Saturday Spotlight: New Book Releases January 2026
- 31 January 2026
- News, Saturday Spotlight
At Write On! and Pen to Print, we want to help connect authors and readers, playwrights and audiences, so we’ve created a Spotlight page on the last Saturday of the month, showcasing some of the exciting new reads and plays available. The curated list is based on books and plays that you send us, so if you’re an author or a playwright and you’d like your book or play in the spotlight, reach out to us at pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk. Whether you’re an indie author, with a small press or mainstream publisher, established or brand new playwright, we’d love to hear from you and shine a light on your new work.
Write On! offers other opportunities for writers as well. If you’d like us to feature an extract from your book or a short story, please send the extract, book cover and blurb to pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk with the subject: Write On! Showcase (ensuring you have your publisher’s permission, of course).
Pen to Print are also looking for short videos from people reading a passage from their favourite book, or authors reading extracts from their own books. These videos will be featured on the Pen to Print YouTube channel and across our social media. Please send in your videos or links to pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk with the subject: Video Stories.
*****
Dickens Theatre Company Presents Revision On Tour: Macbeth
Monday 23 February – Tuesday 24 February, Palace Theatre Southend.
Calling all English GCSE students, teachers, and literature lovers!
Dickens Theatre Company proudly presents Macbeth, Shakespeare’s bloodiest, most thrilling tragedy, arriving at Southend in February 2026.
In this unique adaptation, the infamous Porter takes on the role of narrator, guiding audiences through the tangled web of ambition, betrayal and dark magic. An ensemble of just six actors conjures a cauldron of characters, bringing the Scottish Play vividly to life.
The Signalman
Thursday 26 February – Saturday 28 February, Palace Theatre Southend.
Set in 1880, this is the exquisitely unnerving tale of a tormented signalman who is haunted by visions of impending disaster on his isolated stretch of line. Can a well-meaning traveller, who chances upon the lonely signal box while out walking, calm the man’s fears before he spirals into self-destruction?
*****
Happy Land by Tim Bird
A personal view of ‘the world’s happiest country’ from an accidental expat in Finland.
Tim Bird arrived in Finland by accident in the early Eighties. More than 40 years on, he is still there. He’s watched the transformation of his adopted homeland from semi-detached member of the Soviet bloc to modern European nation that tops the rankings, year after year, as ‘the happiest country in the world’.
Does it deserve that status? Do the Finns, known for their hard drinking, their sisu (grit) and their passion for heavy metal, recognise that description of themselves? Telling the story of his own path to Finnish citizenship while also delving into the writings of a 19th-century British traveller, Bird interrogates the claim made on Finland’s behalf.
In this clear-sighted – but never cynical – sideways look at the land of the sauna, the Northern Lights and the Moomins, Bird spotlights the Nordic nation’s distinctive culture, landscape and language. As he helps us understand the Finnish notion of contentment, are there life-lessons for the rest of us?
Available to buy here
Connect with Tim Bird
A Woman’s Choice by Natalie Campbell
A brave and candid account of entering menopause early.
Natalie Campbell traces the emotional and physical realities, from isolation and anger to resilience and self-redefinition.
Available to buy here
Connect with Natalie Campbell
Belgrave Road by Manish Chauhan
The Wild Rose by Dilly Court
Can Rosina discover the hidden secrets of Moonshadow Manor?
When spirited Rosina Wills is driven from her London home by a conniving stepmother, she seeks refuge in the wild heart of Dartmoor. But Moonshadow Manor is a house of secrets―and her ailing Aunt Jane isn’t the only one in need.
As Rosina settles into her new life, she soon realises the Manor holds secrets of its own. With every passing day, she uncovers more about her family. But as long-buried truths begin to surface, will Rosina find the answers she’s looking for… or something she never dreamed of?
A sweeping, emotional tale of love, loyalty and the strength of a fearless heart.
After years of writing about work, wellness and productivity, Emma Gannon hit a wall: chronic burnout left her unable to get out of bed. Something had to change.
A Year Of Nothing follows Emma’s quiet rebellion against the cult of doing. Over four seasons, she steps away from the noise and rediscovers joy in life’s simplest pleasures, from dog borrowing and dopamine dressing to relearning how to swim and embracing a child-free life.
This is a gentle, hopeful guide to what happens when you stop trying to fix everything and choose to feel instead.
Available to buy here
Connect with Emma Gannon
Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray
At the age of 12, Nell has accepted hers will likely be a friendless existence. She’s not interested in boys or make-up or competing to see who can eat the least – so fitting in at her all-girls’ school feels impossible.
But then, a new girl arrives at school.
Eve has short hair like a boy, a wicked sense of humour and an unshakable confidence that she will find her place in the world. The moment they meet, Nell begins to rethink the whole friendless existence thing.
As they grow into themselves, Nell and Eve will love each other and hurt each other: through the chlorine-scented savagery of adolescence, long, drunken nights in share houses and gay bars and the highs and lows of parenthood.
And always, despite unspoken feelings and sexual confusion, they will choose each other. Again, and again. As friends, as lovers, as family.
Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan
The French House Share by Gillian Harvey
“I can’t live with total strangers… can I?”
Bella’s living her dream life, running a beautiful, rural French B&B and has finally put her past behind her. But when her husband suddenly asks for a divorce, everything changes.
Forced to abandon everything she’d built before, she finds herself moving to the beautiful town of Versailles, where she takes a job working in a hotel, and moves into a chaotic house share.
At first, it doesn’t feel like a problem that she can’t seem to convince her young housemates she’s older than them – it’s quite nice to pretend she’s in her 20s again. But when it becomes clear her new boss has also hired her under false pretences, she starts to wonder if she’s gone from living the dream to living a lie.
Despite the chaos though, she starts to feel that spark return. Even more so when handsome American landlord Brad arrives on the scene. But with so many secrets – now and in her past – how will Bella’s new start end?
Available to buy here
Connect with Gillian Harvey
She pressed her nose gingerly to the glass, peering unblinking through the viscous liquid at her gift.
Victorian, rural Sussex. When headstrong daughter of a rector, Constance Timothy, receives a flurry of gifts in pretty little boxes from the charming, smouldering student doctor Smith Williams, her whole family anticipates a future betrothal.
Yet beneath the exquisite pastel lids and satin bows lie macabre secrets enticing Constance into a private world of obsession and darkness, where morality becomes blurred, loyalties are tested and unthinkable acts are possible.
One secret will shake the genteel world she knows to the core…
Available to buy here
Connect with Lucy Kaufman
Room 706 by Ellie Levenson 
Nobody knows she’s checked into Room 706.
Caught in the wrong place at precisely the worst time, Kate must face the most confronting situation of her life and discover what matters most. This deeply suspenseful and thought-provoking novel asks whether, if she’d known it would end this way, would it ever have begun?
Kate stretches her legs and turns on the TV while James washes away the traces of their morning. She watches in horror at the unfolding news: the hotel they are staying in has been taken under siege.
She should be making her way home, working on appearing normal, getting ready to re-enter family life with her loving husband Vic and their two adored children. Instead, she is trapped somewhere she shouldn’t be, with a man she definitely doesn’t love.
How will she begin to tell Vic what she is doing here? If her body is found, will it give up the secret of what she’s been up to? She’s been so careful hiding the evidence of her affair: write nothing down, leave no trace. Will he begin to understand why?
For now, Kate can only hide, take a deep breath, and reflect on the series of choices she’s made that have brought her to this moment.
What will her marriage and her life look like, if she makes it out?
Available to buy here
Connect with Ellie Levenson
A Slow And Secret Poison by Carmella Lowkis
“We are cursed, here at Harfold, whether you believe in it or not.”
1922, Wiltshire. When Vee Morgan accepts the job of gardener at a crumbling stately home, she’s hoping for a fresh start where nobody knows her troubled history.
But Harfold Manor is shadowed by grief and the memories of long-faded glory, its rooms haunted by the only surviving member of the family, Lady Arabella Lascy. Vee is fascinated by her enigmatic new employer, a woman obsessed with the curse she believes has killed her family one by one. A curse that is coming for her next.
As Vee immerses herself in the world of Harfold, she finds herself increasingly entranced by Arabella and the secrets that poison her.
But Vee has her own things to hide: secrets that caused her to flee Cardiff, secrets that estranged her from her own family, secrets that might finally catch up with her…
Available to buy here
Connect with Carmella Lowkis
A Guardian And A Thief by Megha Majumdar
In a near-future Kolkata beset by flooding and famine, Ma, her two-year-old daughter Mishti, and her elderly father Dadu are just days from leaving the collapsing city behind to join Ma’s husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
After procuring long-awaited visas from the consulate, they pack their bags for the flight to America. But in the morning they awaken to discover that Ma’s purse, with all the treasured immigration documents within it, has been stolen.
Set over the course of one week, A Guardian And A Thief tells two stories: the story of Ma’s frantic search for the thief while keeping hunger at bay during a worsening food shortage and the story of Boomba, the thief, whose desperation to care for his family drives him to commit a series of escalating crimes the consequences of which he cannot fathom.
With stunning control and command, Megha Majumdar paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of two families, each operating from a place of ferocious love and undefeated hope and each discovering how far they will go to secure their children’s future as they stave off encroaching catastrophe.
Available to buy here
Connect with Megha Majumdar
Just One Look At You by Jill Mansell
Venice. The perfect setting for romance, and for secrets to be shared.
Fen can’t believe her luck. A luxury holiday with her beloved grandmother Disa – what could be more delightful? It doesn’t cross her mind that she might fall in love. Or that love can bring complications…
Jamie can’t help it that women always fall for him, rather than for his kind-hearted friend Leon. Nor that only one of them got the looks (that would be Jamie). But how will he feel if the girl he’s drawn to only has eyes for Leon?
Disa has a secret. A few weeks ago, an old letter in a file revealed a shocking truth about her late husband. She’s come to Venice to find out more.
Available to buy here
Connect with Jill Mansell
The York Minster Killings by Wes Markin
A desperate father.
Graham Blanks is having a very bad day. With his daughter’s life hanging in the balance, he finds himself in a race against time to get her the help she so desperately needs. But in the bustling city of York, he’s faced with setback after setback and is beginning to lose his patience.
An escalation of violence.
As Graham becomes more out of control, his frustration and violence increases. And soon his victims begin to mount. Can anyone end the desperate and deadly spree?
A final reckoning.
DI Paul Riddick is a man who understands a father’s desperation all too well. He knows Blanks has to be apprehended but, only newly recovered from illness himself, Riddick is struggling. Will he be able to stop Blanks in time, or will his deadly spree spiral even further out of control?
In the shadow of York Minster, the fate of many lies in the hands of two men with nothing left to lose and time running out…
Available to buy here
Connect with Wes Markin
What Happened That Summer by Laura Pearson
You think you know what happened that day. But what if you’re wrong?
Everyone who was around in the 1990s remembers where they were when they heard that AJ Silver had died. In the summer of ’96, there was no avoiding the story that America’s biggest teen pop sensation had plunged to his death on a rollercoaster at a family-run amusement park in rural England.
Now, 27 years have passed, and even if you’re too young to recall the event you’ve probably heard AJ Silver’s songs topping the charts again. So what better time to take a forensic look at what happened that summer?
I’ve spent hundreds of hours interviewing everyone who was there that fateful day: workers, friends, family – the people who gained from his death and the people who lost everything.
But you’re going to want to pay attention. Because I’ve found out a secret. One you’re all going to want to know: perhaps it wasn’t an accident after all?
Available to buy here
Connect with Laura Pearson
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao
As the emperor lays dying, the once-great Azalea Dynasty plunges towards civil war. While its princes plot for power, a more hidden war – to become the next empress – occupies the imperial court.
Wei Yin, peasant girl turned concubine to the cruel Prince Terren, has already endured unimaginable suffering. Ripped from her family, she has no title, no allies, and no escape. But she does have a secret…
In the shadows of the palace, surrounded by enemies, she is learning a skill forbidden to women. Because when words are weapons and poetry holds an ancient magic, the fate of a girl and a nation, can both be rewritten. All she has to do is compose the perfect poem: a tale so powerful, it can kill any man, even the next emperor.
Available to buy here
Connect with Shen Tao
Godstorm by Solitaire Townsend
A female gladiator’s vow. A stolen child. A storm to end empires.
In an oil-fuelled Roman Empire which never fell, Arrow – a gladiatrix turned governess – must rescue Livy, the child she never meant to love, a girl who could tear down the world.
When Livy is abducted during a devastating Godstorm, Arrow must unleash years of the gladiator training she’d sworn to forget in order to save her. Defying her owner, a heartless consul, Arrow turns to her ex-lover and the illegal druid underworld in a desperate attempt to rescue the girl she has tried not to think of as her own.
Her search will take her across Londinium, a city of petrol-powered chariots, to the pagan Old Town, and eventually the edge of the known world: the Amazon, where destiny and destruction intertwine.
Facing battle and betrayal Arrow must choose: reclaim her past as a killer — or risk everything for the child who might call her ‘Mother.’ She is the Sword…
Available to buy here
Connect with Solitaire Townsend
The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead
A band on the brink. A love worth playing for.
When record executive Theo meets the Future Saints, they’re bombing at a dive bar in their hometown. Since the tragic death of their manager, the band has been in a downward spiral and Theo has been dispatched to coax a new and successful album out of them, or else let them go.
Theo is struck right away by Hannah, the group’s impetuous lead singer, who has gone off script in debuting a new song-and, in fact, a whole new sound. Theo’s supposed to get the band back on track, but when their new music garners an even wider fan base than before, the plans begin to change-new tour, new record, new start.
But Hannah’s descent into grief has larger consequences for the group, and she’s not willing to let go yet… not for fame or love.
Available to buy here
Connect with Ashley Winstead
The Hustle by Karen Woods
You have to play to win in a game of life and death.
Danni had to grow up fast – as a girl, her mother left her alone and she had to raise herself, any way she could. Finding comfort and company in the pubs and clubs of her local streets, she could throw a dart before she was old enough to buy a drink. Hustling at darts was a way to earn a quid – but it also brought her to the attention of local gangster, Marco Reece.
When Danni escapes Marco with a bag of money and a scar that means she won’t go near a dart again, she knows she’s lucky to be alive – and leaves behind everywhere and everyone she’s ever known.
Only when she hears Marco has been sent down does she risk surfacing. Can Danni pull off one last hustle to set her up for good? One match to change everything. But the clock is ticking, and Danni is on dangerous ground. The arrows gave her a life – but they can take it away again too…
100 Poems On The Underground
The poems collected here, familiar and unfamiliar, are all much travelled. The great themes of poetry – love, death, war, time, the natural world – sit here alongside comic nonsense and traditional street cries, apparently at random, like passengers on a crowded train. Long-time travellers on the London Underground may recognise these poems as their fellow passengers: in the first five years of ‘Poems on the Underground’, they all appeared as posters on Underground trains, between ads for temps and toothpaste, put there to bring pleasure to the working day. This new Revised Edition of 100 Poems on the Underground, published on the project’s 40th anniversary, once again allows these poems to be seen together, to be read again and remembered with affection.
Remember, if you’re an author and you’d like to see your book in our Saturday Spotlight, email: pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk and send us the details of your new novel.
For details of Penguin RandomHouse new releases, visit their website here.
For details of Hachette new releases, visit their website here.
For details of HarperCollins new releases, visit their website here.
For details of PanMacmillan new releases, visit their website here.
For details of Simon & Schuster new releases, visit their website here.
Disclaimer: Amazon links are given for ease but please remember there are a number of other online retailers operating, including hive (which helps to support independent book shops), Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play and Nook as well as online stores for bookstores such as Waterstones, Barnes & Noble and WHSmiths.
Issue 27 of Write On! is out now and you can read it online here. Find it in libraries and other outlets. You can find previous editions of our magazines here.
You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo, or find us on Podcasters.Spotify.com.
We want to help connect authors and readers, so our Saturday Spotlight page showcases some of the exciting new reads available each month.
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