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.

Wolf Siren by Beth O'Brien

The woods are hiding a secret… but then so is Red… Red is not allowed to go into the woods.

Everyone knows that they are dangerous – because of their strange magic and the wolves that lurk there… But Red finds herself increasingly drawn to the woods and the place where her grandmother disappeared without a trace three years ago.

When the woodcutter fails to return home one night and wolves are spotted close to the village boundary, fear drives a deep and dangerous divide between the villagers and the nature they live alongside. Only Red seems to hold the key – but she has a secret, and exposing it could ruin her family forever …

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

Pip Fitz-Amobi is not a detective anymore. With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year.

The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her. But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing.

Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, but the police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way and this time EVERYONE is listening. But will she find him before it’s too late?

Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence

Not cool enough, not clever enough, not street enough for anyone to notice me.

I was the kid people looked straight through... NOT ANY MORE. NOT SINCE MR ORANGE. Sixteen-year-old Marlon has made his mum a promise - he'll never follow his big brother, Andre, down the wrong path.

So far, it's been easy, but when a date ends in tragedy, Marlon finds himself hunted.

They're after the mysterious Mr Orange, and they're going to use Marlon to get to him.

Marlon's out of choices - can he become the person he never wanted to be, to protect everyone he loves?

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Boy meets boy.

Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel series about life, love, and everything that happens in between.

Everyone knows they're going to be together forever. But Charlie's busy with his bid to become head boy. And while Nick is preparing to leave for uni, he's starting to wonder who he'll be . . . without Charlie.

Odyssey by Stephen Fry

After the fall of Troy, wily Odysseus, King of Ithaca, sails for home and his steadfast queen Penelope. However, the angry gods curse him to wander the seas for ten long years.

Tormented by giants and monsters, tempted by witches and goddesses, Odysseus battles to draw ever closer to home. Awaiting him is Penelope, defying reports of his death.

But this queen endures her own tormentors – an army of young suitors eager to claim her hand and the throne . . .

East Eden by John Steinbeck

Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel, follows the interwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

Here Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of indentity; the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence.