‘Passionately emotional, dreamily written and dripping with boho glamour’ – The best
INSTRUCTIONS FOR HEARTBREAK by Sarah Handyside (Macmillan £16.99, 416pp)
Instructions for Heartbreak is out on 30th January
Dee, Liv, Rosa and Katie are BFFs from uni. Bright, funny and gorgeous, they’ve moved to London to start their careers.
But while work’s going fine, love’s a trickier business, especially for Katie whose yuppie boyfriend suddenly dumps her.
Her three devoted buddies roar into action, writing a heartbreak manual packed with hard-won advice for her.
Funny, practical and moving by turns, this invaluable document intersperses the main story action in which not just Katie but all four friends are tested by their new city.
A beautifully crafted, sensitive novel packed with joyous young-in-London energy.
THE MIDNIGHT HOUR by Eve Chase (Penguin £9.99, 400pp)
A time-slip tale of late-1990s London and present-day Paris, where novelist Maggie receives some news.
A body’s been found in the basement of the old family home in Notting Hill.
Contenders apparently include Maggie’s own mother, a supermodel who disappeared many years ago, and a couple of not-so-diamond geezers in the antiques trade.
Returning to the scene of the crime, Maggie encounters her old lover, her adored younger brother and her slippery-but-chic aunt, all intimately involved in the twisty mystery.
Passionately emotional, dreamily written and dripping with boho glamour.
THE GARDEN by Nick Newman (Doubleday £16.99, 288pp)
The Garden is available from 30th January
In A post-apocalyptic parched England of the (one hopes) distant future, ancient sisters Lily and Evelyn exist in the shell of their former family mansion.
They survive on the dwindling produce of its dried-out garden, beyond whose walls is the terrifying outside world, or what remains of it.
One day, a mysterious boy appears, forcing the sisters to confront their different versions of the past.
This climate-change horror story, reminiscent of John Wyndham, combines a bleak message and often brutal action with absolutely exquisite writing.