Fourth Estate

Brown Girls: A Lyrical Journey of Girlhood and Belonging

**A powerful coming-of-age novel that captures the spirit and struggles of young women of color in Queens, New York.**

A Story Steeped in Color and Culture

"Brown Girls" dives into the vibrant tapestry of lives woven together by a group of young women of color navigating their immigrant backgrounds against the backdrop of American culture. Set in Queens, a melting pot of languages and cultures, the novel captures the essence of the neighborhood – from the rumble of subways above dollar stores to the salty breeze from Rockaway Beach.

Exploring Friendship, Identity, and Resilience

Nadira, Gabby, Naz, Trish, Angelique, and many others grapple with the complexities of growing up in a society that often marginalizes them. Their journey is a testament to the power of friendship, the search for identity, and the resilience that emerges from shared experiences.

A Lyrical Voice that Resonates

Daphne Palasi Andreades masterfully weaves a poignant and lyrical narrative, capturing the nuances of girlhood and the complexities of navigating race, class, and identity. The novel is a poignant and powerful portrait of the struggles and triumphs of a generation coming of age in a world grappling with social and cultural shifts.

Praise for "Brown Girls"

"Brown Girls flows like a late night FM-radio dedication to the crew, the block, and the mission. This book’s a gift" - **Paul Beatty**, author of The Sellout

"An ode to girlhood" - **Raven Leilani**, author of Luster

"Joyous, bittersweet, hilarious … a coming of age story for us all" - **Nikesh Shukla**, author of Brown Baby

"A song of celebration, of mourning, of rage, of fierce living" - **Rowan Hisayo Buchanan**, author of Starling Days

"A cracker of a first novel" - **Glamour**

"A sensation in the US" - **Guardian**

"Transporting… not to be missed" - **Stylist**

"A daring debut… fearless" - **New York Times**

A Must-Read for Readers of All Ages

"Brown Girls" is a powerful and moving novel that resonates with readers of all ages. It is a story about love, loss, friendship, and the search for identity – a story that will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

<p>Early Morning Riser</p>

<p>‘Gorgeous. Very, very funny in a knowing wry way but so tender, so beautiful. I loved all the characters.’ Marian Keyes

‘Warm, witty, touching – and frequently hilarious’ David Nicholls, author of Sweet Sorrow

‘You put the book down and feel glad to be alive’ India Knight, Sunday Times

Duncan is charming, handsome – and Jane falls in love with him easily.</p>

<p>But he has also slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City. Jane sees Duncan's old girlfriends everywhere – at restaurants, at the grocery store and his ex-wife, Aggie, still has him mow her lawn.</p>

<p>But everything changes with one tragic accident. Now her life is permanently intertwined with them all and she knows she will never have Duncan to herself.</p>

<p>But is it possible that a deeper kind of happiness is right in front of her eyes?</p>

<p>The Love Songs Of W.E.B. Du Bois</p>

<p>A TOP TEN NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

‘Astonishing… A great work infused with love and honesty’ Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple</p>

<p>‘Deeply moving… it is magnificent’ Sarah Winman, author of Still Life</p>

<p>‘A remarkable work’ Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)</p>

<p>‘Epic… It just consumed me' Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Book Club</p>

<p>‘The kind of book that comes around only once a decade' Washington Post</p>

<p>A breath-taking debut novel that chronicles the journey of generations of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade to our own tumultuous era</p>

<p>The great scholar, W.E.B. Du Bois, once wrote about the Problem of race in America, and what he called ‘Double Consciousness,’ a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois's words all too well.</p>

<p>From an early age, Ailey fights a battle to feel like she belongs, made all the more difficult by a hovering trauma, as well as the whispers of women – her mother, her sister and a maternal line reaching back two centuries – that urge her to succeed in their stead.</p>

<p>Ailey decides to embark on a journey through her family's past, uncovering the shocking tales of generations of ancestors – Indigenous, Black, and white – in the deep South. In doing so she must learn to embrace her full heritage, a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story – and the song – of America itself.</p>

<p>Sweeping, compulsive and deeply moving, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is set to be one of the most talked about books of the year.</p>

<p>LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION • SHORTLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN LITERARY PRIZE</p>

<p>New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year • Time 10 Best Books of the Year • Washington Post 10 Best Books of the Year • People 10 Best Books of the Year • Booklist 10 Best First Novels of the Year</p>

<p>Still Life</p>

<p>THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK

WINNER OF DYMOCKS BOOK OF THE YEAR

A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2021

WINNER OF THE INWORDS LITERARY AWARD</p>

<p>‘Sheer joy' Graham Norton</p>

<p>‘Utterly beautiful … filled with hope’ Joanna Cannon, author of Three Things About Elsie</p>

<p>’A gorgeous, generous story of kind hearts and kindred spirits’ Daily Mirror</p>

<p>From the author of When God was a Rabbit and Tin Man, Still Life is a big-hearted story of the families we forge and the friendships that make us.</p>

<p>1944, Italy. As bombs fall around them, two strangers meet in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa and share an extraordinary evening.</p>

<p>Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner a 64-year-old art historian living life on her own terms. She has come to salvage paintings from the wreckage of war and relive memories of her youth when her heart was stolen by an Italian maid in a particular room with a view. Ulysses’ chance encounter with Evelyn will transform his life – and all those who love him back home in London – forever.</p>

<p>Uplifting, sweeping and full of unforgettable characters, Still Life is a novel about beauty, love, family and friendship.</p>

<p>‘THE most beautiful book … it will stay with me a long time’ Sara Cox, BBC Two’s Between the Covers</p>

<p>‘Extraordinary . . . my book of the year’ Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties</p>

<p>‘Moving, wise, poetic and funny’ Daily Mail</p>

<p>‘Winman’s pages teem with boisterous, exuberant life’ Sunday Times</p>

<p>My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge On The World's Deadliest Migration Route</p>

<p>WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE 2022

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MICHEL DEON PRIZE 2022

THE IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER

'The most important work of contemporary reporting I have ever read' SALLY ROONEY</p>

<p>The Western world has turned its back on refugees, fuelling one of the most devastating human rights disasters in history.</p>

<p>In August 2018, Sally Hayden received a Facebook message. 'Hi sister Sally, we need your help,' it read. 'We are under bad condition in Libya prison. If you have time, I will tell you all the story.' More messages followed from more refugees. They told stories of enslavement and trafficking, torture and murder, tuberculosis and sexual abuse. And they revealed something else: that they were all incarcerated as a direct result of European policy.</p>

<p>From there began a staggering investigation into the migrant crisis across North Africa. This book follows the shocking experiences of refugees seeking sanctuary, but it also surveys the bigger picture: the negligence of NGOs and corruption within the United Nations. The economics of the twenty-first-century slave trade and the EU's bankrolling of Libyan militias. The trials of people smugglers, the frustrations of aid workers, the loopholes refugees seek out and the role of social media in crowdfunding ransoms. Who was accountable for the abuse? Where were the people finding solutions? Why wasn't it being widely reported?</p>

<p>At its heart, this is a book about people who have made unimaginable choices, risking everything to survive in a system that wants them to be silent and disappear.</p>

<p>MORE PRAISE</p>

<p>'Compassionate, brave, enraging, beautifully written and incredibly well researched. Hayden exposes the truth' OLIVER BULLOUGH</p>

<p>'Blistering' LINDSEY HILSUM</p>

<p>'The most riveting, detailed and damning account' CHRISTINA LAMB</p>

<p>'One of the most important testaments of this awful time in life's history. It is both heartbreaking and stoic. I cry reading any page of it' EDNA O'BRIEN</p>

<p>Girl In The Walls</p>

<p>She doesn’t exist. She can’t exist.</p>

<p>‘A uniquely gothic tale about grief, belonging and hiding in plain sight’ Jess Kidd, author of Things in Jars</p>

<p>’Those who live in the walls must adjust, must twist themselves around in their home, stretching themselves until they’re as thin as air. Not everyone can do what they can.

But soon enough, they can’t help themselves. Signs of their presence remain in a house.

Eventually, every hidden thing is found.’</p>

<p>Elise knows every inch of the house. She knows which boards will creak. She knows where the gaps are in the walls. She knows which parts can take her in, hide her away. It’s home, after all. The home her parents made for her. And home is where you stay, no matter what.</p>

<p>Eddie calls the same house his home. Eddie is almost a teenager now. He must no longer believe in the girl he sometimes sees from the corner of his eye. He needs her to disappear. But when his older brother senses her, too, they are faced with a question: how do they get rid of someone they aren’t sure even exists?</p>

<p>And, if they cast her out, what other threats might they invite in?</p>

<p>Lean Fall Stand</p>

<p>A WHITE REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A genuine masterpiece' Observer

'Spectacular' Maggie O'Farrell

'Beautiful' Hilary Mantel

'Fascinating... bold and masterful' Max Porter</p>

<p>The highly anticipated new novel from the Costa-award winning, three-times Booker-longlisted author of Reservoir 13.</p>

<p>Doc Wright could be two steps or two miles from his team. In an ice storm, distance loses meaning. No one can see. No one answers their radio. All he can do is keep going, but something has gone wrong inside his head.</p>

<p>Back home, he is the only one who can explain what happened to them in Antarctica. But after what changed on the ice, everything has lost its meaning. Now his wife, Anna, must become his carer. Now he must find a new way to be in the world. All he can do is try to tell his story - even if words fail him.</p>

<p>'The most gripping piece of writing I've read in a long time: Sit. Read. Applaud' Jarvis Cocker</p>

<p>'Extraordinarily tense and atmospheric' Telegraph</p>

<p>'Exceptional... I absolutely loved it' David Nicholls, author of Sweet Sorrow</p>

<p>'Gripping, moving, magnificent' Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire</p>