New book releases: 2016 so far
We’re now almost a third of the way through the year (what, really? Surely it’s still February?), but what does 2016 have to show for itself? Well, if the news is anything to go by, it seems to have been dominated by the continuing migrant crisis, Donald Trump, and nobody knowing what to think about the EU referendum.
But not to worry, if you’re understandably after a little escapism, there have been some incredible new book releases this year to get excited about! Here are five of these fantastic new releases, all of which will be available to borrow from our audiobook library very shortly.
Cometh the Hour by Jeffrey Archer
This is the penultimate novel in The Clifton Chronicles, Archer’s epic saga that follows the lives of two families, the Cliftons and the Barringtons. Like the five previous novels in the series, Cometh the Hour went to number one in the Sunday Times Best Seller List straight after its release in February.
In this sixth instalment, Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. Meanwhile, Lady Virginia is facing bankruptcy and can see no way out of her financial problems. Sebastian Clifton is now the Chief Executive of Farthings Bank and a workaholic, whose personal life is thrown into disarray when he falls for Priya, a beautiful Indian girl. And Harry Clifton remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.
Click here to listen to Jeffrey Archer reading an extract from Cometh the Hour.
A Summer at Sea by Katie Fforde
If you’re looking for a fun, feel-good novel to listen to on holiday, then this might well be the perfect book for you. Another Sunday Times Best Seller, A Summer at Sea tells the story of Emily, a midwife who loves her job and her life as an independent, single woman. However, despite being contented, she also feels like it’s time for a change. So when her best friend Rebecca asks whether she’d like to spend the summer cooking on a ‘puffer’ boat just off the Scottish coast, she jumps at the chance.
Emily has a lot to deal with almost as soon as she steps aboard. Rebecca is heavily pregnant and is thrilled to have her friend on board her boat doing most of the work. Then there’s Billie, Emily’s competitive and jealous kitchen assistant who thinks she should be head-cook, not Emily. And not to mention the handsome local doctor who Emily is desperately trying not to notice - because if she falls in love with him, as he appears to be falling for her, will she ever want her old life back again?
Click here to listen to a radio interview with Katie about her new book.
The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson (Bergman and Recht Book 5)
Kristina Ohlsson is one of Sweden’s most successful writers, popular with adults for her crime fiction, and children with her suspense novels for younger readers. The Bergman and Recht series is a firm favourite at Listening Books and are some of the most downloaded audiobooks in our online catalogue. The fifth book featuring these two investigators looks as though it will be just as intriguing as its predecessors.
On a cold winter's day, a pre-school teacher is murdered in front of parents and children at the Jewish Congregation in Stockholm. A few hours later, two Jewish boys go missing on their way to tennis practice. A heavy snowstorm hits Stockholm and the traces of the perpetrator are few and far between. Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht are faced with one of their toughest challenges ever as they hunt for a killer that seems as merciless as he is effective. The many leads in the investigation all seem to point to the same place: Israel. Someone or something called the Paper Boy keeps reoccurring in the police investigation. But who was he really? And could he possibly have resurfaced in Stockholm, now claiming new victims?
Billy Connolly’s Tracks Across America by Billy Connolly
Following on from Billy’s Route 66 trip in 2011, the Scottish comedian is now making another epic trip around America’s cities, mountains, coasts and deserts. Travelling entirely by rail, he covers 8000 miles and 28 states, meeting a mix of incredible people along the way.
Since his last adventure around the states, Billy has faced a number of challenges, including being diagnosed with prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease in the same week in 2013. He’s since been given the all-clear from cancer but is still living with Parkinson’s, a disease that he’s publicly battled whilst continuing to perform his stand-up comedy, appear in films and make documentaries. He’s said in a recent interview that he prefers to stay positive by working;
“Maybe some people get grim, but I don’t. You cannot sit at home wondering about your symptoms…It is not going to go away. I think it is an attitude – you say, ‘screw it, let’s get on with it’.”
He certainly won’t let his illness prevent him from exploring the country he’s so intrigued by. The audiobook of Billy Connolly’s Tracks Across America is an accompaniment to the three part series currently showing on ITV1.
The Loving Husband by Christobel Kent
From the author of one our most popular books in our download catalogue, The Crooked House, comes another gripping suspense novel, perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and S.J Watson.
Fran Hall and her husband Nathan live in a farmhouse on the edge of the Fens with their two children. One February night, when Fran is woken by her baby, she finds Nathan has disappeared. Searching the house for him she makes a devastating discovery.
As Fran finds herself under intense police scrutiny, she and her two small children become more isolated as she starts to doubt whether or not she really knew Nathan. Was he really the loving husband that Fran had trusted him to be? As police suspicion grows the questions for Fran begin to mount. Is there something that she is hiding from them - something that she has kept hidden from everyone, including her husband?
Christobel has said in a recent interview that the inspiration for her latest novel came primarily from her own experiences raising her children, and the Fenland landscape where she lives;
“its bleak otherworldiness and strange beauty…struck me as a deeply atmospheric - and a place where bad things might happen. Combined with my own experience of the unsettling nature of those first new years confined with small children, when all the old certainties - professional and personal - find themselves challenged. It is a lonely, intense time in any woman's life, although also fantastically interesting.”
We hope you enjoy our picks, if you decide to read or listen to any of them, why not let us know what you thought in the comments section below? If you’re a Listening Books member, then you’ll be able to borrow these titles from the end of April.
This post was written by Amy Flinders.
