Marian Keyes
Michael Joseph - $38
'I employ this thing called The Shovel List.'
'A shovel . . . ?'
'No. A Shovel List. It's more of a conceptual thing. It's a list of all the people and things I hate so much that I want to hit them in the face with a shovel.'
Meet Helen - youngest of the Walsh sisters and a law unto herself. She's easily bored, has an inability to filter her thoughts and was fired from every job she ever had before she found her true calling as a private investigator. But times are tough for PIs and Helen's had no choice but to take on the search for AWOL boyband has-been Wayne Diffney - The Wacky One.
It's not all bad this game of Where's Wayne. It may have brought her charming crook of an ex Jay Parker back into her life, but it's giving her an excuse to avoid the usual Walsh family dramas and the intense looks from her gorgeous boyfriend Artie that make her heart beat wildly with lust and panic in equal measure. But most of all it's an excellent distraction from the huge swarm of black vultures gathering over her head. If she hides out in her target's empty house on Mercy Close for long enough maybe they'll go away .
But as Helen begins to unravel the mysteries secreted on Mercy Close she discovers a kindred spirit in a man unwilling to be found. Could someone be telling her to look a little closer to home . . .
The Girl You Left Behind
JoJo Moyes
Michael Joseph - $35
Whatever happened to the girl you left behind?
In 1916 French artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his wife Sophie and goes to fight at the Front. When her town falls into German hands, Edouard's portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. And as his obsession deepens, she will risk everything – her family, reputation and life - in the hope of seeing Edouard again.
Nearly a century later, Sophie's portrait is given to Liv by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. Its beauty speaks of their short life together, but when the painting's dark and passion-torn history is revealed, the first spark of new love Liv has felt is threatened . . .
In The Girl You Left Behind two young women, separated by a century, are united in their determination to fight for the thing they love most - whatever the cost.
Both of the above titles are available now and both are 500 pages plus.
A return to one of the greatest love stories ever...
Children of Liberty by Paullina SimonsNZ Release October 2012 | RRP $36.99 | Published by HarperCollins - 424 pages. International bestselling author Paullina Simons has sold over 300,000 copies of her novels in New Zealand alone, and her most popular novel, The Bronze Horseman, has been voted as one of the top ten love stories of all time.
Now twelve years later, she returns to that familiar landscape with her new novel Children of Liberty – a book destined to thrill New Zealand readers when it releases in October.
Children of Liberty is set at the turn of the century and the dawning of the modern world. Gina Attaviano from Belpasso comes to Boston’s Freedom Docks to find a new and better life, and meets Harry Barrington, who is searching for his. The fates of the Barringtons and Attavianos collide on a course between the old and new, between what is expected and what is desired, what is chosen and what is bestowed, what is given and what is taken away.
Set against the dawning of a new civilisation, the Model T, the birth of unions, the Russian Revolution, the upheaval of nations and as America races headlong into the future, Gina and Harry’s love story will break your heart.
Paullina Simons says ‘Gina and Harry fall in love during America's defining moment—just as they seek to discover who they are, America enters a turning point in its own history. On the brink of becoming a world power, it struggles with the modernisation of its industry and workforce just as it attempts to expand its global reach with the building of the Panama Canal. A compelling personal narrative set against the backdrop of transformative historical events has always been the subject that's fascinated me, in the books I read and also in my own fiction.’
About the author:
Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad, Russia, in 1963. As a child she immigrated to Queens, New York, and went to college on Long Island. She moved to England to attend Essex University before returning to America and graduating from Kansas University. She has lived in Rome, London and Dallas, and now lives in New York with her husband and children.
Paullina Simons was born in Leningrad, Russia, in 1963. As a child she immigrated to Queens, New York, and went to college on Long Island. She moved to England to attend Essex University before returning to America and graduating from Kansas University. She has lived in Rome, London and Dallas, and now lives in New York with her husband and children.
All of her novels have been number one bestsellers in New Zealand, from Tully to Road to Paradise, and of course, her well-loved trilogy of The Bronze Horseman, The Bridge to Holy Crossand The Summer Garden.
The Bronze Horseman’s title was taken from the tragic poem by Alexander Pushkin, and the novel, which skilfully highlights the ironies of the socialist utopia, was based on the experiences of Paullina’s grandmother, who survived in Leningrad through the German Blockade.
PAULLINA SIMONS TO TOUR NEW ZEALAND 28 OCTOBER – 1 NOVEMBER
AUCKLAND | WELLINGTON | MASTERTON | PALMERSTON NORTH | HASTINGS