Crook Haven (The school for Thieves) - JJ Arcanjo  

"So, this is really a school for criminals." It was meant as a question, though it came out more as an accusation. "We are so much more than that," Caspian said, sitting in a plush leather chair and gesturing for Gabriel to sit in a similar one across the table. "We are a home for the forgotten, a sanctuary for the lost and ... yes, a training ground for the greatest crooks of the future."

13-year-old Gabriel is a brilliant pickpocket, a skill which he uses to keep his often empty belly not quite so empty. And then one day, he's caught. But instead of being arrested, he is invited by the mysterious Caspian Crook to attend Crookhaven - a school for thieves.

At Crookhaven, students are trained in lockpicking, forgery and 'crim-nastics', all with the intention of doing good out in the world, by conning the bad and giving back to the innocent. But ... can you ever really trust a thief?

 With a school wide competition to be crowned Top Crook and many mysteries to uncover, Gabriel's first year at Crookhaven will be one to remember..

The First Year - Matt Goodfellow

Nate’s eleven and has just finished Primary School.

After a challenging final year, life is looking up. His brother has recovered from a life-threatening heart condition, he’s got the love of his mum, brothers and Auntie San, and he’s off to Secondary School with his two best mates.

But while he's making new friends and avoiding the fists of Turner, his old nemesis, and struggling to come to terms with a strict new teacher and a sense of isolation from his brothers, a sudden surprise appearance in Nate's life threatens to throw him completely off course.

And The Beast - the anger he tries so hard to control - reappears.

Will Nate find a way to keep himself and his family together?

A Deadly Pledge - M A Bennett

The secret society everyone's dying to join ... A case of mistaken identity means Eddie Dontay is hurled into the exclusive world of New Haven School.

Pretending to be Bartholomew "Brat" Van Buren III, the sole heir to a rich family, who mysteriously disappeared a year ago, Eddie is sent undercover to expose the dark secrets of the Gloomth society. But all is not what it seems. Eddie must participate in a series of difficult initiations, which prove his fitness for the club, competing against other students.

An increasingly deadly contest culminates in the most dangerous challenge of all at a horror-filled, legendary Gothic house. Is joining the Gloomth really worth dying for?

Lord of the Flies - William Golding

A plane crashes on a desert island.

The only survivors are a group of schoolboys. By day, they discover fantastic wildlife and dazzling beaches, learning to survive; at night, they are haunted by nightmares of a primitive beast.

Orphaned by society, it isn't long before their innocent childhood games devolve into a savage, murderous hunt ...

Hamnet - Maggie O'Farrell

On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever.

Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help.

Why is nobody at home? Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs.

Their father is working in London. Neither parent knows that Hamnet will not survive the week. Hamnet tells the powerful story of Agnes and Will, and of the son whose life has been all but forgotten, but who inspired one of the greatest plays ever written.

Hail Mary - Andy Weir

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him.

Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery-and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he?

The Housemaid - Freida McFadden

"Welcome to the family," Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I'll soon learn that the Winchesters' secrets are far more dangerous than my own... Every day I clean the Winchesters' beautiful house top to bottom.

I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up.

How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day.

But as I look into Andrew's handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it's hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina's life.

The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina's pristine white dresses once.

Just to see what it's like. But she soon finds out... and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it's far too late. But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don't know who I really am. They don't know what I'm capable of...