Archives de catégorie : Frankfurt 2023 Adult Fiction

THE HOUSEHOLD de Stacey Halls

From the Sunday Times bestseller and winner of the Women’s Prize Futures Award, the captivating, highly anticipated new novel, inspired by real historical figures and events..

THE HOUSEHOLD
by Stacey Halls
April 2024
(via Mushens Entertainment)

In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in common: they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life – but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her cold: her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison . . .

As the women’s worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price.

Stacey Halls has worked as a journalist at The Bookseller and Fabulous Magazine, and has written for publications including Stylist, Psychologies and The Independent. She has won the Women’s Prize Futures Award. Her debut novel, The Familiars, was a Sunday Times Bestseller and was a Richard and Judy pick. Her second novel, The Foundling, was a Sunday Times Bestseller.

THE WOMAN IN THE WALLPAPER de Lora Jones

A propulsive historical debut for fans of The Miniaturist and The Doll Factory, following three women living at a textiles factory in late eighteenth-century Paris.

THE WOMAN IN THE WALLPAPER
by Lora Jones
Sphere, 2025
(via Mushens Entertainment)

After the death of their father, gentle Lara and headstrong Sofi find work at a factory renowned for the intricate illustrations on their wallpaper. They quickly notice that the same woman appears in every idyllic vignette: the former mistress of the house, who met an untimely death years before and who bears more than a passing resemblance to Lara.

As the sisters adapt to the rhythms of life at the factory, Lara attracts the attention of the factory owner’s son, Josef, and the scorn of his unhappy wife, Hortense. Lara soon realises there is something uncannily familiar about her interactions with Josef and that her life is mirroring the scenes illustrated on the wallpaper that lines her bedchamber.

As the strange occurrences surrounding the wallpaper become ever more unnerving, Lara finds herself wondering: is history is repeating itself and, if so, will she share the same tragic fate as her doppelgänger, a fate that seems to be, literally, written on the wall?

After studying English Literature at the University of Durham, Lora Jones began her career in the TV industry, reading scripts and writing for ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and others. Lora lives in the rugged, myth-steeped hills of North Wales. The Woman in the Wallpaper is her first novel.

THE VOICES de Natalie Chandler

They say it was an accident, but you can hear every word they say, and they aren’t telling the truth. Then again, before the crash, neither were you.

THE VOICES
by Natalie Chandler
HarperNorth, Spring 2025
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Tamsin Shaw’s doctors describe her condition as a permanent vegetative state and say she has no chance of recovery. After three years in limbo, her husband Jamie is given the option of withdrawing her treatment. To save her own life, Tamsin must somehow prove that, unbeknownst to those around her, she has full awareness. When it becomes clear Jamie may have his own reasons for allowing his wife to slip away, Tamsin, trapped inside her own mind, fears she may never be able to communicate with the outer world.

In her old life, Tamsin was an eminent psychiatrist, specialising in treating sex offenders. Her final client before the crash was the charming, aristocratic Richard Mandeville, who insisted he was innocent of the horrific crimes he had been convicted of. As his retrial now looms, Tamsin’s boss Dan suspects her notes indicate she may have fallen under Mandeville’s spell.

With no memory of the day of the crash, Tamsin is convinced those lost recollections hold the key to understanding exactly what her brain is trying to protect her from. If it wasn’t an accident, who would want to harm her, and why?

Natalie Chandler was educated at St Chad’s College, Durham and currently works in behavioural education, specialising in social, emotional and mental health issues. She is a Curtis Brown Creative alumna and was previously selected to be part of the WoMentoring scheme.

I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL de Hattie Williams

A story about being an outsider, first love and grief and a thought-provoking look at the uneasy relationship between power, celebrity and control.

I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL
by Hattie Williams
Orion, 2025
(via Mushens Entertainment)

London, 2010. Charlie is twenty-three, single and the new publicity assistant at the independent London publishing house Winden & Shane. Richard Aveling is fifty-six, married and the author that has defined his generation. For Charlie, the glamorous and urbane writer is a ticket into a world she doesn’t quite belong to – and a link to her late mother, who loved his work. But forced to hide their relationship from everyone she cares about, Charlie starts to realise that she might be in too deep. And when the success of his first book in years launches him to a new level of fame where all anonymity is lost, she realises that some secrets can’t stay secret forever.

Hattie Williams left education in her teens to pursue a career as a musician. She has toured Europe extensively, made three studio albums, and worked as a composer with her tracks still regularly featured on TV and streaming services across the world. In her mid-twenties she found herself working in publishing quite by accident, and an admin temping job turned into a twelve-year career in which she worked with some of the biggest authors in the world. She spends as much time in Iceland as she can, and books and produces the Iceland Noir Literary Festival which takes place in Reykjavík every November. Hattie lives in east London with her husband and young daughter.

BETTER LEFT UNSENT de Lia Louis

So many ways to torpedo your career and your love life… So little time. A woman accidentally reveals all her secrets in this witty and charming novel from the author of Eight Perfect Hours.

BETTER LEFT UNSENT
by Lia Louis
Bonnier, January 2024
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Two years ago, thirty-year-old receptionist Millie Chandler had her heart spectacularly broken in public. Ever since, she has been a closed book, vowing to keep everything to herself – her feelings, her truths, even her dreams – in an effort to protect herself from getting hurt again.

But Millie does write emails – sarcastic replies to her rude boss, hard truths to her friends, and of course, that one-thousand-word love declaration to her ex who is now engaged to someone else. The emails live safely in her drafts, but after a server outage at work, Millie wakes up to discover that all her draft emails have been sent. Every. Single. One.

As every truth, lie, and secret she’s worked so hard to keep only to herself are catapulted out into the open, Millie must fix the chaos her words have caused, and face everything she’s ever swept under the carpet. With her signature « tender and heartwarming » (Anstey Harris, author of When I First Held You) prose, Lia Louis presents another unforgettable and moving novel that is perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle and Emily Henry.

Lia Louis lives in the United Kingdom with her partner and three young children. Before raising a family, she worked as a freelance copywriter and proofreader. She was the 2015 winner of Elle magazine’s annual writing competition and has been a contributor for Bloomsbury’s Writers and Artists blog for aspiring writers.