Based on the hit Netflix series, this novel delves into the lives of&nbsp;Top Boy's beloved characters. Written by creator and co-producer Ronan Bennett, it promises to be an exciting new chapter of this bona fide TV sensation. I'm gonna tell you the whole story. I'm going to tell you everything. ?Sometimes all it takes is a single message. Maybe it's bad, like a rival top boy's been switched off. Or maybe it's good, like an opportunity you never thought you'd get. But opportunities mean risks, and debts, and you never want to owe anyone anything. Jaq's worked hard on the road since she was fourteen, bringing in money to keep her broken family afloat. Now she's built a good life near the top of the Summerhouse crew, with a beautiful home she shares with her girlfriend Becks and her heavily pregnant older sister Lauryn. But messages are coming in--good and bad--and Jaq has to make a choice: step back from the road and start a life she's never even considered. Or seize her opportunities and risk everything for life-changing money. Either way, Jaq will make enemies. And those enemies aren't going to let her go easily . . .

Jaq: A Top Boy Story

Literature & Fiction

Bennett, Ronan

United States

HarperVia

Overthrown by Strangers

Contemporary

Penguin??Books

The Catastrophist: A Novel

The Catastrophist is a novel of love, passion, violence, and desire, set in the Belgian Congo in 1959. While expatriates loll about their pools in a colonial paradise soon to erupt into chaos, huge crowds are drawn to the charismatic Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba - and his even more dangerous rivals. One man sees the cracks appearing around him and struggles to hold on to his lover, his sanity, and ultimately his life. Gillespie, the outsider, a journalist, is in Leopoldville for the beautiful Italian, Ines. He is desperate for her love, while she is obsessed with the unfolding drama, caught up in history, ideology, hero worship. In a world slipping out of control, gripped by disgust, fear, and incomprehension, Gillespie feels that events threaten to overwhelm him - as does his friendship with the amiable but sinister American, Stipe; his relationship with his canny native driver, Auguste; and, above all, his love for Ines. It is Ines who defines Gillespie as a catastrofista, an Italian word for somebody for whom "no problem is small. Nothing can be fixed; it's always the end," for Gillespie is deeply pessimistic and skeptical about their relationship as well as politics, while Ines believes in engagement and commitment, whatever the risks - which, as it turns out, are greater than either of them can foresee. As colonial corruption and injustice give way to turmoil, brutality, and murder, Gillespie is finally forced to confront what is happening before his eyes.

British & Irish

Simon&Schuster

Short-listed for the Whitbread Novel Award, "The Catastrophist" is a haunting novel set in the politically charged landscape of the Belgian Congo just before independence. At its heart is the passion between novelist James Gillespie and the fiery idealistic journalist Ines, whom he follows to Africa as their affair begins to fray. They are as unlike as lovers can be; he is willfully apolitical and desperate for her love, while she is obsessed with the unfolding drama, caught up in history, hero-worship, and soon, a new passion. In a country that will self-destruct upon giving birth to itself, Gillespie is plunged into violence and betrayal, and moved by love to a final act of nobility. In his ravishing U.S. debut, Ronan Bennett delivers heart-stopping suspense, profound moral questioning, and a searing depiction of a doomed love.

The Catastrophist : A Novel

Zugzwang

Literary

Random House]

In a tale set against a backdrop of civil war-torn early seventeenth-century England, principled governor John Brigge, increasingly discomfited by zealous Puritanism, hides his affection for his pregnant wife's young ward and refuses to convict a vagrant woman in spite of prejudiced town leaders. 30,000 first printing.

Havoc, in Its Third Year: A Novel

Genre Fiction

A penetrating and ambitious historical novel, Havoc, in Its Third Year is an ingenious, often deeply unnerving narrative of seventeenth-century England that speaks directly to the fanaticism and fears of today. The time is the early seventeenth century, as the quarrel between Royalists and Parliamentarians turns toward civil war, and that between Catholics and Protestants leads toward bloody religious tyranny; the place is a town in northern England, set in a grim landscape swept by crop failures, plague and rumors of war, in which rigid Puritans have taken over government and imposed their own rules. At the center of the novel is John Brigge, the Coroner and a Governor of the town, though not by any means as convinced a zealot as his fellow governors have become. Married and deeply in love with Elizabeth, who is pregnant with their first child, he has a guilty secret to hide in his affection for Dorcas, his wife's ward -- a secret which, in the world of religious prejudice and extremism toward which England is moving, can be lethal. Determined to obey the law, rather than prejudice and the need to make an example of an Irishwoman accused of murdering her own infant, Brigge draws upon himself the hostility and suspicion of the powerful men who have been his fellow governors and who now set out to destroy him in the name of morality. Brigge is both sympathetic and deeply vulnerable. He genuinely loves Elizabeth and longs for their child to be born, but he is also deeply attracted to Dorcas; he is, however guardedly, of "the old faith" and does not hesitate to hide a priest; he favors the wretched vagrants who infest the roads, seeking shelter and a bite to eat, and employs one of them on his farm. He insists on finding out the truth about the Irishwoman's baby, despite the fact that everybody has already decided on her guilt. In short, without intending to do so, John Brigge offers himself up as a victim by refusing to cooperate with the political and religious masters of the town or to subordinate his own conscience to their demand for rigid obedience and piety. Even his own clerk Adam, whom he regards as a son, turns against him in the end in a struggle that will almost cost Brigge his life and that sends him out into a cold and dangerous world, having sacrificed everything he once held dear, stripped of his power and authority, but made heroic by his commitment to love, truth and human feelings. Havoc, in Its Third Year is a novel of great power, drama and terror, at once a love story and a superb work of historical fiction. It confirms Ronan Bennett's reputation as a masterful creator.

The Catastrophist

The catastrophist

Review

England in the 1630s: turbulent times, with fears of foreign invasion and Catholic conspiracies rife. John Brigge, a farmer and coroner, is respected in his North Country community, but harbours a dangerous secret: he is also a Catholic. When he is called to adjudicate on the murder of a new-born child, Brigge finds himself drawn into matters he would rather avoid. Katherine Shay, an Irishwoman, is accused of killing her baby, and the town's powerful Puritan faction demands her immediate death. Brigge suspects their haste has little to do with a quest for justice. What are they hiding? And does he really want to know?

Havoc, in Its Third Year

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

Headline Paperbacks

England in the 1630s: a difficult country in turbulent times. John Brigge is a governor, a man who has kept away from intrigues to work on his farm and be with his wife, now expecting their first child. He is also - secretly - a Catholic. When he is called to settle the murder of a new-born child, Brigge finds himself drawn into matters he wants to avoid. Katherine Shay, an Irishwoman, is accused of killing her baby. Brigge wants to wait for more evidence. The ascendant puritan faction, however, demand her immediate hanging. Brigge suspects their haste has little to do with their talk of justice. What are they hiding? And does he really want to know? In the background, a rebellion is brewing. Only Brigge - and his investigation - can change the tide. Torn between home and the world, haunted by the mystery of Katherine Shay, he must finally make a stand.

Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bennett, Ronan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bennett, Ronan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bennett, Ronan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Jaq: A Top Boy Story

Overthrown by Strangers

The Catastrophist: A Novel

The Catastrophist : A Novel

Zugzwang

Havoc, in Its Third Year: A Novel

Havoc, in Its Third Year: A Novel

The catastrophist

Havoc, in Its Third Year

Havoc, in Its Third Year