11 Feb
Sylvia Plath died 1963. An American poet, novelist, children's author, and short story author. Best known for her poetry, and her death which mirrored an attempted suicide in The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel. Read books by Sylvia Plath
Read the opening extract of the brand new Lauren DeStefano book before its publication on 16/02/2012
Last Man in Tower Aravind Adiga
February 2012 MEGA Book of the Month.
The compelling, complex and multi-layered novel from Aravind Adiga is his first after White Tiger which won the Booker in 2008. A suspense-filled story of... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/02/2012
Rescue Anita Shreve
February 2012 Book of the Month.
A tale of love, banishment and renewal, Rescue is a perfectly paced novel, written with Shreve's skilful lightness of touch and perceptive characterisation. Alternating between the life-and-death... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
The Tiger's Wife Tea Obreht
February 2012 Book of the Month.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy International Author of the Year Award 2011.
THE ORANGE PRIZE WINNING DEBUT FROM A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY TALENT.
A Special Edition of The Tiger's Wife... Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
Tom-All-Alone's Lynn Shepherd
February 2012 Book of the Month.
Described by the author as an homage to Charles Dickens but also an incredibly well researched and re-imagined, gripping Victorian murder mystery based on his classic Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Other Featured Books this Month
Pure Andrew Miller
Winner of the Costa Book of the Year award 2011.
The author of the prize-winning, hugely acclaimed Ingenious Pain returns to the 18th century with an enthralling tale set in pre-revolutionary Paris.
Following the judging, Geordie Greig, chair of the final... Format: Paperback - Released: 05/01/2012
The Legacy of Eden Nelle Davy
February 2012 Debut of the Month.
A ‘Piece of Passion’ from Nelle’s editor, Jenny Hutton:When we first read The Legacy of Eden we were left breathless. Nelle is a phenomenal talent, writing... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2012
A Book for All and None Clare Morgan
February 2012 Debut of the Month.
A beautiful, haunting literary debut from an extraordinary new talent who we can see scooping future literary prizes. When you are the Director of the Creative Writing... Format: Paperback - Released: 16/02/2012
Lyrics Alley Leila Aboulela
The current situation in Africa and the Middle East is very much at odds with this nostalgic, lyrical and deeply moving novel by a twice ORANGE-listed rising star. Set in pre-Independence Sudan, Egypt and post-war Britain with its subtly written... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Care of Wooden Floors Will Wiles
February 2012 Debut of the Month.
Inhabiting the spaces in-between everyday events - a place where tiny oversights can have disastrous, farcical and even fatal consequences. This is a unique, bold and brilliant... Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
The Book of Lies Mary Horlock
February 2012 Debut of the Month.
A well-written insight into the twisted mind of an unashamed murderer, as she admits in the second paragraph of this book (see link to the Opening Extract... Format: Paperback - Released: 16/02/2012
The Soldier's Wife Joanna Trollope
Can a man trained to fight adjust again to family and domestic life? And how will the family cope if he can't? Through the well observed, astute yet sensitive eye of the author this novel takes a keen look at... Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
A Change in Altitude Anita Shreve
Anita Shreve always manages to throw a curve ball into events and change her characters lives irrevocably. A newly married couple find out how little they know about each other while on a Kenyan expedition. Get ready for powerful, emotional... Format: Paperback - Released: 29/04/2010
Q : A Love Story Evan J. Mandery
In a gripping tale of time travel and true love that will appeal to fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a successful writer meets his future self, who advises him not to... Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
The Sensorium of God Stuart Clark
The 2nd instalment of the exciting Sky's Dark Labyrinth Trilogy explores the life and times of the reclusive and fearsome mathematician Isaac Newton and the adventurous astronomer Edmond Halley. Working together to unravel the mysteries of the universe, they find... Format: Hardback - Released: 02/02/2012
Emerald City Jennifer Egan
From the author of one of the top novels of 2011, A Visit from the Goon Squad, comes an elegant and poignant collection of short stories; seamless evocations of self-discovery. These eleven masterful stories - the first collection from... Format: Paperback - Released: 19/01/2012
Testimony Anita Shreve
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 30 October 2008.
A sex scandal rocks the sheltered world of a private Vermont school, affecting students, parents and teachers alike. The story moves quickly as Shreve switches the narrative from one... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/06/2009
The Devil's Garden Edward Docx
Brilliant prose and rich in colour. Dr Forle is a scientist on a river
station deep in the heart of the South American jungle: the last
inhabited point before the impassable interior. He is studying the eerie
forest glades that... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2012
Body Surfing Anita Shreve
Another beautifully written book from this author, set against a New Hampshire seaside backdrop which she seems to love and indeed you want to be curled up on a veranda looking out to sea when reading this tale of a... Format: Paperback - Released: 06/03/2008
A Wedding in December Anita Shreve
Not quite as in depth as some of her other novels, probably just because there are a lot of characters to deal with. Seven old college friend reunite for a wedding and old wounds, secrets and unresolved tensions come to... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/06/2006
The Woman In Black Susan Hill
Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic... Format: Paperback - Released: 19/01/2012
Full House (Quick Reads) Maeve Binchy
A World Book Day 2012 Quick Read.
Dee loves her children very much, but now they are all grown up, shouldn't they leave home? Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
The Cleverness of Ladies (Quick Reads) Alexander McCall Smith
A World Book Day 2012 Quick Read.
With his trademark gift for storytelling, international bestselling
author Alexander McCall Smith brings us five tales of love, heartbreak,
hope and the cleverness of ladies. Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
The Pink Hotel Anna Stothard
A seventeen-year-old London girl flies to Los Angeles for the funeral of her mother Lily, from whom she had been separated in her childhood. After stealing a suitcase of letters, clothes and photographs from her mum's bedroom at the top... Format: Paperback - Released: 16/02/2012
The Somnambulist Essie Fox
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 12 February 2012.
This debut novelist's coming of age story uses evocative language to transport you to late 19th century Victorian England where lost love, grief, dark secrets and hidden passions take... Format: Paperback - Released: 05/01/2012
The First Day of the Rest of My Life Cathy Lamb
Madeline O'Shea tells people what to do with their lives. A renowned life coach, she inspires thousands of women through her thriving practice - exuding enviable confidence along with her stylish suits and sleek hair. But her confidence, just like... Format: Paperback - Released: 30/01/2012
Second Honeymoon Joanna Trollope
Yet another irrestible new novel from one of the UK's bestselling authors. Meet the Boyd family and the empty nest, twenty-first-century style. The youngest of the family is, at last, leaving home. Needless to say family life is never straight... Format: Paperback - Released: 01/01/2007
The Sealed Letter Emma Donoghue
From the bestselling author of Room comes a delicious tale of secrets, betrayal and forbidden love. Based on blow-by-blow newspaper reports of the 1864 Codrington Divorce, The Sealed Letter,
full of sparkling characters and wicked dialogue, is a
thought-provoking... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/2012
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Paul Torday
A Special Edition of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary.
Winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction 2007.An unusual and delightful debut that all lovers of A Short History... Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder
A Special Edition of Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary.
Ex-philosophy teacher Jostein Gaarder & Albert Knos stimulate 15 year old Sophieto ask those fundamental questions which have exercised the imaginations of Children Philosophers since the dawn... Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
The Reader Bernhard Schlink
A Special Edition of The Reader by Bernhard Schlink to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary.
One of my favourite books of 1998, the sort that, on completion, leaves you stunned and really does stay with you for – well, in my case... Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Special Edition of The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon to celebrate Orion's 20th anniversary.
Barcelona, a city of secret police and secret love. In it a
bookseller’s son finds a forgotten novel and stumbles upon a mystery as
all... Format: Paperback - Released: 20/02/2012
Sea Glass Anita Shreve
Shreve brings us some great characters along with a good historical novel based around the time of The Depression after the stock market collapse of 1929. If you don’t know much about this period she provides interesting insight into the... Format: Paperback - Released: 21/11/2002
The Snow Child Eowyn Ivey
A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on making a fresh start for themselves in a homestead 'at the world's edge' in the raw Alaskan wilderness. But as the days... Format: Hardback - Released: 01/02/2012
The Last Time They Met Anita Shreve
A beautifully written novel of lost love. The end of this book is a complete surprise and will make you want to read the novel all over again with this new perspective.... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/12/2001
The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende
One of Carol Drinkwater's favourite books.
May 2011 Guest Editor Carol Drinkwater on The House of the Spirits...
Since discovering this book, I have bought every Allende, but for me this remains her finest. It recounts the horrors of living... Format: Paperback - Released: 03/02/1994
Fortune's Rocks Anita Shreve
This is considered one of her best novels and does deserve such praise. A wonderfully descriptive book, it is the attention to detail that makes this such an absorbing read, you can picture every line on each character’s face, each... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/01/2001
Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel
February 2012 Guest Editor Joanna Trollope on Hilary Mantel...
I loved her writing, long before the mega success of Wolf Hall. She wrote the best novel (bad title – A Place of Greater Safety) I ever read about the French... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/03/2010
The Report Jessica Francis Kane
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 11 March 2012.
An evocative and moving debut novel - based on the true story of the worst UK civilian disaster of the Second World War, when 173 people were crushed to... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A 2011 World Book Night selection.
February 2012 Guest Editor Joanna Trollope on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie...
Here’s a real find. A gorgeous (in every sense) young writer who makes modern stories sound fresh but as if they come from ancient story... Format: Paperback - Released: 15/01/2007
Eden Close Anita Shreve
A fiction debut from the author of The Weight of Water and The Pilot's Wife. Format: Paperback - Released: 01/12/1994
The Blue Flower Penelope Fitzgerald
One of One of Joanna Trollope's favourite books.
February 2012 Guest Editor Joanna Trollope on Penelope Fitzgerald...
Alas, dead too, but of old age. I had supper with her once, in the converted garage of her daughter’s house, where she... Format: Paperback - Released: 05/08/1996
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One of Dan Snow's favourite books.
June 2010 Good Housekeeping selection.
On My Bookshelf by Isabel Allende...One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez is arguably the best Latin Americannovel ever written. I found characters that seemed to... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/08/2007
This is where you’ll find the very best in modern literary writing and discover the new heroes of fiction as well as the established masters. This section features novels not only from home-grown favourites (from Martin Amis and Salmon Rushdie, to David Nicholls and Zadie Smith) but also from international writers too, like Isabel Allende, David Guterson and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (and, obviously, many more)
By looking at the list of books opposite you can see, at a glance, all the ‘featured’ books for this and for last month. Each book comes with a review, a synopsis and free opening extract to help you choose your next great read. Whether it’s Sebastian Faulks, Alain de Botton, Jostein Gaarder, Joanne Harris or Linda Grant you’ll find what you’re looking for here.
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The Secret River Kate Grenville
One of Anne Berry's favourite books.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2006.
An epic novel of the early settlers in Australia, of the plight of the Aborigines and...
The Road Cormac Mccarthy
January 2012 Guest Editor Simon Lelic selects The Road...
Technically and philosophically, this is probably not McCarthy’s best book. His masterpiece, probably, is Blood Meridian – although I also...
The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
One of Susan Fletcher's favourite books.
A fascinating story told from the perspective of a mother and her four daughters who have been taken to the Congo, by the father...
One Day David Nicholls
One of Richard Bacon's favourite books.
A 2011 World Book Night selection.
Winner of the...
Topics About Which I Know Nothing Patrick Ness
One of Patrick Gale's favourite books.
A wonderful, humorous and bizarre collection of tales looking at how the world might have been.
June 2010 Guest Editor Patrick Gale on Patrick...
The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
One of Hardeep Singh Kohli's favourite books.
September 2010 Guest Editor Belle de Jour on Margaret Atwood...
Atwood’s books hugely influenced my reading style (though probably not my writing style!)....
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe, John J. Richetti
One of Larry Lamb's favourite books.
The sole survivor of a shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe is stranded on an uninhabited island far away from any shipping routes. With patience and ingenuity,...
Smoke Portrait Trilby Kent
Glen has left England to live with her aunt, who runs a tea plantation in Ceylon and fills her days with good works, among them the task of writing letters...
Bitter Leaf Chioma Okereke
This elegantly written story revolves around the beautiful Jericho and the love triangle she finds herself in and the repercussions this has in the fictional African village of Mannobe. The...
Pigeon English Stephen Kelman
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy New Writer of the Year Award 2011.
Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011.
A...
Do No Harm Carol Topolski
What happens when someone whose job it is to do good is secretly bad?
Everyone knows about Virginia: about her stellar reputation as a
gynaecologist; about her commitment to her...
Today David Miller
August 1924. John Conrad arrives at his parents' home on the outskirts of Canterbury, where family and friends are assembling for the bank holiday weekend. His crippled mother has been...
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend
This 30th anniversary edition features Adrian Mole, the hapless teenager who provides an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. This book is about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, his...
In Darkness Nick Lake
In darkness I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One. I am alive. Two. There is no two.
Haiti 2010: in the aftermath of the earthquake a boy lies trapped...
The Passages of Herman Melville Jay Parini
A fictionalised account of the tormented and, for the time, scandalous life of Herman Melville, author of the 19C classic Moby Dick. 1841. A young Herman Melville is yet...
West of Here Jonathan Evison
January 2012 eBook of the Month.
Though its themes are weighty, West of Here is an electrifying epic and never bogs down...
The Child Who Simon Lelic
January 2012 Book of the Month.
An author who is unafraid to tackle contentious subjects has a 12 year old killer as the...
The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall Paul Torday
January 2012 MEGA Book of the Month.
From the author of instant bestseller Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, comes a highly readable,...
The Wife Who Ran Away Tess Stimson
Kate Forrest is invisible. Ned, the husband she adores, doesn't seem to know she's alive, and her two charming children have grown into stroppy adolescents. Her boss is suddenly shunting...
The Child Inside Suzanne Bugler
January 2012 Book of the Month.
Loss, grief, resentment and guilt can be a dangerous and destructive combination. The gripping new psychological drama...
Jubilee Shelley Harris
It is 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee, and a photographer captures a moment forever: a street party with bunting and Union Jacks fluttering in the breeze. Right in the centre...
Before I Go to Sleep S. J. Watson
January 2012 Book of the Month.
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 29 January 2012.
Winner of the Galaxy Crime &...
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 5 February 2012.
Longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, deWitt's dazzlingly original second novel is a darkly funny, offbeat western about...
Into the Darkest Corner Elizabeth Haynes
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 19 February 2012.
This is an edgy and powerful first novel, utterly convincing in its portrayal of obsession, and a tour de...
Rules of Civility Amor Towles
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 26 February 2012.
For fans of Fitzgerald and Capote, a witty, elegant fairytale of New York, set in 1938. 'If you want...
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce, Seamus Deane
One of Elizabeth McGovern's favourite books.
Presents the portrait of Stephen Dedalus' Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family,...
Tiny Sunbirds Far Away Christie Watson
Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2011.
Set in the Niger Delta, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away explores the world of twelve-year-old Blessing and her family. Part comic, part tragic, it...
The Family Fang Kevin Wilson
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 18 March 2012.
The Family Fang is an utterly unique, moving and hilarious novel
about one of life's greatest mysteries: the relationship...
Half of the Human Race Anthony Quinn
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 25 March 2012.
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 17 February 2011.
Combining national drama and private tragedy, "Half of...
You Deserve Nothing Alexander Maksik
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 1 April 2012.
Utterly compelling, brilliantly written, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is a
captivating tale about teachers and students, of moral uncertainties and
...
Girl Reading Katie Ward
Featured on The TV Book Club on More4 on 4 March 2012.
With each chapter inspired by a real work of art, this richly textured
debut novel transports us into a...
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy John le Carre
The enduring novel by one of our greatest storytellers. George Smiley, who is a troubled man of infinite compassion, is also a single-mindedly ruthless adversary as a spy.
Room Emma Donoghue
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A 2012 World Book Night selection.
Winner of the Galaxy Paperback of the Year Award 2011.
This was shortlisted for the Man...
A Life Apart Neel Mukherjee
One of our Debuts of the Year 2011.
February 2011 Debut of the Month.
A Life Apart is a scalding novel about dislocations and...
The Girl at the Lion d'Or Sebastian Faulks
A beautifully controlled and powerful story of love and conscience, will
and desire which begins when a mysterious young girl arrives to take up
the post at the seedy Hotel...
A Fool's Alphabet Sebastian Faulks
The events of Pietro Russell's life are told in 26 chapters. From A-Z, each chapter is set in a different place and reveals a fragment of his story. As his...
Pigeon English Stephen Kelman
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy New Writer of the Year Award 2011.
Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2011.
Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011.
A...
Before I Go to Sleep S. J. Watson
Winner of the Galaxy Crime & Thriller of the Year 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy New Writer of the Year 2011.
One of our Debuts of the Year 2011.
When God Was a Rabbit Sarah Winman
One of our Debuts of the Year 2011.
Winner of the Galaxy New Writer of the Year Award 2011.
Shortlisted for the Galaxy Paperback of the Year 2011.
An utterly charming family...
The Stranger's Child Alan Hollinghurst
Winner of the Galaxy UK Author of the Year Award 2011.
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011.
July 2011 Book of the Month.
This...
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy John le Carre
The Circus has already suffered a bad defeat, and the result was two bullets in a man's back. But a bigger threat still exists. And the legendary George Smiley is...
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Young Rose, aged 9 when the story opens, finds that she can tell the mood of the person who cooked...
Everything and Nothing Araminta Hall
A gripping psychological suspense read. Everything and Nothing is a stunningly assured debut, superbly evoking
an atmosphere of inexorable and sinister menace that builds to a
mesmerising climax in...
Dark Matter Michelle Paver
October 2011 Book of the Month.
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A classic, good old fashioned ghost story...
The Girl on the Cliff Lucinda Riley
Could a secret from 1914 end a century of heartache? A tiny figure stands at the cliff edge - hair flying in the breeze. Grania Ryan is hypnotised by the...
The Unseen Katherine Webb
December 2011 Book of the Month.
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
A mix of the occult, murder and...
A Visit from the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
Winner of the Galaxy International Author of the Year Award 2011.
I came across Jennifer Egan with her first novel
Agatha Raisin : As the Pig Turns M. C. Beaton
This series just gets better and better. Each one is a stand-alone novel featuring the one and only crime sleuth Agatha Raisin. If you like Agatha Christie then you'll...
More Than You Can Say Paul Torday
November 2011 Book of the Month.
Very different from his previous novels but this tightly written story with a PTSD suffering ex soldier...
The Thread Victoria Hislop
November 2011 Book of the Month.
This is the enthralling new novel from the million-copy bestselling author of The Island and
The Red House Christopher Bowden
With his 3rd novel Christopher Bowden, once again, has created an intriguing, page-turning, literary mystery with a beautifully drawn cast of characters. A common theme in his writing involves 'things...
Left Neglected Lisa Genova
A moving novel about a busy, vibrant woman in her 30s who has a car accident, leaving her to deal with a crippling disorder called left neglect. This is an...
Turn of Mind Alice LaPlante
Winner of the the Wellcome Trust Book Prize 2011.
Alice LaPlante imagines herself into the mind of an Alzheimer’s sufferer. Any number of non-fiction books can give you symptoms and describe...
Death Comes to Pemberley P. D. James
Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 8 December 2011.
Inspired by a lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen, PD James masterfully recreates the world of Pride...
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