Fiction: narrative themes

Brilliantly inventive and original.

Twenty-two-year-old Galen is a New Age believer on a warpath towards transcendence.

A shocking, suspenseful and daring new novel from one of the greatest American writers at work today, whose previous books include Caribou Island, Dirt and Legend of a Suicide.

** SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING REN E ZELLWEGER, LOUIE ANDERSON AND OWEN TEAGUE **Former academic Arthur Opp weighs 550 pounds and hasn't left his rambling Brooklyn home in a decade.

From the creator of Coronation Street comes a classic love storyTony Warren, the man who invented Elsie Tanner and Ena Sharples now introduces a whole new gallery of unforgettable characters in a stunning debut novel.

It s 24 December, 1999.

One young man's homecoming shocks a whole town.

In a small Kent town in the 1950s, a bewildered little girl is growing up.

Sonia, Lady Duntan, loves the family seat rather more than she does her husband.

**Now adapted for the stage by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti as a Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Birmingham Rep co-production running 22nd May 21st June 2025**SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD AND LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZEFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BOY WITH THE TOPKNOT AND EMPIRELAND'Enormously enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES'A satirical masterpiece' TELEGRAPH'Sanghera's tender and funny book is a cracking and pacy read' OBSERVER'A stunning novel .

When Samantha Morrow's husband leaves her and her eleven-year-old son she is faced with the terrifying prospect of having to recreate her whole life.

Kennedy Marr is a novelist from the old school.

In this powerful sequel to PACKARDS, much loved author Patricia Burns returns to the London department store, bringing its people and its wartime challenges expertly to life.

Perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Harris, Nancy Revell and Catherine Cookson, this is the richly moving and powerful story of one girl's struggle to protect her family, come what may, from much loved author Maggie Bennett.

This gripping saga about midwives, on and off duty, is perfect for fans of Call the Midwife, Katie Flynn, Dilly Court and Catherine Cookson.

What would happen if a mediocre white-goods marketing manager with average looks suddenly became the most beautiful man in the world?

'Stunningly sensual and visceral' NEW YORK TIMES'Smart, beautiful .

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013An unsettling exploration of manipulation and power between a middle-aged man and eleven year-old girl.

As the child of an absent mother and a disapproving father, Charles Cleasby found comfort in solitary games of chess.

Despite the heavy rain, the officer at Polling Station 14 finds it odd that by midday on National Election day, only a handful of voters have turned out.

To the island of Mannar - once an enchanted paradise, now polluted, its wildlife dead or dying - comes Sir Alexander Haye, zoologist and TV personality, determined to acquire one of the last of the island's elephants for London Zoo.

In the quiet village of Great Barking, strange doings are afoot.

Bestselling author Douglas Jackson expertly brings the Roman Empire to life in this brutal and bloody historical adventure.

Village of Stone brilliantly evokes the harshness of life on the typhoon-battered coast of China, where fishermen are often lost to violent seas and children regularly swept away.

Two orphaned boys - one Russian (Ivan), and one British (Michael) -may or may not be brothers, Ivan is brought up brutally on the bleak rural steppes, while Michael is cosseted by his grandmother in the Home Counties.

How did Robert Purcell, distinguished barrister and perfect specimen of the British Establishment, end up in prison?

Memorable, atmospheric and compelling Times Literary SupplementLiv lives with her mother on a remote island in the Arctic Circle.

Effie Gillis is a history professor teaching at a major university.

CROWE'S REQUIEM tells the story of John Crowe, a young man born into a village without any apparent history or contact with the outside world.

Alphonse Courrier possesses all the might reasonably make a man content: a prosperous ironmonger's business and a position of respect in his Auvergne village, a dutiful, coolly beautiful wife who runs an irreproachable household, two healthy sons, and a hidden mistress - "e;the ugliest girl in the village but probably the happiest"e;.

Teasing out the extraordinary within the everyday, FALSE PRETENCES is a contemporary novel in mosiac.

As a very young girl, Polina Oulinov is taken on as a special pupil by the famous ballet teacher Professor Bojinsky.

Anna knows that if you want something really badly, you have to plan it.

An elderly Pole sits in a cafe in Krakow.

She's a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend.

Jane Austen meets Bridget Jones Hilarious GlamourMeet Butterfly loveable socialite, avid party-goer, inspired shopper and unwittingly acute observer.

Discover James Joyce's impressionistic portrait of a young man finding his artistic voice in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, reissued to coincide with 100 years since the first publication of his epic masterpiece, Ulysses EDITED BY HANS WALTER GABLER; WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY DR DIETER FUCHS AND JOSEPH O'CONNORAgainst the backdrop of nineteenth century Dublin, a boy becomes a man: his mind testing its powers, obsessions taking hold and loosening again, the bonds of family, tradition, nation and religion transforming from supports into shackles; until the young man devotes himself to the celebration of beauty, and reaches for independence and the life of an artist.

EDITED BY HANS WALTER GABLER WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY SCARLETT BARON AND JOHN BANVILLEIn this powerfully influential series of short stories, James Joyce captures uneasy souls, shabby lives and innocent minds in the dark streets and homes of his native city.

'What is remarkable about Alan Ayckbourn's comedy is that it contrives to be simultaneously hilarious and harrowing.

It is 1792 and a group of English gentlemen is recruiting settlers for a new world.

When Jochen left his father behind in East Germany he carried his resentment with him.

A homophobic Scottish labourer in London dies, and is condemned to confront his prejudices in the afterlife.

What happens when the facts of history are replaced by the mysteries of love?

In his own words, Charlie Cross is a bloke in love.

Having examined England's twin obsessions - violence and sex - in THE FOOTBALL FACTORY and HEADHUNTERS, John King completes his trilogy with ENGLAND AWAY: sex and violence abroad, under the Union Jack.

Everything changes for the four Mellow children the day they find a book called Pleasuring on the shelf.

The White man in the Tree is a comedy of cultural misunderstanding set in the Caribbean, New York and Paris, a novella and eight stories about people who, because of their differences - between men and women, blacks and whites, Jews and Christians, rich and poor - misjudge each other.

The Mercy Boys are four Dundee men who meet every day in their local pub and drink: first to find order, then oblivion.

The tales collected here are complete miniature narratives.

*** Granta Best of Young American Novelists 2017 ***In a snow-covered village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches from the woods as her father is abducted in the middle of the night by Russian soldiers.