Historical Fiction Books

Book Synopsis''One of the greatest books about growing up'' James Wood, Guardian''You girls are my vocation . . . I am dedicated to you in my prime''Miss Jean Brodie is a schoolmistress with a difference. She is proud, cultured and romantic but her educational ideas are highly progressive and even deeply shocking. So when she decides to transform a group of ''special girls'' into the crème de la crème at Marcia Blaine School they are soon known, perhaps suspiciously, as the Brodie set.Introduced to an unsettling world of adult games and curious intrigues, the Brodie Set know that they are privileged. Yet there is a price to pay - they must give Miss Brodie their undivided loyalty . . .''The most gifted and innovative British novelist of her generation'' David Lodge, The New York Times''Spark''s novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards'' John Updike, New YorkerTrade ReviewThe most gifted and innovative British novelist of her generation -- David Lodge * The New York Times *Spark's most celebrated novel. This ruthlessly and destructively romantic school ma'am is one of the giants of post-war fiction * Independent *Spark's novels linger in the mind as brilliant shards -- John Updike * New Yorker *One of the greatest books about growing up -- James Wood * Guardian *"Clever and elegant" is very acute as a catch-all description of Muriel Spark's appeal -- William Boyd * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisPatricia Ferguson trained in nursing and midwifery, and her first book, Family Myths and Legends, won the Betty Trask, David Higham and Somerset Maugham awards. It So Happens and Peripheral Vision were both longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her most recent books, The Midwife's Daughter and Aren't We Sisters? are published by Penguin. Patricia Ferguson lives in BristolTrade ReviewAren't We Sisters? is that rare thing, a novel which is intelligent, gripping and - quite unexpectedly - cheering. * The Telegraph *There is a real warmth...to the story of how three women from different backgrounds rally round when one of them gets into trouble * Good Housekeeping *With dialogue and characters that sound authentic for the era, Ferguson has conjured up a thought-provoking plot * The Lady *Another page-turner...an unusual and clever novel. * Red Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThe Rain Before it Falls - Jonathan Coe''s heartbreaking novel of family secretsDeeply moving and compelling, The Rain Before it Falls is the story of three generations of one family riven by tragedy. When Rosamund, a reluctant bearer of family secrets, dies suddenly, a mystery is left for her niece Gill to unravel. Some photograph albums and tapes point towards a blind girl named Imogen whom no one has seen in twenty years. The search for Imogen and the truth of her inheritance becomes a shocking story of mothers and daughters and of how sadness, like a musical refrain, may haunt us down the years.''Spectacular, heartbreaking, beautifully written. Rosamund''s story is one of the most extraordinary and compelling you will ever read. Impossible to put down, I loved every minute of it'' Sunday Express''A sad, often very moving story of mothers and daughters'' Guardian''Entirely compelling...the plot will keep you rapt...reminiscent of Ian McEwan at his most effective'' New Statesman Jonathan Coe''s novels are filled with moving, astute observations of life and love, and are written with a revealing honesty that has captivated a generation of readers. His other titles, The Accidental Woman, The Rotters'' Club (winner of the Everyman Wodehouse prize), The Closed Circle, The Dwarves of Death, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, The House of Sleep (winner of the 1998 Prix Médicis Étranger), A Touch of Love, What a Carve Up! (winner of the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Middle England (Costa Novel Award), Mr Wilder and Me and Bournville are all available in Penguin paperback. Written with his signature wit, Jonathan Coe''s unmissable new novel, The Proof of My Innocence, is available to order now!Trade ReviewSpectacular, heartbreaking, beautifully written. Rosamund's story is one of the most extraordinary and compelling you will ever read. Impossible to put down, I loved every minute of it * Sunday Express *Entirely compelling . . . the plot will keep you rapt . . . reminiscent of Ian McEwan at his most effective * New Statesman *A sad, often very moving story of mothers and daughters * Guardian *A hauntingly melancholy tale of love and loss...a moving exploration of the inheritance of unhappiness, and the devestating consequences it can have for future generations * Daily Mail *Potent and melancholy, like a short, sad song * Guardian *A male writer who can enter such traditionally female territory and aquit himself with such aplomb * Sunday Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisNineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper is newly married to a rich and charming widower, eager to join him on his tea plantation, determined to be the perfect wife and mother.But life in Ceylon is not what Gwen expected. The plantation workers are resentful, the neighbours treacherous. And there are clues to the past - a dusty trunk of dresses, an overgrown gravestone in the grounds - that her husband refuses to discuss.Just as Gwen finds her feet, disaster strikes. She faces a terrible choice, hiding the truth from almost everyone, but a secret this big can''t stay buried forever . . .Trade ReviewMy ideal read; mystery, love, heart-break and joy - I couldn't put it down -- Santa MontefioreBeautifully written and heart rending, this has a magical setting with a real sense of period. -- Katie FfordeA gloriously atmospheric and tension-filled novel that centres on the separation of a mother and her child. Immensely enjoyable, poignant and compelling -- Isabel WolffVibrant and compelling - Dinah Jefferies perfectly captures the flavour of colonial Ceylon -- Rosanna LeyI was spellbound from beginning to end -- Deborah RodriguezA wonderful book, deeply touching and an unforgettable read that swept me away. I loved it. -- Kate FurnivallDark secrets lie at every turn, hidden beneath layers of 1920s racism and the fearfulness of a crumbling colonial power, making for a thoroughly gripping tale. But what I loved most of all. . . is the moving way in which Dinah writes about the loss of children and the redemptive power of love. -- Liz TrenowA terrific emotional and atmospheric read -- Elizabeth BuchanDeeply atmospheric and utterly engrossing -- Lucy CruickshanksRich and incredibly evocative, historical fiction at its best...it's just spellbinding * Sunday Express *A full-blown escape into the past * Independent *A gripping tale of love, jealousy, greed and tragedy * Woman and Home *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE GOOD LIAR, SOON TO BE A MAJOR FILM ''Unbearably tense'' Daily Telegraph ''While her husband prepared to murder a young man he had never met, Bridget O''Neill completed her packing for Christmas with her in-laws.''Francis O''Neill is a terrorist, trained to kill for his cause. Bridget is his wife, expected to be loyal and stand by her husband. She has learned not to hope for much more, until the day she glimpses, for the first time, the chance of a new life. A life without violence, without secrets, and without knocks on the door in the dead of night. A life without her husband.But what if freedom for Bridget means grave danger for Francis? In A Traitor in the Family, bestselling author, Nicholas Searle, tells a story of shocking, intimate betrayal. Can a treacherous act of the most personal kind ever be, in this darkly violent world, an act of mercy?''It reTrade ReviewIn its subtlety it reminded me strongly of John le Carré's wonderful A Small Town in Germany, which also brought home the delicate confusions that lie at the heart of those who work in the shadow of treachery. This is high praise * Daily Mail *Unbearably tense... this is a snapshot of the real world from a man who has lived it * Daily Telegraph *The follow-up to Searle's acclaimed 2015 debut The Good Liar, and the technical aspects of thriller writing are well handled as the tension builds on both sides * Guardian *[A] tale of sordid compromises and agonising choices ... beneath the betrayals and violence Searle's antihero's dilemma unleashes lies a moral message: even the hardest heart is made vulnerable by love' * Observer *The Good Liar was excellent but this book feels more personal and is even better * Sunday Express *Morally chewy and unbearably tense * Daily Telegraph *This is one of those thrillers whose thrills come not just from a fast-paced plot, but also from the fact that we're being given privileged access to a hidden world * Reader's Digest *A taut, compulsive thriller with a dark, intriguing heart. A Mr Ripley for our time -- Jonathan Freedland on 'The Good Liar'A part-thriller, part-human condition novel that packs a tremendous punch -- Financial Times on 'The Good Liar'Added to the fiendishly clever plot, Searle's writing is both drily amusing and elegantly crafted. An absolute treat of a book -- Daily Mail on 'The Good Liar'An incredibly dark, taut thriller... Think of Ruth Rendell morphing into John le Carré -- Daily Express on 'The Good Liar'Searle shows a gift for complex plotting -- Daily Telegraph on 'The Good Liar'Nicholas Searle drew on his own background in intelligence to portray an IRA terrorist and his wife forced into different types of betrayal * Daily Mail Books of the Year *

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Book SynopsisOne of the most iconic fictional debuts of all time turns 25 this year!What's past is prologue'First published in the year 2000, Zadie Smith's White Teeth was one of the most celebrated novels of the new millennium. Adored by critics and readers alike, it remains a perennial bestseller, which still delights with the audacity of its scope and vision, its fresh-minted style, and the wit and warmth of its voice.Funny, generous and big-hearted, it deals among many other things with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle.A life affirming, riotous must-read of a book, it won the Guardian First Book Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread First Novel Award.Curl up with it, savour every sentence, then turn around and reread' The TimesThe outstanding debut of the new millennium' ObserveTrade ReviewFunny, clever ... and a rollicking good read * Independent *Do believe the hype, buy into it, curl up with it, savour every sentence, then turn around and re-read * The Times *An impressive début, not only for its vitality and verve, but mainly for the sheer audacity of its scope and vision ... an epic tale ... swooping, funny ... it has ambition, wit and is unafraid -- Meera Syal * Express *Announces the debut of a preternaturally gifted new writer ... street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time * The New York Times *Relentlessly funny ... idiosyncratic, and deeply felt * Guardian *An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious ... I was delighted -- Salman RushdieShe is . . . a George Eliot of multi-culturalism * Daily Telegraph *[Zadie Smith] is one of the prominent voices of her generation * Sunday Times *Britain's finest young author * The List *[Zadie Smith] packs more intelligence, humour and sheer energy into any given scene than anyone else of her generation * Sunday Telegraph *[White Teeth] established a model for how to make sense-and art-out of the complexity, diversity and pluck that have defined the beginning of this century * Time *Funny, clever ... and a rollicking good read * Independent *Do believe the hype, buy into it, curl up with it, savour every sentence, then turn around and re-read * The Times *An impressive début, not only for its vitality and verve, but mainly for the sheer audacity of its scope and vision ... an epic tale ... swooping, funny ... it has ambition, wit and is unafraid -- Meera Syal * Express *Announces the debut of a preternaturally gifted new writer ... street-smart and learned, sassy and philosophical all at the same time * The New York Times *An astonishingly assured début, funny and serious ... I was delighted -- Salman RushdieRelentlessly funny ... idiosyncratic, and deeply felt * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisAny Human Heart is William''s Boyd''s classic, bestselling novel, now available as a Penguin Essential for the first time. Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, but Logan Mountstuart''s - lived from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century - contains more than its fair share of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war and as an art-dealer in ''60s New York, Logan mixes with the movers and shakers of his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.Any Human Heart will be enjoyed by readers of Sebastian Faulks, Nick Hornby and Hilary Mantel, as well as lovers of the finest British and historical fiction around the world. It was recently adapted for a major Channel 4 four-part drama series scripted by William Boyd and starring Kim Cattrall, Gillian Anderson, Jim Broadbent and Tom Hollander. This edition features beautiful cover artwork from the television series.''Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story'' Sunday Telegraph''Superb, wonderful, enjoyable'' Guardian''A terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable'' Jeremy PaxmanTrade ReviewA terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable -- Jeremy PaxmanWise, profound and moving. Only the very best novels make you look at your own life and imagine your own future with fresh eyes -- William Sutcliffe * Independent on Sunday *Superb, wonderful, enjoyable * Guardian *This fabulous book all about life... is the journey of anyone with a heart... I think of Any Human Heart often - the sign of a truly great book -- Fi Glover * Spectator *Sheer, truly brilliant storytelling. He has probably written more classic books than any of his contemporaries * Daily Telegraph *Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story * Sunday Telegraph *Astounding. One of Boyd's greatest achievements * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES #1 BESTSELLER OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK''One of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. I haven''t felt this way since I first read Beloved . . .'' Oprah Winfrey Lose yourself in the stunning debut novel everyone is talking about - the unmissable historical story of injustice and redemption that resonates powerfully todayHiram Walker is a man with a secret, and a war to win. A war for the right to life, to family, to freedom.Born into bondage on a Virginia plantation, he is also born gifted with a mysterious power that he won''t discover until he is almost a man, when he risks everything for a chance to escape. One fateful decision will carry him away from his makeshift plantation family and into the heart of the underground war on slavery... ''A transcendent work from a crucial political and literary artist'' Diana Evans ''I''ve been wondering who might fill the intellectual void that plagued me after James Baldwin died. Clearly it is Ta-Nehisi Coates'' Toni MorrisonTrade ReviewAny writer tackling slavery needs to do something different with it, and The Water Dancer does just that. Coates' rhapsodic prose spins a soaring, scorching, supernatural tale of the imagination that sets this history alight and turns it into an original work of art. -- Bernardine EvaristoOne of the best books I have ever read in my entire life . . . I was enthralled, I was devastated. -- Oprah Winfreya remarkable story about inequality, slavery, memory, freedom and dignity. I found it important and universally relevant -- Elif Shafak * Guardian *a crowd-pleasing exercise in breakneck and often occult storytelling that tonally resembles the work of Stephen King as much as it does the work of Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead and the touchstone African-American science-fiction writer Octavia Butler. * New York Times *a work of both staggering imagination and rich historical significance . . . timeless and instantly canon-worthy. * Rolling Stone *A tale of slavery and mysterious power in this debut novel from one of America's most exciting young writers. * The Times *An arresting story of fantastical power in the brutal world of human bondage . . . A transcendent, arresting work from a crucial political and literary artist -- Diana EvansEagerly anticipated . . . The Water Dancer merges historical and fantasy fiction in a slavery story that Oprah Winfrey says is one of the best books she has read in her life. * Observer *In prose that sings and imagination that soars, Coates further cements himself as one of this generation's most important writers, tackling one of America's oldest and darkest periods with grace and inventiveness. This is bold, dazzling, and not to be missed * Publisher's Weekly *Beautiful prose and wonderful characters . . . an important book written by one of the great thinkers of our times. It's a thriller, a historical how-to, a love story and a warning. I read it one long night and the next day pressed it into everyone's hands. Brilliant.This potent book about America's most disgraceful sin establishes [Ta-Nehisi Coates] as a first-rate novelist. * San Francisco Chronicle *Ta-Nehisi Coates has emerged as an important public intellectual and perhaps America's most incisive thinker about race. * New York Times *Slavery, forgetting and memory are at the heart of Coates's ambitious, compelling first novel... * TLS *

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Book SynopsisBook of the Year 2023 according to New York Times, New Yorker, Guardian, Economist, Observer, The Spectator, Financial Times, Vogue, The Times, The Oldie, i Paper, The Standard, Washington Post, Independent, Daily ExpressSHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE WRITERS' PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024ONE OF SARAH JESSICA PARKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2024A writer at the peak of her powers' The TelegraphTruth and fiction. Jamaica and Britain. Who gets to tell their story?In her first historical novel, Zadie Smith transports the reader to a Victorian England transfixed by the real-life trial of the Tichborne Claimant, in which a cockney butcher, recently returned from Australia, lays claim to the Tichborne baronetcy, with his former slave Andrew Bogle as star witness. Watching the proceedings, and with her own story to tell, is Eliza Touchet cousin, housekeeper and perhaps more to failing novelist William Harrison Ainsworth.From literary London to the Jamaica's sugar-cane plantations, Zadie Smith weaves an enthralling story linking the rich and the poor, the free and the enslaved, and the comic and the tragic.It's difficult to give any idea of how extraordinary this book is. One of the great historical novels, certainly. But has any historical novel ever combined such brilliantly researched and detailed history with such intensely imagined fiction?'' Michael FraynAs always it is a pleasure to be in Zadie Smith's mind . . . Dickens may be dead, but Smith, thankfully, is alive' New York TimesZadie Smith's Victorian-set masterpiece holds a mirror up to Britain . . . The Fraud is the genuine article' IndependentSmith's dazzling historical novel combines deft writing and strenuous construction in a tale of literary London and the horrors of slavery' GuardianInstant Sunday Times bestseller, September 2023

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Book Synopsis''Gripping ... a story of loss, ambition, misogyny, family love and what it means to belong ... evocative and atmospheric'' Irish Times1324, Kilkennie: A time of suspicion and conspiracy. A place where zealous men rage against each other - and even more against uppity womenA woman finds refuge with her daughter in the household of a childhood friend.The friend, Alice Kytler, gives her former companion a new name, Petronelle, a job as a servant, and warns her to hide their old connection.But in aligning herself with a powerful woman, Petronelle and her child are in more danger than they ever faced in the savage countryside ...Tense, moving and atmospheric Her Kind is vivid reimagining of the events leading to the Kilkenny Witch Trial.__________''Masterful ... Boyce delicately unfolds this atmospheric, magical thriller with pace and juice, while also making sure that theTrade ReviewShines a light on women who have been silenced. This tightly paced novel confirms Boyce as an important voice in Irish literature -- Louise O'NeillGripping ... a complicated story of loss, ambition, misogyny, family love and what it means to belong ... evocative and atmospheric * Irish Times *The plot is pacey and menacing, and the writing is clear, sharp and studded with glistening phrases ... a wonderful shout through time -- Nuala O'ConnorPulls us into a world both seductively alien, yet uneasily, all-too-humanly, familiar -- Mia GallagherMoving and atmospheric * Irish Country Magazine *A beautifully absorbing novel, illuminating the remarkable story of a woman whose life has since been subsumed into folklore. Highly recommended. * Hot Press *Masterful ... Boyce delicately unfolds this atmospheric, magical thriller with pace and juice, while also making sure that the sentiments (vilification of women, policing of female biology, etc) echo through time -- Hilary White * Sunday Independent *Niamh Boyce has taken a bleak and dismal period and sent a bolt of beautiful and revealing light into the darkness -- John MacKennaBeautifully written and transports us to the 14th century, though its themes loudly resonate today -- Eileen Dunne * RTÉ Culture *[Her Kind] sings of these modern times * RTÉ Guide *Enthralling * Irish Examiner *

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Book Synopsis''An astonishing portrait of an innocent on the verge of discovering the cruelties of love... there are whispers here of the future work of Elena Ferrante'' Elizabeth Strout, from the introduction''Life was a perpetual holiday in those days...''It''s the height of summer in 1930s Italy and sixteen-year-old Ginia is desperate for adventure. So begins a fateful friendship with Amelia, a stylish and sophisticated artist''s model who envelops her in a dazzling new world of bohemian artists and intoxicating freedom. Under the spell of her new friends, Ginia soon falls in love with Guido, an enigmatic young painter. It''s the start of a desperate love affair, charged with false hope and overwhelming passion - destined to last no longer than the course of a summer.The Beautiful Summer is a gorgeous coming-of-age tale of lost innocence and first love, by one of Italy''s greatest writers.''Pavese, to me, is a constant source of inspiration'' Jhumpa Lahiri''One of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century'' Susan Sontag''[Pavese writes books of] extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meaning'' Italo Calvino''For my trip to Los Angeles, I''m packing The Beautiful Summer, a slender account of love in 1930s Italy'' Jessie Burton, bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The MuseTrade ReviewAn astonishing portrait of an innocent on the verge of discovering the cruelties of love... an inimitable read... there are whispers here of the future work of Elena Ferrante -- Elizabeth Strout, from the introductionOne of the few essential novelists of the mid-twentieth century -- Susan SontagThere is never any doubt of Pavese's talent * The Times *[Pavese writes books of] extraordinary depth where one never stops finding new levels, new meanings -- Italo CalvinoThere is something about [Pavese] that is insinuating, haunting and lyrically pervasive * New York Times Book Review *Cesare Pavese's cool, contemplative voice was the most important among postwar Italian writers -- W. S. DiPieroPavese, to me, is a constant source of inspiration -- Jhumpa LahiriFor my trip to Los Angeles, I'm packing Cesare Pavese's The Beautiful Summer, with an introduction by Elizabeth Strout, a slender account of love in 1930s Italy -- Jessie Burton, bestselling author of 'The Miniaturist' * Guardian Best Summer Books 2018 *Reminds one very much of the trajectory of the relationship between two young people at the heart of André Aciman's Call Me By Your Name * RTE Recommended Summer Reads *Penguin's re-release of Cesare Pavese's The Beautiful Summer (as choice a pick as its title implies) is simply gorgeous * Marie Claire - Best Books to Read This Summer *Pavese writes with a vivid quietude that is always engaging * Guardian *[A] remarkable author * Scotsman *We must be grateful to the Penguin European Writers series, a precious venture in these dark times -- John Banville

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Book SynopsisNobel Laureate and two-time Booker prize-winning author of Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee tells the remarkable story of a nation gripped in brutal apartheid in Age of Iron. In Cape Town, South Africa, an elderly classics professor writes a letter to her distant daughter, recounting the strange and disturbing events of her dying days. She has been opposed to the lies and the brutality of apartheid all her life, but now she finds herself coming face to face with its true horrors: the hounding by the police of her servant''s son, the burning of a nearby black township, the murder by security forces of a teenage activist who seeks refuge in her house. Through it all, her only companion, the only person to whom she can confess her mounting anger and despair, is a homeless man who one day appears on her doorstep.In Age of Iron, J. M. Coetzee brings his searing insight and masterful control of language to bear on one of the darkest episodes of our times.Trade ReviewIt is, quite simply, a magnificent and unforgettable work * Daily Telegraph *A superbly realised novel whose truth cuts to the bone * The New York Times *A fierce pageant of modern South Africa ... A remarkable work by a brilliant writer * Wall Street Journal *Coetzee is one of the greatest writers of our time ... Age of Iron is taut, ironic, grieving and, finally, astonishing * Los Angeles Times *

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Book Synopsis''Think of two parallel lines. One is the life of Lee H. Oswald. One is the conspiracy to kill the President. What bridges the space between them? What makes a connection inevitable? There is a third line. It comes out of dreams, visions, intuitions, prayers, out of the deepest levels of the self.''A troubled adolescent endlessly riding New York''s subway cars, Lee Harvey Oswald enters adulthood believing himself to be an agent of history. This makes him fair game to a pair of discontented CIA operatives convinced that a failed attempt on the life of the US president will force the nation to tackle the threat of communism head on.Libra is a gripping, masterful blend of fact and fiction, laying bare the wounded American psyche and the dark events that still torment it.''An audacious blend of fiction and fact'' The Times Trade ReviewAn unparalleled trip into the heart of America * Observer *Wonderful * Guardian *Even with all the swirling contradictory data, this you feel is America, and the news starts here * Sunday Times *Monumental, DeLillo at his chilling best. Concentrates on the inner life of the people who shaped the Kennedy assassination. He constructs the very human faces behind a monstrous event, creating fiction which trespasses on reality * Time Out *An audacious blend of fiction and fact * The Times *

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Book Synopsis A stolen sister. A daughter determined to uncover the truth. ''I was gripped, moved and utterly in thrall to this deeply emotional and compelling tale'' Kate Furnivall Belle Hatton has embarked upon an exciting new life far from home: a glamorous job as a nightclub singer in 1930s Burma, with a host of sophisticated new friends and admirers. But Belle is haunted by a mystery from the past - a 25 year old newspaper clipping found in her parents'' belongings after their death, saying that the Hattons were leaving Rangoon after the disappearance of their baby daughter, Elvira. Belle is desperate to find out what happened to the sister she never knew she had - but when she starts asking questions, she is confronted with unsettling rumours, malicious gossip, and outright threats. Oliver, an attractive, easy-going American journalist, promises to help her, but an anonymous note tells her not to trust those closest to her. . . Belle surviTrade ReviewI was gripped, moved and utterly in thrall to this deeply emotional and compelling tale. Jefferies is truly a master of her craft. She writes so vividly I could feel the Rangoon grit under my finger nails and the humidity heavy on my skin. This powerful story explores the all-consuming impact of family and lifts the lid with an intimate sensitivity on how we deal with loss and betrayal in our lives. Belle and Diana are wonderful characters who leapt effortlessly into my life and whirled me through a helter-skelter of danger and suspicion that had me turning the pages late into the night. As always with a Dinah Jefferies book the research was meticulous. I loved it. * Kate Furnivall *The Missing Sister is a rich and enjoyable read on so many levels. It's an intriguing mystery, a deliciously rewarding romance, and a searing portrait of mental breakdown. 1930s Burma is vividly evoked and the plot is worked out to a conclusion that is not simply satisfying, but almost magical. This is a moving and complex story, beautifully told. -- Isabel WolffI positively raced through The Missing Sister this week and adored it! It's full of Dinah Jefferies' trademark atmosphere, with the colours and scents and wildlife of Burma described so vividly I felt I was there - and there's a terrific story too. -- Gill PaulDinah has an infallible ability to draw us into deliciously exotic worlds, and The Missing Sister is no exception. The superficial glamour of late colonial-era Burma reveals unsettling undercurrents and growing unrest, the perfect backdrop for the thrilling tale of a singer's desperate search for her lost sister. A wonderfully compelling, immersive read with characters that stay with you long afterwards. -- Liz TrenowMy ideal read - I couldn't put it down -- Santa Montefiore on 'The Tea Planter's Wife'A sweeping tale, beautifully written in a wonderful setting, heart rending yet ultimately uplifting. Gorgeous. -- Katie Fforde on 'The Sapphire Widow'The Missing Sister is a pacy, intriguing novel. Set in an exotic, little-known location, it draws you in to its secrets and dangers; the dark recesses of Burma. I stayed up all night reading. -- Carol DrinkwaterDinah Jefferies has a knack of getting under the skin of her exotic locations and this story about loss and love, set in sultry Burma during the troubled 1930s, is no exception. -- Kate RiordanA gorgeous novel. Deliciously transporting -- Eve ChaseA fabulous read -- Elizabeth BuchanPrepare to have your senses well and truly ignited in the sweeping, sun-drenched new novel from master storyteller Dinah Jefferies... A compelling and meticulously researched story * Lancashire Post *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION''To tell the story of a country or a continent is surely a great and complex undertaking; but the story of a quiet, unnoticed place where there are few people, fewer memories and almost no reliable records - a place such as Glen Conach - may actually be harder to piece together. The hazier everything becomes, the more whatever facts there are become entangled with myth and legend. . .''Deep in the mountains of north-east Scotland lies Glen Conach, a place of secrets and memories, fable and history. In particular, it holds the stories of three different eras, separated by centuries yet linked by location, by an ancient manuscript and by echoes that travel across time.In ancient Pictland, the Christian hermit Conach contemplates God and nature, performs miracles and prepares himself for sacrifice. Long after his death, legends about him are set down by an unknown hand in the Book ofTrade ReviewA haunted, haunting, and deeply humane book -- Robert CrawfordIt's like some beautifully ornate kist or jewel-box that for most of the encounter you admire for its own sake, only to find a key, near the end, that opens onto even more treasure -- Gavin FrancisIt is another wonderful piece of storytelling from James Robertson, offering a penetrating exploration of the complexities of collective memory and the tenacity of tradition, all played out through a thousand years of life in a single glen. It has all the makings of a timeless classic in its own right. -- Professor Gary WestJames Robertson is an extremely fine novelist . . . This is a superb book. . . It is not a book anyone will forget quickly. * Scotland on Sunday *One of Robertson's skills as a novelist is to make both events real and imagined feel equally convincing. * Prospect *Subtly explores the relationship between place and identity * The Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisThey stand by side on the rock, facing out to sea. They are hidden from land here. Even spies would see nothing of them. It is spring 1917 in the Cornish coastal village of Zennor, and the young artist Clare Coyne is waking up to the world. Ignoring the whispers from her neighbours, she has struck a rare friendship with D.H. Lawrence and his German wife, who are hoping to escape the war-fever of London. In between painting and visits to her new friends she whiles away the warm days with her cousin John, who is on leave from the trenches, harbouring secrets she couldn''t begin to understand.But as the heat picks up, so too do the fear and the gossip that haunt the village. And the freedom to love will come at a steep price.______________________________________________**Winner of the McKitterick Prize**''Highly original and beautifully written'' Sunday Telegraph''Electrifying . . . Helen Dunmore mesmerTrade ReviewHighly original and beautifully written * Sunday Telegraph *Electrifying . . . Helen Dunmore mesmerizes you with her magical pen * Daily Mail *Deceit gives Helen Dunmore's novel a jagged edge. Secrets, unspoken words, lies that have the truth wrapped up in them somewhere make Dunmore's stories ripples with menace and suspense * Sunday Times *We believe in Clare's intelligence, talent and passion. A triumph * Independent on Sunday *

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Book Synopsis***ONE OF TELEGRAPH''S BEST NOVELS OF 2021******SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS'' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2022***''Supple, artful, skilful storytelling - it takes an immediate grip on the reader''s imagination and doesn''t let go'' HILARY MANTEL______________________________________________Mary is a difficult grandmother for Durga to love. She is sharp-tongued and ferocious, with more demons than there are lines on her palms. When Durga visits her in rural Malaysia, she only wants to endure Mary, and the dark memories home brings, for as long as it takes to escape.But a reckoning is coming. Stuck together in the rising heat, both women must untangle the truth from the myth of their family''s past. What happened to Durga''s mother after she gave birth? Why did so many of their family members disappear during the war? And who is to blame for the childhood tragedy that haunts her to this day?In her stunning debut novelTrade ReviewSupple, artful, skilful storytelling - it takes an immediate grip on the reader's imagination and doesn't let goA brilliant novel about homecoming and the layered, unstable past that haunts and hurts . . . I admire it enormouslyAn impressive debut, atmospheric and unsettling * Telegraph, 5 stars *A striking debut . . . A bold, interesting novel . . . I'm excited to see what Menon comes up with next * Sunday Times *A bravura debut novel . . . It's clever, satisfying, and often playful * Guardian *This is a book saturated with the sensations of southeast Asia; where, in Menon's pungent turns of phrase, you feel as though you could "grab the air in two hands and wring it out"; where guilt can be "squatting in the room . . . stringy as spit", and where tiger princes and jungle spirits lurk amid a painful colonial past * The Times, pick of the latest fiction *A rich and moving family history takes shape, filled with love and heartache, guilt and grief, and no end of secrets and lies . . . Gripping, compelling . . . Menon's story shows that, though time flows on, history's waves still ripple decades downstream * Economist *Menon is a sparky storyteller whose thickly atmospheric debut keeps us guessing as its many ghosts press in ever closer * Daily Mail *A beautiful, richly textured absorbing read. I was utterly transported * Irenosen Okojie *A propulsive debut scattered with gems of fresh and surprising imagery. Menon is at her best exploring the intricate bond between women over generations, their histories strung tight over the fraught realities of a nation coming into being * Preti Taneja *Always here for a cross-generational family story, especially one that involves moral ambivalence * Marian Keyes selection for her PageTurners top reads *An intriguing, fast-paced, imaginative novel * Bad Form *A beautifully written story of one Indian Malaysian family's history, entwined with secrets and hidden heartbreak . . . Fragile Monsters is a story of homecoming which illustrates the tension of returning to a past which remains painfully present . . . a cleverly-crafted family saga which explores themes of truth, belonging and shame across multiple generations * Asian Review of Books *Leavened with a brisk, dry humour, Fragile Monsters is as propulsive as any mystery, with a bewitching sense of place . . . an accomplished feat of multi-stranded storytelling * Evening Standard *Lyrically beautiful writing * i *Spellbinding * Tatler Malaysia *A story about love, betrayal and redemption with an electric daughter-grandmother relationship at its heart * Sheer Luxe, reading recommendation *

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Book SynopsisA brilliantly realised account of the most famous archeological dig in British history, now a major motion picture starring Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James.''Exquisitely original'' Ian MacEwan''An enthralling story of love and loss'' Robert HarrisIn the long hot summer of 1939 Britain is preparing for war. But on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind: Mrs Pretty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary find...John Preston''s recreation of the Sutton Hoo dig - the greatest Anglo-Saxon discovery ever in Britain - brilliantly and comically dramatizes three months of intense activity when locals fought outsiders, professionals thwarted amateurs, and love and rivalry flourished in equal measure.''A tale ofTrade Review'Very fine, engrossing, exquisitely original' -- Ian McEwan'An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year' -- Robert Harris'You don't need to be in archaeology - this is a tale of rivalry, loss and thwarted love. It's so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day, and it's not often I miss a meal' -- Nigella Lawson'A rich vein of dry humour runs throughout' -- Evening Standard'Intriguing, tender and entertaining ... easily Preston's best' -- Independent'A delicate, quietly affecting human drama' -- Daily Mail'A moving novel that coheres wonderfully as it progresses' -- Spectator'A delicate evocation of a vanished era' -- Sunday TimesWonderful, evocative. From this simple tale of dirt, Preston has produced the finest gold. He keeps an iron grip on the reader's attention -- Observer'Beautifully written...there is a true and wonderful ending to the story' -- Bill Wyman * Mail on Sunday *'Wistful and poignant. A masterpiece in Chekhovian understatement' * Times Literary Supplement *'Exciting, evocative and beautifully written. A treasure in itself' -- Griff Rhys Jones'Shimmers with longing and regret . . . Preston writes with economical grace . . . He has written a kind of universal chamber piece, small in detail, beautifully made and liable to linger on in the heart and the mind. It is something utterly unfamiliar, and quite wonderful' -- Michael Pye * The New York Times Book Review *

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Book Synopsis''A startling heroine'' SARAH MOSS, author of Summerwater ''A vividly female perspective on the Wars of the Roses'' IMOGEN HERMES GOWER, author of The Mermaid and Mr Hancock''Wolf Hall for the 2020s'' MANDA SCOTT, author of Boudica ''Absorbing'' TIMES __________________________________ 1431 is a dangerous time for a woman to be defiant. England has been fighting France for 100 years. At home, power-hungry men within a corrupt government manipulate a weak king - and name Cecily''s husband, York''s loyal duke, an enemy. As the king''s grasp on sanity weakens, plots to destroy York take root... It will take all of Cecily''s courage and cunning to save her family. But when the will to survive becomes ambition for a crown, will she risk treason to secure it? Inside closed bedchambers and upon bloody battlefields, CECILY portrays war as women fight it.TO COTrade ReviewA startling heroine -- Sarah MossIn vigorous, direct prose Garthwaite grippingly resurrects a remarkable woman * Sunday Times *Utterly compelling, this brilliant novel shines a light into a dark corner of our history and reclaims the voice and story of a powerful and forgotten woman. A phenomenal read. I loved it -- Liz Hyder, author of The GiftsHas the new Hilary Mantel arrived? * Sunday Telegraph *I look forward to hearing more from Annie Garthwaite and Cecily * Times *Cecily is a vivid and compelling portrait of a formidable figure from the 15th century and a heroine for our times * Big Issue *In Garthwaite's hands, Neville proves as Machiavellian, manipulative and era-defining as any man * Noon *Cecily stalks the corridors of power like a female Thomas Cromwell. A vividly female perspective on the Wars of the Roses - what a feat -- Imogen Hermes GowarAn extraordinary achievement . . . I could touch and breathe Cecily's world as if I was walking in her shadow -- Carol McGrathCECILY is the WOLF HALL for the 2020s... marks the start of a stellar career -- Manda ScottI loved it . . . Annie Garthwaite writes about the past with a kind of restrained, earthy vim, and with the sort of intimacy and immediacy - and empathy - that can only come from graft and craft -- Toby Clements

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024''Exceptional ... The imaginative storytelling and fine prose of Remembrance Sunday puts McKeon in the big leagues'' Irish Times''A supreme storyteller'' Sunday Times''If you enjoy Colum McCann''s work, this novel is for you'' Irish Independent''Impressive ... A poignant, delicately composed novel that doesn''t stint on the wreckage of violence'' Daily Mail''Beautifully written'' Sunday IndependentFrom the acclaimed author of All That is Solid Melts into AirChinatown, New York. After a chance encounter with an old friend, Simon Hanlon, an Irish architect, experiences a seizure, his first in almost thirty years. Soon, they come to him daily.As he awaits a brain operation, Simon turns his mind back to his childhood on a farm near the Irish border. At fifteen, he was present when an IRA bomb exploded at the Remembrance Sunday parade in Enniskillen. It was in the following weeks that his seizures first began. Now, he is compelled to seek out the bomber from the remnants of his past, and to ask himself the question: why do we harm one another?Remembrance Sunday is a moving and unforgettable novel about love, empathy and the ways in which history imprints itself upon our hearts and minds.***''Deeply felt and delicate, Remembrance Sunday is a timely evocation of the havoc the Troubles wreaked, not just on the street, but on the soul'' CLAIRE KILROY''Beautifully wrought, startlingly perceptive, stealthily gripping . . . It moves masterfully between the forensic and the lyrical, the meditative and the dramatic, the personal and the political'' KEVIN POWER''McKeon animates a story out of the North''s recent history with much skill and empathy. Complicating the commonplace, attempting to make sense of the senseless, the novel is an impressive and moving act of imagination and remembrance'' NICK LAIRD''A stunning achievement. I was completely gripped by it and awed at the sublime skill and beauty of its execution. Darragh has created a work of art of immediate relevance and enduring importance'' DONAL RYAN

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Book SynopsisAn aspirational story of friendship, fortitude and the joy of Christmas . . . As the Autumn of 1941 dawns, and female conscription looms, three women arrive at the Bell Works Factory in Hucknall to work on the Spitfire production line. Lily, Edna and Jeannie. . . Lily soon realises her real dream is to pilot the planes; Edna longs to be reunited with her evacuee daughter while facing a much bigger problem; and Jeannie fears the worst after weeks of no news from her fiancé. Despite all the heartache, with a bit of Christmas cheer and ''can do'' attitude, The Engine Girls will pull together and do all they can to ensure Britain''s safe for the New Year!Trade ReviewWell done Daisy for creating characters that are real women in the best sense. Funny, scheming, loyal and witty, but about all, hardworking and proud. An absolute joy to read * Kate Thompson, bestselling author of, Secrets of the Home Front Girls *A cracking story with truly endearing characters * Annie Murray, bestselling author of, Now The War Is Over *This is her best yet. I devoured it in one sitting - it's a real page turner that will delight and tug at the heart strings of readers everywhere. Wonderful! * Fiona Ford, author of, The Liberty Girls *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024''A quiet work of art that explores the complexity of trauma in the wake of the Enniskellen bombing. McKeon's writing is sensitive, elusive and philosophical, and pursues an elusive truth at the heart of the Troubles.' PAUL LYNCH ''Exceptional ... The imaginative storytelling and fine prose of Remembrance Sunday puts McKeon in the big leagues'' Irish Times''A supreme storyteller'' Sunday Times''If you enjoy Colum McCann''s work, this novel is for you'' Irish Independent''Impressive ... A poignant, delicately composed novel that doesn''t stint on the wreckage of violence'' Daily Mail ''Beautifully written'' Sunday IndependentChinatown, New York. After a chance encounter with an old friend, Simon Hanlon, an Irish architect, experiences a seizure, his first in almost tTrade ReviewMcKeon’s writing is sensitive, elusive and philosophical, and pursues an elusive truth at the heart of the Troubles.’ -- Paul Lynch * Sunday Independent *Deeply felt and delicate, Remembrance Sunday is a timely evocation of the havoc the Troubles wreaked, not just on the street, but on the soul -- Claire KilroyMcKeon animates a story out of the North's recent history with much skill and empathy. Complicating the commonplace, attempting to make sense of the senseless, the novel is an impressive and moving act of imagination and remembrance -- Nick LairdA stunning achievement. I was completely gripped by it and awed at the sublime skill and beauty of its execution. Darragh has created a work of art of immediate relevance and enduring importance -- Donal RyanA beautifully wrought, startlingly perceptive, stealthily gripping novel about the pain of understanding ourselves and the agony of trying to understand history. It moves masterfully between the forensic and the lyrical, the meditative and the dramatic, the personal and the political -- Kevin Power'Darragh McKeon's Remembrance Sunday is a quiet work of art that explores the complexity of trauma in the wake of the Enniskellen bombing. McKeon's writing is sensitive, elusive and philosophical, and pursues an elusive truth at the heart of the Troubles.' -- Paul Lynch * Sunday Independent *Beautifully written -- Malachi O'Doherty * Belfast Telegraph *'Thought-provoking ... strong second novel' -- Bert Wright * Business Post *'A poignant, delicately composed novel that doesn't stint on the wreckage of violence.' * Irish Daily Mail *McKeon ... is a writer to watch. He conveys how people who cause harm can sometimes be victims, in their own way, and that takes skill. If you enjoy Colum Mcann's work, this novel is for you.' -- Martina Devlin * Irish Independent *'... beautifully written, placed in those grey shadows between right and wrong and profound, terrible loss.' -- Anne Cunningham * Sunday Independent *A beautifully crafted story about the legacy of trauma -- Sarah Gilmartin * The Irish Times *A supreme storyteller -- Robert Collins * The Sunday Times Ireland *

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Book SynopsisThe events of this novel take place on a single day in the southern town of Nazareth, a day so punishingly hot that Virginia Hade gives her father's black workers a holiday from work at the request of the black overseer, John Cloud. Meanwhile, a Revival tent is set up in the town, and a wave of religious passion spreads among the townsfolk.Trade ReviewPraise for the original edition of Holiday: "As a work of art this book has few peers. As a real book, with a sincere motive, it is hardly to be approached." -- San Francisco Bulletin Praise for this edition: "Holiday offers a lively introduction to one of America's most important forgotten authors. As Kathleen Pfeiffer's introduction suggests, Frank's novel also sheds needed light on one of the greatest mysteries of the Harlem Renaissance: the genesis of Jean Toomer's classic Cane." -- William J. Maxwell, author of New Negro, Old Left and editor of Claude McKay's Complete Poems

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Book SynopsisA sensitive, stirring novel of one girl's formative years during Singapore's emergence as an independent nationTrade Review"Charged and poetic. . . . A story exquisitely poised between the specific and the mythic, delicately narrated and profoundly resonant."--Publishers Weekly"Richly layered. . . . Cheong evokes not only the political friction [of Singapore] but also a family history built from equal parts of mythology, tradition, and rebellion."--Kirkus Reviews"Told with marvelous sensitivity, insight, and compassion. . . . An evocation of the mystery and strangeness of human existence."--James McConkey

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Book SynopsisThe definitive collection of jazz fictionTrade ReviewThough one can find other anthologies of jazz fiction, all acknowledged by the editors, this collection is richer than any of its predecessors. . . . The appealing material collected here captures the ambience of the jazz universe in surprising ways. The best stories are poetic, metaphorical, imagistic, rhythm-based, allusive, and illusive—reflecting respect/adoration for jazz and artistry. . . . Highly recommended.May 2010 * Choice *Carefully chosen and superbly edited by Sascha Feinstein and David Rife, the collection of 32 pieces of short fiction brings together some of the best jazz fiction from the 1920s to the present. . . . these stories virtually swing off the page. December 2009 * Jersey Jazz *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Don Asher, "The Barrier"2. James Baldwin, "Sonny's Blues"3. Toni Cade Bambara, "Medley"4. Amiri Baraka, "Norman's Date"5. Amiri Baraka, "The Screamers"6. Frank London Brown, "Singing Dinah's Song"7. Michelle Cliff, "A Woman Who Plays Trumpet Is Deported"8. Wanda Coleman, "Jazz at Twelve"9. Julio Cortázar, "Bix Beiderbecke"10. Julio Cortázar, "The Pursuer"11. Kiki DeLancey, "Swingtime"12. Ralph Ellison, "A Coupla Scalped Indians"13. Rudolph Fisher, "Common Meter"14. Sam Greenlee, "Blues for Little Prez"15. David Huddle, Tenorman: A Novella16. Langston Hughes, "The Blues I'm Playing"17. Langston Hughes, "Old Ghost Revives Atavistic Memories in a Lady of the DAR"18. Phil Kawana, "Dead Jazz Guys"19. Yusef Komunyakaa, "Buddy's Monologue"20. Ellen Jordis Lewis, "Miss Brown to You"21. William Henry Lewis, "Rossonian Days"22. John McCluskey, "Lush Life"23. Bill Moody, "Child's Play"24. James Reed, "The Shrimp Peel Gig"25. Josef škvorecký, "The End of Bull Mácha"26. Terry Southern, "You're Too Hip, Baby"27. Julian Street, "The Jazz Baby"28. Boris Vian, "'Round About Close to Midnight"29. Eudora Welty, "Powerhouse"30. John Edgar Wideman, "The Silence of Thelonious Monk"31. Xu Xi, "Jazz Wife"32. Richard Yates, "A Really Good Jazz Piano"Authors' BiographiesAcknowledgments

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Book SynopsisA wedding they can't escapeA Christmas they'll never forget!The last person Samuel Beresford expects to fish out of a freezing, perilous river is Julia Livingston. The girl who was once an outcast in his village is now a womanand the talk of the Ton for her beauty. His daring rescue compromises them into marriage, but Julia is hesitant to trust anyone from her childhood Can Samuel prove he's no longer the boy she knew?

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Book SynopsisHer convenient duke's touchLeads to a passionate awakeningA Rebellious Young Ladies story. When fun-loving Miss Georgina risks losing her fortune unless she marries, her only option is getting wed to tightly wound Adam, Duke of Ravenswood. He needs her wealth to save his estate, but otherwise Georgina knows to stay out of his way. Except that's not in Georgina's nature She'll find the joy and pleasure in anythingand for her that means in her marriage to Adamand in their marriage bed!

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Book SynopsisBe seduced by the first instalment of Christine Merrill's scandalous and spicy Wicked Dukes duetA duel brings ruinTo the debutante''s door!One of the Wicked Dukes. Portia Braddock must find a wealthy husband after her late father left her with a mountain of debts. But her reputation is destroyed when she unwittingly becomes the cause of a duel between two devilish dukes. Now the only way to secure her future and silence the gossips is to wed one of them!Julian Parish, Duke of Septon, accepts her demanda marriage in name only will allow him to continue his rebellious rakehell ways. Except soon their insatiable attraction throws the convenience of their marriage into jeopardyPerfect for fans of:?? Marriage of convenience?? Love triangle??? Spicy

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Book SynopsisWill this cynical fortune hunter find her true match?Find out in this enchanting sapphic historical romanceHow can Lady Sylvia save herself from financial ruin?Step 1: Move to the seaside for the summer, where there will be no shortage of wealthy bachelors holidaying.Step 2: Strike a deal with local farmer Hannah: if Hannah can help Sylvia bag a rich husband, Sylvia will fund Hannah's dream of opening a cheese shop.Step 3: Charm her way into luncheons, parties and exclusives balls, but do not start to confuse friendship with romantic feelings for Hannah.Step 4: Focus on her fortune hunting scheme and not let her heart get carried away by her unexpected and magical kiss with Hannah!Perfect for fans of:?? Opposites attract?? High society?? LGBTQIA+

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Webb was a great mystic and a master of both "inscape" and landscape. Any dull afternoon in London is lifted by being transported to the Mary Webb country of the Shropshire hills and the Welsh borderland." —Mail on Sunday"Mary Webb need fear no comparison with any writer who has attempted to capture the soul of nature in words." —John Buchan"On some bookshelves, we feel sure, Precious Bane will find almost a hallowed place." —The New York Times Book Review"The book opens with one of those simple sentences which haunt the mind until the curiosity has been satisfied . . . It strikes a note which never fails throughout; it opens with a beauty which is justified to the last sentence." —Hilda Addison

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Book SynopsisTo commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the University of Notre Dame Press is proud to publish Nobel Prize-winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's epic work March 1917, Node III, Book 1, of The Red Wheel. The Red Wheel is Solzhenitsyn's magnum opus about the Russian Revolution.Trade Review"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spent many years in the latter part of his long life working on The Red Wheel, a multivolume chronicle of 'the whirlwind of revolution in Russia.' Until now, only two parts of this hugely ambitious work had appeared in English translation, followed by a long hiatus. Now, at last—on the centenary of the Russian Revolution—the first part of another volume has appeared in English, March 1917, with translations of the remainder of the work promised. . . . The Red Wheel—like Solzhenitsyn’s life and work taken whole—is a testament to hope married to determination." —The Christian Century "The February revolution, in Solzhenitsyn’s considered judgment, was a disaster of the first order and not a welcome, democratic eruption in a country ill-prepared for democracy. A reader of March 1917(Node III of The Red Wheel . . .) would be hard put to quarrel with Solzhenitsyn’s judgment. As this great work of history and literature attests, February indeed was the root of all the evils to come and not a brief shining display of Russian democracy. . . . This action-packed account, beautifully translated by Marian Schwartz, tells the story of one moment in which the failure of good men to act made all the difference in the world." —National Review "[I]n the volume translated by Marian Schwartz, March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book I, the wheel turns. The Russian Revolution begins, and the chapters become shorter, the rhythm no longer adagio but staccato. Solzhenitsyn doesn’t much care about the literary modernism of Western Europe, but he does imitate the kinetic pace of 20th century cinema. . . . In The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn produced a masterpiece, and proved himself a worthy companion of Dostoevsky and rival of Tolstoy." —Law and Liberty "The Red Wheel and The Gulag Archipelago have been called Solzhenitsyn’s two 'cathedrals.' You cannot fully understand the horrors of communism and the history of the 20th century without reading them." —New York Journal of Books "The latest Solzhenitsyn book to appear in English, March 1917, focuses on the great turning point of Russian, indeed world, history: the Russian Revolution. . . . Almost moment by moment, we follow historical and fictional characters from March 8 to March 12, 1917, as chaos unfolds. Although the Kadets think that history must fulfill a story known in advance, Solzhenitsyn shows us a mass of discrepant incidents that fit no coherent narrative." —The New Criterion "March 1917, node III, gives a sketch of the events in St. Petersburg that culminated in the overthrow of the Tsar. Most striking in this segment is the ineptitude of Russia’s ruling class. Although a decent man, Tsar Nicholas was slow to make decisions, fearful of talented people, and incapable of resolving difficult issues. The ministers who exercised executive power were appointed by the Tsar and therefore lacked energy or ability. . . . Solzhenitsyn’s art allows readers to grasp one of the pivotal episodes in history." —James Pontuso, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Blog "Histories tend to collapse events into a single narrative; Solzhenitsyn insists on plurality. He explodes the Russian Revolution back into myriad voices and parts, disarrayed and chaotic, detailed and tumultuous. Combining historical research with newspaper headlines, street action, cinematic screenplay, and fictional characterization, the book is as immersive as binge-worthy television, no little thanks to this excellent translation that renders its prose as masterful in English as it was in Russian. In March 1917, Solzhenitsyn attempts the impossible and succeeds, evoking a fully formed world through episodic narratives that insist on the prosaic integrity of every life, from tsars to peasants. What emerges is a rich history that’s truly greater than the sum of its parts." —Foreword Reviews “'Many readers know that Solzhenitsyn was unjustly imprisoned by the communist regime and wrote about the camps, which are the result of the [Russian] revolution, but few know that Solzhenitsyn in fact dedicated his life to studying the revolution itself, and its causes,' said Stephan Solzhenitsyn. 'You might say that he caught the last train of departing memory. He was able to interview some of the last living participants of those fateful days in 1917, and of the Russian civil war that followed.'" —The Guardian "The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s epic of World War I and the Russian revolution, belongs to the Russian tradition of vast, densely plotted novels of love and war set during a time of social upheaval. An extended act of author-to-nation communication, this multivolume saga poses the question, 'Where did we go wrong?' and answers it in human and political terms, but with a mystical twist that is unlike anything else in Solzhenitsyn. This translation beautifully conveys the distinctive flavor of Solzhenitsyn’s prose, with its preternatural concreteness of description, moments of surreal estrangement, and meticulous detailing of the nuances of human relationships in the shadow of encroaching chaos. The novel’s reliable, unreliable, and even mendacious character voices, its streams-of-consciousness, and its experimental flourishes possess the same vividness and freshness as they do in Russian. Think Anna Karenina and Doctor Zhivago, with Dostoevsky’s Demons thrown in for good measure." —Richard Tempest, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "In his ambitious multivolume work The Red Wheel(Krasnoye Koleso), Solzhenitsyn strove to give a partly historical and partly literary picture of the revolutionary year 1917. Several of these volumes have been translated into English, but the present volume appears in English for the first time. The translation is very well done and ought to give the reader a better understanding of the highly complex events that shook Russia exactly a century ago." —Richard Pipes, emeritus, Harvard University "There is no doubt that The Red Wheel is one of the masterpieces of world literature, made all the more precious by its relevance to the tragic era through which contemporary history has passed. Moreover, the impulse of revolutionary and apocalyptic violence associated with the age of ideology has still not ebbed. We remain confronted by the fragility of historical existence, in which it is possible for whole societies to choose death rather than life." —David Walsh, Catholic University of America "As the great Solzhenitsyn scholar Georges Nivat has written, Solzhenitsyn is the author of two great 'literary cathedrals,' The Gulag Archipelago and The Red Wheel. The first is the definitive exposé of ideological despotism and all of its murderous works. The Red Wheel is the definitive account of how the forces of revolutionary nihilism came to triumph in the first place. It is a sprawling and fascinating mix of philosophical and moral discernment, literary inventiveness, and historical insight that sometimes strains the novelistic form, but is also one of the great works of moral and political instruction of the twentieth century." —Daniel J. Mahoney, co-editor of The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings"Progressive historians have whitewashed the Revolution into a 'people’s revolution,' inspired by the benevolent and charismatic Lenin and founded on the humanitarian Marx’s principles of equality. In truth, the Revolution wasn’t even supported by a majority of the proletariat. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s recently translated The Red Wheel: March 1917 . . . [is a] sobering antidote to this naïve view." —Claremont Review of Books"March 1917 is a long, difficult, confusing masterpiece. No great work of literature is easy to read, but this third installment of The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's narrative of the events leading to the Russian Revolution, is remarkable in its complexity. The novel presents a polyphonic kaleidoscope of people, places, and events, some real, some fictitious." —Society Journal"Solzhenitsyn's historical epic The Red Wheel, the author's magnum opus, narrates Russia's transition from monarchy to Soviet rule. . . . The present volume, the first book (of four) of the March 1917 node, narrates the events of the Russian Revolution, notably the overthrow of the Tsar's imperial government and the chaos that resulted among opposition leaders unprepared to lead a country in crisis. . . . The Red Wheel is intimidatingly voluminous, but Solzhenitsyn's stream-of-consciousness style—and the clarity of Schwartz's careful translation—makes for an engaging and dynamic experience, whether reading the novel cover to cover or in individual vignettes." —Choice“Only a great work of art like The Red Wheel can convey the soul of a lawless mob that has lost all sense of measure. . . . This action-packed account, beautifully translated by Marian Schwartz, tells the story of one moment in which the failure of good men to act made all the difference in the world.” –National Review"In the first volume of March 1917, well translated by Marian Schwartz, many haunting passages can be found, such as Nicholas II's confrontation with the icon of Christ following his tormented abdication." —Times Literary Supplement“[Solzhenitsyn] lived with the consequences of this cataclysmic historical moment… [The Red Wheel: March 1917, Node III, Book 2] never allows the reader to imagine they have the full story or a definitive answer about everything that happened during the tumultuous few days. Instead it shows the multitudes affected and their immediate, confused, and ignorant responses.” —Soshi’s Book Blog"[A] translation of the first of . . . four volumes, focused on the initial five days of snowballing street violence, multiplying labor strikes and military mutinies, as well as on the unrelieved hostility of the Duma to a painfully incompetent regime. The fictional elements of the story pale next to the overwhelming drama of the unfolding real historical events." —The Russian Review"Marian Schwartz, a distinguished translator, has rendered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s March 1917 into English in its entirety for the first time. . . . [Her] translation makes Solzhenitsyn more straightforward by occasionally dropping the façade of antiquated language, . . . March 1917 is part of Solzhenitsyn’s Red Wheel, a book series in which he conveys why he views not only the October Revolution, but also its predecessor from February 1917 as disasters for Russia." —The Slavic Review

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spent many years in the latter part of his long life working on The Red Wheel, a multivolume chronicle of 'the whirlwind of revolution in Russia.' Until now, only two parts of this hugely ambitious work had appeared in English translation, followed by a long hiatus. Now, at last—on the centenary of the Russian Revolution—the first part of another volume has appeared in English, March 1917, with translations of the remainder of the work promised. . . . The Red Wheel—like Solzhenitsyn’s life and work taken whole—is a testament to hope married to determination." —The Christian Century "The February revolution, in Solzhenitsyn’s considered judgment, was a disaster of the first order and not a welcome, democratic eruption in a country ill-prepared for democracy. A reader of March 1917(Node III of The Red Wheel . . .) would be hard put to quarrel with Solzhenitsyn’s judgment. As this great work of history and literature attests, February indeed was the root of all the evils to come and not a brief shining display of Russian democracy. . . . This action-packed account, beautifully translated by Marian Schwartz, tells the story of one moment in which the failure of good men to act made all the difference in the world." —National Review "[I]n the volume translated by Marian Schwartz, March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book I, the wheel turns. The Russian Revolution begins, and the chapters become shorter, the rhythm no longer adagio but staccato. Solzhenitsyn doesn’t much care about the literary modernism of Western Europe, but he does imitate the kinetic pace of 20th century cinema. . . . In The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn produced a masterpiece, and proved himself a worthy companion of Dostoevsky and rival of Tolstoy." —Law and Liberty "The Red Wheel and The Gulag Archipelago have been called Solzhenitsyn’s two 'cathedrals.' You cannot fully understand the horrors of communism and the history of the 20th century without reading them." —New York Journal of Books "The latest Solzhenitsyn book to appear in English, March 1917, focuses on the great turning point of Russian, indeed world, history: the Russian Revolution. . . . Almost moment by moment, we follow historical and fictional characters from March 8 to March 12, 1917, as chaos unfolds. Although the Kadets think that history must fulfill a story known in advance, Solzhenitsyn shows us a mass of discrepant incidents that fit no coherent narrative." —The New Criterion "March 1917, node III, gives a sketch of the events in St. Petersburg that culminated in the overthrow of the Tsar. Most striking in this segment is the ineptitude of Russia’s ruling class. Although a decent man, Tsar Nicholas was slow to make decisions, fearful of talented people, and incapable of resolving difficult issues. The ministers who exercised executive power were appointed by the Tsar and therefore lacked energy or ability. . . . Solzhenitsyn’s art allows readers to grasp one of the pivotal episodes in history." —James Pontuso, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Blog "Histories tend to collapse events into a single narrative; Solzhenitsyn insists on plurality. He explodes the Russian Revolution back into myriad voices and parts, disarrayed and chaotic, detailed and tumultuous. Combining historical research with newspaper headlines, street action, cinematic screenplay, and fictional characterization, the book is as immersive as binge-worthy television, no little thanks to this excellent translation that renders its prose as masterful in English as it was in Russian. In March 1917, Solzhenitsyn attempts the impossible and succeeds, evoking a fully formed world through episodic narratives that insist on the prosaic integrity of every life, from tsars to peasants. What emerges is a rich history that’s truly greater than the sum of its parts." —Foreword Reviews “'Many readers know that Solzhenitsyn was unjustly imprisoned by the communist regime and wrote about the camps, which are the result of the [Russian] revolution, but few know that Solzhenitsyn in fact dedicated his life to studying the revolution itself, and its causes,' said Stephan Solzhenitsyn. 'You might say that he caught the last train of departing memory. He was able to interview some of the last living participants of those fateful days in 1917, and of the Russian civil war that followed.'" —The Guardian "The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s epic of World War I and the Russian revolution, belongs to the Russian tradition of vast, densely plotted novels of love and war set during a time of social upheaval. An extended act of author-to-nation communication, this multivolume saga poses the question, 'Where did we go wrong?' and answers it in human and political terms, but with a mystical twist that is unlike anything else in Solzhenitsyn. This translation beautifully conveys the distinctive flavor of Solzhenitsyn’s prose, with its preternatural concreteness of description, moments of surreal estrangement, and meticulous detailing of the nuances of human relationships in the shadow of encroaching chaos. The novel’s reliable, unreliable, and even mendacious character voices, its streams-of-consciousness, and its experimental flourishes possess the same vividness and freshness as they do in Russian. Think Anna Karenina and Doctor Zhivago, with Dostoevsky’s Demons thrown in for good measure." —Richard Tempest, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "In his ambitious multivolume work The Red Wheel(Krasnoye Koleso), Solzhenitsyn strove to give a partly historical and partly literary picture of the revolutionary year 1917. Several of these volumes have been translated into English, but the present volume appears in English for the first time. The translation is very well done and ought to give the reader a better understanding of the highly complex events that shook Russia exactly a century ago." —Richard Pipes, emeritus, Harvard University "There is no doubt that The Red Wheel is one of the masterpieces of world literature, made all the more precious by its relevance to the tragic era through which contemporary history has passed. Moreover, the impulse of revolutionary and apocalyptic violence associated with the age of ideology has still not ebbed. We remain confronted by the fragility of historical existence, in which it is possible for whole societies to choose death rather than life." —David Walsh, Catholic University of America "As the great Solzhenitsyn scholar Georges Nivat has written, Solzhenitsyn is the author of two great 'literary cathedrals,' The Gulag Archipelago and The Red Wheel. The first is the definitive exposé of ideological despotism and all of its murderous works. The Red Wheel is the definitive account of how the forces of revolutionary nihilism came to triumph in the first place. It is a sprawling and fascinating mix of philosophical and moral discernment, literary inventiveness, and historical insight that sometimes strains the novelistic form, but is also one of the great works of moral and political instruction of the twentieth century." —Daniel J. Mahoney, co-editor of The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings"Progressive historians have whitewashed the Revolution into a 'people’s revolution,' inspired by the benevolent and charismatic Lenin and founded on the humanitarian Marx’s principles of equality. In truth, the Revolution wasn’t even supported by a majority of the proletariat. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s recently translated The Red Wheel: March 1917 . . . [is a] sobering antidote to this naïve view." —Claremont Review of Books"March 1917 is a long, difficult, confusing masterpiece. No great work of literature is easy to read, but this third installment of The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's narrative of the events leading to the Russian Revolution, is remarkable in its complexity. The novel presents a polyphonic kaleidoscope of people, places, and events, some real, some fictitious." —Society Journal"Solzhenitsyn's historical epic The Red Wheel, the author's magnum opus, narrates Russia's transition from monarchy to Soviet rule. . . . The present volume, the first book (of four) of the March 1917 node, narrates the events of the Russian Revolution, notably the overthrow of the Tsar's imperial government and the chaos that resulted among opposition leaders unprepared to lead a country in crisis. . . . The Red Wheel is intimidatingly voluminous, but Solzhenitsyn's stream-of-consciousness style—and the clarity of Schwartz's careful translation—makes for an engaging and dynamic experience, whether reading the novel cover to cover or in individual vignettes." —Choice“Only a great work of art like The Red Wheel can convey the soul of a lawless mob that has lost all sense of measure. . . . This action-packed account, beautifully translated by Marian Schwartz, tells the story of one moment in which the failure of good men to act made all the difference in the world.” –National Review"In the first volume of March 1917, well translated by Marian Schwartz, many haunting passages can be found, such as Nicholas II's confrontation with the icon of Christ following his tormented abdication." —Times Literary Supplement“[Solzhenitsyn] lived with the consequences of this cataclysmic historical moment… [The Red Wheel: March 1917, Node III, Book 2] never allows the reader to imagine they have the full story or a definitive answer about everything that happened during the tumultuous few days. Instead it shows the multitudes affected and their immediate, confused, and ignorant responses.” —Soshi’s Book Blog"[A] translation of the first of . . . four volumes, focused on the initial five days of snowballing street violence, multiplying labor strikes and military mutinies, as well as on the unrelieved hostility of the Duma to a painfully incompetent regime. The fictional elements of the story pale next to the overwhelming drama of the unfolding real historical events." —The Russian Review"Marian Schwartz, a distinguished translator, has rendered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s March 1917 into English in its entirety for the first time. . . . [Her] translation makes Solzhenitsyn more straightforward by occasionally dropping the façade of antiquated language, . . . March 1917 is part of Solzhenitsyn’s Red Wheel, a book series in which he conveys why he views not only the October Revolution, but also its predecessor from February 1917 as disasters for Russia." —The Slavic Review

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"This third installment of The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's narrative of the events leading to the Russian Revolution, is remarkable in its complexity. The novel presents a polyphonic kaleidoscope of people, places, and events, some real, some fictitious." —Society Journal"In The Red Wheel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn produced a masterpiece, and proved himself a worthy companion of Dostoevsky and rival of Tolstoy." —Law and Liberty"Marian Schwartz's new translation is the first time the expansive and resonant March 1917: Node III: Book 2 has been published in English. . . . Solzhenitsyn captures the chaos of the time, when a centuries-old order fell and the factions that would fight to replace it were still forming." —Foreword Reviews"Here we see how a millennium-old nation ruled by a monarchy that had lasted a good three centuries fell apart in three days. Book 2 of March 1917 powerfully reveals how a decent if flawed political and social order collapsed 'with incredible alacrity,' as Solzhenitsyn writes elsewhere." —The New Criterion"Of all his novels so far, this one feels the most immediate, the most current. The freneticism, violence, confusion, and disorientation of Russians in Petrograd from March 15 through March 17 of 1917 can also be seen in minds and actions of Chinese in Hong Kong, right now. . . . No one surpasses Solzhenitsyn in conveying a sense of what it feels to live at and near the center of this kind of vortex." —Law and Liberty"March 1917 is haunted by 'what-ifs.' Indeed, Solzhenitsyn suggests, the revolution was less likely than other outcomes, and all retrospective attempts to describe it as inevitable are fallacious. In his view, events might just as easily followed a different course. As we contemplate what transpired, we regret the Russia that might have been." —The American Scholar"March 1917, Book 2, covers the three days of the February Revolution, which is shown as an immense national unraveling that corrupted public morality and destroyed social cohesion, often with sadistic brutality, and that inevitably led to the Bolshevik takeover eight months later. This historical catastrophe, Solzhenitsyn believed, was due to the fecklessness of the imperial elites all the way up to the terminally mediocre Czar Nicholas II; the revolutionaries’ blind lust for destruction; and the estrangement of the bulk of the people from God and country." —National Review"[B]ook 2 of the March 1917 node . . . dramatizes the tumultuous events of the March Revolution—a workers’ strike in Petrograd; abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and house arrest of the Romanov family; establishment of a provisional government to rule over Russia. Although The Red Wheel is fiction, Solzhenitsyn prided himself on the historical accuracy of his work. He spent ten years writing the March 1917 node, adding psychological depth, descriptive details, and, occasionally, his own views to bring well-known personalities and events to life." —Choice

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Fryklund's translation of the novel is erudite; Lewis and Baptandier provide a fascinating introduction; and the end matter is exemplary, comprising endnotes, bilingual glossaries of key personages and terms, and a detailed bibliography. Valuable for those interested in Asian humanities or religious studies." * Choice *"The expertise and care of all involved in this production speak from every page of this book. This is indeed an extremely welcome addition to the available body of renditions of truly popular literature. Its vivid contents will not only surprise many Western readers but also many of our Chinese students." * Journal of Chinese Studies *"The translation by Kristin Ingrid Fryklund is accessible and fluid...promises to be a fascinating read for anyone interested in magic and shapeshifting creatures, sexual passions and sisterhood, transmigration and reincarnation, and rewards and punishments, both in this life and in the afterlife. It is a most welcoming addition to the literature on Chinese legends and religious studies, representations of women and the making of female deities, and the impact of popular legends and popular religions on our everyday practices." * Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews *"The value of this text (and of its translation) lies in the tremendous amount of insight it provides into the world that produced it and into the expectations of its intended readers...[R]equired reading for anyone desiring an understanding of practical religions in Chinese communities in recent centuries." * Journal of the American Oriental Society *

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Book SynopsisPresents a collection of short stories. This book features stories that cover a geography that spans hemispheres, and an emotional landscape that is wider still: life and death, desire and repulsion, freedom and humiliation, the body and the spirit.Trade Review"A collection of startling and unsettling short stories that are mostly set in the landscape of contemporary California. Some of Leong's rich and evocative stories confront us with the horror of what might be played for cheap exoticism in less skillful hands..Other stories are more restrained, but Leong always shows us how memory and identity persist even in the melting pot of America..his acute powers of observation and his poet's gift for capturing the experience of transcendence are given full expression in the pages of Phoenix Eyes." * Los Angeles Times *"Leong’s collection coalesces into a telling amalgamation of stories of struggle and survival, of displaced persons seeking accommodation through desire and new identification." * The Seattle Times *"Poet, documentary producer, activist, editor, Russell Leong has presented important issues for Asian America. In this first volume of stories, he adopts the voices of various ethnicities . . . and sexualities to portray a side of that life usually kept from view. . . . The stories assume that the fiction writer should bring the reader into unfamiliar worlds and ways of responding to them. This Leong’s stories do so well." * World Literature Today *Table of ContentsLeaving 1) Bodhi Leaves 2) Geography One 3) Runaways 4) Daughers 5) Sons Samsara 6) A Yin and Her Man 7) Hemispheres 8) Camouflage 9) Eclipse 10) Samsara Pardise 11) The Western Paradise of Eddie Bin 12) Phoenix Eyes 13) No Bruce Lee 14) Where do People Live Who Never Die? Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisIn Janko’s masterful hands, the darkness - of prejudice, privilege, and power - that his characters don’t even recognise threatens to overwhelm their lives and their plans. This novel forces us, and its characters, to acknowledge the cost of hiding our true selves, and of judging others on the colour of their skin or the longing of their hearts.Trade Review“Reading What We Don't Talk About is like looking inside a snow globe, and seeing a country town in America’s heartland at Christmastime. You enter that town, stay, and know its people, and learn their ways. And what happens when the sun goes down. James Janko’s miraculous writing connects us readers to those people in Orville, and all of us to all others. Every good thing we do, and every bad, affects the whole world.”—Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Woman Warrior and Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book“An enticing work of fiction. . . . The author’s power of language will magnetize the reader throughout.”—David Steinberg, Albuquerque Journal“A deftly crafted novel by an author with a genuine flair for revealing the dramatic in the mundane. With a special appeal to readers with an interest in small town based race relations historical fiction, What We Don't Talk About is one of those thought-provoking works of literary fiction that will linger in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book has been finished and set back upon the shelf.”—Midwest Book Review“Janko paints a picture of what living in this place and time really feels like. The story is engaging, sometimes entertaining, and other times provocative. . . . A well-written, well-structured novel worth the read.”—Windy City Reviews

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Book SynopsisAcclaimed translator Edith Grossman brings to English-language readers Rojasâs imaginative vision of Francisco de Goya and the reverberations of his art in Fascist Spain This historical novel by one of Spainâs most celebrated authors weaves a tale of disparate time periods: the early years of the nineteenth century, when Francisco de Goya was at the height of his artistic career, and the final years of Generalissimo Francoâs Fascist rule in the 1970s. Rojas re-creates the nineteenth-century corridors of power and portrays the relationship between Goya and King Fernando VII, a despot bent on establishing a cruel regime after Spainâs War of Independence. Goya obliges the kingâs request for a portrait, but his depiction not only fails to flatter but reflects a terrible darkness and grotesqueness. More than a century later, transcending conventional time, Goya observes Francoâs body lying in state and experiences again a dark and monstrous despair. Rojas's work is a dazzling tour de fTrade Review“Entwining different timelines, Carlos Rojas’s The Valley of the Fallen links Goya’s prophetic visions to the modern history of Spain and the life of his biographer.”—Ben Eastham, TLS“A writer of unusual range . . . The oneiric plays a fundamental part in much of Rojas’s work, and in The Valley of the Fallen it is a permeable membrane through which history and the present communicate, at first in snatches, until reality breaks down and the characters grow aware of their frailty, their subservience to the hidden whims of a friend they call R., a stand-in for Rojas himself.”—Adrian Nathan West, New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisShe survived her own innocence, and the treachery of Europe’s royal courts; The Last Boleyn is the story of the rise and fall of the Boleyns, one of England’s most powerful families, through the eyes of the eldest daughter, Mary. Although her sister, Anne, the queen; her brother, George, executed alongside Anne; and her father, Thomas, are most remembered by history, Mary was the Boleyn who set into motion the chain of events that brought about the family’s meteoric rise to power, as well as the one who managed to escape their equally remarkable fall. Sent away to France at an extraordinarily young age, Mary is quickly plunged into the dangerous world of court politics, where everything is beautiful but deceptive, and everyone she meets is watching and quietly manipulating the events and people around them. As she grows into a woman, Mary must navigate both the dangerous waters ruled by two kings and the powerful will of her

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The first of a two-volume masterpiece, The Passenger series, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road • The story of a salvage diver, haunted by loss, afraid of the watery deep, pursued for a conspiracy beyond his understanding, and longing for a death he cannot reconcile with God. A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEARBlends the rowdy humor of some of McCarthy’s early novels with the parched tone of his more apocalyptic later work. —The New York TimesStella Maris, the second volume in The Passenger series, is available now.1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of his wet suit and plunges from the Coast Guard tender into darkness. His dive light illuminates the sunken jet, nine bodies still buckled in their seats, hair float

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