Showing titles in Contemporary Fiction

Against the odds, former steel worker Harry Perkins has led the Labour Party to a stunning victory. His manifesto includes the removal of American bases, public control of finance and the dismantling of media empires. The Establishment is appalled. Something must be done. As MI5 conspires with the City and the press barons to bring Perkins down, he finds himself caught up in a no-holds-barred battle for survival.

The instinct of the true Porterhouse man faced with a crisis is to reach for the bottle and then to fall back on the subtle tactical skills honed at Cambridge down the centuries: blackmail and kidnap. But will these be enough? Menaced on all sides - by the collapse of the Chapel, by the tentacles of organised crime, and by the hovering threat of the abominable Dog’s Nose Man - will Porterhouse be forced to unleash the most fearsome weapon in its armoury - the college food?

The Taliban have disappeared from Kabul's streets, but the long shadows of their brutal regime remain...In his short life, 11-year-old Fawad has known more grief than most: his father and brother have been killed; his sister has been abducted; and Fawad and his mother, Mariya, must rely on the charity of family to eke out a hand-to-mouth existence. But despite their struggles, Fawad's love of life never fades.

Stan Barstow's A Kind of Loving finds Vic Brown in a bleak Yorkshire industrial town, striving for maturity in his relationship with girlfriend Ingrid and her small-town ways. The story examines in great detail his feelings as the relationship develops.

Richard Huw perfectly captures the mood and the character in his reading.

A moving love story inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of The Help In a time of hate, would you stand up for love? Shalerville, Kentucky, 1939. A world where black maids and handymen are trusted to raise white children and tend to white houses, but from which they are banished after...

Once it had been the great forest of Lythe - a vast and impenetrable thicket of green.And here, in the beginning, lived the Fairfaxes, grandly, at Fairfax Manor, visited once by the great Gloriana herself. But over the centuries the forest had been destroyed, replaced by Streets of Trees.The...

Blaze exposes the new order of women and power in the cut-throat arena of up-market magazines. The idealistic baby boomers have been pushed aside and it's every woman for herself. An intimate look at four women coping with their private and public lives in the world where scheming and fox cunning seem to beat skill and talent, where sexism and ageism in office politics label women over 30 over the hill.

Shortlisted for the 2012 Booker prize: Could modernity be an illness? Umbrella follows the story of Audrey Death, who fell victim to the encephalitis lethargica, sleeping sickness epidemic at the end of the First World War and has been in a coma ever since. Arriving at the asylum she still...

The final book in Roddy Doyle's highly acclaimed Barrytown Trilogy focuses on Jimmy Rabbitte Sr, who is facing the vicissitudes of unemployment when his friend Bimbo invites him to become his partner in a new venture: a fish and chip van.

This abridged audiobook edition of the timeless classic is narrated by Megan Follows, who starred as Anne Shirley in the 1985 television miniseries Anne of Green Gables. Eleven-year-old Anne Shirley has never known a real home. Since her parents' deaths, she's bounced around to foster...

The Gropes are an old English family based in Northumberland, separated from the rest of society and as eccentric as they come. It is a line dominated by strong-willed and oversexed women, determined to produce more female heirs regardless of whether their desired partners are willing.... At the dawn of the new millennium, timid and gormless teenager Esmond is abducted and lured to Grope Hall by a descendant of the Gropes.

Richard is a modern day everyman; a middle-aged divorcee trading stocks out of his home. He has done such a good job getting his life under control that he needs no one. His life has slowed almost to a standstill, until two incidents conspire to hurl him back into the world. One day he wakes up...

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, the language of their new country. As Simón and David they make their way to the relocation centre in the city of Novilla, where...

The second act of the Hornblower saga is a gripping, rip-roaring tale of turmoil and triumph on the high seas. With new responsibilities thrust upon him, a young Lieutenant Hornblower is now fully in command of a ship for the first time. Faced with the challenges of near-mutiny, bloody hand-to-hand combat, deck-splintering sea battles, and the violence and horrors of life aboard the fighting ships in Napoleonic Wars, Hornblower must find a way to endure and overcome, as only a hero of his stature can.

“A sweet, life-affirming tale . . . with a liberal sprinkling of magic.” —Marie Claire (UK) “Filled with family secrets, intrigue, and magic aplenty.” —Booklist Bestselling author Cecelia Ahern follows The Gift and P.S. I Love You with the mesmerizing story of a teenaged girl coming...

Tim Winton's characters are ordinary people who battle to maintain loyalty against all odds; women, children, men whose relationships strain under pressure and leave them bewildered, hoping, sometimes fleeing, but often finding strength in forgotten parts of themselves.

A feud between two brothers, one rich and the other poor, has long-lasting consequences.

When Sadko sings and plays the dulcimer, a traditional string instrument, everyone - from the villagers to the Tzar of the Sea - is moved to dance. With patience and honesty, Sadko becomes a successful businessman and the most eligible bachelor in the country. Despite his success, Sadko remains faithful only to the "little river" by which he plays his dulcimer. When he encounters a maiden as beautiful as the river's shimmering waters, will he learn what it means to truly love?

Puzwuk the orphan boy tries to save his village from famine, one fish at a time.

The Yapik village of Kingegan learns a valuable lesson in greed when Obok, a well-behaved boy, and Ootinna, the village troublemaker, stumble upon the Great Man of the North, the legendary giant who controls the seasons.