IELTS Academic

When deputy mayor Ines Kaur announces that the historic centre of Varnley will be closed to traffic, the traders of Kell Street organise, argue and very nearly win. A story about evidence, stubbornness and the slow business of compromise, told through a laminated notice, a green ledger and a flower seller who used to work in insurance.

When a Dutch laboratory fails to replicate the finding that made her career, cognitive psychologist Nadia Okonjo traces the effect back to a single misplaced bracket in a six-year-old analysis script. Choosing honesty costs her a doctoral student's thesis, her department's grant negotiations and her public reputation — and eventually reshapes how her field checks its own work.

In the fading town of Halverston, a single ballot question asks voters whether to close Brayer Brake & Casting, the only factory left. A clerk, a union steward, a chemistry teacher and the owner's daughter each discover that neither answer saves the town whole.