Nell is determined to find her beloved missing au pair in this vibrant adventure set in, and underneath, Paris. Penelope Magnificent spends as little time as possible with her awful parents—a grocery-mogul father and a fashion-obsessed mother who loves expensive purses more than she does her daughter. But when they mention an important trip to Paris, Nell begs to come along. Paris holds something very dear to her: her old au pair Perrine—Pear—who lives there. Pear used to write to Nell every week, promising to come to her rescue, but recently the letters stopped. With the help of a savvy bellboy named Xavier, Nell sets out from her parents’ ultra-fancy Parisian hotel to find her beloved Pear. But Pear’s old neighbors and coworkers are strangely tight-lipped. And as Nell’s search for the truth takes her and Xavier to some of the darkest, most mysterious parts of the city, a sinister plot comes to light involving the destruction of a cherished—and delicious—part of Parisian life. Food, fashion, and intrigue abound in this delightful caper from the author of The Secret Starling.

"First published by Faber & Faber Limited (UK) 2020"--Title page verso.

Penelope Magnificent spends as little time as possible with her awful parents-a grocery-mogul father and a fashion-obsessed mother who loves expensive purses more than she does her daughter. But when they mention an important trip to Paris, Nell begs to come along. Paris holds something very dear to her: her old au pair Perrine-Pear-who lives there. With the help of a savvy bellboy named Xavier, Nell sets out from her parents' ultra-fancy Parisian hotel to find her beloved Pear.

A tattered ballet slipper found under the floorboards of Braithwaite Manor may be the key to Clara’s sinister family secrets in this delightful, lightly Gothic mystery for fans of Maryrose Wood and Claire Legrand. Clara Starling lives a life of dull rules, deadly routine, and flavorless meals under her cold uncle's strict regime—until the day Uncle disappears, leaving Clara alone in his old mansion. When streetwise orphan Peter and his rescue cat arrive unexpectedly, the children seize the chance to live by their own rules. But when the pair’s wild romps through the halls of Braithwaite Manor reveal a single, worn ballet slipper, they are hurled into a mystery that will lead to London’s glittering Royal Opera House and the unraveling of twisted Starling family secrets of poison, passion, and murder. Diabolical villains, plucky orphans, and glamorous ballet stars populate this absorbing adventure with a classic feel.

Lela knows two things: her history teacher must die and she must start a new life beyond the pear field. On the outskirts of Tbilisi, in a newly independent Georgia, is the Residential School for Intellectually Disabled Children – or, as the locals call it, the School for Idiots. Abandoned by their parents, the pupils here receive lessons in violence and neglect. At eighteen, Lela is old enough to leave, but with nowhere to go she stays and plans, both for her own escape and for the future she hopes to give Irakli, a young boy at the school. When a couple from the USA decide they want to adopt a child, Lela is determined to do everything she can to help Irakli make the most of this chance.

With her gift for “surprising emotional honesty…[and] an impressive ability to get inside the heads of [her characters],”* Tess Stimson grips readers with this internationally bestselling novel of six lovers, two marriages, one affair—and what happens when a lifetime of secrets begins to unravel. Ella Stuart is a pediatrician with a fulfilling career and a marriage any woman would envy. William Ashfield is a devoted husband, a good father, and a successful businessman. Beth Ashfield married the love of her life and loves him still, but the light inside her is going out and she has one last chance to rekindle it. And Cate, Beth and William’s brilliant but troubled teenage daughter, is trying to negotiate the rough waters between adolescence and womanhood. But when tragedy strikes, the repercussions spiral through all of their lives—and in an instant, nothing will ever be the same. Now Ella, William, Beth, and Cate will discover that trying to have it all might be keeping them from the very thing they each want most…. With sharp wit and moving honesty, Tess Stimson has written a brazenly unsentimental yet deeply felt novel of hearts gone astray that somehow keep the faith—even when everyone seems to be cheating. *Publishers Weekly

'Stunning language, raw emotion and profound wisdom' Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You 'Solomon's strong prose and fleet pacing consistently provide the essential pleasures of a good story well told' Maggie Shipstead, The New York Times Book Review One night in 1917 Beatrice Haven creeps out of her uncle's house on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, leaves her newborn baby at the foot of a pear tree, and watches as another woman claims the child as her own. A gifted pianist bound for Radcliffe, Bea plans to leave her shameful secret behind and make a fresh start. Ten years later, Prohibition is in full swing, post-WWI America is in the grips of rampant xenophobia, and Bea has returned to her uncle's house, seeking a refuge from her unhappiness. But the rum-running manager of the local quarry inadvertently reunites her with Emma Murphy, the headstrong Irish Catholic woman who has been raising her abandoned child - now a bright, bold, cross-dressing girl named Lucy Pear, with secrets of her own...

Cleverly interwoven with historical fact, Under the Pear Tree presents a fascinating picture of 19th century German village society and the intricacies of a murder story which with its psychological and ghostly elements still manages to transcend the centuries. Theodor Fontane is perhaps the greatest of Germany's 19th century realist writers. This is the first English translation of this novel.

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE The secret daughter of a French politician and a famous actress drops the startling revelation that will shatter her family in this beguiling debut novel of intrigue and betrayal. NAMED ONE OF SUMMER’S BEST BOOKS BY The Skimm • Marie Claire • LitHub • Subway Book Review • Paperback Paris Margot Louve is a secret: the child of a longstanding affair between an influential French politician with presidential ambitions and a prominent stage actress. This hidden family exists in stolen moments in a small Parisian apartment on the Left Bank. It is a house of cards that Margot—fueled by a longing to be seen and heard—decides to tumble. The summer of her seventeenth birthday, she meets the man who will set her plan in motion: a well-regarded journalist whose trust seems surprisingly easy to gain. But as Margot is drawn into an adult world she struggles to comprehend, she learns how one impulsive decision can threaten a family’s love with ruin, shattering the lives of those around her in ways she could never have imagined. Exposing the seams between private lives and public faces, The Margot Affair is a novel of deceit, desire, and transgression—and the exhilarating knife-edge upon which the danger of telling the truth outweighs the cost of keeping secrets.

In 1663 Oxford, a servant girl confesses to a murder. But four witnesses--a medical student, the son of a traitor, a cryptographer, and an archivist--each finger a different culprit...