Royal Borough of Windsor and
Maidenhead Libraries
Reading Group Book Collection Titles
*All page numbers are approximate
Half of a Yellow Sun
448 pages*
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Set in Nigeria during the 1960s, this novel contains three main characters who get
swept up in the violence during these turbulent years. It is about Africa, about the
end of colonialism, about class and race, and the ways in which love can complicate
these things.
Purple Hibiscus
358 pages
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili's father, involved in
mysterious ways with the unfolding political crisis, sends Kambili and her brother
away to their aunt's. Here she discovers love and a life - dangerous and heathen beyond the confines of her father's authority.
Poppy Shakespeare
341 pages
Clare Allan
When Poppy Shakespeare walks into the Dorothy Fish Day Hospital in her six-inch
skirt & 12-inch heels, she is certain she isn't mentally ill & is desperate to return to
her life outside. Together with another patient, Poppy plots to gain freedom. But in a
world where everything's upside-down, is she crazy enough to upset the system?
Somewhere Towards the End
182 pages
Diana Athill
This book tells the story of what it means to be old: how the pleasure of sex ebbs,
how the joy of gardening grows, how much there is to remember, to forget, to
regret, to forgive - and how one faces the inevitable fact of death.
Oryx and Crake
433 pages
Margaret Atwood
Pigs might not fly but they are strangely altered. So, for that matter, are wolves and
racoons. A man, once named Jimmy, lives in a tree, wrapped in old bedsheets, now
calls himself Snowman. The voice of Oryx, the woman he loved, teasingly haunts
him. And the green-eyed Children of Crake are, for some reason, his responsibility.
The Handmaid’s Tale
324 pages
Margaret Atwood
The Republic of Gilead allows Offred only one function - to breed. If she deviates, she
will, like all dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation
sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor
that of the two men on whom her future hangs.
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Longbourn
447 pages
Jo Baker
It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are
chapped and bleeding. Domestic life below stairs, ruled tenderly and forcefully by
Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman
smelling of the sea, and bearing secrets. For in Georgian England, there is a world
the young ladies in the drawing room will never know, a world of poverty, love, and
brutal war.
Penguin’s Poems for Life
416 pages
Laura Barber (Ed.)
Ranging from Chaucer to Carol Ann Duffy, via Shakespeare, Keats, and Lemn Sissay,
this book offers something for each of those moments in life - whether falling in love,
finding your first grey hair or saying your final goodbyes - when only a poem will do.
The Sense of an Ending
150 pages
Julian Barnes
Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and bookhungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations,
in-jokes, rumour and wit. They all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is in
middle age and he is finding that memory is imperfect.
On Canaan’s Side
340 pages
Sebastian Barry
Narrated by Lilly Bere, 'On Canaan's Side' opens as she mourns the loss of her
grandson, Bill. The story then goes back to the moment she was forced to flee Sligo,
at the end of the First World War, and follows her life through into the new world of
America, a world filled with hope and danger.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
325 pages
Aimee Bender
When 9-year-old Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's home-made lemon chocolate
cake, to her horror, she discovers she can taste her mother's emotions in the slice.
And her mother - her cheerful, can-do mother - tastes of despair and desperation.
Suddenly food becomes perilous.
Turn Again Home
405 pages
Carol Birch
A story of ambition and opportunity, providence and survival, that explores a family's
bond of unspoken love and loyalty. Beginning in Manchester in 1930, it follows Nell,
who grows up to work in a factory, and her younger brother, Bobby, who finds
himself fighting in the jungles of Malaya.
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Jamrach’s Menagerie
348 pages
Carol Birch
Jaffy Brown is running through the London backstreets when he comes face to face
with an escaped circus animal. His life is transformed by the encounter. Plucked from
the jaws of death by Mr Jamrach, the two strike up a friendship. Before he knows it,
Jaffy finds himself on board a ship bound for the South Seas.
A Street Cat Named Bob
279 pages
James Bowen
The moving, uplifting true story of an unlikely friendship between a man on the
streets and the ginger cat who adopts him and helps him heal his life.
Any Human Heart
503 pages
William Boyd
This is the story of Logan Mountstuart, told through his journals. His travels take the
reader from Uruguay to Oxford, Paris, the Bahamas, New York and Africa. This is the
story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.
Restless
325 pages
William Boyd
What happens to your life when everything you thought you knew about your mother
turns out to be an elaborate lie? Ruth Gilmartin discovers the strange and haunting
truth about her mother, Sally, during the long hot summer of 1976
The Sixth Lamentation
433 pages
William Brodrick
A man arrives at Larkwood Monastery claiming sanctuary. Eduard Schwermann is
accused of Nazi war crimes: the chances are he is stained with blood, but politics
demand that Larkwood shelter him. Father Anselm is given the task of finding out
more about Shwermann's crimes.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
432 pages
Anne Bronte
This is the story of a woman's struggle for independence. Helen Huntingdon has
returned to Wildfell Hall in flight from a disastrous marriage. Exiled to the desolate
moorland mansion, she adopts an assumed name and earns her living as the painter,
Mrs Graham.
The Children’s Book
617 pages
A.S. Byatt
A panoramic novel of family secrets, set against a backdrop of a bohemian, artistic
late Victorian and Edwardian world, and with real commercial as well as literary
potential, about the damage wrought by writers of children's books on their children
- about predators and innocents, war and peace, art and society.
Perdita
477 pages
Paula Byrne
A portrait of one of the most flamboyant women of the late 18th century. Mary
Robinson was married, at age 14, to Thomas Robinson. His lifestyle soon landed the
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couple and their baby in debtor's prison, where Mary wrote her first book of poetry.
On her release, she became one of the most popular actresses of her day.
Notes from a Small Island
351 pages
Bill Bryson
In Notes From a Small Island, Bryson, who moved to England from the USA
seventeen years ago and settled in North Yorkshire with his family, turns an
affectionate but ironic eye on his adopted country.
The Family Tree
480 pages
Carole Cadwalladr
This is the story of a woman who looks back at her family history, from 1940s
Yorkshire, to 1970s suburbia, to her present-day marriage to a geneticist, and comes
to terms with her own mother's breakdown and the heriditary dysfunctional gene she
might be carrying.
The Winter Crown
483 pages
Elizabeth Chadwick
It is the winter of 1154 and Eleanor, Queen of England, is biding her time. While her
husband King Henry II battles for land across the channel, Eleanor fulfils her duty as
acting ruler and bearer of royal children. But she wants to be more than this - if only
Henry would let her. Instead, Henry belittles and excludes her, falling for a young
mistress and leaving Eleanor sidelined and angry. Frustrated at Henry's hoarding of
power, Eleanor is forced into a rebellion of devastating consequences.
The Good Father
380 pages
Diane Chamberlain
Four years ago, 19-year-old Travis made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on
his own. While his friends were partying, Travis was at home, worrying about
keeping food on the table. So far he's kept her safe and never regretted his decision
for a second. But now he's lost his job, his home and the money in his wallet is all he
has.
Remarkable Creatures
352 pages
Tracy Chevalier
In the year of the 150th anniversary of 'Origin of the Species', set in a town where
Jane Austen was a frequent visitor, Tracy Chevalier once again shows her uncanny
sense for the topical.
The Last Runaway
386 pages
Tracy Chevalier
When Quaker Honor Bright sails from Bristol with her sister, she is fleeing heartache
for a new life in America, far from home. But tragedy leaves her alone and
vulnerable, torn between two worlds and dependent on the kindness of strangers,
and life in 1850s Ohio is precarious and unsentimental.
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Gold
366 pages
Chris Cleave
"Gold" is about the limits of human endurance, both physical and emotional. It will
make you cry. It is about what drives us to succeed - and what we choose to
sacrifice for success. It will make you feel glad to be alive. It is about the struggles
we all face every day.
The Rain Before it Falls
277 pages
Jonathan Coe
Rosamund lies dying in her remote Shropshire home. But before she does so, she
has one last task: to put on tape not just her own story but the story of a young
blind girl, her cousin's granddaughter, who turned up mysteriously at a party many
years ago. This is a story of generations, & of the relationships within a family.
Quarantine
242 pages
Jim Crace
From the author of Continent, Arcadia and The Gift of Stones, Quarantine is the story
of Christ and his five companions fasting in the wilderness. Jim Crace's novel
provides a modern account of the birth - and death - of faith itself.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
184 pages
Sijie Dai
Without betraying the truth of what happened, Dai Sijie transforms the bleak events
of China's Cultural Revolution into an enchanting and unexpected story about the
resilience of the human spirit and the magical power of great storytelling.
The Welsh Girl
343 pages
Peter Ho Davies
This novel traces a perilous wartime romance as it explores the bonds of love and
duty that hold us to family, country, and ultimately, our fellow man.
The Fishing Fleet: Husband Hunting in the Raj
335 pages
Anne de Courcy
From the late 19th century, when the Raj was at its height, many of Britain's best
and brightest young men went out to India to work. Countless young women,
suffering at the lack of eligible men, followed in their wake. The women were known
as 'the fishing fleet', and this text is their story.
The Inheritance of Loss
324 pages
Kiran Desai
At the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas lives an embittered old judge
who wants nothing more than to retire in peace. With the arrival of his orphaned
granddaughter, and his cook's son hopscotching from one New York restaurant to
another, trying to stay ahead of the US immigration services, this is far from easy.
Wait For Me
370 pages
Deborah Devonshire
Deborah Devonshire is a natural writer with a knack for the telling phrase and for
hitting the nail on the head. She tells the story of her upbringing, lovingly and wittily
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describing her parents, she talks candidly about her brother and sisters, finally
setting the record straight.
Hard Times
229 pages
Charles Dickens
Unusually for Dickens, the novel is set in the imaginary industrial town of Coketown,
the soulless domain of the strict Gradgind and the heartless factory owner
Bounderby. Human joy is seen as the open-hearted and affectionate people act as an
antidote to the ruthless behaviour Dickens presents.
Room
321 pages
Emma Donoghue
It's Jack's birthday and he's excited about turning five. Jack lives with his Ma in
Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures 11 feet by 11 feet. He
loves watching TV but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real. Until the
day Ma admits that there's a world outside.
The Secrets Between Us
457 pages
Louise Douglas
When Sarah meets dark, brooding Alex, she grasps his offer of a new life miles away
from her own. They've both recently escaped broken relationships, and need to start
again. Why not do it together? But something doesn't add up about the
disappearance of Alex's beautiful wife, Genevieve. Does he know more than he's
letting on.
Jamaica Inn
320 pages
Daphne Du Maurier
Her mother's dying request takes Mary Yellan on a sad journey across the bleak
moorland of Cornwall to reach Jamaica Inn, the home of her Aunt Patience. With the
coachman's warning echoing in her memory, Mary arrives to find Patience a changed
woman, cowering from her overbearing husband, Joss Merlyn.
The Birth of Venus
416 pages
Sarah Dunant
Set in 15th-century Florence, this is a novel of mystery, history, politics and passion.
14-year-old Alessandra's love of art and her lively independence lure her into a world
of all sorts of taboos. She must make crucial decisions about her life, as Florence
itself must choose its future path.
The Greatcoat
255 pages
Helen Dunmore
In the winter of 1952, newly wed Isabel Carey arrives in a Yorkshire town with her
husband Philip. As a GP he spends much of his time working, while Isabel tries hard
to adjust to the realities of married life. One cold night, Isabel finds an old RAF
greatcoat in the back of a cupboard. She puts it on her bed for warmth - and is
startled by a knock at her window. Outside is a young man. A pilot. And he wants to
come in.
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The Lie
294 pages
Helen Dunmore
Cornwall, 1920, early spring. A young man stands on a headland, looking out to sea.
He is back from the war, homeless and without family. Behind him lie the mud,
barbed-wire entanglements and terror of the trenches. Behind him is also the most
intense relationship of his life. Daniel has survived, but the horror and passion of the
past seem more real than the quiet fields around him. He is about to step into the
unknown. But will he ever be able to escape the terrible, unforeseen consequences of
a lie?
You Shall Know Our Velocity
350 pages
Dave Eggers
Two young Americans decide to travel around the world handing over large amounts
of money to those who need it. This trip will, they hope, be an answer to the
overwhelming grief they feel after their friend's death. But, as they soon find out,
nothing is quite so simple.
Daniel Deronda
675 pages
George Eliot
Gwendolene Harleth marries for money and power rather than love, but finds
marriage a trap and her husband's sadistic use of power constricting. The upperclass Victorian society in which she moves is juxtaposed with that of the hero, Daniel
Deronda, whose influence is a redemptive force.
Engleby
342 pages
Sebastian Faulks
Mike Engleby says things that others dare not even think. When the novel opens in
the 1970's, he is a university student, having survived a 'traditional' school. A man
devoid of scruple or self-pity, Engleby provides a witheringly frank account of English
education.
Mad About The Boy
388 pages
Helen Fielding
Mad About The Boy - What do you do when a girlfriend's 60th birthday party is the
same day as your boyfriend's 30th? Is it wrong to lie about your age when online
dating? Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head
lice? Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant? Is technology now the
fifth element? Or is that wood? Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks
of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter
writing in Jane Austen's day? Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget
Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and
redisovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call 'middle
age'.
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Agincourt
336 pages
Ranulph Fiennes
25 October 2015 is the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt - a hugely
resonant event in English (and French) history. Sir Ranulph Fiennes casts new light
on this epic event, revealing that three of his own ancestors fought in the battle for
Henry V, and at least one for the French.
I Do Not Sleep
368 pages
Judy Finnigan
Five years ago, Molly Gabriel lost her 20-year-old son, Joey, to a terrible sailing
accident. His empty boat was found washed ashore on the rocks - but his body was
never found. Now, Molly has returned to the sands of Cornwall haunted by his
disappearance, unable to accept he is gone. Joey was an experienced sailor and died
on a calm sea - things just don't add up and Molly cannot let it go. Desperate for
answers she turns to Joey's best friend, Ben, to go back to what really happened that
day.
Tender is the Night
320 pages
F. Scott Fitzgerald
'Tender is the Night' is based upon the author's unhappy marriage, and was written
as he was experiencing the tragedies of his wife's nervous breakdown and his own
decline.
The Great Gatsby
148 pages
F. Scott Fitzgerald
A social satire and a milestone in 20th century literature, 'The Great Gatsby' peels
away the layers of the glamorous twenties in the U.S. to display the coldness and
cruelty at its heart.
Keeping the World Away
338 pages
Margaret Forster
Following the fictional adventures of an early 20th century painting, this novel also
looks at the women whose lives it touches, and what it means to be a woman and an
artist.
Over
200 pages
Margaret Forster
Liverpool, 1945. Three women, strong friends, return home from the war trying to fit
back into their old lives after they've been demobbed. They've been thrown together
by the war and shared all sorts of good and bad times. Now their old lives seem dull
in comparison, but not for long.
The Jane Austen Book Club
288 pages
Karen Joy Fowler
Six people meet once a month to discuss Jane Austen's novels. Over the six months
they meet marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become
suitable, and under the guiding eye of Jane Austen, some of them even fall in love.
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Must You Go
328 pages
Antonia Fraser
A unique testimony to modern literature's most celebrated and enduring marriage.
Spies
240 pages
Michael Frayn
There is very little evidence of the war where Keith and Stephen live. But the friends
suspect the inhabitants of the close aren't what they seem. As Keith informs his
trusting friend, the district is riddled with secret passages. They find themselves
engulfed in mysteries deeper than they had imagined.
Skios
278 pages
Michael Frayn
On the Greek island of Skios, the Fred Toppler Foundation's annual lecture is to be
given by the young and charming Dr Norman Wilfred, an authority on science. The
Foundation's guests are soon eating out of his hand. Meanwhile, in a remote villa at
the other end of the island is a balding old gent called Dr Norman Wilfred.
The Dissident
427 pages
Nell Freudenberger
Set in Los Angeles and Beijing, 'The Dissident' tells the story of a life in flux and a
family near breaking point - and what happens when the two collide.
Notes from an Exhibition
The Cuckoo’s Calling
Patrick Gale
449 pages
Robert Galbraith
A gripping, elegant mystery steeped in the atmosphere of London. A war veteran
wounded both physically and psychologically, Cormoran Strike's life is in disarray.
The case gives him a lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost. The more he delves
into the model's complex world, the darker things get.
The Other Boleyn Girl
531 pages
Phillipa Gregory
This historical novel is set in the court of King Henry VIII. Mary Boleyn attracts the
attention of the young king and becomes his mistress. When he tires of her, she sets
out to school her sister, Anne, as a replacement.
The White Princess
527 pages
Phillipa Gregory
The beautiful eldest daughter of Edward IV, the young princess Elizabeth faces a
conflict of loyalties between the red rose and the white. Forced into marriage with
Henry VII, she must reconcile her slowly growing love for him with her loyalty to the
House of York, and choose between her mother's rebellion and her husband's
tyranny.
Tempting Fate
395 pages
Jane Green
When Gabby first met Elliott she knew he was the man for her. In twenty years of
marriage she has never doubted her love for him - even when he refused to give her
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the one thing she still wants most of all. But now their two daughters are growing up
Gabby feels that time and her youth are slipping away. For the first time in her life
she is restless. And then she meets Matt. Intoxicated by the way this young,
handsome and successful man makes her feel, Gabby is momentarily blind to what
she stands to lose on this dangerous path. And in one reckless moment she destroys
all that she holds dear.
Brighton Rock
269 pages
Graham Greene
A gang war is raging in Brighton. Pinkie is 17 and fighting for leadership. He has
already proved his ruthlessness by killing Hale, a journalist. But he isn't prepared for
the courageous Ida Arnold who is determined to avenge Hale's death.
The Secret River
349 pages
Kate Grenville
Following a childhood marked by poverty and petty crime in the slums of London,
William Thornhill is sentenced in 1806 to be transported to New South Wales for the
term of his natural life. With his wife and children, he arrives in a harsh land to a life
that feels like a death sentence.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
353 pages
Xiaolu Guo
What happens when a Chinese woman falls in love with an Englishman and realises
that learning the language doesn't necessarily lead to understanding? Funny, sexy,
romantic and sad, 'A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers' is a love story for
the modern age.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
271 pages
Mark Haddon
A murder mystery like no other, this novel features Christopher Boone, a 15 year-old
who suffers from Asperger's syndrome. When he finds a neighbour's dog murdered,
he sets out on a journey which will turn his whole world upside down.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
209 pages
Moshin Hamid
At a café table in Lahore, a Pakistani man converses with a stranger. As dusk
deepens to dark, he begins the tale that has brought him to this fateful meeting.
Painter of Silence
312 pages
Georgina Harding
An intimate and devastating portrait of Romania during and after the Second World
War, through the prism of a moving and utterly original friendship.
An Officer and a Spy
483 pages
Robert Harris
Paris, January 1895. Army officer Georges Picquart witnesses a convicted spy,
Captain Alfred Dreyfus, being humiliated in front of 20,000 spectators baying 'Death
to the Jew!' The officer is promoted and put in command of shadowy intelligence
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unit, the Statistical Section. The spy is shipped off to a lifetime of solitary
confinement on Devil's Island and his case seems closed forever. But gradually
Picquart comes to believe there is something rotten at the heart of the Statistical
Section.
Notes on a Scandal
256 pages
Zoe Heller
When Sheba arrives Barbara senses that she will be different from the rest of her
staff-room colleagues. Sure enough Sheba starts an affair with a pupil and is caught.
When all the dust settles and Sheba's life falls apart, Barbara is there for her even if
she can't condone her sexual behaviour.
The Junior Officer’s Reading Club
329 pages
Patrick Hennessey
Written in spare and lucid prose, this title describes with alarming vividness not only
the frenetic violence of a soldier's life, but the periods of stifling and (sometimes)
comic boredom, living inside an institution in a state of flux, an Army caught
between a world that needs it and a society that no longer understands it.
A Long Lunch: My Stories & I’m Sticking to Them 312 pages Simon Hoggart
This title presents a host of memories from Simon Hoggart's 40-plus years in
journalism. Simon reveals what Alan Clark said about Melvyn Bragg, what really
happened at the Lady Chatterley trial, what Cherie Blair said to him and how he
riposted, as well as the time John Sergeant drove a flight attendant to a fury.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
372 pages
Khaled Hosseini
'A Thousand Splendid Suns' is a chronicle of Afghan history, and a deeply moving
story of family, friendship, and the salvation to be found in love.
The Kite Runner
324 pages
Khaled Hosseini
Winter, 1975: Afghanistan, a country on the verge of an internal coup. 12-year-old
Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father, one of the richest merchants in
Kabul. He's failed to do so through academia or brawn but the one area they connect
is the annual kite fighting tournament.
And The Mountains Echoed
404 pages
Khaled Hosseini
A multi-generational family story revolving around brothers and sisters, 'And the
Mountains Echoed' explores the ways in which they love, wound, betray, honour and
sacrifice for each other.
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Brave New World
229 pages
Aldous Huxley
The World Controllers have created the ideal society. Genetic science has brought
the human race to perfection. From the Alpha-Plus mandarin class to the Epsilon
Semi-Morons, man is bred and educated to be content with his pre-destined role.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
636 pages
John Irving
Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend,
New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen doesn't
believe in accidents; he believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after
that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying.
The Separation
400 pages
Dinah Jeffries
1953, the eve of the Cartwright's departure from Malaya. 11-year-old Emma can't
understand why they're leaving without their mother; why her taciturn father is
refusing to answer questions. Lydia arrives home to an empty house - there's no sign
of her husband Alec or her daughters. Panic stricken, she embarks on a dangerous
journey to find them through the hot and civil-war-torn Malayan jungle - one that
only the power of a mother's love can help her survive.
Three Men in a Boat
248 pages
Jerome K. Jerome
Harris, George and J. are three Victorian idlers. They decide a change of scene is
called for from their usual lethargic routine. And why not a trip up the Thames in an
open boat? They soon realise their idyll isn't quite what they bargained for.
Mudbound
328 pages
Hillary Jordan
City-bred Laura, having turned 30, gives up all hope of ever getting married, until
Henry McAllan enters her life. After a brief courtship they marry & start building a life
together. They are blessed with two children & live a comfortable life, but Henry
dreams of land & the family farm that was lost by his father.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
296 pages
Rachel Joyce
When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering
upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the
other. He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile
phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else's life.
A Boy at the Hogarth Press
84 pages
Richard Kennedy
In 1928, after a rather unsuccessful education at Marlborough College, 16-year-old
Richard Kennedy was put firmly under the wing of Leonard Woolf as his new protégé
at the Woolfs' publishing house. Some 40 years later, and by then a professional
illustrator, he wrote his recollections of his time with Virginia and Leonard Woolf.
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English Passengers
480 pages
Matthew Kneale
Determined to prove the literal truth of the Bible, the Reverend Wilson sets out from
England, in the summer of 1857, to find the Garden of Eden, convinced it lies on the
island of Tasmania. Unknown to him, others in his party have very different agendas.
The Dinner
309 pages
Herman Koch
A summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable
restaurant. Between mouthfuls of food, the conversation remains a gentle hum. Yet
behind the empty words terrible things need to be said and with every forced smile
the knives are being sharpened.
The Constant Gardener
570 pages
John Le Carre
The young and beautiful Tessa Quayle has been horribly murdered on the shores of
Lake Turkana. Her African lover has vanished, and her husband, Justin, a career
diplomat and amateur gardener, sets out in pursuit of the killers and their motive.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
229 pages
John Le Carre
An agent, desperate to end his career as a spy during the Cold War, is caught up in a
breathlessly perilous assignment to come in from the cold and re-enter the West.
Small Island
533 pages
Andrea Levy
Returning to England after the war Gilbert Joseph is treated very differently now that
he is no longer in an RAF uniform. Joined by his wife Hortense, he rekindles a
friendship with Queenie who takes in Jamaican lodgers. Can their dreams of a better
life in England overcome the prejudice they face?
The Long Song
312 pages
Andrea Levy
Set in Jamaica during the last turbulent years of slavery and the early years of
freedom that followed, this novel follows the life of July, a slave girl, who lives upon
a sugar plantation named Amity.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
325 pages
Marina Lewycka
For years, Nadezhda and Vera have had as little as possible to do with each other.
But now they find they'd better learn how to get along, because since their mother's
death their ageing father has been sliding into his second childhood, and an alarming
new woman has just entered his life.
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Sister
359 pages
Rosamund Lupton
What would you do if your sister disappeared without a trace? This is an emotionally
fraught and at some times terrifying story about two sisters and the strength that
binds them.
Beyond Black
384 pages
Hilary Mantel
Alison is a medium. But what she hears is sometimes just too dark to pass on. She
mostly tells her clients what they want to hear. Colette, her manager and side-kick,
makes the bookings and gets Alison on stage. And then there's Morris, Alison's foulmouthed and obscene Spirit Guide.
Atonement
371 pages
Ian McEwan
Atonement is the novel for which Ian McEwan will always be remembered.
Enthralling in its depiction of childhood, love and war, class and England, at its
centre is a profound and profoundly moving exploration of shame and forgiveness.
On Chesil Beach
166 pages
Ian McEwan
It is July 1962. In a hotel on the Dorset coast, overlooking Chesil Beach, Edward and
Florence, who got married that morning, are sitting down to dinner in their room.
Neither is entirely able to suppress their anxieties about the wedding night to come.
Snowdrops
273 pages
Andrew Miller
'Snowdrops' is a chilling story of love and moral freefall - of the corruption, by a
corrupt society, of a corruptible young man. It is taut, intense and has a momentum
as irresistible to the reader as the moral danger that first enchants, then threatens to
overwhelm, its narrator.
The Song of Achilles
352 pages
Madeline Miller
This is a breathtakingly original rendering of the Trojan War - a devastating love
story and a tale of gods and kings, immortal fame and the human heart.
A Fine Balance
614 pages
Rohinton Mistry
In the tiny flat of the widowed Dina Dalal, Ishvar and Omprakesh Darji, tailors who
have been forced from the country into the city, and young student Maneck Kohlah
are painfully putting together a new life, and making a family of sorts amidst crisis.
Black Swan Green
294 pages
David Mitchell
Jason Taylor is 13, doomed to be growing up in the most boring family in the
deadest village in the dullest county in the most tedious nation on earth. This book
follows 13 months in his life as he negotiates the pitfalls of school and home and
contends with bullies, girls and politics.
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Cloud Atlas
529 pages
David Mitchell
A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850, and a young Pacific Islander
witnessing the nightfall of science and civilization - these and the other narrators of
'Cloud Atlas' hear each other's echoes down the corridor of history, and their
destinies are changed in ways great and small.
These Foolish Things
336 pages
Deborah Moggach
Enticed by advertisements for a newly restored palatial hotel and filled with visions of
a life of leisure, good weather and mango juice in their gin, a group of very different
people leave England to begin a new life in India
A Mercy
165 pages
Toni Morrison
Set in America in the 1680s, 'A Mercy' reveals what lies under the surface of slavery.
At its heart, this is the ambivalent, disturbing story of a mother and a daughter - a
mother who cuts off her daughter, to save her, and a daughter who may never
exorcise that abandonment.
Beloved
275 pages
Toni Morrison
It's the mid-1800s. At Sweet Home in Kentucky, an era is ending as slavery comes
under attack from the abolitionists. The worlds of Halle & Paul D. are to be destroyed
in a cataclysm of agony & torment. The world of Sethe is to turn to violence & death.
Me Before You
480 pages
Jo Jo Moyes
Lou Clark knows lots of things but she doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or
that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his
motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. What Will doesn't know is that Lou
is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour.
The View From Castle Rock
436 pages
Alice Munro
On a clear day, you could see 'America' from Edinburgh's Castle Rock - or so said
Alice Munro's great-great-great-grandfather, James Laidlaw, when he had taken
drink. This is the story of those Ettrick shepherds and their descendants, among
them the author herself.
The Tiger’s Wife
335 pages
Tea Obreht
Remembering stories her grandfather told her, Natalia becomes convinced he spent
his last days searching for 'the deathless man', a vagabond who claimed to be
immortal. As she struggles to understand why her grandfather would go on such a
farfetched journey, she stumbles across a clue that leads her to the story of the
tiger's wife.
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Instructions for a Heatwave
338 pages
Maggie O’Farrell
London, July 1976. It hasn't rained for months, and Robert Riordan tells his wife
Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back.
The search for Robert brings Gretta's children - two estranged sisters and a brother
on the brink of divorce - back home, each with different ideas as to where their
father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an
explanation that even now she cannot share.
Lullabies for Little Criminals
359 pages
Heather O’Neill
'Lullabies for Little Criminals' is Heather O'Neill's first novel about one girl's struggle
for survival on the mean streets of Montréal.
Foreign Bodies
255 pages
Cynthia Ozick
The collapse of her brief marriage has stalled Bea Nightingale's life. Leaving her
impoverished borough in 1950s New York, Bea escapes from the stigma of her
divorce when she answers a plea from her estranged brother. Now she has left for
Paris, to retrieve a nephew she barely knew.
Bel Canto
442 pages
Ann Patchett
By the author of 'The Magician's Assistant', the Orange Prize runner-up, this novel
features the combinatin of opera and terrorism. Latin terrorists storm an
international gathering, only to find that their intended target has failed to show up.
The Sunne In Splendour
1239 pages
Sharon Penman
Richard, last-born son of the Duke of York, was seven months short of his nineteenth
birthday when he bloodied himself at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, earning
his legendary reputation as a battle commander and ending the Lancastrian line of
succession. But Richard was far more than a warrior schooled in combat. He was also
a devoted brother, an ardent suitor, a patron of the arts, an indulgent father, a
generous friend. Above all, he was a man of fierce loyalties, great courage and firm
principles, who was ill at ease among the intrigues of Edward's court.
All Quiet on the Western Front
216 pages
Erich Maria Remarque
This World War I novel is a German author's attempt to tell of a generation of men
who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war. It is
narrated through the eyes of an "unknown soldier" in the trenches of Flanders.
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Sarah’s Key
293 pages
Tatiana D Rosnay
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is arrested with her family by the French
police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a
cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
The Casual Vacancy
503 pages
J K Rowling
When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early 40s, the little town of Pagford
is left in shock. The empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the
catalyst for the biggest war the town has ever seen. Who will triumph in an election
fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
Dominion
592 pages
C J Sansom
At once a startling, sinister reimagining of 1950s Britain and a gripping, humane spy
thriller, with 'Dominion' C.J. Sansom once again asserts himself as the master of the
historical thriller.
That Woman
344 pages
Anne Sebba
Historian Anne Sebba has written the first full biography by a woman of Wallis
Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, which attempts to understand this fascinating and
enigmatic American divorcee who nearly became Queen of England.
Leviathan
530 pages
David Scott
David Scott's 'Leviathan' is a fully comprehensive study covering this significant
period in British history that challenges many of the long-held beliefs and ideas
about our ancestry, and appeals to the scholarly and general audience alike.
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society 248 pages Mary Ann Shaffer
It's January, 1946, and writer Juliet Ashton sits at her desk, vainly seeking a subject
for her next book. Out of the blue, she receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams of
Guernsey - by chance, he's acquired a secondhand book that once belonged to Juliet
- and, spurred on by their mutual love of Charles Lamb, they begin a
correspondence.
The Lives of Stella Bain
264 pages
Anita Shreve
Hauled in a cart to a field hospital in northern France in March 1916, an American
woman wakes from unconsciousness to the smell of gas gangrene, the sounds of
men in pain, and an almost complete loss of memory: she knows only that she can
drive an ambulance, she can draw, and her name is Stella Bain. A stateless woman
in a lawless country, Stella embarks on a journey to reconstruct her life. Suffering an
agonising and inexplicable array of symptoms, she finds her way to London. There,
Dr August Bridge, a cranial surgeon turned psychologist, is drawn to tracking her
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amnesia to its source. What brutality was she fleeing when she left the tranquil
seclusion of a New England college campus to serve on the Front; for what crime did
she need to atone - and whom did she leave behind?
We Need to Talk About Kevin
482 pages
Lionel Shriver
Who is to blame for teenage atrocity? Narrator Eva Khatchadourian's son, Kevin,
murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and the muchloved teacher who tried to befriend him. This novel is an examination of the effect
tragedy has on a town, a marriage and a family.
On the Beach
312 pages
Nevil Shute
Australia is one of the last places where life still exists after nuclear war starts.
Commander Dwight Towers and his Australian liason officer is sent to the coast of
North America to discover whether a stray radio signal is a sign of life.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
127 pages
Muriel Sparks
Miss Brodie is a teacher who exerts a powerful influence over the group of 'special
girls' at the Marcia Blaine School. Each is famous for something & are initiated into a
world of adult games & extra-curricular activities they will never forget.
On Beauty
446 pages
Zadie Smith
When Howard Belsey's oldest son Jerome falls for Victoria, the stunning daughter of
the right-wing Monty Kipps, both families find themselves thrown together, enacting
a cultural and personal war against each other.
Child 44
473 pages
Tom Robb Smith
Set in the Soviet Union in 1953, Tom Rob Smith's debut novel is both a thriller and a
harrowing portrayal of the terror inflicted upon people by their own governments. An
officer of the Ministry of State Security risks everything - even becoming an enemy
of the state - to find a killer.
Burying the Bones
340 pages
Hilary Spurling
A portrait of the extraordinary childhood of the best-selling but now forgotten Nobel
and Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Pearl Buck.
The Help
444 pages
Kathryn Stockett
Aibileen is a black maid, raising her 17th white child, but with a bitter heart after the
death of her son. Minny is the sassiest woman in Mississippi. Skeeter is a white
woman with a degree but no ring on her finger. Seemingly as different as can be,
these women will come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at
risk.
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The Kitchen God’s Wife
415 pages
Amy Tan
Focusing on the life of one woman, this book spans the years from pre-Revolutionary
China to present day America. It covers the themes of cultural differences, the
problems of exile, the generation gap and above all the special relationship between
mothers and daughters.
Vaclav and Lena
292 pages
Hayley Tanner
Vaclav and Lena seem destined for each other. They meet as children in an ESL class
in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Vaclav is precocious and verbal. Lena, struggling with
English, takes comfort in the safety of his adoration, his noisy, loving home, and the
care of Rasia, his big-hearted mother. Vaclav imagines their story unfolding like a
fairy tale, or the perfect illusion from his treasured Magician’s Almanac, but among
the many truths to be discovered in Haley Tanner’s wondrous debut is that happily
ever after is never a foregone conclusion.
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont
205 pages
Elizabeth Taylor
On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs Palfrey arrives at the
Claremont Hotel, where she will spend the rest of her days. She encounters the
handsome young writer, Ludo, and learns that even the old can fall in love.
Mosquito
256 pages
Roma Tearne
'Mosquito' is an epic tale about tender love shattered by the destructive forces of civil
war.
The Daughter of Time
224 pages
Josephine Tey
This work is Josephine Tey's search for the truth about the murder of the Princes in
the Tower. Was Richard III the monster the history books have portrayed? The
search takes the form of a crime novel featuring Inspector Alan Grant.
Bring Me Home
308 pages
Alan Titchmarsh
'You really are the perfect family, aren't you?' Charlie Stuart, the owner of a Scottish
castle and disappointed father of a brood of grown-up children, took in the full irony
of his guest's comment at a Sunday house party. His family - and his life - were far
from perfect. He had longed since childhood to inherit the Castle on the loch. He had
fallen in love with the landscape and the wildlife that surrounded it and looked
forward to the responsibilities that came with it, but his mother's devastating death
while he was away at school and his father's remarriage to an unwelcome
stepmother had swept away any easy path to fulfilling his destiny. Charlie has to
grow up quickly, but along with his inheritance and the discovery of the love of his
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life come unexpected complications that involve espionage, deceit and a mysterious
death.
Brooklyn
251 pages
Colm Toibin
In a small town in the south-east of Ireland in the 1950s, Eilis Lacey is among many
of her generation who cannot find work at home. So when she is offered a job in
America, she leaves her family to start a new life in Brooklyn, New York.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
323 pages
Paul Torday
An extraordinary, beguiling tale of fly-fishing and political spinning, of unexpected
heroism and late-blooming love, and of an attempt to prove the impossible, possible.
The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year
436 pages
Sue Townsend
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year' is a funny and touching novel about what
happens when someone refuses to be the person everyone expects them to be.
Frankie and Stankie
307 pages
Barbara Trapido
Dinah and her sister Lisa are growing up in South Africa in the fifties. It is at school
that Dinah first learns about racism. As we follow Dinah from childhood, through
adolescence and marriage, to voluntary exile in London, we get a vivid glimpse of
one of the darker passages of 20th century history.
Restoration
382 pages
Rose Tremain
Robert Merivel abandons his studies to revel in gluttony, indolence and buffoonery at
the Court of King Charles II. He is banished from Court after falling in love with the
youngest royal mistress.
The Colour
384 pages
Rose Tremain
'The Colour' is a sweeping saga of sacrifice and greed set during the mid-nineteenth
century gold rush in New Zealand.
The Road Home
365 pages
Rose Tremain
Lev is on his way to Britain to seek work, so that he can send money back to eastern
Europe to support his mother and little daughter. He struggles with the mysterious
rituals of 'Englishness', and the fashions and fads of the London scene. We see the
road Lev travels through his eyes, and we share his dilemmas.
The Warden
201 pages
Anthony Trollope
When John Bold decides to challenge corruption in the Church of England he sets the
whole town of Barchester ablaze with the consequences. This book is the study of
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conflicting loyalties and principles in a cathedral city where the gentle warden
becomes an unwilling focus of national controversy.
The Slap
485 pages
Christos Tsiolkas
Christos Tsiolkas presents an apparently harmless domestic incident as seen from
eight very different perspectives. The result is an unflinching interrogation of our
lives today; of the modern family and domestic life in the 21st century, a deeply
thought-provoking novel about boundaries and their limits.
Digging to America
288 pages
Anne Tyler
Dealing with themes such as belonging, pride, prejudice and love, this is the story of
two extended families who are brought together thanks to the arrival of two tiny
adopted Korean babies on the same night.
Noah’s Compass
277 pages
Anne Tyler
This is the story of a year in the life of Liam Pennywell, a man in his 61st year. A
classical pedant, he's just been 'let go' from his schoolteaching job and downsizes to
a tiny out-of-town apartment. When he goes to bed early and alone on the first
night, he wakes up in hospital unable to recall how he got there.
The Amateur Marriage
306 pages
Anne Tyler
Michael and Pauline seemed like the perfect couple - young, good-looking, made for
each other. The moment she walked into his mother's grocery store in Baltimore, he
was smitten. And in the heat of World War 2 fervour, they were hastily wed. Anne
Tyler captures the nuances of everyday life in this text.
The Ruby In Her Naval
327 pages
Barry Unsworth
Thurstan, a young Norman and would-be Knight at the Court of King Roger in
Palermo, has been in love since boyhood with Lady Alicia, now returned a widow
from the Holy Land. Thurstan soon finds himself caught in a tangle of plots, counterplots and deceptions that threaten to destroy him.
Cutting for Stone
Miss Garnet’s Angel
Abraham Verghese
342 pages
Sally Vickers
Miss Garnet's Angel is a voyage of discovery, a novel of Venice but also a rich story
of the explosive possibilities of change in all of us at any time.
The Hare With Amber Eyes
354 pages
Edmund de Waal
264 wood and ivory carvings of animals, plants and people, none of them larger than
a matchbox; apprentice potter Edmund de Waal was entranced by the collection
when he first encountered it in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie. When
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he inherited them, he discovered that they unlocked a story larger than he could
have imagined.
Fingersmith
416 pages
Sarah Waters
Set in 1860s London, this is the story of Susan, a pickpocket who is persuaded to
pose as a lady's maid and infiltrate the house of a young heiress. This novel explores
the nature of identity and what people do with disguise.
The Night Watch
506 pages
Sarah Waters
Set in 1940s London, this story follows four characters - Kay, Helen, Viv and Duncan
- as they deal with their everyday lives, set against the backdrop of World War Two.
Tiny Sunbirds Far Away
422 pages
Christie Watson
Set in the Niger Delta, 'Tiny Sunbirds Far Away' explores the world of 12-year-old
Blessing and her family. Part comic, part tragic, it shows that some families can
survive almost anything.
The Puppet Boy of Warsaw
324 pages
Eva Weaver
This is the story of Mika, a Jewish boy who inherits a coat from his grandfather and
discovers a puppet in one of its many secret pockets. He becomes a puppeteer in the
Warsaw ghetto, but when his talent is discovered, Mika is forced to entertain the
occupying German troops instead of his countrymen. It is also the story of Max, a
German soldier stationed in Warsaw, whose experiences in Poland and later in
Siberia's Gulag show a different side to the Second World War. As one of Mika's
puppets is passed to the soldier, a war-torn legacy is handed from one generation to
another.
The Marriage Game
419 pages
Alison Weir
The relationship between the young Elizabeth I and the dashing but married Lord
Robert Dudley is the most extraordinary and controversial of royal love affairs.
Whether the self-styled Virgin Queen and Robert, the son and grandson of traitors,
slept together or not was a pre-occupation of the court and their open flirtation,
whether or not it was consummated, very nearly cost Elizabeth the crown.
Stoner: A Novel
288 pages
John Williams
The son of a midwestern farmer, William Stoner comes to the University of Missouri
in 1910 to study agriculture. Stoner tells of love and conflict, passion and
responsibility against the backdrop of academic life in the early 20th century.
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When God Was a Rabbit
325 pages
Sarah Winman
This novel is a mesmerising portrait of childhood and growing up; the loss of
innocence, eccentricity and familial bonds. Stripped down to its bare bones, it's the
story of the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.
The Sisters Brothers
328 pages
Patrick deWitt
From the author of 'Ablutions', 'The Sisters Brothers' is an offbeat Western about a
reluctant assassin and his murderous brother who are on the trail of a man named
Hermann Kermit Warm. On the way, the brothers have a series of unsettling and
violent experiences in the Darwinian landscape of Gold Rush America.
Good News Bad News
356 pages
David Wolstencroft
Who could have guessed that a bureaucratic error would send two secret agents to
the same 'cover' job, working in a shabby photo-processing booth, where each must
keep his identity secret from the other while awaiting orders. On discovering the
mistake, the two men decide to go on the run together.
Lottery
310 pages
Patricia Wood
Perry's IQ is only 76, but he's not stupid. His grandmother taught him everything he
needs to know to survive. When Gram dies, Perry is left orphaned and bereft at the
age of 31. Then he wins 12 million dollars with his weekly Washington State Lottery
ticket, and he finds he has more family than he knows what to do with.
Shadow of the Wind
403 pages
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is a labyrinthine library of obscure &
forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. A man brings his 10-year-old son to
the library & allows him to choose one book to keep. But as he grows up, several
people seem inordinately interested in his find.
The Book Thief
553 pages
Markus Zusak
Narrated in the all-knowing matter-of-fact voice of Death, witnessing the story of the
citizens of Molching. By 1943, the Allied bombs are falling, and the sirens begin to
wail. Liesel shares out her books in the air-raid shelters. But one day, the wail of the
sirens comes too late.
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