Book of the month

General Fiction Book of the Month – March 2018

What We Lose is a short, intense and profoundly moving debut novel about race, identity, sex and death – from one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35. Thandi is a black woman, but often mistaken for Hispanic or Asian. She is American, but doesn’t feel as American as some of her friends. She is South African, but doesn’t belong in South Africa either. And her mother is dying...

General Fiction Book of the Month – February 2018

Opening with an act of inexplicable violence, Idaho is a stunning debut about loss, grief and redemption. In a story told from multiple perspectives and in razor-sharp prose, we gradually learn more about this act, and the way its violence, love and memory reverberate through the life of every character in Idaho.

General Fiction Book of the Month – January 2018

Evoking a Britain of the early eightiesMy Name is Leon is a heart-breaking story of love, identity and learning to overcome unbearable loss. Of the fierce bond between siblings. And how – just when we least expect it – we manage to find our way home.

General Fiction Book of the Month – December 2017

The extraordinary first novel by the bestselling, Folio Prize-winning, National Book Award-shortlisted George Saunders, about Abraham Lincoln and the death of his eleven-year-old son, Willie, at the dawn of the Civil War.  Unfolding over a single night, Lincoln in the Bardo is written with George Saunders' inimitable humour, pathos and grace. 

General Fiction Book of the Month – November 2017

A moving and beautifully observed novel, of adolescence, ambition and self-realization, of fathers and sons, set in contemporary Bombay, by the Man Booker Prize winning author of The White Tiger and Last Man in Tower.

General Fiction Book of the Month – October 2017

In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions – personal, moral, artistic, practical – as she endeavours to construct a new reality for herself and her children. ”Page-turningly enthralling and charged with the power to move” – Guardian. (Join our Modern Fiction Reading Group to discuss this book!)

General Fiction Book of the Month – September 2017

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017! Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. That's what it felt like for Keats in 1819. How about Autumn 2016? Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever. The first in a seasonal quartet. (Join our Modern Fiction Reading Group to discuss this book!)

General Fiction Book of the Month – August 2017

One Day meets The Time Traveler’s Wife in this spellbinding, magical debut novel about love, loss, hope and heartbreak that shows us that for each of us, the world can be as lonely or as beautiful as the comets that illuminate the skies above us. Roisin and Francois first meet in the snowy white expanse of Antarctica. And everything changes

General Fiction Book of the Month – July 2017

In the midst of a mysterious environmental crisis, as London is submerged below flood waters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, the family are forced to leave their home in search of safety. Startlingly beautiful, Megan Hunter's The End We Start From is a gripping novel that paints an imagined future as realistic as it is frightening. And yet, though the country is falling apart around them, this family's world – of new life and new hope – sings with love.

General Fiction Book of the Month – June 2017

WINNER BAILEYS PRIZE 2017! All over the world women are discovering they have the power. With a flick of the fingers they can inflict terrible pain – even death. Suddenly, every man on the planet finds they've lost control. The Day of the Girls has arrived – but where will it end?  –  'Electrifying’ – Margaret Atwood 'A big, page-turning, thought-provoking thriller’ – Guardian