Most Popular Books by Sophie Hannah

The Danish-American journalist Jacob Riis visited the slums of New York City to highlight the squalor in which the “other half” lived. He used flash photography (a new innovation), tables of statistics, and personal stories to vividly depict the city’s various neighborhoods and ethnic groups. But the book isn’t merely a factual documentary—it’s also a moralistic appraisal of greedy landlords, the abundance of cheap beer dives and saloons, the low character of the tenants, and the very low wages on which the poor tried to subsist. He described some reforms already implemented, as well as those still needed. How the Other Half Lives was written at a time when many people were crowding into New York City. It was first published as an article in Scribner’s Magazine in 1889, along with many illustrations that were based directly on Riis’s photography. It was expanded into a full book in the next year, with the inclusion of more illustrations and some of Riis’s original photographs. The middle and upper classes were shocked by what the book described, about which they knew very little. Christian organizations in New York and beyond had similar reactions. The book was widely praised, and led to the enactment of many reforms in the following years aimed at improving the conditions of the tenements and the working poor. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

A new mother in rural England comes home a baby she swears is not her own in this first chilling installment in the Zailer & Waterhouse detective mysteries. “Superb . . . good, old-fashioned spine-tingling stuff, but also a fine modern thriller.” —The Times (London) The first time she goes out after their daughter is born, Alice leaves the two-week-old infant at home with her husband, David. When she returns two hours later, she insists that the baby in the crib is not her child. Despite her apparent distress, David is adamant that she is wrong. The police are called to the scene. Detective Constable Simon Waterhouse is sympathetic, but he doubts Alice’s story. His superior, Sergeant Charlie Zailer, thinks Alice must be suffering from some sort of delusion brought on by postpartum depression. With an increasingly hostile and menacing David swearing she must either be mad or lying, how can Alice make the police believe her before it’s too late?

***WINNER OF THE 2023 CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY*** ''Sophie Hannah, who can twist a conventional plot until it screams for mercy, puts an existential spin on the domestic-suspense novel'' New York Times ''Fiendishly clever'' Daily Mail ''Complex and sinister'' Observer ''A literary high-wire artist'' Sunday Express ''Prepare for sleep deprivation!'' Red All Beth has to do is drive her son to his Under-14s away match, watch him play, and bring him home. Just because she knows that her former best friend lives near the football ground, that doesn''t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that, and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn''t seen Flora Braid for twelve years. But she can''t resist. She parks outside Flora''s house and watches from across the road as Flora and her children, Thomas and Emily, step out of the car. Except... There''s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older - just as Beth would have expected. It''s the children that are the problem. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily Braid were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are still five and three. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt - Beth hears Flora call them by their names - but they haven''t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven''t they grown?

"When Naomi Jenkins arrives at the police station, she is sure that Robert, her married boyfriend, has come to harm. Detective Constable Simon Waterhouse and Detective Sergeant Charlie Zailer are not convinced, however, especially when Robert''s wife insists he is not missing." "So Naomi hatches a desperate plot, drawing on a past rape experience. As she digs further for the truth, Naomi discovers that Robert''s disappearance is more closely tied to her past than she could have imagined."--BOOK JACKET.

Everybody has their secrets, and in Sophie Hannah''s fantastic stories the curtains positively twitch with them. Who, for instance, is the hooded figure hiding in the bushes outside a young man''s house? Why does the same stranger keep appearing in the background of a family''s holiday photographs? What makes a woman stand mesmerised by two children in a school playground, children she''s never met but whose names she knows well? And which secret results in a former literary festival director sorting soiled laundry in a shabby hotel? All will be revealed...but at a cost. As Sophie Hannah uncovers the dark obsessions and strange longings behind the most ordinary relationships, life will never seem quite the same again.

LIANE MORIARTY says that “No one writes twisted, suspenseful novels quite like Sophie Hannah.” Packed with twists and clues, simmering with tension, this electrifying new thriller shows why. She''s the most famous murder victim in America. What if she''s not dead? Pushed to the breaking point, Cara Burrows flees her home and family and escapes to a five-star spa resort she can''t afford. Late at night, exhausted and desperate, she lets herself into her hotel room and is shocked to find it already occupied — by a man and a teenage girl. A simple mistake at the front desk... but soon Cara realizes that the girl she saw alive and well in the hotel room is someone she can''t possibly have seen: the most famous murder victim in the country, Melody Chapa, whose parents are serving natural life sentences for her murder. Cara doesn''t know what to trust — everything she''s read and heard about the case, or the evidence of her own eyes. Did she really see Melody? And is she prepared to ask herself that question and answer it honestly if it means risking her own life?

The latest psychological thriller from the internationally bestselling author of The Wrong Mother and The Cradle in the Grave It''s past midnight, but Connie Bowskill can''t sleep. To pass the time, she logs on to a real estate website in search of a particular house, one she is obsessed with for reasons she''s too scared to even admit to herself. As she clicks through the virtual tour, she comes across a scene from a nightmare: a woman lying facedown on the living room floor in a pool of blood. But when she returns to show her husband, there is no body, no blood—just a perfectly ordinary room, with a perfectly clean beige carpet. The sixth book in Sophie Hannah’s beloved Zailer and Waterhouse series, The Other Woman’s House offers unforgettable suspense and a heart-stopping conclusion that Ruth Rendell and Tana French fans will love.

The unnervingly good sixth psychological thriller from bestselling crime writer Sophie Hannah, not to be missed for readers of Nicci French and Liane Moriarty. ''Jaw-droppingly assured'' Daily Express ''A first-class whodunnit'' Scotsman Don''t go into the other woman''s house... It''s 1.15 a.m. Connie Bowskill should be asleep. Instead, she''s logging on to a property website in search of a particular house: 11 Bentley Grove, Cambridge. She knows it''s for sale; she saw the estate agent''s board in the front garden less than six hours ago. Soon Connie is clicking on the ''Virtual Tour'' button, keen to see the inside of 11 Bentley Grove and put her mind at rest once and for all. She finds herself looking at a scene from a nightmare: in the living room, in the middle of the carpet, there''s a woman lying face down in a huge pool of blood. In shock, Connie wakes her husband Kit. But when Kit sits down at the computer to take a look, he sees no dead body, only a pristine beige carpet in a perfectly ordinary room . . .

The new Hercule Poirot novel - another brilliant murder mystery that can only be solved by the eponymous Belgian detective and his ''little grey cells''.

The virtuosity and high spirits of Sophie Hannah''s poems are unusual at any time of day. She handles rhymed metrical forms with wily insouciance and passes the ''memorability test'' with flying colors. What seems simple or simply achieved more often than not on closer inspection yields subtleties of feeling and form. A surrealising impulse unsettles even the most tidy of her stanzas with a shrewd imaginative wantonness. Her experiments with subject-matter produce something more satisfying than ''social verse''. An urban person who prefers shopping, eating and romance to hopping over cowpats on a country walk, she writes with generous rather than reductive wit.

Critically acclaimed queen of psychological crime Sophie Hannah''s fifth suspense novel - a must-read for those who loved The Secret Place. ''Beautifully written'' Daily Express ''Terrifying'' Heat Murder begins at home... TV producer Fliss Benson receives an anonymous card at work. The card has sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four - numbers that mean nothing to her. On the same day, Fliss finds out she''s going to be working on a documentary about miscarriages of justice involving cot-death mothers wrongly accused of murder. The documentary will focus on three women: Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard and Rachel Hines. All three women are now free, and the doctor who did her best to send them to prison for life, child protection zealot Dr Judith Duffy, is under investigation for misconduct. For reasons she has shared with nobody, this is the last project Fliss wants to be working on. And then Helen Yardley is found dead at her home, and in her pocket is a card with sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows of four . . .

For fans of The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, and the best of Hitchcock comes an extraordinary thriller—and an extraordinarily unreliable narrator—from an author whose work has been described by Tana French as "like watching a nightmare come to life." She''s a wife. She''s a mother. She isn''t who you think she is. Nicki Clements has secrets, just like anybody else—secrets she keeps from her children, from her husband, from everyone who knows her. Secrets she shares with only one person: A stranger she''s never seen. A person whose voice she''s never heard. And then Nicki is arrested for murder. The murder of a man she doesn''t know. As a pair of husband-and-wife detectives investigate her every word, and as the media circle like sharks, all Nicki''s secrets are laid bare—illusions and deceptions that she has kept up for years. And even the truth might not be enough to save her. For although Nicki isn''t guilty of homicide, she''s far from innocent. . . .

The brilliantly chilling seventh crime thriller from the queen of psychological suspense - a must-read for fans of Tana French and Liane Moriarty. ''Utterly chilling'' Observer ''Truly hair-raising'' Independent on Sunday Some secrets are so dark you keep them even from yourself . . . When Amber Hewerdine consults a hypnotherapist as a desperate last resort, she doesn''t expect that anything much will change. She doesn''t expect it to help with her chronic insomnia . . . She doesn''t expect to hear herself, under hypnosis, saying words that mean nothing to her: ''Kind, cruel, kind of cruel'' - words she has seen somewhere before, if only she could remember where . . . She doesn''t expect to be arrested two hours later, as a result of having spoken those words out loud, in connection with the brutal murder of Katharine Allen, a woman she''s never heard of . . .

You thought you knew who you were. A stranger knows better. You’ve left the city—and the career that nearly destroyed you—for a fresh start on the coast. But soon after the move, your daughter starts to withdraw, because her new best friend, George, is unfairly expelled from school. You beg the principal to reconsider, only to be told that George hasn’t been expelled. Because there is, and was, no George. Who is lying? Who is real? Who is in danger? Who is in control? As you search for answers, the anonymous calls begin—a stranger who insists that you and she share a traumatic past and a guilty secret. And then the caller threatens your life . . . This is Justine’s story. This is Justine’s family. This is Justine’s game. But it could be yours. A dazzling psychological thriller, perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl, from the author whose work Tana French describes as “like watching a nightmare come to life.”

When Susanna puts on a different pair of glasses she''s drawn into another world where she has to make a dangerous journey. Fortunately, she has some of the inhabitants of Moomin Valley to help her. Suggested level: junior, primary.

A year after a brief affair, Sally Thorning learns about the murders of her lover''s family and realizes that the man''s face does not match her lover--a situation which quickly escalates to a dangerous level for Sally''s family.

*** WINNER OF THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR CRIME THRILLER OF THE YEAR 2013 *** He swore he was a killer. The truth was worse. An overnight plane delay is bad. Having to share your hotel room with a stranger is worse. But that is only the beginning of Gaby Struthers'' problems. Gaby has never met Lauren Cookson before. So how does Lauren know so much about her? How does she know that the love of Gaby''s life has been accused of murder? Why is she telling her that he is innocent? And why is she so terrified of Gaby? If you loved Gone Girl, you''ll find this chilling domestic thriller impossible to put down.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Monogram Murders and Woman with a Secret returns with a sharp, captivating, and expertly plotted tale of psychological suspense. All Beth has to do is drive her son to his soccer game, watch him play, and then return home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the field, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn’t seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn’t want to see her today—or ever again. But she can’t resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora arrives and calls to her children Thomas and Emily to get out of the car. Except . . . There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt, but they haven’t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven’t they grown? How is it possible that they haven’t grown up?

Soap opera writer Simone "Sim" Purdy franticly tries to restore the status que to her world when two of her friends break up.

Named a New York Times Best Book to Give The world’s greatest detective, Hercule Poirot—legendary star of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile—returns to solve a delectably twisty mystery in this “masterful and multi-layered puzzle...adding a new dimension to a much-loved series” (NPR). “Yet again, the diminutive man with the little gray cells delivers the goods.” —Wall Street Journal Hercule Poirot is traveling by luxury passenger coach from London to the exclusive Kingfisher Hill estate. Richard Devonport has summoned the renowned detective to prove that his fiancée, Helen, is innocent of the murder of his brother, Frank. Poirot will have only days to investigate before Helen is hanged, but there is one strange condition attached: he must conceal his true reason for being there from the rest of the Devonport family. The coach is forced to stop when a distressed woman demands to get off, insisting that if she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. Although the rest of the journey passes without anyone being harmed, Poirot’s curiosity is aroused, and his fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered with a macabre note attached . . . Could this new murder and the peculiar incident on the coach be clues to solving the mystery of who killed Frank Devonport? And if Helen is innocent, can Poirot find the true culprit in time to save her from the gallows?

In The Orphan Choir, Sophie Hannah brings us along on a darkly suspenseful investigation of obsession, loss, and the malevolent forces that threaten to break apart a loving family. A mother with an empty nest is being haunted by a ghostly children''s choir. Are they giving her an important message that only she can hear, or are their motives more sinister? Louise Beeston is being haunted. Louise has no reason left to stay in the city. She can''t see her son, Joseph, who is away at boarding school, where he performs in a prestigious boys'' choir. Her troublesome neighbor has begun blasting choral music at all hours of the night—and to make matters worse, she''s the only one who can hear it. Hoping to find some peace, Louise convinces her husband, Stuart, to buy them a country house in an idyllic, sun-dappled gated community called Swallowfield. But it seems that the haunting melodies of the choir have followed her there. Could it be that her city neighbor has trailed her to Swallowfield, just to play an elaborate, malicious prank? Is there really a ghostly chorus playing outside her door? And why won''t they stop? Growing desperate, she begins to worry about her mental health. Against the pleas and growing disquiet of her husband, Louise starts to suspect that this sinister choir is not only real but a warning. But of what? And how can it be, when no one else can hear it?

''A pleasure ... funny and immensely readable'' Guardian Happiness is one of life''s greatest mysteries. But what even is happiness? Why does it mean so many different things to different people? And how can we actually be happier? Drawing on decades of experience in crime writing, self-help and intensely curious observation of other people, Sophie Hannah sets out to solve the mystery. She lines up her cast of suspects and expert witnesses from ancient philosophers to modern self-help gurus, scientists to ordinary people from all walks of life. Leaving no stone unturned, she scrutinises the clues, evidence, and even the red herrings that unexpectedly lead to happiness. And she uncovers answers - from the secrets of a fulfilling relationship to the joys of boredom, or of the bliss of a cancelled meeting. Weaving in much-loved poems and hilarious observations from Sophie''s own life, this is the ultimate guide to happiness - and the clues that can lead us there.

In this small but perfectly formed collection of supernatural short stories, Sophie Hannah takes the comforting scenes of everyday life and imbues them with a frisson of fear, then a gust of terror. Why is a young woman so unnerved by the presence of a visitors book in her boyfriend''s inner-city home? And whose spidery handwriting is it that fills the pages? Who is the strangely courteous boy still lingering at a child''s tenth birthday party when all the parents have gathered their children and left? And why does the presence of a perfectly ordinary woman in a post office queue leave another customer pallid and sweating with fear? Beware what you open this Christmas!

In this collection of poetry, Sophie Hannah explores and celebrates the complex interactions and strong feelings involved in everyday experience, in poems that are memorable, witty and moving.

Claire and Timothy are chilled to discover that the same strange woman keeps popping up in the background of their holiday snaps. Who is this apparent stalker? The answer is more frightening than Claire ever imagined. The Octopus Nest, Sophie Hannah''s prizewinning short story from her collection of ''glittering darkness'' The Fantastic Book of Everybody''s Secrets is the first to be published as an exclusive eBook short.

"How far would you go to protect your daughter? Four mothers must identify the true threat at their daughters'' school before it''s too late. Carolyn, Bronnie, Elise, and Kendall are bound together by one thing--their four daughters are best friends at the highly competitive Orla Flynn Academy for the Performing Arts. Last year the foursome exploded because of brutal bullying between the girls, but they''ve since forgiven each other. The mothers, however, haven''t been able to move on. When new threats surface and accidents begin to happen - just as a mysterious new girl enters the scene - the mothers take matters into their own hands. But they will have to risk their own secrets being exposed if they stand a chance at uncovering the truth."--Provided by publisher

Belinda Nield knows what she wants. She wants Tony Lamb, a beautiful but silent stranger who has been foisted on the school where she teaches. But she isn''t the only one who wants him.

Sophie Hannah''s unguessable thrillers have readers hooked! ''INGENIOUS! I challenge anyone to unravel this clever whodunit'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''Sophie Hannah could well be our modern Christie, such a deliciously complicated plot. Her best yet!!'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''This murder mystery really did blow my mind. It kept me awake at night! Absolutely brilliant'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''This lived up to its press for me. I loved every page -- a truly impossible puzzle!!'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What if the only way to prevent a murder is by confessing to it? Jemma Stelling has confessed to a murder - one she can''t have committed. She has an unshakeable alibi: when Marianne Upton was stabbed to death outside her home, Jemma was at the police station confessing to a murderous obsession with Marianne and a plan to kill her in precisely the way she was killed. So is Jemma innocent? Or is she an ingenious, cold-blooded murderer? Can someone be guilty of the opposite of murder? PRAISE FOR SOPHIE HANNAH: ''A new novel by Sophie Hannah is a cause for celebration!'' ALEX MICHAELIDES ''One of the best crime writers currently working'' SCOTSMAN ''High concept and so satisfying'' GILLIAN McALLISTER ''Brain-bending'' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Honeymooners at a posh resort receive an ominous warning with deadly consequences in the latest gripping, twisty psychological thriller from New York Times bestselling author Sophie Hannah. Jane and William are enjoying their honeymoon at an exclusive couples-only resort… …until Jane receives a chilling note warning her to “Beware of the couple at the table nearest to yours.” At dinner that night, five other couples are present, and none of their tables is any nearer or farther away than any of the others. It’s almost as if someone has set the scene in order to make the warning note meaningless—but why would anyone do that? Jane has no idea. But someone in this dining room will be dead before breakfast, and all the evidence will suggest that no one there that night could have possibly committed the crime.

What if having a best friend was the most dangerous thing you could do? A killer that the police are calling ''Billy Dead Mates'' is murdering pairs of best friends, one by one. Before they die, each victim is given a small white book... For months, detectives have failed to catch Billy, or work out what the white books mean. And then a woman, scared by what she''s seen on the news, comes forward. Stand-up comedian Kim Tribbeck has one of Billy''s peculiar little books. A stranger gave it to her at a gig she did a year ago. Was he Billy, and does he want to kill her? Kim has no friends and trusts no one, so how - and why - could she possibly be Billy Dead Mates'' next target? This is the next chilling novel from the queen of psychological crime - a literary puzzle set to unlock the dark side of the mind . . .

Would you trust a complete stranger? After Chloe and her daughter Freya are rescued from disaster by a man who seems too good to be true, Chloe decides she must find him again to thank him. But instead of meeting her knight in shining armour, she comes across a woman called Nadine Caspian who warns her to stay well away from him. The man is dangerous, Nadine claims, and a compulsive liar. Alarmed, Chloe asks her what she means, but Nadine will say no more. Chloe knows that the sensible choice would be to walk away - after all, she doesn''t know anything about this man. But she is too curious. What could Nadine have meant? And can Chloe find out the truth without putting herself and her daughter in danger? READERS ADORE SOPHIE HANNAH''S UNGUESSABLE THRILLERS: ''Compulsive reading literally all through the night'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''Couldn''t put it down! Loved it, so many twists and turns!'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''I thought I''d worked it out but I was nowhere near!!!'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''I have lost sleep over this book as I couldn''t bear to miss a word. I have one word for it: UNBEATABLE'' ''Absolutely hooked right from the first chapter. I couldn''t put it down, literally'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''It just had to be 5 stars, more if I could'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''I urge you to read, you will NOT be disappointed'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"This book brings together for the first time all of Hannah''s previous collections of verse, drawing on over 20 years of writing; accompanied by 27 new and uncollected poems."--Back cover.

Combining traditional forms and those associated with modernism, this collection focuses on love, loss, and the different ways in which people - for better or worse - can be significant to each other.

For fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, a gripping short story from the New York Times bestselling author of Woman with a Secret. Don''t say I didn''t warn you… When a kindly stranger does Chloe a good deed, she decides she must repay him. But in tracing him, she meets a sympathetic woman named Nadine, who warns Chloe to stay away from the man at all costs. "Give him nothing, tell him nothing, don''t trust him," she says. "Avoid him like the plague." Chloe knows the sensible thing to do: walk away. But her curiosity gets the best of her. What is the truth about the good Samaritan? How dangerous could he be? And can Chloe find the answers without putting herself and her daughter in harm''s way? A twisting, razor-sharp suspense story that will keep you guessing to the very end, The Warning features an appearance from Simon Waterhouse, next seen in the full-length thriller Woman with a Secret—already hailed as "mesmerizing" (Lisa Gardner) and "unputdownable" (Liane Moriarty).

Six short tales of chilling suspense from bestselling author Sophie Hannah, plus an exclusive extract from her new psychological thriller, THE CARRIER, coming out in February 2013.

Sally is watching the news with her husband when she hears a name she ought not to recognise: Mark Bretherick. Last year, a work trip Sally had planned was cancelled at the last minute. Desperate for a break from her busy life juggling work and a young family, Sally didn''t tell her husband that the trip had fallen through. Instead, she booked a week off work and treated herself to a secret holiday. All she wanted was a bit of peace, some time to herself, but it didn''t work out that way. Because Sally met a man - Mark Bretherick. All the details are the same: where he lives, his job, his wife Geraldine and daughter Lucy. Except that the man on the news is a man Sally has never seen before. And Geraldine and Lucy Bretherick are both dead.