November 25 Books
As we enter the run-up to Christmas, this month features an array of genres, including complex literary fiction, historical fantasy, gory horror, and a shortlist for the 2025 Booker Prize. Here at Kemps, we are gearing up for the festive season, so pop in store to browse our range of gifts and chat with our brilliant booksellers, who will be happy to provide recommendations!
Meanwhile, here are some reads to keep you occupied this November.
The Hawk is Dead by James Peter
Best known for his crime and thriller novels, Peter James returns with another instalment of his Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, which has been adapted into an ITV television series. The latest mystery takes us to Buckingham Palace with a plot to kill the monarch.
When the Royal Train is derailed, the royal entourage has to be evacuated, following what appears to be a targeted attack. Minutes later, their suspicions are confirmed when a top royal aide is shot dead inches away from Camilla — the initial conclusion is that the monarch was the intended target of the assassination, with anti-monarchists being the main suspects, but Roy Grace is not convinced. Despite being alone in his suspicions, DI Grace persists with his hypothesis and faces increasing pressure when a second person is found dead in the Palace. With scrutiny from the public, Metropolitan Police, and Buckingham Palace, Grace must act swiftly to prevent the killer from striking again.
Blending crime with elements of Royal history, this mystery will be particularly enjoyable for Royalists or those invested in the Roy Grace series, with a cliff-hanger hinting at the next instalment.
9781529090062
Pan Macmillan
Hardback, 22.00
The Dinner Party by Viola van de Sandt
Viola van de Sandt presents her debut novel, The Dinner Party, a claustrophobic tale told over the course of an evening as the main character attempts to confront her trauma and recollect events, navigating sensitive topics and dark themes.
Franca is an aspiring author studying comparative literature in the Netherlands when she meets Andrew, who whisks her away to Britain to embark on a new life together. Andrew is obsolete, encouraging Franca not to work and focus on her writing career, as he financially provides, and suggests a dinner party to celebrate his success at work with colleagues, for which Franca must prepare. What follows is an unexpected guest from Franca’s past, pretentious conversations, excessive amounts of alcohol, and a distressing act that prompts Franca to question everything.
We follow Franca as she narrates her story from Berlin, retrieving fractured recollections that she recounts in a letter to someone dear to her and her therapist Stella, forming a clearer picture of the dinner party.
The novel tackles an intersection of themes, including misogyny through societal gender expectations and violence against women, especially the nuanced and conflicting emotions experienced when it is someone you believed you could trust, as well as class and the disparity of representation in literature. With similarities to Natasha Brown’s work, this piece of literary fiction is an exploration of contemporary issues told through sophisticated prose and initiates visceral emotions.
9781035429844
Headline Publishing Group
Hardback, 20.00
As Many Souls As Stars by Natasha Siegel
Author of historical fiction and romance, Natasha Siegel, brings us her debut fantasy novel, As Many Souls As Stars, a piece of speculative fiction that spans centuries, featuring a witch and an immortal demon who make a Faustian bargain that escalates into a cat-and-mouse chase in every life.
In 1592, Cybil Harding is the eldest daughter and, therefore, cursed to experience only destruction in her life. She lives an isolated life with her father, an alchemist obsessed with magic, and her mother, who is consumed by grief, in a period inundated with witchcraft hysteria. Meanwhile, Miriam Richter is an elusive creature of the night, destined to be alone and searching for mortals to consume their souls for sustenance. However, this changes when she meets Cybil, who becomes Miram's sole focus, offering her a bargain of reincarnation to break her curse in exchange for her soul; thus, commencing a cycle of meetings between the pair spanning centuries. In turn, we meet Cybil in the 18th century as Esther and in the early 20th century as Rosamund, still bound by the constraints of society in her respective periods — and still followed by the immortal demon.
With similar remnants to the popular 2025 release of Our Infinite Fates by Lauren Steven, this book is a century-spanning gothic fantasy that explores a toxic sapphic relationship while examining societal politics and misogyny that pervade each historical period.
9781526684622
Bloomsbury publishing
Hardback, 18.99
The Lamb by Lucy Rose
Instantaneously enthralled, Lucy Rose propels us into the gore of this cannibalistic horror guaranteed to leave you reeling.
Margot lives with her mother, Ruth, in a desolate cottage in the bleak Cumbrian countryside, waiting for lost ‘strays’ to stumble upon their homestead for help. The pair welcome them into their dilapidated home, showering them with hospitality, and make them comfortable before disembowelling and serving them for dinner. Margot’s upbringing is far from normal; she is isolated and instructed to never draw attention to herself, with only her compulsive mother for company. That is, until a ‘stray’ arrives at their doorstop, immediately captivating Ruth. Eden is different to the other strangers, unperturbed by their grisly way of life, and gradually replaces Margot in Ruth’s affections as she realises Margot represents her failures and her fading youth and beauty, resulting in a sense of further ostracisation. The life Margot has grown to accept is irrevocably changed.
The Lamb is a feminist horror with elements of folklore that explores coming-of-age, maternal bonds and feminine desire through metaphors for insatiable greed, grief, and love. It is a harrowing tale of affection that manifests into unbridled consumption and elicits visceral disgust.
9781399619752
Orion Publishing Co
Paperback, 9.99
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai is an internationally bestselling author of The Inheritance of Loss, which won the Booker prize in 2006. Almost twenty years later, she returns with an anticipated Autumn read shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize; The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is a sweeping tale of two young people navigating the many forces that mould their lives.
Originally from India, Sonia is an aspiring writer residing in Vermont, where she is pursuing her university studies. She is, however, lonely and homesick and seeks comfort in an enigmatic older artist for inspiration and intimacy, whose coercive actions later haunt her. Sunny, a struggling journalist also from India, resettles in New York to escape from his imperious mother and shape his life in a country with an increasingly uneasy climate for immigrants. When the pair first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they spark a connection while embarrassed that their grandparents once drove them apart. Together, they navigate a search for happiness, resisting isolation and confronting division in contemporary society.
Exploring themes of race, class, immigration, identity, and history, as well as colonialism, trauma, family, and love, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is a nuanced tale that encompasses societal issues and intergenerational bonds.
9780241770825
Penguin Books
Hardback, 25.00
Share