The story of the complicated long-distance relationship between a Jewish child and his forlorn Viennese parents after he was sent to Sweden in 1939, and the unexpected friendship the boy developed with the future founder of IKEA, a Nazi activist.

Vega Maria has been trapped since birth in a vice of conflicting parental expectations. Her father brings her up to admire history’s heroic male adventurers, while her mother channels her towards housework and conformity. In a time of revolution and civil war in early twentieth-century Finland, Vega finds it hard to identify her own calling, alighting first on the cause of feminism but feeling her way towards a wider humanitarian mission. A kaleidoscope of changing roles for Vega whirls us through this compelling modernist novel, multi-layered, accessible and funny. Hagar Olsson’s evocation of Helsinki is second to none:

Maresi Red Mantle is the third and final book in the Red Abbey Chronicles. It follows Maresi as she leaves the sanctuary and safety of the Red Abbey and returns to her childhood home of Rovas.

It is at once a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story, a nail-biting fantasy adventure, and an unapologetically feminist treatise that has won the hearts of younger and older readers alike.

This book is about finding things. Really it is more of a beginning, a collection of questions for anyone seeking to move ahead with new approaches, problems, and solutions. It’s about the challenge Google promised to help us with, this basic human problem we were told would be solved once and for all. Three chapters of this book are essentially about the internet, and three are essentially about other things. The book does not provide any definitive answers. It tries to find a way forward, but it is far more interested in getting lost. Featuring: A lieutenant commander, a mapmaker, a musician, and Konstantina, the doctor who got suspicious— and found a ruthless sloth inside the author’s body.

Horror, fantasy, paranormal folklore and history come together in this fascinating exploration of legends of the undead from around the globe, illustrated with ghoulishly brilliant images.

Gunnel Ryner overturns the traditional view of self-development and success, in which it’s all about you, and instead shows how you can create an environment – with the right people, things, places, conditions and ideas – that simply draws you in the direction you want to go.

With a light-hearted blend of science, humour and relevant examples, she demonstrates the positive aspects of laziness and shows how the right environment is more important than willpower. The book also provides you with a step-by-step method that makes it easy and fun to get where you want, both in your own life and together with your colleagues at work.

Gunnel Ryner has a degree in behavioural science and is a speaker, organisational consultant and coach. With her talks, workshops and coaching programmes, she has inspired thousands of people to take themselves and their workplaces to completely new heights. The Lazy Way to a Wonderful Life is her second book.