Magical realism
Coffee House Press Temporary
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£12.99
Soho Press Inc Thirty-Three Teeth
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£14.36
Lethe Press The Girl Who Outgrew the World
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£9.75
Penguin Putnam Inc Gingerbread: A Novel
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£14.40
Red Hen Press Fire Summer
Book SynopsisYou can go home again. When twenty-three-year-old Maia Trieu, a curator’s assistant at the Museum of Folklore & Rocks in Little Saigon, Orange County, is offered a research grant to Vietnam for the summer of 1991, she cannot refuse. The grant’s sponsor has one stipulation: Maia is to contact her great-aunt to pass on plans to overthrow the current government. The expatriates did not anticipate that Maia would become involved with excursions in search of her mother or attract an entourage: an American traveler, a government agent, an Amerasian singer, and a cat. Maia carries out what she believes is her role as a filial daughter to her late father, a former ARVN soldier, by returning to their homeland to continue the fight for an independent Vietnam. Along the way, however, she meets a cast of characters—historical and fictional, living and dead—who propel her on a journey of self-discovery, through which she begins to understand what it means to love.Trade ReviewLam’s novel is a whimsical, if elegiac, perception-altering hero’s journey inspired by mourning and displacement, in which the dead roam throughout the country and former and would-be soldiers hide out in Cambodian borderlands. In Fire Summer, truth and art coexist, while imagination never quite overpowers experience.—DiacriticLike a strip of curtain between the dead and the living, Fire Summer is at once ephemeral and expansive. A haunting debut from a writer whose characters, lovingly described, pass not only through rivers and airports, but also despair and separation. We are ferried with them to the other side—one where the fractured are finally come home. —Uzma Aslam Khan, author of Trespassing and Thinner Than Skin Fire Summer delivers a war-ravaged Vietnam rich in history, folklore, the tragedy of families torn asunder, and the beauty of Buddhist wisdom that connects the living and dead. Suspenseful, Thuy Da Lam’s story of Maia Trieu’s journey home is an impressive debut. — Charles Johnson, author of Middle Passage “What is the shape of one’s life when one’s action is based on love?” So asks a character in Thuy Da Lam’s lyrical novel, Fire Summer, a work that shows us the Vietnam beyond the war movies. Lam deftly explores the slippery interplay between heritage and identity, history and duty, ultimately proving that each of us is so much more than the places we come from. An important debut. — Quan Barry, author of She Weeps Each Time You’re Born In Fire Summer, past and present blend with here and there in ways that continually surprise, yet somehow seem destined. Vietnam is the setting and the legacy for the returning expatriate Maia, and for an entourage of vivid characters who encounter and reencounter each other as they travel from the shores to the mountains, searching for family, closure, and a home. A beautiful, funny, and stunning novel that will reward repeated reading. —Craig Howes, author of Voices of the Vietnam POWs: Witnesses to Their Fight A girl plucked from the high seas off Vietnam is sent as a young woman to connect with an aging guerilla faction. A detective story, a quest for the mythic heart of Vietnam on its stones and soil—a novel of rare beauty. —Robert Onopa, author of The Pleasure Tube
£12.34
Europa Editions The Life of Elves
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£15.30
Europa Editions Sealskin
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£16.20
Europa Editions Beautiful
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£15.30
The Story Plant Birth Right
Book SynopsisIn the mid-sixties, a young woman and a young man meet and begin the romance that will define their lives throughout the decades.In the early nineties, two young men meet and forge a friendship that will propel both into newfound worlds.Today, those same two men face a reality that could change the course of the world . . . and a fantasy that both have only dared to imagine.How these three stories come together is the driving pulse of BIRTH RIGHT, a novel about despots and rulers, spouses and lovers, friendship and brotherhood. Playing out at once on the most global and the most intimate of stages, it is a story about the power one is born into and the power one earns and, at its very heart, the power of love.A fascinating character study that digs deep into individuals in different eras but tied together by the colors emulating from others. Genre Go Round Reviews on The Edge of the WorldLike eating a fresh lime sorbet with saltwater in your (sex-tousled) hair. Smallgood Hearth on The Edge of the World "This novel is a phenomenal read. It is a book that I could never get tired of reading. This wonderful book, with its natural beauty, has got to be one of the best I have read this entire year. A Book a Day on The Edge of the World
£19.79
Story Plant The Edge of the World
Book SynopsisThis evocative, moving, and gorgeously detailed novel is the story of Alex Soberano, a contemporary man in crisis. A tremendously successful New York businessman, Alex finds it difficult to embrace joy and accept love. When his life threatens to boil over, he escapes for a brief respite on the West Coast. What waits for him there is something he never could have imagined.Intertwined with Alex''s story are the stories of three people from different times and places whose lives affect him in surprising ways: A woman from the South American city of Anhelo in 1928 that everyone knows as Vidente. For decades, Vidente, has been one of Anhelo''s most celebrated citizens because she has the ability to read colors that speak of a person''s fate. However, during one such reading, she sees her own future a future that includes her imminent death. A man named Khaled who left his home in Bethlehem in 1920 to seek fortune in the South American town of Joya de la Costa. He has barely begun to gain a foothold when he learns that the wife and three children he left behind have been murdered. When a magical woman enters his life, he believes that destiny has smiled on him. However, destiny has only just begun to deal with Khaled. A nineteen-year-old student named Dro who flies from the South American country of Legado to Boston in 1985 and immediately walks onto the campus of MIT expecting instant admission. Dro''s skills at mastering complex, ever-changing differential equations intrigues the associate admissions director. However, the person he intrigues the most is the celebrated US ambassador from his country, and his relationship with her will define his life.How the stories of these four people merge is the central mystery of this arresting work of imagination. THE EDGE OF THE WORLD is a story that will sweep you up in its magic, enrich you with its wisdom, and compel you with its deep humanity.
£12.59
The Story Plant Christmas Past: A Ghostly Winter Tale
Book SynopsisThe winter holiday season is a time for gifts and music, for snow and miracles, and for family and going home. For Jessie Malone, it''s a time for sorrow.Jessie is a graduate student living in London, where she hopes to be one of the first folklorists ever to trace an urban legend back to its original source. She''s also a grieving young widow unable to heal from the agony of her life-shattering loss. In the bleak midwinter, Jessie learns of an urban legend about a lonely, wandering ghost, a British sailor named Sam who promised his bride that he''d be home for Christmas. The legends say he''s been trying to make it back to her since World War II.As she investigates, Jessie learns that Sam''s story defies the patterns of how urban legends are supposed to work. It''s a puzzle she can''t let go. To solve the mystery, she must confront the impossible and, just perhaps, discover a miracle of Christmas love that survives beyond the grave.A story that will engage all your emotions, Christmas Past bursts with wonder, enigma, romance, and the unquenchable spirit that comes from promises that must be kept.
£14.24
Melville House Publishing The Revisionaries
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£16.19
Soho Press Inc The Rat Catchers' Olympics: A Dr. Siri Paiboun
Book SynopsisDr Siri Paiboun and his wife are leaving Laos for Moscow to watch the 1980 Olympic Games in this next book in a popular crime series
£8.54
Akashic Books Prayer for the Living
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£19.96
Akashic Books A Tall History of Sugar
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£17.06
Galaxy Press Writers of the Future Volume 34
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£14.44
Black Lawrence Press More Enduring for Having Been Broken
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£16.10
WW Norton & Co Arturo's Island: A Novel
Book SynopsisOnce considered the greatest writer of Italy’s postwar generation—and admired by authors as varied as John Banville and Rivka Galchen—Elsa Morante is experiencing a literary renaissance, marked not least by Ann Goldstein’s translation of Arturo’s Island, the novel that brought Morante international fame. Imbued with a spectral grace, as if told through an enchanted looking glass, the novel follows the adolescent Arturo through his days on the isolated Neapolitan island of Procida, where—his mother long deceased, his father often absent, and a dog as his sole companion—he roams the countryside and the beaches or reads in his family’s lonely, dilapidated mansion. This quiet, meandering existence is upended when his father brings home a beautiful sixteen-year-old bride, Nunziatella. A novel of longing and thwarted desires, filled with Morante’s “brutal directness and familial torment” (James Wood), Arturo’s Island reemerges in this splendid translation to take its rightful place in the world literary canon.Trade Review"The book’s themes — incest, misogyny, narcissism, homosexuality — slide across the pages like lava. Morante delivers epic emotions. Her people don’t talk so much as they exclaim 'with a contemptuous sneer' or 'a loud, haughty cry of derision.' They tremble with violent disgusts and savage attitudes. They strike poses of fear, loathing and, in the words of one character, 'aggressive, insolent vehemence.' They rattle the cutlery and they rattle each other. Arturo’s Island kept calling out to me, however. It had set its brutal hooks.... [Morante’s writing] has the power of malediction." -- Dwight Garner, New York Times"I am pleased that Arturo’s Island is having a second life, as, no doubt, the novel will garner its neglected author the new readers she deserves. A coming-of-age story—often compared to Alain-Fournier’s “Le Grand Meaulnes”—it had struck me, when I first read it at age 18, as a celebration of childhood, an homage to the power of myth and the redemptive goodness of nature and animals." -- Lily Tuck, Wall Street Journal"Ann Goldstein's deft translation is an exception; it gives a clear sense of Morante's love of the romantic, while preserving a lightness of tone that prevents the lyrical prose from calcifying." -- Madeline Schwartz, New York Review of Books"This lovely new translation by Goldstein, known for her work on Elena Ferrante and Primo Levi, will hopefully go a long way toward re-establishing Morante's reputation among English-speaking readers. It's a magnificent novel, breathtaking in its psychological acuity. Arturo’s maturation—and accompanying disappointments, even betrayals—is deeply painful. ...But there are moments, too, of striking beauty.... The book is brimful with insight. By turns devastating and otherworldly, Morante's novel is a classic, and Goldstein's new translation should return to it the attention it deserves." -- Kirkus Reviews [starred review]"In this translation of Morante's arresting, febrile tale of abjection and adoration, originally published in 1957, Goldstein captures the blustery voice of an adolescent boy on Procida.... Morante's style is well-suited to the adolescent narrator who, marooned on an island, experiences particularly intense bouts of enchantment and disillusionment, making for a captivating novel." -- Publishers Weekly
£20.89
WW Norton & Co Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas: A Novel
Book Synopsis"I passed away at two o’clock in the afternoon on a Friday in August in 1869, in my beautiful mansion in the Catumbi district of the city." So begins Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas—at the end of the narrator’s life. Published in 1881, this highly experimental novel was not at first considered Machado de Assis’ definitive work—a fact his narrator anticipated, bidding "good riddance" to the critic looking for a "run-of-the-mill-novel". Yet in this coruscating new translation, Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson reveal a pivotal moment in Machado’s career, as his flights of the surreal became his literary hallmark. An enigmatic, amusing and frequently insufferable anti hero, Brás Cubas describes his Rio de Janeiro childhood spent tormenting household slaves, his bachelor years of torrid affairs and his final days obsessing over nonsensical poultices. A novel that helped launch modernist fiction, Brás Cubas shines a direct light to Ulysses and Love in the Time of Cholera.Trade Review"One of the wittiest, most playful, and therefore most alive and ageless books ever written." -- Dave Eggers"An offbeat, invigorating classic is perfect reading for a morbid summer." -- The Economist
£19.79
WW Norton & Co Boys of Alabama: A Novel
Book SynopsisIn this bewitching debut novel, a sensitive teen, newly arrived in Alabama, falls in love, questions his faith, and navigates a strange power. While his German parents don’t know what to make of a South pining for the past, shy Max thrives in the thick heat. Taken in by the football team, he learns how to catch a spiraling ball, how to point a gun, and how to hide his innermost secrets. Max already expects some of the raucous behavior of his new, American friends—like their insatiable hunger for the fried and cheesy, and their locker room talk about girls. But he doesn’t expect the comradery—or how quickly he would be welcomed into their world of basement beer drinking. In his new canvas pants and thickening muscles, Max feels like he’s “playing dress-up.” That is until he meets Pan, the school “witch,” in Physics class: “Pan in his all black. Pan with his goth choker and the gel that made his hair go straight up.” Suddenly, Max feels seen, and the pair embarks on a consuming relationship: Max tells Pan about his supernatural powers, and Pan tells Max about the snake poison initiations of the local church. The boys, however, aren’t sure whose past is darker, and what is more frightening—their true selves, or staying true in Alabama. Writing in verdant and visceral prose that builds to a shocking conclusion, Genevieve Hudson “brilliantly reinvents the Southern Gothic, mapping queer love in a land where God, guns, and football are king” (Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks). Boys of Alabama becomes a nuanced portrait of masculinity, religion, immigration, and the adolescent pressures that require total conformity.Trade Review"Hudson’s writing is magnetic. It’s like the Kristen Stewart of prose – chameleon-like, layered, funny and serious and sad, really gay, and so attractive.... It wrecked me, just like I wanted.... Hudson grew up in Alabama, and their complex relationship with the place shines through in this story, which quietly and then loudly hurtles toward a climax that had me staring into space for a full 10 minutes after I read it." -- Sarah Neilson, Them, "5 Queer Books We Loved in 2020""Debut novelist Hudson sets her unique coming-of-age tale in a hot, swampy Alabama steeped in football and God. . . . This is a little southern gothic, a little supernatural, and a little reminiscent of Wiley Cash’s suspenseful A Land More Kind than Home (2012)." -- Kathy Sexton, Booklist"Boys of Alabama brilliantly reinvents the Southern Gothic... An absolutely magical novel." -- Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks"A gripping, uncanny, and queer exploration of being a boy in America, told with detail that dazzles and disturbs." -- Michelle Tea, author of Against Memoir"Genevieve Hudson dismantles and spins a new category of fairy tale for us, one that’s equal parts dirt and splendor. A glinting, dark beauty. An incantation." -- T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girl"This novel is a love song to outsiders of all kinds, a queer love story about the ways we find to heal ourselves and each other, and proof that there can be magic amid the burdens of masculinity." -- Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart and Abandon Me"Genevieve Hudson has conjured a novel that sets place as a touchstone. Every field is alive: every leaf, every insect, every crawling thing. Hands beget love, words set like sweetness on the tongue. The magic contained in Boys of Alabama's pages isn't just fixed in the beauty of its sentences; it's seen in the way that Hudson carefully crafts the intimacy between people and how she tenderly exposes queerness. This book is a fragile web, full of longing and ache and regret." -- Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things"Genevieve Hudson creates a new American erotics of longing and belonging, flush with want and desire, hope and home, translation and transformation." -- Matt Bell, author of Scrapper"Hudson goes right to a place where violence comes from—uncomfortably close to desire for magic, God, sex, whatever might actually heal us—and doesn’t turn away." -- Kristin Dombek, author of The Selfishness of Others"One of the finest—and weirdest!—first novels I’ve read in quite some long time." -- Tom Bissell, author of Apostle and coauthor of The Disaster Artist"Boys of Alabama perfectly captures the magic and inevitable heartache of young lust." -- Kimberly King Parsons, author of Black Light"[Depicts] a brand of Southern-fried masculinity that is immediately recognizable and startlingly fresh. This is an exquisite book." -- Nick White, author of How to Survive a Summer"Reminds us that behind so many of America’s most rigid beliefs lies the lonely human heart: twitchy, slippery, alive." -- Mikkel Rosengaard, author of The Invention of Ana
£19.94
WW Norton & Co And I Do Not Forgive You: Stories and Other
Book SynopsisBoldly blending fables and myths with apocalyptic technologies, Amber Sparks has built a cultlike following with And I Do Not Forgive You. Fueled by feminism in all its colors, her surreal worlds—like Kelly Link’s and Karen Russell’s—are all-too-real. In “Mildly Happy, With Moments of Joy,” a friend is ghosted by a text message; in “Everyone’s a Winner at Meadow Park,” a teen coming-of-age in a trailer park befriends an actual ghost. Rife with “sharp wit, and an abiding tenderness” (Ilana Masad, NPR), these stories shine an interrogating light on the adage that “history likes to lie about women,” as the subjects of “You Won’t Believe What Really Happened to the Sabine Women” will attest. Written in prose that both shimmers and stings, the result is “nothing short of a raging success, a volume that points to a potentially incandescent literary future” (Kurt Baumeister, The Brooklyn Rail).Trade Review"[Sparks] impresses with her exceptional collection of wry, feminist stories.... Some stories smuggle incredible emotional impact into surprisingly few pages.... Sparks’s sardonic wit never distracts from her polished dismantling of everyday and extraordinary abuses. Readers will love this remarkable, deliciously caustic collection." -- Publishers Weekly [starred review]"Irreverent and clever characters take center stage in Sparks’s latest collection.... The pieces here are beyond the classification of any one genre, borrowing from fairy tales, fantasy, coming-of-age, modern life, and social commentary.... Each story is vivid, unexpected, and satisfyingly weird. Darkly comic and whip-smart, this collection is recommended for readers of Aimee Bender and Alexandra Kleeman." -- Emily Hamstra - Library Journal"Few readers will encounter with any frequency such bold, bizarre, and brutally honest content as is in Sparks’ (The Unfinished World and Other Stories, 2016) new collection.... Sparks’ imagination seems limitless, her approaches to style and form without boundaries. Yet there is a cohesive voice and intention here, whether Sparks is using the vehicles of myth, history, and fantasy in her attempts to unravel rather than weave together tales of women’s true experiences. To escape possession, find one's self, exert force without shame or justification, and tell what really happened—these themes rise like foam on the roiling bone-rich broth of righteous feminine rage. At once timely, wickedly funny, and uncomfortably real, Sparks’ singular stories have the power to shake us wide awake and shatter every last happily-ever-after illusion." -- Janet St. John, Booklist"What joyful play and heart and movement in these stories, full of permission and the thrum of ideas bursting and growing on the page. To read one is like a bon-bon on a silver platter with a lit sparkler stuck inside." -- Aimee Bender, author of The Color Master"Amber Sparks’ stories are, precisely, like her name: precious things delivered in a burst of fire and light." -- Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body & Other Parties"Re-appropriating fairy tales, urban legends, and supernatural fantasies, Amber Sparks' startling kaleidoscopic visions re-cast familiar heroines in their own stories. Reading this was a delight!" -- Ling Ma, author of Severance"In this genre-bending new collection, Amber Sparks has once again shown herself to be fearless and cutting, the insistent voice that breaks through the hand trying to silence it. I had a lot of fun reading these fresh, sharp, delicious stories, even as my neck prickled with doom." -- Lindsay Hunter, author of Eat Only When You’re Hungry"And I Do Not Forgive You is so cracklingly alive it singes your fingertips. These stories are fiercely funny, heartrending, enraged and enraging, redemptive—in short, essential. They’re also some of the most inventive stories I’ve read. I loved every one." -- Clare Beams, author of We Show What We Have Learned
£12.99
She Writes Press Guesthouse for Ganesha: A Novel
Book SynopsisGold Award in the Regional Fiction (Europe) category of the 2020 IPPY AwardsGold Medal in the Fiction–Literary category of the 2020 Readers’ Favorite Book AwardsSilver Award in the Audiobook: Fiction category of the 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards“Teitelman paints an intensely beautiful world in which different cultures merge in surprising ways. . . . A rich and moving story about an unlikely pair.” —Kirkus ReviewsIn 1923, seventeen-year-old Esther Grünspan arrives in Köln “with a hardened heart as her sole luggage.” Thus begins a twenty-two-year journey, woven against the backdrops of the European Holocaust and the Hindu Kali Yuga (the “Age of Darkness” when human civilization degenerates spiritually), in search of a place of sanctuary. Throughout her travails, using cunning and shrewdness, Esther relies on her masterful tailoring skills to help mask her Jewish heritage, navigate war-torn Europe, and emigrate to India.Esther’s traveling companion and the novel’s narrator is Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God worshipped by millions for his abilities to destroy obstacles, bestow wishes, and avenge evils. Impressed by Esther’s fortitude and relentless determination, born of her deep—though unconscious—understanding of the meaning and purpose of love, Ganesha, with compassion, insight, and poetry, chooses to highlight her story because he recognizes it is all of our stories—for truth resides at the essence of its telling.Weaving Eastern beliefs and perspectives with Western realities and pragmatism, Guesthouse for Ganesha is a tale of love, loss, and spirit reclaimed.
£12.34
Easton Studio Press Mauna Kea: A Novel of Hawai‘i
Book SynopsisA boundary-bridging novel that will surprise, captivate, and move readers who thought they knew Hawaiʻi; an age-old story of healing a seared heart and finding home. Mauna Kea: A Novel of Hawai'i is a gripping tale of clashing passions—science and spirituality, vengeance and compassion, fear and courage—set atop Hawaiʻi’s 14,000-foot Mauna Kea, realm of revered goddesses and star-wise explorers. A young vagabond running from America’s turmoil is forced to confront his own grief and rage on an embattled holy mountain in the Pacific. There he encounters a mysterious domain of ancient mountain deities and the Native Hawaiians who revere them, including two wise elders who take him under their wings and a young woman with a world-weary heart akin to his own. Through his startling experiences with them—and a motley cadre of other islanders—he learns the power of aloha and discovers an untapped reservoir of faith and courage that rekindles his hope in himself and in the world we share.Includes an illustrated map and 12 original pen-and-ink drawings made especially for the novel by John D. Dawson Trade Review"In Mauna Kea, Hawaiʻi-based author Tom Peek develops his craft far beyond his first novel, the award-winning Daughters of Fire. Peek's down-to-earth storytelling voice speaks to a broad audience—national, global, and local—no small feat. His compelling and deftly woven plot lines, keen sense of pacing, and finely-etched, authentic characters combine to bring to life the world of the Mauna Kea Protectors Movement while also offering a particularly intimate perspective on those who trace their ancestry to this sacred mountain."—Susan Najita, Associate Professor of Literature and Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, University of Michigan“The novel is a compelling, extremely entertaining story that encompasses ancient Hawaiian concepts and American thought patterns. The authentic characters are perfect. It’s a Hawaiian cultural primer, a gift that lifts the spirits high! ʻIolanaʻoe! (You soar like a hawk!)” — Kaluna West, Native Hawaiian artist, educator, and former Kahoʻolawe activist“An authentic, eye-opening novel that lifts the veil on the ancient traditions and modern political intrigues that underlie the longstanding controversy over telescopes on Mauna Kea.”—Nelson Ho, Sierra Club leader and longtime Mauna Kea activist“In this age of countless battles, whether over indigenous resources in the Americas or territory in Ukraine, here’s a novel that offers a deeper way to think about conflict, a hopeful book sorely needed in these often-disheartening times.”—Michael Osmera PhD, retired cultural anthropologist, Linfield University in Oregon“Tom Peek is an organic intellectual in the tradition of Mark Twain.”—Poet Jaime Jacinto, author of Heaven is Just Another Country “This novel is medicine for the world.” —Arnie Kotler, editor of Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh“If youʻre interested in Native Hawaiian culture, or in the community politics of Hawaiʻi, or in deep-universe astronomy, you should read this book. You likewise may wish to read it if you followed the epic 2019 protest in which an improvised village of mostly Native Hawaiians blocked construction of one of the worldʻs largest telescope on Hawai`i Island . . . Author Tom Peek is an insider to this story. He has stepped back to give us a novelistʻs view from high in the heavens of what the next protest might look like. He hooks you on his multiple characters, who variously collude and collide, as people have and will continue to do so in real life over this sacred mountain.”—Tom Coffman, writer/director of the film Mauna Kea, Sacred Conduct/Sacred Mountain, and author of Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawaiʻi“Majestic, deep, compelling . . . a feat of high literary skill and imagination. . . . [Peek’s] love for both the Hawaiian people and their land (‘aina) is as pervasive as it is palpable. I expect it to cement his place as a fine chronicler of the archipelago and culture he loves so much. A great read, well-written, compelling, Mauna Kea is a sword cut performed by a master, both fast and deep at the same time. I highly recommend it.”—Monk Yun Rou (Arthur Rosenfeld), award-winning author of numerous Taoist books, including Nautilus Award winner Mad Monk Manifesto: A Prescription for Evolution, Revolution, and Global Awakening, the novels Wasp Warrior and The Jade Boy, and his memoir The Monk of Park Avenue “Mauna Kea has authority on every page. I admire very much about all of it, but perhaps especially the way Tom Peek shows the simultaneity of past and present on the mountain, and by implication in all of Hawaiian history. It is both so true and so hard to do believably—and yet he does it."—Elinor Langer, author of The Nation Special Issue on Hawaiian History, Famous Are the Flowers: Hawaiian Resistance Then—and Now
£15.19
Omnidawn Publishing The Lower East Side Tenement Reclamation
Book SynopsisThis magical realist tale follows the travails of a burnt-out teacher from Queens who spends his time obsessing over the fact that he has been cheated out of living in his Grandma Rose’s Lower East Side apartment and is thus priced out of his “More Recent Ancestral Home” of Manhattan. In The Lower East Side Tenement Reclamation Association, David Rothman weaves a rich story about real estate, family, and memory. Daniel, the protagonist, is haunted by the memories of his childhood experiences in his grandmother’s apartment, a home that he desperately wants to inhabit. One day he discovers a hidden relic on Rivington Street: a tenement reclamation office run by an eccentric centurion named Hannah. When Daniel inquires about the chances of reclaiming his grandmother’s old tenement, Hannah is not impressed. “Things don’t work like that, you rude, young schlub!” And so begins Daniel’s journey to take back his past and to secure an affordable space for his family in downtown Manhattan. This is a journey full of twists and turns, ups and downs, and an ending that would make even the most thick-skinned New York real estate agent shake.The Lower East Side Tenement Reclamation Association is the winner of the Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Novelette Prize, selected by Meg Ellison. Trade Review“The Lower East Side Tenement Reclamation Association is a brilliantly-written work of magical fiction in which both contemporary New York and the Jewish immigrant experience come alive. I loved Daniel, who wants a Manhattan apartment in the most desperate way, his sensible wife Julie, and their wise little girl, Hannah. The book is both moving and comic.” -- Phyllis Smith, author of I am Livia“Rothman’s novel lands readers in a magical New York City, where portals and keys lead to wondrous places. But moreover, it’s a story that profoundly explores the weight of loss, the complexities of family, and the power of nostalgia.” -- Noah Lederman, author of A World Erased
£7.89
Other Press LLC Metropolitan Stories: A Novel
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£14.39
Other Press LLC The Age of Magic: A Novel
Book SynopsisIn this enchanting novel from the Booker Prize–winning author, a group of world-weary travelers discover the meaning of life in a mysterious Swiss mountain village.The Age of Magic has begun. Unveil your eyes.Eight weary filmmakers, traveling from Paris to Basel, arrive at a small Swiss hotel on the shores of a luminous lake. Above them, strewn with lights that twinkle in the darkness, looms the towering Rigi mountain. Over the course of three days and two nights, the travelers will find themselves drawn into the mystery of the mountain reflected in the lake. One by one, they will be disturbed, enlightened, and transformed, each in a different way. An intoxicating and dreamlike tale unfolds. Allow yourself to be transformed. Having shown a different way of seeing the world, Ben Okri now offers a different way of reading.
£13.12
Other Press LLC Every Leaf a Hallelujah
Book SynopsisThe Guardian: Best Children's and YA Book of the Year An environmental fairytale that speaks eloquently to the most pressing issues of our times, from the Booker Prize–winning author of The Famished Road.Mangoshi lives with her mom and dad in a village near the forest. When her mom becomes ill, Mangoshi knows only one thing can help her—a special flower that grows deep in the forest. The little girl needs all her courage when she sets out alone to find and bring back the flower, and all her kindness to overpower the dangers she encounters on the quest. Ben Okri brings the power of his mystic vision to a timely story that weaves together wonder, adventure, and environmentalism.
£18.39
Other Press LLC The Last Gift of the Master Artists: A Novel
Book SynopsisThe Booker Prize–winning author, a child of the Nigerian Civil War, reinvents through the story of the Atlantic slave trade the beautiful soul and resilient culture of his country.A boy and a girl meet by chance on a riverbank in Africa. One is the son of a king, struggling to find his place in the world, the other the daughter of a craftsman from the secretive tribe of master artists. The prince, entranced, stays hidden in the bushes. The girl, knowing nothing of him but his voice, agrees to meet again. When she fails to appear the next day, he begins to search for her, tracing her at last to her village where, disguised as an apprentice, he finds a place in her father’s workshop. But this is no fairy tale, no conventional love story. Their world—though they don’t know it yet—is ending. A strange wind has begun to blow, and in its wake, things are disappearing: songs, stories, artworks, and finally, people. Beautiful ships with white sails are glimpsed on the horizon… When the novel was first published in the UK in 2007 under the title Starbook, the central role of the Middle Passage was overlooked. Okri has since rewritten the book, giving it a new dimension, more light, more acumen. In 2022 the deep political impact of this extraordinary tale won’t be missed.
£22.49
Bloomsbury Publishing The Lost Future of Pepperharrow
Book Synopsis
£16.20
Autumn House Press Entry Level
Book SynopsisTales of characters trying to find their way through the struggles of underemployment. Wendy Wimmer’s debut short story collection, Entry Level, contains a range of characters who are trying to find, assert, or salvage their identities. These fifteen stories center around the experience of being underemployed—whether by circumstance, class, gender, race, or other prevailing factors—and the toll this takes on an individual. Wimmer pushes the boundaries of reality, creating stories that are funny, fantastic, and at times terrifying. Her characters undergo feats of endurance, heartbreak, and loneliness, all while trying to succeed in a world that so often undervalues them. From a young marine biologist suffering from imposter syndrome and a haunting to a bingo caller facing another brutal snowstorm and a creature that may or not be an angel, Wimmer’s characters are all confronting an oppressive universe that seemingly operates against them or is, at best, indifferent to them. These stories reflect on the difficulties of modern-day survival and remind us that piecing together a life demands both hope and resilience. Entry Level was selected by Deesha Philyaw as the winner of the 2021 Autumn House Fiction Prize. Trade Review"This gleefully subversive debut presents fifteen weird, wild, and wonderful stories of everyday folk surviving in a world gone haywire. From a grieving man who gets texts from the dead to a roller rink that reverses aging, Entry Level, like its title story, is strange magic indeed." * People Magazine *"If punchy first sentences are to your taste, Wimmer’s Entry Level is the book for you. 'When Mary Ellen’s left breast grew back on its own during our Saturday dinner break, we had confirmation that something weird was happening.' Many intros seem designed to startle; several stories enter fantastical terrain. In the delightful 'Texts from Beyond,' a company purportedly helps people send messages to deceased relatives. Equally affecting are stories more rooted in the real, where Wimmer gets closer to character and emotion, such as 'Billet-Doux,' told via unsent letters addressed to celebrities, random people, inanimate objects, a recurring guy on the BART and the protagonist herself." * Washington Post *"An intriguing, wide-ranging story collection with a hint of magic. The real and the surreal drive the 15 stories in this debut, many of which have been previously published in other formats. . . . The elements of magical realism are presented without fanfare, and Wimmer succeeds in creating a world where they are entirely plausible. Fans of Karen Russell, Veronica Schanoes, and Connie Willis are all likely to find stories to enjoy in the collection, as Wimmer blends traditional literary fiction with a touch of the fantastic. Vivid, thought-provoking stories make an enjoyable and challenging book. * Kirkus (starred review) *"Wimmer’s innovative and darkly humorous debut collection employs emergency situations and fantastical elements as the protagonists struggle to make a living with low-paying jobs. . . . When Mary Ellen, who had a mastectomy, discovers her breast has regrown, the narrator’s understated reaction perfectly sums up the mood of Wimmer’s characters: 'We had confirmation that something weird was happening.' Throughout, Wimmer makes the most of strange situations." * Publishers Weekly *“In the world of Entry Level, no job is too small, nor is it ever just a job. In cities and across rural landscapes and dreamscapes, we find clerks and corpses, mothers and daughters, cruise entertainers and scientists, grappling with longing and loss. The stories are, at turns, heartfelt and hilarious, wry and whimsical, full of magic and mayhem. These are well-crafted love stories, ghost stories, and stories of everyday people just trying to navigate life’s cruelties and impossibilities. Wimmer writes with an intimacy and immediacy that take you down a fresh rabbit hole from the first line, each time. Each tale is as smart, exquisite, and surprising as the next. I really didn’t want this collection to end!” -- Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies"The stories in Entry Level are propulsive, funny, delightfully unpredictable, and utterly addictive. Wimmer is a true original—a bright star of her generation. Here’s hoping Entry Level is the beginning of a long, fruitful career!" -- Dan Chaon, author of SleepwalkTable of ContentsPasseridaeGhosting Where She Went Fuse Lower Midnight INGOB Skate QueenTexts from beyond Flarby OsculationCar people Intersomnolence Billet Doux Feðgin The Bog King
£14.25
Schaffner Press Antoine of Gommiers
Book Synopsis
£16.10
Counterpoint This Town Sleeps
Book SynopsisA “tender, suspenseful, irresistible first novel” that explores Indigenous legend, queer relationship, and the power of landscape and lineage to shape our lives (Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House). An unsolved murder becomes the fixation of an Indigenous American man living in far northern Minnesota as he grapples with his relationship with a closeted white man. On an Ojibwe reservation called Languille Lake, within the small town of Geshig at the hub of the rez, two men enter into a secret romance. Marion Lafournier, a midtwenties gay Ojibwe man, begins a relationship with his former classmate Shannon, a heavily closeted white man. While Marion is far more open about his sexuality, neither is immune to the realities of the lives of gay men in small towns and closed societies. Then one night, while roaming the dark streets of Geshig, Marion unknowingly brings to life the spirit of a dog from beneath the elementary school playground. The mysterious revenant leads him to the grave of Kayden Kelliher, an Ojibwe basketball star who was murdered at the age of seventeen and whose presence still lingers in the memories of the townsfolk. While investigating the fallen hero’s death, Marion discovers family connections and an old Ojibwe legend that may be the secret to unraveling the mystery he has found himself in. “Elegant and gritty, angry and funny . . . emotional without being sentimental.” —Tommy Orange, author of There, There
£14.41
Standard American Publishing Company The New Austerities
Book Synopsis
£26.60
Standard American Publishing Company Vade Mecum
Book Synopsis
£10.00
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (USA) LLC El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (Edición
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (USA) LLC Un fantasma en Hialeah Gardens / A Haunting in
Book Synopsis
£15.16
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial (USA) LLC Mapas difusos / Vanishing Maps
Book Synopsis
£15.16
Erewhon Books On Fragile Waves
Book SynopsisFiruzeh and her brother Nour are children of fire, born in an Afghanistan fractured by war. When their parents, their Atay and Abay, decide to leave, they spin fairy tales of their destination, the mythical land and opportunities of Australia. As the family journeys from Pakistan to Indonesia to Nauru, heading toward a hope of home, they must rely on fragile and temporary shelters, strangers both mercenary and kind, and friends who vanish as quickly as they’re found. When they arrive in Australia, what seemed like a stable shore gives way to treacherous currents. Neighbours, classmates, and the government seek their own ends, indifferent to the family’s fate. For Firuzeh, her fantasy worlds provide some relief, but as her family and home splinter, she must surface from these imaginings and find a new way.Trade Review★ “In flowing, lyrical prose, Yu showcases the power of folklore and the pain of displacement. This is a knockout.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review ★ “On Fragile Waves is a lyrical fabulist novel that will enchant readers of both literary fiction and fantasy.” —Booklist, starred review★ “An evocative and heart-lacerating debut novel. . . . Essential fiction to understand our world.” —Library Journal, starred review ★ “On Fragile Waves is a masterful and poetic novel about finding hope and joy in the most dire circumstances.” —Foreword Reviews, starred review“This is Yu’s first novel, but you’d never know it from the surety of her approach, the immensity of what she achieves. On Fragile Waves is a tremendous and almost unbearable work of witness. It is devastating and perfect.” —Amal El-Mohtar in the New York Times Book Review“One of the most devastatingly beautiful books I read all year.”—NPR, “Best Books of 2021” “Beautifully written, absorbing, powerful. . . . This should win awards when it comes out next year. I think Yu is doing some of the most exciting things in genre.” —Tor.com“Powerfully affecting.” —Ted Chiang, author of Exhalation “An extraordinary achievement—original in voice, powerful in material, a book of brutal beauty and unflinching compassion. May it be noticed and read and praised and believed.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves“A heartbreaking celebration of the necessity of joy. A soul-searing tale of homecoming, home-becoming, home-conjuring. By holding up the jagged beauty of faith against despair, E. Lily Yu is the brilliant voice of conscience our age needs.” —Ken Liu, author of The Paper Menagerie “An incredibly accomplished debut novel, a necessary and important tale of empathy and imagination and hope.” —Matt Bell, author of Appleseed“E. Lily Yu's finely honed prose and her child narrator allow for flashes of warmth and beauty between the shocks and sorrows, the terrors and humiliations.” —Margo Lanagan, author of Tender Morsels“Vivid, intense and heart-wrenching. On Fragile Waves is both a coming-of-age tale and an unflinching meditation on exile, belonging, fragility and hope.” —Victoria Law, co-author of Prison By Any Other Name“On Fragile Waves confirms that E. Lily Yu is a prodigy. Every line a gemstone, every page a calligram.” — Usman T. Malik, author of Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan“A stunning heartbreaker. The prose is as sharp and beautiful as the story it tells . . . bringing into painful beautiful focus all the ways the world is horrible, and all the ways the world is magic.” —Sam J. Miller, author of Blackfish City
£17.99
Erewhon Books On Fragile Waves
Book SynopsisNPR Books We Love 2021 Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2021 Booklist Best of 2021 Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Titles NYT Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021 Washington Independent Review of Books 51 Favorite Books of 2021“On Fragile Waves is a tremendous and almost unbearable work of witness. It is devastating and perfect.” — New York Times Book ReviewThe haunting story of a family of dreamers and tale-tellers looking for home in an unwelcoming world. This exquisite and unusual magic realist debut, told in intensely lyrical prose by an award winning author, traces one girl’s migration from war to peace, loss to loss, home to home.Firuzeh and her brother Nour are children of fire, born in an Afghanistan fractured by war. When their parents, their Atay and Abay, decide to leave, they spin fairy tales of their destination, the mythical land and opportunities of Australia.As the family journeys from Pakistan to Indonesia to Nauru, heading toward a hope of home, they must rely on fragile and temporary shelters, strangers both mercenary and kind, and friends who vanish as quickly as they’re found.When they arrive in Australia, what seemed like a stable shore gives way to treacherous currents. Neighbors, classmates, and the government seek their own ends, indifferent to the family’s fate. For Firuzeh, her fantasy worlds provide some relief, but as her family and home splinter, she must surface from these imaginings and find a new way.Trade Review★ “In flowing, lyrical prose, Yu showcases the power of folklore and the pain of displacement. This is a knockout.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review ★ “On Fragile Waves is a lyrical fabulist novel that will enchant readers of both literary fiction and fantasy.” —Booklist, starred review★ “An evocative and heart-lacerating debut novel. . . . Essential fiction to understand our world.” —Library Journal, starred review ★ “On Fragile Waves is a masterful and poetic novel about finding hope and joy in the most dire circumstances.” —Foreword Reviews, starred review“This is Yu’s first novel, but you’d never know it from the surety of her approach, the immensity of what she achieves. On Fragile Waves is a tremendous and almost unbearable work of witness. It is devastating and perfect.” —Amal El-Mohtar in the New York Times Book Review“One of the most devastatingly beautiful books I read all year.”—NPR, “Best Books of 2021” “Beautifully written, absorbing, powerful. . . . This should win awards when it comes out next year. I think Yu is doing some of the most exciting things in genre.” —Tor.com“Powerfully affecting.” —Ted Chiang, author of Exhalation “An extraordinary achievement—original in voice, powerful in material, a book of brutal beauty and unflinching compassion. May it be noticed and read and praised and believed.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves“A heartbreaking celebration of the necessity of joy. A soul-searing tale of homecoming, home-becoming, home-conjuring. By holding up the jagged beauty of faith against despair, E. Lily Yu is the brilliant voice of conscience our age needs.” —Ken Liu, author of The Paper Menagerie “An incredibly accomplished debut novel, a necessary and important tale of empathy and imagination and hope.” —Matt Bell, author of Appleseed“E. Lily Yu's finely honed prose and her child narrator allow for flashes of warmth and beauty between the shocks and sorrows, the terrors and humiliations.” —Margo Lanagan, author of Tender Morsels“Vivid, intense and heart-wrenching. On Fragile Waves is both a coming-of-age tale and an unflinching meditation on exile, belonging, fragility and hope.” —Victoria Law, co-author of Prison By Any Other Name“On Fragile Waves confirms that E. Lily Yu is a prodigy. Every line a gemstone, every page a calligram.” — Usman T. Malik, author of Midnight Doorways: Fables from Pakistan“A stunning heartbreaker. The prose is as sharp and beautiful as the story it tells . . . bringing into painful beautiful focus all the ways the world is horrible, and all the ways the world is magic.” —Sam J. Miller, author of Blackfish City
£12.34
Erewhon Books Lonely Castle In The Mirror
Book SynopsisINTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER! A Studio Ghibli-esque work of Japanese translation “that lays bare the anxieties and desperation—and the small triumphs—of adolescence” (Locus), for fans of Mieko Kawakami’s Heaven.Seven students find unusual common ground in this warm, puzzle-like Japanese bestseller laced with gentle fantasy and compassionate insight.Bullied to the point of dropping out of school, Kokoro’s days blur together as she hides in her bedroom, unable to face her family or friends. As she spirals into despair, her mirror begins to shine; with a touch, Kokoro is pulled from her lonely life into a resplendent, bizarre fairytale castle guarded by a strange girl in a wolf mask. Six other students have been brought to the castle, and soon this marvelous refuge becomes their playground. The castle has a hidden room that can grant a single wish, but there are rules to be followed, and breaking them will have dire consequences. As Kokoro and her new acquaintances spend more time in their new sanctuary, they begin to unlock the castle’s secrets and, tentatively, each other’s. Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a mesmerizing, heart-warming novel about the unexpected rewards of embracing human connection.Trade Review★ “This sweet, kindhearted, and deeply sympathetic magical realist novel about middle school dropouts pulling each other back from the brink will resonate with readers of all ages.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review“[A] moving psychological journey . . . blazingly honest . . . Tsujimura is a master at projecting these young anxieties onto the page, offering hints and shadows and silhouettes of what the world might be like once we finally grow up, and how difficult it is to take that first step.” —Tor.com“A gorgeous, wrenching fantasy that lays bare the anxieties and desperation – as well as small triumphs – of adolescence.” —Locus“In a world where there is so much untruth, so much altered reality, so many superficial existences forming even more superficial relationships, this book turns back the clock and reminds us of what is real, and what truly matters: compassion and kindness, the strength in our bonds, and how we can find those right beside us.” —The Yorkshire Times“A moving, reflective and surprising novel . . . Anyone who has ever struggled with feeling isolated, had difficulties at school, or had mental health struggles, will find this novel to be a cleansing balm.” —Culturefly“[A] respectful, moving novel about teenage bullying in the Tokyo suburbs . . . Tsujimura shows how easily misunderstandings and miscommunications can escalate, and treats everyone—even the bullies—with nuance.” —The Japan Times“An innovative and tender blend of social commentary and magical realism.” —The Japan Society Review “Genuinely affecting . . . a story about collaboration, empathy and sharing truths, a modern, all-ages fairy tale that should appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Studio Ghibli animations.” —The Financial Times“Hopeful and heartbreakingly sweet without ever being saccharine, this character-focused tale of finding unexpected community unfolds remarkably gently, eschewing a typical Western plot structure. Readers will leave with their faith in humanity restored.” —Publishers Weekly’s “Best Books of 2022”“Part Miyazaki fairytale, part teen romance, it’s strange and beautiful – imagine the offspring of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and The Virgin Suicides.” —The Guardian
£20.96
Erewhon Books Folklorn
Book Synopsis“Ghost story, family saga, parable, feminist reimagined myth: Angela Mi Young Hur’s hugely ambitious Folklorn is a spellbinding shape-shifter of a novel that tackles questions of race, culture, and history head-on, exploring the blurry boundaries between past and present, fact and fantasy, and personal and cultural—or cosmic.” —Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires EverywhereA New York Times Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novel of 2021 An NPR Best Book of 2021 Indie Next Pick May 2021A genre-defying, continents-spanning saga of Korean myth, scientific discovery, and the abiding love that binds even the most broken of families.Elsa Park is a particle physicist at the top of her game, stationed at a neutrino observatory in the Antarctic, confident she’s put enough distance between her ambitions and the family ghosts she’s run from all her life. But it isn’t long before her childhood imaginary friend—an achingly familiar, spectral woman in the snow—comes to claim her at last.Years ago, Elsa’s now-catatonic mother warned her that women of their line were doomed to repeat the narrative lives of their ancestors from Korean myth and legend. But Elsa also faces a more earthly fate: the mental illness and generational trauma that run in her immigrant family.When her mother breaks her decade-long silence and tragedy strikes, Elsa must return to her childhood home in California. There, among family wrestling with their own demons, she unravels the secrets hidden in the handwritten pages of her mother’s dark stories: of women’s desire and fury; of magic suppressed, stolen, or punished; of the hunger for vengeance.Folklorn is a wondrous and necessary exploration of the myths we inherit and those we fashion for ourselves.Trade Review“An elegant punch to the face . . . beautiful and hard and hungry, full of sharp, painful observations, slicing clichés open like prickly pears and devouring their hearts.” —Amal el-Mohtar in the New York Times Book Review“Folklorn is extremely ambitious in scope, and the writing never fails to deliver. . . . Angela Mi Young Hur engagingly blends Korean folktales with literary traditions for a fresh take on both the universal story of identity and assimilation, and the national tale of han.” —Washington Independent Review of Books“A gorgeous journey into the intersection of science and myth and how our past traumas shape us—but how they need not define us.” —NPR “Best Books of 2021”“Haunting and spiritual and touching, and so unique. This is absolutely one to be cherished.” —Tor.com, “30 Most Anticipated Books of 2021”“A complex meditation on intergenerational trauma. . . . This thought-provoking work will appeal to SFF fans who like their talk of particle physics side by side with fox spirits and fairy tales.” —Publishers Weekly“Genre-defying and emotionally unsettling, it is a book that refuses to stay in whatever category the reader wants to put it. . . . Well worth the effort.” —Locus“Angela Mi Young Hur’s hugely ambitious Folklorn is a spellbinding shape-shifter of a novel that tackles questions of race, culture, and history head-on, exploring the blurry boundaries between past and present, fact and fantasy, and personal and cultural—or cosmic.” —Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere“Vivid and delectable. Angela Mi Young Hur is equally at home working in the fertile territories of myth and the fantastic as in the nuanced portrayal of a contemporary, complex family. I loved this.” – Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble“Dark, difficult, and riveting—Folklorn gave me endless trouble, and I appreciate it.” —R. F. Kuang, author of The Poppy War“In Folklorn, Angela Mi Young Hur weaves the fantastic into the realism of a compelling family saga, creating a heartfelt novel as original as it is irresistible.” —Mat Johnson, author Loving Day“Hur writes with virtuosity and power, weaving together the ribbons of the mythic with the complex tapestry of family and history to create a gorgeous, moving whole.” —Kat Howard, author of An Unkindness of Magicians“Folklorn is a work of capacious, original imagination: part supernatural mystery, part immigrant family story. Hur’s mixing and melding of genres is an inventive, elegant means of illuminating the dualities of diasporic experience, as well as a testament to the essential role of stories in understanding our identities.” —Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl“This novel is brash, defiant and ultimately full of yearning." —Chia-Chia Lin, author of The Unpassing
£14.24
Erewhon Books River Mumma
Book Synopsis “River Mumma is a love letter to culture, home, and coming of age—and will spark important, relevant book club conversations, too.” —Marissa Stapley, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky Issa Rae’s Insecure with a magical realist spin: River Mumma is an exhilarating contemporary fantasy novel about a young Black woman who navigates her quarter-life-crisis while embarking on a mythical quest through the streets of Toronto.Alicia has been out of grad school for months. She has no career prospects and lives with her mom, who won’t stop texting her macabre news stories and reminders to pick up items from the grocery store.Then, one evening, the Jamaican water deity, River Mumma, appears to Alicia, telling her that she has twenty-four hours to scour the city for her missing comb.Alicia doesn’t understand why River Mumma would choose her. She can’t remember all the legends her relatives told her, unlike her retail co-worker Heaven, who can reel off Jamaican folklore by heart. She doesn’t know if her childhood visions have returned, or why she feels a strange connection to her other co-worker Mars. But when the trio are chased down by malevolent spirits called duppies, they realize their tenuous bonds to each other may be their only lifelines. With the clock ticking, Alicia’s quest through the city broadens into a journey through time—to find herself and what the river carries.Energetic and invigorating, River Mumma is a vibrant exploration of diasporic community and ancestral ties, and a homage to Jamaican storytelling by one of the most invigorating voices in today’s literature.“This quirky, fizzy, charming debut surprises and amuses. Reid-Benta writes beautifully, drawing on Caribbean mythologies to create a fast paced and entertaining tale. It's rare to find a novel written with such humour and heart.” —T. L. Huchu, USA Today Bestselling author of The Library of the DeadTrade Review★ “Stunning debut. . . that marks the emergence of a powerful new voice.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review★ “A race-against-the-clock page-turner with friendship and diasporic community building at its heart, this book is a winner.” —Booklist, starred review“This is a splendid story about ancestry, identity, and creativity.” —Apple Books Review“River Mumma is a propulsive read filled with captivating characters, page-turning mystery, and a thoughtful examination of kinship and ancestral ties.” —Toronto Life“. . . Reid-Benta writes powerfully of the diasporic experience, the connections between family history and community, and the role and importance of lore and mythic history.” —Toronto Star “River Mumma is a blessing and Zalika Reid-Benta’s talent is a truly special gift. This is a quest novel that maps Jamaican folklore across modern-day Toronto; three young people are sent on a mission by a goddess and if that doesn’t pique your interest then something is very wrong with you.” —Victor LaValle, award-winning author of The Changeling“Wholly original, remarkably crafted, and unmatched in voice, atmosphere, and action, River Mumma should be on every must-read list this season.” —Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of Empire of Wild“River Mumma is the type of vivid, rich novel I love best. It left me turning pages and pondering possibilities well into the night.” —Alicia Elliott, bestselling author of A Mind Spread Out on the Ground“A generational saga, a big-city survival narrative, a study of diasporic cultural nuances, all wrapped inside a thrilling adventure. Complex, deep and resonant, River Mumma is coming for your heart.” —Samit Basu, author of The City Inside“River Mumma is a love letter to culture, home, and coming of age—and will spark important, relevant book club conversations, too.” —Marissa Stapley, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky"A fast-paced and absorbing adventure steeped in Caribbean folklore and mythology, River Mumma is a treat for the senses." —Uzma Jalaluddin, bestselling author of Ayesha at Last“River Mumma is a necessary book about race, gender, ancestry, colonialism, eco-existentialism, and desire.” —Jenny Heijun Wills, author of Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related“A page-turner of a novel that is both funny and poignant, River Mumma magically and seamlessly weaves Jamaican folklore and myth with the winter landscape of Toronto to create a compelling fictional landscape.” —Shyam Selvadurai, author of Mansions of the Moon“A powerful and evocative novel weaving threads of magical realism to create a powerful and moving tale about a search for identity. It is a journey–diasporic, ancestral, cultural, and personal–all coming together by the importance of storytelling by a master storyteller.” —Maurice Broaddus, award-nominated author of Sweep of Stars
£20.25
Deep Vellum Publishing At the Lucky Hand: aka The Sixty-Nine Drawers
Book SynopsisAt The Lucky Hand is an account of the different love stories that revolve around a very peculiar book: My Legacy, by Anastas Branica. At first glance, this is a book where there is no plot or characters, only descriptions. However, that is what makes it a self-sufficient space, a world that can only be inhabited by its readers, which Anastas has written in order to live, within the book, with his beloved. Through what Petrovic called “simultaneous reading”, it is possible to coincide with other people in the same book, and not only that, but also to live beyond what is simply written. Within this experience of reading-while-reading, participants are able to access a meeting place that is outside of reality. How else can we describe what happens to us when we read with true conviction, when books become life, palpable, manifested, when books become part of our physiology, when love is incarnated in the reading that two strangers perform at the same time, hoping that time will be abolished by the mere fact of fixing their gaze on a page? In short, what the reader of this book will surely experience, along with all the other readers who coincide in the experience, will be a state of joyous stupefaction. Above all else, the book is a love letter to the power of literature.Trade Review"Goran Petrović proves to be a master of lyrical storytelling and dreaming."— Jovan Delic, juror for Ivo Andrić Grand Prize for Lifetime Achievement "Pushing the idea of a 'community of readers' to fantastical and fascinating extremes and bending it around a classic story of separated lovers and hopeless romantics, At the Lucky Hand is like Shadow of the Wind told through the lens of playful deconstruction. It is a book lover's book that celebrates what we share in books, while wondering at all the ways we can love through them." ––Josh Cook, Porter Square Books "Above all, the basis of the story is clearly that books are life and life is books, with the two intertwining and overlapping continually... Imaginative and most original and you cannot help but be impressed with all the ins and outs of the tale." ––The Modern Novel “Various love stories centered around a book, in a collection that celebrates the power of literature.”— The New York Times “One could spend a pleasant hour wandering inside nearly every evocative sentence of At the Lucky Hand...Irresistibly engaging and virtuosically crafted, At the Lucky Hand marries high theory with high drama in spaces so quiet and invisible, that their liveliness takes one completely by surprise.”—Asymptote Journal “Petrović creates a world all about the passion for books: A series of detective and love stories that revolve around bibliophilic obsessions. In the process, he explores what it means to be a reader, and how fantasies transmute our reality.”—Asymptote Book Club
£13.30
Deep Vellum Publishing Red Ants
Book SynopsisA literary triumph by one of Mexico's most promising young authors, Red Ants is the first ever literary translation into English from the Sierra Zapotec. This vibrant collection of short stories by Pergentino José updates magical realism for the 21st century. Red Ants paints a candid picture of indigenous Mexican life -- an essential counterpoint to cultural products of the colonial gaze. José's fantastical stories tackle themes of family, love, and independence in his signature style: unapologetically personal, coolly emotional, and always surprising.Trade Review"José is a rising star in Mexican literature, and this collection of short fiction, which examines indigenous life in the U.S.’s southern neighbor through the lens of a contemporary magic realism, should only further his acclaim. Veteran Spanish translator Bunstead... takes José’s clean, punchy lines and makes them sing—and stick with you." —John Maher, Publishers Weekly "Undoubted resonances of the stories of Kafka and Rulfo." ––Leonardo Videla "A set of short stories in which the peculiarity and the fantasy of Zapotec popular legends are brought to life by the imaginative and powerful pen of a great author in the making – what is perhaps a true breath of fresh and original air that does our national literature much good." – Mónica Maristain, Sin Embargo "These stories are situated within an imaginary (of Pergentino José's making) that is consistent from one story to the next...but it is an imaginary that is not reflected in the rest of Mexican literature. This collection is poised to become a new and encouraging contribution." – Alantl Molina, Marvin Magazine “Red Ants, Zapotec writer Pergentino José blends magical realism with the mythology of his upbringing to shine a light on the historical struggles of Mexico’s indigenous communities — and to make clear that the threats they face have not gone away….he succeeds in taking readers to a different world, one that they did not expect but will be unlikely to forget.” —Mariana Reina, Americas Quarterly
£12.35
Deep Vellum Publishing Mrs. Murakami's Garden
Book SynopsisFrom the groundbreaking author of Beauty Salon, The Large Glass, Jacob the Mutant, Mario Bellatin delivers a rousing, allegorical novel following the widowed keeper of a mysterious garden. When art student Izu’s teacher asks her to visit the famous collection of Mr. Murakami, she publishes a firm rebuttal to his curation. Instead of responding with fury, the rich man pursues her hand in marriage. When we meet her in the opening pages, Mrs. Murakami is watching the demolition of her now-dead husband’s most prized part of the estate: his garden. The novel that follows takes place in a strange, not-quite-real Japan of the author’s imagination. But who, in fact, holds the role of author? As Mr. Murakami’s garden is demolished, so too is the narrative’s authenticity, leaving the reader to wonder: did this book’s creator exist at all? Mario Bellatin has revolutionized the state of Latin American literature with his experimental, shocking novels. With this brand-new, highly anticipated edition of Mrs. Murakami's Garden from lauded translator Heather Cleary, readers have access to a playful modern classic that transcends reality.Trade ReviewFeatured in The New York Times' Globetrotting "Bellatin is a playful novelist who isn't trying to hold the mirror to reality, provide allegory or philosophy or life lessons, and reading this provocative novella makes one consider all sorts of assumptions about why read?' and 'why write?' (Mrs. Murakami's Garden is) fiction that explores not only what it means, but why it matters." ––Kirkus Reviews "One of the beauties of this book is that nothing is what it seems... A superb work." ––The Modern Novel "People often say, with a lot of truth to it, that all good fiction writing comes from some wound, out of some distance that needs to be breached between a writer and normalcy. In Mario’s sense, the wound is literal and comes with all kinds of psychological nuance and pain, and seems related to sexuality and desire, the desire for a whole body. One of my favorite aspects of him is this sense that he is writing for all the freaks — either literally freaks or privately and metaphorically, that he really touches us.” —Francisco Goldman “Mario Bellatin, who has the fortune or misfortune of being considered Mexican by the Mexicans and Peruvian by the Peruvians [is one of the] writers without whom there’s no understanding of this entelechy that we call new Latin American literature.” —Roberto Bolaño “If literature aims to make us less alone, we need writers like Bellatin who reflect not just a different perspective on life, but can envision something separate and apart, a periscope rising above the self.” —Matt Bucher, Electric Literature “As the line between truth and fiction, life and art, grows increasingly blurred, it comes as no surprise to find Mario Bellatin standing at this divide, dancing in the gray zone.” —Jeffrey Zuckerman, Los Angeles Review of Books "Mario Bellatin requires us to consume its contents in discrete portions, savoring each sip with a thirst that is at once as foreign as it is familiar." —Alex Espinoza, Los Angeles Review of Books
£13.30
Deep Vellum Publishing The Tool & the Butterflies
Book SynopsisDmitry Lipskerov, an award-winning Russian writer compared throughout his career to Mikhail Bulgakov and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, focuses his unbridled imagination on the story of wealthy, satisfied Mr. Iratov, whose virile world is flipped upside-down. Taking a page from Gogol’s satirical story “The Nose,” wherein the protagonist loses his aforementioned facial feature, Lipskerov's novel transposes such a loss onto a more delicate organ. The protagonist awakens one morning bereft of his tool; and the tool, which re-appears, sentient and in a small village far away, without his man. Thus begins a novel both funny and absurd, in which characters come together across disparate social strata and with differing goals to weave the fate of a universe familiar yet fantastical, a perfect satire of the madness of Russian society today. The Tool and the Butterflies, Lipskerov's eagerly anticipated English language debut, is not just a darkly comedic exploration of post-Soviet attitudes towards gender and sexuality, but also a historically and socially grounded narrative rich in naturalistic dialogue and everyday detail, and an engaging story of family and what matters most in life, in the grandest tradition of Russian literature. Trade Review"Lipskerov paints a portrait of a country in disarray but does it in humorous way. It is this continuous view of a country that seems to be falling apart, only exacerbated by the genitalia loss, as well as the very clever and complex plot, that make this such an enjoyable read." ––The Modern Novel "Magic, humor, suspense, these are the ingredients of this demonic bouillabaisse that Dmitri Lipskerov has concocted according to the best recipes of magical realism." – Le Courrier de Russie "An enthralling mix of post-Soviet reality, magical realism and surrealism makes reading this novel an experience like meandering through the Minotaur’s labyrinth, but instead of one monster, there are many, lurking around every corner. The elusive characters in this novel find themselves in totally absurd situations that never quite fall perfectly into context but also contribute to the development of the broader storyline." ––sub-cult.ru "Dmitry Lipskerov’s novel is rich with literary allusions, furnished with a bold plot, topical and philosophical in equal measure – in a word, the novel has everything necessary to become a smart bestseller. Lipskerov is a writer with a rampant imagination. His protagonist gets into a sticky and totally Gogolesque, or rather, Kafkaesque situation." ––delfi.lv "The author succeeds in drawing readers into a whirlpool of modernized mishaps straight out of Hoffmann and Gogol. Doppelgangers are a recurring theme. There is an angelic maiden. There is a good portion of moralité. And last but not least there are the cutlets in an elite gourmet deli that have sat out just a little too long, an homage to Bulgakov." ––Kultura "Lipskerov is one of those writers who are artists rather than thinkers. His novels are often cited and retold but they cannot be fully comprehended. Just like one cannot explain the abstract expressionism of Pollok or Petrov-Vodkin’s still lives. A pure joy for readers." ––readrate.com "The author’s snappy language lets the reader’s imagination run wild. Not for nothing was this novel called the most shocking of the year." ––neva-events.ru "A soap opera with a Gogolesque beginning and a Biblical finale." ––gorky.media “Sex, vodka, misogyny, Russia of the past and present gives us a cheeky, absurd novel… This is creative satire at its best, while looking for a missing “tool”, which defines a man, is the star of his tale, he may instead set some butterflies free…” - Lolly K. Dandeneau
£12.60
Notion Press Media Pvt Ltd Mayathee 1: Mystery of Princess Dharani
Book Synopsis
£13.99
City Owl Press Flash Point
Book Synopsis
£14.24
