The house of books
We are an independent chain of bookshops, run by a friendly and knowledgeable team who are more than happy to help with all your
book-related needs.
All of our books are carefully handpicked. You will find the latest bestsellers and must-reads alongside high-quality remaindered books at excellent prices. We are also particularly proud of our ever-growing range of books for younger readers.
Come in to browse through our fantastic offers or just to say hello – we cannot wait to welcome you.
Recent News
Booker Prize Shortlist 2021
picture FT 14th September 2021
On 14th September the jury finally announce the last six novels nominated for this years Booker Prize 2021. The final six are the following:
Patricia Lockwood, No One Is Talking About This
Damon Galgut, The Promise
Richard Powers, Bewilderment
Anuk Arudpragasam, A Passage North
Nadifa Mohamed, The Fortune Men
Maggie Shipstead, Great Circle
The judges will reveal the winning book during a prize ceremony at the BBC Radio Theatre on November 3rd.
Read more about it on their official website:
https://thebookerprizes.com/the-final-six-novels
Congratulations to all nominees, and the best of luck to the final 6!
12 new End-of-Summer-must reads 2021
We put together a little selection of Hardbacks we think are great reads,
and perfect for the last days of summer.
Focusing on a family who emigrate from Ghana to the deep south in the US, it’s an investigation of science and faith, addiction and ambition, and the way trauma is passed down the generations.
A stranger comes to stay in this fascinating, uncomfortable exploration of creativity, the male gaze and the gendered experience of freedom. Cusk’s story of a female writer’s power struggle with a male artist is one of the first novels to take inspiration from lockdown.
Edie is a young black woman in New York who starts a relationship with an older white man, and gets complicatedly close to his wife and adopted black daughter. The sentences crackle in a virtuosic skewering of race, precarious modern living and the generation gap.
An Edinburgh tenement building is haunted by tall stories and unnerving strangers, from William Burroughs to the devil’s daughter, in this weird and wonderful gothic confection.
Spufford follows his 18th-century romp Golden Hill with a brilliantly achieved interweaving of working-class lives in postwar south London. The book’s metaphysical conceit – that the children whose stories he spins, from the blitz into the 21st century, died when a German bomb dropped on Woolworths – infuses this tale of the miracle of everyday existence with an elegiac profundity.
Based on a real-life mystery, this stylishly written debut interweaves a range of voices to explore the disappearance of three Cornish lighthouse keepers in 1972. Both a slow-growing, atmospheric portrait of claustrophobic relationships and a relentless page-turner, this is a hugely satisfying read and a passionate love letter to the sea.
A soaring epic of female adventure and wanderlust that ranges across decades and continents, from the early 20th century to the 21st, as a Hollywood star investigates the mysterious disappearance of an early aviator.
An excoriating debut novel that puts female rage in the spotlight. Her transgressive antiheroine, making a US road trip of revenge and self-discovery, is a wisecracking voice to relish.
A speculative epic of parallel Londons, set in a world where colonialism and slavery never happened, enables a superhero story that’s thought-provoking as well as action-packed.
Described as “the Thelma and Louise of the 17th century” and based on a real-life scandal at the court of James VI and I, this irresistibly immersive novel follows a friendship between two women that leads to Tyburn and the Tower.
That's your September sorted! Enjoy the last weeks of sunshine and summer with these excellent reads.
Blind Date with a book
“Blind Date with a Book” is a hand wrapped book, carefully curated from a wide range of popular genres that is tagged with intriguing clues alluding to the book inside. This curated collection includes everything from mystery, romance, classics, horror, adventure, science fiction to young adult.
Our ever growing selection of Blind Dates is available at all of our shops for £7.
Don’t miss the chance for a date of your dreams!
Chiltern Publishing at The House Of Books
Chiltern Publishing was formed in 2018. Their vision: to create the most beautiful classics, inspired by Jane Austen’s original books. Their goal: using a perfect mix of tradition and the very latest in printing techniques. The size and format of the Chiltern Editions are the original format of Jane Austen books. The publishers themselves are saying:
“With wonderfully detailed covers, sparkling guilt edges, creamy pages and stitched binding they are the most beautiful classics ever published.”
All 24 Chiltern Classics and their notebooks are available in our shops.
Classics
Notebooks
