CONTEMPORARY FICTION

After a string of nightmare relationships, Emily's had it with modern-day men. She'd rather pour herself a glass of wine and curl up with Pride and Prejudice and her beloved Mr Darcy. So what if he’s a fictional hero?

Faced with spending New Year’s at yet another singles party, she books herself on a coach tour of Jane Austen country, but quickly realises she won't find her dream man here - just a coach full of pensioners and one particularly aggravating (if handsome) journalist, Spike.

That's until she enters a room and finds herself face-to-face with none other than Darcy himself. The actual, real Mr Darcy. From the book. And, suddenly, every woman's fantasy becomes one woman's reality . . .

When Sir James Harrison, one of the greatest actors of his generation, passes away at the age of ninety-five, he leaves behind not just a heartbroken family, but also a secret so shocking, so devastating, that it could rock the British Establishment to its core . . .

Joanna Haslam is an ambitious young journalist, assigned to cover the legendary actor’s funeral. The biggest icons of the celebrity world are in attendance. But Joanna stumbles on something dark beneath the glamour: the mention of a letter James Harrison has left behind, the contents of which others have been desperate to conceal for over seventy years.

This is Maia’s story. When Pa Salt dies suddenly, the bereaved sisters gather together at their childhood home, a spectacular secluded castle on the shores of Lake Geneva. Each of them is handed a tantalising clue to their heritage and Maia finds herself on a journey across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Eighty years earlier, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for her to marry into the aristocracy. But Izabela longs for adventure, and convinces him to allow her to first travel to Paris. In the heady, vibrant streets of the city, Izabela meets an ambitious young sculptor, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.

The sixth book in the multi-million-copy bestselling series about a cosy Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time.

In a special seat in a fabled Tokyo cafe, you’re offered something irresistible – not just a warm, comforting coffee, but the chance to go back in time to revisit the ones you love . . .

In Before I knew I loved you, Toshikazu Kawaguchi takes us back to the warm heart of the mysterious Funiculi Funicula Cafe, with another four guests whose luminous stories of love, lost and won again, will reaffirm your belief in its eternal potential. In this book, we meet:

- The girl who wishes to make amends with the mother she never accepted
- The man who waited for a reply from his girlfriend, and never heard from her
- The woman anxious to travel ahead to know what her future holds
- The student who travels back to meet his father again, who passed away many years before.