April Literary Fiction

'You knew I'd write a book about you someday' Our narrator understands good love stories - their secrets, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the rules. She was in her senior year of college when star students Sam and Yash swept her into an intoxicating world of academic fervour, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. Their lives became quickly intertwined - with friendship but also with unpredictable passions and the intimations of first love. Decades later, she is a successful writer, living a comfortable life with her husband and children, when a surprise visit brings the past crashing into the present, forcing her to confront the decisions and deceptions of her youth. Written with the precision of poetry and the emotional tide of an epic, Heart the Lover is a celebration of literature and the life-long echoes of young love. This is King at her very best, affirming her as a masterful chronicler of the human experience and one of the finest novelists at work today.

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She must find her own place amongst the stars. Caroline Herschel has always lived in the shadows. Beholden to her wildly popular older brother, William, who rescued her from servitude, she's worked hard to build a life for herself – one where she can go unnoticed and repay the debt she believes she owes him. But when her brother becomes obsessed with sweeping the stars, everything changes. Newly appointed as the King's Astronomer, William is rushed away from the bustling streets of Bath to the quiet countryside of Windsor. When Caroline makes a discovery that could send her right back to the people she was rescued from, she has no choice but to leave her carefully constructed life and follow her brother. Taking up the position as William's assistant, Caroline resolves to learn everything she can about astronomy. But the more she understands, the more she falls in love with her telescope, and soon, she discovers that she might be good at the science, great, even, and that the stars could offer her the freedom she's always secretly wanted. When it’s clear that Caroline is just as much the astronomer as her brother, she realizes she must break free from the life she has lived and find her own place in the night sky. Based on the true story of Caroline Herschel, The Woman and Her Stars shines a light on a woman who was raised to believe she was worth nothing more than to serve others, but whose genius and resolve made her one of the world’s leading astronomers. An awe-inspiring story set within the societal boundaries of the Georgian era, it’s a hopeful journey of self-discovery, familial bonds, and passion.

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The mesmeric new novel from the author of the award-winning global bestseller, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS 'Heart-wrenching and beautifully set. A gorgeous feast of a novel about family, community, love and the lengths we will go to save them all’ RACHEL JOYCE, author of The Homemade God ‘A big, bold story of resilience and hope. I was completely swept away’ BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry 'One of those rare books that fill the soul' DONAL RYAN, author of Heart be at Peace and The Spinning Heart ‘Truly a masterpiece. The kind of book you will remember for the rest of your life, and I love the very bones of it’ JOANNA CANNON, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep 'Epic, intimate and aching. I loved it’ MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER, author of The Paper Palace 'A world, a story, a cast of characters I truly lost myself in' JENNIE GODFREY, author of The List of Suspicious Things Outback Western Australia, 1958: for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a remote sheep station, Meredith Downs. A million arid acres, it’s an ocean of land, where the weather is a capricious god, and time still roams untamed. One ordinary day, on a lonely road, under the unending blue sky, patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In seconds the lives of the entire MacBride family are shattered. Then, instead of leaving wounds to heal, Fate comes for them yet again, in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life, and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child. Matt, the youngest MacBride, is plunged into a moral and emotional journey for which there is no map, no guide, as he is forced to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness. A tale of family and belonging, of compassion and hope, A Far-flung Life is about people trying to do their best, each, for private reasons, seeking shelter from the storm of life. Exploring the lives of a handful of isolated souls and the secrets they shield in order to survive, this epic novel stands as a testament to the enduring power of love.*****Praise for The Light Between Oceans: 'An extraordinary book…Unforgettable' Guardian 'A moving tale . . . prepare to weep' New York Times ‘A moving tale. One of this year's must-reads’ Stylist Magazine

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The funny and compassionate new literary novel that turns family dysfunction into an art form. ‘Goes off like a firework. As sincere as it is funny (and it’s very funny)’ Ramona Ausubel, bestselling author of The Last Animal ‘A voice like no other… will shift the way you see the family and community into something operatic, strange and profound.’ Lena Dunham, award-winning writer, director and creator of comedy-drama Girls The Flynns are not alright. It’s been disastrous since Bud and Catherine opened up their marriage, and none of the Flynns can remember the last time a meal was cooked, a load of laundry done, or a social code abided by. Their daughters spiral in their own chaotic orbits: Abigail, the eldest, is dating a man in his twenties nicknamed War Crime Wes; Louise, the middle child, maintains a secret correspondence with an online terrorist; the brilliant youngest, Harper, is being sent to wilderness reform camp due to her insistence that someone – or something – is monitoring the town’s citizens. Casting a shadow across their lives, and their small coastal town, is Paul Alabaster, a nefarious local billionaire. Rumours of corruption circulate, but no one dares dig too deep. No one except Harper, whose obsession with Alabaster’s machinations sends the family hurtling into a criminal conspiracy – one that may just, finally, bring them closer together. Rippling with humour, warmth and style, Lost Lambs offers a stunning portrait of the perverse pleasures and perils of our most intimate reality: our family. Praise for Lost Lambs:‘A great, great American novel’ Samantha Hunt, Women’s Prize Shortlisted author of The Seas ‘A dazzling and singular new voice in literary fiction… Loud, hilarious, shocking, and sensitive’ Megan Nolan, award-winning author of Ordinary Human Failings ‘With a big surge of energy, Lost Lambs splits the nucleus of the American family’ Tony Tulathimutte, author of Rejection – National Book Award Finalist ‘Madeline Cash is a humourist in the darkly humanist tradition of George Saunders and Lorrie Moore, of Vonnegut and Twain’ Tim Kreider, author of We Learn Nothing ‘Immersive and propulsive and I never wanted it to end. I can’t remember the last time a novel made me laugh so hard or feel so much tenderness for its characters… I loved it. I devoured it’ Leslie Jamison, author of Splinters

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