Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction

Book Synopsis''... a human being, an intellectual human being who constantly bends the entire force of his mind on the ridiculous task of forcing a wooden king into the corner of a wooden board, and does it without going mad!''A group of passengers on a cruise ship challenge the world chess champion to a match. At first, they crumble, until they are helped by whispered advice from a stranger in the crowd - a man who will risk everything to win. Stefan Zweig''s acclaimed novella Chess is a disturbing, intensely dramatic depiction of obsession and the price of genius.Trade ReviewA brilliant writer * New York Times *One of the joys of recent years is the translation into English of Stefan Zweig's stories -- Edmund de WaalStefan Zweig was a late and magnificent bloom from the hothouse of fin de siecle Vienna * The Wall Street Journal *Zweig is one of the masters of the short story and novella, and by 'one of the masters' I mean that he's up there with Maupassant, Chekhov, James, Poe, or indeed anyone you care to name -- Nick Lezard * Guardian *A new favourite writer of mine -- Wes AndersonPerhaps the best chess story ever written, perhaps the best about any game -- EconomistHis great achievement in short form * The Times *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewScott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, which can never be displaced—A. N. WilsonFor the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France more vividly even than the original—TelegraphI was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation—Joseph Conrad to Scott Moncrieff

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRobot's technical proficiency and ontological ambitions could be compared to those of Lem at his best, and its author, like Lem, considered himself less an sf writer than a prose-writing philosopher of metaphysical inclinations. With its powerful vision of a society of slaves controlled and abused by a mysterious Mechanism and a stimulating theory of Superbeings, Robot was almost immediately recognized as an instant classic which catapulted Snerg to the rank of Poland's best sf authors * Science Fiction Encyclopedia *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA unique teller of tales ... What interested Simenon was the average man losing control of his own fate * Observer *A treat. . . every bit as gripping as his detective stories. . . There's much to enjoy in the atmospheric portrayal of 1950s French life and the elegant simplicity with which Milk's story is told. Simenon enthusiasts should get a copy. They won't be disappointed -- Martin Bentham * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisThe short story collection that launched Tabucchi to fame, reflecting on the uncertainties, memories, mistakes and mysteries of life Eleven short stories pivoting on life''s ambiguities and the central question they pose in Tabucchi''s fiction: is it choice, fate, accident, or even, occasionally, a kind of magic that plays a decisive role in the protagonists'' lives? Set in Paris, Lisbon, Madras and New York and blended with the author''s wonderfully intelligent imagination, Tabucchi reflects on the elemental aspects of the human experience, exploring grief, uncertainty, adventure, memory and love.''One of the most admired Italian writers of his generation'' The TimesTrade ReviewTabucchi writes with what Italo Calvino, who shared the same translator, called "quickness" - an agility of mind and economy of narrative that pulls the reader along * Guardian *Elegant ... amusing ... the magic of language, artfully used ... Tabucchi manages to play simultaneously in the treble and in the bass * Los Angeles Times *Meticulously crafted stories marked by wit, emotion, memory and lost grandeur * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisLittle Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Dorothy Parker was the most talked-about woman of the decadent 1920s, notorious as a hard-drinking bad girl with a talent for endlessly quotable one-liners. In the stories collected here, she brilliantly captures the spirit of the decadent Jazz Age in New York, exposing both the dazzle and the darkness. This selection includes among others ''The Standard of Living'', ''Mr Durant'' and her masterpiece, ''Big Blonde''.''She has fascinated generations with her wit, flair and talent'' The New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisONE OF THE TIMES'' FAVOURITE NOVELS OF 2023The first epic novel in THE GLORIOUS YEARS series from the two times winner of the prestigious Prix-Goncourt''You have the ingredients Balzac would have cooked with. And it is exactly those great 19th century novels that Lemaitre will remind you of'' Sunday TimesThe Pelletiers are a prominent French family living in Beirut, dominated by Louis, who has built a hugely successful business manufacturing artisanal soaps. Louis has three sons, but none seems to have the aptitude for commerce he desires.There''s Jean, the eldest, a feckless man who is both lazy and weak. When his ambitious wife suggests a move to France, he jumps at the chance for escape - for Jean has a secret that no-one must ever uncover. Etienne is the youngest son, who travels to Saigon looking for love, and there uncovers financial corruption and violence linked to the very highest officials - evidenTrade ReviewThe Wide World is one of his best . . . Compellingly plotted, stuffed with great characters, thought-provokingly situated in history * The Times *Pierre Lemaitre skilfully captivates and stuns the reader * Le Figaro Litteraire *Storytelling with never a dull moment * Le Figaro *Lemaitre casts his net wide, skilfully contrasting the vibrancy, exoticism and dangerous excitement of Saigon and Beirut in the years after the second world war with the drab, careworn city that Paris has become * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisLies from the heart lead to a dangerously intimate case for Sheriff Bree Taggert in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of revenge and fatal deceptions.When a digital marketer is found murdered in his backyard—hands bound and face smothered by plastic wrap—Sheriff Bree Taggert and criminal investigator Matt Flynn respond to the call. Their investigation focuses on the man’s dating-app profile and the word liar carved into his forehead.One day later, the killer strikes again.Both victims are players in the internet dating scene. In their wake, they leave a trail of hurt—and angry—women. But Bree and Matt aren’t convinced the motive is as simple as it appears. Everyone they interview seems to be lying or hiding something.As the list of suspects grows, the killer’s rage escalates, and he leaves a personal and deadly warning for Bree. They must act fast. Because someone Bree loves is targeted as the next to die.

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Book SynopsisThis FBI agent has come to expect almost anything—just not this… When Agent Mercedes Ramirez finds an abused young boy on her porch, covered in blood and clutching a teddy bear, she has no idea that this is just the beginning. He tells her a chilling tale: an angel killed his parents and then brought him here so Mercedes could keep him safe. His parents weren’t just murdered. It was a slaughter—a rage kill like no one on the Crimes Against Children team had seen before. But they’re going to see it again. An avenging angel is meting out savage justice, and she’s far from through. One by one, more children arrive at Mercedes’s door with the same horror story. Each one a traumatized survivor of an abusive home. Each one chafing at Mercedes’s own scars from the past. And each one taking its toll on her life and career. Now, as the investigation draws her deeper into the dark, Mercedes is beginning to fear that if this case doesn’t destroy her, her memories might.

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Book SynopsisAs Mrs Dalloway works on the preparations for a dinner party, her thoughts throughout the day wander from memories of the past to interrogations about the present and lead her to assess the choices she has made in life and love. Her monologue interweaves with the account of the distress, on that same day, of the shell-shocked veteran Septimus Warren Smith, whose trauma and hallucinations end in tragedy, as the links between the two characters unfold. One of Virginia Woolf's most famous novels, Mrs Dalloway is a triumph of experimentation, a cornerstone of Modernism and a subtle examination of love, freedom, mental illness and the female condition in society.Trade ReviewShe was doing with language something like what Jimi Hendrix does with a guitar. -- Michael CunninghamTable of ContentsIncludes pictures and a section on Virginia Woolf's life and works.

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Book SynopsisDISCOVER THE BOOKER PRIZE LONGLISTED NOVEL ABOUT ONE HEART''S LOVES AND LOSSES FROM ICONIC STORYTELLER WILLIAM BOYD''Superb, wonderful, enjoyable'' Guardian''Full of delights'' The Times_____________________________Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary, and Logan Mountstuart''s - stretching across the twentieth century - is a rich tapestry of both. As a writer who finds inspiration with Hemingway in Paris and Virginia Woolf in London, as a spy recruited by Ian Fleming and betrayed in the war, and as an art-dealer in ''60s New York, Logan mixes with the men and women who shape his times. But as a son, friend, lover and husband, he makes the same mistakes we all do in our search for happiness. Here, then, is the story of a life lived to the full - and a journey deep into a very human heart.''One of the things this book does so brilliantly, is it so authentically recreates historical characters'' Ben Miller, on BBC 2''s Between The Covers____________________________''Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story'' Sunday Telegraph''Superb, wonderful, enjoyable'' Guardian''Generous, witty, sneakily profound'' Evening StandardAny Human Heart was adapted for a Channel 4 drama starring Kim Cattrall, Gillian Anderson, Matthew Macfadyen and Jim Broadbent and is perfect for readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel.Trade Review'A terrific journey through the twentieth century. Thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable' - Jeremy Paxman 'Wise, profound and moving. Only the very best novels make you look at your own life and imagine your own future with fresh eyes' - William Sutcliffe, Independent on Sunday 'Superb, wonderful, enjoyable' Guardian 'Sheer, truly brilliant storytelling. He has probably written more classic books than any of his contemporaries' Daily Telegraph 'Astonishing, touching, extremely funny. A brilliant evocation of a past era and an immensely readable story' Sunday Telegraph 'Astounding. One of Boyd's greatest achievements' Mail on Sunday

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Book SynopsisRediscover one of Virginia Woolf's greatest works in this beautiful new gift edition from Vintage Classics. 'My mind was warped into a new shape by her prose and it will never be the same again' Greta GerwigMr and Mrs Ramsay and their eight children have always holidayed at their summer house in Skye, surrounded by family friends. The novel's opening section teems with the noise, complications, bruised emotions, joys and quiet tragedies of everyday family life that might go on forever. But time passes, bringing with it war and death, and the summer home stands empty until one day, many years later, the family return to make the long-postponed visit to the lighthouse.One of the great literary achievements of the 20th century, To the Lighthouse, is at once an intensely autobiographical and universally moving masterpiece about changing relationships and attitudes amongst the early 20th-century middle class.'To The Lighthouse is one of the greatest elegies in the English language, a book which transcends time' Margaret Drabble 'Thrillingly introspective' The IndependentTrade ReviewIt is an elegy for lost times and family life * The Week *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2015 WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2014WINNER OF THE 2014 COSTA NOVEL AWARD''I take my hat off to Ali Smith. Her writing lifts the soul'' Evening Standard How to be both is a novel all about art''s versatility. Borrowing from painting''s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it''s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There''s a renaissance artist of the 1460s. There''s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life''s givens get given a second chance.*****''Brims with palpable joy'' Daily Telegraph''She''s a genius, genuinely modern in the heroic, glorious sense'' Alain de Botton''A delight. A masterpiece. Magical'' Sunday TimesWINNER OF THE SALTIRE SOCIETY LITERARY BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2014SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014Ali Smith''s new novel, Companion piece, is available now.Trade ReviewDizzyingly good and so clever that it makes you want to dance * New Statesman *A delight. A masterpiece. Magical. * Sunday Times *I take my hat off to Ali Smith. Her writing lifts the soul * Evening Standard *Exciting, full of joy and wryly funny... [Ali Smith is] one of the most inventive writers alive * Emerald Street *A remarkably easy and immensely enjoyable read... Ali Smith is a one-off. Her imagination and originality make her one of the most exciting novelists of her generation. Both George and Francesco touch the heart and linger in the mind long after the final page. * Daily Express *Smith is the brightest spark in a recent explosion of female novelists taking dizzying risks with form and voice . . . most contemporary male authors feel Jurassic by comparison. * Metro *Rich, funny and moving. Smith's writing really catches fire * Financial Times *Dazzling * Independent *This warm, funny book deserves to be read at least one-and-a-half times -- Honor Clerk * Spectator *Radical, dazzling . . . Those writers making doomy predictions about the death of the novel should read Smith's re-imagined novel/s, and take note of the life it contains * Independent *Ms. Smith's writing is inventive and delighted. She cannot help being exuberant * New York Times *Inventive, playful, compassionate. An immensely enjoyable read * Daily Express *I was utterly transported by Ali Smith's How to Be Both, a novel built from two stories that speak across six centuries. I'm about to read it for the fourth time -- Helen Macdonald * Irish Times *Smith is dazzling in her daring. Her inventive power pulls you through, gasping, to the final page * Observer *Smith can make anything happen, which is why she is one of our most exciting writers today * Daily Telegraph *She's a genius, genuinely modern in the heroic, glorious sense -- Alain de BottonSmith's fervent, vital, incantatory prose is entirely her own . . . How to be both reads as if she has summoned words from some region of the unconscious and released them in a trance -- Joanna Kavenna * Prospect *Utterly contemporary and vividly historical -- Holly Williams * The Independent *Smith has created a stunning work that is as rewarding as it is challenging * The List *One of the things she does so well, and that is particularly evident in 'How to Be Both,' is the way she can create an extremely sophisticated, complex, multileveled novel that reads beautifully -- Erica WagnerA marvellous exploration of what it means to look, then look again. Spiralling and twisting stories suggest the ways in which we can transcend walls and barriers - not only between people but between emotions, art forms and historical periods. It is a jeu d'esprit about a girl coming of age and coming to terms with her mother's death, a ghosting of a Renaissance fresco painter in a 21st-century frame and an exhortation to do the twist. -- Sarah Churchwell * New Statesman Books of the Year 2014 *A revelation. It blasts the doors open for the novel form and in a Woolf-like way makes all things possible. I imagine it will be one of those rare books that changes the way writers write novels -- Jackie Kay * Observer *Ali Smith's novels soar higher every time and How to be both doesn't disappoint -- Julie Myerson * Observer *Brilliant. No one combines experimentalism and soulfulness like Ali Smith -- Craig Taylor * Observer *One of the most intelligent, inventive, downright impressive writers working anywhere in the world today. In Ali Smith we have a writer whose dazzling sophistication will surely be celebrated, studied and argues over hundreds of years after we're gone -- Nick Barley * The Scotsman *Ali Smith is a master of language. Vigorous, vivid writing that is Ali Smith incarnate -- Alice Thompson * Herald *Ingeniously conceived, gloriously inventive * NPR *Dizzyingly ambitious . . . endlessly artful, creating work that feels infinite in its scope and intimate at the same time. [A] swirling panoramic * Atlantic *Brilliant . . . the sort of death-defying storytelling acrobatics that don't seem entirely possible * Washington Post *Having read this now twice, in both directions so to speak, I've decided - and I do not write this flippantly - that Ali Smith is a genius -- Susan McCallum * LA Review of Books *Approaches the world as only a novel can. The book moves not so much in a straight line as in a twisting helix pattern . . . delivers the heat of life and the return of beauty in the face of loss -- Kenneth Miller * Everyday Ebook *A unique conversation between past and present * Milwaukee Journal *Wildly inventive . . . lyrical, fresh * Bustle Magazine *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Booker Prize''The Hotel du Lac was a dignified building, a house of repute, a traditional establishment, used to welcoming the prudent, the well-to-do, the retired, the self-effacing, the respected patrons of an earlier era''Into the rarefied atmosphere of the Hotel du Lac timidly walks Edith Hope, romantic novelist and holder of modest dreams. Edith has been exiled from home after embarrassing herself and her friends. She has refused to sacrifice her ideals and remains stubbornly single. But among the pampered women and minor nobility Edith finds Mr Neville, and her chance to escape from a life of humiliating loneliness is renewed . . .''A classic . . . a book which will be read with pleasure a hundred years from now'' Spectator''A smashing love story. It is very romantic. It is also humorous, witty, touching and formidably clever'' The Times''Hotel du Lac is written with a beautiful Trade ReviewMiss Brookner's most absorbing novel . . . graceful and attractive * New York Times *Her technique as a novelist is so sure and so quietly commanding * Hilary Mantel, Guardian *Hotel du Lac is written with a beautiful grave formality, and it catches at the heart * Observer *The last great novelist of the 20th century * Daily Telegraph *A classic . . . a book which will be read with pleasure a hundred years from now * Spectator *A smashing love story. It is very romantic. It is also humorous, witty, touching and formidably clever * The Times *She is one of the great writers of contemporary fiction * Literary Review *A classic . . . a book which will be read with pleasure a hundred years from now * Spectator *A smashing love story. It is very romantic. It is also humorous, witty, touching and formidably clever * The Times *Hotel du Lac is written with a beautiful grave formality, and it catches at the heart * Observer *She is one of the great writers of contemporary fiction * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisJunichiro Tanizaki was one of Japan's greatest twentienth century novelists. Born in 1886 in Tokyo, his first published work - a one-act play - appeared in 1910 in a literary magazine he helped to found. Tanizaki lived in the cosmopolitan Tokyo area until the earthquake of 1923, when he moved to the Kyoto-Osaka region and became absorbed in Japan's past.All his most important works were written after 1923, among them Some Prefer Nettles (1929), The Secret History of the Lord of Musashi (1935), several modern versions of The Tale of Genji (1941, 1954 and 1965), The Makioka Sisters, The Key (1956) and Diary of a Mad Old Man (1961). He was awarded an Imperial Award for Cultural Merit in 1949 and in 1965 he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the first Japanese writer to receive this honour. Tanizaki died later that same year.Trade ReviewA story about sex and marriage that is as explicit as any novel on the theme since Lady Chatterley's Lover * Time *At once sensational and serious... a middle-aged man's last bout of sexual passion * New York Times *That this is a work of rare art can never be in doubt * New Statesman *A story about sex and marriage that is as explicit as any novel on the theme since Lady Chatterley's Lover * The Times *Tanizaki tells the delicate and, in the end, frightening story with great skill...this is not a book you will soon forget * Boston Herald *

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Book Synopsis''Brilliant. A Citizen Kane of a novel'' Daily Telegraph__________________________________Meet John James Todd:Scotsman, auteur, Rousseau-fanatic - and ''subversive element''Born in 1899, John James Todd is one of the great, failed geniuses of the last century. His reminiscences, collected in The New Confessions, take us from Edinburgh to the Western Front, the Berlin film-world in the Twenties to Hollywood in the Thirties, Forties and beyond. Suffering imprisonment, shooting, marriage, fatherhood, divorce and McCarthyism, Todd is a hostage to good fortune, ill-judgement, bad luck, the vast sweep of history and the cruel, cruel hand of fate . . .__________________________________''A magnificent feat of storytelling and panoramic reconstruction'' Observer''Paced and plotted with sinewy, unfailing skill . . . Boyd has given us a work of rich, ripe and immensely enj

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewScott Moncrieff's [volumes] belong to that special category of translations which are themselves literary masterpieces ... his book is one of those translations, such as the Authorized Version of the Bible itself, which can never be displaced—A. N. WilsonFor the reader wishing to tackle Proust your guide must be C K Scott Moncrieff ... There are some who believe his headily perfumed translation of À la recherche du temps perdu conjures Belle Époque France more vividly even than the original—TelegraphI was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust's creation—Joseph Conrad to Scott Moncrieff

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2021**From the bestselling author of Homegoing**______________________________________________As a child Gifty would ask her parents to tell the story of their journey from Ghana to Alabama, seeking escape in myths of heroism and romance. When her father and brother succumb to the hard reality of immigrant life in the American South, their family of four becomes two - and the life Gifty dreamed of slips away.Years later, desperate to understand the opioid addiction that destroyed her brother''s life, she turns to science for answers. But when her mother comes to stay, Gifty soon learns that the roots of their tangled traumas reach farther than she ever thought. Tracing her family''s story through continents and generations will take her deep into the dark heart of modern America.Transcendent Kingdom is a searing story of love, loss and redemption, and the myriad ways we try to rebuild our lives from the rubble of our collective pasts.______________________________________________________''Absolutely transcendent. A gorgeously woven narrative . . . not a word or idea out of place'' Roxane Gay''A piercing story of faith, science and the opioid crisis . . . There''s bravery as well as beauty here'' ObserverTrade ReviewA brilliant novel, with not a word out of place -- Caleb Azumah Nelson * Guardian, Best Books of 2021 *A piercing story of faith, science and the opioid crisis . . . Transcendent Kingdom really sings. There's bravery as well as beauty here * Observer *Transcendent Kingdom is a novel for all timesAbsolutely transcendent. A gorgeously woven narrative . . . not a word or idea out of place. I am quite angry this is so good * Roxane Gay *Transcendent Kingdom is a quietly magnificent novel - vivid, touching and beautifully written, and also unafraid to be, and to remain, really very sad. * i *Her equally outstanding second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, smaller in scale, is another graceful exploration of trauma reverberating through a family...introspective and intimate * Sunday Telegraph *This novel is an unflinching account of loss, but it is also a moving tribute to the ability of the human spirit to endure such tragedies * The Times *Gyasi's novel is a thoughtful analysis of a pressing social problem * Mail on Sunday *Among other things [Transcendent Kingdom] is a sharp reckoning with the tensions between race, science and religion...its scope is pared back, its register intimate - not many writers can switch style like this * Sunday Times Culture *A powerful portrayal of love and faith that reminds us how our parents' actions can ripple through generations * Telegraph *[A] mightily enjoyable novel * Daily Mail *Perhaps neither science nor religion alone could capture transcendence, but Gyasi has proved, once again, that a novel can * Guardian *A book of blazing brilliance . . . A double helix of wisdom and rage twists through the quiet lines of this novel. Yaa Gyasi is one of the most enlightening novelists writing today * Washington Post *A compelling look at a woman's struggle to move on from the devastating effects of her family falling apart in front of her eyes * Stylist *The must-read book of the year so far * Elle *A powerful, wholly unsentimental novel about family love, loss, belonging and belief that is more focused but just as daring as its predecessor, and to my mind even more successful * Wall Street Journal *Gyasi's second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, is a very different book, and, I think, a better one - contemporary, personal, acutely focused on a single family, and intensely felt * New Yorker *Exquisitely written with a lightness of touch despite its difficult themes; this novel is a triumph * Red *Raw, powerful storytelling that tackles race, religion, addiction and grief in a thoughtful way * Good Housekeeping *With deft agility and undeniable artistry, Gyasi's latest is an eloquent examination of resilient survival * Booklist *The Ghanaian-American has become a firm literary favour...Transcendent Kingdom is sure to cement her spot further * Stylist *Meticulous, psychologically complex ... At once a vivid evocation of the immigrant experience and a sharp delineation of an individual's inner struggle, the novel brilliantly succeeds on both counts * Publishers Weekly, starred review *Transcendent Kingdom is quiet in the way a wise soul will sit in the corner, clear their throat and when they speak, everyone listens...Transcendent Kingdom is a book always asking this question: how did we get here? * Bad Form Review *The range Gyasi displays in just two books is staggering * USA Today *Remarkable, a devastating account of America . . . explores horror without ever losing sight of humanity or hope * Sunday Times on 'Homegoing' *A stirringly gifted writer. It's impossible not to admire the ambition and scope of Homegoing * New York Times *If you want to know why the world is this way, try this book for starters * Naomi Alderman, author of The Power *I need a book like this to remember what is possible Beautifully written . . . a raw look at the personal destruction caused by the opioid crisis * Scotsman *A poignant story of family love, loss and ambition * Radio Times *Yaa Gyasi's writing is shining even as the tangled traumas of the past come to the surface * Sainsbury's Magazine *'Yaa's depiction of these illnesses; substance addiction and depression and the family's deep-rooted tangled traumas, is skilful . . . Transcendent Kingdom is a story of love, loss and redemption, and holds a mirror up to one version of the first-generation immigrant experience that will sadly seem familiar to many of us * Melan Mag *

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Book SynopsisFalling Man begins on September 11, in the smoke and ash of the burning towers. In the days and the years following, we trace the aftermath of this global tremor in the private lives of a few reticulated individuals. Theirs are lives choreographed by loss, by grief and by the enormous force of history. From these intimate portraits, Don DeLillo shifts to an extrapolated vision: he charts the way the events have reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory and our perception of the world.Falling Man is an unforgettable novel, at once cathartic and beautiful and heartbreaking.Trade ReviewAmerica's greatest living writer. * Observer *Searing, profoundly unsettling. An unforgettable novel. * Sunday Times *These are pages of magnificent force and control, DeLillo's genius at full pelt. Reading them, you have to remind yourself to keep breathing. * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisSheila O''Flanagan''s bestseller IF YOU WERE ME will make readers wonder: what would I do if my first love came back into my life? A must-read if you enjoy the novels of Veronica Henry and Catherine Alliott.You''re engaged to a great man. You''re on a countdown to your wedding day. You stopped thinking about your first love a long time ago.But what if one unexpected, forbidden kiss were to throw your life upside down?Carlotta O''Keefe suddenly finds herself wondering if the girl she was would recognise the woman she has become.She thought she was living a charmed life. But what if she''s got it all wrong?What if her past is meant to be her future?What readers are saying about If You Were Me:''One of [Sheila O''Flanagan''s] best books - just a sweet story about the one that got away. Empowering and refreshing'' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars''Great characters, fast-Trade ReviewEntertains, surprises and provokes - Irish Independent (on ALL FOR YOU)O'Flanagan's lightness of touch and gentle characterisations have produced another fine read; an ideal addition to that summer holiday - Sunday Express (on HOW WILL I KNOW?)

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Book SynopsisFrom Trisha Sakhlecha, Can You See Me Now? is a gripping psychological suspense thriller about a young Indian woman, now a government minister, whose past secrets are about to reverberate into the present and shatter her life. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Erin Kelly.'Deceptively clever' – Sunday Times'Stunningly original . . . The ending will astound you'– Lesley Kara, author of The RumourFifteen years ago, three sixteen-year-old girls meet at Wescott, an exclusive private school in India. Two, Sabah and Noor, are the most popular girls in their year. One, Alia, is a new arrival from England, who feels her happiness depends on their acceptance.Before she knows it, Sabah and Noor’s intoxicating world of privilege and intimacy opens up to Alia and, for the first time, after years of neglect from her parents, she feels she is exactly where, and with whom, she belongs.But with intimacy comes jealousy, and with privilege, resentment, and Alia finds that it only takes one night for her bright new world to shatter around her.Now Alia, a cabinet minister in the Indian government, is about to find her secrets have no intention of staying buried . . .Trade ReviewA spellbinding and stunningly original portrait of friendship, secrets and family, set against the turbulent background of Indian politics. The ending will astound you -- Lesley Kara, author of The DareCan You See Me Now? is so well written and compulsive, a sophisticated page turner. I was enthralled by the dual timelines, the political setting and the way the dynamics from the women’s past played out in the present. It’s very well done. -- Harriet Tyce, Author of Blood OrangeSakhlecha is excellent at creating atmospheres, whether its dark, gossipy, rivalry...or the raw power play of Indian politics . . . that permeates this moving tale * Daily Mail *Loved Trisha Sakhlecha's latest psychological thriller. It has everything; a friendship with secrets, a devastating crime, jealousy, politics and reputation. A multi-layered story. Whizzed through it! -- Emma Curtis, author of One Little MistakeStylishly executed thriller...Sheer class * WI Magazine *An evocative exploration of female friendships and politics, intimacyand intrigue. -- Rachel Edwards, Author of DarlingIntricately plotted and righteously angry, Can You See Me Now? is a thought-provoking tale of female friendship struggling to survive in a patriarchal society. Nothing is quite what it seems in this tautly written psych suspense... -- Nicola Rayner, author of The Girl Before YouReally enjoyed this new thriller...I was gripped by the twisty plot and loved learning more about Delhi culture. -- Neema Shah, author of Kololo Hilla deft exploration of power, misogyny, responsibility . . . It’s also a seriously gripping read. I loved every plot twist, found myself completely drawn in by the blend of idealism, glamour and ruthlessness in the world in which it takes place . . . -- Naomi Ishiguro, Author of Escape RoutesI loved it! Full of tension and intrigue that will keep you turning the pages right to the very end. The setting draws you into a world of teenage girls, women and secrets, lies and power. My heart didn’t stop racing. -- Lauren North, Author of The Perfect BetrayalCan You See Me Now is a highly literary novel, but one with all the page-turning compulsion of an unputdownable thriller. It is a book about India that can stand proudly beside Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. But it is...also about friendship, ambition, betrayal and growing up. A great read and one of my books of the year. Trisha Sakhlecha is a novelist to watch. * Edward Wilson, Author of The Envoy *A deliciously dark and original debut about love, loss and lies, with an ending that is impossible to predict -- Alice Feeney on Your Truth or Mine?Well written, with plenty of twists and an excellent sense of place -- Guardian on Your Truth or Mine?Original and evocative, I was completely hooked by the longing, love and envy simmering sometimes unseen, yet ever-present. With an ending I couldn’t predict, this debut is one to savour -- Karen Hamilton on Your Truth or Mine?Your Truth or Mine? is a book that you’ll want to read again as soon as you’ve finished it, to look for clues, wondering how you’d missed them the first time around. I thought I had it all figured out, so was ‘Wait . . . What?’ when the reveal came. The sucker punch came from nowhere and lifted me off my feet – the sign of a great book -- Sandie Jones, author of The Other Woman

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Book SynopsisWITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR'If you buy one literary novel this year, make sure it's this' THE TIMES'The Romantics looks to Flaubert's Sentimental Education, to E.M. Forster, to Turgenev. But it is the product of a distinctive and sharp intelligence' HILARY MANTEL 'Grips the reader as artfully and as compellingly as the first page of A Passage to India' THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKSWINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES ART SEIDENBAUM AWARD FOR FIRST FICTION1989. In the holy city of Varanasi, 19-year-old Samar rents a room to avoid a small-town job and lose himself in reading about worlds outside of India. But when he is thrust into local a circle of privileged European and American expats, led by the charismatic Miss West, Samar will soon face his own silent desires and crumbling beliefs.'A work of art' Financial Times'A supernova' The Washington Post'A charming debut' The Independent Trade ReviewThe Romantics looks to Flaubert's Sentimental Education, to E.M. Forster, to Turgenev. But it is the product of a distinctive and sharp intelligence -- Hilary MantelA sensitive and introspective novel . . . a meditation on hope and failure. Mishra's evocations of Indian landscape and customs are vivid and thoughtful; his prose clean and unhampered and his descriptive passages to be savoured * Guardian *Contemporary India is brought to vigorous, thrumming life in the pages of The Romantics * Sunday Times *If you buy one literary novel this year, make sure it's this -- Amanda Craig * The Times *This bright new star is the real thing -- David Robson * Sunday Telegraph *[A]n intriguing combination of casual grace and emotional intensity, peppered with discreet social comment on caste, class, sectarian strife, the state of the nation . . . a charming debut * The Independent *A work of art, a first novel of the highest achievement...a writer whose work will last. Read it and find yourself at the source of something great -- Candia McWilliam * Financial Times *A first novel of astonishing maturity * Daily Telegraph *[An] extraordinary debut novel . . . a supernova * The Washington Post *Mishra's lyrical descriptions . . . and the depth of culture the region offers, is a haunting reminder of India's power to bewitch * Time Out *Grip[s] the reader as artfully and as compellingly as the first page of A Passage to India * The New York Review of Books *If much of cosmopolitan Indian writing has valorized the immigrant and the foreign land, then The Romantics is a celebration of the home and its forgotten world -- Amitava Kumar * The Nation *A voice that fuses the lapidary precision of Flaubert with the meditative lyricism of Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, a voice that's alternately wry and ruminative, meticulous and expansive -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *Many treasures in this brilliant novel -- Elizabeth HardwickPankaj Mishra writes the most perfect prose of any Indian novelist of his generation -- William DalrympleMishra's eye is sharp, his prose flawless * Time *[A] surprisingly assured, provocatively balanced meditation on the familiar culture flash * Boston Globe *A truly ambitious attempt to compare the way people in the East and the West dream . . . Delicate and subtly tantalising in the way only a book can really be * Vogue *It is almost as if when everyone is flashing De Beers diamonds, Mishra traps the quiet luminescence of the moonstone in his theme and style * The Hindu *Mishra's writing has a lovely potency . . . subtly layered and compelling * Times Literary Supplement *Impressive . . . The Romantics turns its back on the exotic richness and the "teeming" panoramic quality which we readily assume to be expressive of Indianness itself * Sydney Morning Herald *A first novel whose achievement is something that most writers could be proud of at any stage in their careers * Vancouver Sun *

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Book SynopsisAn unthinkable tragedy forever changes a group of teens and turns family against family in this edge-of-your-seat thriller that begs to be read in one sitting. Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent’s nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak. Reeling from the worst night of their lives, the three mothers plunge into a desperate investigation of the bizarre incident. How could something so horrible happen in their wealthy Southern California suburb? They soon discover that the accident was just the beginning, and troubling discoveries lead to chilling questions: Do they really know their children? Do they even know each other? As more secrets surface, a fog of doubt and suspicion threatens to poison their families, their friendships, and the whole community. With the illusion of happiness and safety long gone, these women must now confront the hazards of heartbreak, the consequences of jealousy, and the dangers of living double lives.Trade Review“A mother’s worst nightmare on the page. For those who dare.” —Kirkus Reviews “The Best of Friends gripped me from the stunning opening to the emotional, explosive ending. In this moving novel, Berry creates a beautifully crafted study of secrets and grief among a tight-knit group of friends and how far a mother will go to discover the truth and protect her children.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence and This Is How I Lied “In The Best of Friends, Berry starts with a heart-stopping bang—the dreaded middle-of-the-night phone call—then delivers a dark and gritty tale that unfolds twist by devastating twist. Intense, terrifying, and at times utterly heartbreaking. Absolutely unputdownable.” —Kimberly Belle, international bestselling author of Dear Wife and Stranger in the Lake Praise for The Perfect Child “I am a compulsive reader of literary novels—but this has been a terrible year for fiction that is actually readable and not experimental…But there was one book that kept me reading, the sort of novel I can’t put down…The Perfect Child, by Lucinda Berry. It speaks to the fear of every parent: What if your child were a psychopath? This novel takes it a step further. A couple, desperate for a child, has the chance to adopt a beautiful little girl who, they are told, has been abused. They’re told it might take a while for her to learn to behave and trust people. She can be sweet and loving, and in public is adorable. But in private—well, I won’t give away what happens. But needless to say, it’s chilling.” —Gina Kolata, New York Times “A mesmerizing, unbearably tense thriller that will have you looking over your shoulder and sleeping with one eye open. This creepy, serpentine tale explores the darkest corners of parenthood and the profoundly unsettling lengths one will go to to keep a family together—no matter the consequences. Electrifying and atmospheric, this dark gem of a novel is one I couldn’t put down.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author “A deep, dark, and dangerously addictive read. All-absorbing to the very end!” —Minka Kent, Washington Post bestselling author

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Book Synopsis''She always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day''On a June morning in 1923, Clarissa Dalloway is preparing for a party and remembering her past. Elsewhere in London, Septimus Smith is suffering from shell-shock and on the brink of madness. Their days interweave and their lives converge as the party reaches its glittering climax. Here, Virginia Woolf perfected the interior monologue and the novel''s lyricism and accessibility have made it one of her most popular works.The Penguin English Library - collectable general readers'' editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War.Trade ReviewOne of the few genuine innovations in the history of the novel—New YorkerOne of her greatest achievements, a book whose afterlife continues to inspire new generations of writers and readers—Guardian

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Book Synopsis''Lolita is comedy, subversive yet divine'' Martin Amis, ObserverPoet and pervert, Humbert Humbert becomes obsessed by twelve-year-old Lolita and seeks to possess her, first carnally and then artistically, ''to fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets''. Is he in love or insane? A tortured soul or a monster? Humbert Humbert''s fixation is one of many dimensions in Nabokov''s dizzying masterpiece, which is suffused with a savage humour and rich, elaborate verbal textures. Filmed by Stanley Kubrick in 1962, and again in 1997 by Adrian Lyne, Lolita has lost none of its power to shock and awe.''There''s no funnier monster in literature than poor, doomed Humbert Humbert'' Independent

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Book SynopsisPoverty-stricken and cut off from society, former law student Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov leads a desolate life in a dreary little room in St Petersburg. Having abandoned all hopes of sustaining himself through work, he now obsesses over the idea of changing his fortunes through an extreme act of violence: the killing of an elderly pawnbroker. His mind baulks at the horror of his plan, but when he hears that his sister Dunya is about to agree to a loveless marriage in order to escape the advances of her employer, his disgust for the world becomes unbounded, and his feelings of rebellion and revenge push him closer and closer to the edge of the precipice. A masterpiece of psychological insight, Dostoevsky's 1866 novel features some of its author's most memorable characters - from the temperamental protagonist Raskolnikov to the amoral sensualist Svidrigailov and the immoral lawyer Luzhin. Presented here in a sparkling new translation by Roger Cockerell, Crime and Punishment is a towering work in Russian nineteenth-century fiction and a landmark of world literature.

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Book SynopsisThe Beating of his Wings by Paul Hoffman is the final instalment in his epic Cale and the Sanctuary of Redeemers series. The Beating of his Wings is the third and final instalment in the epic Paul Hoffman trilogy following Cale and the Sanctuary of the Redeemers. Following The Left Hand of God and The Last Four Things, this climatic ending will bring this sensational narrative to a close, and finally the fate of the angel of death will be revealed.Imagine if Phillip Pullman''s His Dark Materials met Umberto Eco''s Name of the Rose. Fans of epic heroic fiction will love this series.Praise for Paul Hoffman:''This book gripped me from the first chapter and then dropped me days later, dazed and grinning to myself'' Conn Iggulden''Tremendous momentum'' Daily Telegraph''A cult classic . . .'' Daily Express

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Book SynopsisPortrays two women with distinct backgrounds in two novels--Reading Turgenev and My house in Umbria--that describe how the imagination and the written word can comfort people in desperate hoursTrade ReviewAs rich and moving as anything I have read in years. When I reached the end of both of these marvellous novels, I wanted to start right again at the beginning * Guardian *These novels will endure. And in every beautiful sentence there is not a word out of place -- Anita Brookner * Spectator *Inquisitive and loving. Trevor's is among the most subtle and sophisticated fiction being written today * New York Review of Books *A writer at the peak of his powers; it reminds you what good reading is all about * Chicago Sun Times *Reading Turgenev is one of the most beautiful and memorable things he has written. It stays in your memory -like Turgenev * Independent on Sunday *He writes like an angel, but is determined to wring your heart. Trevor at his most evocative and haunting * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisBellow evokes all the rich colour and exotic customs of a highly imaginary Africa in this comic novel about a middle-aged American millionaire who, seeking a new, more rewarding life, descends upon an African tribe. Henderson''s awesome feats of strength and his unbridled passion for life earns him the admiration of the tribe - but it is his gift for making rain that turns him from mere hero into messiah.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewLeduc's short book is magnificently disproportionate to its length. A moving, beautiful and authentic classic. We must be grateful to the Penguin European Writers series, a precious venture in these dark times, for bringing it back to us. -- John BanvilleA forceful affirmation of the human spirit * Guardian *Violette Leduc's novels are works of genius and also a bit peculiar -- Deborah Levy, from the introductionShe can capture the smells of a country childhood, dazzle with the lights of the Place de la Concorde or make you feel the silky slither of her eel-grey suit * Observer *This book is as richly humane as anything else you're likely to read * Independent *What is important about Violette Leduc is the extraordinary perfection she brings to experience and the exquisite skill she uses to describe it * Daily Mail *The great French feminist writer we need to remember * Guardian *A vastly under-read author -- Lauren Elkin, author of Flaneuse

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Book SynopsisDon DeLillo is the acclaimed author of bestselling novels and plays. His work includes White Noise, Libra, Cosmopolis and Underworld. He has won the National Book Award, the Jerusalem Prize and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize.Trade ReviewAmerica's greatest living writer. * Observer *A brilliant excursion into the decadence of contemporary culture. * Sunday Times *A prose-poem about New York . . . DeLillo has always been good at telling us where we're heading . . . we ignore him at our peril. -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisThe 'hypnotic...addictive' (New York Times) debut novel narrated by a young woman meditating on the malleable, breakable bonds keeping her family from falling apart.There's a superstition in our family about falling...Marta's great-great-grandfather Jirí was said to have given a gentle push to the back of a stonemason for having wronged him. The stonemason fell to his death and the family fled Prague for the American Midwest, where they set up a new life.So begins the story of Marta and her brother Nick, deeply interwoven twins haunted by the mysterious curse that has plagued their family for centuries - one that has doomed them to suffer various types of falls. When Nick tumbles out of a window and ends up seriously injured, Marta must embark on a heartbreaking quest to discover whether or not his fall was intentional, and to stop her family from falling apart...'Wonderful...with an idiosyncratic humour that reminded me of Ottessa Moshfegh' Daily Telegraph'Original and engaging' Guardian 'Lights up the imagination' Dina NayeriTrade ReviewDefenestrate is an original and engaging novel from a fresh new voice, one deeply committed to understanding the beguiling experience of twinship, and to writing twins from the inside. -- Jude Cook * Guardian *Original...with an idiosyncratic humour that reminded me of Ottessa Moshfegh... there are some wonderful digressions about...comic genius that shouldn't really work, but do. -- Alasdair Lees * Daily Telegraph, *Books to Look Out For 2022* *Branum is a weaver of light, a writer of extraordinary sensitivity and insight. Her obsessions are contagious, and her prose is electric. -- Karen RussellRenée Branum writes with exceptional wisdom and tenderness about inheritance, obsession, and the power of storytelling... Defenestrate builds to a symphonic, exhilarating end. -- Sanaë Lemoine, author of THE MARGOT AFFAIRBranum's prose lights up the imagination, every line a discovery and a pleasure. Beyond simple elegance or precision, she weaves sense and simile so stunningly, you have to throw your hands up and say damn! -- Dina Nayeri, author of THE UNGRATEFUL REFUGEE and REFUGE

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Book Synopsis'I loved this book for its depth and perception, for its beauty and eerie rhythms, but most of all for its wonderfully dream-like spell. It's breathtaking' Brandon TaylorA student moves to the city to research Gothic nudes, renting an apartment from a painter, Agnes, who lives in another town with her husband. One day, Agnes arrives in the city and settles into the upstairs studio.Agnes tells stories of her youth, her family, her marriage, and ideas for her art. As the months pass, it becomes clear that Agnes might not have a place to return to. Her stories are frenetic; her art scattered and unfinished, white paint on a white canvas.White on White is a sharp exploration of what it means to be truly vulnerable and laid bare.'Deeply humane, quietly devastating, mesmerisingly beautiful' Olivia Sudjic'Marvellous' Lauren Groff'Gentle, mysterious and profound' Marina Abramovic'Enthralling' Observer'An exceptionally elegant, intelligent, and original writer' Sigrid NunezTrade ReviewA deeply humane, quietly devastating, mesmerisingly beautiful masterpiece. -- Olivia SudjicWhite on White is an ambitious palette. * New York Times *[An] oddly enthralling tale about a postgrad student bearing witness to an artist's marital breakdown -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *Marvelous, as elegant as an opaque sheet of ice that belies the swift and turbulent waters beneath. -- Lauren GroffA haunting, irresistible novel. I loved this book for its depth and perception, for its beauty and eerie rhythms, but most of all for its wonderfully dream-like spell. It's breathtaking. -- Brandon Taylor

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Book Synopsis"A fun, rapid fire thriller crammed full of domestic drama. Unputdownable.” —John Marrs Luxury villas on hot white sand, views for miles over turquoise water. Flawless hostess Penny gathers guests to an island for her husband’s birthday celebrations. But she soon regrets inviting self-obsessed Eloise…When a child vanishes on the night of the party, their perfect island weekend is ripped apart. Even paradise harbours murky secrets… Has he been taken? Has he drowned? In the panic to find any trace, Penny casts about for someone to blame—even if that person is her own daughter, Rosie. Even clear waters descend to pitch black… But it’s not the first time Rosie’s been attacked by her mother. And it’s not the first time she’s turned to Eloise for support. As the sun beats down and dark secrets rise to the surface, can they find the missing child before it’s too late—or will this sudden disappearance endanger them all? …and someone among them knows the whole shocking truth.Trade Review“A fun, rapid fire thriller crammed full of domestic drama. Unputdownable.” —John Marrs “The Rip is a page turner in the truest sense. A nail-biting thriller, with a dramatic edge, Craig takes you in the minds and lives of its protagonists, before ramping up the suspense amid secrets, lies and shocking revelations. Brilliant.” —Nicole Madigan, author of Obsession “An electrifying page turner with a setting to die for. I loved it!” —Tess Woods, author of Love at First Flight “Another five star book from Holly Craig.” —Paula Johnston, author of The Lies She Told “Holly grabs the reader by throat in her new thriller, The Rip, and doesn’t let go. A page turner that will make you think twice about a holiday in paradise.” —Kerryn Maine, author of Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder “The Rip dragged me in from the first page and caught me in its current of non-stop tension and suspense.” —Sarah Ochs, author of The Dive “The Rip is a taut thriller charged with nail-biting suspense…This is a must-read.” —Josh Kemp, author of Banjawarn

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Book SynopsisMeet Charlie Savage.Charlie is a middle-aged Dubliner with an indefatigable wife, an exasperated daughter, a drinking buddy who’s realised that he’s been a woman all along … Compiled here for the first time is a whole year’s worth of Roddy Doyle’s hilarious series for the Irish Independent. Giving a unique voice to the everyday, he draws a portrait of a man – funny, loyal, somewhat bewildered – trying to keep pace with the modern world (if his knees don’t give out first).SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC WRITING 2019'A delight from start to finish' Irish Mail on SundayTrade ReviewA delight from start to finish. -- Max Davidson * Mail on Sunday *A refreshingly positive take on middle age, it’s optimistic, warm-hearted, blokishly moving and written with a master’s pin-sharp command of humour… a book that’s sure to be picked up and revisited time and time again. * Herald Scotland *More than comedy or insight, this work has tenderness… It does more than tickle our bellies, it warms our hearts. -- Niamh Donnelly * Irish Times *Brilliantly funny. Heart-warmingly, vulnerably hilarious in fact. Doyle has crafted Charlie Savage with great care and has imbued him with such depth of character that I can’t imagine a reader finishing the book without loving him, just a little… savour every page because Charlie Savage will enrich your life as long as he is in it. -- Ceire Duggan * RTE Guide *This portrait of an ordinary man (and one clearly past his best) is by turns hilarious and heartfelt. -- Rachel Lloyd * Economist, 1843 *

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Book Synopsis*** From the bestselling author of Stone Blind and A Thousand Ships ***When you open up, who will you let in?Alex Morris has lost everything: her relationship, her career and her faith in the future. Moving to Edinburgh to escape her demons, Alex takes a job teaching at a Pupil Referral Unit. It's a place for kids whose behaviour is so extreme that they cannot be taught in a regular classroom. Alex is fragile with grief and way out of her depth. Her fourth-year students are troubled and violent. Desperate to reach them, Alex turns to the stories she knows best. Greek tragedy isn't the most obvious way to win over such damaged children, yet these tales of fate, family and vengeance speak directly to them.Enthralled by the bloodthirsty justice of the ancient world, the teenagers begin to weave the threads of their own tragedy - one that Alex watches, helpless to prevent.Trade ReviewHaynes' debut is not only a gripping thriller, but also a beautifully drawn portrait of grief and how we find our way back to life. I loved it. -- Madeline Miller, author of THE SONG OF ACHILLESA handsomely structured psychological mystery, and a moving exploration of grief -- Lionel ShriverI stayed up all night to finish The Amber Fury. It's gripping and compelling, a real page-turner, written with humanity and warmth -- S.J. Watson, author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEPA gripping first novel...impossible to put down. -- Herman Koch, author of the international bestseller, THE DINNERCompelling, wise, compassionate, and devastating, Natalie Haynes' masterfully-wrought drama of rage, loss and redemption stirs both contemplation and tears. Her debut marks the arrival of a forceful, thrilling new talent -- Liz Jensen, bestselling author of THE UNINVITED and THE RAPTUREGripping and elegiac, funny and achingly sad, Haynes' tale pulls you along like a river to the falls. Hypnotic -- Joss Whedon, creator of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and screenwriter of TOY STORY

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Book SynopsisFrom one of Brazil’s rising literary stars, an acclaimed novella about the violation of a woman and a city, based on true events. It is 2014. There is euphoria in Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro. The World Cup is about to take place and the Olympics are in sight. It is a time of hope and frenzied construction. Júlia is a partner with an architectural firm working on the future Olympic village. During a break from a meeting at the town hall, she goes for a run in the hillside neighbourhood of Alto da Boa Vista. There, a man puts a revolver to her head, takes her to a secluded spot, and rapes her. Left abandoned in the woods, she drags herself home, where her boyfriend and family members are waiting for her. Vista Chinesa brings light and shadow to a city whose stunning beauty cannot conceal the most serious human and political problems, and gives voice to a story that is tragically not uncommon.Trade Review‘Visceral, haunting … her fiction is original, startling and sits somewhere between the experimental novels of Eimear McBride and Leila Slimani’s more shocking output … This is not an easy subject to write about, but Levy has pulled it off. The result is an immediate, powerful novel that should gain her talent wider recognition.’ -- Francesca Angelini * The Sunday Times *‘The novel is a searing study of the lasting effects of sexual violence, of the inadequacies of memory, and of the failures of Brazil’s political and judicial systems.’ -- Ángel Gurría-Quintana * Financial Times *‘Beautifully paced … It is a reckoning and a rebirth; an unsparing look at the consequences of gendered violence, and of the complex history of a city, a land, and a people.’ -- Catherine Taylor * The Irish Times *‘An impressive power, which takes us by storm in the first pages … as if the book were the forest itself, to accompany with extreme distress, with half-closed eyes, the maximum harshness.’ -- Julián Fuks, Brazilian writer and literary critic‘And that is what Vista Chinesa does: surviving a rape is not a shame, but a victory.’ -- Antonia Pellegrino, award-winning writer and screenwriter‘The author’s focus on a corrupted body is interesting ... A body that in the eyes of the world is just another body, but which the person who inhabits it feels as the standard of the greatest shame. The victim is once again held responsible for the actions of the abuser, a harrowing experience that Salem Levy portrays to perfection.’ -- Paula Bonet * El País *‘That is the great thing and it is what literature can do — to put into words what is unbearable … Vista Chinesa is a slim book, a stunning piece of literature, and also an image of society. Intimacy becomes public and the personal becomes political.’ * Deutschlandfunk *‘A book full of beauty, depth, and space for reflection. The author does not exploit her story, but in a sense unfolds it to analyse it, and the way she does this, with prudence, economy, and veracity, makes this slim book unusual.’ * FAZ *‘Of impressive literary brilliance.’ * Expresso *‘A must-read.’ * Elle Brazil *‘A powerful story in which the voice of the victim is magnified, and where the focus is on recovery and moving on. Between the descriptions of unspeakable aggression, there are also moments of light, warmth and love.’ * Tony's Reading List *‘Full of bravery and insight.’ -- Eric Karl Anderson * Lonesome Reader *‘Vista Chinesa is based on the experiences of Levy’s friend, Joana Jabace. Levy built up the narrative through a series of interviews. Jabace would then read what she had written and comment and, if necessary, Levy would revise. This approach gives a sense of immediacy and the account of the rape and its aftermath is shocking in its intensity. Levy’s retelling, deftly translated by Alison Entrekin, is also a powerful act of female solidarity.’ -- Lucy Popescu * Financial Times *‘[A] work of genius. This is a bold daring book that will change your life.’ * The Bobosphere *‘[T]his powerful epistolary novel is narrated by Júlia, an architect reflecting on being “torn apart” by an intimate violation amid the tumult of the city, which is rife with violent fissures of its own.’ * The New York Times *‘[Levy] makes vital fiction out of a woman’s attempt to process trauma.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘Capturing confusion, desperation, anger, and introspection, Vista Chinesa is a detailed, visceral novel in which a woman struggles to heal after surviving a sexual assault.’ * Foreword Reviews *‘A powerful and important book.’ -- Eric Karl Anderson * Lonesome Reader *Praise for The House in Smyrna: ‘Wonderful … deceptively simple prose carrying a great power of sorrow and, interestingly, hope.’ -- Ian McEwanPraise for The House in Smyrna: ‘Levy’s writing is a joy … Her prose is rich, filled with a sense of the vividness and generosity of an author’s available inspirations: the clamour of the senses, the restless truths of the body, the turns and consolations and perils of thought, the wonders of both beauty and ugliness and the meaning and architecture of words themselves.’ -- A.L. Kennedy * Granta *Praise for The House in Smyrna: ‘Teasing … Levy has crafted a puzzling, disturbing story that at times leaves the reader feeling blindfolded in a maze.’ -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisAn instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellerSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 DYLAN THOMAS AWARD''A package of dynamite'' Stephen KingPowerful, compulsive, brilliant' Marian KeyesAn era-defining novel about the relationship between a fifteen-year-old girl and her teacherALL HE DID WAS FALL IN LOVE WITH ME AND THE WORLD TURNED HIM INTO A MONSTERVanessa Wye was fifteen-years-old when she first had sex with her English teacher.She is now thirty-two and in the storm of allegations against powerful men in 2017, the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student.Vanessa is horrified by this news, because she is quite certain that the relationship she had with Strane wasn''t abuse. It was love. She''s sure of that.Forced to rethink her past, to revisit everything that happened, Vanessa has to redefine the great love story of her life her great sexual awakening as rape. Now she must deal with the possibility that she might be a victim, and just one of many.Nuanced, uncomfortable, bold and powerful, My Dark Vanessa goes straight to the heart of some of the most complex issues of our age.Trade Review‘A hard story to read and a harder one to put down … a package of dynamite’ Stephen King ‘The book that scared Weinstein’ Metro ‘Compulsive. I burned through the first half in such a fever that I lost sleep, I missed meals … a lightning rod’ Washington Post ‘A brilliant and stunning debut … utterly truth-rattling, humane in its clarity and chilling in its resonance. An absolute must-read’ Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl ‘A skilled, terrifying depiction of grooming … we should all read it’ Marian Keyes ‘Once in a while, a book comes along that consumes your waking hours, unmoors you from your lived reality, grips the very core of you and doesn’t let go. My Dark Vanessa is that book’ Esquire ‘Clever, unsettling … this novel stands out for its elusiveness, its exceedingly complex, inventive, resourceful examination of harm and power’ New Yorker ‘The #MeToo novel that’s as gripping as any thriller’ Grazia ‘Gripping and unsettling… a bracingly uncompromising book. It will doubtless be devoured with an ache of recognition by large numbers of women. But it really ought to be read by men’ Economist ‘Superb … a book that asks what we have lost and gained in an era that has revolutionised the way we think about sex and power’ Observer ‘Addictively disturbing’ Red Magazine

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Book SynopsisFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Number One New York Times bestselling author of Olive Kitteridge and My Name is Lucy Barton''A terrific writer'' Zadie Smith''A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own'' Hilary Mantel ''A novel to treasure'' Sunday TimesOlive, Again follows the blunt, contradictory yet deeply loveable Olive Kitteridge as she grows older, navigating the second half of her life as she comes to terms with the changes - sometimes welcome, sometimes not - in her own existence and in those around her.Olive adjusts to her new life with her second husband, challenges her estranged son and his family to accept him, experiences loss and loneliness, witnesses the triumphs and heartbreaks of her friends and neighbours in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine - and, finally, opens herself to new lessons about life.''A powerful storyteller immersed in the nuances of human relationships'' Observer''She gets better with each book'' Maggie O''Farrell ''Her writing is exquisite; her vision is boundless. What a sublime book.'' Rachel Joyce''Glorious'' The Times''A perfect novel'' Financial TimesElizabeth Strout''s new novel Tell Me Everything is available out now!Trade ReviewA novel to treasure... Olive, Again, like Strout's first book, delivers roughly five hours of spine-tingling pleasure. * Sunday Times *Olive, Again is a tour de force. With extraordinary economy of prose - few writers can pack so much emotion, so much emotion, so much detail into a single paragraph - Strout immerses us in the lives of her characters, each so authentically drawn as to be deserving of an entire novel themselves. Compassionate, masterly and profound, this is a writer at the height of her powers * Observer *Emotionally honest, psychologically piercing and ultimately life-affirming * The i *Her writing is exquisite; her vision is boundless. What a sublime book.A superbly gifted storyteller and a craftswoman in a league of her own. In Olive, Again, she teaches us that there is always more to know about human beings, even the ones we are closest to.There's no simple truth about human existence, Strout reminds us, only wonderful, painful complexity. 'Well, that's life,' Olive says. 'Nothing you can do about it.' Beautifully written and alive with compassion, at times almost unbearably poignant. A thrilling book in every way. * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *Strout again demonstrates her gift for zeroing in on ordinary moments in the lives of ordinary people to highlight their extraordinary resilience * Publishers Weekly, starred review *She gets better with each bookGlorious * The Times *A perfect novel * Financial Times *In Olive Kitteridge, Strout has created one of those rare characters...so vivid and humorous they seems to take on a life independent of the story framing them * Guardian *Elizabeth Strout is... one of the undisputed heavyweights of generous, clear-eyed domestic realism * Daily Mail *A special, precious book...full of hope and humanity * Red *Funny, sad, tender and truthful, this is pure joy * Stylist *A terrific writer -- Zadie Smith

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Book SynopsisDostoesky's drama of sin, guilt and redemption transmutes the sordid story of an old woman's murder by a desperate student into the nineteenth century's profoundest and most compelling philosophical novel. Grim in theme and setting, the book nevertheless seduces by its combination of superbly drawn characters, narrative brilliance and manic comedy.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA portrait, in language, of female consciousness, truer than anything written since Sappho's Fragment 31. Once you're in, you're in ... You're racing along, deep in the rhythms of the narrator's thoughts, which are bone-true and demonically intelligent -- Rachel Kushner, author of THE MARS ROOMIf I was permitted to keep one book only it would be Malina. Malina has everything -- Claire-Louise Bennett, author of PONDA writer of genius * The New York Times *Rare and strong * Los Angeles Times *It seems in Malina there is nothing Bachmann cannot do with words * New York Review of Books *A passionate tour de force * Village Voice *

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Book Synopsis Virginia Woolf''s masterpiece, now in a beautiful clothbound edition designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith''One of the most moving, revolutionary artworks of the twentieth century'' Michael CunninghamClarissa Dalloway, elegant and vivacious, is preparing for a party and remembering those she once loved. In another part of London, Septimus Warren Smith is suffering from shell-shock and on the brink of madness. Smith''s day interweaves with that of Clarissa and her friends, their lives converging as the party reaches its glittering climax. Virginia Woolf''s masterly novel, in which she perfected the interior monologue, brings past, present and future together on one momentous day in June 1923. Edited by Stella McNichol with an Introduction and Notes by Elaine ShowalterTrade ReviewOne of the few genuine innovations in the history of the novel—New YorkerOne of her greatest achievements, a book whose afterlife continues to inspire new generations of writers and readers—Guardian

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Book SynopsisThe sensational debut novel about love, friendship and finding happiness in the most unexpected places.  'It's as fun as it is thoughtful: a tender and generous novel about finding your people, getting vulnerable, and celebrating every joy - big or small.' Buzzfeed 'Elvin James Mensah's Small Joys is breathtaking and heartrending, by turns hilarious and devastating and surprising and wild. Mensah's prose makes the intangible deft and tremendous — from the balm of friendship, to the beauty of queerness, and the all-encompassing elixir of community. Tender, thrilling, and honest; Small Joys is a beam of light.' Bryan Washington, author of Memorial 'A beautiful, moving story of love, male intimacy, chosen family and finding self worth.' Paul Mendez, author of Rainbow Milk ‘I adored Sma

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Book SynopsisSteve Tesich wrote many plays and screenplays, including the Academy Award-winning Breaking Away and The World According to Garp. His first novel, Summer Crossing, was published in 1982. He died in 1996 at the age of fifty-three.Trade ReviewKaroo has all the ingredients of a truly great novel. Its plot has the pathos of a Greek tragedy and enough twists and turns to satisfy the most avid Raymond Chandler fan. The characters come alive as soon as they appear on the page. Fantastic * Literary Review *Utterly wonderful... This novel does supremely what novels were invented to do - it confronts the most unbearable sadness with a comic exhilaration that makes you almost pleased that life is tragic -- Howard JacobsonMordantly funny, unexpectedly moving and brutally honest about the business of making movies -- Richard E GrantFascinating. A real satiric invention, loaded with wise outrage -- Arthur MillerTerrific. Nakedly honest, a tour de force of self-destruction. As Saul spirals into free-fall we're with him all the way, because he's so furiously funny -- Deborah Moggach

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Book SynopsisThe General in his Labyrinth is the compelling tale of Simón Bolívar, a hero who has been forgotten and whose power is fading, retracing his steps down the Magdalena River by the Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, author of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. ''It was the fourth time he had travelled along the Magdalena, and he could not escape the impression that he was retracing the steps of his life''At the age of forty-six General Simón Bolívar, who drove the Spanish from his lands and became the Liberator of South America, takes himself into exile. He makes a final journey down the Magdalene River, revisiting the cities along its shores, reliving the triumphs, passions and betrayals of his youth. Consumed by the memories of what he has done and what he failed to do, Bolívar hopes to see a way out of the labyrinth in which he has lived all his life. . .. ''An exquisite writer, wise, compassionate Trade ReviewA fascinating tour de force and a moving tribute to an extraordinary man * Margaret Atwood *

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Book Synopsis''Fascinating, brilliant, horribly addictive'' Guardian From the day that Sheba Hart joins the staff at St George''s, history teacher Barbara Covett is convinced that she has found a kindred spirit. When Sheba is discovered having an illicit affair with one of her pupils, Barbara appoints herself Sheba''s chief defender. Yet all is not as it first appears in this dark story and as Sheba will eventually discover, a friend can be as treacherous as any lover. ''Superbly gripping'' Daily Telegraph Trade ReviewFascinating, brilliant, horribly addictive * Guardian *Superbly gripping. One of the most compelling books I've read in ages * Daily Telegraph *Deliciously sinister * Daily Mail *Excellent. An undercurrent of subtle malice, cleverly controlled by Heller * Evening Standard *Brilliant, nasty, gripping -- Zadie Smith * Observer *Reads like a nose through someone else's bathroom cabinet: full of guilty insights and delicious snobbery * Independent *A subtle study in obsession and loneliness ... my take-it-to-the-beach recommendation -- Monica Ali * Guardian Summer Reading *

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