Saraband / Contraband – serie

Shortlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction 'A gentle and compassionate novel that explores the nuances of queer love and friendship.' Derek Owusu, The GuardianWhen a creative writing academic becomes infatuated with his colleague – the poet – it is not long before it begins to threaten his relationship with his partner, Michael. Michael is beautiful. Michael is safe. But the poet is everything he isn’t; she has everything he wants. While he writes about steel and sex, she dreams about the movements of swallows. While he tends to his budding career, she writes from her big, white house in the woods. As he slips between his old life and this new one, his fixation grows into something more powerful. The poet, his Kingfisher, is his sole focus. He is hypnotised.But when simultaneous illnesses threaten to destroy the precarious reality he clings to, he’s forced to question what he can and cannot take from someone. This is a novel about grief, power and desire – and the tangles in between that make up a life.

Laurence Mitchell uncovers the stories that flint has to tell us in this celebratory journey through the natural and cultural history of the stone.Beneath the bands of chalk that cover the UK lies flint, a mineral that has shaped our landscape, history and heritage. Flint Country tells the story of this abundant resource’s formation, what we can learn from its fossil records, and how it has been worked with and prized through millennia – from our prehistoric and ancient ancestors through to the present day.Formed over 80 million years ago in ancient sea beds, flint was crucial for early humans, empowering them to hunt, craft, and survive. Far more than simply a building block, this “glass of the stone age” fuelled innovation and became the cornerstone of the industrial and architectural heritage of our chalk regions: Roman engineers blended it with brick to construct roads and fortifications; medieval masons transformed it into dazzling flushwork, iconic landmarks and sculptures; and countless farmers and villagers built cottages of local flint.Whether it is thanks to the seismic geological events that have shaped our landscape, the material we rely on for our homes, or simply the joy of picking up pebbles on the beach, this book shows how flint continues to be a touchstone in our lives.