Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

Dreamer. Bombshell. Icon. Featuring a wealth of unpublished material, Andrew Wilson’s biography of Marilyn Monroe presents the actress in a startling new light. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, she had an uncertain and unforgiving upbringing. She grew up in Los Angeles and would dream about...

After a morning that starts with a terrible migraine, an accidentally strong concoction of painkillers, and a bump on the head, Clover Hendry is not quite herself. And as she walks out of work at 9.47am, for once Clover isn’t worrying about the consequences. For once, she’s going to live for herself. . . if only for a day. Full of a joyful recklessness, Clover Hendry is taking the day off. But will her new-found freedom uncover long-buried secrets?

Fay Langdon and Julia Morton might have met far earlier, since Fay was once a successful singer and Julia a famous diseuse. From the outset, theirs is a precarious friendship, both out of step with their times, allied by the disappointments that age brings.

On a peat and heather island off the west coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother Nora take refuge in the large mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories.Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear, like who her father was - variously Jimmy, Jack, or...

Bath, 1821. Rachel Crofton escapes her unhappy employment as a governess by marrying a self-made businessman. But her new life soon takes an unexpected turn. Reclusive Jonathan Alleyn is a man tormented by the disappearance of his childhood sweetheart, Alice. Starling, foundling child and now...

From the prize-winning author of West, a collision between old and new, east and west, in a former British hill station in contemporary South India. Fleeing the dark undercurrents of contemporary life in Britain, Hilary Byrd takes refuge in Ooty, a hill station in South India. There he finds solace in life's simple pleasures, travelling by rickshaw around the small town with his driver, Jamshed, and staying in a mission house beside the local presbytery where the Padre and his adoptive daughter, Priscilla, have taken Hilary under their wing.

Beth's life, like the unfinished manuscript on her laptop, is stuck. Since her devastating breakup with Fraser she's retreated into a lonely working-from-home world of sweatpants, disordered timekeeping and comfort eating. The one luminous constant in her life is her love for her rescue dog...

Impetuous Ali Anderson has always been a loose cannon. While she’s still trying to come to terms with the death of her baby son and subsequent divorce from Elliot, she takes it upon herself to play God with her best friend’s incomprehensible marriage. Ali’s meddling has disastrous consequences. Finding herself cut off from those she loves, she comes to realise that a little forgiveness goes a long way...

After Paige Winterbourne is ousted as leader of the American Coven of Witches, all she wants to do is hide under her duvet for a few months. Let the supernatural world manage without her, see if she cares… But fate, of course, has other plans. A murderer is on the loose - someone with superhuman skills. When Paige learns that the killer is targeting children, she realises she has to get involved in the covert investigation.

Meet Yumi Fuller. A Japanese-American prodigal daughter, Yumi (aka Yummy) is returning home to the Idaho potato farm she ran away from 25 years earlier. Then a freewheeling hippie chick, Yumi is now a fairly responsible parent and a professor with a side gig selling lava lots in Hawaii. But can she possibly be prepared to face her dying father, her Alzheimer's-devastated mother, and Cass, the best friend she left behind?

"I'll see you in twenty-five years." Laura Palmer. "Also, ich musste wieder auf ein paar Tage nach Zürich. Es war ganz schrecklich. Aus Nervosität darüber hatte ich mich das gesamte verlängerte Wochenende über so unwohl gefühlt, dass ich unter starker Verstopfung litt. Dazu muss ich sagen, dass ich vor einem Vierteljahrhundert eine Geschichte geschrieben hatte, die ich aus irgendeinem Grund, der mir nun nicht mehr einfällt, 'Faserland' genannt hatte. Es endet in Zürich, sozusagen auf dem Zürichsee, relativ traumatisch."

Brought to you by Penguin. Englishman Paul West is living the Parisian dream, and doing his best not to annoy the French. But recently things have been going très wrong: He's stuck in an apartment so small that he has to cut his baguettes in two to fit them in the kitchen. His research into...

Perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Susan Hill, Nicci French and Val McDermid, this is an astute and intelligent psychological thriller centring around obsession and rage from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris. Fast paced with unexpected twists and turns, it will get right under...

Running out on your wedding day never goes down well. When the pressure of her forthcoming marriage becomes too much, Jude bolts from the church, leaving a good man at the altar, her mother in a fury, and the guests with enough gossip to last a year. Guilty and ashamed, Jude flees to Pengarrock, a crumbling cliff-top mansion in Cornwall, where she takes a job cataloguing the Trevillion family's extensive library.

Marnie Sellick is adrift when she lands a job at the coveted, mysterious beauty brand rytual cosmetica. The enigmatic founder and CEO, Luna Peters, takes a liking to Marnie, and as the two grow closer Marnie becomes intoxicated by the life that Luna, and rytual, can offer her. But all is not...

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...

The Beating of his Wings by Paul Hoffman is the final instalment in his epic Cale and the Sanctuary of Redeemers series. Thomas Cale has been running from the truth. Since discovering that his brutal military training has been for one purpose - to destroy God's greatest mistake, mankind itself -...

The scene of this entertaining story is laid in a charming English village. The plot centres round Miss Barbara Buncle, a maiden lady who was obliged to write a book because – as she naively explained – her dividends were so poor. Unfortunately, Miss Buncle had no imagination, so she wrote about her friends – quite kindly and truthfully, of course, for she was a benevolent and veracious soul.

Ricky Delgado works as a chicken hanger at the poultry plant in Rugoso, Texas, a small border town just 30 miles south of Laredo. His quiet, illegal lifestyle is disrupted when he learns that his brother Tomás has been shot and injured shortly after crossing the border. Together, Ricky and Tomás and seek justice, or remain silent and endure the injustices common to all "wetbacks" within the states. Meanwhile, Ricky is fighting a battle within his own body, a disease he acquired in the poultry plant.

The eighth novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga. Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the City Following the success of his New York Times bestseller Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin’s Mary Ann in Autumn is...