Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

Welcome to Concrete Cow, the sketch show where anything is possible. Written by James Cary, who won a Silver Sony Award for Think the Unthinkable, this silly, surreal and ingenious comedy stars one half of ‘Mitchell and Webb’, Robert Webb. Also featuring are Oscar-winning actress and comedian Olivia Colman, as well as Sally Hawkins, Chris Pavlo, Beth Chalmers and more.

If Lord Ickenham had not dislodged the hat of Beefy Bastable with a well-aimed brazil nut, the latter's famous legal mind might never have been stimulated to literature. But the incident provoked Beefy to write an expose of the younger generation.

Oliver Dasenby is the most infuriating man Primrose Garland has ever known. He may be her brother's best friend, but he has an atrocious sense of humor. Eight years in the cavalry hasn't taught him solemnity, nor has the unexpected inheritance of a dukedom. But when Oliver inherited his dukedom, it appears that he also inherited a murderer. Oliver might be dreadfully annoying, but Primrose doesn't want him dead. She's going to make certain he survives his inheritance - and the only way to do that is to help him catch the murderer!

Jack Tagger is a frustrated journalist. His outspoken views have relegated him to the obituary page, and his paper's owner has decreed that his by-line will never again grace the front page. But Jack has stumbled across a peach of a story. James Stomarti, rock musician extraordinaire, has died in a diving accident, and whilst researching the obituary, Jack realises that his glamorous widow may have had a vested interest in her husband's untimely death.

Frances is 21 years-old, cool-headed and observant. A student in Dublin and an aspiring writer, at night she performs spoken word with her best friend Bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend. When they are interviewed and then befriended by Melissa, a well-known journalist who is married to Nick, an actor, they enter a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in Provence. But when Frances and Nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse Frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.

Disillusioned with the capitalist system, five ambitious students set out to make waves and change the face of democracy. Holding their meetings in a garden shed, budding politician Jared, ideas engine Simon, socialist firebrand Mel, image conscious materialist Phoebe and Communications Tsar Duncan wrangle with the modern political machine and attempt to lay the foundations of a new movement. Or they would, if only they had a pen.

Hobbes: Unhuman Series, Books I-IV. It contains: I - Inspector Hobbes and the Blood, II - Inspector Hobbes and the Curse, III - Inspector Hobbes and the Gold Diggers, and IV - Inspector Hobbes and the Bones.

Who is in Coma Suite Number 5? A matchless lover? A supreme egotist? A selfless martyr? A bad mother? A cherished sister? A selfish wife? All of these. For this is Silvia Shute, who has always done exactly what she wants. Until now, when her life suddenly, shockingly stops. Her past holds a terrible secret, and now that she is unconscious in a hospital bed, her constant stream of visitors are set to uncover the mystery of her broken life. Meanwhile she must lie there, victim of the beloveds, the borings, the babblings and the plain bonkers. Like it or not, the truth is about to pay Silvia a visit. Again, and again and again...

In Prohibition-era America, young George Finch is setting out as an artist - without the encumbrance of a shred of talent. He falls in love with Molly, but Molly's imperious stepmother is having none of it. Poor George doesn't seem to stand a chance.

It's 1997. Adrian, 30, is a chef at an up-market restaurant, selling down-market food for ridiculous prices. There, the only person who seems to notice he can't cook is AA Gill. But problems abound when, in a fit of madness, he agrees to become a TV chef on the show Offally Good.

What happens when the girl next door becomes ‘that girl off the telly.’ There are some things in life you can always rely on. Living in the shadow of your ‘perfect’ brother Joey, getting the flu over Christmas, and your Mother showing you up in the supermarket. Then there are some things you really don’t count on happening: a good dose of fame, getting completely trashed at an awards ceremony, and catching your fella doing something unmentionable on your wedding day.

When horror writer Nick Steen gets sucked into a cursed typewriter by the terrifying Type-Face, Dark Lord of the Prolix, the hellish visions inside his head are unleashed for real. Forced to fight his escaping imagination - now leaking out of his own brain - Nick must defend the town of Stalkford from his own fictional horrors, including avascular-necrosis-obsessed serial killer Nelson Strain and Nick's dreaded throppleganger, the Dark Third.

Mid-December, and Cambridgeshire is blanketed with snow. Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw tries to sleep after yet another soul-destroying Internet date – the low murmuring of her police radio her only solace. Over the airwaves come reports of a missing woman – door ajar, keys and phone left behind, a spatter of blood on the kitchen floor. Manon knows the first 72 hours are critical: you find her, or you look for a body.

When Carey Browne decides it's time for a holiday and flies into New York City - one of her favourite shopping destinations - she knows she'll have a good time. What she doesn't know is that she's about to have the biggest adventure of her life. Within days she's met and married Ben Russell, and a week later they're heading back together to Dublin, where they both live, to share the happy news with family and friends. Except not everyone's thrilled. And not everyone's convinced this is really more than a holiday romance. Carey and Ben are about to discover whether they've found the kind of love that can survive a blast of reality....

When Maud Marsh flings herself into George Bevan's cab in Piccadilly, he starts believing in damsels in distress. George traces his mysterious travelling companion to Belpher Castle, home of Lord Marshmoreton, where things become severely muddled. Maud's aunt, Lady Caroline Byng, wants Maud to marry Reddie, her stepson. Maud, meanwhile, is known to be in love with an unknown American she met in Wales. So when George turns up speaking American, a nasty case of mistaken identity breaks out.

On 29 March 1959, The Navy Lark sailed the airwaves for the very first time. Starring Leslie Phillips, Jon Pertwee and Stephen Murray, with regular appearances from Ronnie Barker and Heather Chasen, it soon became a radio favourite and ran for 18 years - one of the longest-running radio sitcoms. This 60th anniversary collection comprises 17 hilarious episodes - one from every series of the show, plus the pilot episode and the special Jubilee edition.

The first novel by the filmmaker, artist and bestselling author Miranda July confirms her as a spectacularly original, iconic, and important voice today, and a writer for all time. The First Bad Man is dazzling and unforgettable.

Arbuthnot ‘Arbie’ Swift arrives at Dashwood House, a glamorously modern hotel in the up-and-coming resort of Galton-next-the-Sea, but all plans for a relaxing stay are scuppered when one of the guests is found dead. The body is found in the writing room, the victim part of a set visiting the seaside town for an engagement party, which happens to include Arbie’s old friend, Val. Familiar with Val and Arbie’s previous experience in solving puzzling crimes, the bride asks the pair to investigate.

Linda Smith lives in her East London home, where her daily routine involves dozing through Thought for the Day, filing and cross-referencing the pizza leaflets that come through her door, and updating her limited edition 'Songbirds of Great Britain' porcelain collection. That is, when she's not managing the chaos caused by her flamboyant, sugar-loving live-in builder Chris; dealing with the demands of her morbid, crumbly boned Welsh neighbour Betty; or taking regular jaunts chauffeured by Worra, the philosophical Nigerian cabby.

The reluctant time travelers are spending one final Christmas together—although only one of them knows it. So, why the hell can’t that be straightforward, either? And do Raymond and Maureen need to be part of every single thing? Could you play cupid to your brother or sister? And how long would you throw at it? Thirty-four years? Grab your passport, this is going to take some time....