Fiction 2025

"It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother's country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be--led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel's doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season. Eva is Isabel's antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn't. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house--a spoon, a knife, a bowl--Isabel's suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel's paranoia gives way to infatuation--leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva--nor the house in which they live--are what they seem"--Dust jacket.

A wickedly funny and audacious debut novel following an academic who flees from heartbreak and lands in Iraq with a one-of-a-kind job offer—only to be forced to do the work of confronting herself. When Dr. Nadia Amin, a long-suffering academic, publishes an article on the possibility of rehabilitating ISIS brides, the United Nations comes calling, offering an opportunity to lead a deradicalization program for the ISIS-affiliated women held in Iraqi refugee camps. Looking for a way out of London after a painful, unexpected breakup, Nadia leaps at the chance. In Iraq, Nadia quickly realizes she’s in over her head. Her direct reports are hostile and unenthused about taking orders from an obvious UN novice, and the murmurs of deradicalization being inherently unethical and possibly illegal threaten to end Nadia’s UN career before it even begins. Frustrated by her situation and the unrelenting heat, Nadia decides to visit the camp with her sullen team, composed of Goody Two-shoes Sherri who never passes up an opportunity to remind Nadia of her objections; and Pierre, a snippy Frenchman who has no qualms about perpetually scrolling through Grindr. At the camp, Nadia meets Sara, one of the younger refugees, whose accent immediately gives her away as a fellow East Londoner. From their first interaction, Nadia feels inexplicably drawn to the rude girl in the diamanté headscarf. She leaves the camp determined to get Sara home. But the system Nadia finds herself trapped in is a quagmire of inaction and corruption. One accomplishment barely makes a dent in Nadia’s ultimate goal of freeing Sara . . . and the other women, too, of course. And so, Nadia makes an impossible decision leading to ramifications she could have never imagined. A triumph of dark humor, Fundamentally asks bold questions: Who can tell someone what to believe? And how do you save someone who doesn’t want to be saved?
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'By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex?' Nadia is an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, Rosy. She decides to make a getaway, accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues. Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen. Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for. A bitingly original, wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging, Fundamentally upends and explores a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour.

“An exhilarating debut novel” (R.O. Kwon, The New York Times Book Review) about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of self-discovery—a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can’t escape its history A girl can get in almost anywhere, even if she can’t get out. SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • A BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, Elle, Electric Lit, The Skinny “A no-bullsh*t, must-read debut.”—Kaveh Akbar “Kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul.”—Raven Leilani “Aber writes with . . . masterful precision.”—Leila Lalami, The Atlantic "Once in a blue moon a debut novel comes along, announcing a voice quite unlike any other, with a layered story and sentences that crackle and pop, begging to be read aloud. Aria Aber’s splendid Good Girl introduces just such a voice . . . Aber, an award-winning poet, strikes gold here, much like Kaveh Akbar did in last year’s acclaimed Martyr!"—Los Angeles Times In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist. Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American writer whose fading literary celebrity opens her eyes to a life of personal and artistic freedom. But as Nila finds herself pulled further into Marlowe’s controlling orbit, ugly, barely submerged racial tensions begin to roil Germany—and Nila’s family and community. After a year of running from her future, Nila stops to ask herself the most important question: Who does she want to be? A story of love and family, raves and Kafka, staying up all night and surviving the mistakes of youth, Good Girl is the virtuosic debut novel by a celebrated young poet and, now, a major new voice in fiction.
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**Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025** A portrait of the artist as a young woman in a Berlin that can't escape its history: an electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery 'Kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul' Raven Leilani 'A must-read ... Dark, breathtaking, profound, so fresh' Guardian 'A no-bullshit must-read debut' Kaveh Akbar 'Delicious, propulsive reading' Vogue In Berlin's underground, where techno rattles buildings still scarred with the violence of the last century, nineteen-year-old Nila finds her tribe. In their company she can escape the parallel city that made her, the public housing block packed with refugees and immigrants, where the bathrooms are infested with silverfish and the walls outside are graffitied with swastikas. Escaping into the clubs, Nila tries to outrun the shadow of her dead mother, once a feminist revolutionary; her catatonic, defeated father; and the cab-driver uncles who seem to idle on every corner. To anyone who asks, her family is Greek, not Afghani. And then Nila meets American writer Marlowe Woods, whose literary celebrity, though fading, opens her eyes to a world of patrons and festivals, one that imbues her dreams of life as an artist with new possibility. But as she finds herself drawn further into his orbit and ugly, barely submerged tensions begin to roil and claw beneath the city's cosmopolitan veneer, everything she hopes for, hates, and believes about herself will be challenged. 'Rarely has the wildness and bewilderment of youth been conveyed with such richly textured heat' Garth Greenwell
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**Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025** **A Time Book of the Year 2025** A portrait of the artist as a young woman in a Berlin that can't escape its history: an electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of nightclubs, bad romance, and self-discovery 'Kaleidoscopic, full of style and soul' Raven Leilani 'A must-read ... Dark, breathtaking, profound, so fresh' Guardian 'A no-bullshit must-read debut' Kaveh Akbar 'Delicious, propulsive reading' Vogue Born in Germany to Afghan parents, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice. Now in Berlin's techno-filled warehouses, their walls still scarred by the ravages of the last century, she has found her tribe. Then Nila meets American writer Marlowe. As she is sucked into his seductive but controlling orbit, and ugly racial tensions begin to roil through Germany, she is forced to ask herself the question she's been running from: who does she want to be? 'Rarely has the wildness and bewilderment of youth been conveyed with such richly textured heat' Garth Greenwell
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UN DEBUT PODEROSO, ENFURECIDO Y NECESARIO. «UN ÉXITO TOTAL» PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NOMINADO AL WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 Con una conmovedora perspectiva sobre nuestros tiempos, Good Girl huele a resaca química y cemento mojado, como un domingo cualquiera en Berlín En el universo underground y artístico de Berlín, donde el techno y las drogas palpitan en antiguos almacenes atravesados por las guerras del siglo XX, Nila lucha por entender quién quiere ser. Nacida en Alemania de padres afganos, criada en viviendas públicas cubiertas de esvásticas y magnetizada por la filosofía, la fotografía y el sexo, Nila se mueve en una huida hacia adelante dando forma a un Bildungsroman intoxicado y poético. Aber construye un mundo implacable en un Berlín mugriento y desenreda historias y legados con una pluma hábil que respeta y admite la autodestrucción como herramienta efectiva de autodescubrimiento. La crítica ha dicho: «Un debut poderoso que sumerge al lector en una batalla feroz entre la identidad cultural de una joven afgana y su anhelo de libertad. [...] Profunda e innovadora, Good Girl es un libro imprescindible». The Guardian «Abrid Good Girl por cualquier página y os engullirá su belleza magnética y la forma en la que el deseo se abre paso a través de las grietas de la desesperación». Ron Charles, The Washington Post «Se parece de una manera inesperada y gratificante a varios clásicos del género - Los años de aprendizaje de Wilhelm Meister de Goethe o Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë-. [...] Poderosísima». Anahid Nersessian, The New Yorker «Un coming of age sorprendente. [...] Un éxito total». Publishers Weekly, reseña destacada «Deliciosa y apremiante. [...] La descripción del deseo -hacia los amantes, el arte y una vida diferente- es muy conmovedora». Vogue «El coming of age que debes leer y que vibra igual que los bajos de un bafle berlinés. No pierdan de vista a Aria Aber». Glamour «Asombroso, cautivador y convincente: [...] una revelación». Harper's Bazaar «Una lectura vertiginosa [en la que] cada frase brilla con luz propia y cuya textura visceral confirma que detrás de Good Girl tenemos a una auténtica poeta». Los Angeles Review of Books «A caballo entre Una educación y En el camino, Aber nos ofrece una novela cautivadora escrita con herencia oscura y aplomo poético». The Irish Times «Una odisea por el mundo underground de la cultura de club berlinesa con todo lo salvaje de la juventud, los excesos y el autodescubrimiento». Service95 (plataforma de estilo de vida de Dua Lipa) «Un debut maravilloso, me ha encantado. [...] Felicidades por este precioso logro, Aria Aber». Sarah Jessica Parker «Luminosa. Una historia muy tierna sobre la identidad y el autodescubrimiento». Elle, "Los libros de culto que no podemos esperar a leer en 2025" «Un debut impresionante que nos ofrece un vívido retrato de una vida plagada de inestabilidad y claustrofobia, [ ] Aber construye un mundo duro e implacable en un Berlín mugriento y desenreda historias y legados -de gente, lugares y política- con una pluma hábil». Financial Times

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S TOP 10 FICTION BOOKS OF 2024 ONE OF NPR’S “BOOKS WE LOVE” 2024 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: THE NEW YORKER ● VOGUE ● FINANCIAL TIMES ● OPRAH DAILY ● VULTURE ● VOX The New York Times bestselling author returns with an irreverently sexy, tender, hilarious and surprising novel about a woman upending her life “A frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect . . . nothing short of riveting.” —Vogue “All Fours has spurred a whisper network of women fantasizing about desire and freedom. . . . It’s the talk of every group text."—The New York Times “All Fours possessed me. I picked it up and neglected my life until the last page, and then I started begging every woman I know to read it as soon as possible.” —The Cut A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey. Miranda July’s second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July’s wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman’s quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.
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Analytische annotatie: Een semibekende kunstenaar besluit in een opwelling om haar gezin en werk achter te laten en in een motelkamer te gaan wonen, waar ze een affaire met een jongere, getrouwde man begint.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING, BOOKER-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2025 'Stunning, deeply felt and profoundly intelligent' Guardian It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer, Lucy Barton, who lives nearby in a house next to the sea. Together, Lucy and Bob talk about their lives, their hopes and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, befriends one of Crosby’s longest inhabitants, Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. They spend afternoons together in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known – “unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them – reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning. Brimming with empathy and pathos, TELL ME EVERYTHING is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love.” 'A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own' Hilary Mantel 'A terrific writer' Zadie Smith 'Strout’s ability to reveal the wonder in unrecorded lives continues to astonish' Telegraph OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK: 'A beautiful read reminding us that there is extraordinary love in ordinary actions' Oprah Winfrey Elizabeth Strout, Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, 2022
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Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters -- Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and more -- as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, fall in love and yet choose to be apart, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, "What does anyone's life mean?"...

"Meet the Valiat family. In Iran, they were somebodies. In America, they're nobodies. First there is Elizabeth, the regal matriarch with the famously large nose who stayed in Tehran during the revolution. She lives in a shabby apartment, paranoid and alone. Except when she is visited by Niaz, her Islamic-law-breaking granddaughter who takes her debauchery with a side of purpose, and yet somehow manages to survive. Elizabeth's daughters left for America in 1979: Shirin, a charismatic yet outrageous event planner in Houston who considers herself the family's future, and Seema, a dreamy idealist-turned-housewife languishing in the chaparral-filled hills of Los Angeles. And then there's the other granddaughter Bita, the self-righteous but lost law student spending her days in New York City eating pancakes and quietly giving away her belongings. When an annual vacation in Aspen goes wildly awry and Shirin ends up being bailed out of jail by Bita, the family's brittle status quo is cracked open. Shirin embarks upon a grand but half-baked quest to restore the family name. But what does that even mean in a country where the Valiats never mattered? Will they ever realize that life is more than just an old story?"--

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GLOBE AND MAIL BESTSELLER • LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE 2025 ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION • LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION • NOMINATED FOR THE 2026 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD • A Heather’s Pick • NPR’s Books We Love • Named a Best Book of 2025 by The New Yorker • Barnes & Noble • Kirkus • Financial Times • The Washington Post • The Irish Times • The Observer A publishing event ten years in the making—a searing, exquisite new novel by the bestselling and award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists—the story of four women and their loves, longings, and desires. Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, is a lawyer who has been successful at everything until—betrayed and brokenhearted—she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Omelogor, Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin, is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America—but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve. In Dream Count, Adichie trains her fierce eye on these women in a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself. Is true happiness ever attainable or is it just a fleeting state? And how honest must we be with ourselves in order to love, and to be loved? A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations of the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power. It confirms Adichie’s status as one of the most exciting and dynamic writers on the literary landscape.
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• NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED A NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST A searing, exquisite new novel by the bestselling and award-winning author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists—the story of four women and their loves, longings, and desires Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer living in America. Alone in the midst of the pandemic, she recalls her past lovers and grapples with her choices and regrets. Zikora, her best friend, has been successful at everything until—betrayed and brokenhearted—she must turn to the person she thought she needed least. Chiamaka’s bold, outspoken cousin Omelogor is a financial powerhouse in Nigeria who begins to question how well she knows herself. And Kadiatou, Chiamaka’s housekeeper, is proudly raising her daughter in America—but faces an unthinkable hardship that threatens all she has worked to achieve. Dream Count is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s searing, unforgettable story of these four women—a sparkling, transcendent novel that takes up the very nature of love itself.

A woman in post-apartheid South Africa confronts her family’s troubling past in this taut and daring novel about national trauma and collective guilt—from the Booker Prize–longlisted author of An Island. “Extraordinary . . . unputdownable.”—Roddy Doyle LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Guardian, Irish Times, CrimeReads Cape Town, 2028. The land cracks from a years-long drought, the nearby mountains threaten to burn, and the queue for the water trucks grows ever longer. In her crumbling corner of a public housing complex, Deidre van Deventer receives a call from the South African police. Her family home, recently reclaimed by the government, has become the scene of a criminal investigation. The remains of several bodies have just been unearthed from her land, after decades underground. Detectives pepper Deidre with questions: Was your brother a member of a pro-apartheid group in the 1990s? Is it true that he was building bombs as part of a terrorist plot? Deidre doesn’t know the answers to the detectives’ questions. All she knows is that she was denied—repeatedly—the life she felt she deserved. Overshadowed by her brother, then left behind by her daughter after she emigrated, Deidre must watch over her aging mother and make do with government help and the fading generosity of her neighbors while the landscape around her grows more and more combustible. As alarming evidence from the investigation continues to surface, and detectives pressure her to share what she knows of her family’s disturbing past, Deidre must finally face her own shattered memories so that something better might emerge for her and her country. In exquisitely spare prose, Karen Jennings weaves a singularly powerful novel about post-apartheid South Africa. It is an unforgettable, propulsive story of fractured families, collective guilt, the ways we become trapped in prisons of our own making, and how we can begin to break free.
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"In her parched, crumbling corner of a Cape Town public housing complex, Deidre van Deventer receives a call from the South African police department. Her family home, recently reclaimed by the government, has become the scene of a criminal investigation. The remains of several bodies have just been unearthed from their land, after decades underground. Detectives pepper her with questions: Was your brother a member of a pro-apartheid group in the 1990s? Is it true that he was building bombs as part of a terrorist plot? Deirdre doesn't know the answers to most of these questions. All she knows is that she was denied-repeatedly-the life she felt she deserved: overshadowed by her brother, then abandoned by her daughter, Deidre has been left to watch over her aging mother, making do with government help and the fading generosity of her neighbors. But as alarming evidence from the investigation continues to surface, and detectives pressure her to share what she knows of her family's disturbing past, Deidre must finally confront her own shattered memories so that something better might emerge from what remains"--

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Striking, darkly funny and heartfelt ... Grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go' Ferdia Lennon, author of Glorious Exploits 'Crisp, transportive, uplifting ... I loved it!' Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry 'A bold, funny and imaginative journey through Tudor England ... A real treat' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre Born a vagabond, Tibb Ingleby has never had a roof of her own. Her mother has taught her that if you're not too bound by the Big Man's rules, there are many ways a woman can find shelter in this world. But now her ma is gone. As she journeys through the fields and forests of medieval England, Tibb discovers that there are people who will care for her, as well as those who mean her harm. And there are a great many others who are prepared to believe just about anything... So, when the opportunity presents itself to escape the shackles society has placed on them, Tibb and her new friends conjure an audacious plan: her greatest trickerie yet. But before they know it, their hoax takes on a life of its own, drawing crowds - and vengeful enemies - to their door. A tale of belief and superstition, kinship and courage, A Little Trickerie introduces a ragtag cast of characters and an unforgettable, endearing and distinctly unangelic heroine. 'Joyful and highly original ... Rosanna Pike absolutely nails Tibb's voice' The Times 'Absolutely raucous and vividly alive' India Knight '[Written] with great panache ... A book [that] is unapologetically itself ... Lovable, fun and emotionally juicy' Guardian
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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Striking, darkly funny and heartfelt ... Grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go’ Ferdia Lennon, author of Glorious Exploits ‘Crisp, transportive, uplifting ... I loved it!’ Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry ‘A bold, funny and imaginative journey through Tudor England ... A real treat’ Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre Born a vagabond, Tibb Ingleby has never had a roof of her own. Her mother has taught her that if you’re not too bound by the Big Man’s rules, there are many ways a woman can find shelter in this world. But now her ma is gone. As she journeys through the fields and forests of medieval England, Tibb discovers that there are people who will care for her, as well as those who mean her harm. And there are a great many others who are prepared to believe just about anything... So, when the opportunity presents itself to escape the shackles society has placed on them, Tibb and her new friends conjure an audacious plan: her greatest trickerie yet. But before they know it, their hoax takes on a life of its own, drawing crowds - and vengeful enemies - to their door. A tale of belief and superstition, kinship and courage, A Little Trickerie introduces a ragtag cast of characters and an unforgettable, endearing and distinctly unangelic heroine. ‘Joyful and highly original ... Rosanna Pike absolutely nails Tibb’s voice’ The Times ‘Absolutely raucous and vividly alive’ India Knight ‘[Written] with great panache ... A book [that] is unapologetically itself ... Lovable, fun and emotionally juicy’ Guardian

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025 Longlisted for the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction Named one of the best NZ books of 2024 by The Spinoff and Newsroom In the Bookety Book Books Reader's Choice Top 10 'I couldn't put it down - a moving, heartbreaking (and repairing) family drama. The writing is gorgeous, transporting, powerful: this will be one of the big adult novels of the year' The Spinoff 'In Amma, the past is never far away - it binds three generations of remarkable women, each juggling their own desires and secrets with the expectations placed on them by tradition and the volatile environments they find themselves in ... A book as shocking and revelatory as any family secret, Amma will leave you shaken and reminded of the power of love and loyalty' Chris Tse, New Zealand Poet Laureate Singapore, 1951 When Josephina is a girl, her parents lock her in a room with the father of the boy to whom she's betrothed. What happens next will determine the lives of generations to come. New Zealand, 1984 Josephina and her family leave Sri Lanka for New Zealand. But their new home is not what they expected, and for the children, Sithara and Suri, a sudden and shocking event changes everything. London, 2018 Arriving on her uncle Suri's doorstep, jetlagged and heartbroken, Annie has no idea what to expect - all she knows is that Suri was cast out of the family before she was born. Moving between cities and generations, Amma follows three women on very different paths, against a backdrop of shifting cultures. As circumstance and misunderstanding force them apart, it will take the most profound love to knit them back together before it's too late. 'I can't remember the last time a book held me captive the way Amma did... the power of memory, of perspective, pain and love in all its different forms through the eyes of three unforgettable women' Ore Agbaje-Williams

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF SUMMER 2024 • A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • HUGO AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST NOVEL • WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR SCIENCE FICTION • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, VANITY FAIR, ESQUIRE, VOX, GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, THE INDEPENDENT, PARADE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND MORE… “This summer’s hottest debut.” —Cosmopolitan • “Witty, sexy escapist fiction [that] packs a substantial punch...Fresh and thrilling.” —Los Angeles Times • “Electric...I loved every second.” —Emily Henry “Utterly winning...Imagine if The Time Traveler’s Wife had an affair with A Gentleman in Moscow...Readers, I envy you: There’s a smart, witty novel in your future.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post A time travel romance, a spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingenious exploration of the nature of power and the potential for love to change it all: Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kaliane Bradley. In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts. Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future. An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks: What does it mean to defy history, when history is living in your house? Kaliane Bradley’s answer is a blazing, unforgettable testament to what we owe each other in a changing world.

'Jenni Daiches has astonishingly re-created a lost world... I wept and laughed and wished I had written it.'MIRIAM MARGOLYES 'An urgent exploration of the fragility and beauty of our shared humanity, here and elsewhere.'HANNAH HOLTSCHNEIDER, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH About the bookRosa Roshkin is five years old when her family are murdered in a pogrom and she is forced to leave behind everything she knows with only a suitcase of clothes and her father's violin.An epic generational novel about womanhood and Judaeo-Scottish experience across two World Wars, the creation of Israel and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Jenni Daiches's Somewhere Else explores today's most difficult and urgent questions, not least of which: how to find identity in displacement.

'If you're heading to a British seaside town this summer, the book you should take with you is Birding by Rose Ruane . . . Ruane is a marvellous writer whose prose glitters with perfect metaphors and wincingly caustic one-liners. In fact you should take this on holiday wherever you're going' Jonathan Coe, Guardian 'I have GULPED this novel down . . . Birding gave me everything I want in a novel, including a massive, cathartic cry at the end. Achingly poignant, yet ultimately hopeful, with a worn out seaside town I can see so clearly' Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things 'A beautiful book full of stark truths . . . Lyrical and evocative, highly recommended' Evie King, author of Ashes to Admin 'I've had my socks absolutely knocked off (again) by Rose Ruane's latest novel Birding. It made me rage, reflect, howl with laughing, worry and blub. Gentle, strong, important and hopeful. I am in awe and couldn't recommend it more highly' Jessica Fostekew, writer, actor and co-host of The Guilty Feminist In the nineties, Lydia was one half of a teen pop group. Their image was sexy, edgy, girly yet 'in control'. The reality was very different. Now, thirty years later, with #MeToo revelations a daily reality, a famous ex-lover resurfaces with a slick, self-serving apology, demanding forgiveness. Suddenly, Lydia is overwhelmed with memories of a harmful time in her life that refuses to leave her in peace. Meanwhile, Joyce has never left home and the suffocating grip of her mother, Betty. For decades their lives have intertwined, even wearing matching dresses and make-up, as they follow a rigid daily routine. A single misstep can send Betty spiralling, so Joyce stays inside the tracks. But something unfamiliar is rising inside Joyce - a whispered what if . . . Against the faded backdrop of a once-grand seaside resort, Lydia and Joyce are trapped in worlds of their own making. But as they both confront their pasts - the toxic men, the forgotten dreams, the twisted expectations - fate is about to throw them together, as they wrestle with the question: Can we ever truly take flight on broken wings?

"From Laila Lalami-the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist and a "maestra of literary fiction" (NPR)-comes a riveting and utterly original novel about one woman's fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance. Sara has just landed at LAX, returning home from a conference abroad, when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside and inform her that she will soon commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, the RAA's algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming the person she loves most: her husband. For his safety, she must be kept under observation for twenty-one days. The agents transfer Sara to a retention center, where she is held with other dreamers, all of them women trying to prove their innocence from different crimes. With every deviation from the strict and ever-shifting rules of the facility, their stay is extended. Months pass and Sara seems no closer to release. Then one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and leading Sara on a collision course with the very companies that have deprived her of her freedom. Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are"--
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* LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 * * A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK MARCH 2025 * Sara is returning home from a conference abroad when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside at the airport. Using data from her dreams, their algorithm has determined that she is at imminent risk of harming her husband. For his safety, she must be transferred to a retention centre, and kept under observation for twenty-one days. But as Sara arrives to be monitored alongside other dangerous dreamers, she discovers that with every deviation from the facility's strict and ever-shifting rules, their stays can be extended - and that getting home to her family is going to cost much more than just three weeks of good behaviour . . . The Dream Hotel is a gripping speculative mystery about the seductive dangers of the technologies that are supposed to make our lives easier. As terrifying as it is inventive, it explores how well we can ever truly know those around us - even with the most invasive surveillance systems in place.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME IN APRIL 'A blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful' Daily Mail 'The year's most lauded debut novelist . . . A sultry, headily perfumed portrait of monstrous male egos and oppressed overlooked women . . . The Artist uncovers its secrets by stealth' Telegraph 'Dextrous and powerful . . . a hugely accomplished portrait of ambition and self-fulfilment' Guardian 'The Artist is a lush, impressive debut; the writing is rich and sensuous, especially in descriptions of food, the landscape and the act of creation. Lucy Steeds is one to watch' The Times 'This compelling, evocative debut will transport you to idyllic, sun-drenched Provence in 1920 . . . An absorbing, poetic read' Mail on Sunday 'Enthralling . . . the descriptions of the landscape, the meals they eat and the art created are so rich and evocative it's as if you're there' Good Housekeeping **BEST BOOKS FOR 2025 from Stylist and Good Housekeeping** PROVENCE, 1920 Ettie moves through the remote farmhouse, silently creating the conditions that make her uncle's artistic genius possible. Joseph, an aspiring journalist, has been invited to the house. He believes he'll make his name by interviewing the reclusive painter, the great Edouard Tartuffe. But everyone has their secrets. And, under the cover of darkness, Ettie has spent years cultivating hers. Over this sweltering summer, everyone's true colours will be revealed. Because Ettie is ready to be seen. Even if it means setting her world on fire. 'Gorgeous . . . Steeped in the heat and atmosphere of 1920s Provence, this novel brims with intrigue, hope and yearning' Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory and The Burial Plot 'Phenomenal . . . beautiful, pacey historical fiction, vividly realised. It drifts with the scent of summer, the land lit up and throbbing, the food piled high and richly painted, the paint as thick and buttery as food. I wanted to eat it. Yes, I even wanted to eat the paint. Read this book!' Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal 'I could not love this beautiful novel more . . . the final chapters left me with that delicious heart-bursting feeling, full of hope and delight' Florence Knapp, author of The Names 'Lucy Steeds transports the reader with her sensuous depictions of food, art, and landscape . . . an assured and atmospheric debut' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent 'A furiously romantic, sun-drenched mystery . . . The Artist will leave you yearning in every sense of the word' Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep 'An intoxicating tale of creativity, possession and freedom. An impressively assured debut which asks questions about all those who are painted over by history' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2025 LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME IN APRIL 'The Artist is a lush, impressive debut; the writing is rich and sensuous, especially in descriptions of food, the landscape and the act of creation. Lucy Steeds is one to watch' The Times 'Dextrous and powerful . . . a hugely accomplished portrait of ambition and self-fulfilment' Guardian 'The year's most lauded debut novelist . . . A sultry, headily perfumed portrait of monstrous male egos and oppressed overlooked women . . . The Artist uncovers its secrets by stealth' Telegraph 'A blaze of a book, poetic, passionate and quietly powerful' Daily Mail 'This compelling, evocative debut will transport you to idyllic, sun-drenched Provence in 1920 . . . An absorbing, poetic read' Mail on Sunday 'Captivating . . . with imagery as lush as an oil painting' Washington Post 'Enthralling . . . the descriptions of the landscape, the meals they eat and the art created are so rich and evocative it's as if you're there' Good Housekeeping **BEST BOOKS FOR 2025 from Stylist and Good Housekeeping** PROVENCE, 1920 Ettie moves through the remote farmhouse, silently creating the conditions that make her uncle's artistic genius possible. Joseph, an aspiring journalist, has been invited to the house. He believes he'll make his name by interviewing the reclusive painter, the great Edouard Tartuffe. But everyone has their secrets. And, under the cover of darkness, Ettie has spent years cultivating hers. Over this sweltering summer, everyone's true colours will be revealed. Because Ettie is ready to be seen. Even if it means setting her world on fire. 'A furiously romantic, sun-drenched mystery . . . The Artist will leave you yearning in every sense of the word' Yael van der Wouden, author of The Safekeep 'Lucy Steeds transports the reader with her sensuous depictions of food, art, and landscape . . . an assured and atmospheric debut' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent 'An intoxicating tale of creativity, possession and freedom. An impressively assured debut which asks questions about all those who are painted over by history' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre 'I could not love this beautiful novel more . . . the final chapters left me with that delicious heart-bursting feeling, full of hope and delight' Florence Knapp, author of The Names 'Gorgeous . . . Steeped in the heat and atmosphere of 1920s Provence, this novel brims with intrigue, hope and yearning' Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory and The Burial Plot 'Phenomenal . . . beautiful, pacey historical fiction, vividly realised. It drifts with the scent of summer, the land lit up and throbbing, the food piled high and richly painted, the paint as thick and buttery as food. I wanted to eat it. Yes, I even wanted to eat the paint. Read this book!' Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal
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Jahrelang hat sie ihr Geheimnis gehütet ... WATERSTONES DEBUT PRIZE 2025 THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2025 (Longlist) BARNES & NOBLE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 (Shortlist) »Ein fulminantes Buch, poetisch, leidenschaftlich und mit sanfter, tiefer Kraft erzählt.« Daily Mail Provence, um 1920. Für Joseph Adelaide ist die Einladung die Chance seines Lebens: Er wird Edouard Tartuffe interviewen, der seit Jahren die Öffentlichkeit scheut. In dem abgelegenen Landhaus erwartet den Journalisten jedoch eine Überraschung. Denn nur solange Joseph dem weltberühmten Maler Modell sitzt, darf er bleiben und über ihn schreiben. In der flirrenden Sommerhitze erkennt Joseph bald, dass das größte Rätsel nicht der »Meister des Lichts« ist, sondern Tartuffes Nichte. Ettie kocht, wäscht Pinsel und erträgt Tartuffes Launen mit unergründlicher Hingabe. Doch etwas brodelt in ihr. Joseph fühlt sich immer mehr zu ihr hingezogen. Und langsam, Schicht für Schicht wie in einem Gemälde, kommt ihr Geheimnis ans Licht ... »Die am meisten gelobte Debütautorin des Jahres [...] Das sinnliche, berauschend duftende Porträt eines monströsen männlichen Egos und einer übersehenen Frau.« The Telegraph »Raffiniert und kraftvoll erzählt [...] Ein äußerst gelungenes Porträt von Ehrgeiz und Selbstverwirklichung.« The Guardian »Ein wildromantischer, sonnendurchfluteter, geheimnisvoller Roman über die gewaltige Macht wahrer Kunst. Dieser Roman wird Sie im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes sehnsüchtig zurücklassen.« Yael van der Wouden, Gewinnerin des Women's Prize for Fiction 2025 »Eine mitreißende, poetische Lektüre.« Mail on Sunday »Fesselnd [...] mit einer Bildsprache von der Üppigkeit eines Ölgemäldes.« Washington Post »Lucy Steeds ist eine Autorin, die man im Auge behalten muss.« The Times, Best Historical Fiction of 2025