Fiction: literary and general non-genre
Y Lolfa Last Rites
Book SynopsisA ringing telephone, once belonging to the KGB, leads investigative journalist Jack Flynt to a Breton island in search of the woman pleading for help at the other end of the line.
£10.97
Y Lolfa Dark Territory
Book Synopsis
£11.77
Salt Publishing The Electric Dwarf
Book SynopsisA ‘Withnail’ for the twenty-first centuryTim Vine’s satirical thriller appears to revolve around the dysfunctional lives of Norman and Peter – the latter becoming an accidental terrorist. Driven by his warped religious tendencies and mental illness, Peter is encouraged by none other than the singer Rick Astley, who instructs and leads him during the most excellent recurring dreams.Along the bizarre journey we explore a cult, infidelity, drug abuse, frustration, extremism, all tinged by a strong awareness of the weirdness of late-Capitalist society.
£9.49
Legend Press Ltd Armadillos: 'P.K. Lynch can tell a story deep as
Book SynopsisAn absorbing tale with an explosive ending, Lynch stuns in this dark debut chronicling the journey of a young girl's escape from an abusive family.Shortlisted for the Amazon Rising Star AwardLonglisted for the Guardian Not the Booker prize 2016''P.K. Lynch can tell a story deep as a wound Read this one'' Jeanette WintersonAggie is fifteen-year-old girl, a ''sub'' from a ''sub'' family, one of Texas'' downtrodden. Her father and brother enact that ''sub''-ness on her, week in, week out. She has only the vaguest notion that there is something wrong with the abuse she endures and instead dreams of the outside world.And then one day, Aggie walks out, and like the armadillos that flourish in Texas'' barren landscape, she is a survivor...In her escape, she gravitates to those who are just as maltreated as her. They offer Aggie the sense of family, albeit a thoroughly dysfunctional one, that she''s been searching for. But when she gets embroiled in a crisis involving stolen money, Aggie soon realises there are some problems you can''t run away from.
£8.54
Legend Press Ltd Wild Life: 'Compelling investigation into the
Book Synopsis''Compelling, chilling investigation into the dark instincts of masculinity'' GuardianLonglisted for the Guardian Not the Booker prize 2016When we moved into the wild, the wild moved into us.When a troubled advertising salesman loses his job, the fragile wall between his public and private personas comes tumbling down. Fleeing his debtors, Adam abandons his family and takes to sleeping rough in a local park, where a fraternity of homeless men befriend him.As the months pass, Adam gradually learns to appreciate the tough new regime, until winter arrives early, threatening to turn his paradise into a nightmare.Starving, exhausted and sick of the constant infighting, Adam decides to return to his family. The men, however, have other plans for him. With time running out, and the stakes raised unbearably high, Adam is forced to question whether any of us can truly escape the wildness within.Liam Brown brings us another enthralling survival tale which questions human belonging in either nature or society. Adam gambles with his life in this Lord of the Flies style struggle as he tries to escape back to modern society, with his sanity intact.''An inventive, finely written and disturbing portrait of 21st century park life, a world where the urban and the feral are bound to clash but are also destined to unearth a fragile, tender optimism.'' Jim Grace''Viscerally propulsive. I read Liam Brown''s new novel the way I might have once gone on a three-day bender. Wild Life is as intoxicating as home-distilled hooch.'' Stephen May''A deliciously visceral undercurrent of violence ... this compulsive read demands to be devoured in one sitting.'' Kerry Hadley-Price''With shades of Ballard, Lord of the Flies and Bear Grylls dark, brutal, funny and unforgettable.'' Benjamin Myers
£8.54
Legend Press Ltd Chains of Sand
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Legend Press Ltd Lingua Franca
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Headline Publishing Group The One That I Want: The Theatreland Series
Book SynopsisWhen Lucy Ashford lands a top job at a leading theatrical agency in London, work mixes with pleasure, as she literally falls into the arms of Hollywood heartthrob Daniel Miller.Handsome, charming and irresistible, Daniel is just what unlucky-in-love Lucy needs, and she is quickly drawn into his glittering celebrity lifestyle. But can she tame the A-list bad boy or is she just one more girl in Daniel s long line of conquests?And then there’s up-and-coming actor Owen Somers, fiercely talented but as yet uncast in a starring role. After she takes him onto the agency’s books, Owen and Lucy's friendship slowly grows. If she looks closely, Lucy's leading man might be right before her very eyes...
£7.99
Headline Publishing Group Dead Idol: a gripping conspiracy thriller with a
Book SynopsisIn a world of fake news, who can you trust?Global pop sensation Noah Hastings takes to the stage for his sold-out concert. After singing his latest hit, Noah detonates a bomb strapped to his chest, killing himself and ninety-one of his fans.Speculation about the pop star's motivation for the crime runs riot until the authorities pin the blame on fundamentalist Islam. But what happens when Noah's inspiration turns out to be another ideology?Nina Hargreaves, an investigative journalist, travels around America searching for the real story. She gets close to the truth - but risks losing everything she has in the process...A twisty and page-turning debut political thriller, perfect for fans of Mark Dawson, Andrew Raymond and Sam Bourne.
£10.44
Atlantic Books Goodnight, Beautiful Women: a powerful collection
Book SynopsisAnna Noyes has produced a powerful, mesmerizing debut collection of loosely interconnected short stories. Assured and atmospheric and imbued with the luminous beauty of the Maine coastline, these stories are bold, unflinching and utterly compelling. Ordinary lives are held under the microscope, making them vivid, extraordinary - steeped with promise yet mired by threat, driven mad with longing, muted by heartache and loss, trapped in the evanescence of memory. With breathtaking control and a rhythmic, lucid prose that is distinctly her own, Goodnight Beautiful Women marks Anna Noyes as an exhilarating new talent.Trade ReviewNoyes' achievement here is nothing less than a high-wire act: precise, fearless, breathtaking. She casts an unwavering gaze on the nature of frailty and desire, offering up gem after gem in this sensuous and startling debut. -- Téa ObrehtSeductive, smart, and erotic, Anna Noyes' stories evoke with beautiful clarity love and sexual awakening. She is a most exciting discovery. -- Lily KingA mesmerizing collection of stories by one of America's most exciting young writers... Tender yet unsentimental, unflinchingly bold but full of beauty, Anna Noyes' debut lingers in the mind well beyond its final paragraph. A book to fall in love with. -- Jonathan Lee, author of ‘Joy’ and ‘Who is Mr Satoshi’Anna Noyes has the gift... It is a joy - and the sweetest kind of heartache - to watch her making her swift way story by story to their hearts. -- Kevin Brockmeier, author of ‘The Illumination’ and ‘The Brief History of the Dead’This is an extraordinary book of stories... [They] are energetic, often mysterious, and beautifully written, and they will stay in your memory long after you finish the book. -- Charles Baxter, author of ‘The Feast of Love’These stories shine with prismatic, perfectly rendered settings, but more brilliant still is the delicacy with which Noyes unspools the inner lives of her characters... This feels like no debut at all, but a voice fully formed. -- Casey Walker, author of ‘Last Days in Shanghai’With exceptional delicacy and grace, Noyes cracks opens the most ordinary moments and offers us their painful core. Noyes's prose is precise, skillful, and full of raw emotion. It's some of the most elegant writing I've come across recently. -- Dina Nayeri, author of ‘A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea’Assured and atmospheric, tender and melancholy, these stories of women adrift linger in the mind like music. I love them. -- Karen Thompson Walker[Noyes' characters] do not shy from their imperfections as they search for those fleeting, ambiguous moments of resolution. * Booklist *Women combat the bleak Maine wilderness and more insidious dangers within their own homes in a debut as rich and quiet as a walk in the dark. * Huffington Post *[Noyes'] praise is well-deserved; she writes poignantly about women of all ages and economic backgrounds coming together and drifting apart in New England. The stories are loosely connected, demonstrating how the rippling effects of one event, of one lie, can reach farther than imaginable. * Huffington Post *If the fiction of Stephen King and Alice Munro had a literary love child, it might look like this: luminous domestic moments married to a pervasive sense of threat. * Washington Post *Anna Noyes's superb debut collection [is made up of] haunting, beautifully restrained stories * LitHub *The stories... consistently sparkle with expressive detail * New York Times Book Review *Anna Noyes is as sensuous as she is grounded. The beauty of her language, with its rhythmic pulls and earthy descriptions are captivating... a young and gifted writer. * Travel + Leisure *Her prose is beautifully evocative * Grazia *Anna Noyes is basically the living embodiment of Hannah Hovarth's ambitions in Girls. Straight out of Iowa Writers' Workshop, she's written for various literary publications before turning in a book of short stories on the sensual and often strained lives of women along the beautiful Maine coast. She will suck you in. * Grazia *
£999.99
Atlantic Books Where I Lost Her
Book SynopsisHow far would you go to save a child? Where I Lost Her follows one woman's journey through heartbreak and loss, as she searches for the truth about a missing little girl.Tess is visiting friends in rural Vermont when she is driving alone at night and sees a young, half-dressed toddler in the middle of the road, who then runs into the woods like a frightened deer.The entire town begins searching for the little girl. But there are no sightings, no other witnesses, no reports of missing children. As local police point out, Tess's imagination has played her false before. And yet Tess is compelled to keep looking, in a desperate effort to save the little girl she can't forget.A superbly crafted and suspenseful thriller, Where I Lost Her is a gripping, haunting novel from a remarkable storyteller.Eloquent, pacy and compelling, this is a book to be devoured whole - I couldn't put it down. - Sunday Independent (Ireland)Spellbinding. I loved everything about Where I Lost Her. - Mary Kubica, bestselling author of The Good GirlTrade ReviewSpellbinding. I loved everything about Where I Lost Her. * Mary Kubica, bestselling author of The Good Girl *Eloquent, pacy and compelling, this is a book to be devoured whole - I couldn't put it down. * Sunday Independent (Ireland) *
£7.99
Atlantic Books Disciples
Book SynopsisHarry Field, an elderly professor looking after his baby granddaughter, allows Oliver, the child's absentee father, to take her to the park. Only too late do Harry and his daughter Judy realise that the child has fallen into the hands of the cult to which Oliver belongs - a group led by Miller, a dangerous man who claims to be God...
£8.54
Atlantic Books How to Play Dead
Book SynopsisHe knows your every move...__________________________She's watching over them. And he's watching her...Ria Taylor is everything to everyone. Wife and mother, the centre of her family. And the manager of a refuge for women whose partners have driven them out of their own homes. But one night, with her husband away, Ria receives a terrifyingly sinister message. Someone is watching her. Someone who seems to know everything about her. She knows what she should do - seek help, just like she tells her clients to. But Ria is the help. As events escalate, and terror takes hold, Ria must decide whether to run or hide...Trade ReviewPowerful ... moving ... convincing. * Daily Mail *Bravo. An unsettling - and at times incredibly difficult - read describing too many people's everyday reality. * Anstey Harris, author of The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton *Horrifying in its reflection of reality for many women - and men. * Literary Review *A clever title for a very thoughtful book about the complexities surrounding the victims of domestic abuse. * Irish Daily Mail *How to Play Dead is an excellent story, something that will leave a deep impression on you... it has deeply affected me... This is a book that will make you stop and think. * New Books Magazine *Hugely engrossing - a dark delight. * Catherine Ryan Howard, author of Rewind, on Perfect Ten *A wildly entertaining and compelling debut. * Daily Mail, on Perfect Ten *Fascinating. * Paula Daly, author of Open Your Eyes, on Perfect Ten *Penetratingly sharp on the complexities of psychological abuse and the human heart, this compulsive, disturbing debut will be relished by fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Daly. * Joanne Owen, LoveReading, on Perfect Ten *
£8.54
Atlantic Books The West Country Winery
Book SynopsisAdjusting to West Country life may take more than she bargained for...__________A comedic state-of-the-nation tale for fans of Katie Fforde, Jenny Colgan and Phillipa Ashley.__________Chrissie loves her London life and job as an events manager. She loves her loyal lodger and cleaner Melina (sharp as a tack), and her daughters Scarlet (loud, vegan, activist) and Ruby (quiet, musician, boffin). She even loves her husband Rob, despite him deciding to cycle across Africa. For a year. But life as the only responsible adult has left Chrissie stressed and overworked, so much so that she is almost relieved when her mum calls her home to Devon to help with the struggling family vineyard. Almost.Chrissie gives herself a year: if she can make it through until then, maybe they can celebrate as a family with their own fizz? But adjusting to West Country life may take more than she bargained for...Trade Review...an absolute treat. ... both poignant and hilarious . . . a joyous read. Lizzie Lovell has such a sharp eye for detail, and a real gift for summing up a situation in a few perfect words. * Amazon - Vine Choice *this delicious book offers a giant swig of a story full of characters, wit and warmth -- Jules Wake, author of ESCAPE TO THE RIVIERA, on THE JUNIPER GIN JOINTThe perfect pick-me-up for summer -- Phillipa Ashley, on THE JUNIPER GIN JOINT
£7.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial
Book SynopsisJesus didn’t die so we could be reborn, lady, the stars did. The writer leads his followers towards the end of this world and the start of a new one. The book he’s written predicts it all – the equations, the black hole, all the words we’ll speak till then. On this last day, at this last hour, a defector finds her voice and returns.
£13.39
Profile Books Ltd A Loving, Faithful Animal
Book SynopsisA haunting and vivid novel which excavates an Australia rarely seen in literature. New Year's Eve, 1990, small-town Australia. The mysterious death of the family dog pushes Jack, a Vietnam veteran suffering from severe PTSD, into one of his periodic vanishing acts. His eccentric brother Les remains next door, a gentle fixer-upper, whose loyalties are increasingly torn between Jack and his wife Evelyn. This time, Evelyn lets Jack stay gone. She is rapidly disappearing herself, lost in recollections of a vibrant youth as her eldest daughter Lani seems intent on misspending her own. And at the heart of it all is Lani's little sister Ru, who sees everything and yet is overlooked. A Loving, Faithful Animal is an unforgettable interrogation of ruins, redemption and reasons why.Trade ReviewA subtle and haunting meditation on childhood, escape, the bonds and the limits of family, and the long reach of trauma. Rowe is a serious talent, and her debut novel is both gorgeous and stunning. -- Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station ElevenAn intimate and nuanced portrait of a family flayed raw by PTSD, cycles of abuse and the weighty inheritance of intergenerational trauma, A Loving, Faithful Animal is also beautiful * Financial Times *A slim beauty...A work of such well-defined characters, each so carefully drawn as to breathe, and a work so full of stark emotional moments...Like the best of Breece DJ Pancake or W.G. Sebald, Rowe plants small moments from history as a soldier might bury landmines. -- Samantha Hunt * The New York Times Book Review *A Loving, Faithful Animal lured me in with astonishing, poetic prose, and a glimpse of an Australia I don't always see in fiction. But the true thrill of the novel is the carousel of haunting characters Josephine Rowe creates with unbelievable precision. An unflinching look at the ways we fail the people we love, at the cruelty of family, its toxicity, and beauty. The book is a deep, multi-faceted portrait of the inheritance of damage, one that left me aching and inspired. -- Stephanie Danler, New York Times bestselling author of SweetbitterIn Rowe's measured and concise writing there's no room, or need, for extravagance, or anything akin to the literary version of small talk. What is written has a kick to it. * Sydney Morning Herald *A heartbreaking and memorable hero...A rich, kaleidoscopic depiction of inherited trauma in stunning prose. * Kirkus Review *
£8.54
New Generation Publishing Cryptids
£14.00
Legend Press Ltd Emma (Legend Classics)
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Xlibris Us Tipping Point
£15.15
Bonnier Books Ltd Sisters under the Rising Sun: A powerful story
Book SynopsisReaders love the new Heather Morris book!'Absolutely brilliant book ... I recommend this book without a doubt''[A] phenomenal 5-star novel''A devastating true story brought to life by Heather Morris''Inspiring, emotional and uplifting ... What a book!''I hope that every story like this can be told by someone who so obviously cares about the people involved'The phenomenal new novel, based on a true story, from the international bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz1942. Singapore is falling to the Japanese Army. English musician Norah Chambers places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe. As the island burns, Australian nurse Nesta James joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the HMS Vyner Brooke. After only two days at sea, the ship is bombarded and sunk.Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of Indonesia only to be captured and held in one of the notorious Japanese POW camps, places of starvation and brutality. But even here joy can be found, in music, where Norah's 'voice orchestra' transports the internees from squalor into light. The friendships they build with the dozens of other women in the camps will give them the hope, strength and camaraderie they need in order to stay alive.Sisters under the Rising Sun tells the story of women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery and resilience in the darkest of circumstances, from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey and Three Sisters.
£12.78
Bookvault Publishing The Fury of a Vampire Witch (Books 1-3)
£29.99
Atlantic Books The Favour
Book Synopsis'Absorbing, intelligent and atmospheric... Genius' Elizabeth Haynes_________________________Fortune favours the fraud...When she was thirteen years old, Ada Howell lost not just her father, but the life she felt she was destined to lead. Now, at eighteen, Ada is given a second chance when her wealthy godmother gifts her with an extravagant art history trip to Italy.In the palazzos of Venice, the cathedrals of Florence and the villas of Rome, she finally finds herself among the kind of people she aspires to be: sophisticated, cultured, privileged. Ada does everything in her power to prove she is one of them. And when a member of the group dies in suspicious circumstances, she seizes the opportunity to permanently bind herself to this gilded set.But everything hidden must eventually surface, and when it does, Ada discovers she's been keeping a far darker secret than she could ever have imagined...'Intelligent, elegant and immersive' Claire Kendal'A compulsive story, written with steely intelligence and wicked prose' Elizabeth BuchanTrade ReviewA treat ... excellent insights ... elegant prose * Daily Mail *With a frisson of uneasiness throughout, this intensely captivating thriller will cast its spell, leaving you on edge with unexpected twists. * Heat Magazine *Intelligent, elegant and immersive. I found myself absorbed by the voice and story, and fascinated by a complex narrator who made me feel both empathy and horror. -- Claire Kendal, bestselling author of 'The Book of You'Absorbing, intelligent and atmospheric, full of cool, incisive observations on class, loyalty and friendship - and oh my goodness, a razor-sharp twist. Genius. -- Elizabeth HaynesAmbition, lust, family secrets and lashings of Italian art - what could go wrong? A compulsive story, written with steely intelligence and wicked prose, that should propel the author into the bestseller lists. -- Elizabeth BuchanA heady tapestry of desires, secrets and entitled cruelties, suffused with the heat and shimmer of Italy... beautifully written, intoxicating... Fab! -- Philippa EastGlamour and art with a very dark underbelly of deceit and jealousy, that kept me guessing (and gasping) to the very end. -- Cressida McLauglinThe Favour is a refreshing, fun and compelling read about deception and consequences that had me hooked from the start. Ada is a wonderful creation who will stay with me for some time. * Lisa Ballantyne *Intense and intelligent, with a deliciously dark and dangerous atmosphere, and a story suffused with secrets and lies. Not to mention the intrigue of Italy, a fascinating central character and a killer twist. I loved it! * Jenny Quintana, author of The Missing Girl *Devious and manipulative, she pulls the reader through this tale of gilded youth misbehaving and paying the price. The tension comes not so much from whether the truth about the crime will emerge as from whether or not Ada will ultimately get what she wants or the punishment she so richly deserves. * Literary Review *Riveting ... an enormously engrossing, satisfying book - darkly funny, sharply ironic, keenly observed and elegantly written * Western Mail *A gripping plot, fascinating characters and a glorious backdrop ... a hugely ambitious debut that delivers handsomely on its promise * Irish Times *
£8.54
Atlantic Books Such a Quiet Place
Book SynopsisFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Last House Guest, a Reese's Book Club pick.We had no warning that she would come back...Welcome to Hollow's Edge - a picture-perfect neighbourhood where everyone has each other's backs. At least, that's how it used to be, until the night Brandon and Fiona Truett were found dead...Two years ago, branded a grifter, thief and sociopath by her friends and neighbours, Ruby Fletcher was convicted of murdering the Truetts. Now, freed by mistrial, Ruby has returned to Hollow's Edge. But why would she come back? No one wants her there, least of all her old housemate, Harper Nash. As Ruby's return sends shockwaves through the community, terrified residents turn on each other, and it soon becomes clear that not everyone was honest about the night the Truetts died. When Harper begins to receive threatening, anonymous notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else gets hurt... Someone like her.Trade ReviewJaw-dropping plot twists galore * Times Crime Club *Miranda is a master of misdirection and sudden plot twists, leading up to a wallop of an ending. A powerful, paranoid thriller * Booklist (Starred review) *The twists keep coming until the very last page. Agatha Christie fans will welcome this 21st-century update on the classic golden age village mystery. * Publishers Weekly *A claustrophobic and suspenseful whodunit...that ponders the eternal question of how well we really know those closest to us * BookPage (Starred Review) *The perfect suburban setting; the secretive, quirky neighbors; three unsolved murders; and an Agatha Christie vibe make this whodunit an excellent beach read. * Library Journal *An unnerving and extremely classy thriller * Observer on The Girl from Widow Hills *Are you paying attention? You'll need to be; this thriller will test your brain with its reverse chronological structure, and it's a page-turner to boot. * Elle Magazine on All The Missing Girls *Fast-paced and gripping * People on The Last House Guest *
£999.99
Flame Tree Publishing The Job
Book SynopsisSinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, and a writer lauded both for his craft and his principles, wrote The Job as a statement of female empowerment, and self-determination over societal expectation. Written in the early years of the 1900s Lewis' central character, highly unusual for the era, is a woman, Una Golden, who gains work in an exclusively male world of commercial real estate. Golden struggles for the recognition of her male peers while balancing romantic and work life; she marries, divorces, continues to work hard and finally emerges triumphant on her own terms. Flame Tree 451 presents a new series, The Foundations of Feminist Fiction. The early 1900s saw a quiet revolution in literature dominated by male adventure heroes. Both men and women moved beyond the norms of the male gaze to write from a different gender perspective, sometimes with female protagonists, but also expressing the universal freedom to write on any subject whatsoever. Each book features a brand new biography and a new glossary of Literary, Gothic and Victorian terms.
£9.89
Luath Press Ltd The Blue Moon Book
Book SynopsisTwenty-four hours after meeting and falling for archaeologist and Pictish expert Michael Hurt, Jess Kavanagh suffers a horrific accident that leaves her with aphasia and amnesia. No words. No memory of love. Michael travels south, unknowing. Will their relationship survive this test? Should it survive? Will Michael find Jess again?Trade Review'Love, loss and language are the themes of Anne MacLeod's The Blue Moon Book. The story unfolds a cappella in a deft medley of voices and cameos.' --SCOTTISH REVIEW OF BOOKS
£9.49
Jessica Kingsley Publishers My Dearest Birdie: Letters to Australia 1874 to
Book SynopsisIn February 1874, Jack Gowlland RN, newly promoted to the rank of Commander, and his sister Celia left England to travel across the Continent to Brindisi. From there they sailed via the newly opened Suez Canal to Australia. Celia never returned to England. Jack drowned surveying Sydney Harbour within months of his return to his post as head of the New South Wales Hydrographical Survey, and Celia married one of his closest friends within a year.Spanning twelve years, the letters to Celia - Birdie - that form this volume are from Celia's favourite brother, Richard, and his wife Jessie. They tell not only of family life in Victorian England - the vicissitudes of child bearing, unwelcome guests, making ends meet on a meagre income - but also bring to life some of the broader social changes taking place during the period. By 1874 Richard, an outstanding Civil Servant who rose to be deputy head of his department before his early death, was working in the Office of Public Building and Works. His articulate and engaging letters paint a vivid picture of his courtship and marriage to Jessie, and the birth and childhood of their six children, and refer also to his work, where he was involved with the planning of some of London's Victorian landmarks.
£13.99
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 *
£7.99
Atlantic Books Paying Back Jack
Book SynopsisWhen Calvino is hired by a retired Thai general to deal with a corrupt and deadbeat tenant, he almost immediately has to evade an assassination attempt. Figuring that it might be best to lay low for a while, Calvino heads for the beach. But trouble only follows him there, as a beautiful young woman falls to her death from the hotel room above his. Back in Bangkok, Calvino is hired to tail a politician running for election. His investigation draws him into a shady world of private contractors, UN officials, and city politics. As he closes in on his target, his run of bad luck brings him ever closer to danger until Calvino realises he could be the target himself.
£999.99
Atlantic Books Last Train from Liguria
Book SynopsisIn 1933, Bella Stuart leaves her quiet London life to move to Italy to tutor the child of a beautiful Jewish heiress and an elderly Italian aristocrat. Living at the family's summer home, Bella's reserve softens as she comes to love her young charge, and find friendship with Maestro Edward, his enigmatic music teacher.But as the decade draws to an end and fascism tightens its grip on Europe, the fact that Alec is Jewish places his life in grave danger. Bella and Edward take the boy on a terrifying train journey out of Italy - one they have no reason to believe any of them will survive...Trade Review"'A wrenchingly affecting love story' Joseph O'Connor, Guardian 'This is a big, bold, remarkably assured narrative... A powerfully accomplished work of art.' Joseph O'Connor, Guardian 'The best book of the year... Extraordinary' Glasgow Herald 'Beautiful and heartbreaking' Independent on Sunday 'A beautifully written novel...both impressive and enjoyable... sensual and accurate... You can feel the light and heat of Italy as you read... A significant achievement that confirms Hickey's status as a major talent.' Mail on Sunday (****) 'Christine Dwyer Hickey's novels know how the slings and arrows of fortune leave scars long after their initial impact... A complex tale of courage and resilience.' Irish Independent"
£999.99
Little, Brown Book Group Death Comes for the Archbishop
Book SynopsisIn 1851 Bishop Latour and his friend Father Valliant are despatched to New Mexico to reawaken its slumbering Catholicism. Moving along the endless prairies, Latour spreads his faith the only way he knows - gently, although he must contend with the unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Over nearly forty years, they leave converts and enemies, crosses and occasionally ecstasy in their wake. But it takes a death for them to make their mark on the landscape forever ...Trade ReviewA powerful piece of writing, rich with the essence of a poor but beautiful country and a simple yet dignified people * Sunday Times *A tremendous, ranging story, economical and distilled as poetry -- Jane GardamQuite simply a masterpiece . . . I am completely bowled over by it; by the power of its writing, by the vividness of its scene painting and by the stories it tells . . . This is a book which I go on rereading -- A. N. Wilson * Daily Telegraph *Its whole effect works slowly and mysteriously . . . a major, and rare, artistic achievement -- A. S. Byatt
£9.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Tortoise And The Hare
Book SynopsisWITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY HILARY MANTEL 'The perfection of its tone and prose is matched by an anguished wit' AMANDA CRAIG, GUARDIAN 'Wonderfully sinister, so enchantingly written and so sad. Everyone should read it' JILLY COOPER'A subtle and beautiful book . . . Very few authors combine her acute psychological insight with her grace and style' HILARY MANTEL, SUNDAY TIMESImogen, the beautiful wife of barrister Evelyn Gresham, is facing the greatest challenge of her married life. Their neighbour Blanche Silcox, competent, tweedy, middle-aged and ungainly - the very opposite of Imogen - seems to be vying for Evelyn's attention. And to Imogen's increasing disbelief, she may be succeeding - for in affairs of the heart the race is not necessarily won by the swift or the fair.Trade ReviewAs smooth and seductive as a bowl of cream -- Hilary Mantel * Sunday Times *The perfection of its tone and prose is matched by an anguished wit -- Amanda Craig * Guardian *My best book of almost all time is The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins . . . wonderfully sinister, so enchantingly written and so sad. Everyone should read it -- Jilly CooperOne of my favourite classics. Elegant and ironic, its continuing charm lies in its quirky and enigmatic love story which becomes more beguiling with each re-reading -- Carmen CallilDeliciously subtle . . . A lost world of tweeds and twin-sets . . . a classic novel of the fifties * Daily Mail *My best book of almost all time is THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE by Elizabeth Jenkins ... wonderfully sinister, so enchantingly written and so sad. Everyone should read it * Jilly Cooper *As smooth and seductive as a bowl of cream * Hilary Mantel *One of my favourite classics. Elegant and ironic, its continuing charm lies in its quirky and enigmatic love story which becomes more beguiling with each re-reading * Carmen Callil *Deliciously subtle...A lost world of tweeds and twin-sets...a classic novel of the fifties * DAILY MAIL *
£9.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Dud Avocado
Book Synopsis'One of the best novels about growing up fast' GUARDIAN 'One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentence' OBSERVER'Scandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and true' EVENING STANDARDThe Dud Avocado gained instant cult status on first publication and remains a timeless portrait of a woman hellbent on living. Sally Jay Gorce is a woman with a mission. It's the 1950s, she's young and she's in Paris. Having dyed her hair pink, she wears evening dresses in the daytime and vows to go native in a way not even the natives can manage. Embarking on an educational programme that includes an affair with a married man (which fizzles out when she realises he's single and wants to marry her); nights in cabarets and jazz clubs in the company of assorted "citizens of the world"; an entanglement with a charming psychopath and a bit part in a film financed by a famous matador. But an education like this doesn't come cheap. Will our heroine be forced back to the States to fulfill her destiny as a librarian, or can she keep up her whirlwind Parisian existence?Trade ReviewReaders turn to it again and again for its jokes, which are very funny and remain so after a dozen readings -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *A champagne cocktail . . . Rich, invigorating, and deceptively simple to the taste . . . One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height from the first sentence * Observer *As delightful and delicate an examination of how it is to be twenty and in love and in Paris as I've ever read * Sunday Times *I had to tell someone how much I enjoyed The Dud Avocado. It made me laugh, scream, and guffaw (which, incidentally, is a great name for a law firm)For a highly likeable and amusing narrator, who throws herself into Parisian life. A cult classic to reconnect me with France and feed my love of sharp observational humour . . . a hedonistic whirlwind in Paris and the South of France, pulled along by its whip-smart American heroine, Sally Jay Gore (out of the way, Emily In Paris). This is someone I am desperate to drink Pernod with. Where life has felt so constrained, this was such a liberating read -- Emma Reed * Daily Telegraph *Scandalous and entertaining . . . Both funny and true * Evening Standard ***'A champagne cocktail ... Rich, invigorating, and deceptively simple to the taste ... One falls for Sally Jay Gorce from a great height... * OBSERVER *** 'As delightful and delicate an examination of how it is to be twenty and in love and in Paris as I've ever read’ *SUNDAY TIMES ** 'Both funny and true * EVENING STANDARD *
£16.14
Bonnier Books Ltd Republics of the Mind: New and Selected Stories
Book SynopsisThe republic of the mind… It might have been a drug, it might have been something you scored in pub toilets, but it wasn't. It was better than that… One day everybody was going to be there.In this new edition of James Robertson's shorter fiction, nothing is quite what it seems. From a dysfunctional safari park to an abandoned mental hospital, from a flat overrun by frogs to a South Dakota reservation or a future Scotland riven by ethnic cleansing, the settings of these stories are both nightmarish and real, and the characters who inhabit them often heroic even in defeat.Angry, philosophical, funny and humane, James Robertson's stories explore the friendships strong in adversity, marriages heading for the rocks, and the lonely truths of everyday life, with the same deftness of touch that has brought critical acclaim for novels such as And the Land Lay Still and The Testament of Gideon Mack. This is a collection that will live long in your mind.
£9.49
Bonnier Books Ltd Lullaby Girl
Book SynopsisRED MAGAZINE's BEST NEW AUTHORS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT NOW 'It's no secret that psychological thrillers have been the big hitters of the literary world in recent years (remember Gone Girl anyone?). Well this debut from Aly Sigdwick is set to do the same.' Who is the Lullaby Girl? Found washed up on the banks of a remote loch, a mysterious girl is taken into the care of a psychiatric home in the Highlands of Scotland. Mute and covered in bruises, she has no memory of who she is or how she got there. The only clue to her identity is the Danish lullaby she sings... Inside the care home, she should be safe. But, harassed by the media and treated as a nuisance by under-pressure staff, she finds the home is far from a haven. And as her memories slowly surface, the Lullaby Girl does her best to submerge them again. Some things are too terrible to remember... but unless she confronts her fear, how can she find out who she really is? Taut, tense and mesmerizing, Lullaby Girl is a shining debut from an exciting and very talented new author. Praise for Lullaby Girl : 'Her work had beautiful textures, and big portions of darkness and humour, with equal parts of a sadness to them... seeing her drawings and tattoos i was not at all surprised that she wrote a novel, or that it was a good one. There is a great sense of tension, and of coldness in the story, but Sidgwick has a keen eye for detail and a dark sense of humour that shines through, making the dark and the cold easier to pass through. And to make the dark passages of the mind bearable is an achievement indeed.' KOLBEINN KARLSSON, author of The Troll King.
£8.54
Y Lolfa Water
Book SynopsisA gripping novel set on a remote lake-side farm, Dolfrwynog, in north Wales, where we are introduced to a family living a basic life following a worldwide crisis. The mother, Elin, has turned her back on the world, unable to cope with its hardships, the cold, the poverty. Uncle Wil is aging and the children, Mari and Huw, have yet to realize the tragedy that''s isolating the farm.
£10.93
Y Lolfa Poet and the Private Eye, The
Book SynopsisNew York. 1953. A private investigator takes on a tail job, his quarry a newly-arrived visitor from the UK. The private eye has never heard of him, but he will. The mark is the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. And in three weeks'' time, Mr Thomas will be dead. Reprint; first published in 2014.
£10.93
Atlantic Books Tony and Susan: Now the major motion picture
Book SynopsisMany years after their divorce, Susan Morrow receives a strange gift from her ex-husband. A manuscript that tells the story of a terrible crime: an ambush on the highway, a secluded cabin in the woods; a thrilling chiller of death and corruption. How could such a harrowing story be told by the man she once loved? And why, after so long, has he sent her such a disturbing and personal message...?Trade ReviewAbsorbing, terrifying, beautiful and appalling. I loved it... Unforgettable -- Ruth RendellA superb and thrilling novel... Extraordinary -- Ian McEwanTony and Susan is unbeatable. I was bowled over by this disturbing, bold novel * Observer *A f***king masterpiece. I wish that Wright was still alive so that I could tell him so... It's going to become a living, breathing, knock-out classic. Astonishing -- MJ HylandAstute, cunning and thrilling in equal measure, this is one lost novel that deserves to be found by a whole new generation of readers * Independent on Sunday *I want to read it all over again... Not since Cormac McCarthy's The Road have I been so gripped and unsettled by a piece of fiction -- Sarah WatersMarvellously written - the last thing you would expect in a story of blood and revenge. Beautiful -- Saul BellowCompelling... Mesmerizing... Absolutely irresistible * New York Times *A nail-biter and a penetrating portrait of guilt and revenge * Sunday Times *
£8.99
Atlantic Books An Expensive Education
Book SynopsisAn army roadblock. An American intelligence agent. A jetlagged afternoon on the Somalian plain. Michael Teak is not afraid of mercenaries. Life here comes at a price and as a CIA operative, Teak is holding the money. On the back seat of his car is a suitcase stuffed with narcotics; in the front, a gun and an envelope of US dollars. And then a bomb explodes.Thirty innocent victims. An entire village of women and children - all dead. And just like that, Michael Teak does not know anything for sure. Was he the target, or the scapegoat for mass murder with an international fallout? Abandoned, perhaps betrayed, by his employer, Teak is in the wind with nowhere to turn. Even his old sources are caught up in the media bloodbath back at his alma mater. These events have to be connected. Someone, somewhere, has all the cards and for a man running right down to the wire, the rules of the game are becoming dangerously blurred.Trade Review"'One of the most exciting new writers around.' Independent on Sunday * Twelve was a top-ten fiction bestseller and has now sold over 100,000 copies * 'Terrific, a thriller noir that's difficult to put down or forget.' Entertainment Weekly 'Ingeniously combines elements of an international thriller with a campus novel set at Harvard.' New York Times Review of Books"
£8.54
Atlantic Books Kruger's Alp
Book SynopsisTheodore Blanchaille is searching for the missing millions of the Boer leader Paul Kruger, and his lost city of gold. As a child he had heard tales of Kruger from a wayward priest; what follows is an astonishing journey that takes Blanchaille through a landscape peopled with spies, visionaries, terrorists, traitors, patriots and exiled presidents. From huge transit camps on the veld to a notorious prison block, from a township in the bloody aftermath of 'pacification' to a secret travellers' rest for fleeing pilgrims, and from the streets and cellars of Soho to paradise at last on a Swiss mountainside, Kruger's Alp is a fantastical political satire of extraordinary invention.Trade Review"'An extremely attractive book, witty and fast-moving and densely imagined' Sunday Times 'Boldly conceived, highly original... It's grey, streaked with crimson, shot through with that dream gold.' Norman Shrapnel, Guardian 'It's Hope's insistence on doing things the unexpected way that have made him the celebrated writer he is.' Sunday Express 'Hope's invention never flags and his scathing intelligence forcefully points up the sheer, outrageous contradictions of the system.' Mary Hope, Spectator 'The dazzling control of image and metaphor makes it a brilliant literary disquisition on dreams and truth, as well as on South Africa.' Robert Winder, Books & Bookmen"
£9.49
Atlantic Books Hemispheres
Book SynopsisYan is a compulsive gambler whose wanderlust leads him on a chain of adventures across the South Atlantic and beyond, in the wake of the Falklands War. But this personal voyage takes a heavy toll on his relationships with wife Kate and teenage son Danny, left abandoned in a run-down pub on the North-East coast of England. Twenty-five years later Yan re-appears, terminally ill and determined to make amends before his death. Despite Danny's reticence, the two men begin to reconnect through the unlikely medium of birdwatching, as Danny tries to piece together the truth about Yan's desertion and protracted homecoming.Set against the stark industrial landscapes of the Tees estuary and the wilder shores of the South Atlantic, Hemispheres is an Odyssey for the twenty-first century, a story about fathers and sons, about isolation and human connection, and - ultimately - about the healing power of the natural world.
£8.54
Atlantic Books The Divine Comedy
Book SynopsisCraig Raine's dazzlingly original second novel, The Divine Comedy is a gripping meditation on sex and death and God and the myriad ways in which the human body plays dirty tricks on us. The Divine Comedy is a fugue and a black comedy. In delicious and bawdy detail, an unnamed narrator offers snapshots into the lives and loves of an astonishing cast of philanderers and fuckups while along the way, the evidence amasses for a comic, cosmic conspiracy. Craig Raine's second novel, The Divine Comedy, is a voyeuristic meditation on sex and insecurity, God and the nature of the human body - its capacity for pleasure and pain, its desires, disappointments, and its many mortifying betrayals.
£14.39
Atlantic Books The Bird Skinner
Book SynopsisIt is 1973. Jim Kennoway, a distinguished ornithologist and Second World War veteran, has just left his work at the Natural History Museum in New York, turned his back on his family and retreated to an island boathouse off the coast of Maine. His desires are simple: to be left alone with his cigarettes, gin and battered copy of Treasure Island, and to forget.Jim's solitude is shattered when Cadillac Baketi, a tall, ebullient and dazzlingly bright young woman from the Solomon Islands arrives on her way to study medicine at Yale University. Cadillac is the daughter of Tosca, an island scout Jim befriended during the war when they collected and skinned birds while spying on the Japanese. Jim curses the intrusion as he finds his thoughts catapulting back to his youth and a dark truth about his time in the Solomons. Yet it may be that Cadillac, from the Pacific islands Jim thought he'd left behind, can teach him to be human again.Trade ReviewAlice Greenway creates intensely believable characters who come from other places and other times. The Solomon Islands become characters as rich and three-dimensional as any other. She captures so well the unsleeping tragedies of the past, and how these bear in upon the present. -- Helen DunmoreEnriching and engrossing... The book is bursting with fascinating, detailed knowledge, worn lightly. The narrative, beautifully crafted and plotted, navigates ingeniously through layers of past and present and the intertwining echoes of each. * Scotland on Sunday *Greenway avoids the cliches of an unlikely friendship by writing with sensitivity about loss, nature and war, as Jim confronts his past. * The Independent *Greenway deals with her characters with such sensitivity and understanding that the emotional payoff, which there is, feels justly earned. * Sunday Herald *The Bird Skinner is a dark and moving tale of war, loss, corruption and violence. * Guardian *
£999.99
Atlantic Books The Brothers Boswell
Book Synopsis30th July, 1763. Two striking figures part the heaving crowd at London Bridge. Peddlers cease their haggling, ferrymen grow quiet, beggars stop and stare. Even the stink of the Thames seems to fade in the presence of Dr Samuel Johnson and James Boswell - history's most famous friends. Boswell, as charismatic and meticulously coiffed as Johnson is bullish and badly dressed, is eager to advance himself in literary society. Today he is to accompany the great Dr Johnson on an excursion up the Thames - and he is determined that nothing will go wrong. But another Boswell is watching from the shadows, insanely jealous of his elder brother's meteoric rise through London's coffeehouses and whorehouses, tenements and theatres, soirees and salons. He has two golden pistols in his pocket, a ferryboat at his disposal... and murder in his heart.Trade ReviewFascinating... expect zestful writing and brilliant sketches of Georgian London * Sunday Times *One of the novel's several wonders is that the mad brother is just as compelling a character as his soon-to-be-immortal sibling. If you're interested in Boswell and Johnson, or in 18th-century England, or in brilliant storytelling, The Brothers Boswell is not to be missed * Washington Post *A chilling literary thriller... The subtle way the author examines his character's twisted mind draws the reader in, as does the evocative prose * Publishers Weekly *
£7.99
Atlantic Books Total Immunity
Book SynopsisSmart, tough Los Angeles FBI agents Jack Harper and Oscar Hidalgo breathe sighs of relief after violent diamond smuggler Karl Steinbach is finally arrested in a complex sting. Vowing vengeance on the agents who brought him down, Steinbach is imprisoned - only to be offered a release with total immunity in a dodgy deal with Homeland Security.As Jack and Oscar's team of agents start to die, it becomes clear that Steinbach's is no idle threat. But when the pair investigate their slain comrade's lives, they discover that what looked like retribution is actually tied to a web of deceit that stretches to the highest echelons of the FBI. Navigating car chases, shootouts, and even venomous reptiles, Jack and Oscar furiously pursue clues scattered throughout the underbelly of Los Angeles, in a desperate attempt to find the killer - before he finds them.With a storyline crackling with action, a dazzling cast of thugs, traitors, killers and creeps, and a cinematic portrait of a Los Angeles clogged with corruption and greed, Robert Ward's turbulent new thriller is clever, contemporary and cool as ice.
£8.54
Atlantic Books Rizzo's War
Book SynopsisJoe Rizzo, a veteran of the NYPD, passes on the knowledge of his years of experience to his ambitious new partner, Mike McQueen, over a year of riding together as detectives in the Sixty-second Precinct in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. His refrain: 'There is no right. There is no wrong. There just is.'Whatever case they're facing, whether a street robbery or a murderous assault, Rizzo's saying always seems to bear out. When the two detectives are given the delicate task of tracking down the runaway daughter of a city councilman, who may or may not be more interested in something his daughter has taken with her than in her safety, the situation is much more complex, and potentially much more dangerous, than it first appears.Trade ReviewAs a depiction of the Byzantine, politicized existence of a working American police department, Rizzo's War stands as a valuable primer. * David Simon, creator of The Wire *As stark and true as David Simon's faultless depiction of the Baltimore PD in The Wire... * Daily Mail *Brooklyn, as the portrayal in Manfredo's excellent debut makes clear, is a different world. Rizzo's War is a police procedural of more than usual intelligence. * The Times *Riveting... dealing with every aspect of American policing from dirty politics to the intricate hierarchy of biker gangs. * Guardian *Rizzo's War is exceptional. Most urban crime novels do not tell it like it is. But this is a bold adventure... a terrific debut and Lou Manfredo is a writer to watch. * Peter Blauner *
£7.99
Atlantic Books Rizzo's Fire
Book SynopsisAs twenty-year veteran Joe Rizzo edges closer to retirement, things only seem to get more difficult: having promised his wife he'd quit smoking, he's working the most baffling case of his career, with a new partner to boot.Robert Lauria was practically a hermit, and was dead ten days before anyone found him. Fired from his job as a shoe salesman weeks ago, he rarely left his apartment and had no visitors except his cousin, who says she hardly knew him. So who strangled him late one night as he made tea in the kitchen in his pajamas? And could there be a connection to the headline-grabbing murder of a Broadway producer a day earlier?Rizzo and his new partner, Priscilla Jackson, carefully comb through the life of this forgotten man, even though their superiors have already put the case on the back burner. Tasked with navigating the twin labyrinths of the truth and NYPD politics, they must find the killer and bring him to justice.And what they discover along the way will surprise everyone.Trade ReviewAs a depiction of the Byzantine, politicized existence of a working American police department, Rizzo's War stands as a valuable primer. -- David Simon, creator of The WireAs stark and true as David Simon's faultless depiction of the Baltimore PD in The Wire... * Daily Mail *Riveting... dealing with every aspect of American policing from dirty politics to the intricate hierarchy of biker gangs. * Guardian *Brooklyn, as the portrayal in Manfredo's excellent debut makes clear, is a different world... Rizzo's War is a police procedural of more than usual intelligence. * The Times *Richly confirming the extraordinary promise of the first book, the follow up has style and authenticity, giving a no nonsense depiction of what life is like on the streets for a New York detective. But this time Manfredo adds yet more subtlety to his portrait of the city's finest. This is Ed McBain for the 21st century - and that's high praise... It confirms Manfredo as one of New York's finest thriller writers. * Daily Mail *
£8.54
Atlantic Books Today
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
£999.99
Atlantic Books The Holy Machine
Book SynopsisGeorge Simling has grown up in the city-state of Illyria in the Eastern Mediterranean, an enclave of logic and reason founded as a refuge from the Reaction, a wave of religious fundamentalism that swept away the nations of the twenty-first century. Yet to George, Illyria's militant rationalism is as close-minded and stifling as the faith-based superstition that dominates the world outside its walls.For George has fallen in love with Lucy. A prostitute. A robot. She might be a machine, but the semblance of life is perfect. And beneath her good looks and real human skin, her seductive, sultry, sluttish software is simmering on the edge of consciousness. To the city authorities robot sentience is a malfunction, curable by periodically erasing and resetting silicon minds. Simple maintenance, no real problem, its only a machine. But its a problem for George, he knows that Lucy is something more.His only alternative is to flee Illyria, taking Lucy deep into the religious Outlands where she must pass as human because robots are seen as demonic mockeries of God, burned at the stake, dismembered, crucified. Their odyssey leads through betrayal, war and madness, ending only at the monastery of the Holy Machine...Trade ReviewLet's waste no time: this book is incredible * Interzone *One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time... A triumph * Asimov’s *Should be on the radar of anyone who professes concern for science fiction as a literary form * Alastair Reynolds *
£12.34
