Faber and Faber This Mournable Body Dangarembga Tsitsi

As Zimbabwe emerges into independence, Tambudzai Sigauke embarks on her second year at the Young Ladies’ College of the Sacred Heart. Determined to excel, Tambu exhausts herself with her efforts to climb to the top of the school’s honour rolls. The further she pushes herself, however, the farther she feels from any reward; and the roots of colonialism threaten to trip her at every step. The sequel to Nervous Conditions is as moving, darkly witty, and riveting as its predecessor

New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer concludes her young adult retelling of Rumpelstiltskin in this breathtaking sequel! • It isn’t true, she wanted to whisper. To lean forward and nuzzle her cheek against his temple. To press him against the wall and mold her body to his. I am not his. I will never be his • Serilda and Gild cannot break the curses that tether their spirits to Adalheid’s haunted castle. There they remain trapped for eternity. On the night of the Endless Moon, the Erlking means to capture one of the seven gods and so be reunited with his lover, Perchta, who has been banished to the underworld • But it soon becomes clear that the Erlking’s hunger for vengeance won’t be satisfied with a single wish, and his true intentions have the power to alter the mortal realm forever

From the funniest voice in young fiction today, the fourth festive book in this irresistible series for young readers about imaginary friends in hilarious rhyming text and with adorable illustrations by Ella Okstad • Ava and Squishy are back and this time their adorable chaos hits Christmas preparations for Mum, Dad, baby Roo, the local Christmas fete and much, much more . . . In her letter to Santa, Ava only has one wish. Will she get what her heart desires on Christmas day? • Rising star Pip Jones continues to give her quirky twist to everyday experiences in this warm and humorous series. The jaunty rhyming text is perfect for reading aloud, and Ella Okstad’s gorgeous, distinctive illustrations will help more confident readers learn to read by themselves for the first time

As hilarious as it is heartbreaking, another future classic from Costa Winner Kate Saunders (Five Children on the Western Front) • Emily watched, in a trance of astonishment, as the bear opened the picnic basket, took out a tartan rug and spread it on Holly’s bed • And then the penguin spoke • Actually spoke • ‘What’s going on? This isn’t Pointed End!’ • The bear said, ‘It looks like a human bedroom. We must’ve come through the wrong door.’ • ‘But there aren’t any doors to the hard world in Deep Smockeroon! And we don’t have a human bedroom any more. We’re in a box in the attic.’ • What if there exists a world powered by imagination? • A world of silliness, where humans and their toys live on long after they’ve left the Hard World . . . and what if the door between that world and this one was broken? • Welcome to the Land of Neverendings

The third book in the bestselling series about a classroom hamster – now with a great new look • Join Humphrey for his third adventure – and this one is going to be packed with trouble! When all sorts of problems crop up in the classroom, from Pay-Attention-Art’s marks going down, to Golden-Miranda finding herself in big trouble, Humphrey must step in to lend a helping paw. Using his charm, resourcefulness and wisdom, he’s certain to have a plan. This third instalment follows the brilliantly successful The World According to Humphrey and Friendship According to Humphrey

In their fifth thrilling adventure, the explorers journey deep into the Bubble Ocean on their quest to stop the evil Collector, but time is running out • The Poison Tentacle Sea was home to the powerful Bone Current. As they had feared, it gave a sudden surge and pulled them in • Half-mermaid Ursula Jellyfin has always longed for adventure, and this time the stakes are higher than ever. The Collector is holding a group of children prisoner on Pirate Island, and it's up to Ursula and her friends Jai, Max and Genie to set them free. Armed with a magical mermaid trident, and with new recruit Zara the pirate fairy on board, their mission is filled with danger. The explorers must face zombie skeletons, make a daring rescue from a whirlpool and travel through a dinosaur graveyard

Winner of the Red House Children’s Book Award, 2014 • When Atticus receives a mysterious message asking him to a meeting in a sleepy coastal town, he packs his bags and sets off. The world’s greatest cat burglar likes a good mystery and this time curiosity has got the better of him. The writer of the message, it turns out, is none other than Jimmy the Magpie, gang leader. He wants Atticus to steal all the jewels in town and leave the humans baffled • And what could be more straightforward? • But when Atticus moves in with Inspector Cheddar and his family, he starts to wonder if a life of crime is really for him

This classic novel tells the phantasmagorical story of an alcoholic man and his search for his dead palm-wine tapster. As he travels through the land of the dead, he encounters a host of supernatural and often terrifying beings – among them the complete gentleman who returns his body parts to their owners and the insatiable hungry-creature. Mixing Yoruba folktales with what T. S. Eliot described as a ‘creepy crawly imagination’, The Palm-Wine Drinkard is regarded as the seminal work of African literature

Faber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles • This heart is sore and sad. Crossed in love? • The manuscript of ‘Giacomo Joyce’, written in James Joyce’s best handwriting and folded between the covers of a school notebook, was discovered in Trieste. Most likely written in 1914, some of it served as a rehearsal for passages in Ulysses. Had Joyce meant to pillage it or publish it? Either way, this fragmented evocation of unrequited desire is, in the words of Joyce’s biographer Richard Ellmann, a work of ‘small, fragile, enduring perfection’ • With a new introduction by Colm Toibin • Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work

Faber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles • Of course, of everybody of whom this particular hero was suspicious, he was most suspicious of femme fatale, of this woman he was in love with. Even before he discovered she had a spell on her he was distrustful of her. He didn’t want to be, but that’s just how it goes • Written by Anna Burns before she completed her dazzling Man Booker-winning novel Milkman, ‘Mostly Hero’ is the hilarious, hell-raising descendant of Quentin Tarantino and the Brothers Grimm. Originally self-published online, it is available here in print for the first time • Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work

This summer holiday vintage classic exploring the mystery of a buried Cornish hotel invites us to solve the puzzle as detectives: perfect for Agatha Christie fans, with a dash of Richard Osman … • Cornwall, Midsummer 1947. Pendizack Manor Hotel is buried in the rubble of a collapsed cliff. Seven guests have perished, but is it murder, and what brought this strange assembly together for a moonlit feast before this Act of God – or Man? Over the week before the landslide, we meet the hotel guests in all their eccentric glory: and as friendships form and romances blossom, sins are revealed, and the cliff cracks widen

Faber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles • Between his second and third tours of duty, a soldier returns home • To his former home, that is, using an old key while the new tenant is at work. Is he re-entering his old life or borrowing someone else’s? Where is the line he will not cross? Each day is the same: he exists in a state of suspension, barely knowing how he passes the time – until someone else intrudes on the intruder • Adrian Tomine, graphic master of alienation and regret, expertly expands the form to express the unsaid and the unbearable in this unforgettable evocation of a post-traumatic life • Bringing together past, present and future in our ninetieth year, Faber Stories is a celebratory compendium of collectable work