Contemporary fiction titles are those which focus on the present or near past. Stories rooted in the current cultural, social, and political landscape which feature characters we can all recognise.
Contemporary Fiction Books
Cornerstone The Best American Noir of the Century
Book SynopsisA magisterial anthology of American noir writing in the 20th century by the best-selling author of the LA Quartet: The Black Dahlia. The Big Nowhere , LA Confidential and White Jazz. In his intoduction to The Best American Noir of the Century, James Ellroy writes, noir is the most scrutinised offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction. It''s the long drop off the short pier and the wrong man and the wrong woman in perfect misalliance. It''s the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad. Offering the best examples of literary sure things gone bad, this collection ensures that nowhere else can readers find a darker, more thorough distillation of American noir fiction. James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, series editor of the annual The Best American Mystery Stories, mined one hundred years of writing - 1910-2010 - to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir
£11.69
Cornerstone Summer of Love Are you ready to fall in love
Book SynopsisKatie Fforde lives in the beautiful Cotswold countryside with her family, and is a true country girl at heart. Each of her books explores a different profession or background and her research has helped her bring these to life. She's been a porter in an auction house, tried her hand at pottery, refurbished furniture, delved behind the scenes of a dating website, and she's even been on a Ray Mears survival course. She loves being a writer; to her there isn't a more satisfying and pleasing thing to do. She particularly enjoys writing love stories. She believes falling in love is the best thing in the world, and she wants all her characters to experience it, and her readers to share their stories. To find out more about Katie Fforde step into her world at www.katiefforde.com, visit her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @KatieFforde.Trade ReviewCaptivating ... Fforde's novels are notable for their gentle humour and this one is no exception... Summer of Love is as deliciously addictive as Fforde's earlier books...if you're after an escapist novel that fizzes with warmth and wit, then this is perfect. * Daily Express *A heart-warming, uplifting and beautifully written story about the twists and turns that everyday life can bring. * Essentials *Another terrific Katie Fforde novel. * Woman’s Own, 4 stars *A lovely, warm read to sink your teeth into. * heat, 4 stars *A captivating and romantic read. * Closer, 4 stars *
£8.54
Cornerstone A French Affair
Book Synopsis_________________''Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.'' AJ PEARCE_________________A wonderfully romantic novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Rose Petal Summer and A Country Escape.Gina and Sally Makepiece have inherited a stall in the French House, an antiques centre nestled in the heart of the English countryside.Gina is determined to drag the French House and its grumpy owner into the twenty-first century.Bearing all the attributes of a modern-day Mr Rochester, Matthew Ballinger is less than happy with the whirlwind that has arrived on his doorstep.The last thing either of them want is to fall in love.But will a trip to France change their minds?_______________________________The whole world loves Katie Fforde''s work:''Modern-day Austen.Trade ReviewDelightful ... A humorous book to leave you smiling. * Daily Express *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Forgotten Waltz
Book SynopsisA powerful, moving book of secrets, longing and loss, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Gathering. If it hadn''t been for the child then none of this might have happened. She saw me kissing her father. She saw her father kissing me. The fact that a child got mixed up in it all made us feel that it mattered, that there was no going back. **Shortlisted for The Orange Prize for Fiction**''Absolute genius'' BBC Radio 4Trade ReviewAn achingly brilliant piece of writing on passion and delusion. Comparisons to Madame Bovary are not overblown, not because it is a wry, clever, philosophical take on adultery - although it is - but because it makes you re-evaluate everything a novel can be... This book is enough to restore your faith in the power of fiction -- Viv Groskop * Independent *An important novel... It is a rare thing: the literary page turner... An acutely tender depiction of the complex familial bonds joining us, a delicate portrait of love, loss and hope, from a formidably talented writer -- Claire Kilroy * Financial Times *A love story for our times... In a single sentence [Enright] conjures up that violent pendulum swing of emotion that can blow whole worlds apart... This is the great pleasure of reading Enright: her sheer virtuoso control of language, those compact sentences, with their occasional flares of lyrical beauty and emotional force * Irish Times *A luminous novel... Haunting, dreamy, sexy and with flashes of salty wit this is one of those novels that you are sorry to see end. It is very much an Irish novel and much of its time but the anatomy of desire and passion are timeless -- Jennifer Selway * Daily Express *The real pleasure of the book is the dancing, delicious prose * Evening Standard *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Sag Harbor
Book SynopsisFrom the author of the Man Booker longlisted The Underground RailroadBenji spends most of the year as one of the only black kids at an elite prep school in Manhattan, going to roller disco bar mitzvahs, desperately trying to find his place in the social hierarchy. Then he spends his summers in the African-American community of Sag Harbor on Long Island, and is just as confused. He''s way behind on the latest handshakes, baffled by new slang, and his attempts to be cool and meet girls are constantly thwarted by his extremely awkward inner geek, braces and a badly cut Afro.It''s the summer of 1985 and Benji is determined that this is the summer when things will change and he''ll fit in. For starters, he''ll be reinvented as ''Ben''. When that doesn''t catch on, it''s another summer of the perpetual mortification that is teenage existence.Trade ReviewThe ultimate coming of age tale -- Nikesh ShuklaA universal tale of adolescent angst -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *Whitehead proves himself, among other things, a poet of the American summer and its aspirations...remarkable * Guardian *it is impossible not to like Sag Harbor and its genuinely empathetic, intelligent tone -- Neel Mukherjee * The Times *Whitehead has tapped the most classic summer-novel activity of al: nostalgia * Time *
£999.99
Cornerstone Hannibal
Book SynopsisThomas Harris is the author of five novels and is perhaps best known for his character Hannibal Lecter. All of his books have been made into films, including most notably the multiple Oscar winner, The Silence of the Lambs. Harris began his writing career covering crime in the United States and Mexico, and was a reporter and editor at the Associated Press in New York.Trade Review"An absolute holiday must. Quite simply this is the best-written thriller to dominate the market in years" The Times "It has been worth the wait - Look no further for the chiller of the year" The Times "Outstanding" Observer "A gut-churning, nail-biting, skin-churning triumph - addictive on every level" Express "A masterpiece ... chillingly brilliant" Observer
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Ltd The Mother of All Christmases
Book SynopsisFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author, The Mother of All Christmases is a gorgeous read full of love, life, laughter, a few tears - and crackers!‘The feeling you get when you read a Milly Johnson book should be bottled and made available on the NHS’ Debbie JohnsonEve Glace - co-owner of the theme park Winterworld - is having a baby and her due date is a perfectly timed 25th December. And she’s decided that she and her husband Jacques should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp that was missing the first time. But growing problems at Winterworld keep distracting them … Annie Pandoro and her husband Joe own a small Christmas cracker factory, and are well set up and happy together despite life never blessing them with a much-wanted child. But when Annie finds that the changes happening to her body aren’Trade 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 *
£7.59
Little, Brown Book Group The Bangkok Asset
Book SynopsisIn his latest case, Sonchai is paired with young, female inspector Krom. Like him, she''s an outsider on the police force, but she is socially savyy and a technological prodigy. In the midst of a typhoon they witness a deadly demonstration of super-human strength from a man who is seemingly controlled by a CIA operative. Could the Americans really have figured out a way to create some sort of super-soldier who is both physically and psychologically enhanced? Are they testing it, or him, on Thai soil? And why is everyone, from the Bangkok police to the international community, so eager to turn a blind eye? The case will take Sonchai to a hidden Cambodian jungle compound for aging American vets where he will discover exactly how far a government will go to protect its very worst secrets - both past and present. It is also a case that will shake Sonchai''s world to its very foundation and may finally force him to confront his lost father.
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group Black Dog
Book Synopsis A special illustrated edition of Black Dog by bestselling storytelling legend, Neil Gaiman. This American Gods world novella will thrill Games of Thrones devotees and Terry Pratchett fans alike. Illustrations by celebrated artist Daniel Egnéus.''Original, engrossing, and endlessly entertaining'' George R.R Martin on American Gods''It followed me home,'' he said, conversationally. In a rural northern village, legend tells of a ghostly black dog that appears from the darkness before you die. Shadow Moon has been on the road a while now but he can''t walk any further tonight, not with the rain lashing down. Gratefully, he heads home with a nice English couple, who offer a box room, hot whisky and local tales. But when the man collapses en route, Shadow realises that something about this place has been left untold. Something ancient, something within the very walls of the vTrade Reviewtold with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. * Mid-West Times *
£999.99
Headline Publishing Group A Time for Us
Book SynopsisA classic novel, heartbreaking 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. A Time For Us is perfect for fans of Lesley Pearse and Rosie Goodwin. Lucy Nolan is the golden girl. The only daughter of local grocers, Sally and Mike Nolan, she''s grown up in a home of total love and security. The one thing her heart desires is that Jack Hanson might ask her to marry him, and when he does eventually propose, Lucy is prepared to give up everything to be with him - even though it means leaving her beloved parents to live abroad where Jack has been offered an exciting business opportunity.But then, almost on the eve of the marriage itself, tragedy strikes. And for the first time in her life, Lucy is forced to realise that Fate, which has been so kind to her, can also be just as cruel.
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co The Grownup
Book SynopsisA young woman is making a living faking it as a cut-price psychic (with some illegal soft-core sex work on the side). She makes a decent wage mostly by telling people what they want to hear. But then she meets Susan Burke. Susan moved to the city one year ago with her husband and 15-year-old stepson Miles. They live in a Victorian house called Carterhook Manor. Susan has become convinced that some malevolent spirit is inhabiting their home. The young woman doesn''t believe in exorcism or the supernatural. However when she enters the house for the first time, she begins to feel it too, as if the very house is watching her, waiting, biding its time . . . The Grownup, which originally appeared as ''What Do You Do?'' in George R. R. Martin''s Rogues anthology, proves once again that Gillian Flynn is one of the world''s most original and skilled voices in fiction.Trade ReviewWhilst the bestselling Gone Girl is still the title being devoured at every book club, author Gillian Flynn has moved on with her latest offering The Grownup. It's a short story about a woman who earns a living pretending to be a psychic. * HELLO FASHION MONTHLY *Gillian Flynn's The Grownup is a psychologically taut novella told from the viewpoint of a con artist, who attempted trick is thwarted by a malevolent teenage boy. * VOGUE *a fierce, sharply written tale * METRO *Stories should be taut but humming with ambiguity, and The Grownup is both. * THE SPECTATOR *a chilling short story about a fake clairvoyant who gets tangled up with a mysterious family. * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING *This chilling short story from the author of Gone Girl is not for the faint-hearted. * WOMAN AND HOME *Flynn is as adept as ever at building up a character into someone likeable and believable while still corrupt. * THE INDEPENDENT *A fantastic read that will leave you wanting more from Gillian. * CLOSER *For millions who adored Gone Girl, this 60-page novella offers a taste of Flynn's brilliance. * SUNDAY MIRROR *The Gone Girl writer gives us chills again with the story of a young woman conning people as a psychic who develops a real feel for the supernatural. * GRAZIA *it manages to evoke an atmosphere of freezing dread before Flynn's by-now-signature sequence of twists enters the narrative * DAILY TELEGRAPH *fans of Flynn's work definitely won't be disappointed * PRESS ASSOCIATION *a cracker... the story's sassy narration, Gone Girl twistiness and blend of comedy and chills are pure Flynn. * SUNDAY TIMES *The Grownup will not disappoint expectant fans. * THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH *Flynn is a brilliant plot-twister and manipulator of readers' expectations. The Grownup keeps you guessing until the end - and beyond. * THE TIMES *The Grownup is accomplished storytelling, an impressive teaser to keep fans engaged while they await her next full-length outing. * THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *
£8.04
Orion Publishing Co The Life and Death of Sophie Stark
Book Synopsis'If The Girl on the Train was the woman of 2015, then Sophie Stark is this year's model. Anna North's new novel, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark, has been a hit in America, with Lena Dunham describing its protagonist as a totally unforgettable female antihero. Out now - soon every girl on every train will be reading it' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewTHIS YEAR'S BLOCKBUSTER. If the Girl on the Train was the woman of 2015, then Sophie Stark is this year's model... Out now - soon every girl on every train will be reading it. * SUNDAY TIMES STYLE *Thriller-paced, with mysteries revealed at every turn. The great mystery at the centre is Sophie Stark, a totally unforgettable female anti-hero who conforms to absolutely none of our expectations and suffers deeply for it -- Lena DunhamI read THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK with my heart in my mouth. Not only a dissection of genius and the havoc it can wreak, but also a thunderously good story. -- Emma DonoghueAnna North is a natural, butter-smooth storyteller, and The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is an elegant, kaleidoscopic look at a challenging artist and at the way our lives are, in some respects, only silhouettes made from the perceptions of those who know us. -- Maggie Shipstead, author of SEATING ARRANGEMENTSDo not miss Anna North's fascinating study of one woman told from different viewpoints in THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK. * STYLIST MAGAZINE *Anna North's The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is a captivating portrait of the artist as a young woman. It's a story that examines the notion of artistic legacy and meditates on the ethics involved in film-making andstorytelling... * THE INDEPENDENT *For fans of A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD * GRAZIA, THE BEST OF THE NEW BOOKS *The year's must read. * GLAMOUR *Told from the perspective of six people whose lives were irrevocably shaped by Sophie Stark, the second novel from New York Times journalist Anna North is both a complex examination of the price of genius and an unputdownable page-turner. Jennifer Egan, look out. You have competition. * THE POOL *Jennifer Egan, eat your heart out -- Sam BakerIn alternating chapters of this involving novel, Sophie's brother, ex-lover, a crush and a film critic give their versions of the truth, and reveal the high cost of a living a life dedicated to art. * PSYCHOLOGIES *Unfolds with pace and intrigue, creating a highly readable portrait of an artist through the eyes of those she loved, used, immortalised and damaged -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * Bookseller *This hotly tipped U.S. debut is tremendously good... A beautifully-told novel about a singular woman and the slippery power of art to simultaneously reveal and obscure a multiplicity of stories. * DAILY MAIL *Sophie Stark is a cleverly assembled work that examines the maniacal devotion it takes to create art. It's also a fun dive into the world of movie-making, and a character study that will move you to tears. * HUFFINGTON POST *Bold and enthralling * Buzzfeed *Fierce, page-turning * Marie Claire US *Provocative . . . North's prose is as skilful as her protagonist's shot list * New York Times *Sophie Stark is one of the most unusual books I've ever read. I was immediately hooked on brilliantly drawn characters and such a clever structure. I absolutely loved it and was so moved at the end I was left feeling kind of numb -- Isy SuttieThe brilliant and infuriating Sophie Stark makes films said to be "more like life than life itself", but her genius comes at a terrible cost to her husband, to the brother she left behind, and to an actress who knows too much.THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK is the story of an enigmatic film director, told by the six people who loved her most. * BUZZFEED *Hotly tipped Brooklyn-based author and New York Times journalist Anna North has been making waves in the US with this book, with the likes of Lena Dunham among its fans. It's the story of idiosyncratic documentary filmmaker Sophie Stark, told at thriller-pace by six people who loved her most. * BIG ISSUE *This richly realised first novel gives us multiple perspectives on its elusive protagonist... Gripping and graceful * THE GUARDIAN *Anna North has delivered a smart, sweet, sad and tender novel exploring the power of love and the nature of artistic vision and legacy. * DIVA MAGAZINE *Lena Dunham is massively into this hotly tipped US novel and so am I... Part musing on fame and identity, part thriller, it's one of those books that pervades your thoughts long after the end * Glamour *Told by different narrators, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is one of the big books of 2016 * Stylist *MAKING AN ENTRANCE: STUNNING DEBUTS FROM THE LITERARY WORLD'S NEW POWER PLAYERS: 'Memories of a powerful woman told by the six people who loved her most' * Elle *The world is crackling with electric praise for Anna North's new novel * GRAZIA *It's a completely compelling read that asks whether broken hearts and ruined relationships are prices worth paying in the name of creativity. * SUNDAY EXPRESS *
£7.49
Orion Publishing Co The Funeral Party
Book Synopsis''Dazzling . . . [An] engrossing study of a vivacious personality slipping away'' THE TIMES''Rich in detail, elusive in meaning, light in touch'' MOSCOW TIMESIn a small apartment in New York, in the sweltering mid-summer heat, a group of Russian émigrés gather around the sickbed of an artist named Alik.Nina, his wife, is desperate for Alik to be baptised; Irina, his ex-lover, a circus acrobat turned lawyer, quietly pays the bills; elderly Maria dispenses magical herbs; and Maika, Irina''s fifteen-year-old daughter, prepares to lose the only man to make her laugh. As the visitors fuss and reminisce over Alik, in a corner of the crowded room the television shows the uprising outside the White House in Moscow and the tanks closing in on the city . . .Trade ReviewI loved it . . . I read it in one sitting and was constantly surprised -- Margaret ForsterDazzling . . . [An] engrossing study of a vivacious personality slipping away * THE TIMES *Ultiskaya aims for the lyrical and builds her canvas like one of Alik's abstract paintings: rich in detail, elusive in meaning, light in touch * MOSCOW TIMES *One of the most important living Russian writers -- Gary Shteyngart, author of SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Grey is the Colour of Hope
Book SynopsisThe searing and unforgettable account of Ukrainian-born poet Irina Ratushinskaya's experiences in a brutal labour camp.
£9.99
Hodder & Stoughton Adult Onset
Book Synopsis''Ann-Marie MacDonald captures the dark hilarity of parenthood like nobody else. I gulped down Adult Onset in a single day.'' EMMA DONOGHUE, author of ROOM ''A complex, troubling novel that cuts with surgical precision into the sinew and muscle of family life.'' - SARAH WATERSMary Rose MacKinnon has agreed to be a stay-at-home mother while her partner''s career takes centre stage. As she balances childcare with the relentless needs of her own ageing parents, into the hilarities of full-on domesticity seeps a feeling of dread. Do others notice the dents in the expensive refrigerator? How did those scissors wind up in her toddler''s hands?When a flare-up of a forgotten childhood illness compels her to rethink her own upbringing, Mary Rose''s world threatens to unravel and the spectre of violence raises its head. With biting humour and unerring emotional accuracy, Adult Onset explores the pleasures and pressures of famiTrade ReviewBeautifully rendered... frank and acidly funny... It's a large-hearted, resonant novel, filled with an interiority that opens out - a generous work. * Guardian *Sensitive and unmistakeably heartfelt * Sunday Times *Definitely recommended * Daily Mail *A complex, troubling novel that cuts with surgical precision into the sinew and muscle of family life. * Sarah Waters, author of The Paying Guests *Big, troubling and brave. * The New York Times *Ann-Marie MacDonald captures the dark hilarity of parenthood like nobody else. I gulped down Adult Onset in a single day. * Emma Donoghue, author of Room *...explores the question of parental abuse and its origins with uncommon courage. * Now magazine, Canada *She has again delivered a masterpiece. * Michelle Dean, The Globe and Mail *A lively, moving, and often funny story that has the potential to help usher in a new era of honest literary depictions of families in all their permutations. * The Walrus *. . . a novel impossible to put down once begun. . . . the novel is superb, a fine blending of fact and fiction, of remembered incident and forgotten history, a wonderfully written treatise on the power of the past to impinge on the present. * Nancy Schiefer, The London Free Press, Canada *Ms. MacDonald strikes just the right tone as she exposes the brutal undercurrents of domestic life. * New York Times *. . . an intricate, gripping novel that is also a master class in turning the personal into the universal through art. * Brian Bethune, Maclean’s Canada *Many of us will see ourselves in the profound discomfort MacDonald has conjured... the book is an absolute triumph of terrifying authenticity. * National Post *Suspense builds; surely, horror awaits. . . . Macdonald's book remains spellbinding throughout. It is impossible to forget. * Paul Gessell, Quill & Quire *Remarkable...an engrossing, disturbing and layered tale. * Chicago Tribune on The Way the Crow Flies *[MacDonald's] prose...is always right and true, clean and penetrating. * Winnipeg Free Press on The Way The Crow Flies *One of the finest novels I've read in a long, long time. * The Washington Post on The Way The Crow Flies *MacDonald is a stunningly good writer . . . The Way the Crow Flies . . . secures for MacDonald a place, forever, in Canadian literature. * Calgary Herald *Macdonald is excellent at conversation - the phonecalls between Mary Rose and her mother are superb in their accuracy * Independent on Sunday *
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton Goodbye Mr Chips
Book Synopsis'A tiny, catch-in-the-throat story . . . perfectly done' New Yorker 'One of the most endearing creations of modern fiction' Telegraph Mr Chipping is a quiet, unassuming teacher at Brookfield Grammar School. Wholly conventional, he never veers from his established routines. Until, that is, he meets Katherine, who charms him and his students and teaches Mr Chipping that education is about more than just the hours spent in the schoolroom. As his love for Katherine blooms, Mr Chipping develops a sense of humour and a broad view of his role as a teacher and a friend to his students, becoming the beloved 'Mr Chips' to generations of schoolboys. Sweeping across four decades, Goodbye, Mr Chips features an extraordinary period of history, from the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s to Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, and demonstrates that, through it all, love and a good sense of humour can make all the diffTrade Review'Here is the triumphant proof that a little book can be a great book. Mr. Chips deserves a place in the gallery of English characters. Never have I known more beautifully rendered a man at peace with life, a finer setting forth of what happy dreams may come when you are old and grey and full of sleep. * Howard Spring, The Evening Standard *One lays down the book with the satisfaction that comes from contemplation of a piece of work supremely well done. This is too good a book to be borrowed . . . it should be bought * Punch *
£9.49
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group The Bad Seed Vintage Movie Classics A Vintage
Book SynopsisThe bestselling novel that inspired Mervyn LeRoy’s classic horror film about the little girl who can get away with anything—even murder. There’s something special about eight-year-old Rhoda Penmark. With her carefully plaited hair and her sweet cotton dresses, she’s the very picture of old-fashioned innocence. But when their neighborhood suffers a series of terrible accidents, her mother begins to wonder: Why do bad things seem to happen when little Rhoda is around? Originally published in 1954, William March’s final novel was an instant bestseller and National Book Award finalist before it was adapted for the stage and made into a 1956 film. The Bad Seed is an indelible portrait of an evil that wears an innocent face, one which still resonates in popular culture today. With a new foreword by Anna Holmes.Vintage Movie Classics spotlights classic films that have stood the test o
£12.59
Vintage Publishing Jailbird
Book SynopsisJ''ailbird has the crackle and snap of Vonnegut''s early work - his best since Cat''s Cradle. Using the laid-back, ironic voice that has become his stademark, Vonnegut combines fiction and fact to construct an ingenious, wry morality play'' - NewsweekVonnegut''s riotous urban fairytale about the various fiascos of the Nixon years - a firm fan favouriteWalter J. Starbuck's life was on the up. With a Harvard education, a job in federal government and then in Nixon's White House, everything was going great. Only things took a truly spectacular turn for the worse when his involvement in the Watergate scandal landed him in jail.Now, as the brave new world of the 1980s dawns, Starbuck is finally free and on his way back into the world. This is the story of the first twenty-four hours after his release, told with Kurt Vonnegut's razor-sharp wit and satirical bite.Trade ReviewAs provoking, as amusing and as silver-tongued as anything Vonnegut has written * New Statesman *Jailbird has the crackle and snap of Vonnegut's early work - his best since Cat's Cradle. Using the laid-back, ironic voice that has become his stademark, Vonnegut combines fiction and fact to construct an ingenious, wry morality play * Newsweek *An overtly political novel attacking McCarthyism and Watergate * Daily Telegraph *After Vonnegut, everything else seems a bit tame * Spectator *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan One Moment One Morning
Book SynopsisTelling the story of the week following a fateful train journey, One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner is a stunning novel about love and loss, about family and - above all - friendship. A stark reminder that, sometimes, one moment is all it takes . . .The Brighton to London line. The 07:44 train. Carriages packed with commuters. Then, abruptly, everything changes: a man has a heart attack, and can't be resuscitated; the train is stopped, an ambulance called. For at least three passengers on the 07:44 on that particular morning, life will never be the same again. Lou witnesses the man's final moments. Lou and Anna share a cab when they realize the train is going nowhere fast. Anna is Karen's best friend. And Karen? Karen's husband is the man who dies . . .
£8.54
Oxford University Press The Call of the Wild White Fang and Other Stories
Book SynopsisOf all Jack London's fictions none have been so popular as his dog stories. In addition to The Call of the Wild, the epic tale of a Californian dog's adventures during the Klondike gold rush, this edition includes White Fang, and five famous short stories - 'Bâtard', 'Moon-Face', 'Brown Wolf', 'That Spot', and 'To Build a Fire'.Trade Review`guaranteed to warm the heart of any child' Press and Journal, Aberdeen'utterly convincing ... wonderful forays into danger and excitement' Beat SceneTable of ContentsThe Call of the Wild; White Fang; Bâtard; Moon-Face; Brown Wolf; That Spot; To Build a Fire
£8.71
Oxford University Press To the Lighthouse
Book Synopsis''I am making up To the Lighthouse - the sea is to be heard all through it'' Inspired by the lost bliss of her childhood summers in Cornwall, Virginia Woolf produced one of the masterworks of English literature in To the Lighthouse. It concerns the Ramsay family and their summer guests on the Isle of Skye before and after the First World War. As children play and adults paint, talk, muse and explore, relationships shift and mutate. A captivating fusion of elegy, autobiography, socio-political critique and visionary thrust, it is the most accomplished of all Woolf''s novels. On completing it, she thought she had exorcised the ghosts of her imposing parents, but she had also brought form to a book every bit as vivid and intense as the work of Lily Briscoe, the indomitable artist at the centre of the novel. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitm
£6.99
Vintage Publishing Telex from Cuba
Book SynopsisFROM THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE MARS ROOMA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTIONFidel and Raúl Castro are in the hills, descending only to burn sugarcane plantations and recruit rebels.Trade ReviewRachel Kushner’s debut novel is an absolute blinder... Like the sea which surrounds Cuba, Telex From Cuba is ever-shifting, and it is luminous * The Times *If you relish glittering language that pursues emotional and political truth, you'll be enthralled by Telex from Cuba... the atmosphere seethes and crackles... [a] lush, intoxicating book * Independent *Telex from Cuba is epic and enjoyable: the style is lush and precise; the parties and cookouts, the drinks and affairs are beautiful and poignant, full of the pleasures of wealth overshadowed by loss. -- Anne Enright * Guardian *Fascinating and vividly detailed... You can almost feel the heat radiating from the page: the air is mosquito-thick and tainted with a nickel oxide haze, the tropical landscape a character in its own right * Observer *A piece of fiction quite breathtaking in its assurance […] a beautifully weighted treatise on colonial attitudes, capitalism, racism and the interactions and divisions between cultures and classes -- Billy O'Callaghan * Irish Examiner *A lush, meticulous, cinematic debut novel * Elle *Kushner evokes a dreamlike paradise... A poignant tale -- Antonia Charlesworth * Big Issue *[Kushner's] cleverly counterposed registers and nuanced explanation of the way we make and remake ourselves elevates her book beyond the standard historical romp -- David Annand * Sunday Telegraph *Detail-packed prose * Glasgow Herald *Deeply evocative... A fascinating and vividly detailed portrait of the country -- Natasha Tripney * Observer *An intriguing, multifaceted portrait of a society in flux -- David Evans * Independent on Sunday *Massively compelling… Tough yet tender writing that throbs with history, nostalgia and love * Bath Chronicle *It begs for a big-screen adaptation * London Magazine *Telex from Cuba is a wonderful debut and essential reading for those who wish to follow the career of one of the best new writers of our generation -- Stephen Joyce * Nudge *[Telex From Cuba] proves that this American author is a superstar of the future -- Nick Barley * Herald *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Searching For Caleb
Book SynopsisDiscover Pulitzer Prize-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author Anne Tyler''s deeply personal American historical epic.Duncan Peck is a restless man, always on the move. His wife, Justine, is a fortune teller who can''t remember the past. Her grandfather, Daniel, longs to find the brother who walked out of his life in 1912 never to be seen again. All three are taking journeys that lead back to the family''s deepest roots, to a place where rebellion and acceptance have the haunting power to merge into one...**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**''Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing'' Rachel Joyce''She knows all the secrets of the human heart'' Monica Ali ''A masterly author'' Sebastian Faulks''I love Anne Tyler. I''ve read every single book she''s written'' Jacqueline WilsonTrade ReviewFamily sagas have such an endless appeal that whenever one meets a really good one, like Anne Tyler's Searching for Caleb, one wonders why anyone bothers to write a different form of novelAnne Tyler is a writer whose special gift is to convey the richness, strangeness and unpredicability of seemingly everyday lives * Sunday Telegraph *Strange and enchanting * The Times *
£9.49
Cornerstone Holiday
Book SynopsisStanley Middleton was born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire in 1919. He published his first novel, A Short Answer, in 1958 and went on to publish 45 novels in a career spanning fifty years. He was joint winner of the Booker Prize in 1974 with Holiday. Stanley Middleton died in July 2009.Trade ReviewWe need Stanley Middleton to remind us what the novel is about. Holiday is vintage Middleton. The result of Mr Middleton's analysis is so satisfying that one has to look at nineteenth-century writing for comparable storytelling. -- Ronald Blythe * Sunday Times *At first glance, or even at second, Stanley Middleton's world is easily recognizable... The excellence of art, for Middleton, is an exact vision of real things as they are. And because he is himself so exact an observer, his world at third glance can seem strange and disturbing or newly and brilliantly lit with colour -- A.S. ByattMiddleton is a born writer; unpretentious, discerning, intelligent... He is the Chekhov of suburbia. -- James Runcie * Daily Telegraph *Middleton is concerned with what goes on below the surface of lives, what people feel, dream about, hope for, resent, fear - all the things that in real life may be kept hidden... Anyone coming to Middleton afresh has a real treat in store. -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *Genuinely affecting * The Times *
£9.49
Cornerstone A Line Made By Walking
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2017When I finished Sara Baume's new novel I immediately felt sad that I could not send it in the post to the late John Berger. He, too, would have loved it and found great joy in its honesty, its agility, its beauty, its invention. Baume is a writer of outstanding grace and style. She writes beyond the time we live in.' Colum McCannStruggling to cope with urban life and with life in general Frankie, a twenty-something artist, retreats to the rural bungalow on turbine hill' that has been vacant since her grandmother's death three years earlier. It is in this space, surrounded by nature, that she hopes to regain her footing in art and life. She spends her days pretending to read, half-listening to the radio, failing to muster the energy needed to leave the safety of her haven. Her family come and go, until they don't and she is left alone to contemplate the path that led her here, and the smell of the carpet that started it all.Finding little comfort in human interaction, Frankie turns her camera lens on the natural world and its reassuring cycle of life and death. What emerges is a profound meditation on the interconnectedness of wilderness, art and individual experience, and a powerful exploration of human frailty.Trade ReviewWhen I finished Sara Baume’s new novel I immediately felt sad that I could not send it in the post to the late John Berger. He, too, would have loved it and found great joy in its honesty, its agility, its beauty, its invention. Baume is a writer of outstanding grace and style. She writes beyond the time we live in. -- Colum McCannA fascinating portrait of an artist’s breakdown in rural Ireland … a remarkable ability to generate narrative pace while eschewing plot, making it enough for the reader to observe a mind observing the world … it’s fascinating, because of the cumulative power of the precise, pleasingly rhythmic sentences, and the unpredictable intelligence of the narrator’s mind … Art may also require a willingness to question the ordinary that is incompatible with conventional criteria of sanity. One of the most radical aspects of this novel is its challenge to received wisdom about mental illness … There are no answers here, but there is a reminder of the beauty that can be found when you allow yourself to look slowly and sadly at the world. * Guardian *After a remarkable and deservedly award-winning debut, here is a novel of uniqueness, wonder, recognition, poignancy, truth-speaking, quiet power, strange beauty and luminous bedazzlement. Once again, I’ve been Baumed. -- Joseph O'ConnorExtraordinarily compelling … What makes it so gripping as that the reader is trapped in Frankie’s mind as much as she is; every tiny detail is magnified into metaphysical significance that she cannot understand and that the reader cannot parse … Frankie’s surreal and yet understandable mind-patterns are eloquent as well as awful … On the dust-jacket Joseph O’Connor says that Baume is a ‘writer touched by greatness.’ I think she is bruised by it. -- Stuart Kelly * The Spectator *Unflinching, at times uncomfortable, and always utterly compelling, A Line Made By Walking is among the best accounts of grief, loneliness and depression that I have ever read. Every word of it rings true, the truth of hard-won knowledge wrested from the abyss. Shot through with a wild, yearning melancholy, it is nevertheless mordantly witty. It felt, to me, kindred to Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City: not just on a superficial level, a young woman seeking solace in art, but in the urgent depth of its quest to understand and articulate what it means to make art, and what art might mean for the individual, lost and lonely; how it might bring us out of, or back to, ourselves. -- Lucy Caldwell
£9.49
Cornerstone The Amateurs
Book SynopsisJohn Niven was born in Irvine, Ayrshire. He is the author of ten novels and has written for a wide range of publications, including a weekly column for the Scottish Sunday Mail. He lives in Buckinghamshire.Trade ReviewBelieve it or not, this novel makes golf look interesting. Trust me. This is a writer who could wring laughs out of pretty well anything... Hilarious * The Times *Screamingly funny...beneath the rough surface of effing and blinding lies a surprisingly sweet story of family, friendship and romance....uproarious entertainment...Unlike the amateurs in his plot, Niven's prose is executed with the comic timing of a pro. He gets the golf right, and just about everything else too * Scotsman *A novel about golf that is not only hilarious, but gripping, sexy, violent and outrageous...Niven combines his increasingly bizarre plots, and some shocking behaviour, with considerable skill and, of course, large helpings of humour * Daily Mirror *I laughed out loud more times than I can remember. Niven's ear for dialogue, particularly the foulmouthed, is fantastic. Who would have thought that "Golf meets Gangsters in Ayrshire" would work? But it does - in spadesA story so completely filmic you will yell 'it's Gregory's Girl meets Local Hero with weapons-grade swearing!' while still sat in your armchair. Brilliantly funny too * Word *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing A General Theory of Oblivion
Book SynopsisOn the eve of Angolan independence, Ludo bricks herself into her apartment, where she will remain for the next thirty years. She lives off vegetables and pigeons, burns her furniture and books to stay alive and keeps herself busy by writing her story on the walls of her home. Until one day she meets Sabalu, a young boy from the street.Trade ReviewA remarkable novel from one of Angola’s most notable storytellers -- Angel Gurria-Quintana * Financial Times, Books of the year *The light detachment and readability of Louis de Bernières at his best, but combined with the sharp insights of JM Coetzee… Agualusa’s writing is a delight throughout * Scotsman *In the hands of a literary expert and sensitive empathist like Agualusa, Ludo’s life story is irresistible -- Jane Graham * Big Issue *Agualusa has already become one of lusophone Africa's most distinctive voices. In a line that was surely included to bait book reviewers, one of the novel's characters declares: 'A man with a good story is practically a king.' If this is true, then Agualusa can count himself among the continent's new royals * Financial Times *The book is a wonderful mix of life and dramas real and imagine worlds and how someone avoids madness just in more than thirty years apart from the real world… This book shows why we maybe should be trying to get more books out of the Lusophone world. * Winstonsdad *A fascinating dark horse -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Sexing the Cherry
Book Synopsis''A book of innocence and bawdiness, fury and joy...needs to be read and re-read'' The TimesOn the banks of the Thames a baby is found floating. Rescued by the Dog-Woman, a giant strong enough to fling an elephant into the air, their lives together will take them on a dizzying journey through space and time.As past and present collapse and centuries overlap, love, sex, truth, lies and twelve dancing princesses take centre stage. ''Entrancing...fabulous... Its language retains the clear music of poetry'' Sunday Telegraph ''Simple prose shows the subtlest of minds behind it, swift, confident and dazzling'' Financial Times ''Her stories and characters levitate off the page into dancing life... A bold, bizarre and timely book'' IndependentTrade ReviewA book of innocence and bawdiness, fury and joy...needs to be read and re-read * The Times *Read it and marvel. Jeanette Winterson's voice is startlingly original, and her imaginative feats are utterly dazzling * Cosmopolitan *Simple prose shows the subtlest of minds behind it, swift, confident and dazzling * Financial Times *Winterson juggles past and present, fantasy and reality, to produce an original and entertaining novel which invites us to re-examine our own perceptions of time * Sunday Times *Her stories and characters levitate off the page into dancing life... A bold, bizarre and timely book * Independent *
£9.49
Cornerstone Fools Die
Book SynopsisMario Puzo was born in New York. He is the author of the bestselling novel The Godfather and many other acclaimed novels. Puzo also wrote many screenplays, including those for the three Godfather movies, for which he won two academy awards. He died at his home in Long Island, New York, at the age of seventy-eight.Trade ReviewFame and wealth, skulduggery and cheating and pimping, love affairs and carnal arrangements, once scene following another pell-mell, all written with unflagging vitality ... bawdy, comic, highly coloured, hypnotic. It would be a very cool reader indeed who did not devour the whole mixture greedily * New York Times *Corruptly compulsive * Daily Express *Unforgettable ... Will rivet your attention * Cosmopolitan *
£999.99
Cornerstone Exposure
Book Synopsis______________________________''A deceptively simple masterpiece'' Independent on Sunday''Will haunt you for months, if not years'' Guardian''Outstanding ... if you only buy one book, make it this one'' Good HousekeepingThe Cold War is at its height, and a spy may be a friend or neighbour, colleague or lover.At the end of a suburban garden, in the pouring rain, a woman buries a briefcase deep in the earth.She believes that she is protecting her family.What she will learn is that no one is immune from betrayal or the devastating consequences of exposure.Trade ReviewHelen Dunmore delivers a deceptively simple masterpiece, a new take on the lives of the men and –particularly – the women caught up in the cold war … Exposure is magnificent -- Cole Moreton * Independent on Sunday *Dunmore packs an impressive amount on to a compact canvas. Full of convincing detail, the novel is as much about sexuality in the age of the Chatterley ban as about Whitehall skulduggery … A dramatic mix of domesticity and derring-do … Like many of the best spy novels, Exposure sets out to unsettle Britain’s view of itself. * Sunday Telegraph *Under its smooth, naturalistic surfaces, Exposure has a tightly wrought plot gripping as any thriller. But it is the union of this plot with complex, challenging characters that makes the book such a surprising and fulfilling read…will haunt you for months, if not years. -- Kate Clanchy * Guardian *It is an intriguing set-up, and with Dunmore at its helm this tale of divided loyalties never lets up for a minute … Dunmore is such a class act … she sticks to the human essentials of her story, does not over-complicate things, and comes up trumps yet again. * Mail on Sunday *Hers are expert hands at turning 20th-century history into gripping fiction. * The Times *Exposure succeeds as a Cold War thriller as well as a psychological drama. It deals with some lurid events, but evokes the texture of time … It offers in fact what Dunmore does best: a story of “desperate urgency, cloaked in the everyday” -- David Grylls * Sunday Times *One of our most outstanding writers, Helen Dunmore has drawn inspiration from the classic spy novel for her latest book ... While it has all the thrill and menace of a John Le Carré novel, Dunmore is more interested in the personal ... An atmospheric read full of vivid characters – if you only buy one book this month make it this one. * Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month *The danger with ‘literary thrillers’ is simple: the more literary a story is, the less thrilling it can be. There’s a balance to be found, and Dunmore expertly weights both sides. She revels in layers of concealment. Beautiful poetic phrases, quite startling at times, enliven the eye and the mind. * Spectator *Helen Dunmore's subtle tale of espionage and fear has a refreshingly human scale… It is, in many ways, a romance where salvation comes through a late, unexpected and generous act of love. * Independent *Dunmore’s treatment is distinctive. Her work as both a poet and a novelist, is characterised by its rich sensuality and the stark emotional truths at its core. This sensibility, along with the small domestic and personal details at which she excels, transcend genre… -- Catherine Taylor * Financial Times *Exposure is the sort of winter read you hanker for…the period is so meticulously re-created that you almost hear the hiss of the gas streetlamps -- Melissa van der Klugt * The Times *An intricately observed and emotionally powerful Cold War thriller that combines subtlety and complexity to create a deeply satisfying and moving book -- Hannah Beckerman * Sunday Express, S Magazine *Dunmore is one of our best modern historical novelists and fans of her previous books will be eagerly awaiting this new one. [Exposure is] set during the Cold War and follows a woman determined to protect her family against the odds. * Metro *Dunmore is a very astute and skilful novelist… Exposure is as good as anything she has written; and that’s very good indeed -- Alan Massie * The Scotsman *A novel about belonging, loneliness, love and the idea of home.... Exposure is a fine addition to the shelves of cold war literature -- Stephanie Merrit * Observer *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Alms For Oblivion Volume I
Book Synopsis''Cracking entertainment... Dangerously, deliciously addictive'' Daily Telegraph''[Raven is] a freak writer, he defies classification. In wilder moments he suggests a loose, lunatic collaboration of Trollope, Ouida and Waugh'' ObserverEnter Alms for Oblivion, Simon Raven''s dazzling cycle of ten novels, all telling separate stories but at the same time linked together by the characters they have in common: schoolboys and businessmen, writers and soldiers, prostitutes and patient wives, actresses and models. In the first four novels Raven''s wayward band of upper-class anti-heroes lurch from debauched parties to rehearsals for nuclear war; from blackmail to murder; from marriage to adultery and back again.Volume 1: The Rich Pay Late, Friends in Low Places, The Sabre Squadron and Fielding Gray''There are some people who consider the greatest cycle of twentieth-century novels to be Anthony Powell''s Trade ReviewCracking entertainment... Dangerously, deliciously addictive * Daily Telegraph *Sparkling and fizzing... Raven has the mind of a cad and the pen of an angel * Guardian *There are some people who consider the greatest cycle of twentieth-century novels to be Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time. These people are wrong. Widmerpool and his joyless accomplices are as nothing compared to the characters in Simon Raven's majestic, scurrilous and scabrous Alms for Oblivion cycle * Guardian *A ready made cult waiting to be discovered * Spectator *Raven's gusto, the robustness of his style and his powerful, if quirky, intelligence all held me rapt * Sunday Telegraph *Raven's unique vision of our times - classes battling, corruption raging, ideas flashing - is not only valid but valuable. He spins webs of chance, intrigue and wit to ensnare civilised values and trap the truth. It's high time we gave this very curious genius a loud, warm welcome. -- David Hughes * Mail on Sunday *Brisk, bawdy and reckless * Evening Standard *Each of the novels in Alms for Oblivion is an elegant morality tale, beautifully composed, sparkling with appreciation of the sheer limitless variety of human wickedness * TLS *[Raven is] a freak writer, he defies classification. In wilder moments he suggests a loose, lunatic collaboration of Trollope, Ouida and Waugh * Observer *Crammed with comedy, suspense and action * Daily Mail *
£14.24
Vintage Publishing The Ghost Riders of Ordebec
Book SynopsisPeople will die,' says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters. She refuses to speak to anyone besides Commissaire Adamsberg. Her daughter has seen a vision: ghostly horsemen who target the most nefarious characters in Normandy. Since the middle ages there have been stories of murderers, rapists, those with serious crimes on their conscience, meeting a grisly end following a visitation by the riders. Soon after the young woman's vision a notoriously vicious and cruel man disappears. Although the case is far outside his jurisdiction, Adamsberg agrees to investigate the strange happenings in a village terrorised by wild rumours and ancient feuds.Trade ReviewThis latest outing for the offbeat Commissaire Adamsberg is [Vargas'] best * Independent *After decades in which crime fiction in French was dominated by the Belgian author Georges Simenon, it has an indisputable new star in Fred Vargas -- Joan Smith * Sunday Times *Vargas depicts brilliantly a rural community riven with superstition, where class distinctions have existed for centuries * The Times *An early contender for outstanding crime novel of the year * Sunday Times *A glorious mix of myth, quirky observation and gallic humour * Sunday Telegraph *
£14.70
Cornerstone Gone
Book SynopsisJAMES PATTERSON is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. Among his creations are some of the world's most popular series including Alex Cross, the Women's Murder Club, Michael Bennett and the Private novels. He has written many other number one bestsellers including collaborations with President Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, stand-alone thrillers and non-fiction. James has donated millions in grants to independent bookshops and has been the most borrowed adult author in UK libraries for the past fourteen years in a row. He lives in Florida with his family.
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Shame
Book SynopsisSalman Rushdie is the author of sixteen novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.Trade ReviewIt is an astute, gleeful, political tale in which Rushdie dazzles with his prodigious gift for satire. * Guardian *Salman Rushdie has earned the right to be called one of our great story tellers * Observer *There can seldom have been so robust and baroque an incarnation of the political novel as Shame. It can be read as a fable, polemic or excoriation; as history or as fiction... This is the novel as myth and as satire * Sunday Telegraph *Shame is every bit as good as Midnight's Children. It is a pitch-black comedy of public life and historical imperatives * The Times *Salman Rushdie is a magnificent writer. He has a free-ranging imagination and a coarse, strong wit. He attackes language with energy and without constraint * Independent *
£9.49
Cornerstone Blindsighted
Book SynopsisThe sleepy town of Heartsdale, Georgia, is jolted into panic when Sara Linton, paediatrician and medical examiner, finds Sibyl Adams dead in the local diner. As well as being viciously raped, Sibyl has been cut: two deep knife wounds form a lethal cross over her stomach.Trade ReviewDon't read this alone. Don't read this after dark. But do read it * Daily Mirror *This gripping debut novel, filled with unremittingly graphic forensic details, is likely to have Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs glancing nervously in their rearview mirrors because rookie Karin Slaughter is off the starting grid as quickly as Michael Schumacher and is closing on them fast * Irish Independent *Chilling but thrilling * OK! *Slaughter ... brings the story to a shattering climax * Sunday Telegraph *Wildly readable... [Slaughter] has been compared to Thomas Harris and Patricia Cornwell, and for once the hype is justified ... deftly craf ted, damnably suspenseful and, in the end, deadly serious ... Slaughter 's plotting is brilliant, her suspense relentless * Washington Post *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Chinaman
Book SynopsisShehan Karunatilaka is the multi-award winning author of two novels. He won the Commonwealth Book Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for his debut novel, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew. He won the Booker Prize 2022 for his second novel, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. In addition to his novels he has written rock songs, screenplays and travel stories.Trade ReviewThe strength of the book lies in its energy, its mixture of humour and heartwrenching emotion, its twisting narrative, its playful use of cricketing facts and characters, and its occasional blazing anger about what Sri Lanka has done to itself... * Guardian *Carries real weight...a mixture of, say, CLR James, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fernando Pessoa and Sri Lankan arrack...essential to anyone with a taste for maverick genius * The Times *Karunatilaka has a real lightness of touch. He mixes humour and violence with the same deftness with which his protagonist mixes drinks * Observer *Chinaman is a debut bristling with energy and confidence, a quixotic novel that is both an elegy to lost ambitions and a paean to madcap dreams * Sunday Times *Chinaman's free-wheeling, zany tempo is part of its charm too. Its picaresque action, mainly based in Colombo and narrated in short bite-sized chunks, gives a vibrant comic pulse to Sri Lankan life, even though Karunatilaka's portrait of the country is scathing...it confirms that cricket, a game that is largely played in the head and inhabits a bizarrely detailed parallel world to our own, is ideally suited to the purposes of fiction * Financial Times *
£9.99
Vintage Publishing Swamplandia
Book SynopsisAnd then a mysterious figure called Bird Man guides Ava into a perilous part of the swamp called the Underworld, promising he can save both her sister and the park...Swamplandia! was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize and shortlisted for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and 2013 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.Trade ReviewMs Russell has produces a rich and humid world of spirits and dreams, buzzing mosquitoes and prehistoric reptiles, baby-green cocoplums and marsh rabbits, and musty old tomes about heroes and spells. With Ava she has created a goofy and self-conscious girl who is young enough to hope that all darkness has an answering lightness. Inevitably she must learn otherwise. Swamplandia! is ultimately about the aching beauties of youth - the way life begins with such dumb sweetness, while the lessons that give it meaning lurk around each bend like terrifying gators in a mossy fragrant swamp * The Economist *The tale of the two flyaway sisters proves lyrically powerful as it maps the enchanted but dangerous worlds that young minds can conjure to deal with grief -- Stephen Amidon * Sunday Times *It's a wonderfully extravagant, eccentric story by a brilliant young writer with an amazing imagination -- Kate Saunders * The Times *I was looking forward to Swamplandia! and I wasn't disappointed. I found this novel beautifully written and very witty, yet often extremely sad too * TheBookBag.com *The Miami-born writer renders the travails and delights of a...dreamlike world that leaves you intoxicated and slightly dishevelled * Monocle *
£9.49
Cornerstone Playing for Pizza
Book SynopsisJohn Grisham is the author of forty works of fiction and one of non-fiction. His works are translated into forty-two languages. He lives in Virginia.Trade ReviewGrisham comes into his own. The man knows how to crank up the tension, we are soon on the edge of our seats. Read this book, enjoy it. * Daily Express *Playing for Pizza is well plotted and shows Grisham's gift for coming up with twists and appealing minor characters. * Sunday Times *Playing for Pizza is a lyrical page-turner and a gasp-inducing reminder of the scope of this man's genius with the written word. Grisham is something of a Da Vinci with words. He can blow your brains out with the power of truth or paint pictures that magically reveal the reality beneath. This is a smooth, satisfying and delightful read. * Sunday Express *Grisham's writing takes on an energy and precision in this amiable novel * TLS *
£9.49
Cornerstone Camellia
Book SynopsisLesley Pearse was born in Rochester, Kent, but has lived in the West Country for the last thirty-two years. She has three daughters and a grandson. She is the author of twenty-three novels and now writes full-time.
£10.44
Cornerstone Star Wars Red Harvest
Book SynopsisJOE SCHREIBER is the author of Star Wars: Death Troopers, Star Wars: Red Harvest,Chasing the Dead, and Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick. He was born in Michigan butspent his formative years in Alaska, Wyoming, and northern California. Until recently, hehad never lived at the same address for longer than a year. He lives in centralPennsylvania with his wife and two children.
£10.44
Vintage Publishing Solar
Book SynopsisIan McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of nineteen novels and two short story collections. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; Nutshell; Machines Like Me; and Lessons. Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach have all been adapted for the big screen.Trade ReviewSavagely funny... Enormously entertaining * Sunday Times *A satirical masterpiece...it will come to be regarded as a classic * Daily Telegraph *A stunningly accomplished work, possibly his best yet * Financial Times *McEwan has succeeded in producing a novel that is both profoundly serious and hilariously funny * Mail on Sunday *Vivacious and sprawling, a beautifully and compellingly written novel * The Times *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Past Imperfect: From the creator of DOWNTON ABBEY and THE GILDED AGE
FROM THE CREATOR OF DOWNTON ABBEY and THE GILDED AGE A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A gloriously funny ride through modern times' Evening Standard Damian Baxter is very, very rich. But he has but one concern, which is becoming more urgent at the weeks go by: who should inherit his fortune. A letter from an ex-girlfriend suggests that, as a young man, Damian may have fathered a child, but the letter is anonymous. Finding the truth will not be easy - and the only man who Damian can turn to for help also happens to be his sworn enemy... 'A must-read' Sunday Express'An elegant satire, it offers an entertaining commentary on our times and a heartfelt lament for a kinder, more courteous Britain' Tatler'A witty take on the world as it was and is now' Woman & Home
£9.49
Pan Macmillan The Mimic Men
Book SynopsisV. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He came to England on a scholarship in 1950. He spent four years at University College, Oxford, and began to write, in London, in 1954. He pursued no other profession.His novels include A House for Mr Biswas, The Mimic Men, Guerrillas, A Bend in the River, and The Enigma of Arrival. In 1971 he was awarded the Booker Prize for In a Free State. His works of nonfiction, equally acclaimed, include Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, The Masque of Africa, and a trio of books about India: An Area of Darkness, India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.In 1990, V. S. Naipaul received a knighthood for services to literature; in 1993, he was the first recipient of the David Cohen British Literature Prize. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. He lived with his wife Nadira and cat Augustus in Wiltshire, and died in 20Trade ReviewAmbitious and successful . . . Extremely perceptive. * The Times *The sweep of Naipaul’s imagination, the fictional frame that expresses it, are in my view without equal today. -- Elizabeth Hardwick * New York Times Book Review *A Tolstoyan spirit . . . The so-called Third World has produced no more brilliant literary artist. -- John Updike * New Yorker *
£9.49
Cornerstone A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway Arrow classic
Book SynopsisIn 1918 Ernest Hemingway went to war, to the ''war to end all wars''. He volunteered for ambulance service in Italy, was wounded and twice decorated. Out of his experiences came his early masterpiece, A Farewell to Arms. In an unforgettable depiction of war, Hemingway recreates the fear, the comradeship, the courage of his young American volunteers and the men and women he encounters along the way with conviction and brutal honesty. A love story of immense drama and uncompromising passion, A Farewell to Arms offers a unique and unflinching view of the world and people, by the winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.Trade ReviewFlawless... such mastery of narrative, imagery and feeling, the prerequisites for great prose * Guardian *It seems such simple and straightforward language, but it isn't. The first chapter of A Farewell to Arms is only two and a bit pages but there is almost every variety of sentence structure. It is incredibly artful writing, and part of the art is disguising that it is artful * Guardian *There is something so complete in Mr. Hemingway's achievement in A Farewell to Arms that one is left speculating as to whether another novel will follow in this manner, and whether it does not complete both a period and a phase...crisply natural and convincing * Guardian, 1929 *A novel of great power * Times Literary Supplement *Essential Hemingway...a gripping account of the life of an American volunteer in the Italian army and a poignant love story * Daily Express *
£8.54
Vintage Publishing To Know A Woman
Book SynopsisA writer of revelatory genius' GuardianFollowing the bizarre accidental death of his wife, Israeli secret service agent Yoel Ravid retires to the suburbs with his daughter, mother and mother-in-law. After a lifetime of uncovering other people''s secrets he is forced to look back at the lies he has told himself; at the desolate enigma of his wife''s life and death; his years of service to the state and the riddle of his daughter''s behaviour.Humorous, melancholy and touching' New York TimesTrade ReviewMr. Oz demonstrates his usual fluency as a writer. His portraits of Yoel, his mother, his mother-in-law and his daughter are, at once, humorous, melancholy and touching. -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *This is a book full of hints and echoes, from the past, from literature, from Yoel's former life. It is a remarkable novel, on the one hand a reminder of fiction's capacity to push at the boundaries of the expressible and on the other a meticulous account of one particular character's advance towards wisdom * Daily Telegraph *A writer of extraordinary perception and of a warm humanity, which never slides into sentimentality and never dodges judgement. His dialogue shines with life and he evokes the feel of the physical world, the shimmer of light in the dawn or at evening, wonderfully well. The result is a book, which not only has a firm moral structure, one which poses and explores fundamental questions of human nature and of obligation, but also sparkles with vividly realised renderings of the details of daily life. It is very good indeed * Scotsman *
£9.49
Vintage Publishing The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Book SynopsisSalman Rushdie is the author of sixteen novels, including Midnight's Children (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), The Satanic Verses, and Quichotte (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize). A former president of PEN American Center, Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for services to literature and was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's last Birthday Honours list in 2022.Trade Review"A ground-breaking work... Rushdie turns our century of celebrity and atrocity inside out. He makes you see the world in a new light" Time Out "The first great rock 'n' roll novel in the English language" The Times "Uniquely exhilarating...Salman Rushdie once more proves his mastery... His sheer linguistic energy is a delight" Sunday Telegraph "A carnival of words...a triumphant hymn to the transforming power of love" The Times
£11.69
Pan Macmillan V is for Vengeance
Book SynopsisSue Grafton has become one of the most popular female writers, both in the UK and in the US. Born in Kentucky in 1940, she began her career as a TV scriptwriter before Kinsey Millhone and the 'alphabet' series took off. Two of the novels B is for Burglar and C is for Corpse won the first Anthony Awards for Best Novel. Sue wrote twenty-five novels in her alphabet series, the last was Y is for Yesterday, before her death in California in December 2017.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd New Penguin Parallel Texts. Short Stories in
Book SynopsisThis new volume of eight short stories offers students of German at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature in the original, with the aid of parallel translations.The majority of these stories have been written in the past decade, and reflect a rich diversity of styles and themes. Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language.Table of ContentsShort Stories in GermanIntroductionThe Listener, or a Description of a Route with a Hidden MotiveSiegfried Lenz (b. 1926)Waiting for the Guests Dieter Wellershoff (b. 1925)Eating Mussels (Excerpt) Birgit Vanderbeke (b. 1956)The Good Old Days Gabriele Wohmann (b. 1932)Lascia Judith Hermann (b. 1970)Chicago/Shanty Town Georg Klein (b. 1953)Grandfather and the Decision-makers Christoph Hein (b. 1944)The Suspect Jurek Becker (b. 1937)Notes on German TextAcknowledgments
£10.44
