Shortlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction 2023

A masterpiece in storytelling from the global bestselling author of Unsheltered and Flight Behaviour.SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZETHE MULTI-MILLION COPY SELLING AUTHORBOOK AT BEDTIME ON BBC RADIO 4AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICKWITH OVER 22,000 5* REVIEWS'Extraordinary.' OPRAH'She means to save us by telling us stories. . . She comes closer than anyone else I know.' ANN PATCHETT'Electrifying. . . Every sentence here sizzles.' Daily Mail'It's EPIC. Righteously angry, DEEPLY moving and exquisitely written.' MARIAN KEYES'A powerful tale.' Good Housekeeping'A fantastic read.' EMILY MAITLIS'A masterclass.' RICHARD POWERSDemon Copperhead is a once-in-a-generation novel that breaks and mends your heart in the way only the best fiction can.Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster care. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he's willing to travel to try and get there.Suffused with truth, anger and compassion, Demon Copperhead is an epic tale of love, loss and everything in between.'Legit about to get an 'I'd rather be reading Demon Copperhead' sticker for my Nissan Murano.' ROB DELANEYWhat readers are saying:***** 'An amazing, beautifully written story I cannot wait to recommend to everyone I know.' ***** 'Powerful and brilliant. To immerse yourself in a Kingsolver novel is to put yourself in the hands of a master.' ***** 'A must read and heart-opening book.' ***** 'Raw, angry, starkly beautiful. . . Genuinely one of the best books I've ever read.'***** 'Amazingly complex. . . [Kingsolver] is, by far, one of the greatest living authors'

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Bestselling author Laline Paull returns with an immersive and transformative new novel of an ocean world - its extraordinary creatures, mysteries, and mythologies - that is increasingly haunted by the cruelty and ignorance of the human race.Ea has always felt like an outsider. She suffers from a type of deafness that means she cannot master the spinning rituals that unite her pod of spinner dolphins. When catastrophe befalls her family and Ea feels she is partly to blame, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave.As Ea ventures into the vast, she discovers dangers everywhere, from lurking predators to strange objects floating in the water. But just as she is coming to terms with her solitude, a chance encounter with a group of arrogant bottlenoses will irrevocably alter the course of her life.In her terrifying, propulsive novel, Laline Paull explores the true meaning of family, belonging, sacrifice - the harmony and tragedy of the pod - within an ocean that is no longer the sanctuary it once was, and which reflects a world all too recognisable to our own.PRAISE FOR THE BEES 'Beautifully written and unusual . . . A brave and original story that highlights our modern environmental crimes, and offers a fascinating glimpse into the intricacies of bee world' Sunday Times 'One wild ride. A sensual, visceral mini-epic about timeless rituals and modern environmental disaster. Paull's heart-pounding novel wrenches us into a new world' Emma Donoghue '[A] gripping Cinderella/Arthurian tale with lush Keatsian adjectives' Margaret Atwood 'An extraordinary feat of imagination' Madeline Miller

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'I thought I had made myself clear. I want something that conveys her majesty, her bloodline. Do you understand? She is no ordinary mortal. Treat her thus.'Florence, the 1560s. Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is free to wander the palazzo at will, wondering at its treasures and observing its clandestine workings. But when her older sister dies on the eve of marriage to Alfonso d'Este, ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father to accept on her behalf.Having barely left girlhood, Lucrezia must now make her way in a troubled court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate her appears before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble? As Lucrezia sits in uncomfortable finery for the painting which is to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court's eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferrarese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, her future hangs entirely in the balance.

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