Canongate July–December 2023

Fiercely independent for fifty years

Canongate is an award-winning independent publisher based in Edinburgh and London. We were founded in 1973; for fifty years we’ve been known for our groundbreaking, eclectic and endlessly energetic publishing.

instagram tiktok twitter mastodon @canongatebooks

JULY–DECEMBER 2023

Phil Whitaker 2 What Is a Doctor?

Ambrose Parry 4 Voices of the Dead

John Lister-Kaye 6 Footprints in the Woods

Travis Alabanza 7 None of the Above

Alan Rickman 8 Madly, Deeply

Lidia Yuknavitch 10 Thrust

Karen Campbell 11 Paper Cup

Max Dickins 12 Billy No-Mates

Elin Cullhed 13 Euphoria

Matt Haig 14 The Humans

Marchelle Farrell 15 Uprooting

Rachel Connolly 16 Lazy City

James Crawford 17 The Edge of the Plain

Amanda Thomson 18 Belonging

Rin Usami 19 Idol, Burning

Elizabeth Acevedo 20 Family Lore

John Niven 22 O Brother

N.S. Nuseibeh 24 Namesake

Caro Ramsay 25 The Devil Stone

Shane McCrae 26 Pulling the Chariot of the Sun

Peter Foster 27 What Went Wrong With Brexit?

Pragya Agarwal 28 Hysterical

Doon Mackichan 29 My Lady Parts

Lemn Sissay 30 Let the Light Pour In

Annabelle Hirsch 32 A History of Women in 101 Objects

edited by Adam Biles 34 The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews

Ray Shell 36 Iced

Michel Faber 37 Listen

Mike McCormack 38 This Plague of Souls

Noo Saro-Wiwa 40 Black Ghosts

Derek Owusu 41 Losing the Plot

Meron Hadero 42 A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times

Claudia Hammond 43 The Keys to Kindness

6 July 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 320pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838857974

Ebook £13.59

9781838857981

Audiobook £25

9781838857998

Rights: UKCWxC,eEU

What Is a Doctor?

A GP’s Prescription for the Future

PHIL WHITAKER

A damning portrait of political interference in medical treatment and the shift away from patient-centred care, as told by the stories and case studies across a GP’s thirty-year career

PUBLISHING ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

What Is a Doctor? is a vital contribution to the ongoing debate about how we maintain an NHS that is both fit for purpose and free. Using stories and case studies from across his thirty-year career as a GP, Phil Whitaker offers insight into the medical movements, political interference and societal changes that have transformed the role of doctor over the past three decades.

Much has altered for the better but, even when based on good intentions, an equal or greater amount has been damaging and threatens the sustainability of the NHS. In examining what it means to be a doctor today this book also answers an accompanying question ‘what is a patient?’ –and how we can all take a more active role in our healthcare. And looking forward Dr Whitaker describes what might yet be done to restore the NHS and its capacity for properly patient-centred care.

Phil Whitaker is a practising GP and has been so for over thirty years. He is the author of several books and the winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Betty Trask Award and the RSL Encore Award. He is the medical editor of the New Statesman. He lives in Wiltshire.

twitter pwhitakerwriter link philwhitaker.co.uk

6 July 2023

Hardback Fiction 416pp

Royal Octavo HB £16.99

9781838855475

Ebook £11.99

9781838855499

Audiobook £25

9781838855505

Rights: W

Voices of the Dead

AMBROSE PARRY

The latest instalment of the gripping Raven and Fisher mystery series

PRAISE FOR THE RAVEN AND FISHER MYSTERY SERIES

‘Brilliantly conceived, fiendishly plotted’ Mick Herron

‘The immersive world of Ambrose Parry just gets better and better’ Jess Kidd

In a time of unprecedented scientific discovery, the public’s appetite for wonder has seen a resurgence of interest in mesmerism, spiritualism and other unexplained phenomena.

Dr Will Raven is wary of the shadowlands that lie between progress and quackery, but Sarah Fisher can’t afford to be so picky. Frustrated in her medical ambitions, she sees opportunity in a new therapeutic field not already closed off to women. Raven has enough on his hands as it is. Body parts have been found at Surgeons’ Hall, and they’re not anatomy specimens. In a city still haunted by the crimes of Burke and Hare, he is tasked with heading off a scandal.

When further human remains are found, Raven is able to identify a prime suspect, and the hunt is on before the killer strikes again. Unfortunately, the individual he seeks happens to be an accomplished actor, a man of a thousand faces and a renowned master of disguise.

With the lines between science and spectacle dangerously blurred, the stage is set for a grand and deadly illusion . . .

Ambrose Parry is the penname for two authors – the internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, Dr Marisa Haetzman. Inspired by the gory details Haetzman uncovered during her History of Medicine degree, the couple teamed up to write a series of historical crime thrillers, featuring the darkest of Victorian Edinburgh’s secrets. They are married and live in Scotland. The Way of All Flesh,The Art of Dying and A Corruption of Blood were shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. A Corruption of Blood was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2022.

twitter ambroseparry

Also by Ambrose Parry

The Way of All Flesh £9.99 (9781786893802)

The Art of Dying £8.99 (9781786896735)

A Corruption of Blood £9.99 (9781786899897)

Photo © Alan Trotter

Sir John Lister-Kaye is one of Britain’s best-known naturalists and conservationists. He is the author of eleven books on wildlife and the environment. He has served prominently in the RSPB, the Nature Conservancy Council, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE for services to nature conservation. He lives with his wife and family among the mountains of the Scottish Highlands, where he runs the world-famous Aigas Field Centre.

link lister-kaye.co.uk link aigas.co.uk

Footprints in the Woods

The Secret Life of Forest and Riverbank

JOHN LISTER-KAYE

The elusive lives of otters, beavers, badgers, weasels and more, captured in John Lister-Kaye’s enchanting lyrical style

Footprints in the Woods is John Lister-Kaye’s account of a year spent observing the comings and goings of otters, beavers, badgers, weasels and pine martens. This family

Mustelidae – all live in the wild at Aigas, the conservation and field study centre John calls home.

With the patient and meticulous care of a true naturalist, John observes and records the lives, habits and habitats of these elusive animals. Hours of careful waiting and watching in the woods is rewarded with insight into how these animals live when unhindered by human interference: sometimes red in tooth and claw, but often playful, familial, curious and surprising.

As a boy, badgers and weasels were John’s first encounter with wild animals, now he has spent fifty years living sideby-side with them in the Highlands and come to know much of their ways. Footprints in the Woods is the culmination of that long association with the Mustelidae family, a love letter to the otters, beavers, badgers, weasels and pine martens that also call Aigas home, and a reminder of the fragility of habitat and the beauty and variety we have to lose if we don’t choose to actively protect it.

Also by John Lister-Kaye

The Dun Cow Rib £10.99 (9781786891471)

Gods of the Morning £10.99 (9781782114178)

At the Water’s Edge £10.99 (9781847674050)

6 July 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 208pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838858780

Ebook £13.59

9781838858797

Rights: W/E

Travis Alabanza is an award-winning writer, performer and theatre maker. A recipient of the Artist-in-Residency programme at Tate Galleries, Alabanza’s debut show Burgerz toured internationally and won the Edinburgh Fringe Total Theatre Award. In 2020 their theatre show Overflow debuted to widespread acclaim and was streamed in over 20 countries. Their writing has appeared in the Guardian, Vice, gal-dem, BBC Online and Metro. They have been published in numerous anthologies and given talks at universities, with their work surrounding gender, trans identity and race garnering international recognition.

twitter instagram travisalabanza link travisalabanza.co.uk

6 July 2023

Paperback Non-Fiction 224pp

None of the Above Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary

TRAVIS ALABANZA

An electric memoir about what it means to live outside the gender boundaries imposed on us by society, from the awardwinning trans writer and performer

‘No memoir like it’ Independent

‘Travis Alabanza writes with such generosity and ease even the most provocative suggestions start to seem obvious . . . Profound and funny’ Shon Faye

‘Will challenge, empower and move your soul’ Glamour

In None of the Above, Travis Alabanza examines seven phrases people have directed at them as a Black, mixed race, non-binary person. Some are deceptively innocuous, some deliberately loaded or offensive, some celebratory; sentences that have impacted them for better and for worse; sentences that speak to the broader issues raised by a world that insists that gender must be a binary.

Through these seven phrases, Travis Alabanza turns a mirror back on society, giving us reason to question the very framework in which we live and the ways we treat each other.

B-fmt PB £10.99

9781838854331

Ebook £8.79

9781838854324

Rights: UKCWxC,neEU

6 July 2023

Paperback Non-fiction 496pp

Madly, Deeply

The Alan Rickman Diaries

ALAN RICKMAN

Alan Rickman was a world-class actor, as well as a tireless political activist, an avid traveller and a devoted confidant and friend – and now, through his neverbefore-seen diaries, Rickman invites readers backstage and into his life

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A MAIL ON SUNDAYS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022

Alan Rickman remains one of the most beloved actors of all time, from his breakout role as Die Hard’s villainous Hans Gruber to his heart-wrenching run as Professor Severus Snape, and beyond. His air of dignity, his sonorous voice and the knowing wit he brought to each role continue to captivate new audiences today.

But Rickman’s artistry wasn’t confined to just his performances. Rickman’s writing details the extraordinary and the ordinary in a way that is anecdotal, indiscreet, witty, gossipy and utterly candid. He takes us behind the scenes on films and plays ranging from Sense and Sensibility, the Harry Potter series, Private Lives, My Name Is Rachel Corrie and many more.

The diaries offer insight into both a public and private life. Here is Rickman the consummate professional actor, but also the friend, the traveller, the fan, the director, the enthusiast: in short, the real Alan Rickman. Here is a life fully lived.

Includes a foreword by Emma Thompson and a selection of Rickman’s early diaries, dating from 1974 to 1982, when his acting life first began.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (1946–2016) was an English actor and theatre director. He was a renowned stage actor in modern and classical productions and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In film his best-known work featured roles in Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the Harry Potter series and Sense and Sensibility. He won numerous awards including a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Emmy.

Alan Taylor is a journalist and writer. He was founding editor of The Scottish Review of Books. He has edited several acclaimed anthologies, including The Assassin’s Cloak, is the author of Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark and the series editor of Spark’s collected novels.

Lidia Yuknavitch is the internationally bestselling author of the novels The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children and Dora: A Headcase, and of the memoir The Chronology of Water. She is the recipient of two Oregon Book Awards and has been a finalist for the PEN Center USA Creative Nonfiction Award. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

instagram LidiaYuknavitch link lidiayuknavitch.net

Thrust

LIDIA YUKNAVITCH

From the visionary author of the internationally bestselling The Book of Joan comes an epic novel tracing the construction of a colossal statue – and the lives of two centuries of immigrants navigating its turbulent wake

Laisve is a refugee in a destroyed city-island, hunted in Raids and haunted by the spirits of her drowned mother and brother. She dives into the river and finds herself travelling between times and waterways that will connect her with people from the past and future. Among them are a group of workers constructing a colossal monument to freedom for a young and bustling nation. But exactly what – and whom –will that liberty represent?

As Laisve drifts into their histories, she schools seekers in the ways of dreams, love and the ultimate aim of liberty: to free the next generation from the chains of this one.

Also by Lidia Yuknavitch

The Chronology of Water £10.99 (9781786893307)

The Book of Joan £8.99 (9781786892423)

The Small Backs of Children £8.99 (9781786892430)

6 July 2023

Paperback Fiction 352pp

B-fmt PB £9.99

9781838857851

Ebook £7.99

9781838857837

Audiobook £25

9781838857844

Rights: UKCWxC,neEU

Karen Campbell is the author of eight novels. A former police officer, then Glasgow City Council press officer, she won the Best New Scottish Writer Award in 2009. She also teaches creative writing and has worked with young offenders, homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers, and was recently Writer in Residence at Dumfries and Galloway Council. She lives in Galloway.

twitter writerkcampbell link karencampbell.scot

Paper Cup

KAREN CAMPBELL

A heartwarming, uplifting novel about how easy it can be to fall through the cracks, and what it takes to rebuild a life run off course

‘A truly original, brilliant novel’ Daily Mail

‘Very special indeed . . . your world will be a better place for reading this story’ Joanna Cannon

‘Original and memorable’ Guardian

‘Big-hearted and poignant’ Sara Sheridan

What if going back means you could begin again?

Rocked by a terrible accident, homeless Kelly needs to escape the streets of Glasgow. Maybe she doesn’t believe in serendipity, but a rare moment of kindness and a lost ring conspire to call her home, returning to the small town she fled so many years ago.

6 July 2023

Paperback Fiction 336pp

B-fmt PB £9.99

9781838855109

Ebook £7.99

9781838855116

Rights: W

Max Dickins is the author of Billy No-Mates, which has been translated into multiple languages and is currently being adapted for television. On the page, his writing has been featured in the Observer, Sunday Times, Daily Mail and GQ. On the stage, Max’s critically acclaimed stage play Man on the Moor has toured nationally. On the airwaves, his radio show on Absolute Radio was nominated for a Sony Award. While on screen, Dickins has appeared numerous times on BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Big Show. Oh, and once he accidentally got addicted to Groupon deals: this sad (if quite amusing) experience spawning his first book, My Groupon Adventure. twitter maxdickins link maxdickins.com

Billy No-Mates

How I Realised Men Have a Friendship

Problem

MAX DICKINS

An honest, personal and funny look at male friendships, emotional connection and mental health

‘A poignant – and very funny – odyssey’ Daily Mail

‘Fascinating’ Jeremy Vine

‘On the spot’ Guardian

‘Where have all my friends gone?’

When Max Dickins decided to propose to his girlfriend, he realised there was no one he could call on to be his best man.

He quickly learned that he wasn’t the only man struggling with friendships. For decades, countless studies from across the world have confirmed that men have fewer close friends than women – and the problem gets worse the older men get. But what goes wrong? And what can men do about it? Dickins is going to find out.

Join Max on his funny and charmingly candid search as he takes a defibrillator to his social life. As he ultimately discovers that if he wants a Best Man, then he needs to be a better man.

6 July 2023

Paperback Non-fiction 336pp

B-fmt PB £10.99

9781838853549

Ebook £8.79

9781838853525

Audiobook £25

9781838853532

Rights: W

Elin Cullhed is a Swedish author who made her debut in 2016. Euphoria is her first novel for adults. It won the 2021 August Prize, Sweden’s most prestigious literary award, and was a finalist for the Premio Strega Europeo Prize.

Jennifer Hayashida is a poet, translator and artist. She is the recipient of awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, PEN and the Jerome Foundation among others. Her translations from the Swedish include work by Ida Börjel, Athena Farrokhzad and Karl Larsson.

Euphoria

ELIN CULLHED

TRANSLATED BY JENNIFER HAYASHIDA

A luminous portrayal of a brilliant mind who is at once at battle with herself and with the constraints that society has placed on her

‘Compelling and visceral’ Irish Examiner

‘Brave’ Times Literary Supplement

A woman’s life, erupting with brilliance and promise, is fissured by betrayal and the pressures of duty. What had once seemed a pastoral family idyll has become a trap, and she struggles between being the wife and mother she is bound to be and yearning for so much more.

The woman in question is Sylvia Plath in the final year of her life. As Plath’s marriage to Ted Hughes unravels, Sylvia turns increasingly to writing to express her pain and loss, yet also her resilience and power. She has decided to die, but the art she creates in her final weeks will set her name, and the world, ablaze.

6 July 2023

Paperback Fiction 304pp

B-fmt PB £9.99

9781838855994

Ebook £7.99

9781838855987

Audiobook £30

9781838856007

Rights: W/E

Matt Haig has written a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction. This includes the novels The Humans, How to Stop Time and The Midnight Library, several children’s books and most recently the self-help book The Comfort Book.

twitter matthaig1 instagram mattzhaig link matthaig.com

The Humans

MATT HAIG

Matt Haig’s beloved novel reissued following over six million copies of The Midnight Library selling worldwide

‘Matt Haig is a supreme talent and a writer to cherish, and The Humans is undoubtedly his magnum opus’ Guardian

There’s no planet like home. After an ‘incident’ one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst an alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he’s a dog.

Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race . . . ?

Also by Matt Haig

The Midnight Library £8.99 (9781786892737)

How to Stop Time £8.99 (9781838858476)

The Comfort Book £9.99 (9781786898326)

Notes on a Nervous Planet £9.99 (9781786892690)

Reasons to Stay Alice £9.99 (9781782116820)

20 July 2023

Paperback Fiction 320pp

B-fmt PB £8.99

9781805300175

Ebook £7.19

9780857868770

Audiobook £20.99

9781838854423

Rights: WxEinUS,C

Marchelle Farrell is a therapist, writer and amateur gardener. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, she has spent the last twenty years attempting to become hardy in the UK. She has trained and worked as a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist. When not neglecting it for the care of her young children, or her work in the community, Marchelle spends much of her time getting to know her country garden in Somerset and writing about the things the garden teaches her about herself. Her debut Uprooting won the Nan Shepherd Prize.

twitter instagram afroliage link marchellfarrell.com

Uprooting

From the Caribbean to the Countryside – Finding Home in an English Country Garden

MARCHELLE FARRELL

Winner of the Nan Shepherd Prize, moving between Trinidad and an idyllic English country garden, this lyrical and reflective book is about the search for home

What is home? It is a question that has troubled Marchelle Farrell for her entire life. Years ago, following in the footsteps of the Black diaspora, she left behind the emerald hills of Trinidad. Now she moves again for the peaceful surroundings of the English countryside.

These relocations at first appear as opportunity. But when placed against a worldwide pandemic and ongoing racial protests, the trauma and upheaval of colonialism that have inexorably led her to this house and garden begin to be unearthed. Is this home? And can she ever feel grounded here?

A psychiatrist and specialist in talking therapies, Marchelle attempts to unpack this complex and emotional question while she tends to her new garden. Through her care for its unusual flora and fauna, she discovers that her two apparently conflicting identities are far more intertwined than she realised.

Full of hope and healing, Uprooting is a book that in an unsettled world aims to find safety, stability and a sense of belonging in an English country garden.

3 August 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 288pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838858674

Ebook £13.59

9781838858681

Audiobook £20.99

9781838858698

Rights: W

Rachel Connolly was born in 1993 in Belfast and splits her time between London and her hometown. As a journalist, she has written for the New York Times, the Guardian, the Baffler, the Financial Times and many other publications. She has also featured as a guest to discuss her work on This American Life and several BBC radio programmes.

twitter RachelConnoll14

Lazy City

RACHEL CONNOLLY

An electrifying debut set in Northern Ireland exploring dysfunctional relationships, love and heartbreak as a young woman grieves the loss of her best friend

Following the death of her best friend, Erin has to get out of London. Returning home to Belfast, an au pair job provides a partial refuge from her grief and her volatile relationship with her mother. She spends late nights at the bar where her old friend Declan works, and there Erin meets an American academic who is also looking to get lost. Her unlikely, secretive relationship with religion offers a different kind of sanctuary altogether.

Lazy City explores coming of age in a place where everyone is picking up the pieces and belongs to a generation that, at the precipice of climate crisis, isn’t going to get the future it was expecting. A startlingly fresh and original voice –jarringly funny, sometimes cranky, often hungover – Rachel Connolly sharply depicts the strange, meandering aftermath that follows disaster.

3 August 2023

Hardback Fiction 304pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838859664

Ebook £11.99

9781838859701

Export TPB £14.99

9781838859671

Audiobook 20.99

9781838859688

Rights: UKCWxC,neEU

Photo © Harry Mitchell

James Crawford is an acclaimed historian, publisher and broadcaster.

Born in Shetland in 1978, he studied History and Philosophy of Law at the University of Edinburgh and for over a decade he worked for and researched Scotland’s National Collection of architecture and archaeology. He is the author of Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of the World’s Greatest Lost Buildings, which was shortlisted for best non-fiction book at the Saltire Literary Awards, and he has scripted and presented three series of the landmark BBC One documentary Scotland from the Sky.

twitter Jdcrawf link jamescrawford.space

The Edge of the Plain How Borders Make and Break Our World

JAMES CRAWFORD

Blending history, travel and reportage, this is a wide-ranging journey through the history of borders and an examination of their role in shaping our world today

No matter where you turn, it seems that the taut lines of borders are vibrating to – or even calling – the tune of global events.

Today, there are more borders in the world than ever before in human history. Beginning with the earliest known example, Crawford travels to many borders old and new: from a melting glacial landscape to the conflict-torn West Bank and the fault-lines of the US/Mexico border. He follows the story of borders into our fragile and uncertain future – towards the virtual frontiers of the internet and the shifting geography of a world beset by climate change.

As nationalism, climate change, globalisation, technology and mass migration all collide with ever-hardening borders, something has to give. And Crawford asks, is it time to let go of the lines that divide us?

3 August 2023

Paperback Non-fiction 432pp

B-fmt PB £10.99

9781838852061

Ebook £8.79

9781838852047

Audiobook £30

9781838852054

Rights: WxEinUS,C

Amanda Thomson is a Scottish writer and visual artist, and a lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art. Her first book, A Scots Dictionary of Nature, was published in 2018. She has spoken at many book festivals and had her work published in Antlers of Water, Willowherb Review, The Wild Isles, Gifts of Gravity and Light and the Guardian. She lives and works in Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands and Glasgow.

twitter passingplace link passingplace.com

Belonging

Natural histories of place, identity and home

AMANDA THOMSON

Reflections on family, history, identity, place and nature, from acclaimed writer and artist Amanda Thomson

‘Outstanding’ Robert Macfarlane

‘A book that digs deep . . . Vivid’ Herald

‘Quiet and beautiful and powerful’ Alys Fowler

LONGLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE 2022

Reflecting on family, identity and nature, belonging is a personal memoir about what it is to have and make a home. It is a love letter to nature, especially the northern landscapes of Scotland and the Scots pinewoods of Abernethy.

Beautifully written and featuring Amanda Thomson’s artwork and photography throughout, it creatively explores how place, language and family shape us and make us who we are. It is a book about how we are held in thrall to elements of our past, it speaks to the importance of attention and reflection, and will encourage us all to look and observe and ask questions of ourselves.

3 August 2023

Paperback Non-fiction 320pp

B-fmt PB £10.99

9781838854744

Ebook £8.79

9781838854737

Audiobook £25

9781838854751

Rights: W

Born in 1999, Rin Usami is a university student and writer. Her debut novel Kaka won the Bungei Prize and the Mishima Yukio Prize. Her second novel Oshi, Moyu / Idol, Burning won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 2020 and has become a phenomenon, selling over 500,000 copies in Japan alone. She lives in Japan.

Asa Yoneda is a literary translator based in Bristol, UK, whose work includes The Lonesome Bodybuilder by Yukiko Motoya and Dead-End Memories by Banana Yoshimoto.

Idol, Burning

RIN USAMI

TRANSLATED BY ASA YONEDA

A bestselling and award-winning Japanese phenomenon – about obsession, pop culture and fandom

WINNER OF THE AKUTAGAWA PRIZE

‘Usami so successfully depicts the consequences of pure obsession’ Guardian

‘Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what it is like to be a teenage girl’ Catherine Prasifka

High-school student Akari has only one passion in her life: her oshi, her idol. His name is Masaki Ueno, best known as one-fifth of Japanese pop group Maza Maza. Akari’s dedication to her oshi consumes her days completely – until he disgraces himself and Akari’s world goes into a tailspin.

3 August 2023

Paperback Fiction 144pp

B-fmt PB £9.99

9781838856137

Ebook £7.99

9781838856144

Audiobook £20.99

9781838856151

Rights: UKCWxC,neEU

10 August 2023

Hardback Fiction 384pp

Demy Octavo HB £18.99

9781805300489

Ebook £14.39

9781805300502

Export TPB £14.99

9781805300496

Audiobook £25

9781805300519

Rights: UKCWxC,neEU

Family Lore

ELIZABETH ACEVEDO

A huge-hearted novel about three generations of women preparing for a living wake – the debut adult novel from the National Book Award-winning poet and YA author of The Poet X

The Marte women are preparing for a gathering that will change their lives for ever.

Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides to host her own living wake – bringing together her family and community to celebrate her long life – her sisters Matilde, Pastora and Camila are concerned. What has she foreseen?

But Flor isn’t the only one with a secret. Matilde has tried to hide the extent of her husband’s infidelity for years, and now must confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora –always on a mission to solve her sisters’ problems – needs to come to terms with her past. And Camila, the youngest sibling, has decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted. Alongside their struggles, the next generation of Marte women face their own tumult of family obligations, infertility and heartache.

Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the intertwining stories of these sisters and cousins, mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, to ask the ultimate question: what does it take to live a good life, for yourself and those you love?

Elizabeth Acevedo is a DominicanAmerican National Poetry Slam Champion and New York Times bestselling author. She is the author of the young adult novels The Poet X, With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land The Poet X is a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award Winner, Carnegie Medal winner and has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. She was selected by The Poetry Foundation as the Young People’s Poet Laureate of 2022.

twitter instagram acevedowrites link acevedowrites.com

Photo © Denzel Golatt

24 August 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 384pp

Demy Octavo HB £18.99

9781805300588

Ebook £15.19

9781805300595

Audiobook £25

9781805300601

Rights: W/E

O Brother

JOHN NIVEN

A memoir that is by turns heart-breaking and hilarious, O Brother evokes a working-class childhood of the 1970s and 80s and tries to answer the questions of guilt, culpability and regret that often haunt the survivors of suicide

John Niven’s little brother Gary was fearless, popular, stubborn, handsome, hilarious and sometimes terrifying. In 2010, after years of chaotic struggle against the world, he took his own life at the age of 42.

Hoping for the best while often witnessing the worst, John, his younger sister Linda and their mother, Jeanette, saw the darkest fears they had for Gary played out in drug deals, prison and bankruptcy. While his life spiralled downward and the love the Nivens’ shared was tested to its limit, John drifted into his own trouble in the music industry, a world where excess was often a marker of success.

Tracking the lives of two brothers in changing times –from illicit cans of lager in 70s sitting rooms to mountains of Class-A drugs in 90s warehouse raves – O Brother is a tender, affecting and often uproariously funny story. It is about the bonds of family and how we try to keep the finest of those we lose alive. It is about black sheep and what it takes to break the ties that bind. Fundamentally it is about how families survive suicide, ‘that last cry, from the saddest outpost’.

John Niven is the author of eleven books, including Kill Your Friends, The Second Coming and Straight White Male

As a screenwriter his credits include The Trip, Kill Your Friends and How to Build a Girl. O Brother is his first non-fiction book.

twitter estellecostanza

N.S. Nuseibeh is a British-Palestinian doctoral student at Oxford University, born and raised in East Jerusalem. She moved to Scotland at age eighteen to study Philosophy and Literature, during which time she worked at the Golden Hare bookshop, wrote for Bustle, ran creative writing events for her university peers, and interned in Canongate’s publicity department. After graduating, she moved to London and worked in publishing for a couple of years, before going back to education. Nuseibeh’s interests include issues around identity, ethics, inequality and education. She has previously written for the Atlantic and has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize.

twitter ZNuseibeh

Namesake Reflections on A Warrior Woman

N.S. NUSEIBEH

A collection of essays exploring what it means to be a young secular Muslim woman today, as well as reflections on her ancestor, the only woman warrior to have fought alongside the Prophet

I may not be brave enough, but somewhere deep inside of me there is, perhaps, the kernel of someone who is.

That brave someone was the legendary Nusayba Bint Ka’ab al Kazrajiah, who fought alongside the Prophet Muhammad at the dawn of Islam, the author N.S Nuseibeh’s ancestor. In drawing on Nusayba’s stories, Nuseibeh delves into the experience of being an Arab woman today and in the distant past – taking her from superheroes and the glorification of violence to the rise of Arab feminism, to what courage looks like in the context of interminable conflict. By seeking to understand her namesake in the context of her own twentyfirst century concerns, Nuseibeh links our current ideas of Muslims and Arabs with their origins, exploring myth-making and identity, religion and nationhood, feminism and race.

As intimate as they are thoughtful, these linked essays offer a dazzling exploration of heritage, gender and the idea of home, while also showing how connecting with our history can help us understand ourselves and others today.

24 August 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 256pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838852634

Ebook £13.59

9781838852658

Rights: W

Photo © Catherine Ramsey

Caro Ramsay was born and brought up in Glasgow, and now lives in a village on the west coast of Scotland. She is an osteopath, acupuncturist and former marathon runner, who devotes much of her time to the complementary treatment of injured wildlife at a local rescue centre. She is the author of thirteen previous Anderson & Costello thrillers and one standalone novel of psychological suspense. This is the first DCI Christine Caplan thriller.

The Devil Stone

CARO RAMSAY

A macabre massacre of a wealthy family brings DCI Christine Caplan to the Highlands in her first thriller in a new series

‘[A] dark, suspenseful and atmospheric thriller starring a charismatic heroine’ Booklist

‘Fans of contemporary British police procedurals will want to have a look’ Publishers Weekly

In the village of Cronchie, a wealthy family are found brutally murdered. The Devil Stone, an heirloom rumoured to bring death if removed from their home, is the only thing stolen. The key suspects are known satanists. But when the investigating officer disappears, DCI Christine Caplan is pulled in to investigate.

Caplan knows she is being punished for a minor misdemeanour when she is seconded to the Highlands, but she’s confident she can quickly solve the murders and return home to her fractious family. But as she closes in on the truth, it is suddenly her life, not her career, that is in danger.

31 August 2023

Paperback Fiction 288pp

B-fmt PB £9.99

9781838858889

Ebook £7.99

9781838858896

Audiobook £20.99

9781838858902

Rights: W

Shane McCrae’s most recent books are The Gilded Auction Block and Sometimes I Never Suffered. He has received a Whiting Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Lannan Literary Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University.

Pulling the Chariot of the Sun

A Memoir of a Kidnapping

SHANE MCCRAE

An unforgettable memoir of a mixed-race child kidnapped and raised by his white supremacist grandparents

When Shane McCrae was eighteen months old, he was removed from his parents and taken to suburban Texas. His mom was white and his dad was Black, and to hide his Blackness from him, his maternal grandparents stole him. In the years that followed, they manipulated and controlled him, believing they were doing what was best for him. His grandmother loved Shane and hated people who looked like him. His grandfather was the sort of man who policed any perceived signs of Blackness his grandson showed. In their house, Blackness would always be the worst thing about him.

Pulling the Chariot of the Sun is a revelatory account of what it can mean to be Black in America, written with virtuosity and heart by one of the finest poets writing today. This memoir offers acute insight into the larger story of a people stolen from their homes, dominated by white supremacy and lied to about their own history. And it illuminates how we all might be made whole again, through a tireless search for the truth and the joyful pursuit of what we love.

7 September 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 272pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838854195

Ebook £13.59

9781838854201

Audiobook £20.99

9781838854218

Rights: UKCWxC,eEU

twitter instagram akasomeguy

Peter Foster is the public policy editor of the Financial Times. His brief is to cover all aspects of UK policy, including the implementation of Brexit, the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and the economic agendas of the Rishi Sunak government. He joined the Financial Times in April 2020 from the Telegraph Media Group where he had held the position of Europe editor since 2015, focusing on the Brexit negotiations. He has more than two decades of experience covering global affairs from all sides of the world. What Went Wrong with Brexit? is his first book.

twitter pmdfoster

What Went Wrong With Brexit?

And What We Can Do About It

PETER FOSTER

A clear-eyed, hard-hitting look at the real costs of Brexit from the Financial Times public policy editor

Brexit divided Britain. For many it wasn’t simply about economics, it was about ‘taking back control’, about some non-specific idea of sovereignty. But six years later the real effects of Brexit are being clearly seen. And questions need to be asked as to whether it lived up to any of the promises made, and to count the real cost of leaving the EU.

The reality is that the ‘Global Britain’ we have been promised has not been delivered. Brexit has damaged the prospect for UK trade and inward investment into the UK. The trade deals we were promised never materialized. The muchvaunted end of red tape has, in reality, meant vast numbers of companies having to go back to the drawing board on creating new regulations and standards before they can start to trade with Europe again. Our exports have suffered. Trade with the EU is now 10% more expensive than it was before Brexit. By the end of the decade average wages for UK workers will be £470 worse than they would have been had we not left. Already the earnings of the UK’s middle classes are slipping far behind their European peers. And the political fallout continues; all the main political parties are now aligned with making Brexit better, no-one is yet prepared to say ‘perhaps it was a massive mistake’.

What has really happened? What are the options going forward? These are the questions Peter Foster answers in What Went Wrong with Brexit.

7 September 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 160pp

Demy Octavo HB £14.99

9781805301257

Ebook £11.99

9781805301318

Audiobook £20.99

9781805301325

Rights: W

Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural and data scientist. She has held a number of senior academic positions in US and UK universities for over 15 years and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is the author of three non-fiction books and a book for young children. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, Prospect, Forbes, BBC Science Focus, Scientific American and New Scientist amongst others, and her essays have appeared in several literary magazines. Pragya has given keynote talks around the world: she is a two-time TEDx speaker, a TEDx Women organiser and the founder of a research think-tank The 50 Percent Project.

twitter instagram DrPragyaAgarwal link drpragyaagarwal.com

7 September 2023

Paperback Non-fiction 464pp

Hysterical

Exploding the Myth of Gendered Emotions

PRAGYA AGARWAL

An urgent exploration of how the gendering of emotions came about, and what we can do to change these damaging stereotypes, by award-winning behavioural and data scientist Dr Prayga Agarwal

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022

AN iNEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2022

A TELEGRAPH BIG IDEAS BOOK 2022

How we interpret emotions and act on them has been heavily gendered, as far back as Ancient Greek and Roman times, and – despite improvements in societal equality –continues to be today.

In Hysterical, Dr Pragya Agarwal delves into history and science to determine the truth about our notions of innate differences between the male and female experience of emotions. She examines the impact this has on men and women – especially the role it has played in the subjugation of women throughout history – and imagines how a future where emotions are ungendered might look.

B-fmt PB £10.99

9781838853235

Ebook £8.79

9781838853242

Audiobook £30

9781838853259

Rights: UKCWxC,neEU

Also by Pragya Agarwal (M)otherhood £9.99 (9781838853211)

Doon Mackichan is a hugely beloved actor, comedian and writer. Her comedy credits include Two Doors Down, Plebs (for which she was nominated for a BAFTA), Toast Of London, On The Hour, The Day Today, Brass Eye, Alan Partridge and the Emmy-winning Smack the Pony among numerous other shows. My Lady Parts is her debut.

My Lady Parts A Life in Stereotypes

DOON MACKICHAN

A smart and fiercely feminist memoir from beloved comedian and actor Doon Mackichan

I want to encourage people to be the ‘difficult’ one, the one that calls it out, the one that challenges, the one that does it differently. Don’t be good, don’t be quiet; rules must be broken because until women are equal, society will be broken.

Actor and comedian Doon Mackichan will do pretty much anything for a laugh, but there are a lot of things she absolutely will not do: her principled feminism has characterised her whole career. Both the parts she’s refused to take and the roles in life she’s been forced to play make up this fierce and original actor’s memoir.

Through a mash-up of roles played on screen and in theatre running alongside roles played in life, Doon looks at the stories that we are telling in a culture that profoundly diminishes our power as women, and asks: how do we hold our heads up without fear and say no to the roles that objectify us?

It is about standing up with courage and saying that vulnerability is okay, but being made a victim is not. It is about one’s choices in an industry that continually wants you to ‘drop the towel’ and reflects on the implications such attitudes have for future generations.

21 September 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 304pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838856366

Ebook £13.59

9781838856373

Audiobook £25

9781838856380

Rights: W

Photo © Ben Meadows

7 September 2023

Printed Paper Cased Poetry 176pp

A-fmt PPC £12.99

9781805301134

Ebook £10.39

9781805301141

Rights: W

Photo © Aida Muluneh

Let the Light Pour In

LEMN SISSAY

An uplifting poetry collection from the number one bestselling poet, Lemn Sissay

OBE

‘How do you do it?’ said night ‘How do you wake up and shine?’

‘I keep it simple,’ said light ‘One day at a time.’

For the past decade, Lemn Sissay has composed a short poem as dawn breaks each morning. Life-affirming, witty and full of wonder, these poems chronicle his own battle with the darkness and are fuelled with resilience and defiant joy. Let the Light Pour In is a collection of the best of these poems and a book celebrating his morning practice. It is Lemn’s first book for adults since his number one bestselling memoir My Name is Why.

Lemn Sissay is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer and broadcaster. He has authored collections of poetry and plays and his memoir My Name Is Why was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. His Landmark poems are visible in London, Manchester, Huddersfield and Addis Ababa. He has been made an Honorary Doctor by the universities of Manchester, Kent, Essex, Huddersfield and Brunel, and in 2019 he was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize. He received an MBE in 2010 and an OBE in 2021 for services to literature and charity. He is Chancellor of the University of Manchester. He is British and Ethiopian.

twitter lemnsissay link lemnsissay.com instagram sissaylemn

Also by Lemn Sissay My Name is Why £10.99 (9781786892362) The Fire People £10.99 (9781838855338) Gold From the Stone £9.99 (9781782119456)

5 October 2023

Printed Paper Cased Non-fiction 416pp

Other PPC £25

9781805300878

Ebook £20

9781805300885

Audiobook £30

9781805300892

Rights: W/E

A History of Women in 101 Objects A walk through female history

ANNABELLE HIRSCH

TRANSLATED BY ELEANOR UPDEGRAFF

A vital and beautiful collection that tells a feminist history through a hundred and one objects, some remarkable and others everyday

‘A new feminist history of the world . . . Stirring, provocative and carefully researched’ Lauren Elkin

‘A fantastic cabinet of curiosities. Educational, funny –a joy!’ Leïla Slimani

Discover the hidden history of women through this fascinating collection celebrating everyday, intimate objects.

What do handprints on early cave paintings tell us about the role of women in hunting? What does a mobile phone have to do with femicides? Or Kim Kardashian’s diamond ring with Elena Ferrante? Annabelle Hirsch curates a compendium of women and their things, uncovering the thoughts and feelings at the heart of women’s daily lives in this intimate and lively alternative history. From a hunger strike medal to a bidet, the Amazon rainforest to the plantations of South Carolina, Simone de Beauvoir to Beyoncé, this is the story of women as never seen before.

Annabelle Hirsch, born in 1986, has German and French roots. She studied art history, dramatics and philosophy in Munich and Paris, and worked as a freelance journalist for FAS, FAZ and ZeitOnline, and several other magazines. She writes short stories and translates French literature. She lives in Paris, Rome and Berlin.

Photo © Tanja Kernweiss

5 October 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 272pp

Royal Octavo HB £20

9781805300038

Ebook £15.99

9781805300045

Rights: W

The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews

EDITED BY ADAM BILES

An illuminating collection of interviews between the prestigious Shakespeare and Company and the best writers of our time

Shakespeare and Company, Paris, is one of the world’s most iconic and beautiful bookshops. Located on the banks of the Seine, opposite Notre-Dame, it’s long been a meeting place for anglophone writers and readers.

In that tradition, determined for the bookshop to remain a place of meaningful and transformative conversation, owner Sylvia Whitman developed a readings programme. More recently this has been curated and hosted by Adam Biles, novelist and the bookshop’s literary director. He has conducted several hundred interviews with writers, ranging from prize-winning novelists to visionary non-fiction writers.

The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews is a selection of the best of these interviews from the last decade, each introduced by Biles. The beautiful hardback will be packed with warmth, sensitivity and humour; it’s a celebration of the greatest writers of our age and an insight into the lives and thoughts behind some of today’s most talked-about books.

Featuring an introduction by Sylvia Whitman.

Adam Biles is an English writer and translator based in Paris. He is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company, from where he hosts their weekly podcast, and where he curated the podcast series Friends of Shakespeare and Company Read Ulysses. Feeding Time, his first novel, was published by Galley Beggar Press and was a book of the year for the Observer and Irish Times. It was published by Editions Grasset in France in 2018 to great critical acclaim. His second novel Beasts of England, an anarchic sequel to Orwell’s Animal Farm, will be published by Galley Beggar Press next year.

Ray Shell has lived in the UK for the past thirty years and is currently based in Brighton. He is an established actor, a playwright and the Creative Director of London’s Giant Olive Theatre Co.

twitter Rayshell

Iced RAY SHELL

A searing work of modern fiction tracing a man’s decline into the depths of addiction

‘The man writes beautifully . . . heartbreaking’ Maya Angelou

‘Extraordinary’ Lenny Henry

‘Brilliantly written’ Ewan McGregor

Taking the form of a diary, Iced charts the life of forty-fouryear-old Cornelius Washington. Initially brimming with talent and ambition, his dabbles with drugs as a young man gradually turn into a destructive addiction.

Moving between the harsh realities of his present and the adventures and upheavals of his past, as Cornelius encounters a host of characters both intriguing and terrifying, Iced is at once a shocking account of the addict’s life, and a compelling and often uplifting tale of human love and loss.

Published with an afterword by the author on its 30th anniversary.

5 October 2023

Paperback Fiction 304pp

B-fmt PB £10.99

9781838859961

Ebook £8.79

9781838859978

Audiobook £20.99

9781838859985

Rights: WxEinUS,C

Michel Faber is the award-winning author of seven novels, three shortstory collections and a poetry book. In addition to the Whitbread-shortlisted Under the Skin, he is the author of the highly acclaimed The Crimson Petal and the White and The Book of Strange New Things, which was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and won the Saltire Book of the Year Award. Born in Holland, brought up in Australia, he now lives in the UK.

Listen On Music, Sound and Us

MICHEL FABER

An enlightening, thoughtful and witty exploration into how and why we listen to music, from the award-winning author

Michel Faber

‘Faber’s writing is so dizzyingly accomplished’ Guardian

‘I’m not here to change your mind about Dusty Springfield or Shostakovich or Tupac Shakur or synthpop. I’m here to change your mind about your mind.’

There are countless books on music with much analysis given to musicians, bands, eras and/or genres. But rarely does a book delve into what’s going on inside us when we listen.

Michel Faber explores two big questions: how do we listen to music and why do we listen to music? To answer these questions, he considers a range of factors, which includes age, illness, the notion of ‘cool’, commerce, the dichotomy between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ taste and much more.

From the award-winning author of The Crimson Petal and the White and Under the Skin, this idiosyncratic and philosophical book reflects Michel Faber’s lifelong obsession with music of all kinds. Listen will change your relationship with the heard world.

Also by Michel Faber

Under the Skin £9.99 (9781786890528)

Undying £9.99 (9781782118565)

Some Rain Must Fall and Other Stories £9.99 (9781782117162)

19 October 2023

Hardback Non-fiction 368pp

Royal Octavo HB £20

9781838858407

Ebook £15.99

9781838858414

Audiobook £30

9781838858421

Rights: WxEinUS,C

2 November 2023

Hardback Fiction 208pp

Demy Octavo HB £16.99

9781838859329

Ebook £13.59

9781838859336

Audiobook £20.99

9781838859343

Rights: UKCWxC,IRE,neEU

This Plague of Souls

MIKE MCCORMACK

The new novel from the prize-winning author of Solar Bones exploring judgement, penance, loss and recovery

How do you rebuild the world?

How do you put it back together?

After the collapse of his trial, Nealon returns to his family home in Ireland for the first time in a few years, only to be greeted by an empty home. No heat or light, no sign of his wife or child anywhere. It seems the world has forgotten that he even existed, except for one mysterious caller.

The unnamed caller is omniscient, bearing all knowledge surrounding Nealon’s trial and even claims to know about Nealon’s family – where they are and what happened to them since his arrest. All Nealon needs to do is talk with him. But in the shadow of an unfolding terrorist attack, simply exchanging ideas could land Nealon in the same trouble he was in years ago, tangled in the same crimes he claimed to be innocent of.

Part roman noir, part metaphysical thriller This Plague of Souls is a story for these fractured times, dealing with how we might mend the world and the story of a man who would let the world go to hell if he could keep his family together.

Mike McCormack is an award-winning novelist and short story writer from Mayo. His previous work includes Getting it in the Head (1996), Notes from a Coma (2005), which was shortlisted for BGE Irish Novel of the Year, and Forensic Songs (2012). In 1996 he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature for Getting it in the Head and in 2007 he was awarded a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship. In 2016, Solar Bones won the Goldsmiths Prize and was BGE Irish Book of the Year, and in 2017 was longlisted for the Man Booker prize.

Also by Mike McCormack Solar Bones £8.99 (97381786891297) Getting it in the Head £9.99 (9781786891396) Notes from a Coma £9.99 (9781786891419)

Noo Saro-Wiwa was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and raised in England. She attended King’s College London and Columbia University in New York and is an author and journalist. Her first book, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria, was published in 2012. In the same year, it was named Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year, nominated by the Financial Times as one of the best travel books and included as one of the 10 Best Contemporary Books on Africa by the Guardian. It was shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award in 2013 and won the Albatros Travel Literature Prize in 2016.

twitter noosarowiwa link noosarowiwa.com instagram noo.saro.wiwa

Black Ghosts A Journey Into the Lives of Africans in China

NOO SARO-WIWA

The travel memoir of a Nigerian woman in China exploring the intersections and divides between the two cultures and the lives of African economic migrants in the bustling People’s Republic

China today is both a land of opportunity for Africans, South Americans and other non-Westerners blocked from commerce with most of Europe and Northern America, and an intersection of racism and prejudice.

Noo Saro-Wiwa goes in search of China’s ‘Black Ghosts’, African economic migrants in the People’s Republic, who live in separate communities and are vigorously involved in the trade between the continents. Her fascinating encounters include a Ghanaian cardiac surgeon, a drug dealer, a visa overstayer, a Nigerian popstar who sings in Chinese and men married to Chinese women who speak English with Nigerian accents.

2 November 2023

Trade Paperback Non-fiction 272pp

Demy Octavo TPB £14.99

9781838856946

Ebook £11.99

9781838856953

Audiobook £25

9781838856960

Rights: W

Derek Owusu is a writer, poet and podcaster from North London. In 2016 he joined the multi-award-winning literature podcast Mostly Lit. He also produced the well-received This Is Spoke podcast for Penguin Random House and Freemantle Media. His essay on Black men and insecurities was the secondmost-read article on Media Diversified in 2018, and his essay on language was picked up by BBC Newsnight to be turned into a short documentary. In 2019 Derek collated, edited and contributed to Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space. His debut novel, That Reminds Me, won the Desmond Elliott Prize.

twitter DerekVsOwusu

Losing the Plot

DEREK OWUSU

A vital and honest book exploring the pain of the immigrant experience and the turmoil it can carry across generations, from the winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize

‘A highly enigmatic, affectionate and robustly written portrayal of a mother-son relationship . . . very relatable’ Diana Evans

Driven by a deep-seated desire to understand his mother’s life before he was born, Derek Owusu offers a powerful imagining of her journey. As she moves from Ghana to the UK and navigates parenthood in a strange and often lonely environment, the effects of displacement are felt across generations.

Told through the eyes of both mother and son, Losing the Plot is at once emotionally raw and playful as Owusu experiments with form to piece together the immigrant experience and explore how the stories we share and tell ourselves are just as vital as the ones we don’t.

2 November 2023

Paperback Fiction 160pp

B-fmt PB £8.99

9781838855642

Ebook £7.19

9781838855635

Rights: W

Meron Hadero is an EthiopianAmerican who was born in Addis Ababa and came to the US via Germany as a young child. Meron’s short stories have won the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, and appear in Best American Short Stories, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, 40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology and others. She was a contributor to The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Live and has been published in the New York Times. Meron holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan, a JD from Yale Law School (Washington State Bar) and a BA in history from Princeton with a certificate in American studies.

twitter meronhadero link meronhadero.com

A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times

MERON HADERO

A poignant and compelling collection of short stories about those whose lives have been marked by the risk of displacement, from the winner of the AKO Caine Prize

‘These stories unfold with an intensifying power, each of them a testament to what’s possible when we move through this world insisting on the potential of hope and love’ Maaza Mengiste

An enterprising young man on the verge of losing his home in Addis Ababa pursues an improbable opportunity to turn his life around. A woman visiting her country of origin for the first time finds that an ordinary object opens up an unexpected, complex bridge between worlds. An intergenerational friendship forms between two refugees living in Iowa who have connections to Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Kaleidoscopic, powerful and illuminative, the stories in A Down Home Meal for These Difficult Times expand our understanding of the essential and universal need for connection and the vital refuge of home.

7 December 2023

Paperback Fiction 224pp

B-fmt PB £9.99

9781838858933

Ebook £7.99

9781838858926

Rights: UKCWxC,eEU

‘Witty and wistful, complex and heartbreaking’ Brit Bennett

Claudia Hammond is an awardwinning writer and broadcaster. She is a professor of Psychology at the University of Sussex and the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind. She has been awarded the President’s Medal from the British Academy, the British Psychological Society’s Public Engagement & Media Award, Mind’s Making a Difference Award and the British Neuroscience Association’s Public Understanding of Neuroscience Award. She is the author of four books, one of which won the Aeon Transmission Award and the BPS’ Best Popular Science Book Award.

twitter claudiahammond instagram claudia_hammond_ link claudiahammond.com tiktok claudiahammondauthor

The Keys to Kindness

How to be Kinder to Yourself, Others and the World

CLAUDIA HAMMOND

A deep-dive into kindness, the science behind it and how we can better build it into our lives, from the author of The Art of Rest

You are kinder than you think, but we could all be kinder still – with enormous benefits for our personal mental health and wellbeing.

In The Keys to Kindness Claudia Hammond draws on the latest research from psychology and neuroscience, and her work in collaboration with the University of Sussex and the BBC, including the largest global survey ever undertaken into attitudes to kindness. She takes us on an eye-opening tour of kindness and sets out a prescription for a kinder life that you can adapt to your own circumstances, and explains how to use this guidance for ourselves, others and the world.

21 December 2023

Paperback Non-fiction 288pp

B-fmt PB £10.99

9781838854485

Ebook £8.79

9781838854461

Also by Claudia Hammond

The Art of Rest £9.99 (9781786892829) Mind Over Money £9.99 (9781782112068)

Audiobook £20.99

9781838854478

Rights: W

From the great Margaret Drabble

Dame Margaret Drabble has been an editor, biographer and memoirist, but it is her novels that have made her one of the most celebrated writers of her generation. With effortlessly sublime prose, wit and nuance they explore the complexities of experience, relationships and womanhood.

SALLY ROONEY

Dame Margaret Drabble was born in Sheffield in 1939. She is the author of nineteen highly acclaimed novels. She has also written biographies, screenplays and was the editor of the Oxford Companion to English Literature She was appointed CBE in 1980, and made DBE in the 2008 Honours list. She was also awarded the 2011 Golden PEN Award for a Lifetime’s Distinguished Service to Literature. She is married to the biographer Michael Holroyd.

‘I have learned so much from Margaret Drabble’s work. Her prose is very beautiful, very funny, and at the same time very serious. Novels like The Millstone and Jerusalem the Golden have helped me to understand what great writing can be’

Photo © Ruth Corney

THE DARK FLOOD RISES

9781782118336 £9.99

JERUSALEM THE GOLDEN

9781838857141 £9.99

THE MILLSTONE

9781838857134 £9.99

A NATURAL CURIOSITY

9781838859718 £9.99

THE NEEDLE’S EYE

9781838857172 £10.99

THE PATTERN IN THE CARPET

9781786899712 £10.99

THE PEPPERED MOTH

9781838857165 £10.99

THE PURE GOLD BABY

9781782111122 £9.99

THE RADIANT WAY

9781838857196 £10.99

THE RED QUEEN

9781838859749 £9.99

THE SEA LADY

9781838859725 £9.99

A SUMMER BIRD-CAGE

9781838857110 £9.99

Neither Wolf Nor Dog

From My Father

A Short History Of Myth

Ocean Sea

There Are Little Kingdoms

The Foot of Clive *

A Fortunate Man

The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones

A Confederate General From Big Sur

of Babylon

The Hawkline Monster

of the Lawn

So the Wind Won’t Blow

People Of The Sea

and Keepers

to Save a Life

Recent Favourites

THE CREATIVE ACT

Rick Rubin

9781838858636 £25

THE FIRE PEOPLE

Lemn Sissay

9781838855420 £16.99

THE CIRCLE BREAKERS

Patience Agbabi

9781838855796 £7.99

THE SECOND CUT

Louise Welsh

9781838850890 £9.99

FAITH, HOPE AND CARNAGE

Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan

9781838857684 £10.99

THE NIGHT SHIP

Jess Kidd

9781838856540 £9.99

HOMELANDS

Chitra Ramaswamy

9781838852696 £10.99

THE EXPECTATION EFFECT

David Robson

9781838853303 £10.99

THE BOOK OF FORM AND EMPTINESS

Ruth Ozeki

9781838855277 £9.99

THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE

Gu Byeong-mo

9781838856458 £9.99

All-time Bestsellers

MY NAME IS WHY

Lemn Sissay

9781786892362 £10.99

THE GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS

Tan Twan Eng

9781786893895 £9.99

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

Matt Haig

9781786892737 £8.99

LIFE OF PI

Yann Martel

9781786891686 £9.99

THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE

Michel Faber

9781782114413 £10.99

THE ART OF REST

Claudia Hammond

9781786892829 £9.99

THE LIVING MOUNTAIN

Nan Shepherd

9781786897350 £14.99

DRIVE

Daniel H. Pink

9781786891709 £10.99

S.

J.J. Abrams, Doug Dorst

9780857864772 £40

SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT

Samin Nosrat

9781782112303 £36

Vol. 1: 1950–1952 9781847670311

Vol. 2: 1953–1954 9781847670328

Vol. 3: 1955–1956 9781847670755

Vol. 4: 1957–1958 9781847670762

Vol. 5: 1959–1960 9781847671493

Vol. 6: 1961–1962 9781847671509

Vol. 7: 1963–1964 9781847678140

Vol. 8: 1965–1966 9781847678157

Vol. 9: 1967–1968 9780857862136

Vol. 10: 1969–1970 9780857862143

Vol. 11: 1971–1972 9780857864079

Vol. 12: 1973–1974 9780857864086

Vol. 13: 1975–1976 9781782110996

Vol. 14: 1977–1978 9781782111009

Vol. 15: 1979–1980 9781782111016

Vol. 16: 1981–1982 9781782111023

Vol. 17: 1983–1984 9781782115106

Vol. 18: 1985–1986 9781782115151

Vol. 19: 1987–1988 9781782115168

Vol. 20: 1989–1990 9781782115175

Vol. 21: 1991–1992 9781782115182

Vol. 22: 1993–1994 9781782115199

Vol. 23: 1995–1996 9781782115205

Vol. 24: 1997–1998 9781782115212

Vol. 25: 1999–2000 9781782115229

Vol. 26: 1950–2000 9781782119739

ALL HARDBACK, £20

Life Lessons from Lucy 9781782113119

The Genius of Charlie Brown 9781782113096

The Philosophy of Snoopy 9781782111139

The Wisdom of Woodstock 9781782113102

Life According to Linus 9781782113713

The Predicaments of Peppermint Patty 9781782113621*

The Peanuts Guide to Happiness 9781782113652

The Peanuts Guide to Love 9781782113737*

The Peanuts Guide to Christmas 9781782113676

The Peanuts Guide to Brothers and Sisters 9781782113690*

The Peanuts Guide to Friendship 9781782113751

ALL HARDBACK, £8.99 EXCEPT * £7.99

The Bumper Book of Peanuts

Paperback £14.99

9781782119449

How to be a Grrrl

Paperback £7.99

9781782113614

Peanuts for the Soul Hardback £9.99

9781786890696

TRADE ORDERS & AUTHORISED RETURNS

The Book Service Ltd (TBS)

Frating Green, Colchester, Essex CO7 7DW 01206 256060 www.thebookservice.co.uk

Grantham Book Services (GBS) Trent Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 7XQ 01476 541000

CANONGATE HEAD OFFICE

Edinburgh 0131 557 5111 London 020 746 70840

Sasha Cox Senior UK Sales Manager Sasha.Cox@canongate.co.uk

Nadine Luchsinger Operations and Data Analytics Manager Nadine.Luchsinger@canongate.co.uk

Graeme Greenfield Sales Operations Assistant graeme.greenfield@canongate.co.uk

Joanna Lord Sales Director

Joanna.Lord@canongate.co.uk

Gaia Poggiogalli Senior Audio and Digital Executive Gaia.Poggiogalli@canongate.co.uk

Steph Scott Head of International Sales Steph.Scott@canongate.co.uk

Rebecca Scott Sales Assistant rebecca.scott@canongate.co.uk

Anna Frame Publicity Director Anna.Frame@canongate.co.uk

Lucy Zhou

Senior Publicity Manager Lucy.Zhou@canongate.co.uk

Jamie Norman Senior Marketing Executive Jamie.Norman@canongate.co.uk

Aisling Holling

Publicity Executive

Aisling.Holling@canongate.co.uk

REPRESENTATIVES UK & IRELAND

Faber Sales Director

Sara Talbot 020 7927 3856 07841 800911 sara.talbot@faber.co.uk

Faber UK Sales Director

Sarah Davison-Aitkins 0207 927 3864 07384 525161 sda@faber.co.uk

Field Sales Director

Sam Brown 07980 712110 samb@faber.co.uk

Alliance UK Key Account Manager

Kim Lund 07980 712111 kiml@faber.co.uk

Alliance UK Key Account Manager

Kate Baron 020 792 73835 kate.baron@faber.co.uk

Scotland & Northumbria

John McColgan 07595 214384 John.McColgan@faber.co.uk

Central & North London

Jeremy Wood 07966 058496 Jeremyw@faber.co.uk

North of England

Sue Jackson 07980 712102 Sue.Jackson@faber.co.uk

Midlands & North Wales

Richard Fortey 07792 456837 Richard.Fortey@faber.co.uk

South West England

Richard Evans 07957 354631 richarde@faber.co.uk

Home Counties, South and West London

Kate Marshall 07790 757833 kate.marshall@faber.co.uk

South Wales, Oxfordshire & Cotswolds

Mel Tyrrell 07824 085033

Melanie.Tyrrell@faber.co.uk

South East England

Luke Crabb 07841 800561 Luke.Crabb@faber.co.uk

East Anglia

Rosy Locke 07590 929836 Rosy.Locke@faber.co.uk

Ireland

Gill Hess Limited 16 Church Street, Skerries, Co.Dublin, K34 WC04 +353 8 767 3548 office@gillhess.ie

INTERNATIONAL

Europe

Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland & France

Amelie Burchell

Faber and Faber Limited

Bloomsbury House

74–77 Great Russell Street London WC1B 3DA 07384 525251 amelieb@faber.co.uk

Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany & Austria

Bridget Lane

Faber and Faber Limited 07966 057076 BridgetL@faber.co.uk

Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands Steph Scott Steph.Scott@canongate.co.uk

Eastern Europe (including Russia & The Baltics)

Cristian Juncu Str. Fabricii nr. 2B-A, 060823 Bucuresti, Romania +40 722 454800 cristian@j4.ro

Australia & New Zealand

Allen & Unwin, 83 Alexander St Crows Nest NSW 2065

Australia

(61 2) 8425 0100 info@allenandunwin.com

South Africa

Penguin Random House South Africa

Block D, Rosebank Office Park

181 Jan Smuts Avenue

Parktown North Gauteng, 2193

South Africa

+27 (0)11 3 27 35 50

Fax +27 (0)11 3 27 36 60 queries@penguinrandomhouse.co.za

East & West Africa

Anita Zih

A-Z Africa Book Services

105b Prins Mauritssingel

3043 PE Rotterdam, The Netherlands +31 (10) 415-4250

Fax +31 (10) 415 1128 anita.zih@azabs.nl

India, Bangladesh & Nepal

Penguin Random House India

7th Floor Infinity Tower

DLF Cyber City, Phase III

Gurgaon 122002

Haryana, India +91 (124) 4785600

PRH_Business@penguinrandomwhouse.in

Middle East & Asia

Excl. Indian Subcontinent, China, Singapore & Malaysia Viki Cheung

Faber and Faber Limited 07876 879819 viki.cheung@faber.co.uk

China Benjamin Pan benjamin.pan@cpmarketing.com.cn

Singapore & Malaysia

Pansing Distribution Pte Ltd, 1 New Industrial Road Times Centre, Singapore, 536196 (65) 6319 9939 infobooks@pansing.com

USA - Distribution

Publishers Group West 1700 Fourth Street Berkeley California 94710 510-809-3700 info@pgw.com

Canada Publishers Group Canada 300-76 Stafford St. Toronto, Ontario Canada, M6J 2S1 416-934-9900 info@pgcbooks.ca

Latin America & Caribbean

James Papworth itsabook ltd

Publishers’ Sales Representatives Guildford, UK +44 7802848778 papworthjames@gmail.com

canongate.co.uk/catalogue

Cover illustration: Ot Pascoe, @OtPascoe