From Romance to Mystery, We've Got a Book for Every Reader

Heap Earth Upon It

A creeping story of sapphic obsession with Gothic undertones and a delicious mid-century feel, from the author of the Polari Prize-shortlisted Sunburn.

January 1965. The orphaned O’Leary siblings—Tom, Jack, Anna and Peggy—arrive in the village of Ballycrea, tight-lipped about their troubled past and desperate for a fresh start.

After being met with suspicion from most of the locals, the family are thrilled when they’re taken under the wing of their well-respected neighbours, Bill and Betty Nevan, who offer them work, companionship and an opportunity to fit in.

But for one of the O’Learys, this new friendship sparks an intense attachment that makes the dynamic dangerous for all. It’s difficult to bury secrets, but almost impossible to bury feelings…

Crackling with suspense, Heap Earth Upon It revisits the rural Ireland of Howarth’s critically acclaimed debut and delves into claustrophobic relationships and tangled identities, leaving you wondering who to trust until the very last page. It combines the emotional intensity and slow-burn sapphic obsession of Julia Armfield’s Our Wives Under the Sea and K. Patrick’s Mrs S. with the unsettling gothic undertones of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and Shirley Jackson’s fiction.

Gothic, lush, and suspenseful, Chloe Michelle Howarth spins a tangled web that leaves you wondering who to trust until the very last page.

The Making of Netaji

Inquilab Zindabad wasn’t an overnight success. It took years of blood, sweat and tears for the revolution to rise.

In The Making of Netaji, we explore the journey of Bose, tracing his growth into a pivotal figure in the country’s struggle for freedom from the British Raj. This collection features selected speeches and writings, spanning from 1912 to 1945—as the philosophical and intellectual backbone of his political ideology was built. It is the story of a revolutionary, told in his own words, blending iconic speeches like Give me blood, and I promise you freedom! with in-depth writings such as A Glimpse of the Future. This collection offers a compelling window into the making of one of the nation’s foremost architects of freedom.

Born into a privileged Hindu family, Bose received an English education. He left his higher studies in pursuit of a higher calling—come back home and work for the freedom of his motherland. Charismatic and devoted, his rallying cries inspired hundreds of people to join the Azad Hind Fauj for the liberation of the country. Letters that he exchanged with his mother show a side of him unknown to many; the inner turmoil he went through in his early years led to his formation as a national leader later. Arranged chronologically, these documents guide readers through the evolution of Bose’s ideological convictions and leadership style. As each piece unfolds in the context of its time, it reveals not only his political vision but also the shifting circumstances that shaped his decisions, offering a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the man behind the movement.

Even eight decades after his death—his footprints are still visible on the soil of the nation.

The Index Series by The Bombay Circle Press brings you a curated collection of stories from and about the history of India. From the speeches of Netaji to the empires that shaped Bharat, each volume is thoughtfully compiled and edited by The Bombay Circle Press team. The Making of Netaji marks the first volume in The Index Series and is a collection of Subhash Chandra Bose’s correspondence, speeches and other writings.

The Corpse Played Dead

The curtain rises on a corpse, but who waits in the wings?

London, 1759

An undercover assignment for the Bow Street magistrates has the fabulous Lizzie Hardwicke posing as a pitiable seamstress at a popular theatre on Drury Lane. She soon learns that behind the scenes there is a world as sordid as the bawdy house she calls home, but possibly far more dangerous.

When a nobleman and patron of the arts is brutally murdered and left on display centre-stage, the theatre is thrown into disarray. The investigation becomes all the more urgent with public scrutiny on the magistrate’s men including William Davenport, his assistant, with whom Lizzie continues to grow closer. Her suspect list is long but she must find a way to see through all the masks worn backstage without letting her own slip.

The Corpse Played Dead is the second instalment of the gripping and vividly imagined Lizzie Hardwicke mystery series.

Perfect for fans of Sarah Waters and Diana Gabaldon, echoing the atmospheric pull of a Nancy Drew–esque mystery

The English Problem: A Novel

A powerful story about the quiet devastations of colonialism and the price of belonging.

When eighteen-year-old Shiv Advani is handpicked by Mahatma Gandhi to study law in England and return as a leader of a liberated India, he leaves home reluctantly—newly and hastily betrothed, a wife he barely knows already carrying their child, and a life laid out for him by duty rather than desire.

But London upends everything. Drawn in and repelled in equal measure, Shiv enters a world shaped by the Empire. Its culture, privilege, and seductive freedoms slowly pull him away from the mission he came for as the people Shiv sought to be liberated from become the people he desperately wants to be a part of. As he trains at the Inns of Court and begins to carve out a new life, the distance between his two homes widens. Soon he is caught between loyalty and longing, tradition and transformation, two homelands, two identities, and two futures. In the end, Shiv must fight not only for his country’s liberation but also his own.

Set against the turbulence of India’s freedom movement, The English Problem is a lyrical, intimate, and politically resonant novel of a young man and a young nation, struggling to define themselves.

Death and the Harlot

When information is power, secrets are worth lives.

London, 1759

Lizzie Hardwicke has learned to escape her history and survive the perilous streets of Soho within the walls of Mrs Farley’s Bawdy House, a reputable brothel. But entertaining wealthy customers may not be so profitable when one of them is brutally murdered after a night with her.

Lizzie must escape the investigator Davenport’s suspicious eye by solving the murder herself. But the deeper she goes, the more bodies pile up. From her customers to the doorman, everyone has something to hide. All Lizzie needs to do is find the person willing to kill for theirs, before they come for her.

Death and the Harlot is the first instalment of the gripping and vividly imagined historical mystery series.

Perfect for fans of Sarah Waters and Diana Gabaldon, echoing the atmospheric pull of a Nancy Drew–esque mystery.

A Thousand Times Before

A heartrending family saga following three generations of women connected by a fantastic tapestry through which they inherit the experiences of those that lived before them, sweeping readers from Partition era India to modern day Brooklyn.

Ayukta is finally sitting down with her wife Nadya to respond to a question she’s long avoided: Should they have a child? The decision is complicated by a secret her family has kept for centuries, one that Ayukta will be the first to share with someone outside their bloodline: the women in her family inherit a mysterious tapestry, through which each generation can experience the memories of those who came before her.

Ayukta invites Nadya into this lineage, carrying her through its past. She relives her grandmother Amla’s life: Once a happy child in Karachi, Amla migrates to Gujarat during Partition, witnessing violence and loss that forever shape her approach to marriage and motherhood. Amla’s daughter, Arni, bears this weight in her own blood in 1974, when gender equity and urban class distinctions divide the community as a bold student movement takes hold. As Ayukta unspools these generations of women—whole decades of love, loss, heartbreak, and revival—she reveals the tapestry’s second gift: the ability for each of these women to dramatically reshape their own worlds. Like all power, both fantastic and societal, this inheritance is more treacherous than it seems.

What would it mean, to impart an impossible burden? To withhold these incredible gifts?

Sweeping, deeply felt and intergenerational, A Thousand Times Before is a debut as poetic as it is propulsive, as healing as it is heartbreaking, as it examines what it means to carry our past with us and to pass it on. Rooted in a tender love story, and spun with a tremendous amount of care, this book is a rare, remarkable feat from an incredible new literary talent.

The Brother Between Us

Five years ago, Sofia Montoya lost everything.

On the night of her engagement party, her fiancé John tragically died—shattering her world and sending her fleeing from Colorado, from her past, and from the rage she’s carried like a secret.

Now, Sofia has built a quiet, carefully controlled life in Albuquerque. No one gets too close. Nothing pierces the walls she’s built around her heart.

Until Brandon shows up—John’s brother, the last person she wants to see.

Their history is complicated, and Sofia has no intention of revisiting it. But Brandon isn’t here for pleasantries— he’s here for the truth. The one Sofia never let herself ask for.

As old wounds reopen and buried passion reignites, Sofia is forced to confront the one thing she’s tried
hardest to avoid: the past.

Will uncovering the past tear them apart—or finally set them free?

Be Mine

If ‘wellness’ is the new religion, what happens when it goes too far?

A high-concept thriller with a heart that takes the idea of “extraordinary things happen to ordinary people” to the extreme…

Beth is a new mother struggling to find her place in the world. She is exhausted, mentally and physically, but her anxieties are not simply the fears of a first-time mum. A terror burns in her, fuelled by a secret past she is lucky to have escaped. When a letter arrives, bearing only the infinity symbol, Beth knows immediately it is from them . And that her past is finally catching up with her…

Ten years earlier, on the heels of a messy breakup, Beth meets the effervescent Marissa who introduces her to “Elixir” – a health and wellness organisation that she promises will change Beth’s life forever. She quickly becomes intoxicated and convinced it is the solution to all her problems. No task is too great, even as the gruelling exercise classes become more frequent, even as the therapy sessions become more costly, even as their ‘requests’ become ‘demands,’ Beth convinces herself this is what she wants.

Then, when she falls for the brand’s enigmatic leader, Tate, she can’t imagine life without Elixir. But as Beth’s star begins to rise, Marissa’s starts to fall. And though Marissa tries to warn her of the darkness lurking beneath the brand’s gleaming exterior, Beth finds she cannot let go.

Be Mine is a story about identity: finding our place in the world today, and where we turn to belong in a godless modern society.

Broken Mirrors, Spilt Salt, and a Lifetime of Bad Luck

For as long as she can remember, Mallory has been bad luck. Yes, you read that right—she’s not just unlucky; she is bad luck. With The Universe hell bent on bestowing misfortune upon her and subsequently those around her, can she find a loophole to turn things around?

Belonging in an Ivy League but through a twist of misfortune, stuck in a community college pre-law program, Mallory’s doing her best to minimize the misfortune she brings to those in close proximity. Her only haven is a group of gamers she befriended while playing Arcana Quest. Online camaraderie quickly morphed into real friendship with one standout friend—Valkyrie, whom she told about her cursed luck.

When one of their friends suffers a particularly bad interaction with a threatening man, Valkyrie suggests an unconventional idea: Mallory should harness her bad luck to take down jerks on dating apps. It works like a charm—well, a broken one.

Mallory wrestles with the ethical morality of her actions, while trying to balance her internship with an enigmatic personal injury lawyer, who seems immune to the torrent of disasters that follow her.

Can she use her curse to deliver justice without spiraling into chaos? Or has she found herself a more dangerous way for her bad luck to bring her to ruin?

For A Lark: A Novel

From Debut Author, Seth Goodman, comes a tragic tale of love, helplessness and desire. A new age story of a young and innocent girl breaking through molds to find her place in this world.

Melody “Lark” Larkness is trying to run from her past. Working at Scottsdale’s most exclusive Gentlemen’s Club—Starlight—feels like a step toward stability. But when the new floor manager’s dangerous obsession puts her in his sights, she realizes nowhere is truly safe.

Romeo Mendes has always played it safe. A food service manager with a long-distance girlfriend and a
predictable life, he isn’t looking for complications. But when Lark’s world collides with his, he can’t turn away. The friendship they build is a risk he shouldn’t take—but one he can’t resist.

When violence erupts, Lark disappears, forcing her to confront the ghosts of her past alone. Romeo is left to pick up the pieces, torn between returning to the life he knows and chasing something he never expected.

If their paths cross again, will love be enough to bridge the distance, or will the past pull them apart for good?

One Step Ahead

Jill Towers died in an accident. At least, that is what the newspaper suggests.

After Jill Towers falls to her death from a cliff during the Island Walk, the glue that held her friend group is gone forever. Two years later, mourning her death, four friends come back to Jersey for a charity walk.

But broken friendships have prominent cracks and these cracks hold dark secrets that come up to the surface when Haydon, Yesenia, Gary and Maisie reunite. After all, Haydon left the island soon after the death, Yesenia withdrew into her shell, Maisie ran until her heartbeat overpowered the thought of Jill’s death…and Gary went on about his business dealings as if it was just another Tuesday.

Their friendship goes through another test when they all set off for the Island Walk, but it seems like they all have their own agenda to finish the walk, which may or may not have to do with Jill.

With Jersey Beans, the local news portal, dishing out one scoop after the other, tension rises with the entire island scrutinising their every action. Will the gruelling 48.1 mile get them before the truth does? Will one of them crack and reveal what actually happened on that day? Or was it really just a freak accident?

C. L. Peache’s One Step Ahead pulls you in for a walk of a lifetime , as secrets get revealed with every step to finding out the truth. A story about loss wrapped up in suspense where everyone had something to gain…

When The Peperos Align

Falling in love one Pepero stick at a time.

When K-pop rookie Choi Do-hyun (Hyde) of Cosmo goes up to his company’s rooftop to catch a break, he ends up catching feelings and vows to do all that he can to keep JADE’s Lee Hae-won (Wonwon) from crying.

So, now his to-do list looks something like this:
• Make a petition to save Golden Monkeys
• Buy Hae-won Peperos
• Ask Hae-won out on a date
• Panic about not knowing where to take her on a date

But being a K-pop idol doesn’t come without its challenges, especially if you’re a rookie trying to keep your young love a secret with a dating ban. So will the peperos align to bring together two K-pop idols?

Emma Cho’s When the Peperos Align is a story about fighting for your love with sprinkles of humour and struggles of being an idol. Perfect for the fans of Shooting Stars, The Idea of You and Imitation.

Love is sometimes written by stacking together Peperos.

Fated To Love Him

Is It Love or Is It Fate?

Kathryn Hughes thought she knew ordinary—a steady job at a bookstore and occasionally overprotective parents. But one fateful night changes everything. A terrible incident propels her into an ancient werewolf prophecy, shattering her mundane existence.

Now, Kathryn finds herself at the mercy of Alexander Bennet—her unexpected guardian. A Werewolf guardian.

As danger looms and secrets unravel, Kathryn has a choice in front of her—embrace the extraordinary or lose herself to the madness of it all. But one thing is for sure; she must trust Alexander to protect her life and her heart. But can she trust him with the truth of who she’s becoming?

Sunburn

Sunburn is an astute and tender portrayal of first love, adolescent anxiety and the realities of growing up in a small town where tradition holds people tightly in its grasp.

It’s the early 1990s, and in the Irish village of Crossmore, Lucy feels out of place. Despite her fierce friendships, she’s always felt this way, and the conventional path of marriage and motherhood doesn’t appeal to her at all. Not even with handsome and doting Martin, her closest childhood friend. Lucy begins to make sense of herself during a long hot summer, when a spark with her school friend Susannah escalates to an all-consuming infatuation, and, very quickly, to a desperate and devastating love.

Fearful of rejection from her small and conservative community, Lucy begins living a double life, hiding the most honest parts of herself in stolen moments with Susannah.

But with the end of school and the opportunity to leave Crossmore looming, Lucy must choose between two places, two people and two futures, each as terrifying as the other. But only one can offer her real happiness.

An atmospheric sapphic love story and coming-of-age novel with the intensity of Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation, the long hot summer of André Aciman’s Call Me By Your Name and the female friendships of Anna Hope’s Expectation.

How to Train a Happy Mind

Based on the hugely successful podcast A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment, this book provides a simple 8-step guide to using the power of analytical meditation to improve mental wellbeing by mixing Tibetan Buddhist Meditation with modern science, psychology and popular culture.

Train your mind toward lasting connection and joy.

Eager to share the life-enhancing benefits he found in Buddhism, skeptic Scott Snibbe presents this 8-step programme that allows anyone to build positive mental habits. Inspired by the ancient Buddhist path to enlightenment yet firmly grounded in modern science, How to Train a Happy Mind is the first mainstream book to show how you can achieve happiness using analytical meditation. Working in much the same way as cognitive behavioural therapy, analytical meditation goes beyond the calm-inducing practice of mindfulness to actively train the brain through easy-to-follow narrative visualizations.

Breaking the path down into concise steps and written in a relatable tone with plenty of references to popular culture, this is the ideal book if you recognize your mind as both the source of your problems and the source of your solutions.

Why Politicians Lie About Trade: … and What You Need to Know About It

‘Why Politicians Lie About Trade…’ explains how international trade in goods and services actually works and the compromises and concessions nations must make to take part in this $32 trillion-a-year jamboree: the greatest commercial show on earth.

Daily we can see the fruits of international trade on display on the shelves of shops, from American oranges to Chinese mobile phones to Kenyan coffee. But hidden from view is the geopolitical wiring that allows global cross-border trade to make it all happen: a network of treaties, tariffs, taxes and disputes that is remote and unintelligible to most people. Until now.

With clear, often humorous writing and case studies, former trade negotiator Dmitry Grozoubinski takes readers through the intricacies and surprises of global commerce. He reveals the underlying political and geographical forces that shape trade policy and our everyday lives. He spells out the impact of trade treaties on topics such as food, jobs, gender conflict and climate. And he reveals what politicians cover-up about the system— and why it matters.

A companion to books such as How to Lie With Statistics, Why Politicians Lie About Trade illuminates a much misunderstood and underestimated network that is vital to our modern interconnected world. With the US-China trade war, Brexit, and other disputes regularly hitting the headlines (and sometimes our nerves), grasping how trade actually works has never been more important.