Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction

Book Synopsis'Funny, merciless, brilliant... I loved it' CURTIS SITTENFELD, bestselling author of Romantic ComedySeamus, Fyodor, Ivan, Noah and Fatima are running out of time to decide on their futuresIn a university town in the American Midwest, this circle of lovers and friends ask themselves: what is the right thing to stake a life on? Work, love, money, dance, poetry? Is love possible without harm? And what does true connection look like in an age of precarity?The author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Real Life returns with a deeply involving new novel of young men and women trying to work out what they want, and who they are.***A DAILY TELEGRAPH AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023***'Taylor is a sharp chronicler' RAVEN LEILANI, author of Luster'Assures Taylor's position as one of the most important novelists of his generation' GUARDIANTrade ReviewAssures and deepens Taylor's position as one of the most accomplished, important novelists of his generation. He is undoubtedly on to something expansively new in his sense of what the contemporary novel can do * Guardian *I loved The Late Americans and its funny, merciless, brilliant portrayal of the beauty and pointlessness of art, and the absurdity and horror - and occasional transcendence - of being a person. Magnificent -- Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Romantic ComedyBrandon Taylor's third book is the most dazzling example of his sharp pen and keen observations of human nature... Taylor develops his characters so precisely, they feel like close friends: recognisable, sometimes infuriating, and always worth following to the book's last page * Harper's Bazaar *Taylor is a sharp chronicler of the body. In The Late Americans, the body is an instrument and an archive, vulnerable to the complicated violence of pleasure and work -- Raven Leilani, author of LusterTaylor's most accomplished book, a panorama of youth in the era of late capitalism * Guardian *Elegant... Taylor has a Chekhovian generosity that enables him to convey character with something like tenderness... The relationships move like an eighteenth-century quadrille, at once restrained and spritely... Taylor's vision is unsparing, but never bleak -- Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's ChildrenSensitive and unflinching… The Late Americans is thoroughly contemporary * Financial Times, *Books of the Year* *The Late Americans is remarkable. If you're going to write about art, the folly of pursuing it and the irrefutable power of it, you should probably do it well. Taylor does it truthfully and beautifully * Financial Times *Brandon Taylor has both a classic sensibility, expansive and elegant, and a razor-sharp ability to speak to the contemporary moment. The Late Americans is a full expression of his singular talent -- Emma Cline, author of The GirlsA dizzying plunge into the lives of young people making art in America in the era of survival capitalism, grappling over the big questions like they're fighting over a gun. Deep within their ambitions, their pettiness and lust, is the meaning and even grandeur they seek - and whether or not his characters ever find it, Brandon Taylor has. A bravura performance on the edge of a knife -- Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewAn irresistibly brilliant examination of modern conscience * The New York Times *Camus is the accused, his own prosecutor and advocate. The Fall might have been called 'The Last Judgement' -- Olivier Todd

Read more less

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 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat's this you're writing? asked Pooh, climbing onto the writing table.The Tao of Pooh, I replied.The how of Pooh? asked Pooh, smudging one of the words I had just written.The Tao of Pooh, I replied, poking his paw away with my pencil.It seems more like ow! of Pooh, said Pooh, rubbing his paw.Well, it's not, I replied huffily.What's it about? asked Pooh, leaning forward and smearing another word.It's about how to stay happy and calm under all circumstances! I yelled.Have you read it? asked PoohWinnie-the-Pooh has a certain way about him, a way of doing things that has made him the world''s most beloved bear, and Pooh''s Way, as Benjamin Hoff brilliantly demonstrates, seems strangely close to the ancient Chinese principles of Taoism.Follow the Pooh Way in this humorous and enlightening introduction to Taoism, with classic decorations by E.H.Shepard throughout. Over a million copies sold to date.This deluxe anniversary edition is a beautiful gift for any fans of this classic title or everyone's favourite bear.Trade Review‘Winnie-the-Pooh has always been a very special (albeit funny old) bear, not least of all because his books are filled with wonderful words of wisdom.', Stylist magazine "Aspects of Taoism told through the characters of 'Winnie the Pooh' – I mean, does it get better?” Meghan Markle ‘Mr. Hoff gives grown-ups permission to rediscover Winnie the Pooh’ New York Times

Read more less

Book Synopsis''The best English novel since the war'' Philip RothMagnus Pym - ranking diplomat, consummate Englishman, loving husband, secret agent - has vanished. Has he defected? Gone to ground? As the hunt for Pym intensifies, the secrets of his life are revealed: the people he has loved and betrayed, the unreliable con-man father who made him, the two mentors who moulded and shaped him, and now wish to claim this perfect spy as their own. Described by le Carré as his most autobiographical novel, A Perfect Spy is a devastating portrayal of a man who has played different roles for so long, he no longer knows who he is. ''Le Carré understood that espionage is an extreme version of the human comedy, even the human tragedy. A Perfect Spy will very likely remain his greatest book'' New YorkerTrade ReviewOne of the finest English novels of the twentieth century -- Philip Pullman

Read more less

Book SynopsisWinner of the Booker Prize, the beautiful, romantic and gorgeously philosophical Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner is part of our Penguin Essential series which spotlights the very best of our modern classics''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''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''So sure and so quietly commanding'' Hilary Mantel, GuardianTrade 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 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA BBC Two Between the Covers Pick'A tragicomic masterpiece' Daily TelegraphAll that stands between one man and murder by the mafia is a penguin.Viktor is an aspiring writer in Ukraine with only Misha, his pet penguin, for company.Although Viktor would prefer to write short stories, he earns a living composing obituaries for a newspaper. He longs to see his work published, yet the subjects of his obituaries continue to cling to life.But when Viktor opens the newspaper to see his work in print for the first time, his pride swiftly turns to terror. Viktor and Misha have been drawn into a trap from which there appears to be no escape.'A striking portrait of post-Soviet isolation... In this bleak moral landscape Kurkov manages to find ample refuge for his dark humour' New York TimesTrade ReviewA tragicomic masterpiece * Daily Telegraph *The deadpan tone works perfectly and it will be a hard-hearted reader who is not touched by Viktor's relationship with his unusual pet * The Times *A black comedy of rare dinstinction and the penguin is an invention of genius * Spectator *A chilling black comedy * Guardian *A striking portrait of post-Soviet isolation... In this bleak moral landscape Kurkov manages to find ample refuge for his dark humour * New York Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFramed as the confession of a tormented outcast who has murdered the only woman capable of understanding him, Ernesto Sabato''s The Tunnel has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by writers such as Albert Camus and Graham Greene. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by Margaret Sayers Peden with an introduction by Colm Tóibín.Infamous for the murder of Maria Iribarne, the artist Juan Pablo Castel is now writing a detailed account of his relationship with the victim from his prison cell: obsessed from the first moment he saw her examining one of his paintings, Castel had become fixated on her over the next months and fantasized over how they might meet again. When he happened upon her one day, a relationship was formed which swiftly convinced him of their mutual love. But Castel''s growing paranoia would lead him to destroy the one thing he truly cared about...Ernesto Sabato (1911-2011) was born in Rojas, a small town in Buenos Aires Province. He read physicTrade Review'An existentialist classic ... Retains a chilling, memorable power' * The New York Times Book Review *'Sabato captures the intensity of passions run into uncharted passages where love promises not tranquillity, but danger' * Los Angeles Times *Heralded by Albert Camus and Thomas Mann and widely translated, ''The Tunnel'' is the brief, obsessive, sometimes delirious confession of a convicted murderer. -- Robert Coover * New York Times Book Review *

Read more less

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 *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''One of Denmark''s most celebrated writers'' New StatesmanFrom the acclaimed author of the Copenhagen Trilogy, a searing, haunting novel of a woman on the edge, portrayed with all the vividness of lived experience. Copenhagen, 1968. Lise, a children''s book writer and married mother of three, is increasingly haunted by disembodied faces and voices. She is convinced that her husband, already extravagantly unfaithful, will leave her. Most of all, she is scared that she will never write again. Yet as she descends into a world of pills and hospitals, she begins to wonder, is insanity really something to be feared, or does it bring a kind of freedom?''Ditlevsen explores the surprising contours of Lise''s experience: from her point of view, madness can be funny, soft and secure, and far more enlightening than the reality it struggles to evade'' The New York TimesTranslated by Tiina NunnallyTrade ReviewThe fact that Ditlevsen was herself one of insanity's intimates does much to explain this book's harrowing authenticity. But The Faces - in Tiina Nunnally's very deliberate, close-to-the-nerve translation - rises above a case study because, working from the inside, Ditlevsen is able to explore the surprising contours of Lise's experience: from her point of view, madness can be funny, soft and secure, and far more enlightening than the "reality" it struggles to evade * The New York Times *A searing but never sensational account of a usually hyped theme - the struggle of the artist to do her work, without guilt about family or the outside world. Admirably without self-pity, and often ironic, Ditlevsen is a voice to heed * Kirkus *these are the best books I have read this year 'Praise for the Copenhagen Trilogy' -- John Self * New Statesman *Mordant, vibrantly confessional... A masterpiece 'Praise for the Copenhagen Trilogy' * Guardian *Wrenching sadness and pitch-black comedy ... Sharp, tough and tender 'Praise for the Copenhagen Trilogy' -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator *An inspired pick, especially for those readers whose introduction to Ditlevsen's work has been the Copenhagen Trilogy * Paris Review *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIan McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of nineteen novels and two short story collections. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; Nutshell; Machines Like Me; and Lessons. Atonement, Enduring Love, The Children Act and On Chesil Beach have all been adapted for the big screen.Trade ReviewA psychologically brilliant study of heartlessness * Sunday Telegraph *A psychologically brilliant study of heartlessness * Sunday Telegraph *One of the finest writers alive * Sunday Times *Full of gusto, straightforward, and delivers blows to the gut...shocking * Literary Review *McEwan writes here with unobtrusive panache * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFROM THE AWARD-WINNING TRANSLATORS RICHARD PEVEAR AND LARISSA VOLOKHONSKYDostoevsky''s genius is on display in this powerful existential novel.The apology and confession of a minor mid-19th-century Russian official, Notes from Underground, is a half-desperate, half-mocking political critique and a powerful, at times absurdly comical, account of man''s breakaway from society and descent ''underground''.Trade ReviewYou read every shimmering, tormented word, mesmerised. This is Dostoevsky in distillation, a prelude not just to his leading works, but to the entire 20th century... How is it possible to have a character who evokes aspects of Hitler and Pooter, who is hilarious yet disturbing, and both villain and victim? Because Dostoevsky was a genius, and the narrator of Notes From Underground his most protean character, with whom you never quite know how you stand * Sunday Times *Dostoevsky's is a genuinely disembodied voice, speaking for all sufferers and victims * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe ground-breaking cult classic about a young woman''s battle with schizophreniaWith a Foreword by Esmé Weijun Wang and an Afterword by the author''She fought them with her head and her teeth while the restraints were being tied, trying, doglike, to bite herself''Sixteen-year-old Deborah''s identity is shattering, as she retreats further and further from the ''normal'' world into her imaginary kingdom of Yr, a fantastical inner refuge both lush and horrifying. Sent to a psychiatric hospital, she must, with the help of a gifted psychiatrist, try to find a way back. Joanne Greenberg''s fictionalized autobiography became a global bestseller on publication in 1964, and remains a wrenching account of mental illness.''A rare and wonderful insight into the dark kingdom of the mind'' Chicago Tribune''Marvellous ... a courage that is sometimes breathtaking'' The New York Times Book ReviewTrade ReviewMarvelous... With a courage that is sometimes breathtaking... (Greenberg) makes a faultless series of discriminations between the justifications for living in an evil and complex reality and the justifications for retreating into the security of madness * New York Times Book Review *A rare and wonderful insight into the dark kingdom of the mind * Chicago Tribune *Intensely moving * The Spectator *

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis wonderful translation of Dream Story will allow a fresh generation of readers to enjoy this beautiful, heartless and baffling novella. Dream Story tells how through a simple sexual admission a husband and wife ware driven apart into rival worlds of erotic revenge.

Read more less

Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZEIRISH TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS, THE DALKEY LITERARY AWARDS AND THE KERRY GROUP AWARDSA BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, BIG ISSUE, i, THE ATLANTIC and LITERARY HUB'A true wonder' Max Porter'Beautifully written' GuardianIt's late one night at the Spanish port of Algeciras and two fading Irish gangsters are waiting on the boat from Tangier. A lover has been lost, a daughter has gone missing, their world has come asunder - can it be put together again?Trade ReviewA blackly comic journey into the abyss . . . Beautifully written . . . Barry is a clarvoyant narrator of the male psyche and a consistent lyrical visionary . . . What distinguishes this book beyond its humour, terror and beauty of description is its moral perception . . . It is a plunging spiritual immersion into the parlous souls of wrongful men -- Alan Warner * * Guardian * *I devoured Night Boat to Tangier. I loved the potent truth of it all, drenched in damage and romance. The Barry turn of phrase is a true wonder of this world -- MAX PORTERIt's a Kevin Barry novel, so the brilliance is expected; everything else is a brilliant surprise -- RODDY DOYLEThe novel 2019 has been waiting for - a masterpiece delivered by a glittering talent at the peak of his powers. It leaves the rest of the class looking somewhat underpowered and unambitious, perhaps even a bit shop-worn . . . If Beatlebone was his breakout work, Night Boat to Tangier should cement the Irishman's place among the literary elite * * Big Issue * *If prose were gold and diamonds there'd be thousands of hell-bent prospectors heading for the Black Hills of Kevin Barry's glistening, sparkling novel -- SEBASTIAN BARRYBarry is riding the waves with Night Boat to Tangier . . . Reminiscent of Waiting for Godot * * The Times * *I had to quit reading this book the first day I had it in my hands, just so I could have it to read the next day. It's that good -- RICHARD FORDExtremely talented creator, Kevin Barry, has a fine instinct for the sweet spot where the comforting familiarities of genre blend into the surprises and provocations of art . . . Powerfully evoked * * New York Times Book Review * *Brilliantly funny and terrifying at once, I was completely lost inside its dark craziness. Barry blends glorious voluptuous prose with entrancing storytelling -- TESSA HADLEYCaptures male friendship with rare brilliance . . . The pair's vaudevillian patter, dancing back and forth with an irrepressibly buoyant Irish rhythm, reminds you of Didi and Gogo in Beckett's Waiting for Godot, while their gleefully ominous threats of violence bristle off the page in a way that recalls Harold Pinter or Martin McDonagh . . . Startlingly good * * Independent * *Two ageing Irish drug smugglers sit in a Spanish ferry terminal trading absurd jokes and quasi-philosophical banter in this tautly written novel * * New Yorker * *A rogue gem of a novel . . . The seedy underbelly of a Spanish port and a stony Irish town are the backdrop for a story of misdeeds, madness and loss that swells with poetry and pathos -- BOOKER PRIZE JUDGES 2019Loved this! Made me nostalgic for people I've never met, places I've never been. Life distilled -- GRAHAM NORTONKevin Barry is still young, but in this novel he has found a deep and aged maturity; all the recognisable Barry phraseology and wit is still there, but there's also now a lovely melancholic kindness. Perhaps even a sentimentality, in the best sense of that word. Kevin Barry loves you; the least you can do is read this wonder of a novel -- JON McGREGORIn this latest novel, the Irish writer has almost invented a new genre, a fascinating hybrid of poetry, prose and drama . . . Mesmeric, exquisite . . . Night Boat to Tangier draws on the terrific vernacular energy in Irish English that is animating the best of Irish writing at present . . . This is a remarkably achieved novel which shows a writer in full command of the possibilities of the form * * Irish Times * *Lyrical, elegiac, taut and strange -- IAN RANKINBarry tells his grim story in Beckettian flashes of poetry . . . The relationship between Maurice and Charlie drives this often hilarious novel -- Kate Saunders * * The Times * *Lines that make me want to punch the air like I'm singing the final song from an 80s power ballad . . . Night Boat to Tangier suggests the past comes in waves, relentlessly, always different and yet always the same, and all we can put against it are the shifting sands of our present self * * Herald * *Infused with a uniquely Irish mixture of melancholy and myth, and written in a prose rich with the cadences of poetry, Barry's fifth work of fiction is witty, gritty and wise; it offers a sense of what it means to be fallible, to be human and to love. Sublime * * Irish Mail on Sunday * *Kevin Barry is one of the most original, daring, and seriously funny writers ever to come out of Ireland. I'd walk a hundred miles for a new Barry book and I would make the happy journey home, laughing -- COLUM McCANNStunning. One of the most affecting love stories I have ever come across -- MIKE McCORMACKA bloody mighty novel. It's audacious, but also it's Kevin Barry at his most tender. The novel carries a beautiful, mournful undertow to it, which is particularly affecting in a book so heavy with old myth and new poetry. May he keep twisting literature forever -- LISA McINERNEYBarry writes with real exuberance * * Sunday Times * *Barry's prose, which melds violence, profane comedy and tender lyricism, will be warmly embraced by those who read and loved the dystopian nightmare that was City of Bohane, his breakthrough book. Newcomers will, I'm sure, relish getting swept up in Barry's twisted universe for the first time * * Spectator, best summer reads for 2019 * *There's plenty of sex, drugs, death and magic in Night Boat to Tangier, but above all it is a biting, black comedy of manners, driven by the profane dance of gangster etiquette -- COLIN BARRETTBarry's ear for dialogue remains tip-top * * Daily Mail * *Thrilling * * Daily Telegraph * *Haunting . . . A sharply comic meditation on male friendship and the true cost of crime on the soul * * i, best books of 2019 * *The gods of literature, who have so much love for Ireland, are sweet on Kevin Barry -- RICHARD BEARDKevin Barry is one of the best. The essence of humanity and its many facets is buried deep in his bones, ready to be unearthed and exhibited in signature Barry style * * Irish Examiner * *One of the most abundantly talented novelists writing today * * Daily Telegraph * *Buoyant . . . Barry is such a deft and generous writer * * New York Times * *Utterly compelling . . . Reading him, I am given the feeling that I've achieved something, done something good and am being justly remunerated. The brain lights up and grins -- Niall Griffiths * * Spectator * *Kevin Barry's way with language is unique. The spring and bounce of it. The dark poetry. The cheek. And then there's the sheer joyful recklessness of his imagination. There's really no one to rival him -- RUPERT THOMSONExcellent -- DAVID NICHOLLSA desolate ferry terminal on the Spanish coast isn't a place where you'd expect to encounter sharp-edged lyricism or rueful philosophy, but thanks to the two Irish gangster antiheroes of Barry's novel, there's plenty of both on display . . . Their banter is a shield against the dark, a witty new take on Waiting for Godot * * New York Times, Books of the Year * *Heir to Beckett and O'Brien . . . Barry is a truly astonishing writer . . . Although the sheer bravado of the prose is a marvel, page after page, it is the emotive core behind it all which makes it remarkable -- Stuart Kelly * * Scotland on Sunday * *Barry, arch-divil of Irish literature and a feverishly unique mangler of the English language, is back with a third novel . . . The Barry brew of mayhem, violence and tenderness is still undeniably potent. He is out on his own in the broad scheme of things, and so much here reminds you of why this is so and what he can do when airborne * * Irish Independent * *Briskly told, in short paragraphs, with a dark wit and deftly managed suspense * * Literary Review * *Vivid * * New Statesman * *Heartfelt yet darkly hilarious and simmering with menace, written with the kind of earthy lyricism only Kevin Barry can pull off - I loved it -- PAUL HOWARTHIt is an understatement to say that nobody writes quite like Kevin Barry; in truth, there's nobody else in the same phylum. In Night Boat to Tangier you'll find all the Barry hallmarks - that inimitable style of his, both riotous and lyrical, the sly humour, and his seemingly effortless ability to create characters who spring to glorious life within a few short pages. I imagine you'll love this book just as I did, and wish, if anything, that you could spend just a little more time in the world Barry conjures -- CRAIG DAVIDSONAmong the next generation of writers - Zadie Smith, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Safran Foer and so on - the one that stands above the rest for ambition, language and sheer verve is Barry . . . If you haven't heard of him yet, you soon will. I'd wager he'll wind up with the Nobel Prize for Literature before he's done * * Evening Standard * *It's Barry's voice that propels us through the work, through paragraphs punctuated by turns of phrase that deliver little jolts of pleasure . . . Maurice and Charlie aren't just career criminals; they're comedians, philosophers, poets, and social critics. Their conversation has rhythm and snap; it's funny, lyrical, obscene, metaphysical, unflaggingly alive * * New York Review of Books * *Entertaining . . . Kevin Barry channels the music in every voice, from lowlife philosopher to slow-footed thug, ponderous wit to fluting child - and the comic genius in everyone, whether unfunny fool or God's own comedian * * Washington Post * *The work of a genuine artist: a writer who surprises and enlightens with everything he does * * Sunday Business Post * *The male codependents in his latest novel, Night Boat to Tangier, are proudly reptilian. As they announce with indecent pride, they wear excellent fucking shoes. Barry specialises in character pairings - death-driven, addicted to each other - in a way reminiscent of Beckett -- Nicole Flattery * * London Review of Books * *Deeply satisfying . . . Magical . . .Barry's narrative pacing creates and then brilliantly settles the tensions between his characters. For all readers of literary fiction * * Library Journal * *A darkly incantatory tragicomedy of love and betrayal, haunted lineage and squandered chances . . . Beautifully paced, emotionally wise. Spare in its prose, capacious in its understanding, it's as eerily attuned as his last one, Beatlebone * * Boston Globe * *Full of foreboding and of ghosts, not least that of Samuel Beckett, and is continuing proof of this writer's ability to pack more personality and mordant wit into a single sentence than most writers can manage in a novel * * Literary Hub * *You read this, and you can tell Barry doesn't take his sentences lightly. It'd kill him to mess one up. And he doesn't waste them. So what you get is his style's flawless, and yet it isn't soft. There isn't anything nice about the story, just that it's told beautifully -- NICO WALKER, author of CHERRYA meditation on love and crime, in which two elderly Irish gangsters await their reckoning in Algeciras * * i, Best Books of the Year * *One of the most gifted fiction writers to emerge from the English-speaking world in the new century * * Paris Review * *Impishly funny, shrewdly affecting, and pays elegant homage to a long literary line. Barry grows in stature with every book * * Big Issue, Books of the Year * *Arguably his finest novel to date, Kevin Barry's violent, elemental Night Boat to Tangier is set between Ireland and an atmospherically rendered Spain * * Irish Independent * *Inventive -- BENJAMIN MYERS * * Big Issue, Books of the Year * *A raw demonstration of the devastating consequences of alienation, regret and destruction that stem from a life in the world of organised crime . . . Beautifully written, in Barry's very specific lyrical style, the reader becomes heavily invested in their story and the story of all of those that they loved -- Rory Geraghty, First Secretary (Madrid) * * Irish Times * *Triumphant . . . Violent and tender, it escaped the long shadow of Beckett to create its own unforgettable dark shape -- Lee Langley * * Spectator * *The story of two Irish criminal biding their time in the Spanish port city of Algeciras, is full of foreboding and of ghosts, not least that of Samuel Beckett, and is continuing proof of this writer's ability to pack more personality and mordant wit into a single sentence than most writers can manage in a novel . . . By far one of my favorite novels of the year * * Literary Hub, Books of the Year * *Barry has a knack for dialogue . . . Night Boat to Tangier is remarkable, a novel that's both grim and compassionate, and it features gorgeous writing on every page. Barry never asks the reader to pity his characters; rather, he makes it nearly impossible not to relate to them, which is a remarkable trick -- NPRA writer of inspired prose, a funny and perceptive artist who can imbue a small story with tremendous depth . . . Night Boat to Tangier is a sad, lyrical beauty of a novel about regret, from a dependably entertaining and perceptive writer * * Star Tribune * *The pleasure to be found in this relatively short book is in the telling, plus the author's clear evocative prose that often deploys lines and paragraphs that suggest music but it's not the speedy pace of step dancing. Rather it is the sad, slow, and beautiful music of time * * Washington Times * *A bone fide Kevin Barry - it's very funny and very beautifully composed. . It's social realism, psychological realism, but with Barry's pointed wit, stupendous dialogue, and unerring tenderness -- BookmunchBarry is a writer of the first rate, and his prose is at turns lean and lyrical, but always precise * * Publishers Weekly * *Booze-soaked and lovelorn . . . with beat-perfect dialogue and the diamond-grade schlock of an HBO script . . . [with] a thousand wicked turns of phrase . . . Night Boat to Tangier is a darkly heady mood, thick enough and sweet enough to drink * * The List * *Beautifully written . . . Skilful * * Forbes * *

Read more less

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.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA Man Who Is Not A Man recounts the personal trauma of a young Xhosa initiate after a rite-of-passage circumcision goes wrong. With frankness and courage, this powerful novel details the pain and lifelong shame this protagonist experiences as a result not only of the physical trauma, but the social ostracism from being labeled 'a failed man.' He decodes the mysteries of this long-standing cultural tradition and calls to account the elders for the disintegrating support systems that allow such tragic outcomes. But it is also through this life-changing experience that the protagonist is forced to find his strength and humanity, and reassess what it really means to be a man.Trade Review"Highly original." - Nadine Gordimer "His straightforward no-frills prose tells an effective story of a botched circumcision and its consequences." - Zakes Mda, Sunday Independent "A brave book, triumphant and a testament to the indefatigable will to live." - Mail & Guardian

Read more less

Book SynopsisPlayful and experimental, James Joyce''s autobiographical A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a vivid portrayal of emotional and intellectual development. This Penguin Modern Classics edition is edited with an introduction and notes by Seamus Deane.The portrayal of Stephen Dedalus''s Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family, religion and Ireland itself, is also an oblique self-portrait of the young James Joyce and a universal testament to the artist''s ''eternal imagination''. Both an insight into Joyce''s life and childhood, and a unique work of modernist fiction, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a novel of sexual awakening, religious rebellion and the essential search for voice and meaning that every nascent artist must face in order to fully come into themselves.James Joyce (1882-1941), the eldest of ten children, was born in Dublin, but exiled himself to Pa

Read more less

Book SynopsisDean Corde is a man of position and authority at a Chicago university. He accompanies his wife to Bucharest where her mother, a celebrated figure, lies dying in a state hospital. As he tries to help her grapple with an unfeeling bureaucracy, news filters through to him of mounting problems left behind in Chicago. Corde is troubled: at home the centre is not holding firm, in Eastern Europe authority is cruel and dehumanizing.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of the few genuine innovations in the history of the novel * New Yorker *One of her greatest achievements, a book whose afterlife continues to inspire new generations of writers and readers * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat happens when the facts of history are replaced by the mysteries of love?When Raimundo Silva, a lowly proofreader for a Lisbon publishing house, inserts a negative into a sentence of a historical text, he alters the whole course of the 1147 Siege of Lisbon. Fearing censure he is met instead with admiration: Dr Maria Sara, his voluptuous new editor, encourages him to pen his own alternative history. As his retelling draws on all his imaginative powers, Silva finds – to his nervous delight – that if the facts of the past can be rewritten as a romance then so can the details of his own dusty bachelor present.Trade ReviewMarvellous, seriously witty, erotic and edgily surreal -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Sunday Times *Saramago is one of Europe's most original and remarkable writers...his writing is imbued with the spirit of comic enquiry, meditative pessimism and a quietly transforming energy that turns the indefinite into the unforgettable -- Richard Eder * Los Angeles Times *This cryptic, ingenious novel...is never dull or humourless... No candidate for [the Nobel Prize] has a better claim to lasting recognition than this novelist who was born in 1922 but was in his mid-50s before he started to publish the fiction that has won him an international reputation -- Edmund White * New York Times *A book filled with lyrical and intellectual rewards -- Bill Marx * Boston Globe *This hypnotic tale is a great comic romp through history, language and the imagination * Publishers Weekly *

Read more less

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 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new English translation of one of the most important, controversial Iranian novels of the twentieth centuryWinner of the 2023 Lois Roth Persian Translation Award A Penguin ClassicWritten by one of the greatest Iranian writers of the twentieth century, Blind Owl tells a two-part story of an isolated narrator with a fragile relationship with time and reality. In first person, the narrator offers a string of hazy, dreamlike recollections fueled by opium and alcohol. He spends time painting the exact same scene on the covers of pen cases: an old man wearing a cape and turban sitting under a cypress tree, separated by a small stream from a beautiful woman in black who offers him a water lily. In a one-page transition, the reader finds the narrator covered in blood and waiting for the police to arrest him. In part two, readers glimpse the grim realities that unlock the mysteries of the first part. In a new translation that reflects Hedayat’s converTrade Review“a much-needed and clear translation”—Amir-Hussein Radjy, The New York Times“The eerie, phantasmal Blind Owl…possesses the fully dimensional oddness of a vivid dream, which one can mine for interpretations, analyze for influences or simply submit to.”—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

Read more less

Book SynopsisSaul Bellow''s Herzog is part confessional, part exorcism, and a wholly unique achievement in postmodern fiction. Is Moses Herzog losing his mind? His formidable wife Madeleine has left him for his best friend, and Herzog is left alone with his whirling thoughts - yet he still sees himself as a survivor, raging against private disasters and the myriad catastrophes of the modern age. In a crumbling house which he shares with rats, his head buzzing with ideas, he writes frantic, unsent letters to friends and enemies, colleagues and famous people, the living and the dead, revealing the spectacular workings of his labyrinthine mind and the innermost secrets of his troubled heart.This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Malcolm Bradbury''Spectacular ... surely Bellow''s greatest novel''Malcolm Bradbury''A masterpiece ... Herzog''s voice, for all its wildness and strangeness and foolishness, is the voice of a civiliTrade ReviewThe character of Herzog is Bellow's grandest creation, and his mind is as rich as the mind of any character in American literature -- Philip RothSpectacular ... surely Bellow's greatest novel -- Malcolm BradburyA writer of genius * Sunday Times *Nobody else has ever sat down and wallowed to this extent in his own life, with full art -- John Berryman

Read more less

Book SynopsisColin Barrett grew up in County Mayo, Ireland. His stories have been published in the Stinging Fly, Granta, Harper's and the New Yorker. His first book, the short story collection Young Skins, won the Guardian First Book Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His second collection, Homesickness, made the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year and was a Book of the Year in Oprah Daily and the Irish Times.Trade ReviewSublime… Wild Houses is a thrillingly moreish novel with some of the sharpest dialogue I’ve read in any recent debut and characters who held me captive until the very last page * Sunday Times *A delicate and beautiful book about the lives of lonely people... Page after faultless page, Wild Houses is a sheer joy to read... Colin Barrett's the real deal, but then we knew that already * Irish Times *So consistently witty and inventive that one struggles to think of recent novels that could stand up to comparison * Guardian, *Book of the Day* *With a thrillerish intensity… Barrett expertly handles the combination of narrative-driving dialogue, exhilarating action scenes and quieter moments designed to build tension… I was unable to put Wild Houses down * Times Literary Supplement *After years of short stories, Barrett’s transition to the longer span of the novel is confidently done. Descriptive set pieces are linked and expanded, yet every paragraph is created with care * Financial Times *Barrett’s superb debut novel deepens the world of his two short-story collections… The novel has the tension of a gritty noir thriller and the comic menace of a Pinter play * New Statesman *Barrett can sustain a narrative across a novel without sacrificing the panache and precision that has made him one of the most stylish fiction writers at work today. His prose is a delight from the first page * i *Wild Houses realises life in full and without pity... A palpable sense of human eccentricity, and endurance, is always there, just beneath the surface * Daily Telegraph *Until now, Colin Barrett has made his name as an artist of the short story… Wild Houses is a delight, with a wider space for his talent to spread and for his acutely observed characters to linger * Spectator *This strange and beautiful novel brings to life an entire world. Wild Houses is a book not just to read but to live inside -- Sally Rooney, author of Normal PeopleSharp and affecting, expansive and playful, Barrett has written a gorgeous novel filled with gorgeous sentences. A dream to read, and no doubt destined to be one of the novels of the year -- Michael Magee, author of Close to HomeColin Barrett quietly, insistently, writes so deeply into his characters you could reach out and touch them. Wild Houses is a gift of true storytelling and Barrett’s talent burns up the page -- Anne Enright, author of The Wren, The WrenVivid, controlled, very funny, and very moving - Barrett has the kind of pure writing chops that are vanishingly rare -- Kevin Barry, author of Night Boat to TangierFunny, engrossing, and told with masterful technique * Daily Mail *Wild Houses is a wonder of a novel - crackling with tension and gifted with fine, strong language. Colin Barrett is a superb storyteller, and this is a tale for the ages -- Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe new novel from Salley Vickers, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Librarian and Grandmothers Artist, Hassie Days, and her sister, Margot, buy a run down Jacobean house in Hope Wenlock on the Welsh Marches. While Margot continues her London life in high finance, Hassie is left alone to work the large, long-neglected garden. She is befriended by eccentric, sharp-tongued, Miss Foot, who recommends, Murat, an Albanian migrant, made to feel out of place among the locals, to help Hassie in the garden.As she works the garden in Murat''s peaceful company, Hassie ruminates on her past life: the sibling rivalry that tainted her childhood and the love affair that left her with painful, unanswered questions.But as she begins to explore the history of the house and the mysterious nearby wood, old hurts begin to fade as she experiences the healing power of nature and discovers other worlds.In her haunting new novel, Salley Vickers, the Trade ReviewSalley Vickers sees with a clear eye and writes with a light hand. She's a presence worth cherishing -- Philip PullmanThe Gardener is a novel of regrowth & regeneration, of sisters overcoming a toxic parental legacy & of the healing power of seed packets -- Patrick GaleSteeped in a sense of the redemptive power of place, Sally Vickers's 11th novel is a paean to green-fingered regeneration that is both rigorous and charming * Observer *Vickers writes of relationships with undaunted clarity -- Adam PhillipsNo one can dig down into the shrouded recesses of the human heart quite as forensically as Vickers * Sunday Times *An escapist, involving novel about relationships and two siblings coming to terms with their childhood and each other * Saga *With its sensitively drawn characters, this is a quiet and intelligent hymn to the restorative power of nature. Delightful * Mail on Sunday *The bestselling author of Miss Garnet's Angel and The Librarian, Vickers has been a Jungian therapist and her novels have always featured personal growth and transformation. This is no exception, as Hassie weathers bereavement, abreak-up and midlife despair, but finds a sense of new beginnings and a feeling for the power of place. It also has some sharp social observation about the reality of moving out to the sticks in post-Brexit Britain * Sunday Times *Salley Vickers is skilled at transforming the everyday into something haunting. This tale of a woman's search for inner peace is no exception * Daily Express *Profoundly moving, healing and wise, this is the perfect antidote to our urban anxiety -- Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat

Read more less

Book SynopsisLucy, a teenage girl from the West Indies, comes to North America to work as an au pair for Lewis and Mariah and their four children. At first glance Lewis and Mariah are a blessed couple – handsome, rich, and seemingly happy. Almost at once, however, Lucy begins to notice cracks in their beautiful facade.With a mixture of anger and compassion, Lucy scrutinizes the privileged, facile world of her employers while comparing it to the vivid realities of her home in the Caribbean. Lucy has no illusions about her own past, but neither is she prepared to be deceived about where she presently is.In this environment a new person unfolds: passionate, sexually forthright, and disarmingly honest. In Lucy, Jamaica Kincaid has created a startling new character: a captivating heroine possessed with clear-sightedness and ferocious integrity.Part of the Picador Collection, a new series showcasing the best of modern literature.Trade ReviewBeautifully precise prose . . . It leaves the reader with the unforgettable experience of having met a ferociously honest woman on her own uncompromising terms * New York Times *Brilliant . . . Lucy confirms Ms. Kincaid as a both a daughter of Bronte and Woolf and her own inimitable self * Wall Street Journal *A furious, broken-hearted gem of a novel . . . Part of the richness of this book is the way we come to see, as Lucy struggles to do, the connections between those of us who have too much and those who will never have enough - and between 'a sentence for life' (what can't be changed in the self) and that which can be wrestled with and, at least, understood * San Francisco Chronicle *What a writer – elegant, uncompromising, simultaneously direct and layered and complex. * Ali Smith *I’ve read everything by Jamaica Kincaid, and I’ve still never read anyone like her. If you are new to Kincaid, I envy you. -- Jackie kay

Read more less

Book SynopsisSamantha Harvey is the author of the novels Orbital, The Wilderness, All is Song, Dear Thief and The Western Wind and a work of non-fiction, The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping. Orbital was the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, and her other work has been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award, the Women's Prize, the Guardian First Book Award and the Walter Scott Prize. The Wilderness was awarded the Betty Trask Prize. She is a tutor on the MA course in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.Trade ReviewBrave and intelligent...a mesmerising work * Independent *A stunning composition of human fragility and intensity * Guardian *An extraordinary dramatisation of a mind in the process of disintegration ... Brilliant - read it now, before it scoops up all the prizes * The Times *Touches a resounding chord of melancholy. The author, whose debut this is, is very talented * Evening Standard *This is a finely written ode to memory, identity and love * Financial Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDuring his lifetime Bukowski published more than forty-five books of poetry and prose including the novels Post Office (1971) and Factotum (1975). He is one of America's most distinctive writers and a voice for both the outsider and low life Americana.Trade Review1A poem about love and pain. - Los Angeles Times2A laureate of American low life. - Time3One of those writers whom each new reader discovers with a transgressive thrill - New Yorker4The ultimate Bukowski novel, packed with hilarious episodes - Uncut * - *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Addictive'' Stylist''Sultry'' Elle''Shimmers with suspense'' Daily Mail''Sizzling'' EsquireSummer in Paris. Leah, bored of tedious dead-end jobs, is intrigued to spot a job advert posted by the famous author Michael Young: ''Writer Seeks Assistant''.After an unconventional interview, Michael invites Leah to spend summer in the south of France with his family. But as she begins her work transcribing his diaries of his debauched youth in 1960s Soho, the lines of past and present, truth and deceit, begin to blur, and Leah has to question what it is that Michael really sees in her.A novel that challenges us to both question what we see, and what others see in us. ''A devastatingly compelling new voice in literary fiction'' Louise O''Neill''Devastatingly witty, compulsively readable . . . like Sally Rooney meeting Martin Amis in PariTrade ReviewTense and sultry... addictive... With a complicated love triangle, glamorous settings, a cast of enigmatic characters and a mystery that will keep you guessing right until the end, it's a genuinely thrilling summer holiday read * Stylist *For fans of Naoise Dolan's Exciting Times, this is a sultry antidote to our Groundhog Year * Elle 'Dazzling Debuts' *A sultry novel that shimmers with suspense and a strong sense of period and time * Daily Mail *A smart and sticky exploration of memory, class, ambition and desire -- Chloë AshbyIf your hopes of heading to Provence this summer are looking in jeopardy, Francesca Reece's sizzling summer debut is a one way ticket to the South of France . . . As the title suggests, it's a story about the ways men and women watch one another, and the things we project onto people when we're only seeing what we want to see * Esquire *Unsettling, addictive, and razor-sharp, Francesca Reece is a devastatingly compelling new voice in literary fiction -- Louise O'NeillA sultry, summery book . . . devastatingly witty, compulsively readable . . . like Sally Rooney meeting Martin Amis in Paris -- Francine Toon, author of PINESet to rule the literary summer * Sunday Times Style *Voyeur is a salty, sultry exploration of desire and aspiration. It fractures fragile masculinity and illuminates the traces of the past in the present. It is wry, funny and wild, yet warns us of the dangers of a singular narrative and shows us the importance of being the protagonist of your own story -- Jessica Andrews, author of SALTWATERFrom Paris to the South of France, with narrative strands that wind beautifully through London's Soho and the hot streets of Athens, Voyeur seems as though it may be your standard airport novel: scandals in sunny climes. But Francesca Reece's stirring debut is much more than the sum of its wanderlust parts * Harper's Bazaar *A smart and atmospheric debut, VOYEUR explores class, memory and the male gaze * Big Issue North *A gripping debut * Irish Examiner *An idyllic villa by the sea in the south of France is the setting for much of VOYEUR, a smart debut novel from Francesca Reece * The Gloss *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh is a moving story of hope and forgiveness, and an international bestseller.The Victorians used flowers to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. For Victoria Jones, flowers and their meanings are her only connection to the world - although for her, they are most useful in expressing feelings such as grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood in the foster care system, Victoria - now eighteen - has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes a meeting with a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realize what's been missing in her own life. As she starts to fall for him, though, she must confront a painful secret from her past - and decide whether itTrade ReviewMarvellous * Sunday Times *A unique and fascinating debut * Good Housekeeping *Captivating * Woman and Home *Moving and beautifully written * Sunday Telegraph *Instantly entrancing * Elle *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING WORLDWIDE PHENOMENONREADERS' MOST LOVED BOOK OF 2021WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR FICTIONBetween life and death there is a library.When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?Trade ReviewA beguiling read, filled with warmth and humour, and a vibrant celebration of the power of books to change lives * * Sunday Times * *A beautiful fable, an It's a Wonderful Life for the modern age - impossibly timely when we are all stuck in a world we wish could be different -- JODI PICOULTA celebration of life's possibilities . . . A beautiful concept . . . Charming * * Guardian * *A rare and welcome light of hope and wisdom in the darkness -- JOANNE HARRISA wonderful story . . . Such a beautiful book to get lost in -- Zoe Ball, BBC Radio 2I can't describe how much his work means to me. So necessary . . . The king of empathy -- JAMEELA JAMILWarm and humorous * * The Times * *A brilliant premise and great fun to have so many stories within one book * * Daily Mail * *Amazing and utterly beautiful, The Midnight Library is everything you'd expect from the genius storyteller who is Matt Haig -- JOANNA CANNONAbsorbing . . . A vision of limitless possibility, of new roads taken, of new lives lived, of a whole different world available to us somehow, somewhere, might be exactly what's wanted in these troubled and troubling times * * New York Times * *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''Wonderful, life-saving ... places Russell Hoban among the greatest, timeless novelists'' The TimesBorn to swim thousands of miles in the ocean, the giant sea turtles are now trapped in a tank of golden-green water at London Zoo. But not for much longer. Two lonely people, a bookseller and a children''s illustrator, have begun thinking turtle thoughts. As they come together to hatch a plan to release the turtles into the sea, their diaries reveal how they find their own lives changing in imperceptible and quite unintended ways.''Crackles with witty detail, mordant intelligence and self-deprecating irony'' Time''This lovely human fable seems to me one of the best things of its kind - a fine and touching achievement'' John FowlesTrade ReviewRussell Hoban is our Ur-novelist, a maverick voice that is like no other. * Sunday Telegraph *Worth rejoicing in ... a banquet of whimsical delights. Each Russell Hoban book is surprising ... but you also know what you're getting, which is curiosity, wonder and a world-encompassing empathy. -- John Self * The Guardian *This wonderful, life-saving fantasy places Russell Hoban where he has got to be - among the greatest, timeless novelists. * The Times *Crackles with witty detail, mordant intelligence and self-deprecating irony. * Time *[Turtle Diary] has medicinal qualities. I only need to think about it and I'm in a better mood. -- Max PorterA story about the recovery of life ... Like other cult writers - Salinger for instance, or Vonnegut - Hoban writes about ordinary people making life-affirming gestures in a world that threatens to dissolve in madness. * Newsweek *This lovely human fable seems to me one of the best things of its kind - a fine and touching achievement. -- John FowlesTragicomic pleasure ... Metaphysical speculation undercut by dry humour is the signature style of Russell Hoban. -- Richard Preston * The Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTHE TIMES NOVEL OF THE YEARA GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2022A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BOOK OF THE YEAR'It takes the most ferocious intelligence, skill, and a deep reservoir of sadness to write a novel as funny as this. I adored it' - Meg Mason, author of Sorrow & Bliss'A devastating treat of a novel: funny, furious, dark and delicious' - Sarah Waters, author of FingersmithMeet the Hanrahan family, gathering for a momentous weekend as famous artist and notorious egoist Ray Hanrahan prepares for a new exhibition of his art – the first in many decades – and one he is sure will burnish his reputation for good.His three children will be there: beautiful Leah, always her father’s biggest champion; sensitive Patrick, who has finally decided to strike out on his own; and insecure Jess, the youngest, who has her own momentous decision to make . . .And what of Lucia, Ray’s steadfast and selfless wife? She is an artist, too, but has always had to put her roles as wife and mother first. What will happen if she decides to change? For Lucia is hiding secrets of her own, and as the weekend unfolds and the exhibition approaches, she must finally make a choice.The longer the marriage, the harder truth becomes . . .The Exhibitionist is the extraordinary fifth novel from Charlotte Mendelson, a dazzling exploration of art, sacrifice, toxic family politics, queer desire, and personal freedom. 'Delicious, heartbreaking . . . Fabulously written and utterly compelling' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown-UpsTrade ReviewIn The Exhibitionist Mendelson brings a forensic eye to family dynamics, laying bare the agonies of rage, frustration and longing that lie just beneath the surface of domestic life. The result is a devastating treat of a novel: funny, furious, dark and delicious -- Sarah Waters, bestselling author of FingersmithIt takes the most ferocious intelligence, skill, and a deep reservoir of sadness to write a novel as funny as this. I adored it -- Meg Mason, bestselling author of Sorrow & BlissA delicious, heartbreaking family snapshot about thwarted ambition, misplaced loyalty and good and bad love. Secrets abound. Fabulously written and utterly compelling -- Marian Keyes, bestselling author of Grown-UpsMendelson is a master at family drama, and plots don’t get much more dramatic than this . . . Exhilarating * The Times *Soul-scouringly good -- Nigella LawsonSex, desire, deep-seated marital resentment, monstrous artists, determined wives: it's a delicious, piquant comedy of manners, and Mendelson's serrated prose will have you wincing at every word * Daily Mail *Like Katherine Heiny and Maria Semple, Mendelson is skilled at rendering the grotesque fascinating . . . It is also funny; so funny . . . Reading The Exhibitionist is like eating a rich, delicious and wildly elaborate cream cake. You know you'll regret devouring the whole thing at once, but it's very hard to stop * The i *One of the funniest writers in Britain . . . [The Exhibitionist] is so devoid of secondhand sentences that it’s quite possible [Mendelson] spent all nine years since its predecessor polishing her jokes and turning phrases round until they shine . . . A precision of observation that made me laugh frequently and smile when I wasn’t laughing * The Guardian *Electric . . . and has a hint of HBO's Succession . . . The Exhibitionist is both a roiling family drama and a chilling portrait of enmeshment, coercive control and enabled addiction -- Madeleine Feeney * The Sunday Telegraph *Unutterably brilliant -- Lucy WorsleyA deliciously evocative novel laced with sex and art -- Financial TimesA magnificent book, witty and furious and not a word out of place. I am obsessed -- Elizabeth Macneal, bestselling author of The Doll Factory and Circus of WondersExceptional * Woman & Home *A compulsive distillation of artistic ego, midlife passion and family dysfunction . . . Hilarious, sexy and thoughtful * Mail on Sunday *A devastating, blackly comic portrait of middle-class dysfunction . . . A fine and haunting book -- Sarah Moss * Guardian *A truly wonderful novel, and a funny and wise one, too; the individual components sparkle, the whole movement beguiles -- Sunjeev Sahota, author of 2021 Man Booker-longlisted The China RoomI don't think I've ever read anything that is simultaneously so elegant and so propulsive - every single sentence Charlotte Mendelson writes is arrestingly powerful. I think this book is beautiful, but it's also funny, furious, sexy, blissfully hot and cold and wild in its rage -- Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable The unhappy Hanrahans fall apart, their story playing out with devastating, exuberant glee . . . Honest and frenetically paced, this is a painfully funny look at art, ambition and damaging family dynamics * Sunday Express (S Magazine) *Mendelson's great success is to make the endless sacrifices, self-conscious denials and forbidden emotions of the Hanrahans heartbreakingly relatable . . . The Exhibitionist is an undeniable success * Literary Review *Sharp and sad, witty and hopeful, as with all Mendelson’s work, The Exhibitionist is both forensically aware of all the flaws of humanity but also able to be forgiving and compassionate -- Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of Everyone Is Still AliveA welcome return for the chronicler of family secrets, with a tale of art, ego and marriage * Guardian *The blackly amusing story of how [Lucia] finds her voice and rediscovers her sexuality in midlife is hilariously traced here by one of my favourite waspish writers -- Mariella Frostrup * Sunday Times *A treat . . . Excoriating observation of the art world, crazy toxic family intrigues, wit, wisdom and brilliant writing -- Muriel GrayCharlotte Mendelson has created a magnificently monstrous character . . . It's finely observed, witty and incredibly tense * The Times (Summer Reads Picks) *Longlisted for the Women's Prize, this is a darkly funny portrait of a dysfunctional family bent out of shape over decades by its narcissistic artist patriarch -- and of what happens when his wife will no longer squahs her own creative energies. Wise, waspish and emotionally astute, it's addictive reading * Guardian (Summer Books) *Read it for the characters (some you’ll love, some you’ll want to shake!), who I missed when I finished this funny family drama * Good Housekeeping (Best Summer Reads) *A masterful observation of the privileged corners of the art world: power dynamics, narcissistic tendencies and ego-boosting exhibitions * The Big Issue *In this excoriating spin on the bourgeois Hampstead novel, a portrait of an artistic marriage in free fall doubles as a savagely funny take-down of male entitlement * Telegraph's 50 Best Books of 2022 *The Times Book of the Year . . . A superb and eccentric family comedy, set across a single weekend. But it’s also really, horribly dark in its depiction of cruelty and crushing love. -- Susie Goldsbrough * The Times *The Exhibitionist is the funniest novel I read this year. It is one of those rare books that could be driven purely on the strength of its witty, flexible sentences, even if there wasn't an emotional payload and (a bit of) a plot. It will delight anyone who takes pleasure in words, and what is reading but taking pleasure in words? -- John Self * The Critic (Fiction Books of the Year) *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA rapturous novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world'A rich novel of ideas' GUARDIAN'A tasty treat' iNEWS'A genius balance of page-turning and lyrical prose' INDEPENDENT'A sharp, sensual piece of art. When I read I'm always searching for pleasure, for the want, and this book helped me feel something' RAVEN LEILANI'It's rare to read anything that feels this unique. A richly imagined, ambitious, and haunting novel' GABRIELLE ZEVIN'Truly exceptional' ROXANE GAYA smog has spread. Food crops are disappearing. A chef escapes her career in London to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world's troubles. There, her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch and her own body.In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and seductive violence, the chef's boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in alluring language, Land of Milk and Honey is a striking novel about food, sex and the intricacies of desire and longing.Praise for C Pam Zhang:'A blazing writer' Daisy Johnson'Truly gifted' Sebastian Barry'An arrestingly original writer' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewTruly superb -- Douglas StuartA brilliant, near-future fairytale, LAND OF MILK AND HONEY is the most sensuous novel about food I've ever read -- Emma DonoghueIt’s a captivating story that is alien without being too far-fetched. Zhang’s writing is laden with metaphors – particularly around food and sex – and while this could risk being overwritten, it fits the story perfectly. It’s a genius balance of page-turning storytelling and lyrical prose * Independent *Sensual . . . This is a rich novel of ideas, insisting on moral complexity in the end times. It’s also a startling prose hymn to food and sex, love and violence, power and resistance * Guardian *Zhang constructs an unsettling, vertiginous world. Her ornate style reflects the opulence her characters guard so closely, her command of sensory language is impressive, and it’s hard not be mesmerised by prose that is as rich and as startling as the food her protagonist prepares * Observer *It's rare to read anything that feels this unique. A richly imagined, ambitious, and haunting novel -- Gabrielle ZevinLand of Milk and Honey is truly exceptional -- Roxane GayZhang writes with the same fierce artistry, vivid detail and microscopic precision that would make even her own Michelin-star characters proud – an exceptionally and uniquely written tale of greed, optimism and the pursuit of perfection in the face of scarcity -- Sofia AkelLand of Milk and Honey is a sharp, sensual piece of art. Zhang writes about the appetites of the body, the uneasy coexistence of scarcity and plenty, and the pleasure and debasement of what is surrendered to survive. This is an incredible exploration of whether it is possible to preserve one's art when answering to a master that is not yourself. When I read I'm always searching for pleasure, for the want, and this book helped me feel something -- Raven LeilaniLand of Milk and Honey is as much a parable as a novel about the murky morals of the 0.1 per cent club. Required reading for them and a tasty treat for everyone else * iNews *No one writes like C. Pam Zhang. Ferocious, sensual, and all consuming, Land of Milk and Honey is both a heartsick elegy for a world we are on the verge of losing and vibrant homage to pleasure and appetite. This book swallowed me whole and spit me out changed in the best way: buzzing, astonished, and alive -- Rachel KhongThis is an astounding book -- Caleb Azumah NelsonA brilliant, all-too-prescient novel. Extraordinary in its prose, vision, and power, Land of Milk and Honey is a triumph of a book to devour now and to treasure through the ages -- R.O. KwonA twelve-course feast for the senses and intellect. C Pam Zhang is one of the most talented novelists writing today, and she has given us a novel that is original and painful and sensuous, a honey-and-acid tasting menu exploring pleasure, loss, sex, power, and resurrection -- Sarah Thankam MathewsA dazzling, virtuosic meditation on seeking joy amid tragedy, beauty amid ruin. As hypnotic as it is profound, Land of Milk and Honey showcases C Pam Zhang's singular talent -- Kirstin ChenGorgeous. What a delicious world Zhang has created-full of so much wonder. I'll be thinking for a long time about what this novel says about desire and morality; what it means to try to stave off extinction of oneself and world; what happens when we are forced to reckon with the lies we've spent years telling ourselves -- Kat ChowC Pam Zhang is an intoxicating and fearless prose stylist who seems to invent a new language with each book. . . the incantatory rhythms of desire that power [the novel] serve us horror and pleasure in each bite -- Meng JinIntoxicating, timely, and beautifully written. Pam Zhang's exquisite prose and prodigious talents are pushed to their brink in her new, dazzling novel -- Jamil Jan KochaiAn extremely atmospheric novel about the interplay of environmental destruction and class. The bittersweet aftertaste will leave you considering what you’d be willing to do — or resist doing — to experience the most essential pleasure * The Washington Post *

Read more less

Book Synopsis**AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4**An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home.She's drawn into simmering personal dramas. Her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage.Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister.And she's pulled into an explosive political controversy when she's asked to interpret for a former president accused of war crimes.She is soon pushed to the precipice, where betrayal and heartbreak threaten to overwhelm her, forcing her to decide what she wants from her life.One of Barack Obama's Favourite 2021 ReadsA New York Times Top 10 Book of 2021'One of my favourite novels of the past few years' Caleb Azumah Nelson'Captivating' Elif Shafak'Charged with tension and power' Avni Doshi'Simply stunning' Brandon Taylor'Gorgeous' Raven LeilaniTrade ReviewIntimacies is a novel about the ruthlessness of power, the check of virtue, and the purportedly neutral bureaucracy meant to mediate between them. Katie Kitamura is among the most brilliant and profound writers at work today; she reminds me how high the moral stakes of fiction can be. * Garth Greenwell *The thrill of Intimacies is in the taut precision of its language, which rings and hums off the page. It's forensic and inquiring, but also bright and alive. You forget to breathe while reading it, and feel with each crafted sentence, each building thought, that you're in the company of a magnificent writer. * Samantha Harvey *Katie Kitamura writes about being an outsider like no other author. Quiet moments are charged with tension and power. In short, the book is remarkable - beautifully written and intelligent. * Avni Doshi *Intimacies is a perfect novel-taut and seductive. Kitamura has made the existential thriller all her own, and she effortlessly negotiates the personal and the geopolitical with a complex moral nuance. Simply stunning. * Brandon Taylor *Katie Kitamura's Intimacies - she's an incredible writer. It's fiction and a really beautiful exploration of how we can live everyday life while complete horrors and atrocities are happening in the world - how both things coexist. -- Natalie Portman * Vogue *

Read more less

Book SynopsisKurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922 and studied biochemistry at Cornell University. An army intelligence scout during the Second World War, he was captured by the Germans and witnessed the destruction of Dresden by Allied bombers, an experience which inspired his classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five. After the war he worked as a police reporter, an advertising copywriter and a public relations man for General Electric. His first novel Player Piano (1952) achieved underground success. Cat's Cradle (1963) was hailed by Graham Greene as 'one of the best novels of the year by one of the ablest living authors'. His eighth book, Slaughterhouse-Five was published in 1969 and was a literary and commercial success, and was made into a film in 1972. Vonnegut is the author of thirteen other novels, three collections of stories and five non-fiction books. Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007.Trade ReviewVonnegut performs considerable complex magic... Fresh, funny, outrageous...he very nearly levitates * New York Times *He’s just so fucking amazing. Everyone should read Vonnegut. -- Tim MinchinA great deal of wit and playfulness...an entire universe of disorder is distilled * Guardian *Outrageous, witty, thought-provoking, unputdownable, scintillating, invigorating, ennobling, enlightening and masterly * Spectator *Brilliant... It seems, at times, as if Voltaire has returned to satirise the horrors of plastic, disposable America * Sunday Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn ISOBEL''S WEDDING from no. 1 bestselling author Sheila O''Flanagan, Isobel faces every bride-to-be''s worst nightmare. Not to be missed by readers of Freya North and Veronica Henry. Four hundred and twenty pearls hand-sewn onto the wedding dress. The Mediterranean honeymoon booked for months. A pile of presents bigger than Everest. And her lovely Tim, the most perfect bridegroom a girl could wish for.Except, two weeks before the wedding, he changes his mind... Isobel''s wedding is off. Her world in tatters, Isobel turns to Spain, a new job, a new life and as many men as she can decently manage. Including the very appealing Nico with whom, she feels, there could be a long-term future. But part of Isobel knows that she will have to go back home some day. And that, despite all that''s happened since she left, she still has unfinished business...What readers are saying about Isobel''s Wedding: ''The best book I have ever read. I wish Sheila O''Flanagan would write another novel about Isabel as she was such a fantastic, normal, real character'' Amazon reviewer, 5 stars''Fabulous! Not only do I feel like I was taken on a stunning journey through Madrid, but the ending was spot on. I just wanted more, more, more!'' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars''A great novel with an unbelievable ending'' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars''I would strongly recommend this to anyone looking for a compelling and light-hearted funny book'' Amazon reviewer, 5 starsTrade Review'Another fantastic book' * Irish News *'The Sheila O'Flanagan guarantee is a pretty powerful one' * Irish Independent *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBret Easton Ellis is the author of several novels, including Imperial Bedrooms, Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho, Glamorama and Lunar Park, and a collection of stories, The Informers. Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, American Psycho and The Informers have all been made into films. His first work of non-fiction, White, was published in 2019. He is the host of the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast available on Patreon. He lives in Los Angeles.Trade ReviewAn enormously entertaining novel, powered by a celebratory fun entirely absent in the writing of the generation of American writers who succeeded Ellis. * Independent *Great emotional complexity and depth . . . it’s a very interesting ride with an always interesting novelist – and, as such, is one worth taking. * The Times *Sharply observed, insidiously disquieting and extremely funny. * Literary Review *A triumphant piece of storytelling from a rebel whose work is controversial precisely because its sinister themes are so dexterously written. -- Chris Cleave * Sunday Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA daring work of experimental, Modernist genius, James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is one of the greatest literary achievements of the twentieth century, and the crowning glory of Joyce's life. The Penguin Modern Classics edition of includes an introduction by Seamus Deane'riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs'Joyce's final work, Finnegan's Wake is his masterpiece of the night as Ulysses is of the day. Supreme linguistic virtuosity conjures up the dark underground worlds of sexuality and dream. Joyce undermines traditional storytelling and all official forms of English and confronts the different kinds of betrayal - cultural, political and sexual - that he saw at the heart of Irish history. Dazzlingly inventive, with passages of great lyrical beauty and humour, Finnegans Wake remains one of the most remarkable works of the twentieth cent

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Duncan brings a new way of seeing to the world of prose' Irish Times Michael has been away from Ireland for most of his life and lives alone in Bilbao after the death of Catherine, his girlfriend. Each day he listens to two versions of the same piece of music before walking the same route to visit Richard Serra's enormous installation, The Matter of Time, in the Guggenheim. As he walks, his thoughts circle around the five-year period of mental agitation spent in Leipzig with Catherine. This 'sabbatical', caused by the stress of his job and the suicide of a former colleague, splits his career as an engineer into two distinct parts. Intensely realistic, mapped out like Michael's intricate drawings, this is a novel of precision and beguiling intelligence.Trade ReviewHe brings a mixture of the exact and the visionary . . . an original voice, a writer who has come to recreate the world on his own terms. * Colm Toibin *One of the most important, original and intriguing writers working now -- Niamh Campbell , author of We Were HappyA book such as W.G. Sebald might have written, had he been an Irish Engineer. A quietly compelling novel from a writer of real daring and poise -- Vona Groarke, author of Other People's HousesHaunting and devastating * Dublin Review of Books *Duncan has a sensibility and a course of investigation utterly his own -- Rob Doyle , author of ThresholdDuncan brings a new way of seeing to the world of prose * Irish Times *Its plainspoken, obsessive commitment to life as an engineering project makes no attempt to bring the reader into a blunt-edged or humanist vision of engineer-as-symbol. It's far, far more intelligent than that. * Niamh Campbell *Delightfully weird ... conjuring a deep and strange sense of stillness * Sunday Times *Highly satisfying to read * Buzz Magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA key work in the German ''Sturm und Drang'' movement, Johann Goethe''s autobiographical epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther is a defining moment in early Romanticism, which has influenced writers from Mary Shelley to Thomas Mann. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from with an introduction by Michael Hulse.Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive young man, meets and falls in love with sweet-natured Charlotte. Although he realises that she is to marry Albert, he is unable to subdue his passion and his infatuation torments him to the point of despair. The first great ''confessional'' novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther draws both on Goethe''s own unrequited love for Charlotte Buff and on the death of his friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem. The book was an immediate success, and a cult rapidly grew up around it, resulting in numerous imitations as well as violent criticism and suppression on the grounds of its apparent support of suicide. Goethe''s sensitive exploration of the mind of an artist at odds with society and ill-equipped to cope with life is now considered the first great tragic novel of European literature.This edition includes notes and an introduction by Michael Hulse, who explores the origins of the novel in the author''s life and examines its impact on European culture.Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Although he directed the German State Theatre, dabbled in the occult and worked on scientific theories in evolutionary botany, Goethe is best remembered for his great works The Sorrows of Young Werther and Faust, and his part in the 18th century ''Sturm and Drang'' movement.If you enjoyed The Sorrows of Young Werther, you might like Stendhal''s Love, also published in Penguin Classics.

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE''Portrays the breakdown of a murderer in ways that recall Camus'' The Stranger'' The New York TimesJoseph Bloch, a once-famous goalkeeper turned construction worker, commits a random murder without thought or regret. As he wanders the streets, from hotel to bar, cinema to tram stop, experiencing strange and violent encounters on the way, he finds himself, and everything around him, disintegrating. Told in spare and icy prose, Peter Handke''s masterpiece of alienation takes apart our ideas of humanity and reality itself.''A Kafkaesque crime novel'' Los Angeles TimesTranslated by Michael RoloffTrade ReviewA seamless blend of lyricism and horror seen in the runes of a disintegrating world * Boston Sunday Globe *Handke became the enfant terrible of the European avant-garde, denouncing all social, psychological and historical categories of experience as species of linguistic fraud. But [he] has aged well and now...is regarded as one of the most important writers in German -- Richard Locke * The New York Times *One of Europe's great writers -- Karl Ove KnausgaardThe author reports and meditates upon the silent catastrophes that continuously befall the human interior -- WG Sebald

Read more less

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 *

Read more less