Modern & contemporary fiction

Becca Ashworth's family is in trouble and with their magical legacy under threat, it puts their small village of Biddicote at risk too. So going against the witching tenets to summon an ancestor for help seems like a small price to pay to fix the problem - at first. Connor Lynch is the Witches Co...

Meet John Cromer - 'one of the most original comic creations in recent fiction' - and discover one of the great overlooked adventures in literature. Plenty can be daunting, but in the spirit of compromise this feast of a novel is served on a succession of small plates, each portion providing an a...

Lily Jones can't forget her incredible time-slip adventure back to the Golden Age of Hollywood and the friends she made there - especially a handsome barman by the name of Louis, with whom she felt such a strong connection. Back in 2020, life isn't going so well for her and Lily is idly googling ...

It is the end of the 19th Century and the world is awash with marvels. But there is nothing so marvellous as the Wastelands: a terrain of terrible miracles that lies between Beijing and Moscow. Nothing touches this abandoned wilderness except the Great Trans-Siberian Express: an impenetrable trai...

Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars - the controversial entertainment programme inside America's prison system. In packed arenas, livestreamed to millions, prisoners compete as gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom. Fan favourites Loretta Thurwar and Hamara 'Hurricane Staxxx' Stacker are t...

With a well-placed stitch, button or seam, Cressida can transform any frock and give customers their Cinderella moment. Like her beautifully organised workroom under the eaves, Cress's life away from the shop is just as orderly and mapped out. But when her boyfriend of 15 years drops a bombshell,...

Homicide Detective Kit McKittrick finds herself standing over a dead body in the Shady Oaks retirement centre. Frank Flynn has been stabbed and his room ransacked. Though he kept his background quiet at the centre, Kit recognises Frank from the San Diego Police Department. Had the former detectiv...

People are disappearing. I spoke to my neighbour yesterday, we laughed at some nonsense, and today he is gone. We only discovered he was missing because the dog wouldn't stop howling and we all knew he would never leave his beloved pet. So I am careful, extremely careful. Two families divided by ...

After crossing oceans, a man and a boy arrive in a new land. Here they are each assigned a name and an age, and held in a camp in the desert while they learn Spanish. As Simon and David they make their way to the relocation centre in the city of Novilla. Simon finds a job in a grain wharf. The wo...

1940, Liverpool. The bombs are raining down on Liverpool but seven year old feisty Alice Lacey and her two best friends Bob and Matty, have disobeyed their parents and decided to go up to Everton Hill and watch the sky set on fire. Ten years later the three are still friends and Bob is now Alice'...