Metaphysical / philosophical fiction

Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewSo good that it will devour you. It is incandescent * Telegraph *[The Road,] heartbreaking and haunting, has an overbearing, almost suffocating atmosphere . . . you cannot forget you’ve read it * The Times *McCarthy’s novel was one of the triggers for my writing Room; I wanted to see what a mother-child modern myth would look like, because his father-child one was so powerful -- Emma Donoghue, author of Room and HavenThe first great masterpiece of the globally warmed generation. Here is an American classic which, at a stroke, makes McCarthy a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. -- Andrew O’Hagan, author of Our Fathers and MayfliesYou will read on, absolutely convinced, thrilled, mesmerized. All the modern novel can do is done here -- Alan Warner, author of Morvern CallarMcCarthy conjures from this pitiless flight the miracle of unswerving humanity. Gripping beyond belief -- Chris Cleave * Sunday Telegraph *One of the most shocking and harrowing but ultimately redemptive books I have read. It is an intensely intimate story. It is also a warning -- Kirsty Wark * Observer Books of the Year *A masterpiece that will soon be considered a classic * Herald *

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Book SynopsisFyodor Dostoyevsky''s powerful meditation on faith, meaning and morality, The Brothers Karamazov is translated with an introduction and notes by David McDuff in Penguin Classics. When brutal landowner Fyodor Karamazov is murdered, the lives of his sons are changed irrevocably: Mitya, the sensualist, whose bitter rivalry with his father immediately places him under suspicion for parricide; Ivan, the intellectual, whose mental tortures drive him to breakdown; the spiritual Alyosha, who tries to heal the family''s rifts; and the shadowy figure of their bastard half-brother Smerdyakov. As the ensuing investigation and trial reveal the true identity of the murderer, Dostoyevsky''s dark masterpiece evokes a world where the lines between innocence and corruption, good and evil, blur and everyone''s faith in humanity is tested. This powerful translation of The Brothers Karamazov features and introduction highlighting Dostoyevsky''s recurrent themes of guilt and salvation, with a new chronology and further reading. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was born in Moscow. From 1849-54 he lived in a convict prison, and in later years his passion for gambling led him deeply into debt. His other works available in Penguin Classics include Crime & Punishment, The Idiot and Demons. If you enjoyed The Brothers Karamazov you might like Nikolai Gogol''s Dead Souls, also available in Penguin Classics. ''There is no writer who better demonstrates the contradictions and fluctuations of the creative mind than Dostoyevsky, and nowhere more astonishingly than in The Brothers Karamazov'' Joyce Carol Oates ''Dostoyevsky was the only psychologist from whom I had anything to learn: he belongs to the happiest windfalls of my life'' Friedrich Nietzsche ''The most magnificent novel ever written'' Sigmund FreudTable of ContentsThe Brothers KaramazovChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on the TextThe Brothers KaramazovNotes

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Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewA powerful and talented writer, able to elicit compassion for his protagonist however terrible his action. * Sunday Times *A reading experience so impressive, so "new", so clearly well made that it seems almost to defy the easy aesthetic categories . . . Accomplished in rare, spare, precise yet poetic prose. * New Republic *McCarthy charts the terrible decline of Lester Ballard with passion, tenderness, eloquence, and a humour which, at its best, is attuned perfectly to the bitter wryness of the South. * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisDescribed by Clarice Lispector as ''the best one'', this intoxicating portrayal of a man searching for his destiny is her mystical, enigmatic masterpiece''All I''ve got is hunger. And that instable way of grasping an apple in the dark-without letting it fall''Martim, believing that he has committed a murder, flees the city and escapes into the night. Wandering through the vastness of nature he arrives, in a state of fear and wonder, at a remote ranch run by two women. There Martim finds work and, as he labours in the blistering heat of the Brazilian summer, becomes transfigured; remade into something else entirely.Translated by Benjamin Moser ''The most important Brazilian woman writer of the twentieth century... The richness of The Apple in the Dark defies the explanatory power of any single interpretation'' TLSTrade ReviewLispector is the premier Latin American woman prose writer of this century * The New York Times Book Review *Clarice Lispector left behind an astounding body of work that has no real corollary inside literature or outside it -- Rachel Kushner * Bookforum *Brilliant and unclassifiable: glamorous, cultured, moody, Lispector is an emblematic twentieth-century artist who belongs in the same pantheon as Kafka and Joyce -- Edmund WhiteOne of the true originals of Latin American literature -- Terrence Rafferty * The New York Times Book Review *A genius on the level of Nabokov -- Jeff VanderMeer * Slate *Sphinx, sorceress, sacred monster. The revival of the hypnotic Clarice Lispector has been one of the true literary events of the twenty-first century -- Parul Seghal * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisItalo Calvino (Author) Italo Calvino was born in Cuba in 1923 and grew up in Italy. He was an essayist and journalist and a member of the editorial staff of Einaudi in Turin. One of the most respected writers of the twentieth century, his best-known works of fiction include Invisible Cities, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Marcovaldo and Mr Palomar. In 1973 he won the prestigious Premio Feltrinelli. He died in 1985. A collection of Calvino's posthumous personal writings, The Hermit in Paris, was published in 2003.William Weaver (Translator) William Weaver has translated Umberto Eco, Italo Svevo, Primo Levi, Italo Calvino and Roberto Calasso, among others. He is a professor at Bard College.Trade ReviewHere, Calvino, probably Italy's leading novelist before he died, focuses a probing eye on one man's attempt to name the parts of his universe, almost as though Mr Palomar were trying to define and explain his own existence. Where the Palomar telescope points out into space, Mr Palomar points in: walking the beach, visiting the zoo, strolling in his garden. Each brief chapter reads like an exploded haiku, with Mr Palomar reading an universe into the proverbial grain of sand * Time Out *Beautifully nimble, solitary feats of imaginationCalvino represents a high point of literary evolution; his skill is immense but retains a simian agility. As ever, his gaze is crystal clear and his writing has the easy beauty of clarity. * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisThe bold and boundlessly original debut novel from the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New York.Riotously funny' New York TimesJust as loopy and clever as his movies' Washington PostB. Rosenberger Rosenberg, neurotic and underappreciated film critic (failed academic, filmmaker, paramour, shoe salesman who sleeps in a sock drawer), stumbles upon a hitherto unseen film by an enigmatic outsider a three-month-long stop-motion masterpiece that took its reclusive auteur ninety years to complete. Convinced that the film will change his career trajectory and rock the world of cinema to its core, that it might possibly be the greatest movie ever made, B. knows that it is his mission to show it to the rest of humanity. The only problem: the film is destroyed, leaving him the sole witness to its inadvertently ephemeral genius.All that's left is a single frame from which B. must somehow attempt to recall the work of art thTrade Review‘Magnificent … crammed with insanely creative gags’ Guardian ‘Outstanding. Combining his films’ most urgent themes and recurring concerns in a format that supports the digressions and logic-loops he’s so famous for, Charlie Kaufman may have out-Kaufmaned himself’ The i ‘A very strong debut novel, a long, anguished spill of a book, full of buried furies and nervy philosophical expeditions, constantly tossing off sparks of humour and imagination … at once surreal and highly readable’ LA Times ‘Marked by a feverish genius. Antkind is Kaufman pushing himself to every formal and social limit, no holds barred, bleak and devastating, yet marvellous’ LA Times Review of Books ‘Magnificent, genius, enraging, mysterious, joyous, terrifying and, above all, hilarious! Antkind might contain the universe’ Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less ‘A full-throttled absurdist revolt against the constraints of the audience-tested mass entertainment, Antkind is unbridled Kaufman energy and wit coming up against the limits of the imagination itself: discursive, subversive, and genuinely funny’ Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came to the End ‘To paraphrase Charlie Kaufman, it’s like a brain factory in there! This is a whopper of a book, bursting with the driest of humour, the strangest of scenarios, and the most brilliant of observations. It is wholly original, maddening, and marvellous’ Susan Orlean, author of The Library Book ‘Each page is so stuffed with invention, audacity and hilarity, it feels like an act of defiance. Antkind is a fever dream you don’t want to be shaken awake from, a thrill ride that veers down stranger and stranger alleys until you find yourself in a reality so kaleidoscopic you will question your own sanity. Or: the novel only Charlie Kaufman could pull off’ Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette

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Book SynopsisFrom one of Britain's best-loved literary novelists comes a magical, lyrical tale of the young orphan Silver, taken in by the ancient lighthousekeeper Mr. Pew, who reveals to her a world of myth and mystery through the art of storytelling.Motherless and anchorless, Silver is taken in by the timeless Mr. Pew, keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse. Pew tells Silver ancient tales of longing and rootlessness, of the slippages that occur throughout every life. One life, Babel Dark's, a nineteenth-century clergyman, opens like a map that Silver must follow, and the intertwining of myth and reality, of storytelling and experience, lead her through her own particular darkness.A story of mutability, talking birds and stolen books, of Darwin and Stevenson and of the Jekyll and Hyde in all of us, Lighthousekeeping is a way into the most secret recesses of our own hearts and minds. Jeanette Winterson is one of the most extraordinary and original writers of her generation, and this shows her at her lyrical best.Trade Review‘The importance of stories, the urge to create ourselves through stories, is one of Winterson’s abiding themes, along with the supremacy, the redemptive power of love.’ Daily Telegraph ‘A marvelously skilful juggling act of ideas and emotion … Winterson’s prodigious talent brings the book alive.’ Evening Standard ‘The power of Lighthousekeeping is in … the pared-down precision of its language, each word smoothed into a finely polished pebble.’ Observer

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Book SynopsisBeautifully written and compelling, About Grace is the brilliant debut novel from Anthony Doerr.Growing up in Alaska, young David Winkler is crippled by his dreams. At nine, he dreams a man is decapitated by a passing truck on the path outside his family's home. The next day, unable to prevent it, he witnesses an exact replay of his dream in real life. The premonitions keep coming, unstoppably. He sleepwalks during them, bringing catastrophe into his reach.Then, as unstoppable as a vision, he falls in love, at the supermarket (exactly as he already dreamed) with Sandy. They flee south, landing in Ohio, where their daughter Grace is born. And then the visions of Grace's death begin for Winkler, as their waterside home is inundated. Plagued by the same horrific images of Grace drowning, when the floods come, he cannot face his destiny and flees.He beaches on a remote Caribbean island, where he works as a handyman, chipping away at his doubts and hopes, never knowing whether Grace survived the flood or met the doom he foretold. After two decades, he musters the strength to find outTrade Review‘'I loved this wonderful book – its strangeness, its obsessiveness, its beautiful sentences.' Monica Ali ’Doerr's sublime renditions of Winkler's attunement to the world around him turn his story into a prolonged epiphany, a blissful parable about grace. This is a formidable literary achievement that, link Winkler's snow crystals, integrates facets and dimensions into near-perfect whole.' Independent ‘Doerr's gifts as a stylist are powerfully in evidence: his writing is crystalline, his attention to detail intense and evocative. That Doerr is a writer of exceptional gifts is not in question,and there is much to admire in this novel.' Daily Telegraph 'Doerr writes wonderfully, lyrically, of the natural world, and his observations of water, snowflakes and clouds illuminate this impressive debut.' Guardian ‘Exceptional first novel. I hesitate to say this book will take your breath away because it's such a cliché; but, really, I promise you, it will… I can't remember when a novel so entranced me. The only criticism I can really muster – and it is rather a limp one – is that About Grace is almost inhumanely faultless; almost, but, even then, not quite.' Evening Standard ’In careful, measured prose conjures a sense of awe both humbling and salutary. It has the bleak, lucid beauty of a day of midwinter light. At its best when describing the minute, disregarded miracles of the natural world, it lingers in the mind like one of the protagonist's eerie dreams.' Daily Mail ‘About Grace is an intriguing exploration of fate and chance’ The Times

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Book Synopsis Fans of The Power will love this addictive novel’ Stylist A masterful speculative novel exploring the fine lines between faith, conspiracy, and mania in contemporary America. Trade ReviewPraise for The Listeners: ‘Fantastic on conspiracy theories, cults, faith and mania and stuffed full of engaging characters’ Daily Mail ‘The Listeners starts as a little hum in your ear and ends up blowing the top off your head. A deeply plausible, funny, horrifying story of a journey right off the rails’ Emma Donoghue, author of The Pull of the Stars ‘I loved this book. Tannahill is such a skilled prose stylist that this book manages to be both a page-turning unravelling of a family and a manic, fully-alive monologue of a woman going over the edge’ Zoe Whittall, author of The Spectacular ‘One of those rare novels that entered my soul, rearranged my brain cells and then my world view. Tannahill writes with theheat and wisdom of a God’ Claudia Dey, author of Heartbreaker and Stunt ‘Breathtakingly timely. It’s an enigmatic story of 21st-century melancholia motored by sentences at once propulsive and erudite (that beautiful synthesis). Everyone’s going to be talking about this book’ Billy-Ray Belcourt, author of A History of My Brief Body ‘Tannahill has written an engaging, shocking and hilarious story about how a woman's search for deeper meaning leads to an entire town being in crisis. It is a testament to the revulsion and horror an ordinary person can inspire when they decide to simply peek outside of the box’ Heather O’Neill, author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel ‘A breathtakingly, breathholdingly good novel from one of the most original writers in this country. Tannahill serves up enormous ideas in delicious slices. What’s truth? Who do we trust? Is skepticism better than belief? He has a playwright’s ear and a director’s eye. I didn’t so much read the novel as watch it unfold’ Ian Williams, author of Reproduction

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Book SynopsisA NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 'Stylish, beautiful and strange' Jessie Greengrass As featured on BBC Open Book: 'poses questions about whether we can love AI and whether AI could love us ... I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for Mother' -- Johny Pitts Lena has always lived in the jungle with Mother. There they look after a holiday home in surroundings that burst with colour and crawl with danger. Lena's only other friend is Isabella, who once visited regularly with her wealthy parents and security drone, Anton. But Isabella and her family haven't been seen in years. Mother is not like other mothers. She gets angry when Lena draws her with a face. When Lena challenges her to portray herself, she paints a tiny yellow dot surrounded by swirling black. She is a bastion of light, she says, against an army of darkness. Outside, rebels are fighting to take over the country. Mother is determined nothing will change inside the security fence, nothing to threaten her bond with Lena, or endanger the family. But there are secrets that need to emerge. How did Lena end up here? And what has happened to the family who no longer visit? What has Mother been planning, and what is gathering around them to change their lives forever?Trade ReviewInsightful and very alive ... Pachico's alternative universe is a world of its own here, animated beyond what is possible in most fiction now * Guardian *An affecting AI mystery * i weekend *A bewildering and compelling novel that explores the tensions between town and country, danger and safety, rich and poor, and above all the human and the non-human... like Lord of the Flies fed through an episode of Black Mirror * Literary Review *Skilfully plotted * Telegraph *'Dazling and horrifying - this is Louise Bourgeois' Maman in a novel for the age of AI. Spectacular punchy prose and big thinking on the emotions of machines. We need writers like Pachico to help us think into the future -- Anna Metcalfe, author of ChrysalisCompelling, atmospheric and sultry -- Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum RoadThe robots are here, and they're touchy and insecure. At least, that's so in Julianne Pachico's brilliant AI mystery, Jungle House. With its remote setting, survival theme, and exploration of the possibilities and limitations of technology, it's a harmonious counterpoint to Naomi Alderman's apocalypse thriller, The Future -- Madeleine Feeny * the Bookseller, Editor's Pick *Jungle House is excellent at suspense, constantly weaving terror through beguiling descriptions of the tropical landscape, and delivering well-earned plot twists throughout ... A fresh, darkly witty reminder that technology and nature still have some kinks to work out * Strong Words Magazine *One of the most talked-about releases this month and it's easy to see why ... a highly imaginative concept novel for our AI age * The Gloss, Irish Times *Jungle House is extraordinary, a charming and ominous and utterly riveting story that reads partly like a fable, and partly like a premonition of our future -- Phil Klay, author of RedeploymentStylish, beautiful and strange, Jungle House looks with clear eyes at the complicated nature of embodiment, at our relationships both to ourselves and to others, and the delicate balance of love -- Jessie Greengrass, author of The High HouseAs enchanting as a fairy tale, and equally sinister, Jungle House takes us to the primordial forest and a future where AI manages the every need of a wealthy elite. Pachico's captivating novel is both a provocative conjuring of a future that's almost upon us, and a moving exploration of the mother-daughter bond -- Victoria Gosling, author of Bliss and BlunderConstantly seems to pose questions about whether we can love AI and whether AI could love us ... I couldn't help but develop a soft spot for Mother -- Johny Pitts, author of AfropeanJulianne Pachico's smart plotting means you're never quite certain what's going to happen next but you're left rooting for Mother and Lena, 2023's unlikeliest literary duo. Intriguing and beautifully written, Jungle House is totally recommended * the Crack *Tense, poignant and atmospheric * the Bookseller, Editor's Pick *Intense and insightful ... a superb imagining on a topical subject matter - one which will leave you questioning developments about the impact of artificial intelligence, and its future * Buzz Magazine *This AI mystery is one to watch ... Gripping * Sunday Post *Well written with strong characters ... if The Jungle Book was about an abandoned baby girl who was looked after by two robots and an all-seeing, all-hearing and all-knowing "Mother", instead of a lovable black bear and a grumpy panther * Birmingham Mail *Thought-provoking and hauntingly atmospheric, Pachico's second novel is a gripping account of unravelling domestic dystopia and a timely reflection on what it means to be human in a world increasingly run by machines * Mail on Sunday *There's an element of Hal 9000 transported to terra firma in Pachico's latest ... a smart novel that mines fearmongering about the dangers of AI for bleak satire * Irish Times *Praise for Julianne Pachico * : *A millennial's view of the complexities of Colombia, full of existential angst and funny details ... Go to Pachico's Colombia * The New York Times *Superb * Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble *Pachico is a gripping writer * The Times *Thrilling ... remarkably inventive * Atlantic *Pachico lays bare the trauma of life in post-peace Columbia * Ingrid Persaud, author of Love after Love *

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Book SynopsisThe long-awaited return of the great master of horror. Mister B. Gone is Barker''s shockingly bone-chilling discovery of a never-before-published demonic memoir' penned in the year 1438, when it was printed one copy only and then buried until now by an assistant who worked for the inventor of the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg.This bone-chilling novel, in which a medieval devil speaks directly to his readerhis tone murderous one moment, seductive the nextis a never-before-published memoir allegedly penned in the year 1438.The demon has embedded himself in the very words of this tale of terror, turning the book itself into a dangerous object, laced with menace only too ready to break free and exert its power.A brilliant and truly unsettling tour de force of the supernatural, Mister B. Gone escorts the reader on an intimate and revelatory journey to uncover the shocking truth of the battle between Good and Evil.Trade ReviewPraise for Clive Barker: ‘An invocation of both magic and the imagination… A majestic maze of mythmaking’Washington Times ‘Passionate and ingenious… A ride with remarkable views’Times Literary Supplement ‘A fabulous, engrossing war of the worlds’People Magazine ‘Barker’s fecundity of invention is beyond praise. In a world of hard-bitten horror and originality, Clive Barker dislocates your mind’Mail on Sunday ‘A powerful and fascinating writer with a brilliant imagination… Clive Barker is an outstanding storyteller’J G Ballard

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Book SynopsisThe sequel to the cult classic The Dice Man, this book can also change your life!Larry Rhinehart is the son of an infamous father the renegade psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart, otherwise known as the Dice Man.Luke became a cult figure in the seventies, inspiring thousands to follow him into the anarchic world of Dice Living, where every decision is made not by the self, but by the roll of the dice.Larry, however, is emphatically not a follower. He has grown up to have a great respect for order and control. A wealthy Wall Street analyst, all set to marry the boss's daughter, Larry has got life where he wants it. Until rumours begin to circulate about the reappearance of his long-vanished father and Larry's carefully organized world begins to look a lot less certain.By turns funny, moving and wildly erotic, The Search for the Dice Man is a journey of the body and spirit never to be forgotten.

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Book SynopsisPart thriller, part treasure hunt and part love story Profound and heartbreaking' Sunday TimesA terrific, engrossing novel' Roddy DoyleA masterpiece' Sebastian BarryA rich, strange book. Very truthful and moving' Tessa HadleyThe new novel about the transformative power of art, the weight of history and the strange connection we make with one another, from the author of The Speckled People.The narrator of The Pages is not a human but a book: a first edition of Joseph Roth's masterpiece Rebellion, rescued from a Nazi book-burning in 1933. In recounting its history, it tells a multitude of stories: of Andreas, the character who lives in its pages; of its current owner, a woman whose discovery of a hand-drawn map in the book begins a thrilling mystery; and of Roth himself, a writer on the run. Together, they form a compelling story about art, nationalism, the weight of history, and the strange connections between us.This book simply must be read. It is magnificent' Irish IndependentA poweTrade Review Praise for The Pages: 'Brilliant. It's a lovely, rich, strange book, very truthful and moving, with a beautiful ending' Tessa Hadley ‘It is … a masterpiece. The Alignment of the destructive forces of the 1920s and the 2020s in this virtuoso work are uncanny and, frankly, alarming. This book simply must be read. It is magnificent’ Sunday Independent ‘A classic Joseph Roth novel takes centre stage in this mix of thriller, treasure hunt and love story…profound and heart-breaking’ Sunday Times 'A powerful, powerful piece of work. A wounded book making its own book. It brings so much to life – Joseph Roth, Chechnya, Germany, the art of writing, the whole notion of banning books, the lips of the past speaking to the present' Colum McCann 'A terrific, engrossing novel. I love the narrator – such a great character – and the structure is clever and carefully woven, and very satisfying' Roddy Doyle 'An ingenious conceit' John Banville 'A masterpiece. Full of great sentences. But also sort of obliteratingly moving, strange, and right' Sebastian Barry ‘Wonderful. It is as if Hugo Hamilton has invented a new form’ Neil Jordan, author of Carnivalesque ‘Although ideas of memory, legacy and repetition — the indelible imprints of history — fill The Pages, it moves with a fast and fluid gait … It reminds us that, even in an age when people “live in a rush to forget” (Roth’s words), we must read the book of the past in order to understand the present’ Boyd Tonkin, Financial Times ‘The form itself – a novel narrated by a novel – is so cunningly realised that it’s accepted almost immediately. It also inspires the thought: why are more novels not told like this? … it’s a fascinating work of real depth that combines biography, fiction and history to create a manifesto for the importance of literature in the times of political dismay’ Business Post

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of THE NINJA comes the first book in Eric Van Lustbader’s CHINA MAROC series.Trade Review‘A master stoyteller’ Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisA rich, strange book. Very truthful and moving' Tessa Hadley''A terrific, engrossing novel' Roddy DoyleA masterpiece' Sebastian BarryThe new novel about the transformative power of art, the weight of history and the strange connection we make with one another from the author of The Speckled People.Narrated in the voice of Joseph Roth''s masterpiece Rebellion, Hugo Hamilton''s stunning, formally inventive new novel tells the life story of that book, initially rescued from the Nazi book-burning in Berlin in May 1933. It recounts the life of its Austrian-Jewish author, a writer on the run, and his intriguing wife Friederike who fell victim to mental illness.And it tells a multitude of other stories: of Andreas Pum, a barrel-organ player down on his luck; of a young German American woman who finds a small map drawn by hand on its own blank page in the back, a thrilling mystery which will lead her to Berlin, the book''s birthplace.The Pages carries profound echoes from the past into the preTrade ReviewPraise for The Pages: 'Brilliant. It's a lovely, rich, strange book, very truthful and moving, with a beautiful ending' Tessa Hadley ‘It is … a masterpiece. The Alignment of the destructive forces of the 1920s and the 2020s in this virtuoso work are uncanny and, frankly, alarming. This book simply must be read. It is magnificent’ Sunday Independent ‘A classic Joseph Roth novel takes centre stage in this mix of thriller, treasure hunt and love story…profound and heart-breaking’ Sunday Times 'A powerful, powerful piece of work. A wounded book making its own book. It brings so much to life – Joseph Roth, Chechnya, Germany, the art of writing, the whole notion of banning books, the lips of the past speaking to the present' Colum McCann 'A terrific, engrossing novel. I love the narrator – such a great character – and the structure is clever and carefully woven, and very satisfying' Roddy Doyle 'An ingenious conceit' John Banville 'A masterpiece. Full of great sentences. But also sort of obliteratingly moving, strange, and right' Sebastian Barry ‘Wonderful. It is as if Hugo Hamilton has invented a new form’ Neil Jordan, author of Carnivalesque ‘Although ideas of memory, legacy and repetition — the indelible imprints of history — fill The Pages, it moves with a fast and fluid gait … It reminds us that, even in an age when people “live in a rush to forget” (Roth’s words), we must read the book of the past in order to understand the present’ Boyd Tonkin, Financial Times ‘The form itself – a novel narrated by a novel – is so cunningly realised that it’s accepted almost immediately. It also inspires the thought: why are more novels not told like this? … it’s a fascinating work of real depth that combines biography, fiction and history to create a manifesto for the importance of literature in the times of political dismay’ Business Post

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Book SynopsisI wept as time stopped, and I wept as time refused to cease.Grieving her faith, her love, and her identity, twenty-one-year-old Scarlett V. Leonelli is devastated by an unexpected tragedyone threatening to unravel her to her very core. Following a series of inexplicable synchronicities, Scarlett journeys deep into the jungle of a hidden village in Costa Rica where, far beyond the only reality she has ever known, she is forced to trust the path as it appears beneath her feet.Led by the sacred invitations in riddles of mysterious guides, romantic rendezvous, and enticing adventures, Scarlett falls into the belly of the Beast itself.Will Scarlett give in or choose to alchemize one of humanity's inevitable tragedies?The Alchemy of The Beast is the first installation of The Lionheart Chronicles, a series inspired by author Alyssa Noelle Coelho's own truth-seeking journey. Drawing upon her training in sociocultural anthropology and her own experiences as a Traveler, wrestling with the meaning of existence, love, connection, and contribution, Alyssa shines a light on the raw truths of the human condition and showcases the beauty of cultures worldwide.

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Book SynopsisThe first ever collection of Michael Marshall Smith’s award-winning short stories.Trade Review‘Astonishingly distinctive short stories’Independent ‘A story telling skill that can only be described as pure genius’Venue ‘Very funny and decidedly surreal’Empire ‘No one writes better than Smith about love: how it’s won, how it’s lost. No one writes better about being wasted – by drugs, by drink, by time. Nigh-on unique’i-D

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Book SynopsisA hugely inventive, hugely readable novel about two young people with Multiple Personality Disorder. 'A gripping novel of suspense that could have come from the pen of Stephen King at his best.’ Daily TelegraphTrade Review'A good old-fashioned crime novel, as readable as the most golden of golden age mysteries.' New Statesman 'Exceptional… Reading those first pages, you feel real excitement: the thump in head and heart of a captivating idea; the creepiness of a fairytale; the wonderment of coming across something which feels both original and authoritatively imagined.' Daily Telegraph 'A stunning, thrilling, deeply moving work of fiction.' PETER STRAUB, co-author of Black House 'Irresistible… utterly convincing… an odyssey of transformation and trust.' New York Times 'A stunning feat of literary craftsmanship, gripping for all of its 479 pages… Set This House in Order is pure fiction at its best.' San Francisco Chronicle 'A shockingly likable suspense story, not so much a whodunit as a whoisit… Extraordinary.' Boston Globe

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Book SynopsisWritten during the Nigerian-Biafran War of the late 1960s, The Trial of Christopher Okigbo boldly tackles questions of Pan-Africanism and independence - with the answers leading to blissful immortality or eternal damnation...After a fatal car accident, Hamisi wakes up in a strange land called After-Africa an afterworld for all Africans who have died since history began. He soon finds out, however, that his position in the afterlife hangs in the balance. To be allowed to stay, Hamisi must participate in the absurd trial of the renowned poet and solider, Christopher Okigbo, who was killed on the front lines. His crime? Choosing war over his art...The Trial of Christopher Okigbo is a wondrously surreal examination into the responsibilities of art and war and their uncomfortable coexistence.''[The Trial of Christopher Okigbo is] its own best proof that important political questioning and art are not mutually exclusive.'' New YorTrade Review[The Trial of Christopher Okigbo is] its own best proof that important political questioning and art are not mutually exclusive. * New York Times *Whether in speech or in writing, Mazrui dissected and unravelled Africa in a delightful manner. * Guardian *[Mazuri was] a towering academician whose intellectual contributions played a major role in shaping African scholarship. -- Uhuru Kenyatta, former president of Kenya

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Book Synopsis “A minor classic. A small book but with big characters . . . and great ideas” from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Dinosaur Summer (SF Reviews). The planet Hegira is the universe’s melting pot. Hundreds of tribes in dozens of cities intermingle in the vast uncharted territory. The only thing holding the people together are the massive Obelisks, the chronicles of all the truths and falsehoods each tribe has brought to Hegira. Young Bar-Woten is in search of knowledge and he knows the key to the truth about his homeland is contained in the writings of the Obelisks. With his fellow companions, Bar-Woten must travel through Hegira’s exotic cities to discover the lies within the words of thousands. 

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This Element provides a comprehensive explanation of Wittgenstein's philosophy. It introduces distinctions that are essential for approaching the multilayered complex of Wittgenstein's oeuvre. One is the distinction between writing philosophical clarifications for himself and forming philosophical books for his reader.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A tense, gripping, and satisfying story that will leave readers wondering about their own physical limits and what would be possible, if only one had the proper motivation. Translated from the original Russian, this dark and unforgiving magical world treats its characters in ways that make Harry Potter and even Naomi Novik's Scholomance Trilogy look like preschool." — Booklist (starred review) "This is a novel that transcends genre and will astound readers looking for serious, contemporary fiction." — Library Journal (starred review) “Vita Nostra—a cross between Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian [...] is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” — Washington Post "Vita Nostra is singular and brilliant - unlike anything I’ve ever read." — R.F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel “Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing. It’s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.” — Lev Grossman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians “Vita Nostra takes the trope of young people selected for a school for magic and transforms it into an unnerving, deeply philosophical coming-of-age tale. [...] Hersey’s translation is plain and straightforward, a wise choice that enhances the deep strangeness of this trippy, vivid novel.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “This dark, ambitious, and intellectually strenuous novel will feel like a fresh revelation to fantasy readers glutted with Western wish-fulfillment narratives.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Vita Nostra “Imagine that Hogwarts has opened a satellite campus inside Harry Haller’s Magic Theater from Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, and assigned Kafka, Dostoevsky and Rod Serling to oversee the curriculum.” — BookPage on Vita Nostra

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A more agile, universal book, with its title alluding to the randomness of human connection. It’s a variety of rom-com, really, that somewhat lost art. . . . [People Collide's] naturalness and ease with the most fundamental questions of existence make it a big project knocking around in a small package, portending even bigger projects ahead." — Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times "People Collide takes a sudden turn in its final pages, building toward an ending that’s genuinely moving and redemptive, though not in the way the reader has been expecting. The finale is so good, in fact, that it elevates the entire book, making it one of the year’s most compelling reads. Ultimately, McElroy discovers that gender-swap narratives may really be about tracing the wavy line between envy and desire." — Charlie Jane Anders, Washington Post "People Collide's Freaky Friday concept covers a deep exploration of marriage, love, and the ways we know one another—and don't—as well as how slippery a sense of self can be when so much of how we navigate the world depends on how it sees us." — Ilana Masad, NPR "A hilarious, riveting novel of a married American couple's body swap." — San Francisco Chronicle "A creative, well-written exploration of marriage, gender, and desire." — Kirkus Reviews "Engrossing . . . an impressive twist on the familiar trope of marital ennui." — Publishers Weekly "Compelling, hilarious, and thought-provoking, this is a fascinating Freaky Friday-like thought-experiment that questions the performance and expectations of gender roles, the body-mind puzzle, how class can define a person’s perspective, and the definition of identity." — Booklist "Beyond the gender binary and the public's assumptions based upon appearances, McElroy's insightful novel also examines class, privilege, the art world, and family relationships....People Collide is sly, clever, funny, provocative, and compelling. It offers a world and a story to get lost in." — Shelf Awareness "[People Collide] deftly explores partnership, identity, and sex." — Rolling Stone "Expertly interrogates gender roles and questions the ties that bind lovers together." — Vogue "People Collide dives deeper into gender and sexuality with the same sharp wit [as their first novel." — Them "A fresh take on a classic trope." — The Millions "Fascinating ... an entertaining, thoughtful depiction of how we choose to exist, and its implications for how we love." — Elle "A little Kafkaesque, a little Hitchcockian, a little Freaky Friday, but McElroy makes this dizzying story their own." — Electric Literature "[A] profound exploration of marriage, identity, and sex." — Nylon Magazine "McElroy is sharp on the collaborative failures endemic to love, and the kind of oneness that creates separation. In People Collide, that separation is explored through the body with wonder and frankness." — Raven Leilani, author of Luster "A profound and moving meditation on love and commitment swapped into the body of a gripping literary thriller—I predict Isle McElroy’s People Collide will inaugurate an entire genre." — Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby "People Collide is spectacular. McElroy has given us a work of art that's original, stylish, and frequently masterly in the ways it explores the porous and mutable nature of bodies, selves, partnerships, and what we call love. Bravo." — Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of All This Could Be Different "People Collide asks how the ambition, power, sweetness, and deep-feeling of our bodies gets policed by those who perceive us, and how we sometimes wind up hurting each other as a result. McElroy writes their characters with compassion for human pain and bumbling, but makes room for all our complexity and occasional grace too. This is the queer novel I didn’t know I so badly needed." — CJ Hauser, author of The Crane Wife

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Book SynopsisFrom the Booker Prize–nominated author of Remainder and Satin Island, a wide-screen odyssey through the medical labs, computer graphics studios, military research centers, and other dark zones where the frontiers of potential—to cure, kill, understand, or entertain—are constantly tested and refined.Bodies in motion. Birds, bees and bobsleighs. What is the force that moves the sun and other stars? Where’s our fucking airplane? What’s inside Box 808, and why does everybody want it? Deep within the archives of time-and-motion pioneer Lillian Gilbreth lies a secret. Famous for producing solid light-tracks that captured the path of workers’ movements, Gilbreth helped birth the era of mass observation and big data. But did she also, as her broken correspondence with a young Soviet physicist suggests, discover in her final days a “perfect” movement, one that would “change everything”? An international hunt begins for the one box missing from her records, and we follow contemporary motion-capture consultant Mark Phocan, as well as his collaborators and shadowy antagonists, across geopolitical fault lines and through strata of personal and collective history. Meanwhile, work is under way on the blockbuster movie Incarnation, an epic space tragedy.   As Tom McCarthy peers through the screen, or veil, of technological modernity to reveal the underlying symbolic structures of human experience, The Making of Incarnation weaves a set of stories, one inside the other, rings within rings, a perpetual motion machine.

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