{"title":"June's top reads and recommendations","description":"\u003cp\u003eHere you'll find the cream of the books that we are reading and recommending this month - our top sellers, our fiction and non-fiction books of the month, our book club and social club reads, and the books that are featured in our events programme this month and coming up! \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-lamb-lucy-rose","title":"Caly recommends... The Lamb - Lucy Rose","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCaly\u003c\/em\u003e recommends... Never in my life have I read a book so poignantly poetic and beautiful yet so deeply brutal and disturbing. Following the uniquely intimate mother-daughter relationship of Ruth and Margot, Lucy Rose tackles love, desire, and hunger with wit and intensity. The story is folksy, sapphic, and haunting - a twisted tale set in the depths of Cumbria not to be missed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e---\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA FOLK TALE. A HORROR STORY. A LOVE STORY. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAN ENCHANTMENT.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMargot and Mama have lived by the forest since Margot can remember. When Margot isn't at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStrays, Mama calls them. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she satisfies her burning appetite by picking apart their bodies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Mama's want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, little Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires and make a bid for freedom. With this tender coming-of-age tale, debut novelist Lucy Rose explores how women swallow their anger, desire and animal instincts - and wrings the relationship between mother and daughter until blood drips from it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54864485548412,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781399619752_The_Lamb_PB.jpg?v=1764063051"},{"product_id":"pre-order-the-darkening-globe-naomi-kelsey","title":"May 2026 Social Club | Emma recommends... The Darkening Globe - Naomi Kelsey","description":"\u003cp\u003eEmma recommends... I was totally gripped from start to finish! \u003cem\u003eThe Darkening Globe \u003c\/em\u003ehas the hallmarks of great Gothic fiction - dark secrets, a sinister object, mysterious strangers, and the threat of madness - but with an Elizabethan England setting. The novel brilliantly captures the class divides both within and beyond the Queen's Court, and challenges the narrative of the \"heriocs\" of the period's explorers, at the same time as being page-turningly pacy. A sensational read you are not going to want to miss!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1597, London. When Beatrice’s husband returns from exploring the New World, he comes home with unexpected company: a mysterious woman, and an enormous painted globe. As Hugh refuses to explain who their female guest is, Beatrice’s foreboding grows. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe unwieldy globe now strikes her as sinister – a reminder of the world of secrets pervading her household.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen one night, the great, hulking globe begins to turn of its own accord. Terrifying new illustrations appear on its face – and when untimely deaths ensue, Beatrice is convinced that the drawings are connected. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDesperate to prove that she is not paranoid, Beatrice risks everything to uncover the truth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat sinister force is behind these killings? What really happened on Hugh’s excursion to the Americas? Who is the strange woman who won’t leave her house? And on this otherworldly map of murders, who will be painted as the final victim?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54989558546812,"sku":"","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780008534837_The_Darkening_Globe.jpg?v=1776964821"},{"product_id":"frankie-recommends-the-ladie-upstairs-jessie-elland","title":"Frankie recommends... The Ladie Upstairs - Jessie Elland | PRE-ORDER","description":"\u003cp\u003ePRE-ORDER the paperback edition now! Published 21 May 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrankie recommends...\u003c\/em\u003e Northanger Abbey meets American Psycho in this vitriolic descent into dream-like madness. Elland is a genius in crafting a brilliantly incoherent, hate-filled protagonist who develops an obsession with the 'Ladie' upstairs - but what is going on up there? Visceral, oozing horror that creeps and crawls and electrifies the historical horror genre (plus representation of us mentally ill girls in 'historic' fiction - love; even if she is absolutely insane...)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eScullery drudge Ann longs to become a lady's maid. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnn can't quite remember how or when she arrived at the grand Ropner Hall, but she loathes spending her days toiling in the dank kitchen. When a chance meeting with Ropner's Lady Charlotte leads to the opportunity to become her personal maid, Ann is convinced she has finally escaped her own version of hell. But has she?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs Ann's new life above stairs takes a sinister twist, will it turn out that the terrors lurking up there are worse than the devils she knows below?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJessie Elland's deeply visceral debut is a dark and twisted tale of ambition and desire. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAre you brave enough to enter Ropner Hall?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55505235968380,"sku":null,"price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781399817769_TheLadieUpstairs.jpg?v=1751447477"},{"product_id":"collecteds-twelve-books-of-christmas-2025-helm-sarah-hall","title":"Collected's top books of 2025 | Helm - Sarah Hall","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCOLLECTED LOVES... Held together by the central character of Helm - Britain's only named wind, local to Cumbria - this story ranges from a Neolithic tribe to 21st century climate change academic, via a medieval exorcist and a Victorian meteorologist. The voice of Helm is playful, ironic, curious and sometimes vengeful, the evocation of the Cumbrian landscape virtuosic, and the whole thing simply glorious.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHelm is a ferocious, mischievous wind - a subject of folklore and wonder - who has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time. This is Helm's life story, formed from the chronicles of those the wind enchanted: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate it, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish it, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture it - and the farmer's daughter who fell in love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut, fears the end is nigh. Vital and audacious, Helm is the elemental tale of a unique life force - and of a relationship: between nature and people, neither of whom can weather life without the other.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56064849772924,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/Helm_9780571383580.jpg?v=1776506308"},{"product_id":"emmas-top-5-in-2025-wild-dark-shore-charlotte-mcconaghy","title":"Women's Prize for Fiction 2026 Longlist | Emma's TOP 5 in 2025 | Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEmma says... \u003cem\u003eI read this in November and it rocketed straight into my top reads of the year! Such an incredible mix of throught-provoking climate fiction, page-turning thriller, and exploration of family, marital, and new love relationships. I loved that reading this book moved me from gasping with surprise to aching sadness. Surprising, nuanced, and essential - while also being a simply great read. Brilliant. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e--\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A storm gathering force.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world's largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island's researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain. Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, but it seems she isn't telling the whole truth about why she's there. And when Rowan stumbles upon sabotaged radios and a recently dug grave, she realises that she's not the only one on the island with a secret.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56069572198780,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781837265923.jpg?v=1764699910"},{"product_id":"pre-order-frankie-recommends-weavingshaw-heba-al-wasity","title":"May 2026 Fantasy Book Club | Frankie recommends... Weavingshaw - Heba Al-Wasity","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrankie says... An indisputably perfect all-consuming fantasy that absolutely left me clawing the book number two. Full of intrigue, secrets, politics and skin-tearing tension - like nails-down-face slow burn - Al-Wasity is a new master-voice in gothic romance. Leena Al-Sayer, desperate to save her brother, is thrust into a world of deceit and danger when she makes a deal with the Saint of Silence, who won't let her break her contract despite the lies and violence that lie ahead... Gothic country house, period drama manners (think Gothic Darcy), brooding MMC, an extremely clever fantasy world, and deals with demons to top it all off. I absolutely loved this book - my perfect fantasy!!!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Saint of Silence trades coins for every sordid divulgence uttered to him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe darker the secret, the higher the price. Leena has a secret, one that has haunted her since she was seventeen – she can see the dead. When her brother falls ill, she knows what she must do: seek the Saint.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut Leena's secret is more valuable to him that she could have imagined. To save her brother, she must make a deal with him to find the ghost he's searching for. All paths lead to Weavingshaw, a cursed estate on the moors.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs Leena grows closer to the Saint, and is plunged into his world of danger, deceit and desire, she learns that he is hiding his own secrets – ones that have the power to destroy them all.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56354476360060,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780857507013.jpg?v=1770826718"},{"product_id":"pre-order-the-last-witch-on-the-knock-aimee-macdonald","title":"March 2026 Book of the Month | Caly recommends... The Last Witch on the Knock - Aimée MacDonald","description":"\u003cp\u003eCaly says... A fantastically mesmerizing debut following an unsettled young woman in the aftermath of a toxic breakup and the ancient curse that haunts her during a hazy summer in the Scottish Highlands. Wonderfully funny and feverish,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Witch on the Knock\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eis a vivid blend of folk horror and contemporary fiction exploring the mental and bodily suffering of women, historically to the present. Reading like a twisty modern fairytale, this is an original and razor-sharp retelling of a Celtic witchcraft myth not to be missed!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Knock hill is a carcass unintelligible as any dream. Wouldn't you rather be a witch than a victim? I didn't realise those were my only options.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn need of a fresh start, Thomasin leaves her toxic boyfriend, absent father and empty friendships to spend the summer in the Scottish Highlands with her eccentric Aunt Agnes and stern little cousin, Nina. But amidst the sprawling fields and ragged hills thrums a secret that has cursed the land for generations.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e300 years earlier, Kate McNiven labours in The Big House by the Knock hill, wishing for a brighter future far away from the lecherous clutches of her master, the Laird. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen she is exiled as a witch for refusing to succumb to his advances, Kate finds the escape she so desperately seeks in Thomasin, whose vulnerable body becomes her unwilling host. In the thin place between centuries, through a pulsing wound that bleeds out history, the truth of the past is finally ready to be revealed...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56392132395388,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781399821278.jpg?v=1771838269"},{"product_id":"international-booker-longlist-2026-the-nights-are-quiet-in-tehran-shida-bazyar","title":"International Booker Shortlist 2026 | Frankie recommends...The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran - Shida Bazyar, translated by Ruth Martin","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"imageBlockWrap\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"imageBlock\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productImageWrapper\"\u003eFrankie says... A beautiful and expansive digestion of the Iranian Revolution, discussing just how revolution runs into all the domestic and mundane cracks of Iranian life, lineage and history. A singular voice that takes a minute to get invested in but give it your all - it really is a rich embroidery of a family's inheritance of revolution, disruption and political violence. Bazyar's characters are so life like, inspire such empathy and celebrate searching for normality and recognition in a world plagued by chaos. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productImageWrapper\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productImageWrapper\"\u003e--\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productImageWrapper\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productContentWrap\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productContent\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productDescription\"\u003eA captivating, polyphonic novel of one family’s flight from and return to Iran.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productDescription\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productDescription\"\u003e1979. Behsad, a young communist revolutionary, fights with his friends for a new order after the Shah’s expulsion. He tells of sparking hope, of clandestine political actions, and of how he finds the love of his life in the courageous, intelligent Nahid. 1989. Nahid lives her new life in West Germany with Behsad.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith their young children, they spend hour after hour in front of the radio, hoping for news from others who went into hiding after the mullahs came to power. 1999. Laleh returns to Iran with her mother, Nahid.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetween beauty rituals and family secrets, she gets to know a Tehran that hardly matches her childhood memories. 2009. Laleh’s brother Mo is more concerned with a friend’s heartbreak than with student demonstrations in Germany.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut then the Green Revolution breaks out in Iran and turns the world upside down … A topical, moving novel about revolution, oppression, resistance, and the absolute desire for freedom.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56471910613372,"sku":null,"price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781917189095.jpg?v=1773144104"},{"product_id":"international-booker-longlist-2026-on-earth-as-it-is-beneath-ana-paula-maia","title":"International Booker Shortlist 2026 | Caly Recommends... On Earth As It Is Beneath - Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCaly says ... This had me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath. An entirely gripping and impactful story following inmates in a forgotten prison and their dangerous warden's descent into insanity. A thoughtful yet bloody reflection on crime, failures and disparities within justice systems and the things that must be sacrificed in pursuit of freedom...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e--\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn land where enslaved people were once tortured and murdered, the state built a penal colony in the wilderness, where inmates could be rehabilitated, but never escape. Now, decades later, and having only succeeded in trapping men, not changing them for the better, its operations are winding down. But in the prison’s waning days, a new horror is unleashed: every full-moon night, the inmates are released, the warden is armed with rifles, and the hunt begins.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEvery man plans his escape, not knowing if his end will come at the hands of a familiar face, or from the unknown dangers beyond the prison walls. Ana Paula Maia has once again delivered a bracing vision of our potential for violence, and our collective failure to account for the consequences of our social and political action, or inaction. No crime is committed out of view for this novelist, and her raw, brutal power enlists us all as witness\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56471945249148,"sku":null,"price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781917260107.jpg?v=1773144650"},{"product_id":"pre-order-the-women-are-not-fine-hope-reese","title":"May 2026 Book of the Month | Caly recommends...The Women Are Not Fine - Hope Reese","description":"\u003cp\u003eBook for our event with Hope Reese \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/products\/hope-reese-the-women-are-not-fine-wednesday-6-may-7-30pm\" title=\"Event tickets - Hope Reese on The Women Are Not Fine\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCaly says... A meticulously researched true-crime exploration of the largest, female-led mass poisoning in modern history. This book was incredible - a really fascinating insight into the history of rural Hungarian communities and cycles of violence and abuse in which the \"normal\", and perhaps expected, roles of perpetrator and victim are switched. A tender recounting of sisterhood and women in despair finding a way to survive despite all odds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbusive husbands. Desperate women. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePoisonous solutions.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt the turn of the 20th century, the women of Nagyrév, Hungary, were in trouble. Their stories were hauntingly similar: husbands who drank, who beat them, who made their lives unbearable. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe village midwife - their confidante - offered an answer: arsenic. Soon, women began slipping poison into their husbands' brandy, porridge, and stews. Over the next twenty years, the quiet village became the epicentre of one of the deadliest series of poisonings in modern history.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Women Are Not Fine\u003c\/em\u003e, journalist Hope Reese pieces together archival newspapers, court documents, police records and more to uncover the truth behind this extraordinary case. Her findings serve as a stark warning: when women are pushed to the brink, the consequences can reverberate through history.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56574298751356,"sku":null,"price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781840918427_TheWomenAreNotFine.jpg?v=1775041940"},{"product_id":"emma-recommends-celestial-lights-cecile-pin","title":"May 2026 Book of the Month | Emma recommends... Celestial Lights - Cecile Pin","description":"\u003cp\u003eEmma says... Totally exceptional. A gripping, moving, and challenging read in all the best ways. The central question in this wonderful novel is what do we owe our loved ones and what do we owe ourselves when our ambitions and our loyalties conflict - but writ very large. Homer's \u003cem\u003eOdyssey\u003c\/em\u003e for the 21st century - and in space! Complex, sad, and very, very hard to put down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCecile will be with us at Collected on Wednesday 1 July to talk all about \u003cem\u003eCelestial Lights\u003c\/em\u003e. Get your tickets for the event \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/products\/cecile-pin-celestial-lights-wednesday-1-july-7-30pm\" title=\"Event tickets - Cecile Pin in conversation\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e28 January, 1986: Moments after launch, the Challenger shuttle falls from the sky. At the same time, in a small English village, Oliver Ines is born.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOllie spends his childhood in a bedroom covered in glow-in-the-dark wallpaper, bearing the planets and stars. Decades later, he has become one of the most renowned astronauts of his time. When an enterprising billionaire approaches him to lead a landmark, ten-year mission to the distant moon Europa, Ollie cannot resist the call of history. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs the mission advances deeper into uncharted territory, Ollie finds himself retreating into the past: his school days and years in the Navy, relationships found and lost, becoming a husband and father. But will the world he remembers still be waiting for him when he returns?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56575204131196,"sku":null,"price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780008706395.jpg?v=1775063476"},{"product_id":"murder-at-gulls-nest-jess-kidd","title":"Murder at Gulls Nest - Jess Kidd","description":"\u003cp\u003eBook for our Monday 1 June event with author Jess Kidd on the next in the Nora Breen Investigates series, \u003cem\u003eMurder at the Spirit Lounge\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/products\/jess-kidd-murder-at-the-spirit-lounge-monday-1-june-7-30pm\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Event tickets - Jess Kidd in conversation\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe first in a sparkling new 1950s seaside mystery series, featuring sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn a house like Gulls Nest, curiosity might prove fatal... \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter thirty years in a convent, Nora Breen has thrown off her habit. Her fellow sister Frieda has gone missing and it's up to Nora to find her. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNora's only clue is that Frieda was last seen at Gulls Nest boarding house. So she travels down to the seaside town of Gore-on-Sea, takes a room and settles in to watch and listen. Over dubious - and sometimes downright inedible - dinners, Nora gathers evidence about the other lodgers. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt long last, she has found an outlet for her powers of observation and, well, nosiness. When one of the lodgers is found dead, Nora decides she must find the murderer. Not least because she suspects the victim knew Frieda.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCould solving this mystery help her to understand what has happened to her friend?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56670917886332,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780571378968_MurderatGullsNext.jpg?v=1776965176"},{"product_id":"may-book-club-once-the-deed-is-done-rachel-seiffert","title":"Emma recommends... May Book Club | Once the Deed is Done - Rachel Seiffert","description":"\u003cp\u003eGet in touch to sign-up for our May book club with author Rachel Seiffert! - Wednesday 27 May, 7.30pm\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmma recommends... As the fighting of the Second World War draws to an end and the Nazi regime disintegrates across Europe, this novel zooms us into one small town in Northern Germany and plays these months out through a series of parallel narratives. The main focus is on the people who have been displaced, forced to work as labourers in farms and factories across the German-occupied territories, and how they might be returned home, go on to live elsewhere, trace their families. Expertly braiding the different stories together, and deftly exploring blame, complicity, and the fundamentals of humanity in the face of brutality, this is an excellent and thought-provoking read.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTo be truly alive means having to make choices. To be truly alive is also, quite simply, to love.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNorthern Germany, 1945. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDead of night and dead of winter, a boy hears soldiers and sees strangers - forced labourers - fleeing across the heathland by his small town: shawls and skirts in the snowfall. The end days are close, war brings risk and chance, and Benno is witness to something he barely understands. Peace brings more soldiers - but English this time - and Red Cross staff officers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRuth, on her first posting from London, is given charge of a refugee camp on the heathland, crowded with former forced labourers. As ever more keep arriving, she hears whispers, rumours of dark secrets about that snowy night. The townspeople close ranks, shutting their mouths and minds to the winter's events, but the town children are curious about the refugees on their doorstep, and Benno can't carry his secret alone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56671006228860,"sku":null,"price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/OncetheDeedisDone.jpg?v=1776967240"},{"product_id":"pre-order-underdogs-louise-powell","title":"PRE-ORDER Underdogs - Louise Powell","description":"\u003cp\u003ePublished 2 July 2026. Louise Powell will be with us at the shop on Monday 13 July to talk about \u003cem\u003eUnderdogs\u003c\/em\u003e. Get your ticket for the event \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/products\/louise-powell-underdogs-monday-13-july-7-30pm?pr_prod_strat=collection_fallback\u0026amp;pr_rec_id=ef0eddd2a\u0026amp;pr_rec_pid=15970523808124\u0026amp;pr_ref_pid=15970458763644\u0026amp;pr_seq=uniform\" title=\"Event tickets - Louise Powell in conversation\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'These hands,' he said, and spread the paira them out wide so we could see the callouses and the little lines of coal dust underneath his skin; 'these hands were made to pick out summat precious from somewhere that doesn't wanna give it up.'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCounty Durham, 1998. The pits have closed and jobs are hard to come by, but charismatic ex-miner Bertie has a plan. He runs an underground gambling ring at the local dog track which offers down-on-their-luck blokes a way to turn their life around.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReg's ten-year-old son George knows his dad hasn't been the same since Mam died, and the letters with scary red type that keep coming through the door can't be good news. So when Bertie offers Reg and George the chance to race Goldie, a beautiful fawn greyhound, they jump at the opportunity. To succeed they'll need to learn how to navigate the larger-than-life world of the flapping track, all while dark secrets from Bertie's past threaten to unravel the operation.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDo Reg and George have what it takes to pull off the gamble of a lifetime?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56697635504508,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781399828819_Underdogs.jpg?v=1777456410"},{"product_id":"morgan-recommends-wildly-different-five-women-who-reclaimed-nature-in-a-mans-world-sarah-lonsdale","title":"Morgan recommends... Wildly Different: five women who reclaimed nature in a man's world - Sarah Lonsdale","description":"\u003cp\u003eMorgan says... A brilliantly detailed and colourful account of five remarkable women, each with a deeply personal and ambitious relationship to nature. Lonsdale's writing is \u003cem\u003eincredible\u003c\/em\u003e - beautifully illustrating these women and creating genuinely gripping biographies. Will fascinate and inspire you!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor millennia the ‘wild’ was a place heroic men went on epic quests. Women were prevented from joining them, either through physical control or powerful myths about what would happen if they ventured beyond the city wall or village boundary. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo how did women claim their place in the remote and lovely parts of our planet?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eWildly Different\u003c\/em\u003e, historian Sarah Lonsdale traces the lives of five women who fought for the right to work in, enjoy and help to save the earth’s wild places. We’ll meet Mina Hubbard, who outraged the exploration community when she stepped into a canoe in northern Labrador. Evelyn Cheesman, who became the first female keeper of insects at London Zoo. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDorothy Pilley, who shocked polite society by donning men’s climbing breeches. Ethel Haythornthwaite, who helped make the Peak District Britain’s first National Park. And Wangari Maathai, who started a movement to plant millions of trees across sub-Saharan Africa.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56714363208060,"sku":null,"price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781526195067_WildlyDifferent_f86a5469-9c3a-42b4-9d63-ee5267fb6c02.jpg?v=1777830418"},{"product_id":"we-have-come-to-be-destroyed-laura-tisdall","title":"We Have Come to be Destroyed - Laura Tisdall","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLaura Tisdall will be joining us in conversation about \u003cem\u003eWe Have Come to be Destroyed\u003c\/em\u003e on Thursday 7 May, 7.30pm. Get your tickets for the event \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/products\/laura-tisdall-we-have-come-to-be-destroyed-growing-up-in-cold-war-britain-thursday-7-may-7-30pm\" title=\"Event tickets: Laura Tisdall on We Have Come to be Destroyed\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHow does modern British history look when seen through the eyes of those not yet grown up?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn newly affluent 1950s Britain, ideas about adulthood and childhood began to change radically. Adults married, bought houses, and had children far sooner, and were conceived as self-sufficient, altruistic good citizens. Children and teenagers, conversely, were heavily regulated, imagined as fragile, vulnerable, or deviant, their voices excluded from civic and political conversation. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut Britain’s young people had their own ideas.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLaura Tisdall tells the history of modern Britain through the experiences of its adolescents, revealing their thoughts, fantasies, and anxieties. From children’s activist movements for nuclear disarmament to young women’s reservations about the permissive society, queer youth’s inability to imagine a happy future, or more everyday objections to the pressure to conform, young people throughout Britain creatively challenged the world adults made for them. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTisdall shows us Cold War Britain through the eyes of its youth, from the expansion of the welfare state to the sexual revolution and the rise of neoliberalism—and so shines a wholly new light on a supposedly familiar era.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56731631288700,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780300279528.jpg?v=1777969742"},{"product_id":"bothy-in-search-of-simple-shelter-kat-hill-signed-copies","title":"Bothy: In Search of Simple Shelter - Kat Hill | SIGNED COPIES","description":"\u003cp\u003eWe're reading Kat Hill's \u003cem\u003eBothy\u003c\/em\u003e for our June Walk\u0026amp;Talk book club. The event is now fully booked but please get in touch if you would like to be added to the waiting list!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA bothy is a remote hut in the wilderness that you can’t reserve, with no electricity, mod-cons or running water. The doors are always unlocked, you just need to step inside. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the rugged cliffs at the northern tip of Scotland to the fairy-tale valleys of Wales, historian Kat Hill tours us across the UK exploring the history of these wild shelters and her fellow wanderers – past and present.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eBothy \u003c\/em\u003eis a stirring, beautiful book for anyone who longs to run away to the wilds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56731985281404,"sku":null,"price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780008619039_Bothy.jpg?v=1777970767"},{"product_id":"yesteryear-caro-claire-burke","title":"Yesteryear - Caro Claire Burke","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMy name is Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive…\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNatalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThen, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAs darkly funny as it is shocking and gripping, Yesteryear is an electrifying examination of tradition, fame, faith and the grand performance of womanhood, from a thrilling new talent in fiction. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56780461572476,"sku":null,"price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780008742768_Yesteryear.jpg?v=1778832555"},{"product_id":"murder-at-the-spirit-lounge-jessica-kidd","title":"Jessica recommends... Murder at the Spirit Lounge - Jessica Kidd","description":"\u003cp\u003eJessica says... Nun-turned-detective Nora Breen returns! Still living in a grim boarding house in the brilliantly named Gore-on-Sea. this time DI Rideout invites Nora to assist his investigation into a suspiciously spooky murder at a seance. Jess Kidd brings the lyrical prose and sinister undertones of her earlier, more gothic, novels, brilliantly balancing a delightful wit and charm with an unsettling sense of the uncanny on this very original iteration of the \"cosy crime\" genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen is back, as the latest attraction in Gore-on-Sea turns deadly . . .\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn a brilliant December morning, Nora finds her customary seaside walk rudely interrupted: she's been summoned, with Detective Inspector Rideout, to the home of Doreen Chimes, Gore-on-Sea's resident medium. 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A fierce, magical and devastatingly beautiful novel following the lives of women and children sold into slavery. Weaving together the darkest corners of the Bengal Delta with voices of defiance, moments of humour and climate fiction, Anam's uncompromising fable is a brilliantly galvanizing dedication to protest, song, and the inevitability of change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn a desolate, sinking island, a group of children witness their mothers living lives of cruelty and servitude. Bought and sold by Amma, the sadistic madam who was once herself sold into slavery, the women have learned to accept their fate.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYet their children weave fantastic tales of escape, imagining that someday they will leave the island and enjoy a life of freedom. When Kusum Khan, a young, educated woman from the city, is forcibly brought to the island, she too is subjected to Amma's violent induction. Yet Kusum refuses to yield, and soon the collective complacency of her fellow prisoners turns into ferocity and defiance. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTogether, they begin a rebellion that will upend their island, their world and the very order of things.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn earth-shattering drama of resistance and female power, \u003cem\u003eUprising \u003c\/em\u003egives voice to the silenced through the story of a revolution no one saw coming.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56820248150396,"sku":null,"price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781837265817.jpg?v=1780042532"},{"product_id":"emma-recommends-land-maggie-ofarrell-indies-exclusive-edition","title":"June 2026 Book of the Month | Emma recommends... Land - Maggie O'Farrell | Indies Exclusive Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet a \u003cstrong\u003especial INDIES EXCLUSIVE edition \u003c\/strong\u003eof \u003cem\u003eLand\u003c\/em\u003e with unique end papers and a digitally signed letter from the author! (NOTE: not hand signed)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEmma says... Exquisitely written - as you would expect - but on an epic scale never seen before from O'Farrell. Tracing the long legacy of Ireland's 'Great Hunger' in one family, and exploring the deep and sometimes mystical ties of place, this magical sweep of a novel draws you into itself as its characters move across Ireland and to India, Canada, and Italy. Masterful. Beautiful.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster. The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eLand \u003c\/em\u003eis a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56831195939196,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781472289087_Land.jpg?v=1780393468"},{"product_id":"people-in-love-claire-daverley","title":"Emma recommends... People in Love - Claire Daverley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEmma says... Surely we've all wondered \"what if?\" - and here is a novel that brilliantly and beautifully explores all the nuance of regret, nostalgia, and the road taken. There is a kind of raw honesty in this book about the complexities of our closest relationships, with a question mark that keeps you gripped, but all told with an understatement and perceptiveness that makes the story highly relatable. Wonderful.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOne bright blue day, on a bench by the river, Nora’s partner Robin proposes. It is unexpected; they’d always agreed that they didn’t need a wedding. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut after a decade of in-jokes, dancing in the low-lit kitchen and sharing morning toast in bed, Nora says yes. Why wouldn’t she? 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Difficult at times but compassionate and incredibly written.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched as she passes the place. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHad she lived in another time, she too might have found herself held within those walls.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNow, she notices a sign: FOR SALE. It is the first of many signs. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGuided by an irresistible impulse, she follows them. Soon, she is trespassing, stealing, absconding from the routine of mother, spouse, daughter, as she uncovers a chorus of startling voices: those of the women who knew the hospital best. They murmur from archives and old records. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThey haunt from stairwells and walls. In them - and in one figure in particular -- she may find meaning and solace, righteous anger, salvation even. Or her final vanishing?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA work of sublime intensity and tenderness, \u003cem\u003eSaid the Dead\u003c\/em\u003e breaks the boundaries between worlds -- past and present, imagined and real, fact and fiction -- to make something new and lasting: an experience full of danger, full of love and full of truth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56831219237244,"sku":null,"price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9780571396160_SaidtheDead.jpg?v=1780394712"},{"product_id":"pre-order-presence-a-hidden-history-of-the-female-body-erin-maglaque","title":"PRE-ORDER Presence: a Hidden History of the Female Body - Erin Maglaque | published 18 June 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished 18 June 2026\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGet tickets \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/products\/erin-maglaqie-presence-a-hidden-history-of-the-female-body-wednesday-24-june-7-30pm\" title=\"Event tickets - Erin Maglaque in conversation\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ehere \u003c\/a\u003efor our event with Erin Maglaque, in conversation about \u003cem\u003ePresence\u003c\/em\u003e - Wednesday 24 June, 7.30pm!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn immersive hidden history of the female body, with radical implications for how we understand our bodies today...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSex and abortion, pregnancy and birth, feeding and rocking and washing: these are embodied practices with a deep past. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYet the history of the female body remains largely unknown – even unimagined. Combining memoir with archival research, from fragments in medical texts, trial transcripts, legal treatises, prayerbooks, letters, and diaries, Erin Maglaque assembles a chorus of women’s voices from the pre-modern past. We encounter a vanished past both strikingly recognisable and strange, when ideas of the female body, sexuality, work and pleasure were more varied, more unruly, and sometimes freer.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is the invisible history of the female body – birthing, caring, working, desiring. Reaching deep into the shared history of women’s lives, \u003cem\u003ePresence \u003c\/em\u003epoints towards a radical new way of understanding our bodies today.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56831262458236,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781787335356.jpg?v=1780395430"},{"product_id":"the-raven-scholar-antonia-hodgson","title":"The Raven Scholar - Antonia Hodgson","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe'll be chatting all about \u003cem\u003eThe Raven Scholar\u003c\/em\u003e at our July Fantasy Book Club - Friday 24 July, from 7.15pm. To join us, book your space \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/products\/fantasy-book-club-on-the-raven-scholar-by-antonia-hodgson-friday-24-july-from-7-15pm\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Tickets - July Fantasy Book Club\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e---\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWin the throne or destroy an empire. Either way, it begins with murder.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter twenty-four years, the Emperor of Orrun's reign is at an end. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven exceptional warriors, trained at rival monasteries, will compete to replace him. Then one of them is murdered. It falls to the brilliant but idiosyncratic scholar Neema Kraa to investigate. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut as she hunts for a killer, darker forces are gathering...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Collected","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56838526435708,"sku":null,"price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/5662\/2637\/files\/9781529339871_TheRavenScholar.jpg?v=1780558224"}],"url":"https:\/\/collectedbooks.co.uk\/collections\/februarys-top-reads-and-recommendations.oembed?page=2","provider":"Collected","version":"1.0","type":"link"}