Nothing is secret anymore - my hormones, my periods, my romances, my private fears and passions. Then there’s exam troubles, parent fighting, dieting, depression, eating problems, Aids, animal rights. Everyone else reads my diary, so why not U 2? - Susie Payne, aged 16

For eight groundbreaking years, Xinran presented a nightly radio programme in China called Words on the Night Breeze, during which she invited women to call in and talk about themselves.

This unforgettable book is the story of how Xinran reached out to women across the country, despite the restrictions imposed on Chinese journalists. She reveals stories of inconceivable suffering; forced marriages, sexual abuse, repression…Yet above all her stories reveal how love survives; that despite cruelty, despite politics, the female urge to nurture and cherish remains. This is a unique, painfully moving but redemptive book; a window revealing the lives of Chinese women to the West as never before.

Israel is an intelligent, shy, passionate, sensitive sort of soul: he’s Jewish; he’s a vegetarian; he could maybe do with losing a little weight. And he’s just arrived in Ireland to take up his first post as a librarian. But the library’s been shut down and Israel ends up stranded on the North Antrim coast driving an old mobile library. There’s nice scenery, but 15,000 fewer books than there should be. Who on earth steals that many books? How? When would they have time to read them all? And is there anywhere in this godforsaken place where he can get a proper cappuccino and a decent newspaper? Israel wants answers…