March! Lighter mornings and evenings! Spring flowers! Actual sunshine! And, of course, the month of International Women’s Day! Amazon seem to have actually embraced a theme for once with the deals this month, as there are a lot of excellent books by women, about women, and specifically along the theme of WOMAN EXISTS.
There are almost 70 books in this roundup, so get your buying finger ready…
All links to books are affiliate links. If you purchase a title through the link, you won’t pay any more, but I may receive a few pennies as a result of the purchase.
The Ones I’ve Read
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson - 99p
Eleanor Bennett won't let her secrets die with her.
When Eleanor's estranged children Benny and Byron reunite for her funeral, they receive an unexpected inheritance. First, a traditional Caribbean black cake, to remind them of their roots. Second, the story of a decades-old murder that shatters everything they thought they knew about their mother.
But as Benny and Byron unravel their family's troubled past, will the truth push them further apart?
Or will it reunite them and fulfil Eleanor's final wish?
Adored this, and I wasn’t really expecting to. It’s just WARM, and fascinating, and wonderful.
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding - 99p
A dazzlingly urban satire on modern relationships?
An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family?
Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirty-something?
As Bridget documents her struggles through the social minefield of her thirties and tries to weigh up the eternal question (Daniel Cleaver or Mark Darcy?), she turns for support to four indispensable friends: Shazzer, Jude, Tom and a bottle of chardonnay.
I mean, it’s highly unlikely you haven’t read this, but still. There are factors of this I really shouldn’t have been reading at age 12 (everything relating to weight, e.g.), but still, it’s a classic.
Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding - 99p
What do you do when a girlfriend’s 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s 30th?
Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?
Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day?
Pondering these, and other dilemmas, BRIDGET JONES stumbles through the challenges of single motherhood, online dating, and achieving ‘acceptance and calm’ in what SOME people rudely call ‘middle age’.
I know I’ve read this, but I actually don’t remember reading it, apart from a vague sense of enjoying it whilst it being more of the same.
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll - 99p
Tallahassee, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher wakes to a shocking scene of implausible violence and death, and is drawn into a mystifying crime that grips the nation for decades . . .
In Seattle, Tina Cannon connects her best friend's disappearance to the Tallahassee tragedy, and is convinced that a single man is responsible.
Determined to find justice, the two join forces as their search for answers leads to a final, shocking confrontation . . .
I read this last year and, wow. Powerful as hell. I respect so many of the decisions made in writing this book so highly - not least, refusing to ever name the person behind the horrific crimes, and constantly exposing the many flaws in the police work.
The Colony by Audrey Magee - £3.49
Mr Lloyd has decided to travel to the island by boat without engine - the authentic experience.
Unbeknownst to him, Mr Masson will also soon be arriving for the summer. Both will strive to encapsulate the truth of this place - one in his paintings, the other by capturing its speech, the language he hopes to preserve.
But the people who live on this rock - three miles long and half-a-mile wide - have their own views on what is being recorded, what is being taken and what is given in return. Soft summer days pass, and the islanders are forced to question what they value and what they desire. As the autumn beckons, and the visitors head home, there will be a reckoning.
I absolutely was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. The sentence and speech structure is… “odd”…but the story itself, of two men and their at-odds approaches to isolated communities, is fascinating.
Crying In H Mart by Michelle Zauner - 99p
In this story of family and food, grief and joy, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school; of struggling with her mother’s expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.
It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.
Gorgeously vivid study on grief, food, and the relationship between mothers and daughters.
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh - 99p
It is winter-time and Eileen Dunlop is dreaming of escaping her life...
In the meantime, her time is spent caring for her alcoholic father, working as a secretary in a prison and shoplifting.
When the beautiful, charismatic Rebecca Saint John arrives on the scene as the new counsellor at the prison, Eileen is enchanted, unable to resist what appears to be a miraculously budding friendship.
But soon, Eileen's affection for Rebecca pulls her into a crime that far surpasses even her own wild imagination.
This author writes books that are just incredibly weird. And yes, this is incredibly weird, but also highly addictive.
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry - £2.39
London, 1893. When Cora Seaborne's controlling husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness. Along with her son Francis - a curious, obsessive boy - she leaves town for Essex, in the hope that fresh air and open space will provide refuge.
On arrival, they hear rumours that the mythical Essex Serpent, once said to roam the marshes claiming lives, has returned to the coastal parish of Aldwinter. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist, is enthralled, convinced that what the locals think is a magical beast may be a yet-undiscovered species. As she sets out on its trail, she is introduced to William Ransome, Aldwinter's vicar, who is also deeply suspicious of the rumours, but thinks they are a distraction from true faith.
As he tries to calm his parishioners, Will and Cora strike up an intense relationship, and although they agree on absolutely nothing, they find themselves at once drawn together and torn apart, affecting each other in ways that surprise them both.
One of my favourite ever books. It’s quite slow, but I like that.
Green Dot by Madeleine Gray - 99p
Hera is in her mid-twenties, which seems young to everyone except people in their mid-twenties. Since leaving school, she has been trying to kick and scream into existence a life she cares about, but with little success so far.
Until she meets Arthur. He works with her, he is older than her, he is also married. But in her soulless office - the large cold room she feels destined to spend her life in - he is a source of much-needed sustenance.
And though Hera has previously dated women, she soon falls headlong into a workplace romance that will quickly consume her life.
I read this last year and was hooked and in love from the first page onwards. And on finishing, I was filled with rage at Men. Excellent read.
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly - 99p
This is the story of Greta and Valdin: twenty-something brother and sister with a near-unpronounceable surname, a sprawling Maori-Russian-Catalonian family and questionable taste in partners.
While Valdin can’t seem to get over his ex-boyfriend who fled the country, Greta has an unrequited crush on fellow English tutor Holly, who uses her for admin support. But all hope is not lost for these lovelorn siblings. Through the misadventures and mess of modern adulthood, at least they still have each other — unless drama gets in the way.
This is very funny, and the central sprawling family is a true joy.
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee - 99p
To the media, Hayes Campbell is the star of a record-breaking British boyband.
To his fans, he's the naughty-but-nice front man - whose dimples and outlandish dress sense drive them crazy.
To Solène Marchand, he's just the pretty face that's plastered over every girl's bedroom wall.
Until a chance meeting throws them together… The attraction is instant. The chemistry is electric. The affair is Solène's secret.
But how long can it stay that way?
Look, we all know this is Harry Styles fan fiction, but, y’know what, it’s really not that bad. I really enjoyed it. Even without really enjoying Harry Styles.
It’s Not Me, It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane - 99p
Delia Moss isn’t quite sure where she went wrong.
When she proposed and discovered her boyfriend was sleeping with someone else – she thought it was her fault.
When she realised life would never be the same again – she thought it was her fault.
And when he wanted her back like nothing had changed – Delia started to wonder if perhaps she was not to blame…
From Newcastle to London and back again, with dodgy jobs, eccentric bosses and annoyingly handsome journalists thrown in, Delia must find out where her old self went – and if she can ever get her back.
One of my favourite Mhairis! This is a lot of fun and Delia is a brilliant character.
Last One At The Party by Bethany Clift - 99p
December 2023. The human race has fought a deadly virus and lost. The only things left from the world before are burning cities and rotting corpses.
But in London, one woman is still alive.
Although she may be completely unprepared for her new existence, as someone who has spent her life trying to fit in, being alone is surprisingly liberating.
Determined to discover if she really is the last survivor on earth, she sets off on an extraordinary adventure, with only an abandoned golden retriever named Lucky for company.
Maybe she'll find a better life or maybe she'll die along the way. But whatever happens, the end of everything will be her new beginning.
Can highly recommend not starting to read this late at night. The first few chapters are tough going on the anxiety. And yet despite that, it’s an overall brilliant book.
Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam - £2.29
Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a holiday: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter.
But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
This book tends to get a bad rep, but I thought it was fantastic. If you need every mystery solved and everything upfront, it probably isn’t for you. If you appreciate subtle all-consuming anxiety and not knowing what the hell is going on, give it a go!
The Maid by Nita Prose - 99p
It begins like any other day for Molly Gray, silently dusting her way through the luxury rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel.
But when she enters suite 401 and discovers an infamous guest dead in his bed, a very messy mystery begins to unfold. And Molly’s at the heart of it – because if anyone can uncover the secrets beneath the surface, the fingerprints amongst the filth – it’s the maid…
It’s a book, that is true.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid - 99p
August,1983, it is the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone who is anyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: surfer and supermodel Nina, brothers Jay and Hud, and their adored baby sister Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over - especially as the children of the legendary singer Mick Riva.
By midnight the party will be completely out of control.
By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames.
But before that first spark in the early hours of dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family will all come bubbling to the surface.
Enjoyed this. A lot of dramatic, glossy, trashy fun, with sheen.
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller - 99p
When Neffy wakes up from an uneasy sleep in a hospital bed, nothing is as it should be. There is no food, and nobody to tend to her. The city streets outside her window have fallen silent. She doesn’t know it yet, but a debilitating new virus is sweeping the globe, and the world will never be the same again.
Feverish, confused, and wary of the strangers trapped inside with her, Neffy finds solace in her own memories of the past – even the memories of the mistakes that led her here.
But as the days turn into weeks, it is clear that Neffy will have to make a choice. How do you choose between a past that has already disappeared forever, and a future you can't begin to imagine?
I actually don’t remember much about this one, unfortunately. Genuinely don’t even recognise the blurb. Which is a bit terrifying.
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier - 99p
Philip Ashley has been raised by his cousin Ambrose as heir to his beautiful Cornish estate. But this close-knit world is shattered when Ambrose travels to Florence, where he unexpectedly falls in love and marries - only to die of a strange illness. Before long, his beautiful, mysterious widow arrives in England - and despite himself, Philip is caught in her spell. But is Rachel a victim, a saviour - or a murderess?
This month’s Du Maurier Deal is the one that pretty much drips in tension (sexual? Yeah…) throughout. It’s a banger.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead - 99p
Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'.
In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.
The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.
This is a tough read, but an incredibly important one. Colson Whitehead always crafts such brilliant books around the awful injustices faced by Black people in the U.S., and this is no different.
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder - 99p
At home full-time with her two-year-old son, an artist finds she is struggling. She is lonely and exhausted. Her husband, always travelling for his work, calls her from faraway hotel rooms. One more toddler bedtime, and she fears she might lose her mind.
Instead, she starts gaining things, surprising things that happen one night when her child will not sleep. New appetites, new instincts. And from deep within herself, a new voice...
It got made into a movie. I’m still pondering on that one.
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty - 99p
Nine perfect strangers, each hiding an imperfect life.
A luxury retreat cut off from the outside world.
Ten days that promise to change your life.
But some promises - like some lives - are perfect lies . . .
Liane Moriarty loves a cliff-hanger chapter end, and she doesn’t deviate from that here. It’s fascinating to see so many different characters examined, even if the overall story is kinda…well, nuts.
The No-Show by Beth O’Leary - 99p
8.52 a.m. Siobhan's looking forward to her date with Joseph. Breakfast on Valentine's Day surely means something ... so where is he?
2.43 p.m. Miranda's hoping that a Valentine's Day lunch with Carter will be the perfect way to celebrate her new job. But why hasn't he shown up?
6.30 p.m. Joseph Carter agreed to be Jane's fake boyfriend at a dreaded engagement party tonight. But he's not here...
Meet Joseph Carter. That is, if you can find him.
This is not a romance comedy. Please know that before going in. It’s a good book, and a great story, but it is not a romcom and was completely mismarketed and yes, it still annoys me.
Piglet by Lottie Hazell - 99p
For Piglet – an unshakable childhood nickname – getting married is her opportunity to reinvent. Together, Kit and Piglet are the picture of domestic bliss – effortless hosts, planning a covetable wedding...
But if a life looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Thirteen days before they are due to be married, Kit reveals an awful truth, cracking the façade Piglet has created. It has the power to strip her of the life she has so carefully built, so smugly shared.
To do something about it would be to self-destruct. But what will it cost her to do nothing?
As the hours count down to their wedding, Piglet is torn between a growing appetite and the desire to follow the recipe, follow the rules. Surely, with her husband, she could be herself again. Wouldn’t it be a waste for everything to curdle now?
I bought and read this last year. If you like Ottessa Moshfegh and Melissa Broder, you’ll like this.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides - 99p
Alicia Berenson lived a seemingly perfect life until one day six years ago.
When she shot her husband in the head five times.
Since then she hasn't spoken a single word.
It's time to find out why.
If you enjoy a twist, you’ll enjoy this.
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers - 99p
1957, the suburbs of south east London. Jean Swinney is a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and - possibly - happiness.
What a book. I’ve never had so many angry messages about a book before this one, ha. It’s an amazing story, well worth the read.
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady - 99p
A summary of my book:
1. I'm diagnosed with autism 20 years after telling a doctor I had it.
2. My terrible Catholic childhood: I hate my parents etc.
3. My friendship with an elderly man who runs the corner shop and is definitely not trying to groom me. I get groomed.
4. Homelessness.
5. Stripping.
6. More stripping but with more nervous breakdowns.
7. I hate everyone at uni and live with a psycho etc.
8. REDACTED as too spicy.
9. After everyone tells me I don't look autistic, I try to cure my autism and get addicted to Xanax.
10. REDACTED as too embarrassing.
I love Fern Brady anyway, and this was hugely enlightening.
Verity by Colleen Hoover - 99p
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night their family was forever altered.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already-grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her . . .
I appreciate the vibes of the beginning of this book. It’s all a bit OTT, but then would it even be a Colleen Hoover without being OTT?
The Wedding People by Alison Espach - 99p
It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people - but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall Inn who isn't here for the big event.
Phoebe has dreamed of coming here for years. She hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband but now she is divorced and depressed, and not sure how to go on. She's not been sure how to do anything, lately, except climb into bed and drink gin and tonics and listen to the sound of the refrigerator making ice.
When the bride discovers her elaborate destination wedding could be ruined by this sad stranger, she is furious. She has spent months accounting for every detail and every possible disaster - except for, well, Phoebe . . . Soon, both women find their best-laid plans derailed and an unlikely confidante in one another.
Read this at the start of this year. Loved it. Fantastic book.
The Ones I’ve Heard Good Things About
Argylle by Elly Conway - 99p
One Russian magnate's dream of restoring a nation to greatness has set in motion a chain of events which will take the world to the brink of chaos. Only Frances Coffey, the CIA's most legendary spymaster, can prevent it. But to do so, she needs someone special.
Enter Argylle. His life came to a crashing halt as a teenager. Since then he has been treading water, building barriers between himself and the world. Until one moment of compassion and brilliance will bring him to the attention of the most powerful woman in the secret world.
Coffey knows all about Argylle's dark past. She knows it haunts him. But she also knows it may give him the skills to join the team going up against one of the most powerful men in the world. His crash course in espionage will take him from the jungles of Thailand to the boulevards of Monaco, from the monasteries of Mount Athos to a forgotten cavern buried deep in the mountains.
It is a deathly rollercoaster ride that will either make him - or break him...
Business Or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon - 99p
Chandler Cohen lies for a living.
When she accepts her next ghostwriting gig penning a memoir for cult actor Finnegan Walsh, it should be a dream job.
However, Chandler knows him best as something else: her worst-ever one-night stand.
She's determined to keep things professional. But when she finally admits to Finn that their night together wasn't as mind-blowing as he thought, he's mortified, and determined to make amends.
So, they strike a deal. During the day, they'll work on the book, and at night, she'll school him in the art of satisfaction.
As they grow closer, the line between business and pleasure starts to blur. Can Chandler and Finn have both, or will they have to choose?
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood - 99p
Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory's focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious 'Kingkiller' Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.
Nolan's loss to an unknown rookie shocks everyone. What's even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory's victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can't help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist...
As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren't only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent... and infuriating...)
Don’t Laugh, It’ll Only Encourage Her by Daisy May Cooper - 99p
I've always had an over-active imagination and felt the urge to be a massive f**king show-off so acting seemed like the obvious choice of career. There was never anything else I wanted to do more. But fulfilling my ambition wasn't going to be easy . . .
I grew up battling rural poverty which was a struggle enough but my family were completely insane to boot. Together with my brother Charlie, I staggered my way through adolescence from one drama to the next until finally, after years of trying, we had This Country commissioned by the BBC.
By sharing tales of how I accidentally auditioned to be a pole-dancer to being catfished by a one-armed internet boyfriend, I answer all of life's great mysteries:
Could I count wall plaster as one of my five-a-day? Would I find the afterlife in the back of a shitty pub? Who dropped the monster turd at the fake audition?
And just how much of a humiliating, ridiculous, screw-up of a s**t-storm life did I need to lead before I could finally realise my dream?
Fix The System, Not The Women by Laura Bates - 99p
Too often, we blame women. For walking home alone at night. For not demanding a seat at the table. For not overcoming the odds that are stacked against them.
This distracts us from the real problem: the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women. In this explosive book, feminist writer and activist Laura Bates exposes the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions: Education, Politics, Media, Policing, Criminal justice.
Combining stories with shocking evidence, Fix the System, Not the Women is a blazing examination of sexual injustice and a rallying cry for reform.
Just For The Summer by Abby Jiminez - 99p
Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other's out, and they'll both go on to find the love of their lives. It's a bonkers idea . . . and it just might work.
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.
It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected - including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
Know My Name by Chanel Miller - 99p
Chanel Miller's story changed our world forever. In 2016 Brock Turner was sentenced to just six months in jail after he was caught sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus. His light sentencing, and Chanel's victim impact statement, which was read by eleven million people in four days, sparked international outrage and action.
Know My Name is an intimate, profoundly moving memoir that exposes a patriarchal culture biased to protect perpetrators, a criminal justice system designed to fail the most vulnerable, and ultimately shines with the courage required to move through suffering and live a full and beautiful life. Entwining pain, resilience, and humour, this breath-taking memoir will stand as a modern classic.
Listen For The Lie by Amy Tintera - 99p
Lucy Chase can’t remember anything about the night her best friend was murdered.
Lucky her, you’re probably thinking. Who would want that to be their last memory of someone they love?
But for Lucy, it’s become an issue. Because everyone thinks she did it.
But that was five years ago, and Lucy has put it all behind her. Or at least, she thought she had, until an interfering yet not bad-looking podcaster offers her the opportunity to join his investigation into the night she forgot.
On the one hand, if she’s a murderer, it's probably better to know – right? On the other, if she didn’t do it, she’ll be putting herself back in the sights of the person who did.
And either way, if you’ve already killed once, what’s to stop you from doing it again?
Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson - 99p
Her blond bombshell image was ubiquitous in the 1990s. Discovered in the stands of a football game, she was immediately rocket launched into fame, becoming Playboy's favourite cover girl and an emblem of Hollywood glamour and sexuality. But what happens when you lose grip on your own life - and the image the notoriety machine creates for you is not who you really are?
Mad Woman by Bryony Gordon - 99p
Ten years on from first writing about her own experiences of mental illness, Bryony Gordon still receives messages about the effect it has on people. Now perimenopausal and well into the next stage of her life, parenting an almost-adolescent, just what has that help - and that connection with other unwell people - taught Bryony about herself, and the society we live in? What has she learned, and why have her views on mental health changed so radically? After coming out the other side of the biggest trauma of our living memory - a global pandemic - existing in a state of perma-crisis has now become our new normal.
From burnout and binge eating, to living with fluctuating hormones and the endless battle to stay sober, Bryony begins to question whether she got mental illness wrong in the first place. Is it simply a chemical imbalance, or rather a normal response from your brain telling you that something isn't right? Mad Woman explores the most difficult of all the lessons she's learned over the last decade - that our notion of what makes a happy life is the very thing that's making us so sad.
Monsters by Claire Dederer - 99p
Pablo Picasso beat his partners. Richard Wagner was deeply antisemitic. David Bowie slept with an underage fan. But many of us still love Guernica and the Ring cycle and Ziggy Stardust.
And what are we to do with that love? How are we, as fans, to reckon with the biographical choices of the artists whose work sustains us?
Wildly smart and insightful, Monsters is an exhilarating attempt to understand our relationship with art and the artist in the twenty-first century.
Scenes Of A Graphic Nature by Caroline O’Donoghue - 99p
After a tough few years floundering around the British film industry and experimenting with amateur pornography, Charlie and her best friend Laura take a trip to her familial home on an island off the west coast of Ireland. Her father's health is rapidly declining and this could be the last chance to connect with her roots. But events on the island cause Charlie to doubt her father's childhood stories - and then there's her complicated relationship with Laura. Pursuing the truth will shatter everything she thought knew - but is that what it takes to grow up?
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - £3.49
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.
The Life of An MP by Jess Phillips - 99p
From agonising decisions on foreign air strikes to making headlines about orgasms, from sitting in on history-making moments at the UN to eating McCain potato smiles at a black-tie banquet in China, the life of a politician is never dull. And it’s also never been more important. But politics is far bigger than Westminster, and in this book Jess Phillips makes the compelling case for why now, more than ever, we all need to be a part of it.
With trademark humour and honesty, Jess Phillips lifts the lid on what a career in politics is really like and why it matters – to all of us. This is the inside story of what’s really going on.
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda - 99p
Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try sashimi and ramen, onigiri and udon - the food her Japanese father liked to eat - but the only thing she can digest is blood. Yet Lydia can't bring herself to prey on humans, and sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her Malaysian-British mother for the first time and trying to build a career as an artist - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.
If Lydia is to find a way to exist in the world, she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans. Before any of this, however, she must eat.
The Woman In Me by Britney Spears - 99p
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
The Ones That Just Look Good!
Abroad In Japan by Chris Broad - 99p
When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history?
Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world's most complex cultures.
Spanning ten years and all forty-seven prefectures, Chris takes us from the lush rice fields of the countryside to the frenetic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a mortifying experience at a love hotel and a week spent with Japan's biggest movie star, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.
The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin - 99p
Helen’s beloved brother Declan is dying. Now, she must join her mother and grandmother in a crumbling old house by the sea, three generations calling an uneasy truce after years of strife, to be by his side. Together with Declan’s friends, who know more about him than any family, they must all deal with the past and come to terms with each other.
The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier - 99p
In 1985, Edward Shank famously gunned down the Beacon Hill Butcher, ending the serial killer’s reign of terror over the city of Seattle. But now in his eighties, Edward’s action-packed glory days are long behind him. The decorated former Seattle police chief has given up his high-maintenance Victorian home to his grandson Matt for a quiet life at the nearby Sweetbay Village Retirement Residence, where mac-n-cheese Wednesdays have become the highlight of his week.
Though it’s hard to watch his grandfather get older, Matt is thrilled to inherit the large house he grew up in. Already an accomplished chef with a popular restaurant and a TV show in the works, Matt’s dream life is finally within reach…until he discovers a crate buried in the backyard that holds a secret about his grandfather so terrible, it threatens to ruin all their lives if it ever gets out. Especially his girlfriend Sam’s, whose mother was killed when she was only two years old.
As Matt struggles with his dark family secret, Sam’s obsession with solving her mother’s murder continues to grow. A true crime writer now working on a book about the Butcher, Sam has always suspected her mother was one of his victims, even though she was killed two years after the Butcher was supposedly gunned down.
But when new victims begin to turn up, their murders eerily similar to the Butcher’s all those years ago, Sam realizes she might be right. The more she digs into the old murders, the more dangerous it gets…and the truth is closer to home than she ever could have imagined.
Chlorine by Jade Song - 99p
Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach, her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.
But these are human concerns. The concerns of those confined to land. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Stories that called sailors to their doom. Stories that dragged them down and drowned them. Stories of the creature that she's always longed to become: a mermaid.
Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine - the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.
Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang - 99p
For over thirty years, Old Second and Bao Mei have cobbled together a meagre existence in New York City's Chinatown. But unlike other couples, these two share an unusual past. In rural Fuzhou, before they emigrated, they frequented the Workers' Cinema, where gay men cruised for love.
While classic war films played, Old Second and his fellow countrymen found intimacy in the privacy of the Workers' Cinema's screening rooms. Elsewhere, in the box office, Bao Mei sold tickets to closeted men - guarding their secrets and finding her own happiness with the projectionist. But when secrets are unveiled, they set in motion a series of haunting events that propel Old Second and Bao Mei towards an uncertain future in America.
First Time Caller by B. K. Borison - 99p
Aiden Valentine has a secret: he’s fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore’s romance hotline, that’s a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom Lucie, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.
Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life—or lack thereof—she begins to question if she’s as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending. . . even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.
Furies by Various - 99p
For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story. In this blazing cauldron of a book, sixteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.
The Furies by Elizabeth Flock - 99p
Brittany Smith, a young woman from Stevenson, Alabama, killed a man she said raped her in her own home, but was denied the protection of a self-defense argument.
Angoori Dahariya led a gang in Uttar Pradesh, India, dedicated to avenging victims of domestic abuse.
Cicek Mustafa Zibo fought in a thousands-strong all-female militia that battled ISIS in Syria.
Can women’s acts of vengeance help to create lasting change in their communities, or will they ultimately hurt their cause?
In this profoundly moving book, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock explores the stories of three women living in deeply patriarchal places with destructive cultures of honour, places in which institutions – government, police, courts – failed to protect women from violence, leaving them no option but to stand up and protect themselves.
The House of Mirrors by Erin Kelly - 99p
In the sweltering summer of 1997, straight-laced, straight-A student Karen met Biba - a bohemian and impossibly glamorous aspiring actress. A few months later, two people were dead and another had been sent to prison.
Having stood by Rex as he served his sentence, Karen is now married to him with a daughter, Alice, who runs a vintage clothing company in London. They're a normal family, as long as they don't talk about the past, never mention the name Biba, and ignore Alice's flashes of dark, dangerous fury.
Karen has kept what really happened that summer of '97 hidden deep inside her. Alice is keeping secrets of her own. But when anonymous notes begin to arrive at Alice's shop, it seems the past is about to catch up with them all ...
The Household by Stacey Halls - 99p
1847, Shepherds Bush. Charles Dickens' home for fallen women is about to open its doors. Part refuge, part reformatory, the house and its location are top secret, and Martha Gelder and Josephine Nash among its first inmates. But faced with the chance to redeem themselves, how badly do they want it?
Across town, in her Piccadilly mansion, Dickens' friend, the millionaire Angela Burdett Coutts, receives news that turns her orderly world upside down. Her stalker has been freed from prison, and she knows it's only a matter of time before their nightmarish game resumes once more.
As the women's worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . . .
How To Be Somebody Else by Miranda Pountney - 99p
On the surface Dylan has achieved the impossible – a life in New York. And yet it is not the thing she’d imagined. When she walks out of her career, then apartment, and into a housesit for an artist she’s never met, she does not tell her friends, her family, or her boyfriend Matt.
But how much can a person change? At a party she meets her new neighbour Gabe, who is married to Kate, and the affair that follows consumes her. She resolves to explore what is fixed and what is variable, until an unexpected encounter between the two couples forces Dylan to confront her future.
I Bet You’d Look Good In A Coffin by Katy Brent - 99p
I don’t want to kill. It’s just so hard to resist. Some men really, really deserve it.
Men like Blaze Bundy, an anonymous influencer spreading misogyny online. He’s making it very hard for me to control my murderous urges.
Meanwhile I’m in the South of France to watch my mother marry a man I’ve never met. I should be drinking cocktails and focusing on my tan, not plotting a murder.
But a woman’s work is never done. Surely one more teensy little kill wouldn’t hurt, would it?
The Launch Date by Annabelle Slator - 99p
Grace Hastings is in a rut. Her career is stagnating, her boss is a leech, and she feels like a fraud working for Fate, a dating app whose ethos she no longer believes in. And don’t even get her started on the state of her love life.
So when the company’s CEO offers her an opportunity for a big promotion and the chance to work on the launch of a dating app that she actually cares about, Grace can’t believe her luck.
That is, until she discovers that she must test drive a series of ‘first dates’ with her competition for the job: notorious socialite playboy and Grace’s biggest work rival, Eric Bancroft.
But Grace refuses to give up her dream job because of a man. And besides, how romantic can a handful of fake dates with your biggest rival really be?
The Long Game by Elena Armas - 99p
Adalyn Reyes has something to prove. After years of working at her father’s football club she wants to make a name for herself. But not for the wrong reasons.
When an embarrassing video of Adalyn goes viral, her father sends her to a small town to turn around their struggling soccer team. She arrives armed with plans to kick them into shape only to find a group of nine-year-old girls. One person is there to help: Cameron Caldani, a goalkeeping legend who is also inexplicably in town. After an unfortunate incident involving a rooster, the two find themselves on opposing sides.
Adalyn thinks Cameron is a surly, scowling brute. Cameron thinks Adalyn needs to take life less seriously. Despite their differences, the two need to play nice and remember they’re on the same team. After all, it’s a long game…
Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook - 99p
London, 1850. Constance Horton has disappeared and her sister Maude is determined to find out what’s happened.
She discovers that Constance has disguised herself as a boy and boarded a ship bound for the Arctic, but when the ship returns without her the truth about her fate is buried by sinister forces.
To find answers – and deliver justice for her sister – Maude must step into London’s dark underbelly, and into the path of dangerous, powerful men. The kind of men who seek their fortune in the city’s horrors, from the hangings at Newgate to the ghoulish waxworks of Madame Tussaud’s.
It is a perilous task. But Maude has dangerous skills of her own . . .
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest - 99p
Lily Greene has already found her perfect man: her favourite fantasy author. But after months of correspondence, he ghosts her - and she's left broken-hearted.
Nick Brown has just moved in next door. Charming and attractive, he's the perfect date for Lily to take to her sister's upcoming wedding.
Little does Lily know that Nick is the very author she'd been talking to. And Nick has no idea that Lily is the shy, bookish woman he slowly fell in love with . . .
But he refuses to complicate things even more.
And yet when he sets her up with someone else, he can't seem to get her off his mind…
Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes - 99p
The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories.
Now, in Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, Natalie Haynes – broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist – redresses this imbalance. Taking Pandora and her jar (the box came later) as the starting point, she puts the women of the Greek myths on equal footing with the menfolk.
The Re-Write by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn - 99p
Temi and Wale meet in London. They flirt, date, meet each other's friends.
Then they break up. And Wale goes on a reality dating show.
Instead of giving in to heartbreak, Temi throws herself into her dream: writing. She's within touching distance of a book deal that would solve all her problems. But publishers keep passing on her novel and bills still have to be paid. So, when the opportunity to ghost-write a celebrity memoir arises, Temi accepts.
And, of course, the celebrity turns out to be Wale...
Tall Bones by Anna Bailey - 99p
When Emma leaves her friend Abi at a party in the woods, she believes that their lives are just beginning. Many things will happen that night, beneath the stark beauty of the stars, but Emma will never see her friend again. But what happens next in Whistling Ridge is so much more than the story of a missing girl.
It's a spellbinding story that will keep you guessing, a story of surprises and secrets, regrets and rage, love and lies. Abi's disappearance cracks open the façade of this small town, peeling away the layers of its past.
Even within Abi's own family there are questions to be asked - of the older brother whom Abi betrayed, of the shining younger sibling who hides his wounds, of her mother and her father - both in thrall to the fiery preacher who has an unsettling grasp on the whole town.
And then there is Rat, the outsider, whose exciting presence is a catalyst for change.
Anything could happen in a tinder-box like Whistling Ridge. All it will take is just one spark...the truth of what happened that night at the Tall Bones....
Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten - 99p
Meet Cherry, a bandit queen on the run, driving a pink soft-top convertible through the badlands of South-East England. She's never felt more Thelma & Louise in her life - except there are three of them in the car and one of them is dead.
How did a head nurse and mother of two end up driving a handcuffed policeman and the corpse of a murdered refugee on a journey to find justice? Pursued by a racist, roid-raged, shaven-headed officer of the law - not to mention by her husband and daughter - what else can a woman with a conscience do in modern Britain?
Thunderclap by Laura Cumming - 99p
On the morning of 12 October 1654, a gunpowder explosion devastated the Dutch city of Delft. Among the fatalities was the painter Carel Fabritius, dead at thirty-two, leaving behind his haunting masterpiece The Goldfinch.
Thunderclap explores what happened to Fabritius before and after the disaster whilst interweaving the lives of Laura Cumming, her painter father and the great artists of the Dutch Golden Age. It takes the reader from seventeenth-century Delft to twentieth-century Scottish islands, from Rembrandt’s studio to wartime America and contemporary London. This is a book about what a picture may come to mean, how it can enter your life and change your thinking in a thunderclap.
We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer - 99p
Young couple Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they got on an old house deep in the mountains.
One day, a man knocks on the door. He says he lived there years before and asks if he can show his family around.
But, as soon as they enter, strange things start to happen. Eve is desperate for them to leave and never come back. But they can’t – or won’t – take the hint that they are no longer welcome.
Then, Charlie vanishes, and Eve begins to lose her grip on reality.
She’s convinced there’s something terribly wrong with the house and its past inhabitants . . . or is it all in her head?
We Will Not Be Saved by Nemonte Nenquimo - 99p
Born into the Waorani tribe of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo was taught about plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism by her elders. Age 14, she left the forest for the first time to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city. Eventually, her ancestors began appearing in her dreams, pleading with her to return and embrace her own culture. She listened.
Two decades later, Nemonte has emerged as one of the most forceful voices in climate-change activism. She has spearheaded the alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and led her people to a landmark victory against Big Oil, protecting over a half million acres of primary rainforest. Her message is as sharp as the spears that her ancestors wielded - honed by her experiences battling loggers, miners, oil companies and missionaries.
In this astonishing memoir, she partners with her husband Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, digging into generations of oral history, uprooting centuries of conquest, hacking away at racist notions of Indigenous peoples, and ultimately revealing a life story as rich, harsh and vital as the Amazon rainforest herself.
Wise Women by Sharon Blackie - 99p
This dazzling array of not-to-be-messed-with characters from a lost tradition of European myth and folklore - from ungainly giantesses and sequin-strewn fairy godmothers to misunderstood witches and craggy crones - provides inspiration for how women can walk boldly and live authentically in the second half of life.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you found something good here. I’m still pondering what I’m going to buy, because I want too many of them, and definitely don’t need to be overloading my Kindle again after whittling it down so much. We’ll see…
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A spectacular compilation, as always!