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1670 Books

My Dark Vanessa

by Kate Elizabeth Russell

2000: Bright, ambitious fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher. 2017: Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa. Now Vanessa finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? -- adapted from jacket

The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins. As with her New York Times-bestselling debut The Mothers, Brit Bennett offers an engrossing page-turner about family and relationships that is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.

The Stationmaster's Farewell

by Edward Marston

Guy Fawkes Night, 1857. Joel Heygate is the popular stationmaster at Exeter St David's railway station - an impressive figure of a man replete with frock coat and top hat, bushy eyebrows and walrus moustache. But when the charred remains of a body are discovered in the embers of the town's annual Bonfire Night celebration, everyone is horrified when it becomes clear that they belong to Mr Heygate. The South Devon Railway contacts Scotland Yard for their assistance, and Superintendant Edward Tallis sends the Railway Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant Victor Leeming to Exeter with all due haste. They quickly unearth three suspects, but are they missing something? It is only when Heygate's diary turns up unexpectedly that the truth becomes clear and a fourth suspect emerges. As Colbeck closes in on the killer, he finds himself in mortal danger - can justice prevail? Or will his beloved Madeleine be robbed of a husband on the very eve of their marriage?

Blood on the Line

by Edward Marston

1857. On the LNWR train to London, a criminal is being escorted to his appointment with the hangman. But the wily Jeremy Oxley, conman, thief and murderer, has one last ace up his sleeve - a beautiful and ruthless accomplice willing to do anything to save her lover, including cold-blooded murder. When the Railway Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck learns that Oxley, his arch nemesis, has escaped, black memories of their shared past leave him no choice but to do his duty, whatever the cost. With the faithful Victor Leeming at his side, Colbeck must use all of his skills to track his elusive enemy. But could he have finally met his match?

If You Could Go Anywhere

by Paige Toon

The brand new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author Paige Toon. The perfect summer read for 2019! HOW DO YOU FIND WHERE YOU'RE GOING, IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE FROM . . . Angie has always wanted to travel. But at twenty-seven, she has barely stepped outside the small mining town where she was born. Instead, she discovers the world through stories told to her by passing travellers, dreaming that one day she'll see it all for herself. When her grandmother passes away, leaving Angie with no remaining family, she is ready to start her own adventures. Then she finds a letter revealing the address of the father she never knew, and realises instantly where her journey must begin: Italy. As Angie sets out to find the truth – about her family, her past and who she really is – will mysterious and reckless Italian Alessandro help guide the way? 'Heart-warming, wistful and full of joy . . . Paige Toon tugs on the heartstrings like no other; this is a beautiful book about someone searching for her place in the world and finding herself along the way' LINDSEY KELK ‘Warm, inspiring, like a holiday mood in book form’ MHAIRI MCFARLANE ‘I LOVED If You Could Go Anywhere. Such a beautiful love story; not just a heady, compelling romance, but a really charming, moving story about how a life is made of so many different kinds of love . . . Will make every reader’s life feel a bit more magical’ DAISY BUCHANAN 'Family secrets, new horizons and a gorgeous continent-crossing romance . . . prepare to be swept away!' LUCY DIAMOND ‘Toon writes beautifully about family, grief and the bravery in turning dreams into reality’ DAILY MAIL Praise for Paige Toon: 'You'll love it, cry buckets and be uplifted' MARIAN KEYES 'Tender, heartbreaking and magical' GIOVANNA FLETCHER ‘Poignant and lovely, warm and wise’ MILLY JOHNSON ‘A gorgeous, warm novel’ ADELE PARKS 'For smart, romantic fiction, look no further than the new book from bestselling Paige Toon' RED 'Achingly romantic and brilliantly written . . . Five Stars!' HEAT 'Filled with warmth and poignancy' CATHERINE ISAAC 'Simply gorgeous' SUN 'You won't be able to put down this emotional read' CLOSER 'Paige Toon is the queen of will-they/won't-they romance, setting up an ending that will leave you in bits' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Full of living-in-the-moment and what-might-have-been contrasts, this tender read pulls at the heart strings' FABULOUS 'A lovely read' BELLA

Maybe One Day

by Debbie Johnson

'A laugh-cry book from first page to last' MILLY JOHNSON 'Simply brilliant' JANE LINFOOT 'A proper heart-burster' LAURA KEMP 'Moving, beautiful and heart-wrenching' CATHY BRAMLEY 'Humour, tears and above all, hope. Bring tissues' CATHERINE ISAAC What if you had the chance to find a lost love? Jess still thinks about the man who disappeared from her life seventeen years ago, and the tragedy that tore them apart. So when she discovers a hidden box of letters in her mother's attic, Jess realises that the truth about why he walked away has been kept from her all this time. Jess sets out to follow the faded postmarks across the country, determined that her journey will bring her closer to him. As each clue falls into place, Jess discovers new things about herself - and the man who once broke her heart. Maybe she can find him. Maybe their love story isn't over. Maybe one day, they will be together again... Readers are loving Maybe One Day: 'Wow! Wow! Wow!' Reader Review 'One of the best Debbie Johnson books I have ever read' Reader Review 'Just fabulous' Reader Review 'Funny, emotional, heartbreaking and beautifully uplifting' Reader Review 'Love, love, loved it' Reader Review

The Silver Locomotive Mystery

by Edward Marston

An exquisitely designed silver coffee-pot in the shape of a locomotive is on its way to Cardiff in the care of the young, talented silversmith, Hugh Kellow. It has been commissioned by wealthy ironmaster Clifford Tomkins for his acquisitive wife, who wants it to be the envy of all her friends - and enemies. But the coffee-pot is stolen. When a gruesome murder is committed at the Railway Hotel, Winifred Tomkins is distraught. Caring little for the dead silversmith, all she can think about is her missing treasure. Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming of the Detective Department are summoned to Wales from London by telegraph and they are soon confronted by some additional crimes. The situation is complicated by the arrival of a famous theatre company and by revelations of illicit liaisons among members of the local high society. There is no shortage of suspects and Colbeck has to sift through layers of deceit to find the killer - before it is too late.

One Hundred Steps: The Story of Captain Sir Tom Moore

by Captain Tom Moore

A book about adventure, about family, about never giving up, and about what we can achieve when we work together. This is an inspirational picture book, published in support of the creation of the Captain Tom Foundation, which tells the incredible story of the man who walked 100 laps of his garden and captured the heart of a nation. Fully illustrated for younger readers, and following the key moments from Captain Tom's incredible life, the book shows what is possible when we come together and never, ever give up.

Skulduggery Pleasant 1 and 2: Two Books in One

by Derek Landy

FANTASY & MAGICAL REALISM. Together for the first time in a bumper paperback edition, books 1 and 2 in the dead famous, bestselling series. It's one book...and twice the awesome. Book 1: Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior. Oh yes, and dead. Book 2: Vengeous. Dusk. Sanguine. Three of the deadliest killers alive are in town to resurrect an unstoppable creature of horrifying power...and only Skulduggery and Valkyrie stand in their way. Ages 9+

Name All the Animals

by Alison Smith

Recounts the author's teenage experience of losing her beloved older brother in a car accident, a loss after which she managed her grief by engaging in self-destructive behaviors until her forbidden love for another girl helped her define herself beyond her brother's death. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.