THE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL NOVEL OF THE YEAR
THE INSTANT IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER
PICKED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, OBSERVER, IRISH TIMES, INDEPENDENT, IRISH INDEPENDENT, IRISH EXAMINER, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, SCOTSMAN, THE TIMES AND ECONOMIST
AN i-PAPER AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK TO READ THIS SUMMER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 WALTER SCOTT PRIZE
WINNER OF THE HWA GOLD CROWN

'An absolute belter of a book' ANNE ENRIGHT

He was ready to die for love. He just needed to find the right girl.

October, 1891. Tom Rourke is a poet struggling to make a life amongst the Irish migrant workers in Butte, Montana. He is a doper and a drinker and a fearsome degenerate. His life is heading nowhere fast. That is until he meets Polly Gillespie, the new bride of a devout mine captain, and a thunderbolt love affair takes spark.

Tom and Polly strike out west on a stolen horse. But a posse of deranged Cornish gunsmen are in hot pursuit of the lovers, and closing in fast . . .

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2026**

'Extraordinary . . . clever, strange and beautifully written' THE TIMES

'Prompts thoughts of both THE CRUCIBLE and THE VIRGIN SUICIDES . . . Purvis is an exquisitely accomplished wordsmith.' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'A taut, tense tale, impeccably told' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Feverish, finely wrought and unforgettable.' DAILY MAIL

'An unflinchingly strange and savage novel – a rare and twisted pleasure, and an unmissable must-read for every girl who has ever been made to feel strange.' LUCY ROSE, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LAMB

'Haunting and beguiling, this fever dream of a novel draws you in and colours your mind all shades of doubt and suspicion.' STACEY HALLS, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE FAMILIARS

'Melancholy and bittersweet.' OTEGHA UWAGBA, Sunday Times bestselling author of LITTLE BLACK BOOK

'A novel of rare grace and skill, exquisitely wrought and simmering with feral violence.' ROWE IRVIN, author of LIFE CYCLE OF A MOTH

Many stories are told about the five Mansfield sisters. They are haughty, thinking themselves better than their neighbours in the picturesque village of Little Nettlebed. They have taken the death of their grandmother hard. They are liars, troublemakers, untamed and dangerous... Accounts of their behaviour differ, but the villagers all agree that the girls are odd.

One long summer, a heatwave descends. Bloated sea creatures wash up along the parched riverbed, animals grow frenzied, ravens gather on the roofs of those about to die. As the stifling heat grips the village, so does a strange rumour: the Mansfield sisters have been seen transforming into a pack of dogs.

With the witch trials only a recent memory, hysteria sets in. Slowly but surely, the villagers become convinced that something strange is taking root in Little Nettlebed. And when a bark finally leads to a bite, the sisters will be the ones to pay for it.

Visceral and richly atmospheric, The Hounding plunges its reader into 18th century Oxfordshire, where the power of a man’s word is absolute, and it is safer to be a wild animal than an unconventional young woman.

***

'Utterly bizarre in the best way possible' Reader Review

'A glorious shimmering heat mirage of a novel' Reader Review

'A visceral and consuming fever dream of a book' Reader Review

'Tense, almost claustrophobic' Reader Review

'Sharp and extremely enjoyable' Reader Review

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023
LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, NEW YORKER AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of the early twentieth century. But in 1921 he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write.

His friend Robert Hamlyn offers an escape in the Straits Settlements of Penang, where Robert's steely wife Lesley learns to see Willie as he is - a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.

As Willie prepares to leave, Lesley confides in him secrets of her own, including how she came to know the charismatic revolutionary Dr Sun Yat Sen. And more scandalous still, her connection to an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts - a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.

The Times top ten bestseller

‘As tightly tuned as a thriller’ Telegraph
‘A marvel’ Kiran Millwood Hargrave
‘Compelling, vividly described magic’ Observer
‘Historical fiction as it should be written’ Mail on Sunday
‘Remarkable’ New York Times

Anna Maria may have no name, no fortune, no family. But she has her ambition, and her talent.
Her best hope lies in her teacher, Antonio Vivaldi. Soon she is his star pupil.

But as Anna Maria’s star rises, not everyone is happy. Because Anna Maria’s shining light threatens to eclipse that of her mentor. The prodigy becomes the rival...

She will leave her mark, whatever it takes. Her story will be heard.

Shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown Award

‘A compassionate coming-of-age tale … Constable understands the power music has to sustain us’ Observer
‘Had me spellbound from start to finish’ Emma Stonex
‘Constable infuses historical fact with richly wrought fictional details, to investigate admiration and resentment, ego and legacy’ i paper
‘A whirlwind of all-consuming, dizzying ambition … Spectacularly imagined’ Mail on Sunday
‘Vibrates with colour and passion … I was completely swept up’ Elodie Harper
‘An immersive, impassioned tale full of colour and sound’ Guardian