All Featured Books
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The Old Spring by
- Published
- July 2010
Listen again to Richard Francis interviewed by Mariella Frostrup on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Open Book’, discussing The Old Spring and pubs in literature
‘A wonderfully boozy evocation and celebration of pub life, full of all the sorts of characters you dread meeting in a public bar, but are glad you did’ – Gerard Woodward
The Old Spring abounds with sadness, banter and exuberant storytelling, showing all the communal spirit and camaraderie of the pub at its best.
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Chosen by
- Published
- May 2010
“A fascinating and original take on religious cults with brilliant characters and a great psychological thriller plot. I thought it was stunning – a masterpiece, actually” – Sophie Hannah
“Frightening yet eerily beautiful, her novels are fresh, inventive and deeply felt” – Hilary Mantel
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Before the Earthquake by
- Published
- February 2010
A BBC Radio 4 ‘Book at Bedtime’ from 12 July – 23 July
“Spellbinding” – Guardian
“Fabulous historical page-turner sees 15-year-old Concetta piecing together her past after an earthquake devastates her rural Italian village and leaves her with no memory” – Good Housekeeping
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Beauty by
- Published
- January 2010
2009 COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER
“Captures the raw humanity of inner city life with extraordinary authenticity”
— Judges of the Costa First Novel Award“Selbourne brilliantly plays out a comedy of conflicting cultures and classes, repeatedly confounding readers’ expectations. He captures perfectly an England of pound shops and Jobcentres, and gives the tale of the innocent abroad an original twist” — Financial Times
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What Was Lost by
- Published
- September 2008
What Was Lost starts off as a straightforward and extremely likeable account of a little girl who sets up a detective agency to honour her dead father. And then the book abruptly cuts from 1984 to 2003. Green Oaks, pallid as it was 20 years previously, is still there. Kate is not. The transition is remarkable. O’Flynn never abandons her wry sense of humour, but as she begins to tease out the connections between the two halves of her brilliantly conceived plot, the sense that something’s missing grows stronger and stronger…
