Contemporary Fiction

Paulette's the kind of woman who likes the future all mapped out: the wedding to Denton, the Caribbean honeymoon, the gingham quilt on the baby's crib. Until one morning Garfield, Denton's friend, arrives at her door with the news…

Susan Ryeland has had enough of murder. She's edited two novels about the famous detective, Atticus Pund, and both times she's come close to being killed. Now she's back in England and she's been persuaded to work on a third. The …

A story about identity and place, about finding out who you are, who your people are, and what it means to be a family.Maeve Gaffney arrives in a small West Cork town in pursuit of a dream: to be reunited with Tim, the lad she fel…

Lost at sea...with your one-night stand Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn't she?Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he'll break h…

Fighting off the boredom of lockdown, acclaimed author Jim Winter decides to share his skills by setting up an anonymous online writing workshop – but his generosity will cost him more than he knows. Right away, the work of a tale…

How do you survive the unsurvivable?Rachel lives with her husband Tom and their two children: it's the comfortable family life she always thought she'd have. All of that changes in an instant - when Tom runs the family car off the…

Willy Vlautin's most personal novel yet - a poetic and deeply moving story about what it really takes to be a musician. Al Ward, an ageing musician, is living on old mining land in Nevada. One morning, a horse arrives outside his …

Imogene is young, beautiful, kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead, the legendary ghost of the Rosebud Theater. Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with a head full of big ideas and a gi…

Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours.He knows what he's done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn't want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood.But this is not his story…

You wait ages for The One . . . then 203 come along at once. One night Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband. All the evidence – from photos to electricity bills – suggests he’s right. And then anothe…

Sometimes finding your place in the world is the greatest puzzle of all... Clayton Stumper is an enigma. He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt. Abandoned at birth on …

A story of sacrifice, violence and growing up different – told against the heat and claustrophobia of a seaside city in summer. After Matthew’s grandfather dies suddenly, four friends struggle to face the trauma of their pasts in…

When she’s having sex with her boss, Iris likes to have the lights on so he can see how much younger she is than his wife. She likes watching her colleagues eat unhealthy lunches at their desk while her stomach aches with emptines…

A ruthless and unflinching examination of American life in the late 1960s, from the author of The Year of Magical Thinking. Somewhere out beyond Hollywood, hollowed-out actress Maria Wyeth’s life plays out in a numbing routine of …

Renting is a nightmare...Áine should be feeling happy with her life. She's just moved in with Elliot. Their new flat is in an affluent neighbourhood, surrounded by bakeries, yoga studios and organic vegetable shops.They even have …

It's only when we slow down that we can truly experience joy . . .  2035: In the shadow of a race-course, two sisters grow up, helping their mother at the local cafe that serves renowned ramen. Family life is fractious especially …

New York City, 1999. Lily Chen is an unpaid intern, pursuing the American Dream, when she falls for a young financier – and the life of luxury his vast fortune promises. Everything she wants seems to finally be within reach.But de…

In Edmundsbury, a small town in eastern England, fear and loathing are on the rise. Brexit has happened and the ramifications are real. Grass-roots, right-wing political party 'England Always' is fomenting hatred.The residents of …

Burnt-out from a demanding job and a bustling life in the city, Emelie has left town to spend a few days in the country. Once there, in the peaceful, verdant hills, down by the river she encounters a mysterious group of seven peop…

‘What are you?’ This is the puzzled question that greets a young Trelawny growing up in a Miami where his racial ambiguity is regarded with confusion and suspicion. It’s not just his neighbours, his Jamaican parents Topper and Sa…

I'd always dreamed of my wedding day. But not like this. Not looking into the eyes of the man who betrayed me.  But when my nephew's guardianship is contested, I decide I'll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if i…

From one of the world's bestselling authors, Winter Garden is a moving, haunting and compelling novel illuminating the intricacy of mother-daughter bonds and the enduring links between past and present. 'One of the greatest storyt…

In the new novel from the author of Assembly, a viral longread exposé raises more questions than it answers.  Remember - words are your weapons, they're your tools, your currency. On a Yorkshire farm, a man is brutally bludgeoned…

THE IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER. A marriage unravels in a Spanish hotel room as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son's true nature. A woman attends a read…

The first time Joe plays Percy one of his songs in his college room in 2000, she instantly realises three things: One, she is watching a star in the making. Two, she can shape his music into something extraordinary. Three, she wi…

Two teenage girls fixate on each other's bodies; a woman encounters an ex and reflects on the women's group that saved her; an older man's buried grief emerges in encounter with a woman driving a 4×4; and a waitress lacks the mone…

Christine Beckett is faced with some home truths when her best friend, suffering from dementia, decides after a lifetime to be honest with her; Olivia Fletcher has an epiphany at a vaccination centre about a man who has loved her …

We spend more time than we know trying to go back. We call it fantasising, we call it dreaming. . . but we're all crawling back, each in his or her own way. A group of college friends find themselves marooned at a luxurious hotel…

Reeling with grief from their recent breakup, Kalu and Aima are drawn into separate nights of decadence in the heart of New Lagos: a city teeming with traffic, polluted air and cracked faith. Tonight, the pair are desperate to fo…

Deep in the forest, a group of restless lumberjacks working an illegal logging outfit plan a winter dance that some will volunteer to attend as women; the broadest, strongest axeman finds himself caught in a rivalry with a pretty,…