I was supposed to be having the time of my life. When Esther Greenwood wins an internship on a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther's life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt, as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's only novel, was originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel is partially based on Plath's own life and descent into mental illness, and has become a modern classic. The Bell Jar has been celebrated for its darkly funny and razor sharp portrait of 1950s society and has sold millions of copies worldwide.

Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars--Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic--and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds.

As they fall in love, they dream of finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.

Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.

The Forge will appeal to fans of the Kendricks' films: Lifemark, Overcomer, War Room, Courageous, Fireproof, Facing the Giants, and Flywheel.

As Cynthia Wright’s marriage implodes, she is forced to raise her teenage son, Isaiah, alone. The pressure of providing for them through her salon is a full-time job in itself. When Cynthia sees Isaiah pulling away and escaping into video games, tensions rise and prayers feel unanswered. Angry and hurt, Isaiah starts acting like the father who abandoned him, and Cynthia gives him an ultimatum while turning to her twin sister, Elizabeth Jordan, for support. Elizabeth enlists a seasoned prayer warrior who challenges Cynthia to pray boldly and believe God for the impossible.

Caught in the middle, Isaiah longs for respect, but sees no clear path to becoming a good man. Desperate for a job, he wanders into Moore Fitness, Inc. and encounters the owner, Joshua Moore, who introduces him to the concept of working for a coach rather than a boss. Needing the work, Isaiah reluctantly begins his mentoring process with Joshua. While Cynthia clings to hope, no one sees the coming storms brewing at the company and in Isaiah’s heart.

The Forge is about the power of prayer, the transformation only God can achieve, and the lasting influence one person can have on others.

"This Side of Paradise" was published in 1920. The novel explores the lives and morality of post-World War I youth and the theme of love corrupted by greed. "The Beautiful and the Damned" is about a 1920s socialite and his relationship with his wife, his service in the army and his alcoholism. It explores the themes of love, money and decadence. "The Great Gatsby" was first published in 1925 and quickly became a classic novel. The Modern Library named it the second best English-language novel of the 20th Century. Set in 1922 America is enjoying the roaring twenties, however Prohibition has made alcohol an illegal substance and hence the bootleggers are making a killing. "Tender Is the Night" is the final complete novel that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, it was published in 1934. It explores complex relationships and mental health issues, it is quite dark at times.

Talk of the Town by award-winning writer Fred Khumalo comprises short stories he wrote over many years. In this vibrant collection Khumalo explores identity and belonging through tales about African foreign nationals in South Africa, xenophobia, South Africans abroad, exiled comrades during apartheid, and past and current township life. At times hilarious and at times gut-wrenching, this is a collection that will move you.

From the bestselling author of Fight Club comes a hilarious horror satire “equal parts saccharine caricature and startling raunch” (Kirkus Reviews) about a family of professional killers responsible for the most atrocious events in history and the young brothers that are destined to take over.

Meet Otto and Cecil. Two brothers who grew up privileged in the Welsh countryside. They enjoyed watching nature shows, playing with their pet pony, impersonating their Grandfather…and killing the help. Murder is the family business after all. Downton Abbey, this is not.

However, it’s not so easy to continue the family legacy with the constant stream of threats and distractions seemingly leaping from the hedgerow. First, there is the matter of the veritable cavalcade of escaped convicts that keep showing up at their door. Not to mention the debaucherous new tutor who has a penchant for speaking Greek and dismembering sex dolls. Then there’s Mummy’s burgeoning opioid addiction. And who knows where Daddy is. He just vanished one day after he and Mummy took a walk in the so-called “Ghost Forest.”

With Grandfather putting pressure on Otto to step up, it becomes clear that this will all end in only two ways: a nuclear apocalypse or just another day among the creeping thistle and tree peonies. And in a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, either are equally possible.

From the acclaimed author of Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo comes a breathtaking novel about a young woman whose fate hinges on the choice she makes after bumping into an old flame; in alternating chapters, we see two possible scenarios unfold-with stunningly different results At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence with her best friend Gabby. Shortly after, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she's ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan? In concurrent story lines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? Is there such a thing as a soul mate? Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she's found him. Don't miss the new novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid, Carrie Soto is Back, out now

This stunning paperback box set includes all three books in Suzanne Collins's internationally bestselling Hunger Games trilogy together with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV... And the odds are against all who play. With all four of Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games novels in one box set, you can step into the world of Panem and continue all the way to the electrifying conclusion. Three books, four films and one worldwide phenomenon, The Hunger Games series changed the face of global YA. Lionsgate begin production on the movie of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2022.

Hermans is aangewys as Nederland se grootste skrywer van die 20ste eeu. Nooit Meer Slaap Nie is een van sy beroemdste romans en steeds ‘n treffer.

Dit gaan om ‘n student se spannende en selfs lewensgevaarlike navorsingstog in die nagenoeg onbewoonde Finnmark, die noordelikste gebied van Noorweë. Hy slaag mettertyd daarin om die vernaamste fisieke struikelblokke te oorwin, maar die noodlot en ironie bly op sy spoor.

Die boek neem die leser na een van die onherbergsaamste gebiede op aarde asook na onverkende vlakke van die menslike gees waar vrae veel magtiger is as oplossings.

Dit is ‘n toeganklike roman met diepte, vir die fynproewer.

An immensely powerful epic of colonialism, set in 18th-century Greenland, about the great forces of nature, the meeting of cultures and fathers and sons. 1728: The doomed Danish King Fredrik IV sends a governor to Greenland to establish a colony, in the hopes of exploiting the country's allegedly vast natural resources. A few merchants, a barber-surgeon, two trainee priests, a blacksmith, some carpenters and soldiers and a dozen hastily married couples go with him. The missionary priest Hans Egede has already been in Greenland for several years when the new colonists arrive. He has established a mission there, but the converts are few. Among those most hostile Egede is the shaman Aappaluttoq, whose own son was taken by the priest and raised in the Christian faith as his own. Thus the great rift between two men, and two ways of life, is born. The newly arrived couples - composed of men and women plucked from prison - quickly sink into a life of almost complete dissolution, and soon unsanitary conditions, illness and death bring the colony to its knees. Through the starvation and the epidemics that beset the colony, Egede remains steadfast in his determination - willing to sacrifice even those he loves for the sake of his mission. Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken, Kim Leine's The Colony of Good Hope explores what happens when two cultures confront one another. In a distant colony, under the harshest conditions, the overwhelming forces of nature meet the vices of man.

Charles Oertel bevind hom in ’n netelige posisie. Hy is ’n skatryk Vrystaatse boer en het sentimente jeens beide magte wat tydens die Anglo-Boereoorlog slaags raak. Bothma se noukeurige navorsing oor hierdie invloedryke man en sy nasate se lotgevalle tydens en na die oorlog bevestig geboekstaafde kennis maar bied ook nuwe inligting. Daarbenewens is dit ’n boeiende menslike verhaal wat die leser tot nadenke stem. Sou dit anders verloop het as dit nie vir die oorlog was nie? Keer die mens nie die punt van die punt van die swaard self op sy hart nie? Punt van die swaard was in 2005 op die kortlys vir die Louis Hiemstra-prys vir niefiksie.

Thandiwe lives by her own rules. She shamelessly sells her body on the South African streets of Yeoville and views her job as no different from those of young black graduates who take up affirmative action posts as perpetual juniors under soul-destroying mentors. Thandiwe's searing views on the post-apartheid corporate world become public when she is approached by Kwena, a young film-maker who is interested in telling the stories of prostitutes and the shameful secrets of many. For Thandiwe, that personal story begins in the poor, rural village where Thandiwe and her best friend Zonke grew up, facing the many challenges of a vulnerable childhood together. They both fend off unwanted sexual attention and Thandiwe loses her mother in a freak accident, leaving her an orphan. When she runs away from her guardians to avoid circumcision, Thandiwe arrives in Jo'burg and soon launches her unconventional career. While Zonke pursues a more sheltered and conventionally successful course of action, Thandiwe has to fight fiercely for her independence, even at the risk of endangering her own life.

The heroes of the stories in this book are people who in the hell of the Holocaust were doomed for life, people who cannot or do not want to speak about their past, about the heavy baggage of their life's experiences. Being a witness, Irit Amiel translates the long silence of people living in the Israeli melting pot into testimony. The stories are written in a simple and restrained way, but the voices coming out touch the most profound human feelings. These short stories achieve a weight through the use of poetic shortcuts, such as the two-page memory about the last parting from home and parents. 'I was then eleven years old and from that very moment I have never felt at home in life again.'

'Will you marry me?' I think of you, then. I think of you every day. But usually in the quietest part of the morning, or the darkest part of the night. Not when my boyfriend of two years has just proposed. I look up at Richard with his hopeful eyes. 'Lily?' he prompts. It's been ten years, but it feels like only yesterday that you left. How can I say yes to Richard with all my heart when most of it has always belonged to you? I take a deep breath and will myself to speak... Ten years ago when Lily was just sixteen, she fell in love with someone she reallyshouldn't have fallen in love with. Now, living in Sydney and engaged to another man, she can't forget the one that got away. Then her past comes back to haunt her, and she has to make a decision that will break her heart - and the heart of at least one of the men who love her.

A refreshingly modern fairy tale and instant New York Times bestseller that Love Hypothesis author Ali Hazelwood hails as "an uplifting, feel-good, romantic read."

After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.

While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

The Number One Bestseller.

Long Road to Mercy is the heart-pounding first novel in the FBI Special Agent Atlee Pine series by bestselling author David Baldacci.

FBI Special Agent Atlee Pine has learnt three lessons in life:

Some wounds never heal.

Atlee’s twin sister, Mercy, was abducted from their bedroom over thirty years ago, and Atlee has spent every day since wondering what happened to her.

Time doesn’t lessen your pain.

The prime suspect, notorious serial killer Daniel James Tor, is in a high-security prison, but with no confession, Atlee continues to search for her sister, even as Tor taunts her from jail.

But she can always make a difference.

Wracked by survivor’s guilt, Atlee joined the FBI to hunt down killers like Tor. Assigned to the remote wilds of the Western United States, she has spent years honing her skills and building her endurance, always with one eye on the ultimate goal.

Now, Atlee Pine is tasked with an investigation which begins with a missing person in the Grand Canyon. And ends with a discovery much more sinister and far-reaching.

When We Cease to Understand the World shows us great minds striking out into dangerous, uncharted terrain. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schroedinger: these are among the luminaries into whose troubled minds we are thrust as they grapple with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, they alienate friends and lovers, they descend into isolated states of madness. Some of their discoveries revolutionise our world for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear. With breakneck pace and wondrous detail, Benjamin Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to break open the stories of scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.

'This book's power lies in its depiction of civilians trying to lead ordinary lives during the horror of war . . . It is shattering stuff, but Rothmann is tender towards his characters and this book is as memorable as his last.' The Times, 'Historical Fiction Book of the Month' As the Second World War enters its final stages, millions in Germany are forced from their homes by bombing, compelled to seek shelter in the countryside where there are barely the resources to feed them. Twelve-year-old Luisa, her mother, and her older sister Billie have escaped the devastation of the city for the relative safety of a dairy farm. But even here the power struggles of the war play out: the family depend on the goodwill of Luisa's brother-in-law, an SS officer, who in expectation of payment turns his attention away from his wife and towards Billie. Luisa immerses herself in books, but even she notices the Allied bombers flying east above them, the gauntness of the prisoners at the camp nearby, the disappearance of fresh-faced boys from the milk shed - hastily shipped off to a war that's already lost. Living on the farm teaches Luisa about life and death, but it's man's capacity for violence that provides the ultimate lesson, that robs her of her innocent ignorance. When, at a birthday celebration, her worst fears are realized, Luisa collapses under the weight of the inexplicable. Ralf Rothmann's previous novel, To Die in Spring, described the horror of war and the damage done on the battlefield. The God of that Summer tells the devastating story of civilians caught up in the chaos of defeat, of events that might lead a twelve-year-old child to justifiably say: 'I have experienced everything.'

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. George Orwell's modern fable on the way power corrupts is as apt as ever in the twenty-first century. Educational edition of this much-loved classic from Longman.

A claustrophobic novel - like a pot boiling over - Piglet charts the gap between how people see themselves and want to be seen.

For Piglet – an unshakable childhood nickname – getting married is her opportunity to reinvent. Together, Kit and Piglet are the picture of domestic bliss – effortless hosts, planning a covetable wedding ... But if a life looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Thirteen days before they are due to be married, Kit reveals an awful truth, cracking the façade Piglet has created. It has the power to strip her of the life she has so carefully built, so smugly shared. To do something about it would be to self-destruct. But what will it cost her to do nothing?

As the hours count down to their wedding, Piglet is torn between a growing appetite and the desire to follow the recipe, follow the rules. Surely, with her husband, she could be herself again. Wouldn’t it be a waste for everything to curdle now?

Piglet is the searing, unforgettable and original debut which is set to take readers by storm in 2024.

Truth and fiction. Jamaica and Britain. Who gets to tell their story?

In her first historical novel, Zadie Smith transports the reader to a Victorian England transfixed by the real-life trial of the Tichborne Claimant, in which a cockney butcher, recently returned from Australia, lays claim to the Tichborne baronetcy, with his former slave Andrew Bogle as star witness. Watching the proceedings, and with her own story to tell, is Eliza Touchet – cousin, housekeeper and perhaps more – to failing novelist William Harrison Ainsworth.

From literary London to the Jamaica’s sugar-cane plantations, Zadie Smith weaves an enthralling story linking the rich and the poor, the free and the enslaved, and the comic and the tragic.