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 2025 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. Now on with the recommendations!
Featured Book of the Month
Big Man by Dean Atta
BIG MAN follows the life of Big, a middle-aged, Black British gay man who lives a gentle life with his boyfriend, Little, in their home in East London. Big and Little enjoy evenings out and group holidays with friends, as much as practising yoga together at home, and running side by side along the Hackney canals.
Big came of age in the club scene under the watchful eye of Mother, an African American trans woman who made a home and a name for herself in London, her house a refuge for wayward queer youth like Big. When he finds out Mother is releasing a memoir, the two reconnect after decades of distance, and Big finds himself having to confront a long-repressed assault that opens old – and new – wounds.
A tender, daring novel full of gentle humour, BIG MAN explores themes of identity, aging, sex, family, and trauma, turning a lens on what it means to age as a queer person, while being a double-edged love letter to the people and places that make us. (Credit: Cipher Press)
Also available at:
Queens and Kings: An Unusually Personal History by Lucy Worsley
No one has lived and breathed the monarchy quite like Lucy Worsley. For over twenty years, she worked as Chief Curator in some of Britain’s most splendid palaces – and now she is ready to throw open the doors and welcome us in.
In Queens & Kings, Lucy takes us on a journey through some of our most turbulent and significant moments in history. From the Council Chamber in which Henry VIII decided to break from the Pope to lunch with the late Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, from encounters with the Tower of London’s Ravenmaster to the depths of Queen Victoria’s wardrobe, Lucy shares how she grew to know the queens and kings, courtiers and servants who lived in these buildings before her. She traces their footsteps through the corridors and cloisters, the courtyards and kitchens and breathes new life into moments of great joy and consequence – as well as tales of intrigue which lurked in the shadows of regal splendour.
Packed with new stories told from unexplored places, this is a fresh history of the monarchy. (Credit: Hodder & Stoughton)
The Ancient Ways: A Year of Folklore, Traditions and Rituals to Reconnect with Nature by Seren Hawley-Plows
Step into an ancient world of rituals and folklore in this stunning seasonal guide.
‘Tales of gods and goddesses told around a crackling fire. The light of the rising sun streaming through an ancient site on a solstice morning. Hot cider poured over the roots of apple trees to wake them for the spring.’
Told through the pagan wheel of the year, The Ancient Ways explores how nature changes throughout the seasons, looking at solstices, equinoxes, legends, and festivals and how these stories and traditions can help you deepen your connection with nature. Discover megalithic sacred sites where crowds still gather to see the sun rise and fall through doorways of the past. Meet Eostre, goddess of the spring and dawn or the Cailleach, queen of winter and the Green Man, a personification of the wild. Celebrate festivals like Beltane, a summer celebration of fire and fertility or Samhain, the festival of the dead and precursor to modern Halloween.
Hedgewitch Seren Hawley-Plows weaves these myths and stories together beautifully with tools and inspiration of how to bring the power of ancient tradition into a modern world and help you find magic in the wilds of nature.
With stunning illustrations, seasonal recipes and more, whether you live in a sleepy village or a bustling city, The Ancient Ways takes you on a journey of untamed landscapes, old communities and connection – the perfect gift for yourself or others. (Credit: Pan Macmillan)
Perfect Sense by Christine Pillainayagam
She started a fire, now her life is burning down . . .
Maggie is trying to work out who she wants to be, other than the girl who burned down the science block and the least exceptional of the Dashwood sisters. When she’s suspended and sent to Cliveden, a boarding school full of rich, titled families like her father’s, Maggie leaves behind everyone she loves – including Elliott, her crush since forever, who finally seems like he might be crushing back.
At Cliveden Maggie meets the magnetic Theo Willoughby, who understands the power of a family name more than most. Friendships, purpose, and a new life start to grow. But then threatening messages appear. Someone knows about the fire. If she doesn’t leave, they’ll tell everyone what she did.
As the truth unravels, Maggie and her friend Amara must prove, once and for all, that a name is not what makes you. (Credit: Pan Macmillan)
A House in Winter by Emily Hourican
Set in January 1965, A House in Winter tells the story of the visit of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden to his sister’s home in Abbeyleix, Ireland, when they faced local opposition and IRA petrol bomb attacks that confined them, without electricity, for 48 fraught hours.
As well as the conflict outside the walls, there’s plenty within, with Margaret’s difficult mother in law gleefully contributing to her disintegrating marriage. Meanwhile in the nearby village local woman Cait has struggles of her own, unable to escape family responsibilities and small town life.
Inspired by real events, A House in Winter is an atmospheric and richly observed novel about duty, marriage and the different forms of captivity. Blending royal intrigue with compelling Irish community drama, it will appeal to readers of The Crown, Wendy Holden’s The Duchess, Daisy Goodwin’s Victoria and the warm, character-driven storytelling of Maeve Binchy. (Credit: Bonnier Books)
Time Jump by Adam Simcox
You can change the past. Can you cheat fate?
The day Princess Diana died, eighteen-year-old Rachel killed Oliver Jones in a car crash – and destroyed her own future in the process.
In 2026, time travel is a luxury commodity like any other. When a mysterious benefactor unexpectedly offers Rachel the opportunity to Time Jump, she doesn’t think twice and goes back to 1997, making sure the fatal accident never takes place.
Oliver is now an alive and thriving politician, and the connection between him and Rachel blooms into a perfect fairy tale ending. But it comes at a terrible cost.
And as rumours begin to circulate about young women going missing from Oliver’s rehab centres, Rachel faces an impossible question. Was the man she travelled back in time to save – and fell in love with in her present – a monster in the making?
Rachel thought killing Oliver was the worst thing she’d ever done. Now she’s afraid saving him might be . . . Addictive and twisty time travel thriller, perfect for fans of Gillian McAllister, Blake Crouch and The Ministry of Time. (Credit: John Murray Press)
Serenity Falls by C.J. Tudor
Welcome to Serenity Falls – the most idyllic town in the US and the safest place for families to grow up together, where crime is non-existent. It seems the perfect relocation option for Dan and his daughter Sadie as they move from the UK. A fresh start, thousands of miles from their troubled past.
But their new idyll is shattered when they find a dead body in their swimming pool.
And it turns out that’s just the start of a series of odd discoveries. Abandoned houses where people have seemingly just upped and left. The strange woman Sadie keeps seeing around town putting up ‘missing’ posters for a child who drowned twenty-five years ago. An ice cream van that drives around at night making sure residents are asleep…
As plans gear up to celebrate Serenity Falls’ fiftieth anniversary, something is stirring beneath the surface of the idyllic façade. Is Serenity Falls really the perfect town or is it founded on something far darker? And is someone so desperate to keep its secrets that they’d resort to anything to preserve them?
Welcome to Serenity Falls – the perfect town. For murder. (Credit: Penguin Books)
Arthur: A New Life by Amy Jeffs
‘It is said that a monument now stands before the high church of Caerleon: an anvil pierced through with a sword. It is said that the sword can only be taken by the Britons’ rightful king.’
From Sunday Times bestseller Amy Jeffs’, Arthur: A New Life mines the deep, elusive seams of a story we think we all know: the legend of King Arthur.
But here he is anew: a larger-than-life warlord, a hero raised by fairies, a leader of the wild hunt, a monster-slayer, lying wounded under the ash cloud, longing to rise again.
Tracing an epic story from Merlin’s conception and the building of the Round Table to the abduction of Guinevere and King Arthur’s ambitious quest for Empire, this Arthur is as real as any other, brought back to life from the earliest sources.
Drawing out the dark and beautiful stories from the original medieval and early-modern texts, Amy guides the reader from citadels through forests, into volcanoes, caves and riverbanks and beyond, even as far as Hell and the Otherworld. Going further than merely the stories, she provides incisive commentary about each tale, emphasising the legends’ crafted nature and their symbiotic relationship with the political cultures of contemporary medieval Europe.
Thirty original linocut illustrations map the inky Arthurian myth-scape, darkened by time, familiar as a dream. (Credit: Quercus Publishing)
Kitty and Mary: The Forgotten Bennet Sisters by Julia Gray and Imogen Russell Williams
Elizabeth married Mr Darcy; Jane married Mr Bingley; Lydia married Mr Wickham. But what happened to the forgotten Bennet sisters?
Six months after Pride and Prejudice, Mary is stuck at home with her parents. So, when an opportunity arises that will take her to far away India, Mary jumps at the chance for independence and adventure.
Meanwhile, Kitty has been flitting between the estates of her sisters, searching for a suitable husband at every ball and dinner. When Mary sets off to India, Kitty’s disappointment at returning home is tempered by the revelation that a new tenant has come to Netherfield Park – handsome poet Mr Whittaker. He seems like the perfect husband for Kitty, but will he end up being everything she hoped?
Through letters and journals we learn to understand and love the forgotten Bennet sisters. (Credit: Andersen Press)
And Then We Screamed by Holly Bourne
Everything was perfect in the small town of Maple Lakes…until the cheerleaders started screaming.
Clover wishes something would happen in her boring high school – so she can spend more time with her crush Brody, covering it for the school newspaper. But she never wished for this…
When cheerleader Abigail starts screaming in the middle of an exam, people laugh. But as more girls start breaking into uncontrollable screaming fits, it’s clear something is seriously wrong. The authorities don’t have a clue what’s happening – so it’s up to Clover and Brody to investigate. What they discover is a darkness beneath the perfect veneer of Maple Lakes – and it is spreading fast. (Credit: Usborne Publishing)
Between Ghosts and Gods by Ann Sei Lin
Having sold her soul to a demon during her lifetime, Kasu now works at Camellia House, a high-stakes gambling den in the under-realm. Here, she abides by the Heavenly Principles in the hope of one day achieving reincarnation. Night after night, she dispenses gambling tiles to customers who surrender their treasures – jewellery, limbs, dreams – which Kasu stores in a ghoulish cabinet for her mistress.
Into this world drops Arun, a prince from the mortal realm desperately searching for his mother. A year ago she was chosen to serve the gods in the heavens, before being promptly exiled. His hunt has brought him to the under-realm, where he is determined to uncover the truth.
Kasu agrees to help Arun with his search, but as the two become caught in an ever-tightening web of danger and deceit, she is forced to re-examine all of her beliefs about the gods she worships. And as she and Arun grow closer, she must decide just what price she is willing to pay, and how much she is prepared to lose, for a second chance at life. (Credit: Walker Books)
The Agatha Christie Cure: What Reading the Queen of Crime Taught Me About Life by Cathy Rentzenbrink
One Christmas, Cathy Rentzenbrink finds herself drained by life’s upheavals. In need of comfort and escape, she turns to her first literary love: Agatha Christie.
As Cathy delves into Agatha’s novels and her mysterious disappearance in 1926, she discovers more than she expected. Beyond the hidden jewels, detectives and thrilling escapes on trains and automobiles, Cathy unearths an adventurer and innovator who hid – within the pages of her own books – the secrets of how she survived a personal crisis and started life again. With the Queen of Crime at her side, Cathy soon begins finding answers to questions she hadn’t even realised she was asking.
A literary detective story and a memoir of finding hope in reading, this journey into the heart of the most successful writer of the 20th century is the perfect tonic for anyone in search of life-affirming resilience, and proof that if ever you’re lonely, tired and in need of solace, getting in the bath with an Agatha Christie is always an excellent idea. (Credit: Canongate Books)
Also availble in the US at Bookshop.org
Monsterland: A Journey Around the World’s Dark Imagination by Nicholas Jubber
Monsters, in all their terrifying glory, have preoccupied humans since we began telling stories. But where did these stories come from?
In Monsterland, award-winning author Nicholas Jubber goes on a journey to discover more about the monsters we’ve invented, lurking in the dark and the wild places of the earth — giants, dragons, ogres, zombies, ghosts, demons — all with one thing in common: their ability to terrify.
His far-ranging adventure takes him across the world. He sits on the thrones of giants in Cornwall, visits the shrine of a beheaded ogre near Kyoto, travels to an eighteenth-century Balkan vampire’s forest dwelling, and paddles among the shapeshifters of the Louisiana bayous. On his travels, he discovers that the stories of the people and places that birthed them are just as fascinating as the creatures themselves. (Credit: Scribe Publications)
This Divine Revelry by Bea Fitzgerald
When Ariadne, Princess of Crete, vows to help free the Athenian prince, Theseus, and his fellow tributes – sacrifices for the monster which allegedly lurks beneath her palace’s floors – she hopes she will free herself from the savage rule of her father, too.
Instead, she finds herself abandoned on an island the morning after Theseus has sworn love and marriage – watching his ship sail away without her.
In return, Ariadne swears revenge. Which is all very well – except for the aforementioned being abandoned on an island thing. Luckily for her though, the island happens to belong to a god. Alright, currently a fairly minor one (though only if you think wine and partying are minor concerns) – but it quickly turns out Dionysus and Ariadne may be able to help each other.
Dionysus needs followers to maintain his fragile, threatened power. Ariadne wants to stop Theseus from spreading rumours of his own greatness any further. Together, they may be able to make a story so powerful, it will elevate them both to the status of legends.
Ariadne isn’t interested in real love any more – of course – which is a shame, as there’s something irresistible about the pull between her and Dionysus – even if he is completely infuriating. And he is the first person to agree with her that women can be more than just footnotes in men’s myths.
They have a power of their own.
And once that power is unleashed – the men of Ariadne’s story, and even the gods themselves, should prepare to tremble… (Credit: Penguin Random House UK)
Pride, Prejudice and Peril by Jessica Bull
Expected Publication Date: September 17
Jane Austen is preparing for the summer season.
As guests of their wealthy relatives Mr and Mrs Leigh-Perrot, Jane and her sister Cassandra will be holidaying in Bath Spa – the world-famous health resort, and more importantly, the epicentre of the marriage mart.
For many, the summer will be spent hunting husbands. But for Jane, when a series of murders breaks out across the city, she must chase down a killer instead.
With her beloved sister by her side, Jane is determined to bring the murderer to justice. Can she stop this villain from taking any more victims, before the summer ends? Or will her only dance of the season be with death…(Credit: Penguin Books)
An Unsuitable Boy: A Life in Scripts by Andrew Davies
Expected Publication Date: September 20
Andrew Davies has written his way into British cultural history, from House of Cards to Pride and Prejudice, Bridget Jones to Bleak House. But his own life story is every bit as compelling and chaotic as the characters he has brought to life. An Unsuitable Boy is a memoir that weaves together wit, irreverence and vulnerability to reflect on a life of writing, loving, adapting, collaborating and surviving. With scenes that stretch from post-war Cardiff to the BBC boardroom, from New York flops to French farmhouses with Robert Altman, this is a story about what happens behind the scripts.
Drawing upon personal correspondence, diaries and unpublished archive material, Andrew writes candidly about marriage and mischief, writer’s block and Broadway, literary obsession and love. Along the way, with his trademark wit and warmth, he reflects on his difficult relationship with his mother, the enduring memory of his wife Diana and their long, happy and complicated marriage, as well as the family dynamics that continue to shape his storytelling.
Includes three 8-page colour plate sections (Credit: Alma Books Ltd)
The White Lady by Helen Fry
Expected Publication Date: September 22
Intelligence gathering was essential to both sides in the First and Second World Wars. At the heart of MI6’s efforts were two key networks in Belgium. Agents in The White Lady acted as couriers, radio operators and spies to facilitate the end of German control. And, when war broke out again two decades later, the leaders of the network regrouped and established a successor: The Clarence Service.
Helen Fry charts the history of these pivotal intelligence networks. Drawing on recently declassified information, Fry examines who the agents were, how they were recruited, and how the intelligence they gathered directly impacted the outcome of both wars. Operators in the field sent over eight hundred radio messages to London and delivered more than a thousand reports, including groundbreaking information on Hitler’s secret weapon the V-1. This is a compelling account of the agents who risked their lives and found ingenious ways to smuggle intelligence out of occupied Belgium. (Credit: Yale University Press)
A Bigger Life by Louise O’Neill
Expected Publication Date: September 24
At 38, Louise O’Neill had the life she thought she wanted—until her long-term relationship ended, taking with it the home, future, and sense of certainty she’d built. Heartbroken but defiant, she made a radical decision: to say yes to everything, to take risks, and to reclaim her life—on her own terms.
What followed was a dating experiment that took her across Paris, London, New York, and beyond. Through the men she meets and the moments in between, Louise begins to challenge everything she’s been taught to settle for – in life, love, and in herself.
Part memoir, part manifesto, A Bigger Life is a candid, courageous exploration of modern womanhood, sexual freedom, and the myths we’re sold about what makes a life worthwhile. It’s about embracing uncertainty, finding joy after heartbreak, and creating space for the version of yourself that doesn’t play small.
Louise invites us to laugh, wince, and reflect as she asks the question at the heart of the book: What does it really mean to live a bigger life? (Credit: HarperCollins)
Letters To Our Sons by Stephen Graham with Orly Klein
Expected Publication Date: September 24
What advice do you wish you’d shared before your son’s first day at school? When he missed or scored that goal? Or the day he left home?
When was the last time you hugged him?
And what would you do if you had your time again?
Award-winning actor Stephen Graham and psychology lecturer Orly Klein have invited fathers from all walks of life to put into words the things they couldn’t say out loud to their sons.
Full of hope, fear, shame and pride, Letters to Our Sons is a raw and extraordinary outpouring of the sometimes messy, often joyful, and always complex realities of modern fatherhood.
Be part of the conversation. It’s time to really talk.(Credit: Bloomsbury Publishing)
Emma’s Perfect Match: A Romance Mystery Puzzle by Elizabeth Godwin
Expected Publication Date: September 24
If you liked The Killer Isn’t Alice, you’ll love this addictive elimination puzzle…
6,400 eligible bachelors. 12 clues. Only 1 Mr Right.
Armed only with your wit and powers of deduction, can you identify Emma’s perfect match?
Newly out on the marriage scene, Emma has informed matchmaking extraordinaire Mrs Elizabeth Godwin that she desires nothing less than her perfect match. Now Mrs Godwin needs your help to identify the ideal suitor from 6,400 seemingly eligible bachelors in her unrivalled directory.
From the colour of his eyes to the size of his fortune, there are many factors to consider. Through a process of elimination, you will be left with one perfect suitor for Emma.
Can you lead Emma to her true love? Or will you match her with a terrible bore?
THE MOST ADDICTIVE LOGIC PUZZLE:
– Analyze Mrs Godwin’s extensive list of requirements
– Eliminate the ineligible suitors in the 6,400 name directory
– Identify Emma’s one true love match
This unique new addition to the elimination puzzle genre is suitable for all ages, from teens to Austen-loving grannies. The perfect gift for the holidays, birthdays, Mother’s Day and more, Emma’s Perfect Match offers an enjoyable, satisfying off-screen experience for puzzlers of all ages. (Credit: Quercus Publishing)
The Twelve Days of Christmas by Susan Stokes-Chapman
Expected Publication Date: September 24
A beautiful collection of seasonal stories inspired by the beloved Christmas carol, from the Sunday Times No. 1 Bestselling Author
The air glitters with hope as the snowy village of Merrywake celebrates the Christmas season after the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars.
As the Viscount’s famous Twelfth Night Ball draws closer, many of the villagers have a story to tell – we meet a lovelorn vicar and kindly maid reunited after a misunderstanding, three sisters vying for the hand of a dastardly duke, two servants hiding a dangerous secret and a solider making his way home, unsure of the welcome he might receive. As their tales braid together, we see life and love in the village from belowstairs to high society.
Reimagining each of the traditional carol’s gifts, and written in tribute to Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, The Twelve Days of Christmas is a collection of festive tales filled with seasonal cheer and heart-warming characters. Will the challenges and mysteries that the Viscount’s guests encounter be resolved by the night of the ball? (Credit: Vintage Publishing)
Hawthorn: A Scottish Ghost Story by Elaine Thomson
Expected Publication Date: September 24
Caithness, October 1871.
The Ordnance Survey are charting Scotland’s most remote north-easterly county, a bleak landscape of endless moorland and lonely crofts. When a strange vision leads cartographer Robert Sutherland out onto the moor one night, an accident leaves him inches from death. He is taken to Leask House, to recuperate under the care of Mrs Sinclair and her beautiful daughter Isabel.
At first, Robert thinks the dreadful visions that plague him at Leask House are the result of the laudanum he has been prescribed. But as events take ever stranger and more terrifying turns, Robert begins to wonder whether his presence at Leask House is really a coincidence at all.
Someone – or something – has summoned him here.
And they don’t intend for him to leave. (Credit: Little, Brown Book Group)
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