Mesmerising, mythic and timeless - the most unmissable debut novel of 2022 - for fans of Arundhati Roy, Toni Morrison and Monique Roffey

'Exceptional' Jacob Ross

'Exquisite' Avni Doshi

'Combining the richness of myth with razor-sharp observation of contemporary life, When We Were Birds marks the emergence of a distinctive and powerful voice' Pat Barker

'It's a knockout, and Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is a star. I want to read everything she writes' Niven Govinden

Darwin is a down-on-his-luck gravedigger, newly arrived in the Trinidadian city of Port Angeles to seek his fortune, young and beautiful and lost. Estranged from his mother and the Rastafari faith she taught him, he is convinced that the father he never met may be waiting for him somewhere amid these bustling streets.

Meanwhile in an old house on a hill, where the city meets the rainforest, Yejide's mother is dying. And she is leaving behind a legacy that now passes to Yejide: the power to talk to the dead. The women of Yejide's family are human but also not - descended from corbeau, the black birds that fly east at sunset, taking with them the souls of the dead.

Darwin and Yejide both have something that the other needs. Their destinies are intertwined, and they will find one another in the sprawling, ancient cemetery at the heart of the island, where trouble is brewing...

Rich with magic and wisdom, When We Were Birds is an exuberant masterpiece that conjures and mesmerises on every line. Ayanna Lloyd Banwo weaves an unforgettable story of loss and renewal, darkness and light; a triumphant reckoning with a grief that runs back generations and a defiant, joyful affirmation of hope.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLER

Escape into a world of magic and danger with THE DARK STAR TRILOGY. Drawing on a rich tradition of African mythology, fantasy and history, this is the story of a lost child, an extraordinary hunter, and a mystery with many answers . . .

*Perfect for fans of Pratchett, George R. R. Martin and Octavia Butler*

'The kind of novel I never realized I was missing until I read it. A dangerous, hallucinatory, ancient Africa, which becomes a fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made' Neil Gaiman

*****

Tracker is a hunter. Known throughout the thirteen kingdoms as one who has a nose, he always works alone. But he breaks his own rule when, hired to find a lost child, he finds himself part of a group of hunters, each stranger and more dangerous than the last.

As the mismatched gang follow the boy's scent from perfumed citadels to enchanted darklands, Tracker starts to wonder:

Who really is this mysterious boy?
Why do so many people want to stop him from being found?
And, most important of all, who is telling the truth and who is lying?

Marlon James weaves a breathtaking tapestry - at once ancient and startlingly modern - exploring the fundamentals of truth, limits of power, excesses of ambition, and our need to understand them all.

Chronicling the same events but telling a very different story - who will you believe? Read THE DARK STAR TRILOGY in any order! Book two, MOON WITCH, SPIDER KING, is available now.

*****

'Complex, lyrical, moving and furiously gripping . . . This new book will propel James into a new galaxy of literary stardom' Observer

'A game-changing modern fantasy classic' Financial Times

'James has thrown African cultures, mythologies, religions, histories, world-views and topographies into the mighty cauldron of his imagination to create a work of literary magic' New Statesman

High school can be hell.

Cam knows what its like to be haunted. Hes spent more time in Hell than any angel ever should. And his freshest Hell is high school, where Lilith, the girl he cant stop loving, is serving out a punishment for his crimes.

Cam made a bet with Lucifer: he has fifteen days to convince the only girl who really matters to him to love him again. If he succeeds, Lilith will be allowed back into the world, and they can live their lives together. But if he fails . . . theres a special place in Hell just for him.

Tick-tock.

The long-awaited new novel in the global bestselling Fallen series.

""I rest my head against him, and he kisses my hair repeatedly. This is home. He smells of linen, fabric softener, bodywash, and my favorite smell-Christian. For a moment, I allow myself the illusion that all will be well, and it soothes my ravaged soul.""
Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house.
But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades.
While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.
Discover the world of Fifty Shades of Grey:An Instant #1 New York Times BestsellerMore than 165 Million Copies Sold WorldwideOne of 100 Great Reads in the Great American Read133 Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller ListThis book is intended for mature audiences.

E L James is an incurable romantic and a self-confessed fangirl. After twenty-five years of working in television, she decided to pursue a childhood dream and write stories that readers could take to their hearts. The result was the controversial and sensuous romance Fifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed. In 2015, she published the #1 bestseller Grey, the story of Fifty Shades of Grey from the perspective of Christian Grey, and in 2017, the chart-topping Darker, the second part of the Fifty Shades story from Christian's point of view. She followed with the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Mister in 2019. Her books have been published in fifty languages and have sold more than 165 million copies worldwide.
E L James has been recognized as one of Time magazine's ""Most Influential People in the World"" and Publishers Weekly's ""Person of the Year."" Fifty Shades of Grey stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 133 consecutive weeks. Fifty Shades Freed won the Goodreads Choice Award (2012), and Fifty Shades of Grey was selected as one of the 100 Great Reads, as voted by readers, in PBS's The Great American Read (2018). Darker was long-listed for the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award.
She was a producer on each of the three Fifty Shades movies, which made more than a billion dollars at the box office. The third installment, Fifty Shades Freed, won the People's Choice Award for Drama in 2018. E L James is blessed with two wonderful sons and lives with her husband, the novelist and screenwriter Niall Leonard, and their West Highland terriers in the leafy suburbs of West London.

Sunday Times #1 Bestseller
New York Times #1 Bestseller

The spellbinding new Robert Langdon novel from the author of The Da Vinci Code.

'Fans will not be disappointed' The Times

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend the unveiling of a discovery that will change the face of science forever. The evenings host is his friend and former student, Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old tech magnate whose dazzling inventions and audacious predictions have made him a controversial figure around the world. This evening is to be no exception: he claims he will reveal an astonishing scientific breakthrough to challenge the fundamentals of human existence.

But Langdon and several hundred other guests are left reeling when the meticulously orchestrated evening is blown apart before Kirschs precious discovery can be revealed. With his life under threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape, along with the museums director, Ambra Vidal. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirschs secret.

In order to evade a tormented enemy who is one step ahead of them at every turn, Langdon and Vidal must navigate labyrinthine passageways of hidden history and ancient religion. On a trail marked only by enigmatic symbols and elusive modern art, Langdon and Vidal uncover the clues that will bring them face-to-face with a world-shaking truth that has remained buried  until now.


Dan Brown is the master of the intellectual cliffhanger Wall Street Journal
As engaging a hero as you could wish for Mail on Sunday
For anyone who wants more brain-food than thrillers normally provide Sunday Times