* A Good Morning America Book Club pick for January 2026! *

1664: Alouette Voland is the daughter of a master dyer at Paris’ famed Gobelins Tapestry Works. With a gift for her craft and a drive to prove she is as good as the male dyers controlling the industry, Alouette dreams of creating her own masterpiece. But her boldness will put everyone she loves at risk.  

1939: Kristof Larson is starting his medical residency in the same Parisian neighbourhood once dominated by the tapestry works. The shadows of his past have left him determined to improve conditions for the patients of the infamous Salpetrière asylum. But as war breaks out across Europe and Nazi forces descend on Paris, he could lose his career  – and his life.

Alouette and Kristof are both ambitious, idealistic and brave. But faced with authorities who will do anything to silence them, the secret web of tunnels lying beneath the shimmering streets of Paris might be their only hope of survival.  

Skylark is a spellbinding story about defiance and love that beautifully uncovers the hidden history of the City of Light.  

From ancient Greece to the 21st century, the greatest philosophers and psychologists have considered these questions, and remarkably, their opinions converge. There is a single essential task – integration – that once accomplished, equips us to cope with the many problems we are likely to encounter as we get older. What’s more, their insights are supported by cutting-edge neuroscience. Exploring the common ground shared by the Stoics and the Existentialists, William James and CG Jung, Iain McGilchrist and Daniel Siegel, clinical psychologist Frank Tallis has written his own essential alternative to the standard self-help prescriptions.

Frank Tallis takes on such questions as how we can embrace and accept our mortality when our brains are hard-wired to resist it, how we can achieve meaning in our lives, and how we can understand the passage of time and make the most of it. It’s immensely readable whilst also intelligent and thought-provoking.

All it takes is the first step.

As a child, Emma Kirk-Odunubi loved to run, revelling in that sense of freedom and the feel of the breeze on her skin. But as she grew up, her passion for this most simple of activities waned, overtaken by all the distractions that come with adult life. It was only when faced with the loss of her beloved father that Emma returned to running, and rediscovered its joy and its power. Now a certified coach and running gait expert, in Find Your Pace Emma reveals how running saved her life, how it can help you too, and – crucially – how to do it in the way that works for your lifestyle.

Packed with practical, expert advice, including detailed guides and training plans for beginners, intermediate and advanced-level runners, Find Your Pace will help you run better, whatever that looks like for you. It’s not about speed or distance or competing with others: running is for everyone.

Along the way, Emma dives into her many motivations for lacing up her trainers and hitting the road, trails or track – from releasing pent-up energy and feeling at home in her body, to processing grief and carving out the time she needed to explore and accept her sexuality. She looks at running in relation to race, community and self-confidence and gives everyone the tools required to get started, get better and get even more out of going for a run.

This relatable, funny and moving book will encourage you to run back to yourself, on your own track.

‘Emma is the reason I started running! Find Your Pace blends coaching expertise with real-life experience in a way that feels supportive and genuinely realistic.’ – Dr Hazel Wallace

Drawing on a wealth of original sources, award-winning historian Sergio Luzzatto explores the forgotten story of a father of fascism. He shows how, after losing aristocratic status in modern, democratic France, Morès led an adventurous life cattle ranching on the American frontier and building a railway in the jungles of Indochina – yet found all his schemes dogged by failure. He follows in Morès’s footsteps, as, blaming supposed Jewish machinations for his defeats, he returned to France and soon controlled a large, violent militia of disgruntled workers. Even when his rapid political rise was torpedoed by a highly publicized financial scandal, his shadow continued to loom. In Vichy France, as Jewish people were being deported to Auschwitz, officials would gather to celebrate Morès’s memory. Vivid and unsettling, The First Fascist is an engrossing exploration of the roots of our present discontent.

Celebrate all the mums and mother figures in your life with this beautiful pop-up book from Lynn Giunta. Colourful, cheerful text reminds readers how brilliant mums are, while a cute cast of animal pairings encapsulate the special sweetness of the mother-child relationship.

With gorgeous paper-cut artwork and vibrant, uplifting text, this is the perfect gift for mums everywhere. Whether you’re marking the arrival of a new baby to celebrating someone special on Mother’s Day, World’s Best Mum is a book to be loved, shared and treasured. Perfect for fans of I Love My Mummy by Giles Andreae and Emma Dodd, With My Mummy by James Brown and Cally Johnson-Isaacs, and My Mum by Anthony Browne.

Also available by Isabel Otter and Lynn Giunta: You are Loved and You are Strong.

For some, it’s an opportunity. For others, it’s time to question their life choices. How can the world stay the same in the face of such absurdity and uncertainty?

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and patients at the end of their lives – over the length of a lunar cycle, each gets their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to hope, to laugh and to grieve. All in a story that goes to all the places you’d expect, and to many others you could never anticipate. For the people of the earth, this could be the end – or the beginning of a whole new world.

From the Hugo and Locus Award-winning author John Scalzi, When the Moon Hits Your Eye is an entirely serious take on an entirely unserious subject.

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Praise for When the Moon Hits Your Eye:

‘Very funny and occasionally moving, this is a welcome bit of comic relief’ – The Guardian

‘Funny, emotional, thought-provoking and scary’ – SFX Magazine

‘Riotously fun. This is an apocalypse like no other . . . an absolutely bonkers joy’ – Fantasy Hive

‘Scalzi’s ability to balance scathing satire with heartfelt optimism shines’ – Publishers Weekly

From the first tiny bubbles of life in the ocean to the arrival of endlessly adaptable apes, this is the ultimate survival story.

In 30 bite-size chapters, Nature editor and author of the award-winning A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, Henry Gee tells the incredible, unlikely story of life on our planet, with vibrant colour illustrations from Raxenne Maniquiz.

The Wonder of Life on Earth packs billions of years of evolution into one amazing 80-page book, journeying through disasters, evolutionary oddities, and a planet shaped by supervolcanoes, toxic air, and asteroids – always focusing on the most pivotal, important moments.

Talented botanical illustrator Raxenne Maniquiz brings to life a parade of strange and marvellous creatures. Travel back in time to look inside bacteria and the first cells, to the planet’s first trees and plants, to the weird rangeomorphs, and on to armoured fishes, dinosaurs, nimble mammals and resourceful apes and primates.

Henry’s gripping narrative makes it easy to understand the carbon cycle, natural selection, fossilisation and the galactic fluctuations that have shaped our planet and the life on its surface.

Complete with a glossary, a timeline and a view into the future, this astonishing and readable natural history is perfect for younger readers and anyone looking for an accessible introduction to the biggest topic around: LIFE.