A heartbreaking, lyrical story for all of those who have fantasised about escaping their daily lives and starting over.

Michael Kabongo is a British-Congolese teacher living in London on the cusp of two identities. On paper, he seems to have it all - he's loved by his students, popular with his colleagues, and enjoys the pride of his mother who emigrated from the Congo. But behind closed doors, he's been struggling with the overwhelming sense that he can't improve the injustices he sees - from his efforts to change the lives of his students, to his attempts to transcend the violence that marginalises young Black men around the world.

Then Michael suffers a devastating loss, and his life is thrown into a tailspin. As he struggles to find a way forward, memories of his fathers' violent death, the weight of being a refugee, and an increasing sense of dread threaten everything he's worked so hard to achieve.

Longing to escape the shadows in his mind and start anew, Michael decides to spontaneously pack up and go to America, the mythical 'land of the free,' where he imagines everything will be better, easier - a place where he can become someone new, someone without a past filled with pain. On this transformative journey, Michael travels from New York City to San Francisco, partying with new friends, sparking fleeting romances, and splurging on big adventures.

In the back of his mind, Michael has a plan: follow his dreams until the money in his bank account runs out, and then he will decide if his life is truly worth living...

Written in spellbinding prose, with Bola's trademark, magnetic storytelling, The Selfless Act of Breathing is a heart-wrenching and deeply emotional novel about mental health, masculinity and the power of love.

What people are saying about The Selfless Act of Breathing:

'Well, wow. The writing in this book was so lyrical and beautiful... I really couldn't put this book down and finished it in two days... The last page had me on the verge of tears.' NetGalley Reviewer

'I knew from the opening that this book was going to break my heart. Breathless and gripping, it is a masterclass in empathy.' Yvonne Battle-Felton

'Absolutely stunning.' Elizabeth Day

'I loved this book - I lost my whole day reading - just couldn't bear to put it down!' NetGalley Reviewer

'Wonderfully tender... Bola's vulnerable, delicate writing conveys so much truth and heart about the quiet pain in our hearts.' Nikesh Shukla

'A bold work with a broad scope, bravely tackling masculinity, hopelessness and despair with force and directness.' Okechukwu Nzelu

'A beautiful, absorbing read. By turns searing and quietly devastating.' Irenosen Okojie

'Narrated with haunting lyricism... An intimate journey through the darkest of human impulses to the gleaming flickers of love and radical hope.' Susan Abulhawa

'Bola's insightful, intimate and lyrical work has been entrancing readers... Reminiscent of Paul Beatty and Ralph Ellison.' The Bookseller

The Selfless Act of Breathing by JJ Bola, read by Oseloka Obi (Audiobook extract)

Like most Mancunians of his age, Sacha Lord's life has been a tale of two cities. Then and now. 

 Over the past three decades, Sacha has been in the eye of the storm of a musical and cultural revolution, from The Haçienda to The Warehouse Project. He has worked with the music industry’s most iconic acts including the Prodigy, New Order, Snoop Dogg, Fat Boy Slim, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Four Tet, Fred again … and has thrown some of the biggest parties that the UK has ever seen.

But it wasn’t an easy journey getting there.

Tales from the Dancefloor gives readers an all-access pass to the people, music and chaos behind the scenes. From being shot at in a drive-by shooting and dealing with gangs and the criminal underworld, to the excess and demands of some of music’s biggest names, launching the country’s largest urban festival, Parklife, and much more, Sacha reveals all the highs and lows for the very first time.

Tales from the Dancefloor, co-authored with bestselling author Luke Bainbridge, is a love letter to the city and the dance floor. This is an incredible story of resilience, creativity and innovation.

Tales from the Dancefloor: Manchester / The Warehouse Project / Parklife / Sankeys / The Haçienda, By Sacha Lord, Read by Sacha Lord

Midwinter in Orkney. 

Six hours of daylight. 

A race against time to catch a killer. 

 'My debut novel of the year' CHRIS LLOYD

'I couldn't turn the pages fast enough' NASHEEMA LENNON

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Reporter Freya Sinclair has always known she was different. While waiting on the outcome of an autism assessment, Freya uproots her life in Glasgow, quitting her job at one of Scotland’s top broadsheets and taking a local beat in her childhood home of Orkney. But her plans for a quiet life are shattered when human remains are exhumed by a winter storm on Orkney’s wild Atlantic coast.

The identity of the bones opens old wounds in the islands, and sheds light on a darker truth nobody wants to accept. As the nights draw in, Freya’s obsessive hunt for answers turns into a cat-and-mouse game, with each secret she unearths threatening her job, compromising her family, and exposing new victims to a killer who's watching from the shadows…

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'Daniel Aubrey can do for Orkney what Ann Cleeves has done for Shetland in this absorbing novel. It transported me' MARION TODD

‘Twists and secrets galore … A nail-biting thriller you'll never forget’ CAROLINE MITCHELL

'A tense read with emotional honesty … Freya is a triumph' CALLUM McSORLEY

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REAL READERS LOVE DARK ISLAND
‘I absolutely raced through this exciting murder mystery. Daniel Aubrey's writing transported me. Freya is such a brilliant and complex character’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘If you’re a fan of location-based mysteries, such as LJ Ross or GR Halliday, you need to get your teeth into this series NOW’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Pacy and well-plotted and I loved the Orkney setting. I really liked Freya and there's lots of action and twists but it never at any point felt far-fetched’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Everyone should read Dark Island. I loved the neurodivergent character at the heart of the book. The ending was extremely moving’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dark Island, By Daniel Aubrey, Read by Charlie Mudie

JTF PROMO 1

JTF PROMO 2

This gripping fictional true crime podcast delves into the story of the enigmatic Dorian Gray, a vigilante who changed the world, rewriting history in the blood of her victims. Her targets were the titans of their era—billionaires, movie stars, politicians. Dorian said they had one thing in common: they had all committed crimes against women. They were rapists, abusers, master manipulators. Dorian left evidence of their heinous offenses with their bodies, and then she vanished without a trace.

To some, Dorian was a feminist icon, a #MeToo crusader who single-handedly rebalanced the scales of sexual power. To others, she was the worst terrorist of the 21st century. But who was the real Dorian Gray? A demon or an avenging angel? Was she even human? How did one woman manage to take down the most powerful men of her generation and win?

These and other burning questions echoed through the internet since Dorian's disappearance, until now. Speranza, a relentless young journalist, is determined to unravel the pure and simple truth on her podcast, The Crimes of Dorian Gray. Unfortunately for Speranza, the truth is seldom pure and never simple.

Written and directed by Arvind Ethan David and produced by Prodigal, The Crimes of Dorian Gray is a radical reinvention of Oscar Wilde's gothic masterpiece, exploring the question he asked 150 years ago: what does it mean for the powerful elite to live without consequences? What does it say about the society that allows them? Executive Produced by Milena Govich, Amanda K. Price, and Lexi Underwood, the show’s extraordinary cast includes Lexi Underwood, Lara Pulver, Richard Schiff, and Neil Brown Jr., and an original song by ASCAP winning composer Erran Baron Cohen, performed by Olivier Award winner Lara Pulver

The Crimes Of Dorian Gray - Chapter 1 Audio Excerpt

Hachette Audio UK is the audiobook imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group. We publish a diverse list with fantastic authors such as J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Mark Billingham, Iain Banks, John Steinbeck, Walter Isaacson and Malcolm Gladwell. Follow us on SoundCloud for pre-publication clips, audio extras and more.  

The Selfless Act of Breathing by JJ Bola, read by Oseloka Obi (Audiobook extract)

Little, Brown Audio

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