Contemporary fiction titles are those which focus on the present or near past. Stories rooted in the current cultural, social, and political landscape which feature characters we can all recognise.
Contemporary Fiction Books
Pan Macmillan Falling
Book SynopsisFrom, Elizabeth Jane Howard, the bestselling author of the Cazalet Chronicles, Falling is a haunting portrait of romantic manipulation.'A novel which, although full of subtle touches, is as unputdownable as any thriller' – The TimesHarry Kent is a sensitive man in late middle age, a reader and a thinker, without means perhaps but not without charm.Daisy has recovered from her unhappy past by learning to be self-sufficient, and viewing trust as a weakness. But there is still a part of her that yearns to be cared for once more.It is this part that Henry sees, and with dedicated and calculated patience he works at her defences. So despite all attempts to resist his attentions, Daisy finds herself falling under Henry's spell . . .'Her talent seemed so effervescent, so unstoppable, that there was no predicting where it might take her' – Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf HallTrade ReviewCompletely unputdownable * Independent *A superb storyteller whose elegantly written novels never fail to pull you in... she tells a taut and compelling story with a subtle build-up of tension that will keep the reader worrying till the end * Sunday Express *An engaging study of love which explores our deepest needs and desires * Tatler *A novel which, although full of subtle touches, is as unputdownable as any thriller * The Times *I found myself seduced by her clever evocation of people and places, her perfect ear for dialogue and her elegant, sensitive portrayal of contemporary life * Sunday Telegraph *Her talent seemed so effervescent, so unstoppable, that there was no predicting where it might take her -- Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall
£9.49
Oneworld Publications The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman
Book Synopsis *Selected for Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 2 Book Club* 'Quirky and charming' Guardian For readers of The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly and The Guest Cat comes this passionate, bittersweet love story that will move readers old and young Secretly steaming open envelopes and reading the letters inside, Bilodo has found an escape from his lonely and routine life as a postman. When one day he comes across a mysterious letter containing a single haiku, he finds himself avidly caught up in the relationship between a long-distance couple who write to each other using only beautiful poetry. He feasts on their words, vicariously living a life for which he longs. But it will only be a matter of time before his world comes crashing down around him.Trade Review‘Its republication could – and should – establish it as a lost and found gem.’ * The Independent, UK *'Enchanting, philosophically astute and deeply poignant.' * John Burnside *'Quirky and charming with a well-executed denouement, this novella brings to mind nothing less than a giddily-lovesick Kafka.' * Guardian *‘A captivating philosophical tale.’ * Le Devoir, Canada *‘A love story between two people who’ve never met, thanks to the magic of a deepening correspondence. In times of internet and social networking, Thériault succeeds in offering fine and spirited promotion for letters.’ * Le Figaro, France *'...an intense and very deep meaningful ending…I would recommend this book.' * 'A Bibliophile’s Book Blog' review *
£9.25
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Mischief: Fay Weldon Selects Her Best Short
Book Synopsis'She's a Queen of Words' CAITLIN MORAN. 'One of the great lionesses of modern English literature' HARPER'S BAZAAR. 'Readable, articulate and fascinating' THE SCOTSMAN. 'Outrageously funny' DAILY EXPRESS. 'Sharp, witty, incisive' THE TIMES. 'Wise, knowing, forthright' INDEPENDENT. Reviewers have been describing Fay Weldon's inimitable voice for years. Now, here is Fay Weldon in her own words. Choosing and and introducing twenty-one of her favourite short stories written throughout her fifty year career as one of Britain's foremost novelists. Included as a bonus is a new novella, The Ted Dreams, a ghost story for the age of cyber culture, big pharma, and surveillance.Trade ReviewOne of the great lionesses of modern English literature' * Harper's Bazaar *A sparkling river of wit * Mail on Sunday *Weldon's stories pull no punches * Independent on Sunday *Weldon at her best... Times have changed and Weldon is one of the people who have changed them' -- Kate Saunders, The TimesIt is Weldon's immersion in the real world, and her fascination with changes in fashion, trend and mood, that gives these stories their spirit... For most women love and lust are synonyms for life. And that, as almost each of these stories shows, is where the mischief comes in' * Herald Scotland *The perfect way to reacquaint yourself with a great writer or discover her for the first time * Bella *Insightful, emotionally truthful tales rich with female characters * Diva Magazine *Weldon's voice is the star... wise, witty and, well, yes, mischievous... Swiftian, elegant, droll and thought-provoking' -- Julian Clary, Daily TelegraphMagically insistent -- Janet Ellis.The acclaimed author has chosen 21 of her favourite short stories, spanning her 50-year career, for this enjoyable collection... Also included is a new novella, The Ted Dreams, a ghost story for our modern age' * Choice Magazine. *
£7.59
Granta Books Certainty
Book SynopsisIn present-day Vancouver, Gail Lim, a producer of radio documentaries, is haunted by the mysterious events in her father's childhood in war-torn Asia, and using her skills as a journalist is driven to unravel the mystery of his past. As a boy, Matthew Lim hid in the jungle fringe near Leila Road in Japanese-occupied Sandakan, North Borneo, with Ani, a girl whose friendship shapes the rest of his life. Together they barely survive the terrifying events of the war, which shatters their families and ultimately splits them apart - until years later, they meet again, only to endure another separation. At once sweeping and intimate, Certainty crosses continents, cultures and time to explore the legacies of loss, the dislocations of war and the redemptive qualities of love.
£8.54
Quercus Publishing Beneath the Surface: A compelling crime mystery
Book SynopsisTHE SECOND TOM REYNOLDS MYSTERY FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PERFECT LIE'Fiendishly clever' Irish Sunday IndependentDid I know it would come to this? There is no shot at redemption. I am going to die. The gun is in my eye-line as the second bullet is fired. That's the one that kills me.Late at night, two powerful men meet in a secret location to discuss a long nurtured plan about to come to fruition. One is desperate to know there is nothing standing in their way - the other assures him everything is taken care of. Hours later, a high-ranking government official called Ryan Finnegan is brutally slain in the most secure building in Ireland - Leinster House, the seat of parliament. Inspector Tom Reynolds and his team are called in to uncover the truth behind the murder.At first, all the evidence hints at a politically motivated crime, until a surprise discovery takes the investigation in a dramatically different direction. Suddenly the motive for murder has got a lot more personal. . . but who benefits the most from Ryan's death?'Engrossing' Sunday TimesNobody was supposed to get out alive.On a Dublin city street, packed with afternoon shoppers, a young woman appears, naked, traumatised and bearing burn marks.Tom Reynolds, now Chief Superintendent, is no longer head of the murder squad. But when it transpires the woman escaped from a house fire started deliberately and that there are more victims, Tom is sucked in. What begins as a straightforward case of arson, soon becomes something much more sinister.The people in that house never wanted to be there in the first place. Now more of them are missing. Tom is faced with a ticking clock as he tries to locate the others and as he does, a terrifying spider's web of domestic and international crime unfolds.And not everybody will survive the fallout.PRAISE FOR JO SPAIN'S TOM REYNOLDS SERIES'A stunning read' Woman's Way'Refreshing and full of twists' Express'Clever, pacey, compulsive' Sunday Mirror'Expertly crafted, deeply immersive and timely' Irish IndependentTrade ReviewFiendishly clever . . . and a big fat twist is lobbed into the ending like a hand grenade * Irish Sunday Independent *Brilliant! Fast paced, well researched and sensitive. Jo Spain is a sparkling new talent * Irish Examiner *Spain's vivid thriller explores the dark secrets of Ireland's past that are a real-life situation haunting so many people within Irish society today * Irish Country Living *In a very strong year for Irish crime-fiction debuts, Jo Spain's With Our Blessing is among the most assured . . . With Our Blessing picks at the scabs of recent Irish history to reveal raw and gaping wounds * Irish Times *Atmospheric and compelling * Sinead Crowley *Spain handles the inevitable tensions with aplomb * Sunday Times *Packed with fascinating details . . . this is a satisfying mystery * Irish Independent *Absolutely my comfort reading * Ann Cleeves *
£8.99
Transworld Publishers Ltd Disclaimer: The astonishing Sunday Times No.1 Bestseller, perfect for fans of Anatomy of a Scandal
IMAGINE IF THE NEXT THRILLER YOU READ WAS ALL ABOUT YOU . . .THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER'An addictive novel with shades of Gone Girl' Sunday TimesSHORTLISTED FOR THE THEAKSTON'S OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2016LONGLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2016When an intriguing novel appears on Catherine's bedside table, she curls up and begins to read.But as she turns the pages she is horrified to realize she is a key character, a main player.This story will reveal her darkest secret. A secret she thought no one else knew . . .Soon to be a major Apple TV series featuring Sacha Baron Cohen and Cate Blanchett, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Pier Falls
Book SynopsisThe first collection of stories from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Porpoise.'Terrifically compelling' GuardianA seaside pier collapses. An expedition to Mars goes terribly wrong. A thirty-stone man is confined to his living room. One woman is abandoned on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Another woman is saved from drowning. Two boys discover a gun in a shoebox. A group of explorers find a cave of unimaginable size deep in the Amazon jungle. A man shoots a stranger in the chest on Christmas Eve.'The real redemption in these superbly gripping stories comes from their canny human detail, and the vivid, unsettling clarity they bring to our lives’ Sunday TimesTrade ReviewA superb collection of stand-out stories… The Pier Falls is unique in that every story is brilliant… It is, simply, and ultimately, an absolute pleasure to read * Irish Independent *This is a top-notch collection… It veers into unexpected territory, and the evolving surprises are mesmerizing… 'The Pier Falls' leads the collection. It is a perfectly controlled little masterpiece… So chilling that one imagines its author could carve out a second career as a horror film scriptwriter. -- Lionel Shriver * Financial Times *Brilliant collection… Seamless prose… It feels as though Haddon is leading you into the deepest underworld of human endeavor and behavior, yet holding your hand gently as he guides you into the labyrinth. Outstanding. -- Imogen Lycett Green * Daily Mail *The real redemption in these superbly gripping stories comes from their canny human detail, and the vivid, unsettling clarity they bring to our brief lives. -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *He writes with the craft of Julian Barnes or, even, Truman Capote. -- Andrew Billen * The Times *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing First Love, Last Rites
Book SynopsisTaut, brooding and densely atmospheric, these stories show us the ways in which murder can arise out of boredom, perversity can result from adolescent curiosity, and sheer evil might be the solution to unbearable loneliness.Trade ReviewMarks the debut of a talented and genuinely imaginative writer * New Statesman *As promising a first collection of stories as I have ever come across * Vogue *Ian McEwan writes to shock and succeeds... It is a tour-de-force of concision, and funny, too, in a deadpan manner * Times Literary Supplement *And now for a brand new writer of formidable talent, Ian McEwan who is 27. His stories First Love, Last Rites…are the most devastating debut I have seen for a long time * Daily Mail *A brilliant debut by the most promising writer around * Observer Books of the Year *
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd Growth of the Soil
Book SynopsisThis is the story of Isak, a worker of the land, with its roots in man's deepest myths about the struggle to cultivate the land and make it fertile. Sweeping and panoramic, the story moves at the pace of the passing seasons and with the growth of the crops on which the characters' lives depend.Hamsun's themes of individual freedom, and the fundamental human need to reconcile man with the natural world, speak even more resonantly than when the novel was first published.Trade ReviewOne of the great writers of this century... Hamsun's novels have the simplicity of total self-possession. * Sunday Times *
£11.39
Vintage Publishing Numero Zero
Book SynopsisThe gripping new conspiracy thriller by the bestselling author of The Name of the Rose1945, Lake Como. Mussolini and his mistress are captured and shot by local partisans. The precise circumstances of Il Duce’s death remain shrouded in confusion and controversy.1992, Milan. Colonna takes a job at a fledgling newspaper financed by a powerful media magnate. There he learns the paranoid theories of Braggadocio, who is convinced that Mussolini’s corpse was a body-double and part of a wider Fascist plot.Colonna is sceptical. But when a body is found, stabbed to death in a back alley, and the paper is shut down, even he is jolted out of his complacency. Fuelled by conspiracy theories, Mafiosi, love, corruption and murder, Numero Zero reverberates with the clash of forces that have shaped Italy since the Second World War. This gripping novel from the author of The Name of the Rose is told with all the power of a master storyteller.Trade ReviewA triumph * Scotland on Sunday *A smart, modern mystery -- Justine Carbery * Independent *A novel for our times * Irish News *Brims with exuberant inventiveness -- Terry Eagleton * Times Literary Supplement *Combines farce and conspiracy thriller while retaining the author’s familiar sense of detachment -- Anthony Cummins * Guardian *
£9.49
Cornerstone A Prayer For The Ship
Book SynopsisMemories are short on HMS Royston - they have to be.As mother ship to a battered, war-torn bunch of MTBs she must carry out her vital role whatever the conditions, whatever the risk.Sub-Lieutenant Royce is newly assigned to MTB 1991, joining a crew already seasoned by death and fear.Now with only three months' sea-experience behind him, Royce must learn the job the hard way - in the tough school of combat.______________________________A classic tale of naval warfare from Douglas Reeman, the all-time bestselling master of naval fiction, who served with the Royal Navy on convoy duty in the Atlantic, the Arctic and the North Sea. He has written dozens of naval books under his own name and the pseudonym Alexander Kent, including the famous Richard Bolitho books set during the Napoleonic Wars.
£8.99
Europa Editions The Lost Daughter
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Comma Press Refugee Tales
Book SynopsisTwo unaccompanied children travel across the Mediterranean in an overcrowded boat that has been designed to only make it halfway across... A 63-year-old man is woken one morning by border officers 'acting on a tip-off' and, despite having paid taxes for 28 years, is suddenly cast into the detention system with no obvious means of escape... An orphan whose entire life has been spent in slavery - first on a Ghanaian farm, then as a victim of trafficking - writes to the Home Office for help, only to be rewarded with a jail sentence and indefinite detention... These are not fictions. Nor are they testimonies from some distant, brutal past, but the frighteningly common experiences of Europe's new underclass - its refugees. While those with "citizenship" enjoy basic human rights (like the right not to be detained without charge for more than 14 days), people seeking asylum can be suspended for years in Kafka-esque uncertainty. Here, poets and novelists retell the stories of individuals who have direct experience of Britain's policy of indefinite immigration detention. Presenting their accounts anonymously, as modern day counterparts to the pilgrims' stories in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, this book offers rare, intimate glimpses into otherwise untold suffering.
£9.99
Fitzcarraldo Editions The Doll's Alphabet
Book SynopsisSurreal, ambitious and exquisitely conceived, The Doll's Alphabet is a collection of stories in the tradition of Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood. Dolls, sewing machines, tinned foods, mirrors, malfunctioning bodies – many images recur in stories that are in turn child-like and naive, grotesque and very dark. In ‘Unstitching’, a feminist revolution takes place. In ‘Waxy’, a factory worker fights to keep hold of her Man in a society where it is frowned upon to be Manless. In ‘Agata's Machine’, two schoolgirls conjure a Pierrot and an angel in a dank attic room. In ‘Notes from a Spider’, a half-man, half-spider finds love in a great European city. By constantly reinventing ways to engage with her obsessions and motifs, Camilla Grudova has come up with a method for storytelling that is highly imaginative, incredibly original, and absolutely discomfiting.Trade Review‘That I cannot say what all these stories are about is a testament to their worth. They have been haunting me for days now. They have their own, highly distinct flavour, and the inevitability of uncomfortable dreams.’ — Nick Lezard, Guardian‘If fairytales could dream, this nightmarish collection is what you might end up with. Grudova’s closest living counterpart could be Ben Marcus, with whom she shares a heavy debt to Kafka ... But the atmosphere of her fantastical, semi-dystopian settings is so unique and persuasive that the day after finishing the book, I awoke from a dream to realize that it had taken place in Grudova’s universe. ... The author’s surreal humour, often delivered via deadpan dream logic, recalls the startling short stories of Leonora Carrington. Both Carrington and Grudova excel at a certain well-placed, pedestrian literalism that works deliciously against the magical elements in their fiction.’ — Claire Lowdon, Times Literary Supplement‘The comic grotesqueries that emerge from this collection owe a bit to Dickens, Kafka and Heinrich Hoffmann’s “Der Struwwelpeter,” but their total effect is delightfully unclassifiable.... The Doll's Alphabet is clearly a revisionist undertaking. It unsettles assumptions about motherhood and marriage. But it also separates itself from its feminist predecessors. The world it inhabits – droll, inexplicable and even beautiful in its slovenly fashion – is unlike any other I’ve encountered.’ — Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal‘This doll’s eye view is a total delight and surveys a world awash with shadowy wit and exquisite collisions of beauty and the grotesque.’ — Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird‘The Doll's Alphabet ... has already garnered comparisons to Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, Leonora Carrington, Ben Marcus, and Franz Kafka. To this list let me add another name: George Orwell. Not the dystopian Orwell of 1984 or the allegorical Orwell of Animal Farm but the down-and-out, grubby-oilcloth Orwell of The Road to Wigan Pier and Keep the Aspidistra Flying. Grudova does mermaids and magic, but she also does moldy, dingy, scratch-and-sniff interiors that reek of cabbage and old shoes.’ — Christine Smallwood, Harper's Magazine‘Imagine a world in which the Brothers Grimm were two exquisite, black-eyed twin sisters in torn stockings and handstitched velvet dresses. Knowing, baroque, perfect, daring, clever, fastidious, Camilla Grudova is Angela Carter’s natural inheritor. Her style is effortlessly spare and wonderfully seductive. Read her! Love her! She is sincerely strange – a glittering literary gem in a landscape awash with paste and glue and artificial settings.’ — Nicola Barker, author of Darkmans‘One of the most purely original collections I’ve read, filled with strange and squirmy imagery, monsters and sewing machines and things with many, many legs.’ — Julia Armfield, author of Salt Slow
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 19992001
Book Synopsis''An achingly funny anti-hero'' Daily Mail''My comfort read. The best diaries ever written - with apologies to Samuel Pepys, Bridget Jones and me'' ADAM KAYIn the SIXTH book in Sue Townsend''s hilarious and iconic series, Adrian, Leicester''s most unlikely ex-con, faces the nit-infested reality of being a single parent . . . __________ Monday January 3, 2000 So how do I greet the New Millennium? In despair. I''m a single parent, I live with my mother . . . I have a bald spot the size of a jaffa cake on the back of my head . . . I can''t go on like this, drifting into early middle-age. I need a Life Plan . . . The ''same age as Jesus when he died'', Adrian Mole has become a martyr: a single-father bringing up two young boys in an uncaring world. With the ever-unattainable Pandora pursuing her ambition to become Labour''s first female PM; his over-achieving half-brother Brett sTrade ReviewCelebrate Adrian Mole's 50th Birthday with this new edition of the sixth book in his diaries where Adrian, Leicester's most unlikely ex-con, faces the nit-infested reality of being a single parent * from the publisher's description *Told with Townsend's trademark deadpan humour and cringe-worthy mishaps. To people of a certain age, Adrian Mole was their Harry Potter * News of the World *Very funny indeed. A satire of our times * Sunday Times *An achingly funny anti-hero * Daily Mail *Adrian Mole is one of the great comic creations of our time * Scotsman *To people of a certain age, Adrian Mole was their Harry Potter. Loveable in its celebration of mediocrity, it's told with Townsend's trademark deadpan humour * News of the World *The diaries are a satire of our times...very funny indeed * The Sunday Times *Adrian Mole is one of the great comic creations of our time * Scotsman *To people of a certain age, Adrian Mole was their Harry Potter. Loveable in its celebration of mediocrity, it's told with Townsend's trademark deadpan humour * News of the World *The diaries are a satire of our times...very funny indeed * The Sunday Times *The funniest person in the world * Caitlin Moran *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Autumn of the Patriarch
Book SynopsisGabriel García Márquez, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, explores the loneliness of power in Autumn of the Patriarch.''Over the weekend the vultures got into the presidential palace by pecking through the screens on the balcony windows and the flapping of their wings stirred up the stagnant time inside''As the citizens of an unnamed Caribbean nation creep through dusty corridors in search of their tyrannical leader, they cannot comprehend that the frail and withered man lying dead on the floor can be the self-styled General of the Universe. Their arrogant, manically violent leader, known for serving up traitors to dinner guests and drowning young children at sea, can surely not die the humiliating death of a mere mortal?Tracing the demands of a man whose egocentric excesses mask the loneliness of isolation and whose lies have become so ingrained that they are indistinguishable fromTrade ReviewIt asks to be read more than twice, and the rewards are dazzling * Observer *Delights with its quirky humanity and black humour and impresses by its total originality * Vogue *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Of Love and Other Demons
Book SynopsisNobel Prize winner and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez blends the natural with supernatural in Of Love and Other Demons - a novel which explores community, superstition and collective hysteria. ''An ash-grey dog with a white blaze on its forehead burst on to the rough terrain of the market on the first Sunday of December''When a witch doctor appears on the Marquis de Casalduero''s doorstep prophesising a plague of rabies in the Colombian seaport, he dismisses her claims - until he hears that his young daughter, Sierva María, was one of four people bitten by a rabid dog, and the only one to survive.Sierva María appears completely unscathed - but as rumours of the plague spread, the Marquis and his wife wonder at her continuing good health. In a town consumed by superstition, it''s not long before they, and everyone else, put her survival down to a demonic possession andTrade ReviewBrilliantly moving. A tour de force * A.S. Byatt *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
Book SynopsisThe Collected Stories of Lydia Davis is the complete collection of short fiction from the world-renowned Lydia Davis.WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2013.''Big rejoicing: Lydia Davis has won the Man Booker International prize. Never did a book award deliver such a true match-winning punch. Best of all, a new audience will read her now and find her wit, her vigour and rigour, her funniness, her thoughtfulness, and the precision of form, which mark Davis out as unique.Daring, excitingly intelligent and often wildly comic [she] reminds you, in a world that likes to bandy its words about, what words such as economy, precision and originality really mean. This is a writer as mighty as Kafka, as subtle as Flaubert and as epoch-making, in her own way, as Proust. A two-liner from Davis, or a seemingly throwaway paragraph, will haunt. What looks like a game will open to deep seriousness; what looks like philosophy will reveal playfulness, tragicomedy, ordinariness; what looks like ordinariness will ask you to look again at Davis''s writing. In its acuteness, it always asks attentiveness, and it repays this by opening up to its reader like possibility, or like a bush covered in flowerheads.She''s a joy. There''s no writer quite like her'' Ali Smith''What stories. Precise and piercing, extremely funny. Nearly all are unlike anything you''ve ever read'' Metro''I loved these stories. They are so well-written, with such clarity of thought and precision of language. Excellent'' William Leith, Evening Standard''Remarkable. Some of the most moving fiction - on death, marriage, children - of recent years. To read Collected Stories is to be reminded of the grand, echoing mind-chambers created by Sebald or recent Coetzee. A writer of vast intelligence and originality'' Independent on Sunday''A body of work probably unique in American writing, in its combination of lucidity, aphoristic brevity, formal originality, sly comedy, metaphysical bleakness, philosophical pressure and human wisdom'' New Yorker''Davis is a high priestess of the startling, telling detail. She can make the most ordinary things, such as couples talking, or someone watching television, bizarre, almost mythical. I felt I had encountered a most original and daring mind'' Colm Toibin, Daily TelegraphLydia Davis is the author of one novel and seven story collections, the most recent of which was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government for her fiction and her translations of modern writers including Maurice Blanchot, Michel Leiris and Marcel Proust.Trade ReviewRich, deeply involving, extraordinary, remarkable * The Times *I loved these stories. They are so well-written, with such clarity of thought and precision of language. Excellent * Evening Standard *Brilliant, exciting, thrilling, extremely funny * Daily Telegraph *Davis is a magician. Few writers working now make the words on the page matter moreBig rejoicing: Lydia Davis has won the Man Booker International prize. Never did a book award deliver such a true match-winning punch. Best of all, a new audience will read her now and find her wit, her vigour and rigour, her funniness, her thoughtfulness, and the precision of form, which mark Davis out as unique.Daring, excitingly intelligent and often wildly comic [she] reminds you, in a world that likes to bandy its words about, what words such as economy, precision and originality really mean. This is a writer as mighty as Kafka, as subtle as Flaubert and as epoch-making, in her own way, as Proust. A two-liner from Davis, or a seemingly throwaway paragraph, will haunt. What looks like a game will open to deep seriousness; what looks like philosophy will reveal playfulness, tragicomedy, ordinariness; what looks like ordinariness will ask you to look again at Davis's writing. In its acuteness, it always asks attentiveness, and it repays this by opening up to its reader like possibility, or like a bush covered in flowerheads.She's a joy. There's no writer quite like her. -- Ali Smith
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd About a Boy
Book SynopsisTHE MILLION COPY NO. 1 BESTSELLER THAT BECAME AN ACCLAIMED FILM STARRING HUGH GRANT AND NICOLAS HOULT ''A very entertaining and endearing read'' The Times___________________Thirty-six-year-old Londoner Will loves his life. Living carefree off the royalties of his dad''s Christmas song, he''s rich, unattached and has zero responsibilities - just the way he likes it.But when Will meets Marcus, an awkward twelve-year-old who listens to Joni Mitchell and accidentally kills ducks with loaves of bread, an unlikely friendship starts to bloom. Can this odd duo teach each another how to finally act their age?Hugely funny and equally heartfelt, Nick Hornby''s classic proves you''re never too old to grow up. Perfect for fans of David Nicholls and Mike Gayle.___________________''A stunner of a novel. Utterly read-in-one-day, forget-where-you-are-on-the-tube-gripping'' Marie Claire<Trade ReviewA very entertaining and endearing read * The Times *A stunner of a novel. Utterly read-in-one-day, forget-where-you-are-on-the-tube-gripping * Marie Claire *About the awful, hilarious, embarrassing places where children and adults meet, and Hornby has captured it with delightful precision * Irish Times *It takes a writer with real talent to make this work, and Hornby has it - in buckets * Literary Review *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd And the Ass Saw the Angel
Book SynopsisAnd the Ass Saw the Angel - Nick Cave''s classic Gothic novel, in its full and original formOutcast, mute, a lone twin cut from a drunk mother in a shack full of junk, Euchrid Eucrow of Ukulore inhabits a nightmarish Southern valley of preachers and prophets, incest and ignorance. When the God-fearing folk of the town declare a foundling child to be chosen by the Almighty, Euchrid is disturbed. He sees her very differently, and his conviction, and increasing isolation and insanity, may have terrible consequences for them both...In 2009 Cave released a cut-down version of his novel but this reissue restores the full uncut text, as first published in 1989.Compelling and astonishing in its baroque richness, Nick Cave''s acclaimed first novel is a fantastic journey into the twisted world of Deep Southern Gothic tragedy. This book will be adored by readers of Will Self, William Faulkner and Falnnery O''Connor, as well as fans of the cult rock star evTrade ReviewAn explosion of linguistic brio and Gothic grotesquery, horrifying, funny and tragic -- Michel Faber * Guardian *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd A Long Way Down
Book Synopsis''Extremely funny . . . and wise'' Sunday TimesNOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE__________________________''Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?''For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer''s pretty simple: he has, in his own words, ''pissed his life away''. And on New Year''s Eve he''s going to end it all . . . but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin''s private party. They''ve stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons.Yet it''s hard to jump when you''ve got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living?Shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, A Long Way Down Trade ReviewImpossible to put down . . . enthralling * Guardian *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Rotters Club
Book SynopsisThe first in The Rotters'' Club series, bestselling author Jonathan Coe''s iconic tale of Benjamin Trotter is a hilarious, heartfelt celebration of the joys and agonies of growing up WINNER OF THE EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE __________ Birmingham, England, c. 1973: industrial strikes, bad pop music, first love, corrosive class warfare, detention, IRA bombings. Four friends: a class clown who stoops very low for a laugh; a confused artist enthralled by rock; an earnest radical with socialist leanings; and a quiet dreamer obsessed with poetry, God, and the prettiest girl in school. Unforgettably funny and painfully honest, The Rotters'' Club is perfect for readers of Nick Hornby and William Boyd - or anyone who ever experience adolescence the hard way! THE STORY CONTINUES IN THE CLOSED CIRCLE AND MIDDLE ENGLAND. __________ ''One of those sweeping, ambitious yet hugely readable, mo
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd A Darkadapted Eye
Book Synopsis''A rich, complex and beautifully crafted novel'' P.D. JamesThe prize-winning classic that ''changed the thriller landscape'', with a new foreword from Val McDermid.VERA HILLYARD. AUNT. MOTHER. MURDERESS.Faith Severn''s life has long been overshadowed by the mystery surrounding her aunt. A respectable woman who committed a crime so terrible she was hung for it. Now, the time has come to piece her story together.What secret caused two devoted sisters to turn from love to hate? And was Vera born a killer. . .Or was she driven to it?''Brilliantly plotted. Vine is not afraid to walk down the mean streets of the mind and can build up an almost tangible atmosphere of menace and unease'' Daily Telegraph''Will linger in your memory long after you have closed the book. A first-rate novel'' Washington PostA Dark-Adapted Eye is a modern classic. If you enjoy the crime novelsTrade ReviewCompulsively readable ... a carefully devised plot unfolded with the most cunning art. Wilkie Collins and Dickens would have admired it * Sunday Times *Brilliantly plotted. Vine is not afraid to walk down the mean streets of the mind and can build up an almost tangible atmosphere of menace and unease * Daily Telegraph *Will linger in your memory long after you have closed the book. A first-rate novel * Washington Post *[Vine has a] dizzying ability to lock on to minds in chaos and snare us in their whorls of dread and doubt * Telegraph *
£9.49
Comma Press The Madman of Freedom Square
Book SynopsisFrom hostage-video makers in Baghdad, to human trafficking in the forests of Serbia, institutionalised paranoia in the Saddam years, to the nightmares of an exile trying to embrace a new life in Amsterdam... Blasim’s stories present an uncompromising view of the West's relationship with Iraq, spanning over twenty years and taking in everything from the Iran-Iraq War through to the Occupation, as well as offering a haunting critique of the post-war refugee experience. Blending allegory with historical realism, and subverting readers’ expectations in an unflinching comedy of the macabre, these stories manage to be both phantasmagoric and shockingly real, light in touch yet steeped in personal nightmare. For all their despair and darkness, though, what lingers more than the haunting images of war, or the insanity of those who would benefit from it, is the spirit of defiance, the indefatigable courage of those few characters keeping faith with what remains of human intelligence. Together these stories represent the first major literary work about the war from an Iraqi perspective.Trade Review'Blasim pitches everyday horror into something almost gothic... his taste for the surreal can be Gogol-like.' - The Independent; 'Crisp and shocking.... Too febrile and macabre to file under reportage, this cruel, funny and unsettling debut has hooks and twists that will lodge in any mind.' - The Guardian; ‘Blasim moves adeptly between surreal, internalised states of mind and ironic commentary on Islamic extremism and the American invasion... excellent.’ - The Metro
£9.99
And Other Stories Lightning Rods: Shortlisted for the 2013
Book Synopsis'All I want is to be a success. That's all I ask.' Failing salesman Joe has a dream - or rather an outrageous fantasy. Because holed up in his trailer Joe comes up with a jaw-dropping plan that will stamp out sexual harassment in the workplace and make his fortune. Win-win? As he turns his life around, Lightning Rods takes us to the very top of corporate America.Trade Review'A weird, generous, hilarious marvel.' Teju Cole, author of Open City. --------- 'The question at the heart of the novel: "What do you want?" morphs inexorably into its sinister twin: "How far are you prepared to go?" ... A masterclass in contained satirical exploration.' Sam Byers, TLS ---------'Uproariously funny.' Wall Street Journal ---------- 'DeWitt's wickedly smart satire deserves to be a classic.' Bookforum; "...an entirely unforgettable book. Voice and subject - a sort of bizarre cliche-driven management-speak, and workplace sex, respectively - are so perfectly attuned that it is entirely sui generis. ...it is extremely funny and also utterly serious. It is "sneaky, tendentious and deceptive" - in all the best ways." John Self - Asylum blog; 'Brilliant satire on yes-we-can culture' - The Independent; "an uproarious, razor-sharp novel." The Financial Times; "As it moves inexorably onwards with the cold, hard logic of the free market, Lightning Rods gets ever funnier and more bizarre, its targets loftier and its analysis more acute... Helen DeWitt's Lightning Rods finally takes its place alongside her brilliant debut The Last Samurai and her narrative-disassembling online novel Your Name Here to form the basis of an oeuvre that will, one hopes, be recognised in the future as one of the most interesting of its time." The Daily Telegraph
£9.50
Dover Publications Inc. My Antonia
Book SynopsisOne of Cather''s earliest novels written in 1918 is the story of Antonia Shimerda, who arrives on the Nebraska frontier as part of a family of Bohemian emigrants. In quiet, probing depth, the story commemorates the spirit and courage of the immigrant pioneers whose persistence and strength helped build America.
£7.74
Everyman The General in his Labyrinth
Book SynopsisWith the style and eloquent language that earned him the Nobel prize for literature, Marquez weaves a stunning story of glory and despair. Both real history and Marquez' imagination let us enter the world of Simon Bolivar, Liberator of South America, in all his humanity - good and evil. Bolivar drove the Spanish out of South America, dealt with treachery from his own compatriots. Once hailed as a hero, he is now scorned and reviled, and fighting his own demons, he refuses to die quietly. We are given a glimpse of the genius and foibles of the man behind the legend, as we accompany him on his last journey, accompanied only by the loyal remants of his once great army.
£11.69
Everyman Sorrows Of Young Werther, Elective Affinities,
Book SynopsisJohann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832) is one of the towering figures of world culture, a universal man whose extraordinary talents found expression in literature, drama, autobiography, politics and the sciences. Edited and introduced by Nicholas Boyle, author of the definitive biography of Goethe, the Everyman's Library edition shows that Goethe remains one of the most intriguing and readable of European writers. Goethe established an international literary reputation overnight with The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), a story of disappointed love and pathological sensibility which mounted a powerful challenge to the rationalism of the Enlightenment.
£17.00
Everyman The Outsider
Book SynopsisAlbert Camus' laconic masterpiece about a Frenchman who murders an Arab in colonial Algeria is famous in its time for diagnosing a state of alienation and spiritual exhaustion which summed up the mood of the mid-twentieth century. Today, more than fifty years after its first appearance, we can see that this early success was no passing fashion: The Outsider continues to speak to us of ultimate things with the force of a parable and the excitement of a thriller and remains one of the most widely read and influential classics of the century.
£14.24
Little, Brown Book Group The Robber Bride
Book SynopsisBy the author of The Handmaid's Tale and Alias GraceZenia is beautiful, smart and greedy, by turns manipulative and vulnerable, needy and ruthless; a man's dream and a woman''s nightmare. She is also dead. Just to make sure Tony, Roz andd Charis are there for the funeral. But five years on, as the three women share an indulgent, sisterly lunch, the unthinkable happens; 'with waves of ill will flowing out of her like cosmic radiation', Zenia is back...Trade ReviewIt stirs depths that CAT'S EYE did not reach, and grants deeper, stronger powers to women's friendship in distress * Marina Warner *Margaret Atwood's new novel is a fairy tale of malicious simplicity. Fay Weldon's SHE-DEVIL meets John Updike's WITCHES OF EASTWICK...Vividly written, acutely observed and very likely the most intelligently tongue in cheek novel of the year. * Salman Rushdie, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *Excitements, wit and insight sizzle across the pages. Atwood's survey of impulses that bedevil life seethes with imagination, inventiveness and intelligence. Even she has never written better than in this novel of glittering breadth and dark, eerie depths. * SUNDAY TIMES *The virtuosity with which Margaret Atwood's prose moves between rage and wit, poignancy and suspense, fantasy and realism makesTHE ROBBER BRIDE a stimulating read. THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
£9.49
Persephone Books Ltd The Winds of Heaven
Book Synopsis
£16.00
Persephone Books Ltd Consequences
Book Synopsis
£16.00
Random House Publishing Group Heaven Has No Favorites
Book Synopsis
£12.59
Pilot Productions Ltd The Little World of Don Camillo: No. 1 in the Don
Book SynopsisIn Don Camillo's Little World, where eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life, hilarious and unearthly things can happen. If you keep this in mind you will have no difficulty in getting to know the village priest and his adversary, Peppone, the communist mayor. Nor will you be surprised when a third person watches the goings-on from a big cross in the village church and not infrequently intervenes... These enchanting, wise and strangely moving tales of life in Italy's Emilia-Romagna continue to enthral millions of readers of all ages around the world. In this newly translated volume, many are available in English for the very first time.Trade Review'Giovanni Guareschi's tales of Don Camillo, the Italian priest with a hefty left hook, are absolutely delightful in their satirical swipes at human weakness.' Paul Merton
£10.79
Peter Halban Publishers Ltd The Lover
Book SynopsisA husband seeks his wife's lover who is lost in the turbulence of Israel's Yom Kippur War. As the story of his quest unfolds and grows in intensity, the main protagonists are drawn into the search and are transformed by it: through the different perspectives of husband, wife, teenage daughter, and young Arab emerges a complex picture of the uneasy present, the tension between generations, between Israel's past and future, between Jews and Arabs. 'We see an Arab and an Israeli locked into a debate of proximity, alikeness, mental hatred, that Yehoshua's superb ability to render both presences relieves of all sentimentality. What I value most in The Lover is a gift for equidistance - between characters, even between the feelings on both sides.'Alfred Kazin, New York Review of Books
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Little Big Man
Book Synopsis'I am a white man and never forget it, but I was brought up by the Cheyenne Indians from the age of ten.' So starts the story of Jack Crabb, the 111-year old narrator of Thomas Berger's masterpiece of American fiction. As a "human being", as the Cheyenne called their own, he won the name Little Big Man. He dressed in skins, feasted on dog, loved four wives and saw his people butchered by the horse soldiers of General Custer, the man he had sworn to kill. As a white man, Crabb hunted buffalo, tangled with Wyatt Earp, cheated Wild Bill Hickok and survived the Battle of Little Bighorn. Part-farcical, part-historical, the picaresque adventures of this witty, wily mythomaniac claimed the Wild West as the stuff of serious literature.Trade ReviewA seminal event in the most significant cultural and literary trend of the 1960s... Few creative works of post-Civil War America have had as much of the fibre and blood of national experience in them * Nation *One of the best novels of the decade and the best novel ever about the American West * New York Times *
£10.44
Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press Kal Ma' lil-Shukulata: Como agua para chocolate
Book SynopsisText in Arabic. A highly original novel by one of Mexicos most important storytellers, Kal Maa Lil-Shukulatas chapters each start with a traditional northern Mexican recipe. Cooking is the exclusive means of expression open to the female protagonist, who does not conform to the limited role that both society and her family have given her. Tita is trapped in a destiny predetermined at birth: family tradition dictates that the youngest daughter must renounce marriage and devote herself to the care of her mother. Tita, however, is passionately in love with Pedro, her eldest sisters husband.Trade ReviewUtterly charming interpretation of life in turn-of-the-century Mexico... (an) exquisite first novel Publishers Weekly A tall-tale, fairy-tale, soap-opera romance, Mexican cookbook and home-remedy handbook all rolled into one, Like Water For Chocolate is one tasty entree from first-time novelist Laura Esquivel San Francisco Chronicle
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Billie Jo
Book SynopsisHer dad's a villain. She's his princess.And their world is about to crash.For Terry, family is everything. But it's far from perfectBillie Jo is the adored only child of wealthy villain, Terry, and Michelle, the drunken wife he hates. Knowing how much Billie Jo dreads her parents' fights, Terry imagines that she'll understand when he tells her he is going to leave Michelle to marry his pregnant secretary.But fate is about to deal a terrible hand and change everything in a way Terry has not planned for, leaving Billie Jo's protected world in tatters.Set in a world of villains and chancers, Kimberley Chambers' brilliant first novel is a rollercoaster read you will not want to put down.Trade ReviewPraise for Kimberley Chambers: ‘This beautifully crafted, sharp, well-paced novel will keep you hooked until the very end. An outstanding tale of betrayal, violence and love. Buy it. Read it. You'll love it. I did’ Amanda Prowse ‘[Kimberley Chambers is] the queen of the gritty, low-life tale . . .a fast-paced, thrill-a-minute ride that takes you on all sorts of twists and turns’ Bella ‘Easily as good as Martina Cole’ News of the World ‘Brilliantly delivers a story of violence, treachery and family ties… Easy to read and hard to put down’ News of the World ‘[a] fast-paced tale with gritty authenticity’ The Guardian
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Born Evil
Book SynopsisHe's her son, but he's no good. How far will she go for him?Not all sons make their mother proudJune Dawson has come a long way from her rough East End background.She now lives in a nice little cul-de-sac in Rainham with her ultra-respectable husband and a lovely social life. But her world collapses when daughter Debbie announces that she is pregnant by her low-life drug addict boyfriend, Billy McDaid. June feels as though she is being sucked back into the world of villains and thugs she thought she had escaped forever.But worse is yet to come. The baby doted on by his violent and feckless dad grows into the child from hell. He is mean, sadistic and out of control. Suddenly, the family is not just in crisis. It is in meltdown.Trade ReviewPraise for Kimberley Chambers: ‘This beautifully crafted, sharp, well-paced novel will keep you hooked until the very end. An outstanding tale of betrayal, violence and love. Buy it. Read it. You'll love it. I did.’ Amanda Prowse ‘[Kimberley Chambers is] the queen of the gritty, low-life tale . . .a fast-paced, thrill-a-minute ride that takes you on all sorts of twists and turns’ Bella ‘Easily as good as Martina Cole’ News of the World ‘Brilliantly delivers a story of violence, treachery and family ties… Easy to read and hard to put down’ News of the World ‘[a] fast-paced tale with gritty authenticity’ The Guardian
£9.49
Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press Bitter Almonds
Book SynopsisOmar is an orphaned Palestinian born into chaos, displaced by violence, and driven by forces beyond his control to find his place in the world. He only has one thing to hold on to: a love that propels him forward and gives him hope. Nadia is maturing into womanhood in a refugee community in Damascus. She tries hard to cope with the tough realities of her world, but is confronted with a cruel load thrust upon her by a selfish brother. Can she break out of her traditional social mold to create her own destiny? Heart-breaking and moving, Bitter Almonds is about displacement and exile, family duty and honour, and the universal feelings of love and loss.Trade ReviewA beautiful and moving tribute to the strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love Ann Weisgarber, author of Orange shortlisted The Personal History of Rachel Dupree An enthralling mix of history and Palestinian culture... Riveting The Lady Lilas Taha's great gift in Bitter Almonds is to create characters and scenes so richly resonant with life and vitality, that the complicated, lush world of the Middle East feels as tangible and close as any world you are living in. Crucial in our strange days? Perhaps more than anything. Naomi Shihab Nye, author of HABIBI
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Day Before Happiness MODERN CLASSICS
Book Synopsis''Happiness - was it right to name it without knowing it? It sounded shameless in my mouth, like when someone shows off about knowing a celebrity and just uses their first name, saying Marcello when they really mean Mastroianni ...''A young orphan boy grows up in Naples, playing football, roaming the city''s streets and hidden places. The older boys call him ''monkey'' because he can climb anywhere. He is alone, apart from Don Gaetano, the apartment caretaker, who feeds him, teaches him to play scopa, and tells him stories about women, history and the dark secrets of Naples'' past. Then one day the boy sees a young girl standing at a window. It is an encounter that will haunt his life for years and, eventually, shape his destiny. Lyrical and exuberant, told with the simplicity of a fairy tale and the intensity of a memory, The Day Before Happiness is the story of friendship, a city and what makes us who we are.Trade ReviewPowered by a combination of charm, warmth and simplicity... poignancy gives way to wry humour at regular intervals throughout the book, and the result is a brittle, lyrical, finely poised tragicomedy -- Malcolm Forbes * Herald Scotland *An economically expressed yet vividly imagined coming-of-age story... De Luca is a native of Naples and in a sense this book is a love letter to the city -- Roger Cox * Scotsman *High hopes in clear language, cautions against real evil, and scenes thick with poetic sentiment - these elements fuel the warmth to be found in De Luca's brief but affecting novels * The National *The only true first-rate writer that the new millennium has given us so far * Corriere della Serra *
£999.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
Book SynopsisAn American short-story writer of intimidating talent'' Zadie SmithGraceful, dark, authentic and funny'' Thomas PynchonYou do not read Saunders'' stories so much as watch them detonate on the page in front of you, like a firecracker some joker has slipped into your pudding'' New StatesmanFrom the No. 1 New York Times Bestselling Author of the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, and the story collection Tenth of December, winner of the Folio Prize for Fiction 2014Welcome to Inner Horner, a nation so small it can only accommodate one citizen at a time. But when Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing three-quarters of the citizen in residence over the border into Outer Horner territory, the Outer Hornerites declare an Invasion in Progress, having fallen under the spell of the power-hungry and demagogic Phil. So begins his brief and very frightening reign...A surreal and incisive satire by the Booker Prize-winning author whose work illTrade Review‘An American short-story writer of intimidating talent' * Zadie Smith *‘Graceful, dark, authentic and funny' * Thomas Pynchon *‘Dark, concerned, confused and funny, all at the same time ... Like so much of Saunders' brilliant, crazy writing it's relevant, but not too relevant' * The Times *‘You do not read Saunders' stories so much as watch them detonate on the page in front of you, like a firecracker some joker has slipped into your pudding' * New Statesman *
£10.44
Little, Brown Book Group Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Book SynopsisWhen Camille Sugarbaker Honeycutt, the pretty but crazy 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen, dies suddenly, her twelve-year-old daughter CeeCee has barely a hope left in the world. To her rescue arrives Great Aunt Tootie in the most magnificent car CeeCee has ever seen, and she is whisked away to the storybook city of Savannah. For some flowers, Aunt Tootie holds, are born to bloom only south of the Mason-Dixon line and soon, among the sweet scent of magnolias and the loving warmth of Tootie and her colourful collection of friends, it looks as though CeeCee has arrived in paradise. But when a darker side to the Southern dream threatens this delicate, newfound happiness, Aunt Tootie and her friends must rally to CeeCee''s aid.Warm yet heartbreaking, and generously spiced with humor, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is the story of a girl who loses her mother but finds many others under a balmy Georgia sun.
£9.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Tremor of Forgery A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisBY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY AND STRANGERS ON A TRAIN INTRODUCED BY DENISE MINA''Highsmith is a giant of the genre. The original, the best, the gloriously twisted Queen of Suspense'' MARK BILLINGHAM''She kind of takes you by the hand and walks you toward the cliff. I like that sensation'' GILLIAN FLYNN ''One of Highsmith''s finest novels'' NEW YORK TIMES A gripping novel that explores the shifting sands of moral values - is murder still murder when committed in a lawless place?Howard Ingham, an American writer, is in Tunisia working on a screenplay, and feeling stranded. No one has written to him since he arrived - neither the film director who he is supposed to be meeting in Tunis, nor his lover in New York. The erratic mail eventually brings news of the director''s suicide. For reasons obscure even to himself, Ingham decides to stay and work on a Trade ReviewThe no.1 Greatest Crime Writer * The Times *Highsmith was every bit as deviant and quirky as her mischievous heroes, and didn't seem to mind if everyone knew it -- J. G. Ballard * Daily Telegraph *She kind of takes you by the hand and walks you toward the cliff. I like that sensation -- Gillian FlynnNo one has created psychological suspense more densely and deliciously satisfying * Vogue *One of Highsmith's finest novels * New York Times *Her best novel * New Yorker *Highsmith is the poet of apprehension rather than fear . . . Highsmith's finest novel to my mind is The Tremor of Forgery, and if I were asked what it is about I would reply, "apprehension"' -- Graham GreeneI love [Highsmith] so much . . . what a revelation her writing is -- Gillian Flynn * Wall Street Journal *One of her best books . . . She creates a lot of dread and a lot of apprehension very casually -- Jonathan Lethem * Chicago Tribune *
£9.49
John Murray Press Water for Elephants
Book SynopsisTHE INTERNATIONAL PHENOMENON AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERNOW A FILM STARRING REESE WITHERSPOON AND ROBERT PATTINSON''Great story, loads of fun; hard to put down.'' STEPHEN KINGThe Great Depression, 1929. When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and utterly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits in the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth: a second-rate travelling circus struggling to survive by making one-night stands in town after endless town. Jacob, a veterinary student now unable to finish his degree, is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. He meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her. Illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place,Trade ReviewI loved Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Great story, loads of fun; hard to put down. So what if the heroine weighs 2500 pounds? * Stephen King *Water for Elephants is fun, sweet and thrilling and will pull you into the mysterious life of the circus so far that you won't want to leave. * Guardian *Gruen's portrait of this world is satisfyingly rich and outlandish... Any reader of this inspiring novel (written in only a month) will be immersed in circus life; blinded by the thrilling, fatal dazzle of sequins and sawdust. * Daily Telegraph *Gruen brilliantly conjures up the whole brouhaha of herding punters into the temporary magic of the big top, and the harsh economic reality of sustaining the show. Both exotic and erotic, Water for Elephants is filled with colour and passion but is also charged with an elegiac sense of loss for an entire way of life. * Financial Times *There is a tender story of first love, of murder, mayhem and animal and human brutality, of hucksters, whores and the general hoopla created when the circus rolls into town ... This book is every bit the fabulous escapist entertainment that the big top once was. * Sunday Express *You are so immersed in circus life that you are completely blinded by the thrilling, fatal dazzle of sequins and sawdust. * Daily Telegraph *Trust us, Water for Elephants is going to be one of the surprise hits of 2011. Sara Gruen's very readable novel is a story of impossible love set in the circus world during the 1930s and is set to be made into a blockbuster film starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. You heard it here first. * Good Housekeeping *One of my favourite reads last year. It was so cinematic I just knew there would have to be a Hollywood movie. . . . Star of both the book and the movie is Rosie the elephant who is more intelligent and photogenic than any other member of the cast. And that's saying something because the two main human stars are the impossibly beautiful Reese Witherspoon and Twilight heart-throb Robert Pattinson * The Sun *The most magical, haunting novel I've read in the past few years. * Daisy Waugh, Tatler *Lovely and mesmerising. * Kirkus *This masterpiece of storytelling is a book about what animals can teach people about love. * Susan Cheever *The ending gives you a lift and shows that good triumphs over evil. * Epoch Times *Definitely worth catching up with if you've missed it so far. * Choice *It's a romantic story that's set in an evocatively rendered era. * Heat *The writing conjures up the smells and sounds of the circus, the excitement and the magic, as well as the rather tawdry seediness and the both casual and overt brutality . . . The delightful, fairy-tale ending left me smiling for days at the imagery conjured up by it. * New Books *Gorgeous, brilliant and superbly plotted, I am unabashedly in love with this book * Joshilyn Jackson, author of GODS IN ALABAMA *Great! * Giffords Circus *An imaginative modern fairy story, teeming with eccentric characters * The Times *Allow yourself to be carried away by this vibrant and superbly written book * Daily Express *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Sugar Queen
Book SynopsisTwenty-seven-year-old Josey is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season; she''s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle; and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother''s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night . . . Until she finds her closet harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tender-hearted woman who is one part nemesis - and two parts fairy godmother . . .Trade ReviewIt's a bewitching read in every sense, taking you to a world of regrets, missed opportunites and lost loves found again. Magical * Glamour magazine - Must Read *'A bewitching tale laced with magic, hope and wit, a pure delight' * Bookseller *Praise for GARDEN SPELLS, Sarah Addison Allen's delicious debut novel * : *This compelling book has it all - passion, romance and sibling rivalry. This is Sarah Addison Allen's first novel - she's definitely one to watch * My Weekly *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Myra Breckinridge And Myron
Book SynopsisIt is a risky (and risque) business becoming ''Woman Triumphant'' - exercising total power over men like Rusty Godowski. Rusty just wants to be a Hollywood star like everyone else at Buck Loner''s academy, but now that Buck''s niece, Myra Breckinridge, has arrived, the curriculum is taking a wildly strange turn. Willing to risk all to be superb and unique, Myra means to prove to her old friend Dr Montag that it is possible to work out in life all one''s fantasies - and survive.''From Myra''s fist appearnce on the page she was a megastar'', explains her creator, Gore Vidal. Myra caused a second furore when she returned in Myron to battle it out with her eponymous alter ego, a drab little man fallen into marriage and a job in Chinese catering. Theirs is a contest of hormonal roulette, with glorious Myra off on time-travelling missions of mercy back to 1948 to try to change cinema history and to introduce her own radical theories of popuation control. Meanwhile Myron tries desTrade ReviewFalling somewhere between the realms of Henry Adams and all of Monty Python, Gore Vidal has for many years served as America's own Tiesias - a seer and scourge, as well as an entertainer of the highest order. * Jay McInerney *
£13.49
Simon & Schuster Ltd Sunshine and Sweet Peas in Nightingale Square
Book Synopsis‘Pour out the Pimm’s, pull out the deckchair and lose yourself in this lovely, sweet, summery story!’ MILLY JOHNSONThe heart-warming new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author, perfect for fans of Carole Matthews, Milly Johnson and Cathy Bramley Kate is on the run from her almost-divorced husband who is determined to have her back, and she has found the perfect place to hide... a little cottage on Nightingale Square in Norwich, far away from her old life in London. But the residents of Nightingale Square don't take no for an answer, and Kate soon finds herself pulled into a friendship with Lisa, her bossy but lovely new neighbour. Within a matter of days Kate is landed with the job of campaigning the council to turn the green into a community garden, meanwhile all the residents of Nightingale Square are horrified to discover that the Victorian mansion house on t
£7.59
