A prelapsarian tale about a haven of racially integrated citizens, based on a real island off the coast of Maine which became - for a while - an exotic utopia in the late C18th.
Fleeing starvation in the Jameston settlement, a servant girl sets out alone into the wilderness. An historical novel set in early colonial America, by the author of Matrix.
MG's absorbing new micro-history focuses on a Crucible-esque event in Springfield, Mass. in 1651, when a young couple were condemned by their peers as witches. Drawing on detailed primary so... read more
As the ultra-conservative director of the FBI for nearly 50 years, Hoover is arguably more responsible for the emergence of the US far right than anyone else. Who was he? What happened?
A 600-page behemoth of a novel, Crossroads is a cross-generational saga set in 1970s suburban Chicago. The paterfamilias is a pastor wondering whether to leave his failing marriage before hi... read more
An epic historical novel about political and moral divides in 19th America, approached through the raucous, ill-starred family of John Wilkes Booth. By the author of We Are All Completely Be... read more
A bravura upending of the clichés of the 'Great American Novel' from the author of Then We Came to the End. Set in early C21st America, Ferris's protagonist is a romantic in the style of Up... read more
A spin on Huckleberry Finn, this harrowing (and characteristically witty) account of his adventures is narrated by James, a runaway slave. It's a scary reflection on racism today.
Ellison is reputed to be little short of a genius - for forty years a carpenter, cabinet-maker, industrial designer, sculptor, welder; and capable of realising the three-dimensional processe... read more
A memoir set in rural Wyoming where Ehrlich moved in 1978 after the unexpected death of her partner. There is grief, of course, but there are also cowboys and beautiful descriptions of the A... read more
A survey of this pioneering and serene colourist (1885-1965), who eschewed '-isms' and quietly got on with his work - much of it plein air. Early impressionistic impastos quickly give way to... read more
WD won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Into the Silence. Discursive, erudite and observant, he turns now to the story of Colombia's mightiest river.
NB Publication of this book has been de... read more
By the former UK Ambassador who had the unenviable task of explaining Britain and Brexit to the US president. He resigned, and wrote this book instead.
Following on from his The Prime Ministers, here is a series of essays on all 46 presidents of the USA by various academics, journalists, politicians and historians.
A no-holds-barred revenge thriller set in Virginia. Two anti-hero fathers try and make up for their poor parenthood and prejudices by avenging the murders of their two sons. Hold on to your ... read more
Johan Jakob Astor left Germany for a flute-making business in London in the late C18th, and then moved to New York where he dealt in pianos, opium, furs and real estate: what glistered was i... read more
MC returns with another gritty LA-set policier. Detective Renée Ballard is called to a shooting on New Year's Eve, before connecting it to one of her colleague Bosch's unsolved murder cases... read more
First UK publication of this celebrated C20th century American poet. Coleman is known as the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles'; her poems are defiant, frank and vivid in their treatme... read more
A teacher of photography on a New England campus remembers his West African childhood: Cole may be writing about himself here. The novel is a subtle, quiet exploration of memory, the passage... read more
HRC's first foray into fiction has - surprise, surprise - a US Secretary of State as its protagonist, who has joined an administration desperately trying to undo a period of American isolati... read more
A taut, brilliantly uneasy novel about a young woman drifting through the glamorous world of Long Island as an uninvited and rather desperate guest. By the author of The Girls.
A simple cottage that became "a Federal-style manse" complete with bowling alley and tennis pavilion. All beautifully decorated by our Nina. (Perhaps also a dojo upholstered with fabulous fl... read more
The 'special relationship' was dreamt up by Churchill to keep Britain afloat geopolitically when faced with the loss of empire. Buruma takes a shrewd look at Churchill and FDR, JFK and Macm... read more
In 1960, the author was the first black child to integrate into an all-white school in New Orleans. 60 years later, here is an impassioned call for racial equality.