Showing titles in Coming of Age

Dolly Blanchard dreams of a bigger life. She wants to make a mark on the world, not simply wait for a husband to come along. So when an impoverished actress offers her a lifeline, Dolly flees to London, determined to make it on the stage and prove to her family – and herself – that she can strike out alone.

Brooklyn, New York. Bea has grown up in the heart of the Irish community, always hearing stories of home. When she discovers a letter from her younger self, written years before, it sends her deep into her own family history. Kilmore Quay, Ireland. Years earlier, Lucy Mernagh leaves her much-loved home and family in search of the New York dream. The Big Apple is a world away from the quiet village she grew up in, and the longing for home aches within her.

Shortly before Bel's marriage to Ellis Brownlee, her friend, Louise Armstrong, goes house hunting for them and discovers a charming but neglected old stone cottage in the Cotswolds. Bel adores the house, called Fletchers End. Ellis buys the place from the absentee-owner, Lieutenant Commander Lestrange, and, after a picture-book wedding, the happy couple move in. As she embarks on her new life as a devoted wife, Bel loyally guides Louise through her own romantic tribulations.

The new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Josephine Cox – the master storyteller. Finding a new beginning means taking the hardest road…but the journey is where you find your true courage. Torn away from their beloved home, the journey for the Carter family has just begun… In the...

A little deer walks into the wolf’s den. I want answers. I know nothing of love, family, or stability, having been raised in the foster system and spat out at eighteen, pregnant, and with no memory of how that came to be. I try to find my estranged father, a man rumoured to be in the Mafia, hopeful he will use his influence to discover what really happened the night someone took my innocence. But I don’t find my father. I walk straight into the den of his associate, the Don of the Cosa Nostra.

Brought to you by Penguin. London, 2014. Hal Lancaster – twenty-two, gay, Catholic, chops lines of cocaine with his myWaitrose card – is the reluctant heir of his father Henry, the sixteenth Duke of Lancaster. Henry is half tyrant, half martyr, with an investment in his eldest son that has...

Brought to you by Penguin. ‘He heard Daddy one time saying he was a grand quiet boy to Mother when he thought Johnsey couldn’t hear them talking. Mother must have been giving out about him being a gom and Daddy was defending him. He heard the fondness in Daddy’s voice. But you’d have...

Finn and Kaz are about to meet for the first time. Ten-year-old Finn, a quirky, sensitive boy who talks a lot and eats only at cafes with a five-star hygiene rating, is having a tough time at school and home. Outspoken Kaz, 59, who has an acerbic sense of humour and a heart of gold, is working at the café when Finn and his mum come in. They don't know it yet, but the second time they meet will be a moment which changes both of their lives forever....

After the sudden death of her husband, Patricia Greystone is left with nothing, and at 24, she finds herself a penniless widow. As the youngest child of a large family, she has always been headstrong and proud, so she’s determined not to return to her family cap in hand. Instead she strikes out on her own. The dark streets of London are the perfect place to hide from the world, and Patricia makes her living singing on the streets. But the city is a dangerous place.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Life without her would be death' The lost novel from the author of The Second Sex. The compulsive story of two friends growing up and falling apart. INTRODUCED BY DEBORAH LEVY. When Andrée joins her school, Sylvie is immediately fascinated. Andrée is small for her...

With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls's boarding school in the small town of Villette. There, she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils, a headmistress who spies on her staff, and her own complex feelings: first for the school's English doctor and then for the dictatorial professor, Paul Emmanuel.

An unspeakable terror is sweeping across the realm as the Celestial Emperor tightens his grip on power. The fragile peace Xingyin fought so hard for when freeing her mother is under threat. Forced to flee her home, Xingyin ventures into the unexplored lands of the Immortal Realm to seek aid in her fight, but, with alliances shifting quicker than the tides, she has to overcome past grudges and enmities to forge a new path forward, seeking aid where she never imagined.

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Mathew Baynton, known for his roles in Vanity Fair, Horrible Histories, Gavin and Stacey and Ghosts. Nils Holgersson is a naughty boy who tortures animals and never listens to his parents - until one day he wakes up as an elf...

Als er vierzehn ist, verliebt sich Hannes Prager in das Mädchen Polina. Um ihr seine Liebe zu zeigen, komponiert der wundersam begabte Junge eine Melodie, die Polinas ganzes Wesen und Wünschen umfasst. Kurz danach stirbt Hannes’ Mutter bei einem Unfall, mit ihr stirbt seine Musik, und Polina verschwindet aus seinem Leben. Nach Jahren, in denen er nichts als Leere fühlt, erkennt Hannes: Er muss Polina wiederfinden. Doch das Einzige, womit er sie erreichen kann, ist ihre Melodie.

Living hand to mouth ever since her mother’s tragic death, Amelia sells the last of her treasured possessions to avoid being cast out of her home onto London’s streets. Her estranged grandfather unexpectedly bequeaths a small struggling factory making mourning dresses and Amelia dares to dream… Drawing sketches by candlelight, she longs to sew elegant gowns from fine silks and beautiful ribbons for the rich. As the cold winter wind begins to bite, Amelia’s future hangs by a thread – can she keep her hopes alive?

Vanessa Wye was 15 years old when she first had sex with her English teacher. She is now 32 and the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student of his. Vanessa is horrified by this news, because she is quite certain that the relationship she had with Strane wasn’t abuse. It was love. She’s sure of that. But now, in 2017, in the midst of allegations against powerful men, she is being asked to redefine the great love story of her life - her great sexual awakening - as rape.

The heartbreaking story of the love of two women – Anne Lister, the real-life inspiration behind Gentleman Jack, and her first love, Eliza Raine – from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder. 'A rich and spellbinding 19th-century story of forbidden love' – The Independent 'Donoghue...

Ten-year-old Abdullah would do anything for his younger sister. In a life of poverty and struggle, with no mother to care for them, Pari is the only person who brings Abdullah happiness. For her, he will trade his only pair of shoes to give her a feather for her treasured collection. When their father sets off with Pari across the desert to Kabul in search of work, Abdullah is determined not to be separated from her. Neither brother nor sister know what this fateful journey will bring them.

The Secret Sewing Society is a sweeping, heartbreaking tale about a devastating family mystery, a doomed love affair, and generations of women coming together against the odds. Fans of Evie Woods, Fiona Valpy and The Keeper of Happy Endings will be utterly swept away.

An epic fantasy adventure through cosy, cluttered bookshops, set in the world of Sunday Times bestseller Mark Lawrence's groundbreaking The Library Trilogy. Bookshops have always been places where worlds collide. Places where ideas make war, where cultures meet and mate. Frederick 'Red' Archer...