J. J. Connolly was born and brought up in north-east London. His first published story was in the Brit Pulp! anthology. He is the author of the bestselling Layer Cake, which he adapted into a film script for Sony Pictures and director Michael Vaughn, as well as the sequel Viva La Madness.
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You can read a fabulous extract from A Splintering by @dureamna on @wearebookanista! Here is a teaser for you...
🎉 Happy Publication Day 🎉
Dur e Aziz Amna’s A Splintering is out now — an unforgettable story of motherhood, obsession and ambition.
✨ “Smart and gripping – I read it in one sitting” – Kamila Shamsie
✨ “A lacerating novel… great insight and deep compassion” – Mohsin Hamid
Set against an oppressive backdrop of political violence and natural disaster, A Splintering traces the class struggle of a woman stuck between province and metropolis, motherhood and ambition.
🔥 Gripping, disquieting, and impossible to put down.
📚 A Splintering is available today!
#literaryfiction #bookstagram
The Crack has chosen A Splintering as their book of the month🥳🥳
Perfect timing too... A Splintering is OUT tomorrow
#bookstagram #books #asplintering #literaryfiction
Check out this incredible review of A Splintering by @dureamna in The Sunday Times 📰🥳
💬Amna is a witty and spiky writer and A Splintering is a blistering portrayal of a woman unwilling to accept life’s unfairness. Despite Tara’s greed and cruelty, her disdain for the restraints of her society is mesmerising. As her schemes to escape get wilder, you urge her on💬
Out 4th September!!
✨ They’re here! ✨ Fresh from the printers: the very first proof reader copies of I’ll Be the Monster by Sean Gilbert.
Aren’t they gorgeous? Who’s excited to get their hands on a copy.. we will be choosing a select group of book bloggers. Like and leave a comment below if you are interested⬇️
A homicidal couple go on a luxury holiday to save their marriage… need I say more?
Publishing 12 February 2026. 🖤 p.s thanks to everyone who has expressed interest so far, we are collecting a list of book bloggers and noting down their details and will announce who has been chosen to receive a copy soon!
#IllBeTheMonster #SeanGilbert #ProofCopies #Bookstagram #ComingSoon
✨ The Escape from Kabul by Karen Bartlett OUT NOW! ✨
A gripping story of rescue, survival and female solidarity.
In the twenty years since 2001, Afghan women obtained legal degrees, became judges and set out to transform their country – tackling corruption, and reducing horrifying levels of violence against women and children. These educated and powerful women led the mission to build a modern democracy. However, when Western forces withdrew in August 2021, the women judges of Afghanistan and their families faced mortal danger.
The Escape from Kabul is the never-before-told story of the escape of nearly 200 women and their families, thanks to a network of professional friends, female judges and lawyers from around the world, who refused to abandon them to the Taliban.
A searing insight into the challenges of safely building a new life overseas and also the captive fate of women in Afghanistan. 📚
Ready for the new Bundesliga season? 🇩🇪 ⚽
The new and updated edition of PLAYED IN GERMANY is out today – grab your copy!
Thinking about TS12 and DUET by Eleanor Chan 🎶
“A sensational book. Chan roves across her vast subject with confidence and grace, thrilling the reader with one eye-opening insight after another. I will never see art, and hear music, in quite the same way again.” James Fox, author of The World According to Colour
Out 18th September, available for pre-order now 💘
📚✨ Two electrifying voices in fiction — one unforgettable evening
Join Dur e Aziz Amna (A Splintering, BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick) & Gurnaik Johal (Saraswati, Observer Best Debut 2025) in conversation at Waterstones Gower Street, London.
🗓 Wed 22 Oct 2025, 6:30pm
🎟 From £7 – book now before it sells out!
#ASplintering #Saraswati #DureAzizAmna #GurnaikJohal #WaterstonesEvents
SPIDER, SPIDER by @libbythescribbler
Jet-black and thrilling, Spider, Spider is an unforgettable tale of a woman who has lost herself in the poison of vengeance, and the knife-sharp girl who might just bring her back.
Coming March 2026, available for pre-order now 🕸️
I’LL BE THE MONSTER by @seangilbertwrites
“The college bars were shuttered. Parties banned. Suicide watch was the new normal. And yet, outside, the air was sweet. Trees exploded in white and pink. Birds sang through long, pastel dusks. When I think of that time, I think of pale skin and outrageous blossoms. I think of choices.”
Sean Gilbert’s razor-sharp debut, coming February 2026 🍽️
Available for pre-order now.
🎶✨ An Evening of Music, Art & Expression at @hatchardspiccadilly ✨🎶
Join Eleanor Chan, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason & Emily MacGregor for a powerful night of conversation on how music shapes who we are — from ancient flutes to modern memoirs, from Kandinsky to classical brilliance. This will be a very special evening!
📍 Hatchards, Piccadilly
🗓 Wednesday 1 October 2025
🕡 6.30pm BST
🎟️Tickets via the link int he stories or eventbrite
