Fiction: literary and general non-genre
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial El murmullo de las abejas / The Murmur of Bees
Book Synopsis
£13.46
Manchester University Press RQuiem Por Un Campesino EspaOl Hispanic Texts
Book SynopsisThis edition of a novel inspired by the Spanish Civil War, offers notes and an introduction, which have been compiled in the light of recent socio-political, topic-based syllabuses and communications studies courses.Table of Contents"Contraataque"; "Requiem per un campesino espanol"; the major novels of Sender; "Requiem por un Campesino Espanol".
£14.24
Random House USA Inc The World of Ice and Fire
Book SynopsisA lavishly illustrated guide to the A Song of Ice and Fire universe traces the pre-historical period and the coming of the First Men through the reign of the Targaryen kings and Robert''s Rebellion. 75,000 first printing. TV tie-in.
£44.99
Random House USA Inc The Hunt for Atlantis
Book SynopsisA LOST CIVILIZATION.A DANGEROUS QUEST.A DEADLY SECRET.It’s one of history’s most enduring and controversial legends—the lost city of Atlantis. Archaeologist Nina Wilde is certain she’s solved the riddle of its whereabouts—and with the help of reclusive billionaire Kristian Frost, his beautiful daughter, Kari, and ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase, she’s about to make the most important discovery in centuries. But not everyone wants them to succeed: a powerful and mysterious organization will stop at nothing to ensure that a secret submerged for 11,000 years never resurfaces.More than one would-be discoverer has already died in pursuit of Atlantis’s secrets—including Nina’s own parents. Failure isn’t an option. From the streets of Manhattan to the Brazilian jungle, from a Tibetan mountaintop to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, Nina and Eddie will race against time—and follow a trail of danger and death to a revelation so explosive, it could destroy civilization forever….
£9.49
Atlantic Books The Smile of a Ghost
Book SynopsisPhil Rickman was born in Lancashire and lives on the Welsh border where he writes and presents the book programme Phil the Shelf on BBC Radio Wales. He is the acclaimed author of Dr Dee, The Bones of Avalon, Midwinter Spirit (now a major ITV series), the Merrily Watkins Mysteries and the John Dee papers. Visit his website at: www.philrickman.co.ukTrade ReviewNo-one writes better of the shadow-frontier between the supernatural and the real world. * Bernard Cornwell, praise for Merrily Watkins *Ancient history, violent deaths, feuds, intrigues and murder. A most original sleuth. * The Times, praise for Merrily Watkins *Phil Rickman is one of my all-time favourites. I love everything he's done. * Diana Gabaldon, praise for Merrily Watkins *[Rickman] is supremely skilful... a compelling contemporary narrative. * Mail on Sunday, praise for Merrily Watkins *Tight with atmosphere, thick with latent violence... Brilliantly eerie. * Peter James, praise for Merrily Watkins *Compassionate, original and sharply contemporary, Rickman's crime series is one of the best around. * Spectator, praise for Merrily Watkins *Complex, absorbing, fascinating... * Andrew Taylor, praise for Merrily Watkins *Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman. * Guardian, praise for Merrily Watkins *The layers, the characters, the humour, the spookiness - perfect. * Elly Griffiths, praise for Merrily Watkins *First rate crime with demons that go bump in the night. * Daily Mail, praise for Merrily Watkins *Classic mysteries... [which] cleverly illuminate the darkest corners of our imaginations. * John Connolly, praise for Merrily Watkins *Engrossing and beautifully dark... a cracking good read ensues. * Jo Brand, praise for Merrily Watkins *
£8.54
Faber & Faber Birds of America
Book SynopsisA collection of stories containing a range of emotional force and dark humour. It unfolds a series of portraits of the young, the hip, the lost, the unsettled and the unhinged of America.
£9.49
Sourcebooks, Inc Miss Buncles Book
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£17.99
Scribner Book Company Misery
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£15.29
The New York Review of Books, Inc Confusion
Book Synopsis
£14.36
Steerforth Press The Spinning Heart: A Novel
Book SynopsisWinner of the Irish Book Award Finalist for the Booker Prize This “affecting” debut is “reminiscent of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying” as it paints a vivid portrait of a working-class community in contemporary rural Ireland (New York Times Book Review). “One of my favorite Irish books . . . Moving, atmospheric and beautiful.” —Tana French In the aftermath of Ireland’s financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds. The Spinning Heart speaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark, and sweetly poignant. Donal Ryan’s brilliantly realized debut announces a stunning new voice in fiction. Irish Book of the Decade (Dublin Book Festival) First Book Award (The Guardian) “Newcomer of the Year” and “Book of the Year” (Irish Book Award) “Best Book of the Year” (Library Journal)
£13.60
Atlantic Books The Undertaking: The debut novel by the author of
Book SynopsisThe debut novel by the author of The Colony, longlisted for the 2022 Booker PrizeA soldier on the Russian Front marries a photograph of a woman he has never met. Hundreds of miles away in Berlin, the woman marries a photograph of the soldier. It is a contract of business rather than love. When the newlywed strangers finally meet, however, passion blossoms and they begin to imagine a life together under the bright promise of Nazi Germany. But as the tide of war turns and Allied enemies come ever closer, the couple find themselves facing the terrible consequences of being ordinary people stained with their small share of an extraordinary guilt...Trade ReviewSweeping, powerful, epic * The Times *'Brutal but brilliant... Full of heart-pounding suspense... Magee offers an insight both into the deprivation experienced by ordinary soldiers and the excesses of those in power... An impressive, even stunning debut' * Sunday Times (Ireland) *An engaging and beautifully written novel, with an emotional resonance that remains long after you've closed the book. It succeeds in doing what only the best historical novels can do - making the past feel present * Independent *A novel made all the more harrowing by its extreme readability * Observer *A violent, elegant, unsentimental journey through hell and halfway back. This is an outstanding novel by a writer of huge talent and unusual candour. -- Chris CleaveThe Undertaking is written with sympathy and skill. The narrative is tense and engaging, filled with complex undertones, impelled by an urgency and a deep involvement with the characters. -- Colm TóibínA bold and unsettling feat of empathy, all the more daring for its taut, beautifully understated style -- A.D. Miller
£9.49
Goose Lane Editions The Life and Times of Captain N
Book Synopsis
£12.59
Atlantic Books Only the Animals
Book SynopsisPerhaps only the animals can tell us what it is to be human. The souls of ten animals caught up in human conflicts over the last century tell their astonishing stories of life and death. In a trench on the Western Front a cat recalls her owner Colette's theatrical antics in Paris. In Nazi Germany a dog seeks enlightenment. A Russian tortoise once owned by the Tolstoys drifts in space during the Cold War. In the siege of Sarajevo a bear starving to death tells a fairytale. And a dolphin sent to Iraq by the US Navy writes a letter to Sylvia Plath. Exquisitely written, playful and poignant, Only the Animals is a remarkable literary achievement by this bright young writer. An animal's-eye view of humans at our brutal, violent worst and our creative, imaginative best, it asks us to find our way back to empathy not only for animals, but for other people, and to believe again in the redemptive power of reading and writing fiction.Trade ReviewFrequently hilarious... Dazzling. * The Observer *An audacious work of the imagination . . . An extraordinary series of fabulist tales . . . The yarns are funny, tragic, smart, arch, poignant and playful all at once. * Saturday Age *Dovey writes with the same easy, muscular lucidity in this book as in her first; and both place her as part of a transnational generation of younger authors...whose work stakes a claim, via flamboyant feats of novelistic imagination, for extending fiction's borders past their own geography and time. * Sydney Review of Books *Dovey is a natural storyteller . . . The author's portrayals of human-animal interactions evoke images of lasting beauty and power. * Australian Book Review *A strange and beautiful work . . . Each story is self-contained, but each is far richer - in terms of emotional and philosophical resonance - for its proximity to the others. To put it another way: Only the Animals is a perfectly integrated work of art brilliantly disguised as a collection of short stories. * The Monthly *We challenge you not to get caught up. * Elle *I remember being told once that there are bioluminescent plankton; these stories remind me of that fantastic, startling and real illumination. The animal narrators are not mythic, or naive--they are psychologically full. And though the humans in these stories often act like beasts, having actual beasts tell the stories give the reader a broadened sense of what we affectionately term humanity. * Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances *I have been waiting, since Blood Kin, for another work of fiction by Ceridwen Dovey. Only the Animals is filled with knowledge and wisdom and beauty. It leaves a strange and striking trace on its reader. * Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers *
£8.54
Atlantic Books Lord Oda's Revenge: Blood Ninja II
Book SynopsisTaro was just a fisherman's son... but then his father was murdered and he was forced to become a Blood Ninja, fated to live by night, doomed to live on the blood of others. But he has had his revenge. He has killed Lord Oda, the warlord who had his father assassinated. But Lord Oda is not quiet in his grave. He has found a way to reach beyond death and Taro and his friends soon find themselves facing samurai armies, a deadly enemy from the past and strange ghostly creatures who suck life from the living. Dangerously weakened, Taro, must recover the one object that Lord Oda was desperate to find before he died: the Buddha Ball, the source of limitless power. But if Taro is to complete his perilous quest - to save himself, his friends, his mother, and the girl he loves - he must go to hell and back and face his arch enemy once again. For Lord Oda has returned - as a Blood Ninja.
£11.69
City Lights Books Laure
Book Synopsis This complete collection of writings published for the first time in English includes Story of a Little Girl, about the Catholic priest who sexually molested her sister; The Sacred, a collection of poems and fragments on mysticism and eroticism; notes on her association with contr-attaque and acephale, and her involvement with the Spanish civil war and the early years of the Soviet Union; a compendium of correspondence with her beloved sister-in-law and tortured love letters to Bataille; and an essay by Bataille about Laure''s death of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-five. People describe Laure as pure, dissolute, dark, luminous. I drank, I bathed in her radiant purity’ Jean Bernier says. Leiris writes about her lyrically in fourbis and frèle bruit as the saint of the chasm.’ Bataille calls her uncompromising, pure, and sovereign. It is tempting to romanticize Laure in the most sublime and violent sense as consumptive poet, a
£18.89
City Lights Books The Bell Tolls for No One
Book SynopsisPreviously uncollected pulp fiction by the 20th century American master.Trade Review"The brevity of the pieces collected here, some no more than two or three pages, suit Bukowski well. ... Best to think of his work as a series of dirty Road Runner cartoons in which Bukowski is the coyote taking one damn kick in the pants--front- and backside--after another. At its worst (the hijack fantasy "Fly the Friendly Skies"), Bukowski's sensibility is ugly and coarse. But when he is swinging, there is a companionable ease to his blunt, profane vernacular. Bukowski's gift was a sense for the raunchy absurdity of life, his writing a grumble that might turn into a belly laugh or a racking cough but that always throbbed with vital energy."--Kirkus Reviews "Bukowski's world is hostile, full of runaway dysfunction, and populated by alcoholics, gamblers, adulterers, and abusers, all with few, if any, redeeming qualities ... It is Bukowski's embrace of this world, his insistence on its validity if not its value, that makes him unique ... Bukowski can be honest and direct, and he is capable of embedding meaningful observations in the most sordid of stories."--Publishers Weekly Bukowski's The Bell Tolls for No One, recently released in a comic-book-like paperback, follows the hardboiled genre bent that reached its surreal apotheosis in his final novel, Pulp. The obvious influence is to Hemingway--see: the title--but perhaps more interestingly, the editor David Stephen Calonne notes Bukowski's debt to the crime writer James M. Cain, who had also, unbeknownst to me, shaped the style of Camus's The Stranger. The book includes some of Bukowski's roughly drawn illustrations, which fall somewhere close to pornographic Ziggy or adult-themed New Yorker cartoons. One features an asthmatic customer at an adult bookstore asking the cashier to inflate his blow-up doll for him; another shows an expressionistically drawn party girl surrounded by gawking men with the caption 'God, a woman could get bored.' The subject matter is a more amplified version of the usual Bukowski fare--stalwart, sleazebag protagonists; spectral, deathly women with emphatically described upper legs. As always, the most one can hope for in Bukowski's universe is 'a grim yet comfortable isolation.'"--Casey Henry, The Paris Review "Like Robert Crumb, whose art appears on the cover of The Bell Tolls For No One, Charles Bukowski represents a kind of brazenly counterculture spirit that holds in contempt anything that represents the Establishment. Read in this light, this newest compilation can be viewed as more than the self-admitted 'notes of a dirty old man,' but as the further works of an iconoclast who, much like the underground comics artists and punk rock bands of the late '70s, waged war against all that was supposedly 'decent' and conventional for the sake of getting at the grit of human experience."-ZYZZYVA These are tales from the lower class and underclass, in all their glorious craziness and absurdity. It's not pretty, and yet, somehow, there is joy in reading these stories, and somehow too, Bukowski ends up being a good buddhist, finding the larger beauty in these dismal lives ... [For those] who already love Buk, this book will leave content, drunk, smiles on our faces."--Entropy Magazine
£12.34
Little, Brown Book Group The Parasites
Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA'One of the last century's most original literary talents' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Wickedly readable . . . every woman instinctively wants to read her' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ' Somehow more personal than Daphne du Maurier's other novels' KIRKUS REVIEWS'When people play the game: Name three or four persons whom you would choose to have with you on a desert island - they never choose the Delaneys. They don't even choose us one by one as individuals. We have earned, not always fairly we consider, the reputation of being difficult guests . . . 'Maria, Niall and Celia have grown up in the shadow of their famous parents. Their father is a flamboyant singer and their mother is a talented dancer. Now pursuing their own creative dreams, all three siblings feel an undeniable bond, but it is Maria and Niall who share the secret of their parents' pasts. Alternately comic and poignant, The Parasites is based on the artistic milieu its author knew best and draws the reader effortlessly into that magical world.Trade ReviewOne of the last century's most original literary talents * Daily Telegraph *She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *A novel about three step-siblings of complicated parentage, growing up wildly in a crazy Bohemian theatrical family, inspired by du Maurier's own . . . intriguing . . . captivating . . . [The Parasites] is unexpected, and fun, and one of her own favouritesQuite different - and somehow more personal than Daphne du Maurier's other novels * Kirkus Reviews *Wickedly readable . . . Daphne du Maurier has instinct, with the result that every woman instinctively wants to read her * New York Times Book Review *
£9.49
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Le Morte Darthur The Seventh and Eighth Tales
Book SynopsisA fully annotated edition of the most dramatic part of the most famous story of the Arthurian legend. It is presented with the original spelling to bring it as close as possible to the medieval original.Trade Review"An extended introduction treats the Arthurian legend and Malory's sources, as well as the cultural contexts of the book, including the probable events of Malory's own life. The commentary is expanded from the first edition to offer detailed explanatory notes. Unfamiliar terms are glossed at the bottom of the page and a full glossary included. The scholarship is, as would be expected from Malory's great modern editor and biographer, comprehensive and impeccable." --Medium AevumP. J. C. Field has revised his long-out-of-print edition of the seventh and eighth tales of Morte Darthur, which are arguably the best and most influential parts of Malory's book. This edition offers students an excellent, affordable introduction to Malory's tragedy and to Arthurian romance in general and is the ideal text for the instructor who does not have time in class to teach the earlier parts of the book as well. The substantial seventy-seven–page Introduction presents essential and accurate information about the development of the Arthurian legend and the social, intellectual, and historical context in which Malory's book was written as well as discussions of Malory's French and English sources, the content and style of Morte Darthur, and the life of the author. The edition includes a detailed commentary, considerably expanded from the earlier version; glosses at the bottom of the page; and a glossary of words not immediately recognizable to those unaccustomed to reading Middle English. This text is an excellent work of scholarship by the leading authority on Sir Thomas Malory and will be welcome to those who teach general courses in medieval literature, in Middle English, and in comparative Arthurian romance. --Edward Donald Kennedy, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, The University of North Carolina at Chapel HillSuperb introduction, ample breadth and depth, excellent tone and level of engagement. Glosses are clear and useful. Students will read this. --Sarah Dangelantonio, Professor of English, Franklin Pierce University
£36.54
Chiltern Publishing Mansfield Park
Book Synopsis Chiltern 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 layers, fine details and beautiful colours of these remarkable covers make these titles feel extra special and will look striking on any shelf. This book has matching lined and blank journals (sold separately). They make a great gift when paired together but are also just as beautiful on their own. Mansfield Park By Jane Austen tells the story of Fanny Price, a frail, quiet young woman who has none of the high spirits or wit of Elizabeth Bennet or Marianne Dashwood. Reared from the age of ten among wealthy relatives, Fanny is an unobtrusive presence in the household at Mansfield Park, useful and agreeable to everyone and steadfast in her secret affection for her cousin, Edmund Bertram. Fanny?s manner contrasts sharply with the livelier, sometimes careless behavior of her cousins and their friends. Only Edmund spends time with the gentle Fanny, although his own affections have been captivated by the sophisticated Mary Crawford. With Fanny?s uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, away on an extended stay in the West Indies, the cousins and their friends decide to put on an amateur theatrical production of a scandalous French play. Only Fanny refuses to participate, out of natural modesty and a certainty that her absent uncle would not approve. Sir Thomas returns unexpectedly and does not approve, much to his children?s chagrin, but Fanny quickly falls from his favor when she refuses the proposal of Mary Crawford?s brother, Henry, who had begun an unwelcome flirtation with her after Fanny?s cousin Maria married another man. Distressed by her uncle?s disapproval, Fanny visits her parents and her eight brothers and sisters, only to discover that her years at Mansfield Park have left her unable to fit easily into her noisy, often vulgar family. She is summoned back by Sir Thomas when Maria leaves her husband for Henry Crawford and Maria?s sister, Julia, elopes. Now fully appreciated by her uncle, Fanny comes into her own, winning the love of Edmund Bertram.
£17.00
Penguin Putnam Inc Florida
Book SynopsisThe universally-acclaimed return of the New York Times bestselling author of Fates and Furies.In Lauren Groff’s Florida, the hot sun shines, but a wild darkness lurks. Florida is a "superlative" book (Boston Globe), "gorgeously weird and limber" (New Yorker), "frequently funny" (San Francisco Chronicle), "brooding, inventive and often moving" (NPR Fresh Air) -- as Groff is recognized as "Florida''s unofficial poet laureate, as Joan Didion was for California." (Washington Post) "Groff''s gifts as a writer just keep soaring higher and higher.” – NPR’s Fresh AirIn her thrilling new book, Lauren Groff brings the reader into a physical world that is at once domestic and wild—a place where the hazards of the natural world lie waiting to pounce, yet the greatest threats and mysteries are still of an emotional, psychological nature. A family retreat can be derailed by a prowling panther, or by a sexual secret. Among those navigating this place are a resourceful pair of abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up; a restless, childless couple, a searching, homeless woman; and an unforgettable, recurring character—a steely and conflicted wife and mother. The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida—its landscape, climate, history, and state of mind—becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a place of residence. Groff transports the reader, then jolts us alert with a crackle of wit, a wave of sadness, a flash of cruelty, as she writes about loneliness, rage, family, and the passage of time. With shocking accuracy and effect, she pinpoints the moments and decisions and connections behind human pleasure and pain, hope and despair, love and fury—the moments that make us alive. Startling, precise, and affecting, Florida is a magnificent achievement.
£13.50
Back Bay Books M31
Book Synopsis A beautiful and terrifying novel about family, faith, and the search for home (San Francisco Chronicle), set amidst a community of UFO cultists in middlest America. As regular guests on late-night radio shows, Dash and Dot are the world''s most in-demand lecturers on the topic of UFOs and alien abduction. They believe that we are all descended from M31, the nearest galaxy to ours, and divide their time between life on the road and a decommissioned church in the Midwest. A radar dish on its steeple and a spaceship in its sanctuary complete the modern nuclear-family setting. When a couple of UFO groupies arrive at the church with their own agenda, everything changes, brought to a head by their strange beliefs and the timeless difficulties of modern life. Dash and Dot set out on their last trip, their ultimate journey, with a destination that no one could foretell. Written with a fevered vividness and immediacy, M31: A Family Romance has been hailed as a devastatingly forceful accomplishment from a star of the first magnitude (the Washington Post).
£14.44
Simon & Schuster The Good Earth
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£16.14
Atlantic Books False God of Rome
Book SynopsisRobert Fabbri read Drama and Theatre at London University and worked in film and TV for twenty-five years. He has a life-long passion for ancient history, which inspired him to write the bestselling Vespasian series and the Alexander's Legacy series. He lives in London and Berlin.Trade ReviewA stonking read. -- Classic FMRobert Fabbri has a winner on his hands. * The BookPlank *Fabbri's Vespasian novels have been creating quite a stir. * The History Girls *
£8.99
Atlantic Books The Furies of Rome
Book SynopsisRobert Fabbri read Drama and Theatre at London University and worked in film and TV for twenty-five years. He has a life-long passion for ancient history, which inspired him to write the bestselling Vespasian series and the Alexander's Legacy series. He lives in London and Berlin.Trade ReviewRobert Fabbri has a winner on his hands. * The BookPlank *A stonking read. * Classic FM *Fabbri's Vespasian novels have been creating quite a stir. * The History Girls *
£8.54
Little, Brown Book Group Novel On Yellow Paper Virago Modern Classics
Book SynopsisINTRODUCED BY RACHEL COOKE''Virginia Woolf''s roving consciousness lies behind the prose in Novel on Yellow Paper, but the tone owes more to Dorothy Parker . . . When first published in 1936, it overnight turned Smith into a celebrity . . . the subversiveness of this novel has never lost its appeal, its greatness lying in its exuberant celebration of the uncircumscribed spirit'' - Frances Spalding, IndependentStevie''s alter ego Pompey is young, in love and working as a secretary for the magnificent Sir Phoebus Ullwater. In between making coffee and typing letters for Sir Phoebus, Pompey scribbles down - on yellow office paper - her quirky thoughts. Her flights of imagination take in Euripedes, sex education, Nazi Germany and the Catholic Church, shattering conventions in their wake.Trade ReviewA more individual talent than Stevie Smith's you don't get. An artist of utmost sophistication... Her pre-war Novel on Yellow Paper is an unforgettable work that has nevertheless needed to be rediscovered several times since the day it was first greeted, correctly, as a masterpiece - Clive James, the New YorkerVirginia Woolf's roving consciousness lies behind the prose in Novel on Yellow Paper, but the tone owes more to Dorothy Parker . . . There are distinct intentions behind Smith's engagingly idiosyncratic manner, and every new reading uncovers further depths. When first published in 1936, it overnight turned Smith into a celebrity. It was swiftly followed by the first two collections of her poetry for which, today, she is better known. But the subversiveness of this novel has never lost its appeal, its greatness lying in its exuberant celebration of the uncircumscribed spirit -- Frances Spalding * Independent *Stevie Smith captures, with exquisite stillness and delicacy, all the pains of love -- Lee Rourke * The Guardian *
£9.49
Dalkey Archive Press Before Brezhnev Died
Book SynopsisThe time is the twilight of the decrepit Brezhnev regime, the place, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia: the “Latin periphery of empire.” A pensioner seeks justice for his dead wife, crushed by a falling crane--the very symbol of the “construction of socialism”--but comes up against hostility from a cynical system at best indifferent, at worst contemptuous of human life. With a keen, Gogolian eye for the grotesque, often squalid, details of everyday life in the USSR, Iulian Ciocan paints darkly humorous but compassionate portraits of Homo sovieticus, from crusty war veterans and lowly collective farm workers to venal Party bigwigs, as each comes to the disturbing realization that the lofty ideals of Soviet society were lies all along. And for idealistic young pioneer Iulian, the biggest disillusionment of all will be the abrupt revelation of Brezhnev’s mortality.
£12.34
Scribner Book Company Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
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£11.69
Canongate Books The Shadow King: SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, ELLE, TIME, SPECTATOR'DEVASTATING' Marlon James, 'BRILLIANT' Salman Rushdie, 'MAGNIFICENT' Aminatta Forna, 'WONDERFUL' Laila Lalami, 'UNFORGETTABLE' The Times, 'REMARKABLE' New York TimesEthiopia, 1935.With the threat of Mussolini's army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid. Her new employer, Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie's army, rushes to mobilise his strongest men before the Italians invade.Hirut and the other women long to do more than care for the wounded and bury the dead. When Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile and Ethiopia quickly loses hope, it is Hirut who offers a plan to maintain morale. She helps disguise a gentle peasant as the emperor and soon becomes his guard, inspiring other women to take up arms. But how could she have predicted her own personal war, still to come, as a prisoner of one of Italy's most vicious officers?The Shadow King is a gorgeously crafted and unputdownable exploration of female power, and what it means to be a woman at war.Trade ReviewA beautifully crafted account of the female soldiers resisting Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 and their own oppression in Ethiopian society. Lyrical, furious and meticulously researched, it is a necessary act of historical reclamation * * Guardian, Best Books of the Year * *The Shadow King is a beautiful and devastating work; of women holding together a world ripping itself apart. They will slip into your dreams and overtake your memories -- MARLON JAMESUnforgettable. I suspect I won't read anything more moving this year * * The Times, Book of the Month * *Lyrical, remarkable . . . Breathtakingly skillful . . . The reader feels . . . In the steady hands of a master . . . Hirut [is] as indelible and compelling a hero as any I've read in years * * New York Times * *With epic sweep and dignity, Mengiste has lifted this struggle into legend, along with the women who fought in it. Beautiful, horrifying, elegant and haunted, The Shadow King is a modern classic -- ANDREW SEAN GREER, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of LESSSet during Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, this absorbing novel spotlights the African women who went to war . . . [Mengiste's] achievement in The Shadow King is to bring to life those women, and to depict them as dynamic entities, their capabilities, limitations and beliefs evolving under duress in as fully complex a way as those of their male counterparts * * Guardian, Book of the Day * *A brilliant novel, lyrically lifting history towards myth. It's also compulsively readable. I devoured it in two days -- SALMAN RUSHDIEA must-read . . . The Shadow King is a masterpiece . . . Brilliant . . . [Mengiste] is simply an outstanding writer, with an uncanny ability with words, metaphor, history and truth . . . I simply cannot recommend this remarkable book highly enough to anyone who looks for the best writing to tell compelling stories * * Washington Post * *A gripping story . . . Intelligently structured, beautifully written . . . So compelling -- KAMILA SHAMSIEUrgent and propulsive but also lyrical and meditative . . . An inspiring, harrowing portrait of an overlooked aspect of an overlooked conflict * * Metro * *
£9.49
Deep Vellum Publishing FEM
Book SynopsisIn this modern classic of global feminist literature, the only novel by one of Romania's most heralded poets, styled as a long letter addressed to the man she is ready to leave, a woman meanders through a cosmic retelling of her life from childhood to adulthood with visionary language and visceral detail. Like a contemporary Scheherazade, she spins captivating tales that create space in the cosmos for the female experience. Through a dreamlike thread of strange images and passing characters from the small incidents of their lives together to the intimate narrative of her relationship to womanhood, her stories invite the reader into a fantastical vision of love, loss, and femininity.Trade Review"What poetry does in FEM is the opposite of over intellectualizing. Cârneci charts how birth, something every mammal undergoes, has transformed and transcended to accompany so much meaning that it can barely be contained by sound or language." —Sarah McEachern, BOMB Magazine “You know the saying in film studies, “Every frame a painting”? In this book, almost every sentence is a poem.” —Travel Through Stories "Like the north ends of two magnets, the two storytellers' refusal to meet tantalizes, inviting the reader into the no-man's land, in which they may question––or even participate in this exchange of identities. Cârneci's own active approach to living in a body, in fact, is exactly what she begs her listener/reader to adopt, and her appeal is so breathtaking, it's a wonder anyone could refuse." —Lindsay Semel, Asymptote“Poet Cârneci’s rich English-language debut records a woman’s dreamlike ecstatic experiences and revelations...Full of strong imagery, this heavily symbolic work is a notable entry in international feminist literature.” –Publishers Weekly "...Cârneci is, in the end, an original writer and a masterful stylist, whose mastery of language comes vividly across through Sean Cotter’s dexterous translation. Her stylistic ingenuity is felicitously rendered by her translator...Her novel transgresses feminist ideology, proposing a vision that implies a change in human perception, a vision attempting to unify the outside and the inside, the object and the subject of all human experience…" –Los Angeles Review of Books, Alta Ifland “This novel is not about plot or character, it is about impressions, images, the beauties of nature, the female body and strange visions.” –The Modern Novel "FEM is a protest novel, a feminist text written with the fervor of a true poet, a book that registers the pain of women in a still male-dominated world. Beyond its feminist radicalism, this novel’s readers will discover an impressive quality of mind and artistic refinement that attract our empathy." –Mircea Cărtărescu "Magda Carneci is a leading international literary figure. So this searchingly philosophical, psychological and yet also brilliantly visceral fiction should come as no surprise. Yet its sustained and virtuoso interrogation of identity, gender and the struggle to become is astonishing. Brilliant, sensual yet also intellectually and politically charged, this is the sort of book that can change lives. –Fiona Sampson "Profound, mysterious, emotional and gripping, FEM is a luminous and inspiring work of literature by one of the world’s most valuable authors." –Deborah Levy, author of The Man Who Saw Everything, Hot Milk, and Swimming Home “An author with a strong personality, whose voice has always been distinct within the ‘80s generation [of Romanian writers].” –Octavian Soviant, Observator Cultural "Magda Carneci is not only a distinguished poet, translator, and art critic but a first-rate novelist, who uses her storytelling gifts in FEM to open new worlds for the silent auditor of her strange visions. The narrator describes herself as “a tamer Scheherazade,” but she is fierce in her quest to charm, instruct, and awaken readers to the particular challenges of a woman picking her way through the maze of modern life. These tales, spun from seemingly inconsequential moments into existential reflections on the nature of everything under the sun, will haunt your days and nights.” –Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait with Dogwood “Hard to sum up in just a few words, FEM is a psychedelic novel about the essences of femininity. A poetic prose that left me with the impression that it would fit wonderfully into a new wave of aesthetic oneiricism. A novel for the cognoscenti, FEM is scandalous and provocative in equal measure.” –Marius Mihet “An initiatory text, a text of depths rather than postmodern surfaces, a total rather than fragmentary text, FEM puts forward a metaphysic of the senses, an intense concrete and sensorial experience, like a springboard to revelation, transforming biological conditioning, intuition, and so-called female sensuality on the road to knowledge, to a ‘different logic,’ an ‘integral logic.” –Adina Dinitoiu “What Magda Carneci undertakes in FEM is not only profound, but also honest: an honesty that is sometimes cruel and bewildering, sometimes constructive and generative, an honesty that only great writers are capable of.” –Stefan Borbely “FEM: a remarkable novel, a read not to be missed.” –Daniel Cristea-Enache
£13.30
Orion Publishing Co The Lathe Of Heaven
Book Synopsis''Ursula Le Guin was able to reimagine many concepts we take to be natural, shared, and unalterable - gender, utopia, creation, war, family, the city, the country - and reveal the all-too-human constructions at their centre ... Literature will miss her. There''s no one like her'' Zadie Smith''Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power'' OBSERVERThrough his dreams, George Orr can make alternate realities real - but who is controlling him?War rages and global warming wreaks havoc on the quality of life everywhere as seven billion people jostle for living space and food. For George Orr, a mild and unremarkable man, the world is overwhelmingly difficult. But George is different: his dreams can change reality - although he has no means of controlling this extraordinary power.Psychiatrist Dr William Haber offers to help, directing George to dream a world without racism. But as ambition gets the better of ethics, no one can predict the devaTrade ReviewLe Guin is a writer of phenomenal power * OBSERVER *Ursula Le Guin was able to reimagine many concepts we take to be natural, shared, and unalterable - gender, utopia, creation, war, family, the city, the country - and reveal the all-too-human constructions at their center ... Literature will miss her. There's no one like her -- Zadie SmithShe is unparalleled in creating fantasy peopled by finely drawn and complex characters * GUARDIAN *Le Guin is one of the singular speculative voices of our future, thanks to her knack for anticipating issues of seminal importance to society * TLS *Her worlds have a magic sheen . . . She moulds them into dimensions we can only just sense. She is unique. She is legend * THE TIMES *I'd love to sit at my desk one day and discover that I could think and write like Ursula Le Guin -- Roddy DoyleA rare and powerful synthesis of poetry and science, reason and emotion * NEW YORK TIMES *[Le Guin had] the heart of a poet who knew all too well the difference between miracle and eureka, revelation and revolution * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *Le Guin's storytelling is sharp, magisterial, funny, thought-provoking and exciting, exhibiting all that science fiction can be * EMPIRE *Ursula Le Guin is a chemist of the heart -- David Mitchell, author of CLOUD ATLASWhen I read The Lathe of Heaven as a young man, my mind was boggled; now when I read it, more than twenty-five years later, it breaks my heart. Only a great work of literature can bridge - so thrillingly - that impossible span -- Michael ChabonLe Guin writes tellingly of different kinds of society . . . and of the individual's response to them * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
£8.54
Headline Publishing Group The Stone Rose: The absolutely gripping new
Book Synopsis 'A real tour de force of gripping writing, rich historical detail and complex, fascinating characters. Superb!' NICOLA CORNICK on The Stone Rose_________________EARLY READERS ARE GRIPPED BY THE STONE ROSE!* 'Springs to vivid life for the reader . . . A compulsive read' ANNE O'BRIEN* 'An enticing and intriguing tale of a woman who is driven to desperate and ruthless lengths to protect those she loves' ALEXANDRA WALSH* 'Carol McGrath really got into Isabella's head . . . Enlightening' SHARON BENNETT CONNOLLY* 'Bold and compelling' JENNY BARDEN* 'A novel that's a definite page-turner' LIZ HARRIS_________________London, 1350. Agnes, daughter of a stonemason, is struggling to keep her father's trade in a city decimated by plague. And then she receives a mysterious message from the disgraced Queen Isabella: mother of King Edward III, and widow of Edward II. Isabella has a task that only Agnes can fulfil. She wants her truth to be told.Much has been whispered of the conflicts in Isabella and Edward's marriage. Her greed and warmongering. His unspoken love for male favourites. But as Agnes listens to Isabella, she learns that she can be of help to the queen - but can either woman choose independence, follow her own desires, and survive? The sweeping third instalment of Carol McGrath's acclaimed Rose Trilogy: the gripping series exploring the tumultous lives and loves of three queens of England - and of three women who lived in their shadow.Based on the extraordinary true story of the female stonemason who carved a queen's tomb!Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE STONE ROSE:From the atmospheric opening to the beautifully satisfying ending, it is a real tour de force of gripping writing, rich historical detail and complex, fascinating characters. Superb!' * Nicola Cornick *'Springs to vivid life for the reader, through immaculate research, depth of knowledge and imaginative prowess . . . A compulsive read' * Anne O’Brien *'Monumental in scope, precise as a gilded illumination . . . A bold and compelling insight into the passions and ambition behind the brutal power struggles of the Middle Ages' * Jenny Barden *'A beautifully written novel, steeped in unexpected detail and intrigue . . . A novel that's a definite page-turner' * Liz Harris *Carol's empathy and understanding for Isabella's plight - and inner conflict - made the story!' * Sharon Bennett Connolly *'An enticing and intriguing tale of a woman who is driven to desperate and ruthless lengths to protect those she loves' * Alexandra Walsh *PRAISE FOR CAROL McGRATH:'A fascinating historical figure vividly captured in a beautifully narrated novel . . . Perfect' * K. J. Maitland *'A rich tapestry of a book . . . Brilliantly researched and cleverly brought to life . . . Wonderful' * Joanna Courtney *'Intense, gripping and intricately plotted' * Alexandra Walsh *'Completely engrossed me from the start . . . Incredibly rich and vividly told . . . A wonderful read!' * Nicola Cornick *'Carol McGrath excels at sweeping the reader away on an engrossing journey . . . The perfect balance between great storytelling and superb research' * Jane Johnson *
£9.49
Canelo The Life She Wants: A totally unputdownable
Book SynopsisYou want to save your marriage. She wants to destroy it.Paula worries that her marriage to Tommy is hanging by a thread. She loves how safe her husband makes her feel, but lately, it seems like he’s pulling away from her, and he keeps avoiding a much-needed conversation about finally having children.When Tommy suggests a cruise getaway for the two of them, Paula is thrilled. He’s fighting for this marriage, and he’s even promised that they will talk about growing their family. It’s Paula’s dream come true. Until the couple meets beautiful Anna.From the moment Anna appears in their lives, things start to go wrong for Paula. She finds herself trapped in a sauna. Her hair is destroyed at the salon. Money goes missing from her cabin. At first, Paula thinks she’s paranoid in suspecting Anna is turning her dream holiday into a nightmare. But soon, it becomes clear that Paula may not be the only woman fighting for Tommy’s affections.How far will Anna go to get what she wants? What lines will Paula cross to protect her marriage? And whose dark past will return to destroy them first?The Life She Wants is a suspenseful psychological thriller with a twist. Perfect for fans of Catherine Ryan Howard, Ruth Ware, and Lisa Jewell.What everyone is saying about The Life She Wants:‘A FANTASTIC can I say FANTASTIC AGAIN Book!!!!! Now this is what makes me Love reading a psychological novel. Sooooo fast-paced, many twists and turns… More heart-pounding than you can imagine. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED!!! So sad it’s over.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘Deliciously indulgent… absolute belter of a novel!! So easy to read, I literally inhaled it! Reading it while cooking, eating, bathing until I had finished it! Then I was left with the emptiness knowing it was the end!… Just mind blowing! Gutted it’s over… Loved it!!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘The perfect thriller! Full of chills, thrills and everything in between this one kept me reading late into the night desperate to know how it ends! Full of fantastic twists and turns, believable characters and a plot like nothing I’ve read before!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘It gripped me, I couldn't stop reading!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘I could not get enough of this book. The author keeps you guessing until the very end… All I can say is I did not see the ending coming. If you love thrillers and books that keep you on the edge of you seat, you will LOVE this book!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘I really loved this book!! It had so many twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next!! This was my first book by this author, and it won’t be the last!! Quick read!! Highly recommended!! You won’t be disappointed!!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘So glad I discovered this author, an unputdownable thriller that kept me hooked right until the end. Fantastic characters, a great plot and the twists kept me hooked. Loved it!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘Suspenseful, full of mystery and twists and turns that I could not predict. I am definitely going to be reading more from this author.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️‘This was a very entertaining read with comparisons to The Last Mrs Parish that I absolutely loved… This was great fun.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
£9.49
Graphic Arts Books Notes from Underground
Book Synopsis“It may seem paradoxical to speak of such insights as liberating, or to find in the Underground Man’s impassioned rejection of rational humanitarianism a call to arms. Yet each age we live through as individuals demands a certain kind of book- just as each era thieves the last with a magpie’s lust for the gewgaws of thought. Oddly enough, now I come to look at Notes again- and examine it in the round- I discover that my revised impression of it as a text at once jejune and cynical, callow as well as wise, is not, perhaps, too far from reality.” -Will Self ““(Dostoevsky)... is the man more than any other who has created modern prose, and intensified it to its present-day pitch.” -James Joyce Notes from the Underground is Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ninth novel, and considered to be one of the first examples of the existential novel. In this radically inventive work, an alienated former minor administrator in nineteenth-century Russia has broken away from society and withdrawn into an underground identity. With its piercing insight into political, social, and moral issues, this classic is one of the most provocative work of literature ever written. In the first half of the novel, the unnamed narrator, a cynical recluse in 1860’s St. Petersburg, attacks the ideologies of inherent laws of self-interest; he is crippled with self-loathing, and bound by his contempt of certain political attitudes of his day. He welcomes any psychic or physical pain in his life as he believe it rails against the complacency of modern society. The second half, entitled “Apropos of the Wet Snow”, the narrator relates his alienated relationships he experiences with others, including old school chums and a prostitute named Liza, who is only demeaned in his misanthropic mind. A singular document of the depravity of human consciousness, this is one of the most powerful pieces of literature ever written. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Notes from the Underground is both modern and readable.
£9.49
Graffeg Limited Quick Reads: The Journey
Book SynopsisWelcome to Maggie''s melting pot, from Nigeria to Wales via Essex. Maggie will be sharing some of her fascinating stories from this journey, packed with flavour, character and vibrance. Also included are interesting recipes that have been significant as Maggie serves you Naija-style.
£3.81
Little, Brown & Company Hirano and Kagiura (novel)
Book SynopsisBasketball players. Bad boys who aren’t really bad boys. Roommates. Senpai-kouhai BL romance. It all started when Kagiura moved into the school dorms with what seemed to be a bad boy upperclassman. But after he’s left in the tender care of his mother-hen of a roommate, Hirano, it’s too much to ask for Kagiura not to fall in love...right?! From the author of Sasaki and Miyano comes the Hirano & Kagiura novel and its manga sequel, filled with answers to the questions Mya-chan never knew. Do they like-like each other? Are they dating? What juicy things do they get up to behind closed doors?!
£12.34
Scribe Publications What I’d Rather Not Think About
Book SynopsisWhat if one half of a pair of twins no longer wants to live? What if the other can’t live without them? This question lies at the heart of Jente Posthuma’s deceptively simple What I’d Rather Not Think About. The narrator is a twin whose brother has recently taken his own life. She looks back on their childhood, and tells of their adult lives: how her brother tried to find happiness, but lost himself in various men and the Bhagwan movement, though never completely. In brief, precise vignettes, full of gentle melancholy and surprising humour, Posthuma tells the story of a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.Trade Review‘A unique story of a twin brother and sister, wryly funny and heartbreakingly sad. Her characters desperately try to make sense of our ever more complex world. This is a rare book. And Jente Posthuma is a treasure and a hell of a writer.’ -- Herman Koch, international bestselling author of The Dinner‘The strength here is truly in the minimalist prose — razor-sharp sentences that often slot together perfectly in a seemingly nonchalant way. The result is a powerful story about death, life, and survival.’ * Nederlands Dagblad *‘It is impossible to name everything that is beautiful about this novel. Posthuma needs few words to evoke a feeling or an atmosphere. She writes striking sentences that conjure up poignant images … this book deserves a large readership.’ * Literary Netherlands *‘What makes What I'd Rather Not Think About rise above the average mourning novel is its utter authenticity. Posthuma associates, philosophises, links memories to everyday actions, draws on films and television series and tries to interpret in a laconic, light-footed, and pointed way. “Less is more” with Jente Posthuma. And again, she seems to be saying: nothing is “whole” here, in the subhuman. Everything rumbles, frays, and creaks.’ * De Telegraaf *‘From the opening pages of this novel I had no idea where it was going, but I trusted Posthuma completely. Tender, offbeat, and deftly drawn — I loved it.’ -- Allee Richards, author of The Small Joys of Real Life‘In some ways it is tricky to recommend this book widely because of its difficult subject matter: it revolves around the grief of a twin who is trying to work out how to move forward in her own life after her brother, a long-term sufferer of depression, takes his own. To paraphrase the title, familial suicide and depression are certainly two of the key things many people would rather not think (or indeed read) about, but I want to tell you that this book is gorgeous. It is expertly crafted, moving, and at times startlingly funny, as the narrator tries to navigate the enormity of her loss … This short book contains a beautiful and compelling portrait of the grieving mind, as both storyteller and reader wander through the terrains of disbelief, regret, loneliness, and unending love.’ -- Alison Huber * Readings *‘Despite its melancholic theme, What I’d Rather Not Think About is infused with a similarly subtle, almost self-effacing humour that in this case expresses the narrator’s bewildered, tremulous path through life … This slim novel is packed with allusions to popular and high culture, history, science and current affairs, yet manages to feel simultaneously rich and uncluttered.’ -- Linda Jaivin * The Saturday Paper *‘[An] exquisitely vulnerable novel.’ -- Cameron Woodhead * The Sydney Morning Herald *‘[A] beautifully observed narration.’ -- Marcus Hobson * NZ Booklovers *‘Dutch novelist Posthuma returns with a sharp meditation on grief … The patchworked story of the twins’ bond and the brother’s fruitless search for meaning is woven with reflections … inventive and worthy.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘What I’d Rather Not Think About is a forthright novel in which mental health, sexual orientation, and suicide are subjects of frank, empathetic consideration.’ * Foreword Reviews *‘A beautiful and strangely life-affirming evocation of grief.’ * The New European *‘Tough to read but wonderfully rewarding.’ -- Willow Heath‘Through a delicately woven tale of memory, shared selfhood, and grief, the author takes us into the mind that struggles to understand a world shattered by loss, when one sibling dies and another is left to reconstitute the fragments. Poetic and surprising, Posthuma shows how even in the most intimate of connections, in another person lies the great unknown … Posthuma develops an affecting novel about grief by embracing its full complexity’ -- Daljinder Johal * Asymptote Journal *
£9.49
Broadview Press Ltd The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a
Book SynopsisSet in early eighteenth-century Scotland, James Hogg’s masterpiece is a brilliant psychological study of religious fanaticism and the power of evil. Led on by his sinister companion, Gil-Martin, Robert Wringhim commits a series of atrocious crimes. As the novel progresses, however, and the complexity of Wringhim’s mind is revealed, the reader begins to doubt whether Gil-Martin even exists.This edition of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner places the work within the context of Calvinism, Scottish political and constitutional history, and early psychological theories of “double consciousness.” A wide-ranging introduction discusses the novel in relation to its setting as well as to the period in which it was composed.Trade Review“Adrian Hunter’s thorough introduction and detailed annotations make this an essential edition for all students of Hogg’s great novel. Like other Broadview titles, it also contains a number of auxiliary materials, such as contemporary reviews and a chronology, that will greatly enhance the reader’s appreciation.” — Duncan Wu, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University“Hunter’s introduction is well-informed in terms both of the novel’s intellectual context and current critical approaches, while the 1824-based text offers a clear reading version of the novel as originally published. Especially valuable are the volume’s appendices, with their well-chosen selections from earlier and contemporary writings relating to key aspects such as theological background, gothic fiction, and mental illness.” — Peter D. Garside, Cardiff University“Hunter’s edition of Hogg’s Confessions is simply the best paperback edition currently available. His introductory essay sets out the idiosyncratic historical, theological and literary contexts of this marvellous novel in a lucid and authoritative manner, drawing on his intimate knowledge of recent Hogg scholarship.” — Simon Kövesi, University of Dundee“Hunter presents the Confessions with accuracy and care, placing welcome emphasis on the deliberately perplexing nature of the work and Hogg’s desire to unsettle and challenge us as readers.” — Meiko O’Halloran, Linacre College, OxfordTable of ContentsIntroductionJames Hogg: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextThe Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified SinnerAppendix A: Contexts of Reference The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans Jean Calvin A Cloud of Witnesses Edward Fisher James Hadow Robert Burns Appendix B: Contexts of Production E.T.A. Hoffmann Nicol Muschet S.L. Mitchill H. Dewar Appendix C: Contemporary Reviews Westminster Review, October, 1824 The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, 1824 The Examiner, August, 1824 The British Critic, 1824 Works Cited/Recommended ReadingGlossary
£17.95
Headline Publishing Group The Stolen Crown
Book Synopsis''A superb book, illuminating a fascinating and turbulent era. It is the figure of Matilda who rightly commanded the stage in all her power and complexity'' Nicola Cornick''Packed with romance, real history, a cast of superbly imagined characters . . . The Stolen Crown is an entertaining tour-de-force'' Lancashire Post''A well-researched adventure about a strong medieval woman fighting the odds against her'' Historical Novels ReviewWhen Empress Matilda is eighteen years old, tragedy strikes the royal family, and she becomes the only child of the king of England - the de facto heir to the throne. As her dying father persuades the barons to pledge allegiance to her, Matilda returns to England - but the lords and clergy do not like an independent woman. And Matilda is nothing if not headstrong . . .When the old king dies, the country is plunged into instant chaos. So begins a fierce battle beTrade ReviewAs two women's lives entwine, the daughter of the King and the illegitimate daughter of a baron, they both battle for their place in the world, one as queen and one as mistress of her own fate. Carol McGrath weaves a tale of two unlikely friends, taking you deep into their worlds as they strive to protect each other and those they love * Alexandra Walsh, author of The House in Crete *A triumph. A superb use of authentic historical detail lifts the life of Matilda off the page and involves the reader in a struggle for power that is both engrossing and exciting * Liz Harris *The Stolen Crown features Carol McGrath's best heroine yet. Anyone who loves accurate portrayals of medieval life will delight in this skilful re-telling of history * Deborah Swift *A superb book, illuminating a fascinating and turbulent era. It is the figure of Matilda who rightly commanded the stage in all her power and complexity * Nicola Cornick *McGrath has given this remarkable star of the Anarchy period the perfect stage on which to prove her impressive credentials. Packed with romance, real history, a cast of superbly imagined characters . . . The Stolen Crown is an entertaining tour-de-force -- Pam Norfolk * Lancashire Post *A well-researched adventure about a strong medieval woman fighting the odds against her -- Kate Pettigrew * Historical Novels Review *
£10.44
Simon & Schuster Audio Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Book Synopsis
£12.74
Pan Macmillan The Tobacconist
Book Synopsis'Set at a time of lengthening shadows, this is a novel about the sparks that illuminate the dark: of wisdom, compassion, defiance and courage. It is wry, piercing and also, fittingly, radiant.' Daily MailFrom Robert Seethaler, the author of the Man Booker International shortlisted A Whole Life, comes a deeply moving story of ordinary lives profoundly affected by the Third Reich, in the tradition of novels such as Fred Uhlman's classic Reunion, Bernhard Schlink's The Reader and Rachel Seiffert's The Dark Room.When seventeen-year-old Franz exchanges his home in the idyllic beauty of the Austrian lake district for the bustle of Vienna, his homesickness quickly dissolves amidst the thrum of the city. In his role as apprentice to the elderly tobacconist Otto Trsnyek, he will soon be supplying the great and good of Vienna with their newspapers and cigarettes. Among the regulars is a Professor Freud, whose predilection for cigars and occasional willingness to dispense romantic advice will forge a bond between him and young Franz.It is 1937. In a matter of months Germany will annex Austria and the storm that has been threatening to engulf the little tobacconist will descend, leaving the lives of Franz, Otto and Professor Freud irredeemably changed.Trade ReviewSet at a time of lengthening shadows, this is a novel about the sparks that illuminate the dark: of wisdom, compassion, defiance and courage. It is wry, piercing and also, fittingly, radiant. * Daily Mail *Seethaler blends tragedy and whimsy to create a bittersweet picture of youthful ideals getting clobbered by external forces. The result is a little like Great Expectations, only with dachshunds and strudel. * Observer *Essential reading for the early years of the 21st century. * Scotland on Sunday *[The Tobacconist’s] portrayal of pre-war Vienna is tender and elegiac. There are echoes of Arthur Schnitzler in Fran’z feverish obsession with Anezka, Ödön von Horváth in minor characters such as the neighbouring butcher who denounces the tobacconist to the Gestapo, and Robert Musil in the texture of the city. The moment when the frail, ill Dr Freud boards the train for London is an elegy for the cultural and intellectual glory of early twentieth-century Vienna . . . The Tobacconist remains unwavering in its quiet, understated style and it is all the more devastating for it. * Times Literary Supplement *Told with a dry wit that enhances, rather than disguises, the sadness of its story, The Tobacconist is a touching miniature of an ordinary life irrevocably altered by the larger forces of history. * Sunday Times *Robert Seethaler's The Tobacconist is a poignant, tragic look at the creeping rise of fascism in Vienna before the outbreak of the Second World War. Told with humor and pity, the novel expertly depicts how easy it is to find, and lose, one's place in the world . . . [The Tobacconist] brilliantly demonstrates how even small actions can give a person meaning in the face of dire threats. * Shelf Awareness *I enjoyed Robert Seethaler’s The Tobacconist. The novel sets up a tiny tobacconist’s shop in 1930s Vienna as a window on to a street, a city and a continent, all drifting into conflict. -- Ed Smith * New Statesman *
£9.49
Simon & Schuster Audio Blowback: A Thriller
Book Synopsis
£15.99
Pan Macmillan Wuthering Heights
Book SynopsisOne of the great novels of the nineteenth century, Emily Brontë's haunting tale of passion and greed remains unsurpassed in its depiction of destructive love. Her tragically short life is brilliantly imagined in the major new movie, Emily, starring Emma Mackey in the title role.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition of Wuthering Heights features an afterword by David Pinching.One wild, snowy night on the Yorkshire moors, a gentleman asks about Wuthering Heights, the remote farmhouse inhabited by his mysterious landlord. He is told about the tragic romance of the beautiful, headstrong Cathy and the orphan Heathcliff, who – although desperately in love with her – is rejected in favour of a rich suitor. But Cathy cannot forget him, and he develops a lust for revenge that will take over his life as he attempts to win her back, and to destroy everyone, and everything, he considers responsible for his loss.
£10.44
Ivan R Dee, Inc Collected Stories of Ivan Bunin
Book Synopsis"The Gentleman from San Francisco" is easily the best known of Ivan Bunin's stories and has achieved the stature of a masterpiece. But Bunin's other stories and novellas are not to be missed. Over the last several years a great many of them have been freshly and brilliantly translated by Graham Hettlinger. Together, along with four new pieces, they are now published in a one-volume paperback collection of Bunin's greatest writings. In Mr. Hettlinger's renderings readers will see why Bunin was regarded by many of his contemporaries as the rightful successor to Tolstoy and Chekhov as a master of Russian letters.Trade ReviewIvan Bunin...is one of the finest story writers of the twentieth century, a master of tone and experiment. -- Gary Saul Morson[Bunin is] one of the great literary masters of the twentieth century...[his is a] powerful and pellucid art. -- Cynthia Ozick, author of The Pagan Rabbi and Other StoriesRussian exile Bunin (1870-1953), who won the Nobel Prize in 1933, becomes stunningly accessible in this beautiful new translation. * Publishers Weekly *"The translation is graceful and essentially accurate." -- Richard Lourie * The Wall Street Journal *Emotional intensity in remembrance that recalls Proust....Stunningly accessible...beautiful new translation. * Publishers Weekly *Fluid new translations...this piercingly lyrical collection renders fully the passion of the human heart and the power of memories. -- LELIA RUCKENSTEIN * The Review of Higher Education *Now we have a new and comprehensive volume of [Bunin's] fiction, Collected Stories of Ivan Bunin, beautifully translated by Graham Hettlinger. * New York Sun *[Hettlinger's translations] are a joy to read. * Slavic and East European Journal *
£17.99
New Amsterdam Books The Garden Where the Brass Band Played
Book SynopsisThe book is a coming-of-age novel, something that in other languages is expressed more pointedly as the novel of education. Nol, 'the judge's son,' is the person whose moral sentiments are being educated. But that education is acquired at the expense of an infinitely more valuable person, the young woman Nol loves, who has been exploited by men of weight and standing in their provincial community-all of them human, disgracefully human. Not tells the story from the time he was five years old, when, inspired by a rendition of one of Souza's marches in the garden where the brass band played, he danced with the conductor's daughter, taller and older than himself, before a bemused assemblage of adults. The web of incident and reflection in Nol's narration astonishes the reader with the texture of the lives it evokes, ending with Nol's small, crucial defection that precipitates tragedy. In The Garden Where the Brass Band Played, as with every real novel of the genre, it is the reader whose sentiments are educated, by the pain of it, and no doubt rather too late.Trade ReviewA celebration of musical genius. * New York Sunday Times *This powerful novel counterpoints bourgeois values against the lyricism of love and art. * Publishers Weekly *
£7.59
Sourcebooks, Inc Glitterland
Book SynopsisIn the past, the universe is a glitterball I hold in the palm of my hand.In the past, I am brilliant and I am happy and my every tomorrow is madness.In the past, I am soaring, and falling, and breaking, and lost.And now, there is only this.Once the golden boy of the English literary scene, now a clinically depressed writer of pulp crime fiction, Ash Winters has given up on hope, happiness, and-most of all-himself. He lives his life between the cycles of his illness, haunted by the ghosts of other people's expectations.Then a chance encounter throws him into the path of Essex-born Darian Taylor. Flashy and loud, radiant and full of life, Darian couldn't be more different...and yet he makes Ash laugh, reminding him of what it's like to step beyond the boundaries of his anxiety. But Ash has been living in his own shadow for so long that he can no longer see a way out. Can a man who doesn't trust himself ever trust in happiness? And how can someone who doesn't believe in happiness ever fight for his own?
£8.54
Random House USA Inc All That Is
Book Synopsis
£13.18
Atria Books True to Form
Book Synopsis
£15.29
Gallery Books The Deep
Book Synopsis
£16.19
