No Exit

Taylor Adams

A thriller about four strangers, a blizzard, a kidnapped child, and a determined young woman desperate to unmask and outwit a vicious psychopath. A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do? On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers. Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate. Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her? There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one? Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape. But who can she trust?

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The Mental Load Diaries: How I learned to juggle life, love and the neverending to-do list

Cat Sims

‘A reassuring manifesto on the role of women today’ - Dawn O’Porter‘This book - and Cat Sims generally - helps me to breathe a bit easier. My shoulders drop, my jaw relaxes, and I know everything is going to be OK.’ - Bryony Gordon The mental load isn’t just about doing all the stuff. The mental load is constantly thinking about having to do all the stuff, and then, when you forget to do some of the stuff, the mental load is also about beating yourself up about that, while still trying to keep in mind all the other stuff you’ve got to do.The mental load. Emotional labour. The invisible burden – whatever you call it, every woman is familiar with the neverending list of things to do that exists in their head. This noise that plays on a constant loop is impacting the mental health of women everywhere.Writer, content creator, podcaster, wife and mum Cat Sims describes the devastating impact the mental load had on her own happiness, mental health and marriage. After having children, the unequal division of responsibility in her household came into stark relief. Her desperate efforts to be the perfect wife and mother left her mentally, emotionally and physically defeated – ultimately driving her to addiction and a crisis point in her marriage.With eye-opening honesty and her trademark dry humour, Cat tells the story of her relationship with the mental load and, in turn, offers a blunt but ultimately hopeful appraisal of society and women’s experience of it. This necessary book will incite honest conversation, make you feel less alone and give you the confidence to invite your loved ones to share the mental load.

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The Miniaturist

Jessie Burton

Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam--a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion--a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, Sarah Waters, and Sarah Dunant. "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . ." On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office--leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin. But Nella's world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist--an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . . Johannes' gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand--and fear--the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction? Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.

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At the Bottom of the Garden

Camilla Bruce

A murderess becomes the guardian of two very unusual girls in this mesmerizing gothic novel from acclaimed author Camilla Bruce. Clara Woods is a killer—and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flowerbed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace—or so she always thought. Then the girls arrive. Lily and Violet are her nieces, recently orphaned after their affluent parents died on an ill-fated anniversary trip. In accordance with their parents' will, the sisters are to go to their closest relative—who just so happens to be Clara. Despite having no interest in children, Clara agrees to take them, hoping to get her hands on some of the girls' assets—not just to bolster her dwindling fortune, but also to establish what she hopes will be her legacy: a line of diamond jewelry. There's only one problem. Violet can see the dead man at the bottom of the garden. She can see all of Clara's ghosts…and call them back into existence. Soon Clara is plagued by her victims and at war with the gifted girls in her care. Lily and Violet have become a liability—and know far more than they should…

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At the Bottom of the Garden

Camilla Bruce

A murderess becomes the guardian of two very unusual girls in this mesmerizing gothic novel from acclaimed author Camilla Bruce. Clara Woods is a killer—and perfectly fine with it, too. So what if she takes a couple of lives to make her own a little bit better? At the bottom of her garden is a flowerbed, long overgrown, where her late husband rests in peace—or so she always thought. Then the girls arrive. Lily and Violet are her nieces, recently orphaned after their affluent parents died on an ill-fated anniversary trip. In accordance with their parents' will, the sisters are to go to their closest relative—who just so happens to be Clara. Despite having no interest in children, Clara agrees to take them, hoping to get her hands on some of the girls' assets—not just to bolster her dwindling fortune, but also to establish what she hopes will be her legacy: a line of diamond jewelry. There's only one problem. Violet can see the dead man at the bottom of the garden. She can see all of Clara's ghosts…and call them back into existence. Soon Clara is plagued by her victims and at war with the gifted girls in her care. Lily and Violet have become a liability—and know far more than they should…

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When Women Were Dragons

Kelly Barnhill

A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman’s place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of. Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden. In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

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Six of Crows

Leigh Bardugo

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal mastermind Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly job that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone... A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager. A runaway with a privileged past. A spy known as the Wraith. A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

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When Women Were Dragons

Kelly Barnhill

A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman’s place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of. Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden. In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

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