82ASK

A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Victor LaValle

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It’s locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear. 
 
The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and go West. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the ‘lone women’, a female homesteader travelling by herself to stake her claim, taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land for those who can tame it. Except that she’s not really alone. And the secret she’s tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the untamed and unforgiving American frontier. 
 
Crafted by a modern master of magical suspense, Lone Women blends shimmering prose, an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape, and a portrait of early-twentieth-century America like you’ve never seen. And at its heart is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past—or redeem it.

Lone Women

Laure Eve

A darkly funny contemporary thriller with echoes of Promising Young Woman, Donnie Darko and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. 
 
When a boy in her town starts claiming that a demon is stalking him – Alecto Gray has no choice but to investigate. After all, that’s exactly what her brother Lucas said, right before he died… 
 
Soon, Alecto’s investigation leads her to a far-reaching conspiracy – with two warring factions at its heart – as she uncovers a sinister underbelly to her small seaside town. 
 
Armed only with her razor-sharp wit and a talent for getting into trouble, Alec endures threats and kidnappings, and even the spark of a new romance, in order to get to the truth. 
 
But can she handle the truth or will the twisted darkness at the heart of the mystery destroy her as well?

Alecto Gray Will Hunt You Down

Alex North

YOU CAN RUN 
Police called to a crime scene on a quiet suburban street are shocked to find a woman being held captive. 
YOU CAN HIDE 
When the remains of more victims are discovered, it seems that the notorious Red River Killer, who has been abducting women for twenty years, has finally been identified. 
BUT HE'S STILL OUT THERE 
DI Will Turner leads the investigation. The killer may be running, but he's certainly not hiding - and the hunt for his next victim is very much underway . . .

You Can Run

Every year Detective David Groves receives a birthday card for his son - even though he buried him years ago. 
 
His son's murder took everything from him, apart from his belief in the law, even though the killers were never found. This year, though, the card bears a different message: I know who did it. 
 
Meanwhile, a woman who died in a car accident is claiming to be back from the dead - with a terrifying account of what she's been through. 
 
The answer to both lies with the kind of people you want to run from - and uncovering the truth means going through hell . . .

I Know Who Did It

Xenobe Purvis

'Extraordinary . . . clever, strange and beautifully written' THE TIMES 
 
'Prompts thoughts of both THE CRUCIBLE and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES . . . Purvis is an exquisitely accomplished wordsmith.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 
 
'A taut, tense tale, impeccably told' FINANCIAL TIMES 
 
'Feverish, finely wrought and unforgettable.' DAILY MAIL 
 
'An unflinchingly strange and savage novel – a rare and twisted pleasure, and an unmissable must-read for every girl who has ever been made to feel strange.' LUCY ROSE, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LAMB 
 
'Haunting and beguiling, this fever dream of a novel draws you in and colours your mind all shades of doubt and suspicion.' STACEY HALLS, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FAMILIARS 
 
'Melancholy and bittersweet.' OTEGHA UWAGBA, Sunday Times bestselling author of LITTLE BLACK BOOK 
 
'A novel of rare grace and skill, exquisitely wrought and simmering with feral violence.' ROWE IRVIN, author of LIFE CYCLE OF A MOTH 
 
Many stories are told about the five Mansfield sisters. They are haughty, thinking themselves better than their neighbours in the picturesque village of Little Nettlebed. They have taken the death of their grandmother hard. They are liars, troublemakers, untamed and dangerous... Accounts of their behaviour differ, but the villagers all agree that the girls are odd. 
 
One long summer, a heatwave descends. Bloated sea creatures wash up along the parched riverbed, animals grow frenzied, ravens gather on the roofs of those about to die. As the stifling heat grips the village, so does a strange rumour: the Mansfield sisters have been seen transforming into a pack of dogs. 
 
With the witch trials only a recent memory, hysteria sets in. Slowly but surely, the villagers become convinced that something strange is taking root in Little Nettlebed. And when a bark finally leads to a bite, the sisters will be the ones to pay for it. 
 
Visceral and richly atmospheric, The Hounding plunges its reader into 18th century Oxfordshire, where the power of a man’s word is absolute, and it is safer to be a wild animal than an unconventional young woman. 
 
*** 
 
'Utterly bizarre in the best way possible' Reader Review 
 
'A glorious shimmering heat mirage of a novel' Reader Review 
 
'A visceral and consuming fever dream of a book' Reader Review 
 
'Tense, almost claustrophobic' Reader Review 
 
'Sharp and extremely enjoyable' Reader Review

The Hounding

Jackson P. Brown

From a thrilling new debut voice comes a dark and gripping urban fantasy, set in the heart of a hidden world beneath the streets of London – perfect for fans of Legendborn and Ben Aaronovitch. 
 
Amy is an empath, able to sense the auras of the supernatural creatures that stalk London at night. But sorely lacking in knowledge, she spends night after night searching for answers. 
 
Gerald is a Reaper - a weapon for hire - on the verge of his Awakening. Of coming into his power and becoming the man his family need him to be. The man they demand he be. 
 
When Amy stumbles onto Gerald one night, she notices his strange aura, unlike anything she has seen before. And so, against her better judgement she helps him. In thanks he makes her an offer she can't refuse: become his partner and he will introduce her to a world she has only ever felt the shallow surface of: the underworld. 
 
And their first mission together: find a girl who vanished into thin air.

The Reaper

Katy Hays

THE SENSATIONAL NEW NOVEL FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE CLOISTERS 
 
The story of an hugely wealthy family whose annual retreat to Italy is shattered when a decades-old murder resurfaces and exposes a nestful of lies and betrayals. Here is an unsettling, electrifying thriller for all who loved Succession and The White Lotus . . . 
 
On the glittering island of Capri, anything can be a mirage. But one thing is true: there's nothing deadlier than a family with everything to lose . . . 
 
The world was shocked by playwright Sarah Lingate’s death thirty years ago at an opulent, 
white-washed villa on the island of Capri. Absolved of the crime, the Lingate family maintains that what happened that night was a tragic accident. And every July they return to Capri to prove it’s true. 
 
This time, Helen Lingate - sole heir to the family fortune - has a plan. Tightly controlled by her father, she enlists the help of the family assistant, Lorna Moreno, to free herself from her family’s stranglehold on her life. And yet, behind closed doors, the legendary Lingate family unity is at breaking point. Upon arrival at the villa in Capri, an anonymous gift awaits them: the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died. 
 
In the aftermath, the paranoid, insular Lingates begin to unravel. As the investigation into her mother’s death is reopened, Helen begins to lose trust in everyone around her: her controlling father Richard, drug-addled aunt Naomi, aloof uncle Marcus, and even Lorna, whose past she realizes is frustratingly opaque. And as the family fractures, the long-hidden truth about that night and the secrets they’ve kept from one another boil to the surface - and they might not leave the island alive. 
 
'Perfect for fans of The Fury and The Guest List' COSMOPOLITAN 
 
'An elaborate game of cat and mouse' MAIL ON SUNDAY 
 
'Engrossing and sinister . . . a must-read.' JULIE CLARK, author of The Last Flight

The Vipers

The 50/50 killer preys on couples. 
 
He manipulates their love for each other and makes them play a game. 
He stalks them, tortures them and then forces them to choose. 
What is going to break first? Their will or their love for each other? 
Only two things are certain: 
One of them will die. 
And the other will have killed them.

The 50/50 Killer

Chuck Wendig

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
A group of friends investigate the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents 
 
Five high school friends, bonded by an oath to protect each other no matter what. 
 
On a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere 
 
One friend walks up – but never comes back down. 
 
Now twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared, and the friends return to find the lost boy – and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods… 
 
FROM THE MODERN HORROR SENSATION COMES A NEW BONE-CHILLING MASTERPIECE.

The Staircase in the Woods

Meg Smitherman

“You thought you knew pleasure before you met me. You were wrong.” 
 
Kit Fox needs a fresh start. Her essays on quantum physics are too outlandish for the mainstream, and her writing career is fizzling. But things look up when she’s offered the opportunity of a lifetime: a private three-day interview with reclusive billionaire Ian De Leon, inventor of the Pleasurebot. He’s publishing a biography, and he wants Kit to write it. 
 
But Ian has a secret locked away in his sky-high penthouse: the Prototype, a disobedient and unpredictable new Pleasurebot. Against Ian’s explicit wishes, Kit becomes completely enraptured by the Prototype. And what she thought was going to be a standard interview becomes a sickening freefall into obsession, self-discovery, and otherworldly desires.

Entity

Earth is broken beyond repair. The Planet is our last hope. 
 
Humanity's first mission to the Planet ended in tragedy, but botanist Jill Jones won’t let that stop her from joining the second. 
 
Perfect climate, perfect terrain, perfect flora and fauna; the Planet has called to Jill all her life. She knows, with bone-deep certainty, it's home. A new beginning for humanity. She just needs a chance to prove it. 
 
But as Jill and her team survey the Planet, a mysterious presence begins to infiltrate their thoughts. When her colleagues start to disappear, it's up to Jill to uproot the Planet's secrets before they consume her, her friends, and the one man she would do anything to keep.

Swallowed

Dan Garvie can't move on from a thing he didn't do. He saw the boy. He knew he needed help. But he ran and hid – and a terrifying serial killer got away. 
 
Years later, Dan is a successful criminal psychiatrist, unpicking the very darkest of human behaviour. Because, despite what he saw that day, Dan knows there's no such thing as a monster. 
 
But now his father, John, has disappeared. And days before he vanished, he’d found a body near his home, which might just link back to the serial killer from that fateful day. 
 
Is this a chance for Dan to save his dad and find redemption. Or is he walking straight into a trap...

The Man Made of Smoke

Del Sandeen

In the fall of 1962, Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago--and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans . . . 
 
But Jemma discovers that this family isn't what they seem. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan. And soon, the shocking truth comes out: the Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma can break it. 
 
As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons.

This Cursed House

J B Priestley

A group of travellers find themselves marooned in the Welsh countryside by torrential rains and buffeting winds. Desperate to find shelter from the storm, they flee to a crumbling mansion, where they are reluctantly taken in by the cloistered, erratic Femm family. Strange on first meeting, the secretive family’s true peculiarities only become clear as the night unfolds… 
 
A gothic treat shot through with the dejection and anxiety of a world recovering from the horrors of the First World War, J. B. Priestley’s Benighted is a razor-sharp blend of dark social satire and even darker dread. 
 
‘There are none too many stories comparable with this one’ - The New York Times

Benighted

Various Authors

Step into the terrifying world of ghostly apparitions, grotesque monsters and terrible, creeping dread – but be careful, who knows if you'll make it out alive? 
 
This collection brings together ten of the greatest literary horror stories every written, from Mary Shelley’s iconic tale of a ‘body swap’ gone wrong, to Edgar Allen Poe's terrifying account of a great family’s downfall, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s chilling description of female subjugation. A treasure trove of scares and spooks, Classic Horror: An Anthology is a timeless celebration of all that curdles the blood and goes bump in the night …

Classic Horror

An Anthology

For DI Andrew Hicks, solving a murder is logical: your first suspicions are usually right. 
So when the brutally beaten body of a young woman is found, Hicks immediately turns his attention to the most likely culprit – her possessive ex-husband. 
But when a second body is found, similarly beaten, Hicks is forced to think again about his suspect. 
As the death toll starts rising, Hicks realises he’s dealing with something much darker – and deadlier – than he’d imagined. 
A serial killer is at large – one who revels in chaos. 
To stop the senseless murders, Hicks must bring the killer to justice. 
But will his own demons stand in the way?

Dark Room

Rosalind Ashe

Like moths to a flame, people are drawn to Dower House. To see the estate in dappled sunlight, to feel the breeze blown in from the river, is to forever be in love. Among those caught in its spell are James and Nemo Boyce, who quickly buy it, and Professor Harry Harris, who becomes captivated by both the house and its new mistress. But an uninvited guest soon corrupts their paradise, and quickly reveals the dark heart of the home... 
 
A tour-de-force of chest-tightening tension, Moths, one of the great gothic horrors of twentieth century, is an extraordinary tale of possession and sinister seduction. 
 
‘A magical novel, passionate, exciting, and beautifully written’ Iris Murdoch

Moths

Edith Wharton

Known for writing some of the most incisive and elegant novels of the early twentieth century, Edith Wharton was also a master practitioner of the ghost story, producing dozens of frightful tales throughout her lifetime. Combining pristine prose with strange, suffocating atmospheres and profound sense of the uncanny, this collection of her very best haunting narratives detail spectral handwriting, isolated houses in lonely landscapes, and a husband with a terrible secret… 
 
 ‘Masterly stories of horror and unease’ New Yorker

Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales

Hilda Lewis

Joan Flower is long dead when she first appears to Samuel Fleming, a priest plagued by doubts about her and her daughters’ execution for witchcraft. Did he do all he could to rescue them from damnation? From beyond the grave, Joan reveals to him the spine-chilling tale of her seduction by Satan, her temptation of her own daughters to the Devil’s coven, her murderous sacrifices, and her final rejection by both Heaven and Hell – yet Samuel still strives for a way to redeem her sins. 
Over their terrifying conversations, Samuel learns the way of the witches’ sabbath and comes to the dark realisation that Joan’s soul may not be the only one in need of saving... 
 
Based on real seventeenth-century witch trials in Lincolnshire, The Witch and the Priest is a masterpiece of historical atmosphere and psychological horror. 
 
‘Strange terror fills this tale of seventeenth-century witchcraft … horrific and written with much skill.’ Daily Telegraph

The Witch and the Priest

Heather Parry

‘A gruesome, provocative, stylish fairytale’ Kaliane Bradley, internationally bestselling author of The Ministry of Time 
 
‘Magnificent and devastating’ Alan Moore, author of Watchman 
 
‘As mesmerizing as it is surreal, a haunting gothic tapestry’ Lucy Rose, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamb 
 
‘I loved it’ Julia Armfield, author of Our Wives Under The Sea 
 
‘Will win awards’ Observer 
 
‘A worthy entrant into the contemporary gothic hall of fame’ Financial Times 
 
Marguerite Périgord is locked in the attic of her family home, a towering Chelsea house overlooking the stinking Thames. For company she has a sewing machine, Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and a carrion crow who has come to nest in the rafters. Restless, she spends her waning energies on the fascinations of her own body, memorising Mrs Beeton’s advice and longing for her life outside. 
 
Cécile Périgord has confined her daughter Marguerite for her own good. Cécile is concerned that Marguerite’s engagement to a much older, near-penniless solicitor, will drag the family name – her husband’s name, that is – into disrepute. And for Cécile, who has worked hard at her own betterment, this simply won’t do. Cécile’s life has taught her that no matter how high a woman climbs she can just as readily fall. 
 
Of course, both have their secrets, intentions and histories to hide. As Marguerite’s patience turns into rage, the boundaries of her mind and body start to fray. And neither woman can recognise what the other is becoming.

Carrion Crow

Susan Barker

When two grieving strangers meet by chance in Osaka airport they uncover a disturbing connection. Jake's best friend and Mariko's twin brother each died, 6,000 miles apart, in brutal and unfathomable circumstances. 
 
Each encountered a mesmerising, dark-haired woman in the days before their deaths. A woman who came looking for Mariko - and then disappeared. 
 
Jake, who has carried his loss and guilt for a decade, finds himself compelled to follow the trail set by Mariko's revelations. It's a trail that weaves across continents and centuries, leading back to the many who have died - in strange and terrifying and eerily similar ways - and those they left behind: bewildered, disbelieved, yet resolutely sure of what they saw. 
 
And, at the centre of it all, there is the same beguiling woman. Her name may have changed, but her purpose has never wavered, and as Jake races to discover who, or what she is, she has already made her next choice. 
 
But will knowing her secret be enough to stop her?

Old Soul

Marcus Kliewer

You let them back in. 
You shouldn't have... 
 
Young couple Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they got on an old house deep in the mountains. One day, a man knocks on the door. He says he lived there years before and asks if he can show his family around. 
 
As soon as they enter, strange things start to happen, and Eve is desperate for them to leave and never come back. But they can’t – or won’t – take the hint that they are no longer welcome. 
 
Then, Charlie vanishes, and Eve begins to lose her grip on reality. She’s convinced there’s something terribly wrong with the house and its past inhabitants . . . or is it all in her head? 
 
The Turn of the Key meets Parasite in this gripping, eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit – soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively – that will keep you up into the early hours. Perfect for fans of Stephen King and Leave the World Behind.

We Used to Live Here

Jen DeLuca

Boneyard Key, Florida is the only home Sophie has ever known. As the guide of the town’s one and only ghost tour, her love for its supernatural history has flourished into a career. 
 
But there's a newcomer in town. Tristan runs a multi-city ghost tour conglomerate and Boneyard Key, with its haunted reputation, seems like the perfect place to boost his bottom line. . . 
 
When the two ghost tours clash, Sophie’s expletive-filled rant goes viral, and the rivals strike up a deal. Whoever has the most successful business by summer’s end stays, while the loser must ghost. 
 
But what starts as begrudging tolerance for one another soon becomes something spicier. Can Sophie and Tristan they put their feud aside to make room for love, or does Boneyard Key only have room for one ghost business?

Ghost Business

Alexis Henderson

‘Saturated with violence, desire, and power. It's a book with blood on its lips, and I loved it completely.’ ALIX E. HARROW 
 
'Alexis Henderson is one of the best Gothic writers out there.' HANNAH WHITTEN 
 
‘Dark academia stunner infused with Henderson's signature style – it's lush, atmospheric, imaginative and impossible to put down.’ RACHEL HARRISON 
 
'A modern-day Anne Rice, Henderson has a gift for creating a world engorged with desire and death.' THE NEW YORK TIMES 
 
Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart. 
 
Until she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to sit the entrance exam for somewhere few have heard of – Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. 
 
Lennon doesn’t know it yet, but she is special. She possesses the innate gift of persuasion: the ability to wield her will like a weapon, controlling others, and even matter itself. But this is a devastating power than Lennon must learn how to master. 
 
While persuasion takes a heavy toll on her body and her mind, she is captivated by all that surrounds her – her studies, Drayton’s lush campus and, most of all, Dante – the charismatic adviser who both intimidates and enamours her. 
 
But the longer that Lennon spends at Drayton, learning to wield her uncanny abilities, the more she uncovers about Drayton’s unsettling history, and Dante’s tragic and violent past. 
 
For it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption and darkness . . . and it’s a test she’s terrified she is going to fail.

An Academy for Liars

Harper L. Woods

“There is no end for you and I, Witchling.” 
 
For hundreds of years, the Coven has presided over Hollow’s Grove University, their skeletal fingers grasping for control over the witches who pass through the gates. 
 
Now, after a bloody and violent coup, Willow Madizza must come to terms with the role she was forced to play in the Coven’s demise. 
 
And face the demons she has unwittingly unleashed upon the world. 
 
Preparing to fight for the future of the Coven, Willow has no choice but to ally with Gray, the man who betrayed her and her fellow witches. Even through her fury at the bargain that binds her to Gray, Willow can’t ignore the soul-deep connection between them. And together, their magic could have the power to right centuries of wrongs . . .

The Cursed

Josh Winning

When Willow posts something on the internet she really shouldn’t have, she flees to Camp Castaway, an adults-only digital detox based at an old campground in the woods. 
 
On the first night, the campers gather round the fire to tell ghost stories. In particular, the tale of Knock Knock Nancy – a witch, supposedly beheaded in this very woodland. 
 
They say her restless spirit knocks on doors late at night. If you answer, she’ll take your head. 
 
Willow doesn’t believe in ghosts. But next morning, a camper has vanished. And then that evening, alone in her cabin, Willow hears it... 
 
Knock, Knock, Knock.

Heads Will Roll

Dan Simmons

Hailed by STEPHEN KING as 'a brilliant, massive combination of history and supernatural horror'. 
 
And made into an acclaimed, chilling 10-part Ridley Scott-produced BBC TV series 
 
Hailed as the most advanced scientific enterprise ever mounted, Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition in search of the fabled North-West Passage had every expectation of triumph. 
 
But for almost two years his ships HMS Terror and Erebus have been trapped in the Arctic ice. Supplies of fuel and food are running low. Scurvy, starvation and even madness have begun to take their toll. And yet the real threat isn't from the constantly shifting, alien landscape, the flesh-numbing temperatures or being crushed by the unyielding, frozen ocean. No, the real threat is far more terrifying. 
 
Because there is something out there in the frigid darkness. It stalks the ships and snatches men. It is a nameless thing. At once nowhere and everywhere, this terror will become the expedition's nemesis . . . 
 
Readers are gripped by The Terror: 
 
***** 'One of the best books I have ever read. I couldn't put it down!' 
***** 'A tremendous weighty achievement in atmosphere and storytelling.' 
***** 'So beautifully written and well researched. I can't praise this book highly enough.'

The Terror

“Your destiny is not to do what is right. Your destiny is to destroy us all.” 
 
Willow Madizza never thought she’d accept a place at Hollow’s Grove University, the secret and prestigious institution where the best and brightest of her fellow witches learn to wield their magic. 
 
But Willow has reasons for being at Hollow’s Grove beyond the education it offers. Raised to be a weapon against the Coven that presides over the University, she must find the bones of her ancestors in order to reclaim the magic that is her destiny. 
 
Her only obstacle is Alaric Grayson Thorne, the University’s beautiful and infuriating Headmaster. Gray is ruthless, manipulative, dangerous – he represents everything Willow has been taught to despise. But despite their mutual loathing, Gray understands Willow better than anyone, and he might just be the key to unlocking her full power . . .

The Coven

Jane Flett

Discover the dazzling new queer literary horror novel about chosen family and the risks it takes to become the person you want to be. 
 
‘The glittery punk offspring of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus.’ Chelsea G. Summers, author of A Certain Hunger 
 
A travelling funfair of seductive troublemakers arrive in a repressed Scottish town. What could possibly go wrong? 
 
It’s the summer of ’97 and the Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change. 
 
Enter the Freakslaw – a travelling funfair populated by deviant queers, a contortionist witch, the most powerful fortune teller, and other architects of mayhem. It doesn’t take long for the Freakslaw folk to infiltrate Pitlaw’s grey world, where the town’s teenagers – none more so than Ruth and Derek – are seduced by neon charms and the possibility of escape. 
 
But beneath it all, these newcomers are harbouring a darker desire: revenge. 
 
And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that’s been simmering for centuries is about to be unleashed… 
 
 
Praise for Freakslaw: 
 
'A transgressive, inventive dark fantasy' Guardian 
 
'Crackling with desire, hedonism, angst, violence and sex' Heat 
 
'As frightening as it is seductive' Herald 
 
'I'd kill to run away with this circus' Michelle Tea, author of Modern Tarot 
 
‘A queer punk masterpiece' Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells 
 
'A strong spiritual successor to Katherine Dunn's Geek Love' Heather Parry, author of Orpheus Builds a Girl

Freakslaw

Cathryn Kemp

Murderer or saviour? You decide. . . 
 
Rome, 1656 
 
In the shadowy backstreets of the Eternal City lies an apothecary’s shop – a place for women to take their heartbreaks and troubles. Herbs for childbirth. Tarot readings to tell their fortunes. An undetectable poison that can kill in four drops. 
 
Alongside her circle of female poisoners, Giulia Tofana dispenses her deadly potion to free the downtrodden women of the city from their abusive husbands. 
 
A path she’s determined to follow after a harrowing childhood in Palermo. 
 
But even in a time of plague, it does not go unnoticed when the men of Rome begin to fall like flies. 
 
With a newly elected Pope hell-bent on ridding the city of heretics and witches, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition on her tail, Giulia is in more danger than ever. . . 
 
How far will she go for the women who need her help? 
 
Exploring the realities of what it is like to be a woman who rebels against society, A Poisoner’s Tale takes the reader on a tense, challenging but spellbinding journey. This is not just a retelling of the legend of Giulia Tofana but an ode to sisterhood and motherhood, to defiance and secret rebellion.

A Poisoner's Tale

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

Filters

Category

Age

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter