Top list: Lifestyle and hobby

From cooking and fitness to travel and DIY, there’s something for every mindset. Here, you’ll find the most popular lifestyle and hobby books. So grab your passport, bring out the pan, dust off your sewing machine, and lace up your trainers—inspiration is served.

4.5 (127)

How to Keep House While Drowning : A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing

Try free now

Cancel anytime

How to Keep House While Drowning : A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing


An NPR Best Book of the Year | USA TODAY Bestseller

This revolutionary approach to cleaning and organizing helps free you from feeling ashamed or overwhelmed by a messy home.

If you’re struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, you probably have a good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support. For therapist KC Davis, the birth of her second child triggered a stress-mess cycle. The more behind she felt, the less motivated she was to start. She didn’t fold a single piece of laundry for seven months. One life-changing realization restored her sanity—and the functionality of her home: You don’t work for your home; your home works for you.

In other words, messiness is not a moral failing. A new sense of calm washed over her as she let go of the shame-based messaging that interpreted a pile of dirty laundry as “I can never keep up” and a chaotic kitchen as “I’m a bad mother.” Instead, she looked at unwashed clothes and thought, “I am alive,” and at stacks of dishes and thought, “I cooked my family dinner three nights in a row.”

Building on this foundation of self-compassion, KC devised the powerful practical approach that has exploded in popularity through her TikTok account, @domesticblisters. The secret is to simplify your to-do list and to find creative workarounds that accommodate your limited time and energy. In this book, you’ll learn exactly how to customize your cleaning strategy and rebuild your relationship with your home, including:

-How to see chores as kindnesses to your future self, not as a reflection of your worth

-How to start by setting priorities

-How to stagger tasks so you won’t procrastinate

-How to clean in quick bursts within your existing daily routine

-How to use creative shortcuts to transform a room from messy to functional

With KC’s help, your home will feel like a sanctuary again. It will become a place to rest, even when things aren’t finished. You will move with ease, and peace and calm will edge out guilt, self-criticism, and endless checklists. They have no place here.

4.1 (65)

Glucose Goddess Method : A 4-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Glucose Goddess Method : A 4-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing


INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the #1 internationally bestselling author of Glucose Revolution, a four-week, four-step program for living a healthier, happier life with balanced blood sugar including over 100 recipes, an interactive workbook, and the guidance to make the “new science of nutrition…practical for everyone” (Robert H. Lustig, MD, MSL, New York Times bestselling author of Fat Chance).

Do you suffer from cravings, chronic fatigue, or sugar addiction? Do you sometimes wake up in the morning feeling unable to face the day? Most of the population is stuck on a glucose roller coaster.

In her first book, the instant #1 internationally bestselling Glucose Revolution, Jessie Inchauspé offered a revolutionary framework for healing through science-backed nutrition hacks. Now, in The Glucose Goddess Method, she shares the “best practical guide for managing glucose to maximize health and longevity” (David Sinclair, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Lifespan) with this four-week program to incorporating the principles of how to avoid glucose spikes into your everyday life.

Complete with 100 recipes and an interactive workbook, you are guided through four simple, science-proven ways to steady your blood sugar, gaining boundless energy, curbing your cravings, clearing your skin, slowing your ageing process, and sleeping better than you ever have before. You will create positive new habits for life. The best part? You won’t be counting calories and can still eat all the foods you love.

3.9 (122)

In the Weeds

Try free now

Cancel anytime

In the Weeds


One incredible weekend in Maine, and Beckett Porter is officially a distracted man. He’s not unfamiliar with hot and heavy flings. He knows how it goes. But Evie wove some sort of magic over him during their tumble in the sheets. He can’t stop thinking about her laugh, her hand pressed flat against his chest, her smiling mouth at his neck, her eyes, her legs. So when she suddenly appears on his farm as part of a social media contest, he is confused. He had no idea that the sweet and sexy woman he met at a bar is actually a global phenomenon: social media influencer Evelyn St. James. When she disappears again, Beckett resolves to finally forget her and move on. But Evelyn St. James has a problem. Feeling disconnected from her work and increasingly unhappy, she’s trying to find her way back to something real. She returns to the last place she was happy, Lovelight Farms and the tiny town of Inglewild. It has absolutely nothing to do with the hot farmer she spent two incredible nights with—nothing at all. In The Weeds is a sweet and steamy second-chance romance about finding your happiness. It features a grumpy farmer, a no-nonsense social media influencer, a small town of busybodies, and four very cute kittens. This is the second book in a series of interconnected standalones following the three Lovelight owners.

4.1 (89)

Forget Me Not

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Forget Me Not


Don't miss Julie Soto's new book, Not Another Love Song now!

‘I loved every second of it!’ Ali Hazelwood

Ama Torres is a great wedding planner. Ama Torres does not believe in happily-ever-afters…

When Ama lands the job of her dreams, a headline-grabbing wedding for a glamorous Instagram star and her fiancee, it’s her biggest job yet.

But the florist is none other than Elliot Bloom – Ama’s ex, the man whose heart she broke two years ago. The man she hasn’t spoken to since.

Can they get through the wedding without killing – or kissing – each other?

A scorching hot debut rom-com you won’t want to miss. For fans of The Love Hypothesis and The Unhoneymooners

Netgalley readers LOVE Forget Me Not:

WOW! I loved every minute of this! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved every second of this book … Just a fantastic romance, from start to finish! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow 10 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I bloody loved it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I 100% recommend ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Julie is my new favorite author. You have to read it ASAP! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is going to be a forever favorite ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Do yourself a favor and read this one!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A perfect blend of spice and romance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I sobbed great big tears … beautiful and heart-rending and I loved it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Gave me all the feels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Could not put this book down ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

4.2 (128)

Stephen Fry In America

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Stephen Fry In America


Britain's best-loved comic genius Stephen Fry turns his celebrated wit and insight to unearthing the real America as he travels across the continent in his black taxicab. Stephen's account of his adventures is filled with his unique humour, insight and warmth in this beautifully illustrated book that accompanies his journey for the BBC1 series.

'Stephen Fry is a treasure of the British Empire.' – The Guardian

Stephen Fry has always loved America; in fact he came very close to being born there. Here, his fascination for the country and its people sees him embark on an epic journey across America, visiting each of its 51 states to discover how such a huge diversity of people, cultures, languages, beliefs and landscapes combine to create such a remarkable nation.

Starting on the eastern seaboard, Stephen zig-zags across the country in his London taxicab, talking to its hospitable citizens, listening to its music, visiting its landmarks, viewing small-town life and America's breath-taking landscapes – following wherever his curiosity leads him.

Stephen encounters unknown mayors, sheriffs, newspaper editors, park rangers, teachers and hobos, bringing to life the oddities and splendours of each locale. He discovers Oklahoma's World Cow Pat Throwing Contest, attends Independence Day Parades, cherry-pie bake-offs, and visits the heartland of the Sioux Nation in South Dakota.

A celebration of the magnificent and the eccentric, the beautiful and the strange, Stephen Fry's In America is our author's homage to this extraordinary country.

3.8 (37)

Nobody Wants Your Sh*t : The Art of Decluttering Before You Die

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Nobody Wants Your Sh*t : The Art of Decluttering Before You Die


Inspired by The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, this book will light a fire under your untidy ass with humor and helpful organizing tips that you’ll actually want to use. Like a delightfully foul-mouthed best friend, this book dishes out the funny, unpretentious advice you need to hear most. You’ll discover how to deal with your sh*t like there’s no tomorrow, live in the moment without the f*cking mess, and make your life and your eventual death a hell of a lot easier. With this witty guide, you’ll learn how to -ditch the d*mn indecision -get your sh*t together and feel fantastic -give your busy family a f*cking break -and more! Whether you’re getting ready to move in, move on, or just move your ass, Nobody Wants Your Sh*t will help you take control of your f*cking life.

4.0 (10)

Why The Dutch Are Different

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Why The Dutch Are Different


A personal portrait of a fascinating people, a sideways history, and an entertaining travelogue, Why the Dutch are Different is the story of an Englishman who went Dutch. And loved it.

4.2 (260)

Open : An Autobiography

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Open : An Autobiography


He is one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court – but from early childhood Andre Agassi hated the game.

Coaxed to swing a racket while still in the crib, forced to hit hundreds of balls a day while still in grade school, Agassi resented the constant pressure even as he drove himself to become a prodigy, an inner conflict that would define him. Now, in his beautiful, haunting autobiography, Agassi tells the story of a life framed by such conflicts.

Agassi makes us feel his panic as an undersized seven-year-old in Las Vegas, practicing all day under the obsessive gaze of his violent father. We see him at thirteen, banished to a Florida tennis camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning fast return.

And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world's best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight he becomes a fan favorite and a media target.

Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match, and every public relationship. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals, Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals the depression that shatters his confidence, and the mistake that nearly costs him everything. Finally, he recounts his spectacular resurrection and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one.

In clear, taut prose, Agassi evokes his loyal brother, his wise coach, his gentle trainer, all the people who help him regain his balance and find love at last with Stefanie Graf.

With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be read and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate readers who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi's game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed and power.

4.2 (56)

80/20 Running

Try free now

Cancel anytime

80/20 Running


Respected running and fitness expert Matt Fitzgerald explains how the 80/20 running program-in which you do 80 percent of runs at a lower intensity and just 20 percent at a higher intensity-is the best change runners of all abilities can make to improve their performance.

4.5 (67)

The Bullet Journal Method : Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future

Try free now

Cancel anytime

The Bullet Journal Method : Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future


The pdf mentioned in the book is not available at Nextory.

NEW YORK TIMESTHE

BESTSELLER

Transform your life using the Bullet Journal Method, the revolutionary organisational system and worldwide phenomenon.

The Bullet Journal MethodThe Miracle Morningwill undoubtedly transform your life, in more ways than you can imagine’ Hal Elrod, author of

In his long-awaited first book, Ryder Carroll, the creator of the enormously popular Bullet Journal organisational system, explains how to use his method to:

TRACK YOUR PAST•

: using nothing more than a pen and paper, create a clear, comprehensive, and organised record of your thoughts and goals.

ORDER YOUR PRESENT•

: find daily calm by prioritising and minimising your workload and tackling your to-do list in a more mindful and productive way.

PLAN YOUR FUTURE•

: establish and appraise your short-term and long-term goals, plan more complex projects simply and effectively, and live your life with meaning and purpose.

Like many of us, Ryder Carroll tried everything to get organised – countless apps, systems, planners, you name it. Nothing really worked. Then he invented his own simple system that required only pen and paper, which he found both effective and calming. He shared his method with a few friends, and before long he had a worldwide viral movement. Hundreds of thousands of Bullet Journal fans now spread the word and read Ryder's blog and newsletter.

The system combines elements of a wishlist, a to-do list, and a diary. It makes it easy to get thoughts out of your head (an unreliable witness) and onto paper, to see them clearly and decide what to do about them. It helps you identify what matters, and set goals accordingly. By breaking long-term goals into small actionable steps, users map out an approachable path towards continual improvement, allowing them to stay focused despite the crush of incoming demands.

But this is much more than a time management book. It's also a manifesto for what Ryder calls "intentional living": making sure that your beliefs and actions align. Even if you already use a Bullet Journal, this book gives you new exercises to become more calm and focused, new insights on how to prioritise well, and a new awareness of the power of analogue tools in a digital world.

3.7 (18)

The Snowman's Secret - Tea? Coffee? Murder!, Episode 6 (Unabridged)

Try free now

Cancel anytime

The Snowman's Secret - Tea? Coffee? Murder!, Episode 6 (Unabridged)


As Christmas approaches, Nathalie embraces the wintry charm of the picturesque village of Earlsraven. However, her plans for her first Christmas as the Black Feather's owner didn't include the huge snowman that appears in the car park. The frosty figure adds to the festive ambiance of the pub's decorations so she decides he can stay. But despite the warmth and welcome at Earlsraven's favourite inn, there's a chilling mystery for Nathalie and her cook Louise to solve, as the snowman's appearance heralds nothing but trouble.

About the series: There was nothing in the will about this...

Cottages, English roses and rolling hills: that's Earlsraven. In the middle of it all: the "Black Feather". Not only does young Nathalie Ames unexpectedly inherit this cosy inn from her aunt, she also falls heir to her aunt's secret double life! She solved criminal cases together with her cook Louise, a former agent of the British Crown. And while Nathalie is still trying to warm up to the quirky villagers, she discovers that sleuthing runs in the family.

3.3 (7)

How Not to Fit In : An Unapologetic Guide to Navigating Autism and ADHD

Try free now

Cancel anytime

How Not to Fit In : An Unapologetic Guide to Navigating Autism and ADHD


’The lack of information around how ADHD and autism shows up in adults means that many of us have been assuming we were anxious, not working hard enough, or just entirely failing altogether.’ – Jess Joy and Charlotte Mia

Written by two late-diagnosed neurodivergent women and the founders of fast-growing online community @IAmPayingAttention, HOW NOT TO FIT IN is an handbook-meets-rallying cry.

Foregrounding real experiences with autism and ADHD, this book explores the journey of discovering, accepting and flourishing with your neurodivergent brain. It explores why getting diagnosis can be so fraught and gendered, and how to navigate a world which centres neurotypical brains in the realms of relationships, careers, friendships and finances.

By reading this book, you’ll:

Start to understand why so many people are being diagnosed with ADHD and autism right now

Learn the impact that not knowing your own brain can have on your mental health

Find the confidence to ask for accommodations and adjustments at work – without apologising

Have the chance to note down how this journey is evolving for you in chapter-by-chapter workbook sections.

… and, most importantly, get to know yourself and your needs better.

Featuring the latest research and thinking on neurodivergence, contributions from dozens of experts and the real stories of people just like you, this innovative book – which has been written and designed especially for *spicy* brains – is essential reading for anyone whose brain seems to see the world in a different way.

4.0 (133)

Unexpected Love Story

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Unexpected Love Story


Crystal

I was the strong one, they said, until two words brought me to my knees. It was a secret I didn't share with anyone, a secret that made me promise I’d never fall in love.

I no longer wanted that white picket fence of every woman’s dreams. But then the unthinkable happened.

Gabe

I thought I had it all with the best medical practice in the state and the woman of my dreams. I wore a smile on my face every single day. I couldn't wait to watch her walk down the aisle and start our forever, except she never did. My runaway bride made me realize love isn't worth it.

What happens when your dreams unexpectedly come true?

3.3 (6)

Divine Dicks and Mortal Pricks : Greek Myths for Feminists

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Divine Dicks and Mortal Pricks : Greek Myths for Feminists


This is a book about divine dicks, mortal pricks, and some epically long-suffering women.

The Ancient Greek myths and epics have spent the last few thousand years focusing on all the testosterone and willy-waving that their so-called heroes got up to. Now, at long last, it’s time to shine a light on the goddesses, nymphs and queens who had to endure all that unwanted wooing, the wrath of vengeful gods, and a lot of straight-up misogyny without complaint – or at least none that was considered worth noting.

Is it really heroic to start a war just because the girl you like fancies someone else? And seriously, when will men stop fobbing off women's ideas as their own?

These are the Greek myths as you’ve never heard them before.

4.2 (142)

Range : How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Range : How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World


'A gold mine of surprising insights. Makes you smarter with every page' – James Clear, bestselling author of Atomic Habits

The essential guide to improving your performance, and a powerful argument for how to succeed in any field: develop broad interests and skills while everyone around you is rushing to specialize.

Instant Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller

Shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

A Financial Times Essential Read

From the ‘10,000 hours' rule to the power of tiger parenting, we have been taught that success in any field requires early specialization and many hours of deliberate practice. If you only dabble or delay, you'll never catch up with those who got a head start.

This is completely wrong.

In this landmark book, David Epstein shows you that the way to succeed is by sampling widely, gaining a breadth of experiences, taking detours, experimenting relentlessly and juggling interests – this is the power of developing range.

Studying the world's most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors and scientists, Epstein demonstrates why, in most fields. generalists, not specialists are primed to excel.

In the years since its initial release, Range has challenged the status quo, reshaped career paths and changed lives. Listen it to view the world differently.

'I loved Range' – Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of Outliers and The Tipping Point

'Fascinating . . . if you're a generalist who has ever felt overshadowed by your specialist colleagues, this book is for you' – Bill Gates

5.0 (1)

The 10 : A Memoir of Family and the Open Road

Try free now

Cancel anytime

The 10 : A Memoir of Family and the Open Road


National Bestseller

From a Vanity Fair and The New York Times contributor comes a beautifully written, deeply felt memoir recounting the solo, cross-country journey she made along the Ten across the American southwest: a mission to uncover both what harrowing violence may or may not have happened to her late mother, but also, to look within and discover who she herself is—where her mother ends and she begins.

In her trusted loaded-up minivan “Minnie,” E.A. Hanks follows the same route as a long-ago road trip with her mother in an attempt to better understand the complicated woman who gave her life. Along the way, as she follows her mother’s diaries and her own recollections of the route, she begins to uncover secrets—some unexpectedly wonderful, and others darker and more violent than she ever imagined—that bring more questions than answers.

From the quiet expanses of White Sands National Park to the bustling streets of New Orleans, and the Texas-Mexico border to the swamps of the Florida panhandle, she interacts with the amazing breadth and diversity of the people that call these places home. Reckoning with the past, the present, her memories, and herself, Hanks brings us along a beautiful voyage towards understanding how the stories we tell about the places we’re from ultimately become the stories we tell about the people we are.

4.0 (1)

Taking Manhattan : The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America

Try free now

Cancel anytime

Taking Manhattan : The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America


One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025

The author of The Island at the Center of the World offers up a thrilling narrative of how New York—that brash, bold, archetypal city—came to be.

In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s canny director general.

Bristling with vibrant characters, Taking Manhattan reveals the founding of New York to be an invention, the result of creative negotiations that would blend the multiethnic, capitalistic society of New Amsterdam with the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery. The book draws from newly translated materials and illuminates neglected histories—of religious refugees, Indigenous tribes, and free and enslaved Africans.

Taking Manhattan tells the riveting story of the birth of New York City as a center of capitalism and pluralism, a foundation from which America would rise. It also shows how the paradox of New York’s origins—boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement—reflects America’s promise and failure to this day. Russell Shorto, whose work has been described as “astonishing” (New York Times) and “literary alchemy” (Chicago Tribune), has once again mined archival sources to offer a vibrant tale and a fresh and trenchant argument about American beginnings.

“Shorto's revelatory sequel to The Island at the Center of the World … Readers will be wowed.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

4.3 (6)

The Gotti Wars: Taking Down America's Most Notorious Mobster

Try free now

Cancel anytime

The Gotti Wars: Taking Down America's Most Notorious Mobster


“Riveting…an electrifying true crime story of the Mafia-smitten eighties and nineties. Suspenseful and multifaceted, The Gotti Wars can’t be missed.” —Esquire, The Best Nonfiction Books of the Year

A “meticulous chronicle of good triumphing over evil” (The Washington Post) from the determined young prosecutor who, in two of America’s most celebrated trials, managed to convict famed mob boss John Gotti—and ultimately took down the Mafia altogether.

John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in spectacular fashion—with the brazen and very public murder of Paul Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985. Not one to stay below law enforcement’s radar, Gotti instead became the first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned him the nickname “The Dapper Don;” his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: “The Teflon Don.”

This is the captivating story of Gotti’s meteoric rise to power and his equally dramatic downfall. Every step of the way, Gotti’s legal adversary—John Gleeson, an Assistant US Attorney in Brooklyn—was watching. When Gotti finally faced two federal racketeering prosecutions, Gleeson prosecuted both. As the junior lawyer in the first case—a bitter seven-month battle that ended in Gotti’s acquittal—Gleeson found himself in Gotti’s crosshairs, falsely accused of serious crimes by a defense witness Gotti intimidated into committing perjury.

Five years later, Gleeson was in charge of the second racketeering investigation and trial. Armed with the FBI’s secret recordings of Gotti’s conversations with his underboss and consigliere in the apartment above Gotti’s Little Italy hangout, Gleeson indicted all three. He “flipped” underboss Sammy the Bull Gravano, killer of nineteen men, who became history’s highest-ranking mob turncoat—resulting in Gotti’s murder conviction. Gleeson ended not just Gotti’s reign, but eventually that of the entire mob.

A spellbinding, page-turning courtroom drama, The Gotti Wars “tells us in electrifying detail how the good guys finally won, how justice triumphed over evil, and how Gleeson himself was transformed by his long war” (Nelson DeMille).

4.2 (5)

A Woman in the Polar Night

Try free now

Cancel anytime

A Woman in the Polar Night


This rediscovered classic memoir tells the incredible tale of a woman defying society's expectations to find freedom and peace in the adventure of a lifetime.

In 1934, the painter Christiane Ritter leaves her comfortable life in Austria and travels to the remote Arctic island of Spitsbergen, to spend a year there with her husband. She thinks it will be a relaxing trip, a chance to "read thick books in the remote quiet and, not least, sleep to my heart's content," but when Christiane arrives she is shocked to realize that they are to live in a tiny ramshackle hut on the shores of a lonely fjord, hundreds of miles from the nearest settlement, battling the elements every day, just to survive.

At first, Christiane is horrified by the freezing cold, the bleak landscape the lack of equipment and supplies . . . But as time passes, after encounters with bears and seals, long treks over the ice and months on end of perpetual night, she finds herself falling in love with the Arctic's harsh, otherworldly beauty, gaining a great sense of inner peace and a new appreciation for the sanctity of life.

4.7 (3)

The Language of Food : "Mouth-watering and sensuous, a real feast for the imagination" BRIDGET COLLINS

Try free now

Cancel anytime

The Language of Food : "Mouth-watering and sensuous, a real feast for the imagination" BRIDGET COLLINS


'A sensual feast of a novel, written with elegance, beauty, charm and skill in a voice that is both lyrical and unique' Santa Montefiore

Eliza Acton, despite having never before boiled an egg, became one of the world’s most successful cookery writers, revolutionizing cooking and cookbooks around the world. Her story is fascinating, uplifting and truly inspiring.

Told in alternate voices by the award-winning author of The Joyce Girl, and with recipes that leap to life from the page, The Language of Food by Annabel Abbs is the most thought-provoking and page-turning historical novel you’ll read this year, exploring the enduring struggle for female freedom, the power of female friendship, the creativity and quiet joy of cooking and the poetry of food, all while bringing Eliza Action out of the archives and back into the public eye.

‘I love Abbs’s writing and the extraordinary, hidden stories she unearths. Eliza Acton is her best discovery yet’ Clare Pooley

'A literary - and culinary - triumph!' Hazel Gaynor

‘Exhilarating to read - thoughtful, heart-warming and poignant, with a quiet intelligence and elegance that does its heroine proud’ Bridget Collins

'A sumptuous banquet of a book that nourished me and satisfied me just as Eliza Acton’s meals would have... I adored it' Polly Crosby

‘Wonderful... Abbs is such a good story teller. She catches period atmosphere and character so well’ Vanessa Nicolson

'Two of my favourite topics in one elegantly written novel - women’s lives and food history. I absolutely loved it' Polly Russell

'A story of courage, unlikely friendship and an exceptional character, told in vibrant and immersive prose' Caroline Scott

‘Richly imagined and emotionally tender’ Pen Vogler

'Characters that leap off the page, a fascinating story and so much atmosphere, you feel you're in the kitchen with Eliza - I loved it.' Frances Quinn

'Clever, unsentimental, beautifully detailed and quietly riveting' Elizabeth Buchan, author of Two Women in Rome