Saturday Spotlight: New Book Releases March 2026
- 28 March 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.
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A Very Vexing Murder by Lucy Andrew
Available to buy here
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Who Needs Enemies by Charlotte Baker
Four friends’ lives are destroyed by a teenage tragedy which led one of them to murder 30 years ago in Buxton, a small Derbyshire town.
An insidious secret, bound by a childish pact. A secret which has forced Molly to hover on the precipice of insanity, convinced the ghost haunts her every move. But with their school reunion looming, and the four returning to their hometown, healed wounds open and the reality of their actions becomes inescapable.
Chris, fearful of the repercussions of their past now threatening to catch up with them, takes decisive action to pull the group closer, which only strains already fragile bonds. JJ, riddled with guilt, must confess before he runs out of time. While Mike’s marriage is on the verge of collapse, a man with nothing to lose can be dangerous.
But there’s one who will murder to keep their secret buried. Who Needs Enemies, when there are friends like these?
Hot Cross Buns At The Little Cornish Bookshop by Jennifer Bibby
Available to buy here
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The Sea Stone Sisters by Eleanor Buchanan
The four of them had sat upon the fallen stones the night before Iris left. Like the stones in their rings, the sisters were meant to stay together. Now they were scattered across the world.
1931. When Iris Blackmore’s father knocks down the Sisters of Skara standing stones, a dark shadow falls on the Blackmore family. With his fortune lost and wife dead, his four daughters are forced to leave their home, taking only the rings they inherited from their beloved mother. Iris is the first to depart, travelling east in search of an uncle who might be able to help the family.
Present day. Roz Chatton moves to London from Australia, bringing very little with her other than her mother’s old ring. Grieving and adrift, she stumbles on a painting of four ancient standing stones which ignites an uncanny connection to the ring on her finger.
Determined to learn more about the origin of the painting, Roz unearths the full story of Iris Blackmore, unravelling a family history she could never have imagined.
Four lost sisters. An epic journey home. Will you follow?
Gerard is twelve.
He hates his name, but loves flying round the streets of Glasgow on his bike, or mucking about with his gang, the Broncos. He’s a bright kid, but trouble seems to follow him. No one really knows what it’s like at home for Gerard; he’s used to carrying a lot on his small shoulders.
Gerard doesn’t always make good decisions. And on one April morning, in the blink of an eye, he makes a very bad one – one that will upend his whole world.
Now, he faces a bewildering stream of concerned adults clutching files, unfamiliar streets to navigate, a strange bed to sleep in, and the very real chance he won’t see his wee brother and sister again.
Heartbreaking and yet brimful of humour, compassion and hope, This Bright Life is a story about messy lives, second chances and the many hands it takes to build a boy.
Essex Wives by Kimberley Chambers
Don’t get mad, get even…
1999, Essex.
Sharon, Jolene, and Evie have one thing in common – they’ve all been burned by one of the Bonds.
Sharon’s seeking retribution after her husband’s affair.
Jolene yearns to get her own back on the man that destroyed her life.
And Evie is fighting to protect her family from the bad boy her daughter married.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned … As the turn of the millennium rounds the corner, this is one year that will go out with a bang.
The Essex wives are back, and they’re out for revenge.
Available to buy here
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Leilani Stellarion is cursed.
The last of a ruined bloodline, she’s shunned for her volatile Starborn magic, which grants her prophetic visions but is slowly corrupting her mind. Branded a pariah, Leilani is blamed for the Sickening, a wasting curse that fractured the realms of Arcelia and plunged them into war.
When her dying mother’s health deteriorates and a forced marriage threatens her future, Leilani seizes the chance to reclaim her fate. A prophecy speaks of an ancient relic that could end the Sickening – and she’s determined to find it.
To retrieve the sceptre, she must survive the deadly climb to the Astral Mountain, forge alliances with enemies, outwit rebel forces and navigate her own treacherous feelings for a rival envoy, which grow under the watchful eye of her betrothed.
Hunted by a vengeful spectre and haunted by her magic, Leilani must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice in the name of redemption – before her powers consume her.
Available to buy here
Connect with Venetia Constantine
This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum
Once In Essex, Now In London by John Debenham, David Dunford & Andrew Summers
Essex as a county is more than 1000 years old. Its origins date back to the time before William the Conqueror. The county borders remained more or less unchanged until 1965 when the part of Essex, that in the main was located between the River Lea and todays M25 orbital road, was absorbed into London.
On April 1st 1965, following an act of Parliament, five new London Boroughs were created from terrirory that was once part of Essex. The county of Essex was founded as the Eastern Kingdom of the Saxons.Its name derives from the Old English East Seaxe and today the county of Essex bears three seaxes on its coat of arms. The Saxon Kingdom may also have included parts of modern Hertfordshire and the now defunct ancient county of Middlesex.
Also as a result of the change the London wide administrative body, the London County Council (the LCC), was replaced by the Greater London Council (the GLC). The GLC (now the GLA) has responsibility for 32 new London Boroughs. Apart from Essex the new authority also took territory from Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire. The River Lea border that separated Essex and London and had been in place for 1000 years ceased to exist. In a series of chapters set in more or less chronological order, Once In Essex Now In London offers the reader a rich and diverse history where the authors focus on events, places and personalities going back over a thousand years. With over 70 illustrations, Once In Essex Now In London is essential readings for anyone with an interest in London and Essex.
The Move by JP Delaney
New beginnings can be deadly…
Kate and Matt Crowther are finally moving out of London, in search of a better life for their young family. Trade Cottage seems to be the house of their dreams and they immediately hit it off with the sellers, Rosemary and Paul Finch, who brought up their own family there.
When Kate and Matt move in, they’re pleased to discover the Finches still very much in evidence: offering advice, introducing them to the local community and becoming honorary grandparents to Will, 11, and Tilly, 9. But when the Finches take exception to Kate and Matt’s renovations, relations with the neighbours sour and Kate and Matt find themselves subjected to a vicious campaign of hate.
But Kate isn’t giving up her dream home without a fight. And it turns out Trade Cottage has secrets of its own to reveal; secrets that may endanger the very family Kate has moved there to protect.
When Imogen is told she’s inherited a country house near Bath, she thinks it must be a mistake. She last saw its owner, reclusive artist Dorothea Roe 16 years ago, during a tragic summer which changed her life for ever.
Now, with partner Josh in tow, it’s a chance for a fresh start.
After discovering an old box with her name on it in Dorothea’s abandoned study, Imogen starts to believe the woman was trying to send her a secret message.
When rumours begin to swirl that Dorothea was murdered, she starts to suspect that this gift might not be the life-line she thought it was.
Who would want to kill Dorothea?
Could it be tangled up in Imogen’s own dark family history?
And what if Imogen is now the one in danger?
Available to buy here
Connect to Claire Douglas
Lifeboat At The End Of The World by Dominic Gregory
Do you really think all lives are worth saving?
On the empty shingle beach of Dungeness, the volunteer crew of the lifeboat await her next launch. It might come in another week. Or it might even happen in the next few seconds…
For two hundred years, the Dungeness lifeboat has launched in storms and heavy seas to frigates and barques, trawlers and dinghies. Like all lifeboat stations in the British Isles, it’s led by a coxswain and staffed by volunteers. Dominic Gregory volunteers as part of her crew.
Dungeness is itself a place apart. An ever-shifting expanse of shingle jutting into the English Channel, it is overshadowed by its nuclear power station and made famous by Derek Jarman’s flotsam garden. Dungeness is also where millions of migrating birds and insects first make landfall in the British Isles. A small place perhaps, but one that is now at the centre of one of the biggest political stories of modern times.
At the heart of this wonderful book is the lifeboat crew with whom Dominic Gregory serves, many of them from families who have volunteered for generations. These are remarkable yet ordinary men and women, serving as shore crew, or boat crew, or keeping the records and brewing the tea. All, in their different ways, give up their time, livelihoods and safety to brave wind, tide and storms, not to mention the peril of navigating between the vast floating skyscrapers that make up so much of modern shipping. Then there’s the coxswain, Stuart Adams, whose quiet, competent leadership ensures he acts as the still point in a spinning world.
Lifeboat At The End Of The World is the first book to depict the experience of what it’s like to volunteer on a lifeboat: the smells of the water, the little knots when an alarm comes, how the crew is trained, the teamwork and trust, the ethos of the service. But it’s when inflatable dinghies – overloaded with people – begin arriving on the shores of Dungeness that the lifeboat crew must face perhaps their greatest test.
Dominic Gregory’s non-fiction writing offers extraordinary power and immediacy. While most of us will never serve in a lifeboat, we might find ourselves thankful for their unflinching and fearless assistance at sea.
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
Everyone in the village said nothing good would come of Gabriel’s return. And as Beth looks at the man she loves on trial for murder, she can’t help thinking they were right.
Beth was 17 when she first met Gabriel. Over that heady, intense summer, he made her think and feel and see differently. She thought it was the start of her great love story. When he left to become the person his mother expected him to be, she was broken.
It was Frank who picked up the pieces and together they built a home very different from the one she’d imagined with Gabriel. Watching her husband and son, she remembered feeling so sure that, after everything, this was the life she was supposed to be leading.
But when Gabriel comes back, all Beth’s certainty about who she is and what she wants crumbles. Even after ten years, their connection is instant. She knows it’s wrong and that people could get hurt. But how can she resist a second chance at first love?
A love story with the pulse of a thriller, Broken Country is a heart-pounding novel of impossible choices and devastating consequences.
Available to buy here
Connect with Clare Leslie Hall
Kin by Tayari Jones
A yearning for their missing mothers pulls Vernice and Annie apart. It will take a devastating tragedy to bring them back together.
Vernice and Annie are ‘cradle friends’, born days apart in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, both destined never to know their mothers. The girls are inseparable, bound by a friendship far deeper than sisterhood. But this is the American south in the 1950s. Black girls like Vernice and Annie have to fight for every opportunity they can, and neither one can build the future they hope for in Honeysuckle.
Gradually, inevitably, the girls drift apart. Vernice pursues her education; Annie is lured by the promise of a heady first love affair and a growing obsession with finding her mother. But her search pulls her even further into a world of danger that soon leaves her oldest friend battling to save her.
Tayari Jones returns with an exuberant, richly told story about mothers, daughters and a lifelong friendship that is as dangerous as it is unbreakable.
Available to buy here
Connect with Tayari Jones
The Quiet Girls by Dorothy Koomson
A teacher is dead. A pupil is missing. What are they hiding?
When MJ Hudson, an old work acquaintance, shows up at Dr Kez Lanyon’s house in the middle of the night, Kez knows she has no choice but to help.
At the prestigious boarding school that MJ’s daughter attends, a teacher has been killed and a pupil is missing. And it seems the same thing happens every few years. Only this time, the school haven’t been able to cover things up and MJ’s daughter and her group of nice, quiet friends are right at the heart of the scandal.
Undercover as the new school therapist, Kez quickly realises there are some seriously powerful, well-connected forces at play. And by continuing to investigate the mystery, perhaps even stepping outside the law to do so, Kez risks putting her own family in serious danger.
Because no one wants their secrets aired. And some will go to any length to keep them buried.
Available to buy here
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The Dark Heart by Neil Lancaster
A deadly bombing.
When renowned author Dr Daniel Solomon is killed in a devastating explosion in York, authorities quickly attribute the attack to Islamic extremists. But as the investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems.
A dark conspiracy.
DS Max Craigie uncovers a chilling connection between a series of brutal murders, each victim linked by a secret that someone is determined to protect.
A dangerous game.
With the number of victims growing and an elusive figure known as The Cashier operating in the shadows, Max must navigate a web of corruption and hatred. Can he unravel the truth before more lives are lost?
Available to buy here
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Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester
What if the year’s most talked about TV show was all about your marriage?
Kate, 30 years into her marriage, has a seemingly idyllic metropolitan, North London life.
Phoebe, a young screenwriter, is the creator of the year’s hit TV show, Cheating.
When Kate’s world takes a darker turn, she thinks she sees details and intimacies in the show that only she and her husband Jack could possibly have known. But who has betrayed who? Who gets to tell whose story?
A black comedy of resentment and entitlement, Look What You Made Me Do is the story of two very different women from two very different generations, heading toward a battle only one of them can win.
Secrets Between Friends by Sheila O’Flanagan
Ailie, Sybil and Rua can take care of themselves. But when they form an unexpected friendship, they discover new perspectives on old problems.
Ailie is recently widowed, and struggling. At least she can cut ties with her toxic Italian in-laws. Except her teenage daughter is joining them in Trieste. Should Ailie follow, and confront the family who can’t forgive her?
Sybil has learned to be happy alone. But her younger sister, Tansy, thinks Sybil needs to find a man before it’s too late. And she has the perfect candidate. Can Sybil cope with Tansy interfering – again?
Twice Rua has faced the worst, and twice she’s started over. All that matters now is protecting her daughter. Yet she’s kept the full story from her. Is it time to trust Brontë with the truth?
An intriguing and sparkling story about women discovering their strength – and loving life.
Available to buy here
Connect with Sheila O’Flanagan
How To Get Away With Murder by Rebecca Philipson
Denver Brady claims to be the most successful serial killer of our time – and that’s precisely why you’ve never heard of him.
But with the publication of How To Get Away With Murder, his manual for aspiring serial killers, that’s about to change.
When a copy of Denver’s book is found at a crime scene, DI Samantha Hansen is given the job of tracking down the elusive author.
As Denver and Sam’s stories unfold and converge, it becomes clear that there’s more to both than meets the eye.
And once Denver’s book goes viral, the pressure to find and bring him to justice brings Sam to breaking point.
But in this dark and twisted tale, who is hunting whom?
Finding Albion by Zakia Sewell
Zakia Sewell is on a quest for another Britain. Traversing the length and breadth of our island from Somerset to Scotland, she’s seeking out a different story: one that lies beyond divisive national myths and symbols.
In Finding Albion, Zakia uncovers an alternative spirit of Britain that is vividly alive today. It’s found in otherworldly folk songs, ancient legends, Celtic seasonal rites and mystic stone circles that punctuate our landscape. Her journey begins as the sun rises on the spring equinox over Glastonbury Tor, where she meets neopagans reclaiming traditions from our pre-Christian past.
At summer’s peak at Notting Hill Carnival, she hears cultural echoes that passed along the slave trade routes from the Caribbean. On All Hallow’s Eve, she encounters the ghosts of Empire that are still haunting the nation and, in the depths of a Cornish winter, she asks if today’s new folk revival could unite our increasingly divided country.
Finding Albion brings a hopeful story of Britain out from the shadows, giving us a deeper sense of who we are, and heralding the promise of a brighter future.
Available to buy here
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When The Forest Breaths by Suzanne Simard
When the forest breathes out, we breathe in. When the forest thrives, we thrive.
The world-renowned forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has transformed our understanding of the profound intelligence and interconnectedness of trees. In When The Forest Breathes, she uncovers how the deep-rooted cycles of renewal that sustain the forest can also help us to protect our entire global ecosystem.
Raised in a family of loggers committed to sustainable stewardship of the land, Simard has watched as timber companies leave the forests of her native British Columbia vulnerable to wildfires and drought, threatening the crucial biodiversity they support. But her groundbreaking research for the Mother Tree Project – one of the most ambitious forest ecology experiments of its kind – has the potential to chart a new course.
The forest, she reveals, is a living symphony of finely-honed cycles of birth, growth, death and rebirth holding the key to protecting the natural world. Working closely with local Indigenous communities, whose sustainable practices have been largely ignored, Simard examines how holistic, regenerative forestry that preserves the cycles of the forest can help solve the global climate crisis.
Weaving together scientific discoveries and luminous storytelling, this book is a call to rediscover our kinship with the natural world and listen to the lessons of the forest.
Available to buy here
Connect with Suzanne Simard
A Far-Flung Life by
Outback Western Australia, 1958.
For generations, the MacBrides have lived on a remote sheep station, Meredith Downs. A million arid acres, it’s an ocean of land, where the weather is a capricious god, and time still roams untamed.
One ordinary day, on a lonely road, under the unending blue sky, patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In seconds, the lives of the entire MacBride family are shattered.
Instead of leaving wounds to heal, Fate comes for them yet again, in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child.
Matt, the youngest MacBride, is plunged into a moral and emotional journey for which there is no map, no guide, as he is forced to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness.
A sweeping, heart-wrenching novel of family and belonging, of compassion and hope and a powerful testament to the enduring strength of love.
Godless Cosmologies by
When young Pear arrives at Kopolka’s mental asylum on the day of his mother’s death, he is summoned to a midnight rendezvous where he meets Mystery, an enigmatic patient with a penchant for philosophy.
He is soon tricked into her service which, at first, requires little more than helping her torment a school tyrant and retrieving a shipwreck for a seaboard shelter. All seems well, particularly during his sojourns to the mollifying Water: a fantasy, underwater world in which he finds himself a whale in the company of erudite octopus Mr Octaveley.
Soon, though, he discovers that Mystery harbours dangerous delusions of her own. As the price of replacing his mother becomes ever more challenging for his shy, quiet nature, the lines between reality and fantasy begin to shake.
The question is, will Pear let them crumble or can he fight back?
Available to buy here
Connect with Christy Theodoulou
Killing Me Softly by Christie Watson
Unexpected deaths and untoward incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent at City Hospital’s Emergency Department and A&E Senior Sister, Aoife, begins to question whether her new nurses are incompetent, or worse.
Earnest recruit Eden cares deeply for her patients and carries the Code Of Conduct around in her pocket, reporting everyone whose views don’t align with hers. But despite her self-righteousness, Eden keeps making mistakes. Is she dangerous?
It’s Sophie who worries Aoife the most. Acerbic, over-confident and seemingly lacking in empathy, how Sophie ever became a nurse is beyond her. When Sophie begins an affair with Aoife’s best friend, Michael, a man 25 years her senior, tensions escalate further, threatening to eclipse the fact that lives are at stake.
Aoife is the nurse we’d all want. Compassionate to the core. She’s the nicest, kindest nurse in the world. Until she is tested to the limit . . .
Available to buy here
Connect with Christie Watson
The Power Of Anxiety by Dr Sian Williams
Your sensitivity is your strength.
Anxiety can have an immense power, affecting the way we think, feel and behave. It keeps us inside, away from people, places and opportunities. Makes us question, doubt or criticise ourselves. Sends us into a sea of worry that threatens to overwhelm us. But what if we stopped trying to fight the waves and, instead, learned to ride them?
This compelling, warm and accessible book looks at anxiety differently. It helps us to understand that, rather than squaring up to anxiety, we should listen to what it’s saying. And to start celebrating this unique sensitivity that makes us feel so deeply and intensely. With tips, exercises, expert research and stories from those who’ve learned how to ride the ‘worry wave’ to thrive, this book will help you unlock the power of your anxiety.
Available to buy here
Connect with Dr Sian Williams
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.
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