"Having the same name as a 70s pop star was just the start of her troubles..." Hello. There are two things you should know about me: 1) My name is Karen Carpenter. 2) Just before Christmas my boyfriend left me. I'm not THE Karen Carpenter. I just have the most embarrassing name in Christendom. Particularly as I'm no skinny minny and don't play the drums. I can't even sing. I'm tone deaf. I work in a school in the East End. (Where I came third in a 'Teacher we'd most like to sleep with' competition amongst the Year 11 boys) My Mum's driving me mad. She's come to stay and is obsessed with Scandi crime shows and Zumba. Oh yeah. The boyfriend. After eleven 'happy' years he left me. No explanation just a post it on the kettle when I got in from work. I think I'm handling it really well. I don't think I'm confused at all. What was my name again?

London 2014. Holly Smith has never fitted in. Adopted when just a few months old, she's always felt she was someone with no history, the girl who just appeared. All she has is the address of where she was born - 32B Gambier Terrace, Liverpool. By a bizarre twist of fate Holly discovers that the flat is available to rent. She travels north and moves in. When she finds a biscuit tin full of yellowing papers under the floorboards, she wonders if this might hold the secret to her past. Liverpool 1981. Fifteen-year-old Darren negotiates life with his errant mother and the younger brother he is bringing up. When the Toxteth Riots explode around him Darren finds himself with a moral dilemma that will have consequences for the rest of his life. Flitting between the present and the past, we discover how Darren and Holly's lives become intertwined. Will Holly uncover the secrets of her past? Or will she always feel like the girl who just appeared?

Liverpool 1985Kathleen, Adam and Loretta are three teenage friends who bond over an unconventional nativity play. They all have ambitions, they all have dreams.Adam wants to be a writer, Loretta wants to sing and Kathleen - well, she wants to be an embalmer.London 2015 Kathleen is a borderline alcoholic, Adam is holding on to a shocking secret and Loretta is dead. Where did it all go wrong? How did having the world at their feet turn into having the weight of it on their shoulders?Filled with Jonathan Harvey's trademark wit, warmth and outrageous humour The History of Us is a novel about friendship and secrets, the choices we make and the consequences we face.

It's hard being that woman, the one whose husband disappeared. It's made me quite famous. I just wish it was for something else. He went out five years ago for a pint of milk and never came back. So here I am with a daughter who blames me for all that's wrong in the world, a son trying his best to pick up the pieces and a gaggle of new neighbours who are over friendly, and incredibly nosy. Then I find a left luggage ticket in the pocket of one of his old coats and suddenly I'm thinking... What's if he's not dead? What if he's still out there somewhere? You think you have the perfect life, the perfect kids, and then it's all turned inside out. What if I don't like what I find? And is it a chance I'm willing to take?

A new collection of the latest plays from the writer of Beautiful Thing and TV's Gimme, Gimme, Gimme. "JONATHAN HARVEY has an athletic and fantastical imagination, bawdy, funny and joyously blasphemous" Sunday Times. GUIDING STAR: "Dry, funny, truthful, the writing buzzes with graceful perception and Scouse sarcasm...one of the best new plays of the year" Daily Mail HUSHABYE MOUNTAIN: "You would have to have a heart hewn from granite not to respond warmly to Jonathan Harvey's latest play" Guardian OUT IN THE OPEN: "A touching exploration of grief, the secrets and lies that evolve in friendships and the difficulty of telling the truth to those we love" The Times

2017Pregnant Rachel Taylor is enjoying a holiday in Morocco when she gets the phone call to say her mother hasn't got much time left to live. With a head of mixed emotions she returns to the village where she grew up to say her last goodbyes. It's true to say their relationship had often been strained and Rachel had never quite understood why. When clearing out her mother's things she thinks she finds an answer, and her world is changed forever.1978Shirley Burke is on a family holiday at Butlin's when she first sets eyes on Doug, a man considerably older than herself. When his daughter goes missing one night, Shirley's the one who finds her and returns her to him. When his gratitude turns into something else, Shirley realizes this is her time to shine. But Doug is married, and her young life is about to get very complicated.Rachel and Shirley. Two women from different decades in Jonathan Harvey's The Years She Stole. Somehow...

There are some things in life you can always rely on. Getting the flu over Christmas, a horny Alsation ruining your best suede boots, and your Mother showing you up in the supermarket. Then there are some things that you really don't count on but they happen anyway. A good dose of fame, getting completely trashed at an awards ceremony, and catching your fella doing something unmentionable on your wedding day. My name's Jodie McGee and to be perfectly frank I've had it all, done it all and messed it all up. This is my story. Read it coz I'm, like, dead famous. But please, don't be too gobsmacked when it all goes tits up. You have been warned... Jodie xx

Canary is multi-award winning playwright Jonathan Harvey's long-awaited return to the stage: a deeply moving, funny, unflinching, and often magical story about love, honesty and being brave enough to sing out at the top of your voice - with style. In 1960s Liverpool two lovers hide their homosexuality in the closet, then go their separate ways. While pits close and dole queues grow, a couple of runaways find Heaven in 1980s London. And today the paparazzi chase a love story that could tear a family apart. Then a grieving mother gets lost up a mountain, with a vicar for some dubious consolation. With a unique richness of texture and range, Canary combines pathos and humour with a wildly ambitious scope crossing decades through cyclical family histories. The diverse character list includes a primetime TV host, Queen Isabella, Eleanor Rigby, an 'aversion therary' doctor, Mary Whitehouse and striking miners. Skilfully pulling these wide-ranging threads together, Canary provides a...