Hilarious new novel from the bestselling author of A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. North London in the twenty-first century: a place where a son will swiftly adopt an old lady and take her home from hospital to impersonate his dear departed mother, rather than lose the council flat. A time of golden job opportunities, though you might have to dress up as a coffee bean or work as an intern at an undertaker or put up with champagne and posh French dinners while your boss hits on you. A place rich in language — whether it's Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian, Swahili or buxom housing officers talking managementese. A place where husbands go absent without leave and councillors sacrifice cherry orchards at the altar of new builds. Marina Lewycka is back in this hilarious, farcical, tender novel of modern issues and manners

Thomas Lourds ventures to Istanbul University in Turkey to examine artifacts never before seen by Western scholars. He's barely off the plane before he's kidnapped by ruthless people who leave a string of dead bodies in their wake. They want Lourds to translate coded writings that they hope will lead them to a lost scroll authored by John of Patmos – the same John who wrote the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The writings on the scroll might bring about the end of the world – or might stop it. They might even raise the Devil himself – but there are signs that the Devil has already risen and that he is very interested in Thomas Lourds. No one knows for sure what will happen if the scroll is found, decoded, and translated, but several powerful men are seeking it, and they will stop at nothing to get it. And one of those people has ties to the US government, ties that lead directly to the White House. Before he knows it, Thomas Lourds is in over his head, dodging spies, crooks, and bullets. He needs help to stay alive – and he has it in the form of a beautiful but deadly Irish Republican Army operative, and in his old flame, Olympia Adnan. Can they navigate the secrets hidden in ancient Istanbul 's most secret depths before they are killed? Or will they be too late to stop the terrible workings of the Devil himself before he can bring the world down around them?

In his 14th book, bestselling author Nicholas Sparks tells the unforgettable story of a man whose brushes with death lead him to the love of his life. Is there really such thing as a lucky charm? The hero of Nicholas Sparks's new novel believes he's found one in the form of a photograph of a smiling woman he's never met, but who he comes to believe holds the key to his destiny. The chain of events that leads to him possessing the photograph and finding the woman pictured in it is the stuff of love stories only a master such as Sparks can write

What do you eat when the shops run out of food? Zoe loves teaching science, she loves her garden, and most of all she loves her quiet peaceful bungalow. Then at school, people start falling ill. The virus is airborne and highly infectious. It starts with flu symptoms, confusion and sleepiness, which worsen until one day they just don’t wake up. It decimates the population and leaves chaos in its wake. Now Zoe has to find a way to survive. Luckily, when the pandemic strikes, she already has a greenhouse full of vegetable seedlings, but not everyone around is as prepared. Can she avoid the people hunting for food: the ‘knockers’ who don’t always just knock? And will her strategy of stay in, hide and wait, be enough?

Combining dazzling speculation with a profoundly humanist vision, this astounding alternate history tale presents a dramatic encounter with destiny wrapped around a simple yet provocative premise: the terrifying question of what might have happened if the fateful flight over Hiroshima had gone a bit differently. An extensive interview with the author, offering insight into his fiction and philosophies, is also included

It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky

Don't fall in love with a werewolf, it interferes with your work. Especially when you're a preternatural expert like Anita Blake. The local werewolves have come to her for help after a number of them have gone missing — perhaps because she's dating the leader of the pack

Autumn in the sleepy California town of Pine Cove is turned upside down by the arrival of a Mississippi Delta blues musician, a huge sea serpent drawn to the sound of the steel guitar, the explosion of a tanker truck at a gas station, and a mysterious trailer that shows up in the local trailer park

Written between 1980 and 1986, the six stories that constitute The Lute and the Scars (as well as an untitled piece by the author, included here as “A and B”) were transcribed from the manuscripts left by Danilo Kiš following his death in 1989. Like the title story, many of these texts are autobiographical. Others resurrect protagonists belonging to Kiš’s fellow Central European novelists, allowing readers to identify, perhaps, depending on the level of obfuscation, fantasy,and historical accuracy, figures dreamed up by Ödön von Horváth and Endre Ady (“The Stateless”), by the Yugoslavian Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić (“Debt”), and by Piotr Rawicz. Against a background of oppressive regimes and political exile, readers will find that the never-ending debate between death and writing continues unabated in these stories — death as allegory or as a voluntary symbolic act, and writing as the one impregnable defense, writing as the only possible means of survival

Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn. Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions. White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups. This is Manhattan, 1899. Beautiful sisters Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan's social scene. Or so it appears. When the girls discover their status among New York City's elite is far from secure, suddenly everyone--from the backstabbing socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor Henry Schoonmaker, to the spiteful maid Lina Broud--threatens Elizabeth's and Diana's golden future. With the fate of the Hollands resting on her shoulders, Elizabeth must choose between family duty and true love. But when her carriage overturns near the East River, the girl whose glittering life lit up the city's gossip pages is swallowed by the rough current. As all of New York grieves, some begin to wonder whether life at the top proved too much for this ethereal beauty, or if, perhaps, someone wanted to see Manhattan's most celebrated daughter disappear... In a world of luxury and deception, where appearance matters above everything and breaking the social code means running the risk of being ostracized forever, five teenagers lead dangerously scandalous lives. This thrilling trip to the age of innocence is anything but innocent