From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . . Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

A memoir of menstruation, madness and monsters.Every twenty-nine days, Emma Hardy is an absolute mess. She is irritable, depressed, angry, weepy, out of control. She lays in bed, stares at the walls for hours. Then it passes, and she forgets about it. When a doctor diagnoses her with PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, she begins to question when a mood is just a mood, and when a mood becomes an illness.Searching for truth between the myths and taboos that surround menstruation, Hardy stumbles across crime scenes, feminist horrors and the history of women who have been institutionalised for hysterical illnesses. Unwaveringly honest, perspicacious, brilliant and endearing, Periodic Bitch offers a new understanding of our beliefs about illness and the stories we tell, and announces Hardy as a profoundly talented new voice. 'A beautiful literary memoir that is part detective story, part love story ... For those with PMDD, Periodic Bitch will be transformative—but all readers will gasp and admire how Emma Hardy captures the moment-by-moment experience of being alive.' Jessica Stanley, author of Consider Yourself Kissed'Periodic Bitch is much more than a medical memoir, it is an unflinching exploration of what it means to be human. ... I learnt a great deal from this book—as a health professional, as a woman, but most of all as a human being trying to create a pocket of space for myself in the world.' Melanie Cheng, author of The Burrow

A provocative novel about intimacy, love, and consent, following an increasingly obsessive radio host who tests boundaries she didn’t know existed Olive is desperate to get close to Theo—really, really close. She’s always struggled to connect with people. And now she’s in her thirties, single, and so flustered by relationships that she secretly records her conversations, hoping to decipher social clues and find a way to be less alone. Then Theo turns up for a shift at the same food pantry where she volunteers. He’s a surgeon fascinated by human organs, a former soccer player, and possibly as weird as Olive. For the first time, someone seems to crave and understand her. Every recording Olive makes of Theo is a balm, which just makes her more afraid of losing him. The only solution seems to be to bind him to her forever. Luckily, the gap between Theo’s front teeth is just wide enough for something—or someone—to slip inside. Arresting and immersive, Open Wide explores the boundaries of love and the body, as universal human impulses bleed into the surreal.

Fernanda and Annelise are so close they are practically sisters: a double image, inseparable. So how does Fernanda end up bound on the floor of a deserted cabin, held hostage by one of her teachers and estranged from Annelise? When Fernanda, Annelise, and their friends from the Delta Bilingual Academy convene after school, Annelise leads them in thrilling but increasingly dangerous rituals to a rhinestoned, Dior-scented, drag-queen god of her own invention. Even more perilous is the secret Annelise and Fernanda share, rooted in a dare in which violence meets love. Meanwhile, their literature teacher Miss Clara, who is obsessed with imitating her dead mother, struggles to preserve her deteriorating sanity. Each day she edges nearer to a total break with reality. Interweaving pop culture references and horror concepts drawn from from Herman Melville, H.P. Lovecraft, and anonymous 'creepypastas', Jawbone is an ominous, multivocal novel that explores the terror inherent in the pure potentiality of adolescence and the fine line between desire and fear.

A thrilling book about the abounding queerness of the natural world that challenges our expectations of what is normal, beautiful, and possible.Growing up, Patricia Kaishian felt most at home in the swamps and culverts near her house in the Hudson Valley. A child who frequently felt out of place, too much of one thing or not enough of another, she found acceptance in these settings, among other amphibious beings. In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her—and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.In Forest Euphoria, Kaishian shows us this making of a scientist and introduces readers to the queerness, literal and otherwise, of all the life around us. Fungi, we learn, commonly have more than two biological sexes—and some as many as twenty-three thousand. Some intersex slugs mutually fire calcium carbonate “love darts” at each other during courtship. Glass eels are sexually undetermined until their last year of life, which stumped scientists once dubbed “the eel question.” Nature, Kaishian shows us, is filled with the unusual, the overlooked, and the marginalized—and they have lessons for us all.Wide-ranging, richly observant, and full of surprise, Forest Euphoria will open your eyes and change how you look at the world around you.

A masterful tale of ambition, jealousy, desire, and superpowers. Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end? In Vicious, V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn't automatically lead to heroism, and a time when allegiances are called into question.

Social Media Star Tahsim Durgun alias tahdur erzählt Anekdoten aus der Küche eines Migrantenkindes Noch bevor Tahsim Durgun Fahrradfahren konnte, musste er für seine Mutter die Stromrechnung entziffern, begleitete sie als Dolmetscher zu Arztbesuchen und verlas Aldi-Kataloge am Küchentisch. Seine spätere Karriere als Deutschlehrer war da bereits vorgezeichnet. Wie praktisch, dass er sich seitdem an der Uni zwischen dem BWL-Justus und der Iced-Coffee-Claudia gut getarnt vor den Abschiebefantasien der AfD verstecken kann. Ein Privileg, das seiner kurdischen Mutter, an deren Küchentisch Tahsim jeden Abend zurückkehrt, verwehrt bleibt.  So wie Tahsim geht es vielen jungen Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund, die früh Verantwortung für ihre Eltern übernehmen und gleichzeitig ihren Platz finden müssen in einem oft feindseligen Land. Schreiben sie die besten Noten, bekommen sie trotzdem nur eine Hauptschulempfehlung. Geht die Abifahrt nach Rom, dürfen sie nicht teilnehmen, weil sie keinen deutschen Pass besitzen. Mit messerscharfer Intelligenz, poetischer Sprachgewalt und gewohnt zynischem Internet-Star Tahsim Durgun reflektiert die Lebenswirklichkeit der postmigrantischen Gesellschaft. Als Vermittler zweier Welten und vor dem Hintergrund seiner eigenen Lebensgeschichte in einer kurdisch-deutschen Familie verhandelt Tahsim, wie wir alle miteinander leben wollen — mit und ohne Migrationsgeschichte. Tahsim Durgun ist Publikumspreisträger des Grimme-Online-Awards 2024 und des Blauen Panther 2024

Gone Girl meets Big Swiss in this electric, binge-of-a-debut about a millennial antihero who seeks revenge on her ex-situationship with a hex, only for him to actually, literally die. Lillian and Henry have been enjoying each other’s company, especially in bed. Even though Lillian’s best friend calls it “situationship,” Lillian is determined to lock Henry down—and she has a plan. She’ll be the best, most accommodating version of herself until he falls in love with her. But when Henry blindsides Lillian with a breakup, Lillian exacts revenge by performing a drunken hex on him.Lillian expects Henry to come crawling back to her. What she doesn’t quite anticipate is becoming a prime suspect in his murder case when he’s found dead. As Lillian grapples with the loss of her sort-of-boyfriend, she’s hit with another That Henry had a long-term girlfriend he also left behind. Desperate to control the narrative, clear her name, and assume her rightful place as Henry’s mourning girlfriend, Lillian’s pursuit of the truth will throw her into a dangerous tailspin. A deliciously addictive novel that explores our darkest, most human impulses, A Good Person heralds Kirsten King as a striking new voice in the canon of celebrated fiction.

A charming slow-burn romantasy featuring a duty-bound noblewoman with a chronic illness, a prince who would rather be in a library than on a throne, and a magical ride through a world of cozy enchantment*This beautiful paperback edition features sprayed edges.*Bianca knows her duty comes before her heart. So when the threat of war looms, she agrees to marry the neighboring kingdom’s heir. But not all royal weddings are a fairytale, and Prince Aric, Bianca’s betrothed, is cold, aloof, and seems to hate her on sight.To make matters worse, on their wedding night, an assassination attempt goes awry―leaving Aric magically transformed into a horse. Bianca does what any bride in this situation would do: she mounts her new husband and rides away to safety.Sunset returns Aric to human form, but they soon discover the assassination attempt is part of a larger plot against the throne. Worse, Bianca has been framed for Aric’s murder, and she’s now saddled with a husband who is a horse by day and a frustratingly attractive man by night.As an unexpected romance begins galloping away with their hearts, Bianca and Aric must rely on each other to unravel the curse and save the throne.