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
Cornerstone The Essential Hemingway
Book SynopsisErnest Miller Hemingway was born in Chicago in 1899 as the son of a doctor and the second of six children. After a stint as an ambulance driver at the Italian front, Hemingway came home to America in 1919, only to return to the battlefield this time as a reporter on the Greco-Turkish war in 1922. Resigning from journalism to focus on his writing instead, he moved to Paris where he renewed his earlier friendship with fellow American expatriates such as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Through the years, Hemingway travelled widely and wrote avidly, becoming an internationally recognized literary master of his craft. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.Trade ReviewFor the novice, there could be no better initiation - For students of Hemingway, here is a well-balanced view * Daily Express *He can perform prodigies. He can fascinate us by pure evocation, by the tensity of the situation * Times Literary Supplement *Hemingway's style, at its best, is a superb vehicle for revealing tenderness of feeling beneath descriptions of brutality * The Guardian *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Proust M In Search Of Lost Time Vol 1
Book SynopsisThe definitive translation of one of the greatest French novels of the twentieth centuryIn the opening volume of Proust's great novel, the narrator travels backwards in time in order to tell the story of a love affair that had taken place before his own birth.Trade ReviewMy advice is to plunge straight into Volume 1, Swann's Way there are many who swear the experience has permanently enriched their lives * Daily Mail *One of the cornerstones of the Western literary canon * The Times *Surely the greatest novelist of the 20th century * Sunday Telegraph *As close to being a definitive English version of the great novel as we are likely to get * Scotsman *Proust isn't just the most profound of novelists, but the most entertaining, too. No reader ever forgets his most killingly funny scenes... Proust sinks deepest in readers because the book is so exhaustively analytical, so ceaselessly truthful. Not the least of it is the book's heavenly length, so that it inevitably takes over your life for a long stretch... the experience of reading it becomes, in itself, an unforgettable thing * Independent *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing In Search of Lost Time Vol 3
Book SynopsisTHE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATIONIn The Guermantes Way Proust''s narrator recalls his initiation into the dazzling world of Parisian high society. Looking back over his time in the glamorous salons of the aristocracy, he satirises this shallow world and his own youthful infatuation with it. His observations, and his experiences with his lover Albertine, also educate him in the volatile nature of desire as he walks the path towards adulthood.Trade ReviewA version that wonderfully proves the greatness of this novel, this novelist -- Melvyn Bragg * Guardian *What a genius! Whole pages cascade, like great jazz slaloms -- Bill Nighy * The Times *One of the cornerstones of the Western literary canon * The Times *It's a novel with zero plot, but the narrator's brilliant analyses of everyday experiences more than make up for it. I've never read a better description of what it feels like to fall asleep -- Alain de Botton * Mail on Sunday *The plot is as gripping as any soap opera, the jokes come thick and fast...Proust's is a world entire - so why not take it with you anywhere in the world? -- Will Self * Independent on Sunday *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing In Search of Lost Time Vol 4
Book SynopsisTHE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATIONIn Sodom and Gomorrah Proust''s narrator not only depicts the class tensions of a changing France at the beginning of the twentieth century but also exposes the decadence of aristocratic Parisian society and muses upon the subjects of homosexuality and sexual jealousy.Trade ReviewA giant miniature, full of images, of superimposed gardens, of games conducted between space and time -- Jean CocteauOne of the cornerstones of the Western literary canon * The Times *Proust isn't just the most profound of novelists, but the most entertaining, too * Independent *The way he replicates the workings of the mind changed the art of novel-writing forever...his style is extraordinary, enveloping, captivating * Guardian *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing In Search of Lost Time Vol 5
Book SynopsisTHE ACCLAIMED FULLY REVISED EDITION OF THE SCOTT MONCRIEFF AND KILMARTIN TRANSLATIONIn the two novels - The Captive and The Fugitive - contained in this volume, Proust''s narrator is living in his mother''s apartment in Paris with his lover, Albertine. However, this is far from an idyllic state of affairs. His obsessive love for her means that their relationship is shadowed by jealousy and headed for tragedy.Trade ReviewOh if I could write like that! -- Virginia WoolfOne of the cornerstones of the Western literary canon * The Times *Proust sinks deepest in readers because the book is so exhaustively analytical, so ceaselessly truthful... The experience of reading [the book] becomes, in itself, an unforgettable thing * Independent *The way he replicates the workings of the mind changed the art of novel-writing forever...his style is extraordinary, enveloping, captivating * Guardian *There are many who swear the experience has permanently enriched their lives * Daily Mail *
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Welcome To The Monkey House and Palm Sunday
Book SynopsisKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born in Indianapolis in 1922 and studied biochemistry at Cornell University. During the Second World War he served in Europe and, as a prisoner of war in Germany, witnessed the destruction of Dresden by Allied bombers, an experience which inspired the canonic war novel Slaughterhouse-Five. He is the author of thirteen other novels, which include Cat's Cradle, Jailbird, Deadeye Dick, Galápagos and Bluebeard, two collections of stories, and three non-fiction books. He died in 2007.Trade ReviewVonnegut's sharp wit and intellect are tempered but not blunted by his honesty and humanity * Independent *These taut, concise stories show us the roots of a great Rube Goldberg literary career * Los Angeles Times *Wonderfully wicked * Washington Post *Twisted, funny, sci-fi and high-concept. It’s a great, great book -- Rebecca Romijin-Stamos * Independent *A brilliant wacky ideas-monger * Observer *
£12.34
Vintage Publishing Portnoys Complaint
Book SynopsisPhilip Roth was born in Newark, New Jersey on 19 March 1933. The second child of second-generation Americans, Bess and Herman Roth, Roth grew up in the largely Jewish community of Weequahic, a neighbourhood he was to return to time and again in his writing. After graduating from Weequahic High School in 1950, he attended Bucknell University, Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago, where he received a scholarship to complete his M.A. in English Literature.In 1959, Roth published Goodbye, Columbus a collection of stories, and a novella for which he received the National Book Award. Ten years later, the publication of his fourth novel, Portnoy's Complaint, brought Roth both critical and commercial success, firmly securing his reputation as one of America's finest young writers. Roth was the author of thirty-one books, including those that were to follow the fortunes of Nathan Zuckerman, and a fictional narrator named Philip Roth, through which he explored and gave voice to the complexities of the American experience in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. Roth's lasting contribution to literature was widely recognised throughout his lifetime, both in the US and abroad. Among other commendations he was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the International Man Booker Prize, twice the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award, and presented with the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal by Presidents Clinton and Obama, respectively.Philip Roth died on 22 May 2018 at the age of eighty-five having retired from writing six years previously.Trade ReviewThe most scandalous book of the year and probably the decade. -- John Sutherland * The Times *The most outrageously funny book about sex yet written * Guardian *A hysterically funny monologue which has already added a new prototype to American literature... Anyone who can recall anything of the awesome mystery and humiliating farce of growing up will find this book compulsive reading. And it is blessedly, extremely funny * Spectator *Philip Roth's gift for fantasy, his superb dialogue, his ability to evoke places and atmospheres, make Portnoy's Complaint at once hilariously, scabrously funny and deeply moving * Financial Times *Alexander Portnoy is a great comic character. He is going to be for many readers what his mother was for him: The Most Unforgettable Character I've Met * New Statesman *
£9.49
Cornerstone Star Wars The New Jedi Order Dark Tide Ruin
Book SynopsisTwenty-one years after the destruction of Darth Vader and the Emperor, the Star Wars galaxy has been hit by a threat more deadly than anything that has gone before. In VECTOR PRIME, aliens invaded from outside the galaxy and were routed. . . at great cost to our heroes. Now, in a climate of mistrust - especially of the Jedi - Leia cannot convince the New Republic that the threat may not be over, even as the next wave of alien warships are entering the galaxy. . . It is up to Leia, Luke, the Solo Kids - Jedi Knights all - and the few who believe to defend the Outer Rim planets from invasion.
£14.39
Cornerstone Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace
Book SynopsisA writer since high school, Terry Brooks published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. It became the first work of fiction ever to appear on the New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller List, where it remained for more than five months. He has published fourteen consecutive bestselling novels since.The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific North-West Hawaii
£10.44
Cornerstone Star Wars The New Jedi Order Enemy Lines I Rebel
Book SynopsisScattering after the Yuuzhan Vong''s invasion of Coruscant, the panic-stricken members of the New Republic Advisory Council pause just long enough to set up a mock defense on nearby Borleias--an attempt to buy time that fools no one, least of all the Jedi. Leia and Han Solo travel from world to world to foment rebellion against the New Republic''s disastrous appeasement policies. But Luke Skywalker has chosen the most dangerous assignment of all: to sneak into the Yuuzhan Vong''s stronghold on Coruscant. His outrageous scheme to gain entry is either brilliant or suicidal, depending on the outcome. Bearing down swiftly on Borleias is a Yuuzhan Vong invasion fleet, determined to destroy the galaxy''s remaining defenders. . . .
£14.39
Cornerstone Star Wars The New Jedi Order Traitor
Book SynopsisFrom the depths of catastrophe, a glimmer of hope.After the capture of Coruscant, the mighty heart of the New Republic, a stunned galaxy fears that nothing can stop the Yuuzhan Vong. Still, that crushing defeat produces one small miracle: Jacen Solo is alive. Yet he can scarcely imagine himself in stranger circumstances.The young Jedi Knight is in the care of Vergere, a fascinating creature of mystery and power, her intentions hard to fathom, her cruelties rarely concealed. But this master of inscrutable arts has much to teach the young Jedi...for she holds the key to a new way to experience the Force, to take it to another level - dangerous, dazzling, perhaps deadly.In the wrong hands, the tremendous energies of the Froce can be devastating. And there are others watching Jacen''s progress closely, waiting patiently for the moment when he will be ready for their own dire purposes. Now, all is in shadows. Yet whatever happens, whether Jacen''s newfound mastery
£14.39
Cornerstone Star Wars The New Jedi Order Force Heretic I
Book SynopsisAs the bloodied and weary galaxy faces battle once more, the Jedi take on the formidable task of bringing the last of the Empire into the light-From the ashes of the New Republic, torn apart by the Yuuzhan Vong forces, the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen, determined to bring peace to the entire galaxy. But first the Yuuzhan Vong must be contained once and for all. And so Luke Skywalker seeks a world long lost to legend: Zonama Sekot, a sentient planet believed to have repelled an invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong decades before. Deciphering the enigmatic secrets of Zonama Sekot just might turn the relentless tides of war-
£15.29
Cornerstone Edge of Victory II Rebirth Star Wars The New Jedi
Book SynopsisThe STAR WARS epic continues its dazzling space odyssey in The New Jedi Order - as Luke and Mara, Leia and Han and others battle the mighty enemy from beyond the galactic rim. The brutal Yuuzhan Vong are scouring the universe for Jedi to slaughter. With no help from the divided New Republic, the Jedi stand alone against their seemingly invincible foe. Han and Leia Organa Solo risk deadly consequences with their controversial tactics to bolster the Jedi resistance. After uncovering a new Yuuzhan Vong menace, Anakin and Tahiri find themselves wanted for murder by the Peace Brigade. To avoid capture, they jump into hyperspace . . .and into trouble far graver. Hunted by the Yuuzhan Vong, wanted as criminals by the New Republic, and with unrest stirring within their own ranks, the Jedi find peril everywhere they turn. But even in the midst of despair, while the fiercest battle of all looms on the horizon, hope arises with the birth of one very special child . . .
£14.39
Cornerstone Star Wars The New Jedi Order Destinys Way
Book SynopsisIn the war against the ruthless Yuuzhan Vong, the fall of Coruscant leaves the New Republic divided by internal strife, and on the verge of bowing to conquest. But those who steadfastly refuse to consider surrender-Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and their children and comrades-in-arms-are determined to seize victory against overwhelming odds. And now, finally, there are signs that the tide may be turning in the New Republic''s favor. After capturing crucial Yuuzhan Vong intelligence, Jedi fighter-pilot Jaina Solo prepares to lead a daring surprise strike against an enemy flagship. Meanwhile, Jaina''s brother Jacen-liberated from the hands of the enemy and newly schooled in an even greater mastery of the Force by the Jedi Knight Vergere-is eagerly poised to bring his unique skills to bear against the invaders. And on Mon Calamari, the New Republic''s provisional capital, the retired, ailing hero Admiral Ackbar has conceived a major tactical plan that could spell the beginni
£15.29
Cornerstone Star Wars Episode II Attack Of The Clones
Book SynopsisR. A. Salvatore was born in Massachusetts in 1959. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College and a Bachelor of Arts in English. His first-published novel was The Crystal Shard from TSR, Inc. in 1988; he has since published more than a dozen novels, including four New York Times bestsellers. He makes his home in Massachusetts with his wife, Diane, and their three children.
£10.44
Cornerstone Quicksilver
Book SynopsisIncluding a cast of characters such as Newton, Leibniz, Christopher Wren, Charles II, Cromwell and the young Benjamin Franklin, this book shows the ability to get inside a place and time; and more.Trade Review[A] massive tour-de-force- Dense, witty, erudite, packed with fascinating characters, and gripping despite a distended length, Quicksilver is both a worthy prequel to Cryptonomicon, and an indication that Stephenson's Baroque Cycle is shaping up to be a far more impressive literary endeavour than most so-called "serious" fiction - No scholarly, and intellectually provocative, historical novel has been this much fun since The Name of the Rose. -- Charles Shaar Murray * Independent *Staggering diversity and detail ... An astonishing achievement. * Sunday Telegraph *A great, heaving countryside of a book...consistently funny...fluent and elusive, while retaining just the right hint of poison * Telegraph *Stephenson mixes a library’s worth of ideas with compulsive derring-do … its scope and inventiveness become addictive. * Time Out *A breathless ride…the writing gives an immersive sense of time and place * Face *
£11.69
Cornerstone Back Trouble
Book SynopsisFrom the highly-acclaimed author of SMALL PLEASURES - longlisted for the Women''s Prize for Fiction 2021On the brink of forty, newly single with a failed business, Philip thought he''d reached an all-time low.It only needed a discarded chip on a South London street to lay him literally flat. So, bedbound and bored, Philip naturally starts to write the story of his life.But between the mundane catalogue of seaside holidays and bodged DIY, broken relationships and unspoken truths, more surprises are revealed, both comic and touching, than Philip or his family ever bargained for. Even, perhaps, a happy ending...Praise for Clare Chambers:''Smart, astute, and very funny'' Daily Mail''Gorgeous... If you''re looking for something escapist and bittersweet, I could not recommend more'' Pandora Sykes on SMALL PLEASURES''Chambers'' eye for undemonstrative details achieves a Larkin-esTrade ReviewA funny and moving story with a great deal of style * Sunday Telegraph *A funny book which slips in some acute and painful obervations on the side * The Times *A great read * Time Out *
£999.99
Cornerstone Artistic Licence
Book Synopsis_________________''Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.'' AJ PEARCE_________________There''s an art to choosing men, but Thea''s just discovering it. A wonderfully romantic novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Recipe for Love, A French Affair and The Perfect Match.Leaving behind a house full of students she looks after, Thea throws caution to the wind and takes off to Ireland with Rory, a charming artist.But Thea''s old life isn''t so easily cut off. The arrival of Molly, her bossy friend, demanding to see Rory''s stunning paintings (and to find out what Thea is up to) is bad enough, but why did she have to bring Petal, Thea''s most annoying lodger, along for the ride? And worst of all, Petal is accompanied by her uncle, the enigmatic Ben, a man Thea has sworn never to like.The tTrade ReviewCan be scoffed at one sitting … Tasty * Cosmopolitan *Joanna Trollope crossed with Tom Sharpe * Mail on Sunday *The romance fizzes along with good humour and is a good, fat, summery read * Sunday Mirror *
£9.49
Cornerstone The Pursuit of Happiness
Book SynopsisThe critically acclaimed bestseller from the number one bestselling author of The Moment and A Special Relationship. A powerful romantic novel set in the tumultuous world of post-war America.New York, 1945 - Sara Smythe, a young, beautiful and intelligent woman, ready to make her own way in the big city, attends her brother''s Thanksgiving Eve party. As the party gets into full swing, in walks Jack Malone, a US Army journalist back from a defeated Germany and a man unlike any Sara has ever met before - one who is destined to change Sara''s future forever.But finding love isn''t the same as finding happiness - as Sara and Jack soon find out. In post-war America chance meetings aren''t always as they seem, and people''s choices can often have profound repercussions. Sara and Jack find they are subject to forces beyond their control and that their destinies are formed by more than just circumstance. In this world of intrigue and emotional conflict, Trade ReviewWhippman argues persuasively that happiness is something that emerges from the quality of relationships we have with others * TLS *This is the novel against which the rest of the year's output demands to be judged * Express on Sunday *Kennedy cannot help but write grippingly, and he weaves threads of love and betrayal into a thrillingly masterful ending * Observer *This superb story of divided loyalties and personal tragedy will heave you pinned to your seat * Woman & Home *Curl up and enjoy * Spectator *
£10.44
Cornerstone Dust on the Sea
Book SynopsisFrom the pen of multi-million copy bestselling author Douglas Reeman, this is the fourth novel in the Blackwood saga, spanning 150 years in the history of a great seafaring family. Set in World War Two, Dust on the Sea is a rip-roaring, rollicking read and perfect for fans of Clive Cussler, Bernard Cornwell and Wilbur Smith. ''One of our foremost writers of naval fiction'' -- Sunday Times''Mr Reeman writes with great knowledge about the sea and those who sail on it'' -- The Times''A compelling read'' -- ***** Reader review''The only downside of this book is I couldn''t put it down'' -- ***** Reader review''Keeps you enthralled throughout'' -- ***** Reader review''Fun and gripping'' -- ***** Reader review''Magnificent'' -- ***** Reader review**************************************************************************************Trade Review'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' Sunday TimesMasterly storytelling. * The Times *
£12.34
Vintage Publishing The Enchantress of Florence
Book SynopsisSalman Rushdie is the author of sixteen novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.Trade Review"A brilliant, fascinating, generous novel...wonderful" -- Ursula le Guin Guardian "A wild and whirling novel" Observer "For Rushdie, as for the artists he writes about, the pen is a magician's wand. There is more magic than realism in this latest novel. But it is, I think, one of his best. If The Enchantress of Florence doesn't win this year's Man Booker I'll curry my proof copy and eat it" Financial Times "My first desire on finishing it was to go back and re-read it. Like all of Rushdie's work, the playfulness, the passion, the erudition and the sensuousness go hand in hand. It's immensely rich...it's one of his best" Scotsman "An exuberant mix of fantasy and history" Daily Mail
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Final Demand
Book SynopsisFinal Demand is strong on narrative, dashing the reader along, but, though fast-paced and transparently written, nevertheless creates people of memorable complexity' Independent Natalie is a girl who should be going somewhere. Beautiful, bright and ambitious, she's stuck in a dead-end job in the accounts department of Nu-Line Telecommunications, living her life through wild weekends and yearning for something more. When she sees a chance to change her life, she takes it. After all, it's only a minor crime. Nobody's going to get hurt. But other people do get hurt, because Natalie's actions do have consequences tragic consequences. Poignant and beautifully written, Final Demand is a cautionary tale about the battle between greed and love, about human hopes and our own frailty in the face of temptation. A chilling, impeccably plotted novel' Cosmopolitan Powerfulvividly evoked' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewAn astonishing story of broken dreams, greed and human frailty.A tale of extraordinary power. Quite simply outstanding * Daily Mail *Hugely entertaining.immensely thought-provoking * Daily Express *Powerful.vividly evoked * Sunday Times *Deborah Moggach can fit a complex idea onto a postage stamp... ordinary human crises are described tersely, compassionately, and with a wit as dry as the Sahara * Independent *Moggach's delight in spinning her story, and in the minor characters she invents, is infectious * Mail on Sunday *
£14.39
Vintage Publishing Baudolino
Book SynopsisAn extraordinary epic, brilliantly-imagined, new novel from a world-class writer and author of The Name of the Rose. Discover the Middle Ages with Baudolino - a wondrous, dazzling, beguiling tale of history, myth and invention. It is 1204, and Constantinople is being sacked and burned by the knights of the fourth Crusade. Amid the carnage and confusion Baudolino saves a Byzantine historian and high court official from certain death at the hands of the crusading warriors, and proceeds to tell his own fantastical story.Trade ReviewA whirlwind of an adventure- and has everything - myths, marvels, monsters, murders, mysteries * Financial Times *Here is the Eco of The Name of the Rose...poised, mischievous and erudite, the fruit of extraordinary knowledge * Washington Post *[Eco] has given us, in the book's central character, a grand and sympathetic figure in the tradition of Candide and Sancho Panza * Independent on Sunday *Mixing pages of intellectual discussion and exhilarating comedy - further reveals Eco's practically inexhaustible erudition * Irish Times *A richly entertaining novel * Sunday Times *
£11.69
Vintage Publishing Claudine In Paris
Book SynopsisTHE STORIES THAT INSPIRED THE FILM COLETTE, out Jan 2019.The second book in Colette''s enchanting Claudine series.Seventeen-year-old Claudine is in despair having left her beloved village Montigny for a new life in Paris. Comforted by her devoted maid Melie, her slug-obsessed Papa, and the trustworthy cat Fanchette, Claudine's instinctive curiosity gradually leads to an awakened interest in the city. Ruthless and sensual, Claudine records her sharp observations and adventures amongst the intriguing characters that surround her, evoking all the glamour and excitement of Parisian life.Written with striking realism Claudine in Paris is an inspiring portrait of a precocious young girl on the brink of transformation into a woman for her, and our, time.Trade ReviewAccessible and elusive; greedy and austere; courageous and timid; subversive and complacent; scorchingly honest and sublimely mendacious; an inspired consoler and an existential pessimist—these are the qualities of the artist and the woman. It is time to rediscover them. -- Judith Thurman, biographer of ColetteHer sensual prose style made her one of the great writers of twentieth-century France * New York Times Book Review *She has been compared to a 20th-century female Montaigne, and it is true that her books offer a manual on how to live fearlessly and joyfully – greedily alive to every sensation and experience * Guardian *A perfectionist in her every word * Spectator *Her prose is rich, flawless, intricate, audacious and utterly beautiful -- Raymond Mortimer
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Back When We Were Grownups
Book SynopsisOne morning, Rebecca wakes up and realises she has turned into the wrong person. Is she really this joyous and outgoing organiser of parties, the put-upon heart of her dead husband''s extended family? What happened to her quiet and serious nineteen-year-old self, and what would have happened if she''d married her college sweetheart? Can someone ever recover the person they''ve left behind?**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**''Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing'' Rachel Joyce''She knows all the secrets of the human heart'' Monica Ali ''A masterly author'' Sebastian Faulks''I love Anne Tyler. I''ve read every single book she''s written'' Jacqueline WilsonTrade ReviewBeautifully observed... Effortlessly brilliant * Daily Telegraph *One of her very best * Mail on Sunday *Superb... Beautifully conceived, masterfully executed... Out of the emotional confusions spawned by dislocated, dysfunctional families, Anne Tyler has produced - yet again - a scintillating comedy of manners * Sunday Telegraph *Like all great writers, Tyler creates her own world...she is that rare being: a writer so good that she lets you forget it. If you're one of the few who's yet to discover her, don't waste any more time: this ranks among her best * Daily Mail *Tyler, of the fresh, almost conversational prose, sharp dialogue and all too much human truth, really is one of the wisest and most perceptive observers crafting fiction as life * Irish Times *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Choke
Book SynopsisVictor Mancini has devised a complicated scam to pay for his mother''s hospital care: pretend to be choking on a piece of food in a restaurant and the person who ''saves you'' will feel responsible for you for the rest of their lives. Multiply that a couple of hundred times and you generate a healthy flow of cheques, week in, week out. Victor also works at a theme park with a motley group of losers, cruises sex addiction groups for action, and visits his mother, whose Alzheimer''s disease now hides what may be the startling truth about his parentage.Trade ReviewPalahniuk's grotesque, exaggerated portrait of American society certainly isn't pretty, but it grips like a vice all the same * The Times *A wonderful writer with a raw take on modern woes * The Face *Mining a dark vein opened by Bret Easton Ellis and George Saunders, Palahniuk specialises in producing nightmarish visions of American society that manage to be both repugnant and hilarious - the reckless brilliance of his imagination keeps you turning the pages * Literary Review *A raw and vital book, punctuated with outrageous, off-the-wall moments * New York Times *The pungent imagery, the witty twists, the chunky rhythms are great * Financial Times *
£9.49
Cornerstone Illusions The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Book SynopsisTHE INSPIRATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER, FROM THE AUTHOR OF JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULLIn the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane. For disillusioned writer and itinerant barnstormer Richard Bach, belief is as real as a full tank of gas and sparks firing in the cylinders ... until he meets Donald Shimoda - former mechanic and self-described messiah who can make wrenches fly and Richard''s imagination soar...In Illusions, the unforgettable follow-up to his phenomenal New York Times bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach takes to the air to discover the ageless truths that give our souls wings: that people don''t need airplanes to soar ... that even the darkest clouds have meaning once we lift ourselves above them ... and that messiahs can be found in the unlikeliest places - like hay fields, one-traffic-light midwestern towns, and mTrade ReviewThe five books that changed my life * Woman *
£8.54
Vintage Publishing In Custody 1
Book SynopsisTouching and wonderfully funny, In Custody is woven around the yearnings and calamities of a small-town scholar in the north of India. An impoverished college lecturer, Deven, sees a way to escape from the meanness of his daily life when he is asked to interview India''s greatest Urdu poet, Nur - a project that can only end in disaster.Trade ReviewA major attempt to tackle serious themes... extraordinarily rich in incident and detail. * Sebastian Faulks *Anita Desai's most subtle and mature work to date... She retains an unforced and powerful ease in conveying the colour and sounds and sensations of Indian life. * Times Literary Supplement *A wry, gently humorous novel, full of wisdom and restraint... The author chronicles India lovingly but it would be a mistake to think of her simply as an Indian writer, for her themes are universal * Financial Times *
£8.54
Vintage Publishing Games At Twilight
Book SynopsisSet in contemporary Bombay and other cities, these stories reflect the kaleidoscope of urban life - evoking the colour, sounds and white-hot heat of the city. Warm, perceptive, humorous and touched with sadness, Anita Desai''s stories are peopled with intensely individual characters - the man spiritually transformed by the surface texture of a melon; the American wife who, homesick for the verdant farmlands of Vermont, turns to the hippies in the Indian hills; the painter living in a slum who fills his canvasses with flowers, birds and landscapes he has never seen.Trade ReviewAs finely written atmospheric pieces alone the stories would be memorable... As social documents they are absorbing. The volume's profound theme is the tension between convention and exploration, family solidarity and individualism... An admirable humane and responsible achievement -- Hermione Lee * Observer *One of the most brilliant and subtle writers ever to have described the meeting of eastern and western culture * Alison Lurie *Beautifully accomplished and memorable * The Times *Absolutely first-rate…absorbing -- Hermione Lee * Observer *Desai has a gift of opening up a closed world and making it clearly visible * Sunday Times *
£11.67
Vintage Publishing Accidents in the Home
Book SynopsisTessa Hadley is the author of eight highly praised novels, Accidents in the Home, which was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Everything Will Be All Right, The Master Bedroom, The London Train, Clever Girl, The Past, Late in the Day, Free Love and three collections of stories, Sunstroke, Married Love and Bad Dreams. She won the Windham Campbell Prize for Fiction in 2016, The Past won the Hawthornden Prize for 2016, and Bad Dreams won the 2018 Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her stories appear regularly in the New Yorker.Trade ReviewFew writers give me such consistent pleasure -- Zadie SmithShe has such great psychological insights into human beings, which is rare. She is one of the best fiction writers writing today -- Chimamanda Ngozie AdichieSurprising and rewarding... Hadley has pulled off an important and tricky task... Not many books remind you so directly and forcefully that reading is about creating new ways of seeing the world * New York Times *Charts with intelligence, humour and unflinching perception the way we mostly fail to realise how we have to live * Times Literary Supplement *In clear prose that gorgeously fixes nuances so evanescent as to be rare, the novel unfolds an artful, inventive spectrum of opportunity and love - Tessa Hadley is that rare writer who has the convictions of her ambitions * Observer *
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Vintage Publishing Collected Short Stories Volume 3
Book SynopsisWilliam Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and lived in Paris until he was ten. He spent some time at St. Thomas's Hospital with the idea of practising medicine, but the success of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, published in 1897, won him over to letters. Of Human Bondage, the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1915 and with the publication in 1919 of The Moon and Sixpence his reputation as a novelist was established. His fame as a short story writer began with The Trembling of a Leaf, subtitled Little Stories of the South Sea Islands, in 1921, after which he published more than ten collections. In 1927 Somerset Maugham settled in the South of France and lived there until his death in 1965.Trade ReviewA brilliant entertainer * New York Times *A formidable talent, a formidable sum of talents * Spectator *As clever a craftsman as the cleverest * Observer *
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Vintage Publishing Red Dog
Book SynopsisLouis de Bernières is the best-selling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best Book in 1995. His most recent books are The Dust That Falls From Dreams, Birds Without Wings and A Partisan's Daughter, a collection of stories, Notwithstanding, and a collection of poetry, Imagining Alexandria.Trade ReviewDe Bernieres brilliantly evokes the red heat of Australian summers. Heat lifts off the pages: turning them is like opening furnace doors * Spectator *When I finished the final chapter I immediately extended a sought-after invitation to my dog to spend the night on the bed * Observer *Contains some of his best writing * Sunday Times *It's a novel that will appeal to everyone whether they're dog-lovers or not. * Daily Express *
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Vintage Publishing Under The Net
Book SynopsisIris Murdoch''s first novel is set in a part of London where struggling writers rub shoulders with successful bookies, and film starlets with frantic philosophers. Its hero, Jake Donaghue, is a drifting, clever, likeable young man who makes a living out of translation work and sponging on his friends. A meeting with Anna, an old flame, leads him into a series of fantastic adventures. Jake is captivated by a majestic philosopher, Hugo Belfounder, whose profound and inconclusive reflections give the book its title - under the net of language.Trade ReviewUnder the Net announces the emergence of a brilliant talent * Times Literary Supplement *Of all the novelists that have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable-behind her books one feels a power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist * Sunday Times *A dazzling story, light and comic in touch * The Times *Iris Murdoch has imposed her alternative world on us as surely as Christopher Columbus or Graham Greene * Sunday Times *This is a comedy with that touch of ferocity about it which makes for excitement -- Elizabeth Jane Howard
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Vintage Publishing The Time Of The Angels
Book SynopsisCarel is widowed rector presiding over a London church destroyed during the war. The rectory is home to an array of residents: his daughter, Muriel; his beautiful invalid ward, Elizabeth; their West Indian servant, Pattie; Eugene, a Russian emigre, and his delinquent son, Leo. Carel''s brother, Marcus, is co-guardian of Elizabeth, but his attempts to get closer to the rector are constantly rebuffed. These seven characters maintain a constant dance of attraction and repulsion, misunderstanding and revelation, the centre of which is the enigmatic Carel himself - a priest who believes that, God being dead, His angels have been released.Trade ReviewIris Murdoch was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century...she kept the traditional novel alive, and in doing so changed what it is capable of * Guardian *The Time of the Angels is certainly her best; wittier, more lyrical, more deeply felt than ever before. She is an enchantress * Sunday Times *I can think of few other novelists who could have written so superbly and so surely of the good and evil that encompasses us all * Daily Telegraph *
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Vintage Publishing A Word Child
Book SynopsisIris Murdoch (Author) Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. She read Classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and after working in the Treasury and abroad, was awarded a research studentship in Philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1948 she returned to Oxford as fellow and tutor at St Anne's College and later taught at the Royal College of Art. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1987 and in the 1997 PEN Awards received the Gold Pen for Distinguished Service to Literature.Ray Monk (Introducer) Ray Monk is the author of Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, for which he won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Duff Cooper Award. His previous work includes Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude.Trade ReviewDeeply moving and entertaining * New York Times *The readability of a novel like A Word Child is almost appallingly powerful * Independent *It would be difficult to speak too highly of the extraordinary skill and confidence here displayed -- Frank KermodeFrom the beginning of her career, Iris Murdoch seemed to enlarge the possibilities in front of the English novel. She was a writer of wonderful, and sometimes rather alarming idiosyncrasy... Hers was a liberating and a generous imagination * Independent *
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Vintage Publishing The Red and the Green
Book SynopsisAs the Easter Rebellion looms, tension mounts in the rain-soaked streets of Dublin. Tension is also ratcheting up at home. Pat Dumay is a Catholic and an Irish patriot. His relentlessly pious mother pursues her own private war with his stepfather, a man sunk in religious speculation and drink. Meanwhile Pat''s Protestant soldier cousin, Andrew Chase-White, puzzles out his complex emotions about Ireland and the girl he loves. Weaving between them moves Millie Kinnard: fast, feminist, and only just respectable.Trade ReviewOf all the novelists that have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable...behind her books one feels a power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist * Sunday Times *This is a comedy with that touch of ferocity about it which makes for excitement -- Elizabeth Jane Howard
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Vintage Publishing Turtle Moon
Book SynopsisWhen teenager Keith Rosen runs away from his Florida home - inexplicably taking along a motherless baby - his divorced mother is perplexed and terrified. she takes off on her own journey to find him. Turtle Moon follows their path in a suspenseful, beautifully written story that confirms once again the exquisite talent of Alice Hoffman.Trade ReviewHoffman writes wonderfully about the magic in our lives and in the battered, indifferent world... Magnificent * New York Times Book Review *A spectacular novel -- Susan Isaacs * Washington Post Book World *A captivating and truly original novel * Cosmopolitan *Alice Hoffman is at the top of her form in her latest novel... The triumphs of Turtle Moon lie in its humane insights and compassionate epiphanies; its lustrous prose and its seductive landscape * Boston Globe *Hard to put down-full of characters who take hold of your heart * San Francisco Examiner *
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Vintage Publishing Crow Lake
Book SynopsisThis slow-burning story is set in the rural "badlands" of Northern Ontario, where tragedy and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. It is a universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harboured and driven underground.Trade ReviewBeautifully written, carefully balanced, Mary Lawson constructs a history of sacrifice, emotional isolation and family love without sounding a false note * Daily Mail *Full of blossoming insights and emotional acuity...a compelling and serious page-turner * Observer *Lawson's evocative storytelling...knows just how to draw the reader on...this is a novel of disappointed hopes and self-delusion, but it has a feel-good finish. Move over Lake Wobegon * Spectator *A novel of a darkly unpredictable and compelling kind. It is a wise book * Financial Times *
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Vintage Publishing Love And Garbage
Book SynopsisIvan Klima was born in 1931 in Prague. He was the editor of the journal of the Czech Writer's Union during the Prague Spring. In 1969 he was a visiting professor to the University of Michigan. He returned to Czechoslovakia the following year. He is the author of many plays and novels including Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light, The Ultimate Intimacy and No Saints or Angels. Klima was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2002.Trade ReviewA sad and hauntingly beautiful elegy for just about everything mortal * Time Out *Few writers have the invention and skill to juxtapose within one novel so many diverse themes, mundane and sublime, savage and compassionate, held in a satisfying balance. He tosses time and space about in a net seeking to catch the eternal * Observer *The dilapidated regime Love and Garbage depicts is now of course on history's rubbish dump. One of those who helped to put it there is this writer * Sunday Times *
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Vintage Publishing An Accidental Man
Book SynopsisIris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. She read Classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and after working in the Treasury and abroad, was awarded a research studentship in Philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1948 she returned to Oxford as fellow and tutor at St Anne's College and later taught at the Royal College of Art. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1987 and in the 1997 PEN Awards received the Gold Pen for Distinguished Service to Literature.Trade ReviewIris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour * The Times *Iris Murdoch was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century -- Peter Conradi * Guardian *A distinguished novelist of a rare kind -- Kingsley AmisBehind her books one feels a power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist * Sunday Times *Iris Murdoch really knows how to write, can tell a story, delineate a character, catch an atmosphere with deadly accuracy -- John Betjemen
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Vintage Publishing The Sandcastle
Book SynopsisThe quiet life of schoolmaster Bill Mor and his wife Nan is disturbed when a young woman, Rain Carter, arrives at the school to paint the portrait of the headmaster. Mor, hoping to enter politics, becomes aware of new desires and a different dream of life. A complex battle develops, involving love, guilt, magic, art and political ambition. Mor''s teenage children and their mother fight discreetly and ruthlessly against the invader. The Head, himself enchanted, advises Mor to seize the girl and run. The final decision rests with Rain. Can a ''great love'' be purchased at too high a price?Trade ReviewIris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour * The Times *Iris Murdoch was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century * Guardian *Of the novelists who have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable -- Raymond Mortimer
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Vintage Publishing Youth
Book SynopsisYouth''s narrator, a student in 1950s South Africa, has long been plotting an escape from his native country. Studying mathematics, reading poetry, saving money, he tries to ensure that when he arrives in the real world he will be prepared to experience life to its full intensity, and transform it into art. Arriving at last in London, however, he finds neither poetry nor romance. Instead he succumbs to the monotony of life as a computer programmer, from which random, loveless affairs offer no relief. Devoid of inspiration, he stops writing and begins a dark pilgrimage in which he is continually tested and continually found wanting. Set against the background of the 1960s, Youth is a remarkable portrait of a consciousness turning in on itself. J. M. Coetzee explores a young man''s struggle to find his way in the world with tenderness and a fierce clarity.Trade ReviewBrilliant...a remarkable feat * Sunday Times *Only a writer as great as J. M. Coetzee is capable of infusing meditation on the spoilt hope of youth with such clarity, fluency and poise... The quality of the writing and its unflinching truthfulness make it exhilarating * Daily Mail *This taut novel possesses the edgy grace that has consistently marked Coetzee's work * Irish Times *Tightly woven, each line detonating with meaning * Glasgow Herald *A memorable picture of the harshness London can offer to incomers... Youth is a wonderful book: a Bildungsroman, or portrait of the artist as a young man, to rank with any in the canon * Evening Standard *
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Vintage Publishing Allah Is Not Obliged
Book Synopsis''The full, final and completely complete title of my bullshit story is: Allah is not obliged to be fair about all things he does here on earth''Birahima''s story is one of horror and laughter. After his mother''s death he travels to Liberia to find his aunt but on the way gets caught up in rebel fighting and ends up with a Kalashnikov in his hands. He tells of the chaotic and terrible adventures that follow in his career as a small soldier with heartbreaking bravado and wisdom.Trade ReviewA work of luminous humanity -- Michael Thompson-Noel * Financial Times *it is a powerful, shocking and deeply moving novel, an African Lord of the Flies...Through Kourouma's skilful telling, the characters live on the page -- Aminatta Forna * Guardian *An exceptional storyteller * Independent *Allah is Not Obliged... deftly captures the mixture of horror, fascination and detachment with which a child views the world of grown-up folly * The Economist *Melding fiction and fact with the humility of childhood, Ahmadou Kourouma deftly exposes the desperate nature of the civil wars - and the relentless poverty - that have ravaged Africa, and brings the grandeur of gestures such as the G8 pledges into uncomfortably sharp relief -- Sarak Birke * New Statesman *
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Cornerstone Porterhouse Blue
Book Synopsis______________________________The ''endlessly funny'' novel widely regarded as a classic of comic English literaturePorterhouse College is world renowned for its gastronomic excellence, the arrogance of its Fellows, its academic mediocrity and the social cache it confers on the athletic sons of country families.Sir Godber Evans, ex-Cabinet Minister and the new Master, is determined to change all this. Spurred on by his politically angular wife, Lady Mary, he challenges the established order and provokes the wrath of the Dean, the Senior Tutor, the Bursar and, most intransigent of all, Skullion the Head Porter - with hilarious and catastrophic results.Trade ReviewTerrific. It is light years since I read anything so original ... (the) character drawing is wonderful ... a very good book -- P.G. WodehouseA toppling house of comic cards that knock you flat. He is the funniest author to have emerged for years * Observer *Chuckling good fun, a glorious romp * Sunday Express *This supremely entertaining book is guaranteed to make you laugh * Books & Bookmen *Tom Sharpe makes me laugh loud and long ... He offers so much to delight in -- Ion Trewin * The Times *
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Cornerstone The Throwback
Book SynopsisWhen Lockhart Flawse is catapulted out of his upper-class and rapunzel-esque life with the curmudgeonly Flawse Senior, he must enter the world of suburbia, and marriage. Rendered an absolute twit in modern society by his medieval upbringing, Lockhart must resort to drastic tactics in his attempt to return to Flawse House. Faced with the horrors of suburbia, he must either terrorise, blackmail and potentially kill an entire street of his tenants, or attempt to find his unknown and elusive father in order to inherit the estate. However, with the belief that he was dropped into his mother''s arms by a stork, killing a street of people may be the wiser option for the socially inept young man. He is also under mounting pressure, as it may all be in vain if his gold-digging mother-in-law has her way. Now the wife of Flawse Senior, she has decided that if Lockhart''s wealthy grandfather can''t have the decency to die on his own, she will take matters into her own hands.Trade Review[A] romp about one of nature's gentlemen making his innocent and ruthless way through the jungle of contemporary sex, VAT, law and order, etc. - savage, knock-about farce * Observer *Black humour, comic anarchy at its best * Sunday Times *All done with a savage delight which will have you laughing out loud * Daily Mirror *He is funny, bitter, a danger to his public and should be applauded wildly by all * The Listener *His tale of an illegitimate member of the squirearchy earning his inheritance by increasingly nasty methods is both inventive and pacy * New Statesman *
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Cornerstone Vintage Stuff
Book SynopsisHis parents, with high hopes and a considerable amount of bribery money, search for anywhere that will take their 'late developer.' In a school that time forgot, Peregrine's 'talents' for taking orders and having no discernible individual thought seem perfect for a promising career in the upper ranks of the British Army.Trade ReviewWhen Tom Sharpe turns his attention to a very minor public school- the result is predictably savage. Hoaxes, chases, car crashes, shootings, and general mayhem. Wicked riotous humour * Daily Telegraph *Wildly hilarious pot-shots at the public school system and the sacred cows of adventure fiction * Observer *You'll enjoy this wild and, in places, wildly funny story- It is all an hilarious send-up of the Dornford Yates style of thriller with some modernistic Sharpe barbs added * Daily Express *One of our best contemporary comic writers- very, very funny * Birmingham Evening Mail *Excellently funny -- Auberon Waugh * Daily Mail *
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Cornerstone The Towers Of Silence
Book SynopsisIt is the last, bitter days of World War II and the British Raj in India is crumbling. Ensconced in the Indian Hill Station of Pankot are the English wives, mothers, daughters and widows of the officers embroiled in the ongoing conflict. With their old beliefs and assumptions under increasingly virulent attack, all eyes are upon Captain Merrick and the British military to protect them in this troubled time. But Merrick, though outwardly a consummate professional, is brutal and corrupt, and not even his machinations can stop the change that is swiftly and inevitably approaching, change which is increasingly undermining the old myth of British invincibility...Trade ReviewA mighty literary experience * The Times *Quite simply, monumental * Washington Post *
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Vintage Publishing Dead Babies
Book SynopsisMartin Amis was twenty-three when he wrote his first novel, The Rachel Papers (1973). Over the next half century in fourteen more novels, two collections of short stories, eight works of literary criticism and reportage, and his acclaimed memoir, Experience he established himself as the most distinctive and influential prose stylist of his generation. To many of his readers, Amis was also the funniest. His intoxicating comedic gifts express a profound understanding of the human experience, particularly its most shocking cruelties, and Amis wrote with pathos and verve on an astonishing range of subjects, from masculinity and movie violence to nuclear weapons and Nazi doctors. His books, which have been translated into thirty-eight languages, provide an indelible portrait and critique of late-capitalist society at the turn of the twenty-first century. He died in 2023.Trade ReviewSparkling might not be the first adjective that springs to mind to describe a novel packed with the concentrated disgust which Dead Babies contains. Nevertheless, Martin Amis's version of the bleak and wrecky future that awaits a sex-and-drug-addicted society is so fizzing with style, so busy with verbal inventiveness, that the adjective is impelled upon one -- Julian BarnesViciously funny, at once a hilarious joke and a technical triumph * Financial Times *Very funny, extremely clever * Guardian *A fine piece of comic-writing * Times literary supplement *
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