Fiction
Damian Barr
Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is on his way. After years grafting at Lees Boot Factory, he's off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls - and never leave his side. Together they will spend every penny and every minute devouring Glasgow - its botanical gardens, the Barras market, a whole hidden city - all the while loving each other behind closed doors. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent will take them to Paris, Rome, London. They will become stars as the bombs fall, hosting wild parties with the likes of Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Elizabeth Smart. But the brightest stars burn fastest. Hbk ISBN: 9781805301547 e-book and e-audio
Vikki Heywood
It is 1951 and behind the counter of a modest post office in a leafy Buckinghamshire village Miss Dora Ham and Miss Beatrix Veal maintain their careful facade as respected local spinsters. But their true story is one of passion: suffragist activists who fell in love at a rally in the 1900s, danced in London's secret gay clubs between the wars, and comforted one another during the first night of the Blitz. Together they have built a life of quiet dignity and service in rural England. Now over the course of one pivotal day their carefully constructed world begins to fracture. Through Beatrix's wry perspective we witness the severe impact of post-war changes on their peaceful existence. Changes that will lead to heart-breaking decisions for Miss Veal and Miss Ham. Pbk ISBN: 9781838340100
Alana S. Portero
Told in an irresistible, heartrending voice, 'Bad Habit' takes us deep into the lives of the residents of a godforsaken Madrid neighbourhood ironically named after a holy saint. An unnamed young trans woman grows up in a working class suburb that has no place for her. She discovers community and kinship in downtown Madrid, amid a lively party scene animated by junkies, pop divas, and fallen angels. But with each step she takes forward, she finds herself confronted by a violence she does not yet know how to counter Pbk ISBN: 9780008663339 Hbk ISBN: 9780008663292 e-book
Gemma Reeves
Edie lives in a crumbling country house in Broadstairs with her partner Joanna. They have spent over a decade together since the death of Harry, the third member of their polyamorous marriage. It's a quiet, comfortable existence - but conversations about the mother who abandoned her have recently awoken in Edie feelings she long thought buried. As Edie's memories unspool - childhood days among the gossiping housewives of the mansion block, intense adolescent love affairs, clandestine nights in London clubs - she is forced to confront her ghosts and piece together the various parts of herself, as a queer woman and the daughter of a Jewish émigré. Now in her early fifties, she wonders whether there is still time to become the woman she once yearned to be. Pbk ISBN: 9780008658229 Hbk ISBN 9780008658182 e-book
Jesse Sutanto
When 73-year-old matriarch Magnolia Chen sweeps into the family Chinese New Year celebration with a woman on her arm that she introduces as her girlfriend, shockwaves ripple through the room. But her 16-year-old granddaughter Izzy, black sheep of the clan, is far more intrigued than angry. Later that evening Magnolia begins to tell Izzy her story: sent from Indonesia to Los Angeles in her teens, she met Ellery O'Shea, her best friend, her safe space, the love of her life. What unfolds from there will shock Izzy to her core but also give her a new understanding of the meaning of love, loyalty and sacrifice. Pbk ISBN: 9781805463825
Colm Toibin
One snowy morning, after arguing with her husband, Miquel's mother walks out from their home high up in the Pyrenees and does not return. With his younger brother stationed far away on military service and his father cast out by the people of the town, Miquel and his father are left to fend for themselves. Together they will be forced to battle the elements, and their resentment of each other, through the long winter. Miquel's desperate searching for his mother is only interrupted when Manolo, an orphaned servant boy from the next village, arrives to help out in the house. As Miquel is forced to confront the reality of his mother's absence, Manolo, with his silences and longing gaze, offers the promise of new love, and another kind of life. Hbk ISBN: 9781035079841 e-book
AJ West
It is the year 1715, and Thomas True has arrived on old London Bridge with a dangerous secret. One night, lost amongst the squalor of London's hidden back streets, he finds himself drawn into the outrageous underworld of the molly houses. Meanwhile, carpenter Gabriel Griffin struggles to hide his double life as Lotty, the molly's stoic guard. When a young man is found murdered, he realises there is a rat amongst them, betraying their secrets to a pair of murderous Justices. Can Gabriel unmask the traitor before they hang? Can he save hapless Thomas from peril, and their own forbidden love? Pbk ISBN: 9781916788596 Hbk ISBN: 9781916788152 LP pbk ISBN: 9781444854039 CDSPW ISBN: 9781399162401
Lucy Undying
Kiersten White
Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula's first victims. But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire, and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula's clutches - and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants. Her undead life takes an unexpected turn when, in twenty-first-century London, she meets another woman who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris's family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they'll do anything to stay in power. Lucy has long believed she would never love again. But she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris, while Iris is mesmerised by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by forces from without. Pbk ISBN: 9781804947715
Non-Fiction
Before he was a politician, Bryant was an Anglican priest. Before that, he manned the barricades in Latin America, and before that, he was the scared son of an alcoholic mother and an estranged father. This is a no-holds-barred account of a minister's truly unconventional life before politics - one that has left Bryant equally at home behind the altar, in sweaty gay clubs, on the hustings or the stage. 'A Life and a Half' tells a gripping story of bishops and actors, drag queens and pushy candidates, stuffed with moments of joy and hilarity and sorrow and abuse. All while tracking the landscape of late-20th-century British politics, from Thatcher to the birth of New Labour. It is a memoir like no other. Hbk 9781526680914
In this vulnerable and enlightening memoir, globally renowned performer Cynthia Erivo draws from her singular life experience to show us how to live up to the fullest iteration of ourselves. Hbk ISBN: 9781035086016 e-book e-audio
In this landmark work, Jason Okundaye meets an elder generation of Black gay men and finds a spirited community full of courage, charisma and good humour, hungry to tell its past - of nightlife, resistance, political fights, loss, gossip, sex, romance and vulgarity. Through their conversations he seeks to reconcile the Black and gay narratives of Britain, narratives frequently cleaved as distinct and unrelated. Pbk ISBN: 9780571372225 e-audio