What Are You Looking For?

This is a contemporary thriller about craving adventure, taking a risk and discovering that a promising escape may be dangerous.

A fast-moving premise combines a secretive organisation, a flight into hiding and a mystery tied to Jimmy’s new experiences. The book appears to centre on what he can prove and whom he can convince.

This is a quest fantasy in which music has unusual power and animals’ inner voices matter. Its imaginative conflict is paired with emotionally weighty separations, giving the adventure a tender as well as threatening atmosphere.

Expect a character-led fantasy adventure with romantic tension, shifting identities and a heroine negotiating personal freedom against obligations to her country. Its appeal lies in pursuit, hidden histories and gradual character change; the ending continues some series threads rather than resolving every larger question.

This is a myth-inspired fantasy about coercion, resistance and identity. Its central tension comes from Jae Hwa’s struggle to retain her humanity while serving a powerful god, alongside a damaged relationship and a threat to Korea.

Expect a historical adventure centred on Sally and Roger, their mother’s efforts to protect gold, and the threat posed by approaching British forces. The book also foregrounds family loyalty, courage and a woman taking charge.

This is an intense, image-rich poetry collection that turns familiar tales inside out. Its poems confront damaging expectations while making room for anger, humour, self-questioning and resistance.

This is a romantic fantasy about people negotiating marriage, status, belief and social expectations in a fictional world resembling colonial America. Friendship, adventure and intrigue accompany a relationship that becomes a passionate marriage.

A buoyant, unusual adventure pairs a determined child with a loving guardian and a rooftop community. Its imaginative freedom sits alongside peril, precarious living, family uncertainty and moments of physical harm.

This is a fast-moving science-fiction fairy-tale reworking, centred on determined young characters facing divided loyalties, prejudice, identity and difficult choices about power. Its adventure is accompanied by graphic violence, frightening attackers, torture, deaths and some romantic and drinking-related content.

Caraval offers an immersive fantasy built around uncertainty: Scarlett must find her missing sister while trying to decide what within the game is real. Sisterly protection, escape from control and choosing one’s own path are central strands.

This is a friendship-centred story about young women seeking room to choose their futures within restrictive social and family structures. Its strongest appeal may be the tension between loyalty, independence and everyday acts of defiance.

This is a coming-of-age story about how clothing, rules, work and freedom shape ideas of gender. Its strongest offering is a child’s perspective on identity, family expectations, friendship and life for girls in Afghanistan.

This is an action-led fantasy centred on a young woman resisting an oppressive marriage system. Magic, court danger, loyalty and romantic tension drive the story, with freedom and protection shaping Kalinda’s choices.

Follow Nathaniel from a Jamaican plantation to England, where his belief that English soil means freedom is tested. His hopes for escape and his family’s future drive the story.

A dramatic fantasy romance about survival and self-determination, this book offers a Cinderella framework reshaped by court politics, deception, magic and peril. Yining’s search for her past and future sits alongside questions about whom to trust.

A fast-moving fantasy adventure combines fairy-tale reworking, coding, futuristic inventions and family emotion. Amber’s ordered life is disrupted by a rescue mission, while her father’s past adds a more serious strand.

This is a richly illustrated journey through British myth and landscape, balancing magical stories with explanations of their historical and cultural context rather than presenting them as straightforward history.

This is an emotionally attentive story about a child whose secluded woodland life is abruptly disrupted. It explores unfamiliar family relationships, different ways of experiencing the world, and the possibility of connection without requiring October to become someone else.

Expect a survival adventure driven by resourcefulness, solitude and danger. Its interest also lies in Crusoe’s changing relationship with fear and faith, alongside troubling material involving captivity, slavery and colonial power.

This is a character-led coming-of-age novel about identity, secrecy, family and finding community. Its emotional centre is Amir’s attempt to reconcile his Muslim family life, sexuality, fear and desire for freedom.

This is an imaginative, unsettling quest about two dependent beings trying to build a home rather than achieve isolation. Expect comic absurdity alongside menace, moral complexity and sustained questions about freedom, family and survival.

This is a tense, compassionate story about a child taking responsibility in a dangerous society. It combines family survival, Afghan history, women’s restricted freedoms and moments of hope, while leaving Parvana’s immediate future unresolved.

This is a thoughtful, wistful fantasy about a child resisting change. Its strongest appeal may be the combination of village detail, imaginative uncertainty and emotional honesty, while its pace and melancholy mood may suit readers who enjoy reflective stories.

Expect anarchic humour, imaginative adventures and a central character who challenges adult authority. Pippi’s friendships, confidence and physical strength drive the fun, while the episodic structure offers distinct comic situations rather than one tightly unfolding plot.

This is a dark historical escape narrative: Alice seeks freedom from family control, but her new community’s leader may impose a different form of entrapment. Its shifting viewpoints broaden the story beyond Alice’s experience.

This offers a historical romance centred on restricted independence, a former prisoner’s attempt to change direction, and attraction complicated by family authority and Jesse’s remaining sentence.

This is a romantic fantasy about a displaced young woman pursuing financial freedom while navigating a marriage system, covert investigations and a brewing rebellion. Mira’s resourcefulness and moral independence drive the story, alongside danger, social pressure and attraction.

This is a coming-of-age story about freedom, belonging and complicated attachment. Its central relationship places a young teenager and a married teacher in an emotionally charged situation, alongside difficult changes at home and school.

This is a strange, fairy-tale-inflected escape adventure about a child discovering a wider world after a highly restrictive upbringing. Its appeal lies in Liberty’s unusual circumstances, imaginative discoveries and search for a personally meaningful future.

This is a fantasy rescue adventure about a young prince challenging parental authority to help someone in danger. It offers peril, a fantastical setting and an ending that leaves room for more adventures.

This is an imaginative, high-stakes adventure about a teenager whose family history and future may be altered by time travel. Its appeal lies in movement across cultures, eras and legendary worlds, alongside a developing romantic connection.