the Foundation will fund the doctoral work of one Hulda Schnakenburg, a grumpy, grimy, thoroughly difficult, and extraordinarily talented music student. Her task is to complete the score of an unfinished opera by the Romantic composer, writer, and music critic E. T. A. Hoffmann. In addition to this, the Foundation, against all common sense, will undertake to stage the opera. As the production takes shape, Hoffmann's restless spirit hovers rather too close for comfort, and his dictum "The lyre of Orpheus opens the door of the underworld" proves prophetic for many a participant.

A mesmerising tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is one of Stephen King's most beloved and iconic stories and it helped make Castle Rock a place listeners would return to over and over again. Suspenseful, mysterious and heart-wrenching, this iconic King novella, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, is about a fiercely compelling convict named Andy Dufresne who is seeking his ultimate revenge.

For amiable City trader Jimmy Corby money was the new Rock n' Roll. His whole life was a party, adrenalin charged and cocaine fuelled. If he hadn't met Monica he would probably have ended up either dead or in rehab. But Jimmy was as lucky in love as he was at betting on dodgy derivatives, so...

Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith. With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another installment in this popular series, now running in its ninth season in the Scotsman. Anything could happen to Bertie and the gang....

If your boss was the hottest rock star on the planet, would you mix business with pleasure? Celebrity PA to wild boy of rock Johnny Jefferson, Meg Stiles's glam new life in sun-drenched LA is a whirlwind of showbiz parties and backstage passes. Cool, calm Christian, in town to write his famous...

The sparkling Christmas audiobook from the Sunday Times bestselling author Heidi Swain! When Anna takes on the role of companion to the owner of Wynthorpe Hall, on the outskirts of Wynbridge, she has no idea that her life is set to change beyond all recognition. A confirmed ‘bah humbug’ when...

A NEW YEAR AT RAGLEY-ON-THE-FOREST SCHOOL... It's 1981, the time of Adam and the Ants, Rubik's Cube, the Sony Walkman and the Falklands War, as head teacher Jack Sheffield returns to Ragley-on-the-Forest School for another rollercoaster year. Vera, the ever-efficient chool secretary, has to...