On the windswept dunes of the Isle of Harris in the wild and beautiful Outer Hebrides of Scotland, is a small white house with a big history. These days, Flora’s House is a holiday home – the perfect base for visitors from far and wide to explore the stunning

and often dramatic landscape.

Arriving with one suitcase for clothes and another for their own decorations, retired couple Maggie and Roger have booked Flora’s House for the festive season. It’s their first trip to the island and their first Christmas away from home – but where does Roger disappear to on his long walks? And why is Maggie so taken with one particular member of staff at the local shop?

Christmas is coming: a time for family and togetherness, for joy and forgiveness. Out there, high on the hills and deep in the heather, across the shimmering lochs and hidden in the waves, this Christmas will soon become unlike any Maggie and Roger have had before.

The extraordinary speculative novel of past, present and future, by the Clarke Award-shortlisted author of THE CORAL BONES.

Decades from now, two women sit beside a campfire and reflect on their life stories.

Activist Lucy's earliest memories are of living with her grandparents during the 2020 pandemic and discovering her grandmother's love of birds. Filmmaker Hester was born on the day of the Chornobyl explosion and visits the site years later to film its feral dogs in the Exclusion Zone. Here she meets Lux, the wolf dog who will give her life meaning.

Over half a century, their journeys take them from London to the Highlands to Somerset, through protests, family rifts, and personal tragedy. Lucy joins the fight to restore Britain's depleted natural habitats and revive the species who once shared the island, whilst Hester strives to give a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.

Both dream of a time when there are wolves again.

A novel of life and of hope, WHEN THERE ARE WOLVES AGAIN is perfect for fans of Clade by James Bradley, The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall, and The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WATER RUNS OUT?

THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF WATER.

With supply in the Scottish cities drying up, Aida is forced back home to live with her mum at their rural farm. For now, they are safe with just enough to get by.

Yet at the border, tensions are close to breaking point as more and more southerners chase the delusion that Scotland is an eternal spring - while fewer and fewer are allowed through. The service station where Aida works grows emptier with every day. Then, when suspicious strangers arrive at the farm asking for help, Aida and her family face a terrible decision. How much water can they afford to share?

AND THEN THE TAPS ARE TURNED OFF.

Now they must survive long enough for the rain to come.

The beautiful new novel that will make you laugh and cry, from the global bestselling author of Anxious People and A Man Called Ove. Fredrik Backman returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later…

‘A stunning, sweeping, extraordinary story of connection, love, and the unbreakable bonds that guide and shape us. Full of humour and heart, My Friends is simply wonderful’ Chris Whitaker

* AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *

* ONE OF GOODREADS READERS' MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2025 *

* A BARNES AND NOBLE NATIONAL BOOK CLUB PICK *

You have to take life for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings and

water balloons and another person’s breath against your neck. That’s the only courageous thing a person can do.

In the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world three tiny figures sit at the end of a pier. Most people don’t even notice them. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers seek refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days together. They tell jokes, they share secrets, and they commit small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. Determined to learn how it came to be and to decide what to do with it, Louisa embarks on a cross-country journey. But the closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes.

In this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art, Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect.

An amazing and captivating, curl-up-on-the-sofa debut about a magical frost fair and the lasting power of friendship.

It’s a cold winter during the Great Frost of 1683. Thomasina and Anne are the best of friends, one running her father’s sweet shop and the other the apprentice at the family apothecary – together they sell their goods on the frozen River Thames. When a family tragedy turns Thomasina’s world upside down, she is drawn to a mysterious conjuror and the enchanted frost fair.

But soon the world of Father Winter threatens to claim everything she holds dear. Will they be able to solve the magical mysteries that surround them . . . ?

Natasha Hastings was selected to join The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme in 2019. Currently working as a fundraiser, she started developing The Frost Fair while studying History at Cambridge University, where she focused on gender and mental illness. She became determined, while exploring these topics, to have the lives of working women form the heartbeat of The Frost Fair.

Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours.

He knows what he's done, and now awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago. Ansel doesn't want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood.

But this is not his story.

As the clock ticks down, three women uncover the history of a tragedy and the long shadow it casts. Lavender, Ansel's mother, is a seventeen-year-old girl pushed to desperation. Hazel, twin sister to his wife, is forced to watch helplessly as the relationship threatens to devour them all. And Saffy, the detective hot on his trail, is devoted to bringing bad men to justice but struggling to see her own life clearly.

This is the story of the women left behind.

Blending breathtaking suspense with astonishing empathy, Notes On An Execution presents a chilling portrait of womanhood as it unravels the familiar narrative of the American serial killer, interrogating our cultural obsession with crime stories, and asking readers to consider the false promise of looking for meaning in the minds of violent men.

Inspired by faery myth and folklore, the haunting, heart wrenching tale of a girl called Nettle in a dark, foreboding faery kingdom.

A wild misfit in the human world, Nettle is enthralled by the glamour of the faery realm, with its two moons and scarlet stars. She grows close to Conor, a human stolen centuries before, and she also falls under the spell of mysterious Ellion, a Shadow Faery. To try to help her beloved grandmother who is fading in her world, Nettle makes a pact with the faery king. He’ll heal her grandmother in exchange for Nettle completing three tasks. She agrees, not realising that deception lurks in this enchanted place, and that she has been tricked…

In this dangerous fantasy kingdom Nettle discovers, too late, her part in an age-old love story and the price she will pay.

The bewitching sequel to Gorse, the first book in the Eythin Legacy, Ragwort filled with magic, folklore and faith.

A year on from the loss of Lord Pelagius Hunt of Mirecoombe, new Keeper Nancy Bligh is still struggling. She can banish the spirits and keep peace between the spriggans and piskies, but every time Nancy sleeps, she dreams of drowning. She is haunted by loss, and by whispers from all around of The Mother, and Nancy's witchcraft.

As the only witch left, Nancy is eager for any guidance she can have. When she discovers the possibility that her grandmother, the most powerful witch of her time, might still live, she seizes her chance. Desperate for answers, Nancy journeys across the Cornish wilds to find her grandmother and uncover the secrets of The Mother, before it is too late.

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic.

In the small town of Gold Springs, Calliope Petridi and her two sisters carefully guard the secret of their magic and the price they must pay to practise it: memories. Luckily, all Calliope wants to do is forget: the mother who left without a trace, the sisters from whom she feels increasingly distant, and most of all, the way the love of her life shattered her heart two years ago.

But when an ancient evil awakens, the fragile thread that holds the sisters together breaks. As their magic slowly begins to fade, Calliope accidentally binds herself to the handsome leader of a rival coven infamous for their ruthless pursuit of power. Battling the sizzling chemistry with a man she can’t trust, Calliope must confront painful memories of her past, dark family secrets, and ancient magic in order to protect the town and all she loves.

But will she have anything left of herself?

A witchy, modern day Pride and Prejudice meets Charmed, SPELLS, STRINGS, AND FORGOTTEN THINGS is a thrilling tale of romance, magic and sisterhood.

Perfect for fans of:

Witchy romance

Small-town settings

Enemies to lovers

A dash of spice…

Stories of sisterhood

This is the story of one lost poem, two great rivers, and three remarkable lives – all connected by a single drop of water.

*****

In the ruins of Nineveh, that ancient city of Mesopotamia, there lies hidden in the sand fragments of a long-forgotten poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In Victorian London, an extraordinary child is born at the edge of the dirt-black Thames. When his brilliant memory earns him a spot as an apprentice at a printing press, the world opens up far beyond the slums and across the seas.

In 2014 Turkey, Narin, a Yazidi girl living by the River Tigris, waits to be baptised. The ceremony is cruelly interrupted, and soon she and her grandmother must journey across war-torn lands in the hope of reaching the sacred valley of their people.

In 2018 London, broken-hearted Zaleekhah, a hydrologist, moves to a houseboat on the Thames to escape the wreckage of her marriage – until an unexpected connection to her homeland changes everything.

A dazzling feat of storytelling from one of the greatest writers of our time that spans centuries, continents and cultures, entwined by rivers, rains, and waterdrops.

Sisters separated by hundreds of years.

Voices that can't be drowned out.

Lucy is running from what she’s done: the terror of waking with her hands around her ex-lover’s throat, his face turning purple and eyes bulging. Pursued by nightmares – and with nowhere else to go – she makes for her big sister's clifftop home. But when she arrives, Jess is nowhere to be found.

The town is strange and full of rumours: a dozen men disappeared, without a trace. Women’s voices murmuring on the waves. A foundling discovered in a sea-swept cave.

As Lucy searches for Jess, her dreams seem to draw closer. She can see two sisters in a murky past. She can see a world where men always seem to get their way. And something in her body wants to fight back.

Could the answer to who she is – and what’s happening to her – lie in this quiet, sea-soaked town? Could it lie two hundred years deep in the past?

There is an old tale that weaves through the mountain town of Woodsmoke.

It whispers of a stranger who appears as the snow falls, only to disappear in spring.

Leaving behind a broken heart…

Carrie Morgan expects trouble when she returns to Woodsmoke after ten years.

What she does not predict is the beautiful stranger who walks into her life with the first frost and with whom Carrie begins to fall in love.

Bound to her family’s book of spells and a deep magic that flows from the mountains, Carrie’s family warn that her new love is a curse who will disappear when the frost thaws.

If Carrie is to embrace the power a Morgan woman carries, she must trade something in return.

But is lifting a curse worth any price?

A beautifully written, atmospheric tale of homecoming, magic and love.

Charmed meets Practical Magic in this magically wicked paranormal romance, perfect for fans of Not the Witch You Wed and The Ex Hex.

There have always been rumours that something magical is afoot at Wicked Good Apples - but only Holly Celeste and her family know the truth: the Celestes are just a little wicked.

Despite the magical secret ingredient in their cider, the family business is floundering. When Connor Grimm, a charming and nationally beloved paranormal investigator, requests to film an episode of his popular TV show on the mysterious Maine Orchard farm, Holly reluctantly accepts. She knows the publicity could be the miracle her family needs - as long as Connor doesn't manage to actually make any paranormal discoveries.

Intent on keeping Connor in the dark and pushing him toward the ghost story believed by the locals, Holly joins him as he interviews eyewitnesses, hunts for old records and unearths potentially devastating stories from the past. Despite her resolution to dislike him, she begins to fall for the only man who's ever made her feel like strange could be normal.

But as their romance blooms, Connor gets closer to uncovering the real secrets behind the orchard... Can Holly fall in love and protect her family? Or will she have to make a choice?

Wicked as a love spell, this enemies-to-lovers witchy romance will enchant readers of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and In Charm's Way.

Cornwall, 1786.

For years, the villagers of Mirecoombe have turned to their Keeper, the old and battle-scarred Lord Pelagius Hunt, mediator between the worlds of men and fey, for help. But this is a time of change. Belief in the old ways, in the piskies and spriggans, has dimmed, kindled instead in the Reverend Cleaver’s fiery pulpit. His church stands proud above the mire; God’s name is whispered, hushed, loved. And now, death stalks Mirecoombe on the moor. There are corpses in the heather. There is blood in the gorse.

Nancy Bligh is determined to do what Pel will not: maintain the balance between the fey and the human world, be the Keeper that he refuses to be. Blessed with natural sight, friend to spriggans, piskies and human locals of Mirecoombe, Nancy has power that Pel never had and never lets her use. But as Mirecoombe falls into darkness, perhaps her time has come.

A poignant and lyrical examination of faith, love and grief, Gorse asks what do we choose to believe, and how does that shape who we are?

A wild and gripping novel about one woman's quest to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands at any cost

Inti Flynn arrives in the Scottish Highlands with fourteen grey wolves, a traumatised sister and fierce tenacity.

As a biologist, she knows the animals are the best hope for rewilding the ruined landscape and she cares little for local opposition. As a sister, she hopes the remote project will offer her twin, Aggie, a chance to heal after the horrific events that drove them both out of Alaska.

But violence dogs their footsteps and one night Inti stumbles over the body of a farmer. Unable to accept that her wolves could be responsible, she makes a reckless decision to protect them. But if the wolves didn't make the kill, then who did? And can she trust the man she is beginning to love when he becomes the main suspect?

Propulsive and unforgettable, Once There Were Wolves is the spellbinding story of a woman desperate to save her family, the wild animals and the natural world she loves, at any cost.

'What looks like magic is simply a part of life we don’t understand yet . . .'

When retired Maths teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.

The song surrounded her now, the murmuring of the library insistent, and her foot took the first step on the winding stairs. She knew it wasn’t entirely a dream. It was the library calling her, its magic driving her.

When Sophie is offered a job at the Ayredale Library – the finest collection of rare books in the world, and the last place her bookbinder mother was seen when Sophie was just a teenager – she leaps at the chance. Will she finally discover what happened to the woman she’s always believed abandoned her?

Taking in the endless shelves of antique books, the soaring stained-glass windows, and the grand sweeping staircase, usually shy Sophie feels strangely at home, and is welcomed by her eccentric fellow binders. But why is the Keeper of the Library so reluctant to speak about Sophie’s mother? And why is Sophie the only person who can read the strange spells in the oldest books on display, written in a forgotten language nobody else understands?

The mysteries of the library only deepen when Sophie stumbles upon an elaborately carved door. The pattern exactly matches the pendant her mother left behind years ago, engraved with a delicate leaf. As the door swings open at her touch, Sophie gasps at the incredible sight: an enormous tree, impossibly growing higher than the library itself, its gently falling golden leaves somehow resembling the pages of a book. Amidst their rustling, Sophie hears a familiar whisper…

‘There you are, my Sophie. I knew you’d come back for me.’

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, launches a new trilogy of magic and mayhem with this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artefacts and ancient mysteries, and one woman’s quest to seize a final chance at glory…

A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seven seas.

Amina al-Sirafi has survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever.

Yet the deeper Amina dives the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.

From the author of The Change, comes a novel about book banning and those brave enough to stand up against this censorship.

In Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean has decided to cleanse the town’s reading habits. All banned books have been removed from public spaces, and the townspeople are only allowed to read books Lula has deemed ‘appropriate’.

But a small group refuse to be told what they can and can’t read.

The revolution is coming …

* * *

In the main, they call me Mary Read.

As for my true name? Go ask the sea.

In a rented room outside Plymouth in 1685, a daughter is born as her half-brother is dying. Her mother makes a decision: Mary will become Mark, and Ma will continue to collect his inheritance money.

Mary’s dual existence as Mark will lead to a role as a footman in a grand house, serving a French mistress; to the navy, learning who to trust and how to navigate by the stars; and to the army and the battlegrounds of Flanders, finding love among the bloodshed and the mud. But none of this will stop Mary yearning for the sea.

Drawn back to the water, Mary must reinvent herself yet again, for a woman aboard a ship is a dangerous thing. This time Mary will become something more dangerous than a woman.

She will become a pirate.

Breathing life into the Golden Age of Piracy, Saltblood is a wild adventure, a treasure trove, weaving an intoxicating tale of gender and survival, passion and loss, journeys and transformation, through the story of Mary Read, one of history’s most remarkable figures.

In 1581, Emilia Bassano is allowed no voice of her own. But as the Lord Chamberlain’s mistress she has access to the theatre, and finds a way to bring her work to the stage secretly. And yet, creating some of the world’s greatest dramatic masterpieces comes at a great cost: by paying a man for the use of his name, she will write her own out of history. His name? William Shakespeare . . .

In modern day New York, playwright Melina Green is determined to see one of her shows make the stage. After years of struggle to be recognised she has finally written again, inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor — Emilia Bassano, England’s first published female poet. Although the challenges are different for her, four hundred years later, a woman’s voice is still not heard like a man’s. But what lengths will she be willing to go to in order to achieve her dreams?

On July 15, 1994, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend Billy fell asleep together in their quiet New Jersey cul de sac.

In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. The tent was sliced open, and Billy was gone, taken. He was never seen again.

Thirty years later, Ethan has returned to Hemlock Circle, still desperate for answers.

Who took Billy?

Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening on the street under the cover of darkness. Someone is prowling the cul de sac when no one is awake to see them.

Are they still out there?

This isn't a bad neighbourhood. These aren't bad people.

What if they are?

Nuclear war begins with a blip on a radar screen.

This is a minute-by-minute account of what comes next.

It has to be read to be believed.

There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war.

Until now, no one outside official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilization as we know it.

Decisions that affect hundreds of millions of lives need to be made within six minutes, based on partial information, in the knowledge that once launched, nothing is capable of halting the destruction.

Based on dozens of new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, been privy to the response plans, and taken responsibility for crucial decisions, this is the only account of what a nuclear exchange would look like.

Nuclear War is at once a compulsive non-fiction thriller and a powerful argument that we must rid ourselves of these world-ending weapons for ever.

Summer ’95, New Orleans. Mina’s having a summer to die for.

17-year-old Mina arrives in New Orleans to visit her estranged sister, Libby. Mina loves nothing more than a creepy horror movie and can't wait to explore the city’s darkest secrets – vampire tours, seedy bars, spooky cemeteries, disturbing local myths…

Her trip takes an interesting turn when Mina lands a part-time job at a house of horrors, the Mansion of the Macabre. Especially when she meets Jared, Libby’s flatmate and co-worker (and an excellent Lestat impersonator).

But the perfect summer bliss is broken when, while exploring the mansion, Mina discovers the body of a girl with puncture marks on her neck and a lock of hair suspiciously resembling Libby’s … who, or what has made those marks? Is Mina’s fanatical obsession with Vampires playing tricks on her mind? Or could Vampires actually be stalking the streets of New Orleans, hunting for fresh prey?

Mina and the Undead is a novel for fans of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stranger Things.

A captivating debut fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess.

A young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm, setting her on a dangerous path where those she loves are not the only ones at risk…

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the powerful Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when her magic flares and her existence is discovered, Xingyin is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to train in the Crown Prince’s service, learning to master archery and magic, despite the passion which flames between her and the emperor’s son.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies, across the earth and skies.

But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream —striking a dangerous bargain, where she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Natalia comes from a past full of darkness and a horrific childhood spent in the Siberian taiga. Her Monsters are real, and they hide in every corner of her memory. Her state of mind, fragility and child-like innocence make both humans and aliens question her sanity.

In reality, Natalia is an inspiring young woman who owns her past and fears. Her determination shapes her new alien planet's future, defeats a Sphinx and tames the scariest Monster of all. She may be afraid of her own shadow, but she is not scared to fight for love, even when it comes in the shape of her worst nightmare: a Monster.

Natalia owns her many weaknesses until they become her strengths. She fights darkness with light and unconditional love. As it turns out, those are the only weapons able to win the fight. Natalia’s dark past taught her the most important lesson of all: One is most likely to find their angels when running from Monsters.

The Queen of Monsters is the second book in The Tarrassian Saga. It features the inspiring story of one of the five Humans taken from Earth by alien slavers. The five books in the series are individual stories and do not end in cliffhangers. However, the stories are best enjoyed when read in order. The Tarrassian Saga is aimed at a mature audience.

The Master stepped closer and the pressure around Phoenix grew vicelike. Despair raged through her. How had she thought she could save everyone, when she couldn’t even save herself?

Following the shocking battle at Icegaard, Phoenix and her friends gather with the Hunters, desperate to unite the warring clans before their enemy, the Master, attacks Ember.

The Cavern of Light may offer hope in the form of a legendary weapon, but it lies deep in goblin territory, in the terrifying dark zone of the underground caves. The friends must brave the unknown, facing new and deadly creatures in search of a way to save their world.

As an epic final showdown draws near, Phoenix struggles to protect her friends, determined not to lose anyone else she loves. But the Master is crueller and more powerful than she ever imagined and as Phoenix’s past and present collide, unthinkable sacrifices will have to be made to defeat him.

HOPE GROWS FROM THE ASHES . . .

Twelve has become a hunter and chosen a new name to reflect her elemental power: Phoenix.

Three months after the destruction of the Hunting Lodge, a witch arrives from the frost palace of Icegaard, desperate for Phoenix’s help. Icegaard is in grave danger from an evil force called the Shadowseam, and if the witch-palace falls, all the clans of Ember will fall with it.

Travelling north, Phoenix and her friends, Five, Six and Seven, must battle frightening new monsters and find a way to defeat the Shadowseam. But as Phoenix learns to control her new power, the faceless Croke begins to haunt her dreams . . .

Phoenix will have to fight with everything she’s got to save Ember from mortal danger. But the price of survival may be more than she can pay.

A DARK FAMILY SECRET

When Alice’s father dies after a tragic hit and run, his death stirs up unanswered questions about her childhood. Who was her mother, why did her father never speak of the past, and why can’t she remember anything before the age of seven?

AN ISLAND CUT OFF

But when she receives an anonymous letter containing a photograph of a refurbished gothic guesthouse surrounded by water, and an invitation to stay, old memories fight to resurface.

Alice has visited before. She is certain of it.

WHO WILL SURVIVE?

Convinced the clues to her past lie at the hotel, she checks in. But once on the island, a wild storm rages, waves crash violently into the rocks, and the house is cut off by the roaring sea.

Then two guests are found dead. And the hotel owner is missing. Will Alice ever uncover her secret past?

And will anyone leave the island alive?

High fantasy, low stakes – with a double-shot of coffee.

After decades of adventuring, Viv the orc barbarian is finally hanging up her sword for good. Now she sets her sights on a new dream – for she plans to open the first coffee shop in the city of Thune. Even though no one there knows what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the past behind her, she can’t go it alone. And help might arrive from unexpected quarters. Yet old rivals and new stand in the way of success. And Thune’s shady underbelly could make it all too easy for Viv to take up the blade once more.

But the true reward of the uncharted path is the travellers you meet along the way. Whether bound by ancient magic, delicious pastries or a freshly brewed cup, they may become something deeper than Viv ever could have imagined . . .