Showing titles in City Life

It is the evening of 16-year-old Melody's coming of age ceremony in her grandparents' brownstone. Watched lovingly by her relatives and friends, making her entrance to the music of Prince, she wears a special custom-made dress - the very same dress that was sewn for a different wearer, Melody's mother, for a celebration that ultimately never took place. Unfurling the history of Melody's parents and grandparents - from the 1921 Tulsa massacre to post-9/11 New York....

'Warm, gorgeous, tender and hopeful . . . Simply brilliant' – Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable 'Relatable . . . a celebration of female friendship' - Stylist 'Funny and moving' – Daily Mail 'A stunning novel' - Cosmopolitan * * * A beautiful, razor-sharp novel by Sarah Handyside...

Written entirely in East Coast Scots, A Working Class State of Mind, the debut book by Colin Burnett, brings the everyday reality and language of life in Scotland to the surface. Colin's fiction takes themes in the social sciences and animates them in vivid ethnographic portrayals of what it means to be working-class in Scotland today. Delving into the tragic exploits of Aldo, as well as his long-suffering best friends Dougie and Craig, the book follows these and other characters as they make their way in a city more divided along class lines than ever before.

Chase Myles can throw together a dinner party or redecorate a townhouse with jaw-dropping elegance. Followers scroll his Insta and see effortless workouts, exotic travel, and an adoring boyfriend. The world believes Chase is a style icon. The world is mistaken. Ethan Wells is actually the one who knows what to wear, what to eat, and how to do it but he's happy staying behind the scenes producing their hit LGBTQ show Myles of Style. When Chase walks off set just before the Pride live TV show that will make or break Ethan's career, Ethan thinks it's just another tantrum.

From the highly acclaimed author of Bad Day in Blackrock – inspiration for the 2012 award-winning film What Richard Did, directed by Lenny Abrahamson... ? Shortlisted for the 2021 An Post Irish Book Awards Eason Novel of the Year... A darkly funny, gripping and profoundly moving novel about a...

I used her body like an altar. Now she’s here for confession. I left my past behind. Then she walked into my church. Once, I was Bane Blackwolf—heir to a legacy of blood and sin. A monster in the making. Instead, I chose the cloth over the crown, buried my name, and became Father Blackwood. For years, I was in control of my darker nature. Until her. Moira. The woman with a sinner’s mouth and a body made for worship. The woman who doesn’t know it was me behind the mask that night—me who had her on her knees, begging.

Brought to you by Penguin. THE TWISTY NEW THRILLER FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE RUMOUR As a child, it was just a game. As an adult, it was a living nightmare. When teenage friends Lizzie and Alice decide to head off for a walk in the countryside, they are blissfully unaware...

I’d given up everything to fight for the Resistance. But nothing prepared me for discovering my sister was a traitor. Kept by a Nazi SS officer, outwardly she barely resembles my beloved Justine anymore. But I guessed her secret. About her beautiful, fragile little child. The baby she’ll do anything to protect. And I believe that deep down she still knows what is right. As the Nazis threaten everything we ever held dear, I know I have one chance. I must convince her to betray the evil she seems to have chosen. I need her to find her true self once more.

Jess is a single mother to two teenage children, and although life can be tough, she’s just about keeping things together. But when her landlord asks her to move on so he can sell the house they’re living in without warning, Jess’ worries take on a whole new meaning. As Jess struggles to regain her footing, cracks begin to appear in other areas of her life, and suddenly she feels she’s failing at everything. 

1910, Edinburgh. Young seamstress Maisie McIntyre's world shatters with her mother's death. Desperate to escape the grinding poverty that has defined her life so far, Maisie makes a daring choice: she steals a bolt of peacock-blue silk, a stash of money, and sails for New York City. With nothing but raw talent and fierce determination, Maisie's gift for dressmaking opens doors she never imagined.

It all starts on New Year's Eve. A night that has to be a success, whatever the cost. For Joni and her friends, it'll be a party that promises all the high stakes and glamour of any other, but by sunrise, they'll be dealing with something darker than the usual post-party comedown. Not that they let this stand in their way. For this is their year to revel in all that the playground of London has to offer: sneaking into places they shouldn't, breaking every rule, falling in love with the wrong people. All the while avoiding one undeniable truth: it's not if the party ends, it's how.

Quand Martin Jobard, un enfant du pays devenu haut fonctionnaire à Paris, décide de revenir briguer la mairie de son village normand et de moderniser le réseau d'eau potable, il trouve sur son chemin Maria, la joyeuse et idéaliste tenancière de l'épicerie, qui défend la source des anciens. La lutte qui s'engage va éveiller, chez les habitants, le pire comme le meilleur.

This richly imagined collage of interconnected stories follows Prosperous and Agu and the motley community of Nigerian expats who gather at their apartment each week. Their reality is one of dashed hopes, twisted love, and the pain of homesickness, even as they fight to make their way in this new world. Better Never than Late is a layered and affecting portrayal of the everyday absurdities and adversities of migrant life. 

Sophie and Tom first visited Paris together as students. During their weekend away in the world’s most romantic city, falling in love – with the place, and each other – was simply inevitable. They resolved to return every summer and kept their word, until something happened that changed their world forever.

If there's one thing the characters in Jennifer Makumbi's stories know, it's how to field an uncomfortable question. But perhaps the most difficult question of all is the one they ask themselves: 'You mean this is England?' Told with empathy, humour and compassion, these vibrant, kaleidoscopic stories re-imagine the journey of Ugandans who choose to make England their home. Weaving between Manchester and Kampala, this dazzling collection will captivate anyone who has ever wondered what it means to truly belong.

When Will wakes up after a car accident, he’s lost three years of memory. All he wants is his girlfriend and childhood sweetheart, Gem, beside him. Instead, nothing is as he remembers. Gem has finally moved on from hers and Will’s breakup. With a new life and boyfriend, the last thing she expects is a call to say Will needs her – the man who nearly destroyed her. As Will recovers, he is determined to prove to Gem that he is the man he once was. But by unlocking the secrets of his past, will he be able to piece together what caused him to change so dramatically?

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of All the Good Things by Clare Fisher, read by Emily Atack. Twenty-one year old Beth is in prison. The thing she did is so bad she doesn't deserve ever to feel good again. But her counsellor, Erika, won't give up on her. She asks...

Brought to you by Penguin. Seamus, Fyodor, Ivan, Noah and Fatima are running out of time to decide on their futures, in the new novel from the Booker-shortlisted author of Real Life. In a university town, a circle of lovers and friends navigate tangled webs of connection while they try to work...

Can she write her own love story? ‘This was just a cute and fun book to read! I loved the sweet love story that came together. Wonderfully done!’ READER REVIEW⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Would highly recommend.’ READER REVIEW⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Jess is a passionate book blogger whose career is going from...

The dark, doomy humour of Care of Wooden Floors mixed with the fantastical, anarchic sense of possibility of The Way Inn, brought together in a fast moving story set in contemporary London. Jack Bick is an interview journalist at a glossy lifestyle magazine. From his office window he can see a black column of smoke in the sky, the result of an industrial accident on the edge of the city. When Bick goes from being a high-functioning alcoholic to being a non-functioning alcoholic, his life goes into freefall, the smoke a harbinger of truth, an omen of personal apocalypse.