Showing titles in Coming of Age

Hello. I'm Oliver Tate, the protagonist. I am likely to use words like protagonist and, moments later, words like twonk. My ambitions are as follows: to find out why my father sometimes stays in bed for days at a time; to find out why my mother's getting surfing lessons - and probably more - from a hippy-looking twonk; and to lose my virginity before it becomes legal - in just over a year.

For fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, this a witty, elegant fairytale of New York, set in 1938. In a New York City jazz bar on the last night of 1937, watching a quartet because she couldn't afford to see the whole ensemble, there were certain things Katey Kontent knew and things she will have learnt by the end of the year.

It is London, 1970. Carmel McBain, in her first term at university, has cut free of her childhood roots in the north. Among the gossiping, flirtatious girls of Tonbridge Hall, she begins her experiments in life and love. But the year turns. The mini-skirt falls out of style and an era of concealment begins. Carmel's world darkens, and tragedy waits in the wings.

For three years, Song Yan has filled the emptiness of her Beijing apartment with the tentative notes of her young piano students. With her marriage, she gave up on her own career as a concert pianist, but her husband Bowen has long rebuffed her desire to have a child. Instead, she must accommodate her mother-in-law, newly arrived from the province of Yunnan and bringing with her long-buried family secrets. Soon strange parcels start to show up on the doorstep and Song Yan's dreams become troubling and claustrophobic.

Katherine Adams never thought she'd end up in a small town in Texas, but when things start to go south, it's the perfect place to escape to. Emmett Santiago never imagined he'd fall so quickly, but one glance at Kate and he's a goner. Moving in with Katherine's aunt her junior year of high school is the safest choice for her sister, and Katherine plans to do everything she can to make Bluebonnet their home. That most definitely doesn't include flirting with a certain boy, no matter how charming his smile is. Katherine might not believe in love, but Emmett is determined to win her over.

Ella and Lowe are teenagers when they first meet. For her, it’s love at first sight. But it’s also safest to love from afar, where the friendship zone is her safety net and she can’t get hurt. Over the next fifteen years, Ella and Lowe share everything: grief, laughter, friendship, bottles of cider, cigarettes in the rain. But there’s one thing Ella can never ask him: whether he feels the same way about her. And every time Lowe kisses another girl, Ella feels her heart break just that little bit more. So can you ever really just be friends with the love of your life?

The Story of a New Name follows Elena Ferrante's critically acclaimed My Brilliant Friend, featuring Lila and Elena. The two protagonists are now in their 20s, and marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile Elena continues her journey of self-discovery.

Natalia Mazzone has grown up knowing she is promised to a made man. As the only daughter of one of New York’s most powerful mafia dons, she knows she can’t refuse. It’s her duty, and she would never dishonor her beloved father. But the man she’s promised to is a monster. And there is nothing but torture, pain, and heartache lying in wait. So, she grabs happiness when she finds it - in the somewhat reluctant arms of Leonardo Messina. Leo is her brother’s best friend. A soldato for the Mazzone famiglia.

What will be will be. Belinda Marshall’s idyllic teenage life in Brittany, France, fell apart when her parents dramatically separated and her mother took her back to England. Fast forward 35 years when Belinda’s world is once again turned upside down. It’s the week before Christmas and her employer 'surprises’ Belinda by asking for her help to rejuvenate their latest investment, a run-down campsite in Brittany.

Frederica Potter arrives at Cambridge University greedy for knowledge, sex and love. It isn’t long before she becomes infatuated with a mysterious and controlling poet. Back in Yorkshire, her sister Stephanie abandons academia and is confronted with the boredom and frustrations of motherhood. Meanwhile, their younger brother Marcus begins to recover from a nervous breakdown. Each sibling is desperate to shape their own future, but a horrifying event will soon change their lives forever.

In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce, and those born with power are strictly controlled - taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon Army. Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage-mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that could threaten the entire empire.

My name is Connor Williams, and people say I’m crazy. But that’s not who I am. They also think I’m straight, mean, and dangerous. But that’s not who I am either. The stories people tell—all those legends they whisper at school—they don’t mean a thing. Only my mother and younger brother matter to me.

Never knowing his parents, eleven-year-old Stewie Little and his brother have been raised on a farm by their older sister. Stewie steadfastly tends the chickens left by his beloved late grandmother. And every day Stewie goes door to door selling fresh eggs from his wagon—a routine with a surprise just around the corner. It’s his new customer, Marilyn. She’s prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar—she reminds the grieving Stewie so much of the grandmother he misses more than he can express.

The Book of X tells the tale of Cassie, a girl born with her stomach twisted in the shape of a knot. From childhood with her parents on the family meat farm, to a desk job in the city, to finally experiencing love, she grapples with her body, men, and society, all the while imagining a softer world than the one she is in. Twining the drama of the everyday - school-age crushes, paying bills, the sickness of parents - with the surreal-rivers of thighs, men for sale, and fields of throats - Cassie's realities alternate to create a blurred, fantastic world of haunting beauty.

Bonnie has been running from her tragic past for far too long. Now, years after the events that changed her life for ever, the time has come to face it. Her search for answers takes her to the idyllic town of Hamblin. Alice’s perfect life is slipping through her fingers. Drowning in debt, she struggles on, working long days alongside her daughter Laura, ever more desperate to hold on to what little remains. Laura had her future as an artist snatched from her when she had to return home to care for her father. When their worlds collide, Laura and Bonnie form an instant bond.

Violet dreams of becoming a midwife. Off to university to start her training, all that stand between her and her future are anxiety, self-doubt, and three years of hard work. With best friend Zoe by her side, can she overcome the obstacles to make her dreams come true? This volume contains the entire Lessons of a Student Midwife series, including Life Lessons, Love Lessons and Lessons Learned.

Amidst the crumbling yellow stone of Oxford and its prestigious university, secrets are stirring within the Lux family home . . . Jean, the constrained and guilt-ridden wife of an academic, is waiting for excitement – and it will come from an unexpected source. Eve, Jean's intelligent eldest daughter, luxuriates in wounded murderous jealousy of her younger sister and is on the brink of snapping. Raymond, the loathed rival of Jean's husband, begins to show interest in Eve. And Helena, Jean's best friend, has a confession, the revelation of which may just alter everyone's lives forever.

I’m the second-most hated person in Amber Springs. Transferring to a new school midway through senior year is hellish for most people. For me, it’s a welcome relief—until someone discovers our secret and now everyone knows. The pointing, whispering, and scathing looks follow me around again, and I’m back to square one. Except, this time, I’m not alone. Axel, Skeet, and Heath took me under their wing from the minute I arrived here.

1972. Ten years on from the events of The Miseducation of Evie Epworth and Evie is settled in London working for the BBC. She has everything she's ever dreamed of (a career, a leatherette briefcase, an Ossie Clark poncho) but, following an unfortunate incident involving Princess Anne and a Hornsea Pottery mug, she finds herself having to rethink her life and piece together work, love, grief and multiple pairs of cork-soled platform sandals.

1961. On a sweltering summer’s day, while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, 16-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house, dreaming of the bright future she can’t wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything. 2011. Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds.