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
Random House USA Inc I Robot
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc The Fifth Sacred Thing
Book SynopsisAn epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression. Reprint.
£15.29
Random House Publishing Group The Story of B
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£15.29
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Death Maze
Book Synopsis''Wonderfully atmospheric, fast-paced and intelligent'' GUARDIANTwelfth-century anatomist Adelia Aguilar must once again examine the dead as gruesome events are beginning to unfold...Henry II''s favourite mistress, Rosamund Clifford, has been poisoned - and, rumour says, by his jealous wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. If Henry believes the stories, England will be torn apart as King battles Queen.In a race against time to prove Eleanor''s innocence, and with a dangerous assassin on the loose, Adelia has never faced greater danger. The armies that might cause civil war lie behind her. The icy winds of a dreadful winter blow around her. And ahead she must brave the thorns of the impenetrable labyrinth that surrounds Fair Rosamund''s tower, and decipher the mystery of the dead woman who lies frozen within.''Highly entertaining . . . Franklin is an adept storyteller who disseminates her research into the period with clarity and lightnesTrade ReviewHighly entertaining... Franklin is an adept storyteller who disseminates her research into the period with clarity and lightness of touch. * The Times *Franklin is one of the very best creators of medieval whodunits writing today. The snow falls, the death toll mounts... and the Thames freezes over in this wonderfully atmospheric, fast-paced and intelligent recreation of a vanished world. * Guardian *Captivating... this excellent adventure delivers high drama. * The New York Times *It's as original as its prize-winning predecessor: a real treat. * Literary Review *Mesmerizing... A colourful cast of characters, both good and evil, enhance a tale that will keep readers on edge until the final page. * Publishers Weekly *
£10.44
Transworld Publishers Ltd Succubus Blues
Book SynopsisWhen it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they can often pay with their souls, but why get technical?But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid''s life is far less exotic. Her boss is a middle-management demon with a thing for John Cusack movies. Her immortal best friends haven''t stopped teasing her about the time she shape-shifted into the Demon Goddess getup complete with whip and wings. And she can''t have a decent date without the sucking away part of the guy''s life. At least there''s her day job at a local bookstore - free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can''t.But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle''s demon underground. And for once, all of her hot Trade ReviewSuccubus Blues is sexy, scintillating, and sassy! Richelle Mead is now on my must-buy list! -- Michelle Rowen, author of BITTEN AND SMITTEN
£9.99
Transworld Publishers Ltd Killing Rommel
Book SynopsisAn unputdownable and incredibly evocative military novel full of thrilling battle scenes and flesh and blood characters from Steven Pressfield, author of The Sunday Times Bestseller Gates of Fire. A terrific read...this is historical fiction at its very best. -- JAMES HOLLANDA splendid tour-de-force...it should not be missed -- WASHINGTON POSTBoth a captivating history lesson and rousing guts-n-glory saga -- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLYCompelling...the narrative is a page turner -- ***** Reader reviewMr Pressfield is a true craftsman in the best possible way. You LIVE the story while he is telling it -- ***** Reader reviewSimply a brilliant read -- ***** Reader review****************************************************NORTH AFRICA, 1942. AN ELITE BRITISH ARMY UNIT IS ON A DEADLY MISSION. Autumn, 1942: Hitler''s legions haveTrade ReviewA terrific read - gripping from start to finish...this is historical fiction at its very best -- JAMES HOLLANDA splendid tour de force, one that brings to life the heroism, sacrifice, tragedy, frustration, fear and - yes - thrill of war * WASHINGTON POST *No one writes better historical fiction than Steven Pressfield -- VINCE FLYNNReaders of Steven Pressfield know that his stylish and meticulous novels of battle can rise as far above an often dismal genre as Patrick O'Brian's. After two tales of Alexander the Great, he shifts epochs - without any softening of his flinty, rhythmic and laconic prose - to dramatise an episode of the Desert War in North Africa...Presented as the memoirs of a highly literate publisher, this account of the clandestine operation "where a single individual might make a difference" shuns false heroics to paint the true face of irregular war in the wilderness -- Boyd Tonkin * THE INDEPENDENT *
£10.44
Transworld Publishers Ltd Forge of Darkness
Book SynopsisNow is the time to tell the story of an ancient realm, a tragic tale that sets the stage for all the tales yet to come and all those already told...It''s a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, the realm of Darkness, where Mother Dark reigns. But this ancient land was once home to many a power and even death is not quite eternal. The commoners'' great hero, Vatha Urusander, is being promoted by his followers to take Mother Dark''s hand in marriage, but her Consort, Lord Draconus, stands in the way of such ambitions. The impending clash sends fissures throughout the realm, and as the rumors of civil war burn through the masses, an ancient power emerges from the long dead seas. Caught in the middle of it all are the First Sons of Darkness, Anomander, Andarist, and Silchas Ruin of the Purake Hold...Steven Erikson entered the pantheon of great fantasy writers with his debut Gardens of the Moon. Now he returns with the first novel in a trilogy that takes place mTrade ReviewForge of Darkness is brilliant and far exceeds any and all expectations that readers of 'The Malazan Book of the Fallen' could possibly harbour...I think we all wondered how Erikson could possibly follow up arguably the best fantasy series of all time. Forge of Darkness will dispel any and all doubters (if any do indeed still exist out there) that Steven Erikson is the best writer on the planet. * SFSITE *Forge of Darkness is, quite frankly, remarkable...Erikson should be raised up as a standadrd bearer, representing the best of the best of those books we would love to be more loved - those that are intellctually nutritious as well as artistically delicious. * TOR.COM *
£14.39
Transworld Publishers Ltd The Affair
Book Synopsis''There''s only one Jack Reacher. Accept no substitutes.'' Mick HerronMarch 1997. A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Mississippi.Just down the road is a big army base. Is the murderer a local guy - or is he a soldier?Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover. The county sheriff is a former U.S. Marine - and a stunningly beautiful woman. Her investigation is going nowhere. Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or is she trying not to find the killer?Set just six months before the opening of Killing Floor, The Affair marks a turning point in Reacher''s career.If he does what the army wants, will he be able to live with himself? And if he doesn''t, will the army be able to live with him?_________Although the Jack Reacher novels can be read in any order, The Affair is 16th in the series.And be sure not to misTrade ReviewJust when you thought it couldn't possibly get any better, Lee Child pulls Jack Reacher out of another hole and, bang, he produces nothing short of a thriller masterpiece... Here, we get what we've been waiting for... the story of how Reacher became Reacher -- Henry Sutton * Daily Mirror *Jack Reacher has long since earned his prominent place in the pantheon of cool, smart-talking American heroes... Shakes up the status quo by delivering the Reacher creation myth... stealthily funny... this book is really about the man himself -- Janet Maslin * The New York Times *With its revelations and its bonk-fest, it's an unabashed fan-pleaser, but also a timely, reassuring wallow in the undiluted essence of Reacher * Telegraph *Child on top of his game. It could well be his best book yet... The paradox of Reacher is that he is both a great big grizzly bear of a fighter... and a thinker, both Schwarzenegger and Socrates. Make love and war is his credo * Independent *Just finished The Affair. As always, hero Reacher grabs me on page one and never lets go. Right now Lee Child is my No1 thriller writer -- Ken Follett (on Twitter)
£9.49
Transworld Publishers Ltd Never Go Back
Book SynopsisDrop-out military cop Jack Reacher has hitchhiked his way to Virginia. His destination, the closest thing to a home he ever had: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th Military Police. Reacher has no real reason to be here, except that he spoke to the new commanding officer on the phone. He liked Major Susan Turner's voice.Trade ReviewThe bone-crunching, joint-popping action is as technically precise and primevally satisfying as ever. The extra-lean prose is as ruthlessly linear as the plot…[However,]Lee Child proves he can write about emotions other than lust and anger and reveals his hero to be more than just a man of steel. Eighteen novels in, his franchise shows no sign of running out of steam. -- Mark Sanderson * Evening Standard *Lee Child’s bodacious action hero, Jack Reacher, has already tramped through 17 novels and three ebook singles. But his latest, “Never Go Back,” may be the best desert island reading in the series. It’s exceptionally well plotted. And full of wild surprises. And wise about Reacher’s peculiar nature./Mr. Child’s Jack Reacher series is as brainy as it is brawny...Starting with an opening sequence that throws three huge surprises at Reacher, there are more neat tricks and clever set pieces in this one volume than Mr. Child has ever strung together before...Read it. You’ll see why. -- Janet Maslin * New York Times *Is Reacher getting soft? Not a chance. The righteous violence when it comes is still pretty astonishing. This is one of Reacher's best outings. A must for all fans. * Daily Express *Jack Reacher is a man's man, a loner, a renegade crusader for justic...The harder-than-nails hero is on the top of his form...You'd better read it. * Sun *This may well be the best of the bunch...some of the best, wiliest writing Child has ever done. * Scotland on Sunday *
£9.49
BBC Audio, A Division Of Random House Under Milk Wood
Book Synopsis''To begin at the beginning: it is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black...'' When Richard Burton breathed the opening words of Under Milk Wood into a microphone, broadcasting history was made. For this ''play for voices'' conjures up the intimate dreams and waking lives of the inhabitants of a Welsh seaside village in a remarkable way. It is bawdy and beautiful; its colourful characters lust and love, gossip and fantasise. Through the magic of language, Under Milk Wood creates a rich modern pastoral which, once heard, touches the listener with its poetry and haunts the imagination for ever. This radio drama is the completed version broadcast in 1963 which includes several passages that were omitted from the first recording in 1954.2 CDs. 1 hr 41 mins.
£12.86
Faber & Faber Memoirs of an Infantry Officer
Book Synopsis''It is my own story I am trying to tell, and as such it must be received; those who expect a universalization of the Great War must look for it elsewhere.''Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, first published in 1930, is Siegfried Sassoon''s fictionalized autobiography of the period between the early spring of 1916 and the summer of 1917. The narrative moves from the trenches to the Fourth Army School, to Morlancourt and a raid, then to and through the Somme. The mind of the narrator turns from unquestioning acceptance of the war and of the standards which it set up, to doubting the necessity of the seemingly endless slaughter.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man
Book SynopsisGeorge Sherston develops from a shy and awkward child, through shiftless adolescence, to an officer just beginning to understand the horrors of trench warfare. The world he grows up in, of village cricket and loyal grooms, had vanished forever by the time Sassoon wrote this book, but he captures it with a lyricism and gentleness that defy nostalgia.A bestseller on publication in 1928, this superb evocation of the Edwardian age has remained in print ever since. It was the first volume of a classic trilogy, completed by Memoirs of an Infantry Officer and Sherston''s Progress, that charted both the destruction of the world for which Sassoon fought, and his own emergence as one of Britain''s finest war poets.
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Silver Darlings
Book SynopsisA vivid picture of a community fighting against nature and history and refusing to be crushed.
£11.69
Faber & Faber fratricides
Book SynopsisThe Fratricides is about internecine strife in a village in the Epirus during the Greek civil war of the late 1940s. Many of the villagers, including Captain Drakos, son of the local priest Father Yanaros, have taken to the mountains and joined the Communist rebels. It is Holy Week and, with murder, death and destruction everywhere, Father Yanaros feels that he himself is bearing the sins of the world.
£9.49
Faber & Faber In Praise of the Stepmother
Book SynopsisIn Praise of the Stepmother is the story of Don Rigoberto, his second wife, Lucrecia, and his son, Alfonso. Their family life together seems to be a happy one. Rigoberto, an insurance company manager, spends his time preening himself for his wife and collecting erotic art. But while Lucrecia is devoted to him, she has her own needs, and soon finds herself the object of young Alfonso''s attention.With meticulous observation and seductive skill, Mario Vargas Llosa explores the mysterious nature of happiness. Little by little, the harmony of his characters is darkened by the shadow of perversion.If you enjoyed In Praise of the Stepmother, you might also like Mario Vargas Llosa''s The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto.
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Fat Man in History
Book SynopsisThe stories in Peter Carey''s collection are bizarre, funny and chilling. Their landscape is exotic and surreal, an ominous near-future that has the distinct feel of contemporary life. Carey''s narratives are an exhilarating blend of fable, fantasy and allegory in which, as in dreams, something odd and menacing takes control.Here are societies in which people gamble for new bodies in a genetic lottery or watch apprehensively as first buildings, then parts of the landscape, and eventually their neighbours, begin to dematerialise and vanish. Here is what happens when a miniature replica of a small town and its inhabitants assumes a more compelling reality than its original or when a group of fat men, ostracised by a revolutionary government, plot its overthrow.
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Tax Inspector
Book SynopsisThe day that Benny Catchprice was fired from the spare parts department of Catchprice Motors by his aunt Cathy was also the day that the Tax Inspector, Maria Takis, arrived to begin her long-overdue audit of the family business. But this is no ordinary investigation. Maria is eight months'' pregnant, Granny Catchprice is at war with her offspring, and Benny, her grandson, wants to become an angel...
£9.49
Faber & Faber Slowness
Book SynopsisA heady, existential tale of seduction and romance by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.''An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.'' Salman Rushdie''Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.'' Ian McEwan''Audacity, wit and sheer brilliance.'' New York Times Book ReviewIn a French château on a midsummer''s night, two tales of seduction entwine, separated in time by over two hundred years, but united in their quest for sensual pleasure. Through their romantic endeavors, a contemporary holidaymaker and eighteenth-century chevalier illustrate our era''s obsession with the vulgar demon of speed - and the phenomenon of the dancer. Oscillating between the sublime and ridiculous, the historic and the modern, Kundera''s first novel written in French is an enchanting libertine fantasy, radiant with intelligence and wisdom.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Salt
Book SynopsisWinner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize''An amazingly vivid and joyful novel.'' The TimesVital, life-enhancing.' Time OutAlford, the youngest son of a poor farm worker, has risen above his class to become a schoolteacher. He, like many young people in Trinidad, dreams of heading to England for a better life. Idealistic and determined, Alford travels to the capital to campaign for his community and, suddenly a local hero, it seems anything is possible. Or is it? Salt tells the story of a country through an unforgettable cast of characters, striving with wit and passion to make sense of life in an evolving homeland.
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Dragon Cant Dance
Book SynopsisA landmark, not in the West Indian, but in the contemporary novel.' C. L. R. JamesFirst-class talent.' The VoiceTrinidad, 1970s. Calvary Hill poverty stricken and rubbish-strewn is home to a community of people who come together during the joyful yearly town Carnival, becoming larger-than-life versions of themselves. But when it ends, and the strains of day-to-day life grow large, what happens to the peoples' hopes, and the feeling that all o' we is one'?With an unforgettable cast of characters, The Dragon Can't Dance is a stunning, classic novel of the desire for identity and belonging, alongside the legacies of a colonial past.
£999.99
Faber & Faber Identity
Book SynopsisA philosophical masterpiece by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.''An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.'' Salman Rushdie''Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.'' Ian McEwanChantal awaits her partner in a hotel on the Normandy coast, struggling to find him on a crowded beach. After mistaking him for a stranger, they reunite, and she reveals her fears of men no longer turning to look at her. Soon, she begins to receive mysterious love letters, which she hides in her underwear drawer - but as the border between fantasy and reality blurs, perhaps the secret correspondent is someone closer to her than she realises?In this disquieting love story, Kundera reveals our shifting perceptions of selfhood over time, especially within the intimacy of a relationship - and makes us question our own existence.
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto
Book SynopsisDon Rigoberto - by day a grey insurance executive, by night a pornographer and sexual enthusiast - misses Lucrecia, his estranged second wife. The pair separated following a sexual encounter between Lucrecia and Alfonso, Rigoberto''s son. To compensate for her absence, Rigoberto fills his notebooks with memories, fantasies and unsent letters. Meanwhile, Alfonso visits Lucrecia, determined to win her love.In The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto, Mario Vargas Llosa keeps the reader guessing which episodes are real and which issue from Rigoberto''s imagination. The novel, a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy, is sexy, funny, disquieting, and unfailingly compelling.If you enjoyed The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto, you might also like Mario Vargas Llosa''s In Praise of the Stepmother.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Kundera M Life is Elsewhere
Book SynopsisBefriend a budding poet and his adoring mother in this seductive early novel - winner of the Prix Médicis - by the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being.''An artist, clearly one of the greatest to be found anywhere.'' Salman Rushdie''Kundera''s achievement has been to bring both private life and political life into one comic framework.'' Ian McEwanYoung Jaromil knows he is special; in fact, he is a poet bestowed with literary genius, heir to Rimbaud. He knows this because his adoring mother told him so.Adult Jaromil, still revelling in these truths, draws on his talents to find romance whilst making his mark on the world through both his poetry and advancing the Communist revolution.Son, Poet, Lover. In which of these roles does Jaromil's true existence lie?A blazingly satirical reflection on the ''lyrical age'' of youthful innocence, this ironic epic of adolescence showcases Kundera''s savage yet tender wit at its finest.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Asleep
Book SynopsisBanana Yoshimoto has a magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting book from one of the best writers in contemporary international fiction.Trade Review'Yoshimoto's writing is lucid, earnest and disarming, as emotionally observant as Jane Smiley's, as fluently readable as Anne Tyler's.' New York Times
£9.49
Faber & Faber Laughable Loves
Book SynopsisA dazzling collection of stories - originally banned in 1968 Prague - by a ''magnificent short-story writer'' (NYT) and author of classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.Kundera is a self-confessed hedonist in a world beset by politics . . . Marvellous.' Salman Rushdie ''Kundera''s achievement has been to bring both private life and political life into one comic framework.'' Ian McEwanOn holiday, a man and his girlfriend pretend she is a hitchhiking stranger - but their game soon makes them strangers to each other.One young man reconnects with his grieving former lover, only to be shocked by her ageing body.Two friends embark on an obsessive mission to seduce as many women as possible in the Eternal Chase.A teacher fakes piety to seduce a devoutly religious girl: then jilts her and yearns for God. In these celebrated stories, Kundera probes our darkest erotic impulses and most destructive sexual fant
£9.49
Faber & Faber 101 Reykjavik
Book SynopsisHlynur Björn is an unemployed 30-something loner, still living with his mum, who spends his days on the Internet, watching satellite TV, and gazing at girls in the pub. But Hlynur''s cosy, unthreatening world is shaken when his mother comes out as a lesbian, and her Spanish girlfriend Lolla moves into their home. 101 Reykjavik is a first-person account of a blackly funny and bizarre love triangle, a dark, comic tale of perverse sexuality and slacker culture in Iceland''s trendy capital city that pokes fun along the way at such foibles of our culture as CNN weather reports and porn videos.
£999.99
Faber & Faber N P
Book SynopsisN.P. is the title of a last collection of short stories by a celebrated Japanese writer. Written in English while he was living in Boston, the book may never see print in his native Japan: each time a new translator takes up the task, death gets in the way.N.P. is an extraordinarily powerful story of passion and friendship, the nature of love and the taboos surrounding it, confirming Banana Yoshimoto''s place as one of Japan''s most important writers.''The voice of young Japan.'' Independent on Sunday
£9.49
Faber & Faber Provinces of Night
Book SynopsisThe Bloodworths come from Ackerman's Field, Tennessee. Theirs is a rough and violent past and Boyd Bloodworth - father of the hero, Fleming - is intent on continuing the tradition. The year is 1952 and E.F. Bloodworth, Boyd's father, has returned after 20 years of roaming.Trade Review'Gay's writing is earth-toned, pungent, deeply rooted in the remote corner of Tennessee... Provinces of Night shows an author with a powerful vision and plenteous veins of material.' Richard Bernstein, New York Times 'There's not a word wasted in this living, breathing narrative populated by strongly-drawn characters... a fresh, original lament for the traces of the old South. Gay's vivid prose and dramatic instinct create lasting images and human moments of genius. This is a far bigger book than many novels twice its size, and it deserves its place in a rich tradition.' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times
£10.44
Faber & Faber Electric Brae
Book SynopsisAt the centre of Electric Brae is the crumbling sea-stack of the Old Man of Hoy and the consuming relationship between a young artist, Kim, coldly passionate, talented, secretive, and Jimmy, a North Sea roughneck, engineer and climber. Acclaimed on publication for marking a brave new direction in the course of Scottish fiction, Electric Brae is a story of love and loss, loyalty and betrayal, and fathers and children.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Ignorance
Book SynopsisThe bestselling masterpiece tale of love and exile in Prague by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.''An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.'' Salman Rushdie''Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.'' Ian McEwan''A subtle, penetrating and deeply felt exploration of the sadness, loneliness and irreparable loss of exile: one of [Kundera''s] best novels.'' Sunday TimesIrena has been exiled to Paris since leaving Czechoslovakia after the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968. Twenty years later, after the collapse of Communism, she returns to her homeland - and reunites, by chance, with Josef, a fellow émigré and her one-time lover. Will they pick up the thread of their strange love story, interrupted in their native land almost as soon as it began - now lost in the tides of history, far from home? Or do their memories no longer align? A profound, polyphonic meditation on absence and alienation, nostalgia and truth, Ignorance is a masterpiece exposing the reality behind the romance of the homeward voyage.
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Dreamers
Book SynopsisParis in the spring of 1968. The city is beginning to emerge from hibernation and an obscure spirit of social and political renewal is in the air. Yet Théo, his twin sister Isabelle and Matthew, an American student they have befriended, think only of immersing themselves in another, addictive form of hibernation: moviegoing at the Cinémathèque Française. Night after night, they take their place beside their fellow cinephiles in the very front row of the stalls and feast insatiably off the images that flicker across the vast white screen.Denied their nightly ''fix'' when the French government suddenly orders the Cinémathèque''s closure, Théo, Isabelle and Matthew gradually withdraw into a hermetically sealed universe of their own creation, an airless universe of obsessive private games, ordeals, humiliations and sexual jousting which finds them shedding their clothes and their inhibitions with equal abandon. A vertiginous free fall interrupted only, and tragically, when the rTrade Review'Piquant and riveting' Anthony Burgess
£9.49
Faber & Faber Annie Dunne
Book SynopsisOLD GOD''S TIME (MARCH 2023), SEBASTIAN BARRY''S STUNNING NEW NOVEL, AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOWAnnie Dunne and her cousin Sarah live and work on a small farm in a remote and beautiful part of Wicklow in late 1950s Ireland. All about them the old green roads are being tarred, cars are being purchased, a way of life is about to disappear. Like two old rooks, they hold to their hill in Kelsha, cherishing everything. When Annie''s nephew and his wife are set to go to London to find work, their two small children, a little boy and his older sister, are brought down to spend the summer with their great-aunt.It is a strange chance for happiness for Annie. But against that happiness moves the figure of Billy Kerr, with his ambiguous attentions to Sarah, threatening to drive Annie from her last niche of safety in the world. The world of childish innocence also proves darkened and puzzling to her, and she struggles to find clear ground, clear light - to presTrade Review'Unsentimental and exact, like clear glass.' The Times
£9.49
Faber & Faber Pilcrow
Book SynopsisGripping.' New Statesman Compulsive.' Observer Strange and exhilarating.' Sunday Times A joy to read.' Sunday Telegraph Constantly surprising.' London Review of Books One of the most original comic creations in recent fiction.' Guardian Time passed slowly in the 1950s, especially if you'd been put to bed and told not to move (until further notice). But John Cromer, the central character of this extraordinary novel, is much closer to being an explorer than a victim. He's the weakest hero in fiction unless he's one of the strongest. The first instalment of the semi-infinite Pilcrow sequence, this novel of capacious wit and style marks the opening chapter of the most memorable and enjoyable experiment in modern fiction. Pilcrow is a humdinger, a startling work that stands out against the monotonous field of contemporary British fiction as a genuine, almost miraculous oddity.' Metro
£11.69
Faber & Faber Snow
Book SynopsisA magnificent love story and powerful tale of religious fanaticism, from the internationally bestselling Nobel laureate.** ORDER THE NEW NOVEL FROM ORHAN PAMUK, NIGHTS OF PLAGUE **Winner of the Nobel Prize for LiteratureNot only an engrossing feat of tale-spinning, but essential reading for our times.' Margaret Atwood, The New York TimesA major work. . . with suspense at every dimpled vortex' John Updike, The New YorkerPowerful. . . astonishingly timely' VogueOrhan Pamuk is the sort of writer for whom the Nobel Prize was invented.' Daily TelegraphAn exiled poet returns to the remote city of Kars on the Turkish border to investigate troubling reports of a suicide epidemic among its young women. While there, he reconnects with the beautiful Ipek, and finds himself drawn irresistibly back into their love story.But Kars has become a touchpoint for religious and polit
£9.49
Faber & Faber Self
Book SynopsisEdgy, funny and devastating, Self is the fictional autobiography of a young writer at the heart of which is a startling twist. This extraordinary life meanders through a rich, complicated, bittersweet world. The discoveries of childhood give way to the thousand pangs of adolescence, culminating in the sudden shocking news of an accident abroad. And as adulthood begins, indecisively, boundaries are crossed between countries, languages and people . . .
£10.44
Faber & Faber The Republic of Trees
Book SynopsisOne of the most vivid, gripping and chilling first novels of recent years, The Republic of Trees tells the story of Michael, Louis, Alex and Isobel, four children on the edge of adolescence, who run away to the forest to establish their own utopian community. All seems well in the Republic of Trees - until the sudden arrival of Joy. Under her influence, their relationships grow more erotic and obsessive, and the shadows of a nightmarish dystopia start to encroach on reality . . .Trade Review"'Sam Taylor clearly relishes storytelling and his novel has the kind of swift pace that's rare in literary fiction, sweeping you up and carrying you to a place where anything might happen.' Daily Mail 'An enchanting and deeply disturbing first novel... sensitive, at times beautiful.' Observer 'A bold debut, and one wants to see what Taylor does next.' Independent"
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Observations
Book SynopsisVastly original Bessy is surely one of the most striking characters in recent fiction: cynical, disruptive, tender and very, very funny.' Independent on SundayShortlisted for the Orange PrizeScotland, 1863. In an attempt to escape her past, Bessy Buckley takes a job working as a maid in a big country house. But when Arabella, her beautiful mistress, asks her to undertake a series of bizarre tasks, Bessy begins to realise that she hasn't quite landed on her feet. In one of the most acclaimed debuts of recent years, Jane Harris has created a heroine who will make you laugh and cry as she narrates this unforgettable story about secrets and suspicions and the redemptive power of love and friendship.Trade Review"'Funny and original.' Peter Parker, Sunday Times 'Recounted in gutsy, vibrant prose, this is guaranteed to keep you gripped.' Eve Magazine"
£10.44
Faber & Faber Girl in Landscape
Book SynopsisGirl in Landscape offers a genre-bending, mind-expanding tale of a new frontier. Jonathan Lethem''s novel is a science-fiction Western that evokes both the brooding tragedy of John Ford''s The Searchers and the sexual precocity of Nabokov''s Lolita.Lethem''s heroine is 14-year-old Pella Marsh, whose mother dies just as her family flees a post-apocalyptic Brooklyn for the frontier of a recently discovered planet. Hating her ineffectual father, and troubled by a powerful attraction to the virile but dangerous loner who holds sway over the little colony, Pella embarks on a course of discovery that will have tragic and irrevocable consequences - both for the humans in her community, and also for the mysterious and passive indigenous inhabitants, The Archbuilders.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Lake Wobegon Days
Book SynopsisLake Wobegon Days is the marvellous chronicle of an imaginary place located somewhere in the middle of the state (but not on the map) and named after an Indian word meaning ''Here we are!'' or ''We sat all day in the rain waiting for you.'' From the narrator - a skinny Protestant kid fascinated by the Catholic church - we learn of the town''s beginnings and of the settlers who made their lives there. A contemporary classic filled with warmth and humour, sadness and tenderness, songs and poems, it is also an unforgettable portrait of small-town America.
£10.44
Faber & Faber TheAvignon Quintet by Durrell Lawrence Author
Book SynopsisThe Avignon Quintet gathers Lawrence Durrell''s five kaleidoscopic, Booker Prize-nominated novels - orbiting around the South of France in World War II - into one epic modern classic, one of ''the greatest novels of our time'' (Sunday Times).''Durrell is a magician. He juggles with glittering words, he conjures up cloud capped towers, gorgeous palaces and solemn temples, he entrances, intrigues and impresses.'' The TimesAvignon: the kingdom of kings and Popes, capital of the historic South of France, heart of legendary Provence. The entwined lives of a group of friends - and lovers - are transformed forever by the outbreak of World War II. But their dramatic present only plunges them further into the darkness of an ancient past, as they become entangled in buried plots, gnostic cults, religious rituals, and a mysterious hunt for hidden Knight''s Templar treasure. From Hitler''s Europe to the medieval world, French chateaus to Egypt
£17.00
Faber & Faber The Dark
Book SynopsisThe celebrated second novel by ''one of the greatest writers of our era'' (Hilary Mantel) and ''the Irish novelist everyone should read'' (Colm Tóibín) is ''a perfectly written tour de force'' (Sunday Times) and ''the best novel to come out of Ireland in many years.'' (Irish Times)Set in rural Ireland, John McGahern''s second novel is about adolescence and a guilty, yet uncontrollable sexuality that is contorted and twisted by both puritanical state religion and a strange, powerful and ambiguous relationship between son and widower father. Against a background evoked with quiet mastery, McGahern explores with precision and tenderness a human situation, superficially very ordinary, but inwardly an agony of longing and despair.''Wise and compelling ... Elegiac and graceful.'' David Mitchell''I have admired, even loved, John McGahern''s work since his first novel.'' Melvyn Bragg
£9.49
Faber & Faber Jill
Book SynopsisMichaelmas term, 1940. 18-year-old John Kemp has come down from Lancashire to Oxford University to begin his scholarship studying English. But when he invents an imaginary sister to win the attention of a rich but unreliable ''friend'', and then falls in love for real, undergraduate life becomes its own strange world Absolutely contemporary - perhaps even prophetic.'' Joyce Carol OatesRemarkable A book about innocence.' Simon Garfield''A cryptic literary manifesto [about] discovering a literary personality, and the consolation art can provide.'' Andrew MotionTrade Review"'The qualities one has learned to value in his poetry are there: control of emotion and language, keen observation, and in particular the very precise expression of half-success, anticipated failure or sadness.' New Statesman; 'Jill is, in a sense, a kind of cryptic literary manifesto. It is a novel about writing, about discovering a literary personality, and about the sorts of consolation that art can provide.' Andrew Motion"
£9.49
Faber & Faber Bliss
Book SynopsisPeter Carey''s astonishing debut novel is a fast-moving extravaganza, both funny and gripping, about a man who, recovering from death, is convinced that he is in hell.
£10.44
Faber & Faber Loving Sabotage
Book Synopsis''I lived everything during these three years: heroism, glory, treachery, love, indifference, suffering, humiliation. It was China, I was seven years old.'' So announces the narrator of Loving Sabotage, Amelie Nothomb''s critically acclaimed novel about a young girl already stripped of illusions. The daughter of diplomats posted to Peking in the mid-seventies, our unnamed narrator charges about her tightly enclosed world on her ''horse'' (bicycle) with the dictatorial clarity and loneliness of a warrior-philosopher. ''From puberty onwards'', she announces at one point, ''life is just an epilogue''. There, on the asphalt-playground-battlefield, she discovers her first love: six-year-old Elena, her very own coldly indifferent ''Helen of Troy''. But she also learns life''s hardest rule: that if she wants to be loved, she must be cruel in return. Poignant, provocative - and often hilarious - Loving Sabotage chronicles one girl''s precocious understanding of Trade Review"Amelie Nothomb is such an utter astonishment, the shock of reading her for the first time is like realising you have missed a whole movement, or a century, in the scheme of things.' Scotland on Sunday
£9.49
Faber & Faber Lights Out in Wonderland
Book SynopsisThe hilarious and outrageous tale of one man''s fight against the decadent excess of the modern world, from the Booker Prize-winning author of Vernon God Little.Gabriel Brockwell, aesthete, poet, philosopher, disaffected twenty-something decadent, is looking to end it all with one last journey of excess. Taking in London, Tokyo, Berlin and the Galapagos Islands, Lights Out In Wonderland documents Gabriel Brockwell''s remarkable global odyssey. Committed to the pursuit of pleasure to obliterate all previous parties, Gabriel''s adventure takes in a spell in rehab, a near-death experience with fugu ovaries, a sexual encounter with an octopus, and finally an orgiastic feast in the bowels of Berlin''s majestic Tempelhof Airport.An allegorical banquet and a sly commentary on the march towards mindless banality, DBC Pierre''s third novel is an unexpectedly joyful expression of the human spirit.
£9.49
Faber & Faber Mr Vertigo
Book SynopsisPaul Auster''s magical, surrealist tale from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: ''a literary voice for the ages'' (Guardian)''I was twelve years old the first time I walked on water . . .''So begins Mr Vertigo, the story of Walt, an irrepressible orphan from the Mid-West. Under the tutelage of the mesmerising Master Yehudi, Walt is taken back to the mysterious house on the plains to prepare not only for the ability to fly, but also for the stardom that will accompany it.At the same time a delighted race through 1920s Americana and a richly allusive parable, Mr Vertigo is a ''virtuoso piece of storytelling by a master of the modern American fable.'' (Independent)
£9.49
Faber & Faber Family Matters 1
Book SynopsisNariman Vakeel, a seventy-nine-year-old Parsi widower, beset by Parkinson''s disease and haunted by memories of the past, lives in a once-elegant apartment with his two middle-aged stepchildren. When his condition worsens he is forced to take up residence with Roxana, his own daughter, her husband, Yezad, and their two young sons. The effect of the new responsibility on Yezad, who is already besieged by financial worries, pushes him into a scheme of deception. This sets in motion a series of events - a great unravelling and a revelation of the family''s love-torn past, that leads to the narrative''s final outcome.Trade Review"'One of India's finest living novelists.' Observer"
£999.99
Faber & Faber SUCH A LONG JOURNEY
Book SynopsisSuch a Long Journey is set in (what was then) Bombay against the backdrop of war in the Indian subcontinent and the birth of Bangladesh, telling the story of the peculiar way in which the conflict impinges on the lives of Gustad Noble, an ordinary man, and his family.It was the brilliant first novel by one of the most remarkable writers to have emerged from the Indian literary tradition in many years. It was shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize, and won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize.Trade Review"'One of India's finest living novelists.' Observer"
£9.49
