Good Reef! – Z. E. Marchant

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Good Reef! - Z. E. Marchant
Good Reef!
Z. E. Marchant

A humorous adventure story about the not-quite end of the world where a bard tries to get home to his wife after deserting from the army, and travels with a pair of suspiciously well-spoken mercenaries in tow.

A general escorts her king to ‘gods know where’ (he’ll know it when he gets there) while a witch and a wizard attempt to solve an age-old magical mystery.

A young girl with the gift of Sight discovers a race of empathic sea people, and their reappearance from behind a mysterious barrier dividing land and sea is coinciding with impending doom.

Together they all trip over history while trying to keep it from repeating itself.

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The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling

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The Casual Vacancy - J.K. RowlingThe Casual Vacancy
J.K. Rowling

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils… Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

A big novel about a small town, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults. It is the work of a storyteller like no other.

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Charlotte Street – Danny Wallace

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Charlotte Street - Danny WallaceCharlotte Street
Danny Wallace

It all starts with a girl… (because yes, there’s always a girl…)

Jason Priestley (not that one) has just seen her. They shared an incredible, brief, fleeting moment of deep possibility, somewhere halfway down Charlotte Street.

And then, just like that, she was gone – accidentally leaving him holding her old-fashioned, disposable camera, chock full of undeveloped photos…

And now Jason – ex-teacher, ex-boyfriend, part-time writer and reluctant hero – faces a dilemma. Should he try and track The Girl down? What if she’s The One? But that would mean using the only clues he has, which lie untouched in this tatty disposable…

It’s funny how things can develop…

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Behind Closed Doors – JJ Marsh

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Behind Closed Doors - JJ MarshBehind Closed Doors
JJ Marsh

Suicide – the act of taking one’s own life.
Homicide – the act of taking someone else’s.

An unethical banker suffocates. A diamond dealer slits his wrists. A media magnate freezes in the snow. A disgraced CEO inhales exhaust fumes. Four unpopular businessmen, four apparent suicides. Until Interpol find the same DNA at each death.

Beatrice Stubbs, on her first real case since ‘the incident’, arrives in Switzerland to lead the investigation. But there’s more to Zurich than chocolate and charm. Potential suspects are everywhere, her Swiss counterpart is hostile and the secretive world of international finance seems beyond the law. Battling impossible odds by day and her own demons at night, Beatrice has never felt so alone.

She isn’t. Someone’s watching.
Someone else who believes in justice.
The poetic kind.

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Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend – Sarra Manning

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Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend - Sarra ManningNine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend
Sarra Manning

Hope Delafield hasn’t always had an easy life.

She has red hair and a temper to match, as her mother is constantly reminding her. She can’t wear heels, is terrified of heights and being a primary school teacher isn’t exactly the job she dreamed of doing, especially when her class are stuck on the two times table.

At least Hope has Jack, and Jack is the God of boyfriends. He’s sweet, kind, funny, has a killer smile, a cool job on a fashion magazine and he’s pretty (but in a manly way). Hope knew that Jack was The One ever since their first kiss after the Youth Club Disco and thirteen years later, they’re still totally in love. Totally. They’re even officially pre-engaged. And then Hope catches Jack kissing her best friend Susie…

Does true love forgive and forget? Or does it get mad… and get even?

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The Senator’s Wife – Sue Miller

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The Senator's Wife - Sue MillerThe Senator’s Wife
Sue Miller

Maybe some people just like to keep things private. Secret, I guess you’d say.

Love came late to Meri, but in a rush: she met Nathan at thirty-six, he moved in a month later, and they married a month after that. Now they are moving to New England and a house of their own – a new life that Meri is not sure she even wants. She loves her husband, but feels there may be trouble ahead.

Nathan, however, is boyishly excited that their next-door neighbour is the eminent Senator Tom Naughton, a political hero of his, now in his seventies. The Senator is nowhere to be seen, but Meri strikes up an unexpected friendship with his wife, the elegant Delia, sensing that she has much to learn from her – about marriage, love and motherhood. But soon she comes close to a terrible breach of trust that could ruin everything.

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The Brief History of the Dead – Kevin Brockmeier

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The Brief History of the Dead - Kevin BrockmeierThe Brief History of the Dead
Kevin Brockmeier

‘Remember me when I’m gone’ just took on a whole new meaning . . .

Laura Byrd is in trouble. Three weeks ago she and her friends found themselves alone in one of the coldest, most remote places on earth. Her friends set out in search of help, and now Laura realises that they are not coming back. So she gathers her remaining supplies and sets out on an extraordinary journey.

Meanwhile in another city, more and more people arrive every day. Each has a different story to tell, but their accounts have one thing in common – it was their final journey. For this is the city of the dead. And the link between this city and Laura’s journey lies at the heart of this remarkable novel.

The Brief History of the Dead tells a magical story about our lives – about our place in the world, our connections with each other, and what happens to us all after our deaths. It is a story of spellbinding power and imagination, which resonates long after the final page.

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