Bøker utgitt av Random House UK Ltd

'The monk who taught the world mindfulness' TimeOne breath, one step is all we need to feel at home and comfortable in the here and nowIn this enlightening series, world-renowned spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh shares the foundations of mindfulness practice and meditation.By applying considered breath and meditation, How to Smile acts as a guide to show us how to transform hurt into healing, while also allowing us to explore the strong emotions of anger, sadness, regret and fear.This is the essential guide to help you heal.

Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Air Fryer Book is a refreshing culinary guide penned by the talented Nathan Anthony. Published in 2023 by Random House UK Ltd, this book is a must-have for those seeking to revolutionize their daily meals. The genre of the book is primarily health and cooking, focusing on how to use an air fryer to create nutritious, appetizing dishes. The author, Nathan Anthony, uses his expertise to provide a variety of recipes that are not only easy to follow but also cater to different dietary needs and preferences. The book was published in March 2023 and since then, it has been inspiring people to explore the endless possibilities of cooking with an air fryer. Published by the reputable Random House UK Ltd, this book is a testament to their commitment to providing high-quality, informative books to readers around the world. If you're tired of the same old lunch and want to explore new, healthy options, Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Air Fryer Book is the perfect companion for you.

'A rich and subtle exploration of the sacredness of nature, filled with a timeless wisdom and deep humanity' Guardian In this hugely powerful book, Karen Armstrong argues that it isn't enough to change our behaviour to avert environmental catastrophe - we must rekindle our spiritual bond with the natural world. From gratitude and compassion to sacrifice and non-violence, Armstrong draws themes from the world's religious traditions to offer practical steps to reconnect you with nature.Speaking to anyone interested in our relationship with nature, worried about environmental destruction, or searching for new actions to save our planet, Sacred Nature will uncover the most profound connections between humans and the natural world.'A lamentation in the key of Greta Thunberg, with undertones of Carl Jung' Wall Street Journal'Warm and witty... a challenge to think differently in the face of climate change' Tablet'Karen Armstrong is one of the handful of wise and supremely commentators on religion' Alain de Botton

The story of a life. The story of the year.'Lessons shows [McEwan] at the very peak of his powers. He has written his masterpiece' Daily TelegraphWhen the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.Twenty-five years later Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes, and he is left alone with their baby son. Her disappearance sparks of journey of discovery that will continue for decades, as Roland confronts the reality of his rootless existence and attempts to embrace the uncertainty - and freedom - of his future.'Ian McEwan is a masterful storyteller' Elif Shafak'A beautiful book about love, loss and regret' Observer'Luminous, beautifully written... about lives imperfectly lived' Vogue'A whole, unruly life between the covers of a single book: a literary feat' Spectator'A tour de force... A single life is silhouetted against global happenings' Sunday Times* A Book of the Year for The Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, New Statesman, Washington Post, Vogue and New Yorker *

The new novel from the bestselling author of The Idiot follows one young woman's quest for self-knowledge, as she travels abroad and tests the limits of her newfound adulthood. 'Elif Batuman is the queen of the campus novel... Enchanting' Sunday TimesSELIN IS THE LUCKIEST PERSON IN HER FAMILY:The only one who was born in America and got to go to Harvard. Now it's her second year, and Selin knows she has to make it count. The first order of business: to figure out the meaning of everything that happened over the summer...On the plus side, her life feels like the plot of an exciting novel. On the other hand, why do so many novels have crazy, abandoned women in them? And how does one live a life as interesting as a novel - a life worthy of becoming a novel - without turning into a crazy, abandoned woman oneself?'Stupendous... Hilarious... Batuman is a genius' Vogue'This novel wins you over in a million micro-observations' New York Times'Searingly smart' Evening Standard

Lapvona, a captivating novel by the renowned author, Ottessa Moshfegh, is a must-read for all book lovers. Published by Random House UK Ltd in 2023, this book has already made its mark in the literary world. This book, like Moshfegh's other works, falls under the genre of contemporary fiction, offering readers a deep and engaging storyline. The author's unique storytelling style, combined with her ability to create complex and relatable characters, makes Lapvona a book that you won't be able to put down. The publication of Lapvona by Random House UK Ltd in 2023 just adds to the list of their quality literary contributions. If you're looking for a book that will keep you engrossed from start to finish, Lapvona is the one for you.

'Rule, Nostalgia announces Woods as one of the most interesting new historians of her generation' - Dan Jones, Sunday Times'Hannah Rose Woods explores how illusory and contested golden ages have haunted Britain since medieval times... Intelligent and eminently readable' - Richard Evans, New Statesman (Book of the Day)'Our national story is so much stranger than we think: this book brilliantly insists that we look at it afresh' - James Hawes, bestselling author of The Shortest History of England____________________________________________________Britain is an island ruled by nostalgia, but nostalgia today isn't what it used to be... Longing to go back to the 'good old days' is nothing new. For hundreds of years, the British have mourned the loss of older national identities and called for a revival 'simple', 'better' ways of life - from Margaret Thatcher's call for a return to 'Victorian values' in the 1980s, to William Blake's protest against the 'dark satanic mills' of the Industrial Revolution that were fast transforming England's green and pleasant land, to sixteenth-century observers looking back wistfully to a 'Merry England' before the upheavals of the Reformation. By the time we reach the 1500s, we find a country nostalgic for a vision of home that looks very different to our own. But were the 'good old days' ever quite how we remember them? Beginning in the present, cultural historian Hannah Rose Woods takes us back on an eye-opening tour through five hundred years of Britain's perennial fixation with its own past to reveal that history is more complex than we care to remember. Asking why nostalgia has been such an enduring and seductive emotion across hundreds of years of change, Woods separates the history from the fantasy, debunks pervasive myths about the past, and illuminates the remarkable influence that nostalgia's perpetual backwards glance has had on British history, politics and society. Rule, Nostalgia is a timely and enlightening interrogation of national character, emotion, identity and myth making that elucidates how this nostalgic isle's history was written, re-written and (rightly or wrongly) remembered.

**WINNER OF THE WRITERS' PRIZE (NON-FICTION CATEGORY)****SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024**'A wonderful read (or a great present) for anyone who loves stories and art' Nina Stibbe, author of Love, NinaA beautifully illustrated new memoir of a life in art, a father and daughter, and what a shared love of a painting can come to mean.'We see with everything that we are'On the morning of 12 October 1654, a gunpowder explosion devastated the Dutch city of Delft. The thunderclap was heard over seventy miles away. Among the fatalities was the painter Carel Fabritius, dead at thirty-two, leaving only his haunting masterpiece The Goldfinch and barely a dozen known paintings. The explosion that killed him also buried his reputation, along with answers to the mysteries of his life and career.What happened to Fabritius before and after this disaster is just one of the discoveries in a book that explores the relationship between art and life, interweaving the lives of Laura Cumming, her Scottish painter father, who also died too young, and the great artists of the Dutch Golden Age.This is a book about what a picture may come to mean: how it can enter your life and change your thinking in a thunderclap.**A SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY EXPRESS AND GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023**'Brilliant ... rush out and buy it' Edmund de Waal, bestselling author of The Hare with Amber Eyes

Rediscover the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry. The pair met when Clare was just six and Henry thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty.Impossible but true.Now adapted into the major Sky TV series, The Time Traveler's Wife is the international bestselling novel of a time-altering love. Henry is a librarian who suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets, finding himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. Meanwhile, Clare is an artist waiting all her life for her great love Henry to appear. In the face of this force neither can prevent nor control, Henry and Clare's struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.'Dark, unpredictable, incredibly clever and a modern romance' Grazia

THE NOVEL THAT INSPIRED THE OSCAR WINNING FILMAmidst the horrors of Auschwitz, German officer, Angelus Thomsen, has found love. But unfortunately for Thomsen, the object of his affection is already married to his camp commandant, Paul Doll.As Thomsen and Doll's wife pursue their passion - the gears of Nazi Germany's Final Solution grinding around them - Doll is riven by suspicion. With his dignity in disrepute and his reputation on the line, Doll must take matters into his own hands and bring order back to the chaos that reigns around him.'It is exceptionally brave.... Shakespearean.... It's exciting; it's alive; it's more than slightly mad. As the title suggests, it is dreadfully interesting.' Sunday Times

'For anyone who's ever craved a seat at the Round Table. Utterly enchanting.'REBECCA YARROS, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Fourth Wing'You'll love Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword' George R.R. Martin'A beautifully written, suitably weird, very human take on King Arthur' Joe Abercrombie'Breathtaking' Publishers Weekly'This is why we read fantasy' Ava Reid_______________________________________________________________No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians trilogy returns with a triumphant reimagining of the King Arthur legend for the new millennium.When gifted young knight Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place on the Round Table, he quickly discovers that he's too late:The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left.And the survivors aren't the heroes of legend either, like Lancelot or Gawain. They're the oddballs of the Round Table, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur's fool, who was knighted as a joke. They're joined by Nimue, who was Merlin's apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill.But it's up to them to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance, even as God abandons Britain and the fairies and old gods are returning, led by Morgan le Fay. They must reclaim Excalibur and make this ruined world whole again.But first they'll have to solve the mystery of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell.The first major Arthurian epic of the new millennium, The Bright Sword is a story about imperfect men and women, full of strength and pain, who are looking for a way to reforge a broken land in spite of being broken themselves.

* The instant Sunday Times bestseller! *Breaking the Dark, the first book in the brand-new Marvel Crime series, introduces fans to a grittier, street-level side of the Marvel Universe, and will continue with original novels featuring fan-favorite characters like Luke Cage, written by S.A. Cosby, and Daredevil, written by Alex Segura.________'Never has a novelist captured me so consistently every single year for so long' Gillian McAllister'Absolutely perfect' Booklist'A fun, entertaining read that really packs a punch!' Shari Lapena'So cleverly plotted and as ever beautifully written' Harriet Tyce'An exciting, riveting, adrenaline-pumping story' Liz Nugent'Immersive, page-turning, addictive, fresh and fun.' Andrea Mara'Exhilarating, twisty and original. Agatha Christie meets Black Mirror!' Claire Douglas'I was hooked from the start and couldn't turn the pages fast enough.' Alice Feeney'Absolutely compulsive, complex and gripping.' Nadine Matheson________Meet Jessica Jones: a private investigator and retired super hero based out of Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, who goes from job to job as a hard living, rough talking, loner. And then a wealthy Upper East Side woman pays her a visit. Amber Randall is concerned about her twin sixteen-year-olds, Lark and Fox, who have acted and looked very different since they returned from spending the summer with their British father in the UK. She tells Jessica that her children have unnaturally perfect skin for teenagers and have lost all the tics and habits that made them who they were. They are not Lark and Fox, she tells Jessica. Something has happened to them.To find out more, Jessica travels to Essex to talk to their father and once there meets Belle who is living a curiously isolated existence in a run-down farmhouse with her guardian Debra. Jessica knows that Lark and Fox had spent the summer with Belle-but can this unworldly teenager really be responsible for Lark and Fox's new personas?Jessica soon discovers that, behind Belle and Debra, evil geniuses are playing a dangerous game with technology in order to make the world a "better place", not caring who gets hurt, maimed or even killed in the process. Can Jessica stop them from wreaking destruction on a whole generation of young people?Nothing is certain in Lisa Jewell's gripping and most imaginative novel yet.________Reader' s love Breaking the Dark . . .***** 'I quickly became absorbed into the story and couldn't put it down.'*****'Wow... The book can be read by someone super into Marvel and also someone who has no prior super hero knowledge.'***** 'This book was fun and exciting. I recommend it!'***** 'A fun, exciting and supercharged read that even readers who are not lovers off Marvel will be able to pick up and enjoy.'***** 'I love Lisa Jewell and I was a bit apprehensive of this as it wasn't her usual style but she didn't let me down. What a book. I loved it!'________'Seamlessly integrates superhero lore with the gritty realism of a crime thriller.' Daily Mirror'A gripping read' Heat Magazine'Clever concept, characters and and compelling prose will keep you hooked.' Woman & Home'Tricksy, endlessly interesting and pure entertainment, don't miss this one.' Gillian McAllister'Fresh, lively, insightful-and the action scenes hit like a chop.' AJ Finn'The perfect blend of psychological thriller and supernatural chiller.' Mark Edwards'Classic Lisa Jewell with an amazing twist!' Jenny Colgan'Reveals the depth and complexity of one of the most fascinating and indomitable characters in the Marvel canon.' S. A. Cosby'Fast-paced, addictive and SO. MUCH. FUN.' Tamar CohenSunday Times bestseller, July 2024

A thrilling anthology of short stories from the Sunday Times bestselling author of the Scholomance Trilogy and Uprooted, spanning each of her realms and including a sneak peak into the world of her next series.From the dragon-filled Temeraire series and the gothic, magical halls of the Scholomance trilogy, through the realms next door to Spinning Silver and Uprooted, this stunning collection takes us from fairy tale to fantasy, myth to history, and mystery to science fiction as we travel through Naomi Novik's most beloved stories. Here, among many others, we encounter: A mushroom witch who learns that sometimes the worst thing in the Scholomance can be your roommate. The start of the Dragon Corps in ancient Rome, after Mark Antony hatches a dragon's egg and bonds with the hatchling. A young bride in the middle ages who finds herself gambling with Death, for the highest of stakes. A delightful reimagining of Pride & Prejudice, in which Elizabeth Bennet captains a Longwing dragon. The first glimpse at the world of Abandon, the setting of Novik's upcoming epic fantasy series-a deserted continent populated only by silent and enigmatic architectural mysteries.Though the stories are vastly different, there is a unifying theme: wrestling with destiny, and the lengths some will go to find their own and fulfill its promise.

FROM THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE WIM HOF METHODWhat would it be like to live uninhibited, unconditionally and open to whatever comes your way? This was and is Wim Hof's path - and it has led him to break world records for endurance and cold exposure, overturn scientific beliefs about what the human body is capable of and transform the lives of millions.In Exposure, you'll experience the remarkable life of 'the Iceman' through immersive photos from Wim's lifelong friend and chronicler, photographer Henny Boogert. Stories and original wisdom, gained from a lifetime of defying expectations, provide an unprecedented window into Wim's journey - the heartbreaks, joys and triumphs, from the early years to the present. This remarkable story of a life lived without boundaries will leave you awed and inspired.FANS LOVE WIM HOF***** 'Thank you, Wim, for daring to be different...'***** 'Wim Hof is a special person... you will not regret it'**** 'One of the most important men of our century'

The million-copy Korean phenomenon on how to find the strength to be yourself.As seen being read by BTS's Jungkook on Bon Voyage, the hit reality TV show following K-pop sensation BTS!Don't be kind to those who aren't kind to you.Remember that no one lives a perfect life.Don't be swayed by what others say.Don't try too hard to get along with everyone.As soon as Kim Suhyun graduated into the adult world, she faced a harsh reality. Everywhere she looked people stepped on each other to get ahead, obsessed over money, and judged others based on the unrealistic standards they saw on social media. It seemed impossible not to compare herself to others and feel that she was ever good enough.With words of comfort and charming illustrations throughout, Kim Suhyun will inspire you on your own journey of self-love, self-acceptance and self-compassion. Blending self-help and memoir, I Decided to Live as Me will help you free yourself from the pressures of living up to other people's expectations and focus on what truly matters: living not for anyone else, but for yourself.

'The undisputed laureate of ordinary lives' SUNDAY TIMES'A brilliant, one-of-a-kind writer' DAVID NICHOLLS* * *At sixty-six, Paula Spencer - mother, grandmother, widow, survivor - is finally living her life.A job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, a man - Joe - with whom she shares what she wants, friends who see her for who she is, and four grown children. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.That is until Paula's eldest, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep. Independent, a loving wife and mother, "a success" - Nicola is suddenly determined to leave it all behind. Over the next few days, as Nicola gradually confides in Paula the secret that unleashed this moment of crisis, mother and daughter find themselves untangling anecdotes, jokes, memory and revelation to confront the bruised but beautiful symmetry of what each means to the other. * * *'His best yet...full of energy and life' OBSERVER'Reading [Paula Spencer's] voice for the first time sent a pang of recognition through me, followed by love' ANNE ENRIGHT'Storytelling genius' i NEWSSHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024****INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**'Imagine Slow Horses' Jackson Lamb in the body of Jodie Comer's character in Killing Eve' SUNDAY TIMES'Compulsively readable... Kill Bill written by John le Carré' OBSERVERSeductive and cunning American spy-for-hire Sadie Smith has been sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France.Her mission: to infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists influenced by the beliefs of an enigmatic elder, Bruno Lacombe, who has rejected civilisation, lives in a Neanderthal cave, and believes the path to enlightenment is a return to primitivism.Sadie casts her cynical eye over this region of ancient farms and sleepy villages, and finds Bruno's idealism laughable, but just as she is certain she's the seductress and puppet master of those she surveils, Bruno Lacombe is seducing her with his ingenious counter-histories, his artful laments, his own tragic story.Beneath this a taut, dazzling story of espionage and intrigue lies one of a woman caught in the crossfire between the past and the future, and a profound treatise on human history.'The most exciting writer of her generation' BRET EASTON ELLIS'Reinvents the spy novel in one cool, erudite gesture' HERNAN DIAZ

The #1 Sunday Times bestseller is back with a powerful, riveting new novel, as maverick investigator Ray Lennox discovers that confronting his past could cost him everything.OLD TRUTHS HAVE NEW CONSEQUENCESRay Lennox is determined to move on from his darkest days. The former detective has left Edinburgh for a fresh start in Brighton. Soon, his fixations and addictions have been replaced with quiet evenings and a rigorous fitness regime.Then Lennox meets Mathew Cardingworth. Rich, smooth-talking and immaculately dressed, he presents himself as a successful, and respectable, property developer. Yet their encounter reawakens memories that have haunted Lennox for decades, sending him into a spiral of confusion and rage.Lennox has no choice - he must confront the events of his childhood. But the more he identifies the links between Cardingworth, the disappearance of a group of foster care boys and the violence of his past, the more he finds himself asking:What will he sacrifice to achieve resolution at last?*****PRAISE FOR NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER IRVINE WELSH:'There's only one Welsh and you should be reading him'OBSERVER'The best thing that has happened to British writing for decades'SUNDAY TIMES'Powerful . . . A bracing and engaging read'DAILY TELEGRAPH'Sharp, fearless, passionate and brilliant'INDEPENDENT

Daniel Burrow once began a beautiful walk from Konstanz to Como with Julia, mercurial professor of literature, mother to two of his pupils, married, and the love of his life.After years of their secret affair, they stepped out together on top of the world, full of delight in one another and in the future they imagined. Or was it only Dan who imagined it, really? He never had the chance to find out, because a few days into their adventure a single phone call changed everything.Now, at the height of summer, with only a rucksack, a few pages of DH Lawrence that had been Julia's, and his private strata of memory and forgetting, Dan is back on the trail. Step by step, with a tumult of emotions jostling with the demands of the dramatic Alpine landscape, he reckons with what his life is and what it might have been, had he been a different man with different choices.'A writer operating at the height of his powers. One follows the twists and turns of this story of discovery and self-discovery in a sustained state of delight' J.M. Coetzee'An intensely satisfying novel, superbly crafted' Nicholas Shakespeare

'A marvel of a collection' Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time'A consummate storyteller' New York Times'There is nothing more terrifying than the monster that squats behind the door you dare not open...'The bestselling author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time weaves ancient fables into fresh, unexpected forms and forges new unforgettable legends.The myth of the Minotaur in his labyrinth is turned into a wrenching parable of maternal love - and of the monstrosities of patriarchy.The lover of a goddess, Tithonus, is gifted eternal life but without eternal youth.Actaeon, changed into a stag after glimpsing the naked Diana and torn to pieces by his hunting dogs, becomes a visceral metaphor about how humans use and misuse animals.From genetic engineering to the eternal complications of family, Haddon showcases how we are subject to the same elemental forces that obsessed the Greeks, as he reimagines stories from Laika the Soviet space dog on her fateful orbit to St Anthony wrestling with loneliness in the desert.'In sentences as precisely cut as paper sculptures, Mark Haddon fits ancient myth to the cruelties and wonders of the present' Francis Spufford, author of Cahokia Jazz

Meditations for Mortals takes us on a liberating journey towards a more meaningful life - one that begins not with fantasies of the ideal existence, but with the reality in which we actually find ourselves.Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, it offers a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life Oliver Burkeman calls 'imperfectionism'. How can we embrace our non-negotiable limitations? Or make good decisions when there's always too much to do? What if purposeful productivity were often about letting things happen, not making them happen?Reflecting on ideas drawn from philosophy, religion, literature, psychology, and self-help, Burkeman explores practical tools and shifts in perspective. The result is a bracing challenge to much familiar advice, and a profound yet entertaining crash course in living more fully.To be read either as a four-week 'retreat of the mind' or devoured in one or two sittings, Meditations for Mortals will be a source of solace and inspiration, and an aid to a saner, freer, and more enchantment-filled life. In anxiety-inducing times, it is rich in truths we have never needed more.

Drawing on a decade of psychological research, Coming of Age gets beneath the recent myths and age-old stereotypes of adolescence to reveal the real reasons why teens behave as they do.'Fascinating, moving . . . clear-eyed, unerringly sensible . . . there is insight and kindness throughout this book' Daily MailWhy do teens take risks? What is it that makes them anxious? How do they think about sex, love, bullying and friendship? Adolescence is often difficult and it shapes us for life, but psychologist Lucy Foulkes shows that too often we fear, dismiss or even try to prevent aspect of it that are crucial to our development.Overturning many mistaken assumptions, she shows that apparent recklessness is usually calculated; that teenagers are socially conservative as much as rebellious; that being popular can be just as hard as being lonely; and that self-consciousness and sensation-seeking are not just normal but useful. Above all, she shows that adolescents have an extraordinary capacity for resilience, empathy and mutual support, and that even the most challenging experiences are part of an essential process of self-discovery.'Excellent and insightful . . . expertly presented . . . Foulkes is steeped in knowledge about, as well as respect for, teenage life' Observer'Wonderful and deeply moving . . . shows us the potentially positive aspects of adolescent experiences so often seen as negative' MARK HADDON'Wise and compassionate, well-researched and straight-talking . . . shows how today's adolescents can be helped to flourish in life' Dr Gavin Francis, author of Recovery'Hopeful, inspiring . . . leaves you with a greater understanding of your own adolescence, and greater compassion for those currently in its throes' Camilla Nord, author of The Balanced Brain'Myth-busting . . . eye-opening . . . delivers many counter-intuitive insights' Guardian'Thank goodness . . . for this timely . . . and eminently sensible book . . . You will read this book and sigh in recognition . . . just knowing that everything they - and we - struggle with is normal, and necessary, is helpful' Telegraph'A must read for everyone interested in what is going on with adolescents' Essi Viding, Professor of Developmental Pyschopathy, UCL'Comprehensive, accessible and super useful' Dr Tara Porter, clinical psychologist and author of You Don't Understand Me'Compelling, useful and fascinating . . . revealing adolescence's unwritten rules' JO BRAND

Commissario Guido Brunetti returns with a gripping and powerful case about the murkiness of power and a test of loyaltiesWhen two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice's campi, the son of a local hero is implicated. But when Commissario Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy foreigner to vet this man, Monforte, for a job, he discovers that Monforte might not be such a hero after all.This seeming contradiction, and a brutal attack on one of Brunetti's colleagues by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunetti's attentions. Soon, he discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monforte's past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption.A Refiner's Fire is Donna Leon at her very best: an elegant, sophisticated storyteller whose indelible characters become richer with each book, and who constantly interrogates the ambiguity between moral and legal justice.

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024A POWERFUL NEW NOVEL FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING AND BOOKER-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE OVERSTORY AND BEWILDERMENT'Is there anything Richard Powers cannot write? The world here is complete, seductive, and promising. The writing feels like the ocean. Vast, mysterious, deep and alive' PERCIVAL EVERETT'An extraordinarily immersive journey through lives linked in mysterious ways - gripping, alarming and uplifting' EMMA DONOGHUERafi and Todd are two polar opposites at an elite high school where they bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game. It sets them up for life: Rafi will get lost in literature, while Todd's work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.Elsewhere, Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world's first aqualungs; Ina Aroita grows up in naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home.All of these people meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, marked for humanity's next great adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out into the open sea. As the seasteaders close in, how will Evie play the ever-unfolding oceanic game? Will Ina engage in acts of destruction? Todd and Rafi, now estranged, still find themselves in competition: Todd unravels while working on an idea to redraw the boundaries of human immortality, while Rafi and the residents must decide if they will greenlight the new project on their shores and change their home forever.Set in the world's largest ocean, Playground explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize and interweaves profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can.'Powers is a master of taking important topics of our times - from threats to our oceans and climate change to AI - and turning them into riveting and fiercely relevant books imbued with psychological insight and a deep awe for nature. This eloquent dance of the scientific and emotional makes him one of our finest story tellers. PLAYGROUND is brilliant, captivating and important - and the best book I've read this year' ANDREA WULFMore praise for Richard Powers:'Powers has extraordinary gifts as a writer' GUARDIAN'Impressively precise in its scientific conjectures, Bewilderment is no less rich or wise in its emotionality' OBSERVER'He composes some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. I'm in awe of his talent' OPRAH WINFREY'It is impossible to deny the importance of Powers's message' SUNDAY TIMES'Refreshing, original and moving' EVENING STANDARD

**THE SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR****A Financial Times Best Book of 2023**A revelatory portrait of a great museum and the moving story of one guard's quest to find solace and meaning in art'Who would have thought that the outstanding art book of you would have been written not by a curator or an art historian or even an artist - but by a museum guard?' Sunday TimesWhen Patrick's older brother dies at twenty-six, all he wants is to retreat. So, he does. He quits his job and seeks refuge in the most beautiful place he can think of: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.All the Beauty in the World recounts Patrick's time as a museum guard, keeping quiet vigil over some of our greatest treasures and uncovering the Met's innermost secrets. As his connection to the art and the life that swirls around it grows, so does Patrick - and gradually he emerges transformed by heartbreak, community and the power of art to illuminate life in all its pain, pleasure and hope.'As luminous as the old masters paintings' Daily Mail'Consoling and beautiful' Guardian'Marvellous' Daily Telegraph'A beautiful tale about beauty. It is also a tale about grief, balancing solitude and comradeship, and finding joy in both the exalted and the mundane' Washington Post

'Gorgeous' Observer * 'Profoundly moving' Financial Times * 'Electrifying' Daily MailHow do you find the courage to make your own life? An unputdownable novel about first love set in 1960s London from Sunday Times bestselling Rose TremainMarianne is fifteen when she falls helplessly and absolutely in love with Simon. Simon owns a Morris Minor, is in his final year at school and has a dazzling future ahead of him. Desperate to escape the stifling 1950s suburbs she has been raised in, Marianne feels sure she will be able to find true happiness with him.However a twist of fate sees Simon's glittering future dashed, and with it, Marianne's dreams. He flees the country and Marianne, realising she will now have to make a life of her own, moves to London determined to reinvent herself. But Marianne cannot let go of that first all-encompassing love and all the while Simon is in Paris, nursing a secret that will alter everything.'A perfect Tremain novel... English, dark and yearning... Remarkable... Tremain shows us the things that make every human life extraordinary' The Times'A complex tale of becoming that's moving, evocative and mesmerising in its acuity' Mail on Sunday*A Sunday Times Book of the Year** Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction *READERS LOVE ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER:'Heartrending, funny, unputdownable' 5*****'An undoubted modern classic' 5*****'Marianne will remain with me as a friend' 5*****'A masterclass in character and world building ... the writing is just sublime' 5*****

Imperial Island shows how empire and its ever-present aftermath have divided and defined Britain over the last seventy years.'An eye-opening study of the empire within' SHASHI THAROOR'Clear, bold, refreshing' LUCY WORSLEYAfter the Second World War, Britain's overseas empire disintegrated. But the effects of empire lived on, shaping its population and politics and dominating its relationship with the world ever since. Drawing on a mass of new research, from personal letters to pop culture, Imperial Island tells this dramatic story of imperial demise and its potent legacy, from the Suez Crisis to the Falklands War, from the invasion of Iraq to Brexit. It is a story of immigration and social unrest, multiculturalism and extremism, and a nation continuously wrestling with its past.'Incisive, important and incredibly timely . . . for anyone wanting to understand how Britain became the nation it is today ' CAROLINE ELKINS'Marvellous . . . A thought-provoking delight that absolutely everyone should read' STEPHEN BUSH'Absorbing . . . dexterously handled and carefully sourced' Financial Times'Masterful, ingeniously written. You won't look at Britain in the same way ever again' OWEN JONES