The Booksellers Association has today announced Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein as Fiction Book of the Month, and There’s Nothing Cuter Than a Puppy by Tom Nicoll and Ross Collins as Children’s Book of the Month for April.   
 
Independent bookshops around the UK and Ireland will be promoting Hungry Ghosts and There’s Nothing Cuter Than a Puppy throughout April on social media and in-store. The Booksellers Association will be supporting the promotion of the Indie Books of the Month through social media and promotional material.
 
Hungry Ghosts follows the story of Dalton and Marlee Changoor who live on Changoor farm overlooking Bell Village where luxury is unrecognisable to those who reside in the farm’s shadow. Down below is the barrack, a ramshackle building of wood and tin, divided into rooms occupied by whole families. Among these families are the Saroops – Hans and Shweta and their son, Krishna, who live hard lives, of backbreaking work, grinding poverty and devotion to faith.
 
When Dalton Changoor goes missing and Marlee’s safety is compromised, farmhand Hans is lured by the promise of a handsome stipend to move to the farm as watchman. But as the mystery of Dalton’s disappearance unfolds, their lives become hellishly entwined, and the small community is altered forever. Hungry Ghosts is published by Bloomsbury (28 March 2024) and is available to buy in bookshops now.
 
Kevin Jared Hosein said: “No mind can be an island, and the indie bookshop is that devoted harbour for boats constantly departing every time, everywhere. People who work in these bookshops are captains and cartographers of the imagination. Living on an island myself, I would know – ​especially that my first indie bookshop was literally a boat in a harbour.”
 
There’s Nothing Cuter Than a Puppy is a hilarious story featuring a wildly competitive gang of alliterative animals taking part in a beauty pageant - from slugs in Santa suits to warthogs in wedding wear!
 
Donkeys in denim, walruses in woolly waistcoats, hyenas in hoop skirts... The Cutest Creature Contest is full of tough competition! But there can only be one winner and there's nothing cuter than a puppy! Or is there...? There’s Nothing Cuter than a Puppy promises glitz, glamour and goofiness galore in this humorous picture book with special cameos from familiar faces. There’s Nothing Cuter Than a Puppy is published by Macmillan Children’s Books and is available to pre-order now, ahead of release on 11^th April.
 
Tom Nicoll said: “Every time I walk into an independent bookshop I always seem to walk out with a book or two or three that I would never have known about otherwise. The problem is, you can’t just not walk in. They’re always so inviting, sitting there on the street with all their brilliant books inside. How is anyone supposed to simply walk past? Impossible! Everyone knows There’s Nothing Better Than an Indie!" 
 
Ross Collins said: “I'm so delighted that 'There's Nothing Cuter than a Puppy' has been picked as Indie Children’s Book of the Month! Independent bookshops are the backbone of the British book trade. I love every one of them - but especially the ones that have a bowl for cute puppies outside their door!”
 
The Indie Book of the Month titles are selected by panels of booksellers from publisher submissions. The Children’s panel for April comprised members from Sevenoaks Bookshop, Borzoi Bookshop and Jaffe & Neale. The Fiction panel were from City Books; Hewson Books and The Book Nook, Tollesbury. The titles were also available to be voted on by all participating bookshops on Edelweiss.
 
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