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Considered by many to be Dickens' finest novel, Great Expectations traces the growth of the book's narrator, Philip Pirrip (Pip), from a boy of shallow dreams to a man with depth of character. From its famous dramatic opening on the bleak Kentish marshes, the story abounds with some of Dickens' most memorable characters. Among them are the kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery, the mysterious convict Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and her beautiful ward Estella, Pip's good-hearted room-mate Herbert Pocket and the pompous Pumblechook.



As Pip unravels the truth behind his own 'great expectations' in his quest to become a gentleman, the mysteries of the past and the convolutions of fate through a series of thrilling adventures serve to steer him towards maturity and his most important discovery of all - the truth about himself.

[A WOMAN ALWAYS LANDS ON HER FEET]

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER




Get ready for CAT LADY, the brilliantly bold and joyful new novel from Dawn O'Porter



'Even speaking as a dog man, I thought Cat Lady was an absolute joy to read' MATT HAIG


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CAT LADY [n.]


Single, independent, crazy, aloof, on-the-shelf, lives alone . . .



It's safer for Mia to play the part that people expect. She's a good wife to her husband Tristan, a doting stepmother, she slips on her suit for work each morning like a new skin.


But beneath the surface, there's another woman just clawing to get out . . .


When a shocking event shatters the conventional life she's been so careful to build, Mia is faced with a choice. Does she live for a society that's all too quick to judge, or does she live for herself?


And if that's as an independent woman with a cat, then the world better get ready . . .

Fresh, funny and for anyone who's ever felt astray, CAT LADY will help you belong - because a woman always lands on her feet.




PRAISE FOR CAT LADY:



'My book of the year' Reader review


'A reminder to live your life your way. Cat or no cat' Fearne Cotton


'Really gets the reader to think about what matters in life Unputdownable and completely wonderful!' Reader review


'Witty, thought-provoking and hilarious, Cat Lady is a triumph' The Unmumsy Mum


'Dawn O'Porter challenges the stereotypes of the typical 'cat lady' with this beautiful and emotional read' Reader review


'An ode to finding your people and a celebration of the small things that bring us together' Emma Gannon


'I absolutely adored this book!' Reader review


'Funny, heart-wrenching and full of warmth' Sarah Morgan


'A beautifully written book that I'd recommend to anyone' Reader review


'A lovely onion of a book, layered with humour and emotion' Daisy Haggard


'A joyous, touching, funny, sharp story - I cannot praise it enough. Purr-fection' Milly Johnson

Romeo and Juliet is the world's most famous drama of tragic young love. Defying the feud which divides their families, Romeo and Juliet enjoy the fleeting rapture of courtship, marriage and sexual fulfilment; but a combination of old animosities and new coincidences brings them to suicidal deaths.






This play offers a rich mixture of romantic lyricism, bawdy comedy, intimate harmony and sudden violence. Long successful in the theatre, it has also generated numerous operas, ballets and films; and these have helped to make Romeo and Juliet perennially topical.

• Follow the trail of murder, blackmail and mystery set by the Queen of Crime. Travel down the Nile, on the Orient Express and into the drawing rooms of quaint English country cottages hot on the heels of Poirot, Miss Marple and other famous characters
• PLAY AND LEARN: This bingo game comes with a leaflet packed with Agatha Christie trivia. Learn about Poirot's toughest cases, Agatha Christie's medicine cabinet and more!
• GREAT GIFT for dedicated crime fans, bingo players, and everyone in between!
• SCREEN FREE FUN for up to 8 players, recommended for ages 6+. Comes with bingo board measuring 428x498mm (16.85x19.6 ins) when laid out, 12-game boards, 64 chips, 200 counters, keepsake cloth bag to store chips and 16-page booklet

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FOLLOW-UP TO TIKTOK SENSATION AND MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER THINGS WE NEVER GOT OVER

Police Chief Nash Morgan is known for two things: being a good guy and the way his uniform accentuates his rear end.

But two bullets put a dent in his Southern charm and now he's facing a criminal still on the loose and a town full of citizens that consider the law more of a 'guideline'. The last thing he needs is the leggy, smart-mouthed Lina Solavita moving in next door, making him feel things he doesn't have the energy to feel.

Lina is on a mission. As soon as she gets what she's after, she has no intention of sticking around. The town of Knockemout has other ideas. Soon she finds herself sucked into small-town life. Dog-sitting. Saying yes to a bridesmaid's dress. Listening to the sexy chief of police in the shower.

But when Nash discovers Lina's secret these friends become furious enemies - though the sparks flying between them don't know the difference between love and hate.

Already itching for more from Knockemout? Pre order Things We Left Behind now - the next heart-pounding book in the bestselling series!

Thirty bold steps. One year. Is Nina ready?
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'Fresh, touching... So good!' JANE FALLON
'Feelgood, uplifting storytelling at its best' SHEILA O'FLANAGAN
'A treat!' LAUREN BRAVO
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Nina Mistry is at rock bottom.

She's just broken up with the love of her life.
Her friends are moving on.
Her career is tanking.
Oh, and she just turned thirty in a prison cell.

But her night in prison might change everything. It's there that she comes across a tatty little self-help book promising to change her life. The book presents her with a question: can she find thirty things she loves about herself?

Sceptical but curious, the journalist in Nina can't resist a challenge. And so begins a radical journey: to accept her flaws and find love.

Thirty bold steps. One year. Are you ready?

Discover THE novel that your best friend wants you to read, and radically rethink everything you think you know about love . . .

Readers have FALLEN IN LOVE with #30Things:

'Funny and charming' - PANDORA SYKES

'Heart-warming and uplifting . . . exactly what we all need right now' - NIKKI MAY

'Great fun!' - JILL MANSELL

'Funny, heartwarming and empowering' - REAL READER REVIEW

'Beautifully and thoughtfully written' - REAL READER REVIEW

'I could not love this book more; hilarious, sensitive [and] witty' - REAL READER REVIEW

A BESTSELLING NOVEL AND MAJOR FILM STARRING MERYL STREEP AND JACK NICHOLSON



'I have bought more copies of this book to give to people, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, than any other . . . Heartburn is the perfect, bittersweet, sobbingly funny, all-too-true confessional novel' NIGELLA LAWSON



'A perfect example of Ephron's gift for turning tragedy into comedy' PAULA HAWKINS, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN



'She is wit without cynicism, the ultimate romantic' GAIL COLLINS, NEW YORK TIMES



Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel discovers that her husband is in love with another woman. The fact that this woman has a 'neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb' is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel is a cookery writer, and between trying to win Mark back and wishing him dead, she offers us some of her favourite recipes. Heartburn is a roller coaster of love, betrayal, loss and most satisfyingly revenge.



This is Nora Ephron's (screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle) roman a clef: 'I always thought during the pain of the marriage that one day it would make a funny book,' she once said - And it is!



Books included in the VMC fortieth anniversary series include: Frost in May by Antonia White; The Collected Stories of Grace Paley; Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault; The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter; The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann; Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith; The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; Heartburn by Nora Ephron; The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy; Memento Mori by Muriel Spark; A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor; and Faces in the Water by Janet Frame

'Funny about death, real about anxiety, witty about the things that worry us the most' Emma Gannon, author of Olive

'So fundamentally kind that you can feel the warmth coming off each page' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Starling Days

Gilda cannot stop thinking about death. Desperate for relief from her anxious mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local church and finds herself abruptly hired to replace the deceased receptionist Grace. It's not the most obvious job - she's queer and an atheist for starters - and so in between trying to learn mass, hiding her new maybe-girlfriend and conducting an amateur investigation into Grace's death, Gilda must avoid revealing the truth of her mortifying existence.

A blend of warmth, deadpan humour, and pitch-perfect observations about the human condition, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a crackling exploration of what it takes to stay afloat in a worl

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

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In this stunning and timely novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage and of a woman's relentless errors.

Louise Erdrich's latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls' Day, but she simply won't leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading 'with murderous attention,' must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

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'Erdrich is one of the greatest living American writers' Guardian

'Strange, enchanting and funny: a work about motherhood, doom, regret and the magic - dark, benevolent and every shade in between - of words on paper' New York Times

** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER **

A GUIDE TO USING THE SCIENCE OF THE BODY CLOCK TO CREATE THE OPTIMUM PERSONAL ROUTINE: SLEEP BETTER, WORK BETTER, FEEL BETTER.

'A superlative guide to some of the most intriguing questions of human existence' - Bill Bryson, author of The Body: A Guide for Occupants

'Who knew our body clocks determined so much of our health, happiness, and lifespan? I learned so much' - James Nestor, author of Breath

In the twenty-first century, we increasingly push our daily routines into the night, carrying out work, exercise and our social lives long after dark. But we have forgotten that our bodies are governed by a 24-hour biological clock which guides us towards the best time to sleep, eat and think.

In Life Time, Professor Russell Foster shares his life's work, taking us on a fascinating and surprising journey through the science of our body clocks. Using his own studies, as well as insights from an international community of sleep scientists and biologists studying circadian rhythms, he illustrates the surprising effects the time of day can have on our health, including:

- how a walk outside at dawn can ensure a better night's sleep
- how eating after sundown can affect our weight
- the extraordinary effects the time we take our medication can have on our risk of life-threatening conditions, such as strokes

In the modern world, we have neglected an essential part of our biology. But with knowledge of this astonishing science, we can get back into the rhythm, and live healthier, sharper lives.

A REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER (JUNE 2021)

'A sexy, modern love story' Reese Witherspoon

'I absolutely loved it' Jodi Picoult

Seven days to fall in love, fifteen years to forget, and seven days to get it all back again...

When Eva Mercy, a single mother and bestselling erotica writer, and the enigmatic, award-winning novelist Shane Hall meet at a literary event in New York, sparks fly. But what no one knows is that fifteen years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one week together, madly in love. While they may pretend to be strangers, they can't deny their chemistry.

Over the next seven days, amidst a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect. But Eva is wary of the man who broke her heart and wants Shane out of the city so her life can return to normal. Before he disappears, though, she needs a few questions answered . . .

With its keen observations of creative life in America today, as well as the joys and complications of being a mother and a daughter, Seven Days in June is a hilarious, romantic, and sexy-as-hell story of two writers discovering their second chance at love.


'Deliciously witty' Zoella Book Club

'Hilarious, romantic and incredibly sexy' Hello!

'An absolute page turner . . . exuding love, hope and desire' Evening Standard

'Electric and alive' Kirkus

'A captivating love story' Melan Mag

'A vision of life as it truly is: complications and difficulties punctuated by profound joy' Rumaan Alam

• PLAY AND LEARN: learn about Shakespeare's plays in this fun new easy-to-play board game. Go back to Shakespeare's London and collect character cards to stage your own plays and win!

• SCREEN-FREE FUN for 3-5 players aged 8 and up. Play time is 30-60 mins and game play video is available via a QR Code on the back of the box
• SOMETHING TO TREASURE: this is a quality product made to last, with bespoke illustration and sleek and stylish packaging. The box measures 265x265x65mm (10.5x10.5x2.5 ins)
• EXPLORE THE ENTIRE SERIES: this game is part of our bestselling Shakespeare range illustrated by Adam Simpson, includingThe World of Shakespeare: 1000-piece Jigsaw Puzzle and Shakespeare Playing Cards
• CONTENTS INCLUDE gameboard measuring 504x504mm (20x20 ins) when laid out, 28-page rule booklet, 86 cards (6 player cards, 30 luck cards and 50 play cards), 48 chips, 6 player tokens and a card tuck box.

Anna is struggling to afford life in London as she trains to be a singer. During the day, she vies to succeed against her course mates with their discreet but inexhaustible streams of cultural capital and money, and in the evening she sings jazz at a bar in the City to make ends meet.

Here she meets Max, a financier fourteen years older than her. Over the course of one winter, Anna's intoxication oscillates between her hard-won moments on stage, where she can zip herself into the skin of her characters, and nights spent with Max in his glass-walled flat overlooking the city.

But Anna's fledgling career demands her undivided attention, and increasingly – whether he necessarily wills it or not – so does Max…

A unique love story and a classic work of philosophy, rooted in the mysterious workings of the human heart and mind. With an introduction by Sheila Heti.

'De Botton is a national treasure.' - Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black

Perhaps it is true that we do not really exist until there is someone there to see us existing, we cannot properly speak until there is someone who can understand what we are saying in essence, we are not wholly alive until we are loved.

A man and a woman meet over casual conversation on a flight from Paris to London, and so begins a love story – from first kiss to first argument, elation to heartbreak, and everything in between. Each stage of the relationship is illuminated with startling clarity, as Alain de Botton explores emotions often felt but rarely understood.

With the verve of a novelist and the insight of a philosopher, de Botton uncovers the mysteries of the human heart. Essays In Love is an iconic book – one that should be read by anyone who has ever fallen in love.