Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
It has been 27 long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness. Gabriel de Leon, half man, half monster and last remaining silversaint – a sworn brother of the holy Silver Order dedicated to defending the realm from the creatures of the night – is all that stands between the world and its end. Now imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope: the Holy Grail.
Easily one of the most highly anticipated fantasy novels of 2021, this book also marks the start of a new series from the author of the Nevernight Chronicle.
Release date: 7th September
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life. As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus? But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can the Thursday Murder Club find the killer before the killer finds them?
Osman follows his phenomenally successful debut novel with a sequel that promises to be every bit as fun and entertaining as the first. Let’s just hope there aren’t quite so many plot holes…
Release date: 16th September
Horseman by Christina Henry
Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt’s grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that’s just legend, the village gossips talking. More than 30 years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play ‘Sleepy Hollow boys’, re-enacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?
After reinventing tales from Alice in Wonderland to The Little Mermaid, Henry now turns her attention to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with a new book that sounds perfect for the time of year when the nights start drawing in.
Release date: 28th September
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Seventeen-year-old Marie, too wild for courtly life, is thrown to the dogs one winter morning, expelled from the royal court to become the prioress of an abbey. At first taken aback by life at the abbey, Marie finds purpose and passion among her mercurial sisters. Yet she deeply misses her secret lover, Cecily, and queen Eleanor. Born last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, Marie decides to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. She will bring herself, and her sisters, out of the darkness, into riches and power.
This new historical novel from the bestselling author of Fates and Furies has been described by Sarah Waters as ‘an audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic’.
Release date: 23rd September
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Joy Delaney and husband Stan have done well. Four wonderful grown-up children. A family business to envy. The golden years of retirement ahead of them. So when Joy Delaney vanishes – no note, no calls, her bike missing – it’s natural that tongues will wag. How did Stan scratch his face? And who was the stranger who entered and suddenly left their lives? What are they all hiding? But for the Delaney children, there is a much more terrifying question: did they ever know their parents at all?
The worldwide bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers returns with another compelling read about twisted family dynamics.
Release date: 14th September
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in happily ever after. Until she learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, and her dreams are shattered. Desperate to stop the wedding and heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game – and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy.
From the bestselling author of the Caraval series comes the first book in a new series about love, curses, and the lengths people will go to for happily ever after.
Release date: 30th September
Powers and Thrones by Dan Jones
This epic new history is a thousand-year adventure that moves from the ruins of the once-mighty city of Rome, to the first contacts between the old and new worlds in the 16th century. It shows how, from a state of crisis and collapse, the West was rebuilt and came to dominate the entire globe. The book identifies three key themes that underpinned the success of the West: commerce, conquest and Christianity. It shows how successive western powers thrived by attracting – or stealing – the most valuable resources, ideas and people from the rest of the world.
Covering a thousand years of history, Dan Jones’s epic new book tells the story of how the world we know today came to be built.
Release date: 2nd September
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother has been shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it. As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence. A professor follows a missing friend’s trail of breadcrumbs to a mysterious secret society. And a young boy with unique abilities seeks refuge in a pro-monster organisation with secrets of its own. At the centre is a mystery no one thinks to ask: why now? What has frightened the monsters out of the dark? The world will soon find out.
This novel is a sprawling urban fantasy about monsters, magic and mythology, inspired by the Caribbean and asking what happens when monsters walk among us.
Release date: 7th September
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova
The Montoyas are used to life without explanations. They know better than to ask why the pantry never seems to run low, or why their matriarch won’t ever leave their home in Four Rivers. But when Orquídea Divina invites them to her funeral and to collect their inheritance, they hope to learn some of her secrets. Instead, they are left with more questions than answers. Seven years later, her gifts have manifested in different ways for Orquídea’s family, granting them unexpected blessings. But soon, a hidden figure begins to tear through their family tree, picking them off one by one. Determined to save what’s left of their family, the four descendants travel to Ecuador – to the place where Orquídea buried her secrets.
A story about family, ancestry and power, this novel from the acclaimed author of the Brooklyn Brujas series has been billed for fans of Alice Hoffman and Isabel Allende.
Release date: 7th September
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
To his customers and neighbours on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture. He and his wife, Elizabeth, are expecting their second child, and if her parents don’t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it’s still home. But cash is tight, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn’t see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweller downtown who doesn’t ask questions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa and volunteers Ray’s services as the fence. The heist doesn’t go as planned, and now Ray has to cater to a new clientele of shady cops, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes.
The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Underground Railroad, Whitehead returns with a family saga set against the backdrop of 1960s Harlem.
Release date: 14th September
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