27 April 2022
Turn the Tide on Climate Anxiety extract and activity
It’s hard to watch the news without hearing or seeing something disturbing about the climate emergency. This can trigger all sorts of emotions: worry, anger, sadness, guilt, and even grief but also often over-looked positive emotions like motivation, connection and...
15 March 2022
Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in her Head digital activity pack
These resources are designed to be used with children aged 15+ to explore the debut poetry collection by Warsan Shire, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in her Head. The digital activity pack contains: Bless the Daughter review sheet...
03 December 2021
Extract of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is one of the novels featured on series 3 of BBC Two’s Between the Covers. Read an exclusive extract of the novel here. Find out about Between the Covers.
24 November 2021
Extract of Still Life by Sarah Winman
Still Life by Sarah Winman is one of the novels featured on series 3 of BBC Two’s Between the Covers. Read an exclusive extract of the novel here. Find out about Between the Covers.
23 November 2021
Reading Friends resource pack: The Imperfect Art of Caring
This free resource pack for The Imperfect Art of Caring by Jessica Ryn has been designed for Reading Friends projects. It contains an extract from the book and discussion questions intended to support conversations and reflections on personal experiences...
19 October 2021
RISE by Maliha Abidi: competition resources
This pack contains an PDF sampler of the book RISE by Maliha Abidi and a promotional poster for a competition inspired by the book. RISE celebrates the inspirational stories of 100 remarkable women of colour. From the entrepreneur with a homemade...
23 June 2021
The Courage to Care Reading Guide
The Courage to Care is a vital and timely book about inspirational nurses, and the bravery of patients and families, from the bestselling author of The Language of Kindness. Written by Christie Watson and published by Vintage.
09 July 2020
The Dordogne Mystery series digital pack
Quercus are excited to invite libraries and reading groups across the country to celebrate Martin Walker’s Dordogne Mysteries series. A hugely popular series in Germany and the United States, Martin Walker’s novels take you to the Dordogne region of France...
09 July 2020
Heatstroke by Hazel Barkworth digital pack
Headline would like to invite libraries and reading groups across the UK to share their excitement about this summer’s hottest debut novel – Hazel Barkworth’s Heatstroke. We don’t want readers across the country to miss this gripping page-turner, described by the...
30 April 2020
The Reading Agency Hub
Here you can access The Reading Agency at home. You’ll find ideas, activities and challenges from across our programmes to entertain and educate yourself, your family or those you are teaching remotely. The activities will be refreshed every couple of weeks...
31 March 2020
The Farm by Joanne Ramos - First Chapter
The Farm was chosen for the Radio 2 Book Club. Ambitious businesswoman Mae Yu runs Golden Oaks – a luxury retreat transforming the fertility industry – where women get the very best of everything, so long as they play by the...
31 March 2020
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal - First Chapter
The Doll Factory was chosen for the Radio 2 Book Club. London. 1850. The greatest spectacle the city has ever seen is being built in Hyde Park, and among the crowd watching two people meet. For Iris, an aspiring artist, it...
31 March 2020
The Beekeeper of Aleppo - First Chapter
The Beekeeper of Aleppo was chosen for the Radio 2 Book Club. Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo – until the...
27 March 2020
Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession - First Chapter
Leonard and Hungry Paul are two friends who see the world differently. They use humour, board games and silence to steer their way through the maelstrom that is the 21st century. ‘The figure in Munch’s painting isn’t actually screaming!’ Hungry Paul...
27 March 2020
Golden Child by Claire Adam - First Chapter
It’s dark now; the bats are out. Insects knock against the light on the patio and the dog sits at the gate. A boy has not returned home and a family anxiously awaits. A father steps out into the night...
24 May 2019
The Lost Man by Jane Harper Extract
Read an extract from the gripping new novel from the author of the Sunday Times top ten bestsellers, The Dry and Force of Nature.
10 April 2019
Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life by Rose Tremain, Reader's Guide
Here is a reading group guide for Rose Tremain’s Memoir, Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life. About the book Rose Tremain (or Rosie as she was then) grew up in post-war London – a city still partly in ruins, where both...
18 October 2018
Roar by Cecelia Ahern - sample chapter
Have you ever imagined a different life? Have you ever stood at a crossroads, undecided? Have you ever had a moment when you wanted to roar? The women in these startlingly original stories are all of us: the women who befriend us, the...
03 July 2018
The Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson - Extract
In 1627 Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted some 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island off the mainland. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his wife and...
03 July 2018
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell - Extract
Newly married, newly widowed Elsie is sent to see out her pregnancy at her late husband’s crumbling country estate, The Bridge. With her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie only has her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or...
09 March 2018
The Hoarder by Jess Kidd - exclusive extract
Maud Drennan – underpaid carer and unintentional psychic – is the latest in a long line of dogsbodies for the ancient, belligerent Cathal Flood. Yet despite her best efforts, Maud is drawn into the mysteries concealed in his filthy, once-grand...
30 January 2018
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig - read a sample
Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has...
30 January 2018
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - read a sample
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing...
12 January 2018
Artemis by Andy Weir - read the first chapter
Life in the lunar city of Artemis is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your...
12 December 2017
Seven Days of Us - read the first chapter
It’s Christmas, and the Birch family are coming together at their second home in Norfolk. Emma and Andrew’s daughter, Olivia, is back for the first time in years, and while Emma is elated, her younger, more frivolous daughter Phoebe is braced...
22 July 2017
You Don’t Know Me by Imran Mahmood - read a sample
An unnamed defendant is accused of murder. Before the Closing Speeches, the young man sacks his lawyer, and gives his own defence. His barrister told him to leave some things out. Sometimes, the truth can be too difficult to explain, or...
19 May 2017
Sound by Bella Bathurst - an extract
Bella Bathurst is a writer and photojournalist. Her books include The Lighthouse Stevensons which won the 1999 Somerset Maugham Award, The Wreckers, which became a BBC Timewatch documentary, and The Bicycle Book, which was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports...
12 May 2017
Into The Water by Paula Hawkins - an extract
Paula Hawkins is the author of the global bestseller The Girl on the Train, which received worldwide critical acclaim and has sold over 18 million copies worldwide since first publication in January 2015 [to December 2016]. Now a major hit...
12 May 2017
Eurovision! by Chris West - an extract
Chris West is an author, ghostwriter and marketer. His books include Journey to the Middle Kingdom, The Beermat Entrepreneur and First Class: a History of Britain in 36 Postage Stamps. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and daughter. The Radio...
12 May 2017
He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly - an extract
Erin Kelly is the author of The Poison Tree, The Sick Rose, The Burning Air, The Ties That Bind and Broadchurch: The Novel, inspired by the mega-hit TV series. The Poison Tree was a Richard & Judy summer read in...
