Books & Chat

Bored of 1970s suburban life, Maurice and Maralyn plan their escape: sell the house, build a boat, set sail for New Zealand. Then, halfway around the world, their beloved boat is struck by a whale and the pair are cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Alone on a tiny raft, their love is put to the test. This is a book about human connection and the human condition; about how we survive – not just at sea, but in life.

Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month [https://www.waterstones.com/campaign/books-of-the-month] for June 2021 Shortlisted for the Portico Prize 2022 [https://www.waterstones.com/category/cultural-highlights/book-awards/the-portico-prize] Everyone has a Tully Dawson: the friend who defines your life. In the summer of 1986, James and Tully ignite a friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. With school over, they rush towards a magical weekend of youthful excess in Manchester played out against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded. And there a vow is made: to go at life differently. Thirty years on, the phone rings. Tully has news.

Who knows you better than your best friend? Who knows your secrets, your fears, your desires, your strange imperfect self? Edi and Ash have been best friends for over forty years. Since childhood they have seen each other through life's milestones: stealing vodka from their parents, the Madonna phase, REM concerts, unexpected wakes, marriages, infertility, children. As Ash notes, 'Edi's memory is like the back-up hard drive for mine.' So when Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Ash's world reshapes around the rhythms of Edi's care, from chipped ice and watermelon cubes to music therapy; from snack smuggling to impromptu excursions into the frozen winter night. Because life is about squeezing the joy out of every moment, about building a powerhouse of memories, about learning when to hold on, and when to let go. For fans of Nora Ephron and Sorrow & Bliss, [https://www.waterstones.com/book/sorrow-and-bliss/meg-mason/9781474622998] We All Want Impossible Things is a deeply moving, jubilant celebration of life and friendship at its imperfect, radiant, and irreverent best.

When a moment changes everything, how do you live the rest of your life? 1940s Colorado: Teenage Victoria Nash is the only woman in a family of troubled men. When she meets Wilson Moon, a young drifter with a mysterious past, on a street corner, their connection is immediate. And dangerous. But then tragedy strikes, and Victoria is forced to leave her home and face a decision that will change her life forever. Loved deeply by readers, this is the epic coming-of-age adventure of Victoria Nash, determined to save her family’s generational peach farm from destruction, as she falls in love, faces devastating tragedy, and finally faces what she must do to survive.

an affair between a young Catholic woman and a married Protestant barrister drives this brilliant novel set in 1975 Belfast.