Sceptre Books

Sceptre Books Inspired writing. Irresistible reading. News from the literary imprint of Hodder & Stoughton. Sign up to the Sceptre newsletter https://bit.ly/SceptreNewsletter

Sceptre is the literary imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, publishing international fiction and non-fiction that is not only entertaining but also stimulating, provocative, sometimes challenging and always superbly written. We know time is short, so why would you waste it? That’s why we spend our time carefully choosing only a small number of new books to publish each year, ones we believe will be wor

th your time reading and that you’ll want to keep on your shelves (or on your e-reader) and press into the hands of your friends. We love to discover new voices and nurture their talent over the long term – authors we’ve launched and continue to publish include David Mitchell, Siri Hustvedt, Andrew Miller, Jake Arnott, Jill Dawson and Glen David Gold, while more recent debutants include Ned Beauman (a Granta Best of Young British Novelist), Emma Henderson (shortlisted for the Orange Prize), Kevin Powers (winner of the Guardian First Book Award), Fiona McFarlane (shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award), Fredrik Backman (a Richard & Judy pick) and Anna Smaill (longlisted for the Man Booker). We’ve also been joined by authors who began their careers elsewhere like Chris Cleave, Clare Morrall, Peter Ho Davies, Steve Toltz and Sjón, and in non-fiction by Tristan Gooley, Rolf Dobelli, Rod Judkins and Iain Martin. Last but not least, we are proud of our long-standing authors such as Melvyn Bragg and Thomas Keneally, whose Booker Prize-winning novel Schindler’s Ark was one of the first books on the list when Sceptre began life as Hodder & Stoughton’s literary paperback imprint in 1986.

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe is just 99p on Kindle for today only! 💰A blisteringly funny and heartwarming n...
03/10/2024

Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe is just 99p on Kindle for today only! 💰

A blisteringly funny and heartwarming novel about a young woman - navigating a desperate lack of funds, new motherhood and becoming an adult - who gets creative on OnlyFans.

Margo's Got Money Troubles is being made into a TV show starring Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman ⭐ Make sure you read the book first!

Shop here: https://brnw.ch/21wNqDC

From Simon Parkin, the winner of the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize, comes the fascinating untold story of the world's most...
24/09/2024

From Simon Parkin, the winner of the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize, comes the fascinating untold story of the world's most valuable library of plants and the scientists who risked everything to save it...

The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad publishes on 14 November 2024 and is available to pre-order now: https://lnk.to/TFGOL

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

'An astonishing story brilliantly told... as moving as it is gripping to read'
JONATHAN DIMBLEBY

'A gripping, original and important story of courage and science in wartime'
ROLAND PHILIPPS

We couldn’t be more thrilled that Charlotte Wood’s astounding novel STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL has been shortlisted for The B...
16/09/2024

We couldn’t be more thrilled that Charlotte Wood’s astounding novel STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL has been shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2024!

Huge thanks to The Booker Prizes judges Edmund de Waal, Sara Collins, Justine Jordan, Yiyun Li and Nitin Sawhney for selecting this incredibly special book.

11/09/2024

Margo brings baby Bodhi home from hospital 🍼

Elle Fanning, also set to play Margo in the upcoming TV adaption, narrates Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe PERFECTLY 💰

Margo's Got Money Troubles is a blisteringly funny and heartwarming novel about a young woman - navigating a desperate lack of funds, new motherhood and becoming an adult - who gets creative on OnlyFans.

Listen on Spotify: https://brnw.ch/21wMzl8

‘Powerful and inspiring’ GRAZIAPlucky fourteen-year-old Adunni is in Lagos, excited to finally enrol in school. Having e...
15/08/2024

‘Powerful and inspiring’ GRAZIA

Plucky fourteen-year-old Adunni is in Lagos, excited to finally enrol in school. Having escaped her rural village in a desperate bid to seek a better future, she's found refuge with Tia, a kind and brilliant woman on her own troubled journey of self-discovery.

But it's not so simple to run away from your past. . .

And So I Roar by Abi Daré is out now.

If you could shape the perfect man... would you? 👀💛Publishing 6 February 2025, BLOB: A Love Story by Maggie Su is a shar...
15/08/2024

If you could shape the perfect man... would you? 👀💛

Publishing 6 February 2025, BLOB: A Love Story by Maggie Su is a sharp, strange and very funny debut novel about growing up, f*cking up and learning how to be a real person.

Pre-order your copy here: lnk.to/Blob-HB

Vi Liu's life is a mess. Having dropped out of college, she's stuck in a job she hates at a local hotel. Her ex-boyfriend has blocked her and she's lashing out at her family and co-workers.

One night, drunk outside a drag club, she stumbles across a mysterious sentient blob. She takes it home, where she feeds it a diet of sugary cereal and reality TV. Slowly, she realises that she can shape the blob into her perfect man: someone attentive, outgoing and with more than a passing resemblance to Ryan Gosling.

But is Bob the blob really the answer to all her problems, or a catalyst for further disaster...?

We are so thrilled that FIRE WEATHER by John Vaillant is on the 2024 Conservation Writing Shortlist for the The Wainwrig...
15/08/2024

We are so thrilled that FIRE WEATHER by John Vaillant is on the 2024 Conservation Writing Shortlist for the The Wainwright Prize! ✏️🔥

Fire Weather is out in paperback in 2 weeks: lnk.to/FireWeather-PB

We are absolutely delighted that Charlotte Wood’s masterful and fearless novel STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL has been longlisted...
30/07/2024

We are absolutely delighted that Charlotte Wood’s masterful and fearless novel STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL has been longlisted for The Booker Prize 2024!

Thanks very much to The Booker Prizes judges Edmund de Waal, Sara Collins, Justine Jordan, Yiyun Li and Nitin Sawhney for selecting this incredibly special book.

Today we are incredibly proud to publish STRANGE RELATIONS: Masculinity, Sexuality and Art in Mid-Century America!Get yo...
25/07/2024

Today we are incredibly proud to publish STRANGE RELATIONS: Masculinity, Sexuality and Art in Mid-Century America!

Get your copy here: lnk.to/StrangeRelations-HB

From Forward Prize shortlisted poet Ralf Webb, Strange Relations is an investigation of masculinity, bisexuality and q***rness, routed through the lives and works of four mid-century writers: James Baldwin, John Cheever, Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers.

💚 'Wise, humane, hopeful, and exquisitely written. A moving and empowering book' - Will Tosh, author of STRAIGHT ACTING

🤍 'Exquisite prose... new and necessary and exciting' – Lauren Aimee Curtis, author of STRANGERS AT THE PORT

💙 'Remarkable... entertaining... deft... moving... refreshing' – Daily Telegraph

HIGHWAY THIRTEEN by Fiona McFarlane is out now!Get your copy here: lnk.to/HighwayThirteen-HB'This Möbius strip of linked...
25/07/2024

HIGHWAY THIRTEEN by Fiona McFarlane is out now!

Get your copy here: lnk.to/HighwayThirteen-HB

'This Möbius strip of linked stories bends and twists the crime genre until it is barely recognisable... the result is a riveting study of human nature'
– Geraldine Brooks

'Clever and engrossing'
– Mail on Sunday

'Addictively engaging, profoundly serious fiction from an underappreciated master'
– Kirkus, starred review

We are bursting with pride today to publish STRAIGHT ACTING, Will Tosh's irresistible portrait of Shakespeare's many q**...
13/06/2024

We are bursting with pride today to publish STRAIGHT ACTING, Will Tosh's irresistible portrait of Shakespeare's many q***r lives 🌈💖💛

Get your copy here: lnk.to/StraightActing-HB

Was Shakespeare gay? The answer is both simpler and more complex than you might think…

'Engrossing, enlightening and hugely entertaining'
– SARAH WATERS, author of Fingersmith

'Brilliant - so vivid and so sharp, fantastically clever and consistently fascinating'
– KATHERINE RUNDELL, author of Super-Infinite

Out today in sunny new paperback: OKAY DAYS, the smart, sexy and spiky modern love story from debut novelist Jenny Musta...
06/06/2024

Out today in sunny new paperback: OKAY DAYS, the smart, sexy and spiky modern love story from debut novelist Jenny Mustard 💛

Get your copy here: lnk.to/OkayDays-PB

Sam is 28, Swedish, carefree and chaotic. Doing a work placement in London over the course of three sticky summer months, she falls hard for Lucas, a man she first met as a teenager.

Lucas, 27, sensitive and calm, is trying to get a foothold in the adult world while struggling to hold the pieces of his life together. Sam is a gorgeous distraction.

But you can only avoid reality for so long, and both Sam and Lucas know their relationship can't last. Nobody can be this happy forever, surely? When is okay good enough? And what are we willing to lose in the search for a life that is much better than just okay?

Okay Days tells the story of the rise and fall of Sam and Lucas's affection for each other, while looking unflinchingly at male body dysmorphia, women's reproductive rights, and the pitfalls of modern love.

Wishing Tom Lamont the happiest of publication days for his funny and beautiful novel GOING HOME 🧡Get your copy here: li...
06/06/2024

Wishing Tom Lamont the happiest of publication days for his funny and beautiful novel GOING HOME 🧡

Get your copy here: linktr.ee/goinghome_tomlamont

'A spirit-lifting debut'
DAVID MITCHELL

'I adored every moment'
BELLA MACKIE

'A lyrical, hypnotic delight'
KATHERINE HEINY

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Local boy Téo Erskine is back in the north London suburb of his youth, visiting his father - stubborn, selfish, complicated Vic. Things have changed for Téo: he's got a steady job, a brand-new car and a London flat all concrete and glass, with a sliver of a river view.

Except, underneath the surface, not much has changed at all. He's still the boy seeking his father's approval; the young man playing late-night poker with his best friend, unreliable, infuriating Ben Mossam; the one still desperately in love with the enigmatic Lia Woods.

Lia's life, on the other hand, has been transformed: now a single mum to two-year-old Joel, she doesn't have time for anyone - not even herself.

When the unthinkable happens, Joel finds himself at the centre of an odd constellation of men - Téo, Vic, Ben - none of whom is fully equipped to look after him, but whose strange, tentative attempts at love might just be enough to offer him a new place to call home.

Out in paperback today, REMEMBER, MR SHARMA by A. P. Firdaus is a heart-soaring story about a mother's love, inter-gener...
23/05/2024

Out in paperback today, REMEMBER, MR SHARMA by A. P. Firdaus is a heart-soaring story about a mother's love, inter-generational trauma and one boy's journey to uncover his family's hidden history…

Get your copy here: https://brnw.ch/21wK3Ep

📚 A BBC2 Between The Covers Book Club Pick for 2023

📚 'A moving story about the past and the shadow it forever leaves on the present' – Huma Qureshi

📚 'Sublime . . . A fantastic debut from a promising new literary voice' – Nick Bradley

📚 'A magical tale of a troubled family' – Daily Telegraph

Happy paperback publication day to MONSTERS by Claire Dederer! 💘Get your copy here: lnk.to/Monsters-PB Wildly smart and ...
23/05/2024

Happy paperback publication day to MONSTERS by Claire Dederer! 💘

Get your copy here: lnk.to/Monsters-PB

Wildly smart and insightful, Monsters is an exhilarating attempt to understand our relationship with art and the artist in the twenty-first century.

What are we to do with the love we have for great art made by bad people? How are we, as fans, to reckon with the biographical choices of the artists whose work sustains us?

✨ 'How rare and nourishing this sort of roaming thought is and what a joy to read' – MEGAN NOLAN

✨ 'An exhilarating, shape-shifting exploration of the perilous boundaries between art and life' – JENNY OFFILL

Happy paperback publication day to the stunning memoir SOME OF US JUST FALL by Polly Atkin 🌼🌊💜'Mesmeric' - Caro Giles'Da...
02/05/2024

Happy paperback publication day to the stunning memoir SOME OF US JUST FALL by Polly Atkin 🌼🌊💜

'Mesmeric' - Caro Giles
'Dazzling' - Freya Bromley
'Extraordinary' - Daisy Hay

Get your signed paperback here: https://brnw.ch/SOUJFSigned

Standard paperbacks: https://brnw.ch/SOUJF_PB

Who is Juliet Capulet?- Daughter of Verona 🏛- Lovestruck Teenager 💘- Romantic Icon 💁‍♀️- Tragic Heroine 🗡- Rebel ✊A cult...
11/04/2024

Who is Juliet Capulet?

- Daughter of Verona 🏛
- Lovestruck Teenager 💘
- Romantic Icon 💁‍♀️
- Tragic Heroine 🗡
- Rebel ✊

A cultural, historical, and literary exploration of the ultimate romantic heroine, SEARCHING FOR JULIET by Sophie Duncan shows us why Juliet is for now, for ever, for everyone.

Out today in paperback! ✨
lnk.to/SearchingForJuliet-PB

'An astonishing tour-de-force'
MARION TURNER

'Thrilling'
GUARDIAN

'Illuminating... as vital and provocative as the character herself'
LITERARY REVIEW

Address

Carmelite House
London
EC4Y0DZ

Website

https://www.hodder.co.uk/assets/HodderStoughton/downloads/2017%20Catalogues/Sceptre_Catalogue_2017.pdf

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Videos

Margo brings baby Bodhi home from hospital 🍼 Elle Fanning, also set to play Margo in the upcoming TV adaption, narrates Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe PERFECTLY 💰 Margo's Got Money Troubles is a blisteringly funny and heartwarming novel about a young woman - navigating a desperate lack of funds, new motherhood and becoming an adult - who gets creative on OnlyFans. Listen on Spotify: https://brnw.ch/21wMzl8

From Charlotte Wood, the bestselling author of The Weekend, STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL is a fearless and unflinching novel that explores forgiveness, grief and the complicated beauty of female friendship. Out now in hardback! 🐁💚 https://lnk.to/StoneYardDevotional ------------------------------------ ‘Both profound and addictively entertaining’ CLARE CHAMBERS ‘Beautiful, strange and otherworldly’ PAULA HAWKINS ‘Subtly powerful and utterly engrossing’ CLAIRE FULLER ------------------------------------ Burnt out and in need of retreat, a middle-aged woman leaves Sydney to return to the place she grew up, taking refuge in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of the Australian outback. She doesn't believe in God, or know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive existence almost by accident. But disquiet interrupts this secluded life with three visitations. First comes a terrible mouse plague, each day signalling a new battle against the rising infestation. Second is the return of the skeletal remains of a sister who disappeared decades before, presumed murdered. And finally, a troubling visitor plunges the narrator further back into her past...

🔥 OUT NOW 🔥 Toby Lloyd's unforgettable, heart-stopping debut novel FERVOUR is finally here! This is The Secret History meets horror meets Jonathan Safran Foer - with a dash of The Royal Tenenbaums... Get your copy: https://lnk.to/Fervour-HB

Get ready for the new unforgettable love story from David Nicholls Author, the bestselling author of global phenomenon ONE DAY. YOU ARE HERE arrives 23 April 💙💛 Pre-order your copy: linktr.ee/youareheredavidnicholls

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