Nic the Bookseller

Behind You is the Sea By Susan Muaddi Darraj

A delightful and heartfelt collection of linked stories about three Palestinian families who have found new lives in the USA.

I loved spending time with these characters and following the various struggles and successes of the different generations.

A great choice for book club chat!

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The Last Best Friend By George Sims A British Library Classic Thriller

A classic thriller, reissued in 2017 for its 50th anniversary.

Set in the world of art dealers in 1960s London. Ned Balfour investigates the suspicious “suicide” of his best friend, Dachau survivor Sam Weiss.

Had he uncovered something dodgy about the (WW2) provenance of certain items?

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I liked it, but thought it ended really abruptly. I wanted to hear more about her later life.

Penguin Classics are publishing a new issue of Women Without Men on 12th March in the UK.
Or are you in North America?
Can you get Penguin books in your country?

Under Water By Tara Menon A paperback proof copy. UK publication 12th March 2026

A moving, beautiful story about grief and friendship.

In 2004 teenage Marissa loves life in Thailand with her best friend. After the devastation of the tsunami, she moves to New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy approaches.

A brilliant study of environmental and human loss.

UK: 12/3/26

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Nation of Strangers: Rebuilding Home in the 21st Century By Ece Temelkuran

In a series of letters to an imagined stranger, Ece Temelkuran contemplates what it means and how it feels to be without a home - an exile, a refugee, an unhoused person.

Poetic, political and relevant.
A timely warning about fascism.

Longlisted for the #WomensPrize for nonfiction

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Despite rural setting, is definitely not cosy.

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of The Dead by Olga Tokarczuk.

Janina is an eccentric woman in her sixties in a Polish village. She investigates when local hunters are found dead…

A small problem is that the imagined scenes with Noam Chomsky hit somewhat differently following the recent Epstein revelations.

If the car people don’t want to drive a *slightly* more roundabout route, perhaps they’re just not that into you?

Our Better Natures By Sophie Ward A paperback proof copy

Ambitious literary novel, considering social justice and the impact of war on women’s lives in the 1970s.

3 main characters: fictional midwestern housewife Phyllis, and real feminist activist Andrea Dworkin and poet Muriel Rukeyser. Their stories are separate, eventually intersecting.

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Dusk By Robbie Arnott

Well-written literary fiction set in rural Tasmania in the past (C19th?).

Twins Iris and Floyd are itinerant outcasts; hearing of a bounty for a dangerous puma, Dusk, they join an untrustworthy stranger to hunt her.

The prose is stark yet evocative of both characters and landscape.

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Lonely Castle in the Mirror By Mizuki Tsujimura Translated by Philip Gabriel

A warm-hearted Japanese story with fantasy and fairytale elements.

Seven separate teenagers find their mirrors lead to a magical castle. There they learn about friendship, empathy and human connection.

With themes of bullying, anxiety and emotional resilience.

Charming and touching.

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The Frozen People By Elly Griffiths

Here’s an enjoyable and readable time-travel mystery by @ellygriffiths.bsky.social.

Ali Dawson is a police officer working on cold cases in London. She travels to 1850 to investigate the murders of women. And gets stuck there for a while…

Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride!

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Traditional media supports you- if you’re married to the Editor of The Guardian!

Yes, I preferred My Sister, The Serial Killer to this one, but they’re both good!

No Such Thing As Normal: Disorders, Diagnoses and the Limits of Psychiatry By Marieke Bigg

In her critique/history of twentieth and twenty-first century psychiatry, @mariekebigg.bsky.social considers the social model of mental health and illness.

Can mental distress be explained by biology?(no, not really).

How can the mental health system ensure help over harm?

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My school motto was Go And Do Thou Likewise.

Which is good, because it’s from the parable of The Good Samaritan.

But less good, if you remember that my school was Colston’s Girls’ School, and you don’t really want to be Doing Likewise to him.

(Is your school sponsored by Ladbroke’s?)

Just home from a brilliant event with the fantastic author Ali Smith.
She’s so great!

I love her books, but I’d never seen her in person before (she signed a book for me 😊).

She spoke about her most recent novels, Gliff and Glyph, which I strongly recommend to everyone who loves stories.

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Longlisted for the Climate Fiction Prize @climate-fiction.bsky.social

Albion By Anna Hope

The Brooke family, owners of 1000 acres of English countryside, gather to bury their father.

I enjoyed this thoughtful, engaging and readable novel; themes of class, family relationships, suppressed emotions, and our responsibilities towards the environment, history and the future.

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The Climate Fiction Prize 2026 longlist is here! 🤩📚

This longlist shows the limitless scope of climate fiction, from gripping thrillers to experimental literary works, folklore and reimagined myths to science fiction and generational family saga.

Full list here: climatefictionprize.co.uk

Wandering Stars By Tommy Orange

The characters in this moving and poetic novel will stay with me for a long time.

From the 1860s to the present day, generations of Native Americans survive displacement and institutional oppression, at a cost, by holding on to culture and care.

Heartbreaking, epic, tender, & truthful.

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Black Thorn By Sarah Hilary

I was expecting a well-plotted, atmospheric thriller from @sarahhilary.bsky.social, and wasn’t disappointed.

But I was thrilled to encounter an actually believable, authentic, and relatable autistic character in Agnes, the young woman at the heart of this novel.

Insightful and tense.

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A Woman in the Polar Night By Christiane Ritter Translated by Jane Degras

A fascinating memoir originally published in 1938.

The author leaves her comfortable life in Central Europe to spend a year on the arctic island of Spitsbergen with her husband. They survive in a basic hut.

The writing is vivid, connecting deeply with the harsh reality of nature.

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Cursed Daughters By Oyinkan Braithwaite

An engaging story about love, family, & destiny, set in Nigeria.

The lives of Eniiyi, her dead aunt Monife whom she resembles, and other family women are interwoven to consider fate, heartbreak, autonomy and intergenerational pain.

Are they doomed to repeat past patterns?

Captivating.

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Excellent thread.
Makes sense.

Yes, mine too!

The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on A World of Change by Rebecca Solnit. A paperback proof copy of the book, with the following text, a quotation from the book: One thing I've learned through the back-and-forths over the years is that you can take rights away, but you can't so easily take ideas away, including people's belief in their own rights and the rights of people they care about. You can cut down the flowers, but you can't stop the spring. There is no going back, though how we go forward is the work - or conflict - at hand. March 2026 A GRANTA lead title

The most striking thing about this forthcoming book by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social is the preponderance of hope.
“Ideas have power”, she reminds us, with clear-eyed analysis and encouragement to connect.

“Liberation is contagious” - even in this time of monsters.

Brilliant & vital.

UK 26/3/26
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Murder at the Hotel Orient By Alessandra Ranelli

A spicy new murder mystery novel by @alessandraranelli.bsky.social set in modern-day Vienna, with a timeless, golden-age feel.

Sterling is the concierge at an infamous love hotel, facilitating anonymous liaisons. When two guests are found dead, can she find the killer?

UK publ. 30/4/26

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