THE CURATION OF EAMON O’REILLY de Hugh Blackthorne

A remarkable literary debut about a young genderfluid man who escapes his difficult life in Cork to chase his dreams of fashion and modelling in London, for fans of Garth Greenwell and Swimming in the Dark.

THE CURATION OF EAMON O’REILLY
by Hugh Blackthorne
Publication: TBD
(via Northbank Talent Management)

Genderfluid Eamon Kastellakis wants to be beautiful. More than anything, he dreams of wearing couture dresses by the designers he worships, Alexander McQueen and Gucci, well away from the roar and threat of his alcoholic Greek da in their decaying house in Cork, Ireland.
At a turning point following his seventeenth birthday, Eamon gives himself the gift he’s always wanted: freedom. But running away to fashion capital London isn’t the end of his troubles – it’s only the beginning. Eamon’s given survival pro tips – where rent’s cheap, where a lad might find some work under the table – by an odd girl who’s on the run herself. He lives in a slum house, a step up from the streets, struggling to make his way. The world of fashion seems an unattainable dream for a runaway.
Eamon slowly starts to build a life for himself in a new country away from his da. But as soon as Eamon’s modelling dreams are in sight, with runways ahead, his da falls ill. Eamon faces a painful choice between returning home to care for him or staying in London to pursue his fashion dreams – and he stands to lose everything he’s fought for.

Hugh Blackthorne is a queer trans writer of LGBTQ fiction and poetry. His writing has been published by several journals, and in 2020, THE CURATION OF EAMON O’REILLY was Runner Up in the BPA First Novel Award. In 2019, his writing was longlisted for both the Bath Novel Award and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) Nonfiction Prize. His writing has received funding support from the Canada Council for the Arts and BC Arts Council. His work in museums and archaeology provide plenty of inspiration for his writing, along with his experiences living and working in Canada and the UK, and his travels. He often writes on themes of queer identity, belonging, and found family. Hugh currently lives in Victoria, BC, Canada.

FOOD THERAPY de Pixie Turner

Diets don’t just fail to make us healthy. They take up unnecessary space in our minds and prevent us from living life to the fullest. By understanding why we eat, and bringing awareness to our food, we can rebuild the damage caused by diets and eat freely, without guilt, and set ourselves on a course to lifelong health. FOOD THERAPY will literally change your mind about eating well.

FOOD THERAPY:
Understand and Repair Your Relationship with What You Eat
by Pixie Turner
Piatkus/Little, Brown UK, January 2023
(via Northbank Talent Management)

In FOOD THERAPY, Pixie Turner presents a fresh new approach to rehabilitating our relationship with food. Instead of focusing on rules, reduction and restriction, this practical book will help you uncover the roots and psychology of your relationship with food – how your experiences and feelings affect what you eat – and introduce you to a lifelong practice that will free you from a destructive relationship with food and dieting.
Healthy eating begins in the mind. As a registered nutritionist and qualified ACT therapist, Pixie has a wealth of experience with clients who come to her for help with disordered eating and body image problems. This book will help you understand why diets don’t work, and will empower you to rebuild your relationship with food by using psychological tools to identify your unique problematic points, and counter those with healthy eating habits. Including:

– How to reset and understand your relationship with hunger and feeling full
– Overcoming shame and defence mechanisms
– Fostering self-compassion to help you recover from setbacks
– Guidance on making better choices and creating a more positive environment

Pixie Turner is a registered nutritionist (RNutr) and science communicator, and she also has qualifications in psychotherapy, which makes her uniquely positioned to write this book. Alongside her degrees in biochemistry and nutrition and her qualifications in psychotherapy, she has over 130,000 followers on her ‘Pixie Nutrition’ social media accounts. Her science communication work extends across mainstream media, social media, and her popular podcast In Bad Taste. Pixie has been featured as a nutrition expert on the BBC, Sky and Channel 5, and in publications such as Red magazine, the Evening Standard, Grazia, the Telegraph and more. She is the author of three books: The Wellness Rebel (2018), The No Need to Diet Book (2019) and The Insta-Food Diet (August 2020), all published by Head of Zeus.

THE BACK UP MAN de Phoebe Luckhurst

A hilariously romantic tale of mishaps and matrimony, love and long shots, foibles and friendship, that may make you text that old school boyfriend of yours . . .

THE BACK UP MAN
by Phoebe Luckhurst
‎ Michael Joseph, January 2023
(via Northbank Talent Management)

They made a pact to marry at thirty. The problem? Euan’s nowhere to be found. Can Anya track down her back up man . . . ?
Twenty-nine, single, jobless and in a house share with her cousin who can barely look at her, things could be going better for Anya Mackie. When she stumbles across the pact she made with high school crush, Euan Carrick – to marry at thirty if they’re still single – a silly teenage idea suddenly seems like a lifeline. However, Euan hasn’t been seen for a decade. Reluctantly enlisting the help of Euan’s emotionally unavailable best mate Jamie Kildare, who has his own mysterious reasons for tracking Euan down, Anya sets off across the country to find her Back Up Man. Will Euan even remember her, or their pact? And why is Anya betting her future on her past?

Phoebe Luckhurst was born in London and brought up in Glasgow. She is a Senior Commissioning Editor at The Sunday Times Magazine, and has written features and interviews for the Guardian, Sunday Times Style, Elle, ES Magazine, Grazia, the Telegraph and Vogue. Phoebe has had the theme tune to The OC stuck in her head since 2003 and once almost spent her student loan on a micro-pig. She no longer shops online when drunk. The Lock In was her debut novel.

THE VIPER de John Verdon

Ex-homicide detective and puzzle-solving master David Gurney comes out of retirement to solve seemingly impossible murder cases in John Verdon’s ever-popular thriller series. Blending hard-boiled noir fiction with the pleasures of classic « whodunit » puzzle-solving, Verdon has written a “hero for the ages” (David Baldacci).

THE VIPER
by John Verdon
Counterpoint, July 2023
(via The Friedrich Agency)

The bloody finale of Dave Gurney’s previous case has left him and his wife Madeleine shell-shocked and determined to return to normality. But when an old friend comes calling for Gurney’s insight on a cold case, it’s Madeleine who pushes him to lend his thoughts. Try as he might, Gurney can’t resist getting drawn into the murder case—this one, involving a debauched former tennis star and a beheaded corpse. His initial efforts incite fury from both sides of the law: the criminal forces behind it, and the law enforcement personnel who stand to lose everything if Gurney succeeds in uncovering the truth. For the first time in his life, Gurney finds himself on the run but even the risk of losing his marriage, his reputation and his best friend can’t stop his relentless quest for answers. Gurney will learn that justice comes at a great cost.

John Verdon is a former Manhattan advertising executive who lives with his wife in the mountains of upstate New York. His first three Dave Gurney novels, Think of a Number, Shut Your Eyes Tight, and Let the Devil Sleep, are all international bestsellers.

MADDALENA AND THE DARK de Julia Fine

For fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Mexican Gothic, a novel set in 18th-century Venice at a prestigious music school, about two girls drawn together by a dangerous, magical wager.

MADDALENA AND THE DARK
by Julia Fine
Flatiron/St. Martin’s Press, June 2023

What do you want most? What will you pay for it?
Venice, 1717. Before she meets Maddalena, fifteen-year-old Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. She aspires to join the highest ranks of Ospedale della Pietà’s illustrious girls’ orchestra, to no longer be just an orphan but a star, a protégé of the great Antonio Vivaldi. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena.
Sent to the Pietà to be reformed until the rumors about her noble family have passed, Maddalena is unlike anyone Luisa has met. Clever, reckless, and passionate, Maddalena can promise the world to Luisa, and when she does, their fates intertwine. But Maddalena has made a dangerous wager with something deep in the waters of Venice, and there will be a price to pay.
Heady, sumptuous, and utterly enthralling, Maddalena and the Dark is the love story between two girls and the boundless desires that might ruin them.

This is a novel for readers of historical fiction and fans of stories about the complexities of female friendship. Set in 18th-century Venice, with opulent palazzos, world-class concerts, atmospheric canals, and romantic gondolas, this is the kind of transporting historical fiction that readers will want to lose themselves in. The author brings to life a fascinating piece of Italian history with the Pietà, a girls’ orphanage renowned for also being one of the premier music schools in the world, where Vivaldi himself was a teacher and patron. And at the heart of this novel is a fierce, messy, passionate relationship between two teenage girls.

Julia Fine is the author of What Should Be Wild, which was shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Superior First Novel Award and the Chicago Review of Books Award. Her second novel, The Upstairs House, is forthcoming from Harper in 2021. She teaches writing in Chicago, where she lives with her husband and children.