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  The Return of Simple

  Langston Hughes

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  Collected humorous stories from the iconic American writer’s newspaper column, featuring his most memorable and spirited fictional character. 
   
  In 1940, Langston Hughes introduced Jesse B. Semple, or “Simple,” to readers in his Chicago Defender column, “From Here to Yonder.” From his familiar perch in a fictional Harlem bar, Simple held forth on a variety of subjects—low wages, interracial marriage, birth control, race riots, the police—then central to black life in urban America. More than fifty years later, Simple’s concerns are, startlingly, still ours, and his voice, ringing with poetic wisdom and humor, reminds us of the rich African American folk tradition Langston Hughes helped to revive. This brilliantly edited collection by Akiba Sullivan Harper brings together the best stories from a number of Simple volumes long out of print and a few never before published. Its feel is so contemporary and relevant to American life one must marvel at Hughes’s ability to pass through the barrier of time. 
   
  Praise for The Return of Simple 
   
  “A glorious revelation . . . a chance for fairweather Hughes fans to acquaint themselves with something other than his poems and plays. This is the author as loquacious unleashed social commentator, who—prompted by ‘just one more beer, my friend’—holds up a mirror and shows us the world, which hasn’t changed very much, not in all this time.” —Boston Globe 
   
  “Hughes’s slices of urban black life belong also to the larger continuum of great American humor, from Mark Twain to Armistead Maupin. Quite simply, an indispensable part of our cultural heritage.” —Kirkus Reviews

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  The Pretty Delicious Cafe -...

  Danielle Hawkins

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  One flaky family. One ex-boyfriend who won't go away. And one handsome stranger who probably will ... For fans of Doc Martin and Monica McInerney, a warm, witty novel, brimming with the trademark romance, friendship and eccentricity that Danielle Hawkins's readers love.  
   On the outskirts of a small seaside town, Lia and her friend Anna work serious hours running their restored cafe. The summer season is upon them, they have Anna's wedding to plan and Lia's ex-boyfriend seems not to understand it's over. When a gorgeous stranger taps on Lia's window near midnight and turns out not to be a serial killer, she feels it's a promising sign. But no one comes without a past, and his arrives in the form of a four-year-old son. Just as Lia decides to give things a try, problems from her own past rear up.The Pretty Delicious Cafe reminds us of the joy -- and hazards -- to be found in family, friends and good food -- and that being a little bit weird isn't necessarily a bad thing.PRAISE FOR DANIELLE HAWKINSThe Pretty Delicious Cafe'everything a summer read should be - warm and witty' Who Weekly'Incredibly fast paced with effortlessly flowing witty dialogue, it's hard to believe The Pretty Delicious Cafe is a book and not a television series -- this is a book fans of Bridget Jones' Diary and Offspring will love to sink their teeth into' Better Reading 'A sweet, tasty treat of a tale, sprinkled with wry humour and sparkling dialogue, dusted with a touch of the bitter-sweet' The Reader booksellers' blog'The Pretty Delicious Cafe, offers more meat and bones than fluff' Otago Daily TimesDinner at Rose's'A cross between All Creatures Great and Small, Bridget Jones's Diary and something the Topp Twins would write if there was only one of them and she was straight, this is a very funny book' Next Book Club'What really carries it is the quality of the writing. The dialogue is absolutely spot on. You would almost believe the author wrote for TV or writes sitcoms. It's very, very funny' Paper Plus, Winter Reads'It's so good that it's hard to believe it's a first novel. It had better not be her last. Please, Danielle' Lee Matthews, Manawatu Standard'Reading this is better than sleeping!' Sunday Star TimesChocolate Cake for Breakfast'Another sweet, gently funny depiction of life in the back blocks of New Zealand' Next 'Helen is frankly delightful - intelligent but oh-so-human ... a plausible, relatable storyline and hugely appealing characters. A charming summer read, and a giggling good time' Australian Women's Weekly'The only problem I could see in the book was the Wallabies did not win often enough' Jodie, GoodReads'This is a delightful, contemporary romance' Herald Sun

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  The Bestseller

  Olivia Goldsmith

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  From a New York Times–bestselling author, comes this “highly entertaining tale [with] considerable humor and some cynical fun at the expense of the book business” (Publishers Weekly).   At Davis & Dash, one of New York’s most prestigious publishing houses, five new authors will be published—but only one of them will be a bestseller. They have worked long and hard to write their novels of romance and murder, drama and love, but the story behind the stories is even more exciting. And the vicious competition to get the right agent, the perfect editor, and the choice spot on the bestseller list must be seen to be believed.   From the author of The First Wives Club, this “dishy” novel set in New York’s book publishing industry (Glamour) is a fun behind-the-scenes romp with “lots of romance and revenge” (The Washington Post Book World).   “Extremely satisfying.” —The New York Times Book Review  

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  Moving the Palace

  Charif Majdalani

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  “A Middle Eastern heart-of-darkness tale that flows like a dream . . . Crackling with razor-sharp humor” (The New York Times).   At the dawn of the twentieth century, a young Lebanese explorer leaves the Levant for the wilds of Africa, encountering an eccentric English colonel in Sudan and enlisting in his service. In this lush chronicle of far-flung adventure, the military recruit crosses paths with a compatriot who has dismantled a sumptuous palace in Tripoli and is transporting it across the continent on a camel caravan. The protagonist soon takes charge of this hoard of architectural fragments, ferrying the dismantled landmark through Sudan, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula, attempting to return to his native Beirut with this moveable real estate. Along the way, he will encounter skeptic sheikhs, suspicious tribal leaders, bountiful feasts, pilgrims bound for Mecca, and T. E. Lawrence in a tent—in this “utterly charming” novel that was a recipient of the Académie Française’s François Mauriac Prize (Library Journal).   “Renders the complex social landscape of the Middle East and North Africa with subtlety and finesse . . . Yet one doesn’t need to care about the region’s history, or its present-day contexts, to enjoy Moving the Palace.” —The Wall Street Journal

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  Relatively Happy

  Whitney Dineen

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  Sarah Hastings's life is chaotic. Between running her organic farm, her yurt-style holistic B&B, and her vegan café Eat Me!, she barely has time for an aura cleanse. What's more, her spirit guide just announced the universe is sending her a man. 
   
   
   
  Suddenly, a sexy pro-football player, a hipster photojournalist, and fellow organic farmer practically fall from the sky onto her doorstep. But which one is her cosmic soulmate? 
   
   
   
  While Sarah meditates on the answer, her parents show up unexpectedly, throwing the mother of all monkey wrenches into her carefully laid plans. 
   
   
   
  With only morning yoga and her erotic book club to keep her sane, no wonder she's chucked her vegan diet in search of bacon. Will the stars of love align, or will the universe let her down in the biggest way possible?

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  Map Addict: The Bestselling Tale...

  Mike Parker

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  'My name is Mike and I am a map addict. There, it's said…' 
  Maps not only show the world, they help it turn. On an average day, we will consult some form of map approximately a dozen times, often without even noticing: checking the A-Z, the road atlas or the Sat Nav, scanning the tube or bus map, a quick Google online or hours wasted flying over a virtual Earth, navigating a way around a shopping centre, watching the weather forecast, planning a walk or a trip, catching up on the news, booking a holiday or hotel. Maps pepper logos, advertisements, illustrations, books, web pages and newspaper and magazine articles: they are a cipher for every area of human existence. At a stroke, they convey precise information about topography, layout, history, politics and power. They are the unsung heroes of life: Map Addict sings their song. 
  There are some fine, dry tomes out there about the history and development of cartography: this is not one of them. Map Addict mixes wry observation with hard fact and considerable research, unearthing the offbeat, the unusual and the downright pedantic in a celebration of all things maps. In Map Addict, we learn the location of what has officially been named by the OS as the most boring square kilometre in the land; we visit the town fractured into dozens of little parcels of land split between two different countries and trek around many other weird borders of Britain and Europe; we test the theories that the new city of Milton Keynes was built to a pagan alignment and that women can't read maps. Combining history, travel, politics, memoir and oblique observation in a highly readable, and often very funny, style, Mike Parker confesses how his own impressive map collection was founded on a virulent teenage shoplifting habit, ponders how a good leftie can be so gung-ho about British cartographic imperialism and wages a one-man war against the moronic blandishments of the Sat Nav age. 
  Mike Parker's Map Addict is a non-fiction book that combines science, humour, and travelogues to provide a unique perspective on geography and culture. His essays are both historical and social, making this a popular choice among readers. 
  For fans of Rory Stewart (The Places In Between), Darren Chetty (The Good Immigrant), Matt Brown (Atlas of Imagined Places), Tom Bullough (Sarn Helen), and Robert Peston (Bust?). 
  HarperCollins 2023

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