Black Swan Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There. How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America Hepworth David

At first their ages made no difference • Julia Hunter and Kate Bain have found true happiness with men old enough to be their fathers. Julia organises her husband Hugh and their cherubic twins with ruthless efficiency and Kate has lived with James, for eight years, and although she refuses to marry him, she's apparently devoted to him. Hugh and James, lifelong friends, feel blessed indeed • But age differences cannot be ignored forever and when James accidentally knocks a fiercely independent spinster from her bicycle a chain of events is set off in which many suppressed discontents and frustrations emerge. Kate begins to seek out friends of her own age and Julia's career begins to blossom just as her husband's starts to decline • The tranquil lives of the men and the girls seem shattered as new relationships develop and old anxieties surface

Mother to five children, Clover Stroud has navigated family life across two decades, both losing and finding herself. In her touching, provocative and profoundly insightful book, she captures a sense of what motherhood really feels like - how intense, sensuous, joyful, boring, profound and dark it can be • My Wild and Sleepless Nights examines what it means to be a mother, and reveals with unflinching honesty the many conflicting emotions that this entails: the joy and the wonder, the loneliness and despair

Tender and humorous novel of second chances and life-changing new friendship for fans of Rachel Joyce, Clare Chambers and Barbara Pym • Meet Eve, who has departed from her thirty-year career to become a Free Spirit; Sally, who has waved goodbye to her indifferent husband and two grown-up children; and Anastasia, a defiantly independent narrowboat-dweller, suddenly vulnerable as she awaits a life-saving operation • Inexperienced and ill-equipped, Sally and Eve embark upon a journey through the canals of England, guided by the remote and unsympathetic Anastasia. As they glide gently - and not so gently - through the countryside, the eccentricities and challenges of canalboat life draw them inexorably together, and a tender and unforgettable story unfolds

Билл Брайсон родился в 1951 году в самом сердце США в городе Де-Мойн, штат Айова. В своей книге The Rise and Fall of the Thunderbolt Kid он делится с читателями воспоминаниями о своем типично американском детстве. Как и миллионы сверстников, в детстве Брайсон мечтал стать супергероем. Он бегал по дому в футболке с нарисованной на ней молнией и полотенцем вместо плаща, представляя, как прыгает с высоких зданий и уничтожает злодеев • Через свои детские фантазии он воссоздает жизнь своей семьи в 1950-х. В этот период возросла популярность телевидения, открылся Диснейленд, проводились испытания ядерных бомб, а также был богатый выбор абсолютно всего – от еды до машин • The Rise and Fall of the Thunderbolt Kid – это современная классика, мемуары одного из самых популярных авторов бестселлеров Билла Брайсона

Ruth is thirty years old. She works as a nurse in a care home and her fiance has just broken up with her. The only thing she has left of him is their shopping list for the upcoming week • Starting with six eggs, and working through spaghetti and strawberries, apples and tea bags, this inventive novel builds a picture of a woman defined by the people she serves; her patients, her friends, and, most of all, her partner of ten years. Without him, Ruth needs to find out – with conditioner and single cream and a lot of sugar – who she is when she stands alone • With her fresh unpredictable style, Franchini skewers modern relationships and toxic masculinity, moving effortlessly between humour and heartbreak to tell the story of a woman rebuilding herself on her own terms

Small, well appointed future. Semi detached • If the end of the world is nigh, then surely it's only sensible to make alternative arrangements. Certainly the Earth has its points, but what most people need is something smaller and more manageable. Of course there are those who say that's planetary treason, but who cares what the weirdos and terrorists think? Not Nathan. All he cares is that his movie gets made and that there's somebody left to see it • In marketing terms the end of the world will be very big. Anyone trying to save it should remember that

Edward Stourton muses on the meaning of life and all things canine as he walks his dog Kudu • 'If you are accompanied by a dog you can talk to anyone, and anyone can talk to you - about anything .' And they do. Edward Stourton's walks with, Kudu, his dog, become an opportunity for wonderfully unlikely encounters, and reflecting on the world from the dog-walker's perspective proves remarkably illuminating. Ed and Kudu's small trips to the park offer up big insights into romantic attachment, honour and heroism, guilt and depression, our sense of duty, beauty and the hard facts of life's pecking order. Diary of a Dog-Walker is witty, wise and will be utterly irresistible to any man or woman with a dog

The Lollipop Shoes picks up the story of Vianne and her daughters and takes us on a magical and spellbinding journey to Paris. Exquisitely written with the fluid and beautiful prose we expect from Joanne Harris, it's a wonderful and captivating read, full of flavours, tastes and fragrances. You'll need to pace yourself to stop yourself from devouring it all at once! • 'Who died?' I said. 'Or is it a secret?' • 'My mother, Vianne Rocher.' • Seeking refuge and anonymity in the cobbled streets of Montmartre, Yanne and her two daughters live peacefully, if not happily, above their little chocolate shop • Nothing unusual marks them out; no red sachets hang by the door. The wind has stopped - at least for a while • Then into their lives blows Zozie de l'Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes - ruthless, devious and seductive

Merrion Palmer has been Judge Guy Stockdale's mistress for the last seven years and his wife and two grown-up sons know absolutely nothing about her. Up until now, Guy and Merrion have enjoyed a blissfully, uncomplicated relationship in stolen moments in Merrion's flat, and to the rest of the world, Guy has played the part of model husband, father and grandfather • But now the time has come for things to change. Guy has become conscious of wasted years and he wants to share his relationship with Merrion with the world • He wants, dammit, to marry her. Yet he is quite unprepared for the storm that will follow

Flanders, June 1917: a British officer and celebrated poet, is shot dead, killed not by German fire, but while recuperating from shell shock well behind the lines. A young English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder • Douglas Kingsley is a conscientious objector, previously a detective with the London police, now imprisoned for his beliefs. He is released and sent to France in order to secure a conviction. Forced to conduct his investigations amidst the hell of The Third Battle of Ypres, Kingsley soon discovers that both the evidence and the witnesses he needs are quite literally disappearing into the mud that surrounds him • Ben Elton's tenth novel is a gut-wrenching historical drama which explores some fundamental questions

It all starts on the morning the letter D disappears from the language • First, it vanishes from her parents' conversation at breakfast, then from the road signs outside. Soon the local dentist and the neighbour's Dalmatian are missing, and even the Donkey Derby has been called off • Though she doesn't know why, Dhikilo is summoned to the home of her old history teacher Professor Dodderfield and his faithful Labrador, Nelly Robinson. And this is where our story really begins • Set between England and the wintry land of Liminus, a world enslaved by the monstrous Gamp and populated by fearsome, enchanting creatures, D (Tale of Two Worlds) is a mesmerising tale of friendship and bravery in an uncertain world. Told with simple beauty and warmth, its celebration of moral courage and freethinking is a powerful reminder of our human capacity for strength, hope and justice

It is wash-day for the housemaids at Longbourn House, and Sarah's hands are chapped and raw. Domestic life below stairs, ruled with a tender heart and an iron will by Mrs Hill the housekeeper, is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a new footman, bearing secrets and the scent of the sea