Here’s this week’s list of new fiction titles. These are titles appearing in hardback/paperback for the first time. In some cases the ebook might already be available. All titles are based on the listings found in The Bookseller, so I’m not working from a list of all titles being published.
It’s a famine week this time around so gird your loins for next week!
Just a reminder I don’t see any advance copies, my choices are based on the blurb, gut instinct and what takes my fancy at the time.
(NB This post features Affiliate links from which I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases)
Index
Historical (I tend to take this as pre 1960’s ie not in my lifetime!)
Non-Fiction bonus extra
Crime, Thriller & Mystery
The Final Chaper by Jerome Loubry
Whatever you do, DON’T give away that ending…
Three good friends.
One tragic summer.
A book that tells it all.
When little Julie goes missing in summer 1986, David and Samuel share the terrible secret of her disappearance. Thirty years later, David has become a famous author and Samuel his publisher. Both receive identical manuscript chapters telling the story of what really happened that tragic summer.
Chapter after chapter, the author reveals their darkest secrets. They know the book will end with its 12th chapter. A race against time begins: will David and Samuel expose the mysterious author’s identity before he exposes them? And did one of them kill Julie?
Cold Sun by Anita Sivakumaran
In the golden afternoon light, the young woman lies perfectly still, her dark hair fanning out behind her. She is dressed in a rose red sari, shot through with gold. Just like the others.
The last time Detective Vijay Patel visited India, he vowed never to return. After a devastating accident, the country holds only bitter memories and broken dreams. But when three young women are murdered in mysterious circumstances, Patel is pulled back to his past.
Leaving his fiancée Sarah behind in London, Patel rushes to a beautiful apartment on a tree-lined street where the body of Sarita Mohan, a successful businesswoman, has been found. Floating on a sea of black satin, she is dressed in red silk, a tiny silver ring on the fourth toe of her right foot.
Desperate to find a link between the murders, Patel digs into the other cases and spots the missing link. The toe ring is a symbol of marriage and the distinctive red saris are traditionally worn for weddings. What is the killer trying to tell them? Why leave each body posed like a bride?
Then Sarah is kidnapped, and Patel is frantic to find the woman he loves before she becomes the next victim. As he desperately re-reads the killer’s last cryptic message, Patel finds the critical clue he’s been searching for, and hopefully a chance to save Sarah.
Determined to rescue the woman he loves, can Patel outwit the deadliest killer he has ever faced? Or is he already too late?
General/Contemporary Fiction
Magnolia House by Angela Barton *****
When you open up your home and your heart …
Rowan Forrester has it all – the happy marriage, the adorable dog, the good friends, the promising business and even the dream home after she and her husband Tom win a stunning but slightly dilapidated Georgian townhouse in London at auction.
But in the blink of an eye, Rowan’s picture-perfect life comes crashing down around her and she is faced with the prospect of having to start again.
To make ends meet she begins a search for housemates, and in doing so opens the door to new friends and new beginnings. But could she be opening the door to new heartbreak too?
***** Some dispute about date for this one, Bookseller, Amazon and Publisher say 12th August, Bookshop and Hive say it’s been published since March!
Cut Out by Michele Roberts
Denis is searching for his mother’s past, knowing she had secrets that she kept from him. In Nice, he finds her friends Monique and Clemence who, in the 1950s, were Matisse’s assistants when he was old and ill.
Back to You by Tammy Robinson
What happens when a couple are torn apart just at the moment when they fall in love?
While Finn is away, however, Zoe suffers a life-changing injury. And it leaves her wondering whether Finn could possibly still love her when he comes home . . .
When Finn and Zoe meet, they fall in love hard and fast. But Finn is about to go travelling, fulfilling a promise to his late sister to raise money in support of her illness. It’s terrible timing, but Zoe knows their feelings are strong enough to stand the test of time.
So she cuts all ties and disappears from Finn’s life, without telling him why. And now Finn has to decide how hard he’s willing to fight for the girl whose heart he’s carried with him, while Zoe has to decide if she’s got the strength to find her way back to the girl she once was.
Historical
The Secrets of Ashmore Castle by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Behind the doors of the magnificent Ashmore Castle, secrets are waiting to be uncovered . . .
1901. When the Earl of Stainton dies in a tragic hunting accident, Giles, the eldest son of the noble Tallant family, must step forward to replace him as the head of the family. But Giles has avoided the Castle and his stifling relatives for years, deciding instead to forge his own path away from the spotlight. Now, he must put aside his ambitions and honour his duty to the family.
With their world upended, the Tallants and their servants struggle to find their place in the house – and society – once again. And Giles realises that, along with the title and the castle, he’s also inherited his father’s significant financial troubles that threaten the security of his entire family.
In Kensington, Kitty Bayfield, the painfully shy but moneyed daughter of a Baronet, has just left school with her penniless companion Nina. Nina captures the new Earl’s heart, but only Kitty can save his family from their debts, and soon Giles must choose between his duty and his heart . . .
The Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach by Jas Treadwell
WHO IS THOMAS PEACH?
Ah, reader! – if you would have us answer THAT question – What mysteries you shall compel us to expose!
It is the year 1785, and a gentleman of modest means has left London for the countryside, to look after his ailing wife.
Among his new neighbours, tongues begin to wag. Why does he keep a locked chest under the stairs? Is it really full of forbidden books? And what exactly is the matter with his wife?
For the most part, though, the couple live in peace — until a letter arrives, threatening to cut off their livelihood and expel them from their home.
Faced with the prospect of penury — and perhaps worse — the gentleman rides out in search of some means to save himself.
But fate has other plans for Thomas Peach.
A bizarre request brings an encounter with a mysterious young woman, raised from infancy as a rich man’s ward, now condemned to the madhouse. As their paths become disturbingly entangled, Mr Peach begins to suspect that in her past lies a dreadful secret . . .
Dreadful indeed! – Yet however fearful the poor child’s history – can her secret be darker, than HIS OWN?
Her Wartime Secret by Emma Hornby
Bolton, Lancashire: 1940
A family torn apart by war, held together by a secret . . .
Janie and her husband James have a strong, loving marriage. A move from an inner-city slum to a peaceful new estate outside of Bolton should have been a fresh start for them and their three children. But when war is declared and James announces he has signed up, Janie fears it’s the beginning of the end.
Waving goodbye to their menfolk is a sacrifice that families are making all over the country and Janie does her best to make do, forging friendships in her new community.
But when James comes home on leave a traumatised and desperate man, then goes AWOL, Janie’s heart goes out to him. Determined to keep him safe, she plans to hide him in their new house. But how long can they keep the secret, and what threats lie ahead if they’re found out?
Non Fiction – bonus extra
Hidden Heritage by Fatima Manji
Why was there a Turkish mosque adorning Britain’s most famous botanic garden in in the eighteenth century? And more importantly, why is it no longer there? How did one of the great symbols of an Indian king’s power, a pair of Persian-inscribed cannon, end up in rural Wales? And who is the Moroccan man that stole British hearts depicted in a long forgotten portrait hanging in a west London stately home?
Throughout Britain’s galleries and museums, civic buildings and stately homes, relics can be found that beg these questions and more. They point to a more complex national history than is commonly remembered. These objects, lost, concealed or simply overlooked, expose the diversity of pre-twentieth-century Britain and the misconceptions around modern immigration narratives.
Hidden Heritage powerfully recontextualises the relationship between Britain and the people and societies of the Orient. In her journey across Britain exploring cultural landmarks, Fatima Manji searches for a richer and more honest story of a nation struggling with identity and the legacy of empire.
So that’s all for this week.
Happy Reading!
Jill's Book Cafe 
Slim pickings this week! I’m almost glad 🙈😂
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Make the most of it kelly, it’s back to normal next week!
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Almost all of these are new to me Jill. I will have to decide which ones I really need.
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Good luck with that Carla! x
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