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Queen Red Riding Hood's Guide to Royalty (The Land of Stories #1)
by Chris ColferFrom bestselling author Chris Colfer comes a new book about a beloved character: Queen Red Riding Hood.The young queen gives us her take on politics, government, health, love, and of course, what it means to be royalty.A must-have for new and old fans alike.
The Mother Goose Diaries (The Land of Stories #1)
by Chris ColferFrom New York Times bestselling author Chris Colfer comes a new book about a beloved character: Mother Goose. Mother Goose's diary entries over the last five hundred years take readers on a journey to learn buried secrets. A must-have for new and old fans alike.
An Author's Odyssey: Book 5 (The Land of Stories #5)
by Chris ColferThe 5th book in the No.1 New York Times bestselling series by Chris ColferIn the highly anticipated continuation of the Land of Stories series, Conner learns that the only place to fight the Masked Man's literary army is inside his own short stories! When the twins and their friends enter worlds crafted from Conner's imagination, finding allies no one else could have ever dreamed of, the race begins to put an end to the Masked Man's reign of terror. Can the twins finally restore peace in the fairy tale world?
Tales from the Fatherland: Two Dads, One Adoption and the Meaning of Parenthood
by Ben FergussonA pause. 'Ah, Herr Fergusson. It's Frau Schwenk.' Our social worker, I now understood. 'Thank you for getting back to me. I'm calling because we have a little boy, four weeks old, who needs a family.'In 2018, after the introduction of marriage equality in Germany, Ben Fergusson and his German husband Tom became one of the first same-sex married couples to adopt in the country. In Tales from the Fatherland Fergusson reflects on his long journey to fatherhood and the social changes that enabled it. He uses his outsider status as both a gay father and a parent adopting in a foreign country to explore the history and sociology of fatherhood and motherhood around the world, queer parenting and adoption and, ultimately, the meaning of family and love.Tales from the Fatherland makes an impassioned case for the value of diversity in family life, arguing that diverse families are good for all families and that misogyny lies at the heart of many of the struggles of straight and queer families alike.
Mr Wigg
by Inga SimpsonJack used to say that a good orchard was like a well-lived life. The one up at the old farm, with its hundred-year-old pears leaning over the entrance gates, held more Wigg history than anything written down.It's the summer of 1971, not far from the stone-fruit capital of New South Wales, where Mr Wigg lives on what's left of the family farm. He spends his time working in the orchard, cooking and preserving his produce and, when it's on, watching the cricket. It's a full life.Things are changing though, with Australia and England playing a one-day match, and his new neighbours planting grapes for wine. His wife died a few years ago, his daughter never visits, and his son thinks he should move into town. But Mr Wigg has trees and chickens to look after on the farm. His grandchildren visit often: to cook, eat and hear stories. And he has a project to finish...
Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.
by Rob DelaneyRob Delaney is a father, a husband, a comedian, a writer. He is the author of an endless stream of beautiful, insane jokes on Twitter. He is sober. He is sometimes brave. He speaks French. He has bungee-jumped off the Manhattan Bridge. He enjoys antagonizing political figures, powerful retailers and the Kardashians. He listens to metal while he works out. He broke into an abandoned mental hospital with his mother. He played Sir Lancelot in Camelot. He has battled depression. He is funny as s***. He cleans up well. He and Margaret Atwood have a thing going on Twitter. He is lucky to be alive.
Further Joy: A Short Story Collection
by John BrandonIn eleven expertly crafted stories, John Brandon gives us a stunning assortment of men and women at the edge of possibility - gamblers and psychics, wanderers and priests, all of them on the verge of finding out what they can get away with, and what they can't. Ranging from haunted deserts to alligator-filled swamps, these are stories of foul luck and strange visitations, delivered with deadpan humour by an unforgettable voice.The New York Times praised Brandon's last novel for a style that combined Elmore Leonard and Charles Portis, and now Brandon brings that same darkly American artistry to his very first story collection, demonstrating once again that he belongs in the top ranks of contemporary writers.
Hild: A Novel
by Nicola Griffith'Truly, truly remarkable' Karen Joy Fowler'Extraordinary...resonates to many of the same chords as Beowulf, the legends of King Arthur, The Lord of the Rings, and Game of Thrones' Neal Stephenson'You are a prophet and seer with the brightest mind in an age. Your blood is that of the man who should have been king ...That's what the king and his lords see. And they will kill you, one day'In seventh century Britain, a new religion is coming ashore while small kingdoms are merging, frequently and violently. Hild is the king's youngest niece, with a glittering mind and natural authority, She is destined to become one of the pivotal figures of the early Middle Ages: Saint Hilda of Whitby. But for now she has only the powerful curiosity of a child and the precarious advantage of a plotting uncle, Edwin of Northumbria, who will stop at nothing to beome king of the Angles. Hild establishes herself at her uncle's side as the king's seer, and becomes indispensable - as long as all goes well for Edwin. The stakes are high - life and death - for Hild, her family and for all those who seek the protection of this strange girl who seems to see the future. In this vivid, utterly compelling novel, Nicola Griffith has brought the Early Middle Ages to life in an extraordinary act of alchemy, transporting the reader into a mesmerising, unforgettable world.
Murder in Mississippi: The True Story Of How I Met A White Supremacist, Befriended His Black Killer And Wrote This Book
by John SafranIn 2009 John Safran, a controversial Australian journalist, spent an uneasy few days interviewing one of Mississippi's most notorious white supremacists. A year later, he hears that the man has been murdered by a young black man. But this is far from a straightforward race killing. Safran flies back to Mississippi in a bid to discover what really happened, immersing himself in a world of clashing white separatists, black lawyers, police investigators, oddball neighbours and the killer himself. In the end, he discovers just how profoundly complex the truth about someone's life - and death - can be.A brilliantly innovative true-crime story. Safran paints an engrossing and revealing portrait of race, money, sex and power in the modern American South. 'John Safran's captivating inquiry into a murder in darkest Mississippi is by turns informative, frightening and hilarious' - John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Everything I Never Told You: 'a taut tale of ever deepening and quickening suspense' O, the Oprah Magazine
by Celeste Ng'There is much here that might impress Pulitzer and Man Booker judges...Ng brilliantly depicts the destruction that parents can inflict on their children and on each other' Mark Lawson, Guardian 'This intriguing tale of unhappy families will have you gripped from the opening line . . . No wonder it beat Hilary Mantel and Stephen King to win Amazon's book of the year' StylistLydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue - in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the centre of every party. But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970s small town Ohio. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting. When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest in the family - Hannah - who observes far more than anyone realises and who may be the only one who knows what really happened. And if you loved Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, pre-order Celeste Ng's brilliant new novel, Our Missing Hearts, nowWhat readers are saying:'Devastating...A truly tragic but devastatingly well written book''Ng is a true craftsman. I implore you to read this. Also my favourite ending of a novel so far this year''This is the best book I have read this year''Really enjoyed this book, deeply moving, sad and thought provoking'
The Same Sky
by Amanda Eyre Ward'Puts a human face to the story of undocumented youth desperately seeking their dreams in America. This one's going to haunt me for a long time' Jodi PicoultA beautiful and heartrending novel about motherhood, resilience, and faith-a ripped-from-the-headlines story of two families on both sides of the American border.Carla is a strong-willed young girl who's had to grow up fast, acting as caretaker to her six-year-old brother Junior. Years ago, her mother left the family behind in Honduras to make the arduous, illegal journey to Texas. But when Carla's grandmother dies and violence in the city escalates, Carla takes fate into her own hands-and with Junior, she joins the thousands of children making their way across Mexico to America, facing great peril for the chance at a better life.Alice and her husband, Jake, own a barbecue restaurant in Austin, Texas. Hardworking and popular in their community, they have a loving marriage and thriving business, but Alice still feels that something is missing, lying just beyond reach.
By Heart
by Hannah-Fleur Fitz-GibbonAn intense and unsettling short tale of a man struggling to come to terms with loss, and the trickery and illusion of a mind gripped by grief, By Heart is a short story which will grip you right until the very end. To find out more about Emerald Street and sign up to their newsletters go to: http://www.emeraldstreet.com/To find out more about Blackfriars and the books we publish, please go to: http://www.blackfriarsbooks.com/
By Heart
by Hannah-Fleur Fitz-GibbonAn intense and unsettling short tale of a man struggling to come to terms with loss, and the trickery and illusion of a mind gripped by grief, By Heart is a short story which will grip you right until the very end. To find out more about Emerald Street and sign up to their newsletters go to: http://www.emeraldstreet.com/To find out more about Blackfriars and the books we publish, please go to: http://www.blackfriarsbooks.com/
Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood
by Hollie McNish'This book should be required reading for anyone thinking of having a baby, or even anyone who knows someone who is thinking of having a baby'Scotland on Sunday'Fascinating and honest'Mumsnet'Like talking to a friend'ObserverWinner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in PoetryThere were many things that Hollie McNish didn't know before she was pregnant. How her family and friends would react; that Mr Whippy would be off the menu; how quickly ice can melt on a stomach. These were on top of the many other things she didn't know about babies: how to stand while holding one; how to do a poetry gig with your baby as a member of the audience; how drum'n'bass can make a great lullaby. And that's before you even start on toddlers. But Hollie learned.And she's still learning, slowly. Nobody Told Me is a collection of poems and stories; Hollie's thoughts on raising a child in modern Britain, of trying to become a parent in modern Britain, of sex, commercialism, feeding, gender and of finding secret places to scream once in a while.
Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood
by Hollie McNish'This book should be required reading for anyone thinking of having a baby, or even anyone who knows someone who is thinking of having a baby'Scotland on Sunday'Fascinating and honest'Mumsnet'Like talking to a friend'ObserverWinner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in PoetryThere were many things that Hollie McNish didn't know before she was pregnant. How her family and friends would react; that Mr Whippy would be off the menu; how quickly ice can melt on a stomach. These were on top of the many other things she didn't know about babies: how to stand while holding one; how to do a poetry gig with your baby as a member of the audience; how drum'n'bass can make a great lullaby. And that's before you even start on toddlers. But Hollie learned.And she's still learning, slowly. Nobody Told Me is a collection of poems and stories; Hollie's thoughts on raising a child in modern Britain, of trying to become a parent in modern Britain, of sex, commercialism, feeding, gender and of finding secret places to scream once in a while.
The Predictions: A Novel
by Bianca ZanderGaialands, a bucolic vegan commune in the New Zealand wilderness, is the only home fifteen-year-old Poppy has ever known. It's the epitome of 1970s counterculture-a place of free love, hard work, and high ideals...at least in theory. The reality is complicated and sometimes fraught, especially as its children reach adolescence. Poppy is drawn to handsome sixteen-year-old Lukas, who's increasingly skeptical of Gaialands and the adults who shape its rules.To help 'heal' the commune's energy, new arrival Shakti harnesses her divination powers in a Predictions ceremony. All of Gaialands' teenagers receive a card outlining their futures. Poppy, predicted to find her true love overseas, joins Lukas when he follows his dream of starting a punk rock band first in Auckland and then on to London, where punk has given way 80s pop and hair metal. Struggling simply to survive as they navigate the city's squats, pubs, and burgeoning clubs, she and Lukas drift apart. Poppy finds a life that looks very like the one her prediction promised, but is it the one she truly wants? And if not, can she define her own happiness, even if it takes her in unanticipated directions?The Predictions is a mesmerizing, magical novel of fate, love, mistakes, and finding your place.
Summerlong: A Novel
by Dean BakopoulosIn the sweltering heat of one summer in Grinnell, Iowa, Claire and Don Lowry discover that married life can fall apart seemingly overnight. Don, the town's most successful real-estate agent, is hiding the fact that their home is in foreclosure from his wife, Claire. She has secrets of her own: she's bored, lonely and lusts after Charlie Gulliver, a failed actor who has returned home to sort out his father's affairs. As the summer lingers and the temperature rises, the town's adults grow wilder and more reckless while their children grow increasingly confused. Claire, Don, and their neighbours and friends find themselves on an existential odyssey, exploring the most puzzling quandaries of marriage and maturity. When does a fantasy become infidelity? When does happy routine become boring monotony? Can Claire and Don survive everything that befalls them in this one summer, forgive their mistakes, and begin again? Summerlong is a deft and hilarious exploration of the simmering tensions beneath the surface of a contented marriage that explode in the bedrooms and backyards of a small town over the course of a long, hot summer.
Where the Trees Were
by Inga Simpson'All in?' Kieran pulled me up, and the others followed. We gathered around the bigger tree. No one asked Matty - he just reached up and put his right hand on the trunk with ours. Kieran cleared his throat. 'We swear, on these trees, to always be friends. To protect each other - and this place.'When Jay and her four childhood friends find a group of ancient trees carved by an Aboriginal tribe to identify sacred land, their eyes are opened to an older world. The tightly-knit group are at their most free on the river that runs through the farm, near the trees, and their childhood has a magical quality as they grow always closer, protected from the adult world. But as tension over land rights flickers in the grown-ups' lives, the children's attempt to protect the grove ends in disaster. Seventeen years later, Jay finally has her chance to make amends. Not every wrong can be put right, but sometimes looking the other way is no longer an option. But at what cost?Praise for Nest'(a) truly rich novel' Sydney Morning Herald 'a thoroughly enjoyable, uplifting read' MindfoodPraise for Mr Wigg'beautiful and absorbing' Sydney Morning Herald 'Simpson is a beautiful writer' Big Issue
Where the Trees Were
by Inga Simpson'All in?' Kieran pulled me up, and the others followed. We gathered around the bigger tree. No one asked Matty - he just reached up and put his right hand on the trunk with ours. Kieran cleared his throat. 'We swear, on these trees, to always be friends. To protect each other - and this place.'When Jay and her four childhood friends find a group of ancient trees carved by an Aboriginal tribe to identify sacred land, their eyes are opened to an older world. The tightly-knit group are at their most free on the river that runs through the farm, near the trees, and their childhood has a magical quality as they grow always closer, protected from the adult world. But as tension over land rights flickers in the grown-ups' lives, the children's attempt to protect the grove ends in disaster. Seventeen years later, Jay finally has her chance to make amends. Not every wrong can be put right, but sometimes looking the other way is no longer an option. But at what cost?Praise for Nest'(a) truly rich novel' Sydney Morning Herald 'a thoroughly enjoyable, uplifting read' MindfoodPraise for Mr Wigg'beautiful and absorbing' Sydney Morning Herald 'Simpson is a beautiful writer' Big Issue
Nest
by Inga SimpsonOnce an artist and teacher, Jen now spends her time watching the birds around her house and tending her lush sub-tropical garden near the small town where she grew up. The only person she sees regularly is Henry, who comes after school for drawing lessons.When a girl in Henry's class goes missing, Jen is pulled back into the depths of her own past. When she was Henry's age she lost her father and her best friend Michael - both within a week. The whole town talked about it then, and now, nearly forty years later, they're talking about it again. Everyone is waiting - for the girl to be found and the summer rain to arrive. At last, when the answers do come, like the wet, it is in a drenching, revitalising downpour...
Nest
by Inga SimpsonOnce an artist and teacher, Jen now spends her time watching the birds around her house and tending her lush sub-tropical garden near the small town where she grew up. The only person she sees regularly is Henry, who comes after school for drawing lessons.When a girl in Henry's class goes missing, Jen is pulled back into the depths of her own past. When she was Henry's age she lost her father and her best friend Michael - both within a week. The whole town talked about it then, and now, nearly forty years later, they're talking about it again. Everyone is waiting - for the girl to be found and the summer rain to arrive. At last, when the answers do come, like the wet, it is in a drenching, revitalising downpour...
Leaving Lucy Pear
by Anna Solomon'Stunning language, raw emotion and profound wisdom' Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You'Solomon's strong prose and fleet pacing consistently provide the essential pleasures of a good story well told' Maggie Shipstead, The New York Times Book ReviewOne night in 1917 Beatrice Haven creeps out of her uncle's house on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, leaves her newborn baby at the foot of a pear tree, and watches as another woman claims the child as her own. A gifted pianist bound for Radcliffe, Bea plans to leave her shameful secret behind and make a fresh start. Ten years later, Prohibition is in full swing, post-WWI America is in the grips of rampant xenophobia, and Bea has returned to her uncle's house, seeking a refuge from her unhappiness. But the rum-running manager of the local quarry inadvertently reunites her with Emma Murphy, the headstrong Irish Catholic woman who has been raising her abandoned child - now a bright, bold, cross-dressing girl named Lucy Pear, with secrets of her own...
Victoria: An Intimate Biography of the Woman who Ruled an Empire
by Julia BairdNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY JANET MASLIN, THE NEW YORK TIMES'Victoria the Queen, Julia Baird's exquisitely wrought and meticulously researched biography, brushes the dusty myth off this extraordinary monarch' The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice).The true story for fans of the hit ITV drama series Victoria starring Jenna Coleman, this page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning book is a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience.When Victoria was born, in 1819, the world was a very different place. Revolution would begin to threaten many of Europe's monarchies in the coming decades. In Britain, a generation of royals had indulged their whims at the public's expense, and republican sentiment was growing. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the landscape, and the British Empire was commanding ever larger parts of the globe. Born into a world where woman were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand.Fifth in line to the throne at the time of her birth, Victoria was an ordinary woman thrust into an extraordinary role. As a girl, she defied her mother's meddling and an adviser's bullying, forging an iron will of her own. As a teenage queen, she eagerly grasped the crown and relished the freedom it brought her. At twenty years old, she fell passionately in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, eventually giving birth to nine children. She loved sex and delighted in power. She was outspoken with her ministers, overstepping boundaries and asserting her opinions. After the death of her adored Albert, she began a controversial, intimate relationship with her servant John Brown. She survived eight assassination attempts over the course of her lifetime. And as science, technology, and democracy were dramatically reshaping the world, Victoria was a symbol of steadfastness and security-queen of a quarter of the world's population at the height of the British Empire's reach.Drawing on sources that include revelations about Victoria's relationship with John Brown, Julia Baird brings vividly to life the fascinating story of a woman who struggled with so many of the things we do today: balancing work and family, raising children, navigating marital strife, losing parents, combating anxiety and self-doubt, finding an identity, searching for meaning. This sweeping, page-turning biography gives us the real woman behind the myth.
The Sisters Chase
by Sarah HealyThe hardscrabble Chase women - Mary, Hannah, and their mother Diane - have been eking out a living running a tiny seaside motel that has been in the family for generations, inviting trouble into their lives for just as long. Eighteen-year-old Mary Chase is a force of nature: passionate, beautiful, and free-spirited. Her much younger sister, Hannah, whom Mary affectionately calls 'Bunny', is imaginative, her head full of the stories of princesses and adventures that Mary tells to give her a safe emotional place in the middle of their troubled world.But when Diane dies in a car accident, Mary discovers the motel is worth less than the back taxes they owe. With few options, Mary's finely tuned instincts for survival kick in. As the sisters begin a cross-country journey in search of a better life, she will stop at nothing to protect Hannah. But Mary wants to protect herself, too, for the secrets she promised she would never tell - but now may be forced to reveal - hold the weight of unbearable loss. Vivid and suspenseful, The Sisters Chase is a whirlwind page-turner about the extreme lengths one family will go to find - and hold onto - love.
My Brother's Husband: Volume I
by Gengoroh TagameOne of Amazon.com's Top 10 Graphic Novels of the year'[My Brother's Husband] arrives in the UK garlanded with praise from, among others, Alison Bechdel. It's not hard to see why. Not only is it very touching; it's also, for the non-Japanese reader, unexpectedly fascinating' Rachel Cooke, Observer, Graphic Novel of the Month'When a cuddly Canadian comes to call, Yaichi - a single Japanese dad - is forced to confront his painful past. With his young daughter Kana leading the way, he gradually rethinks his assumptions about what makes a family. Renowned manga artist Gengoroh Tagame turns his stunning draftsmanship to a story very different from his customary fare, to delightful and heartwarming effect' Alison Bechdel, author of Fun HomeYaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo; formerly married to Natsuki, father to their young daughter, Kana. Their lives suddenly change with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji's past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented and heartbreaking look at the state of a largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it's been affected by the West, and how the next generation can change the preconceptions about it and prejudices against it.