Family life fiction / Stories about family
Atlantic Books M is for Mummy
Book Synopsis'A funny and touching insight into music, autism and motherhood' Dawn French'A truthful book that dives headfirst into the realities of motherhood that will make you laugh out loud and touch your heart in equal measure' Izzy Judd________________________________Your family doesn't fit the mould. So what?Lucy had it all: an exciting career, a rock-star husband, and pelvic floor muscles that could crack a walnut. And then, she had kids...Since giving birth to her second child, Lucy's life is totally unrecognisable: the romance in her marriage is officially dead and so is the career it took her years to build.Instead of playing the cello behind superstars at packed-out arenas, Lucy now spends most days mopping up broccoli vomit whilst listening to her four-year-old recite facts about the gallbladder. Something needs to change.With a little help from her friends, Lucy comes up with a plan to get her life on track, claw back her career and help her extraordinary son to find his place in an ordinary world.Trade ReviewA funny and touching insight into music, autism and motherhood * Dawn French *A truthful book that dives headfirst into the realities of motherhood that will make you laugh out loud and touch your heart in equal measure -- Izzy Judd, bestselling author of Dare to DreamA relatable yet original read you won't be able to put down ... will make you laugh out loud. Simply brilliant! * Vicki Broadbent (The Honest Mum) *Honest, heartfelt and frankly bloody hilarious * Rowan Coleman *Will make you snort with laughter, wince in recognition and then punch you in the heart - often all in one page * Laura Vaughan *
£8.54
Atlantic Books The Mother Load
Book SynopsisMishaps at work, mayhem at home...It'll get easier when he starts school... That's what Lucy was told, and she believed it. But now that her autistic son Stanley has joined Reception, his obsession with Africa and daily screaming fits at the school gates haven't exactly won him or Lucy any popularity contests.So for Stanley's fifth birthday Lucy plans an extravagant party to help him connect with his classmates. But her autistic husband Ed knows how his son's mind works better than anyone, so instead of a big bash, they travel to Wales to eat a Libya-shaped birthday cake with Lucy's family. And suddenly Lucy is faced with the truth about what her loved ones really need, and how they can finally find their tribe...Readers love The Mother Load'Best thing I've read all year' *****'Funny, warm and touching' *****'As a mother of two autistic children so much of it speaks to me on a personal level' *****'Gavin and Stacey eat your heart out ... this is comedy gold and should be on the screen!' *****Trade ReviewFunny, touching and a little bit mad - it's Motherland on acid -- Laura VaughanFunny and relatable * Heat *An ethralling dedication to both motherhood and autism ... Cox's writing style is engaging * Buzz Magazine *A funny and touching insight into music, autism and motherhood * Dawn French on M is for Mummy *A truthful book that dives headfirst into the realities of motherhood that will make you laugh out loud and touch your heart in equal measure * Izzy Judd on M is for Mummy *A relatable yet original read you won't be able to put down ... will make you laugh out loud. Simply brilliant! * Vicki Broadbent (The Honest Mum) on M is for Mummy *
£13.49
Atlantic Books The Arc
Book Synopsis'A thoroughly modern love story with old-fashioned heart' Vogue___________________Meet Ursula 35-year-old Ursula Byrne is successful, witty, smart, and single. She's tried all the dating apps, and let's just say: she's underwhelmed by her options. Enter The ArcA mysterious, super-sophisticated matchmaking service that relies on a complex series of emotional, psychological and physiological assessments. The price tag is high, the promise ambitious- you get one match, and one match only. Because one is all you need for a partnership that will go the distance.Is this a date with destiny? Or with data?Ursula is paired with 42-year-old lawyer Rafael Banks, and from the start, this feels like the electric, lasting love they've each been seeking their whole adult lives. But as their relationship unfolds in unanticipated ways, the two begin to question The Arc's legitimacy. After all, the arc of a relationship is never predictable ... even when it's fully optimized.Trade ReviewA thoroughly modern love story with old-fashioned heart * Vogue *The satirical (yet also surprisingly deep) take on dating app culture we all need * Cosmopolitan *With giddy hilarity and stabs to the heart, Hoen's heady cocktail of satire and celebration is a delectable addition to the dating-app and matchmaking rom-com list. * Booklist *Hoen raises some fascinating questions about love and relationships and ends on an optimistic note that will please romance fans. The result is as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking. * Publishers Weekly *You don't expect a razor-sharp satire to satisfy so deeply on an emotional level, but The Arc does that and more: Tory Henwood Hoen brings humor, wit and brutal honesty to start-up culture, relationships and human frailty in this riveting debut. * Alexandra Andrews, author of Who is Maud Dixon *Tory Hoen has the rare combination of a satirists eye and a romantics soul. Populated though it may be with biz-whiz types, lifestyle apps, and start-up schemes, The Arc is, at its heart, about the inimitable qualities that make us human. Clear off space on your shelf of contemporary favorites for this timeless love story wrapped in a timely, funny portrait of modern society. * Mary Laura Philpott, author of I Miss You When I Blink *A zeitgeisty and hopeful page-turner that proves neither algorithms nor big data can keep the heart from wanting what it wants. * Courtney Maum, author of Touch and Costalegre *Whether she's skewering mediocre start-up bros or the absurdities of twenty-first century 'self-care,' there's nothing about the way we live now that escapes Hoen's gaze. A hilarious and thoughtful exploration of love in a culture obsessed with optimization, The Arc is a dazzling debut. * Grant Ginder, author of People We Hate at the Wedding *A delightful debut about love and dating and modern womanhood that asks as many questions about self-determination and free will as it answers. * Shelf Awareness *The Arc is an incisive, inventive, probing portrait of a modern relationship featuring remarkably well-drawn characters that readers will champion and adore. Hoen's clever, original debut is as hilarious as it is heartwarming. * Carola Lovering, author of Too Good to be True *Funny and modern ... like a rom-com's cooler big sister * Real Simple *
£14.99
Atlantic Books Thea and Denise
Book Synopsis'Oh, you're not crazy, Denise. I think this is probably the sanest you've ever been...'Two women. An open road. The trip of a lifetime.Thea is confident, sorted, determined to have fun, but there are sorrows beneath the surface of her life.Denise is struggling under the weight of her many commitments and in desperate need of some excitement.When these polar opposites meet, and unexpectedly become friends, they realise they're both looking to escape.So begins a road trip that leads them far from home and yet closer to their true selves.But they can't outrun their pasts forever and when things start to become complicated, both women have an important decision to make. Do they give up or keep going? Turn around or drive on?Trade ReviewSharply observed and empathetic, many women will see themselves in this excellent novel * Elizabeth Buchan *There is a raw realism to all of Caroline Bond's novels ... Redemptive and satisfying -- Carol Mason on 'The Legacy'Absolutely captures the challenges of being a certain age - the characters jump off the page! * Sam Blake *A beautifully crafted exploration of family resentments and vulnerability. Caroline Bond writes with a keen eye for human frailty, bringing her characters vividly to life, flaws and all. -- Charity Norman on 'The Legacy'Caroline Bond has a gift for weaving heart-rending tales of impossible decisions and The Forgotten Sister is no exception. A beautifully written story that will stay with me for quite some time. -- Amanda Brooke on 'The Forgotten Sister'A deftly written novel [and] a moving exploration of love between sisters and the tangled, often complex emotions that exist in families. -- Madeleine Reiss on 'The Forgotten Sister'Compassionate, wry and packed with acute observations on human behaviour. Like wrapping yourself in a warm shawl. -- Charity Norman
£14.99
Atlantic Books The Day We Left
Book Synopsis***A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK***Oli and Joe are identical twins. But they will never be the same.Lizzie Truman gives birth to her sons at thirty-one weeks. From the start, the differences between the twins are clear. Oli is bigger, stronger, healthier. Joe is small and much less robust, his future inexorably altered by the trauma of his premature delivery.As soon as the boys are well enough, Lizzie checks out of the maternity hospital and leaves her old life behind. By the time Oli and Joe are grown, Beth has a new name, a thriving business, and she has successfully raised her sons alone.But when the truth about their past emerges, the twins are forced to reassess everything they thought they knew about their mother, their upbringing and themselves. 'Wonderful ... such a great read ... made me emotional' Zoe Ball, BBC Radio 2 Book ClubTrade ReviewWonderful ... such a great read! You will fire through it. I couldn't put it down ... it made me emotional ... a delight -- Zoe Ball, BBC Radio 2 Book ClubIn The Day We Left, Caroline Bond uses a truly original storyline to explore universal themes of fierce familial bonds, motherhood and what shapes us into the people we become. Together with a cast of brave, bold and nuanced characters, this is a novel that satisfies and delights in equal measure. Brilliantly paced and beautifully told. -- Katy ReganSharply observed and empathetic, many women will see themselves in this excellent novel * Elizabeth Buchan on Thea and Denise *There is a raw realism to all of Caroline Bond's novels ... Redemptive and satisfying * Carol Mason on The Legacy *The characters jump off the page! * Sam Blake on Thea and Denise *Caroline Bond has a gift for weaving heart-rending tales of impossible decisions. * Amanda Brooke on The Forgotten Sister *
£9.49
Atlantic Books No Land to Light On: Longlisted for the 2022
Book Synopsis***'Tense, lyrical, intelligent' - The Big Issue******A heart-wrenching human story - Saga***Exit West meets An American Marriage in this breathtaking and evocative novel about a young Syrian couple in the throes of new love, on the cusp of their bright future...when a travel ban rips them apart on the eve of their son's birth.Boston, 2017: When Hadi returns to his heavily pregnant partner Sama after a trip to Jordan to bury his father, he is stopped at border control - a hostile new immigration law has just been enacted - while she awaits him on the other side. Worlds apart, suspended between hope and disillusion as hours become days become weeks, Sama and Hadi yearn for a way back to each other, and to the life they'd dreamed up together. But does that life exist any more, or was it only an illusion? Achingly intimate yet poignantly universal, No Land to Light On is the story of a family caught up in forces beyond their control, fighting for the freedom and home they found in one another.Trade ReviewZgheib writes so lyrically about rootlessness, separation and a fierce longing for home that it makes the tragedy of war that much easier to bear. Sama and Hadi will always hold a special place in my heart. -- ALKA JOSHI, author of The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of JaipurA masterful story of tragedy and redemption, an entire history told through the prism of a single Syrian couple, beginning and ending with love. -- HALA ALYAN, award-winning author of Salt Houses and The Arsonists' CityThrough a heart-wrenching human story runs a narrative about avian migration, the urge to take flight felt even by a caged bird - but all birds of passage need land to light on. -- Rose Shepherd * Saga Magazine *In elegant prose, Zgheib skillfully mingles her protagonists' memories with a nail-biting account of their 2017 ordeal to craft a narrative rich in metaphors and complex, believable characters. -- Washington Post * Washington Post *[in] glittering language that brings emotional resonance to the effects of monstrous policies [...] The separation comes in like thunder to break a happy story apart. Zgheib's poetic language serves her well in conveying that story. But much of its power lies also in the playful way Sama and Hadi experience new love, the sense of open possibility that immigration can still represent. This happiness is embedded within her story of suffering - and vice versa. -- Lorraine Berry * L.A. Times *Zgheib has created a tense, moving novel about the meaning of home, the risks of exile, the power of nations, and the power of love. * Kirkus *Her devastating second novel, No Land to Light On, is an illuminating, intimate look at the Syrian refugee crisis and the immigrant experience in America during the Trump administration [...] Zgheib offers nuanced insights into the complex psychology of and challenges faced by displaced people, and effectively makes the consequences of anti-immigrant sentiments and policies feel personal to all readers.Written in soul-searing prose, No Land to Light On is an essential, compassionate story that reinstates a sense of humanity for the countless people affected by U.S. travel bans. * BookPage *a graceful tale of imperiled lovers -- Kirkus * Kirkus *If you can handle suspense and heartache then add this one to your list. -- Elizabeth Walsh * Muse *An ongoing travel ban threatens every hope [Hadi and Sumi] ever shared, and through a chronicle of their torn-up plans, Zgheib deftly addresses pertinent issues of identity, homeland, exile and loss. This is a tense, lyrical, intelligent novel. -- Jane Graham * The Big Issue *
£13.49
Atlantic Books No Land to Light On: Longlisted for the 2022
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the 2022 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize'Tense, lyrical, intelligent' - The Big Issue'A heart-wrenching human story' - SagaExit West meets An American Marriage in this breathtaking and evocative novel about a young Syrian couple in the throes of new love, on the cusp of their bright future...when a travel ban rips them apart on the eve of their son's birth.Boston, 2017: When Hadi returns to his heavily pregnant partner Sama after a trip to Jordan to bury his father, he is stopped at border control - a hostile new immigration law has just been enacted - while she awaits him on the other side. Worlds apart, suspended between hope and disillusion as hours become days become weeks, Sama and Hadi yearn for a way back to each other, and to the life they'd dreamed up together. But does that life exist any more, or was it only an illusion? Achingly intimate yet poignantly universal, No Land to Light On is the story of a family caught up in forces beyond their control, fighting for the freedom and home they found in one another.Trade ReviewZgheib writes so lyrically about rootlessness, separation and a fierce longing for home that it makes the tragedy of war that much easier to bear. Sama and Hadi will always hold a special place in my heart. -- ALKA JOSHI, author of The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of JaipurA masterful story of tragedy and redemption, an entire history told through the prism of a single Syrian couple, beginning and ending with love. -- HALA ALYAN, award-winning author of Salt Houses and The Arsonists' CityThrough a heart-wrenching human story runs a narrative about avian migration, the urge to take flight felt even by a caged bird - but all birds of passage need land to light on. -- Rose Shepherd * Saga Magazine *In elegant prose, Zgheib skillfully mingles her protagonists' memories with a nail-biting account of their 2017 ordeal to craft a narrative rich in metaphors and complex, believable characters. -- Washington Post * Washington Post *[in] glittering language that brings emotional resonance to the effects of monstrous policies [...] The separation comes in like thunder to break a happy story apart. Zgheib's poetic language serves her well in conveying that story. But much of its power lies also in the playful way Sama and Hadi experience new love, the sense of open possibility that immigration can still represent. This happiness is embedded within her story of suffering - and vice versa. -- Lorraine Berry * L.A. Times *Zgheib has created a tense, moving novel about the meaning of home, the risks of exile, the power of nations, and the power of love. * Kirkus *Her devastating second novel, No Land to Light On, is an illuminating, intimate look at the Syrian refugee crisis and the immigrant experience in America during the Trump administration [...] Zgheib offers nuanced insights into the complex psychology of and challenges faced by displaced people, and effectively makes the consequences of anti-immigrant sentiments and policies feel personal to all readers.Written in soul-searing prose, No Land to Light On is an essential, compassionate story that reinstates a sense of humanity for the countless people affected by U.S. travel bans. * BookPage *a graceful tale of imperiled lovers -- Kirkus * Kirkus *If you can handle suspense and heartache then add this one to your list. -- Elizabeth Walsh * Muse *An ongoing travel ban threatens every hope [Hadi and Sumi] ever shared, and through a chronicle of their torn-up plans, Zgheib deftly addresses pertinent issues of identity, homeland, exile and loss. This is a tense, lyrical, intelligent novel. -- Jane Graham * The Big Issue *
£8.54
Atlantic Books Light of the Moon
Book SynopsisI thought loving someone was simple. It isn't. Glorious, yes. Painful, yes. Unforgettable, yes. Simple, no. It took me the war to find out... Evelyn St. John has been parachuted into France to link up with the Resistance and to work undercover. Paul von Hoch's brief, as a member of the German Intelligence, is to track down enemy spies. When Evelyn and Paul meet and fall in love, their feelings for one another are fierce, but can never be uncomplicated. And when the battle lines shift, and patriotism gives way to deeper truths, they will both face the gravest of challenges.Trade ReviewA compelling love story ... the characters are utterly convincing... genuine tension and excitement ... an excellent novel -- Philippa Gregory * Sunday Times *Echoing with danger and tension, tenderness and truth, this is a love story and a picture of war that will haunt you... unforgettable -- Peter James, author of 'Possession'An immensely interesting novel. The evocative atmosphere and dangerous exploits keep you turning the pages. * Woman's Journal *
£9.49
Atlantic Books Consider the Lily
Book SynopsisWhen a choice must be made between love and duty, solace comes in unexpected forms... Summer, 1929. The Hinton Dysart estate is dying from lack of money, and Kit Dysart, the heir, sees no way out. Then, at his sister's wedding, he meets the vibrant Daisy Chudleigh and her cousin, the heiress Matty Verrall. In love with Daisy but troubled by his family's decline, Kit chooses to marry Matty, though neither Kit nor Daisy is able to forget the other. When Matty, growing increasingly unhappy in her troubled, empty marriage, decides to re-create the estate's garden, she discovers solace and a gift of which she never dreamt. A haunting, passionate story played out between three people, Consider the Lily is also a poignant and beautiful novel of England between the wars that propels the reader into its own rich and nostalgic world.Trade ReviewA gorgeously well written tale: funny, sad, sophisticated * The Independent *The literary equivalent of an English country garden * Sunday Times *In her way Elizabeth Buchan is a chronicler of time and atmosphere as adept as Jane Austen. * Birmingham Post *An excellent story ... strong imaginative power ... wonderful atmosphere -- Joanna TrollopeAn outstanding, beautifully written and memorable story * Chicago Tribune *
£9.49
Atlantic Books Perfect Love
Book Synopsis'Modern marriage and its compromises ... a terrific, compassionate, compelling novel' Daily Mail Over twenty years of marriage to Max, Prue has remained a busy, contented mother and stepmother. Now, Prue's stepdaughter, Violet, has returned with her new husband from New York and, suddenly, Prue is precipitated into a secret life. As she moves between a sleepy village in Hampshire and buzzing London, Prue finds herself crossing the boundary between innocence and knowledge, exploring the line between the gluttony and surrender of desire and facing the stark realities that result. Because while marriage can be a battleground, extraordinary bargains and accommodations are often struck between people who love one another.Trade ReviewAdultery... handled with care and moral intelligence. What a good writer Buchan is. * Daily Telegraph *A powerful story: wise, observant, deeply-felt, with elements all women will recognise with a smile - or a shudder. Very highly recommended * Good Book Guide *Is Buchan the new Trollope?... A terrific new novel... Buchan's compassionate novel has an integral wisdom. * Daily Mail *The allure lies in the disparity between what its heroine is supposed to be and what she does. The intricacies of Prue's love affair keep the novel bowling along. * Sunday Times *
£9.49
Atlantic Books Against Her Nature
Book SynopsisLove, money and children... Life is a risk, however much we try to protect ourselves...Unlike the Frants living their quiet ordered lives in the village of Appleford, Tess and Becky are of the generation that believes it can have everything. Highflyers in the high-octane world of London's high-finance, they move through the opportunists, the short-termists, the sharks, the bullies and the very, very rich to face many choices, not least the one presented by biology: children.As the different generations balance the challenges life throws at them, a tender and unexpected love story emerges alongside a journey to maturity in this bold and beautiful novel.'A modern day Vanity Fair ... brilliantly done' - Mail on SundayTrade ReviewThe pursuit of money, allied to the pursuit of love, is one of fiction's most dynamic themes... an absorbing tale and a salutary one -- Helen DunmoreSuperb writing, pacy, sharp, dramatic, utterly gripping -- Val Hennessy * Woman's Journal *A satisfyingly easy but never facile read * Daily Telegraph *Horribly well done * Sunday Times *
£9.49
Atlantic Books The Bandit Queens: Longlisted for the Women's
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick 2023'Not since Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger has the rotten core of modern India been exposed in quite such blackly antic fashion as Parini Shroff manages here in this intermittently absurd, feminist revenge caper about a group of snarky, much-abused, predominantly Hindu wives...sheer gutsy verve.' The Times'A darkly funny revenge drama rooted in the reality of rural India . . . [A] vivid, unsentimental story that succeeds in being both satirical and moving.' Guardian'A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women' - New York Times'Mordantly humoured, pacey feminist revenge thriller' - The Sunday Times__________________________________For Geeta, life as a widow is more peaceful than life as a wife...Until the other women in her village decide they want to be widows, too.Geeta is believed to have killed her vanished husband - a rumour she hasn't bothered trying to correct, because a reputation like that can keep a single woman safe in rural India. But when she's approached for help in ridding another wife of her abusive drunk of a husband, her reluctant agreement sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of all the women in the village....A darkly irreverent and fresh take on a feminist revenge thriller, perfect for readers of My Sister the Serial Killer, How To Kidnap The Rich and the Sharon Horgan series Bad Sisters.'Tender, unpredictable, brimming with laugh-out-loud moments' Téa Obreht, author of THE TIGER'S WIFE'Original, memorable, and endearing' Charmaine Wilkerson, author of BLACK CAKE'A rollicking mash-up of adventure story, thriller, dark revenge, and comedy' Cristina García, author of DREAMING IN CUBANTrade ReviewNot since Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger has the rotten core of modern India been exposed in quite such blackly antic fashion as Parini Shroff manages here in this intermittently absurd, feminist revenge caper about a group of snarky, much-abused, predominantly Hindu wives...sheer gutsy verve. -- Claire Allfree * The Times *Shroff's debut is a darkly funny revenge drama rooted in the reality of rural India . . . Shroff doesn't pull any punches in this vivid, unsentimental story that succeeds in being both satirical and moving. -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women -- Chandler Baker * New York Times *This funny, feel-good read is a rollicking ride rife with memorable characters involved in ill-fated hijinks. It also serves up commentary on class, power dynamics and the role of women in society, with a feminist history lesson to boot. -- Good Housekeeping * Good Housekeeping *Shroff cleverly considers how women might achieve autonomy within rural India's patriarchal society through shrewd, if complicated, female friendships. -- Washington Post * Washington Post *The Bandit Queens is an original, memorable, and endearing story. At times deeply serious, at times laugh-out-loud funny...a sobering but hopeful exploration of womanhood, social injustices, and second chances. -- Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of BLACK CAKEParini Shroff captures the complexity of female friendship with acuity, wit, and a certain kind of magic irreverence, turning on a dime from humor to horror, horror to heart, and then back again, exhilarating her reader until the very last line. Tender, unpredictable, brimming with laugh-out-loud moments, The Bandit Queens heralds a prodigious and sophisticated literary talent. -- Téa Obreht * Téa Obreht, Orange Prize-winning author of THE TIGER'S WIFE *Parini Shroff's splendid The Bandit Queens is a hilarious romp about serious things - as serious as a novel gets, and as funny, too, with characters who are dear and maddening and indelible and gorgeously drawn. Twisty, compulsive, bold, surprising, moving: it's a wonderful book. -- Elizabeth McCracken * Elizabeth McCracken *Parini Schroff's debut novel, The Bandit Queens, is a rollicking mash-up of adventure story, thriller, dark revenge, and comedy. Rooted in a rural village in India-and led by the pariah widow Geeta, who everyone believes to have killed her husband-a handful of women band together to take back their lives, and take down the patriarchy. An immensely enjoyable read! -- Cristina García, author of Dreaming in Cuban and The Lady Matador’s HotelAn extraordinary caper of a novel. I've never met a character like Geeta...it is dark - but also it's utterly compelling and funny. -- Louise Minchin * Louise Minchin, Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 Judge *This is the best book I've read in a while. THE BANDIT QUEENS is an original, memorable, and endearing story. At times deeply serious, at times laugh-out-loud funny, THE BANDIT QUEENS is a sobering but hopeful exploration of womanhood, social injustices, and second chances in an Indian village. -- Charmaine Wilkerson * Charmaine Wilkerson, author of BLACK CAKE *One of the most talked-about debut novels of the year lives up to the hype and then some. The story of Geetha, a tough-but-wounded young woman in a remote Indian village who, after her abusive husband disappears, gains a reputation as a black widow. These rumors prove somewhat beneficial to Geetha in her desire to be left alone...until other women start approaching her for help in disposing their own shitty husbands. Uproarious, tender, and at times quite harrowing, with razor-sharp dialogue and a truly magnificent cast of characters, The Bandit Queens is a darkly hilarious delight of a novel. -- Dan Sheehan, Book Marks Editor-in-Chief * LitHub *a dark yet uplifting story of village women who fight domestic violence and caste discrimination -- Susan Blumberg-Kason * Asian Review of Books *an audacious high-wire act of a novel that mingles the deadly serious with the highly comic, yet never loses its profound empathy for the women at its heart * Apple Books *Parini Shroff's colourful debut novel, The Bandit Queens, [is] an irreverent and unusual tale of struggle and sisterhood in rural India. -- Radio Times * Radio Times *This mordantly humoured, pacey revenge comedy succeeds in being both feelgood and gleefully nasty, tender and violent. -- Patricia Nicol * The Sunday Times *...a fast-paced, dark comedy of female friendship, revenge, murder and survival. * Mirror *
£16.14
Atlantic Books The Bandit Queens: Longlisted for the Women's
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick 2023'Not since Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger has the rotten core of modern India been exposed in quite such blackly antic fashion as Parini Shroff manages here in this intermittently absurd, feminist revenge caper about a group of snarky, much-abused, predominantly Hindu wives...sheer gutsy verve.' The Times'A darkly funny revenge drama rooted in the reality of rural India . . . [A] vivid, unsentimental story that succeeds in being both satirical and moving.' Guardian'A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women' - New York Times'Mordantly humoured, pacey feminist revenge thriller' - The Sunday Times__________________________________For Geeta, life as a widow is more peaceful than life as a wife...Until the other women in her village decide they want to be widows, too.Geeta is believed to have killed her vanished husband - a rumour she hasn't bothered trying to correct, because a reputation like that can keep a single woman safe in rural India. But when she's approached for help in ridding another wife of her abusive drunk of a husband, her reluctant agreement sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of all the women in the village....A darkly irreverent and fresh take on a feminist revenge thriller, perfect for readers of My Sister the Serial Killer, How To Kidnap The Rich and the Sharon Horgan series Bad Sisters.'Tender, unpredictable, brimming with laugh-out-loud moments' Téa Obreht, author of THE TIGER'S WIFE'Original, memorable, and endearing' Charmaine Wilkerson, author of BLACK CAKE'A rollicking mash-up of adventure story, thriller, dark revenge, and comedy' Cristina García, author of DREAMING IN CUBANTrade ReviewNot since Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger has the rotten core of modern India been exposed in quite such blackly antic fashion as Parini Shroff manages here in this intermittently absurd, feminist revenge caper about a group of snarky, much-abused, predominantly Hindu wives...sheer gutsy verve. -- Claire Allfree * The Times *Shroff's debut is a darkly funny revenge drama rooted in the reality of rural India . . . Shroff doesn't pull any punches in this vivid, unsentimental story that succeeds in being both satirical and moving. -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women -- Chandler Baker * New York Times *This funny, feel-good read is a rollicking ride rife with memorable characters involved in ill-fated hijinks. It also serves up commentary on class, power dynamics and the role of women in society, with a feminist history lesson to boot. -- Good Housekeeping * Good Housekeeping *Shroff cleverly considers how women might achieve autonomy within rural India's patriarchal society through shrewd, if complicated, female friendships. -- Washington Post * Washington Post *The Bandit Queens is an original, memorable, and endearing story. At times deeply serious, at times laugh-out-loud funny...a sobering but hopeful exploration of womanhood, social injustices, and second chances. -- Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of BLACK CAKEParini Shroff captures the complexity of female friendship with acuity, wit, and a certain kind of magic irreverence, turning on a dime from humor to horror, horror to heart, and then back again, exhilarating her reader until the very last line. Tender, unpredictable, brimming with laugh-out-loud moments, The Bandit Queens heralds a prodigious and sophisticated literary talent. -- Téa Obreht * Téa Obreht, Orange Prize-winning author of THE TIGER'S WIFE *Parini Shroff's splendid The Bandit Queens is a hilarious romp about serious things - as serious as a novel gets, and as funny, too, with characters who are dear and maddening and indelible and gorgeously drawn. Twisty, compulsive, bold, surprising, moving: it's a wonderful book. -- Elizabeth McCracken * Elizabeth McCracken *Parini Schroff's debut novel, The Bandit Queens, is a rollicking mash-up of adventure story, thriller, dark revenge, and comedy. Rooted in a rural village in India-and led by the pariah widow Geeta, who everyone believes to have killed her husband-a handful of women band together to take back their lives, and take down the patriarchy. An immensely enjoyable read! -- Cristina García, author of Dreaming in Cuban and The Lady Matador’s HotelAn extraordinary caper of a novel. I've never met a character like Geeta...it is dark - but also it's utterly compelling and funny. -- Louise Minchin * Louise Minchin, Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 Judge *This is the best book I've read in a while. THE BANDIT QUEENS is an original, memorable, and endearing story. At times deeply serious, at times laugh-out-loud funny, THE BANDIT QUEENS is a sobering but hopeful exploration of womanhood, social injustices, and second chances in an Indian village. -- Charmaine Wilkerson * Charmaine Wilkerson, author of BLACK CAKE *One of the most talked-about debut novels of the year lives up to the hype and then some. The story of Geetha, a tough-but-wounded young woman in a remote Indian village who, after her abusive husband disappears, gains a reputation as a black widow. These rumors prove somewhat beneficial to Geetha in her desire to be left alone...until other women start approaching her for help in disposing their own shitty husbands. Uproarious, tender, and at times quite harrowing, with razor-sharp dialogue and a truly magnificent cast of characters, The Bandit Queens is a darkly hilarious delight of a novel. -- Dan Sheehan, Book Marks Editor-in-Chief * LitHub *a dark yet uplifting story of village women who fight domestic violence and caste discrimination -- Susan Blumberg-Kason * Asian Review of Books *an audacious high-wire act of a novel that mingles the deadly serious with the highly comic, yet never loses its profound empathy for the women at its heart * Apple Books *Parini Shroff's colourful debut novel, The Bandit Queens, [is] an irreverent and unusual tale of struggle and sisterhood in rural India. -- Radio Times * Radio Times *This mordantly humoured, pacey revenge comedy succeeds in being both feelgood and gleefully nasty, tender and violent. -- Patricia Nicol * The Sunday Times *...a fast-paced, dark comedy of female friendship, revenge, murder and survival. * Mirror *
£12.34
Atlantic Books The Funeral Cryer
Book Synopsis***'A refreshing perspective on mourning, as well as a moving tale of a social outcast' - i-D Magazine******'Subtle and understated [...] ultimately very moving' - The Big Issue******A fascinating glimpse into how [rural women's] lives are still led' - Dorset Magazine***Is it ever too late to change your life?Elegant, wry and moving, The Funeral Cryer tells the tale of one woman's mid-life re-awakening in contemporary rural China and proves that it's never too late to alter your fate.The Funeral Cryer long ago accepted the mundane realities of her life: avoided by fellow villagers because of the stigma attached to her job as a professional mourner and under-appreciated by The Husband, whose fecklessness has pushed the couple close to the brink of break-up. But just when things couldn't be bleaker, The Funeral Cryer takes a leap of faith - and in so doing things start to take a surprising turn for the better . . . Dark, moving and wry, The Funeral Cryer is both an illuminating depiction of a 'left behind' society - and proof that it's never too late to change your life.What readers have been saying about The Funeral Cryer:'A beautiful, thought-provoking book [...] incredibly humorous' - J. Wells, Five-star Reader Review'A stunning debut' - Stacey, Five-star Reader Review'A first person narrative that shows how the life of a middle-aged woman working as a funeral cryer in China is deeply linked to the people who touch her life and the way they treat her.' - Kate Poels, Five-star Reader Review'A remarkable novel that explores themes of marriage, family relationships, elderly care, and gender equality [...] this book offers a unique reading experience and an opportunity for deep contemplation.' - Rui, Five-star Reader Review'Excellent literary fiction. [...] Simultaneously the story speaks to the rural economic desperation, the separation of town and country, they way the young move to the cities and are often left with no other option to finance themselves than selling themselves. The huge discrepancy between the haves and have-nots is very evident.' - Cheryl M-M, Five-star Reader ReviewTrade ReviewA more wry exploration of grief is Wenyan Lu's The Funeral Cryer, about a professional mourner in rural China. Oscillating between tragedy and comedy, Wenyan's novel is a refreshing perspective on mourning, as well as a moving tale of a social outcast. -- Katie Goh * i-D Magazine *a fascinating glimpse into how [rural women's] lives are still led. * Dorset Magazine *I adored The Funeral Cryer about a professional mourner. The prose is elegant and restrained, yet still manages to convey the protagonist's anger that simmers between the pages like a dormant volcano. Highly recommend this stunning debut. -- Stacey Thomas * Stacey Thomas, author of THE REVELS *Wonderful. A deft, humorous exploration of female desire and a forgotten society with a protagonist to love and root for. -- Irenosen Okojie, award-winning author of BUTTERFLY FISH * Irenosen Okojie *This thought-provoking story will stay with me a long time [...] spectacular. -- Diane Billas, author of DOES LOVE ALWAYS WIN? * GoodReads *In haunting, elegiac prose, Wenyan Lu paints a world and profession that few of us are aware of in contemporary, rural China. How a professional mourner, a manipulator of emotions, wrestles with her own midlife crisis is at turns both tragic and comic, and has wide resonance beyond its rural setting. -- Yvonne Singh, Journalist, Editor, Judge SI Leeds 2020It is an exquisite, wholesome and insightful read about a China which many of us might never otherwise have a chance to visit. A jolly good book. -- Chikodili Emelumadu * Chikodili Emelumadu, author of DAZZLING *A wonderful story; so moving. A beautifully written, memorable novel. -- Kadija George * Kadija George *A fascinating exploration of another culture. The eponymous character shows us about life in rural China with a unique voice that can be both wry and heartbreaking. Through her interactions with the other villagers we get a glimpse of what life is like away from the big city. -- M. J. Hollows * M. J. Hollows *...a captivating tale [...] China-born Lu adeptly weaves the age-old themes of filial piety and loyalty into the fabric of the story, highlighting the clash between tradition and modernity in her remote village setting. -- Gabrielle Chan * Strait Times (Singapore) *A fascinating insight into domestic rural life in China today. Lu's choice of heroine is perfect: the funeral cryer is shunned and scorned by the very people who require her services, her resultant marginal and ambiguous social position giving her a unique window on the world around her. Her questions about her own life echo wider concerns about the persistence of traditional culture in modern China, as she negotiates being a good mother, a good daughter and a good wife in a bad marriage. -- Sarah Burton, author of THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF HEnlightening [...] a moving story, which sheds light on what life is like in modern rural China, the mixing of modern and traditional customs, and the bonds of love, responsibility and loyalty that underpin everyday lives. * NZ Booklovers *The title character's wry, sad, and insightful inner voice is the star here. Her meditations on grief, death, love, and duty are full of poetry and longing. Perfect for literary-fiction fans, especially those who enjoyed other extraordinary novels about ordinary people, such as Lydia Millet's Dinosaurs and Zorrie by Laird Hunt. * Kirkus Reviews, starred review *
£16.14
Atlantic Books Becoming Liz Taylor
Book Synopsis'An accomplished and memorable debut full of heart and heartbreak - an absolute corker for reading groups!' Ruth Hogan, bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost ThingsVal, a widow living in Weston-super-Mare, spends lonely evenings dressing up as the movie star Elizabeth Taylor. It seems to be a way of coping with the loss and sadness she has experienced in her life. One day, when Val sees a pram left unattended on the seafront, on a whim she kicks off the brake and walks away with it...Set in the present and the 1970s, BECOMING LIZ TAYLOR is a vivid and touching depiction of love, loss and bereavement - thought-provoking, moving fiction for fans of Rachel Joyce, Emma Healey and Ruth Hogan.****Shortlisted for the debut novel prize at the 'Festival du Premier Roman' in Chambéry.***Trade ReviewBecoming Liz Taylor is a truly compelling read and tackles the subject of loss and grief with brutal honesty and poignant sensitivity. It's such an accomplished and memorable debut full of heart and heartbreak - an absolute corker for reading groups! -- Ruth Hogan * Ruth Hogan, bestselling author of THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS *
£15.29
Atlantic Books Welcome Me to the Kingdom
Book SynopsisBangkok, 1980. As the decades pass, figures fall in and out of the relentless city: Pea and Nam, who arrive in search of a better life; a Thai Elvis impersonator and his only daughter, Pinky; Benz, Tintin and Big, a brotherhood of orphaned strayboys; Rick, the white American patriarch who abandons his Thai family when the going gets tough; Hasmah, whose bloody, hidden work is driven by secessionist rage. Sex tourism, Buddhist cults, gambling rings and skin-whitening routines threaten to take over a city reeling from financial crisis - in a nation constantly reinventing itself, anything can happen.In the temples, slums, and gated estates of late-twentieth century Bangkok, Welcome Me to the Kingdom exposes the schemes and strategies, the lies and betrayals, that inch its characters tantalisingly closer to 'the good life'. Wildly imaginative and ambitious, Mai Nardone's immersive debut announces the arrival of an extraordinary new voice, and captures the growing discrepancy between Thailand's smiling self-image and its ugly reverse. Seen through a haze of covert agreements and cigarette smoke, these unforgettable stories capture a kingdom caught between this world and the next.Trade ReviewAn honest, crystalline depiction of what urbanization has done to complicate and erode human life. Bangkok is the true star here, a modern city at the center of a tale as old as civilization itself. Every brightly lit kingdom has an underbelly. * NEW YORK TIMES, EDITORS' CHOICE *Welcome Me to the Kingdom is a heady, delicately woven collection of stories, full of glitter and grime and surprising sweetness. Mai Nardone explores the fraught relationship between duty and desire, and how this conflict festers in Bangkok's high-end restaurants and school playgrounds as much as its nightclubs and street kitchens. * Cathy Thomas, author of ISLANDERS *Mai Nardone transports us to a Thailand as few of us have seen it: gritty and lush, spangled and crumbling, aching with grit and ecstasy. Luck and want drive these characters across a landscape that pulsates with the rawness of life lived under an unforgiving sun, and Nardone is a writer with an atlas straight to the heart. * C Pam Zhang, author of HOW MUCH OF THESE HILLS IS GOLD *Revelatory, unflinching, and gorgeously written . . . Mai Nardone's debut peers deep into the lives of Bangkok's street kids, sex workers, sex tourists, and the privileged bicultural, biracial, and often accidental, beneficiaries of colonialism. Rarely does a work portray those clinging to the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder - and those guarding their position at the top - with such grace, nuance, and insight. Welcome Me to the Kingdom should be taught in classrooms everywhere. * Jonathan Escoffery, author of If I Survive You *Astonishing. Relentless. Mai Nardone's interlocking stories of modern urban Thailand showcase spectacularly riveting settings and characters as they navigate desire, desperation, and survival. * Frances Cha, author of If I Had Your Face *A kaleidoscopic vision of Thailand as deep as it is broad. Muay Thai fighters, sex workers, family kitchens, territorial volunteer medics: If no one is saved, no one is exactly lost, either. In the precisely detailed lives of his characters, Nardone unearths real truths, both painful and uplifting, and with his singular prose leaves us wanting more. * Kawai Strong Washburn, author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors *Vibrant... The beauty here lies in the granular gradations of class and religious discrimination Nardone illuminates... Nardone expertly and realistically dramatizes the effects of poverty's vice-like grip. * Booklist STARRED REVIEW *
£13.49
Atlantic Books The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs: Author of the
Book SynopsisFROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE PROMISESHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE, 2003A year ago Patrick Winter was in Namibia completing his military service. Now, during the first free elections, Patrick has returned to the country he defended; the place where he fell in love for the first and only time. With the country poised to change forever, Patrick is forced to revisit his past and scale the wall that he has built around his painful memories of love, war and loss.'An astonishingly sensitive writer.' Irish Times'Engaging and enduring... devastating in the lucidity and austere assurance of its prose.' TLS'A work whose psychological observation is as subtle as its political analysis.' The Times'A beautifully written and thoughtful meditation on love, loss and longing.' AttitudeTrade ReviewAn astonishingly sensitive writer. * Irish Times *Engaging and enduring... devastating in the lucidity and austere assurance of its prose. * TLS *A work whose psychological observation is as subtle as its political analysis. * The Times *A beautifully written and thoughtful meditation on love, loss and longing. * Attitude *
£9.49
Verso Books The Runaways
Book Synopsis"Dazzling. A novel that holds up to scrutiny a world of claustrophobic war zones, virulent social media and cities collapsing upon themselves, and then sets it down again, transformed by the grace of storytelling." - Siddartha Deb, author of The Point of ReturnAnita lives in Karachi's biggest slum. Her mother is a maalish wali, paid to massage the tired bones of rich women. But Anita's life will change forever when she meets her elderly neighbour, a man whose shelves of books promise an escape to a different world.On the other side of Karachi lives Monty, whose father owns half the city and expects great things of him. But when a beautiful and rebellious girl joins his school, Monty will find his life going in a very different direction. Sunny's father left India and went to England to give his son the opportunities he never had. Yet Sunny doesn't fit in anywhere. It's only when his charismatic cousin comes back into his life that he realises his life could hold more possibilities than he ever imagined. These three lives will cross in the desert, a place where life and death walk hand in hand, and where their closely guarded secrets will force them to make a terrible choice.Trade ReviewFatima Bhutto vividly renders the seductions of Islamic radicalization in such a way that we understand both its historical specificity and its universal roots in idealism and desire, rage and romance, youth and rebellion. Drawn from the headlines but plunging much deeper, The Runaways is a novel for our difficult times. -- Viet Thanh NguyenAn astute and searing take on anomie and radicalization. * Kirkus Reviews *Stunning ... Bhutto's descriptions trade between stark beauty and restrained horrors, encompassing the damp of a rain-soaked slum, the wonder of self-caging birds, and the pure brightness of moonshine over the desert ... Her pages are brutal and surprising, and their revelations stand to unmake and rebuild their audiences. -- Michelle Anne Schingler * Foreword Reviews (Starred Review) *Dramatic. ... With poetic writing, Bhutto slowly reveals the characters' connections as well as some compelling twists, and makes a convincing case that extremism, especially for young people, is driven more by feelings of alienation than religion. -- Kathy Sexton * Booklist *Told in alternate chapters from the points of view of all three protagonists, the book moves forward and backward, explaining their motivations in spare, almost jaunty prose that elicits empathy for the troubled teens and stands in stark contrast to the seriousness of the plot. Bhutto's penetrating character study convinces all the way to the inevitable bloody end. * Publishers Weekly *The Runaways is an extraordinary novel by an author whose attention to detail [and] exceptionally effective narrative storytelling style has created the kind of book that will linger in the mind and memory long after it has been finished. * Midwest Book Review *A meticulous psychological study of who turns to radicalism and why. ... A provocative investigation of courage, and how it can foment either salvation or damnation. -- Anjali Enjeti * Minneapolis Star Tribune *The Runaways, with its complex fusion of ideas-personal, national, and transnational identity; the relationship between fervor and self-destruction; and the nature of the matrix within which we live-generates a complex fictional topography. The sensibilities of the novel's protagonists suggest a new dynamic of power relations in which politics and selfhood, empire and psychology prove to be profoundly interrelated. -- Nyla Ali Khan * World Literature Today *The Runaways is a finely wrought novel. ... Both thought-provoking and humane. -- Ron Jacobs * CounterPunch *[The characters'] alternating voices give a kaleidoscopic feel to the plot, and yield a panoramic look at the roots of radicalism. -- Adeel Hassan * New York Times *
£18.90
Everyman A Thousand Acres
Book SynopsisThis powerful twentieth-century reimagining of Shakespeare's King Lear centers on a wealthy Iowa farmer who decides to divide his farm among his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will, which sets in motion a chain of events that brings dark truths to light. Ambitiously conceived and stunningly written, A Thousand Acres spins the most fundamental themes of truth, justice, love, and pride into a universally acclaimed masterpiece.Trade ReviewI still don't know how Smiley did it, the voices in A Thousand Acres are so raw and true, right from the first page. It's as if she has channelled them, rather than invented them. It has Biblical sweep – that broad sense of the epic – but Smiley is poignant on the daily-ness of life, cooking, cleaning and the way one sister feels when she finds she can't have children . * Independent *It’s been almost 25 years since Smiley won the Pulitzer Prize for A Thousand Acres. With the Last One Hundred Years trilogy, she surely confirms her place alongside Roth, Updike and Bellow as one of the truly great chroniclers of 20th-century American life. * Guardian *
£11.69
Everyman Stories of Motherhood
Book SynopsisIn this beautifully packaged anthology A. S. Byatt, Alice Munro, Elizabeth Bowen, Sherwood Anderson, Edith Wharton, Anita Desai, Colm Tóibín, Lorrie Moore and many others reflect upon all aspects of motherhood in stories lyrical and satirical, realistic and fantastic, hilarious and heartbreaking. Here at last is a gift-book that is neither sentimental nor 'inspirational', offering instead high-quality literary fiction which will continue to entertain long after the chocolates have been eaten and the flowers thrown away.
£13.50
Bedford Square Publishers Perfume River
Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence 2017 Profound and poignant, Perfume River is a masterful novel that examines family ties and the legacy of the Vietnam War through the portrait of a single North Florida family. Profound and poignant, Perfume River is a masterful novel that examines blood ties and the legacy of the Vietnam War through the portrait of a single North Florida family. Robert Quinlan and his wife Darla teach at Florida State University. Their marriage, forged in the fervour of anti-Vietnam-war protests, now bears the fractures of time, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee, solitary jogging and separate offices. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain below the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert's own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy, who became estranged from the family as the Vietnam War intensified. William Quinlan, Robert and Jimmy's father and a veteran of World War II, is coming to the end of his life, and aftershocks of war ripple across all their lives once again when Jimmy refuses to appear at his father's bedside. And a disturbed homeless man whom Robert at first takes to be a fellow Vietnam veteran turns out to have a devastating impact not just on Robert, but on his entire family.Trade ReviewButler's Faulknerian shuttling back and forth across the decades has less to do with literary pyrotechnics than with cutting to the chase. Perfume River hits its marks with a high-stakes intensity . . . Butler's particulars on the two brothers' marriages are comprehensively adroit . . . Butler's prose is fluid, and his handling of his many time-shifts as lucid as it is urgent. His descriptive gifts don't extend just to his characters' traits or their Florida and New Orleans settings, but to the history he's addressing . . . 'You share a war in one way,' Robert thinks. 'You pass it on in another.' Perfume River captures both the agony and subtlety of how that happens -- Michael Upchurch * New York Times Book Review *Though superficially a straightforward family drama, Perfume River poses some deeply serious questions about the nature of our engagement with war and the way throughout history it has served the purpose of testing the resolve and courage of young men. It also explores how notions of loyalty and duty can be part of a son's genetic inheritance and what can happen when they are challenged. And it reveals how, more than 40 years after its ignominious end, the Vietnam War remains for some Americans an open wound. Butler's refusal to even hint at easy answers to those questions makes this a novel that succeeds in engaging us in profound and important ways * Bookreporter.com *At the heart of the story - or stories, which move fluidly among Robert, Darla and Jimmy, one character's thoughts sometimes answering another's - is a knot of misunderstandings, misconceptions and assumptions that begin to unravel with the father's fall, only to be replaced by new if somewhat clearer distortions * Minneapolis Star Tribune *This thoughtful and considered novel stands as a sobering reminder that there are still members of an ageing generation to have, even now, failed to find peace or closure -- Alastair Mabbot * The Sunday Herald *An understated yet profound and incredibly hard hitting and evocative novel that just simmers with tension -- Liz Robinson * LoveReading *
£8.54
The Lilliput Press Ltd The Leaves On Grey
Book SynopsisIt is the late 1940s, and Sean and Liam, middle-class boys in a small West of Ireland town, share a powerful bond of love and rivalry: each long for the same women. At university together in Dublin, Sean and Liam’s burgeoning sexuality leads them to a deeper, almost mystical level of involvement. They befriend Christine, rich, vulnerable and desperate for affection, and Sarah, glamorous, spoiled, intoxicating; her body is a seductive bridge between the pair, which they ultimately cross with painful and profound consequences. The Leaves on Grey is the story of Ireland, ‘maker of wounds, tormentor of youth, ultimately breaker of all that was sensitive and enriched by sun, rain, wind’. Sean and Liam, and the men and women who become part of their lives, are both the creators and victims of their birthright. This sensitive, passionate story is Desmond Hogan’s second novel, originally published in 1980. It is reissued here with a new afterword by the authorTrade ReviewLost innocence, the young and the bright and the beautiful shining and dancing before dusk, is the theme … Hardly new material, but to it Mr Hogan – one of the most talented writers lately to come out of Ireland or anywhere else – brings a light so brilliant that almost every word dazzles.’ – Janice Elliott, Sunday Telegraph ‘Desmond Hogan establishes himself among the best novelists with The Leaves on Grey. He has a lot to say, which he does with elegance and maturity … his language is succinct and utterly fresh. He wishes fiction to be a moral force, and his could be.’ – Myrna Blumberg, The Times ‘A free-ranging, ambitious and poetic talent … whose intensity and individuality of vision, though learned and strengthened in Ireland, will give him a significance of a wholly universal kind.’ – Paul Binding, Books and Bookmen
£7.99
The Lilliput Press Ltd Thirsty Ghosts
Book SynopsisEmer Martin’s is a radical, vital voice in Irish writing, as she challenges the history of silence, institutional lies, evasion and the mistreatment of women across mid-to-late twentieth-century Ireland. Two families inhabit this immersive polyvocal work, an intergenerational saga announced with The Cruelty Men (2018) and continued here as punk rockers and Magdalene laundries spiral into a post-colonial Ireland still haunted by its tribal undertow. Scenes surface from Ireland’s mythological past, Tudor plantations, workhouses and industrial schools, the Troubles laid bare, the transformative pre-digital decades playing out in this propulsive narrative. Thirsty Ghosts is epic in scope while intimate in focus. The Lyons, professionals in a newly independent state, are attacked by paramilitaries in their family home in Tyrone. The eccentric O’Conaills of Kerry, traumatized by displacement, find themselves in leafy Dublin 4. We encounter a servant who meets Henry VIII, a Lithuanian Jewish family who become part of the fabric of Dublin, and a wild young girl who escapes the laundry only to stumble into a psycho pimp. Related with dark humour, verve and high literary style, Thirsty Ghosts is a revelatory exploration of Ireland combining themes of power, class, fertility, violence and deep love, forces as universal as the old stories that permeate and illuminate each character’s life.Trade Review‘Kevin Curran's spiky, polyphonic, multi-ethnic tale of four Balbriggan teenagers, Youth, scratches an itch for modern urban grit … I hunger for more of this.’ Sunday Independent‘An unstoppable tour de force … Martin’s work is extremely important; it provides a portal for people who want to learn more about Ireland and its complex and convoluted history.’ Atticus Review'An untamed dreamtime held together by stories, this is a wild river-run of a novel about Ireland’s dark histories, narrated in the merry voice we associate with Emer Martin, one of our truly original writers. Her wry humour gives the grimmest stories an exuberant buoyancy. And seldom has English as spoken in Ireland – from rural Tyrone to south Dublin suburbia – been so perfectly conveyed on the page.’ Éilís Ní Dhuibhne'Emer Martin casts a cold eye on Ireland and the Irish in this layered narrative which ranges from myths to myth-busting over the comforting fictions we tell ourselves.’ Martina Devlin‘Inventive, freewheeling and utterly fearless, Thirsty Ghosts delves into the Irish psyche with no holds barred. An incisive and intriguing novel.’ Christine Dwyer Hickey‘There is ambition and then there is the Great Irish Novel kind of ambition that is in Emer Martin's Thirsty Ghosts … It is a fine balance of the savagely funny and heartbreaking.’ THE BOOKSELLER‘To say Emer Martin’s fifth novel is epic would be an understatement. With the literary flair and love of language to match its ambition, it is breathtaking in its scope … The writing and the tangled, intergenerational stories flow beautifully. Each sentence, each word is in service of the tragically comic, the wonderfully epic story of Ireland.’ SUNDAY INDEPENDENT ‘A new book from Emer Martin is always a big deal … Emer is a singular voice’ Derek O'Connor, RTÉ‘Emer Martin’s fourth novel, The Cruelty Men, was my book of the year in 2018, a searing account of one Irish family’s tribulations at the hands of church and state in the last century. Thirsty Ghosts revisits some of the same characters, albeit from a slightly different perspective. … There is a raw and savage humour here … Flann O’Brien shot through with Guillermo del Toro. Martin’s use of language is superb, from the comedic colloquialisms of rural accents with one character having “a face on her like a pig licking piss off a nettle”, to the lyrical and poetic where ghosts are likely to live “inside the grimy guts of the gloom of nights”. Thirsty Ghosts is also epic in scope. Martin skilfully juxtaposes the bloodletting of the recent and the distant past in a glorious bid to capture the power of story itself as a means to push back the darkness. A wild, magnificent book.’ SUNDAY BUSINESS POST‘Emer Martin knows how to tell a story. Martin’s writing has a well-earned reputation of literary merit. Her latest, Thirsty Ghosts, is an epic work of multigenerational lived truth. It follows two families, and the hag—Ireland. It’s angry, beautiful and important. … Martin sees the ghosts. She gives voice to people who weren’t listened to, and that’s what makes this book so incredibly powerful. She shows us what a difference it makes to be poor, to be rich, to be impotent against the evils.’ BOOKS IRELAND‘Emer Martin’s novel is a fierce indictment of the collusion in 20th-century Ireland between church and state. … Martin specializes in contemporary stories of exile, family dysfunction and the Irish diaspora. [She] offers a searingly unsentimental view of modern Ireland.’ AMERICA MAGAZINE‘There are very few books that I find myself compulsively recommending to absolutely everyone I know. Emer Martin’s formidable Thirsty Ghosts is one of these few. … Martin has managed to capture an emotional history of Ireland since the birth of time — in just one novel. … It is a story of missed chances, of childhood, of politics and power, of inherited pain, of familial love, but most of all it is a story of stories — the mythology that connects us, that supports us and that keeps us alive.’ TOTALLY DUBLIN ‘A sprawling, epic powerhouse of a read’ ANNE CUNNINGHAM, MEATH CHRONICLE
£15.20
Atlantic Books Bitter Fruit
SHORTLISTED FOR 2003 THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE Shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Award 2003 'Dangor's writing, and the world he creates with it, exude a vibrant physicality... Dangor's vivid prose, narrative fluency and facility for literary experiment make Bitter Fruit a considerable achievement.'-- Shomit Dutta, Daily Telegraph The last time Silas Ali encountered the Lieutenant, Silas was locked in the back of a police van and the Lieutenant was conducting a vicious assault on Lydia, his wife.When Silas sees him again, by chance, twenty years later, crimes from the past erupt into the present, splintering the Ali's fragile family life. Bitter Fruitis the story of Silas and Lydia, their parents, friends and colleagues, as their lives take off in unexpected directions and relationships fracture under the weight of history.It is also the story of their son Mickey, a student and sexual adventurer, with an enquiring mind and a strong will.An unforgettably fine novel about a brittle family in a dysfunctional society.
£9.49
Atlantic Books The Wonder House
Book Synopsis'Hardy's evident intimacy with and affection for the troubled landscape and people of her novel lend The Wonder House an air of distinction' - The TimesThree women live on The Wonder House, a boat moored on Nagin Lake, and carved from the great cedars that watch over the Kashmir Valley. Suriya is mute, and carries a terrible secret. Her daughter, Lila, wants to escape the past, and live a different kind of life. But together, they tend to Gracie, a defiant Yorkshirewoman living out her widowhood by the lake. A military coup over the border brings violence crashing back into the Valley. When an English journalist arrives to report on the conflict, Gracie invites him to stay on The Wonder House. But, Hal is a man adrift, and his love for one of the women threatens more than just the fragile peace on the houseboat.Trade Review"A heartbreaking book... the love story seems to mirror the complicated political struggle surrounding it and the ending is so painful, like Romeo and Juliet... A huge achievement.' * Joanna Lumley *'A rare book - subtle, sensitive, sensual' * Achmat Dangor *'Hardy's evident intimacy with and affection for the troubled landscape and people of her novel lend The Wonder House an air of distinction' * The Times *'Brilliant... each of the characters is wonderfully crafted' * Easy Living *
£7.59
Atlantic Books Let it be Morning
Book SynopsisImagine your own home surrounded by roadblocks and tanks, your water turned off and the cashpoints empty. What would you do next? A young journalist, recently married with a new baby, is seeking a quieter life away from the city and has bought a large new house in his parent's hometown, an Arab village in Israel. Nothing is as they remember: everything is smaller, the people petty and provincial and the villagers divided between sympathy for the Palestinians and dependence on the Israelis. Suddenly and shockingly, the village becomes a pawn in the power struggles of the Middle East. When Israeli tanks surround the village without warning or explanation, everyone inside is cut off from the outside world. As the situation grows increasingly tense, our hero is forced to confront what it means to be human in an inhuman situation.Trade Review'In Let It Be Morning... the text is rendered quite beautifully and the absurdity of the events [Kashua] describes so unflinchingly brings to mind Kafka - another writer caught in a linguistic and national crossfire.' (Laila Lalami, Boston Review) 'At times uproariously funny, at others wrenchingly poignant... Let It Be Morning is as much about humiliation, disappointment, fear, hope and fleeting moments of euphoric possibility as it is about Middle East politics.' (Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Daily Star) 'Sharp, powerful and uncompromising... one of the most potent and impressive novels written in Hebrew in the last several years.' * Ha'aretz (Israel) *
£16.19
Atlantic Books Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name
Book SynopsisA Radio 4 Book at Bedtime'The hottest young writer in US fiction' -- GuardianWhen Clarissa Iverton was fourteen years old, her mother disappeared leaving Clarissa to be raised by her father. Upon his death, Clarissa, now twenty-eight, discovers he wasn't her father at all. Abandoning her fiancé, Clarissa travels from New York to Helsinki, and then north of the Arctic Circle - to Lapland. There, under the northern lights, Clarissa not only unearths her family's secrets, but also the truth about herself.Trade ReviewVida's prose has the purity of the Lapland winter that it describes... the writing possesses the clarity of church bells or winter light. -- Neel Mukherjee * The Times *Beautifully written... The writing is deceptively light: you can skip through it, happily enjoying its spare, humorous style, but there are subtleties that call for slow reading... then the book really takes off, growing darker and deeper. -- Jonathan Gibbs * Daily Telegraph *Graceful and inventive. -- Peter Carty * Independent *The whole book [has] peculiarly biting charm, a narrative that manages to be both eerily surreal and fundamentally credible. -- Madison Smartt Bell * New York Times *
£8.54
Little, Brown Book Group Mary O'grady
Book SynopsisIn the early 1900s Mary O'Grady leaves behind the countryside and the family she cares for, to be with her husband in Dublin. Here she puts down new roots and looks forward to the day when she will return to Tullamore with her own sons and daughters. Marriage and motherhood sustain Mary, gradually the memories of her own childhood fade and her life revolves around the secure home she has created. But as her children grow, they seek the freedom of adults as she had done. Slowly Mary comes to realise that a mother's love cannot protect them, as it could not protect herself, from the sorrows and tragedies of life.Trade ReviewAn impressive body of work * Irish Times *Beautifully and insightfully captured the reality of rural Ireland, just as remote working renews village life * Irish Independent *There's the brilliance with which her fiction gets at the stuff of human interaction, in all its awkwardness, in all the ways in which, muddled and mortified, this interaction will have to do us, because it's all we've got. There's the immense power with which she depicts the inner lives of women, particularly mothers and widows, women who have no reason to be anything other than honest with themselves about the realities of their situation. Lavin evokes those situations with sympathy and with candor and with, in many cases, a frank and delicious comedy * Paris Review *
£22.52
Little, Brown Book Group Two Days In Aragon
Book SynopsisGrania and Sylvia Fox live in the Georgian house of Aragon, with their mother, their Aunt Pidgie and Nan O'Neill, the family nurse. Grania is conducting a secret affair with Nan's son, Foley, a wily horse-breeder, whilst Sylvia who is 'pretty in the right and accepted way' falls for the charms of Captain Purvis. Attending Aragon's strawberry teas, the British Army Officers can almost forget the reason for their presence in Ireland. But the days of dignified calm at Aragon are numbered, for Foley is a member of Sinn Fein.Trade ReviewShe was . . . marvellous * Guardian *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillKeane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *A writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *
£19.60
Little, Brown Book Group Ordinary Families
Book Synopsis'I was running on happily because it was so good to be able to watch him under cover of my own talk, knowing exactly now what I wanted of him - mind, body, everything' Lallie is one of four children of the eccentric, quintessentially English Rush family. Boating, bird watching and inter-family rivalry are the focus of life in their village - Pin Mill, on the Suffolk marshes. Brought up on fair play and the 'family sense of humour' the Rush children soon learn to fend for themselves - on water and on dry land. We watch as Lallie grows to adulthood; loving and hating her 'ordinary' family, carving a space for herself in the shadow of her beautiful sister Margaret, who claims the lion's share of everything. But Lallie is special too, clear, clear-sighted, sexually aware. Just as well, for to keep the man she loves she faces the biggest family fight of all...
£21.54
Little, Brown Book Group The Children
Book SynopsisOn a cruise ship between Algiers and Venice Martin Boyne, a bachelor in his forties, befriends a band of ebullient, precocious children. The seven Wheater stepbrothers and sisters, grown weary of being shuttled between mother and father 'like bundles', are eager for their parents' latest reconciliation to last. They are kept together as a 'family' by the eldest, Judith, who takes on the role of protector. Genuinely outraged at the plight of the 'homeless' and fought-over children, Boyne finds himself increasingly drawn to their enchanting, improper and liberating ways. Among the colourful cast of characters are the Wheater adults, who play out their own comedy of marital errors; the flamboyant Marchioness of Wrench; and the vivacious fifteen-year-old Judith Wheater, who captures Martin's heart. With deft humour and touching drama, Wharton portrays a world of intrigues and infidelities, skewering the manners and mores of Americans abroad.Trade ReviewAn engrossing picture of middle-aged infatuation * The TIMES *A writer for our time * Marilyn French *
£21.54
Little, Brown Book Group Blaming
Book Synopsis'How deeply I envy any reader coming to her for the first time!' Elizabeth Jane Howard* A finely nuanced exploration of responsibility, snobbery and culture clash from one of the twentieth century's finest novelists.When Amy is suddenly left widowed and alone while on holiday in Istanbul, Martha, an American traveller, comforts her and accompanies her back to England. Upon their return, however, Amy is ungratefully reluctant to maintain their relationship, recognising that, under any other circumstances, the two women would not be friends. But guilt is a hard taskmaster, and Martha has away of getting under one's skin ...*'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning-point in one's own experience' Elizabeth Bowen 'No writer has described the English middle classes with more gently devastating accuracy' Rebecca Abrams, Spectator 'A Game of Hide and Seek showcases much of what makes Taylor a great novelist: piercing insight, a keen wit and a genuine sense of feeling for her characters' Elizabeth Day, GuardianTrade ReviewA compassionate and devastating tale * Daily Mail *Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all * Anne Tyler *Elizabeth Taylor had the keenest eye and ear for the pain lurking behind a genteel demeanour -- Paul Bailey * Guardian *How deeply I envy any reader coming to her for the first time! * Elizabeth Jane Howard *How skilfully and with what peculiar exhilaration she negotiated the minefield of the human heart -- Jonathan Keates * Spectator *Taylor has the genius of making her characters understood, sometimes with an almost frightening clarity, perhaps because she is compassionate as well as relentless in her delineation of them * New York Times *She's a magnificent and underrated mid-20th-century writer, the missing link between Jane Austen and John Updike -- David Baddiel * Independent *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group In A Summer Season
Book SynopsisIn a Summer Season is one of Elizabeth Taylor's finest novels in which, in a moving and powerful climax, she reveals love to be the thing it is: beautiful, often funny, and sometimes tragic.'You taste of rain', he said, kissing her. 'People say I married her for her money', he thought contentedly, and for the moment was full of the self-respect that loving her had given him.Kate Heron is a wealthy, charming widow who marries, much to the disapproval of friends and neighbours, a man ten years her junior: the attractive, feckless Dermot. Then comes the return of Kate's old friend Charles - intelligent, kind and now widowed, with his beautiful young daughter. Kate watches happily as their two families are drawn together, finding his presence reassuringly familiar, but slowly she becomes aware of subtle undercurrents that begin to disturb the calm surface of their friendship. Before long, even she cannot ignore the gathering storm . . .Trade ReviewWitty, hilarious, astringent, devastating - her impeccable style can do anything and with seemingly effortless easeOne of Taylor's best novels * New Statesman *It's smashing . . . When you've finished In a Summer Season, you are totally fired up to read every book that Taylor ever wroteJane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters allHer stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning point in one's own experienceOne of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Good Behaviour: A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book
Book SynopsisA BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK (BOOKER PRIZE GEMS)'Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy' VOGUE 'She was . . . marvellous' GUARDIAN 'Dark, complex, engaging . . . a wonderful tour de force' MARIAN KEYES I do know how to behave - believe me, because I know. I have always known . . .Behind the gates of Temple Alice, the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family sinks into a state of decaying grace. To Aroon St Charles, large and unlovely daughter of the house, the fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem locked out by the ritual patterns of good behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the members of the St Charles family from their own unruly and inadmissible desires. This elegant and allusive novel established Molly Keane as the natural successor to Jean Rhys.'I have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian and dissector of human behaviour. I love all her books, but Good Behaviour and Loving and Giving are the ones I return to most' MAGGIE O'FARRELLTrade ReviewShe was . . . marvellous * Guardian *A fine novel, wickedly alive -- Victoria Glendinning * Sunday Times *Molly Keane's Good Behaviour presents a character whose own strict Christian code wreaks havoc on all those around her. Though she herself tells the tale, we somehow see her morality's disastrous consequences. Hilarious and sinister * New York Times *I really wish I had written this book. It's a tragi-comedy set in Ireland after the First World War. A real work of craftsmanship, where the heroine is also the narrator, yet has no idea what is going on. You read it with mounting horror and hilarity as you begin to grasp her delusionI have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian, and dissector of human behaviour. I love all her books, but Good Behaviour and Loving and Giving are the ones I return to mostKeane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy * Vogue *Enchanting -- Edna O'Brien * Observer *Dark, complex, engaging . . . a wonderful tour de force -- Marian KeyesWily, shrewd, and terribly sad all at the same time: the story of a soul shrivelling against cool, dark, shiny backgrounds * Kirkus Reviews *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillA writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *Good Behaviour includes very little good behaviour, featuring instead delicious and deleterious accounts of illicit sex and wild high jinks, and a mother-daughter duo who can scrap with the best of them * Vulture *A witty, black comedy of manners, Good Behaviour is a memorable novel by an Irish writer whose only equal is Elizabeth Bowen * Bookseller *An extraordinary tour de force of fictional presentation... a masterpiece... a technically remarkable work, as sharp as a blade... Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy. * VOGUE *A witty, black comedy of manners, GOOD BEHAVIOUR is a memorable novel by an Irish writer whose only equal is Elizabeth Bowen. * BOOKSELLER *A fine novel, wickedly alive * Victoria Glendinning, SUNDAY TIMES *Enchanting * Edna O'Brien, OBSERVER *
£11.63
Little, Brown Book Group Loving And Giving
Book SynopsisFROM THE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE'Molly Keane is astonishing . . . an exquisitely written black comedy with a shock ending' GUARDIAN 'Quite the best book she has written' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved' DIANA ATHILL In 1914, when Nicandra is eight, all is well in the grand Irish estate, Deer Forest. Maman is beautiful and adored. Dada, silent and small, mooches contendedly around the stables. Aunt Tossie, of the giant heart and bosom, is widowed but looks splendid in weeds. The butler, the groom, the landsteward, the maids, the men - each as a place and knows it. Then, astonishingly, the perfect surface is shattered; Maman does something too dreadful ever to be spoken of.'What next? Who to love?' asks Nicaranda. And through her growing up and marriage her answer is to swamp those around her with kindness - while gradually the great house crumbles under a weight of manners and misunderstanding.Trade ReviewMolly Keane is astonishing . . . Loving and Giving is perhaps her richest work yet, an exquisitely written black comedy with a shock ending. The language is eloquent and original, the descriptions divine * Guardian *Quite the best book she has written * Daily Telegraph *Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillThis novel is a rare treat * Irish Times *A writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *Molly Keane is astonishing ... LOVING AND GIVING is perhaps her richest work yet, an exquisitely written black comedy with a shock ending. The language is eloquent and original, the descriptions divine * GUARDIAN *This novel is a rare treat * IRISH TIMES *Quite the best book she has written * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
£19.60
Little, Brown Book Group Time After Time
Book SynopsisFROM THE AUTHOR SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE'A considerable achievement' GUARDIAN'Highly recommended' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'Excellent entertainment: an absorbing book' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Durraghglass is a beautiful mansion in Southern Ireland, now crumbling in neglect. The time is the present - a present that churns with the bizarre passions of its owners' past. The Swifts - three sisters of marked eccentricity, defiantly christened April, May and Baby June, and their only brother, one-eyed Jasper - have little in common, save vivid memories of darling Mummy, and a long lost youth peculiarly prone to acts of treachery. Into their world comes Cousin Leda from Vienna, a visitor from the past, blind but beguiling - a thrilling guest. But within days, the lifestyle of the Swifts has been dramatically overturned - and desires, dormant for so long, flame fierce and bright as ever.Trade ReviewA considerable achievement * Guardian *A joy to read * Spectator *Highly recommended * Sunday Telegraph *Excellent entertainment: an absorbing book * Times Literary Supplement *In jugular-poised wit and hilarity: a brilliant comic novel * Kirkus Reviews *A considerable achievement * GUARDIAN *A joy to read * SPECTATOR *Highly recommended * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Excellent entertainment: an absorbing book * TLS *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Fruit Of The Tree
Book SynopsisJohn Amherst, clever, idealistic and poor, is assistant manager of a cotton mill and has the makings of a working-class leader. While visiting a worker in hospital he encounters a young nurse, Justine, compassionate and principled, a woman who shares his dreams and aims. But Amherst is fatally distracted when he meets Bessy. A widow of great wealth, Bessy is charming, beautiful - and the new owner of the mill. The lives of all three become strangely interwoven as Amherst is forced to choose between sense and sentiment, between his care for the working classes and his infatuation with Bessy - a woman made for passion, but not for its aftermath.
£28.31
Little, Brown Book Group The Gods Arrive
Book SynopsisHalo Tarrant, abandoning her failed marriage, elopes to Europe with the brilliant young writer, Vance Weston. As they travel around, her only wish is to serve him and his genius. But, ignoring the pain her amiguous status brings, Vance takes her loving attentions for granted and rejects the critical advice he had formerly welcomed. This distinguished novel, companion piece to HUDSON RIVER BRACKETED, first published in 1932, shows a writer's struggle for integrity and maturity, and the difficulties which, even in the most idealistic relationship, beset men and women in a changing but hypocritical moral climate.
£24.45
Little, Brown Book Group Mad Puppetstown
Book SynopsisIn the early 1900s Easter lives with her Aunt Brenda, her cousins Evelyn and Basil, and their Great-Aunt Dicksie in an imposing country house, Puppetstown, which casts a spell over their childhood. Here they spend carefree days taunting the peacocks in Aunt Dicksie's garden, shooting snipe and woodcock, hunting, and playing with Patsy, the boot boy. But the house and its inhabitants are not immune to the 'little, bitter, forgotten war in Ireland' and when it finally touches their lives all flee to England. All except Aunt Dicksie who refuses to surrender Puppetstown's magic. She stays on with Patsy, living in a corner of the deserted house while in England the cousins are groomed for Society. But for two of them those wild, lost Puppetstown years cannot be forgotten.Trade ReviewShe was . . . marvellous * Guardian *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillKeane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *A writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *
£21.54
Little, Brown Book Group Young Entry
Book SynopsisPrudence, at nineteen, is reckless, laughing, wild; the despair of her elderly guardians. With her best friend, the subversive but very female Peter, she rackets round the Irish countryside among her beloved horses and dogs. But she feels betrayed by Peter's growing interest in the new Master of Hounds, 'Saxon' Major Anthony Countless. And what is Prudence to make of handsome Toby Sage, neighbour, huntsman and accredited flirt? Or of an inexplicable haunting? First published in 1928, this high-spirited novel with its subtle erotic undercurrents, is a glorious story of a ramshackle, tolerant society and of Prudence's turbulent coming of age.Trade ReviewShe was . . . marvellous * Guardian *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillKeane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *A writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *
£21.54
Little, Brown Book Group Full House
Book SynopsisSilverue -- an enchanting Irish mansion -- is owned by one of the most frightening mothers in fiction -- the indomitable, oppressively girlish Lady Bird. Blessed with wealth and beautiful children she has little to worry about except the passing of the years and the return of her son John's sanity. To help her through the potentially awkward occasion of John's return from the asylum she has enlisted the support of Eliza, a woman she believes to be her confidante. But Eliza has her own secrets and John's homecoming will prove the catalyst for revelations which Lady Bird would much rather leave buried.Trade ReviewShe was . . . marvellous * Guardian *Keane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillA writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *
£21.54
Little, Brown Book Group Loving Without Tears
Book SynopsisAngel, formidable hostess, social charmer and mother par excellence, confidently awaits the return of her little boy from the trials of war. She could not anticipate that the teenager who went away will return a grown man - bronzed and world-weary - a sophisticated American widow on his arm. Nor could she anticpate that her irrepressible daughter Slaney will similarly throw herself into romance (without asking her advice) and even her niece Tiddley will show an unexpected determination in getting on with her life. Faced with domestic insurrection on a grand scale, Angel will have to sharpen her wits to maintain her tyranny.Trade ReviewShe was . . . marvellous * Guardian *An even finer achievement than her earlier mordant masterpiece, Good Behaviour * Sunday Times *I admired many authors. But Molly, I loved -- Diana AthillKeane's distinctive blend of elegant savagery and deep affection . . . its human relationships tortured like bonsai by good form, its open-hearted, sensual passion for horses, dogs and landscape * Evening Standard *Take any book by Molly Keane and I guarantee you will be delighted, warmed and sustained with pleasure . . . she is a born writer -- Dirk BogardeA writer of genius * Wall Street Journal *Take any book by Molly Keane and I guarantee you will be delighted, warmed and sustained with pleasure ... she is a born writer -- Dirk Bogarde
£19.60
Little, Brown Book Group Hungry Hill
Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA'Daphne du Maurier has no rival' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'du Maurier is a magician, a virtuouso' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'A storyteller of cunning and genius' SALLY BEAUMAN 'I tell you your mine will be in ruins and your home destroyed and your children forgotten . . . but this hill will be standing still to confound you.' So curses Morty Donovan when 'Cooper John' Brodrick builds his mine at Hungry Hill. The Brodricks of Clonmere gain great wealth by harnessing the power of Hungry Hill and extracting the treasure it holds. The Donovans, the original owners of Clonmere Castle, resent the Brodricks' success and consider the great house and its surrounding land theirs by rights. For generations the feud between the families has simmered, always threatening to break into violence . . .Trade ReviewDaphne du Maurier has no rival * Sunday Telegraph *du Maurier is a magician, a virtuouso. She can conjure up tragedy, horror, tension, suspense the ridiculous, the vain, the romantic * Good Housekeeping *A storyteller of cunning and geniusAs poignant and powerful as du Maurier's better-known romantic fiction * Daily Mail *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group The Judge
Book SynopsisEllen Melville is a beautiful suffragette who, at seventeen, wants passionately to experience all that life can give her. From her abandoned, impoverished mother she inherits only a capacity for love and this she freely gives when she meets Richard Yaverland, charming, experienced, a man of the world. But Richard is the illegitamate son of a powerful and frustrated woman. Marion Yaverland uses her own betrayal by Richard's father to imprison her son, creating a murderous bond which destroys everything it touches. The strugges of Ellen and Richard to survive the sins of their fathers takes its inevitable course: giving freely to her passionate lover, Ellen commences a re-enactment of all that has gone before.
£24.45
Little, Brown Book Group Anderby Wold
Book SynopsisMary Robson is a young Yorkshire woman, married to her solid, unromantic cousin, John. Together they battle to preserve Mary's neglected inheritance: their beloved farm, Anderby Wold. This labour of love - and the benevolent tyranny of traditional Yorkshire ways - has made Mary old before her time. Then into her purposeful life comes David Rossitur. Young, red-haired, charming, eloquent: how can she help but love him? But David is from a different England - radical and committed to social change. As their confrontation and its consequences inevitably unfold, Mary's life and that of the calm village of Anderby are changed forever.
£8.99
Little, Brown Book Group Sisters By A River: A Virago Modern Classic
Book Synopsis'Tragic, comic and completely bonkers all in one, I'd go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius' LUCY SCHOLES, GUARDIAN 'It is hard not to believe that Barbara Comyns's own adventures are entangled in her fiction' JANE GARDAM, SPECTATOR'All of her books read as if she wrote them effortlessly' URSULA HOLDEN On the banks of the River Avon, five sisters are born. The seasons come and go, the girls take their lessons under the ash tree and there is always the sound of water swirling through the weir. Then, unexpectedly, an air of decay descends upon the house: ivy grows unchecked over the windows, angry shouts split the summer air, the milk sours in the larder and their father takes out his gun. Tragedy strikes the family, and before long the furniture is being auctioned off and the sisters dispersed among relatives. In her daring first novel, originally published in 1947, Barbara Comyns' unique young heroine relates the vivid, funny and bittersweet story of a childhood.Trade ReviewTragic, comic and completely bonkers all in one, I'd go as far as to call her something of a neglected genius -- Lucy Scholes * Guardian *A vision that shifts between savagery, lyricism and tragic wit. A true original * Independent *It is hard not to believe that Barbara Comyns's own adventures are entangled in her fiction. Sisters by a River, which she wrote for her own children -- Jane Gardam * Spectator *Quite simply, Comyns' writes like no one else -- Maggie O'Farrell
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Wild Strawberries: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisPretty, impecunious Mary Preston, newly arrived as a guest of her Aunt Agnes at the magnificent wooded estate of Rushwater, falls head over heels for handsome playboy David Leslie. Meanwhile, Agnes and her mother, the eccentric matriarch Lady Emily, have hopes of a different, more suitable match for Mary. At the lavish Rushwater dance party, her future happiness hangs in the balance . . .Trade ReviewCharming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself -- Alexander McCall SmithIf you like Nancy Mitford you'll love this * Elle Decoration *A witty romantic comedy and a warm and inviting piece of social satire from this sharply observant and popular writer * Good Book Guide *With touches of Nancy Mitford, Barbara Pym and PG Wodehouse, Angela Thirkell's sparkling prose recounts misunderstandings and mishaps in a particularly English way. * Spectator *Charming, very funny indeed. Angela Thirkell is perhaps the most Pym-like of any twentieth-century author, after Pym herself. -- Alexander McCall SmithAppealing. * Glasgow Sunday Herald *If you like Nancy Mitford you'll love this * Elle Decoration *A witty romantic comedy and a warm and inviting piece of social satire from this sharply observant and popular writer * Good Book Guide *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group North Face: A Virago Modern Classic
Book SynopsisOn holiday in the North Devon countryside, Neil Langton looks back on the wreckage of his past. He has come to believe that all happiness is behind him; the wounds from his former marriage - in which his wife cheated on him and his young daughter died - are still raw. While rock-climbing, he meets Ellen, a young woman whom he saves from a mountainside accident. Ellen, too, is looking to escape her painful past, struggling to deal with her feelings for the man she loved - a pilot who died in service. Set in postwar Britain, and filled with a memorable cast of characters, North Face is a love story rich in atmosphere and tension.Trade Reviewa rich, serious, nourishing novel...It demands to be read slowly, with attention. Every character is real, solid, and multi-layered. * Independent on Sunday *
£21.54
