More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
In Tokyo, there is a neighbourhood with the highest number of bookstores in the world. It is called Jinbocho where book lovers can browse to their heart's delight and where hunters of first editions or autographed copies prowl the bookcases.
The Morisaki bookshop, a small family-run shop, is so packed with books that barely five people can fit inside. Books crowd the shelves and invade every corner of the floor; when a customer arrives, the owner, Satoru, immediately pops out from behind the counter. Recently, his wife Momoko has joined him, and often, in her free time after work, their niece Takako also helps out.
For the first time, the girl does not feel lonely; she has new friends and new rituals to keep her company: the annual Jinbocho festival, the café around the corner, or an unexpected visitor. Because, as she has discovered, a bookstore is populated not by the characters contained in the books, but also by those who frequent it. And those stories create bonds.
As a sign of gratitude, Takako gives her aunt and uncle a trip, promising to look after the shop while they are away. Everything seems to be going swimmingly, but then why is Satoru behaving so strangely? And what does that woman with the red umbrella want who has appeared at the end of the street? How many other stories, emotions, and treasures does the Morisaki bookshop hold?
Loved by thousands of readers worldwide, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a story of hope, friendship and the healing power of books. Will we see you in the bookshop this summer?
Mrs Dalloway (Penguin Clothbound Classics)
Virginia Woolf's masterpiece, now in a beautiful clothbound edition designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith
Clarissa Dalloway, elegant and vivacious, is preparing for a party and remembering those she once loved. In another part of London, Septimus Warren Smith is suffering from shell-shock and on the brink of madness. Smith's day interweaves with that of Clarissa and her friends, their lives converging as the party reaches its glittering climax. Virginia Woolf's masterly novel, in which she perfected the interior monologue, brings past, present and future together on one momentous day in June 1923.
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Thought Police, Doublethink, Newspeak, Big Brother – 1984 itself: these terms and concepts have moved from the world of fiction into our everyday lives. They are central to our thinking about freedom and its suppression; yet they were newly created by George Orwell in 1949 as he conjured his dystopian vision of a world where totalitarian power is absolute.
In this novel, continuously popular since its first publication, readers can explore the dark and extraordinary world he brought so fully to life. The principal characters who lead us through that world are ordinary human beings like ourselves: Winston Smith and Julia, whose falling in love is also an act of rebellion against the Party. Opposing them are the massed powers of the state, which watches its citizens on all sides through technology now only too familiar to us. No-one is free from surveillance; the past is constantly altered, so that there is no truth except the most recent version; and Big Brother, both loved and feared, controls all. Even the simple act of keeping a diary – as Winston does – is punishable by death. In Winston’s battle to keep his freedom of thought, he has a powerful adversary in O’Brien, who uses fear and pain to enter his very thought processes. Does 2+2 = 4? Or is it 5? We find out in Room 101. Nineteen Eighty-Four was Orwell’s last novel; but the world he created is always with us, as successive generations of readers find within it a mirror for their own times and a warning for the future.
Nothing Like the Movies
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Better Than the Movies comes a romantic, heartfelt sequel that will sweep you off of your feet!
Wes had his dream girl but then he lost her – and the only way to get her back is to scheme like a rom-com hero…
For a few beautiful months, Wes and girl-next-door Liz were together. But right as the two were about to set off to UCLA together, tragedy struck and their relationship ended.
Flash forward and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart, but is determined to make her fall back in love with him. And he has a foolproof plan to win her back with the rom-com worthy big gestures she loves. Only … Liz will have none of it. Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend…a guy friend.
Still, Wes won’t give up and is determined to win back Liz’s affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, he’s is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.
Nothing Like the Movies is perfect for hopeless romantics, lovers of grumpy x sunshine energy and for fans of Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood!
The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes & His Last Bow
'Surely no man would take up my profession if it were not that danger attracts him.' In The Casebook, you can read the final twelve stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about his brilliant detective. They are perhaps the most unusual and the darkest that he penned. Treachery, mutilation and the terrible consequences of infidelity are just some of the themes explored in these stories, along with atmospheric touches of the gothic, involving a bloodsucking vampire, crypts at midnight and strange bones in a furnace. The collection His Last Bow features some of Sherlock Holmes’ most dramatic cases, including the vicious revenge intrigue connected with ‘The Red Circle’ and the insidious murders in ‘The Devil’s Foot’. The title story recounts how Sherlock Holmes is brought out of retirement to help the government foil a German plot on the eve of the First World War. These two fascinating sets of stories make a glorious farewell to the greatest detective of them all and his erstwhile companion, Dr Watson. About our Collector’s Editions: These compact hardbacks are cloth-bound, with matching coloured end papers, embossed gold and coloured blocking to enhance their beautiful, bespoke cover illustrations.
The Coin
A bold and unabashed novel about a young Palestinian woman's unraveling as she teaches at a New York City middle school, gets caught up in a scheme reselling Birkin bags, and strives to gain control over her body and mind.
The Coin's narrator is a wealthy Palestinian woman with impeccable style and meticulous hygiene. And yet the ideal self, the ideal life, remains just out of reach: her inheritance is inaccessible, her homeland exists only in her memory and her attempt to thrive in America seems doomed from the start.
In New York, she strives to put down roots. She teaches at a school for underprivileged boys, where her eccentric methods cross boundaries. She befriends a homeless swindler, and the two participate in a pyramid scheme reselling Birkin bags.
But America is stifling her - her wilfulness, her sexuality, her principles. In an attempt to regain control, she becomes preoccupied with purity, cleanliness and self-image, all while drawing her students into her obsessions. In an unforgettable denouement, her childhood memories converge with her material and existential statelessness and the narrator unravels spectacularly.
In enthralling, sensory prose, The Coin explores nature and civilisation, beauty and justice, class and belonging - all while resisting easy moralising. Provocative, wry and inviting, The Coin marks the arrival of a major new literary voice.
The Great Gatsby
Generally considered to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, The Great Gatsby is a consummate summary of the 'roaring twenties', and a devastating expose of the 'Jazz Age'. Through the narration of Nick Carraway, the reader is taken into the superficially glittering world of the mansions which lined the Long Island shore in the 1920s, to encounter Nick's cousin Daisy, her brash but wealthy husband Tom Buchanan, Jay Gatsby and the mystery that surrounds him. The Great Gatsby is an undisputed classic of American literature from the period following the First World War and is one of the great novels of the twentieth century.
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories
This is a collection of the most magical, moving, chilling and surprising Christmas stories from around the world, taking us from frozen Nordic woods to glittering Paris, a New York speakeasy to an English country house, bustling Lagos to midnight mass in Rio, and even outer space.
Here are classic tales from writers including Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Dylan Thomas, Saki and Chekhov, as well as little-known treasures such as Italo Calvino's wry sideways look at Christmas consumerism, Wolfdietrich Schnurre's story of festive ingenuity in Berlin, Selma Lagerlof's enchanted forest in Sweden, and Irène Nemerovsky's dark family portrait. Featuring santas, ghosts, trolls, unexpected guests, curmudgeons and miracles, here is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short story writers of all time.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Rom-Commers
She's rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma has big dreams, though she hasn't let herself think about them in years. Until her big break comes along: the chance to re-write a screenplay with her hero, Charlie-freaking-Yates! Even better: it's a rom-com - Emma's dream come true.
Charlie is a Hollywood legend. He's also, as it turns out, kind of a jerk. He's written the worst rom-com Emma's ever read - and it turns out Charlie doesn't believe in love at all...
But Emma's not going down without a fight. To help Charlie write the perfect rom-com, she needs to make him understand true romance. But the more she tries to teach him about love, the more real it all starts to seem...
What You Are Looking for is in the Library
For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this soul-stirring Japanese novel shows how the perfect book recommendation can help us fulfil our dreams.
Sayuri Komachi is no ordinary librarian. Sensing exactly what someone is searching for in life, she provides just the book recommendation to help them find it.
In this uplifting book, we meet five of Sayuri's customers, each at a different crossroads:
- the restless retail assistant eager to pick up new skills - the mother faced with a demotion at work after maternity leave
- the conscientious accountant who yearns to open an antique store
- the gifted young manga artist in search of motivation
- the recently retired salaryman on a quest for newfound purpose
Can she help them find what they are looking for?
What You Are Looking For is in the Library is about the magic of community libraries and the discovery of connection. Already loved by thousands of readers all over the world, this inspirational tale shows how, by listening to our hearts, seizing opportunity and reaching out, we too can fulfil our long-held dreams.
Which book will you recommend?
Wizard of Oz
Wuthering Heights
Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.
In a house haunted by memories, the past is everywhere ... As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young. How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge - and continues to torment those in the present. How love can transgress authority, convention, even death.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (Deluxe Edition)
SOON TO BE A NETFLIX FILM
From the author of Daisy Jones & The Six in which a legendary film actress reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine.
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the '80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a mesmerizing journey through the splendour of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means and what it costs to face the truth.
The Grandest Game (The Grandest Game Series, Book 1)
A RUTHLESS GAME.
SEVEN MYSTERY PLAYERS.
LOVE AND LIVES ARE AT STAKE.
Welcome to the Grandest Game, a life-changing competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers. LYRA tells herself she’s only playing for the money – not for answers about her father’s death and certainly not to confront the infuriating, enigmatic GRAYSON Hawthorne. Facing off against Lyra are GIGI, Grayson’s half-sister, who is determined to prove herself, and ROHAN, who has few morals, a dangerous skill set, and no future – unless he wins the game. Swept away to a luxury private island, Lyra, Gigi and Rohan must do whatever it takes to best one another, a cast of formidable rivals, and a game that only the sharpest minds can conquer. As sparks fly and the challenges push the players to their limits, it becomes clear that everyone has secrets, ad the past won’t stay buried forever.
WHO HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN?