Are you looking for your next great read? Why not try out the books from across the pond? Despite from what governments say, books are essential and are needed now, more than ever. So if you are need of a variety and want to read diverse stories, then I suggest you try out some British and Irish titles!
We may have left 2024 behind, but the pain and struggles of last year are still being faced, especially independent bookstores. Continue to support indie bookstores by shopping on Bookshop.org and Hive.co.uk.
Waterstones currently ships to the United States but there will be an international shipping fee. You can also try with the British bookstore, Blackwell’s, also with Wordery.com. Now on with the recommendations!
Featured Books of the Month
The New Age of Sexism: How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny by Laura Bates
Step into a world where…
Little girls dressed up as women dance for an audience of adult men. A pornographic deepfake image or video of you exists on the internet and you just don’t know it yet. Men create ‘perfect’ AI girlfriends who live in their pocket – customised to every last detail, from breast size to eye colour and personality, only lacking the ability to say no.
This isn’t an image of the future. Sex robots, chatbots and the metaverse are here and spreading fast. A new wave of AI-powered technologies, with misogyny baked into their design, is putting women everywhere in danger.
In The New Age of Sexism, Sunday Times bestselling author and campaigner Laura Bates takes the reader deep into the heart of this strange new world. She travels to cyber brothels and visits schools gripped by an epidemic of online sexual abuse, showing how every aspect of our lives – from education to work, sex to entertainment – is being infiltrated by ever-evolving technologies that are changing the way we live and love forever. This rising tide, despite all its potential for good, is a wild west where women’s rights and safety are being sacrificed at the altar of profitability.
Gripping and eye-opening, The New Age of Sexism exposes a phenomenon we can’t afford to ignore any longer. Our future is on the line. We need to act now, before it is too late.. (Credit: Simon & Schuster UK)
Heartbreaker by Anika Hussain
HE BROKE HER BEST FRIEND’S HEART. NOW SAACHI PLANS TO BREAK HIS.
MAY THE BEST HEARTBREAKER WIN . . .
Saachi would do anything for her best friend. So when school bad boy Fahim breaks Mona’s heart, Saachi is hellbent on getting revenge. It’s time to put him in his place once and for all.
And so begins Operation Heartbreaker: Saachi will make Fahim fall in love with her and then pull the plug on him – just like he does to every girl he’s ever dated. Simple.
Except as she spends more time with Fahim, against her better judgement, she finds herself falling for him. Unable to talk to Mona about her mixed emotions, and with the mission veering dangerously off course, Saachi will have to embrace her role as a heartbreaker or potentially end up with her own heart broken . . .(Credit: Hot Key Books)
Nora and the Compass of Chaos by Joseph Elliott and illustrated by Nici Gregory
The side-splittingly funny sequel to Nora and the Map of Mayhem by award-winning author Joseph Elliott, star of CBeebies’ Swashbuckle.
When Nora is invited to a fancy dress party, she thinks that’s the worst of her problems . . . until she discovers her friend Grizzler is missing. After finding his boat completely wrecked, Nora sets off on a wild adventure to try and find him – though she doesn’t expect her great-grandkids, Atticus and Autumn, to have stowed away for the ride!
Between dodging fingernail-eating skuttlecrags and wrangling ice-breathing jujugars, there’s also whispers of a rogue Monster Hunter on the loose with monstrous plans in motion. With only some wool, a corkscrew and half a pack of sweets in their possession, can the trio stop the true villain before it’s too late?
Complete with wild and joyful illustrations from Nici Gregory, this rip-roaring tale is perfect for readers aged 8 and up! (Credit: Templar Books)
It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara
Look what you started.
You press send and your message disappears. Full of secrets about your neighbours, it’s meant for your sister. But it doesn’t reach her – it goes to the entire local community WhatsApp group instead.
Now everyone knows what you did.
As rumour spreads like wildfire through the picture-perfect neighbourhood, you convince yourself that people will move on, that this will quickly be forgotten. But then you receive the first death threat.
And someone wants you dead.
The next day, a woman has been murdered. And what’s even more chilling is that she had the same address as you – 26 Oakpark – but in a different part of town. Did the killer get the wrong house? It won’t be long before you find out…(Credit: Transworld Publishers)
When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors by Paula Akpan
Njinga Mbande
Nana Yaa Asantewaa
Makobo Modjadji VI
Ranavalona the First
These queens and warriors ruled vast swathes of the African continent, where they led, loved and fought for their kingdoms and people. Their impact can still be felt today, and yet, beyond the lands they called home, so few of us have ever heard their names.
In When We Ruled, historian Paula Akpan takes us into the worlds of these powerful figures, following their stories and how they came to rule and influence the futures of their people. Through deep research and discovery, Akpan will uncover new truths and grapple with uncomfortable realities, allowing us to be immersed in countless moments of bravery, intrigue and, for some, the unravelling of their rule.
With reigns spanning from pre-colonial Nigeria to the rich lands of Rwanda, and from Ancient Egypt to apartheid South Africa, these rulers shed a new light on gender politics in these regions, showing how women were celebrated and revered before colonising powers took hold, and continue to be long after.
In this game-changing narrative of twelve lives, Akpan takes us on a spellbinding, enrapturing and immersive history that is nothing short of revelatory. (Credit: Orion Publishing)
The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex
‘The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other . . .’
Birdie Keller wakes up one freezing January morning to hear that her sister’s killer has been freed from jail. Birdie leaves for London with a pistol and a plan: to find this man and make him pay. She’s been waiting two decades to get him, biding her time: here, at last, revenge.
So begins a cat-and-mouse chase that takes Birdie from the grit and grime of city nicks, to wild and windswept moors, to the savage beauty of the Cornish coast, and, finally, to Devon, her homeland, back to the place where it all began – as she vows to finish the story.
But every story has two sides. Because Jimmy Maguire, the man she’s after, knew Birdie a long time ago, in a life she’d sooner forget. They’ve got history, and he isn’t the only one with a secret.
As Jimmy travels south to face his past – a tangled web of family ties and broken bonds – he can sense that something is hunting him. Birdie lingers there in the darkness, but so does a terrible truth he’s run from all these years – one he’s never had the courage to confront. (Credit: Pan Macmillan)
Ghost Wedding by David Park
When George Allenby is put in charge of building a lake in the grounds of an imposing Irish manor house, he intends to do the job as swiftly as possible and return to Belfast. Allenby is still wrestling with his time as an officer during the First World War, burdened by the many things he could have done differently.
Almost a century later, Alex and Ellie are preparing for their wedding, sparing no expense to hire a venue overlooking the very lake Allenby built all those years ago.
Like Allenby before him, Alex is haunted by decisions he made in the past. Now, with the wedding drawing ever closer, he is at a crossroads. Telling the truth might free him from his guilt; it might also take away everything he cares about, including Ellie.
In this masterful portrait of love and betrayal, David Park reveals the many ways the past seeps into the present: destructive, formidable, but also hopeful, in the moments of fragile beauty that remain. (Credit: Oneworld Publications)
The Power of Music: How Music Connects Us All by Sheku Kanneh-Mason
‘Music is what makes us alive, mindful and connected to each other. Music is what makes us human. This is the power of music.’
Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason knows and feels the transformative power of music as much as any musician alive. From winning the prestigious BBC Young Musician Award to performing at Harry and Meghan’s wedding; from Bach’s solo suites to Bob Marley’s reggae; his ferocious passion shines through in every single performance, whether in a packed-out concert hall or on record.
But how was it that someone like him – a person of colour, from a state school in Nottingham – rose to the upper echelons of the classical music world? What were the obstacles that he had to overcome, what did he learn along the way, and how could a young person follow in his footsteps today?
In The Power of Music, Sheku explores the experiences and values that led him here, from a childhood of football practice and family music sessions, to his work today in the world’s finest concert halls and in the less privileged communities that surround them. As his star continues to rise, he shows us the darker side of an industry ruled by exclusivity and stubborn adherence to tradition.
With its power to transform our mental and physical health, to effect social change, and to make a house a home, Sheku shows us that classical music is for everyone, not just an elite few. The Power of Music is a celebration of music of all sorts and those who make it, and a rallying call to change. (Credit: Penguin Books)
A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi
Kinga is a woman who is just trying to make it through the week.
There’s a Kinga for every day: on Mondays, you can catch Kinga A deleting food delivery apps. By Friday, Kinga E is happy to spend the days soaking, wine-drunk, in the bath.
Kingas A-G, perhaps unsurprisingly, live a varied life – between them is a professional matchmaker, a scent-crazed perfumer and a window cleaner, all with varying degrees of apathy, anger, introversion and bossiness. At least three of them are Team Toxic.
It’s an arrangement that’s not without its fair share of admin, grudges and half-truths. But when Kinga A discovers a man tied up in their apartment, the Kingas have to reckon with the possibility that one of them might be planning to destroy them all. (Credit: Faber & Faber)
Bad Influence by CJ Wray
There are three things Jennifer ‘Jinx’ Sullivan promised herself she would never do:
1. Eat fast food.
2. Go on a coach trip.
3. Die without exacting revenge on the people who ruined her life.
She’s about to let herself down on the first two, but she can still keep her word on the third. On a coach trip to Florence,
89-year-old Jinx is going to face her painful wartime history, unearth long-buried skeletons (quite literally) and plan long overdue vengeance on the worst best friend a woman ever had. That’s the best friend who trained her in etiquette, cocktail-mixing and silent killing.
It’s going to be a tough journey – not least because she’s sharing it with twenty senior citizens and a recalcitrant teen. But Jinx knows that some promises are worth keeping, no matter how hard it may be. (Credit: Orion Publishing)
The Battle of Farrowfell by Ravena Guron and illustrated by Alessia Trunfio
Will raw magic be their doom . . . or their saviour?
Jude is living happily with Moorley, Uncle Runie and Spry. But then the Dark Rivers start failing and raw magic is everywhere. The Consortium jumps into action and assures everyone that the situation is under control, but the people they are arresting are never seen again. And anyway, Jude knows better than to trust those in power.
Jude and Moorley must find a way to reverse the effects of the raw magic. All their usual leads are sending them to dead ends, until Jude meets a strange boy called Darcius who seems to know far more than he should . . .
Can they resist the temptation of raw magic and save Farrowfell once and for all? (Credit: Faber & Faber)
Traumaland by Josh Silver
Welcome to your worst nightmare.
Seventeen-year-old Eli has been in a near-fatal car crash. As the anniversary looms, his therapist and family struggle to help him deal with the fall out. The accident has left him emotionally numb, with no memory of the months following the crash.
Desperate to feel something again, Eli winds up at an underground club called Traumaland. But this is no ordinary nightclub. Here he joins crowds of other emotionally numb people, all seeking to experience a new thrill by entering virtual reality simulations of nightmarish scenarios through the points of view of various characters.
When he enters the story of a boy called Jack, he discovers a darker truth to the club. A truth that sets Eli on a dangerous journey to find the source of his own trauma. (Credit: Oneworld Publications)
How To Kill A Witch: A Guide For The Patriarchy by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi
Expected Publication Date: May 15
As a woman, if you lived in Scotland in the 1500s, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch. Witch hunts ripped through the country for over 150 years, with at least 4,000 accused, and with many women’s fates sealed by a grizzly execution of strangulation, followed by burning.
Inspired to correct this historic injustice, campaigners and writers Claire Mitchell, KC, and Zoe Venditozzi, have delved deeply into just why the trials exploded in Scotland to such a degree. In order to understand why it happened, they have broken down the entire horrifying process, step-by-step, from identification of individuals, to their accusation, ‘pricking’, torture, confessions, execution and beyond.
With characteristically sharp wit and a sense of outrage, they attempt to inhabit the minds of the persecutors, often men, revealing the inner workings of exactly why the Patriarchy went to such extraordinary lengths to silence women, and how this legally sanctioned victimisation proliferated in Scotland and around the world.
With testimony from a small army of experts, pen portraits of the women accused, trial transcripts, witness accounts and the documents that set the legal grounds for the hunts, How to Kill A Witch builds to form a rich patchwork of tragic stories, helping us comprehend the underlying reasons for this terrible injustice, and raises the serious question – could it ever happen again? (Credit: Octopus Publishing)
The Lady of the Lake Jean Menzies
Expected Publication Date: May 15
When Lady Viviane leaves the lakes of the far North for the splendour of Camelot, she knows the destiny her father has planned for her. To capture the heart and hand of the young prince, Arthur. To bring her family richness and glory.
But it is Arthur’s sister Morgan who captures Viviane’s eye. Fierce and headstrong, Morgan sees another path – one she and Viviane can carve for themselves in this world built for knights and kings.
Now everything has shifted and changed. Under the guidance of the court sorcerer Merlin, she discovers magical powers within herself. And before long, she finds her friendship with Morgan deepening to the first flush of love.
But in Camelot, eyes are everywhere and no one is as they seem.
The quest for power breeds darkness and danger, and when Arthur pulls the legendary sword from the stone and rises to King, his closest allies will ask terrible things of Viviane and Morgan – striving to tear them apart for their own ends.
And if they cannot find their way back to each other, Camelot itself could fall . . . (Credit: Penguin Books)
The Elopement by Gill Hornby
Expected Publication Date: May 22
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’
1820, and the marriage between wealthy widower Sir Edward Knatchbull and Jane Austen’s handsome, dutiful niece Fanny Knight is widely praised as being the most excellent match in the county.
As Sir Edward’s wife, Fanny is expected to apply herself to the raising of his five children with the same dedication she has shown towards her siblings at Godmersham Park. In particular, she pays care to young Mary Knatchbull – the only girl of the family, and the apple of her strict father’s eye.
Poor Mary has hitherto been raised under a cloud of quiet misery. But as the Knight and Knatchbull families merge, she discovers something like fun. The Knight girls are so sweet and the boys …. so very handsome and charming and madly athletic – especially Ned, the eldest and therefore the heir to Godmersham Park.
As Mary approaches her seventeenth birthday, a bond forms between her and Ned Knight, an understanding that leads, on the last day of the year 1825, to Ned declaring his hand. Sir Edward’s outrage is immediate; his refusal unyielding. Ned Knight is his own wife’s brother! The situation is simply unseemly. And besides, he dislikes the fellow. The marriage will never take place.
There appears to be only one solution for Ned and Mary – but can it really involve elopement? (Credit: Cornerstone)
The Light of Day: The first man to come out at the dawn of gay liberation by Christopher Stephens and Louise Radnofsky
Expected Publication Date: May 22
In June 1960, several British newspapers received a letter so shocking some thought it was a hoax. Beginning ‘Sir, we are homosexuals . . ‘, it was signed by Roger Butler and two others.
Publishing such a letter seven years prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality was a radical and dangerous move. But it was a risk that marked a huge milestone in the fight for gay rights. By the 1970s, the Gay Liberation Front was calling on people to come out to help reduce stigma, and it continued to be a core tactic in the 80s and 90s. Roger, however, had done this a full decade earlier. This is the story about the first man to voluntarily come out in his own words, using his own name, to the entire British public.
Taking us through a criminalised underworld of pubs, parties and campaign gatherings, The Light of Day charts how Roger helped bring about a change in the law, legalising sex between men, but soon found himself marginalised from the movement he kickstarted after becoming completely blind in his early 30s. Worn down trying to navigate life afresh in London, he left for Oxford, where he became increasingly isolated and never found the life partner he so desperately wanted.
Enter Christopher – an Oxford University student asked by a friend to visit and read to an old, blind man. Though their intergenerational friendship bloomed, Roger never spoke of his revolutionary act. Instead he wrote about it secretly, leaving his account to Christopher after his death, along with a sealed pink folder. It was in that folder that the Roger revealed his final wish, for Christopher to tell his remarkable story.
A hugely moving and powerful story about sexuality, disability, friendship, isolation, love and more, The Light of Day is a vital piece of missing history about a brave revolutionary in the fight for equality. (Credit: Headline Publishing)
By Your Side by Ruth Jones
Expected Publication Date: May 22
‘Linda and Levi will never meet. But they’re going to change each other’s lives.’
In her role at the council’s Unclaimed Heirs Unit, Linda Standish investigates the lives of those who’ve died alone and tracks down any living relatives. She’s been a friend to the friendless for the past thirty-three years. And now she’s looking forward to an early retirement.
But before she hangs up her lanyard, Linda must take on one last case – that of Levi Norman – a Welshman who’d made his home on a remote Scottish island for the past five years.
What brought Levi here? And who did he leave behind? Obliged to travel (by hearse) with her arch nemesis Fergus Murray, and helped (and hindered) by the eccentric local residents, Linda searches for clues to a life now lost. And in the process unexpectedly makes new friends, and discovers things about herself she never knew. (Credit: Transworld Publishers Ltd)
Disclosure: Unravelling the Spycops Files by Kate Wilson
Expected Publication Date: May 29
In 2003, British police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians.
Kate Wilson fought back. She took the Met to court, at times battling alone without funding or legal representation, enduring bullying, psychological intrusion and further state surveillance. It took her nearly twenty years to uncover the eerie truth about Britain’ s secret political police.
In her own words, and those of the officers who documented her every move, this is Kate’s story. (Credit: Orion Publishing)
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