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Set in new england mainly and london partly, on beauty concerns a pair of feuding families – the belseys and the kipps – and a clutch of doomed affairs. it puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. for the belseys and the kipps, the confusions – both personal and political – of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.

Juliet young always writes letters to her mother, a world-traveling photojournalist. even after her mother’s death, she leaves letters at her grave. it’s the only way juliet can cope. declan murphy isn’t the sort of guy you want to cross. in the midst of his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery, he’s trying to escape the demons of his past. when declan reads a haunting letter left beside a grave, he can’t resist writing back. soon, he’s opening up to a perfect stranger, and their connection is immediate. but neither declan nor juliet knows that they’re not actually strangers. when life at school interferes with their secret life of letters, sparks will fly as juliet and declan discover truths that might tear them apart. read along with zoella! chosen by chris russell as part of the new zoella book club for whsmith

‘once you start you can’t stop reading. terrific.’ helen dunmore yvonne carmichael has worked hard to achieve the life she always wanted: a high-flying career in genetics, a beautiful home, a good relationship with her husband and their two grown-up children. then one day she meets a stranger at the houses of parliament and, on impulse, begins a passionate affair with him – a decision that will put everything she values at risk. at first she believes she can keep the relationship separate from the rest of her life, but she can’t control what happens next. all of her careful plans spiral into greater deceit and, eventually, a life-changing act of violence. apple tree yard is a psychological thriller about one woman’s adultery and an insightful examination of the values we live by and the choices we make, from an acclaimed writer at the height of her powers.

Sue perkins has been charming the nation with her own unique brand of wit since the mid-90s. alongside long-term presenting partner mel giedroyc, she has worked on numerous television projects including bbc1’s phenomenally successful ‘the great british bake off’. however, punning about buns is just one string to sue’s substantial broadcasting bow. she also regularly pops up on the nation’s favourite television and radio panel shows and has sold out two stand-up tours. this is her memoir.

Pigs might not fly but they are strangely altered. so, for that matter, are wolves and racoons. a man, once named jimmy, lives in a tree, wrapped in old bedsheets, now calls himself snowman. the voice of oryx, the woman he loved, teasingly haunts him. and the green-eyed children of crake are, for some reason, his responsibility. ‘in jimmy, atwood has created a great character: a tragic-comic artist of the future, part buffoon, part orpheus. an adman who’s a sad man; a jealous lover who’s in perpetual mourning; a fantasist who can only remember the past’ – independent ‘gripping and remarkably imagined’ – london review of books