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
Quercus Publishing With Our Blessing: The unforgettable beginning to
Book SynopsisTHE FIRST TOM REYNOLDS MYSTERY FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PERFECT LIEIt's true what they say . . . revenge is sweet.1975A baby, minutes old, is forcibly taken from its devastated mother.2010The body of an elderly woman is found in a Dublin public park in the depths of winter.Detective Inspector Tom Reynolds is on the case. He's convinced the murder is linked to historical events that took place in the notorious Magdalene Laundries. Reynolds and his team follow the trail to an isolated convent in the Irish countryside. But once inside, it becomes disturbingly clear that the killer is amongst them . . . and is determined to exact further vengeance for the sins of the past.PRAISE FOR JO SPAIN'S TOM REYNOLDS SERIES'A stunning read' Woman's Way'Refreshing and full of twists' Express'Clever, pacey, compulsive' Sunday Mirror'Expertly crafted, deeply immersive and timely' Irish IndependentTrade ReviewFiendishly clever . . . and a big fat twist is lobbed into the ending like a hand grenade * Irish Sunday Independent *Brilliant! Fast paced, well researched and sensitive. Jo Spain is a sparkling new talent * Irish Examiner *Spain's vivid thriller explores the dark secrets of Ireland's past that are a real-life situation haunting so many people within Irish society today * Irish Country Living *In a very strong year for Irish crime-fiction debuts, Jo Spain's With Our Blessing is among the most assured . . . With Our Blessing picks at the scabs of recent Irish history to reveal raw and gaping wounds * Irish Times *Atmospheric and compelling * Sinead Crowley *Spain handles the inevitable tensions with aplomb * Sunday Times *Packed with fascinating details about the inner workings of Leinster House, this is a satisfying mystery * Irish Independent *Absolutely my comfort reading * Ann Cleeves *
£11.22
Little, Brown Book Group My Cousin Rachel
Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING RACHEL WEISZ AND SAM CLAFIN 'Du Maurier is a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile' NEW YORK TIMES'Du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH' One of her best novels, ingeniously contrived as to plot, successfully realized as to characters' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'I threw the piece of paper on the fire. She saw it burn . . . 'Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in making Philip his heir, knowing he will treasure his beautiful Cornish estate. But Philip's world is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries. Then he suddenly dies in suspicious circumstances. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet . . . might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?Trade ReviewShe wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *Du Maurier has no equal * Sunday Telegraph *This comes closer to Rebecca than anything Miss du Maurier has done and is, I think, one of her best novels, ingeniously contrived as to plot, successfully realized as to characters * Kirkus Reviews *From the first page . . . the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of Rebecca * New York Times Book Review *No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of "real literature", something very few novelists ever doIn the same category as REBECCA, but an even more consummate piece of storytelling * GUARDIAN 'From the first page . . . the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of Rebecca’ *NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
£14.24
Little, Brown Book Group When Rain Clouds Gather And Maru
Book SynopsisA RIVETING STORY FROM ONE OF AFRICA'S MOST IMPORTANT WOMAN WRITERS 'When Rain Clouds Gather and Maru are fairy tales about the transformations that love can wreak. And they transform love into a force to be thankful for' HELEN OYEYEMIEscaping South Africa and his troubled past, Makehaya crosses the border to Botswana, in the hope of leading a peaceful and purposeful life. In the village of Golema Mmidi, he meets Gilbert, a charismatic Englishman who is trying to modernise farming methods to benefit the community. The two outsiders join forces, but their task is fraught with hazards: opposition from the corrupt chief, the pressures of tradition and the unrelenting climate ever threaten to bring tragedy. Maru: Margaret, an orphan from a despised tribe, has lived her life under the loving protection of a missionary's wife. She has only to open her mouth to cause confusion, for her education and English accent do not fit her looks. When she accepts her first teaching post, in a remote village, Margaret is befriended by Dikeledi, sister of Maru the chief-in-waiting. Despite making influential friends, Margaret faces prejudice even from the children she teaches, and her presence causes Maru and his best friend - also Dikeledi's lover - to become sworn enemies.Trade ReviewWhen Rain Clouds Gather and Maru are fairy tales about the transformations that love can wreak. And they transform love into a force to be thankful for -- Helen Oyeyemi
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Slammerkin: The compelling historical novel from
Book SynopsisSet in London and Monmouth in the late 1700s, this is an extraordinary novel about Mary Saunders, the young daughter of a poor seamstress. Mary hungers greedily for fine clothes and ribbons, as people of her class do for food and warmth. It's a hunger that lures her into prostitution at the age of thirteen. Mary is thrown out by her distraught mother when she gets pregnant and almost dies on the dangerous streets of London. Her saviour is Doll - a prostitute. Mary roams London freely with Doll, selling her body to all manner of 'cullies', dressed whorishly in colourful, gaudy dresses with a painted red smile. Faced with bad debts and threats upon her life she eventually flees to Monmouth, her mother's hometown, where she attempts to start a new life as a maid in Mrs Jones's house. But Mary soon discovers that she can't escape her past and just how dearly people like her pay for yearnings not fitting to their class in society...
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Living In The Maniototo
Book Synopsis'All I had experienced, all the stories I had read or dreamed came to me the moment I, a stranger, turned the key in the lock of the unknown house.'In a sweltering basement in downtown Baltimore, Mavis Halleton, writer, ventriloquist and gossip, is struggling to write her novel when an unexpected invitation arrives. The Garretts, a couple Mavis has never heard of but who admire her work, are to spend time in Italy and offer the use of their airy home in the Berkeley hills.During her stay, an earthquake hits northern Italy and Mavis, to her surprise, inherits the house. But, surrounded by museum replicas and tasteful imitations, she finds reality itself is on shaky ground.In this highly inventive novel, reality, fiction and dreams are woven together as Janet Frame playfully explores the process of writing fiction.Trade ReviewQuirky, rich, eccentricPuts everything else that has come my way this year in the shadeProbably as near a masterpiece as we are likely to see this year . . . it is a novel full of riches * Daily Telegraph *A clever, high-spirited performance * New Yorker *She treats the book like one of those miniature glass balls which snows when you shake it. Playful, deft work, then, by a writer of eccentric strengths * Kirkus Reviews *
£9.49
Canongate Books Lilian's Story
Book SynopsisShielded from emotional and physical abuse by layers of fat, Lilian struggles to escape a suffocating existence in the home of her tyrannical Victorian father and her elegant but ineffectual mother. Madness, cruelty and sexuality permeate the family's upper-crust Australian world.Lilian Una Singer starts life at the beginning of the twentieth century as the daughter of a prosperous middle-class Australian family. She ends it as a cheerfully eccentric bag-lady living on the streets, quoting Shakespeare. This book traces the progress of her life's journey, and why she made the choices she did. She's a person large in spirit as well as body, who wants to invent her own story, rather than allow it to be invented for her. Life presents her with many obstacles including the sinister advances of her father - but in spite of this she succeeds. Triumphantly she makes her life her own, savouring every moment with the reminder that 'everything matters'.Trade ReviewLilian's Story . . . takes you into another world, which is rare. * * Guardian * *Here is someone who can really write -- Peter CareyKate Grenville has transformed an Australian myth into a dazzling fiction of universal appeal. It is a pleasure to be able to praise a true novelist. -- Patrick White
£9.49
Everyman Much Obliged, Jeeves
Book SynopsisWhile staying with his Aunt Dahlia to help out in the election at Market Snodsbury, Bertie Wooster comes up against the familiar horrors of Florence Craye, his former fiancee, and Roderick Spode, head of the Black Shorts, in a plot tangle from which, as usual, only the ingenuity of Jeeves can save him.Trade Review"Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in." Evelyn Waugh; "He exhausts superlatives" Stephen Fry; "Pure word music" Douglas Adams; "The Everyman edition promises to be a splendid celebration of the divine Plum" The Independent; "The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare" Evening Standard; "A handsome, collectable hardback edition" Lynne Truss, The Times"
£12.34
HarperCollins Publishers Four Aunties and a Wedding
Book SynopsisThey vow to make it a day to rememberThe laugh-out-loud new novel from the bestselling author of Dial A For Aunties, winner of the Comedy Women In Print Prize 2021Funny, razor-sharp and full of twists, this is a fantastic second novel from one of the funniest voices in fiction!' My WeeklyIt's supposed to be the perfect dayAfter getting away with literal murder, Meddy can't wait to settle down and marry the love of her life, Nathan. She's found the dress, got the dream venue at Christ Church College, Oxford, plus having a destination wedding comes with the added bonus of not having to invite her very large extended family.But is it even a wedding if nobody gets killed?Although when her meddling aunties get involved, Meddy knows her wedding is going to be anything but quiet. Even though there's no dead body hidden in the freezer this time, for better or worse, it's certainly going to be a day she's never going to forgetReal readers LOVE Jesse Sutanto:Another rip-roaring laugh-out-loud coTrade Review Praise for Jesse Sutanto and Dial A For Aunties: ‘Had me laughing aloud within its first five pages. Charming, hilarious and heartfelt’ Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read ‘A dazzling debut full of humour and love. A comedy caper, doused in black humour, comical references, mixed with romance – fans of Crazy Rich Asians will love it’ My Weekly ‘Brilliant, wicked and dead, dead funny’ Andi Osho, Asking For A Friend ‘A gloriously screwball crime caper (with a dusting of romance) which will have you snort-laughing’ Red ‘Dial A For Aunties is one of the funniest, smartest, most compelling books I’ve read in a long time and I couldn’t put it down’ Lucy Vine, Hot Mess ‘Rejoice over Dial A For Aunties’ Elle ‘This smart, funny charming novel has all the right ingredients to make you laugh out loud… A heartfelt rom-com’ Platinum ‘A tightly-plotted, highly comic romp, Dial A For Aunties keeps you guessing till the very last twist’ Lauren Ho, Last Tang Standing ‘Has redefined what “page-turner” means with laugh-out-loud humour and delightful twists and turns at every corner’ Buzzfeed ‘A rip-roaring treat! Dark comedy at its finest and a set of catastrophes that had me roaring’ Abigail Mann, The Lonely Fajita ‘This laugh-out-loud read is a real breath of fresh air’ Fabulous ‘Dark humour at its best. We had such a laugh reading through’ Magic Radio Bookclub ‘The comedy jackpot! Fresh, funny and fabulous’ Kirsty Eyre, Cow Girl ‘A laugh-out-loud read’ Bella ‘Genuine laugh-out-loud funny’ Frost ’A comedy of errors, by turns macabre and romantic, hilarious and affectionate’ Saga
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd Legacy
Book SynopsisCharles Thoroughgood, hero of Alan Judd's classic A Breed of Heroes, has left the army to be trained by MI6 in the arts of the Cold War. Nothing could prepare him, however, for the unexpected inheritance left him by his late father, which leads him back into an old school friendship with Viktor, a Russian diplomat living in London, and beyond that into the murky world of Soviet espionage at the height of the nuclear threat to the West.
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers Storm Glass (The Glass Series, Book 1)
Book SynopsisUntrained. Untested. Unleashed. With her unique magical abilities, Opal Cowan has always felt unsure of her place at Sitia’s magic academy – but now it’s time to test her powers in the real world. Under threat from a deadly massacre, the powerful Stormdancer clan need Opal’s unusual skills to protect their people. And their plea is impossible to resist, especially when it comes from mysterious, mercurial Kade. Yet pulling her powers in unfamiliar directions pushes Opal to uncover a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening, with danger and deception rising around her, will Opal’s untested abilities destroy her – or save them all? A CHRONICLES OF IXIA NOVEL 'A compelling new fantasy series’ – Rhianna Pratchett, SFX on Poison Study The Chronicles of Ixia Poison Study Magic Study Fire Study Storm Glass Sea Glass Spy Glass Shadow Study
£10.46
Alma Books Ltd Guignols Band
Book SynopsisCéline's third novel, first published in 1944 but dealing with events taking place during the First World War, Guignol's Band follows the narrator's meanderings through London after he has been demobilized due to a war injury. The result is a frank, uncompromising, yet grotesquely funny portrayal of the English capital's seedy underworld, peopled by prostitutes, pimps and schemers.Often considered to be Céline's funniest work, Guignol's Band showcases its author's idiosyncratic style at its finest, frantically blending slang, invective, onomatopoeia with literary language, and bridging the gap between gritty realism and absurd mysticism.
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd Her Privates We
Book SynopsisFirst published privately in 1929 as The Middle Parts of Fortune, Her Privates We is the novel of the Battle of the Somme told from the perspective of Bourne, an ordinary private. A raw and shockingly honest portrait of men engaged in war, 'that peculiarly human activity', the original edition was subject to 'prunings and excisions' because the bluntness of language was thought to make the book unfit for public distribution. This edition restores them. An undisputed classic of war writing and a lasting tribute to all who participated in the war, Her Privates We was originally published as written by 'Private 19022'. Championed by Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, TS Eliot and TE Lawrence, it has become recognised as a classic in the seventy years since its first publication. Now republished, with an introduction by William Boyd, it will again amaze a new generation of readers with its depiction of the horror, the ordinariness and the humanity of war.Trade Review[I read Her Privates We] every year to remember how things really were so that I will never lie to myself or anyone else about them -- Ernest HemingwayOne of the very best writers we have -- T. S. EliotThe book of books as far as the British army is concerned -- TE LawrenceThe best of our war novels -- E. M. ForsterManning's masterpiece ... incredibly moving and revelatory -- Gabriel Byrne * Irish Times *
£9.49
Granta Books Room Temperature
Book SynopsisOn an autumn day, at around three-fifteen in the afternoon, Mike sits down in the rocking chair to feed his infant daughter, Bug. The novel that unfolds over the next twenty minutes of Mike's life is a warmly comic masterpiece of observation, reflection and digression. Baker brilliantly recreates Mike's roving mind, with its tangential thoughts about peanut butter and its big questions about fatherhood, marriage, and love. The result is surprisingly thrilling to read: funny, linguistically exuberant, tender and alive to the small mysteries and pleasures of everyday life.
£7.59
Everyman Collected Stories
Book SynopsisThough W. Somerset Maugham was also famous for his novels and plays, it has been argued that in thethe short story he reached the pinnacle of his artwas his true métier. These expertly told tales, with their addictive plot twists and vividly drawn characters, are both galvanizing as literature and wonderfully entertaining. In the adventures of his alter ego Ashenden, a writer who (like Maugham himself) turned secret agent in World War I, as well as in stories set in such far-flung locales as South Pacific islands and colonial outposts in Southeast Asia, Maugham brings his characters vividly to life, and their humanity is more convincing for the author's merciless exposure of their flaws and failures. Whether the chasms of misunderstanding he plumbs are those between colonizers and natives, between a missionary and a prostitute, or between a poetry-writing woman and her uncomprehending husband, Maugham brilliantly displays his irony, his wit, and his genius in the art of storytelling.
£15.29
Penguin Putnam Inc Ricochet
Book Synopsis
£14.44
Simon & Schuster Ltd Lethal Seduction
Book SynopsisFeaturing a brand new introduction from Sunday Times bestselling author, Clare Mackintosh, talking about what Jackie and her books mean to her! 'Jackie's heroines don't take off their clothes to please a man, but to please themselves' CLARE MACKINTOSH'Jackie Collins’s daring, unapologetic stroke of the pen, combined with her glorious wit, has single-handedly given creative license to new generations of authors and storytellers.' COLLEEN HOOVER Fashion designer Jamie Nova is celebrating her impending divorce in Las Vegas with her two best friends when she meets a billionaire playboy. Things heat up quickly and her friends receive a midnight phone call telling them he’s in Jamie’s bed. The only problem? He’s dead…Don't miss this dazzling page-turner, packed with desire, sex, revenge and love. There have been
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd The Birds and the Bees
Book SynopsisFrom the Sunday Times bestseller comes a warm, tender and utterly hilarious story about love and betrayal ‘The feeling you get when you read a Milly Johnson book should be bottled and made available on the NHS’ Debbie JohnsonLove can sting. Or make you fly ... Romance writer and single mum Stevie Honeywell has only weeks to go to her wedding when her fiancé Matthew runs off with her glamorous new friend Jo MacLean. It feels like history repeating itself for Stevie, but this time she is determined to win back her man. She isn't going to act as he might expect. She isn't going to wail and dig her heels in, she is simply going to pretend to let him go whilst she pursues a mad course of dieting, exercising and self-improvement. And it feels like history is repeating itself for Adam MacLean too, who is also determined to win his lady, Jo, back with the same basic psychological tactics. Then he is going to initiate his master plan: Getting together with Stevie to drive Jo wild with jealousy. So, like the Scottish country jig 'The Birds and the Bees', the couples all change partners and learn some revealing truths about each other along the way. But what happens when Adam's master plan actually starts to work? And just who will Stevie be dancing with when the music stops?Praise for Milly Johnson: 'Every time you discover a new Milly book, it’s like finding a pot of gold' heat 'A glorious, heartfelt novel' Rowan Coleman ‘Absolutely loved it. Milly's writing is like getting a big hug with just the right amount of bite underneath. I was rooting for Bonnie from the start' Jane Fallon ‘Bursting with warmth and joie de vivre’ Jill Mansell ‘Warm, optimistic and romantic’ Katie FfordTrade Review‘An irresistibly warm and romantic read’ -- Sunday Express S Magazine on Sunshine Over Wildflower Cottage‘Another gem from Milly Johnson’ * The Sun on Sunshine Over Wildflower Cottage *
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd Black Roses
Book SynopsisTerrifying secrets, torn loyalties, love versus duty, the gripping story of a young actress caught up in highly dangerous events in 1930s Berlin... Berlin, 1933. Warning bells ring across Europe as Hitler comes to power. Clara Vine, an attractive young Anglo-German actress, arrives in Berlin to find work at the famous Ufa studios. Through a chance meeting, she is unwillingly drawn into a circle of Nazi wives, among them Magda Goebbels, Anneliese von Ribbentrop and Goering's girlfriend Emmy Sonnemann. As part of his plan to create a new pure German race, Hitler wants to make sweeping changes to the lives of women, starting with the formation of a Reich Fashion Bureau, instructing women on what to wear and how to behave. Clara is invited to model the dowdy, unflattering clothes. Then she meets Leo Quinn who is working for British intelligence and who sees in Clara the perfect recruit to spy on her new elite friends, using her acting skills to win their confidence. But when Magda Goebbels reveals to Clara a dramatic secret and entrusts her with an extraordinary mission, Clara feels threatened, compromised, desperately caught between her duty towards - and growing affection for - Leo, and the impossibly dangerous task Magda has forced upon her.Trade Review'The perfect fusion of history, suspense and high romance' * The Times on Black Roses *'A thoughtful but fast-moving novel' * Reader's Digest on Black Roses *'This well-researched story unfolds with utterly knuckle-whitening suspense, and it was my favourite escapist read of the year' * Saga Magazine on Black Roses *'Terrific' -- Elizabeth Buchan * The Sunday Times on Black Roses *'Jane Thynne's smooth writing, sensitive understanding of the era and sharp observations combine into an excellent historical thriller' -- Jessica Mann * Literary Review on Black Roses *'Fast-paced and gripping' * The Sunday Times on The Winter Garden *'A thoroughly enjoyable read: fast-paced, atmospheric and genuinely suspenseful' * Mail on Sunday on The Winter Garden *'Both historically fascinating and a proper thriller' * Reader's Digest on The Winter Garden *'An absolute cracker of a read...Thynne expertly maintains the suspense, while evoking the tension of Berlin as the city gathers its strength for war' * The Times on The Winter Garden *'A thumpingly good read with a strong denouement' * Mail on Sunday on The Winter Garden *'So convincing one forgets that it is a piece of fiction' * The Lady on The Winter Garden *'Pre-war Germany's atmosphere of reprehension, terror and Nazi hubris is vividly evoked in a gripping but sad tale' -- Jessica Mann * Literary Review on The Winter Garden *'A tale of suspense and intrigue...Thynne's grasp of the period is first-class, and she has woven in a tender wartime love story' * Mail on Sunday on A War of Flowers *'Darkly brooding horror hangs over Germany; an irresistible page-turner packed with historical detail and told from a most unusual perspective' * Kirkus Reviews on Faith and Beauty *‘This is the fourth of the addictive ‘Clara Vine’ novels, set in Berlin on the eve of war. Clara is a half-German British agent with access to the inner circle of Nazi wives. Portraits of women such as Magda Goebbels and Eva Braun are ruthlessly truthful, but drawn with compassion. It is early 1939, and Clara is drawn into investigating the murder of a girl at the League of Faith and Beauty finishing school. Brilliant’ * Saga magazine on Faith and Beauty *
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd The House By the Sea
Book SynopsisThe irresistible new novel set between 1960s Tuscany and present-day Devon, from number one bestseller Santa Montefiore Ten-year-old Floriana is captivated by the beauty of the magnificent Tuscan villa just outside her small village, and dreams of living there someday. When Dante, the son of the villa's owner, invites her inside, she knows that her destiny is there, with him. But as they grow up they cross an unseen line, jeopardizing the very thing they hold most dear… Decades later and hundreds of miles away, a beautiful old country house hotel on England's Devon coast has fallen on hard times. Its owner, Marina, hires an artist-in-residence to stay the summer and teach the guests how to paint. The man she finds is charismatic and wise and begins to pacify the discord in her family and transform the fortunes of the hotel. However, it soon becomes clear that he is not who he seems… From the Italian countryside to the English coast, The House by the Sea is a moving and mysterious tale of love, forgiveness and the past revealed. This book has been published in the US under the title The Mermaid Garden.Trade Review‘This is Santa Montefiore at her best – an enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments. If you love a heartfelt, epic trilogy this is for you. I loved it and can’t wait for more’ -- Dinah Jefferies, author of The Tea Planter's Wife, on Songs of Love and War‘Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore. Everything she writes, she writes from the heart’ -- Jojo Moyes‘A multigenerational banquet of love: falling in, falling out, rediscovering,rekindling. The Beekeeper’s Daughter features sophisticated, irresistible backdrops and brilliantly drawn characters that made it one of the most engrossing reads of my year’ -- Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Matchmaker, on The Beekeeper's Daughter‘I raced through this feel-good romantic story, which spans continents and decades’ -- Fanny Blake * Woman & Home on The Beekeeper's Daughter *‘This deeply romantic saunter is an ideal summer read. Laced with secrets and forbidden liaisons, it is sure to keep you turning the pages’ * The Lady on The Beekeeper's Daughter *‘Santa Montefiore is the new Rosamunde Pilcher’ * Daily Mail *‘A superb storyteller of love and death in romantic places in fascinating times’ * Vogue *‘A gripping romance . . . it is as believable as the writing is beautiful’ * Daily Telegraph *‘Anyone who likes Joanne Harris or Mary Wesley will love Montefiore’ * Mail on Sunday *‘One of our personal favourites and bestselling authors, sweeping stories of love and families spanning continents and decades’ * The Times *‘Engaging and charming’ -- Penny Vincenzi
£9.49
And Other Stories Collected Short Fiction
Book SynopsisOriginally published between 1985 and 2012, these stories offer an enthralling introduction to the work of one of contemporary fiction's greatest magicians, and a map of Gerald Murnane's evolution as a writer. Spare, transparent and profane, This career-spanning volume ranges from 'Finger Web', a fractal tale of the scars of war and the roots of misogyny, to 'Land Deal', which imagines Australia's colonisation and the ultimate vengeance of its indigenous people as a series of nested dreams, to 'The Interior of Gaaldine', a story which finds its anxious protagonist stranded beyond the limits of fiction itself, and which points the way toward Murnane's later works, from Barley Patch to Border Districts. With potent style and determined vision, Murnane creates sensitive portraits of intimate relationships - with parents, uncles and aunts, and particularly children - and probes each situation for anxiety and embarrassment, shame or delight. Murnane treats emotions and thoughts as he does minor objects: he shines light through them and makes them new, remaking the vessel of literature as he goes.Trade Review`As Murnane remarks, "My writing was not an attempt to produce something called literature but an attempt to discover meaning", and his insistence on the artifice of written enterprise bears witness to a thoroughness and integrity that far outweigh the minor virtue - or minor vice - of readability.' Adrian Nathan West Times Literary Supplement ----`A voice so clear, so unaffected, that it's a voice for everyone.' Benjamin H, Ogden, The New York Times ----'The sentences are laid on like varnish, coat after coat, until the text gleams with a high shine. Immaculate in its unadorned plainness ...his prose achieves a crystalline beauty.' The New Republic
£11.69
HarperCollins Publishers The Magician’s Assistant
Book SynopsisShortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Fiction. From the bestselling author of The Dutch House, Commonwealth and Bel Canto, Winner of The Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Pen/Faulkner Award. A magician (with one memorable appearance on the Johnny Carson Show to his credit) takes the name Parsifal. He is gay. He has a Vietnamese lover, Phan. When Phan dies of AIDS, Parsifal marries the woman who has always adored him and who has lived with them both, his assistant Sabine. Then Parsifal himself dies in California, suddenly and shockingly, of an aneurysm. Parsifal always said that he had no living family and that he came from wealthy upscale Connecticut stock. The reality is very different, as Sabine learns from his lawyer. He came from a poor Nebraska family and they are very much alive. Indeed his mother and sister are on their way to California to meet Sabine, the daughter- and sister-in-law they know nothing about. It is bad that her husband has died. What Sabine must now cope with is coming to terms with his horrific past and the reason he divorced himself from his family and roots.Trade Review‘Original, sparkling, funny and sad – a book you read in one gulp and want to revisit immediately’ Penelope Lively, Daily Telegraph ‘A delicate exploration of impossible love and new-found friendship’ Guardian ‘The kindliness of The Magician's Assistant is beguiling, and Patchett is an adroit, graceful writer’ Suzanne Berne, New York Times Book Review
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Ltd Joe Nuthins Guide to Life
Book Synopsis‘Extraordinary’ Heidi Swain‘Life-affirming’ Hazel Prior‘Big-hearted’ Caroline Day‘Beautiful’ Julietta Henderson‘Heartwarming’ Daily Mail‘Unputdownable’ My Weekly‘A joy’ Good Housekeeping Joe loves predictability. But his life is about to become a surprising adventure. Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like his dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, he’s good at his job, good at making things and good at following the rules, and he’s learning how to do lots of things by himself. Joe’s mother knows there are a million things in life he isn’t
£9.49
Pan Macmillan The Order of the Day
Book Synopsis'A thoroughly gripping and mesmerising work of black comedy and political disaster' - GuardianWinner of the 2017 Prix GoncourtÉric Vuillard’s gripping novel The Order of the Day tells the story of the pivotal meetings which took place between the European powers in the run-up to World War Two. What emerges is a fascinating and incredibly moving account of failed diplomacy, broken relationships, and the catastrophic momentum which led to conflict.The titans of German industry – set to prosper under the Nazi government – gather to lend their support to Adolf Hitler. The Austrian Chancellor realizes too late that he has wandered into a trap, as Hitler delivers the ultimatum that will lay the groundwork for Germany’s annexation of Austria. Winston Churchill joins Neville Chamberlain for a farewell luncheon held in honour of Joachim von Ribbentrop: German Ambassador to England, soon to be Foreign Minister in the Nazi government, and future defendant at the Nuremberg trials.Suffused with dramatic tension, this unforgettable novel tells the tragic story of how the actions of a few powerful men brought the world to the brink of war.Trade ReviewA tightly paced and gripping read . . . Vuillard has written a magnificently entertaining account that manages to capture the wild and uneven emotional climate of the 1930s and speaks too to our own era of liars, demagogues and politics as farce, which, as Vuillard deftly shows us, can slide all too quickly into tragedy. -- Andrew Hussey * Observer *A thoroughly gripping and mesmerising work of black comedy and political disaster. It seems designed single-mindedly to remind us that, as it says, “Great catastrophes often creep up on us in tiny steps. * Guardian *Remarkable . . . It captures the bizarre blend of wishful thinking, clownish self-importance, and cold calculation that characterized many of the Nazis’ powerful enablers. * New Yorker *Gripping . . . The method of [The Order of the Day] is to peel away the veils of dissimulation, disguise and self-justification that conspire to make historical disasters appear as just the way things happen. * Wall Street Journal *Quietly momentous. * Evening Standard *A chilling, gripping novel – it takes a number of key moments in the run-up to the Second World War and uses tremendous skill and verve to dramatize hours and minutes in which often quite ordinary men took decisions that would destroy whole nations. -- Simon Winder, author of GermaniaOffering us a seat at the jolly lunches and country retreats where a handful of men condemned their nations to unthinkable slaughter, The Order of the Day is a powerful warning that cowardice saves no one, not even the coward. -- Alex Christofi, author of GlassBeautifully and economically crafted . . . The Order of the Day is a stark examination of the price of silence, the cost of sticking to the rules to keep the peace, and the human toll when ruling elites not only go along to get along, but support the ravings of a violent and vengeful leader. * Millions *A book whose staggering power lies in its simplicity. * Le Monde *A powerful story you read in one go, with astonishment and dread. * La Presse *Just brilliant. [ . . . ] Vuillard shows what literature is capable of in its moments of greatness: a lightning-like transformation of a tired, old, and far too often told story into a shocking new narrative. * Der Spiegel *Brief and striking . . . history behind the scenes. * L'Express *Snatched from oblivion, these scenes spring to life in our minds like a jack-in-the-box. * Le Figaro Littéraire *A fascinating novelisation of the pivotal meetings that took place in the run up to the Second World War . . . A damning indictment of politicians and those in power, with obvious resonances in today’s global political climate. * Big Issue *Striking imaginative flair . . . Vuillard explores the thoughts and feelings of his protagonists with nimble facility in this tour de force of enhanced realism. * i *Eerily resonant . . . a story of ultimatums and compromises, forced agreements and wishful thinking among European powers. * The Times *Vuillard has a good eye for issues such as war, empire, the fate of colonized peoples, and the gulf between perception and reality…[His] prose – muscular, concrete, richly inventive, ironic, sardonic, opinionated – is no doubt the feature of The Order of the Day that most appealed to the Goncourt jury. Vuillard is expert at black humor. * New York Review of Books *[The Order of the Day] scripts the awful behind-the-scenes march, with all its corporate and foreign complicity, from 1933 to Hitler’s rise to power in ways so closely observed it feels lived. -- Best Books of the Year * Boston Globe *[A] masterpiece . . . [Vuillard] illuminates in glorious and ugly precision how the concentration of wealth and power, a cult of personality, political corruption, bigotry, and narcissism are the necessary but sometimes ignored steps that lead to catastrophe. -- Favorite Books of the Year * Literary Hub *
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers Just My Luck The Sunday Times Number One
Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER!What if winning means losing everything?A gripping story of greed, lies and dark family secrets' Lisa JewellUtterly engrossing and brilliant' Lucy FoleyAddictive, provocative brilliantly crafted' TM LoganIt's the stuff dreams are made of a lottery win so big, it changes everything.For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends, the Pearsons and the Heathcotes. Over dinner parties, fish & chip suppers and summer barbecues, they've discussed the important stuff the kids, marriages, jobs and houses and they've laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything more than a tenner.But then, one Saturday night, the unthinkable happens. There's a rift in the group. Someone doesn't tell the truth. And soon after, six numbers come up which change everything forever.Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth 18 million. And their friends are determined to claim a share of it.Sunday Times Number One bestseller ATrade ReviewPraise for Just My Luck: ‘Adele Parks never takes her foot off the gas, every book is tighter, faster, better than the last. Just My Luck is a gripping story of greed, lies and dark family secrets. I read it in a two-day frenzy’ Lisa Jewell ‘Utterly engrossing and brilliant’ Lucy Foley ‘A compelling take on one of those “what if” scenarios that we’ve all wondered about. Addictive, provocative and thoroughly relatable – a brilliantly crafted reminder to be careful what you wish for’ TM Logan ‘An absolute joy: gripping, shocking and surprising. A cautionary tale about what one couple’s sudden wealth can do to old friendships’ Jane Fallon ‘Fabulous… her best yet’ Daily Mail ‘A dark, gripping thriller’ Woman’s Weekly ‘Stupendous! I read this totally compelling modern-day morality tale over a weekend – I couldn’t put it down. As ever, Adele Parks does not disappoint – you’ll love it’ Ruth Jones ‘Like a deft magician, this book reveals its twists only at the very end, I was completely astonished’ Rosamund Lupton ‘This tale of betrayal, envy and wealth is so packed with drama, you won’t be able to put it down’ Heat ‘Something special… Adele has hit another home run – pacy, gripping and full of suspense, this is a novel you’ll still be thinking about for days afterwards’ My Weekly ‘A modern-day tale of (dis)loyalty and toxic friendships as a dream come true turns into a nightmare. Utterly gripping and fiendishly twisty. You'll never do the lottery again' Veronica Henry ‘A brilliant page-turner about the dark side of dreams coming true. The perfect summer read’ Tasmina Perry ‘Dark, devious and twisty, with extraordinarily clever plotting, this is compulsive reading at its best’ Nicola Moriarty ‘Addictive page-turner’ Good Housekeeping ‘A perfect summer read’ Cosmopolitan ‘Turns the phrase “be careful what you wish for” into a brilliantly compelling yet cautionary tale… I loved it!’ Amanda Jennings
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd The Dreamers
Book Synopsis‘Riveting, profoundly moving’ Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven ‘Beautiful and devastating’ Red‘Thought-provoking and profound’ CosmopolitanImagine a world where sleep could trap you, for days, for weeks, for months…She sleeps through sunrise. She sleeps through sunset. And yet, in those first few hours, the doctors can find nothing else wrong. She looks like an ordinary girl sleeping ordinary sleep.Karen Thompson Walker's second novel tells the mesmerising story of a town transformed by a mystery illness that locks people in perpetual sleep and triggers extraordinary, life-altering dreams.One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her room and falls asleep. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate cannot rouse her. NeitTrade Review‘Harrowing, riveting, profoundly moving, and beautifully written… this book is stunning’ Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven ‘This beautiful and devastating novel has a dream-like quality of its own’ Red ‘Lovely, lyrical and scary… a mesmerising read’ Psychologies ‘A thought-provoking and profound story’ Cosmopolitan ‘Lyrical and beguiling… a deeply immersive novel about a community in peril… and the choices we make when our lives, and those of our loved ones, are in danger’ The Observer ‘A modern Midsummer Night’s Dream… Walker paints a haunting canvas exploring time, memory, consciousness, and youth’ Marisha Pessl, author of Night Film ‘Frighteningly powerful, beautiful, and uncanny… a love story and also a horror story’ Karen Russell, author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove ‘This is a profound novel, and a deeply moving one… she takes a terrifying situation and reveals it as a thing of beauty’ Robin Black, author of Life Drawing ‘A slow-building, philosophical and unique novel… at once a thought-provoking character study and a subtle science fiction tale’ Culturefly 'Powerful and moving... written with symphonic sweep' New York Times Book Review '[An] imaginative, disturbing and ultimately spellbinding narrative, which asks provokative questions about our concepts of time and connection, and the bounds of possibility for life on earth' Vogue 'Powerful, thoughtful and entirely original' PopSugar
£8.54
Haus Publishing The Colonel
Book SynopsisIt's a pitch black, rainy night in a small Iranian town. Inside his house the Colonel is immersed in thought. Memories are storming in. Memories of his wife. Memories of the great patriots of the past, all of them assassinated or executed. Memories of his children, who had joined the different factions of the 1979 revolution. There is a knock on the door. Two young policemen have come to summon the Colonel to collect the tortured body of his youngest daughter and bury her before sunrise. The Islamic Revolution, like every other revolution in history, is devouring its own children. And whose fault is that? This shocking diatribe against the failures of the Iranian left over the last fifty years does not leave one taboo unbroken.Trade Review'This novel has what it takes to become a strong and irresistible window into Iran' - Die Zeit Die Zeit StartFragment The colonel's problem with his wits was that he had got used toliving in the past and thinking about nothing else. The past had such a hold onhim that he had grown afraid of dealing with what was happening under his nose.This fear of the present and living in the past had become a habit. Perhaps itwas just an instinctive retreat, a defence against events. Iranian author Mahmoud Dowlatabadi's The Colonel opens late at night with a knock on the colonel'sdoor. The colonel has already smoked twenty cigarettes, is old andguilt-ridden, and has become weighed down over the years by memories of thesins he has committed and the mistakes he has made. The colonel is told thathis daughter has been killed and he must pay the necessary fees and assist inher burial. Dowlatabadi makes it clear from the outset that The Colonel is a novel of violenceand guilt, concerned with Iran's long struggle against itself while outsideinfluences (primarily the US through the machinations of the CIA) seek to pushthe country in directions favourable to them and not the citizens. As thecolonel travels to bury his daughter the narrative fractures, splitting firstinto two distinct yet commingled sections - the "present" (the 1980s) in whichthe colonel attempts to bury his daughter, and the thoughts of the colonel,which anchor around significant events of the past (including but not limitedto the coups in the 1950s and the wars in the 1970s). But soon the novelfragments further, following the colonel's family members as they, too, engagein and become victims of the relentless violence of Iran's troubled history. The tragedy of our whole country is the same: we are all alienated,strangers in our own land. It's tragic. The odd thing is that we have never gotused to it. Yet, woe betide us if we do. The irony is that, if you really wantto be seen as a good Iranian, and especially if you aspire to high office inthis country, you first have to be a foreigner, someone who wasn't born here atall. On the other hand, if you were born and bred here and try to remain trueto yourself, your country and your people, then alienation is the most lenientpunishment you can expect. At times, The Colonel'sback-and-forth narrative, which shifts from the present to the past and fromcharacter to character, can be difficult to follow, particularly when coupledwith the novel's tight focus on Iranian military and political history, whichis perhaps unfamiliar to many readers. Happily, translator Tom Patterdaleprovides useful and not too intrusive footnotes to explain various culturalreferences, as well as including a reasonably lengthy essay on Dowlatabadi'stime, nation and career. The Colonel avoids- both within and without the narrative - becoming a dressed-up historicalsurvey of Iran, but the cursory introduction is welcome. The narrative itself becomes progressively nightmarish, culminatingin several vicious torture scenes which, Patterdale informs us, were takendirectly from testimonies supplied by people Dowlatabadi knew. The colonelhimself is no stranger to the low menace of Iran's history: he has committedtwo grave mistakes, the first being his refusal to participate in the DhofarRebellion, the second being that he murdered his wife for cheating on him. Bothmistakes have furthered his ostracisation, both professionally and personallyand, it seems, his daughter's murder is perhaps the last straw. He can nolonger function properly in the present and instead mulls over the mistakes he- and Iran - have made of the past. One of the most curious aspects of Dowlatabadi's novel is that,while the CIA and America are mentioned, their role is presented as somethingfar in the distance, important to Iran's recent history but not the entirecause of its problems. Instead, Dowlatabadi places the responsibility of thehope of the early 1950s fading into the violence of the intervening decades asan error to lay at the feet of the Iranians - all the dreams, all the promises,all the lives, all the possibilities - these were broken by Iranians. It is too easy to blameAmerica (or, earlier, the British; or, at times, the Soviets) for the woes thenation has inflicted upon itself, and as long as the young in their outrage andthe old in their calculation continue to blame an external source, then thereal problems will never be fixed and the cycle will continue. Dowlatabadi's novel examines the consequences of revolutions andthe unexpected (and unexpectedly violent) paths they usually take once theeuphoria of the coup has faded. Revolutions have a habit of eating the verypeople who created them, and virtually always devolve into a cycle of killing,violence and secrecy that can last generations. The colonel, while wrapped inhis own guilt, functions as a kind of witness to these horrors, both throughhis own recollections but also through the lives of his children who, asPatterdale's essay informs us, act as stand-ins for the different types ofideologies that arose out of the turmoil of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It isno accident that each of the colonel's children end up dead, just as it is noacciden that even to this day the novel remains unavailable within Iran andunpublished in the original Persian. Dowlatabadi's criticism is sharp,unsparing, and directed against everyone: you are all responsible, seems to be his message. I'm well aware that at every stage of history there have beencrimes against humanity, and they couldn't have happened without humans tocommit them. The crimes that have been visited on my children have beencommitted, and still are being committed, by young people just like them, bypeople stirring up their delusions, giving them delusions of grandeur. So whydo I imagine that people might improve? Mahmoud Dowlatabadi's TheColonel is one long argument to support the idea that a sufficientlybrutalised nation becomes a perpetual device of self-mutilation as onegeneration succeeds the next and the crimes, violence and death continues.There is no ideology or political party sufficiently coherent to withstand thepressure to commit violence in order to remain in power and, in the end, theblood of thousands stains the hands of every Iranian. The Colonel is a powerful and difficult text, brutal both inits fragmented composition and its unflinching examination of the consequencesof power and the ways in which those in power will act to keep it.EndFragment -- Damian Kelleher Damian Kelleher's Blog 20110914 A fable of the Iranian terror Mahmoud Dowlatabadi is best known in Iran for his 10-volume epic Kelidar, which at more than 3000 pages is perhaps for the moment unlikely to feature in any publisher's catalogue. We are, in the meantime, fortunate to have this passionate and informative fable of the Islamic revolution in our hands. The idealistic and relatively modernised "Colonel", a career officer in the Shah's army, has murdered his adulterous wife. Stripped of his rank, he finds himself in the same prison as his eldest son, Amir, a student who belongs to the Iranian Communist Party. Father and son are soon released in the weeks of mayhem following the Shah's departure into exile and Ayatollah Khomeini's return. Everyone's hopes are soon quashed, however, when the new regime outstrips its predecessor's brutality. Public executions follow, the universities are shut down and the new generations are "left struggling like newly-hatched chicks in this fist, which had turned into a vulture's talons". The Colonel is the tale, in the words of its translator, Tom Patterdale, of how "the revolution ate its own children". Four of the colonel's five children are executed or killed in action: three for belonging to various leftist factions, while another is "martyred" in the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). No scenes are more telling of this senseless bloodshed than those involving Amir and his former interrogator Khezr Javid, whom Amir hides in his cellar when violent mobs take to the streets looking to lynch their jailers. It is an uncomfortable pairing that Dowlatabadi exploits to portray a society ravaged by a warped morality. For a fable, there is very little allegory about the novel: it is very historically accurate. The character of the Colonel draws on a historical figure, Mohammad Taqi Khan Pesyan (1892-1921), a hero even to current Iranian nationalists. This scrupulous reformer was probably the closest Iran ever got to its own Ataturk. In this novel he is a metaphor for the Iran that might have been. Patterdale is to be commended for his immaculate glossary, which does not omit a single reference in the text to Persian mythology, place-names or historical and political figures. His equally precious afterword informs us that The Colonel has "never appeared in its original language" in Iran. It was first published in Germany, after Dowlatabadi had deemed that decades of tinkering with the manuscript had come to an end. It's about time everyone even remotely interested in Iran read this novel. -- Andre Naffis-Sahely The Independent Newspaper 20111004 The author sets the scene: a pitch-black, rainy night in a small Iranian town. Inside his house, the Colonel is immersed in memories of his wife, of the great patriots of the past, all of them assassinated or executed, of his children, who had joined the different factions of the 1979 revolution.There is a knock on the door. Two young policemen have come to summon the Colonel to collect the body of his youngest daughter and bury her before sunrise. The Islamic Revolution, like every other revolution, is devouring its own children. And whose fault is that?Mahmoud Dowlatabadi does not leave one taboo unbroken in this diatribe against the failures of the Iranian left. ... The story begins with the old colonel roused in the middle of the night to come and deal with his fourteen-year-old daughter's body. As he stumbles around in confusion, guilt and dismay, his actions and interpretations of events show that the ordinary has become extraordinary in Iran, and vice versa. This death of his youngest daughter has taken place under a fundamentalist Islamic regime and yet he is being told by the authorities to bury her in the middle of the night, something we learn much later in the book is against Islamic law. The body should be laid out by women, but this can't be done either. Piecing these elements together, and discovering the betrayal that lies behind her death, however, is no easy task because past and present are muddled in the colonel's thoughts and actions, and the dead from his past come back to life and not (it seems) just in the old man's memories... ... The central theme of this work seems to be that Iran is beyond hope. The rain pours down incessantly, symbolising tears of unquenchable grief, and the (male) characters smoke incessantly, representing self-destructive behaviour. Everyone is at cross-purposes, and families are riven by political conflict. A rare moment when she isn't weeping allows Amir (on the verge of suicide) to confront his sister Farzaneh with her alienation from the family (because her husband is on the political Right, while the other siblings are on variations of the Left)... ... A while ago, round about the time that Iran was labelled part of the 'axis of evil' I saw a documentary about Iran which featured interviews with young people in their twenties. Although necessarily guarded as they spoke to journalists from the West, these English-speaking and well-travelled young people were acutely aware that reforms were needed, but they seemed optimistic. I hope they were right, and that Dowlatabadi is wrong... -- Lisa Hill ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 20111127 Key journalists and experts on Iran gathered in London on 6th September to discuss the difficulties and importance of publishing authors like Mahmoud Dowlatabadi and the role of literature at moments of revolution. This dark book, like many others, continues to be banned from publication in Iran, although it has been translated into English, French and German. Dowlatabadi, with a distinguished career that spans the 80s to the present is self taught and began life working on a farm, he remains one of the most famous realist writers in Iran today. One of those intriguing novels that cover the action of only one day while giving the reader an insight into more than one lifetime, looks at modern Iran and the personal toll politics and history have taken on one man. Surreal and Kafkaesque, the structure of the novel is reminiscent of Hedayat's The Blind Owl and the controversial nature of its critical look at several points in Iranian history: "THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION, LIKE EVERY OTHER REVOLUTION IN HISTORY, IS DEVOURING ITS OWN CHILDREN. AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT? THIS SHOCKING DIATRIBE AGAINST THE FAILURES OF THE IRANIAN LEFT OVER THE LAST FIFTY YEARS DOES NOT LEAVE ONE TABOO UNBROKEN." " 6 Pillars 20110901 A page-turning panorama of Iranian mental anguish, producing visions and nightmares like dark exotic blossoms. -- A Schader Neue Zurcher Zeitung 20110901 Mahmud Doulatabadi is one of the most preeminent novelists of Iran. I discovered Dowlatabadi * when I was 17. I knew Kelidar ( ) was an important book to read. My younger sister who was always richer than I, spent all of her summer savings to buy this 5-volume novel: the love story of Maral and Gol-Mohammad; in the turbulent history of their tribes of Iran's north east province, Khorasan. I remember living with the book, reading it nonstop for 10 days, hardly eating or sleeping. I was perhaps too young for it then; but I couldn't put it down. Maral reminded me of my own grandmother; and the story taught me about the intricacies of individuality, honor, loyalty, love, passion and the cost of breaking from conformity. I read his other books later, but to date, and to author's admission, Kelidar remains his most "perfect" book! Dolatabadi * is 69, he was born in the village of Dolatabad in Khorasan. Before he became a writer, he earned life from labouring in farming, shoe making, barbering, bicycle repair, herding sheep, slaughter house, print shops, cinema projections--all range of works that are not customary for the "educated" or those with "to-be-educated-to-write" aspirations. His rural experiences set his books apart from the white-glove urban, or aristocratic settings of many of his contemporary literary figures of Iran. He paved his path to literature through theater, starting at the age of 22. His most recent book, Der Colonel, written simultaneously in Persian and German--a story awaiting 25 years to be told--has made it to German publication, and is suffering Persian censorship, thanks to Mr Ahmadinejad's Coup D'etat ... (Dolatabadi has been a vocal critic of Ahmadinejad) To German speakers, I recommend to listen to his interview Dolatabadi with Ilija Trojanow on Arte.TV about Der Colonel. He talks about his urge to write this novel, and also explains somethings about Iran's literary traditions--especially referring to legendary Ferdowsi (10th century AD), to whom he wishes to have been a devout follower; and Sa'di (12th century AD) and Naser khosrow (11th century Ad) who were globe-trotters to whom he attributes the humanitarian nature of Persian literature. Despite the fact that Dolatabadi's novels root deeply in folk, telling the most obscure of rural stories, his talent is in portraying man in the complex dynamics of his interaction with the world, thus Doulatabadi * considers literature to be a universal entity, one belonging to humanity and not to geography. He ends his interview with a message of hope: "The art of we Iranians, is to transit through death and destruction towards light; this is our entire history, and we are still a living nation ..." * The writer of this review has spelled Dowlatabadi in all possible phonetic forms. Inconsistencies are intentional. -- Naj Neo-Resistance blog 20111017 'Iranian novelist Dowlatabadi (Missing Soluch, 1979, etc.) re-imagines the life of a fabled Persian patriot against the bloody backdrop of the Islamic Revolution. We see the revolution through the eyes of the Colonel, an officer in the Shah's army, a figure largely based on Mohammad Taqi Khan Pesyan, who led a partially successful Persian revolution in 1921 and was lionized after his assassination. As the novel opens, the Colonel is taken in the dead of night to collect his daughter's body from the prosecutor's office. From there, the book jumps back and forth to show the Colonel at his height and the struggles of the officer and his son Amir as the Ayatollah returns and the Shah is forced into exile. The military man's five children represent different factions within Iranian society, and nearly all come to tortuous or violent ends. Patterdale offers up a fine translation of Dowlatabadi's book, gently guiding Western readers through its complex maze of political intrigue and moral failings with restrained footnotes, a rich glossary and a thoughtful afterword. At its core, the book is about the inherent corruption that power inspires and the toll it takes on the people under its long shadow. A demanding and richly composed book by a novelist who stands apart.' KIRKUS Book Reviews 20120319 After being arrested in 1974 by the Savak, the shah's secret police, the Iranian writer Mahmoud Dowlatabadi asked his interrogators just what crime he had committed. "None," he recalled them responding, "but everyone we arrest seems to have copies of your novels, so that makes you provocative to revolutionaries." ... "The Colonel," a novel about the 1979 revolution and its violent aftermath, is a case in point. The five children of the title character, an officer in the shah's army, have all taken different political paths and paid a heavy price. The story unfolds on one rainy night as the colonel is trying to retrieve and bury the body of his youngest daughter, who has been tortured to death for handing out leaflets criticizing the new regime. "It's about time everyone even remotely interested in Iran read this novel," The Independent of London said in a review when "The Colonel" was published in Britain last fall, describing it as a powerful portrayal of "a society ravaged by a warped morality." ... "The Colonel," though available in English and German, does not yet exist in an authorized Persian-language version. Mr. Dowlatabadi said he finally submitted the manuscript three years ago to censors at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which must approve all books before publication in Iran, but received no response until Iranian readers heard about the book and began clamoring for access to it. "Mahmoud has always had a commitment to social issues, but couldn't accept the simplistic moralistic framework predominant in socialist realism," said Kamran Rastegar, a professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at Tufts University who has translated some of Mr. Dowlatabadi's work. "Instead he tried to examine the complexities and moral ambiguities of the experience of the poor and forgotten, mixing the brutality of that world with the lyricism of the Persian language." ... To have "The Colonel" published in Persian, Mr. Dowlatabadi could theoretically turn to one of the emigre presses that flourish in Europe and California, or even, if he were so disposed, authorize a kind of samizdat edition for circulation in Iran. But he said he did not want to do that, preferring to adhere to legal channels, frustrating though that may be. "My philosophy, my way of working, is not by confrontation," he said. "I want to keep writing and keep being an Iranian novelist in Iran, so therefore I do not have confrontations." Yes, he continued, "I have written things that if you read them they create questions in your head," but he added: "I did not do it confrontationally, against the state. In fact it's a good thing for the regime - past, present and future - to have the experience of writers who work within the system. This has to be an established norm or practice in our country: that people who have different opinions can rationally disagree. It shouldn't be that I want to kill you, I want to confront you or I want to leave." -- Larry Rohter 20120701 Dowlatabadi (Missing Soluch) is regarded as one of Iran's greatest novelists, yet this work, 25 years in the making, is banned in his native country. This fact alone is evidence of the difficulties that have long plagued Iran, and this novel stands as a testament to that struggle. Set during the Iran-Iraq War, the book follows the colonel, a devout patriot and soldier, as he grapples with the fates of his children, all condemned in one way or another by the revolution and its aftermath. On a miserably wet night, the colonel is tasked with burying his youngest daughter, 14-year-old Parvaneh, killed for handing out anti-regime pamphlets on the street. As he wanders through town in search of a pick and shovel with which to bury her, his thoughts spiral to the downfall of his family, and he wonders to what extent he bears responsibility: "The colonel felt guilty, too--guilty for the very existence of his children, or lack of it, as the case may be. He bore the burden of the offences of each one of his offspring on his shoulders." Unfortunately, for unfamiliar with Iranian history, the book is a confusion of events, names, and historical figures entwined in the colonel's personal narrative. There is no clear arc, and Patterdale's explanatory notes do little to help solve the ambiguities of the plot. The novel may be a bold statement decrying a country's troubled past, but the message will be lost on the average reader. 20120625 'By the end of this book, you feel as though you're watching a horror movie set in Iran; a political zombie novel about the dead and the walking dead, the foolish, sometimes heroic, and always pathetic victims and survivors of the Ayatollah's ghoulish revolution.' -- Alan Cheuse 20120709 'The Colonel, by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, is a masterpiece. But reader beware, it is a dark one and doesn't offer even a tiny droplet of hope. From its very beginning to its very end, it rains incessantly. Blood is spilled, children are buried in the darkness of the night, people betray themselves and one another, ghosts roam.' -- Marina Nemat 20120720 'The disorienting shifts in perspective utilized by Dowlatabadi do take some getting used to, but this is of course intentional. Foreign influences and interests have merged with and co-opted thousands of years of tradition in Iran and what has at times been a faction's weakness later becomes its strength, or least the fulcrum used to leverage control of the national dialogue. Steeped in historical references and crafted with a degree of heightened realism that comes off like a documentary, The Colonel offers a portrait of a nation that has grappled with the same problems for so long without being able to remedy them.' -- Buzz Poole 20120511 '[W]hat makes Dowlatabadi's work shine is the complexity of his characters... The allegorical nature of the novel naturally invokes a great deal of Iranian history and culture, which translator Tom Patterdale handles deftly through an informative afterward and thorough footnotes. Patterdale's decision to parallel Dowlatabadi's removal of Arab vocabulary from the Persian prose by avoiding Latinate words in the translation may detract a bit from the lyricism of the novel, but the English rendition is nonetheless a pleasure to read.' -- Ed Winstead 20120719 '[A]n affecting and beautiful novel.' 'A classic of Iranian literature.'
£9.49
Fitzcarraldo Editions Rave
Book Synopsis‘Meet girls. Take drugs. Listen to music.’ In Rave, cult German novelist Rainald Goetz takes a headlong dive into nineties techno culture. From the cathartic release on the dance floor to the intense conversations in corners of nightclubs and the after-parties in the light of dawn, this exhilarating, fragmentary novel captures the feeling of debauchery from within. Dazzling and intimate, Rave is an unapologetic embrace of nightlife from an author unafraid to lose himself in the subject of his work.Trade Review‘Goetz’s writing is a kind of dancing. Each sentence, fragment, captures the essence of what it’s like to live inside the spaces of techno music. Thoughts come and go, and return louder, later in the text, with an urgent rhythm that makes the cumulative case for the transformative power of the dance floor. This is writing of and from the body, hot, sweaty, dazed, decadent, and ultimately life-affirming.’ — Julia Bell, author of The Dark Light ‘Rave matches [Bernhard] with its pitch-black humour and philosophical intensity. Questions of interiority, the external world, language and meaning are opened up within its circuit of pills and beats and clubs, like a genuinely meaningful drug trip.’ — Financial Times‘In Rave, Goetz makes an electrifying portrait of what happens when you dedicate your life to the night, to the bass and the rhythm, when you party nonstop and rave like there is no tomorrow. [...] What makes Rave so effective is that Goetz chronicles the tenor of rave culture’s endless cycle. The reader becomes part of the weekends of excessive indulgence, the “cracked” out week after, and the intrigues that linger. [...] I often felt a contact high reading Rave’ — Shane Anderson, Los Angeles Review of Books
£12.34
Bitter Lemon Press The Man Who Loved Dogs
Book SynopsisCuban writer Ivan Cardenas Maturell meets a mysterious foreigner on a Havana beach who is always in the company of two Russian wolfhounds. Ivan quickly names him "the man who loved dogs". The man eventually confesses that he is actually Ramon Mercader, the man who killed Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940, and that he is now living in a secret exile in Cuba after being released from jail in Mexico. Moving seamlessly between Ivan's life in Cuba, Mercader's early years in Spain and France, and Trotsky's long years of exile, The Man Who Loved Dogs is Leonardo Padura's most ambitious and brilliantly executed novel yet. It is the story of revolutions fought and betrayed, the ways in which men's political convictions are continually tested and manipulated, and a powerful critique of the role of fear in consolidating political power.Trade Review"A stunning novel, chronicling the evisceration of the Communist dream and one of the most "ruthless, calculated and useless" crimes in history." Financial Times When this novel was published in Spanish, it received literary acclaim across Europe and rightly so, for it is a monumental work." Independent "Padura has entered the Latin American Modernist canon by writing a Russian novel with a Tolstoyan passion for historical trifles and Dostoyevskyan pleasure in examining the moral life of its characters" NY Times
£12.34
Headline Publishing Group The Devil You Know
Book SynopsisA classic novel, turbulent and emotional, from Sunday Times bestselling writer Josephine Cox, ''hailed quite rightly as a gifted writer in the tradition of Catherine Cookson'' Manchester Evening News. The Devil You Know is perfect for fans of Lesley Pearse and Rosie Goodwin. Sonny Fareham''s lover - and also her boss - is the charismatic Tony Bridgeman, a successful and ruthless man who usually gets what he wants. But for Sonny, the affair that has promised a future of hope and happiness must end in desperate fear. Late one evening, Sonny overhears a private conversation between Tony Bridgeman and his wife. Only then does she realise she is in great danger. Pregnant and afraid, Sonny flees her home to make a new life in the north of England, where she meets a gregarious and motherly new friend, Ellie Kenny. When the mysterious and handsome David Langham seems drawn to her, Sonny almost dares to believe that she could be happy again. But ne
£9.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Angel of History
Book Synopsis''A profoundly beautiful novel that infolds the political with the personal in unexpected and new ways . . . An extraordinary book'' Neel Mukherjee, New Statesman, ''Books of the Year 2016''''His stories take the reader into the labyrinth that is the mind . . . The Angel of History is digressive and daring'' the Economist''Alameddine has created a scintillating, original work whose moral complexity and detail of observation are wholly contemporary and entirely his own'' SpectatorSet over the course of one night in the waiting room of a psych clinic, The Angel of History follows Yemeni-born poet Jacob as he revisits the events of his life, from his maternal upbringing in an Egyptian whorehouse to his adolescence under the aegis of his wealthy father and his life as a gay Arab man in San Francisco at the height of AIDS. Hovered over by the presence of alluring, sassy Satan who taunts Jacob to remember hisTrade ReviewDarkly funny - Library JournalIn this provocative portrait of a man in crisis, masterful storyteller Alameddine takes on some of the most wrenching conflicts of the day. - BooklistAlameddine is excellent at weaving literary references into his storytelling . . . A feverish portrait of a mind in crisis. - Kirkus ReviewsAlameddine brilliantly captures [the protagonist] Jacob's mind as it leaps between memory and the present. - Publisher's WeeklyIn the spirit of Mikhail Bulgakov's satirical masterpiece THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, Rabih Alameddine conjures an elegiac comedy with aplomb, his incantations rich with sincerity and irreverence . . . Alameddine is an entrancing storyteller, imbuing the quotidian with magnificence and undermining solemnity with sauciness . . . THE ANGEL OF HISTORY is outstanding, a novel that leaves a lasting mark. - Shelf AwarenessA cleverly constructed novel that questions what we remember and why we forget. - San Francisco MagazineHere is a book, full of story, unrepentantly political at every level. At a time when many western writers seem to be in retreat from saying anything that could be construed as political, Alameddine says it all, shamelessly, gloriously and, realised like his Satan, in the most stylish of forms. - Aminatta Forna, The GuardianShades of THE MASTER AND MARGARITA haunt Rabih Alameddine's sixth book . . . Yet, while echoes of Bulgakov's masterpiece inform THE ANGEL OF HISTORY from first to last, Alameddine has created a scintillating, original work whose moral complexity and detail of observation are wholly contemporary and entirely his own. - John Burnside, Spectator
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group The Maharajahs General
Book SynopsisJACK LARK: SOLDIER, LEADER, IMPOSTER.The second book in the enthralling military adventure series for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Anthony Riches and Matthew Harffy. ''Brilliant'' Bernard Cornwell ''Jack Lark is an unforgettable new hero'' Anthony Riches ''Page-turning adventure, a hero with issues yet who''s likable, and antagonists you will love to hate... It was hard to put down and a real pleasure to read'' Historical Novel SocietyJack Lark barely survived the Battle of the Alma. As the brutal fight raged, he discovered the true duty that came with the officer''s commission he''d taken. In hospital, wounded, and with his stolen life left lying on the battlefield, he grasps a chance to prove himself a leader once more. Poor Captain Danbury is dead, but Jack will travel to his new regiment in India, under his name. Jack soon finds more enemies, but this time they''re on his own side. Exposed asTrade ReviewPage-turning adventure, a hero with issues yet who's likable, and antagonists you will love to hate... It was hard to put down and a real pleasure to read. If you enjoy books by Bernard Cornwell, you'll want to put this book on your reading list * Historical Novel Society *The story is tightly planned and written, the characters three-dimensional and appropriately sympathetic or hateful, and the language and turn of phrase thoroughly engrossing... Quite simply do yourself a favour and read these books * S.J.A. Turney *The story is well written with some very comprehensive descriptions of both people and their surroundings. In each of the actions the pace is dynamic and brutally described making it one of those books where there is always the tendency to just read one more chapter before putting it down for a while. Well worth reading * ARRSE *It's not since I first picked up Sharpe's Eagle that a single character captured my imagination so totally, this supported by a fast fluid pace of writing, and a vivid portrayal of the Indian country, people, time period, the east India company and as usual the brutal, uncompromising and occasionally morally bankrupt officer corps coupled with the efficiency of the ordinary men of the British army, all this condensed into 336 pages of explosive action, violent emotions, uncompromising unbending discipline and a man with the courage to do what is right * Parmenion Books *
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group To the Bright Edge of the World
Book SynopsisSet in the Alaskan landscape that she brought to stunningly vivid life in THE SNOW CHILD (a Sunday Times bestseller 2012, Richard and Judy pick and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Eowyn Ivey''s TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD is a breathtaking story of discovery set at the end of the nineteenth century, sure to appeal to fans of A PLACE CALLED WINTER.*NOMINATED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2017*''A clever, ambitious novel'' The Sunday Times''Persuasive and vivid... Breathtaking'' GuardianWinter 1885. Lieutenant Colonel Allen Forrester accepts the mission of a lifetime, to navigate Alaska''s Wolverine River. It is a journey that promises to open up a land shrouded in mystery, but there''s no telling what awaits Allen and his small band of men.Allen leaves behind his young wife, Sophie, newly pregnant with the child he had never expected to have. Sophie would have lTrade ReviewA clever, ambitious novel * The Sunday Times *A stunning and intriguing novel combining the epic adventurous sweep of Alaska with minutely beautifully observed details - the reader finishes it wiser and richer -- Rosamund LuptonA dazzling depiction of love, endurance, courage and wonder, and a worthy successor to THE SNOW CHILD -- Ron RashAbsorbing... a superior page turner * Daily Mail *Absorbing... their love for each other is beautifully rendered * The Times *If I read another novel this year that I love as much as this I will be entirely surprised. This is a very special book indeed and Eowyn Ivey is an incredibly gifted writer, bringing to us all the wonder, beautiful strangeness and fragility of the Alaska she loves -- Kate AthertonAbsorbing and highly imaginative... Ivey, clearly a writer of prodigious talent, effortlessly knits these elements together to create an utterly enchanting read. Part intrepid adventure, part deeply affecting romance, this first-class novel is, at its heart, a love letter to the 'vast and cold beauty' of the last frontier * Daily Express *Enchanting... a fascinating, adventurous tale * Grazia *A rich and involving story of endurance, love and the Alaskan wilderness that captured me from the off * Woman & Home *Charming, whimsical and sometimes heat-breaking * Red *Entrancing... In this splendid adventure novel, Ivey captures Alaska's beauty and brutality, not just preserving history, but keeping it alive * Publisher's Weekly *Ivey's prose glitters...if this one doesn't win her a major award, I'll eat my trapper's hat * The Tablet *Unique... absorbing * Stylist (Book Wars Winner) *Beautifully lyrical * Sunday Express *The precision of such descriptions of the natural world ground the novel in a gritty verisimilitude that then allows Ivey to build a fanciful, daring imaginative edifice: the meticulous realism of the foundation allows the fabulous elements of her fiction to soar * Guardian *
£9.49
Istros Books The Highly Unreliable Account of the History of a
Book SynopsisThe Highly Unreliable Account of the Brief History of a Madhouse is an ever-expanding novel that moves at a dizzying pace. A literary panorama of Turkey that defies boundaries spatial or temporal: one end in the 19th century, and the other in the 21st. A book of ‘human landscapes’ that startles anew with a completely unexpected turn of events, immediately after deceiving the reader into thinking the end of a plot line might be in sight. The novel starts in a small-town mental asylum with its back to the Black Sea, and weaves its way through a highly entertaining chain of interlinked lives, each link a complex and bewildering personality. The Highly Unreliable Account… follows the trails of political and social milestones left on individual lives across a span of nearly a century.
£11.39
Hodder & Stoughton Hard News
Book SynopsisThe third in the New York-based Rune trilogy.Trade ReviewDeaver is a master of ticking-bomb suspense * People magazine *The best psychological thriller writer around * The Times *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Christmas in the Snow
Book SynopsisWith glamorous locations and heart-breaking twists, Christmas in the Snow by Karen Swan is all you need for a truly decadent Christmas holiday. The perfect gift - even if it's just to yourself.No secret stays buried forever . . .In London, the snow is falling and Christmas is just around the corner - but Allegra Fisher barely has time to notice. She's pitching for the biggest deal of her career and can't afford to fail. And when she meets attractive stranger, Sam Kemp, on the plane to the meeting, she can't afford to lose her focus either. She learned to shut off her emotions long ago and only her sister and best friend Isobel knows why. But when Allegra finds herself up against Sam for the bid, their passion quickly turns sour.In Zermatt in the Swiss Alps, a long-lost mountain hut is discovered in the snow after sixty years and the last person expecting to become involved is Allegra - she hasn't even heard of the woman they Trade ReviewHide indoors with a glass of wine and lose yourself in this -- HeatDeliciously glamorous, irresistibly romantic -- Hello!As sassy and glamorous as a champagne cocktail -- Daily Mail
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Monument to Murder
Book SynopsisMonument to Murder is Mari Hannah's fourth gripping crime novel in the compelling crime series featuring DCI Kate Daniels.He selects. They die . . .When skeletal remains are found beneath the fortified walls of an ancient castle on Northumberland's rugged coastline, DCI Kate Daniels calls on a forensic anthropologist to help identify the corpse.Meanwhile, newly widowed prison psychologist Emily McCann finds herself drawn into the fantasy of convicted sex offender, Walter Fearon. As his mind games escalate in intensity, is it possible that Daniels' case has something to do with his murderous past? With his release imminent, what exactly does he have in mind for Emily?As Daniels encounters dead end after dead end and the body count rises, it soon becomes apparent that someone is hiding more than one deadly secret . . .Continue the investigative series with the fifth book, Killing For Keeps.Trade ReviewThis is top-notch British crime writing from an author who writes with passion and draws you into the relentless pressure of a police murder hunt. * Evening Telegraph *
£8.54
Pan Macmillan Where You Once Belonged
Book SynopsisKent Haruf's honours include a Whiting Foundation Award and a special citation from the PEN/Hemingway Foundation. Plainsong won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the New Yorker Book Award. Haruf's 2013 novel, Benediction, was shortlisted for the Folio prize. He died in 2014 at the age of seventy-one.Trade ReviewHaruf ’s heroes are small people weighed down with big hearts . . .He manages to find magic in the minutiae of ordinary lives. -- Mariella Frostrup on Plainsong * Mail on Sunday *Haruf ’s deceptively artless prose and unsentimental tales are driven by individuals, not incidents, as they choose between decency and cowardice, degradation and rectitude. -- Praise for The Tie That Binds * Times Literary Supplement *Haruf is one of the finest novelists at work today. * Time Out *
£8.54
Pan Macmillan The Reader on the 6.27
Book SynopsisJean-Paul Didierlaurent lives in the Vosges region of France. His short stories have twice won the International Hemingway Award. The Reader on the 6.27 is his first novel. A bestseller in France, it has been sold in over twenty-five territories.Trade ReviewA delightful tale about the kinship of reading . . . Already a bestseller in France, The Reader on the 6.27 looks set to woo British readers and become a book club favourite. * Independent on Sunday *Charming . . . It is a clever, funny, and humane work that champions the power of literature * Sunday Times *This contemporary fable was acquired by more than twenty countries. A beautiful testimony to the universality of the love of books * Livres Hebdo *The humanity of the characters . . . the re-enchantment of everyday life, the power of words and literature, tenderness and humor . . . The Reader on the 6.27 is a must. * L'Express *I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down! * Literary Loveliness - Hello Magazine Online *
£999.99
Pan Macmillan The Lola Quartet
Book SynopsisHow far would you go for someone you love?The Lola Quartet: Jack, Daniel, Sasha and Gavin, four talented musicians at the end of their high school careers. On the dream-like night of their last concert, Gavin's girlfriend Anna disappears. Ten years later Gavin sees a photograph of a little girl who looks uncannily like him and who shares Anna's surname, and suddenly he finds himself catapulted back to a secretive past he didn't realize he'd left behind. But that photo has set off a cascade of dangerous consequences and, as one by one the members of the Lola Quartet are reunited, a terrifying story emerges: of innocent mistakes, of secrecy and of a life lived on the run. Filled with love, music and thwarted dreams, Emily St. John Mandel's The Lola Quartet is a thrilling novel about how the errors of the past can threaten the future.Trade ReviewPercolates with suspense * New York Times *Elegant and hypnotic . . . Mandel brilliantly modulates the heightening suspense in a novel that remains, above all, an elegy for lost innocence * Washington Post *The book virtually trumpets the author's talents: her charismatic verbal grace and acuity, the rich atmosphere she creates * Boston Globe *Mandel is an exuberant storyteller * New York Times *Mandel has a beautiful writing style * Independent on Sunday *Mandel (The Singer's Gun) strikes a confident chord in her third novel . . . The author again melds mystery plotting with literary techniques like shifting points-of-view, resulting in both sophistication and suspense ... Mandel's novel excels as a character study that considers the slow degradation of hopes, dreams, and expectations of people who are only in their late 20s but already feel ancient * Publisher's Weekly *This ingeniously structured literary thriller begins in sunlight before slipping deeper and deeper into crime and moral darkness. ... Emily St. John Mandel is so sure-footed in her invention and so good at delineating her cast, that I went along trustingly and with bated breath * Star Tribune *Riveting... Evocative, intriguing, and complex, this novel is as smooth as the underbelly of a deadly, furtive reptile. Mandel's substantial fan base will rejoice; word of mouth will bring new fans on board * Library Journal *
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Ltd Kill the Father
Book Synopsis THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER The twisty and darkly compelling thriller, European bestseller and RICHARD & JUDY BOOKCLUB PICK that will keep you up all night.'The rock cast a sharp, dark shadow over a shape huddled on the ground. Please don’t let it be the boy, Colomba thought. Her silent prayer didn’t go unanswered. The corpse belonged to the mother.'Dante Torre spent eleven young years in captivity - held by a man known only as The Father - before outwitting his abductor. Now working for the police force, Torre's methods are unorthodox but his brilliance is clear. When a young child goes missing in similar circumstances in Rome, Torre must confront the demons of his past to attempt to solve the case. Paired with Deputy Captain Colomba Caselli, a fierce, warrior-like detective still reeling from having survived a bloody catastrophe, all evidence suggests The Father is active after being dormant for decades, and that he’s looking forward to a reunion with Dante ... 'Introduces us to two of the most intriguing detectives to have emerged in recent years… Brutal and frighteningly realistic, it never loses its grip' Daily Mail '[a] fascinatingly complex thriller' i newspaper 'An intelligent thriller… very entertaining' Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express ‘Undoubtedly a gripping read…a deliciously dark journey which provides a genuinely satisfying conclusion’ Crime Scene 'Absolutely electrifying' Jeffery Deaver ‘Police politics and military operations add to the complexity and interest of this unrelenting, adrenaline-fueled novel, with a final twist. Don’t be surprised if Kill the Father becomes the next Big Thing in international crime fiction’ Booklist 'Kill the Father is impeccable, from the build up of characters and place to the crisp narrative…Do not pass this one up; it’s a terrific crime drama' Durango Telegraph ‘A mind-bending, stunningly original page-turner' Jonathan Kellerman
£7.59
Simon & Schuster Ltd Sunshine Over Wildflower Cottage
Book SynopsisThe perfect escapist read from the Sunday Times bestselling author‘The feeling you get when you read a Milly Johnson book should be bottled and made available on the NHS’ Debbie JohnsonNew beginnings, old secrets, and a place to call home - escape to Wildflower Cottage for love, laughter and friendship …Viv arrives at Wildflower Cottage, a tumbledown animal sanctuary, for the summer. Her job is to help with the admin, but the truth is she is here for something much closer to her heart.Geraldine runs the Wildflower Cottage sanctuary. She escaped from her past to find happiness here, but now her place of refuge is about to come under threat. Can she keep her history at bay and her future safe?Two women join forces for one shared cause - with unexpected results ...Praise for Milly Johnson: 'Every time you discover a nTrade Review‘Another gem from Milly Johnson’ * The Sun on Sunshine Over Wildflower Cottage *
£8.54
Simon & Schuster Ltd Who do You Love
Book SynopsisRachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she''s intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy''s taken back to the emergency room and Rachel''s sent back to her bed, they think they''ll never see each other again. Rachel, the beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation. Over the course of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, until they are finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference
£7.59
Pan Macmillan The Psalm Killer
Book SynopsisWith an introduction by Alan MooreIt was always the same nightmare. Cross saw them lined up in rows, in stretches of city wasteland - those derelict spaces once described to him by a child as the blank bits where things had been before they'd got blown up.It is 1985 and a killer moves through Belfast's blighted streets. In a time and place ruled and divided by political and religious differences, this series of crimes cuts across all those boundaries. Detective Inspector Cross, together with Westerby, a young policewoman, enters a maze of conspiracy and paranoia, and, as the investigation draws closer to the truth, they find themselves in a nightmare world, with little hope of escape.The Psalm Killer is Chris Petit's epic thriller set during the Irish Troubles. Masterfully written, disturbing and exciting, it is a book of immense intelligence and a real classic of its genre.Trade ReviewOne of the most compelling, haunting and original thrillers I have ever read, by one of Britain's most visionary writers and film-makers. -- David PeaceIn the tradition of Silence of the Lambs . . . a deeply satisfying and sophisticated thriller which approaches the Northern Ireland conflict with the intelligence it deserves * Financial Times *An example of the genre near its best. Gorky Park with something to spare; well worth anyone's weekend * Guardian *
£9.49
HarperCollins Publishers The Little Teashop in Tokyo
Book SynopsisUp there with the best of themA big, fat five stars from me' Sue MoorcroftAn irresistible slice of escapism' Phillipa AshleyGrab your passport and escape to a land of dazzling skyscrapers, steaming bowls of comforting noodles, and a page-turning love story that will make you swoon!For travel blogger Fiona, Japan has always been top of her bucket list so when she wins an all-expenses paid trip, it looks like her dreams are coming true.Until she arrives in vibrant, bustling Tokyo and comes face-to-face with the man who broke her heart ten years ago, gorgeous photographer Gabe.Fiona can't help but remember the heartache of their last meeting but amidst the temples and clouds of soft pink cherry blossoms, can Fiona and Gabe start to see life and each other differently?Readers ADORE this book!:Well, wow, I adored this storya wonderful, engaging read, transporting me to a country I''ve always wanted to visit' JeannieHonestly, words cannot describe how much I have loved every single book in this series' HollyI love these books. They are utterly stunning and this is another that I haven't been able to put down.I love this author and this has been a perfect escape' VickiThe perfect read to take you away during the lockdown!' SineadThis is not my usual genre, I'm more of a crime/thriller reader however this story intrigued me. I absolutely loved it, truly one of the best books I have read' JacquelineA gorgeous read which left me longing to visit Japan' SarahA wonderful mood booster' JennI love Julie Caplin''s writingthis afforded me to armchair travel to Tokyo.and have a taste of Japanese culture' AmyTrade Review‘A fantastic, huggable, hilarious and addictive read’ The Writing Garnet ‘It’s all about the feels…I absolutely loved it’ The Cosiest Corner ‘Sweet, funny and deliciously heart-warming’ Frankly, My Dear… ‘I've already read it again since I finished it… a true sign of how much I enjoyed it’ Life Appears
£8.54
Headline Publishing Group The Empty Cradle
Book Synopsis When a young woman faces unimaginable heartache, she vows to make a difference... A moving saga of anguish, hope and never-ceasing fortitude, The Empty Cradle is a spell-binding and unforgettable tale from bestselling author of No One''s Girl, Mothering Sunday and The Little Angel, Rosie Goodwin. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Dilly Court.''Goodwin uses her deft touch, natural warmth and superb storytelling skills in a spellbinding story of love, loss and redemption'' - Lancashire Evening PostTo the outside world, Charlotte is the privileged daughter of the local vicar. Behind closed doors, however, she is the prisoner of her controlling father. As she grows up, Charlotte longs for freedom, but her captivating innocence leads her into trouble. Sent to Ireland to hide a shameful pregnancy, she discovers that once again her father has deceived her. She is forced into a convent''s harsh and humiliaTrade ReviewPraise for Rosie's first novel, THE BAD APPLE: 'Rosie Goodwin is a born storyteller - she'll make you cry, she'll make you laugh, but most of all you'll care for her characters and lose yourself in her story. An author destined for the top * Jeannie Johnson, author of THE REST OF OUR DAYS *Rosie deserves all her success. She is a talented storyteller and will go all the way to the top * Dee Williams *The tearjerker of the season...[a] heart-rending tale * Western Mail *A promising and well-drawn debut * Lancashire Evening Post *A good tearjerker...compelling * Reading Evening Post *A gifted writer... Not only is Goodwin's characterisation and dialogue compelling, but her descriptive writing is a joy * Nottingham Evening Post *A heart-throbber of a story from Goodwin that puts many other so-called emotional blockbusters in the shade * Northern Echo *Goodwin is a fabulous writer...she reels the reader in surprisingly quickly and her style involves lots of twists and turns that are in no way predictable * Worcester Evening News *A touching and powerful new novel from a wonderful writer * Bookseller *
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co Landline
Book SynopsisWhat advice would you give the younger you...and would you listen?As far as time machines go, a magic telephone is pretty useless. TV writer Georgie McCool can''t actually visit the past; all she can do is call it, and hope it picks up. Is she going crazy or is this a chance to make things right with her husband, Neal?Maybe she can fix the things in their past that seem unfixable in the present. Maybe this stupid phone is giving her a chance to start over...if that''s what she wants...A heart-wrenching - and hilarious - take on fate, time, television and true love, Landline asks if two people are ever really on the same path, or whether love just means finding someone who will keep meeting you halfway.Trade ReviewBest for a romantic break ... Rom-com fans will lap it up. * GRAZIA *I was completely knocked sideway by how good Landline is. -- Alison Flood * THE BOOKSELLER *This clever romantic comedy is perfect company for a stretch on the beach. * GLAMOUR *This is a great journey book, as Georgie fumbles about finding herself and what she and Neal need to stay together. I recommend this to anybody for a fun summer read (even though it is set at Christmas!), and I really enjoyed the ups and downs of Georgie's Christmas turmoil. * THE GUARDIAN ONLINE *Landline's premise is fairly simple: given the chance to change a small aspect of the past, would you? But there's so much more. Rowell's way with dialogue is amazing (and useful, given that most of the book consists of telephone conversations). Neal's mother, only ever a presence on the other end of the line, is as well realised as any of the characters we get to 'see'. Landline is great on the complexities of adult relationships too, showing how a search for balance can be what love is made of and how a thousand tiny compromises mean more than the grandest romantic gesture * EMERALD STREET *If you could talk to someone in the past in order to influence the future, would you? That's the idea behind Rainbow Rowell's clever new book. * WOMAN *
£8.54
Penguin Books Ltd The Box Man
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA stunning addition to the literature of eccentricity * The New York Times *A spellbinder from beginning to end, an edgy masterpiece * Chicago Sun-Times *Like Kafka, Abe's work reveals an astonishing ability to create dreamlike events * Chicago Tribune *
£9.49
Faber & Faber The Dark Labyrinth
Book SynopsisLose yourself in bestselling author Lawrence Durrell''s sublime novel about a group of English tourists trapped in the minotaur''s labyrinth on Crete ... ''Spellbinding ... A fine storyteller.'' Guardian''Superb ... Quite simply a lovely work of art.'' New York TimesA group of English tourists have come ashore from their cruise ship to explore the island of Crete. This motley crew - including a painter, spiritualist, spinster, soldier, convalescent, and elderly couple - are holidaying to seek respite from a broken post-war world. But their journey reaches a disastrous climax when they visit a cave reputed to be the legendary labyrinth of the minotaur, and become trapped within ...Set in the glorious Mediterranean landscapes which Lawrence Durrell so famously evoked in his travel writing and novels, The Dark Labyrinth is a morality tale unlike any other. Artfully blending horror and humour, comedy
£9.49
