Modern fiction

Lou has always loved Hill House, the derelict manor on the abandoned land near her home. As a child, the tragic history of its owners, the Mandevilles, inspired her dream to become a history teacher. But in her late twenties, working in a shop to pay off student debts, life is passing her by. Tha...

A Tiny Bit Marvellous is comedian Dawn French's hilarious pageturner. Everyone hates the perfect family.So you'll love the Battles.Meet Mo Battle, about to turn 50 and mum to two helpless, hormonal teenagers. There's 17-year-old daughter Dora who blames Mo for, like, EVERYTHING and Peter who beli...

Mia Cosgrove is a high-flying psychotherapist with a thriving practice, but when she receives a desperate phone call from her oldest friend, Lysette, she puts her life on hold to rush to her side. A friend of Lysette’s, Sarah, has plunged to her death from the top of a multi-storey car park, an u...

In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions – personal, moral, artistic, practical – as she endeavours to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city she is made to confro...

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal, read by Fiona Shaw.Mona is a young Irish girl in the big city, with the thrill of a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding house. On her first night out in 1970s Birmingham, she meets William, a charming Irish b...

As the year 1349 approaches, the Black Death continues its devastating course across England. In Dorseteshire, the quarantined people of Develish question whether they are the only survivors. Guided by their beloved young mistress, Lady Anne, they wait, knowing that when their dwindling stores ar...

Olivia had everything - a loving husband, a thoughtful and intelligent son and a beautiful home in the Somerset countryside. But all that changed. Now penniless and homeless, Geoffrey is living with his recently widowed mother, while Olivia works as a housemistress at her son's boarding school. W...

What if Princess Diana hadn't died?Diana's life and marriage were fairy tale and nightmare. Adored by millions, in her personal life she suffered heartbreak and betrayal. Within a life of privilege, she frequently felt trapped and alone. Constrained by protocol and precedent, she refused to follo...

Douglas Petersen's family is on the brink of dissolution. His marriage of twenty-one years to Connie is almost over. When autumn comes around, their son Albie will leave for college. Connie has decided to leave soon after. But before everything falls apart, there's still the summer holidays to ge...

'Henderson's Grace Williams Says It Loud was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and this more than matches it.' Elizabeth Buchan, Daily Mail. In June 1914, Sir Anthony Valentine, a keen mountaineer, arrives with his family to spend the summer in their chalet, high in the French Alps. There, for the...