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
Vintage Publishing The Cockroach
Book SynopsisKafka meets The Thick Of It in a bitingly funny new political satire from Ian McEwanThat morning, Jim Sams, clever but by no means profound, woke from uneasy dreams to find himself transformed into a gigantic creature.Jim Sams has undergone a metamorphosis. In his previous life he was ignored or loathed, but in his new incarnation he is the most powerful man in Britain – and it is his mission to carry out the will of the people. Nothing must get in his way: not the opposition, nor the dissenters within his own party. Not even the rules of parliamentary democracy.With trademark intelligence, insight and scabrous humour, Ian McEwan pays tribute to Franz Kafka’s most famous work to engage with a world turned on its head.Trade ReviewA comic triumph… How do you make a show of people who are doing such a fabulous job of making a show of themselves? McEwan manages to do so with great style and comic panache. -- Fintan O'Toole * Observer, Book of the Day *The Cockroach is a satirical novella for our times, sharply observed and often very funny… an entertaining read, confronting the reality of Britain today. * Eastern Daily Press, *Book of the Week* *The latest instalment in his [McEwan’s] imaginative scrambling of English social history and of reality… [McEwan] finds room, amid all the Hansard send-ups and diplomatic silliness, to allude to more troubling physical-philosophical quandaries, while positing an alternative history of economic thought that culminates in a wayward version of our present. -- Leo Robson * New Statesman *Brexit has such a camp, knowing, performative quality that it is almost impossible to inflate it any further… McEwan manages to do so with great style and comic panache… very funny… McEwan’s comic parable at least provides some relief from a political farce that has long gone beyond a joke. -- Fintan O'Toole * Observer *A well-constructed novella by a master of the art. -- Stephen Bush * Big Issue *
£999.99
Cornerstone The Seventh Son: From the Between the Covers TV
Book SynopsisTHE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A genuinely thought-provoking piece of fiction' THE TIMES'Extraordinary' WILLIAM BOYD'Profoundly moving . . . a wonderful and life-affirming love story' JAMES HOLLAND'His greatest novel yet' ANTONY BEEVOR'Original and enthralling' PETER JAMES‘A beautifully written novel. On the one hand you have love, kindness, responsibility; on the other monstrous arrogance and indifference to consequences’ SCOTSMANA CHILD WILL BE BORN WHO WILL CHANGE EVERYTHINGWhen a young American academic Talissa Adam offers to carry another woman's child, she has no idea of the life-changing consequences.Behind the doors of the Parn Institute, a billionaire entrepreneur plans to stretch the boundaries of ethics as never before. Through a series of IVF treatments, which they hope to keep secret, they propose an experiment that will upend the human race as we know it.Seth, the baby, is delivered to hopeful parents Mary and Alaric, but when his differences start to mark him out from his peers, he begins to attract unwanted attention.The Seventh Son is a spectacular examination of what it is to be human. It asks the question: just because you can do something, does it mean you should? Sweeping between New York, London, and the Scottish Highlands, this is an extraordinary novel about unrequited love and unearned power.Trade ReviewThis is a genuinely thought-provoking piece of fiction. You could devour it in a day and be wholly transported into the near future, then set it back down, dazed but enlightened, in the present day where you will see the world anew in all its wonders and frailties * The Times *A stunning novel: profoundly moving, deeply unsettling, thought-provoking and prescient but also a wonderful and life-affirming love story too -- James HollandOnce I had started I literally could not stop. It really is his greatest novel yet, and of course beautifully written in that wonderful, understated style -- Antony BeevorFaulks is one of the most original and compelling writers in the world. This enthralling novel is right up there among his very finest work -- Peter JamesA completely fascinating and extraordinary novel. A profound and moving examination of our complex human nature -- William BoydA beautifully written novel. On the one hand you have love, kindness, responsibility; on the other monstrous arrogance and indifference to consequences * The Scotsman *Brilliant, original and unputdownable. An absolute cracker -- Peter FrankopanBrilliant -- Matthew ParkerThis elegant near-future novel about a daring scientific experiment explores the evolution of consciousness… Faulks is an enviably graceful and economical writer. The early chapters of the book rip along with clarity and elegance. He conjures up the various worlds, brings the central characters vividly to life and keeps the story moving intriguingly forward * Guardian *A high-concept page-turner… Pitched somewhere between Michael Crichton and Ian McEwan, it’s a timely meditation on the whims of rich tycoon * Mail on Sunday *Engaging and thought-provoking … The Seventh Son straddles two worlds, encompassing the distant past as well as the future. In so doing, Faulks asks difficult questions about who and what we are, and whether we could ever justifiably alter our genes to remove the worst of our defects * Herald *Thought-provoking and chilling * I Paper *Fabulously compelling… a provocative, poignant and disturbing examination of what it is to be human… Who says a novel of ideas can’t be as thrilling as a holiday beach read? The Birdsong author’s novels invariably examine big, bold ideas yet are beautifully told with a gossamer light touch. The Seventh Son is no exception * Express *A resonant hint of Frankenstein’s wretched monster about Seth who, functional, capable and literate as he is, stands at the book’s emotional centre, desperate for a companionship he can never find * Daily Mail *Cutting-edge science and big, meaty ideas aside, it’s the minute details of everyday life and the bursting-from-the-page characters that make this thought-provoking novel come alive -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * The Times *Sebastian Faulks has long been a novelist much occupied with ideas, especially scientific and medical ones, while contriving to marry this to a strong plot and credible characters . . . gripping, horribly persuasive and sad -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *
£18.70
Cornerstone Land of Milk and Honey
Book SynopsisA rapturous novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world'A rich novel of ideas' GUARDIAN'A tasty treat' iNEWS'A genius balance of page-turning and lyrical prose' INDEPENDENT'A sharp, sensual piece of art. When I read I'm always searching for pleasure, for the want, and this book helped me feel something' RAVEN LEILANI'It's rare to read anything that feels this unique. A richly imagined, ambitious, and haunting novel' GABRIELLE ZEVIN'Truly exceptional' ROXANE GAYA smog has spread. Food crops are disappearing. A chef escapes her career in London to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world's troubles. There, her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch and her own body.In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and seductive violence, the chef's boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in alluring language, Land of Milk and Honey is a striking novel about food, sex and the intricacies of desire and longing.Praise for C Pam Zhang:'A blazing writer' Daisy Johnson'Truly gifted' Sebastian Barry'An arrestingly original writer' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewTruly superb -- Douglas StuartA brilliant, near-future fairytale, LAND OF MILK AND HONEY is the most sensuous novel about food I've ever read -- Emma DonoghueIt’s a captivating story that is alien without being too far-fetched. Zhang’s writing is laden with metaphors – particularly around food and sex – and while this could risk being overwritten, it fits the story perfectly. It’s a genius balance of page-turning storytelling and lyrical prose * Independent *Sensual . . . This is a rich novel of ideas, insisting on moral complexity in the end times. It’s also a startling prose hymn to food and sex, love and violence, power and resistance * Guardian *Zhang constructs an unsettling, vertiginous world. Her ornate style reflects the opulence her characters guard so closely, her command of sensory language is impressive, and it’s hard not be mesmerised by prose that is as rich and as startling as the food her protagonist prepares * Observer *It's rare to read anything that feels this unique. A richly imagined, ambitious, and haunting novel -- Gabrielle ZevinLand of Milk and Honey is truly exceptional -- Roxane GayZhang writes with the same fierce artistry, vivid detail and microscopic precision that would make even her own Michelin-star characters proud – an exceptionally and uniquely written tale of greed, optimism and the pursuit of perfection in the face of scarcity -- Sofia AkelLand of Milk and Honey is a sharp, sensual piece of art. Zhang writes about the appetites of the body, the uneasy coexistence of scarcity and plenty, and the pleasure and debasement of what is surrendered to survive. This is an incredible exploration of whether it is possible to preserve one's art when answering to a master that is not yourself. When I read I'm always searching for pleasure, for the want, and this book helped me feel something -- Raven LeilaniLand of Milk and Honey is as much a parable as a novel about the murky morals of the 0.1 per cent club. Required reading for them and a tasty treat for everyone else * iNews *No one writes like C. Pam Zhang. Ferocious, sensual, and all consuming, Land of Milk and Honey is both a heartsick elegy for a world we are on the verge of losing and vibrant homage to pleasure and appetite. This book swallowed me whole and spit me out changed in the best way: buzzing, astonished, and alive -- Rachel KhongThis is an astounding book -- Caleb Azumah NelsonA brilliant, all-too-prescient novel. Extraordinary in its prose, vision, and power, Land of Milk and Honey is a triumph of a book to devour now and to treasure through the ages -- R.O. KwonA twelve-course feast for the senses and intellect. C Pam Zhang is one of the most talented novelists writing today, and she has given us a novel that is original and painful and sensuous, a honey-and-acid tasting menu exploring pleasure, loss, sex, power, and resurrection -- Sarah Thankam MathewsA dazzling, virtuosic meditation on seeking joy amid tragedy, beauty amid ruin. As hypnotic as it is profound, Land of Milk and Honey showcases C Pam Zhang's singular talent -- Kirstin ChenGorgeous. What a delicious world Zhang has created-full of so much wonder. I'll be thinking for a long time about what this novel says about desire and morality; what it means to try to stave off extinction of oneself and world; what happens when we are forced to reckon with the lies we've spent years telling ourselves -- Kat ChowC Pam Zhang is an intoxicating and fearless prose stylist who seems to invent a new language with each book. . . the incantatory rhythms of desire that power [the novel] serve us horror and pleasure in each bite -- Meng JinIntoxicating, timely, and beautifully written. Pam Zhang's exquisite prose and prodigious talents are pushed to their brink in her new, dazzling novel -- Jamil Jan KochaiAn extremely atmospheric novel about the interplay of environmental destruction and class. The bittersweet aftertaste will leave you considering what you’d be willing to do — or resist doing — to experience the most essential pleasure * The Washington Post *
£15.29
Transworld One More Christmas at the Castle
Book Synopsis''The ultimate in feelgood fiction reads, it will fill your heart with Christmas spirit.'' Milly Johnson, author of Woman in the Middle''Warm-hearted and witty, this is an absolute delight.'' Hazel Prior, bestselling author of Away with the PenguinsThis Christmas will be the most special of them all...Elderly widow Sabine knows this will be her last Christmas in her beloved home, Mitras Castle. Determined to make it just like the ones she remembers from her childhood, she employs Dido Jones of Heavenly Houseparties to help with the big day.Dido is enchanted by the castle as soon as she steps through the imposing front door. And as Christmas day approaches, her feeling of connection to the old house runs deeper than she first thought.But when the snow begins to fall and Sabine''s family arrive at the house - including Dido''s teenage crush Xan - tensions rise around the castle''s future and long-
£8.54
Hodder & Stoughton Gwendy's Magic Feather: (The Button Box Series)
Book SynopsisA CASTLE ROCK NOVEL WITH A FOREWORD BY STEPHEN KINGPREPARE TO RETURN AGAIN TO STEPHEN KING'S CASTLE ROCK, THE SLEEPY LITTLE TOWN BUILT ON A BEDROCK OF DEEP, DARK SECRETS, JUST AS IT'S ABOUT TO AWAKEN FROM ITS QUIET SLUMBER ONCE MORE.Something evil has swept into the small Maine town of Castle Rock on the heels of the latest winter storm. Sheriff Norris Ridgewick and his team are desperately searching for two missing girls.In Washington D.C., thirty-seven-year-old Gwendy Peterson couldn't be more different from the self-conscious teenaged girl who once spent a summer running up Castle Rock's Suicide Stairs. That same summer, she was entrusted - or cursed - with the extraordinary button box by a mysterious stranger in a black suit. Gwendy has never told a soul about the box - not even her husband. But one day it shows up again. Inspired by the curious appearance of the box and the troubling disappearances in her hometown, Gwendy returns to Castle Rock, where time is running out for the girls as a dangerous man is preparing the unthinkable . . .Trade ReviewOne of the most anticipated projects of the year is a novel-length sequel to Gwendy's Button Box, a novella written in collaboration with Stephen King and set in the heart of King's fictional backyard: Castle Rock, Maine. Chizmar carries the tale forward into Gwendy's future with sympathy and grace. The result is at once an independent creation and a particularly intimate form of collaboration...Chizmar's voice and sensibility dovetail neatly with King's own distinctive style, and the book ultimately reads like a newly discovered chapter in King's constantly evolving fictional universe. * Washington Post *Praise for GWENDY'S BUTTON BOX by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar * - *Man, I love this story! The whole thing just races and feels so right-sized and so scarily and sadly relevant. Loved the characters...and the sense of one little girl's connection to the whole world through this weird device. It all just sang -- JJ AbramsA resonant novella set in one of King's signature locales: the small town of Castle Rock, Maine * Washington Post *This absorbing novella...packs quite a punch * Publishers Weekly *Readers will eagerly devour this thought-provoking, satisfying tale, even as it leaves them unsettled * Booklist *He captures the small town vibe that made the Rock so popular, and when Gwendy returns home the story really takes off . . . Chizmar juggles the emotional beats around Gwendy's family and friends with a Castle Rock-appropriate plotline that hearkens back to stories such as Cujo and The Dead Zone, without overpowering the narrative. The family drama is at the heart of the tale but we never lose sight of the other events . . . A welcome return for Gwendy, in Chizmar's capable hands. * Sci Fi Bulletin *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton This Family
Book SynopsisA sweeping novel of families and secrets, for fans of Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Jane Howard and Sorrow and Bliss ''A multi-layered family drama that sings with emotion'' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING''A smart yet tender page-turner'' ERIN KELLYMary has raised a family in this house. She''s watched her daughters play and laugh and bicker in its rooms. And now, on a late summer''s day, she''s getting married here . . . and has summoned her fractured family to celebrate.In the place that''s been a sanctuary for some and a battleground for others, the long-awaited reunion unfolds. But as each guest''s memories, secrets and tensions rise to the surface, can the festivities help mend broken bonds and heal bruised hearts, or are some things impossible to forgive - even when it''s family?''Immersive and beautifully written'' RED''Intriguing, gripping, moving'' MARIAN KEYES''Unfo
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The Langoliers
Book SynopsisNo. 1 bestselling author Stephen King's unforgettable novella - first included in his 1990, award-winning collection Four Past Midnight and made into a highly acclaimed miniseries - about a terrifying plane ride into a most unfriendly sky is now available as a stand-alone publication.The flight attendants were gone; almost all the passengers were gone; Brian Engle was willing to bet the 767's two-man cockpit crew was also gone. He believed Flight 29 was heading east on automatic pilot. On a red-eye flight from L. A. to Boston, ten passengers wake up to discover everyone else has disappeared. Brian Engle, a trained pilot, remembers something about a strange aurora borealis and turbulence reports over the desert. Now he has to try to land the plane.But the safe haven of Bangor airport is not what it seems. It's eerily empty. The clocks have stopped. The food and drink is tasteless. The fuel doesn't burn. And the sound, like 'radio static', is getting closer. Craig Toomy, an investment banker, believes he knows what's coming. The Langoliers. Which means time is, quite literally, running out . . .A spine-tingling, propulsive novella, The Langoliers is a brilliant read from the masterful Stephen King.Trade ReviewThe Langoliers is . . . harrowing. . . . It's a great idea, with the execution both grounded and terrifying * GUARDIAN *An accomplished storyteller . . . incredible imagination * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *King has an uncanny knack of finding horror in the midst of the commonplace * DAILY MAIL *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Forever Home: THIS AUTUMN'S MUST-READ NOVEL FROM
Book Synopsis'FABULOUS' MARIAN KEYES'Top-notch... full of warmth, comedy and dark secrets.' DAILY MIRROR'Beautifully constructed with a twisty plot. A cracking read.' JO BRAND'Effortlessly readable, possessed of a super twist .' THE OBSERVER'A winning mix of family drama and comedy crime caper... you may well find yourself reading it in one sitting.' HEAT'Dark, funny, full of emotional intelligence and gripping from the start. ..beautifully written... Wonderful.' DAILY MAIL'Blends dark humour and emotional weight with ease.' RADIO TIMES'His best yet.' THE SUNDAY POST 'Full of Graham's trademark warmth and wit. It's also a complex mystery that ties its characters together in ways they'd least expect.' SUNDAY EXPRESSThe new dark comedy from the Sunday Times bestselling author Graham NortonCarol is a divorced teacher living in a small town in Ireland, happy enough with the life she has. But a second chance at love brings her unexpected connection and joy. The new relationship with sparks local gossip: what does a woman like her see in a man like that? What happened to his wife who abandoned him all those years ago? When Declan becomes ill, things start to fall apart. His children are untrusting and greedy, and Carol is made to leave their beloved home with its worn oak floors and elegant features and move back in with her parents.Carol's mother is determined to get to the bottom of things, she won't see her daughter treated this way. It seems there are secrets in Declan's past, strange rumours that were never confronted and suddenly the house they shared takes on a more sinister significance. In his gripping and darkly comic new novel Norton casts a light on the relationship between mothers and daughters, and truth and self-preservation with unnerving effect.'What a fabulous read... Forever Home is his best so far. It's a complex and compelling story - truly unputdownable - but most importantly for me, it has real heart.' MARY LAWSON'The latest comedy noir by Graham Norton features fractured families at their worst. I loved it!' LIZ NUGENT 'A tale of new beginnings and old secrets. Norton is the king of the Irish small town mystery.' ANNE GRIFFIN
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Our Fathers: A gripping, tender novel about
Book SynopsisWhat kind of man kills his own family?A gripping, tender novel about fathers and sons from the highly acclaimed authorA Guardian crime and thriller book of the year 2020'This is a beautifully realised novel, touching on the fallibility of memory and the unknowability of families, and gripping in its intensity. Outstanding' Mail on Sunday'A spectacular novel' SpectatorWhen Tom was eight years old, his father took a shotgun and shot his family: his wife, his son and baby daughter, before turning the gun on himself. Only Tom survived.He left his tiny, shocked community on the island of Litta and the strained silence of his Uncle Malcolm's house while still a young boy. For twenty years he's tried to escape his past. Until now.Without knowing how to ask, he needs answers - from his uncle, who should have known. From his neighbours, who think his father a decent man who 'just snapped'. From the memories that haunt the wild landscape of the Hebrides. And from the silent ones who know more about what happened - and why - than they have ever dared admit.By turns gripping, beautiful, devastating and tender, Our Fathers is a story about violence and redemption, control and love. With understated compassion and humour, Rebecca Wait gives a voice to the silenced and to the silences between men of few words.Trade Review'With an immaculate sense of place and great compassion, Rebecca Wait reaches behind the headlines to tell a story of ordinary people in an extraordinary situation. Stark yet lyrical, subtly mysterious and always humane, Our Fathers is a novel that details the trauma that is left behind in the long, bleak aftermath of violence' * Nina Allan, author of The Dollmaker *Rebecca Wait accomplishes something truly rare: a novel that exerts an extraordinary grip without appearing to apply much force. She is adept at peeling away enough of her characters' inner lives to help us to understand their hurt and their dilemmas, but without ever making them into emotional freak shows. * Irish Examiner *A wonderful novel * Spectator *Perceptive, generous exploration of ... trauma * Literary Review * Beautifully spare and profoundly upsetting... an absolutely captivating book * The Tablet *An astonishingly powerful story of toxic masculinity, regret and the possibility of redemption. * Guardian *A deeply involving study of a controlling father and the devastation he wreaks. Wait evokes the isolated community where the violence unfolds with startling realism and compassion. A wise and moving novel. * Polly Clark *This is a beautifully realised novel, touching on the fallibility of memory and the unknowability of families, and gripping in its intensity. Outstanding. * The Mail on Sunday *Rebecca Wait is a master pageturner * Buchkultur *Rebecca Wait moves between psychological novel, family novel and crime thriller. And remains as effectively sparse as the landscape of the Hebrides itself. Everything only rock and heath, moor and sea, in between fate, human * Berliner Zeitung *Our Fathers is a compelling and insightful exploration of the way the effects of an atrocity ripple out to affect an entire community. Wait has the gift of finding the universal truths in extreme events and making them live on the page. Precise, restrained and disarmingly funny, this novel beguiles, shocks and charms.In clear and tight writing, this is the riveting story of a few moments of violence and the decades of impact that follows. The novels makes very human what would otherwise be a headline. This is a writer to watch.Gripping * The Irish Times, The Gloss *Wait ... offers a thoughtful and wrenching portrait of a small Scottish town wracked by guilt over an incident of domestic violence. ... Fans of Patrick McCabe and Jon McGregor will appreciate Wait's melancholic snapshot * Publishers Weekly *Memory, masculinity, and survivor's guilt are picked apart as the novel treads its path, dodging sensationalism and easy resolutions while evoking haunted, inarticulate people in a relentless landscape. A piercing, vivid, and humane story. * Kirkus Reviews *Wait has written a novel that is powerful and insightful. Deeply compassionate and even its hardest to look at moments are aware, sensitive and humane. * New Books Magazine *Waits' stark prose traces a grim but compassionate story, an unsettling exploration of masculinity and domestic violence which is nevertheless compelling, haunting and hard to put down. * Glasgow Herald *
£10.44
Quercus Publishing Beyond Summer
Book SynopsisFrom the million-copy bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes an uplifting novel where unexpected challenges and new friendships reveal what 'home' really means. When Tam Lambert learns that her family are about to be evicted from their lovely home, the privileged life she's known is forever changed. Tam and her family must move to a changing Dallas neighbourhood called Blue Sky Hill...New resident Shasta Williams knows nothing of real estate schemes when she and her husband purchase a home in Blue Sky Hill. To her it's the perfect place to raise her children. Better yet is getting to know Tam, who lives next door. When neighbours realize that a corrupt deal could force them from their homes, friendships and loyalties are tested. Over the span of one summer, two young women discover the strength and maturity to do the impossible. They find that in Blue Sky Hill, life-altering relationships and amazing possibilities can begin to blossom...Perfect for fans of Kathryn Hughes and Santa Montefiore.Trade ReviewLisa Wingate takes an almost unthinkable chapter in our nation's history and weaves a tale of enduring power * Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife *Heartfelt, honest, and entirely entertaining... this poignant story will touch your heart from the first page to the last * Kristin Hannah, author of The Nightingale *One of the year's best books . . . It is impossible not to get swept up in this near-perfect novel. It invades your heart from the very first pages and stays there long after the book is finished * Huffington Post *A poignant, engrossing tale * People Magazine *Wingate roots her tender tale in hope, redemption, and family * Publishers Weekly *A gift for crafting a story. Lisa Wingate never disappoints * USA Today *
£10.44
Quercus Publishing Brixton Rock
Book Synopsis "Pacy; witty; his characters are real and recognisable" LINTON KWESI JOHNSON"Alex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath" KIT DE WAAL"Alex Wheatle writes from a place of honesty and passion" STEVE McQUEEN, director of Small AxeSouth London in the 1980s. Sixteen-year-old Brenton Brown is the mixed-race child of a mother he has never met. He's been living in a children's home all his life, and when he is unexpectedly reunited with his mother, Cynthia, his whole world seems poised to change. The best thing happens: Brenton has a family at last.And then the worst: Brenton falls in love with his beautiful half-sister, Juliet.As tensions brew in Brixton, Brenton finds himself embroiled in a violent feud with a killer. Vengeance seems like the only option as Brenton hurtles towards an explosive climax which will risk everything.Brixton Rock is the extraordinary debut of one of the UK's finest writers, a pitch-perfect depiction of South London life."A triumph . . . This is a debut which confirms its author is a pro in prose" The TimesTrade ReviewBrixton Rock is a pacey document of teenage angst ... which is why the pockets of humour prove to be such a triumph. This is a debut which confirms its author is a pro in prose * The Times *The novel's real strength lies in the dialogue. Wheatle gives us a fascinating snapshot of Black English in the early eighties * Daily Telegraph *Sharp-edged and sardonically funny, Brixton Rock is Graham Greene for the hip-hop generation -- Barry Forshaw * Crime Time *A powerful debut ... a real page turner. The mystery and intrigue just keeps on coming as the suspense builds to an explosive ending * Big Issue *Alex Wheatle's Brixton Rock has initiated the debate on how it feels to be a mixed-race Briton * New Statesman *Alex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath. It's a pity there's only one of him. -- Kit de WaalAlex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath. It's a pity there's only one of him. -- Kit de Waal
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Bay of Secrets
Book Synopsis''Totally spellbinding!'' 5* reader review''The most enthralling book I''ve read'' 5* reader review''Such a powerful and moving story'' 5* reader review**********Spain, 1939Following the wishes of her parents to keep her safe during the war, a young girl, Julia, enters a convent in Barcelona. Looking for a way to maintain her links to the outside world, she volunteers to help in a maternity clinic. But worrying adoption practices in the clinic force Sister Julia to decide how far she will go to help those placed in her care.England, 2012Six months after her parents'' shocking death, 34-year-old journalist and jazz enthusiast Ruby Rae has finally found the strength to pack away their possessions and sell the family home. But as she does so, she unearths a devastating secret that her parents, Vivien and Tom, had kept from her all her life.********SEE WHAT EVERYONE
£9.49
Random House A House for Alice
Book Synopsis''A stunning multi-generational kaleidoscope of London'' Bernardine Evaristo''A wise, tender novel about family and love'' Monica AliAfter fifty years in London, Alice wants to return home to Nigeria. Her three daughters are divided on whether she stays or goes, and in the wake of their father's death, the imagined stability of the family begins to fray. Meanwhile youngest sister Melissa has never let go of a love she lost, and Michael in return, even though he is now married to Nicole, is haunted by the failed perfection of the past.Spanning three generations and set against the shadows of a nation in turmoil, these ordinary people confront fundamental questions. How to raise our children? How to do right by our parents? And how, in the midst of everything, do we satisfy ourselves?''Heart and humour in abundance . . . The people on the page are real and raw'' The Times''So arresting, characterful, and so beautiful'' Candice C
£9.49
Random House Ordinary Human Failings
Book Synopsis*LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024**SHORTLISTED FOR FICTION 2023 NERO BOOK AWARDS*After the death of a young girl, the finger of suspicion is pointing at one reclusive familyAmbitious and original' DAVID NICHOLLSGripping A triumph' SUNDAY TIMESIt's 1990 in London and, after the death of a young girl on an estate, the finger of suspicion is pointing at one reclusive Irish family: the Greens.At their heart sits Carmel: beautiful, other-worldly, and once destined for a future beyond her circumstances until life and love got in her way. Now, as the scandal unfolds and the tabloids hunt their monster, she must confront the secrets and silences that have trapped her family for so many generations.A DAILY TELEGRAPH, TIMES, NEW STATESMAN AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARDaring, brilliant Bold and beautiful' DAILY TELEGRA
£9.49
Arsenal Pulp Press So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Visions of
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£20.39
Feminist Press at The City University of New York Beijing Comrades
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£12.34
Dalkey Archive Press Hidden Camera
Book SynopsisFrom one of Serbia’s greatest contemporary writers, Hidden Camera opens with the narrator finding a mysterious, blank envelope stuck in his apartment door inviting him to a private showing of a movie. Or so he initially thinks. Upon arrival at the theatre, he discovers that there’s only one other person in the audience, a very attractive woman whom he’s seated next to. Then things get a bit more mysterious. The movie he’s been invited to see includes a scene showing him sitting in a park. Believing that he’s an unwitting participant in a complicated hidden camera show, he goes along with the variety of setups he’s faced with, which continue to get more involved and absurd. As the show develops, he becomes more and more paranoid and distrustful, but he keeps up the ruse to its thrilling conclusion.Trade Review"For all his control of mood and language, Zivkovic is a writer who prefers the playful to the profound, the scattering of seeds to the harvest." - Gerald Turner, New York Times "Zivkovic does a superb job of communicating the befuddlement, confusion, and awe of individual characters as they wrestle with mysteries that exceed the understanding that their time, place and intellectual capacity permits." - Stefan Dziemianowicz, Publishers Weekly"
£9.49
Coffee House Press Brazil-Maru
Book Synopsis"Immensely entertaining." Newsday"Poignant and remarkable." Philadelphia Inquirer"Warm, compassionate, engaging, and thought-provoking." Washington Post"With a subtle ominousness, Yamashita sets up her hopeful, prideful charactersand, in the process, the entire genre of pioneer litfor a fall." Village Voice"A splendid multi-generational novel . . . rich in history and character." San Francisco ChronicleParticularly insightful." Library Journal"Informative and timely." Kirkus"Yamashita's heightened sense of passion and absurdity, and respect for inevitability and personality, infuse this engrossing multigenerational immigrant saga with energy, affection, and humor." Booklist"This enriching novel introduces Western readers to an unusual cultural experiment, and makes vivid a crucial chapter in Japanese assimilation into the West." Publishers Weekly The story of an idealistic band of Japanese immigrants, who arrive in Brazil in 1925 to carve a utopia out of the jungle. The dream of creating a new world, the cost of idealism, the symbiotic tie between a people and the land they settle, and the changes demanded by a new generation, all collide in this multigenerational saga.Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Brazil-Maru, Tropic of Orange, Circle K Cycles, I Hotel, and Anime Wong, all published by Coffee House Press. I Hotel was selected as a finalist for the National Book Award and awarded the California Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award, and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award.
£12.34
Coffee House Press Through the Arc of the Rain Forest
Book Synopsis"Fluid and poetic as well as terrifying." New York Times Book Review "Dazzling . . . a seamless mixture of magic realism, satire and futuristic fiction." San Francisco Chronicle "Impressive . . . a flight of fancy through a dreamlike Brazil." Village Voice "Surreal and misty, sweeping from one high-voltage scene to another." LA Weekly "Amuses and frightens at the same time." Newsday "Incisive and funny, this book yanks our chains and makes us see the absurdity that rules our world." Booklist (starred review) "Expansive and ambitious . . . incredible and complicated." Library Journal "This satiric morality play about the destruction of the Amazon rain forest unfolds with a diversity and fecundity equal to its setting. . . . Yamashita seems to have thrown into the pot everything she knows and most that she can imagineall to good effect." Publishers Weekly A Japanese man with a ball floating six inches in front of his head, an American CEO with three arms, and a Brazilian peasant who discovers the art of healing by tickling one's earlobe, rise to the heights of wealth and fame, before arriving at disastersboth personal and ecologicalthat destroy the rain forest and all the birds of Brazil. Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Brazil-Maru, Tropic of Orange, Circle K Cycles, I Hotel, and Anime Wong, all published by Coffee House Press. I Hotel was selected as a finalist for the National Book Award and awarded the California Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award, and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award.
£12.34
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press The Immortal King Rao
Book SynopsisFinalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in FictionOne of Vulture's Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2022One of The Millions' Most Anticipated Books of 2022One of The Observer's Fiction to Look Out for in 2022One of MS Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2022One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2022An Indian Express Book to Look Out for in 2022'A brilliant and beautifully written book about capitalism and the patriarchy, about Dalit India and digital America, about power and family and love' Alex Preston, Observer, 'Fiction to look out for in 2022'Vauhini Vara's lyrical and thought-provoking debut novel begins in India in the 1950s, following a young man born into a Dalit family of coconut farmers in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh. King Rao, as he comes to be known, later moves to the US, where he studies in Seattle, meeting the love of his life and his business partner, the smart and self-assured Margie. King Rao ultimately rises up through Silicon Valley to become the most famous tech CEO in the world and the leader of a powerful, corporate-owned global government. Yet he ultimately ends up living on a remote island off the coast of Washington state, an exile from the world which he has helped build.There, in a beautiful home on an otherwise deserted island, he brings up his brilliant daughter, Athena. Shielded from the world's glances, in many ways she has an idyllic childhood, but she will be forced to reexamine her father's past and take steps to try to decide her own future. She is unlike other girls, and she will find the outside world much more hostile than her father did when he left the coconut grove he called home.A profound and moving novel about technology, consciousness and revolution, The Immortal King Rao asks how we build the worlds in which we live, and whether we ever have the power to leave them?Trade ReviewA monumental achievement: beautiful and brilliant, heartbreaking and wise, but also pitiless, which may be controversial to list among its virtues but is in fact essential to its success. Vara respects her reader and herself too much to yield to the temptation to console us. How rare these days as a reader - and how bracing, in the finest way - to encounter a novel that refuses to treat you like a child or a studio audience. If that were the only thing to love about Rao, it would probably be enough. But as I've said, there's also everything else. * New York Times Book Review *A brilliant and beautifully written book about capitalism and the patriarchy, about Dalit India and digital America, about power and family and love. -- Alex Preston * Observer, 'Fiction to look out for in 2022' *In this richly imagined saga spanning past, present, and future, Vara brings us a visionary who makes the world in his image, and the strong-willed daughter whose life could be his final legacy. Vara's brilliance is matched only by her heart, and this unforgettable debut will challenge what you think you know about genius, capitalism, consciousness, and what it means to be human. -- Anna North, New York Times bestselling author of OUTLAWEDA fully imagined world: propulsive, prophetic, dizzying. -- Jeet Thayil, author of NARCOPOLISUtterly, thrillingly brilliant. From the first unforgettable page to the last, The Immortal King Rao is a form-inventing, genre-exploding triumph. Vauhini Vara's bravura debut has reshaped my brain and expanded my heart. -- R.O. Kwon, author of THE INCENDIARIESVauhini Vara comes out the gate with a masterwork: a book that is three great novels in one: the tale of a thriving and chaotic Dalit clan in the first decades of independent India; an immigrant success story in '80s America; and a dystopian nightmare of the post-Trump future. -- Karan Mahajan, author of THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBSAn astonishing debut. An amazing imagination. Vara's voice is thrilling, original, dynamic and ever-surprising as her characters move from world to world, from the real to the fantastic, examining the myriad contradictory shapes in which love can appear. -- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, author of THE LAST QUEENThe Immortal King Rao is an odyssey of the grandest scale, spanning over half a century and charting a Dalit immigrant's rise to world power. Vauhini Vara fuses intricate family lore with the history of tech solutionism and capitalist demagoguery, pointing forward to a dangerously likely future of corporate dominion; she writes with the meticulous clarity of a longform journalist, the explosive force of a Trident missile, and the ambition of her own brilliant protagonists. -- Tony Tulathimutte, author of PRIVATE CITIZENSVara's potent debut revolves around a global society run by a corporate board...This is not to be missed. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *
£9.49
Small Beer Press The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium,
Book SynopsisA surprising and exciting new collection of speculative and experimental stories that explore animal intelligences, gender, and the nature of stories. The Privilege of the Happy Ending collects award-winning writer Kij Johnson’s speculative fiction from the last decade. The stories explore gender, animals, and the nature of stories, and range in form from classically told tales to deeply experimental works. The collection includes the World Fantasy Award-winning “The Privilege of the Happy Ending” and “The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe,” as well as two never-before published works.Trade Review “This collection of speculative stories feels like being in a vivid dream that you don’t want to wake up from. Kij Johnson’s imaginative narratives are utterly surreal and somewhat dark, yet laced with wit. Their language is highly literary, almost poetic, and draws the reader deeper into Johnson’s world. . . . It’s immersive and supernatural enough to appeal to diehard fantasy fans, but also addresses universal themes like family relationships and loss. The literary prose and character-driven stories (you won’t find hard magic systems here) mean it might make a good introduction to the fantasy genre for those who usually read more grounded contemporary works. It’s simultaneously creepy and cozy, making it perfect to curl up with on a crisp autumn day.” — Jillian Bell, BookBrowse “In these strange and speculative stories, Johnson, who teaches fiction writing at the University of Kansas, plays with form and narrative voices in a way that’s designed to raise questions about how much we really know about one another, the past, or the nature of stories themselves.” — Daily Hampshire Gazette★ “While the entries are uniformly excellent in pacing and prose, the standouts may be the collection’s opener and closer. 'Tool-Using Mimics' spins out a half-dozen explanations for a vintage photo of a young girl with tentacles that lead to piercing questions about how much we can know about the past, other species, and each other. The titular novella, which also won a World Fantasy Award, is a compelling fairy tale about a little orphan girl and her talking hen that poignantly interrogates the ways we determine which stories take center stage. A strange and glimmering jewel for any genre fiction collection.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)★ "Hugo and Nebula award winner Johnson (The River Bank) returns with 14 dazzling speculative shorts. . . . The devastating title tale follows another young girl and her cherished talking hen as they barely escape a swarm of monsters who devour anything with flesh. Johnson’s keen eye for the mysteries of human nature shines as her characters experience love, loss, growth, and betrayal, all made delightfully strange. These boundary-pushing, magic-infused tales are sure to wow."— Publishers Weekly (starred review)Praise for Kij Johnson’s stories: “Wondrously strange and sinister stories of other worlds, future times, and everyday life gone haywire.” — Dan Kois, Slate “The best short-story collection I read this year was Kij Johnson’s At the Mouth of the River of Bees.” — Adam Roberts, The Guardian “Ursula Le Guin comes immediately to mind when you turn the pages of Kij Johnson’s first book of short stories, her debut collection is that impressive. The title piece has that wonderful power we hope for in all fiction we read, the surprising imaginative leap that takes us to recognize the marvelous in the everyday.” —Alan Cheuse, NPR “For all the distances traveled and the mysteries solved, those strange, inexplicable things remain. This is Johnson’s fiction: the familiar combined with the inexplicable. The usual fantastic. The unknowable that undergirds the everyday.” —Sessily Watt, Bookslut “In her first collection of short fiction, Johnson (The Fox Woman) covers strange, beautiful, and occasionally disturbing territory without ever missing a beat. . . . Johnson’s language is beautiful, her descriptions of setting visceral, and her characters compellingly drawn. These 18 tales, most collected from Johnson’s magazine publications, are sometimes off-putting, sometimes funny, and always thought provoking.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[The] stories are original, engaging, and hard to put down. . . . Johnson has a rare gift for pulling readers directly into the heart of a story and capturing their attention completely. Those who enjoy a touch of the other in their reading will love this collection.” —Library Journal (starred review) “When she’s at her best, the small emotional moments are as likely to linger in your memory as the fantastic imagery. Johnson would fit quite comfortably on a shelf with Karen Russell, Erin Morgenstern and others who hover in the simultaneous state of being both 'literary' and 'fantasy' writers.” — Shelf Awareness “The book overflows with stories that, sentence by sentence, scene by scene, can never be taken for granted; they change in your hands, turn and shift, take on new faces, new shapes. Their breathing grows heavy, soft, then heavy again. You lean in close.”—James Sallis, F&SF “Kij Johnson has won short fiction Nebula awards in each of the last three years. All three winning stories are in this collection; when you read the book, you may wonder why all the others didn’t win awards as well. “Ponies”, to pick just one, is a shatteringly powerful fantasy about the least lovely aspects of human social behaviour… and also about small girls and their pet horses. Evocative, elegant, and alarmingly perceptive, Johnson reshapes your mental landscape with every story she writes.” —David Larsen, New Zealand Herald “Apparently, Johnson publishes in fantasy and SF mags because they’re the only ones who’d have her, though New Yorker should be so lucky.” — PopMatters "'Ponies’ . . . reads like the sort of thing that might have happened if Little Golden Books had inadvertently sent a contract to Chuck Palahniuk. . . . It’s not surprising that ['The Man Who Bridged the Mist'] won the Nebula Award and garnered Hugo, Sturgeon, and Locus nominations, since it’s a stunning example of what Johnson does best – using the materials of SF, fantasy, myth, and even romance not as genres to inhabit, but as tools for building or, you could say, as a kind of story kit. ”— Locus Table of ContentsTool-Using MimicsMantis WivesButterflies of Eastern TexasFive Sphinxes and 56 AnswersRatatoskrCoyote Invents the Land of the DeadThe Ghastly Spectre of Toad HallCertain Lorebooks for Apartment Dwellers— Bestiary— Stavebook— Alphabetical DreambookThe Dream-Quest of Vellitt BoeNoah’s RavenCrows Attempt Human-Style Riddles, and One JokeThe Privilege of the Happy Ending
£12.34
Counterpoint A Place In Time: Twenty Stories of the Port
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£14.39
Canterbury Classics Peter Pan
Book Synopsis“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” —J. M. Barrie, Peter PanJoin Peter, Wendy, Tinker Bell, and a cast of other familiar characters on a fantastical journey in the Word Cloud Classics’ Peter Pan. Included in this volume are the famous novel—Peter and Wendy (1911)—about the “boy who never grew up” and his adventures in Neverland, as well as a lesser-known prequel entitled Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), which tells the story of Pan’s early years in London. This lively volume weaves a tale that is universally relatable and wildly popular for adults and children alike.
£10.79
Restless Books Albina And The Dog-men
Book SynopsisDeeply psychological and mysterious, the book will stimulate the imagination of the reader''s mind to the extreme. Marina Abramovic In his latest novel, Jodorowsky builds on his multi-decade long assault of the public imagination. a fantastical and genre-defying parable of love and friendship. At its core, Albina and the Dog-Men is a love story about two people committed to one another''s survival and to discovering their potential. And, as with life, it is sometimes only through the weathering of a storm that our true capacities are made clear. NPR BooksWhen two womenan amnesiac goddess and her protector, a leather-tough woman called Crabbyarrive in a Chilean desert town, Albina's otherworldly allure and unfettered sensuality turn men into wild beasts. Chased by a clubfooted corrupt cop, evil corporate overlords, giant-hare-riding narcos, and Himalayan cultists, Albina and Crabby must find a magical cactus that will cure Albina and the men's monstrous affliction before the town consumes itself in an orgy of lust and violence.Albina and the Dog-Men is Alejandro Jodorowsky's darkly funny, shocking, and surreal hybrid of mystical folktale, road novel, horror story, and social parable, ultimately uniting in a universal story of love against the odds and what makes us human.
£11.39
Other Press LLC The Woman Back From Moscow: A Novel
Book Synopsis
£17.84
Plough Publishing House Brisbane: From the award-winning author of Laurus
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary AwardWinner of the Ivo Andrić Grand Prize for best novel of 2022From the INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR Eugene Vodolazkin – winner of the BIG BOOK AWARD, the LEO TOLSTOY YASNAYA POLYANA AWARD, and the READ RUSSIA AWARDFor fans of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Umberto EcoVodolazkin’s new novel Brisbane is “a sophisticated and frequently moving study in dissonance, dedicated to pointing out contrasts between art and life, beauty and decay, intention and outcome. And, yes, between Ukraine and Russia” (Booklist).Brisbane is a richly layered, universal coming-of-age story of a musical prodigy robbed of his talent by an incurable disease who attempts to overcome his mortality. After Gleb Yanovsky, a celebrated guitarist, is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age fifty, he permits a writer, Sergei Nesterov, to pen his biography. For years, they meet regularly as Gleb recounts the life he’s lived thus far: a difficult childhood in Kyiv, his formative musical studies in St. Petersburg, and his later years in Munich, where he lives with his wife and meets a thirteen-year-old virtuoso whom he embraces as his own daughter. In a mischievous and tender account, Gleb recalls a personal story of a lifetime quest for meaning, and how the burden of success changes with age.Expanding the literary universe spun in his earlier novels, Vodolazkin explores music and fame, heritage and belonging, time and memory in this beautifully-wrought and relevant tale that carefully unravel into a puzzle: Whose story is it – the subject's or the writer's? Are art and love really no match for death? Is memory a reliable narrator? In Brisbane, the city of our dreams, as in music, Gleb hopes he’s found a path to eternity – and a way to stop the clock.Trade ReviewVodolazkin can be very funny in the mordant Russian way. His depictions of Soviet-era academia are wry. . . . Although funny in places, the overarching mood of Brisbane is one of nostalgia, the emotion that pines for what is lost. Vodolazkin creates an atmosphere of suspicion that one is missing the most important moments, seeing the most important truths only in passing glances. —R. R. Reno, First ThingsVodolazkin’s writing is symphonic in its abundance of descriptive detail. —Michael Kurek, author of The Sound of BeautyThe magic of Vodolazkin’s talent takes place in the level of ideas and plot… and in the level of words and sounds. Vodolazkin plays with both Russian and Ukrainian languages that were not lost in translation. —Alexandra Guzeva, Russia BeyondUsing two narrative voices—Kyiv-born guitarist Gleb Yanovsky’s and his alcohol-sodden biographer Nestor’s—this novel counterposes past and present, self and other. It can be defined as an exercise in Dostoyevskian polyphony, and certainly few contemporary writers are as steeped in the Russian greats as Vodolazkin. But it’s also a sophisticated and frequently moving study in dissonance, dedicated to pointing out contrasts between art and life, beauty and decay, intention and outcome. And, yes, between Ukraine and Russia. —BooklistIntensely lyrical and tender, while punctuated by moments of transfixing beauty, violence, ecstasy, and pain, Vodolazkin’s masterpiece is at once relatable and transcendent, straightforward and multilayered, rational and mystical. But what makes it especially relevant and poignant today, is its examination of the intertwined fates of two nations, Russia and Ukraine, through the lens of changing political regimes and complicated family relations. —Dr. Marina Alexandrova, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, University of Texas at AustinI loved Brisbane. Smart and quirky. —Brian Zahnd, author of When Everything's on FireGreat prose recommends itself, and Vodolazkin’s needs none of my poor lauds. [His] novels do for time what Wendell Berry does for space: we can’t just live where we are, we have to live when we are, too. —Aaron Weinacht, Front Porch RepublicAs the [war] has unfolded, Vodolazkin’s depiction of these two languages as part of one and the same person, as brothers and foes simultaneously, while not completely new for me, has introduced more nuance into my thinking. For an English reader less familiar with the relationship between Russia and Ukraine, the novel may well be a revelation. — Marian Schwartz, LiteraryHubEach [of Vodolazkin’s novels] is its own song, and these songs heard together become greater than the sum of their parts . . . The worlds of Laurus and Brisbane do not harmonize; instead, they sing to each other. Sometimes they shout at each other. But through it all Vodolazkin probes his central theme: the mysterious relationship of time and salvation, the bleeding back and forth of joy and grief across life and history, the never-ending exchange between our end and our beginning. —Jane C. Scharl, The European ConservativeBrisbane is an ambitious novel: a meditation on the nature and staying power of music (and art in general), a love letter to the written word, and a nascent inquiry into whether one can be simultaneously Russian and Ukrainian....Vodolazkin’s pleasure in skewering convention and received wisdom is evident throughout his novels. —Katherine Young, On the SeawallBrisbane is, in a few words, a damn good novel. Beautifully translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz, I enjoyed it immensely, and will probably seek out more books by Vodolazkin. My very highest recommendation. —Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BookloverWith Brisbane, Eugene Vodolazkin, the artistic grandson of Dostoevsky, continues to develop his novelistic philosophy exploring how death contributes to life’s baffling meaningfulness. —Englewood Review of Books, feature reviewBrisbane is deep, ambitious. With its constant questions about whether one can be simultaneously Russian and Ukrainian, it is a timely novel. At the same time, it is also an investment — of time, of emotional stamina, of a willingness to look beyond one’s own understanding of humanity, the arts, and language. …Brisbane gives one message to readers seeking for a more meaningful reading and existence: live every moment — to the fullest. —Southern Review of BooksRussia and Ukraine fight over territory and national identity, but Vodolazkin’s novel does not pick a side. Instead, he troubles our idea of the separation and difference that make a “side” or a border. As countries and bodies are torn apart by nationalisms and sectarianisms of every sort, Vodolazkin raises the question of survival itself – will there be a future? —First ThingsBrisbane explores what it means to be human, and to be Christian, especially in the face of death. It’s about the universal experience of learning how to live. —Sarah Clark, Fare ForewardVodolazkin, a Kyiv-born Russian who attended Ukrainian-language school before moving to St Petersburg as an adult, is steeped in ethnic and linguistic dualism. … Of Vodolazkin’s four novels, this is his most contemporary – and autobiographical. … Brisbane is a richly polyphonic novel. —TLS (Times Literary Supplements), UKAn engrossing read, Brisbane is lightly melancholic, a pale late afternoon of a story. Vodolazkin’s strength as a writer is his lightness, humour and wryness. —The Catholic Weekly, AustraliaEugene Vodolazkin has emerged in the eyes of many as the most important living Russian writer. A literary scholar as well as a novelist—or, as he puts it, an ichthyologist as well as a fish—Vodolazkin draws heavily on the Russian classics in novels of ideas addressing what Russians call “the accursed questions,” including the meaning of life and, especially, the significance of death. … For Vodolazkin, the key to all such mysteries is time. … We must change our understanding of time, Vodolazkin believes, and that is what his novels try to accomplish. —Gary Saul Morson, New York Review of Books
£17.99
Permuted Press Death of the Great Man: A Novel
Book SynopsisIn a novel that’s part comic mystery, part political satire, and part case vignette, a psychiatrist reviews his involvement with a narcissistic national leader who has turned up dead on the consulting room couch.When Peter D. Kramer wrote about his work with psychiatric patients in books like Listening to Prozac and Should You Leave?, Joyce Carol Oates said, “To read his prose on virtually any subject is to be provoked, enthralled, illuminated.” When Kramer switched to fiction, Publishers Weekly wrote, “The depth, quality, and ambition of Kramer’s prose will surprise those expecting a superficial crossover effort.” In his new novel, Death of the Great Man, Kramer uses those literary skills to introduce readers to an unforgettable character, Henry Farber, a well-meaning psychiatrist forced into hiding when the nation’s chief executive—a narcissistic autocrat in his disastrous second term—is found dead on the consulting room couch. From an isolated bungalow, Farber sets out to clear his name while offering an intimate view of a flawed populist leader. What begins as comic mystery and political satire matures into a moving journey of self-exploration and a commentary on the fate of truth-telling in an era when lying has become a norm in public life.Trade Review“Best known for his landmark 1993 Listening to Prozac, psychiatrist and psychotherapist Kramer opens his comedic mystery and political satire with “Great Man,” a vainglorious, lying, bullying national leader (think Donald Trump), found dead in his therapist’s office. Through his big-hearted, insightful narrator, therapist Henry Farber, Kramer holds up a lens to the shape-shifting distortions of lies. Death of the Great Man is a remarkably topical novel that is full of wit and insight.” -- National Book Review“Death of the Great Man is a diabolically clever and truly original novel about power, paranoia, and the uses (and abuses) of psychoanalysis. Filled with insight and witty asides, Peter Kramer’s dystopian not-quite-fable has caught the deflated but ever-hopeful spirit of this cultural moment with unerring skill and unfailing intelligence.” -- Daphne Merkin, author of This Close to Happy and 22 Minutes of Unconditional Love“Death of the Great Man is like nothing else written from our political era—in a good way. Peter Kramer’s lifetime experience as a psychiatrist and his lifelong skill as a writer and storyteller, combine in a riveting and thought-provoking book. It is fantasy, it is reality, and it is very much worth reading.” -- James Fallows, longtime commentator for NPR and former chief White House speechwriter“Peter Kramer, whether in his nonfiction guise or in his fiction writing, is a thinker I return to with reverence and esteem often. He has an intuitive and poignant and funny take on the deeper questions that nag struggling humans, one that he comes to with such wisdom.” -- Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm and The Long Accomplishment“Peter Kramer has created an arch political satire that also offers a deep consideration of the modes and meaning of psychoanalysis. A sly novel of many pleasures, it is at once entertaining and enlightening.” -- Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse“I’ve been a Peter Kramer fan for years. His professional training, coupled with his innate curiosity and compassion, results in a voice uniquely his. Add to that the creativity of a novelist and you have Death of the Great Man, a mesmerizing story and a moving account of a psychotherapist in crisis.” -- Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone“So many delightful surprises in here! For starters, I didn't really know that Peter Kramer, one of America’s most celebrated Serious Thinkers, is also an absolutely crackerjack comic novelist. Nor did I expect this entertaining and timely story to take the thoughtful and thought-provoking twists and turns it does. Death of the Great Man is serious fun.” -- Kurt Andersen, author of Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America“Dr. Kramer’s satiric tale is bold, sly, and frighteningly in tune with the moment—and the moments to come.” -- Elizabeth Benedict, author of Almost, Slow Dancing, and Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own“Reaching with his storyteller’s wand into the swirl of the Now, Peter Kramer has created a fanciful, but in other ways deadly, political and psychological mystery. Deploying the tropes and truisms of psychotherapy, feasting on our collective fears and fantasies, Death of the Great Man is a narrative full of crackle and surprise. A mind-worm for our moment and beyond—its atmospheres will be hard to shake.” -- Sven Birkerts, author of The Art of Time in Memoir: Then, Again“Political satire with remarkable depictions of the workings of a psychiatrist’s mind, meditation on the proper aims of psychotherapy, and speculation about the dystopian contour of our future should a ‘great man’ return to high office.” -- Sally Satel, author of Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience
£13.49
Soho Press La Tercera
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£16.19
Octane Press Hot Rod
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£14.25
Kensington Publishing Moth To A Flame: Tenth Anniversary Edition
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£14.39
Seven Seas Entertainment, LLC Classroom of the Elite (Light Novel) Vol. 10
Book SynopsisPOPULARITY CONTESTIt's spring, and for the first time in the school’s history, no one has been expelled after the third semester exams. As a result, the Advanced Nurturing High School sets a cruel test—each class must choose one of their own members to be expelled. Chaos consumes the first-years as Hirata tries and fails to keep the class from turning on each other, Ichinose strikes a costly bargain with Nagumo, and Ryuuen’s classmates seem ready to throw him to the wolves. Can Class C make it out of this unscathed—or will they be undone by traitors within?
£11.39
Simon & Schuster Miles Morales Suspended: A Spider-Man Novel
Book SynopsisFrom #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds comes the high-flying sequel to his groundbreaking young adult novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man about the adventures of the unassuming, everyday kid who just so happens to be Spider-Man. Miles Morales is still just your average teenager. He has unexpectedly become totally obsessed with poetry and can never seem to do much more than babble around his crush. Nothing too weird. Oh! Except, just yesterday, he used his spidey superpowers to save the world (no biggie) from an evil mastermind called The Warden. And the grand prize Miles gets for that is… Suspension. But what begins as a long boring day of in-school suspension is interrupted by a little bzzz in his mind. His spidey-sense is telling him there’s something not quite right here, and soon he finds himself in a fierce battle with an insidious…termite?! His unexpected foe is hiding a secret, one that could lead to the destruction of the world’s history—especially Black and Brown history—and only Miles can stop him. Yeah, just a typical day in the life of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
£8.54
The New York Review of Books, Inc The Recognitions
Book SynopsisA postmodern masterpiece about fraud and forgery by one of the most distinctive, accomplished novelists of the last century.The Recognitions is a sweeping depiction of a world in which everything that anyone recognizes as beautiful or true or good emerges as anything but: our world. The book is a masquerade, moving from New England to New York to Madrid, from the art world to the underworld, but it centers on the story of Wyatt Gwyon, the son of a New England minister, who forsakes religion to devote himself to painting, only to despair of his inspiration. In expiation, he will paint nothing but flawless copies of his revered old masters—copies, however, that find their way into the hands of a sinister financial wizard by the name of Recktall Brown, who of course sells them as the real thing.Dismissed uncomprehendingly by reviewers on publication in 1955 and ignored by the literary world for decades after, The Recognitions is now established as one of the great American novels, immensely ambitious and entirely unique, a book of wild, Boschian inspiration and outrageous comedy that is also profoundly serious and sad.
£22.95
The New York Review of Books, Inc Last Times
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£16.19
The New York Review of Books, Inc Fathers and Children
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£14.39
Melville House Publishing My Weil
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£13.49
ZE Books The Sterns Are Listening
Book SynopsisBenjamin and Dita Stern are seasoned New Yorkers whose life in the pre-war, Upper East Side building Benjamin’s grandfather built has settled into stasis—two children no longer at home, professional lives never fully realized. Then Benjamin's brash younger brother Spence, founder and CEO of the hearing aid company Belphonics, asks him to collaborate on a new product line inspired by the brothers' rock-and-roll youth at CBGB's—the club where, Spence believes, his hearing was permanently damaged. If the idea works, it might salvage Benjamin and Dita's tenuous financial position. Yet they both know that getting involved in Spence's schemes comes at a high price.A funny and deeply felt debut novel from poet and memoirist Jonathan Wells, The Sterns Are Listening explores a family on the verge of both collapse and regeneration. Brimming with affection for its troubled characters and the troubled city they call home, the novel traces a courageous path to the deeply uncomfortable heart of the matter, one that just might lead to redemption.
£17.00
Muswell Press User
Book SynopsisA New York City hustler with a special gift for reeling in customers, Apollo, 'a pale skinned mulatto with a mournful mouth' strips at a gay sex theatre in Times Square. He is one of the most seductive and disturbing creations in recent American fiction. Unflinchingly describing the lives of hustlers, pimps, drug-addicts and transsexuals in 1990s Times Square, User speaks with the authentic voice of characters from the edge. This is a world filled with stark, hypnotic eroticism and mined with terrors peculiar to the subterranean city in the hours after midnight.Trade Review'User is unmistakably brilliant' Los Angeles Times. 'Impressive, startling and eerie...hypnotically descriptive and powerfully rhythmic' Kirkus. 'User is a stunning novel. I both love and respect it even though parts of it challenge and disturb me' Matt Bates.
£9.49
Perspectives Books AOK: Allen of Kea
Book SynopsisAOK is pure fiction, politically incorrect, vulgar, blasphemous, humorous, sad, and contains some certain life truths. It is a testament for older underachievers as it focuses on the main character, Allen, and his intent at 50 to reinvent himself on a beautiful island in the Greek Aegean Seas. It combines poetry, written by the dyspeptic poet Anthony, the ex-public-school eccentric, with factual history, archaeology, and Essex humour courtesy of Grace. AOK is an entertaining read that is anything but dull.
£8.99
Heloise Press ULTRAMARINE
Book SynopsisA poetic and mesmerizing novel, Ultramarine pushes us to the very edges of the narrative genre. Narrated in the first person by a female captain, the only woman amongst the crew of a transatlantic ship, Ultramarine reflects on the fears, strengths, and insecurities of female authority. In a ghostly, almost dream-like, atmosphere, the captain agrees to break one of her rules, letting the crew take a dip in the middle of the ocean. Something changes during that unprecedented swim; an uncertain atmosphere takes over their journey and the ship. A simple business trip turned into a true adventure.Trade Review"In this poetically written debut novel, Mariette Navarro successfully gets to the writing of metaphysical vertigo." Le Monde. "The story is slow and strong, like a marine animal moving forward on the lock-out while sounding the invisible […]. The story treads carefully between realism and a fantastic world. It will land on its feet at final with such elegance." Le Figaro
£10.40
Ultimo Press Something Blue
Book Synopsis‘Set in Sydney’s diverse Western suburbs, this tender coming-of-age story about love, loyalty and what home means also functions as a visceral love letter to the glorious, foliage-filled melting pot of its location… The author exposes various cultural stereotypes but then challenges and disrupts them, leaving us with a more nuanced view of the immigrant community she so evocatively describes. I rooted for Nicole and raced straight through to the end.’ – Daily Mail UKTwenty-six-year-old Nicole Najim is struggling to find herself after a painful breakup, just when she thought she was going to settle down. Working a dead-end job in the family car dealership and at a loose end, she picks up her camera and returns to the melting pot of Sydney’s West to rediscover her roots. When she catches up with childhood friend, Danny, who makes his living in a shadowy underworld, their relationship intensifies just as the law starts to close in. Nicole must weigh her feelings against her deepest fears, all while chasing her own dreams and capturing the hidden truths around her. Something Blue is a novel about loving home and leaving home, but never escaping your roots. Or your footy colours. Trade Review‘Set in Sydney’s diverse Western suburbs, this tender coming-of-age story about love, loyalty and what home means also functions as a visceral love letter to the glorious, foliage-filled melting pot of its location… The author exposes various cultural stereotypes but then challenges and disrupts them, leaving us with a more nuanced view of the immigrant community she so evocatively describes. I rooted for Nicole and raced straight through to the end.’ * Daily Mail UK *
£13.49
Birlinn General Ardnish Was Home: A Novel
Book SynopsisYoung Donald Peter Gillies, a Lovat scout soldier lies in hospital in Gallipoli in 1916, blinded by the Turks. There he falls in love with his Queen Alexandra Corps nurse, Louise, and she with him. The story moves back and forth from their time at the field hospital to the west highlands of Scotland where Donald grew up. As they talk in the quiet hours he tells her the stories of the coast and glens, how his family lived and the fascinating life of a century ago: bagpiping, sheep shearing, celidhs, illegal distilling, his mother saving the life of the people of St Kilda, the navvies building the west highland railway and the relationship between the lairds and the people. Louise in turn tells her own story of growing up in the Welsh valley: coal mining, a harsh and unforgiving upbringing. They get cut off from the allied troops and with another nurse are forced to make their escape through Turkey to Greece, getting rescued by a Coptic priest and ending up in Malta. By this time their love is out in the open, but there is still another tragic twist to their story waiting on the way back to Donald’s beloved highland home . . .Trade Review'If ever there was a story ready-made for the big screen, the Ardnish trilogy is it: an unforgettable case, heart-thumping adventure and romance, but above all a backdrop of spell-binding beauty' * National Trust Magazine *'Extraordinary. Far more than another wartime love affair. I closed the book with the strong feeling of the importance of kin shire, the need to nurture one another, and the power of love. It will enter your soul' * Scots Magazine *'a tragic tale, captivating and a good read' * Press and Journal, Book of the Week *'Striking, charming, page-turning novel about love in the ruins of the first world war' * Piping Times *'Burns with love for his country…[Macdonald's] plain, easy-going style takes on a natural engaging momentum' * The National *'a genuine portrait of a time gone forever ... a very good read' * Rosamunde Pilcher *'This is a book that is truly enthralling - brutal, poetic, unjust but beautiful… A beautiful yet tragic tale, set in the First World War, Ardnish Was Home kept me captivated throughout and left wanting more at the end. It delivers everything the title implies about family and community in the Scottish Highlands and illustrates that love can be found in the most desperate of circumstances' * The Bookbag *'a fast-paced narrative with deeply likeable characters … far more than yet another wartime love story … impossible to put down' * Scottish Field *
£8.54
Little, Brown Book Group Einsteins Dreams
Book SynopsisA modern classic, Einstein''s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, when he worked in a patent office in Switzerland. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar.Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein''s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.
£9.49
Oneworld Publications Ishmael's Oranges
Book Synopsis Shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize 2016 A finalist for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2015 It’s April 1948, and war hangs over Jaffa. One minute seven-year-old Salim is dreaming of taking his first harvest from the family’s orange tree; the next he is swept away into a life of exile and rage. Seeking a new beginning in swinging-’60s London, Salim falls in love with Jude. The only problem? Jude is Jewish. A captivating story about love and loss, Ishmael’s Oranges follows the story of two families spanning the crossroad events of modern times, and of the legacy of hatred their children inherit. Trade Review‘Timely and captivating, Ishmael's Oranges is beautifully crafted.’ * Elif Shafak, author of Three Daughters of Eve *‘Richly, hauntingly written… immeasurably beautiful.’ * Independent *‘Compelling.’ * Association of Jewish Libraries *‘Beautiful... Wonderfully written… a great read.’ * Hello! blog *‘In her first novel, Hajaj, who herself shares both Palestinian and Jewish heritage, shines a revealing spotlight on the consequences of deeply embedded prejudices.’ * Booklist *‘If anyone can make a compelling, thought-provoking and honest story out of these disparate viewpoints, it’s Hajaj.’ * The National *‘Ishmael’s Oranges is, one that conjures up the sights, smells and sounds of the Middle East as you turn the pages… much more than a standard retelling of the difficulties that beset two communities… an accomplished piece of storytelling… movingly told… If you are looking for a gripping, challenging summer read, then Ishmael’s Oranges should be on your list.’ * Jewish Chronicle *‘Claire Hajaj isn’t afraid to ask difficult questions about how far people will go for love, for family, for faith or for country… At its heart, Ishmael’s Oranges tells the everyday story of the Israel-Palestine conflict. It’s not concerned with wider global implications or peace negotiations, but with presenting a new take on a familiar story: the way division affects real people and real families.’ * Curious Animal *‘A beautifully rendered work that makes the tragedy of the Middle East real; highly recommended.’ * Library Journal *‘[Hajaj] makes great efforts to be fair to the two sides of an apparently insoluble conflict, acknowledging the faults and anguish of each.’ * World Literature Today *
£8.54
Oneworld Publications Umami: 'Guaranteed to challenge and move you' -
Book Synopsis 'A wonderfully surprising novel, powered by wit, exuberance and nostalgia.' Chloe Aridjis, author of Sea Monsters A captivating portrait of contemporary Mexico, cut through with dazzling wit and sensitivity It started with a drowning. Deep in the heart of Mexico City, where five houses cluster around a sun-drenched courtyard, lives Ana, a precocious twelve-year-old still coming to terms with the mysterious death of her little sister years earlier. Over the rainy, smoggy summer she decides to plant a vegetable garden in the courtyard, and as she digs the ground and plants her seeds, her neighbors in turn delve into their past. As the ripple effects of grief, childlessness, illness and displacement saturate their stories, secrets seep out and questions emerge – Who was my wife? Why did my mom leave? Can I turn back the clock? And how could a girl who knew how to swim drown? Using five voices to tell the singular story of life in an inner city mews, Umami is a quietly devastating novel of missed encounters, missed opportunities, missed people, and those who are left behind. Compassionate, surprising, funny and inventive, it deftly unpicks their stories to offer a darkly comic portrait of contemporary Mexico, as whimsical as it is heart-wrenching.Trade Review'Ms Jufresa: Where the f*#! did you learn to tell a story so well?' * Álvaro Enrigue, author of Sudden Death *'A lovely novel about family, friendship and community that is told through multiple points of view from people living in a small development in Mexico City. The range in characters from the recently widowed landlord, to the twenty year old “spinster” struggling to eat, to the girl building a milpa whose sister recently passed, all beautifully ties together through community, allowing for the exploration of many kinds of grief.’ * BookRiot *‘Umami is a debut novel that I am afraid has been criminally under-read, a slim book about community and loss that somehow doesn't feel as heavy as it could. Told from multiple perspectives within a building complex in Mexico City, it feels as if the early chapters are short stories with little in common, but Laia Jufresa magically layers them on top of each other, illuminating the secret sorrows that connect them all. It's beautifully translated by Sophie Hughes, a tall order because of the different kinds of language all of the characters use. In the end, Umami isn’t resolved in the ways a traditional novel would be – but it's satisfying and moving.’ * Barrie Hardymon, NPR *‘Umami is narrated by a child – a very, very funny child – as she grapples with the death of her sister. The novel expands to the lives of her neighbors in Mexico City, and something very special happens as their stories begin to intersect and merge. File this under the "makes-you-a-better-person" heading.’ * Paste Magazine *‘Jufresa's evocative portrait of contemporary Mexico blends whimsy with poignancy. Guaranteed to challenge and move you.’ * Vogue *‘Umami offers the enticing prospect of a vast and filthy megalopolis being opened up’. * Independent *'Umami is true to its whimsical premise, the narrative a little sweet, a little salty, by turns bitter and sour. Very umami, and very funny at times despite the tragedies that mark each household. The setup could admittedly become tired over 250-plus pages, but Jufresa also works an innovative structure that leaves the reader questioning until the end.’ * Reading Group Choices *‘In Umami, language itself is a character. The talents of Sophie Hughes are displayed in Marina’s constant wordplay which comes alive in her sensitive and playful translation. Jufresa’s talent for neologism and her inventive structure give the novel a lightness of touch that never undermines its revelations, but rather enhances them.’ * Culture Trip *'This book is such a gentle and sensitive deep dive into the cycles of mourning and loss out of which families are made and unmade, terrifying and uncanny, without ever losing sight of the daily banalities of hearth and home and love. Cooked to perfection, ready to serve.’ * Literary Hub *‘Grief, though, is neither defined by culture nor constrained by time. Yes, Jufresa could have written Umami the “normal” way – a single perspective in chronological order with first person the whole way through – instead of this backwards telescope, alternating voices and switching perspectives between first and close third. That version of Umami would be a dark, bitter thing, like molasses in the coffee grounds. Instead, Jufresa and Hughes offer a version that is complex without weight, a saffron purée. Dynamic and delicate, Umami draws our attention without pretense.’ * Rumpus *‘Jufresa directly appeals to any reader who was once a 12-year-old girl obsessed with Agatha Christie (*cough* me), but also, and truly, this is a gorgeous book that meditates on loss and grief, healing and redemption, and also offers an enchanting look into life in contemporary Mexico.’ * Nylon Magazine *‘A tale of five lives in one block in Mexico City’s inner city – in a complex designed with human tastebuds in mind – this sad and funny novel has already snagged awards, and was dubbed an “international hot property” by PW when the English rights were sold.’ * Flavorwire *‘Presents an evocative and sensory insight to its central American setting…The five voices and the jumpy timeline require a little patience, but perseverance pays off’. * St John's Wood Magazine *‘Fans of contemporary literature are in for a treat’. * Press Association *‘Reading Umami is like traveling through the minds of everyone we know, guided by a soft, reliable voice that tells us: stop, listen, observe.’ * Valeria Luiselli, author of The Story of My Teeth *‘A wonderfully surprising novel, powered by wit, exuberance and nostalgia.’ * Chloe Aridjis, author of Book of Clouds and Asunder *‘Umami’s style is whimsical and inventive…[it]’s heart, charm and originality are a welcome addition to Mexican literature’. * Emerald Street *'This book was one of my favorites this year' * Remezcla website *'Jufresa, an extremely talented young writer, deploys multiple narrators, giving each a chance to recount their personal histories, and the questions they’re still asking. Panoramic, affecting, and funny, these narratives entwine to weave a unique portrait of present-day Mexico. ' * The Millions *
£9.49
Quercus Publishing Red Sky in Morning: author of the 2023 Booker
Book SynopsisBY THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOKER PRIZE LONGLISTED PROPHET SONG.'Paul Lynch is peerless' Donal Ryan, author of Strange FlowersSpring 1832: Donegal, north west Ireland. Coll Coyle wakes to a blood dawn and a day he does not want to face. The young father stands to lose everything on account of the cruel intentions of his landowner's heedless son. Although reluctant, Coll sets out to confront his trouble. And so begins his fall from the rainsoaked, cloud-swirling Eden, and a pursuit across the wild bog lands of Donegal. Behind him is John Faller - a man who has vowed to hunt Coll to the ends of the earth - in a pursuit that will stretch to an epic voyage across the Atlantic, and to greater tragedy in the new American frontier. Red Sky in Morning is a dark tale of oppression bathed in sparkling, unconstrained imagery. A compassionate and sensitive exploration of the merciless side of man and the indifference of nature, it is both a mesmerizing feat of imagination and a landmark piece of fiction.Trade Review'Lynch has a sensational gift ... inherited from the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Sebastian Barry and Daniel Woodrell. He is a writer to watch out for, staking a bid for a territory all his own' Colum McCann. * Colum McCann *'Classic storytelling, rough and haunted people and the times that made them, powerfully conjured, written in language that demands attention. Lynch is bardic, given to sly and inspired word selections, with his own sprung rhythms and angled, stark musicality' Daniel Woodrell. * Daniel Woodrell *'A compulsive read ... will attract attention for its singular language - a combination of the poetic and the vicious - as well as for its shocking subject matter' Irish Times. * Irish Times *'A compulsive read ... A combination of the poetic and the vicious. It unabashedly uses a 21st century sensibility to subvert the conventions of the 'historical' novel' Irish Times. * Irish Times *'This book makes the literary synapses spark and burn ... A signal masterpiece' Sebastian Barry. * Sebastian Barry *'Lynch's startling, evocative prose veers closer to poetry ... This novel is a wonderful achievement' Sunday Times. * Sunday Times *'Lynch's book is a beautifully etched and colourfully told drama' Sunday Business Post (Dublin). * Sunday Business Post (Dublin) *
£999.99
Poetry Wales Press Whaling
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Story Of Us
Book SynopsisA gripping love story from the bestselling author of Fractured. Two different men. Emma Marshall can't wait to marry her childhood sweetheart, Richard. But then a tragic accident changes everything, and introduces a stranger, Jack, into her life. Two different destinies. Gorgeous and mysterious, Jack is like no-one Emma has met before. But Richard is the man she loves... How will Emma end her story? Reviews for Dani Atkins: 'A captivating story which packs an emotional punch' Heidi Swain. 'A true love story, written by a mother's heart' Milly Johnson. 'Emotionally intelligent, absorbingly rich... Atkins is a brilliant writer who has created wonderful characters' Daily Mail. 'Powerful. Ruthlessly honest. Hauntingly moving. The characters ripped my heart wide open in this beautiful story about love and loss and heart-rending choices. Dani Atkins does not shy away from asking tough questions, and her answers are ones that will make you weep. Intense and emotional, I loved every moment of it' Kate Furnivall. 'A stunning, heartfelt story of fierce maternal love, sacrifice and second chances' Alice Peterson. 'A beautifully told story about a careless mistake that changes the lives of everyone involved... Deeply moving' Ella Harper. 'A gorgeous story with a perfect ending... Heart-breaking' Faith Hogan. 'A breathless read of hope and resilience... You'll never forget it' Penny Parkes.Trade ReviewGenuinely moving... every character is immaculately thought out. Once you start reading it, you won't stop' * Heat *Wow, incredible, heart wrenching... Atkins has done it again!' * Love of a Good Book *
£8.54
