Gill Hornby – författare

It''s the start of another school year at St Ambrose. But while the children are in the classroom colouring in, their mothers are learning sharper lessons on the other side of the school gates. Lessons in friendship. Lessons in betrayal. Lessons in the laws of community, the transience of power... and how to get invited to lunch.

Beatrice - undisputed queen bee. Ruler, by Divine Right, of all school fund-raising, this year, last year and, surely, for many years to come.

Heather - desperate to volunteer, desperate to be noticed, desperate just to belong.

Georgie - desperate for a fag.

And Rachel - watching them all, keeping her distance. But soon to discover that the line between amused observer and miserable outcast is a thin one.

Wickedly funny and brilliantly observed, The Hive is a fascinating and subtle story about group politics and female friendship. From the joys and perils (well, mainly perils) of the Lunch Ladder, to the military operation that is the Car Boot Sale, via the dos and don''ts of dressing your child as a Dalek, all human life is here.

The Bridgeford Community Choir is in crisis. Numbers are down. The choir leader is in hospital. The tea urn is behaving in an ominous fashion. Something must be done.

New joiners Tracey Leckford and Bennett Parker might just be able to save the day. But Tracey is hiding a huge secret about her past. And Bennett - while equipped with a beautiful singing voice - is entirely baffled by the world and everything in it. Can they really fit in with dependable old regulars like Annie?

As the choir suffers through fights, feuds and the perils of the school fair, it becomes clear that their struggles are not just about music, but the future of their community. In order to save their singing group and their town, the Bridgeford Singers will have to find a way to work together - in harmony.

Brought to you by Penguin.The Sunday Times bestselling novel, soon to be a major series on BBC One and BBC iPlayer starring Keeley Hawes in 2025.Throughout her lifetime, Jane Austen wrote countless letters to her sister. But why did Cassandra burn them all?1840: twenty three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, Cassandra Austen returns to the village of Kintbury, and the home of her family''s friends, the Fowles.She knows that, in some dusty corner of the sprawling vicarage, there is a cache of family letters which hold secrets she can never allow to be revealed.As Cassandra recalls her youth and her relationship with her brilliant yet complex sister, she pieces together buried truths about Jane''s history, and her own. And she faces a stark choice: should she act to protect Jane''s reputation, or leave the contents of the letters to go unguarded into posterity?Based on a literary mystery that has long puzzled biographers and academics, Miss Austen is a wonderfully original and emotionally complex novel about the loves and lives of Cassandra and Jane Austen.''You can''t help feeling that Jane would have approved.'' Observer''So good, so intelligent, so clever, so entertaining - I adored it.'' Claire Tomalin''Celebrates unexamined lives, sisterhood and virtues such as kindness and loyalty'' Sunday Times© Gill Hornby 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

PRE-ORDER NOW: The new novel from the bestselling author of Miss Austen and Godmersham Park coming soon!'Has all Austen's wit and unnerving powers of observation with an extra twenty-first century zap' Ferdinand Mount'Few writers are as perspicacious or half as delightful as Hornby' Karen Joy Fowler'Gripping and moving and also so sharp and funny. I loved it!' Sabine Durrant____________1820. Mary Dorothea Knatchbull is living under the sole charge of her widowed father, Sir Edward - a man of strict principles and high Christian values.But when her father marries Miss Fanny Knight of Godmersham Park, Mary's life is suddenly changed.Her new stepmother comes from a large, happy and sociable family and Fanny's sisters become Mary's first friends. Her aunt, Miss Cassandra Austen of Chawton, is especially kind. Her brothers are not only amusing, but handsome and charming.And as Mary Dorothea starts to bloom into a beautiful young woman, she forms an especial bond with one Mr Knight in particular.Soon, they are deeply in love and determined to marry. They expect no opposition. After all, each is from a good family and has known the other for some years.It promises to be the most perfect match. Who would want to stand in their way?

____________Readers are loving The Elopement!'It is so well-written with vivid period detail that I felt immersed in the Austen world and did not want it to end.''I was hooked from the first page.''Sharply observed, well researched and wonderfully told''I loved every minute of this novel''A gem'