Book of the month

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – March 2023

A bighearted debut with technicolor characters, plenty of Texas swagger, and a powder keg of a plot in which marriages struggle, rivalries flare, and secrets explode, all with a clever wink toward classical mythology. Takes the reader to both the world of the ancient greeks and modern America at the same time – all the drama of the ancient Greek and Roman mythology packed into one week of modern family living. ”For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe: The Iliad meets Friday Night Lights in this muscular, captivating debut”

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – Feb 2023

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.

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – Jan 2023

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 /  

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – Dec 2022

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 /   

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – Nov 2022

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. 

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – Oct 2022

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!

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – Sept 2022

A faded list. Nine favourite stories. For two strangers, friendship is only a page away… When Mukesh Patel pops to the local library, he has no idea his life’s about to change. He meets Aleisha, a reluctant librarian and the keeper of a curious reading list – just a scrappy piece of paper with the names of 9 stories. It doesn’t seem anything special. Yet something tells her to keep it close… A fresh chance at life, at friendship, wasn’t on the cards for these lonely souls – but every story starts somewhere…

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – August 2022

In Burntcoat we meet a celebrated sculptor, looking at her life and immense studio from within the first national lockdown in the UK. Her crucible glows, bringing with it memories of her lover. This studio is where she brought Halit, the last person she saw before all the doors were shut. A presence from another culture, a whisper, a doorway into a new and feverish world. ”An electrifying story of passion, connection and transformation from ’a writer of show-stopping genius’” – Guardian.

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – June 2022

One summer can change everything… Ruth and Hannah are sisters. Bonded by love and friendship, they are perplexingly different characters. Hannah is radiant, organised and hard working. Ruth is forever single and totally aimless. Together they are invincible. Every summer they go on a budget holiday together where they bicker, laugh, fight and make up. But this time is different. Something bad happens. And now everything is changed forever. –  This bittersweet love story is about needing someone else as much as they need you. It is an ode to our most powerful bonds, how they build us and break us, and how, when all seems lost, we can find joy in the most unexpected places. A Sunday Times bestseller.

Modern Fiction Book of the Month – May 2022

Hailed as Shafak’s best work yet, this is the story of two teenagers in Cyprus, one from the Greek and the other from the Turkish side who meet in secret in a taverna where a big fig tree grows. This tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually to their silent departures. It is there when war breaks out and the capital is reduced to rubble. Years later, a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. The tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited, and also to her family history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world. Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction!