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
Weatherglass Books Astraea
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£9.49
Weatherglass Books The Pages of the Sea
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£11.69
Muswell Press A Little Hope
Book SynopsisA moving, life-affirming novel focussing on the residents of Wharton as they face everyday fears and desires, a lost love, a stalled career, a diagnosis that pulls at the heartstrings, for readers of Olive Kitteridge and A Spool of Blue Thread. In the small town of Wharton, Connecticut, lives are beginning to unravel. A husband betrays his wife. A son struggles with addiction. A widow misses her late spouse. At the heart of these interlinking stories is one couple: Freddie and Greg Tyler. Greg has just been diagnosed with a brutal form of cancer. He intends to handle this the way he has faced everything else: through grit and determination. But can he successfully overcome his illness? How will the Freddie and their daughter cope if he doesn't? How do the other residents of Wharton learn to live with loss and find happiness again? Celebrating the grace in everyday life, this powerful debut immerses the reader in a community of friends, family, and neighbours and identifies the ways that love and forgiveness can help us survive even the most difficult of life's challenges.Trade Review'Joella is a seriously talented writer and one to watch' The Spectator. 'It reminded me of Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge and praise doesn't come much higher' Isabel Costello, The Literary Sofa. 'A Little Hope is an unforgettable novel that will break your heart and put it back together again piece by piece' Clare Reynolds. 'Perfect for this moment...poetic, achingly beautiful and full of empathy' The Lotus Readers. 'The most beautifully tender and dare I say it hopeful book I've read in a long time' Bionic Sarah Books. 'A soul-searching heartwarming novel' Portobello Book Blog. 'It packs a massive punch. I would highly recommend this poignant read' Life With All The Books. 'Absolutely stunning...Elegant, poetic, and very atmospheric' Shelf Lyfe. 'Written with a deftness of touch ... a reflective and gentle look at life' From First Page to Last. 'I savoured every word...a truly unforgettable book' Plum Bob Mummy. Lots and lots of heart'. New York Journal of Books
£9.49
Muswell Press A Quiet Life
Book SynopsisSet in a close-knit Pennsylvania suburb in the grip of winter, A Quiet Life follows three people grappling with loss and finding a tender wisdom in their grief. Ethan's debut novel A Little Hope received widespread UK coverage and will be published in paperback to coincide with A Quiet Life. Scribner will publish A Quiet Life in November'22.Trade Review'This sensitive US debut about a group of neighbours should scratch the itch of any Elizabeth Strout fans...Simmering with everyday drama and heartache' Daily Mail on A Little Hope. 'An unforgettable novel that will break your heart and put it back together again piece by piece' Clare Reynolds on A Little Hope. 'Poignant and quietly powerful...inspiring' New York Times. 'It reminded me of Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge and praise doesn't come much higher' Isabel Costello, The Literary Sofa
£13.49
Lucent Dreaming Jude
Book SynopsisLiminal landscapes and otherwordly magic in new fiction from Elin Heron. -- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru
£9.49
London Books Seal Club 2: The View From Poacher's Hill
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£10.44
London Books London Country
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£10.44
London Books Justice Killer
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£10.44
Cipher Press Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger
Book SynopsisA raw, dirty, hilarious, and often poignant cult classic, Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger paved the way for a new kind of queer writing that changed how we talk about sex, relationships, drugs, identity, race, HIV, and what it means to be gay in the 21st Century. Recounting the life of an artist and 'old school homosexual' who bears more than a small resemblance to author Brontez Purnell, Johnny Would You Love Me takes us cruising in late night parks and bath houses, searching for sex and intimacy in a newly gentrified city where even the gays are getting fancy. A collection of short, hilarious, profound, and filthy vignettes, Johnny Would You Love Me is a radical thrill ride through the nuances of queer sex and queer love that shows truly what it means to live on the fringes of a conservative society as a black, working-class gay man.
£9.49
Les Fugitives Absence
Book SynopsisA woman addresses letters to an absent loved one while in the apartment opposite hers, a mysterious female figure keeps on appearing under a landscape painter's brush. Directing her reader and characters with a deftness reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, Lucie Paye dramatises the power of unconditional love and the role of the unconscious in artistic creation. From Paris to Naples, Mauritius and London, Absence traces a poignant search for redemption and truth, among the lies that destroy lives.Trade Review'In this remarkable debut, the story of a painter fixated with a ghostly female figure becomes entwined with the story of a woman seeking to connect with a long-lost son. A delicate tale of artistic obsession and creation, and a moving meditation on longing and loss.' - Angel Gurria-Quintana, Financial Times; 'Enigmatic and magnetic' - Le Matricule des Anges; 'Lucie Paye spins a romantic epic in a world where people take time - to write, to linger in a museum, to be absorbed by a detail that transforms their perception of a painting, of life. A novel that joins the eternal literary quest to penetrate the mysteries of art' - AirFrance Madame; 'In her first novel Lucie Paye sets words to the page with a fine brush... Nothing is overworked, least of all pain. Paye appreciates the half-lights, and her delicate style favours these nuanced feelings. Within these pages is a melancholy and disquiet in the 'Pessoan' sense of the word, but they are never overcast ... 'Painters, like writers, are thieves. They transfer and transport landscapes, in their dreams and in their worlds,' wrote painter Kees van Dongen. Rarely have these words seemed so true as when reading this novel, at the confluence of the two art forms. Paye's novel explores the link between the artist and their work, through the unconscious and the creative process. It also examines the relation of the viewer of a work, projecting emotions and desires onto it - and seeing in it what we want to see. Our personal perspective can distance us from the artist's own intentions. It doesn't matter, the main thing is to have felt something, to have been given access to the things of which, without art, we could never have dreamed.' - Le Figaro Litteraire
£10.79
Cipher Press X
Book SynopsisAn electrifying novel about the creeping reality of political terror, and the violent pleasures found in Brooklyn's queer heartlands. Part noir, part erotic thriller, X is a vivid, moody and darkly funny portrait of those living on the margins of an increasingly hostile society. Broke and discontented, amateur sadist Lee spends their days working for a big corporation and their nights searching the warehouses and dungeons of Brooklyn looking for the mysterious, seductive, and bloodthirsty X. In a sly purging of migrants, refugees, sex workers and queers - any citizens they claim to be undesirable - the US government has started exporting people, and Lee has heard X might be among those about to disappear. As their obsession with X grows, Lee becomes further enmeshed in the crimes and dramas of the city's queer community, following ex-lovers, playmates, clients, best friends, and accidental accomplices through damp and shining bars and parties looking for any lead that might bring them closer to X, before she vanishes for good.Trade Review“Davis is an astounding writer, seemingly unconstrained by taboos and waist deep down in the maw of life, examining what the rest of us shy away from - never more than here in X, the rare book that can thrill and entertain, while simultaneously causing you to question everything about how you’re living.”— Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby "OH OH OH I FINISHED IT AND THREW MYSELF DOWN THE STAIRS"— Leigh Cowart, author of Hurts So Good "Hardboiled style meets dyke drama in the clubs and play parties of queer Brooklyn. In an atmosphere of creeping fascism, Davey Davis gives us a fascinating protagonist. When not making a mess of their life or wasting it on true crime podcasts, Lee is an amateur sadist obsessed with finding the mysterious X, mistress of the craft to which they aspire. X is both a delight to read and a penetrating study on the intimacy of violence and the violence of intimacy."— McKenzie Wark, author of Reverse Cowgirl "In X, Davey Davis presses down hard on all of our bruised places until we beg for more. In their taut, electric prose, Davis performs a skillful sleight of hand: keeping our eyes on the noirish tale of a pain slut's growing obsession, while just out of frame fascism slowly creeps into daily life. X will leave you wet, hard, and implicated."— Morgan M. Page, writer and host of One from the Vaults podcast "A sexy and dangerous ride."— Mikaella Clements, The White Review "Davis delivers an astonishing speculative tale of sex, power, and gender... Vivid and witty, Davis’s prose hurtles between moments of beauty and darkness, often in the same breath... This one hits hard." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
£10.44
3TimesRebel Press Mothers Don't
Book SynopsisA mother kills her twins. Another woman, the narrator, is about to give birth. She is a writer and realises that she knows the woman who killed the children. An obsession is triggered. She takes a leave of absence, not to nurture her baby, but to write. To investigate the hidden truth behind the crime. This book is halfway between a thriller and a journalistic chronicle. A novel about the primal guilt that comes with being a mother. Katixa Agirre also reflects on the relationship between motherhood and creativity, in dialogue with other female writers such as Sylvia Plath and Doris Lessing. The result is an unprecedented and profoundly disturbing book, in which no real answers are offered but more contradictions emerge.
£13.49
Scratch Books Duets
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£10.79
Scratch Books The Unreliable Nature Writer
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£10.44
The 87 Press Interiors
Book SynopsisOne day in April the body of Owen Beausoleil, a poet, is found drowned. As the investigation begins, three people find themselves haunted by him – Noah Lang, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy; his wife, Kitty Lang, a psychotherapist; and Lolita Hammershøi, a ballet dancer and Owen’s close friend. As the three of them become bound up in the mystery of what happened to Owen, their lives begin to interweave in both expected, and unexpected ways. Meanwhile, Owen intervenes from the after-life, desperate to find out his fate. Interiors is a about how loss and desire shape our lives, and about what waits beyond the borders of everyday life."Written with striking precision and clarity, this debut combines complexly rendered characters with an emotionally arresting and propulsive story. " – Naben Ruthnum, author of A Hero of Our Time and HelpmeetJessie Widner’s debut novel Interiors is poised and poetic, a moving account of what happens to the lost inner lives of the people who leave us, ‘the invisible things that expand within the self … that leave no record’. The mood of the novel, an air of trepidation, stayed with me long after I put it down like a ghostly presence, echoing the novel's own fictional haunting.– Sarah Bernstein, author of The Coming Bad DaysFor fans of: Isabel Waidner, Djuna Barnes, Helen Oyeyemi
£13.49
The 87 Press Is There Rush Hour In A Third World Country?
Book SynopsisCall centre agents and migrant workers, soldiers and charity workers, fresh university graduates and street children — they all navigate the myriad of avenues in which their desires are entangled within the Philippines' harsh and unforgiving conditions of migration and labour in Rogelio Braga's collection of stories, Is There Rush Hour in A Third World Country? Now translated by Kristine Ong Muslim into English, the collection offers a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Filipinos, told amidst coup d’états, active conflict areas, late-night convenience stores rendezvous, and bumper-to-bumper Manila traffic, given a considered dignity and nuance by one of the Philippines’ celebrated playwrights.
£13.49
The 87 Press Run-Out Groove
Book SynopsisFrom debut novelist Joseph Coward: Run-Out Groove is the story of Jude, a kid leaving home under a hail of his father's fists, escaping to a big city in search of something, anything else. He finds the alluring Astrid, a musician who takes him under her wing, and propels him onto a waiting music scene. Quickly discovering the dangers of success, Jude realises he must now survive this new, turbulent life, leaving behind where he has come from without forgetting who he is. For fans of: Samuel Beckett, Ann Quin, Nick Hornby.
£13.49
Muswell Press A Little Hope
Book SynopsisIn the small city of Wharton, Connecticut, lives are beginning to unravel. A husband betrays his wife. A son struggles with addiction. A widow misses her late spouse. At the heart of these interlinking stories is one couple: Freddie and Greg Tyler. Greg has just been diagnosed with a brutal form of cancer. He intends to handle this the way he has faced everything else: through grit and determination. But can he successfully overcome his illness? How will the Freddie and their daughter cope if he doesn’t? How do the other residents of Wharton learn to live with loss and find happiness again? Celebrating the grace in everyday life, this powerful debut immerses the reader in a community of friends, family, and neighbours and identifies the ways that love and forgiveness can help us survive even the most difficult of life’s challenges.Trade Review‘Wonderfully observed and immensely touching, a beautiful portrait of the poignant moments in life that change us’. Ashley Audrain author of The Push. ‘Forgiveness and redemption are the soul of this novel, but it's the love you will remember long after you put it down’ Adrianna Trigiani, author of The Shoemakers Wife. ‘An elegantly written debut. I absolutely loved it.’ Brandon Hobson author of The Removed
£11.69
Muswell Press The Water Garden
Book Synopsis1944, Italy RAF nurse Maggie Jones and Captain Jim Howard meet and marry in wartime Rome. A blissful whirlwind romance settles into a workaday life back in post-war England. 1980, London Maggie and Jim’s newly graduated daughter Vivien struggles in a dingy flat with her unplanned baby and distant difficult partner, wondering where her life is going. 2010 Surrey Granddaughter Sarah arrives in the Surrey countryside, planning an idyllic upbringing for her boys. Instead she finds herself deeply and illicitly attracted to Finn, a troubled local teenager. And then there is Flavia the Italian girl, who connects them all. Three generations united by family yet torn by a secret held tight for generations.Trade Review'Beautifully written and very English in its landscape-love, family-love and garden-love' Fay Weldon. 'I was struck by the remarkably evocative atmosphere... intense yearning and guilty longings infused with a multi-layered past, that makes for a deeply seductive read' Ella Berthoud. 'Creating subtle drama and menace, sensuality and enchantment out of the ordinary... wonderful writing'. Patricia Wastvedt
£10.46
Weatherglass Books The Way the Day Breaks
Book SynopsisSet in Yorkshire in the 1980s, The Way the Day Breaks is a novel about family, love, memory and mental illness. We follow one family, mostly in car trips across the dales, as they discuss nature, speculate on the future, dream up get-rich schemes, laugh, quarrel and try to hold together. But there is a darker current running beneath this family's shared life. The father, Sinclair, is approaching a manic episode, and life in the family becomes strained. The impact of his breakdown is heartbreaking and felt through the children down the years, especially by the youngest son, Michael. As formally inventive as it is narratively rich, the story unfolds in two modes, through dialogue and through the poetic reflections of Michael, some years later. The Way the Day Breaks is one of the most moving, honest accounts of the way mental illness vibrates through the life of a family.Trade Review"Moving, evocative, and brilliantly well-judged, this novel is a triumph." Jon McGregor, Reservoir 13; "It's the best new novel I've read in years - it comes as close to catching the truth of life as perhaps anything I've ever read. It very much deserves awards in the year to come." Sara Baume, Seven Steeples; "The Way the Day Breaks is a quietly devastating novel where the page disappears and you are just there, with the characters. A deeply human story.; Tim Clare, The Ice House"A brilliant novel that I will be recommending for years to come. Read it." Toby Litt, A Writer's Diary. ; "In prose as recklessly inventive as its protagonist, David Roberts captures the claustrophobia of living with someone whose mind is working overtime, and the impact of that over the years. A wonderful debut." ; Jon McGregor, Reservoir 13 "A sonorous black box of a novel, recovered from the wreck of a family breakdown. In this inventive and poetic debut, childhood nostalgia is served with a garnish of broken glass and torrential English weather" Ben Pester, Am I in the Right Place?
£10.44
Cast Iron Books The Boy with Nails for Eyes
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£17.09
Weatherglass Books Eden
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£10.79
Muswell Press Arms Around Frank Richardson
Book SynopsisNature or nurture? The impact of traumatic childhood experience reverberates into the grown-up world of Frank, Alice and Henry – children from three families suffering the fall-out from their early life. Frank, a working-class boy abused by his step-father, Alice, physically handicapped and frustrated, Henry, the less clever son of wealthy ambitious parentsFrom a rundown estate in Eastleigh, a small town in Darlington and an affluent Cotswold home, each character grapples with the life fate has handed them. Until by chance they all come together in adulthood, the repercussions are explosive.Trade Review‘I was very impressed with Ask Me to Dance, perfectly structured and so moving’ Anne Cater. Sylvia Colley writers so movingly’ Piers Plowright, BBC R4. ‘A touching and beautiful novel’ Love Reading
£8.09
Weatherglass Books The Ghost Variations
Book SynopsisFollowing a famous classical pianist and former child prodigy on an American tour after a personal tragedy, THE GHOST VARIATIONS is a beautiful, exquisitely crafted and funny novel exploring the possibilities and limitations of music, how we come to terms with grief, and asks whether we can ever really start our lives afresh.
£10.79
Allen & Unwin Three Gold Coins
Book Synopsis'A gorgeously evocative family drama that takes you from sunny Australia to the beautiful Tuscan countryside - I couldn't put it down!' - Paige ToonOne coin for love, one for marriage, one to return to Rome.Two days ago, Lara Foxleigh tossed three gold coins into the Trevi Fountain. Now, she is caring for a cranky old man and living in a picturesque villa, half a world away from her home and the concerns of her loving but cloying family.Soon, it seems as if those wishes she made in Rome just might be coming true, and she may even be able to help heal a fifteen-year-old tragedy.Until Lara's past threatens to destroy everything she loves...Three Gold Coins is a masterfully written celebration of food, family, triumph over adversity, and love - a deliciously imperfect life.Trade ReviewI loved it - a perfect blend of sweet and spice. * Jenny Colgan on THE TEA CHEST *You will want to move into the wonderful world of Josephine Moon's The Tea Chest - it is so self-assured, so beautifully written, so evocative with its sense of place and smell. Really glorious on every level. And what a cracking story. * Cathy Kelly on THE TEA CHEST *A gorgeously evocative family drama that takes you from sunny Australia to the beautiful Tuscan countryside - I couldn't put it down! -- Paige Toon
£7.59
Allen & Unwin Her Mother's Daughter
Book SynopsisHello! magazine's April 2018 'book of the week'Set across two decades in London and Ireland, Her Mother's Daughter sees the lives of a troubled and emotionally abusive mother and her innocent ten-year-old daughter change forever after one summer holiday.1980: Josephine flees her home in Ireland, hoping never to return. She starts a new, exciting life in London, but as much as she tries, she can't quite leave the trauma of her childhood behind.Seventeen years and two children later, Josephine gets a call from her sister to tell her that their mother is dying and wants to see her - a summons she can't refuse.1997: Ten-year-old Clare is counting down to the summer holidays, when she is going to meet her grandparents in Ireland for the first time. She hopes this trip will put an end to her mum's dark moods - and drinking.But family secrets can't stay buried forever and following revelations in Ireland, everything starts to unravel. Have Josephine and her daughter passed the point of no return?What readers are saying about Her Mother's Daughter:'Beautifully written; it really draws you in and keeps you engrossed all the way through. I actually read it in one sitting because I just got so absorbed in it. It's a heartbreaking novel but it does leave you with a real feeling of hope. I definitely recommend this book!' Rather Too Fond of Books'An impressive debut... a book that will make you stop and think...and that can only be a good thing.' Writing.ie 'A novel which reflects on a wider, more universal exploration of mental health, the role of a mother, parenting and formative experiences.' Bibliomaniac'A deft evocation of the damage caused by family... Disturbing yet engaging read.' NeverImitate'It engaged me as a reader so much so, I read into the early hours to find out how Josephine and Claire faired, if their frail and damaged relationship could be healed... This book is a perfect example of the powerful influence literature can have on the reader.' BOOKSAREMYCWTCHESBOOKSAREMYCWTCH'A gripping and moving read which dealt with some harrowing themes as it tells the story of a family coming to terms with the impact of long hidden secrets.' The Owl on the Bookshelf'This story has a raw, heartfelt quality that I found very arresting... There's insight, subtlety and compassion in the handling of mental illness... A compelling read.' Charity Norman, five-star review'WOW, I felt every emotion possible reading this story. I read it in one sitting as I couldn't put it down until I finished it.' Audrey, five-star review'A poignant and well-observed tale of how the consequences of tragic and traumatic events can unravel over a lifetime, and throughout the generations of a family.' Cat T, five-star review'An emotionally honest portrayal of how trauma can be passed down through generations.' Felicity Hughes, five-star review'An extremely poignant tale, told from the two perspectives of mother and daughter... It was wonderfully uplifting to hear the thoughts of a child and also, at times, desperately heart breaking.' Melanie Lewis, five-star reviewTrade ReviewA very moving, authentic portrait of an Irish family with deep secrets -- Claire McGowan, author of the Paula Maguire seriesIt's been a long time since I found a book so utterly engaging and enveloping. Mental illness and the long-term effects of emotional and sexual abuse are drawn with insight and subtlety. The writing is vivid and raw, the characters real, and the voices of mother and daughter feel pitch-perfect. I raced through it, so immersed that it kept me up half the night. * Charity Norman, bestselling author of AFTER THE FALL *Hello! magazine's April 'book of the week' * Hello! *A compelling read that is raw and poignant. * Woman magazine *
£7.59
Allen & Unwin The Deceptions
Book SynopsisMoving from wartime Europe to modern day Australia, The Deceptions is a powerful story of old transgressions, unexpected revelations and the legacy of lives built on lies and deceit.Prague, 1943. Taken from her home in Prague, Hana Lederova finds herself imprisoned in the Jewish ghetto of Theresienstadt, where she is forced to endure appalling deprivation and the imminent threat of transportation to the east. When she attracts the attention of the Czech gendarme who becomes her guard, Hana reluctantly accepts his advances, hoping for the protection she so desperately needs.Sydney, 2010. Manipulated into a liaison with her married boss, Tessa knows she needs to end it, but how? Tessa's grandmother, Irena, also has something to hide. Harkening back to the Second World War, hers is a carefully kept secret that, if revealed, would send shockwaves well beyond her own fractured family.Inspired by a true story of wartime betrayal, The Deceptions is a searing, compassionate tale of love and duplicity-and family secrets better left buried.'The Deceptions is a stunning example of the way fiction tells war better than any other form - I could taste its madness, its horror. Saw from the outside, its utter absurdity. For days after reading the novel I found myself wrestling with the price of betrayal, and the value of truth.' - Sofie Laguna, winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award'At what cost can a survivor of hell rebuild a seemingly normal life? The Deceptions is a gripping and tragic story for our times.' - Leah Kaminsky, author of The Hollow Bones'Impossible to put down. Leal is a master storyteller. Mesmerising, heartbreaking, honest-The Deceptions is ferociously good.' - Nikki Gemmell, author of After'Those who grew up in the shadow of the Second World War had Elie Wiesel's Night to define for them the enormity for the Holocaust. Those who were born later can now rely upon Suzanne Leal's brilliant and confronting novel The Deceptions to open their eyes to the true horrors of Nazism.' - Alan Gold, author of BloodlineTrade ReviewThe Deceptions is a stunning example of the way fiction tells war better than any other form - I could taste its madness, its horror. Saw from the outside, its utter absurdity. For days after reading the novel I found myself wrestling with the price of betrayal, and the value of truth. -- Sofie Laguna, winner of the Miles Franklin Literary AwardAt what cost can a survivor of hell rebuild a seemingly normal life? The Deceptions is a gripping and tragic story for our times. -- Leah Kaminsky, author of THE HOLLOW BONESImpossible to put down. Leal is a master storyteller. Mesmerising, heartbreaking, honest - The Deceptions is ferociously good. -- Nikki Gemmell, author of AFTERThose who grew up in the shadow of the Second World War had Elie Wiesel's Night to define for them the enormity for the Holocaust. Those who were born later can now rely upon Suzanne Leal's brilliant and confronting novel The Deceptions to open their eyes to the true horrors of Nazism. -- Alan Gold, author of BLOODLINE
£11.69
Allen & Unwin The Women and the Girls
Book SynopsisIt's 1977, and bohemian Libby - stay-at-home mother, genius entertainer and gifted cook - is lonely. When she meets Carol, recently emigrated from London with her controlling husband, and Anna, who loves her career but not her marriage, the three women form an unexpected bond.Their husbands aren't happy about it, and neither are their daughters.Set against a backdrop of inner-city grunge and 70s glamour, far-out parties and ABBA songs, The Women and the Girls is a funny, questioning and moving novel about love, friendship, work, family, and freedom.Trade ReviewThere's plenty of depth to Bloom's characters, who are smart, funny and relatable in today's modern world. -- The Courier-Mail * The Courier-Mail *The sustenance we gain from equal relationships is the heart and soul of this work. -- Living Arts Canberra * Living Arts Canberra *Majestic... Overwhelmingly poignant, simply wonderful - this book should be on your reading pile. -- South Australian Book Review * South Australian Book Review *This is a different world to the present, if one that still seems within reach...But the '70s, as now, were transitional times. As we adjust to a pandemic-riddled world where some rules we thought were fixed are now negotiable, we are all facing similar challenges. * Newtown Review of Books *
£13.49
Ultimo Press Between You and Me
Book Synopsis"At once unsettling and totally captivating." – Natasha ShollBetween You and Me is a riveting portrayal of female friendship, and the frayed boundary between loyalty and desire. Mari and Elisabeth have been at the centre of each other’s lives for years. Close friends since university, they’re now drifting through their mid-twenties, working casual jobs and living in run-down share houses. When they meet Jack, a charming academic historian twenty years their senior, they’re attracted to the sophisticated, intellectual world in which he seems to move. As the summer gathers heat, Jack is drawn into their lives, and an unconventional relationship – halfway between friendship and love triangle – develops. But soon things grow more complicated, and as secrets and betrayals detonate, the fallout sets the course for the rest of their lives. In Mari and Elisabeth, Joanna Horton has created two unforgettable women, whose choices on the cusp of adulthood will resonate with anyone who has ever had to navigate where friendship, intimacy and love intersect when trying to make a life of one’s own.
£13.49
Ultimo Press An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb
Book Synopsis'Centred on three female outcasts who live on the margins of a cliquey community, this exquisite Australian noir novel shimmers with secrets, unlikely sisterhood and gasp-inducing twists.' – Love Reading'An incredible debut full of rich characters and a plot that will keep you guessing. Louise Wolhuter is a writer to watch' – J.P. Pomare author of In the Clearing'Darkly addictive. Once An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb gets its teeth into you, there’s no escape' – Adrian Hyland, author of Canticle CreekJessie Else disappeared the summer the Lambs came to Magpie Beach. Not that the two events were connected at all, in reality; only in my own head, in my own world. They marked for me the end of a certain quiet time and the start of a more complicated living. Magpie Beach is a quiet seaside town – full of small-town prejudices and small-town cliques. Meg, Rosemary and Lily are all outsiders. Meg and Lily because they came to Magpie Beach to escape their former lives, Rosemary because her upbringing was the subject of much local gossip and upturned noses. The three women come together as friends, partly because their homes are so close together on the outskirts of town – and partly because their neighbours treat them with such suspicion. When Jessie Else, all of 9 years old, goes missing – it’s easy to see why this small band of outcasts are first on the list of suspects – but what they didn't realise is that Jessie’s disappearance is only the beginning of their troubles. Soon all those secrets they’ve been trying to hide are going to be uncovered – and nothing will ever be the same again. Trade Review'Centred on three female outcasts who live on the margins of a cliquey community, this exquisite Australian noir novel shimmers with secrets, unlikely sisterhood and gasp-inducing twists.' -- Joanne Owen * Love Reading *
£15.29
Ultimo Press An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb
Book Synopsis‘This gripping tale of three women who are suspected in the disappearance of a 9-year-old is a powerful read you won’t want to put down.’ – Pedestrian.tv‘An incredible debut full of rich characters and a plot that will keep you guessing. Louise Wolhuter is a writer to watch.’ – J.P. Pomare, author of In The Clearing and The Wrong WomanJessie Else disappeared the summer the Lambs came to Magpie Beach. Not that the two events were connected at all, in reality; only in my own head, in my own world. They marked for me the end of a certain quiet time and the start of a more complicated living.Winifred is a small town full of prejudices and assumptions. Meg and Lily are outsiders who live on its margins at Magpie Beach, where they’ve managed to keep out of each other’s – and everyone else’s – way for years. That is, until Rosemary comes along and draws them into an unlikely friendship. When nine-year-old Jessie Else goes missing, the residents of Winifred begin locking their doors, and fingers soon start pointing towards Magpie Beach. Questions threaten to undo Meg, Rosemary and Lily’s quiet existence, and the women band together to protect themselves, and to protect each other, but all three are holding secrets that are too big for them to keep on their own. It’s only a matter of time before they start to unravel–and nothing will ever be the same again.Trade Review‘Louise Wolhuter has created three unforgettable women in An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb. Escaping complex pasts and navigating uncertain futures, Meg, Rosemary and Lily forge a friendship that crackles off the page and dives deep into your heart. The mystery at the heart of the novel had me urgently racing towards the end, but Wolhuter’s distinctive voice and her beautiful prose had me immersed and lingering on every page.’ * Shankari Chandran, author of Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens *‘Darkly addictive. Once An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb gets its teeth into you, there's no escape.’ * Adrian Hyland, author of Canticle Creek *‘An incredible debut full of rich characters and a plot that will keep you guessing. Louise Wolhuter is a writer to watch.’ * J.P. Pomare, author of In The Clearing and The Wrong Woman *‘Charming, quirky and original. This beautifully written portrait of a small community of outliers keeps unfolding until the very end, revealing how little we ever really know about another person. Wolhuter is a real talent.’ * Inga Simpson, author of The Last Woman in the World and Willowman *‘A deeply evocative, hauntingly nostalgic and profoundly unsettling mystery.’ * Sulari Gentill, author of The Woman in the Library *‘The author’s care with her craft—this book is 25 years in the making—results in a magic alchemy of words that provides fresh and enchanting imagery. This novel is engrossing, mostly for the depth with which the characters are drawn and linger in our sentiments. It will be compared with books by writers such as Liane Moriarty—female friendships, small-town drama-mysteries, secret-filled pasts—and should not disappoint.’ * Books + Publishing *‘This gripping tale of three women who are suspected in the disappearance of a 9-year-old is a powerful read you won’t want to put down.’ * Pedestrian.tv *‘a slow burn, but a compelling and complex one, steadily entangling the reader in the women's lives. As the fires are stoked to a final conflagration, you won't want to put it down.’ * The Canberra Times *‘It's a finely wrought mystery notable for unusual depth of character - a slow burn with unexpected twists.’ * Sydney Morning Herald *
£8.54
Ultimo Press The Scope of Permissibility
Book SynopsisFeeling alienated from wider society, Sara, Abida and Naeem gravitate towards their university’s Muslim Students’ Association. Within its austere confines, Sara watches Naeem... How do you balance desire, ambition and expectations? Over time, the pair commence a furtive relationship outside of the gaze of their families and peers. But Naeem is especially burdened by the widening gap between his public façade and their clandestine forays. As the MSA elections approach, Abida seeks to win the presidency at all costs, threatening her longstanding friendship with Sara and risking her reputation. What will the repercussions be for all three if Sara and Naeem transgressions are exposed? Trade Review'Gamieldien bares coming of age as a Muslim in Australia as a tug-of-war between expectation and ambition, desire and shame.' -- Rafqa Touma * The Guardian, Australia *
£15.29
Ultimo Press Song of the Sun God
Book SynopsisSong of the Sun God is about the wisdom, mistakes and sacrifices of our past that enable us to live more freely in the future. Nala and Rajan, a young couple, begin their married life in 1946, on the eve of Ceylon’s independence from Britain. Arranged in marriage, they learn to love each other and protect their growing family, against the backdrop of increasing ethnic tension. As the country descends into a bloody civil war, Nala and Rajan must decide which path is best for their family; and live with the consequences of their mistakes. Over time, Nala and Rajan teach their family why some parts of their history and heritage are worth holding onto; and why some parts and people have to be left behind. Song of the Sun God spans three continents and three generations of a family that remains dedicated to its homeland, whilst learning to embrace its new home. Funny, warm and tender, we see Nala and Rajan’s family navigate war, migration, old loyalties and new beginnings, relying on the philosophy of their religion, their ancestors and each other.
£16.19
Ultimo Press The Wiregrass
Book Synopsis" A cracking slice of Aussie Noir." – Heat magazine A murder made to look like an accident. A disgraced cop trying to forget his past. Nash Baker was once a celebrated cop, but his career was ended when he chose to take justice into his own hands. Now he’s living a quiet life in a small town caring for the local wildlife and trying to stay away from trouble. Jesse Redpath has a new job in a new town, Satellite – the stormy weather that greets her first few days on the new beat seems like a sign for what’s to come. A local has died in what seems like an accident, but Jessie isn’t so sure that ‘accident’ wasn’t planned. All evidence seems to point to Nash, but Jessie’s not sure about that either. Seems like Nash has enemies. And what looks like a close knit community might just be cover for dark secrets.No amount of rain will wash this town clean. The new Jesse Redpath crime thriller from the bestselling author of Canticle Creek.Praise for Canticle Creek: ‘The rural crime fiction wave continues with this brilliant new arid drama.’ ― Australian Women's Weekly ‘Hyland has mastered the architecture of noir – his sinister tale seethes with small-town atmosphere and satisfying twists, set against the dangers and harsh beauty of the Australian landscape.’ ― Sydney Morning Herald ‘an entertaining and engrossing novel. Hyland has written the ideal story for a long, hot summer, where fire always seems a possibility.’ ― The Canberra Times ‘You can almost feel the blanketing heat and crunch of dry foliage underfoot while reading Canticle Creek ... a well-paced, atmospheric thriller with unexpected twists’ ― The West AustralianTrade Review"This new Australian thriller crackles with danger ... rival to Chris Hammer’s Oz bestsellers." * Peterborough Telegraph *"A cracking slice of Aussie noir" * Heat magazine *
£15.29
Allen & Unwin Sidelines
Book Synopsis'Essential - and thrilling - reading for all parents.'KATE MILDENHALL'Sidelines is a riveting novel. It takes our jittery, intensely competitive era and unpicks our self-deceptions until they bleed.'JANE CAROWhen a violent brawl erupts at a suburban junior soccer game, some onlookers are shocked. But others saw it coming. Rivalry, parental pressure, coaching bias, inequity, and many other factors have played a part in turning Saturday mornings into a pressure cooker.Thirteen-year-old Audrey is a talented young football player. But does she want to play for Australia or does she just want to please her father, Ben, whose own thwarted sporting career looms large in his ambitions for his daughter? Audrey's mother, Jonica, doesn't know whether to be more concerned about her anxious daughter, her overbearing husband, or the only other girl on the team, Katerina, who is causing trouble on and off the field. And Katerina's mother, Carmen, is so busy looking for opportunities to give Katerina more game time that she fails to notice what is really capturing her daughter's attention.When Griffin, a naturally gifted player with spectacular skills, arrives, the tension within the team reaches boiling point. But who is going to crack first - the parents or the players?'Sometimes a novel comes along that says what you've been thinking.' MALCOLM KNOX'will leave you wondering if perhaps winning and losing are the same thing.' GABBIE STROUD'Viggers shines a light on the ways competition can pull us together or drive us apart.'INGA SIMPSON
£13.49
ECW Press,Canada Moon Of The Crusted Snow
Book Synopsis
£14.39
ECW Press,Canada Denison Avenue
Book Synopsis
£20.39
Orion Publishing Co Hostage: London
Book SynopsisA superbly tense classic thriller from the bestselling author of ROGUE MALE.What happens when a terrorist decides to pull out?Julian Despard is a cell-leader in the ruthless international revolutionary organisation MAGMA. As one of MAGMA's leading activists, he has been responsible for many daring operations, including the recent hijacking of an arms shipment in the Mediterranean. But then Despard finds out that the cargo he stole was not conventional weaponry but nuclear material. And that the MAGMA leadership intends to use it for a devastating attack on London. Sickened, Despard makes a dramatic personal decision to begin a bloody last-minute mission of his own, only to find himself hunted by both MAGMA gunmen and the police in a race against time to stop certain destruction...
£9.49
Oneworld Publications The Elusive Language of Ducks
Book SynopsisAs if it will make up for her loss, they bring Hannah a duckling to care for. They were well meaning, and it could have done the trick. However, Hannah’s focus on the duck progressively alienates those around her. As the duck takes over her world, past secrets are exposed. Will Hannah’s life unravel completely? This funny, moving and insightful novel contemplates the chemistry between one person and another: a man and another man’s wife; a woman and a duck; a woman and her dead mother; a drug addict and his drug. Beautifully written, it is a penetrating and compassionate view of marriage, dependency, obsession, addiction, and love.Trade Review‘Sad but very funny… a perfect alternative to other summer reads’ * Residents' Journal *'Poetic and reflective, wry and playful at times, compassionate and observant... Ideas are mulled over and lived through, words polished, characters coaxed into life, flavours gradually deepen. The result is writing to savour.' * Herald on Sunday *'It’s poetic, gentle and wise... Wry and clever, The Elusive Language of Ducks transcends its bleak theme to leave us as thoughtful and questioning as its gentle protagonist.' * Weekend Herald *
£8.54
Profile Books Ltd The Natashas
Book SynopsisBéatrice, a solitary young jazz singer from a genteel Parisian suburb, meets a mysterious woman named Polina. Polina visits her at night and whispers in her ear: 'There are people who leave their bodies and their bodies go on living without them. These people are named Natasha.' César, a lonely Mexican actor working in a call centre, receives the opportunity of a lifetime: a role as a serial killer on a French TV series. But as he prepares for the audition, he starts falling in love with the psychopath he is to play. Béatrice and César are drawn deeper into a city populated with visions and warnings, taunted by the chorusing of a group of young women, trapped in a windowless room, who all share the same name ... Natasha. A startlingly original novel that recalls the unsettling visual worlds of Cindy Sherman and David Lynch and the writing of Angela Carter and Haruki Murakami, The Natashas establishes Yelena Moskovich as one of the most exciting young writers of her generation.Trade ReviewA brave, original work... Moskovich's prose radiates with heat... written in a Cubist jumble of voices, languages, and textures, The Natashas reads as if one were spinning a radio dial of the world... [it] urges the reader to sink back in, connect, breathe. -- Lauren Elkin * Financial Times *Beautiful, original and distinctive - a stunning new voice -- Jenni FaganA surreal and distinctively written exploration of identity... wonderfully original. -- Kirsty Logan * Guardian *A haunting, unknowable novel, and no less beguiling for that. * Daily Telegraph *Confounding and beguiling in equal measure; prose that reads as heady yet ephemeral as smoke. -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *Feels like a feminist Murakami novel, transported to the jazz clubs of Paris ... The Natashas is an enjoyable breath of fresh air. It deserves to be big. * For Books' Sake *A hallucinatory torrent of imagery and ideas that moves entirely according to its own rules. -- Alastair Mabbott * The Herald *A surreal, unknowable novel, reminiscent of a David Lynch film. * Irish Times *
£10.44
Profile Books Ltd Jernigan
Book SynopsisPeter Jernigan's life is slipping out of control. His wife's gone, he's lost his job and he's a stranger to his teenage son. Worse, his only relief from all this reality - alcohol - is less effective by the day. And when the medicine doesn't work, you up the dose. And when that doesn't work, what then? (Apart from upping the dose again anyway, because who knows?) Jernigan's answer is to slowly turn his caustic wit on everyone around him - his wife Judith, his teenage son Danny, his vulnerable new girlfriend Martha and, eventually, himself - until the laughs have turned to mute horror. But while he's busy burning every bridge back to the people who love him, Jernigan's perverse charisma keeps us all in thrall to the bitter end. Shot through with gin and irony, Jernigan is a funny, scary, mesmerising portrait of a man walking off the edge with his eyes wide open - wisecracking all the way.Trade ReviewDavid Gates makes me sick with envy -- Nick HornbyA sizzler of a novel, a whirlwind. It swept me up in the opening paragraphs ... I found myself wishing I could read fast enough to swallow it whole in a single sitting -- Joseph HellerA bravura performance, sprawling and energetic, soused and noisy, with a bitter comic edge ... a rambunctious and enthralling portrait of a man who, by looking too closely, has finally lost sight of himself * Guardian *A relentless, combustible mix of high literary art and low humour, wisecracking profanity and shellac dark glimpses into a man's wilful self-annihilation ... if there is one book that deserves to come in from the cold in the way Revolutionary Road, Alone in Berlin and Stoner have, it's David Gates's Jernigan. -- Stuart EversThe minute he starts talking, Peter Jernigan, the narrator of David Gates' astonishing first novel, grabs you by the lapels and compels you to listen to the sad-funny-tragic story of his life ... one of recent literature's most memorable anti-heroes -- Michiko Kakutani * The New York Times *What makes Gates' novel so good is not only its unblinking view of the horror and anomie of the American suburb, but also his hero's strangely seductive voice, which manages to be at once bitter and remorseful, funny and deluded * Financial Times *The pleasures of David's Gates' superb novel lie in the voice he has created for Jernigan: boozy and belligerent, overdosed on irony, and characterised by its syntactical short circuits, abandoned clauses and half-finished thoughts ... a joy of a novel' * Observer *Fearless in its exploration of expired American dreams and ruined prospects. A tale of fear and loathing in New Jersey, it strings beads of dark poetry and defiant laughter on the sinewy prose of survival -- Jay McInerneyOne of the angriest and most sorrowful novels around -- Ben Marcus * New Yorker *David Gates has created a memorable man for our times * Chicago Tribune *Brilliant ... reveals the screaming exhilaration of life in free fall. * Esquire *Extraordinary ... one of the more memorable pieces of literary heartache to come along in years. The best characters in fiction reveal themselves slowly, taking on a life so real they begin to live beyond their novels. You feel this happening with Jernigan. * Boston Sunday Globe *Vivid ... honest ... a throat-tearing voice - bitterly ironic, crippled by hyperactive intelligence, at war with itself - that recalls the boozy obsessiveness from Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes and Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano. * Village Voice Literary Supplement *Peter Jernigan is a quintessential late 20th-century antihero ... with a wit so darkly sharp it could slice through a stack of Yellow Pages. * Washington Post *Jernigan - an unflinching wonderful modern fool, like a great many of us - makes us practically howl at his late-century insights, dim and profound, somehow, at the same time. Terrific! -- Barry HannahEngrossing ... grimly funny, alarmingly revealing ... by the book's end Jernigan has taken on a mythic quality. * Cleveland Plain Dealer *[A] considerable talent ... intelligent ... powerful ... subtle and moving. * Los Angeles Times *[Jernigan] tells his tale so honestly, so self-critically, that the accounting itself becomes a kind of salvation. * Newsweek *Jernigan the man [is] stewed to the eyeballs in the Zeitgeist. Jernigan the book is great, nasty fun. -- Joy WilliamsThorny, thoughtful, written with venom and verve, Jernigan paints an anguished portrait of an impenitent rebel. * Houston Chronicle *Exquisite ... rich ... Jernigan is compelling, amusing and disturbing, a lively, naked exploration of a tormented man living a life without contours. * Kansas City Star *
£8.54
Profile Books Ltd In the Night of Time
Book SynopsisOctober 1936. Spanish architect Ignacio Abel arrives at Penn Station, the final stop on his journey from war-torn Madrid, where he has left behind his wife and children, abandoning them to uncertainty. Crossing the fragile borders of Europe, he reflects on months of fratricidal conflict in his embattled country, his own transformation from a bricklayer's son to a respected bourgeois husband and professional, and the all-consuming love affair with an American woman that forever alters his life. A rich, panoramic portrait of Spain on the brink of civil war, In the Night of Time details the passions and tragedies of a country tearing itself apart. Compared in scope and importance to War and Peace, Muñoz Molina's masterpiece is the great epic of the Spanish Civil War written by one of Spain's most important contemporary novelists.Trade ReviewAn immense, luminous panorama of the Spanish Civil War ... one of the many wonders of this novel is how Molina integrates the personal so closely with the political ... he brings an encyclopedic knowledge of the times to bear ... compellingly seductive * Independent *Exhilarating ... exceptional ... a necessary novel. Edith Grossman's translation compellingly captures its depiction of the ugliness of war and the remorselessness of human memory when many in Spain, nearly eight decades on, would like to consign the civil war to oblivion. -- Adam Feinstein * Financial Times *Sweeping, magisterial ... an astonishingly vivid narrative that unfolds with hypnotic intensity by means of the constant interweaving of time and memory ... Tolstoyan in its scale, emotional intensity and intellectual honesty. * Economist *An epic...Molina's cogent examination of war on a scale both large and small reaffirms his place as a giant of Europe's literary scene, well-worth being discovered by American readers * The Daily Beast *Spellbinding ... what distinguishes In the Night of Time - what makes it eye-openingly new - is its meticulous reconstruction of Spain in 1936, its attention to detail, its fusion of history and imagination, its tension between love's surrender and war's stiff resolve. Let me put it this way: Antonio Muñoz Molina's novel is one of the most eloquent monuments to the Spanish Civil War ever to be raised in fiction. * Washington Post *What is remarkable about the book...is how much Munoz Molina manages to say about the world itself and how hypnotic his narrative becomes as he slows down time...Munoz Molina offers a force and a rare pity to the documentary evidence by his skill at orchestrating, playing tones and rhythms against each other...he approaches character with even greater tenderness, allowing for every type of weakness * New York Review of Books *Superb...A simple love story at one level, a broad portrait of a nation in flames at another, and a masterwork through and through * Kirkus (starred review) *Epic...In the Night of Time gives its subject the space it deserves and renders it vibrantly with intoxicating prose. * Entertainment Weekly *A War and Peace for the Spanish Civil War * Publishers Weekly *A large rough-cut gem of a story that lingers in one's mind. [Molina] appears to be finally getting the international attention he deserves * Booklist (starred review) *
£11.69
Profile Books Ltd The Passport
Book SynopsisFrom the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2009 'Just as the father in the house in which we live is our father, so Comrade Nicolae Ceausescu is the father of our country. And just as the mother in the house in which we live is our mother, so Comrade Elena Ceausescu is the mother of our country. Comrade Nicolae Ceausescu is the father of our children. All the children love comrade Nicolae and comrade Elena, because they are their parents.' The Passport is a beautiful, haunting novel whose subject is a German village in Romania caught between the stifling hopelessness of Ceausescu's dictatorship and the glittering temptations of the West. Stories from the past are woven together with the problems Windisch, the village miller, faces after he applies for permission to migrate to West Germany. Herta Müller describes with poetic attention the dreams and superstitions, conflicts and oppression of a forgotten region, the Banat, in the Danube Plain. In sparse, lyrical language, Herta Müller captures the forlorn plight of a trapped people. This edition is translated by Martin Chalmers, with a new foreword by Paul Bailey. Also by Herta Müller: Nadirs, The Land of Green Plums, The Appointment, and The Hunger Angel.Trade ReviewWith the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, Müller depicts the language of the dispossessed -- Jury of the Nobel Prize for LiteratureAppropriately on the side of underdogs from Ceausescu's dystopia to Ukrainian labour camps ... so opening the eyes of non-German readers to new worlds. And that, from Beowulf to Müller, is a noble as well as a Nobel function of literature * The Times *Especially now, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it's a beautiful signal that such high quality literature and this life experience are being honoured * Angela Merkel *[Muller's] dark, closely observed and sometimes violent work often explores exile and the grim quotidian realities of life under Ceausescu... Her sensibility is often bleak, but the detail in her fiction can whip it alive * New York Times *Graphically observed... forces the reader to confront the complex tapestry of Eastern European history in the late 20th Century. And although the author left Romania in the 1980s, she remains interested in the issues of oppression and exile, which makes her a universal writer -- Razia Iqbal, BBC Arts CorrespondentMüller is courageous and has summoned her surrealist imagination to brilliant effect when exposing the horrors of totalitarianism... The Passport, which was published in Berlin in 1986, months before she fled Romania, is an almost allegorical elegy of village life dominated by the need to escape.... Müller uses the quality of European folk tale to brilliant effect. Set in a German village in Romania where the people dream of a different life in the West, the story is true to any country in which fantasy is the only escape from oppression... Politics and truth-telling, the courage of the witness and the weight of the message often decides the Nobel Literature Prize; in Herta Müller all of these elements are present, yet so too is the artist as the lone voice beckoning, intent on telling a story, on shaping a word picture -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *Müller has an eye for the surreal detail of a police state and has made it into strong, muscular literature * The Times *Praise for The Passport: A phenomenal, moving and humbling novel, perhaps the most memorable read of the autumn * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Herta Müller's language is the purest poetry. Every sentence has the rhythm of poetry, indeed is a poem or a painting * Nurnerger Nachrichten *Herta Muller portrays a community that is breaking up, a dying village whose German inhabitants all seek to emigrate. At the centre stands the miller Windisch waiting for his passport. Bribing the mayor with sacks of flour proved in vain - so, now, in a rage of helpnessness, he has to allow his daughter to visit the militiaman and the priest, to search for passports and baptismal certificates in their beds. The dirty realities of a totalitarian state... a chilling, far-sighted and lyrical graveside speech for a sad village in a sad land * Neue Zurcher Zeitung *Praise for The Land of Green Plums: A novel of graphically observed detail in which the author seeks to create a sort of poetry out of the spiritual and material ugliness of life in Communist Romania * New York Times *A powerful autobiographical account, The Land of Green Plums... will linger on in the mind * Guardian *The Land of Green Plums is a miracle, a fearless human testimony which operates through the combined force of Müller's tight, understated eloquence * Irish Times *If W G Sebald's The Emigrants suggested there are still new ways of writing about exile and the Holocaust, The Land of Green Plums promises similar possibilities for the literature of the Iron Curtain * Literary Review *Praise for The Appointment: A brooding, fog-shrouded allegory of life under the long oppression of the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu * New York Times *[The Appointment] Müller scatters narrative bombshells across a field of dreams * San Francisco Chronicle *What heightens this bleak vision is her startling, hallucinatory use of metaphor and surreal imagery -- Jessica Holland * Observer *At once spare and poetic, this novella-length tale nevertheless attains the epic ponderousness that defines recent Laureates -- Hephzibah Anderson * Daily Mail *A swift, stinging narrative, fable-like in its stoic concision and painterly detail * Philadelphia Inquirer *Müller writes with elegant simplicity, in the great tradition of German storytelling - this would not look out of place in Hebel's The Treasure Chest. -- Kate Saunders * The Times *Müller provides a master class in sparse, clear prose, and conveys the bleakness of humanity, with the occasional touch of dark, bitter magic - fully earning her Nobel Prize for literature this year... Often harrowing, startling, as devoid of decoration as the world she is describing, Müller's work demands to be read. -- Lesley McDowell * Independent on Sunday *This short novel expands in the mind to occupy an emotional space far beyond its short length or the seeming simplicity of its story. -- Tadzio Martin Koelb * TLS *The Passport, the first of her novels to be translated into English, is a stunning introduction to her jewel-like prose, hard and clear as a diamond. * Sacramento Book Review, USA *I am struck by her sparse yet poetic language...it reminds very much of our literature during apartheid, although this one is of a very high literary merit. -- Zakes Mda * Sunday Independent, South Africa *
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd I Give It To You
Book SynopsisJan Vidor seems like the ideal tenant for a long summer holiday in a Tuscan villa. Unobtrusive and quietly sociable, the American academic can be relied upon to entertain herself - but her aristocratic landlady Beatrice has made a terrible mistake. A chance remark about a violent death at Villa Chiara during the war piques Jan's writerly interest and sends her digging into the Salviati family's tragic past. Was Beatrice's uncle Sandro really mistaken for a partisan, or was his killer someone closer to home? Does it matter if Jan just fills in the gaps? After all, Beatrice said she could do as she liked with the story, she even said 'I give it to you' . . . Written with a deep understanding of loyalty and temptation, I Give It To You is a riveting novel about who owns a story, whether we have a right to what we inherit, and what a gift really means.Trade ReviewExquisite -- Jane Shilling * Daily Telegraph *Martin's writing is a reward in itself, a wonderful precision-tool. She uses it to chisel at the human condition - and the effect is astonishing * Financial Times *Immensely satisfying ... cleverly plotted and packed with great characters, both Jan's creative struggles and her beautifully wrought stories of the Salviati family lift themselves effortlessly free of their source material, whatever or wherever that may be. They demonstrate the enchanted moment when words on a page rise by virtue of the alliance of a mysterious grace and sheer hard work, and create magic -- Christobel Kent * Guardian *The story slips between past and present and is an interesting reversal of all the usual mellow Italian tropes. We may be Under The Tuscan Sun, but we're definitely in the shadows here ... an absorbing read. * Daily Mail *Yes, the narrator of Martin's new novel is a middle-aged American woman vacationing in Tuscany, but this prickly, uncomfortably relevant dive into personal and societal ethics is no escapist romance... Martin parses personal and social politics with methodical care and a reserved tone reminiscent of Edith Wharton. * Kirkus, starred review *An Italian villa and the family that owns it capture the imagination of an American writer in Martin's intimate, disquieting latest ... Martin's engrossing tale explores relationships among family members and workers over four generations ... Martin's masterly descriptions of the villa and its gardens are transportive. Evoking the charms and complexities of 20th-century Italy, Martin offers a thought-provoking reflection on writing, friendship, family, and betrayal. * Publishers Weekly *Valerie Martin has always been a consummate storyteller, but in her new novel she tackles the question of where do a writer's stories come from. And to whom does a story belong? The person it happened to or the one who tells it. In some ways all writers betray their subjects, and Valerie Martin digs into the heart of that betrayal. Reminiscent of Rachel Cusk's Outline Martin masterfully gives voice to those who have been silenced, whose stories would be lost were it not for a writer to retell it. -- Mary Morris, author of Gateway to the MoonMartin writes with amplitude, precision, grace and wit -- Margaret AtwoodShe always produces something unexpected and revelatory -- Jane SmileyValerie Martin is a fleet-footed writer; you never quite know where she'll go next. * Observer *
£8.54
Profile Books Ltd Summer at Mount Hope
Book SynopsisPhoeba Crupp lives with her squabbling parents and younger sister Lilith on a small farm in rural Australia. Her father is an eccentric ex-accountant who moved his family from the city in order to establish a vineyard, a decision her mother bitterly - and loudly - resents. But Phoeba has loved it here since they day they arrived and she met Henrietta and Hadley Pearson, a brother and sister from a neighbouring farm who instantly became her closest friends. At their mother's urging, Lilith throws herself into trying to find a husband but Phoeba resists, until circumstances beyond her control push her towards the world of men and money. All the while the local community is shaken up by the arrival of pastoralists, suffragettes and squatters, carrying the threat and promise of change to their quiet corner of the country. As Phoeba wakes up to the realities of the adult world, she comes to realise the friendship of those near to her may count for more than she could ever have imagined. Told with Rosalie's Ham's trademark wit and wisdom, Summer At Mount Hope is an unputdownable story of a young woman finding a way to take control of her own destiny.Trade ReviewThere is a hint of the Jane Austens about Rosalie Ham's new novel * Sydney Morning Herald *While it's the social and romantic intrigue that carries the story, it's Ham's wickedly black humour and finely researched social observation that deliver the real joy of the book * The Australian *The novel is a delight. Complex beneath its witty surface, and one of the surprising fictional treats of the year * The Bulletin *
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd The World of Simon Rich
Book SynopsisThe world is a bewildering place and we're ill-equipped to deal with it. From the horrors of childhood to the vagaries of old age, from confused people to humiliated animals, we're all just trying - and often failing - to keep it together. How carefully should you answer when asked what you'd take to a desert island? What do you do if your parents are reading your diary? How useful is a Swiss Army Knife? And what's A Brief History of Time really about? Armed with a sharp eye for the absurd and an overwhelming sense of doom, Simon Rich explores the ridiculousness of our everyday lives, from the most minute of anxieties to one of life's biggest questions: Does God really have a plan for us? Yes, it turns out. Now if only He could remember what it was ... 'Simon Rich is very much laugh-out-loud funny. He can conjure authentic, from-the-abdomen laughter on almost every page. He stacks surrealism on top of slick satire on top of pure childish silliness in such a brilliant and condensed way, there are sometimes three laugh-out-loud moments within the same paragraph ... He is exactly the right kind of writer for the internet: funny, high-concept, accessible, short, sharable, a James Thurber for the Twitter age' Matt HaigTrade ReviewSimon Rich is outrageously, lavishly gifted -- Caitlin MoranHow fabulously funny -- Lauren LaverneHilarious. Open this book anywhere, begin reading, and you will laugh -- Jon StewartThe wittiest American humourist of his generation * Guardian *This year's giggliest read * Observer magazine *A remarkably funny writer, likely to make you laugh harder than any other ... there's no funnier writer working today * Shortlist *Rich has a wonderful way of making a familiar situation strange and then presenting it in deceptively simple language, within a perfectly lucid, concise structure ... Genius ... He is a Thurber, even a Wodehouse, for today. Who could ask for more? You can give his books to people and just watch them laugh. Only after you've snorted through them yourself, though -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *Simon Rich is very much laugh-out-loud funny. He can conjure authentic, from-the-abdomen laughter on almost every page. He stacks surrealism on top of slick satire on top of pure childish silliness in such a brilliant and condensed way, there are sometimes three laugh-out-loud moments within the same paragraph ... He is exactly the right kind of writer for the internet: funny, high-concept, accessible, short, sharable, a James Thurber for the Twitter age -- Matt Haig * Guardian *Brilliant ... Slightly nerdy and very sharp -- William Leith * Evening Standard *
£8.54
Profile Books Ltd I Hate the Internet: A novel
Book SynopsisIn New York in the middle of the twentieth century, comic book companies figured out how to make millions from comics without paying their creators anything. In San Francisco at the start of the twenty-first century, tech companies figured out how to make millions from online abuse without paying its creators anything. In the 1990s, Adeline drew a successful comic book series that ended up making her kind-of famous. In 2013, Adeline aired some unfashionable opinions that made their way onto the Internet. The reaction of the Internet, being a tool for making millions in advertising revenue from online abuse, was predictable. The reaction of the Internet, being part of a culture that hates women, was to send Adeline messages like 'Drp slut ... hope u get gang rape.' Set in a San Francisco hollowed out by tech money, greed and rampant gentrification, I Hate the Internet is a savage indictment of the intolerable bullshit of unregulated capitalism and an uproarious, hilarious but above all furious satire of our Internet Age.Trade Review"This succinct, surprising, infinitely self-knowing book is the Infinite Jest of the Twitter age all the same. Oh, and it's the Kurt Vonnegut, hell, the Swift and Voltaire of the Twitter age too, why not? He has come up with a satirical novel that, at least while you're immersed in it, makes everyone else's novels look like the blinkered artefacts of the bloated, tech-addled, smilingly exploitative western culture that he so nimbly takes to bits. It's vicious. It's a hoot." -- Dominic Maxwell * The Times *Could we have an American Houellebecq? Jarett Kobek might come close, in the fervor of his assault on sacred cows of our own secretly-Victorian era, even if some of his implicit politics may be the exact reverse of the Frenchman's. I just got an early copy of his newest, I Hate The Internet and devoured it - he's as riotous as Houellebecq, and you don't need a translator, only fireproof gloves for turning the pages -- Jonathan LethemThis book has soul as well as nerve ... My advice? Log off Twitter for a day. Pick this up instead. * New York Times *"[A] thrillingly funny and vicious anatomy of hi-tech culture and the modern world in general ... Kobek has been compared to the French enfant terrible Michel Houellebecq by none other than Jonathan Lethem, the Brooklyn-based writer of "good novels", though this book's cleverly casual style, apparently eschewing literary artifice, reminded me much more of Kurt Vonnegut. But it's the enraged comedy of its cultural diagnosis that really drives the reader onwards. There are so many brilliant one-liner definitions that it's hard not to keep quoting them ... If Ambrose Bierce woke up today from suspended animation and decided to write a sequel to his Devil's Dictionary in the form of a sort-of fiction, it would look a bit like this. And when a bad novel is this good, who needs a good one?" -- Steven Poole * Guardian *This book is an all-consuming, omniscient rant that rips into the zeitgeist turning all the bullshit and hypcrisy into the darkest, most cutting hilarity ever. No light escapes this beautiful black hole! -- Robin InceJarett Kobek articulated things I'd been trying to understand but couldn't find the words to -- Stewart Lee
£8.54
Profile Books Ltd The Future Won't Be Long
Book SynopsisIt's the tail-end of 1986 and Baby is the freshest-faced, starriest-eyed young homo in all of New York City, straight off the bus from closeted backwoods Wisconsin. Adeline is his rich-art-school-kid saviour with a bizarre transatlantic drawl and a spare bed. The Future Won't Be Long follows Baby and Adeline as they cling to each other for dear life through a decade of mad, bad New York life punctuated by the deaths of Warhol, Basquiat and Wojnarowicz and the forcible gentrification of the East Village. While Adeline develops into the artist she never really expected to become, Baby falls into a twilight zone of clubbing, ketamine and late-capitalistic sexual excess. As he struggles to find his way out again, Baby will test the strength of a friendship that had seemed unbreakable. Riotously funny, provocative but tender, The Future Won't Be Long is a sprawling, ecstatic elegy to New York, and to the friendships that have the power to change - and save - our lives. 'A punky, heartbreaking and hilarious epic on America going nowhere, going crazy, going bad. It's brilliant' Dorthe Nors, author of Mirror, Shoulder, SignalTrade ReviewJarett Kobek captures the cultural climate of New York c. 1986-1996 with a breathtaking, polymath accuracy -- Chris KrausJarett Kobek's druggy, sexy, filthy fictional tour of New York City at the twilight of the 20th century is a nostalgic prequel to his gale-force satire I Hate The Internet, one of last year's best novels ... this wonderful novel shows Kobek can do old-school plot without dialling down the fizzing voltage of his distinctively ranty style -- Anthony Cummins * Metro *This is New York in the late 80s and early 90s: a city of club kids, drag queens, artists and junkies; the urban laboratory where identities are being reinvented for the new millennium ... a novel that not only dissects with consummate skill the cultural life of fin-de-siècle New York, but finds there the early symptoms of our contemporary malignancy -- James Purdon * Observer *A festival of wit and, finally, wisdom -- Brian Martin * Spectator *The Great New York City Novel has been loudly attempted and proclaimed so many times, one is tempted to assume it simply couldn't exist. Yet, with piercing intelligence, vitality, hilarity, and a rather startling sweetness, Jarett Kobek has done it. Staggering. -- Matthew SpecktorNew York, like the future, isn't what it used to be - which is why Jarett Kobek lives in California and writes like a dream. His new novel is a marvel of wit, grit, and deep city memory. -- Joshua CohenKobek crafts an electric tale, and the wilds of New York City during this intense time period provide a gritty, undeniably magnetic context. * Booklist *The Future Won't Be Long arrives with the lightning-strike clarity that usually comes on the dance floor at 4am when the chaos of the world makes beautiful and profound sense ... a novel so evocative of time and place that you'll be pretty certain you were there. -- Ivy Pochoda, author of 'Visitation Street'Reviews for I Hate the Internet 'This succinct, surprising, infinitely self-knowing book is the Infinite Jest of the Twitter age ... it's vicious. It's a hoot. * The Times *
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