‘Kabahiko is an amazing hippo. People say that if you touch the area of his body that you want to make better on yours, he’ll provide a cure'

Nestling at the bottom of a five-storey apartment block is the children's playground, Hinode Park. If you look to the side, standing on stubby legs, is a hippo. Its upturned eyes give it a teary look, yet for decades, its quiet power has sustained the hearts of one community.

Meet the neighbours who will reach out to kabahiko:

-Kanato presses his head to the hippo's cheek, hoping to recover the stellar marks he once scored;
- Sawa, a lonely new mother, strokes its mouth, hopes to connect as she once did when she was an award-winning retail assistant;
- Chiharu, a wedding-planner, hopes to be able to listen for the happiness of others;
- Yuya avoids sports day with a fake injury, only to find he really is in pain.
- despite Kazuhiko's fading eyes from too much editorial work, he will learn to see life's everyday wonders.

A quietly powerful story of hope, friendship and connection, Michiko Aoyama's beloved bestseller is a celebration of everyday encounters. Its subtle portrayal of the magic of community will lodge itself in every reader's heart.

Sometimes a hero must burn all she holds dear.

Unrest brews in the city-state of Uitenbach, but its magi continue their work, even though the world outside the hallowed grounds of their academy seems to be tearing itself to pieces.

Newly divorced and still smarting from her philandering ex-husband’s rejection, Maga Liese ten Haven doesn’t want to draw attention to herself. When the mysterious Atroyan tribesman Malagai reveals to Liese that she is the heir to a forbidden magical legacy, she is thrust into a conspiracy that may foment a civil war. If she fails, her magic will consume her.

But what if the only way to right the wrongs her people have done to the Atroyan nation is to sacrifice everything?

If old age was thought of as an evening, ending in midnight oblivion, they were well into the eleventh hour.

Two quarrelsome old men in Chennai, India, experience private tragedy against the backdrop of national calamity. Revisiting the Bombay neighbourhood of Midnight's Children, a magical musician is unhappily married to a multibillionaire. In an English university college, an undead academic asks a lonely student to avenge his former tormentor.

These five dazzling works of fiction move between the three countries that Salman Rushdie has called home – India, England and America – and explore what it means to approach the eleventh hour of life. They are the reckoning with mortality that we all must one day make, and speak deeply to what the author has come from and through.

Do we accommodate ourselves to death, or rail against it? How can we bid farewell to the places that we have made home? How do we achieve fulfilment with our lives if we don't know the end of our own stories? The Eleventh Hour ponders life and death, legacy and identity with the penetrating insight and boundless imagination that have made Salman Rushdie one of the most celebrated writers of our time.

A prince who prefers games of the head to those of the heart.

Prince Sloth hates leaving his enchanted library, but when a forgotten deity threatens the very fabric of the Underworld, he's thrust into a race against time. He must find the Book of Nightmares - an ancient artifact that has the power to break worlds - before it unleashes a deadly game to free its master, the Goddess of Night. When a betrayal leaves him marked, and desperate, his path collides with a young woman who possesses the legendary Phoenix Tear - a portal stone unlike any other.

A librarian who is all sweet sunshine . . . until she burns.

Lore Brimstone has always loved getting lost in a book - but she never meant literally. Yet, after visiting a traveling caravan, she quickly finds herself transported to a terrifying but oddly familiar world - with a calculating prince at her side. Realizing they are living out her favourite novels one by one, they face off against an increasingly dark magic as they try to survive the story.

A twisted tale that means they can't trust themselves - or their hearts.

As Lore and Sloth navigate the pages of her beloved novels gone wrong, she must channel her inner main character to defeat the Book of Nightmares before the wall between the gods and mortals comes crashing down, dooming them all.

Prague, 1769. In the Magic Quarter of the jewel-box city of Prague, Thea runs Stiltskin's Apothecary. There, she brews potions to chase away nightmares and soothe heartache - and strikes bargains to change her customers' fates. The only fate she cannot change? Her own.

Seven years ago, Thea bargained away her heart and her memories to the apothecary's owner, the cold, yet enigmatic Jasper, for reasons she cannot remember, and a reward she cannot recall.

Then one day a stranger arrives with an unusual request. One that will upturn Thea's entire existence - and offer her a precious chance to recover her heart . . .

Prepare to be enchanted by this spellbinding historical fantasy romance from the author of Midnight in Everwood, steeped in magic, found family and love.

IN THIS FAIRYTALE, MONSTERS WEAR CROWNS . . .

Never Ever After is a powerful and fierce reimagining of Cinderella, a breathtaking new fantasy romance influenced by Chinese fairytales from the acclaimed Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of the Moon Goddess.

Life in the Iron Mountains is harsh and unforgiving. After the death of her beloved uncle, Yining has only survived as a skilled thief and an even better liar. But when she acquires an enchanted ring that holds the key to a brighter future, it is stolen by her step-aunt, and Yining must venture into the imperial heart of the kingdom to seize it back.

Amid the grandeur of the palace, Yining catches the eye of the ruthless and ambitious prince, who tempts her with a world she's never imagined. But nothing is as it seems, and soon she is trapped in a tangle of power, treachery, and greed - her only ally a cunning advisor from a rival court who keeps dangerous secrets of his own.

To break free, Yining must embark on a perilous quest to fight for a future that both frightens and calls to her, and choose who to trust when allies can be as deadly as enemies.

The spellbinding new cosy fantasy from Lucy Jane Wood, celebrating found family, unconditional love and the joy of letting go of perfectionism and people-pleasing.

Annie Wildwood is the perfect witch, her life a haze of pink, magic and impossibly high standards. The proud owner of Celestial Bakehouse, a bustling London bakery, she devotes her powers to pleasing others, and while perfection exacts a magical toll, it’s a price Annie is more than willing to pay.

But, when she is tasked by her coven with mentoring a troubled teenage witch, Annie’s charmed existence is thrown into chaos. She and fiery, stubborn Maeve couldn’t be more different, and Hal, the gruff, handsome owner of their temporary lodgings, is not best pleased to find the coven has offered up his woodland cottage home to two headstrong witches.

As the unlikely trio slowly bond, outside forces begin to take an interest in Maeve’s extraordinary powers – will Annie risk everything to protect the true magic she’s finally found?

As the emperor lays dying, the once-great Azalea Dynasty plunges towards civil war. While its princes plot for power, a more hidden war - to become the next empress - occupies the imperial court.

Wei Yin - peasant girl turned concubine to the cruel Prince Terren - has already endured unimaginable suffering. Ripped from her family, she has no title, no allies, and no escape. But she does have a secret . . .

In the shadows of the palace, surrounded by enemies, she is learning a skill forbidden to women. Because when words are weapons and poetry holds an ancient magic, the fate of a girl - and a nation - can both be rewritten. All she has to do is compose the perfect poem - a tale so powerful, it can kill any man, even the next emperor.

The world of unknowable objects - magical items that most people have no idea possess powers - has been quiet for decades . . .

But three current members of a secret society have remained watchful, meeting every six months in the basement of a bookshop in London. They are pledged to protect their archive of magical items hidden away, safe from the outside world - and keep the world safe from them. But when Frank Simpson, the longest-standing member of the Society of Unknowable Objects, hears of a new artefact coming to light in Hong Kong, he sends the Society's newest member, author Magda Sparks, to investigate.

Within hours of arriving in Hong Kong, Magda is facing death and danger, confronted by a professional killer who seems to know all about unknowable objects, specifically one that was stolen from him a decade before. Magda is forced to flee, using an artefact that not even the rest of the Society knows about.

Returning to London, Magda learns hers is not the only secret being kept from the other two members. And that the most pernicious secret is about the nature of the Society’s mission. Her discoveries will lead her on a perilous journey, across the Atlantic to the deep south of the United States - not in pursuit of an unknowable object, but an unknowable person: the killer she first faced in Hong Kong. In doing so, Magda begins to understand that there are even more in the world who are chasing these magical items, and that her own family’s legacy is tied up in keeping all these secrets under wraps.

Magic has always been too powerful to reveal to the world. But Magda will learn there might be something even more powerful: the truth.

She said, We needed a tool. So I asked the gods.

There have always been whispers. Legends. The warrior who cannot be killed. Who’s seen a thousand civilizations rise and fall. He has had many names: Unute, Child of Lightning, Death himself. These days, he’s known simply as “B.”

And he wants to be able to die.

In the present day, a U.S. black-ops group has promised him they can help with that. And all he needs to do is help them in return. But when an all-too-mortal soldier comes back to life, the impossible event ultimately points toward a force even more mysterious than B himself. One at least as strong. And one with a plan all its own.

In a collaboration that combines Miéville’s singular style and creativity with Reeves’s haunting and soul-stirring narrative, these two inimitable artists have created something utterly unique, sure to delight existing fans and to create scores of new ones.

At the Full Moon Coffee Shop, we don't take your order. Instead, we bring you desserts and drinks - selected just for you.

In Japanese legend, cats are symbols of good luck. If you are kind to them, they'll return the favour one day. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might find yourself invited to a celestial café.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop magically materialises with every full moon - plus one festive night a year. This Christmas, the sagacious cats open their doors once more to all lost souls in need of a guiding light.

The season's first customer, Satomi, catches wind of her boyfriend's plan to propose on Christmas Eve, and feels torn between love and success. Her disaffected intern, Koyuki, has her own reasons for dreading the day, while Junko is visiting home for the first time after decades away.

In this festive follow-up to the cosy classic, the customers of the Full Moon Coffee Shop stand at a wintry crossroads in their lives. With the help of some feline divinations, they will find the courage to follow their stars into the new year.

Everything is about to change.

Paige Mahoney is outside the Republic of Scion for the first time in more than a decade - but she has no idea how she got to the free world. Half a year has been wiped from her memory.

As she makes her way back to the revolution, her journey takes her to Venice, where she learns a dangerous secret - one that could change the face of the war between humans and immortals. Before she can return to London, she must help the Domino Programme unravel the sinister Operation Ventriloquist.

And it soon becomes clear that the one person who could recover her memories - Arcturus Mesarthim - might also hold the key to saving Italy.

Lyrical, touching and action-packed, The Dark Mirror drives the bestselling Bone Season series forward, showing Samantha Shannon at the height of her powers.

Once upon a time, a young girl Song ventured into a dark forest, looking for a cure for her much-loved elder sister ...

A touching, tender and lyrical fable about what we do for the ones we love, and the beauty and mystery of being alive in a world where we are a part of everything, and everything is a part of us.

As a terrible pandemic rages through the small medieval hamlet of Villingraz, a young girl, Estie, accompanied by her goat Isabel, sets off into the forest, in search of a cure for her sister who is infected with the pox. Her father Merdocai has surrendered himself to the evil Marquis to be experimented upon for the Greater Good; and with her mother long dead, all Estie has to keep her going is the love of her sister, her father and her friend Rainer, a stuttering poet.

As Estie ventures deeper into the forest, she encounters creatures and teachers who hold the answers to all the questions she has about who she is, and where she has come from. Meanwhile, out in the depths of the ocean, a whale is returning to the place he was born, to exhale his last breath. While Estie does not know this, he too holds secrets that belong to Estie's story. The Whale's Last Song is a touching, tender fable, a parable what we must sacrifice for those we love; a rumination on the tragic mistakes in every life - and the steadfastness that is required to overcome those mistakes - and a love song to the natural world.

Taking us from the mundane to the magical, this award-winning collection will entertain and delight. Drawing inspiration from Asian myth and folklore, Zen Cho guides the reader through enchanted realms inhabited by dragons, vampires and incorrigible grandmothers. These nineteen sparkling stories are full of joy, humour and tenderness. We’ll meet an elderly ex-member of parliament, who recalls her youthful romance with an orang bunian. This was forbidden. Not because her lover was an invisible jungle spirit, but because she was Muslim and he was not. Then a teenage vampire struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love . . . and eating people. A mischievous matriarch returns from the dead to disrupt her own funeral rites, pitting granddaughter against granddaughter. An earth spirit becomes entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord. And Chang E, the Chinese moon goddess, spins off into outer space – the ultimate metaphor for diaspora. Enjoy this journey into magical new worlds of the imagination.

Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate.

In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn't much a girl wouldn't do for a glass of water.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen's reservoirs for as long as she can remember.

But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares...but it turns out they're real, and Saeris has landed herself right in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist's magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he's the only way Saeris is going to make it home.

Be careful of the deals you make, dear child. The devil is in the details . . .

Long ago, Arthur Poole built a grand house overlooking the turbulent ocean, in a Maine village that bore his name. Today, Sonya MacTavish lives in that house-a manor that has been cursed for generations. Within its walls, she has witnessed the deaths of seven brides and the thefts of seven wedding rings.

Determined to bring light to this haunted place-to fill it with people, with life and hope, once again - Sonya decides it is time to break the curse and banish a malevolent spirit once and for all.

But the enemy in the black dress continues to hover, to come at her in frightening forms. They may be illusions-but illusions can be powerful enough to wound, even kill. This dark-hearted witch wants to be mistress of Poole Manor, at any cost. And Sonya will need to fight a battle across two realms to finally take possession of the house on the clifftop-and of her own future...

Welcome to Scion. No safer place.

The year is 2059. For two centuries, the Republic of Scion has led an oppressive campaign against unnaturalness in Europe.

In London, Paige Mahoney holds a high rank in the criminal underworld. The right hand of the ruthless White Binder, Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare and formidable kind of clairvoyant. Under Scion law, she commits treason simply by breathing.

When Paige is arrested for murder, she meets the mysterious founders of Scion, who have designs on her uncommon abilities. If she is to survive and escape, Paige must use every skill at her disposal – and put her trust in someone who ought to be her enemy.

One year. 365 days. Twelve months.

Harry Dresden has been through a lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies narrowly managed to save Chicago from being razed to the ground, everything is different-and it's not just the current lack of electricity.
In the battle, Harry lost people he cared about. And that's the kind of loss that takes a toll. Harry being Harry, he's doing his level best to help the city and his friends recover and rebuild. But it's a heavy load, and he needs time.

But time is one thing Harry doesn't have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and taking out innocent civilians. Harry's brother is dying, and Harry doesn't know how to help him. And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the Fae has allied with the White Court of vampires-and Harry's been betrothed to the seductive, deadly vampire Lara Raith to seal the deal.

It's been a tough year. More than ever, the city needs Harry Dresden the wizard-but after loss and grief, is there enough left of Harry Dresden the man to rise to the challenge?

From World Fantasy Award-winning author Tasha Suri comes The Isle in the Silver Sea, a heart-shattering romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore and a love that spans the centuries.

In an island nation fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes.

Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen's court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?

As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them.

But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch?

Duty. Blood. Honor. Power.

Saeris Fane doesn’t want power. The very last thing she needs is her name whispered on an entire court’s lips, but now that she’s been crowned queen of the Blood Court, she’s discovering that a queen’s life is not her own. A heavy weight rests upon her shoulders. Her ward—and her brother—need her back in her homeland…but the changes that have strengthened Saeris have also made her weak. Born under blazing suns, Saeris will surely die if she makes her way home through the Quicksilver. Which means that, once again, she must send someone else in her stead...
 
“Keep your mouth shut.  Stick to the shadows. And for the love of all seven Gods, do NOT crack any jokes.”
 
Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate has defeated armies and survived all manner of horrors, but traveling back to Zilvaren with Carrion Swift might just be the death of him. The male just will not shut up. Hidden dangers await them down the narrow alleyways of the Silver City. Unfolding secrets pose impossible threats. Fisher must wrangle the smuggler and accomplish his goals quickly if he wants to see his mate again.
 
A darkness falls across Yvelia. The realm and their friends are in danger. Together, Saeris and Fisher will pass through fire and brimstone to save them.

Enemies-to-lovers doesn't get more high stakes than a witch and a witch hunter falling in love in bestselling author Kristen Ciccarelli's latest romantic fantasy.

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.

*The Crimson Moth book 1 is published as Heartless Hunter in North America.*