Book of the month

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing. A brilliant chemist in the sexist 1960s, she is forced to resign from her all-male team. Reluctantly, she becomes the host of a cooking show, but her scientific approach to cooking sparks a revolution, empowering overlooked housewives to challenge the status quo, one molecule at a time. (Join our Fiction reading groups to discuss this book)  //  

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon. Four experienced women, all over 60, have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. But now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates their real-world resourcefulness in an age of technology. They are about to show the world that age is just a number. And when their own organization turns on them, they’ll need all their old-school resourcefulness to survive… (Sign up for the Crime reading group in Göteborg to discuss this book)  //

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”

The Reverend (and ex-Communard) gives us a serpent in England’s pastoral Eden…  It is the mid 1980’s, and Daniel Clement, the Rector of Champton, lives alongside his widowed mother – opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey – and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in the church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village. And then Anthony Bowness – cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton – is found dead at the back of the church.

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 /