Literature & Fiction

My fiancé brought me tea and scrambled eggs in bed that morning, and we snuggled together, talking about buying our rings, and about our perfect wedding next year. Then we headed into town. He held my hand and gazed at the ring I liked best, a smile spreading slowly over his face. Then a glass of bubbly to celebrate. I felt flushed, excited and ready for the rest of my life with the man I loved. We race to get on the train home. It screams to a halt and I run towards its open doors. Made it. I think he’s right behind me — but when I turn around, he’s gone.

There's no place like home for the holidays ... especially for Lesley Carver. Life in the big city just wasn't her jam and now she's back in Hickory Falls, working at the family diner and helping her mom after she took a tumble. Lesley longs to build a life here, working at the cafe, selling her handmade ornaments and ... er, apparently reviving her high school crush on her best friend’s older brother. Only one problem, her mom wants her to leave Hickory Falls far behind.

When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year. When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.

Daphne du Maurier was one of the 20th century’s most popular writers. Extraordinarily prolific, she produced a string of bestsellers, many of which were adapted as award-winning films. From romance and adventure yarns to psychological thrillers and supernatural tales, the breadth and imaginative variety of her storytelling continues to thrill us today. This bumper collection features her most famous works and some lesser-known gems, beginning with full-cast adaptations of seven of her much-loved novels.

It’s hard to believe Ted was once a skinny, unwanted pup who was dumped outside an animal shelter, before he found fame and fortune alongside Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse on the hit BBC series Gone Fishing. In this exclusive exposé, Ted reveals what it’s like working alongside two national treasures and what really happens when the cameras stop rolling. With searing honesty, he gives his unique viewpoint on living in a dog's world and he speaks about how you – yes you – can make it a better place for everyone.

A mesmerizing tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is one of Stephen King’s most beloved and iconic stories, and it helped make Castle Rock a place readers and listeners would return to over and over again. Suspenseful, mysterious, and heart-wrenching, this iconic King novella, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, is about a fiercely compelling convict named Andy Dufresne who is seeking his ultimate revenge.

Ivy loves Christmas. As the owner of Christmas Every Day, the year-round festive store, you'd expect nothing less! The only thing missing in Ivy's life is a dash of romance – something her twin sister Holly will not let her forget… When her mother passed away, Ivy vowed to take over the running of her mother’s store and keep the Christmas spirit alive in the idyllic seaside town of Marram Bay. But all this changes when an enigmatic businessman moves to the town, threatening to bulldoze her beloved shop to make way for a holiday complex. Can Ivy save her shop before Christmas?

Em Joyland, Stephen King mistura mistério, suspense e drama para construir uma história poderosa sobre amar e perder, crescer e envelhecer — e sobre aqueles que não tiveram a chance de experimentar nada disso, pois a morte lhes chegou cedo demais. Carolina do Norte, 1973. O universitário Devin Jones começa um trabalho temporário no parque Joyland, tentando esquecer a namorada que partiu seu coração. Mas é outra garota que acaba mudando seu mundo para sempre: Linda Grey, que foi morta no parque há anos, vítima de um serial killer. Diz a lenda que seu espírito ainda assombra o trem fantasma.

When Una Chin-Riley and Christopher Pike meet at Starfleet Academy after one of his lectures, they immediately become friends. A stellar student, Una is the “poster girl” of her class, and Pike is determined to become a Starfleet captain with his own ship, rhetorically assembling his dream crew. As their friendship evolves, Pike also suspects Una is involved with the Euxhana, a Chionian cultural minority, who are seeking asylum in Federation space, leading to more questions than answers.

When Natasha meets Daniel, she knows her life is made. Rich, handsome and charming, Daniel will make the perfect husband. Even if she won’t make the perfect wife…She is thrilled when Daniel suggests an all-expenses paid cruise for Natasha, her friends, Barbara, Tracy Ann and Michelle, and their husbands. What better way to show everyone that Natasha has finally made it? But as the ship sets sail, she learns that far from being the perfect husband, Daniel has terrible secrets that are about to be revealed.

Gerry Wade is known to his houseguests as a man who can sleep the day away, so a practical joke is devised at his expense. Eight alarm clocks are set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6:30 a.m. But when morning arrives, one clock is not where they left it, and the joke has unfolded with tragic consequences.

Royal intrigue takes center stage in The Abyssinians, a gripping new audio drama starring Danielle Deadwyler (Till, The Piano Lesson) delivering a masterful performance as a cunning queen navigating treacherous political waters and scheming sons. In the wake of King Ezana’s death, his brash widow Queen Yodit (Deadwyler) must decide which of her twin sons will ascend to the throne. Clashing beliefs about religion, duty, and the rights of a ruler collide in this unforgettable story about a royal house at a crossroads in history.

When Victoria escapes her broken home for university in London, she is determined to reinvent herself and make a fresh start. She falls in love with Nick, who welcomes her into his privileged circle of friends, opening her eyes to a world she only ever dreamt of. But things don’t go to plan and life takes a darker turn. Twenty-five years later, the circle is reunited alongside a host of glittering guests to celebrate the wedding of Hollywood darling Ingrid Olsson to well-connected Julian Draper. Victoria has spent years trying to forget Nick and put the horror of what happened behind her.

The Memory Palace is a collection of tiny, crystalline historical tales that come across like luminous short fiction, and, like Nate DiMeo’s acclaimed podcast of the same name, conjure lost moments and forgotten figures who are calling out across time to be remembered. For fifteen years, Nate DiMeo has turned to the past to make sense of the way we live today, finding beauty and meaning in history’s dustier corners, holding things up to the light and weaving facts, keen insight, wit, and poignant observation into unforgettable tales.

For decades Emma Bowen has hoped she and her mother, Margaret, might find a way back into each other’s lives. Even as a child, her strongest connection to her mother was a painting Margaret created before Emma was born, of a little girl lost in a maze. So when Margaret dies, gifting the painting to a total stranger, Emma is consumed by grief—for her mother, the little girl, and the relationship they never had.

Dr. Theia McDormand has spent years perfecting the art of invisibility. As a successful New York dentist, she’s built a life of quiet routine and careful isolation. She believed her family’s secrets were buried in the past. She was wrong. When tragedy strikes close to home involving a neighbor’s child, Theia is thrust into chaos, unraveling her carefully constructed world. Suddenly, every stranger on the street feels like a potential threat, and shadows from the past loom at every corner.

Success by design is infinitely better than a win by chance. Vasu Bhatt is 14 years old when a mysterious old man spots him at a chess tournament and offers to coach him, on two simple but strange conditions: he would not accompany his student to tournaments, and there was to be no digging into his past. Initially resentful, Vasu begins to gradually understand his master’s mettle. Over eight years, master and student come to love and respect each other, but the two conditions remain unbroken–until Vasu confronts and provokes the old man.

Thomas Mann's last great novel, first published in 1947 and now newly rendered into English by acclaimed translator John E. Woods, is a modern reworking of the Faust legend, in which Germany sells its soul to the Devil. Mann's protagonist, the composer Adrian Leverkühn, is the flower of German culture, a brilliant, isolated, overreaching figure, his radical new music a breakneck game played by art at the very edge of impossibility. In return for twenty-four years of unparalleled musical accomplishment, he bargains away his soul—and the ability to love his fellow man.

Remi Finch has spent the better part of her adult life avoiding family—especially her sisters. They just don’t click. Besides, her unconventional upbringing and major anxiety have convinced Remi that she can’t build a relationship with anyone. Period. When her parents plan a family reunion camping trip to celebrate their anniversary, Remi’s willing to reconnect, if only because she doesn’t have a choice. But then a dead body turns up at their campsite, and their sisterly bonding kicks into high gear.

Während sich Professor James Moriarty auf der Spur einer mathematischen Formel befindet, die so mächtig ist, dass sie die Zukunft vorhersagen kann, wird ihm ein grausamer Mord angehängt. Und der berühmte Sherlock Holmes ist daran maßgeblich beteiligt. Auf der Flucht vor dem Gesetzt und dunklen Mächten muss Moriarty in die Londoner Unterwelt fliehen und versuchen, seine Unschuld zu beweisen. Doch Holmes lässt nicht locker–und so entsteht ein Duell zweier genialer Intellekte, das immer mehr zu eskalieren droht.

This collection features unabridged recordings of the first three novels in E.F. Benson’s beloved Mapp and Lucia series. Narrated by Geraldine McEwan and Prunella Scales, this collection brings to life E.F. Benson’s comic tales of marriage, mishaps and mayhem.

The Ultimate Classics Collection: Volume One is a continent-hopping, century-spanning collection of 15 essential classic novels by British, American, and Russian authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Stephen Fry, Jason Isaacs, Adjoa Andoh, David Rintoul, and many more.

One of the most desolate stretches of railroad in the West. Travelling along it is a crowded troop train, bound for the cholera-stricken garrison at Fort Humboldt. On board are the Governor of Nevada, the daughter of the fort’s commander and a US marshal escorting a notorious outlaw. Between them and safety are the hostile Paiute Indians – and a man who will stop at nothing, not even murder…

Blackburn, 1947. In the tiny front parlour 14-year-old Laura Blake watches her beloved father die. But not before he tells her she will make something of her life. Laura never forgets his words. Yet her path to success proves to be a rocky one. Forced to trundle a cart around the back streets, selling other folk's cast-offs to support her family, Laura learns enough to start work in her uncle's furniture shop. But then fate deals another cruel blow when Laura is brutally raped. Bearing the child of her attacker in secret, she vows to make the world pay for its injustice towards her.

Meet Hollie Jenson, presenter of the smash-hit docu-series Bad Medicine, which exposes the perils of extreme therapies. Her next target: a new retreat run by wellness guru Ariel Rose, who claims to have discovered the secret to healing pain through her three-day ice rebirth treatment. Acting on a mother's plea to find her son, who vanished soon after his stay, Hollie ventures into the Swiss mountains where the retreat occupies a former observatory in search of the boy and to expose Ariel as the charlatan she believes her to be.