Mr Katō Plays Family by Mileno Michiko Flašar

Mr Katō- a curmudgeon and recent retiree- finds his only solace during his daily walks, where he wonders how his life went wrong and daydreams about getting a dog (which his wife won't allow). During one of these walks, he is approached by a young woman. Mie invites him to join her business Happy Family, where employees act as part-time relatives or acquaintances for clients in need, for whatever reason, if only for a day. 

The Three Graces by Amanda Craig

When Enzo shoots an illegal migrant from his bedroom one night, it triggers a series of events that embroil old and young, rich and poor, native and foreign. His elderly neighbours Ruth, Diana and Marta are three friends who have retired to Tuscany.  

Once We Were Home by Jennifer Rosner

Based on the true stories of children stolen during wartime, this novel raises questions of complicity and responsibility, belonging and identity, good intentions and unforeseen consequences, as it confronts what it really means to find home.

Scatterlings by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe

In 1927 South Africa, when the Immorality Act is passed, prohibiting sexual intercourse between Europeans (white people) and natives (Black people), married couple Alisa and Abram find their bond in tatters, which leads Alisa to commit a devastating act, one that will reverberate through their entire family's lives.

Mrs. S by K. Patrick

In an elite English boarding school, a butch antipodean outsider arrives to take up the antiquated role of "matron." Within this landscape of immense privilege, where difference is met with hostility, the matron finds herself unsure of her role, her accent and her body. That is until she meets Mrs. S, the headmaster's wife. 

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

In the shared and private spaces of Iowa City, a social circle of lovers and friends navigate tangled webs of connection as they try to figure out what they want, and who they are. 

My Father the Whale by Gina Perry

A vivid, beautifully imagined story about a father and a daughter, and the lengths we'll go in order to belong. 

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby

After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus Crown returns home to Charon County, land of moonshine and cornbread, fist fights and honeysuckle. Seeing his hometown struggling with a bigoted police force inspires him to run for sheriff. He wins, and becomes the first Black sheriff in the history of the county. 

A Death in the Parish by Richard Coles

Book 2 in the  Canon Clement mystery series 

It's been a few months since murder tore apart the community of Champton apart. As Canon Daniel Clement tries to steady his flock, the parish is joined with Upper and Lower Badsaddle, bringing a new tide of unwanted change.

Grave Expectations by Alice Bell

Almost-authentic medium Claire and her best friend, Sophie, agree to take on a seemingly simple job at an old manor in the English countryside: performing a seance for the family matriarch's 80th birthday. The pair have been friends since before Sophie went missing when they were seventeen. Everyone else is convinced Sophie simply ran away, but Claire knows the truth. Claire knows Sophie was murdered because Sophie has been haunting her ever since. 

None of this is True by Lisa Jewell

Alix and Josie are two very different women whose lives become entangled when Josie persuades Alix to make a podcast about her. 

The Eden Test by Adam Sternbergh

Seven Days. Seven Questions. Forever Changed. That's how The Eden Test, a week-long getaway, advertises itself for couples in trouble. And that's what Daisy, a talented actress, has signed up for, in the hopes of saving her marriage. It's a tall order, seeing as her husband Craig plans on leaving her for another woman. 

Kill For Me Kill For You by Steve Cavanagh

One dark evening on New York City's Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan.

The Lost English Girl by Julia Kelly

Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what's expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous Jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. 

Wifedom by Anna Funder

A riveting work about the woman who sacrificed her future for one of the most famous writers of the twentieth century and a probing look at what it means to be a wife and a writer in the modern world. 

The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan

In a near-future Toronto buffeted by environmental chaos and unfettered development, an unsettling new lifeform begins to grow beneath the surface, feeding off the past. The Marigold, a gleaming Toronto condo tower, sits a half-empty promise: a stack of scuffed rental suites and undelivered amenities that crumbles around its residents as a mysterious sludge spreads slowly through it. 

Light Bringer by Pierce Brown

Book 6 of the Red rising saga 

The Reaper is a legend, more myth than man: the savior of worlds, the leader of the Rising, the breaker of chains. But the Reaper is also Darrow, born of the red soil of Mars: a husband, a father, a friend. 

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

A man awakens in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. 

The Fire by Daniela Krien

What happens when love grows older and passion has faded? When what divides us is greater than what brought us together? And how easy is it to ask the fundamental questions about our relationships?

Seven Months of Summer by Saskia Sarginson

1993. When Kit meets Summer on the backpacking trip of lifetime, he falls head over heels in love. He is sure what they have is much more than just a holiday romance. On returning home, Kit is certain he'll be able to find the magical girl he met. But when he follows the clues of what Summer told him about her life, the girl he thought he knew doesn't seem to exist.

The Little French Village of Book Lovers by Nina George

As she grows up, Marie-Jeanne helps her foster father, Francis, set up a mobile library that travels through the many small mountain towns in the region of Nyons. Their library will offer entertainment, guidance, reassurance and comfort - balm for the heartbroken and lonely. 

The Codebreaker's Secret by Sara Ackerman

1943. As war in the Pacific rages on, Isabel Cooper and her codebreaker colleagues huddle in "the dungeon" at Station HYPO in Pearl Harbor, deciphering secrets plucked from the airwaves in a race to bring down the enemy. Isabel has only one wish: to avenge her brother's death. But she soon finds life has other plans when she meets his best friend, a hotshot pilot with secrets of his own. 

The Sword Defiant by Gareth Hanrahan

Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord's cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part. Now, when Aelfric - keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker - learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again.

Clean Kill by Stephen Leather

Spider Shepherd returns in his 20th adventure. Bloodthirsty terrorists have shot down a British helicopter in West Africa and taken the crew hostage. Their lives hang in the balance and the British government is refusing to negotiate. The pilot is Liam Shepherd, whose father Dan "Spider" Shepherd of MI5 is the only man that can help. 

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou

In the city of Alante, the descendants of the Greek gods live alongside mortals. Io is the youngest of three sisters, descended from the Fates. She is able to see threads- shimmering silver lines connecting every person. When a new relationship is formed, a new thread appears. When a person's life-thread is cut, it's their time to die…When Io is witness to a murder it is no ordinary murder. Io can clearly see that the killer's life-thread has already been severed.

Something Terrible Happened Last Night by Sam Blake

It's Katie's 17th birthday - the dancefloor is packed, the drink is flowing and Rave-fess, the Raven's Hill School confession site, is alight with gossip. Then a huge fight breaks out, sending guests fleeing. When Frankie, Jess and Sorcha go back to help Katie clear up her wrecked house before her parents get home, they find more than broken bottles ... there's a body on the living room floor.

The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz

Four Los Angeles prep students are at the center of a fatal car crash and they will go to dangerous lengths to bury the truth. One of them was driving. One of them was high. One of them screamed. And one of them died…Who was at the wheel? And more importantly, who was at fault? But in a place ruled by pedigree and privilege, the answers can only come at a price.

Irena's Gift by Karen Kirsten

In 1942, in Nazi-occupied Poland, a Jewish child was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto in a backpack. That child was Karen Kirsten’s mother, but she knew nothing about this extraordinary event until one day a letter arrived from a stranger. After Karen eventually discovered the grandparents, she loved dearly were in fact not her biological grandparents, she travelled the globe to uncover her family’s past and to find answers. It is about the extraordinary resilience of three generations of women, and the sacrifices made for love.

Everybody Wins by James Wallis

From modern classics like CATAN, Ticket to Ride, and Dixit to once-lauded games that have now been forgotten, not to mention several popular hits that somehow missed a nomination. this is a comprehensive yet hugely readable study of the best board games ever made, penned by one of the most knowledgeable commentators on the hobby.

Material World by Ed Conway

The story of civilization from an entirely new vantage point-the six raw materials that have shaped and will continue to shape humanity's destiny. Sand, iron, salt, oil, copper and lithium: The struggle for these fundamental materials has created empires, razed civilizations, and fed our ingenuity and our greed for thousands of years. It is a story that is far from finished. 

Pull Down the Shades by Richard Langston

The incredible sound of New Zealand from Flying Nun Records and Xpressway in the 1980s-90s is the stuff of legend. Hozac Books proudly presents Richard Langston's ultra-obscure fanzine GARAGE, capturing the original six issues from 1984-86 at long last, in book form. It includes sixteen recent interviews with many of the leading songwriters, performers, and key figures in the scene.

[HIGHLY recommended for anyone with an interest in early Flying Nun or music writing in general! Ed.]

The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May

This is a life-affirming and perspective-shifting memoir of one woman's walk in the wilds as she comes to terms with an Asperger's diagnosis. In August 2015, Katherine May set out to walk the 630-mile Southwest Coast Path. She wanted to understand why she had stopped coping with everyday life; why motherhood had been so overwhelming and isolating, and why the world felt full of inundation and expectations she can't meet. Setting her feet down on the rugged and difficult path by the sea, the answer begins to unfold. 

Operation Kingfisher by Gary Followill

The chain of events that led to the death of over 2,500 Prisoners of War - one of Australia's worst wartime tragedies - the cancellation of the rescue mission Operation Kingfisher. Finally, the true story of why the Sandakan POWs of World War II were not rescued despite a fully planned and resourced operation - including men, aircraft and naval vessels - all equipped to carry out the rescue mission. 

A Scar is Also Skin by Ben McKelvey

For the first twenty-seven years of his life, Ben McKelvey didn't spend too much time thinking about his brain, nor much about trauma. He was fit, carefree and happy working as a magazine journalist. Then one day, while boxing, he suffered a stroke, disconnecting him from language and therefore the world in an instant. He wanted nothing more than to go back to normal life and, after a time, it looked like he had. Only normal life no longer felt normal. Ben's brain had changed, and so had he. 

Money With Jess by Jessica Irvine

Join Jess as she teaches you how to construct your own household budget from scratch, following her unique, 10-category household budgeting system. Packed full of money-saving tips-from electricity bills to grocery bills - Money with Jess is your ultimate guide to household budgeting and saving. Take control of your money and live the life you want. 

The Preserving Garden by Jo Turner

This is a stylishly illustrated guide on how to use garden produce to provide food all year round. Learn how to make a veggie patch or plant fruit trees in any space - including where to begin, when to plant and how to care for your garden. From planting to preserving, each profile is accompanied with easy-to-follow recipes that allow you to make the most of your homegrown produce throughout the year.