The elderly Buddhist priest Seido Oda considers the life that brought him from an idyllic mountainside village in Japan to the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York

From the author of The Hundred-Foot Journey comes a fish-out-of-water story of a Japanese monk who unexpectedly finds his community in bustling Brooklyn. Growing up in a quaint mountainside village in Japan, eleven-year-old Oda leaves his family to study with the monks at a nearby Buddhist temple. From that time, this quiet and peaceful refuge is the only home the monk has ever known until his fortieth birthday draws near and he is ordered by his superior to cross the ocean and open a temple in Brooklyn. Torn from the serene life of his homeland temple, New York proves a severe shock to Oda's system. More than that, he has to work with a motley crew of American Buddhists whose misguided practices lead to a host of hilarious cultural misunderstandings. It is only when the curmudgeonly Oda comes to appreciate this new and surprising flock, flaws and all, that he sees his own shortcomings and finally finds that sense of belonging he has always sought. Funny, rich and entertaining, this is a charming story about the meaning and rewards of true acceptance in the unlikeliest of places. '... a complex, beautiful book that lingers in the imagination long after the last line is read.' Robin Black, author of If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This

Winner of the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Colm Tóibín's internationally bestselling novel is a story of devastating emotional power. At the centre of Colm Tóibín's internationally celebrated novel is Eilis Lacey, one among many of her generation who has come of age in 1950s Ireland but cannot find work at home. When she receives a job offer in America, it is clear to everyone that she must go. Leaving her family and country behind, Eilis heads for unfamiliar Brooklyn, and to a crowded boarding house where the landlady's intense scrutiny and the small jealousies of her fellow residents only deepen her isolation. Slowly, however, the pain of parting and a longing for home are buried beneath the rhythms of her new life—until she begins to realize that she has found a sort of happiness. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love, tragic news summons her back to Ireland, where she unexpectedly finds herself facing an impossible decision.

I have never experienced that most subtle of senses - smell - captured so well in print. The aroma of fine cooking just floats off the pages. Don't read this book if you're hungry. You might eat it.' - Simon Beaufoy, Oscar-Award-winning screenwriter, Slumdog Millionaire Abbas Haji is the proud owner of a modest family restaurant in Mumbai. But when tragedy strikes, Abbas propels his boisterous family into a picaresque journey across Europe, finally settling in the remote French village of Lumiere, where he establishes an Indian restaurant, Maison Mumbai. Much to the horror of their neighbour, a famous chef named Madame Mallory, the Indian establishment opposite her own begins to garner a following. Little does she know that the young Hassan, son of Abbas, has discovered French cuisine and has vowed to become a great French chef. Hassan is a natural whose talents far outweigh Mme. Mallory, but the tough old Frenchwoman will not brook defeat. Thus ensues an entertaining culinary war pitting Hassan's Mumbai-toughened father against the imperious Mme. Mallory, leading the young Hassan to greatness and his true destiny. This vivid, hilarious and charming novel - about how just a small distance of a hundred feet can represent the gulf between different cultures, different people, their tastes and their destinies - is simply bursting with eccentric characters, delicious flavours and high emotion. 'Outstanding! I wished it went on for another three hundred pages.' - Anthony Bourdain

It is a time of reckoning for José María Álvarez, an aristocratic Spanish banker living in a Swiss village with his American wife. Nearing the end of a long and tumultuous life, he's overcome by hallucinatory memories of the past. Among his most cherished memories are those of his boyhood in 1950s Franco-era Spain and the bucolic afternoons he spent salmon fishing on the Sella River with his father, uncle, and much-loved younger brother. But these fond reveries are soon eclipsed by something greater. José's regrets and dark family secrets are flooding back, as is the devastating tragedy that drove José into exile and makes him bear the burden of a soul-deep guilt.

At the behest of his sister, Otto Ringling finds himself reluctantly accompanying her guru, an enigmatic Mongolian monk, on a trip through Middle America to their childhood home, introducing his passenger to some American "fun" along the way.