Book of the month

This is a true story. An author goes on a book tour for his new bestseller which, as people keep telling him, is one hell of a book. This is a coming-of-age story. One morning, he meets The Kid: a young Black boy who looks just like the one he keeps seeing on the news. And The Kid wants him to tell his story. This is a sad story. It’s the story of a boy who spent most of his life trying to hide. And it may not be that different from the story of our author. This is a love story. But to find out why, you’ll have to read this for yourself... Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction.

Ex-police officer and former P.I. Molly Madison is starting over. After the death of her husband, she and her golden retriever, Harlow, move cross-country to California. But as charming and peaceful as the beachside town seems, she soon learns its tranquil tides hold dark secrets. Mystery fans and animal lovers alike will delight in this caper about a straight-shooting ex-cop turned dog-wrangling sleuth. 

Eager to clean up his act after his troubled early twenties, Owen has returned to Kentucky to take a job as a groundskeeper at a small college in the Appalachian foothills, one which allows him to enrol on their writing course. It's there that he meets Alma, a Writer-in-Residence, who seems to have everything Owen doesn't - a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, and published success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma, from a supportive, liberal family of Bosnian immigrants, struggles to understand Owen's fraught relationship with his own family and home. / *Join the reading group /  

”I am your maid. I know about your secrets. Your dirty laundry…” Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. But she is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers Mr Black very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up… / * Join the Crime reading group in Göteborg /

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Elle Ranier marries Simon to escape a life of destitution. She leaves New York City for Lyra, a remote, wooded island off the south-eastern coast of America. There, amid rumours of strange jewels hidden beneath the water, Elle harbours a secret: her guest, Gabriel, is not a cousin but her lover. A mesmerising exploration of the limits of memory, and the people we can never forget. / *Join the reading group /   

Welcome to Roslazny – a sleepy Russian town where intrigue and murder combine to disturb the icy silence... Olga Pushkin, Railway Engineer (Third Class) and would-be bestselling author, spends her days in a little rail-side hut with only Dmitri the hedgehog for company. An intriguing but charming murder mystery packed with psychological depth and wonderfully-drawn characters. / *Join the Crime reading group in Uppsala or Göteborg /

A queen of punk before her time. A duo on the brink of stardom. A night that will define their story for ever. New York city in the 70s. Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, a Black punk artist before her time. Despite her unconventional looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her one night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together. Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022. 

”When a book begins with a dead horse, you know it's going to be good.” A sucker punch noir that is also a powerful and haunting allegory of work, debt, and power. Revelling in its con-artistry and double-crosses, Just Thieves is a nail-biting, noir-ish exploration of the working lives of two unforgettable crooks and the hidden forces that rule and ruin their lives. ”A deep dive into the motivations that propel all of us, thieves and otherwise – family, loyalty, and most of all love. Great fun and profoundly sad at once, which is no mean trick.”

It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him – and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church. Shortlisted for the 2022 Man Booker Prize!

November 1924. The Endeavour sets sail to New York with 2,000 passengers – and a killer – on board. Can you solve the murder before the ship docks and the killer walks free? A clever whodunnit, a golden age murder mystery set on a 1920s cruise liner. It has been described as ”Agatha Christie meets Titanic”. Tom Hindle’s debut novel was inspired by masters of the crime genre from Agatha Christie to Anthony Horowitz, and has been met with rave reviews.