Family life fiction / Stories about family

Book SynopsisIt all starts with the death of Martijn van Vliet's wife. His grief-stricken young daughter, Lea, cuts herself off from the world, right up until the day that she hears a snatch of Bach being played on a violin by a busker. Transfixed by the sweet melody, she emerges from her mourning, vowing to learn the instrument. Lea's all-consuming passion is matched by talent, and she becomes one of the finest players in the country - but as her fame blossoms, her relationship with her father only withers. Desperate to hold on to Lea, Martijn is driven to commit an act that threatens to destroy both him and his daughter.Trade ReviewA perfect novel that you'll devour in a single night. -- BrigittePascal Mercier now takes his rightful place among our finest European novelists * Sunday Telegraph *Lea has it all... Sanity and madness, love and betrayal, self-preservation and self-destruction * Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *Perfectly constructed, exciting, entertaining, enigmatic, memorable. * Buchkultur *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH WRITERS' PRIZE 2009LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2010'A tremendously vital book in every sense.' - Sunday TimesAt a suburban barbecue one afternoon, a man slaps an unruly boy. The boy is not his son. It is a single act of violence, but the slap reverberates through the lives of everyone who witnesses it happen. Christos Tsiolkas presents the impact of this apparently minor domestic incident through the eyes of eight of those who witness it. The result is an unflinching interrogation of the life of the modern family, a deeply thought-provoking novel about boundaries and their limits...Trade ReviewThe must-read novel of the summer. * Guardian *Honestly, one of the three or four truly great novels of the new millennium. * John Boyne *Now and then a book comes along that defines a summer. This year that book is The Slap... The writing has shades of Martin Amis, Nick Hornby and Anne Tyler... The ideal summer read. * Daily Telegraph *As addictive as the best soap opera. * Daily Mail *A tremendously vital book in every sense. * Sunday Times *Dazzling. * Independent *Tsiolkas is a true storyteller and a hundred sentences could be plucked from the text to demonstrate his genius for establishing place, mood and character in a handful of words * Sydney Morning Herald *Brilliantly compelling and utterly fresh... Fiercely fantastic, you won't be able to put this down. * Grazia *Nothing short of a tour de force. Tsiolkas outs a microscope to family life and presents us with a vision both of unflinching honesty and great tenderness. Here is a novel of immense power and scope, reminiscent of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Don De Lillo's Underworld. * Colm Toibin *Brilliant, beautiful, shockingly lucid and real, this is a novel as big as life built from small, secret, closely observed beats of the human heart. A cool, calm, irresistible masterpiece. * Chris Cleave *

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Book SynopsisAugust 1924. John Conrad arrives at his parents' home on the outskirts of Canterbury, where family and friends are assembling for the bank holiday weekend. His crippled mother has been discharged from a nursing home, his brother drives down from London with wife and child. But as the guests converge, John's father dies. Today follows the numb implications of sudden death: the surprise, the shock, the deep fissures in a family exposed through grief. But there is also laughter, fraud and theft; the continuation of life, all viewed through the eyes of Lilian Hallowes - John's father's secretary - never quite at the centre of things but always observing, the still point in a turning world. Today is a remarkable debut, an investigation of bereavement, family and Englishness, beautiful in its understatement and profound in its psychological acuity.Trade Review'David Miller's quiet, subtle novel is not merely a story about Conrad and a tribute to Conrad. It is a Conradian achievement in itself. A wonderful piece of fiction. Moving and revelatory.' --A N Wilson 'Short and beautifully written... Miller succeeds brilliantly [with] a pared and unadorned prose that works its effect with a minimum of fuss.' --Sunday Times 'An impressive debut distinguished by its spot-on period detail.' --Financial Times 'A rich, often comic portrait of a family coming to terms with grief... A moving and surprisingly funny caricature of a quintessentially English family.' --Observer 'A sparse, taut novel... Genuinely moving' --The Spectator "A sly chamber-piece of a novel... Miller offers a psychologically convincing portrait of grief, one that - like much of Conrad's own work - suggests the barrier between civilisation and the void is paper thin. An impressive debut distinguished by its spot-on period detail. --Financial Times "A subtle first novel... Its unsensational account of bereavement deserves a wide audience. The restrained prose adds bite to Miller's sparing use of simile." --Daily Telegraph "Miller's slim, quietly elegiac novel on the death of Joseph Conrad in August 1924 is, despite elements of pastiche, compelling. Miller assumes the style not of his subject, but of novelists of the period, in particular EM Forster, whose A Passage to India had recently been published and is referenced throughout. Conrad's rasping final hours in his country house near Canterbury are played out off-stage, muffled, yet acutely felt." --Guardian "Curious and compelling." --The Times "Miller's debut packs an emotional, historical punch befitting a much larger canvas." --Daily Mirror

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Book SynopsisNestling on India's southern coast lies the town of Kittur. Ranging through the city's streets and schoolyards, bedrooms and businesses, its inner workings and its outer limits, through the myriad and distinctive voices of its inhabitants, Aravind Adiga brings an entire world vividly and unforgettably to life.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD. 'Everything changed after Mama found Father lying on top of another woman.'Blessing and her brother Ezikiel adore their larger-than-life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Their mother is fired from her job at the Royal Imperial Hotel - only married women can work there - and soon they have to quit their air-conditioned apartment to go and live with their grandparents in a compound in the Niger Delta.Adapting to life with a poor countryside family is a shock beyond measure after their privileged upbringing in Lagos. Told in Blessing's own beguiling voice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away shows how some families can survive almost anything. At times hilarious, always poignant, occasionally tragic, it is peopled with characters you will never forget.'This is not a bleak book: there is humour and love, especially in the growing relationship between Blessing and her grandmother, a traditional midwife. Absorbing and passionate' GuardianTrade ReviewAn immensely absorbing novel. It is both heart-wrenching and consoling * Chika Unigwe *The gripping, triumphant tale of a girl who chooses life over loss, in a sweet but savage world where oil is bled from the earth -- Lola Shoneyin, author of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's WivesWatson's descriptions of character and place are beautifully observed * Independent *Heart-warming * Telegraph *Absorbing and passionate * Guardian *Readability and literary merit go hand in hand in this vibrant gem of a novel * Costa Judges *An excellent novel. It takes the reader deep into the reality of ordinary life in Nigeria and is also funny, moving and politically alert -- Giles Foden, author of The Last King of ScotlandA fascinating, poignant story that had me laughing in places and deeply moved in others -- Ike AnyaSkilfully treading the fine line between gritty hardship and homespun warmth ... Christie Watson's affecting but unsentimental debut earns its place in the sun * Independent *Funny, tragic and moving all in the right places * Pride *

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Book SynopsisElijah, seven years old, is covered in scars and has a history of disruptive behaviour. His adoptive mother Nikki believes that she and her husband Obi are strong enough to accept his difficulties - and that being white will not affect her ability to raise a black son. Elijah's birth mother Deborah loves her son like the world has never known. Elijah thinks it's his fault they can't be together. Each of them faces more challenges than they could have dreamed, but just as Elijah starts to settle in, a shocking event rocks their fragile peace and the result is devastating.Trade Review'Expertly handles delicate, culturally sensitive issues . . . Elijah's voice shines through the pages, making him a character who is memorable long after the story ends' We Love This Book. * We Love This Book *'Kept us gripped throughout . . stayed with us long after we'd finished the final page' Stylist. * Stylist *'Staggeringly authentic, staggeringly moving and profound ... and at times hysterically funny. It's a gem' Lesley Lokko. * Lesley Lokko *'Uplifting, heartwarming' Pride Magazine. * Pride Magazine *

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Book Synopsis'Trigiani is a wonderful storyteller... Readers will enjoy Big Cherry Holler immensely' USA TODAYHow do you move forward if you’ve already lost your way? It's been eight years since town pharmacist and self-proclaimed spinster Ave Maria Mulligan married Jack McChesney. Now they have a beautiful daughter, but for some reason Jack has never seemed so distant. In the old stone house nestled in the mountains, there’s an empty room where their son once slept, and a sadness that neither Ave nor Jack can discuss. But in Big Stone Gap itself, change is in the air, and not everyone feels it’s for the good. As Ave makes big decisions about the future of her family, will she and her husband be able to find their way back to each other before it’s too late?The extraordinary sequel to Big Stone Gap from the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Praise for the BIG STONE GAP series: 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn’t put it down’ SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG ‘If you love curling up with charming tales of small towns and quirky characters, switch off with this’ COSMOPOLITAN 'Delightfully quirky' PEOPLE 'As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR 'As quirky and charming as her first novel. If you are not a fan already, you will be after this' COMPANY 'Honest, wholesome entertainment with a spicy Deep South kick' DAILY MAIL 'As warm and sweet as Southern Comfort' ELLETrade ReviewPraise for Adriana Trigiani ‘A gorgeous piece of escapism’ The Times 'A comedy writer with a heart of gold' New York Times 'Trigiani is a master of palpable and visual detail' Washington Post 'One of my all-time favourite novels' Whoopi Goldberg 'Utterly addictive' Glamour 'Exquisite writing and a story enriched by the power of abiding love' USA Today 'Full of romance, drama and snappy dialogue' People 'Eminently readable and richly imagined' Publisher's Weekly 'Trigiani is a seemingly effortless storyteller' Boston Globe 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn't put it down' Sarah Jessica Parker

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Book Synopsis'Delightful' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Can she find it in her heart to let go before it’s too late? As her daughter grows up, Ave Maria can’t help but feel time is slipping through her fingers. Her friends in Big Stone Gap are going through major life changes, too, and her husband seems desperate to reinvent himself in ways nobody could have predicted. Reaching into the past to find answers to the present, Ave Maria is led to places she never dreamed she would go, and as people enter her life and rock the foundation, Ave Maria faces the true test of love: letting go.The third in the bestselling and much-loved BIG STONE GAP series from the bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick Praise for the BIG STONE GAP series: 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn’t put it down’ SARAH JESSICA PARKER 'One of my all-time favourite novels' WHOOPI GOLDBERG ‘If you love curling up with charming tales of small towns and quirky characters, switch off with this’ COSMOPOLITAN 'Delightfully quirky' PEOPLE 'As comforting as a mug of chamomile tea on a rainy Sunday' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Utterly addictive' GLAMOUR 'As quirky and charming as her first novel. If you are not a fan already, you will be after this' COMPANY 'Honest, wholesome entertainment with a spicy Deep South kick' DAILY MAIL 'As warm and sweet as Southern Comfort' ELLETrade ReviewPraise for Adriana Trigiani ‘A gorgeous piece of escapism’ The Times 'A comedy writer with a heart of gold' New York Times 'Trigiani is a master of palpable and visual detail' Washington Post 'One of my all-time favourite novels' Whoopi Goldberg 'Utterly addictive' Glamour 'Exquisite writing and a story enriched by the power of abiding love' USA Today 'Full of romance, drama and snappy dialogue' People 'Eminently readable and richly imagined' Publisher's Weekly 'Trigiani is a seemingly effortless storyteller' Boston Globe 'Hilarious and romantic. I couldn't put it down' Sarah Jessica Parker

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Book Synopsis Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize Shortlisted for the Writers’ Guild Awards Shortlisted for the Waverton Good Read Award Nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 'He just knocked, that was all, knocked at the front door and waited, like the fourteen years since the night I'd killed my mother hadn't happened at all...' Crushed by an impossible shame, Jinx's life has been little more than a shell. Now estranged from her husband, she is even relieved when he leaves and takes her young son with him. But a visit from an old friend of her mother's forces Jinx to confront her history. Looking back plunges her once more into the pain of the past, but it also brings with it the possibility of redemption. And Jinx isn't the only one with secrets. Together, she and Lemon will unravel an unforgettable family drama, stoked with violence and passion. Rich with voices from East London and the West Indies, Edwards's narrative is delivered with a unique and uncompromising bite that announces a new talent in British fiction. 'Deeply moving, wonderfully written… A study of grief and remorse.' The Times Trade Review'Deeply moving, wonderfully written... A study of grief and remorse.' -- The Times'In this potent mystery... Edwards makes us greedy for the full story.' -- New York Times'Yvvette Edwards unique and uncompromising debut is stoked with violence and passion, rich with voices form East London and the West Indies.' -- Booker Prize judges'A pleasure to revisit. A Cupboard Full of Coats is literary perfection. Beyond glorious.' -- Eva Verde, author of In Bloom'A gut-wrenching and gorgeously lyrical debut... Engrossing and human to the core, Edwards's novel wrings the heart in the most tender of ways.' -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)'A Cupboard Full of Coats is high drama, full of breathtaking tension, and, at times, brought to mind the works of Arthur Miller and August Wilson, both of whom knew a thing or two about secrets spilled across a kitchen table.' -- Attica Locke, author of Black Water Rising'An impressive debut… A writer to watch.' -- Independent'Redolent of Monica Ali and Zadie Smith, Yvvette Edwards' bold debut is a searing story of family, jealousy, and tragic betrayal… Rich with voices from East London and the West Indies, Edward's narrative is delivered with a unique and uncompromising bite that announces a new talent in British fiction.' -- Fantastic Fiction'A piercing and engaging narrative...reminiscent of Toni Morrison and Barbara Kingsolver, who similarly explore hidden and revealed secrets.' -- Booklist'Lyrical and haunting.' -- Toronto Star'A novel that pulses with rhythm, texture, language, and a story that keeps you locked to its pages. Brutally honest, expertly woven, and utterly mesmerizing. I loved this book.' -- Naseem Rakha, author of the international bestseller The Crying Tree'A truly stunning work of contemporary literary fiction that packs an emotional punch and keeps readers guessing to the end, A Cupboard Full of Coats is already being compared by critics to the novels of the master, Ruth Rendell.' -- African American Literature Book Club'A fierce book, painfully honest and beautifully written… Impressive.' -- The Book Bag'Beyond the luminous prose and fully dimensional characters, Edwards explores difficult issues of race, beauty, gender, objectification and how they coalesce to create the identity we present to the world as well as ourselves.' -- Book Club Classics'One to watch.' -- Daily Mail'Expertly woven and perfectly paced, A Cupboard Full of Coats is both a heartbreaking family drama and a riveting mystery, with a cast of characters who linger in the mind and the heart long after the last page has been turned.' -- BookBrowse'An elegantly structured story of guilt and redemption…emotionally raw and brutally honest… Impressive in its psychological complexity, this is one of the best novels I've read this year.' -- Publishing Perspectives'An impressive debut, particularly notable for its pellucid prose.' -- Kirkus Reviews'Fans of British psychological thrillers, à la Ruth Rendell, will adore this lyrical debut.' -- Redbook'Yvvette Edwards' A Cupboard Full of Coats is a trauma narrative with a surface patina of Junot Diaz.' -- Propeller Magazine'I can't stop talking about this gut-wrenching tale of forbidden love.' -- Essence'It is carefully structured and the human relationships brutally real.' -- We Love This Book'A slow-burning heartbreaker of a story. . . [written] with elegant restraint and a sensitivity uncommon in debut novels.' -- Shelf Awareness'Rich in emotion but resolutely unsentimental, the story is unspooled with judgement and skill.' -- Literary Review'Expert plotting, a flair for the dramatic and an ability to create characters both vividly idiosyncratic and classically archetypal.' -- The Journal Sentinel'The heroine is Jinx and this is her story… It is a very fine first novel, with Edwards keeping her characters interesting, the plot full of guesswork and her story well told. And it is certainly better than some of the others mentioned above.' -- The Modern Novel

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Book SynopsisIn the comic masterpiece which established him one of the greatest writers in the English language, Naipaul follows the fortunes of Mr Biswas, the outsider who refuses to conform to the customs of his grander in-laws whose house he lives in. Finally finding a house of his own, he triumphs over the smaller minds who would repress him.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE 1968 SOMERSET MAUGHAM PRIZE 'A picture of the Swinging Sixties without the romantic gloss of middle-aged memories' SUNDAY TIMES 'Angela Carter has language at her fingertips' NEW STATESMAN ' ... one of its most vivacious and compelling voices' INDEPENDENT Centre stage in Angela Carter's unruly tale of the Flower Power Generation is Joseph - a decadent, disorientated rebel without a cause. A self-styled nihilist whose girlfriend has abandoned him, Joseph has decided to give up existing. But his concerned friends and neighbours have other plans.In an effort to join in the spirit of protest which motivates his contemporaries, Joseph frees a badger from the local zoo; sends a turd airmail to the President of the United States; falls in love with the mother of his best friend; and, accompanied by the strains of an old man's violin, celebrates Christmas Eve in a bewildering state of sexual discovery. But has he found the Meaning of Life?Trade Review... One of its most vivacious and compelling voices * Independent *A picture of the Swinging Sixties without the romantic gloss of middle-aged memories * Sunday Times *Whatever her subject, Angela Carter writes like a dream - sometimes a nightmare * Sunday Telegraph *Angela Carter has language at her fingertips * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL AND BESTSELLING NOVELS OF THE MODERN FEMINIST MOVEMENT 'It was about the need to change things from top to bottom; it was a declaration of independence' OBSERVER 'The first and last international bestseller of the women's movement' GUARDIAN 'They said this book would change lives - and it certainly changed mine' JENNI MURRAY, BBC RADIO 4 A landmark in feminist literature, The Women's Room is a biting social commentary of a world gone silently haywire. Written in the 1970s but with profound resonance today, this is a modern allegory that offers piercing insight into the social norms accepted blindly and revered so completely.It follows the transformation of Mira Ward and her circle as the women's movement begins to have an impact on their lives. A biting social commentary on an emotional world gone silently haywire, The Women's Room is a modern classic that offers piercing insight into the social norms accepted so blindly and revered so completely. Marilyn French questions those accepted norms and poignantly portrays the hopeful believers looking for new truths.Trade ReviewThe Women's Room took the lid off a seething mass of women's frustrations, resentments and furies; it was about the need to change things from top to bottom; it was a declaration of independence * Observer *The first and last international bestseller of the women's movement * Guardian *They said this book would change lives - and it certainly changed mine -- Jenni Murray, BBC Radio 4's Woman's HourToday's "Desperate Housewives" eat your heart out! This is the original and still the best, a page-turner that makes you think. Essential reading -- Kate Mosse

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Book SynopsisThis stunning Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Demelza features an afterword by novelist Liz Fenwick.Demelza Carne, the impoverished miner's daughter rescued from a fairground rabble, is now Ross Poldark's wife. But events are set to test their marriage and their love . . . Demelza's efforts to adapt to the ways of the gentry - and of her husband - bring her confusion and heartache, despite her joy at the birth of their first child. Meanwhile, Ross begins a bitter struggle for the rights of the mining communities, sowing the seed of an enduring enmity with the powerful George Warleggan. Demelza is the second novel in Winston Graham's sweeping saga of Cornish life in the eighteenth century. First published in 1945, the Poldark series has enthralled readers ever since.Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.Trade ReviewRoss is one of literature's great heroes ... [with] elements of Darcy, Heathcliff, Rhett Butler and Robin Hood -- Debbie Horsfield

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Book SynopsisBetty Trask Award winner 2016. A stunning debut from the author of Speak Gigantular.A fragile outsider living in London, Joy struggles to pull the threads of her life back together after her mother's sudden death. Emptiness consumes her and, needing to fill the gaps of her loss, she finds she is drawn to a unique artefact inherited from her mother - a warrior's head cast in brass that belonged to a king in eighteenth century Benin, Nigeria.Joy is haunted by a beautiful young woman who appears in her photographs, familiar yet beguilingly distinct, the woman trails her wherever she goes. Joy begins to dream of a different time, a different place. She feels an inexplicable pull towards this mysterious female, and a past revealing itself through clues is scattered in her path. As family secrets come to light, she unearths the ties between her mother, grandfather, the wife of the king, a fearsome warrior, and the brass head's pivotal connection to them all.Haunting and compelling, Butterfly Fish is a richly told story of love and hope; of family secrets, power, political upheaval, loss and coming undone.'a novel of epic proportions... I fully expect to see Butterfly Fish on many an award nomination list.' Yvvette Edwards'A stunningly well-written book, juggling different timescales with great skill. Benin itself is vividly imagined in a historical narrative that runs in parallel with the contemporary London one. It is a wonderful novel." Simon Brett OBE'A wonderful, richly drawn novel, cleverly juxtaposing scenes from everyday London with African folklore and mysticism.' Joanne HarrisTrade ReviewButterfly Fish is a novel of epic proportions... From sentence to sentence, Okojie conjures up acutely observed, beautifully-worded metaphors that resonate and delight... I fully expect to see Butterfly Fish on many an award nomination list. It is a fascinating read, and one I highly recommend. * Yvette Edwards (author of A Cupboard Full of Coats, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and The Mother), Words of Colour *Her West African heritage is richly spun into her novel Butterfly Fish... The tale is peppered with moments of magical surrealism: a glass bottle shattering on a South London street to release two tiny scurrying figures into the night; a butterfly fish bursts into a local pool and belches a portentous brass key... The lyrical prose brings poignancy to the familiar London landscape. * Samuel Fishwick, Evening Standard *Vital, vivid, witty, truthful... * Maggie Gee, The Observer *

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Book SynopsisLyrical and witty, moving and profound: the story of a good man fighting for his principles in a hostile world'An uncomfortable but very readable novel about the careless greeds of the way we live now' Helen Dunmore, Guardian'A Graham Greene for our time' Spectator'There are splendidly comic scenes worthy of Alan Ayckbourn' Ham and HighThe Francombe & Salter Mercury has served the residents of two South Coast resorts for over 150 years. Hit by both the economic decline and the advent of new technology, Duncan Neville, the latest member of his family to occupy the editor's chair, is struggling to keep the paper afloat. Duncan's personal life is in similar disarray as he juggles the demands of his elderly mother, disaffected son, harassed ex-wife and devoted secretary. Meanwhile, a childhood friend turned bitter rival unveils plans to rebuild the dilapidated pier, which, while promising to revive the town's fortunes, threaten its traditional ethos. Then Duncan meets Ellen, a recent divorcee, who has moved to Francombe with her two teenage children. By turns lyrical, witty and poignant, Widows and Orphans casts an unflinching eye over the joys and adversities of contemporary life and paints a masterful portrait of a decent man fighting for his principles in a hostile world.Trade ReviewArditti's fictional Francombe is a familiar seaside town and a brilliantly revealing microcosm of a society where greed and power are embraced . . . Widows and Orphans is powerfully realistic. Arditti has written an uncomfortable but very readable novel about the careless greeds of the way we live now -- Helen Dunmore * Guardian *One of the many pleasures of this novel is the range and depth of the author's sympathies. Moreover, Arditti has a fine eye for the significant detail and the novel is beautifully constructed . . . It is funny and moving and deeply tender -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *'For all the sparky one-liners, the crisp satire on small-town preoccupations and the increasingly hilarious newspaper columns prefacing each chapter, this is a profound and unsettling book . . . Like a Graham Greene for our time, Arditti has written an exquisite novel which traces the challenging journey of the human heart towards the grace of acceptance' -- Lucy Beresford * Spectator *Arditti has a mischievous take on small town politics, and the characters are brilliant. Benign satire, with a bite -- Kate Saunders * The Times *There are splendidly comic scenes worthy of Alan Ayckbourn. While the deeply moving last chapter is like the final movement of a string quartet, weaving together the various themes. Arditti's strength in creating an entire community, full of rich and contrasting characters has resulted in a satisfying book, full of insight, pain, compassion and humour. I cannot recommend it highly enough -- James Roose-Evans * Ham and High *A plot concerning the fate of the historic local pier provides an entertaining narrative motor, while Arditti's wit and typically breezy style keep the pages turning effortlessly -- Stephanie Cross * The Lady *At a time when 'good' can so often be synonymous with uninteresting and bland, Arditti has constructed a complex, witty and thoughtful portrait of an innately decent man and the messy modern world he lives in -- Amber Pearson * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisSpring is a deeply moving novel about family, our everyday lives, our joys and our struggles, beautifully illustrated by Anna Bjerger.I have just finished writing this book for you. What happened that summer nearly three years ago, and its repercussions, are long since over. Sometimes it hurts to live, but there is always something to live for.Spring follows a father and his newborn daughter through one day in April, from sunrise to sunset. It is a day filled with the small joys of family life, but also its deep struggles. With this striking novel in the Seasons quartet, Karl Ove Knausgaard reflects uncompromisingly on life's darkest moments and what can sustain us through them.Utterly gripping and brilliantly rendered in Knausgaard's famously pensive and honest style, Spring is the account of a shocking and heartbreaking familial trauma and the emotional epicentre of this singular literary series.Trade ReviewEntirely ingenious. Knausgaard isn’t afraid to be gauche, anxious, vulgar, inconsistent, portentous, sentimental. He makes virtues of what, in literary novels, are often counted faults. And he makes them moving. * Daily Telegraph *Spring features Knausgaard unbound. . . the book’s blunt, unforced telling brings the larger project’s meaning into sudden, brilliant focus… Knausgaard has assembled this living encyclopedia for his daughter with a wild and desperate sort of love, as a way to forge her attachment to the world, to fasten her to it... Fall in love with the world, he enjoins, stay sensitive to it, stay in it. * The New York Times *Heavy but not heavy-handed, this true noir of the North is dark, bleak and moody. This story about life that’s set over the course of single day will move and disturb in equal measure. * Monocle *An unexpected treat… A lovely piece of work. * Sunday Telegraph *Oodles of musing on life and art that’s by turns meandering and electrifying. * Metro *[Karl Ove Knausgaard] observes a subject so closely, mining so far into its essence – its quiddity – that the observations transcend banality and become compelling. -- Peter Murphy * Irish Times *For anyone who is curious about this writer... Spring makes for an excellent introduction. It is the shortest book he has ever written, but it is all muscle, a generous slice of a thoughtful, ruminative life. * The Washington Post *If you still haven’t tried Knausgaard... try Spring. It’s poignant and beautiful… you’ll get him and get why some of us have gone crazy for him. * Los Angeles Review of Books *A radical, thrilling departure from the first two volumes of his Seasons Quartet... this moving novel stylistically resembles his acclaimed My Struggle series... A remarkably honest take on the strange linkages between love, loss, laughter, and self-destruction, a perfect distillation of Knausgaard’s unique gifts. * Publishers Weekly *Knausgaard’s assets are on full display, including his precise writing style and his unerring sense of detail … it is all muscle, a generous slice of thoughtful, ruminative life. -- Rodney Welch * Washington Post *

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Book Synopsis'A very funny and original novel about political correctness and the fury between the generations with brilliant dialogue and characters who keep surprising. I read it all in one evening and laughed much of the time' Sally Emerson Bill and Pete, best friends since school, are approaching 70 and now retired, but still meet regularly to chew the fat about sport, politics, their stagnant love lives, mutual friends and, increasingly, Bill's fractious relationship with his rebellious son Ivan. Spanning the four years from the Brexit Referendum to the end of the first Coronavirus lockdown, we watch these characters, last seen in About Time, stumble their way through chaos, mistrust, generational differences and blossoming relationships, finding new life and unexpected happiness in uncertain times.Trade Review'Well-observed, humane, and very funny.' -- Alun David * The Jewish Chronicle *'Finely observed, often tantalizing novel...Estorick writes with wry, elegant ease. Sophisticated, apparently feather-light repartee has elusive, sinister undercurrents.' -- Philippa Freshman * The Jewish Chronicle *'Full of incidental insights...consistently intelligent.' -- Martin Seymour-Smith * Financial Times *'A sharp satirist of class and family. He's adept at the nuances of domestic oppression, the bickering, the transmission of skewed hopes and frustrated affections across the years...arrestingly grotesque and finely compelling...its power lies mainly in its inconsequentiality...Estorick has an acute eye and ear and he'll certainly be heard from as a novelist again.' -- Valentine Cunningham * The Observer *'I read it again, and again with pleasure and admiration. It's a very funny novel... The throw away wit is an ongoing bonus; the dialogue crackles; I almost think you've invented something - the short four- or five-line conversations standing like islands in the story, half a dozen comments and retorts like little explosions - nothing wasted, every word a neat and sometimes savage barb. And all funny in spite of the pain.' -- Maurice Gee, winner of the James Tate Black Prize for Plumb

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Book SynopsisOne of O: The Oprah Magazine's Most Anticipated Books of 2021One of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 picks for Spring 2021Ethan, a young lawyer in New York, learns that his father has long kept a second family - a wife and two kids living in Queens. In the aftermath of this revelation, Ethan's mother spends a year travelling abroad, returning much changed, just as her now ex-husband falls ill. Across town, Ethan's half brothers are caught in their own complicated journeys: one brother's penchant for minor delinquency has escalated and the other must travel to Bangkok to bail him out, while the bargains their mother struck about love and money continue to shape all their lives. As Ethan finds himself caught in a love triangle of his own, the interwoven fates of these two households elegantly unfurl to touch many other figures, revealing secret currents of empathy and loyalty, the bounty of improvised families and the paradoxical ties that weave through life's rich contours. With a generous and humane spirit, Secrets of Happiness elucidates the ways people marshal the resources at hand in an effort to find joy.Trade ReviewSecrets of Happiness unfolds across families and lovers, across time and expectations, across the country and across the world, and the bigger it gets, the more it shows how deeply connected we are. Joan Silber writes with a frankness and freshness that draws the reader closer with every page. It would be impossible to overstate just how good this book is. -- Ann PatchettSometimes the dexterity and plenitude of Silber's plotting take your breath away, or make you want to laugh. Why isn't there more fiction like this? ... why isn't there more fiction that's such a pleasure to read, simply because of its clarity, wisdom, heart, and elegance? Secrets of Happiness feels like a benchmark, a guiding star, a minimum height requirement; I'd like to say I will never again settle for fiction that's not as good as this, but I know I will have to. -- Nick Hornby * The Believer *As usual, with Secrets of Happiness the magnificent Joan Silber manages to make great writing look absolutely effortless. A warm, smart, seductive, hugely satisfying novel. -- Sarah Waters[Silber's] clean, confident prose offers plenty to savour. * Daily Mail *In an angry world, absence of anger may be Joan Silber's most original quality. Subtle, funny, thoughtful * Literary Review *Secrets of Happiness is a swim in cool, clear water in which the contours and colours of all experience are magnified, purified, intensified. Joan Silber's translucent, morally attentive prose does something to the vision as well as the spirit: if you can look up from it, you'll find your own world altered - rinsed clean, and luminous. -- Charlotte Wood, author of THE WEEKENDThese stories unfurl with such verbal verisimilitude that they're like late-night phone calls from old friends. Every imperative page trips along with the wry wisdom of ordinary speech - the illusion of artlessness that only the most artful writers can create. -- Ron Charles * Washington Post *Rich with the complexities of life . . .Pull any life's thread and you discover a mesh of involvement that soon takes in all the others. It is a fine thing, subtly done, and truly exhilarating. * Wall Street Journal *Few make fiction feel as exciting as Silber - and not in plot, but mere structure. Characters impact one another. Tones shift with perspective. Scenes build with profound scope . . . This latest novel feels like vintage Silber: stories interlinked with the confidence of Elizabeth Strout, but all their own mood and power. * Entertainment Weekly *If E.M. Forster hadn't already scooped up "Only connect" as the epigraph for his novel Howards End, Joan Silber would have the perfect fit for it. In fact, Silber deserves it a little more...Silber's knack for inhabiting far-flung realities is remarkable...Secrets of Happiness pays the best kind of attention to its characters' desires, dilemmas and, of course, connections. * Seattle Times *The author of the award-winning Improvement once again takes her scalpel to the complex anatomy of family, dissecting, with stunning precision, one young New Yorker's struggles with his father's secret life, the toll of deceits that doom a marriage, and the pitfalls of his own sexuality. * O, The Oprah Magazine *A new novel in stories from the master of the form...[E]choes the great Grace Paley, to whom Silber is so close in spirit and voice. While Paley was an all-New York gal, Silber makes faraway places seem familiar - oh, for the time when we can work on knowing the world even one-tenth as well as she does. These secrets of happiness really will make you happy, at least for a few sweet hours. * Kirkus Reviews *I never wonder more at how little we know about how greatly we factor in other people's lives than I do when reading Silber at her best. She aims, in increments, at the ecstatic...Capable of ecstasy, this time Silber delivers merely something humane, elegant and wise. -- Joshua Ferris * New York Times Book Review *Silber's brilliantly realised bird's-eye view has shown us...[the] people we are connected to are crucial to our happiness, just as we are to theirs. * Irish Times *Silber has a power that the rarest old masters have: close up, you feel their breath breathing life, nothing less, across a rosy cheek. You hold your own breath in those suspended seconds. * The Monthly *

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Book SynopsisSoldier, son, lover, husband, breadwinner, churchgoer, Henry Maxwell has spent his whole life trying to live with honour. A native Pittsburgher and engineer, he's always believed in logic, sacrifice and hard work. Now, seventy-five and retired, he feels the world has passed him by. It's 1998, the American century is ending, and nothing is simple any more. His children are distant, their unhappiness a mystery. Only his wife, Emily, and dog, Rufus, stand by him.Once so confident, as Henry's strength and memory desert him, he weighs his dreams against his regrets and is left with questions he can't answer: Is he a good man? Has he done right by the people he loves? And with time running out, what, realistically, can he hope for?Henry, Himself is a wry, warmhearted portrait of an American original - a man who believes he's reached a dead end only to discover life is full of surprises.Trade ReviewBeautifully spare and poignant . . . a novel that charms not through its plot, but through its subtle revelations of character and the human condition. * New York Times Book Review *O'Nan has returned to the mode that marks his best work, capturing America's shaky middle class with dignity . . . Tracking Henry's subtle interplay with [his wife] Emily, and the unspoken mysteries that concern him, O'Nan reveals a rich inner life. * Minneapolis Star Tribune *As usual, this profoundly unpretentious writer employs lucid, no-frills prose to cogently convey complicated emotions and fraught family interactions...Astute and tender, rich in lovely images and revealing details - another wonderful piece of work from the immensely gifted O'Nan. * Kirkus (starred review) *Charming, meditative, gently funny, and stealthily poignant...Like Richard Russo and Anne Tyler, O'Nan discerningly celebrates the glory of the ordinary in this pitch-perfect tale of the hidden everyday valor of a humble and good man. * Booklist *Engaging and immersive . . . One of O'Nan's gifts is his ability to craft his characters with such uncanny attention to detail that the reader comes to care for them as the author does . . . [A] poignant, everyman story. * Book Page *O'Nan, with some of his most gorgeous writing, [provides] Henry instances of unexpected grace . . . This novel is a lovely tribute to the enduring mystery of an ordinary life. * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *

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Book SynopsisOne beautiful September day, three sixty-six-year-old men convene on Martha's Vineyard, friends ever since meeting in college in the 1960s. They couldn't have been more different then, or even today - Lincoln's a commercial real estate broker, Teddy a tiny-press publisher and Mickey an ageing musician. But each man holds his own secrets, in addition to the monumental mystery that none of them has ever stopped puzzling over since 1971: the disappearance of their friend Jacy. Now, decades later, the distant past interrupts the present as the truth about what happened to Jacy finally emerges, forcing the men to reconsider everything they thought they knew about each other. Shot through with Russo's trademark comedy and humanity, Chances Are also introduces a new level of suspense and menace that will quicken the reader's heartbeat throughout this absorbing saga of how friendship's bonds are every bit as constricting and rewarding as those of family.For both longtime fans and lucky newcomers, Chances Are is a stunning demonstration of a highly-acclaimed author deepening and expanding his remarkable body of work.Trade ReviewCleverly paced, Russo's latest novel folds page-turning suspense into an unhurried, warmly observed portrait of friendship in later life. * Mail on Sunday *His stories are omnisciently narrated in a tone of sardonic understanding of human folly, which places him in the house of American style on a polished mezzanine between John Updike and Anne Tyler...Chances Are, a rare mix of the tense and tender, should gain Russo further literary acclaim. -- Mark Lawson * Guardian *There's much to enjoy in Richard Russo's typically nuanced portrait of three childhood friends...[a] fine-grained exploration of troubled, small-town masculinity...Russo's prose is so quietly melodious you can almost hear it singing. * Daily Mail *An eloquent excavation of long-buried secrets. * Observer *totally engrossing...Humane and beautifully crafted, it provides further compelling evidence of Russo's prestige as a contemporary American writer. * Sydney Morning Herald *...chances are awfully good that you'll lap up this gripping, wise and wonderful summer treat. * Boston Globe *Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo balances suspense with comedy in this gripping tale. * Time *Richard Russo is often compared to Dickens, to whom he clearly owes a debt, but the ghost hovering over his fabulous new novel, Chances Are, feels more like Sam Shepard...Next to Colson Whitehead's new book, there's not a better paced summer read -- John Freeman * Literary Hub *...blends everything we love about this author with something new...Vintage Russo...No one understands men better than Russo, and no one is more eloquent in explaining how they think, suffer and love. * Kirkus (starred review) *Russo's hallmark themes - the intricacy of male friendships, one-sided love, the collision of the past with the present - are on full display * New York Times *...a brisk story with memorable characters and smart things to say about loss and missed opportunities. * Minneapolis Star Tribune *...there's heart and beauty on every page. * USA Today *Richard Russo can write like Edith Wharton leavened with a touch of David Lodge. * The Economist *A writer of great comedy and warmth, Russo's living proof that a book can be profound and wise without aiming straight into darkness. * USA Today *Perhaps if it was pointed out that here was a US writer who stood somewhere between Anne Tyler at her darkest and Russell Banks, with an occasional hint of Richard Ford at his least bleak, perhaps Russo would become as widely read as he deserves to be. * Irish Times *No one writing today captures the detail of life with such stunning accuracy. -- Annie Proulx

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Book SynopsisIn love and happy, with a marriage that back home in Colombia people would kill for, Tom and Naomi Barnes, pursue their dream of prosperity and the perfect family in a London brimming with opportunity. While Tom works long hours for a super-hedge fund, Naomi becomes the ghostwriter for fellow school mum and Haitian immigrant Solange Wolf with whom she shares parallel lives. Tom becomes increasingly successful and soon the family are living the dream. But as money and prestige increase, Naomi can't shake the paranoia that comes from accelerated wealth and a culture of malediction. When Solange suddenly announces that the manuscript they have been working on was all based on secrets and lies, Naomi, whose own life is beginning to unravel, starts to doubt not only Solange's grasp on reality but her own and she begins to seriously question the very foundation of her love and marriage to Tom, with devastating consequences.Trade ReviewA magnetic and affecting tale filled with both humor and pain, Living the Dream depicts the glamorous yet flawed lives of two immigrant women in pre and post Brexit London. This layered and captivating novel is at times out loud funny and other times heartbreaking, yet we are constantly charmed by its narrator and her muse, or rather her muses, which include Colombia, Haiti, England, and beyond. * Edwidge Danticat, author of Breath, Eyes, Memory *

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Book SynopsisHoney Fontaine has spent much of her adult life dodging her mother's attempts to marry her off, and has had enough. Her mother, having changed her own life by marrying into comfort and means, is determined to find a similar suitable match for her daughter, much to Honey's distress. At her wits end, Honey decides to enlist the support of Ashley Elliot, a well-off club owner and determined flirt, who will pretend to be Honey's man. Ashley is not Honey's usual type, but she finds herself increasingly drawn to him and what a relationship with him could be like. When the latest of her mother's picks proves to be unexpectedly attractive to her, Honey finds herself suddenly forced to have to make a choice. Stability or passion, comfort or risk? What will Honey do?

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Book SynopsisEvery family has its own mythology, but in this family none of the myths match up. Claudia's mother says she met her husband when she stopped him from jumping off a bridge. Her father says it happened when he saved her from an attempted robbery. Both parents are deaf but couldn't be more different; they can't even agree on how they met, much less who needed saving. Into this unlikely yet somehow inevitable union, our narrator is born. She comes of age with her brother in this strange, and increasingly estranged, household split between a small village in southern Italy and New York City. Without even sign language in common – their parents have not bothered to teach them – family communications are chaotic and rife with misinterpretations. An outsider in every way, she longs for a freedom she's not even sure exists. Only books and punk rock – and a tumultuous relationship – begin to show her the way to create her own mythology, to construct her own version of the story of her life. Kinetic, formally daring, and strikingly original, Strangers I Know is a funny and profound portrait of an unconventional family that makes us look anew at how language shapes our understanding of ourselves.Trade Review‘Formally innovative and emotionally complex, this novel explores themes of communication, family, and belonging with exceptional insight. Durastanti, celebrated in Italy for her intelligent voice and her hybrid perspective, speaks to all who are outside and in-between. ‘Strangers I Know, in a bracing translation by Elizabeth Harris, is stunning.’ — Jhumpa Lahiri author of Whereabouts‘Brave and deeply felt... Here the novel is not only a medium of illumination, but also a buoy cast into the dark waters of memory, imagination, and boldly embodied questions. In other words, it is my favorite kind of writing, the kind that not only tells of the world – but burrows through it, alive.’ — Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous‘Claudia Durastanti's writing is lyrical and sharp, underpinned with a searching gaze that turns the everyday into something darkly beautiful. Every page feels totally, absorbingly alive.’ — Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure‘Playful, looping, atmospheric and funny, Strangers I Know is a singular achievement, one of those rare books that expanded my understanding of what a novel can do. Claudia Durastanti is an absolutely thrilling writer.’ — Lauren Groff, author of Matrix‘There is much exquisite characterisation in Strangers I Know by Durastanti, as well as barbed and profound musings on the class system…’ — Buzz Magazine‘Durastanti is a superb writer whose text is fluid, descriptions taut and original, whose whole novel gradually unfolds into a web of associations, possibilities and interwoven stories within stories that highlight how families, distant and near, misunderstand, confuse and love each other.’ — Rupert Loydell, International Times ‘In this moving family portrait [Durastanti] depicts personal calamities and failings with frankness, but the glimpses of violence and loneliness throughout shimmer with a sense of acceptance and the “useless power of forgiveness”.’ — Vilma De Gasperin, TLS

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Book SynopsisYou only have yourself to blame, you might say, but that’s not true. Some decisions take you down one path, and others another … It’s all about power. Resi is a writer in her mid-forties, married to Sven, a painter. They live, with their four children, in an apartment building in Berlin, where their lease is controlled by some of their closest friends. Those same friends live communally nearby, in a house they co-own and have built together. As the years have passed, Resi has watched her once-dear friends become more and more ensconced in the comforts and compromises of money, success, and the nuclear family. After Resi’s latest book openly criticises stereotypical family life and values, she receives a letter of eviction. Incensed by the true natures and hard realities she now sees so clearly, Resi sets out to describe the world as it really is for her fourteen-year-old daughter, Bea. Written with dark humour and clarifying rage, Anke Stelling’s novel is a ferocious and funny account of motherhood, parenthood, family, and friendship thrust into battle. Lively, rude, and wise, it throws down the gauntlet to those who fail to interrogate who they have become.Trade Review‘Stelling is brilliant on the quantum universe of parenting, the sheer unpredictability of it … The novel moves effortlessly between time periods in recent German history and builds up the composite picture of a generation that has too often seen many of its ideals disappear into trust funds … compelling.’ -- Michael Cronin * The Irish Times *‘A bitterly funny and honest examination of what it means to look at oneself in the mirror and what happens to relationships in the midst of a transforming society.’ * Happy Magazine *‘German author Anke Stelling makes her English language debut with a swingeing screed against the privilege and hypocrisy of those who sell their souls to get ahead … A merciless tirade of a novel about class, so energised by rage and wit it’s impossible to tear your eyes from the page.’ -- Cameron Woodhead * The Age *‘Stelling makes a blistering English-language debut with this incendiary screed about hypocrisy and privilege among a group of friends in Berlin... This biting class critique is hard to turn away from.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘It’s a fantastic translation, capturing Stelling’s candid, often ironic tone, as well as the narrator’s propensity for rhyme and wordplay. The book is very much embedded in the social landscape it’s set in, and so Jones’ decision to keep a flavour of the original German works particularly well.’ -- Annie Rutherford * Goethe Institute *‘Stelling is down-to-earth and quick with her criticism of the liberal elite … There is a deep satisfaction in watching [main character] Resi defy expectation and norm, frustrating those who wish she would just be thankful.’ -- Connor Harrison * Necessary Fiction *‘[A]n apologia pro vita mea… this sad, angry, and occasionally funny book works as a portrait of modern Germany and its social mores.’ -- Bethane Patrick * LitHub *‘This is an extremely funny book. All credit to translator Lucy Jones here, for the humour is largely in the writing, with rhythms, bathos and the subversion of expectations all delivering laughs. Stelling is an expert on the ways human beings deceive themselves and how we often betray these lies unconsciously … Higher Ground is a deftly structured, ingenious piece of fiction … The result is a hugely entertaining, satisfying and thought-provoking novel. A really wonderful read.’ -- Ann Morgan * A Year of Reading the World *‘Higher Ground is an absorbing novel that kept me interested from start to finish. Laced with dark humour, it’s very contemporary, skewering complacency and hypocrisy among the moneyed classes in Berlin … It’s often laugh-out-loud funny, and it’s often wise as well, even when she’s sending herself up.’ -- Lisa Hill * ANZ LitLovers *

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Book SynopsisWhen her parents die in a car accident, highly talented Austrian physicist Ruth Schwarz is confronted with a problem. Her parents’ will calls for them to be buried in their childhood home — but for strangers, the village of Gross-Einland remains stubbornly hidden from view. When Ruth finally finds her way there, she makes a disturbing discovery: beneath the town lies a vast cavern that exerts a strange control over the lives of the villagers. There are hidden clues about the hole everywhere, but nobody wants to talk about it — not even when it becomes clear that the stability of the entire town is in jeopardy. In the literary tradition of Thomas Bernhard and Elfriede Jelinek, Raphaela Edelbauer’s tale of trauma and history weaves an opaque dream fabric that is frighteningly true to life, and in the process she turns us towards the abject horror that lies beneath repressed memory. The Liquid Land is a dangerous novel, at once glittering nightmare and dark reality, from an extraordinary new voice.Trade Review‘A Freudian exploration of complicated grief.’ -- Simon Ings * The Times *‘Ably translated from the German by Jen Calleja, Raphaela Edelbauer’s impressive debut novel is a subtle allegory of historical memory and collective guilt, combining a dreamy, gothic strangeness with whimsical humour and an element of farce … The novel’s deft blend of registers — at once uncannily foreboding and drily comic — makes for an absorbing and memorable tale.’ -- Houman Barekat * The Guardian *‘Clever and compelling.’ -- Dani Garavelli * The Big Issue *‘Highly intelligent and deeply eccentric … the writing has atmosphere and intensity and — most satisfyingly — an intoxicating strangeness.’ -- Kevin O’Sullivan * Irish Examiner *‘An unfathomable and imaginative parable about Austria and how it dealt with its National Socialist past … philosophical and fantastic.’ -- Florian Baranyi * ORF *‘Edelbauer crosses borders and advances into unexplored areas of literature.’ * 2017 Rauriser Literature Prize jury citation *‘A village that officially does not exist and that seems to be disappearing more and more … Anyone who embarks on this trip is safely guided by Edelbauer — on a fine line between madness and adventure.’ -- Christina Risken * Buchhandlung Krüger *Praise for Raphaela Edelbauer: ‘Edelbauer’s essays are huge and impossible, utopian and full of fantastical realisms, brilliant and unwieldy. Vulcanoid salvos, cold and hard, which hit the reader with brute force.’ * Marietta Böning, Magazine of the Literaturhaus Wien *‘The Liquid Land was a fun and fascinating read … This is a quirky tale that is sure to please readers of contemporary fiction looking for something a little different, since it combines family drama with mystery/investigation and a touch of magical realism.’ -- Nicki J. Markus/Asta Idonea, author of Fire Up My Heart and Northern Lights‘For a novel meticulously built on a series of familiar, strange, and compelling conceptual metaphors, The Liquid Land isn't a dense or overly taxing read — just the opposite, in fact. Ruth's brief meditations on the nature of time and space at the beginning of the novel become our entry-point into the first of many motifs Edelbauer spends the rest of the book unpicking: the fluidity of time and space in our social lives, the implications of ecological collapse, the permeability of natural and built worlds, and our attempt to make sense of the past, and more importantly, come to terms with it. With The Liquid Land, Raphaela Edelbauer has written a book that is oblique, familiar, and completely new. It's a fascinating, heady combination.’ -- Khalid Warsame * ABC Arts *‘Edelbauer conjures a gut-level queasiness around questions of participation in and propagation of historical lies in a country with a silenced history of violence. This novel becomes a study of the deformations that such silences work upon citizens and indeed on physical landscapes. It’s a visceral wrestle with the presence of the past.’ -- Bernard Caleo, Readings‘The Liquid Land is a tale that nods to the traditions of magical realism while also exploring the threat of a very real past. On one level, it deals with a practical problem that falls to the protagonist, Ruth. But in searching for the solution — a town that has written itself off the map — she uncovers a looming danger that threatens to engulf the place. An intoxicating adventure unfolds from this unique premise.’ * Happy Mag *‘Fascinating and richly imaginative.’ -- Eric Karl Anderson * Lonesome Reader *‘A dark and deliciously unique novel … An uncanny page-turner, The Liquid Land pits family drama and an eerie almost Hot Fuzz-like town against darker presences – whether physical, emotional, or historical. The end result is an engaging and thought-provoking piece of contemporary fiction.’ -- Jodie Sloan * The AU Review‘The Liquid Land is a daring and surreal nightmare that lingers long after you turn the final page … The Liquid Land is a powerful sociological and philosophical reflection on society and government.’ -- Samuel Bernard Williams * Good Reading, starred review *‘From the first page of this beguilingly strange, darkly comic novel, we are plunged into a destabilised realm of fiction where the laws of rationality, physics, and linear duration no longer seem to apply … At times, the novel, as translated into English by Jen Calleja, reads like a postmodern détournement of classic German texts like The Castle and The Magic Mountain, where a baffled protagonist is drawn into an environment whose shadowy, labile qualities become inseparable from their own inner disorder.’ * World Literature Today *‘Ruth Schwartz, a physicist, tries to fulfil her parents' final wishes: burying them in their ancestral home of Greater Einland, a small town in Austria that does not show up in any municipal record … This is an eerie, electric novel about individual trauma, collective memory, and the way the land holds onto atrocity.’ -- Rachel Schneck * Harvard Book Store *

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Book SynopsisApproval follows would-be parents David and Cici through a series of forays into the past as they go through the motions of applying to adopt a child. Their story builds a picture of hope, vulnerability and fear as David is put under intense and intrusive scrutiny during their battle against faceless bureaucracy. From family background and early experiences to adult relationships, he is forced to revisit uncomfortable – sometimes painful – episodes, in the hope of meeting the authority’s requirements. Confronting a lonely, difficult and uncertain path to family life, Approval is a brave novel told from a perspective rarely explored in fiction: a man’s response to a couple’s infertility. Approval follows would-be parents David and Cici through a series of forays into the past as they go through the motions of applying to adopt a child.Trade Review“John Rutter's Approval is many things at once. A powerful meditation on judgement. A transfixing fable of a Kafka-esque application process. A complex tragedy about fatherhood. But it's also a simple, affecting and beautifully wrought story of one couple's journey towards what they most desire – a child – and the cost of reaching out for one. A hugely promising debut.” -- Rodge Glass"An authentic voice … the issues it raises are very real and have contemporary resonance." -- Lancashire Evening Post

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Book Synopsis'Immensely captivating and original’ The Guardian'A poetically written domestic drama with a wonderful magical-realist twist' Daily MailHow do you make sense of the loss of those you love the most? Delia Rabbit is already struggling to juggle three wayward children, a damaged relationship with her mother and an ill-advised affair with one of her students. Then her sixteen-year-old son Charlie vanishes in the middle of a blistering Brisbane heatwave. The family reels from the loss, as twenty-year-old Olive descends into hedonism and eleven-year-old Benjamin clings ever tighter to his superhero obsession. However, Charlie’s disappearance is stranger than it seems. And while his family search desperately for him, he may be closer than they think . . . A multigenerational tale of motherhood, grief and the tribulations of adolescence, The Rabbits weaves a thread of magic into a classic family drama novel.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2020 Penguin Australia Literary Prize‘A unique and captivating tangle of magic and mystery… [a] deliciously unsettling debut’ The Guardian 'I love an unsympathetic heroine and, here, two brilliant ones come along at once: art teacher Delia Rabbit and her surly daughter Olive. [... The Rabbits is] a poetically written domestic drama with a wonderful magical-realist twist', Wendy Holden, Daily Mail‘Overett brings a fresh eye to the suburban novel’ Booksandpublishing.com.au ‘A book that compels you to keep reading… deft and agile’ Readings.com.au

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Book Synopsis'Gripping' Daily Mail'Chloe Lane’s writing continues to astound me' Clare Fuller, author of The Memory of AnimalsA searingly intimate exploration of marriage, motherhood and desire from a bold New Zealand talent. Georgie’s marriage has stagnated. But in a Florida almost claustrophobic with life, there’s no room to attend to it: forests burn, termites abound, teeth break, and there’s something in her husband’s eye. Then she finds a body in the woods. As the repercussions of her discovery and a doomed affair come to land, Georgie is forced to confront her past, examining the often heartbreaking power of the things we witness and the scars they leave behind. Trade Review'Gripping in its exploration of trauma, desire and the knotty, day-by-day business of staying together' Daily Mail'Lane is expert at taking us deep inside the body, heart and mind of Georgie, showing us her most intimate desires with exquisitely agonising clarity' Claire Fuller, author of The Memory of Animals‘Arms & Legs zig zags between comedy and despair as Georgie seeks to understand her life, her son, the wilderness outside and inside of her. This perceptive, nuanced novel charts the murky, contingent boundaries we draw around our homes and hearts’ Kirsten McDougall, author of She’s a Killer ‘An astute, fine-grained novel about the fires we light to sustain ourselves – and what happens when they get out of control’ Emily Perkins, author of Lioness‘This intense examination of a marriage with its rifts and sorrows had me spellbound. The images of fire give it an extraordinary brilliance, a moving subtle light casting brightness, shadows and a constant rising tension’ Fiona Kidman, author of This Mortal Boy 'This beautifully crafted novel lights the story on fire’ Gillian Best, author of The Last Wave ‘A gritty, sexy novel that will have you aching for its characters, for the things they can and cannot say to each other. Lane’s taut control of the narrative echoes the story’s fecund, humid Florida landscape . . . and her ability to sustain suspense lasts well beyond the final page’ Sue Orr, author of Loop Tracks ‘Gives you the feeling of having witnessed something authentic, something palpable . . . There is an emotional resonance, an emotional truth, to Lane’s words’ Academy of NZ LiteraturePraise for The Swimmers‘Tackles the subject of assisted dying with wit and pathos’ The Independent‘Lane’s unsentimental prose nails the strange enormity and mundanity of love and death with perfect piquancy’ Daily Mail‘A powerful and intense debut’ The Sun‘Exquisitely observed, harrowing yet surprisingly funny’ SAGA Magazine‘Poignant and subtle with humorous elements as this disjointed family struggles to fulfil the final wishes of their loved one’ Candis Magazine‘Darkly funny, desperately sad, brilliantly written. I absolutely loved it’ Claire Fuller, author of The Memory of Animals‘Spectacular. A perfect blend of devastating humour and sadness’ Emily Austin, author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead ‘A beautiful, heart rending and totally absorbing narrative, a compulsive page turner from start to end . . . A little masterpiece’ Fiona Kidman, author of This Mortal Boy‘A tender portrait of indestructible family bonds and unrepentant, rule-breaking independence’ Bookanista‘An observational tragicomedy, [The Swimmers] traces the small panics, collaborative denial, and suburban antics that a family perfects in their attempts to keep their heads above dangerous emotional waters’ Foreword Reviews‘Nuanced and beautifully drawn, complicated women in all their glory’ Alice Jones, The Debut Digest‘An intense, moving and darkly comic story about unrepentant, difficult women’ New Zealand Herald

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Book SynopsisThe weird, fetid, familiar discomfort of family is front and centre in these short stories of all the ways we remain a mystery to each other.The mysteries of kinship (families born into and families made) take disconcerting and familiar shapes in these refreshingly frank short stories. A family is haunted by a beast that splatters fruit against its walls every night, another undergoes a near-collision with a bus on the way home from the beach. Mothers are cold, fathers are absent—we know these moments in the abstract, but Adaui makes each as uncanny as our own lives: close but not yet understood.Trade Review"haunting….Adaui’s poetic prose elevates the poignancy of these mostly somber stories" —Publishers Weekly"A kaleidoscopic collection that takes a sharp, dark look at family and how we survive it." —Kirkus"A softly beguiling book that pulls the reader into its complexity and investigation of deeply vicious themes." —The Arts Desk"Brief, incendiary tales, flaring into being." —Irish Times"With this book Katya Adaui consolidates her position as one of the most subtle and original Peruvian writers in recent years." —El País"Adaui belongs to a resurgence of women storytellers who have restored the pleasure of reading stories that leave us suffering from their sweet intoxication." —WMagazín

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Book SynopsisWomen's Prize for Fiction 2023 FinalistThe coming of age story of an award-winning translator, Homesick is about learning to love language in its many forms, healing through words and the promises and perils of empathy and sisterhood.Sisters Amy and Zoe grow up in Oklahoma where they are homeschooled for an unexpected reason: Zoe suffers from debilitating and mysterious seizures, spending her childhood in hospitals as she undergoes surgeries. Meanwhile, Amy flourishes intellectually, showing an innate ability to glean a world beyond the troubles in her home life, exploring that world through languages first. Amy's first love appears in the form of her Russian tutor Sasha, but when she enters university at the age of 15 her life changes drastically and with tragic results."Croft moves quickly between powerful scenes that made me think about my own sisters. I love how the language displays a child's consciousness. A haunting accomplishment." Kali Fajardo-AnstineTrade Review"Stunning and surprising." —New York Times"A Boundary-Expanding Story Of Devotion And Growing Up" —NPR.org"Poignant, creative, and unique" —Kirkus"A tribute to the deep bond of sisterhood: how, over years navigating life, it stretches apart and snaps back." —The Scotsman"HOMESICK is an incantatory and masterful work of art."" —Marisa Silver , author of MARY COIN and LITTLE NOTHING"A poignant and moving meditation on family, friendship and place."" —Thomas Chatterton Williams , author of LOSING MY COOL"A marvel: audacious and lyrical."" —Vu Tran , author of DRAGONFISH"Change is life, and Homesick is an exercise in conscious, delicate, joyful change." —LA Review of Books"[Croft] has created a memoir that is at once different from any other yet far more intimate." —Books and Bao"Astonishing in its emotional reach, its evocation of a child's discovery and a young adult's suffering and all the wonder of words." —Shelf Awareness"[A] marvel of a book that magically expresses the untranslatable." —Foreword Reviews

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Book SynopsisRecently bereaved Jamie is staying at a rural steading in the heart of Scotland with his actor boyfriend Alex. The sudden loss of both of Jamie’s parents hangs like a shadow over the trip. In his grief, Jamie finds himself sifting through bittersweet memories, from his working-class upbringing in Edinburgh to his bohemian twenties in London, with a growing awareness of his sexuality threaded through these formative years. In the present, when Alex is called away to an audition, Jamie can no longer avoid the pull of the past: haunted by an inescapable failure to share his full self with his parents, he must confront his unresolved feelings towards them. In spare, evocative prose, Allan Radcliffe tells a wistful coming-of-age story and paints a tender portrait of grief in all its complexities.Trade Review'Equally heart-warming and sorrowful. Each and every sentence has been so elegantly penned' -The Scots Magazine; 'Written with an honesty and understanding that is rare, it's a novel full of love, kindness, and compassion' -Skinny Magazine; 'A rippling, multifaceted jewel of a novel - Poignant and compelling, it is resonant with vivid images' -Kevin MacNeil, author of 'The Brilliant & Forever'; 'Allan Radcliffe's debut touched my heart. Both insightful and observant, warm and infinitely relatable' -Henry Fry, author of 'First Time for Everything'; 'This poignant Bildungsroman is at once a tender tale of queer awakening in the Edinburgh of the 80s and 90s and a heartbreaking love letter' -Mary Paulson-Ellis, bestselling author of 'The Other Mrs Walker', 'The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing' and 'Emily Noble's Disgrace'

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Book SynopsisA story about family, politics and journeying through a fractured country in a delicate time, The Havoc of Choice explores the long reaching effects of colonisation and corruption within the context of a singular household and the disparate experiences of class and clan they encapsulate.2007, Kenya. Long held captive by her father's shadow of corruption, Kavata has spent her life suffocated by political machinations. When her husband decides to run in the next election, these shadows threaten to consume her home. Unable to bear this darkness, Kavata plots to escape.As her family falls apart, so too does her country. In the wake of Kenya's post-election turmoil, Kavata and her family must find their way back to each other across a landscape of wide-spread confusion, desperation, and heartrending loss.One of the first pieces of long fiction from Kenya to explore its 2007 post-election violence (PEV) in such detail, The Havoc of Choice is a delicate and deeply personal attempt to understand the root of this spontaneous yet organised conflict and to figure out what healing looks like for the people of Kenya.Trade ReviewWanjiru Koinange turns the story of a Kenyan election into a study of Nairobi and Kenya itself. Her vision is warm and intelligent, her storytelling impeccable, and her cast of characters unerringly plausible and fascinating. One of the best accounts of the new Africa in years. -- Imran Coovadia * author of The Wedding and The Posioners *Through the intimate and abiding lens of family, Koinange - a new and compelling voice - skilfully weaves an intricate story of corruption, betrayal, love and loss. Tension-filled and moving. -- Yewande Omotoso * author of Bom Boy and The Woman Next Door *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE JANN MEDLICOTT ACORN PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER OF THE MITOQ BEST FIRST BOOK OF FICTION WINNER OF THE NGAIO MARSH AWARD FOR BEST CRIME NOVEL auē (verb) to cry, howl, groan, wail, bawl. (interjection) expression of astonishment or distress. Taukiri was born into sorrow. Auē can be heard in the sound of the sea he loves and hates, and in the music he draws out of the guitar that was his father’s. It spills out of the gang violence that killed his father and sent his mother into hiding, and the shame he feels about abandoning his eight-year-old brother to a violent home. But Taukiri’s brother, Ārama, is braver than he looks, and he has a friend, and his friend has a dog, and the three of them together might just be strong enough to turn back the tide of sadness. This bestselling multi-award-winning novel is both raw and sublime, introducing a compelling new voice in New Zealand fiction.Trade Review‘There is something so assured and flawless in the delivery of the writing voice that is almost like acid on the skin.’ -- Tara June Winch, co-judge of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction 2020‘It reminds me of The Bone People and of Once Were Warriors. The writing has a wild, intuitive sort of magic.’ -- Catherine Woulfe * The Spinoff *‘This is the kind of social realist New Zealand fiction I’m thrilled to see … This is a real punch-in-the-guts kind of novel but while it deals with themes of domestic violence, gang culture, grief, and fractured families and, is at times, a heartbreaking read; it is also a beautifully pitched and nuanced hopeful story about the power of love, friendship, and family … I think everybody should read Auē. It’s a book that people will still be talking about in decades to come.’ -- Kiran Dass * NZ Herald *‘Manawatu has an ability to write grisly, horrifying details yet also keep one eye on our hearts. She builds tangible characters that have beauty and wonder, bright dreams, and enduring strength, alongside others that you wish she could unwrite. There are many elements of this book that give a nod to Keri Hulme’s The Bone People. The young boy at the centre, the violence, the isolated South Island backdrop, the secret ‘Bones Bay’ all recall Hulme, but the most important similarity is the way both authors write with such earthy grace and pull you into a world that is as repelling as it is intriguing.’ -- Arihia Latham * Landfall *‘Auē is not just the story of two boys, it is the story of a family, people who are born into it, and those who become part of it. We travel through past and present, lives come together and are held together by strands of pain, cruelty, hardship, brutality, music, and love. Throughout is the image of birds, some broken and battered, some who manage to fly. Some who sing. The writer knows exactly what she’s doing and takes us with her. I could not stop reading.’ -- Renée‘A deep and powerful work, maybe even the most successfully achieved portrayal of underclass New Zealand life since Once Were Warriors.’ -- Steve Braunias * Newsroom *‘This is a confronting book, but it’s superbly written, with the undercurrent of distress escalating as the pages progress … until it explodes in a devastating climax … Like Alan Duff’s Once There Were Warriors, this novel doesn’t shy away from depicting the dysfunctional aspects of Maori gang culture and the violence of toxic masculinity … This gift for dialogue is matched by a raw authenticity which propels the novel along until it becomes unputdownable.’ -- Lisa Hill * ANZ LitLovers *‘It’s a compelling, riveting story that feels likes riding the waves, moments of joy at the heights, the threat of doom as they crash. And the poetry of the in-between, the goodness inherent within the young and those who have been loved, the healing that can happen when families reconnect, the ceaseless drama of life. The characterisation is so well done, unsentimental but deeply empathetic, the vulnerability of some sits in deep contrast to the brutal nature of others, the tension almost unbearable. A 5 star read — extraordinary literary fiction.’ -- Claire McAlpine * Word by Word *‘Auē! — a cry of distress — calling out throughout this extraordinary novel of fear and violence, of families torn apart, and people trying to find connection and safety … As you read, you empathise so much with the characters, that the mystery of what exactly has happened and how the people are related to each other is totally absorbing. And the tension of the last few chapters almost unbearable … A remarkable book.’ -- Alyson Baker * alysontheblog *‘To attempt a plot overview of Auē is difficult because the characters and events intersect and reveal themselves in an order not chronological but like a good mystery, a puzzle fragment at a time. The fragments, often violent, or sad, or beautiful, or funny, all perfectly fit each other and create something more than their parts, but defy a easy summation … cleverly constructed.’ -- Renee Rowland * The Twizel Bookshop *‘Auē means to cry or wail, which is at the heart of this novel. It gnaws away at you, it consumes you; you can't stop thinking about it, trying to understand it, trying to find hope … a fitting title for this book as there is an underlying sense of sorrow that binds the generations together. It details intergenerational trauma and shares a journey on how this trauma can impact future generations and leave unseen scars breaking the essence and spirit of a person. Manawatu weaves the sorrowful call throughout the book, but there are just enough pockets of hope to allow the reader to imagine a better future for all the characters.’ -- Wiki Mulholland * Emirates Literature Foundation *‘It’s about the intergenerational nature of this violence, how ruinous lack of tenderness breeds further ruin. The violence is strongly gendered, the men incapable of expressing themselves except through fists … If lack of tenderness is the cause of all this suffering, aroha, love, is the answer. Throughout Auē love comes to the rescue, even if it is often thwarted. Culture and belonging are key to this love … The writing is cinematic, the dialogue heightened, the action coming in staccato bursts.’ -- James Whitmore * The Library is Open *‘Auē is a heartbreaking yet gripping drama … Despite the misery faced by its characters, the book maintains a sense of hope … [Auē] stands out for its stark yet careful approach to depicting confronting and uncomfortable subjects. It’s reminiscent of Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain and Romy Ash’s Floundering in its exploration of tragedy through the innocent eyes of a child.’ -- Brad Jefferies * Books+Publishing *‘The word auē is a Maori verb to cry, howl, groan, wail, bawl and yes, yes, yes, yes and yes, you may do all of these things when reading Becky Manawatu’s incredibly assured debut novel. Small word, big emotions – and the perfect title for a book that deals in deceptively simple narration and oceanic feeling … Manawatu elicits compassion from ugly places, and threads through redemptive spiritual beauty, and innocence, too, via alternating voices.’ -- Lucy Clark * The Guardian *‘Delivered in rapid-fire, punchy prose, Auē is the remarkably assured debut of Becky Manawatu. Tracing the story Taukiri, it’s a confronting portrait of his family life — one that has been devastated by gang violence. Brutal in its themes, but permeated by hope, it’s little wonder that it’s already resonated so strongly with critics and fans alike in Manawatu’s native New Zealand.’ * Happy Mag *‘Much has been made of the violence in this novel … [but in] so many ways, Auē is quite different … more hopeful and tender … In bringing to the page characters who maim, but also characters who love fiercely, Manawatu has had to enter the aching heart of this story and bring her characters back from dark places. Auē has done well because it is expertly crafted, but also because it has something indefinable: enthralling, puzzling, gripping and familiar, yet otherworldly.’ -- Tina Makereti * The Guardian *‘[R}emarkable … In Manawatu's precise prose, even the most ruthless acts are imbued with poetry. Auē is a complex and gripping read, exploring identity, race and redemption.’ -- Dasha Maiorova * The Big Issue *‘Genre-defying, Manawatu’s writing creates an unusual mix of heart-in-your-mouth gang crime and a pensive, deeply moving family drama … Manawatu’s Maori heritage comes through with great heart, hope, and vibrancy by drawing on the natural landscape, Maori myths and the social issues and exclusions that face the modern Maori experience.’ -- Fiona Murphy * Irish Examiner *‘[Auē's] strengths emerge partly through an unwillingness to flinch at bleakness, partly through the depth of emotion, and ultimately the resilience it also portrays.’ * The Sydney Morning Herald *‘[Manawatu's] prose is as changeable as the ocean: fluid most of the time, choppy and fragmented during intense moments. Each narrator contributes a unique perspective, their voices weaving together to form a coherent, devastating tale … Auē is a novel about how trauma can spread from one generation to the next, and how it is never too late for second chances.’ -- Eileen Gonzalez * Foreword Reviews *‘Manawatu’s writing is tender, concise and cinematic, the narrative populated as much by loving, supportive men as it is by broken, violent ones. Her superb incorporation of popular music recalls – perhaps not coincidentally – the Midas touch of Quentin Tarantino, whose Django Unchained serves as both motif and character development, representing the irrepressible spirit of children who find joy in the ugliest sides of life and the pall of colonialism that hovers over the story. Manawatu slides between perspectives and time frames, abruptly introducing characters without losing command of the narrative, making revelations and connections at just the right time, the short chapters letting the story unfurl like a rich tapestry.’ -- Ruby Hamad * The Saturday Paper *‘“Auē” is the Maori word for a howling cry, and this layered work weaves a striking tapestry of fierce love and unflinching violence worthy of its poetic title … Manawatu excels at enriching her characters and story lines with heartbreaking detail … [A] devastating, beautifully written tale imbued with Maori culture and language.’ -- Gregory Brown * The New York Times *‘Auē is a vivid and profound work.’ -- Jessica Oliver * The Canberra Times *‘Read this book if you love great fiction and want to discover a powerful new voice from New Zealand.’ -- Emily Paull * The AU Review *

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Book SynopsisA professional pianist searches for her sister, who disappeared when their parents died, aided by her childhood-care records and a single song that continues to haunt her … the exquisite new novel from the author of This Is How We Are Human‘Utterly beautiful … I couldn’t put it down’ Iona Gray‘Louise Beech has a rare talent … she doesn’t just move the reader, she breaks their heart and mends it again’ Fiona Cummins‘The best one yet … I’m still in tears of heartbreak and joy’ S E Lynes'Like the notes of a nocturne, Nothing Else will leave you profoundly touched by its beauty' Nydia Hetherington–––––––––––––––––––––––––––Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet.But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when their parents died, and Heather never saw her again.When Heather is offered an opportunity to play piano on a cruise ship, she leaps at the chance. She’ll read her recently released childhood care records by day – searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance – and play piano by night … coming to terms with the truth about a past she’s done everything to forget.An exquisitely moving novel about surviving devastating trauma, about the unbreakable bond between sisters, Nothing Else is also a story of courage and love, and the power of music to transcend – and change – everything.–––––––––––––––––––––––––––‘One of the best writers of her generation’ John Marrs ‘A story of childhood trauma, survival, the fragility of memory, and of love that survives decades … I loved it’ Gill Paul‘A touching, beautifully written work of literary fiction ... pure perfection’
Michael Wood'A beautiful, heartbreaking, uplifting novel' Vikki Patis‘Another brilliant tale of love and hope’ Fionnuala Kearney'Powerful, mesmerising and honest … I loved every word' Carol Lovekin ‘A tender and beautiful story about the loving and unbreakable bond between sisters’ Madeleine Black ‘Wonderful prose’ Shelley’s Book Nook ‘Emotional, poignant, delightful’ Bobs and Books ‘A masterpiece of emotional artistry, as spectacularly tender as it is disquieting, this book will stay with you long after you finish it’ Bookly Matters ‘This is another beautiful, lyrically written story, made even more perfect with the musical themes throughout’ Karen Reads ‘Beautifully written, in that style that is so typical of this author, and which never fails to draw its reader in’ From Belgium with Booklove ‘Madame Beech has done it again ... both touching and heartbreaking’ Mrs Loves To Read ‘This is such a beautiful book – incredibly tender, it’s like an extended piece of the most beautiful classical music you ever heard’ Tea Leaves and Reads ‘This is a story, at its root, of love and loss, and lost time, but one that testifies to the power of truth and the endurance of love … her best yet’Blue Book Balloon

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Book SynopsisChiltern Publishing creates the most beautiful editions of the World's finest literature. Your favourite classic titles in a way you have never seen them before; the tactile embossed layers, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make these titles feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf.

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Book SynopsisThis gorgeous, funny novel paints a picture of a bygone era, depicting the changing society in Ceylon after Independence from the British in 1948. Three Tamil girl cousins, Gowry, Saratha and Buvana, grow up in the old-fashioned village of Kolavil in Eastern Sri Lanka near the beautiful River Thillai. As they approach womanhood, they each struggle in their own way to assert themselves in opposition to the strict traditions of Tamil culture and their powerful Grandma. Their idyllic village life is threatened by people and by events beyond their control. Meanwhile, the reader can get lost in a colourful world of flamingos, temple bells and coconut prawn curry.

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