Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction
Vintage Publishing Sense and Sensibility
Book SynopsisJane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818.
£17.09
Vintage Publishing Persuasion
Book SynopsisJane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818.
£17.09
Vintage Publishing 1984
Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell (Author) George Orwell (19031950) is one of England's most famous writers and social commentators. He is the author of the classic political satire Animal Farm and the dystopian masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four. He is also well known for his essays and journalism, particularly his works covering his travels and his time fighting in the Spanish Civil War. His writing is celebrated for its piercing clarity, purpose and wit and his books continue to be bestsellers all over the world.
£17.08
Vintage Publishing Great Expectations
Book SynopsisCharles Dickens was born in Hampshire on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office, who was well paid but often ended up in financial troubles. When Dickens was twelve years old he was send to work in a shoe polish factory because his family had been taken to the debtors' prison. His career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays began to appear in periodicals. The Pickwick Papers, his first commercial success, was published in 1836. The serialisation of Oliver Twist began in 1837. Many other novels followed and The Old Curiosity Shop brought Dickens international fame and he became a celebrity in America as well as Britain. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
£17.09
Vintage Publishing The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Book Synopsis
£17.09
Random House Advent
£11.69
Random House Northanger Abbey
Book SynopsisJane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818.
£17.09
Random House Mansfield Park
Book SynopsisJane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818.
£17.09
Little, Brown & Company Our House in the Last World
Book SynopsisA first-generation Cuban son comes of age in the debut––and most autobiographical––novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Winner of the Ingram Merrill Foundation Award and the Rome Prize Hector Santinio is the younger son of Alejo and Mercedes, who moved to New York from Cuba in the mid-1940s. The family of four shares their modest apartment with extended relatives in Harlem, where homesickness and nostalgia are dispelled by nights of dancing and raucous parties. But life’s realities are nevertheless harsh in the Santinio family’s adoptive land. When Mercedes takes Hector and his brother to visit Cuba, to better know her culture, Hector contracts a serious illness that leads to a terrifying period of hospitalization back in the United States where, isolated from his family, he loses much of his ability to speak Spanish. And it is this fracturing
£13.49
Grand Central Publishing The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet Witch
Book Synopsis
£13.09
Amazon Publishing Fierce Dreamer: A Novel
Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of The Bloodletter’s Daughter comes a historical novel about a defiant seventeenth-century artist who dared to feed her passions and explore the limitless possibilities of art. Born in the bustling artist quarter of Rome, Artemisia, daughter of renowned painter Orazio Gentileschi, is unavoidably drawn into a profession unheard of for women. With an innate grasp of color, light, and composition, and inspired by the mercurial Caravaggio, the fiery Artemisia embraces her calling with a precocious brilliance. But as a young woman, she also finds herself oppressed by a powerful patriarchy, and she is forced to endure emotional and physical abuse at the hands of men. Until a shattering act of violence unleashes Artemisia’s righteous fury. Refusing to be silenced and resolved to best men at their own games, Artemisia does what no woman had dared to do before. She fights back. A bracing historical novel about a woman boldly at odds with her time, Fierce Dreamer explores the fearless determination that would fuel Artemisia Gentileschi’s most courageous works of art and make her independent voice a vital one for our own time.
£8.99
Amazon Publishing The Fire and the Ore: A Novel
Book SynopsisThree spirited wives in nineteenth-century Utah. One husband. A compelling novel of family, sisterhood, and survival by the Washington Post bestselling author of One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow. 1857. Three women—once strangers—come together in unpredictable Utah Territory. Hopeful, desperate, and willful, they’ll allow nothing on Earth or in Heaven to stand in their way. Following the call of their newfound Mormon faith, Tamar Loader and her family weather a brutal pilgrimage from England to Utah, where Tamar is united with her destined husband, Thomas Ricks. Clinging to a promise for the future, she abides an unexpected surprise: Thomas is already wedded to one woman—Tabitha, a local healer—and betrothed to still another. Orphaned by tragedy and stranded in the Salt Lake Valley, Jane Shupe struggles to provide for herself and her younger sister. She is no member of the Mormon migration, yet Jane agrees to marry Thomas. Out of necessity, with no love lost, she too must bear the trials of a sister-wife. But when the US Army’s invasion brings the rebellious Mormon community to heel, Tamar, Jane, and Tabitha are forced to retreat into the hostile desert wilderness with little in common but the same man—and the resolve to keep themselves and their children alive. What they discover, as one, is redemption, a new definition of family, and a bond stronger than matrimony that is tested like never before.Trade Review“An interesting and readable story, but what makes it more profound is that all these characters actually existed, with nearly unchanged backstories.” —Booklist “A deeply moving novel that is so beautifully crafted you can’t help but feel the sun beat down on your back or the snow bite into your skin. The evocative setting and well-researched history combined with nuanced characters make this novel one not to miss.” —Historical Novels Review “With The Fire and the Ore, Olivia Hawker delivers a compelling and epic novel that proves she is a master of her craft, a storyteller of supreme talent. This book is all heart. It’s meticulously researched, brilliantly constructed, and rich with historical detail. On top of all that, it’s a stunning and breathtaking page-turner…This is, quite simply, a beautiful book that readers will love and devour.” —Julianne MacLean, USA Today bestselling author “A beautiful and nuanced story about a little-known and little-understood period of history and three women who have every reason to dislike one another but, driven by different levels of faith, need, and ambition, find their way to a deep and lasting bond. The Fire and the Ore is a well-researched and deeply felt novel of tragedy, hope, and connection.” —Megan Chance, bestselling author of A Splendid Ruin “Based on real family history, this is the heartrending story of the trials endured by Mormon converts as they made their way across the American wilderness to their promised land and of the triumph of sisterhood over adversity. A must read for fans of Western history.” —Rhys Bowen, New York Times bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook
£11.81
Coach House Books Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos
Book Synopsis
£12.34
Coach House Books Nights on Prose Mountain: The Fiction of bpNichol
Book SynopsisNights on Prose Mountain gathers all of beloved writer bpNichol's published fiction. Originally appearing between 1968 and 1983, and representing almost the entire arc of Nichol’s writing career, Nights on Prose Mountain is by turns heartbreaking, playful, and evocative. While Nichol’s poetry is widely studied, researched and taught, his novels have remained out of print and are overdue for a new edition. Nichol’s curiosity and craft, his exploration and exuberance, his lyricism and adventurousness are all on exhibit here. From the Governor General's Award–winning “The True Eventual Story of Billy the Kid” through more obscure treasures like Extreme Positions, and including Still, For Jesus Lunatick, and Andy, Nights on Prose Mountain traces Nichol’s life in fiction.
£14.24
Coach House Books Paper Houses
Book SynopsisEmily Dickinson is as famous for being a recluse as she is for her poetry. In this stunning novel, we see her struggling to reconcile spirit and flesh, preferring letters and reflecting that the only way to have books and life is to live through one’s own writing. Dominique Fortier brings Dickinson vividly to life, as if reanimating a flower that had been pressed in a book, through her reflections on language and what it feels like to be home.Trade Review‘Its language is luminous, precise; its structure, ambitious.’ – Le Devoir
£12.34
Coach House Books Grimmish
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARDPain was Joe Grim’s self-expression, his livelihood and reason for being.A superstar boxer who rarely won a fight, Grim distinguished himself for his extraordinary ability to withstand physical punishment.In this wild and expansive novel, Michael Winkler moves between the present day and Grim’s 1908–09 tour of Australia, bending genres and histories into a kaleidoscopic investigation of pain, masculinity, and narrative.Pain is often said to defy the limits of language. And yet Grimmish suggests that pain – physical and mental – is also the most familiar and universal human condition; and, perhaps, the secret source of our impulse to tell stories.“A powerful blast of literary ingenuity and originality.” – Lloyd Jones, author of Mister Pip"Grimmish meets a need I didn't even know I had. I lurched between bursts of wild laughter, shudders of horror, and gasps of awe at Winkler’s verbal command: the freshness and muscle of his verbs, the unstoppable flow of his images, the bizarre wit of the language of pugilism—and all the while, a moving subterranean glint of strange masculine tenderness." – Helen Garner“All the makings of a cult classic. It’s grotesque and gorgeous, smart and searching.” – Beejay Silcox, The GuardianTrade Review"[I]t was fun spending time with [Winkler], an Aussie version of Geoff Dyer, as he sparred with the shade of one of boxing’s most unusual characters." – Robbie Millen, The Times"A fantastic tale based on the life of early-20th-century boxer Joe Grim throws a flurry of wild punches." – Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal"Grimmish provides a model for how a writer might confront the difficult challenge of writing about, and celebrating, masculine energies and impulses: acknowledge the challenge, absorb the blows. Chin down, fists up." – Ian Sansom, Times Literary Supplement“Grimmish is probably the most unusual Australian book I will read in 2021, and, without a doubt, one of the best.” – Emmett Stinson, Overland“Intriguing…Winkler crafts a compelling impressionistic portrait.” – Thomas Hauser, The Sweet Science“Probably the Australian novel of the decade.” – Ben Lindner, Beyond the Zero Podcast"One of those rare narratives that delights and repulses and hums with such madness and integrity that we wish, at its conclusion, only to return to our desks and to forget all the writing rules we were taught at school" – Oliver Mol, Sydney Review of Books"A literary provocation" – Daniel Green“Blazing its own trail of experimental weirdo mindfuckery…the most daring book of (the year).” – Bram Presser"...recalls W.G. Sebalds's melding of fiction with his personal history, as well as the more exuberant postmodern playfulness of David Foster Wallace or Thomas Pynchon" – Reuben Mackey, Meanjin"Playful, visceral and elegant. Sat down to read it, lost an afternoon.” – Robbie Arnott“A novel that takes chances, that animates a hazily documented life and bleeds it into a strange music called fiction. It’s Stein, Gass, McCarthy, and Pynchon rolled into one exquisite cannoli.” – Gerg Gerke“Michael Winkler’s Grimmish is the best literary clinch you’ll ever read.” – Alex Cothren, Australian Book Review“Grimmish will likely be the most interesting Australian book published this year.” – Ben Walter“Cleverly experimental, this is one out of the box.” – Steven Carroll, The Sunday Morning Tribune"At times, the effect of this wonderful little book is not unlike being punched in the face by one of the boxers its story chronicles -- a reading experience that can leave you dizzy, disoriented, and constantly in delighted anticipated of what may come next. An 'exploded non-fiction' novel that takes as its starting point a historical figure, but around that persona entwines a fantastical, strange, and at times borderline-hilarious tale of pain, masculinity, and the occasional talking goat. This book kept me on my toes throughout." – Bryan Seitz, Literati Bookstore"If you like your fiction vital and visceral, then Grimmish fits the bill." – Alistair Braidwood, The Skinny
£13.29
Broadview Press Inc The Tunnel Pilgrimage
Book Synopsis
£23.08
Broadview Press The Power of Sympathy and Other Writings
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Broadview Press Ltd Liza of Lambeth
Book Synopsis
£29.27
Broadview Press Inc Passing
£17.95
Graywolf Press A POSTCARD MEMOIR
Book Synopsis
£16.19
Graywolf Press A HUNDRED WHITE DAFFODILS Essays Interviews the
Book Synopsis
£13.49
