A grand country house in the glorious Cambridgeshire countryside has been turned into luxury apartments. New residents move, and the lives of three women – each with her own painful past – become intricately connected. The power of friendship, the courage to face the past, love, hope and second chances, Erica James’ The Forever Home is a heartwarming, delightful read. HQ
Set against the complex, beautiful landscape of 1960s South Africa, Samantha Keller’s debut novel The Light Remains is an emotionally rich story that explores family loyalty, first love and the quiet courage it takes to forge one’s own path. From a tragic death and long buried family secrets to a seemingly impossible choice – honouring lifelong expectations or choosing love by shattering everything held dear … a deeply moving read. Modjaji Books
Jake has fallen head over heels for Dandelion. Only one prob. Dandelion Is Dead! Her younger sister, discovering a message from a man on her late sister’s dating app, decides to do something she knows her naughty sister would have loved. She goes on a date as Dandelion. But sparks fly, there’s hot chemistry, and everything spirals out of control. Great fun from Rosie Storey. The Borough Press
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A group of young 20-something university friends gather for a night out of town … skinny-dipping in the dam, sharing a spliff, drinking strange cocktails. But the night turns bad when one of them fatally stabs another … leading to a nearly 30-year prison sentence. Now the prisoner is released … and wants to get together with the others who were there that night … He’s always claimed to be innocent, which means someone at the reunion is the real murderer. Love Nicci French (pseudonym of English husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) … What Happened That Night is a psychological thriller full of tension and suspense and twists you don’t see coming. Simon and Schuster
Five well co-ordinated kidnappings. Two children from a private school bus. A wife as she leaves a hair salon in Beverley Hills. A film producer and movie star from an exclusive remote resort. It’s the perfect plan to collect a Billion Dollar Ransom. James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski’s high action read has a great twist or two. Century.
And from Patterson with Viola Davis, Judge Stone, who’s the most respected citizen in her Alabama town, running the family farm and presiding over her courtroom. And she’s willing to fight when she draws the most controversial case in the history of the South. Century
Two murders. A young woman found dead at her kitchen table, with her ex-boyfriend’s DNA at the scene. Open and shut case, obvs. Bar the fact that he has an airtight alibi. Many miles away, the second murder – a former LAPD officer found brutally murdered in her garage. Known to be meticulously organised, why is her house full of junk and useless objects? And then there are the envelopes full of cash. There’s a link between the two victims in Jonathan Kellerman’s Jigsaw, and psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis need to dig deep to solve this deadly puzzle. Century
Who’s The (cleverest naughtiest funniest bossiest sportiest) Favourite? Our relationship with our siblings is, for most of us, the longest we’ll ever have. They’re rarely straightforward, and the bonds we have shape us in lasting ways. Catherine Carr’s book – covering everything from birth order (or middle child syndrome), roles and labels, only children, steps and halves to siblings as friends, estrangement and bereavement – is interwoven with candid interviews with sibling pairs taken from her podcast Relatively, which she started during Covid. Catherine is the middle child of three, and she wrote this, her first book, ‘to finally get some attention’. Oneworld
