Archives par étiquette : Mushens Entertainment

DRAGON RIDER de Taran Matharu

In this debut adult/YA crossover fantasy trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of the SUMMONER series, comes an immersive new fantasy world where humans can bond with dragons… Jai, hostage in the court of an Emperor who killed his father, finds himself caught up in a rebellion and stumbles across a dragon’s egg which could be the key to change his fate forever.

DRAGON RIDER
by Taran Matharu
HarperVoyager, July 2023
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Jai is a Captive in the Sabine Court – ever since his father Rohan, leader of the Plainsfolk, led an uprising and was put to death by the Emperor who Jai must now serve. The Sabine Empire has a powerful tool, the Gryphon Guard: elite warriors who ride gryphons. Only one thing is more powerful than them: dragons, exclusive to a rival kingdom. When the emperor’s son is betrothed to Princess Erica of the Dansk Kingdom she brings with her a powerful dowry: dragons. These powerful beasts come in several forms, but secrecy surrounds them and only the Dansk Royalty can soul-bond with these magical beasts to draw on their power and strength.
There is uproar when the Emperor is found dead, and the Dansk King is accused of his murder. In the ensuing chaos, Jai has one choice: run or be killed. And when he finds a stunted dragon’s egg in the belly of Ragni’s dead dragon, he takes it with him. Soon, united with Princess Erica, also on the run from Titus, he must make a decision. Does he flee to an anonymous life or – aided by his new dragon chick – does he stand up and fight against a cruel Empire that destroyed his people?

Taran Matharu is the New York Times bestselling author of the Summoner series, which has been translated into 15 languages and has sold over two million copies in the English language. He was born in London in 1990. Taran began to write the Summoner series in November 2013 at the age of 22, taking part in ‘Nanowrimo 2013’ and sharing his work on Wattpad.com. The shared sample of the story went viral, reaching over 3 million reads in less than six months. His Contender trilogy was published in 2019. He has won the Journal de Mickey award in France and the Sakura medal in Japan, and was Book Trust’s writer in residence.

THE HIDDEN HEART de Theresa Howes

A sweeping love story set in occupied France in 1944 where an art-forger is blackmailed by the British government into looking into the loyalties of a French priest, rumoured to be a collaborator. For fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Kate Morton and Letters to the Lost.

THE HIDDEN HEART
by Theresa Howes
on submission
(via Mushens Entertainment)

1944. Marguerite Segal, an artist living under a false identity on the Cote d’Azur to escape her criminal past, is blackmailed by British Intelligence into befriending Father Etienne Valade, a local priest suspected of being an Nazi collaborator. Her mission is to persuade him to pass on information from the high ranking German officers who attend his church. Connected by a passion for art, they soon fall in love. As she tries to convince him to pass on information learned in the confessional box, her association with him increasingly puts her in danger of violent reprisals from the local people. At the same time, her covert work, creating false identity cards to camouflage those hiding from the Third Reich, brings her under the scrutiny of the occupying enemy.
As the Allied invasion draws closer, Marguerite has to work out who she can trust in a world where everything is at stake. Should she put her faith in the man she loves, without knowing the motivation behind his actions? Or by trusting a man so full of contradictions, will she be aligning her fate with that of a man whose heart she cannot know?

Theresa Howes lives in London, and has a background as an actor. Her work has been long-listed for the Mslexia Novel Award, the Bath Novel Award, The Caledonia Novel Award, The Lucy Cavendish College Prize, and the BBC National Short Story Award. Theresa is already working on her second novel: at the end of WWII, a female war reporter who was used as a honey trap by British Intelligence during the war is trying to rebuild her marriage until the high ranking British officer she exposed as traitor reappears in her life, determined to get his revenge.

ROOTLESS de Krystle Zara Appiah

The debut reading group novel by London Library Emerging Writer Krystle Zara Appiah. ROOTLESS opens with Sam discovering that his wife, Efe, has left him and their daughter and returned to Ghana. Sam is shocked – their marriage was perfect. Or was it? ROOTLESS is a portrait of a British-Ghanaian marriage in crisis, as well as posing the question: can you ever really go home?

ROOTLESS
by Krystle Zara Appiah
The Borough Press UK/Ballantine US, Spring 2023
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Best friends Efe and Sam meet as teenagers in 90s London. Efe is a new arrival in the UK from Ghana, sinking under the weight of her parents’ expectations. Sam is focused and idealistic, taking his first steps towards a career in corporate law. Over the years that follow the best friends become lovers, then marry. But an unplanned pregnancy forces them to confront just how radically different they want their lives to be. Soon Efe is swallowed up by the demands of motherhood, the dreams for her life dangling from a thread. And when she leaves, disappearing one morning and leaving both Sam and their daughter behind, Sam’s illusion of their perfect marriage crumbles. He’s about to discover exactly who he’s married to and the lengths he’ll go to win her back.
This is beautifully written and provocative reading group fiction, with much to discuss around love, marriage, motherhood, and if you can ever really ‘go home’. For fans of Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies, Sally Rooney’s Normal People and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Krystle’s second novel, HINTERLANDS, will explore the complex and competitive relationships that can exist between sisters, plus the secrets lurking in a close-knit community.

Krystle Zara Appiah is a Ghanaian writer and screenwriter, born and raised in London. She has a degree in literature and creative writing from the University of Kent. In 2020, she was one of forty writers selected for the London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme. She also works as a children’s books editor. ROOTLESS is her debut novel. Her second novel will explore the complex and competitive relationships that can exist between sisters, plus the secrets lurking in a close-knit community.

MEREDITH, ALONE de Claire Alexander

An utterly charming debut reading group novel by Scottish journalist Claire Alexander, MEREDITH, ALONE follows a perfectly ordinary woman with one extraordinary thing about herself – she hasn’t left her home in three years. A warm and uplifting novel that also deals with dark themes around mental illness.

MEREDITH, ALONE
by Claire Alexander
Michael Joseph UK / Grand Central US, 2022

“My name is Meredith Maggs, and I haven’t left my home for 1,215 days.” Meredith Maggs is an independent woman living in Glasgow, with no responsibilities apart from her cat. She has a successful job, likes to cook, and has regular visits from her best friend Sadie and Sadie’s children. But Meredith is not your average 39 year old. Following a traumatic event and the breakdown of family relationships, she hasn’t left home for more than three years. Meredith would rather not think about how her old life used to be – boyfriends, a close relationship with her sister, and a bustling social life. But when two new people enter her life, asking a lot of unwanted questions about her past, Meredith is forced to confront it at last. And, slowly, she realises that her journey towards happiness and self-acceptance involves much more than walking out of her front door.

Claire Alexander lives on the west coast of Scotland with her husband and children. During her career as a freelance writer, she has written for The Washington Post, The Independent, The Huffington Post and Glamour. In 2019, one of her essays was published in the award-winning literary anthology We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor. When she’s not writing or parenting, she’s on her paddle board, thinking about her next book.

DIARY OF A MAGPIE de Marie-Claire Amuah

A reading group coming-of-age novel about a young British-Ghanaian woman born into the chaos of domestic violence, who realises even as an adult that you can’t escape the way your childhood shapes you.

DIARY OF A MAGPIE
by Marie-Claire Amuah
Oneworld UK, Summer 2022

DIARY OF A MAGPIE tells the story of Stella, a child of Ghanaian parents, born and raised in South West London. Stella is born into the chaos of domestic violence and struggles to make sense of the world around her. She touches wood so that bad things won’t happen to her or her family – until she learns a poem about Magpies, ‘one for sorrow…’ Stella excels academically and achieves professional fulfilment and success once she leaves home. However, she is unable to make evidence-based conclusions about events that unfold around her. Stella continues to rely on superstition to provide meaning to her life; to control the otherwise uncontrollable. She feels her greatest personal happiness when she falls in love but learns that magpies alone can’t protect her from heartbreak, and that the impact of her childhood is something she will have to face – one way or another.

Marie-Claire Amuah is a British-Ghanaian barrister, based in London. She works in private prosecutions and specialises in white-collar crime. When she isn’t writing, or practising law, she can be found walking her dog, practising yoga, or spending time with friends.