Archives de catégorie : Fiction

EVERY SWEET THING IS BITTER de Samantha Crewson

A woman with a violent past gets a chance at redemption in this upmarket suspense debut, perfect for fans of Lisa Taddeo and Tiffany McDaniel.

EVERY SWEET THING IS BITTER
by Samantha Crewson
Crooked Lane, April 2025

Thirteen years ago, Providence Byrd threw the family car in reverse and ran over her mother. Even though her mother survived, that single instant of teenage madness made Providence a felon and irrevocably altered her life. When her mother disappears years later under suspicious circumstances, Providence tells herself that returning home is her chance to find closure after a prolonged estrangement from her family. Never mind that this is only half of the truth: she’s also returning to finally confront her abusive father, Tom Byrd. Nothing can stamp out Providence’s certainty that he is guilty of whatever terrible thing has happened to her mother.

As the search unfolds, Providence is haunted by the wounds of her past, none of which cut as deep as the distance between her and her younger sisters. Harmony and Grace are both uniquely scarred by her attempted matricide, and both have their own idea of what reconciliations might look like – if reconciling is even possible. Harmony urges Providence to make their father pay for his sins; Grace begs her to end the cycle of violence that has haunted their family for generations. As her thirst for vengeance collides with her desire to heal her relationships with her sisters, Providence must decide which she values more: revenge or redemption.

Sharp and poignant, EVERY SWEET THING IS BITTER is a stunning novel that eschews picture-perfect endings and dares to tell a story about a resilient queer woman and her relentless determination to persevere.

Samantha Crewson graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a degree in political science. A proud queer woman, she currently resides in California’s Inland Empire with her partner and their many cats.

CLEANER de Jess Shanon

A surreal and irreverent story of an awkward, impulsive and self-sabotaging woman. With dark humour and suspense, it aligns tonally with Fleabag and Scarlett Thomas’ writing.

CLEANER
by Jess Shanon
Bedford Square, August 2025
(via Randle Editorial and Literary Consultancy)

When an unnamed woman in her mid-twenties moves back home to live with her parents, she finds fuel in anew obsession for cleaning. What she hadn’t anticipated, was the events that set in motion afterwards, leading her to posting as a nude model foran art gallery, where she also works as a cleaner.

There, she is painted by Isabella and, next, the two women have sex in the bathroom. And, next, the woman is fuelled by a new obsession: Isabella. She wears Isabella’s clothes, she moves in with Isabella’s boyfriend, Paul and introduces him to her parents. She invents alternate realities about who she and Isabella are to each other.

As time passes, the narrator tries to distract herself by cleaning and drawing – until she puts on an exhibition of her own. This is her final attempt at summoning Isabella back. The plan is successful but the narrator is ultimately left wondering if Isabella’s return has changed anything.

Jess Shannon is a writer from Birmingham and proud graduate of the Warwick Writing Programme. She completed her MA in Writing in 2021. As well as fiction, Jess is an avid theatre goer and performer. She’s currently working as an English teacher.

EVERYTHING LOST RETURNS de Sarah Domet

With timely themes and complex characters, and focusing on the desires, flaws, dreams, and relationships between many different types of women across several decades, this will be perfect for book clubs.

EVERYTHING LOST RETURNS
by Sarah Domet
Flatiron Books/SMP, February 2026

It’s 1910 and Opal, on the run from her abusive husband, has become an Earthshine girl—working in a factory owned by the illustrious Tuttle family to make the extremely popular Earthshine soap. Despite her newfound financial independence, Opal can’t help but notice that many of the Earthshine girls are falling sick, and they all suffer the same symptoms—is it possible that the soap, and the Tuttle family, could be responsible?

Meanwhile, in 1986, struggling soap opera actress Nona Dixon owes everything to Bertie Tuttle, who put Nona’s face on Earthshine soap when she was a child and made her a star. But when Nona starts doing some digging on her benefactor, she begins to uncover a dark history surrounding Bertie, Opal, and the soap that binds all three women together.

Gorgeously written and intricately constructed, EVERYTHING LOST RETURNS is a story of friendship and betrayal, guilt and redemption, and the power we have, in our own small way, to change the course of history

Sarah Domet’s debut novel, The Guineveres, received rave reviews everywhere from The New York Times Book Review to People Magazine to Elle. Sarah lives in Savannah, Georgia.

LIFE, AND DEATH, AND GIANTS de Ron Rindo

A remarkable child transforms a small, rural community—and soon the world.

LIFE, AND DEATH, AND GIANTS
by Ron Rindo
St. Martin’s Press, September 2025

A young, unmarried Amish woman, attended by the country veterinarian, delivers an enormous baby, and no one in Lakota, Wisconsin, knows what to make of the boy. Raised by his brother on a struggling farm, Gabriel Fisher walks at eight months, communicates with animals, and possesses extraordinary athletic abilities. When his brother dies, Gabriel is taken in by devout Amish grandparents, and for a time, he disappears into the anonymity of Amish life. But at age seventeen, and nearly eight feet tall, Gabriel is spotted working in a hay field by the local football coach, and his life changes.

In LIFE, AND DEATH, AND GIANTS, Gabriel’s remarkable story is told by those whose lives are transformed by him: Thomas Kennedy, the veterinarian who delivers him and becomes his mentor; Hannah Fisher, Gabriel’s Amish grandmother, who is troubled by deep gaps in her faith; Billy Walton, the salty bar owner and bridge between the Amish and English communities in Lakota; and Trey Beathard, the football coach, who tries to counsel Gabriel as his fame explodes―with consequences that no-one can predict.

Threaded through with the poems of Emily Dickinson, Life, and Death, and Giants weaves together an unforgettable story of faith, family, buried secrets, and everyday miracles.

« Straddling the Wisconsin of the Amish and “English,” Life, and Death, and Giants assays the limitations and temptations of the godly and the worldly. Ron Rindo has fashioned a small-town novel as magical and moral as a tall tale. » —Stewart O’Nan, author of Snow Angels and Songs for the Missing

« With Life, and Death, and Giants, Ron Rindo has performed literary magic. This is a remarkable, profoundly moving novel. » —Larry Watson, author of Montana 1948

Ron Rindo is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He has published one previous novel, Breathing Lake Superior, and three short story collections. He lives in Pickett, Wisconsin.

THE PRIMAL HUNTER de Zogarth & Senchiro

Overlord meets Monster Hunter International in this light novel adaptation in which an average office worker quickly adapts to his new, magical post-apocalyptic world.

THE PRIMAL HUNTER
by Zogarth & Senchiro
Vault, December 2024
(via JABberwocky)

On just another average day, Jake finds himself in a forest filled with monsters, dangers, and opportunity….

It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.

Jake, a seemingly average office worker, finds himself thrust into this new world. Into a tutorial filled with dangers and opportunities.

His new reality should breed fear and concern. His fellow coworkers falter at every turn. Jake, however, finds himself thriving.

Perhaps… This is the world Jake was meant to be born in.

THE PRIMAL HUNTER is an apocalyptic adventure LitRPG Light Novel in a dark fantasy setting, complete with levels, professions, skills, dungeons, loot, and all of the great traits of progression fantasy and LitRPG that fans and readers love and expect. Follow Jake as he explores a vast new multiverse filled with challenges and opportunities. As he grows in power, he slowly transforms from a bored office worker into a true apex hunter.

Having escaped from the grueling corporate world of dress shirts and actual pants, Zogarth has now embraced the true path of hermithood, where he writes about a guy going around shooting progressively stronger stuff with a bow.

Senchiro is a manga artist based in France.