Oh when the Saints...

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Oh when the Saints...

Our Patron Saints days have passed, and we've been inspired to bring you a selection of fiction by authors with the same names (or a variation of!).

We hope you'll find a new title or author to enjoy this May.

This month's recommendations

The year of what if
Phaedra Patrick

Can the future be rewritten?

On the verge of her second marriage, Carla Carter knows she's finally found the one. She and her fiance, Tom, met through Logical Love, a dating agency she founded for the pragmatically minded, and she's confident that, together, they will dispel an old family curse claiming Carter women are unlucky in love.

But Carla's superstitious family insists she visit a fortune teller before her big day, and the tarot cards reveal that a different man holds the key to Carla's happiness - someone she met while travelling during a gap year, 21 years ago.

This startling information spurs Carla to trace and revisit the ex-boyfriends she met during that time before she walks down the aisle. From Barcelona to Amsterdam, Turkey to Paris, will Carla find her perfect match?

And can a face from her past help Carla rewrite her entire family history, forever?

One good deed
David Jackson

Elliott has never thought of himself as a hero. Until one dark night he meets Rebecca, a scared and vulnerable young woman who needs his help. There's a man harassing her, following her; would he mind pretending to be her boyfriend, just while she walks home, to put him off?

And that is that - just a favour for a stranger - until there is a knock at Elliott's door.

It's the man who was following Rebecca. He claims he's her ex-boyfriend, but it's clear that he's been stalking her. He's obsessed, dangerously so.

He wants Rebecca, and he will do anything to have her.

When Elliott eventually tries to tell him the truth, the man doesn't believe him. The only way to save himself is to get Rebecca to explain. There's just one problem: Rebecca is nowhere to be found.

And now it looks like one good deed will cost Elliott everything.

Coming soon to Cheshire East Libraries

Lisa Jewell launched her career with Ralph's Party, the bestselling debut novel of 1999.  Since her debut, she has written 23 novels and sold over 10 million books worldwide - and last year, she won the TikTok Book Award for Book of the Year (UK and Ireland) for her 2024 novel, None of This is True.

In recent years, Lisa Jewell has specialised in writing psychological thrillers.  Her unique blend of complex, relatable characters and gripping, suspense-filled plots has earnt her the top spot on both the New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller lists.

Don't Let Him In, Lisa Jewell's brand new book for 2025 is a twisting, chilling, unsettling thriller that you won't want to miss.

Don't let him in
Lisa Jewell

He's the perfect man.

He says he loves you.

You think he might even be made for you.

Before long he's moved into your house - and into your heart.

And then he leaves for days at a time.

You don't know where he's gone or who he's with.

And you realise - if you looked back - you'd say to yourself: Don't let him in.

The little French village of book lovers
Nina George

In this novel from Nina George we return to Jean Perdu's beautiful barge on the Seine, his Literary Apothecary.

He's spent many years still prescribing just the right book for his customers in the exact time they need it.

His beloved books are his medicine: books that will comfort, guide, envelop and the perfect book to the customer that he know will guide them.

But now, dear reader, he's sharing his favourite novel with you.

As his floating bookshop arrives in the soft lights of Provence, Perdu shares the book that has healed him, brought him happiness, anchored him and shown him his way in life.

Damascus station
David McCloskey

CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad.

The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy.

But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard.

The slowworm's song
Andrew Miller

An ex-soldier and recovering alcoholic living quietly in Somerset, Stephen Rose has just begun to form a bond with the daughter he barely knows when he receives a summons - to an inquiry into an incident during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

It is the return of what Stephen hoped he had outdistanced. Above all, to testify would jeopardise the fragile relationship with his daughter. And if he loses her, he loses everything.

Instead, he decides to write her an account of his life; a confession, a defence, a love letter.

Also a means of buying time.

But time is running out, and the day comes when he must face again what happened in that faraway summer of 1982.

An island promise
Patricia Wilson

Patricia Wilson's sweeping historical romantic novel follows a Daphne, a young, Jewish Greek artist as she hides during the Nazi occupation of Athens.

In 2023, Daphne's granddaughter, Flora, an art restorer, is planning her 100th birthday, when Daphne tells Flora of a valuable piece of art which bought her freedom during the war.

Realising she knows so little about her family history, Flora heads to Corfu to uncover the secrets of their past.

The Prime Minister's Affair
Andrew Williams

London 1921.

Very much not a land fit for heroes. Frenchie knows his occasional work for MI5 serves only the ruling classes. But he needs to feed his children. Scruples died in the trenches.

When Ramsey Macdonald, Britain's first Labour Prime Minister, is blackmailed by a former lover, Frenchie must go to Paris to buy her silence.

It is clear there are many people who would see Macdonald fall - the Conservatives, their friends in the press, even some of his own colleagues.

But his own secret service?

When Frenchie hears the other side of the story, everything changes.

The Prime Minister's Affair is based on a real blackmail plot, hidden in the archives.

To kill a king
David Gilman

Bordeaux, 1367.

Having angered the bloodthirsty Don Pedro, King of Castile, Sir Thomas Blackstone is thoroughly sick of his mission for the Prince of Wales, but must remain true to his oath.

But this is the Hundred Years' War, and tensions are rising once more.

With the Prince of Wales deeply unpopular in his Aquitainian lands, Blackstone, King Edward's Master of War, must return to French soil to help stem the tide of support for the King of France.

Meanwhile, Henry, Blackstone's son, faces an incognito ride across France with his own motley band of outlaws and mercenaries.

But the French are aware of the younger Blackstone's journey, and see a perfect way to target the Master of War.

Something to hide
Elizabeth George

A Nigerian born detective sergeant working for the Metropolitan Police is found unconscious in her own flat and ends up in hospital where she dies of her injury.

The post-mortem reveals that the subdural hematoma is the result of a blow to her head.

DI Thomas Lynley, DS Barbara Havers and DS Winston Nkata are called in to investigate a case that touches upon not only the work and the life of the murdered detective but also upon a controversial cultural tradition that damages and often destroys the future of everyone it involves.

New Books for Cheshire East Libraries

New Books Coming Soon

Take a scroll through our upcoming releases and bestsellers - all available to order.

Everything you need to know about holds:
how to reserve a book

When you're looking for a specific book, it can be disappointing when it's not on the shelf at your local library.  Not to worry - our easy-to-use holds system has you covered.

• When you place a hold on a book, if we have a copy on the shelf at another of our libraries, we'll send it over to your local library for you to collect.
• If all of our copies are on loan, you will join a queue and when it's your turn, we'll send a copy over to your local library for you to collect.
• You'll receive an e-mail when your hold is ready to collect, and you have 13 days after the hold arrives to collect it.
• Holds are free for children, and a small charge is made for adults.  
• You can place up to 20 holds on your library account.
• You can place holds online - all you need is your library card number and password.
• Alternatively, our friendly staff are always happy to place holds for you.
  You can ask in the library, or e-mail us with your request at: libraries@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk

We hope to see you soon

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