Books we're thankful for

THE PHENOMENAL GLOBAL BESTSELLER. 'Superb, enthralling and necessarily terrifying . . . every step feels spring-loaded with tension... extraordinary.' THE NEW YORK TIMES - The story of Chernobyl is more complex, more human, and more terrifying than the Soviet myth. Adam Higginbotham has written a harrowing and compelling narrative which brings the 1986 disaster to life through the eyes of the men and women who witnessed it first-hand. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted over the course of more than ten years, as well as letters, unpublished memoirs, and documents from recently-declassified archives, this book makes for a masterful non-fiction thriller. Chernobyl has become lodged in the collective nightmares of the world: shorthand for the spectral horrors of radiation poisoning, for a dangerous technology slipping its leash, for ecological fragility, and for what can happen when a dishonest and careless state endangers not only its own citizens, but all of humanity. It is a story that has long remained in dispute, clouded from the beginning in secrecy, propaganda, and misinformation. Midnight In Chernobyl is an indelible portrait of history's worst nuclear disaster, of human resilience and ingenuity and the lessons learned when mankind seeks to bend the natural world to his will - lessons which, in the face of climate change and other threats - remain not just vital but necessary. Now, Higginbotham brings us closer to the truth behind this colossal tragedy. - 'Tells the story of the disaster and its gruesome aftermath with thriller-like flair . . . wonderful and chilling ... written with skill and passion.' THE OBSERVER 'An invaluable contribution to history.' SERHII PLOKHY, EVENING STANDARD A New York Times Best Book of the Year A Time Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Winner

A young Algerian, Meursault, afflicted with a sort of aimless inertia, becomes embroiled in the petty intrigues of a local pimp and, somewhat inexplicably, ends up killing a man. Once he's imprisoned and eventually brought to trial, his crime, it becomes apparent, is not so much the arguably defensible murder he has committed as it is his deficient character ...

A gorgeously illustrated anniversary edition of the book that launched the epic Farseer Trilogy, praised by George R. R. Martin as “fantasy as it ought to be written” and Lin-Manuel Miranda as “an incredible series,” featuring a new foreword by Robin Hobb and ten illustrations. Twenty-five years ago, Robin Hobb’s first novel featuring FitzChivalry Farseer and his mysterious, often maddening friend the Fool struck like a bolt of brilliant lightning. Thus began a beloved saga spanning multiple series, full of adventure, magic, and sinister plots. To celebrate a quarter-century of wonder, this special edition presents a modern classic as it’s never been seen before, with ten beautiful illustrations by Magali Villeneuve. Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated as an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill—and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom. Praise for Robin Hobb and Assassin’s Apprentice “Fantasy as it ought to be written . . . Robin Hobb’s books are diamonds in a sea of zircons.”—George R. R. Martin “A gleaming debut in the crowded field of epic fantasies . . . a delightful take on the powers and politics behind the throne.”—Publishers Weekly “This is the kind of book you fall into, and start reading slower as you get to the end, because you don’t want it to be over.”—Steven Brust

** Order Shy, the Sunday Times number one bestseller from Max Porter, now ** A SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 NOVEL OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Winner of the 2016 International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Sunday Times/Peter, Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year award and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize. 'Amazing and unforgettable.' THE TIMES 'Dazzlingly good.' ROBERT MACFARLANE 'Unlike anything I've read before.' GUARDIAN 'Captivating, poetic, and surprising.' CILLIAN MURPHY In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother's sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness. In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This sentimental bird is drawn to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. This extraordinary debut, full of unexpected humour and emotional truth, marks the arrival of a thrilling and significant new talent.

When the inhabitants of a peaceful world are conquered by the bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably altered. Forced into servitude, the Athsheans find themselves at the mercy of their brutal masters. Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back.

When Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility for a crime he did not commit, life becomes much more of a challenge. First of all he has to dig a hole (as deep as a man) a day in the baking Texas heat, looking for who knows what. Then he has to avoid cruel Mr. Sir and the menacing warden. Will Stanley survive in this hostile environment?

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of perhaps the most bestselling and beloved literary fiction of our time comes a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring novel about children on the cusp of adulthood in a broken world, who find resilience, hope, and story. The heroes of Cloud Cuckoo Land are children trying to figure out the world around them, and to survive. In the besieged city of Constantinople in 1453, in a public library in Lakeport, Idaho, today, and on a spaceship bound for a distant exoplanet decades from now, an ancient text provides solace and the most profound human connection to characters in peril. They all learn the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to the paradise of Cloud Cuckoo Land, a better world. Twelve-year-old Anna lives in a convent where women toil all day embroidering the robes of priests. She learns to read from an old Greek tutor she encounters on her errands in the city. In an abandoned priory, she finds a stash of old books. One is Aethon's story, which she reads to her sister as the walls of Constantinople are bombarded by armies of Saracens. Anna escapes, carrying only a small sack with bread, salt fish--and the book. Outside the city walls, Anna meets Omeir, a village boy who was conscripted, along with his beloved pair of oxen, to fight in the Sultan's conquest. His oxen have died; he has deserted. In Lakeport, Idaho, in 2020, Seymour, a young activist bent on saving the earth, sits in the public library with two homemade bombs in pressure cookers--another siege. Upstairs, eighty-five-year old Zeno, a former prisoner-of-war, and an amateur translator, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon's adventures. On an interstellar ark called The Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault with sacks of Nourish powder and access to all the information in the world--or so she is told. She knows Aethon's story through her father, who has sequestered her to protect her. Konstance, encased on a spaceship decades from now, has never lived on our beloved Earth. Alone in a vault with sacks of Nourish powder and access to "all the information in the world," she knows Aethon's storythrough her father. Like Marie-Laure and Werner in All the Light We Cannot See, Konstance, Anna, Omeir, Seymour, the young Zeno, the children in the library are dreamers and misfits on the cusp of adulthood in a world the grown-ups have broken. They through their own resilience and resourcefulness, and through story. Dedicated to "the librarians then, now, and in the years to come," Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land is about the power of story and the astonishing survival of the physical book when for thousands of years they were so rare and so feared, dying, as one character says, "in fires or floods or in the mouths of worms or at the whims of tyrants." It is a hauntingly beautiful and redemptive novel about stewardship--of the book, of the Earth, of the human heart"--

This Special Edition of The Hunger Games includes the most extensive interview Suzanne Collins has given since the publication of The Hunger Games; an absorbing behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the series; and an engaging archival conversation between Suzanne Collins and YA legend Walter Dean Myers on writing about war. The Special Edition answers many questions fans have had over the years, and gives great insight into the creation of this era-defining work.In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Still, if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

An invitation to embrace ourselves with all our pain, fear and anxieties, and to step lightly yet firmly on the path of understanding and compassion' Thich Nhat Hanh Feelings of self-doubt and insecurity are what hold us back in life and cause true suffering. In her landmark book Radical Acceptance, renowned meditation and mindfulness teacher Tara Brach offers us all a path to freedom. Drawing on personal stories, Buddhist teachings and guided meditations Tara leads us to trust our innate goodness. She reveals how we can develop the balance of clear-sightedness and compassion, heal fear and shame and build loving, authentic relationships.

A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will change how you think about your body forever - the bestselling book from the creator of the wildly popular science YouTube channel, Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell. 'Reads as if it's a riveting sci-fi novel' TIM URBAN, creator of Wait But Why __________ You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You're mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an utterly epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you drink your cup of tea and head out the door. So what, exactly, IS your immune system? Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune, Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defences. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you've been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body. Each chapter delves deeply into an element of the immune system, including defences like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like viruses, bacteria, allergies and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body's defences, how viruses - including the coronavirus - work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself. Enlivened by engaging full-colour graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects - immunology - into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape. Challenging what you know and think about your own body and how it defends you against all sorts of maladies and how it might also eventually be your own downfall, Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body. __________ 'A truly brilliant introduction to the human body's vast system for fighting infections and other threats' JOHN GREEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known. For readers of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds"--

Check out the brand new series of official Guides. The first four titles in the series, Guide to Exploration, Guide to Creative, Guide to Redstone and Guide to the Nether and the End, publish in 2017. Minecraft is a multi-platform block-based gaming sensation available on Xbox, PlayStation, PC and mobile devices. Whether you're in Creative, Survival or Hardcore Mode, the Minecraft books contain all the advice you need to survive and thrive! This handbook will teach you everything you need to know about the electrifying possibilities of redstone. Whether you're playing in Survival or Creative mode, redstone is an amazing substance that will transform your gameplay. Since its arrival a huge redstone community has developed, building and sharing creations as diverse as arcade-style games, intricate traps, calculators, and even computers. The first section of this handbook gets you up to speed on the basics of redstone. The second section pushes you to use your new redstone knowledge to complete challenges, and the final section showcases some of the awesome community creations that are out there. You'll discover where to find redstone ore and how to mine it and all the possibilities of redstone dust. Redstone dust is really powerful stuff and is essential to almost all redstone lighting systems and circuits. Also, with step-by-step instructions to building redstone traps and arrow launchers you need never fear creepers again. Among the redstone engineering feats that feature in this handbook are the super stopwatch which can record time to a tenth of a second, faster than the blink of an eye! Or Zombie-siege, a fun combat mini-game built with redstone circuitry. These community creations will inspire you to get building with redstone. Perfect for Minecrafters ag

A funny collection of poems, rhymes, wordplay and limericks by former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen. Filled with bright and colourful illustrations. Dive into a laugh-out-loud world of nonsense... Packed with verse that's clever and silly, this collection will inspire children to have fun with words and invent their own poetry. From dogs that live on Mars, to football, dinosaurs and so much more - everyone will find something they love to read out loud! 'The author has a child's ear for word sound and an eye for nutty humour. Clare Mackie's crackling illustrations add verve and vigour to each page' - Junior Education

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL will soon be a major motion picture from Netflix—starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Sofia Wylie, Sophie Anne Caruso, Jamie Flatters, Earl Cave, Kit Young, and more! Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling series The School for Good and Evil returns with The Ever Never Handbook! Gorgeous full-color illustrations bring your favorite characters like Sophie, Agatha, and Tedros back to school through maps, quizzes, alumni portraits, and more. Wish you could go to the School for Good and Evil? Join the ranks of heroes and villains who have walked these hallowed halls and mastered what it takes to succeed in their own fairy tales. Surviving the trials and tribulations of the school is no walk in the park. The Ever Never Handbook is here to help. This handbook equips new students with everything they’ll need to excel at the School for Good and Evil. Good luck! Don't miss the thrilling conclusion to the beloved series, The School for Good and Evil #6: One True King!

Coming soon ... return to Prythian with TWO new books in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. Pre-order ACOTAR 6 for 27th October 26, and ACOTAR 7 for 12th January 27. The first instalment of the GLOBAL PHENOMENON and TikTok sensation, from multi-million selling and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas Maas has established herself as a fantasy fiction titan – Time Harry Potter magic, Taylor Swift sass, Fifty Shades-level athleticism – The Sunday Times With bits of Buffy, Game of Thrones and Outlander, this is a glorious series of total joy – Stylist Spiced with slick plotting and atmospheric world-building ... a page-turning delight – Guardian Escapism in its purest form – Independent ****** Feyre is a huntress, but when she kills what she thinks is a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor, Tamlin, is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal Fae. And there's more to the Fae than the legends suggest. As Feyre adapts to her new home, her feelings for Tamlin begin to change. Icy hostility turns to fiery passion that burns through every lie she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But shadows are creeping in, and Tamlin has a dark secret that he cannot share. Fate brought Feyre to Tamlin for a reason, but saving him from the darkness that threatens his world will lead her down a path that she can never return from. Enter the world of Sarah J. Maas and discover the sweeping romantic fantasy that everyone's talking about for yourself. ****** 5* reader reviews 'This is the first fantasy book I've ever read . . . I'm hooked. I'm addicted' 'I'm a standard romance girl but this swept me off my feet' 'Her writing is exquisite; her characters complex . . . and worlds all-consuming' 'This book has ignited my spark for reading again'

Coming soon ... return to Prythian with TWO new books in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. Pre-order ACOTAR 6 for 27th October 26, and ACOTAR 7 for 12th January 27. 'One of the best fantasy book series of the past decade' TIME From the #1 bestselling author of A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass is the first book in the epic, bestselling fantasy series that has captivated readers worldwide. Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. Celaena Sardothien has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not come to kill him. She has come to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three murderers, thieves, and warriors in a deadly competition, she will be released from prison to serve as the King's Champion. But something rotten dwells in the castle - and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying mysteriously, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival - and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world, and the people she has come to love. Please note: The book cover and spine design you receive may vary slightly from the image shown.

State-of-the-art science and suspense combine in this uniquely exciting high-tension thriller from the author of The Andromeda Strain. Bioengineers create authentic, detail-perfect, real-life dinosaurs for a Pacific island theme park, but scientific triumph explodes into horrendous disaster as the first visitors encounter the unbelievable.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Anne Rice, this sensuously written spellbinding classic remains 'the most successful vampire story since Bram Stoker's Dracula' (The Times) In a darkened room a young man sits telling the macabre and eerie story of his life - the story of a vampire, gifted with eternal life, cursed with an exquisite craving for human blood. When Interview with the Vampire was published, the Washington Post said it was a 'thrilling, strikingly original work of the imagination . . . sometimes horrible, sometimes beautiful, always unforgettable'. Now, more than forty years since its release, Anne Rice's masterpiece is more beloved than ever. ***The Vampire Chronicles is now a major TV show*** Also in the Vampire Chronicles: The Vampire Lestat The Queen of the Damned

All five novels in the bestselling, blockbuster Percy Jackson series, collected in one stunning digital edition. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. 'Look, I didn't want to be a Half-Blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek God.' Percy Jackson: The Complete Series includes all five novels in the action-packed, electrifying series from Rick Riordan: The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian. Now I spend my time battling monsters and generally trying to stay alive. Angry Gods. Cannibal Giants. Ancient Labyrinths. Untold Evils. It's not easy being a demigod. Rick Riordan has now sold an incredible 55 million copies of his books worldwide The Percy Jackson series has sold over 1.25 million copies in the UK alone

Tennesse Williams, one of the 20th century's most superb writers, was also one of its most successful and prolifts. His classic works include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, Camino Real, Sweet Bird of Youth, Night of the Iguanna, Orpheus Descending, and The Rose Tattoo.

With special bonus content - a brand new story by Alice Oseman WINNER OF THE YA BOOK PRIZE 2021 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman, author of Solitaire and the graphic novel series Heartstopper - now a major Netflix series. It was all sinking in. I'd never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person I had ever met. What did that mean? Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush - but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she's sure she'll find her person one day. As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia's ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her 'teenage dream' is in sight. But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her. With new terms thrown at her - asexual, aromantic - Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever. Is she destined to remain loveless? Or has she been looking for the wrong thing all along? This wise, warm and witty story of identity and self-acceptance sees Alice Oseman on towering form as Georgia and her friends discover that true love isn't limited to romance. 'A joyous, disarmingly honest book that seems to leap right inside the mind of a teenage girl' Independent [now iNews] 'Loveless is an ode to friendship and platonic soulmates; this cosy blanket of a novel understandably won the YA Book Prize 2021'Irish Times 'A joyful tale of self-discovery" The Bookseller

See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now! Meet Kaz Brekker and his crew: Jesper, Inej, Wylan, and the star-crossed Nina and Matthias, on the heist of a lifetime in Six of Crows from #1 bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo. Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . . A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo returns to the breathtaking world of the Grishaverse in this unforgettable tale about the opportunity—and the adventure—of a lifetime. Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The King of Scars Duology King of Scars Rule of Wolves The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic The Lives of Saints

"Finishing this book and then forgetting about it is simply not an option ... Unmissable". (New York Times). At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and finally into a patient and a new father. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when when life is catastrophically interrupted? What does it mean to have a child as your own life fades away? Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his words live on as a guide to us all. When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both.

THE MUST-READ MULTIMILLION BESTSELLING MYSTERY SERIES—NOW ON NETFLIX! This is the story about an investigation turned obsession, full of twists and turns and with an ending you'll never expect. Everyone in Fairview knows the story. Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town. But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer? Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger. And don't miss the sequel, Good Girl, Bad Blood! "The perfect nail-biting mystery." —Natasha Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author