A new collection of thirteen mesmerizing stories by American master Joyce Carol Oates, including the 2017 Pushcart Prizewinning Undocumented Alien

The diverse stories of Beautiful Days, Joyce Carol Oates explore the most secret, intimate, and unacknowledged interior lives of characters not unlike ourselves, who assert their independence in acts of bold and often irrevocable defiance.

Fleuve Bleu exemplifies the rich sensuousness of Oatess prose as lovers married to other persons vow to establish, in their intimacy, a ruthlessly honest, truth-telling authenticity missing elsewhere in their complicated lives, with unexpected results. 

In Big Burnt, set on lushly rendered Lake George, in the Adirondacks, a cunningly manipulative university professor exploits a too-trusting woman in a way she could never have anticipated. In a more experimental but no less intimate mode, Les beaux jours examines the ambiguities of an intensely erotic, exploitative relationship between a master artist and his adoring young female model. And the tragic Undocumented Alien depicts a young African student enrolled in an American university who is suddenly stripped of his student visa and forced to undergo a terrifying test of courage.

In these stories, as elsewhere in her fiction, Joyce Carol Oates exhibits her fascination with the social, psychological, and moral boundaries that govern our behavioruntil the hour when they do not.

Book Two of the international bestselling One of Us Is Lying trilogy - now available in a bold new cover look complete with a midnight blue background and matching sprayed edges.

Welcome back to Bayview High . . .

It is a year after the action of One of Us Is Lying, and someone has started playing a game of Truth or Dare.

But this is no ordinary Truth or Dare. This game is lethal. Choosing the truth may reveal your darkest secrets, but accepting the dare could be dangerous, even deadly.

The teenagers of Bayview must work together once again to find the culprit, before it's too late . . .

Praise for One of Us Is Next:
'Given that her high-school-based murder mysteries read like bingeworthy Netflix dramas, it's easy to see why queen of teen crime Karen McManus is a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.' - THE OBSERVER

'McManus keeps the juicy subplots ticking over and drip-feeds reveals as clinically as an IV tube.' - THE GUARDIAN

Praise for One of Us Is Lying:
'Tightly plotted and brilliantly written, with sharp, believable characters, this whodunit is utterly irresistible' - HEAT

'Twisty plotting, breakneck pacing and intriguing characterisation add up to an exciting single-sitting thrillerish treat' - THE GUARDIAN

'A fantastic murder mystery, packed with cryptic clues and countless plot twists. I could not put this book down' - THE SUN

'Pretty Little Liars meets The Breakfast Club' - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Discover the thrilling end to the One of Us Is Lying trilogy with One of Us Is Back. . .

That rare thing, a sequel which is better than the original, The Nowhere Man is a thrilling, pulse-pounding ride for readers and the hero of Orphan X...

'An even more intense and harrowing thriller. The pace that never lets up' Daily Mail

He was once called Orphan X.

As a boy, Evan Smoak was taken from a children's home, raised and trained as part of a secret government initiative buried so deep that virtually no one knows it exists. But he broke with the programme, choosing instead to vanish off grid and use his formidable skill set to help those unable to protect themselves.

One day, though, Evan's luck ran out . . .

Ambushed, drugged, and spirited away, Evan wakes up in a locked room with no idea where he is or who has captured him. As he tries to piece together what's happened, testing his gilded prison and its highly trained guards for weaknesses, he receives a desperate call for help.

With time running out, he will need to out-think, out-manoeuvre, and out-fight an opponent the likes of whom he's never encountered to have any chance of escape. He's got to save himself to protect those whose lives depend on him. Or die trying . . .

No1 bestseller, The Nowhere Man, delivers another masterclass in hi-octane thriller writing.


Praise for Orphan X:

'Outstanding in every way'
LEE CHILD

'Read this book. You will thank me later'
DAVID BALDACCI

'The most gripping thriller I've read in a long, long time!'
TESS GERRITSEN

'The page-turner of the season is Orphan X ... Wonderful'
THE TIMES

'Memorable as hell'
JAMES PATTERSON

'The most exciting thriller I've read since The Bourne Identity'
ROBERT CRAIS

'A page-turning masterpiece'
JONATHAN KELLERMAN

'A new series character to rival Reacher'
INDEPENDENT

'A masterpiece of suspense and thrills . . . Turn off the real world and dive into this amazing start to a new series'
DAILY MAIL

'There is a pristine classicism to Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X, which borrows from Robert Ludlum and superhero lore to bring us Evan Smoak . . . Orphan X is tight and tense in all the right places . . . Orphan X is weapons-grade thriller-writing from a modern master.'
GUARDIAN

'Pure nail-biting stay-up-all-night suspense'
HARLAN COBEN

'Orphan X is not good. Orphan X is great. Whatever you like best in a thriller - action, plot, character, suspense - Orphan X has it'
SIMON TOYNE

'Mind blowing! A perfect mix of Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher'
LISA GARDNER

'Bond, Frodo, Paddington Bear - some of literature's greatest heroes have been orphans. Add Orphan X's Evan Smoak to the list'
SHORTLIST

'Orphan X is outstanding . . . a smart, stylish, state-of-the-art thriller'
WASHINGTON POST

'Bestseller Hurwitz melds non-stop action and high-tech gadgetry with an acute character study in this excellent series opener . . . Evan Smoak is an electrifying character'
PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY

'A masterpiece of suspense and thrills . . . Turn off the real world and dive into this amazing start to a new series'
ASSOCIATED PRESS