England, 1989. Over the course of a burning hot summer, traumatised Falklands veteran Calvert, and affable, chaotic Redbone set out nightly in a clapped-out camper van to undertake an extraordinary project. Under the cover of darkness, the two men traverse the fields of rural England, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns becoming a cult international sensation. Benjamin Myers’ The Perfect Golden Circle is about the futility of war, the destruction of the English countryside, class inequality and the power of beauty to heal trauma and fight power.

What is it to be a parent? What is it to be the parent of a child who is distant and different and fragile? In this magical fable, a larger-than-life sculptor father and a costume-maker mother watch over their angel Sybilla. They live in a nameless city on a mythical river aboard a barge with a moon-and-stars clock and a camomile lawn and festoons of velvet. And then their beloved child is missing. Charlotte Fairbairn’s Cried Out The River For Love is an original look at the complexity of family relationships.

In a neglected part of town beset with social problems, from unemployment and crime to inequalities of health and education, a twelve-year-old girl sees an opportunity to claim a new identity for herself. In her new freedom she finds a mixed sense of possibility and loneliness but it’s not long before Sherrie-Lee’s deceits start catching up with her. Fossils by Alison Armstrong is an allegory of alienation and the yearning to connect to the world.

My Own Worst Enemy is a wry and moving memoir of a working-class childhood in 1960’s Sheffield, and the relationship between a touchy, tragicomic bully of a father and son whose acceptance to grammar school puts him on another track entirely. Robert Edric depicts a now-vanished era: of working-men’s clubs; of tight-knit communities in factory towns; and of a time when a woman’s place was in the home. And he brings to colourful life his family, both close and extended.

Meet Ingrid. She has worked on an enormous, luxury cruise liner for the past five years trying to forget the life she left behind on land. Until she is selected for the ship’s prestigious ‘mentorship scheme’- a mysterious initiative run by its captain and self-anointed lifestyle guru, Keith – and slowly but surely things start to go wrong. The Odyssey by Lara Williams is a merciless takedown of modern capitalism and our anxious, ill-fated quests for something to believe in.

By day, Ida is a quiet, standoffish maid in the employ of spoiled Lucinda Belmote. By night, she is the infamous sneak thief known as the Rat Prince, terrorising the wealthy inhabitants of Loxport; especially Lucinda’s lecherous suitor, Lord Devon Casterbury. A thrilling romp through the Steampunk city of Loxport, Emma Whitehall’s Clockwork Magpies is a story of found family, crimes plotted over tea and scones, and the sinister power of glowing gemstones.

When fourteen-year-old Shaq is stabbed outside of a busy shopping centre in Manchester, three teenagers from very different walks of life are unexpectedly brought together. When Our Worlds Collided is Danielle Jawando’s second novel which follows Chantelle, Jackson, and Marc who question the deep-rooted prejudice and racism that exists within the police, the media, and the rest of society.

Angela Readman’s newest collection of short stories The Girls are Pretty Crocodiles reads like a love letter to girlhood and a ransom note to all the fairy tales we have been told. These stories explore, challenge and ultimately transform the traditional fairy tale narrative. Otherworldy, yet down to earth, it discovers the hidden voice in the stories we know and reveals the magic within working-class lives. These stories have teeth.