Best Contemporary British & Irish Literature Books
Here you will get Best Contemporary British & Irish Literature Books For you.This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
1. The Lost Girls of Ireland: A heart-warming and feel-good page-turner set in Ireland (Starlight Cottages Book 1)
Author: by Susanne O'Leary
B08TQ85XT7
Bookouture (May 5, 2021)
May 5, 2021
A heart-warming story about family secrets and one woman’s escape to dreamy Sandy Cove on the stunning west coast of Ireland. The picturesque beach of Wild Rose Bay is the last place Lydia Butler thought she’d be. But having just lost everything, the run-down cottage she inherited from her Great Aunt Nellie is the only place she can take her daughter, Sunny.
Hidden away in a tiny Irish village, she can protect Sunny from the gossip in Dublin, and the real reason they have nowhere else to liveThe cottage is part of the old coastguard station and other eccentric residents are quick to introduce themselves when Lydia arrives.
Lydia instantly feels less alone, fascinated by the stories they have about Nellie, and she’s charmed by American artist, Jason O’Callaghan, the mysterious man who lives next door. But the longer Lydia relaxes under the moonlit sky, the more the secret she’s keeping from Sunny threatens to come out.
And as she finds herself running into Jason’s arms, she knows she must be honest and face up to the past she has tried to forget. Has she finally found people who will truly accept her, or will the truth force her to leave the cottage for good?
2. Three Wishes: A Novel
Author: by Liane Moriarty
Harper Paperbacks
English
384 pages
The funny, heartwarming, and completely charming first novel from Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Nine Perfect Strangers and Big Little Lies. Lyn, Cat, and Gemma Kettle, beautiful thirty-three-year-old triplets, seem to attract attention everywhere they go.
Together, laughter, drama, and mayhem follow them, but apart, each is dealing with her own share of ups and downs. Lyn has organized her life into one big checklist, Cat has just learned a startling secret about her marriage, and Gemma, who bolts every time a relationship hits the six-month mark, holds out hope for lasting love.
In this wise, witty, and hilarious novel, we follow the Kettle sisters through their tumultuous thirty-third year as they deal with sibling rivalry and secrets, revelations and relationships, unfaithful husbands and unthinkable decisions, and the fabulous, frustrating life of forever being part of a trio.
3. The Letter: Absolutely heartbreaking World War 2 love story
Author: by Kathryn Hughes
B00W22J6TU
Headline (March 19, 2015)
March 19, 2015
PRE-ORDER THE MEMORY BOX, THE NEW NOVEL FROM KATHRYN HUGHES *Every so often a love story comes along to remind us that sometimes, in our darkest hour, hope shines a candle to light our way. Discover THE LETTER by Kathryn Hughes, the Number One bestseller that has captured thousands of hearts worldwide.
Perfect for fans of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. ‘A wonderful, uplifting story’ Lesley PearseJoin the hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide who have fallen in love with THE LETTER:’An amazing, heartwrenching, unforgettable story”This beautiful story will bring tears and joy’ ‘Loved this story !!
It kept me totally gripped although I was sobbing in places as well”A tale of love and hope with lots of twists and turns. A great story!’Tina Craig longs to escape her violent husband. She works all the hours God sends to save up enough money to leave him, also volunteering in a charity shop to avoid her unhappy home.
Whilst going through the pockets of a second-hand suit, she comes across an old letter, the envelope firmly sealed and unfranked. Tina opens the letter and reads it – a decision that will alter the course of her life for ever…
4. The Last Anniversary: A Novel
Author: by Liane Moriarty
B003F1WMCK
Harper Perennial
April 2, 2010
From Liane Moriarty, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Big Little Lies and Truly Madly Guilty, comes an unforgettable novel defined by her signature sharp wit, page-turning storyline, and lovable and eccentric characters. Sophie Honeywell always wondered if Thomas Gordon was the one who got away.
He was the perfect boyfriend, but on the day he was going to propose, she broke his heart. A year later he married his travel agent, while Sophie has been mortifyingly single ever since. Now Thomas is back in her life because Sophie has unexpectedly inherited his aunt Connie’s house on Scribbly Gum Islandhome of the famously unsolved Munro Baby mystery.
Sophie moves onto the island and begins a new life as part of an unconventional family, where it seems everyone has a secret. Grace, a beautiful young mother, is feverishly planning a shocking escape from her perfect life. Margie, a frumpy housewife, has made a pact with a stranger, while dreamy Aunt Rose wonders if maybe it’s about time she started making her own decisions.
5. The Silent Wife: A gripping, emotional page-turner with a twist that will take your breath away
Author: by Kerry Fisher
Forever (December 3, 2019)
English
384 pages
In this heart-wrenching, emotionally gripping USA Today bestseller, a woman with a seemingly perfect life finds a mysterious letter that reveals dark secrets from the past that threaten to destroy her family. Lara’s life looks perfect on the surface – gorgeous doting husband, Massimo; sweet little son, Sandro; and the perfect home.
But Lara knows something about Massimo. Something she can’t tell anyone else, or everything he has worked so hard for will be destroyed: his job, their reputation, their son. This secret is keeping Lara a prisoner in her marriage. Maggie is married to Massimo’s brother, Nico, and lives with him and her troubled stepdaughter.
She knows all of Nico’s darkest secrets – or so she thinks. Then one day she discovers a letter in the attic that reveals a shocking secret about Nico’s first wife. Will Maggie set the record straight or keep silent to protect those she loves?
For a family held together by lies, the truth will come at a devastating price.
6. Hollywood Wives
Author: by Jackie Collins
B01N4FQ8J9
Simon & Schuster
April 18, 2017
The iconic raunchy, brash, and suspenseful (The New York Times) blockbuster novel that started it allthe ultimate insider’s novelfrom #1 New York Times bestselling author Jackie Collins. They lunch at LA’s hottest restaurants and feast on hotter gossip. They cruise Rodeo Drive in their Mercedes and Rolls, turning shopping at Giorgio and Gucci into an art form.
They pursue the body beautiful at the Workout and Body Asylum. Dressed by St. Laurent and Galanos, they dine at the latest restaurants on the rise and fall of one another’s fortunes. They’re sensuous and jaded, corrupt and beautiful. They’re Hollywood wives, and they hold the keys to the kingdom.
7. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel
Author: by Rachel Joyce
English
384 pages
0812983459
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER [Rachel] Joyce’s beguiling debut is [a] modest-seeming story of ordinary’ English lives that enthralls and moves you as it unfolds. People (four stars) IN DEVELOPMENT AS A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST Meet Harold Fry, recently retired.
He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning a letter arrives, addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl, from a woman he hasn’t heard from in twenty years.
Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. But before Harold mails off a quick reply, a chance encounter convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold Fry embarks on an urgent quest.
Determined to walk six hundred miles to the hospice, Harold believes that as long as he walks, Queenie will live. A novel of charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wiseand utterly irresistiblestoryteller.
8. Case Histories: A Novel (Jackson Brodie Book 1)
Author: by Kate Atkinson
B000SEI07S
October 15, 2007
English
The first book in Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie Mysteries series, called “The best mystery of the decade” by Stephen King, finds private investigator Jackson Brodie following three seemingly unconnected family mysteries in Edinburg. Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night.
Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac’s apparently random attack. Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making – with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband – until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.
Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge …
9. Sarum: The Novel of England
Author: by Edward Rutherfurd
B005IEGUDY
September 14, 2011
English
A masterpiece of breathtaking scopea brilliantly conceived epic novel that traces the entire turbulent course of English history This ebook edition features a new introduction by the author in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of Sarum. This rich tapestry weaves a compelling saga of five familiesthe Wilsons, the Masons, the family of Porteus, the Shockleys, and the Godfreyswho reflect the changing character of Britain.
As their fates and fortunes intertwine over the course of the centuries, their greater destinies offer a fascinating glimpse into the future. An absorbing historical chronicle, Sarum is a keen tale of struggle and adventure, a profound human drama, and a magnificent work of sheer storytelling.
Praise for Sarum Bursts with action, encyclopedic in historic detail … Supremely well crafted and a delight to read. Chicago Tribune A fascinating journey … A clear yet sparkling window upon history with a superb narrative, so perfectly balanced between history and fiction that it clears away the mists of time from antiquity, giving the reader the impression that events over a span of ten centuries occurred only yesterday.
10. The Music Shop: A Novel
Author: by Rachel Joyce
B01NAFLSXD
Random House
January 2, 2018
An unforgettable story of music, loss and hope. Fans of High Fidelity, meet your next quirky love story. PeopleNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE TIMES (UK) AND THE WASHINGTON POST It is 1988. On a dead-end street in a run-down suburb there is a music shop that stands small and brightly lit, jam-packed with records of every kind.
Like a beacon, the shop attracts the lonely, the sleepless, and the adrift; Frank, the shop’s owner, has a way of connecting his customers with just the piece of music they need. Then, one day, into his shop comes a beautiful young woman, Ilse Brauchmann, who asks Frank to teach her about music.
Terrified of real closeness, Frank feels compelled to turn and run, yet he is drawn to this strangely still, mysterious woman with eyes as black as vinyl. But Ilse is not what she seems, and Frank has old wounds that threaten to reopen, as well as a past it seems he will never leave behind.
Can a man who is so in tune with other people’s needs be so incapable of connecting with the one person who might save him? The journey that these two quirky, wonderful characters make in order to overcome their emotional baggage speaks to the healing power of musicand lovein this poignant, ultimately joyful work of fiction.
11. The Thirteen-Gun Salute (Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 13) (Aubrey & Maturin series)
Author: by Patrick O’Brian
B006FH2YOM
December 19, 2011
English
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now, for the first time, they are available in electronic book format, so a whole new generation of readers can be swept away on the adventure of a lifetime.
This is the thirteenth book in the series. For all Jack Aubrey’s life he has triumphed, often sensationally, over the dangers of the sea and the violence of the enemy. But his rashness, his guilelessness, his indiscretion have time and time again enabled his rivals to prevent him reaping his just rewards.
The nadir was reached in The Reverse of the Medal when, the victim of a skilful frame-up, he was convicted of fraud and struck off the Navy list just as he was coming within sight of flag rank. The subsequent exposure of the conspiracy, coupled with his brilliant success in command of a privateer, had brought him to a position where Their Lordships were more or less bound to reinstate him.
This, as the present book opens, they have done, and he and his old friend Dr Maturin are sailing on a secret mission with a hand-picked crew, most of them shipmates from the adventures and lucrative voyages of earlier years.
12. The Wine-Dark Sea (Vol. Book 16) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)
Author: by Patrick O'Brian
B006C3QRVK
December 5, 2011
English
The sixteenth volume in the Aubrey/Maturin series, and Patrick O’Brian’s first bestseller in the United States. At the outset of this adventure filled with disaster and delight, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin pursue an American privateer through the Great South Sea.
The strange color of the ocean reminds Stephen of Homer’s famous description, and portends an underwater volcanic eruption that will create a new island overnight and leave an indelible impression on the reader’s imagination. Their ship, the Surprise, is now also a privateer, the better to escape diplomatic complications from Stephen’s mission, which is to ignite the revolutionary tinder of South America.
Jack will survive a desperate open boat journey and come face to face with his illegitimate black son; Stephen, caught up in the aftermath of his failed coup, will flee for his life into the high, frozen wastes of the Andes; and Patrick O’Brian’s brilliantly detailed narrative will reunite them at last in a breathtaking chase through stormy seas and icebergs south of Cape Horn, where the hunters suddenly become the hunted.
13. Remember Me?: A Novel
Author: by Sophie Kinsella
B000VM9Z8K
February 26, 2008
English
With the same wicked humor and delicious charm that have won her millions of devoted fans, Sophie Kinsella, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shopaholic & Baby, returns with an irresistible new novel and a fresh new heroine who finds herself in a life-changing and utterly hilarious predicament.
When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect.Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accidentin a Mercedes no lessLexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed.
Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husbandwho also happens to be a multimillionaire?
With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person shewell, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all. Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance.
14. Corelli's Mandolin: A Novel (Vintage International)
Author: by Louis de Bernieres
B004EPZ6DS
Vintage (October 17, 2012)
October 17, 2012
Extravagant, inventive, emotionally sweeping, Corelli’s Mandolin is the story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. The place is the Greek island of Cephallonia, where gods once dabbled in the affairs of men and the local saint periodically rises from his sarcophagus to cure the mad.
Then the tide of World War II rolls onto the island’s shores in the form of the conquering Italian army. Caught in the occupation are Pelagia, a willful, beautiful young woman, and the two suitors vying for her love: Mandras, a gentle fisherman turned ruthless guerilla, and the charming, mandolin-playing Captain Corelli, a reluctant officer of the Italian garrison on the island.
Rich with loyalties and betrayals, and set against a landscape where the factual blends seamlessly with the fantastic, Corelli’s Mandolin is a passionate novel as rich in ideas as it is genuinely moving.
15. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: The Play (Modern Plays)
Author: by Mark Haddon
Methuen Drama
English
112 pages
My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and the capital cities. And every prime number up to 7507. Christopher, fifteen years old, stands beside Mrs Shears’s dead dog. It has been speared with a garden fork, it is seven minutes after midnight, and Christopher is under suspicion.
He records each fact in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington. He has an extraordinary brain and is exceptional at maths, but he is ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and he distrusts strangers.
But Christopher’s detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that turns his world upside-down. Simon Stephens’s adaptation of Mark Haddon’s bestselling, award-winning novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time offers a richly theatrical exploration of this touching and bleakly humorous tale.
This edition contains some strong language and may not be suitable for all school curricula. Other editions are available.
16. Sabine's Notebook: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Continues
Author: by Nick Bantock
Chronicle Books
English
48 pages
Don’t miss The Pharos Gate, the final volume in the Griffin & Sabine story. Published simultaneously with the 25th-anniversary edition of Griffin & Sabine, the book finally shares what happened to the lovers.GriffinFoolish man. You cannot turn me into a phantom because you are frightened.
You do not dismiss a muse at a whim. If you will not join me, then I will come to you. SabineSabine was supposed to be imaginary, a friend and lover that Griffin had created to soothe his loneliness. But she threatens to become embodied, to appear on his doorstep, in fact.So he runs.
Griffin & Sabine, the most creative and talked-about bestseller of 1991, left readers on the edge of a precipice. With Sabine’s Notebook, they beginalong with Griffinthe fall. Once again, the story is told through strangely beautiful postcards and richly decorated letters that must actually be pulled from their envelopes to be read.
But this volume is also a sketchbook and diary kept by the possibly unreal Sabine, who is living in Griffin’s house in London while he wanders through Europe, North Africa, and Asia, backwards through layers of ancient civilizationsand of himself.
