A creeping story of sapphic obsession with Gothic undertones and a delicious mid-century feel, from the acclaimed author of Sunburn.

January 1965. The orphaned O'Leary siblings - Tom, Jack, Anna and Peggy - arrive in the village of Ballycrea, tight-lipped about their troubled past and desperate for a fresh start.

After being met with suspicion from most of the locals, the family are thrilled when they're taken under the wing of their well-respected neighbours, Bill and Betty Nevan, who offer them work, companionship and an opportunity to fit in.

But for one of the O'Learys, this new friendship sparks an intense attachment that makes the dynamic dangerous for all. It's difficult to bury secrets, but almost impossible to bury feelings...

Crackling with suspense, Heap Earth Upon It revisits the rural Ireland of Howarth's critically acclaimed debut and delves into claustrophobic relationships and tangled identities, leaving you wondering who to trust until the very last page.

** Shortlisted for the 2023 Nero Book Award for Debut Fiction **
** Shortlisted for the 2024 Book of the Year: Discover Award by the British Book Awards **
** Shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2024 **
** Longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards 2024 **
** An Evening Standard 'One to Watch in 2023' **
** An Independent 'Best Romantic Summer Reads' **
** A Book of the Month pick for Diva, Irish Examiner, Novellic & Sainsbury's Magazine **
** A Most Anticipated pick for PinkNews & Queer on the Street **

It's the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place. Despite her fierce friendships, she's always felt this way, and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn't appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend.

Lucy begins to make sense of herself during a long hot summer, when a spark with her school friend Susannah escalates to an all-consuming infatuation, and, very quickly, to a desperate and devastating love.

Fearful of rejection from her small and conservative community, Lucy begins living a double life, hiding the most honest parts of herself in stolen moments with Susannah.

But with the end of school and the opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. Neither will be easy, but only one will offer her happiness.

Sunburn is an astute and tender portrayal of first love, adolescent anxiety and the realities of growing up in a small town where tradition holds people tightly in its grasp. An atmospheric sapphic love story and coming-of-age novel with the intensity of Megan Nolan's Acts of Desperation, the long hot summer of André Aciman's Call Me By Your Name and the female friendships of Anna Hope's Expectation.

In this brilliant sliding doors debut, a Chinese American couple's love story is told and retold.

Elizabeth and Simon are newly married. Elizabeth is waiting for her green card and spends the winter in Chicago staining her fingers with pomegranate seeds, dreaming of home.

Elizabeth and Simon can't get pregnant, and something unseen is leaving bruises on Elizabeth's body as she sleeps, making rest impossible.

Elizabeth and Simon are having a new baby, and as they convert a closet into a nursery, Elizabeth is cursed with a magical second sight.

In these ten linked stories, echoing oral traditions from around the world, Julie Zhou re-spins old wives' tales: from Chinese folklore to nursery rhymes, from the myth of Persephone to 'The Princess and the Pea'. The result is an astonishing feat of storytelling that reimagines fairy tale and reality, making both come to exuberant life on the page. Perfect for fans of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kate Atkinson and Salt Slow by Julia Armfield.

This novel contains depictions of fertility challenges ('There Was Always Something About Them That Was Not as It Should Be') and brief references to sexual harassment ('Liar (Liar)') and domestic violence ('Hung Jury').

A poignant story of loss and coming of age that will make you hungry - for food, for life, for forging your own path.

In the days following the accidental death of her brother, Jessie Wong is adrift and angry: at Tommy, an up-and-coming chef, for dying; at her parents for their silence; and at the confines of her conservative Christian Chinese upbringing. Then Jessie finds a list, in Tommy's handwriting, of five meals that 'taste like seeing God.' Was his phrasing blasphemy, or a nod to some hidden belief? Is fate offering her the chance to know her brother in a new way?

Breaking from her parents for the first time, Jessie embarks on a whirlwind pilgrimage to taste the five foods on the list. In the gritty bars of New York City, the lively markets of Dakar, the art world of Paris and even a three-Michelin-starred restaurant on a tiny German island, Jessie meets the people who loved and inspired her brother. As Jessie gets to know the sibling she lost and realises how much more of the world is out there, a future she'd never dared to envision for herself is now within her grasp.

Flavoured with illegal French delicacies and famed Senegalese dishes, Tastes Like Seeing God explores the transcendent power of food, life's sorrows and its sublime joys with poignancy and surprising humour. It's perfect for fans of Alison Espach's The Wedding People and Michelle Zauner's Crying in H Mart, as well as The Bear and anyone who loves the late Anthony Bourdain's culinary travel shows.

** A darkly comic suspense in the vein of All's Well by Mona Awad, My Husband by Maud Ventura and Yellowface by R F Kuang **

Jessamyn St Germain is destined to be a star. Specifically, a musical theatre legend - not some lowly usher at one of Vancouver's smallest regional theatres. So when the role of Maria from The Sound of Music is up for grabs, Jessamyn knows the part is hers...

Except, it's not. Instead she is relegated to the position of childminder for the little brats playing the von Trapp children, but it's so obvious she's there for a different reason: to usurp the role from the incompetent lead and take her place in the spotlight.

This must be it. Because if it isn't, then every skipped meal, every brutal rehearsal, every inch won against a man attempting to drag her down will have all been for nothing.

She's a Lamb! is an edgy and incisive novel that marches toward showtime with a growing unease about the extent of one woman's delusions and the depths she'll sink to to get what she believes she deserves.

This novel contains depictions of sexual violence, substance abuse, racism and graphic depictions of physical violence.

When an ex-catholic woman develops a sexual relationship with a vampire, she is forced to confront the memories that haunt her religious past.

Struggling to deal with the familial trauma of her Catholic upbringing, hotel cleaner, Noelle, travels to the Isle of Bute. There, she meets a man who claims to be a vampire, and a relationship blooms between them based solely on confession.

But as talk turns sacrilegious, and the weather outside grows colder, Noelle struggles to come to terms with her blasphemous sexuality. She becomes hounded by memories of her past: her mother's affair with the local priest, and the part she played in ending it.

Bridging the gaps between contemporary gothic fiction, queer fiction and magical realism, Fragile Animals lures readers into Noelle's loose grasp on her world and immerses them in some of Scotland's most harsh and claustrophobic environments.

This novel contains references to self harm, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, domestic abuse, religious trauma, queer trauma and acts of homophobia.

Grace is no longer famous. She sits alone in her New York apartment, endlessly watching reruns of herself on the reality TV show Speed Daters. Then, one evening, a man breaks in through her window. A rare, still-obsessed fan or raging incel - Grace is unsure. Before she can find out, he disappears.

That same night, the world is rocked by the news that Anoushka, Grace's onscreen rival, has taken her own life. Suddenly thrust back into the public eye, Grace is thrilled to be relevant again.

But fame is fickle, and when the fans begin to turn on her, Grace escapes with her unreliable boyfriend and Speed Daters co-star Cal to his isolated cabin in the woods. With nothing but each other, can they mend what's broken without destroying what little is left?

A piercing debut exposing the toxicities of reality TV and influencer culture, After Care is a disconcertingly recognisable portrait of reckless consumerism, spectatorship and the attention economy. Perfect for fans of Eliza Clark, Caro Claire Burke, Sarah Rose Etter and Ottessa Moshfegh.

In her award-winning debut, Flournoy - author of The Wilderness - brings us a colourful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It's a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures, and the ways in which our families bring us home.

The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house has seen thirteen children grown and gone - and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit's East Side, the loss of a father.

The house still stands despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunt - and shape - their family's future.

'Flournoy is a magician. Here is a story that is charming and funny while being whip-smart and profound' - Tayari Jones

This novel contains references to domestic violence.

London, 1865. Desperate for work, Minnie takes employment as a maid for the wealthy Culpepper twins. The siblings lead a strange and unconventional life: Edmund operates a laboratory from the house while Edith experiments with morbid photography. Drawn in by a dangerous attraction to one of the twins, and with a sick sister of her own to provide for, by the time Minnie makes a disturbing discovery it's too late - she must stay and unravel the mysteries of Culpepper House before she becomes a victim of one of Edith's photographs herself.

London, present day. Grieving artist Hadley is consumed by an album of Victorian death photography, including the exquisite image of a deceased young girl with a swan. When this photograph is involved in an art world scandal, Hadley is given the opportunity to create an installation surrounding the image. But the enigmatic Kit Culpepper, of the Culpepper Trust, has other plans. He offers Hadley an eye-watering sum of money to sell him the album and never speak of its contents again. As Hadley digs deeper into the album's truths, she begins to suspect Kit Culpepper is guarding a deathly secret... and she's not entirely sure how far he'll go to keep it.

A gripping dual-timeline gothic mystery inspired by the macabre world of Victorian death photography, All Her Beautiful Deaths offers a powerful exploration of classism and ownership in the art world, while beautifully portraying expressions of grief and love. Perfect for fans of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal, with echoes of Daphne du Maurier.

PRAISE FOR A. RUSHBY

'Adored this gorgeous, sumptuously gothic feminist novel' - EMMA COWING, author of The Show Woman

'Utterly compelling from the first page to the final, shocking twist' - CHRISTINE WELLS, author of The Paris Gown

'Captivating from start to end and tells a haunting tale of feminine rage' - ABBIE EATON, author of Dragonhart

'Two timelines collide with imaginative verve' - TIMES

'Unsettling and addictive... Rushby's storytelling translates brilliantly to the adult gothic, positioning her as a bold new voice in horror' - SEATTLE TIMES

'Rich, intricate, and full of surprises' - HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY

This novel contains discussions of mental health issues, domestic violence, animal cruelty and drug use.

Art, ambition and desire collide when a struggling academic becomes entangled in the marriage and creative life of her literary idol.

By day, Dr Ruth Morgan lectures on 'AI: the new frontier of storytelling' at East Toronto University. By night, she toils away at a collection of short stories, fantasising about a writing career to rival that of the internationally renowned Shelby Rayburn, a literary icon widely hailed as the voice of Ruth's generation of women.

When Shelby and her husband, Oscar, make an appearance at an annual faculty party, Ruth can't believe her luck. The trio instantly hit it off, and an intoxicating intimacy builds between them, underwritten by a simmering sexual tension.

Everything changes when Shelby makes Ruth an offer she can't refuse - one she can't tell anyone about, including Oscar. As boundaries blur and secret alliances form, distrust takes root and threatens to implode it all. Ruth and Shelby need each other, but each has their own agenda when it comes to friendship, love and literary stardom.

This novel contains references to sexual harassment.

When sixteen-year-old Gabriel Lazris, an American inSantiago, meets Caro Ravest at a party in 1973, something clicks. They fall fast, but with everyone saying there's goingto be a coup - and no one saying it louder than Gabriel's Nixon-loving father - Gabriel is afraid his parents willforce him to return home. But to Gabriel, Chile is home.

Decades later, Gabriel's American-raised adult daughter Nina heads to Buenos Aires in a last-ditch effort to save her dissertation. She quickly gets sidetracked: first by a sexy professor, then by a controversial book called Guerra Eterna. A document of war and an underground classic, Guerra Eterna destabilises Nina's identity and drags Gabriel's past into the light.

Told in three distinct voices, Short War brings together a rapturous teenage love story set in Chile, the hunt for the author of an eye-opening literary detective story and a complex reckoning with American political intervention in South America.

From the highly acclaimed author of How Can I Help You comes a masterful domestic suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.

The photos Judith Stanley takes are just for her, a private passion to fill her suburban days. But when she shares them with Paul Sorenson, her new photography instructor, she's unprepared to hear his astonished praise. 'Stunning,' he calls her photos. 'Extraordinary.' She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Except Judith has no interest in sharing her work; in fact, the mere idea of it frightens her.

Still, emboldened by Paul's encouragement, Judith ventures out beyond her quiet neighbourhood to the city in search of increasingly striking images. When she starts to notice the dark shape of a man in the corner of her self-portraits, Judith is certain he's an attacker from her past. She doesn't know why he has returned, but she's sure of his presence: the hoarse sound of his breathing, his hard grip on her elbow. Perhaps it would appease the man if she were to put her camera down and give up her private passion. But she can't; she refuses. Until one night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith's story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own.

Chilling and heart-poundingly propulsive, The Man is a phenomenal and timely novel exploring the inescapable fear of living as a woman, the tantalizing seduction of artistic freedom and the very real dangers that lurk both inside and outside the confines of the mind.

This novel contains depictions of stalking and sexual violence.

The inaugural collection in the new VERVE Voices series, Queerphoria is a joyful and defiant queer-authored anthology proudly supporting Switchboard, the national LGBTQIA+ support line.

Four housemates welcome the reader into their home for a birthday party. An elderly widow visits her first queer bar, beneath the flat she shared with her husband. A couple invite a shipwrecked sailor into their isolated lighthouse on the stormy night of their thirtieth anniversary. A single woman embarks on a romantic relationship with a sex robot. A married couple secretly prepare for their baby's arrival in a world where procreation is controlled by the Establishment.

Through prose, poetry, essays, illustrations and more, thirty-one writers bring their visions of euphoria to life. These pages celebrate, subvert, expand and reimagine what joy can look like, even in uncertain times.

Switchboard will receive a £1 donation from every copy sold.

Includes contributions from: Amil (translated by Joheun Lee) | Santanu Bhattacharya | Maame Blue | James Cahill | Jenny Chamarette | Gerardo Sámano Córdova | Soula Emmanuel | Selali Fiamanya | Eve Gleichman | Remi Graves | Dylin Hardcastle | Chloe Michelle Howarth | William Rayfet Hunter | Seth Insua | Joshua Jones | Laura Kay | Carrie Marshall | Peo Michie | Elle Nash | Peter Scalpello | Joelle Taylor

About Switchboard: For over 50 years, Switchboard has supported the LGBTQIA+ community through challenges and triumphs, offering a listening ear in difficult times and moments of joy. Their support is completely free and available wherever you feel most comfortable, whether that's via phone (0800 0119 100), chat (switchboard.lgbt) or email (hello@switchboard.lgbt). Switchboard's services are open from 10 am to 10 pm, every single day of the year. Their trained volunteers are available to discuss anything related to sexuality and gender identity; whether it's sexual health, relationships or just the way you're feeling. For anyone, anywhere in the country, at any point in their journey.

* ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR *

An era-defining novel about four women over the course of their twenty-year friendship, from two-time National Book Award longlistee Angela Flournoy.

In 2008, Desiree, January, Monique and Nakia are in their early twenties and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood and of big city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood - overwhelming, mysterious and full of freedom and consequences - swoops in and stays.

Desiree is estranged from her sister Danielle, and the two nurse bitter family wounds in different ways. January's got a relationship with a 'good' man she feels ambivalent about, even after her surprise pregnancy. Monique, a librarian and aspiring blogger, finds unexpected online fame after calling out the university where she works for its plans to whitewash fraught history. And Nakia is trying to get her restaurant off the ground, without relying on the largesse of her upper middle-class family who wonder aloud if she should be doing something better with her life.

As these friends transition from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one another - amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability and the increasing volatility of modern life.

'Flournoy is singular' - Raven Leilani

'A voice that is expansive yet intimate, humorous yet devastating' - Britt Bennett

This novel contains references to assisted dying and drug use, and depictions of violence and police brutality.

Jemma would kill to end the housing crisis - one landlord at a time...

Jemma has lost everything... Well, the very little she had. Her toxic boyfriend has run off with her best friend, leaving Jemma alone in their flat, and she can't afford the extortionate rent on her own. She's aimless, depressed and, above all, furious. Slowly but surely, her fury finds its focus: landlords. If only something could be done about them...

When Jemma's landlord has a fatal accident while carrying out a property repair, she stumbles across her life's mission: to punish as many landlords as possible. She begins targeting landlords who have appeared on her favourite binge-watch, a home-improvement TV show where their greed is laid bare. It's a messy job, but someone's got to do it.

Governed by her own rules, Jemma is convinced her actions are just - but how long before this vigilante turns villain?

Hilarious, timely and all too relatable, Under the Hammer is every renter's fantasy. Perfect for fans of Bella Mackie and CJ Skuse.

READERS LOVE UNDER THE HAMMER...

'A fast-paced, gripping thriller that pulls you in and does not let go... Captivating and twisty' - 5-Star Reader Review

'Sharp, funny and utterly compelling... The twist on the revenge trope felt fresh and relevant, with just the right balance of social commentary and humour' - 5-Star Reader Review

'Gripping, funny and filled with dark humour... A fantastic read' - 5-Star Reader Review

'From the start, this book had me genuinely laughing out loud... Highly recommend for a fun, unhinged, hilarious murdery read' - 5-Star Reader Review

'A fun, addictive story... Excited to see what the author does next' - 5-Star Reader Review

This novel contains depictions of violence and emotional abuse.

A big-hearted novel about a woman who theorises that happiness is possible solely with the eradication of all romance - only to find a love that could change her life forever.

After escaping a suffocating marriage to her abusive childhood sweetheart, Sylvie Broder decides she is done with love. She returns to graduate school and sets out to prove that, for a straight woman to be truly happy, she must separate love from sex and give up on all pursuits of romance.

Driven by PhD research, relationship trauma and pride, Sylvie's new philosophy seems set to stick. Until Robbie comes along. And then Abie... Finding herself falling in love - not once, but twice - Sylvie must make a decision: to be brave and let this love in, or to choose her research and burn everything else to the ground.

Deeply relatable and utterly compelling, The End of Romance is an anti-romance for anyone who, despite their very best efforts, has fallen in love and wondered why.

A candid portrayal of first love and self-discovery, from the author of the 'instant queer classic', Isaac.

Cornwall, 2018. In the quiet fishing village of Portscatho, sixteen-year-old Daniel Orange form an unexpected connection with local boy Jago. What unfolds is transformative, particularly for Daniel, who for the first time feels truly seen.

East London, 2023. Daniel has rewritten himself: sharper, louder, queer in a way the city understands. But a visit from Jago stirs up a reckoning with his former life, forcing them both to question how much change their bond can withstand.

Reminiscent of Édouard Louis and Douglas Stuart's writing, Orange examines how we reconcile our past selves with the people we become, those we bring with us and those we leave behind.

A witty and thought-provoking mystery that reimagines the spy story to explore the nature of relationships in a digital age: the follow-up to Jane Pek's 'thoroughly modern twist on classic detective fiction', The Verifiers (New York Times Book Review).

Claudia Lin - mystery novel superfan and, until recently, clichéd underemployed English major - has scored her dream job: co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency for chronically online New Yorkers who want to know if their prospective partners are telling the truth. Unfortunately, along the way, she and her colleagues - tech savant Squirrel, and the elegant and intimidating Becks - have uncovered a far-reaching AI conspiracy. And the corporate matchmakers may be resorting to murder to protect their secrets.

In the wake of a client's sudden death, Claudia convinces his ex, an industry insider, to turn on his employer and feed the verifiers information about what the powerful dating platforms are really up to. But even as Claudia starts to get a feel for this new genre- - just call her Lin, Claudia Lin - she's distracted by the possibility of romance with both Becks and a very charming target. She also fears that her beloved older brother is unwittingly being drawn into the matchmakers' deadly web. And as Becks reminds Claudia: spy tropes dictate that someone you trust will betray you.

No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister.

It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds. Olivia is the sister in the spotlight until her stunning confidence becomes erratic and unpredictable, a hurricane leaving people wrecked in her wake. Younger sister Amy, cautious and studious to the core, believes in facts, proof, and the empirical world. None of that explains what's happening to Ollie, whose physical beauty and charisma mask the mental illness that will shatter Amy's carefully constructed life.

As Amy comes of age and seeks to find her place - first in academics, then New York publishing, and through a series of troubled relationships - every step brings collisions with Ollie, who slips in and out of the Shred family without warning. Yet for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Ollie cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them.

Spanning two decades, Shred Sisters is an intimate and bittersweet story exploring the fierce complexities of sisterhood, mental health, loss and love.

Claudia Lin is used to disregarding her fractious family's model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She's also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls - and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency.

A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate -and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit.

Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.

A love story about the almost crossovers of our lives...

1972. On a quiet summer night in Newcastle, Australia, two teenage girls must each make a choice: to act upon their desires or suppress them? To live an openly queer life or to try desperately not to?

Over the following three decades, these girls grow into women and live out their decisions, always almost crossing paths at pivotal moments. In an era that spans Australia's first Mardi Gras and the AIDS pandemic, there is joy and grief and loss and desire for each of them - but will their lives ever collide?

A Language of Limbs is about love and how it's policed, friendship and how it transcends, and hilarity in the face of heartbreak. A celebration of queer life in all its vibrancy and colour, this story finds the humanity in all of us and demands we claim our futures for ourselves.

In a city built on secrets, who would kill to keep theirs hidden?

The year is 1759, and London is shrouded in a cloak of fear. With the lawmen at the mercy of robbers and highwaymen, it's a perilous time to work the already dangerous streets of Soho. Lizzie Hardwicke is somewhat protected from the fray at Mrs Farley's Bawdy House, a reputable brothel. But then a wealthy customer is found brutally murdered... and Lizzie was the last person to see him alive.

The magistrate's assistant, William Davenport, has no hard evidence against Lizzie, but his presence and questions make life increasingly difficult. Desperate to be rid of him and prove her innocence, Lizzie turns amateur detective, determined to find the true killer, whatever the cost. Yet as the body count rises, Lizzie realises that, just like her, everyone has a secret they will do almost anything to keep buried...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 NEW ADULT BOOK PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DISCOVER AWARD AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2026

Dairy farmer George Calvert is fighting to keep the family business afloat. Worried about the future but resistant to change, he refuses to face the reality of his failing farm, his elderly mother's declining health and his troubled relationship with his youngest son, Tom.

Newly returned from university, Tom isolates himself in his childhood bedroom, guarding the truth of his burgeoning identity.

When animal rights activists break into the cowshed one morning and Tom appears to side with the protesters, father and son lock horns. As the Calverts begin to unravel, a decades-old secret surfaces - one that might rip them apart completely, or finally unite them.

A deeply moving debut about one family's struggle to find connection in a rapidly changing world, Human, Animal is an ode to the wild, a journey of self-discovery and a hopeful path to common ground.

**Winner of the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award**
**A Best Book of the Year for Vulture, Buzzfeed, Entropy & Thrillist**
**Longlisted for the 2019 Believer Book Award**
**Longlisted for the 2019 Northern California 'Golden Poppy' Book Award**
**Longlisted for the 2020 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award**

A surreal exploration of one woman's life and death against a landscape of meat, office desks, and bad men.

The Book of X tells the tale of Cassie, a girl born with her stomach twisted in the shape of a knot. From childhood with her parents on the family meat farm, to a desk job in the city, to finally experiencing love, she grapples with her body, men, and society, all the while imagining a softer world than the one she is in.

Twining the drama of the everyday - school-age crushes, paying bills, the sickness of parents - with the surreal - rivers of thighs, men for sale, and fields of throats - Cassie's realities alternate to create a blurred, fantastic world of haunting beauty.

** 'SO VIVID AND REAL, IT BROUGHT A THOUSAND MEMORIES RUSHING BACK' - Russell T Davies **

** 'AN INSTANT QUEER CLASSIC' - Jon Ransom, author of The Gallopers **

Set in London across a single, life-altering summer, Isaac explores masculinity and queerness in the digital age and offers a fresh take on desire and intimacy, adolescent obsession and dangerous first love.

After inexperienced seventeen-year-old Isaac loses his virginity through a dating app - a disappointing yet addictive experience - he spends his final months before university escaping into a dizzying new world of casual sex with forgettable men. This all changes when he meets twenty-eight-year-old Harrison at a party.

Isaac is immediately infatuated by the handsome, charismatic artist, but while they grow closer, his sense of self becomes increasingly hazy. Harrison's demands shift constantly, and after Isaac tries everything to prove his worthiness, he must take a hard look at his ideas about love, sex and men, and his relationship with himself.

A powerful coming-of-age story for our times, Isaac is perfect for fans of Outline Of My Lover by Douglas Martin, What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell and 100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell.

This novel contains depictions of sex and domestic violence.

'A heady mix of the most terrifying elements of our troubled past and inevitable future; an eerie, propulsive novel' - Carmen Maria Machado

Selected as an Evening Standard 'one to watch in 2023'

It's the winter solstice in a Philadelphia that has been eroded by extreme weather, economic collapse, and disease-carrying mosquitoes. The Saturnalia carnival is about to begin - an evening on which nearly everyone, rich or poor, forgets their troubles for a moment.

For Nina, Saturnalia is simply a cruel reminder of the night that changed everything for her. It's now three years since she walked away from the elite Saturn Club, with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. Since then, she's led an isolated life, eking out a living telling fortunes with her Saturn Club tarot deck.

But when she gets a chance call from Max, her last remaining friend from the Saturn Club, Nina will put on a dress of blackest black and attend the Club's wild solstice masquerade, the biggest party of the year, on a mysterious errand she can't say no to.

Before the night is over, she will become the custodian of a horrifying secret - and the target of a mysterious hunter.

As Nina runs across an alternate Philadelphia balanced on a knife's edge between celebration and catastrophe - through parades, worship houses, museums, hidden mansions, and the place she once called home - she's forced to confront her past so she can finally take charge of her own, and perhaps everyone else's, future.

The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in.

For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything - and everyone - at a safe distance.

When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she's ever had. Soon she's spending more time at Andrea's remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn't even mind that her cousin's wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry - baby fever comes with the territory.

What worries Maeve is that the more she immerses herself in Andrea's world, the more her long-buried memories flood to the surface. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come...

Spine-chilling and sharp, Anne Heltzel's Just Like Mother is a modern gothic from a fresh new voice in horror.

A stunning novel that examines the price of loyalty, the burden of regret, the meaning of salvation, and the sacrifices we make for those we love, told in the voices of two unforgettable women linked by a decades-old family mystery at a picturesque lake house.

In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes forever from her family's summer house on a remote Minnesota Lake.

Sixty years later, Lucy, Emily's quiet and watchful older sister, lives alone in the lake house.

When Lucy dies, she leaves the house to her grandniece, Justine. The lake house offers Justine an escape from her manipulative boyfriend and a chance to give her daughters the home she never had.

But the discovery of a notebook, in which her great aunt has written the story of that devastating summer, forces Justine to realise there may be more to her inheritance than she first imagined.

In a house haunted by the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.