Saturday Spotlight: New Book Releases June 2025
By Claire Buss, Deputy Editor, Write On!
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.
*****
Oasiz, Cliffs Pavillion, Southend, 25 July
To celebrate 30 years since OASIS burst onto the scene OASIZ are embarking on a 2025 UK tour and this is your chance to see them in top form.
The setlist will contain all the big hitting career spanning anthems that you would associate with a greatest hits tour.
Picture You Dead, Palace Theatre, Southend, 22 July – 26 July
Superintendent Roy Grace is back in a brand-new Peter James stage adaptation and world premiere of the bestselling Picture You Dead, which has opened to rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Starring Strictly Come Dancing winner, presenter and stage actor Ore Oduba (Pretty Woman), Fiona Wade, who starred this year in 2:22 A Ghost Story, following 12 years in Emmerdale, and with Casualty’s George Rainsford (Call the Midwife, 2:22 A Ghost Story) returning as DSI Roy Grace.
With a total of 20 Sunday Times bestsellers to his name and the television series GRACE now a huge hit on ITV, Picture You Dead, the seventh and brand-new thrilling stage adaptation, cements Peter James’ Grace series as the most successful modern-day crime stage franchise since Agatha Christie.
Back home in Brighton, DSI Grace investigates a cold case that leads him to the secretive world of fine art, but beneath the respectable veneer lurks a dark underworld of deception and murder.
When one unsuspecting couple unearth a potentially priceless masterpiece, they discover that their dream find is about to turn into their worst nightmare, and only Grace can stop them from paying the ultimate price.
*****
Shadow Thieves by Peter Burns
Thirteen-year-old Tom Morgan and his friends live on the streets of an alternate London, shining shoes and picking pockets – until one day Tom’s friends are caught and sent to a brutal workhouse.
Frantic and without a way to save them, Tom bumps into the mysterious Corsair, who offers him an opportunity to train at an elite international boarding school for thieves. Seeing a glimmer of hope, Tom lets himself be whisked away to the snowy Alps in a zeppelin. Swept into a thrilling world of danger and intrigue, the more secrets he learns about the Shadow League, the harder it becomes for Tom to leave. But there are dark forces at work and real danger is coming.
Can Tom save his fellow pupils from disaster – and ever be able to get home again to rescue his friends?
Ocean by Polly Clark
A powerful yacht, a warring family, the unforgiving deep…
Caught in a terrorist explosion on the London Underground, inner-city schoolteacher Helen is pregnant and lost until a stranger leads her to safety then vanishes. Obsessed with finding him, she begins to lose her grip on reality – and her family.
As their marriage fractures, her husband Frank proposes a daring plan: sell up and sail the Atlantic with their son Nicholas and troubled foster daughter Sindi on the Innisfree, the very boat on which the couple first fell in love.
What begins as a daring bid for salvation turns into an epic journey. The ocean proves as wild and unpredictable as the heartbreak Helen is trying to outrun. Will the voyage meant to save them destroy them instead?
With a fiercely funny and maverick heroine at its helm, Ocean is a powerful exploration of the uncharted waters of the human heart. The award-winning author of Larchfield takes us on a gripping, beautifully written voyage into the depths of what it means to heal – and to live.
Available to buy here
Connect with Polly Clark
The Break In by Katherine Faulkner
You know who.
You don’t know why.
The play date started well. The children happy in one room while their mothers relaxed and drank wine in another.
But then the stranger appeared at the window. And then he was inside the house. And then he grabbed the knife.
Alice only means to stop him. She doesn’t mean to hit him so hard. She didn’t mean to kill him.
The police conclude that she acted in self-defence, but wracked with guilt, Alice sets out to apologise to Linda, the mother of the young man she killed; only to find she is unable to come clean about who she really is. But as Alice learns more about Ezra and why he was at her house, she starts to wonder whether she really has the full picture about what happened that day.
Lindy had a lovely voice. It rose into the summer darkness clear and true as a nightingale. Or was it, rather, like a bird of prey?
Rosamund wakes up from her mid-morning nap to find, to her delight, that she is running a temperature. Surely that explains her blinding headache, and the weird, delirious dream in which she had murdered her overly seductive neighbour – the Other Woman – in a vengeful act of jealousy?
A great relief, then, to find this was merely the nightmarish work of a fevered imagination. Until her husband exclaims, “Rosamund! Have you any idea what’s happened to Lindy? She’s disappeared!”
The Ultimate Guide To Editing Your Novel by Sara Grant
When it comes to creating children’s and YA fiction there is often a focus on how to start and write until you reach an ending. But what happens when you have a finished manuscript of hundreds of pages? How do you transform your rough draft into a publishable one?
Expert author, editor, mentor and lecturer Sara Grant provides the answer through a systematic approach to editing. Her step-by-step guide demystifies the process of preparing a manuscript for submission to agents and publishers or for those self-publishing. It’s a lifeline for new writers and those intimidated by the world of publishing; for more experienced writers it’s an invaluable diagnostic tool to dip in and out of.
This practical workbook includes exercises and examples for:
– Interrogating your idea
– Enhancing your plot
– Scrutinising characters, chapters and scenes
– Analysing sentence and word choice
– Honing your unique voice
– Writing with sensitivity for young readers
– And finally, polishing your manuscript for submission.
When The Fireflies Dance by Aisha Hassan
Secrets Of The Bees by Jane Johnson
Time has forgotten this remote corner of West Cornwall, and left its many secrets undisturbed. Until now…
Ezra Curnow has lived in the little cottage on the Trengrose estate all his life. He was born there, as was his
father, and his grandfather before that. It’s his own little Cornish paradise.
Then the mistress of the estate, Eliza, dies without leaving a will, putting the cottage’s ownership into question. London financier Toby and his wife Minty are soon enticed by Trengrose’s charm and, worse still, see a lucrative rental opportunity in Ezra’s cottage.
But Ezra is prepared to battle to save his beloved home and has a number of secret weapons in his armoury. What he doesn’t know is that Eliza also took some secrets to her grave – and she doesn’t intend to rest quietly until they come to light.
Available to buy here
Connect with Jane Johnson
Bogboy by Patrick Kealey
Alfie O’Brien, soon to rename himself ‘Bogboy’ is born an orphan into a house of dead things, presided over by his imperious, ailing aunt.
This is a place where the past won’t let the present go, where ghosts confer with the living and where discovering who you are means coming face to face with some uncomfortable truths. It’s a house cursed by shadows, secrets and dynasty.
While the wind blows in from the Atlantic across these Irish peatlands, old enmities bite down. When Bogboy is left for dead, he must learn how to trust love, discover where he belongs and reconcile himself with his destiny. The ancestors are gathering and Bogboy is about to become a man.
An audacious, rousing story of hope and beauty rising out of the dying embers of a corrupt and redundant regime, Bogboy is a story for our times, reminding us that attention to the natural world offers solace and healing, and that love – wherever we may find it – is always stronger than hatred.
Available to buy here
Connect with Patrick Kealey
Mayowa And The Sea Of Words by Chibundu Onuzo
WARNING: DO NOT JUMP ON THIS BOOK!
Have you ever jumped on a book? Perhaps not. Most people would think it was a rather unusual thing to do.
Ten-year-old Mayowa has always thought that her Grandpa Edward, who dyes his beard emerald green and jumps on books in private, is rather unusual too. Until one day she jumps on a book for herself, and uncovers a huge family secret .
Mayowa can book jump.
By jumping on a book, she can harness the emotions inside it and channel them directly into other people. And when the opportunity to use her power to save the lives of countless refugees presents itself, Mayowa wants to jump in with both feet.
But Mayowa and her grandpa aren’t the only book jumpers in existence. And not everybody wants to use this power for good.
Available to buy here
Connect with Chibundu Onuzo
Ride The Wave by Katherine Reilly 
In surfing, everyone’s chasing the perfect ride…
Twelve years ago, Leo Silva was a world champion surfer, until reckless partying and tabloid scandals ended his career. After a mysteriously sudden and early retirement, Leo retreated to a sleepy seaside village in Portugal, where he’s remained out of the spotlight ever since. But when he receives a surprise invitation to compete in Australia’s legendary Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach contest, the news of his comeback sends shockwaves through the surf world.
Enter Iris Gray, an ambitious sports journalist from London. Her editor wants her to make Leo and his comeback the topic of glossy Studio magazine’s next big feature, but there’s one small catch – he happens to be the son of TV star and media proprietor Michelle Martin, the owner of Studio. With a lot of pressure riding on this project and Iris’s career hanging in the balance, there’s simply no room for mistakes.
When Iris flies to Portugal, she expects to uncover the truth behind Leo’s infamous past, but is unprepared for his stubbornness, or the undeniable chemistry that simmers between them. But as her interviewee and the boss’s son, Leo is strictly off-limits.
With a fierce rival threatening to derail Leo’s comeback and the competition fast approaching, can they stay focused on their goals, or will love pull them under?
Available to buy here
Connect with Katherine Reilly
The Playbook: A Story Of Theatre, Democracy And The Making Of A Culture War by James Shapiro
In 1935 the American public was presented with a radical opportunity.
Established under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Federal Theatre Project would employ 12,000 artists, writers and actors, stage more than 1,000 productions, and reach over 30 million people.
Its output included Orson Welles’ directorial debut, a landmark modern dance programme and shows that sought to shed light on the reality of racism, inequality and the dangers of fascism.
But within three years, an opportunistic Texan congressman had embarked on a campaign to destroy it, inventing a playbook that echoes into the culture wars of today.
Bee Speaker by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The end of the world has been and gone.
There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming world war, no catastrophic pandemic. Only scores of storms, droughts, and selfish regional conflicts. Humanity was not granted a heroic end. Instead, it bled to death from a thousand cuts.
But where Earth fell apart, Mars pulled together. Engineered men and beasts, aided by Bees – an outlawed distributed intelligence – survived through co-operation, because there was simply no alternative.
Fast forward to today. A signal reaches Mars: For the sake of what once was. We beg you. Help.
How could they refuse? A consortium of Martian work crews gather the resources for a mission: a triumphal return to the blue-green world of their ancestors. And now here they are, 300-million kilometres from home.
And it has all already gone horribly wrong.
Augmented by Kenechi Udogu
I was going to be a Mechsim. I was going to use my powers to make a difference.
In a near-future London, where extreme weather has depleted plant life, 16-year-olds must surgically augment an ability to contribute to the new utopian society. Akaego moves to a prestigious academy after the late discovery of her rare ability: she can project a vocal frequency that accelerates plant growth.
As Akaego learns to use her new skill and is chosen for an internship with the mayor, she begins to feel as though she can change society for the better. It doesn’t hurt that the mayor’s gorgeous son, Joon, seems to be flirting with her. But then the Freestakers, an anti-enhancement group, warn Akaego not to get Augmented.
Can she discover the truth of her ability, find the courage to rebel and keep her power out of the hands of those wishing to control it?
Available to buy here
Connect with Kenechi Udogu
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 25 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.
