August New Stock

Taipei Story | Rebecca F. Kuang

Yale student Lily Chen arrives in Taipei hungry: for family, for culture, for connection. But her summer of discovery quickly unravels. Her classes are gruelling, her roommate unbearable, and a reckless, deeply awkward trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon ignites vicious gossip. Then her grandfather dies.

Grieving and adrift, Lily must confront her own questions about the culture she inherited but never fully understood. She embarks on a wryly funny, often devastating search for understanding: of herself, her family, and the meaning of home. All over one unforgettable summer in Taipei.

DanDaDan Vol 20 | Yukinobu Tatsu

Momo Ayase and Okarun are on opposite sides of the paranormal spectrum regarding what they’ll believe in and what they won’t. Their quest to prove each other wrong leads them down a path of secret crushes and paranormal battles they’ll have to participate in to believe! Momo and the others have succeeded in escaping the cursed trunk and defeating the Fairy-Tale Card, but because Momo ate the sweets inside the trunk, she has shrunk to the size of a fairy! While her grandma looks for a way to return her to her previous size, Momo heads back to school in her new, tinier form. It’s there that she hits on the idea to research fairies in the library, and once there, she spots – a pygmy?!

Final Orbit | Chris Hadfield

1975. A new Apollo mission launches into orbit, on course to dock with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft: three NASA astronauts and three cosmonauts, joining to celebrate a new dawn of Soviet-American cooperation. But a third power is rising, in the race to dominate Space.

As NASA Flight Controller Kaz Zemeckis listens in from Earth, three of the six astronauts are killed in an unexplained accident. And from a remote location in east Asia, a capsule secretly launches with China’s very first astronaut aboard, purpose unknown.

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny | Kiran Desai

When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated, yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that only served to drive Sonia and Sunny apart.

Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in the snowy mountains of Vermont, has returned to her family in India, fearing she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist to whom she had once turned for intimacy and inspiration. Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York City, is attempting to flee his imperious mother and the violence of his warring clan. Uncertain of their future, Sonia and Sunny embark on a search for happiness together as they confront the many alienations of our modern world.

The French Illusion | John Grisham

After Paul and Chelsea Tanner’s fairy-tale wedding, their future is full of promise. But their honeymoon to Paris takes a dark, shocking turn when they are kidnapped while on a day trip to the French countryside. Who would target them – and why? It appears this is not the first crime of its kind.

The search for answers soon stretches across borders, with the FBI, CIA and French intelligence trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Struggling to find answers, a young lawyer is recruited to be the bait in an elaborate CIA operation.

Waking the Warriors | Ben Okri

Tanas has risen, seemingly from nowhere, to become the modern dictator of a great western nation. Now he is sweeping across the world, subjugating all in his wake. His armies are powerful and fearful, his crocodile-headed commanders conquering with force and with magic. Tanas’s reign seems unstoppable, his dictatorship a foregone conclusion. Until he meets a small band of people. They have no weapons, no money, no power, yet together, they form the beginnings of a resistance. But what will happen when the greatest army in the world meets the smallest?

Dreamland | Olivie Blake

Summer winds sweep a feverish energy through Los Angeles as girls are found murdered. Yet despite wildfire warnings and the rising body count, Anya Morris finds her mind elsewhere. Her Hollywood break fell through – and after losing out, she’s ready to risk it all.

Enter actor William de Witt, an aging icon with a cryptic bargain. If Anya spends time with his son Jude, a man sequestered by mysterious health issues, William will grant her access to Hollywood’s inner circles. Yet within the de Witt estate, the air is heavy with old blood and unspoken secrets. Drawn to Jude’s dark magnetism, Anya wonders if the house is cursed or if Jude is touched by the occult.

How far will the elite go to secure their fame? And as the city burns, could Anya also sell her soul to achieve her dreams?

We Chase Shadows | Richard Osman

At sunrise, high in the Italian hills, a body is found on the steps of a beautiful private villa. On the body is a threatening note, signed by a mystery man. Back at We Solve Murders HQ, Amy, Rosie and Steve leap at the chance to take on their first proper case. So what if their new client seems to have his own reasons for avoiding the police? All they need to do is uncover who left the note, and then find them. Simple.

But once they start digging, the suspects keep piling up: there’s Sweden’s most-wanted criminal, a canny ex-wife and a fierce business rival – yet the murderer keeps evading them. And as the trio chase a villain through the shadows, danger travels closer to home. Between Italy and Palm Springs, via Barcelona and Steve’s village pub, can the team catch an elusive killer who knows EXACTLY where to hide?

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil | Stephen Collins

The job of the skin is to keep things in. On the buttoned-down island of Here, all is well. By which we mean orderly, neat, contained – and beardless. Or at least it is until Dave, bald but for a single hair, finds himself assailed by a terrifying, unstoppable monster!

Where did it come from? How should the islanders deal with it? And what, most importantly, are they going to do with Dave?