Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones'You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper is in flames.' Bougainville. 1991. A small village on a lush tropical island in the South Pacific. Eighty six days have passed since Matilda's last day of school as, quietly, war is encroaching from the other end of

One day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen

internationally-bestselling author of The Rosie Project In April 1942

Diophantus

I've been reading passages aloud for the pleasure of hearing it

According to her own complex moral calculations

a police hostage negotiator

As hope of reuniting with Mia becomes all she has left

and silhouettes of related animals comparing their shapes and proportions

In the tradition of Sally Rooney

Mark Twain

There are some sizable flies in the ointment

Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage