Narrative theme: interior life / psychological fiction

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 Synopsis''One of Japan''s most venerated writers'' David MitchellIn this unnerving fable from one of Japan''s greatest novelists, a recluse known as ''Mole'' retreats to a vast underground bunker, only to find that strange guests, booby traps and a giant toilet may prove even greater obstacles than nuclear disaster.''As is true of Poe and Kafka, Abe creates an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on'' New Yorker''Abe''s depiction of the deadly game of survival is hilarious but at the same time leaves us with a chilling sense of apprehension about the brave new world that awaits us'' Los Angeles TimesTrade ReviewA large, ambitious work about the lives of outcasts in modern Japan and such troubling themes as ecological destruction, old age, violence and nuclear war * The New York Times Book Review *Abe's depiction of the deadly game of survival is hilarious but at the same time leaves us with a chilling sense of apprehension about the brave new world that awaits us * Los Angeles Times *As is true of Poe and Kafka - two writers whose influence does seem apparent - Abe creates on the page an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on * New Yorker *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE''One of Europe''s great writers'' Karl Ove KnausgaardOne evening Marianne, a suburban housewife living in an identikit bungalow, is struck by the realization that her husband will leave her. Whether at that moment, or in years to come, she will be deserted. So she sends him away, knowing she must fend for herself and her young son. As she adjusts to her disorienting new life alone, what she thought was fear slowly starts to feel like freedom.''Knifelike clarity of evocation ... Handke is a kind of nature poet, a romantic whose exacerbated nerves cling like pained ivy to the landscape'' John UpdikeTranslated by Ralph ManheimTrade ReviewHandke 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 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE''Repetition made a great and, as I have since learned, lasting impression on me'' W. G. SebaldFilip Kobal, an Austrian teenager, is on the trail of his missing older brother Gregor, who he never knew. All he has is two of Gregor''s books: a school copy book, and a dictionary in which certain words have been marked. As he enters Slovenia on his journey, Filip discovers something else entirely: the transformative power of language to describe the world, and the unnerving joy of being an outsider in a strange land.''One of the most moving evocations I have ever read of what it means to be alive, to walk upon this earth'' Gabriel JosipoviciTranslated by Ralph ManheimTrade ReviewHandke's eminence, displayed in a substantial oeuvre of plays, novels and poems, is reaffirmed brilliantly by [Repetition] -- Publisher's WeeklyKnifelike clarity of evocation ... Handke is a kind of nature poet, a romantic whose exacerbated nerves cling like pained ivy to the landscape -- John Updike

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 matchless fable of fear, courage and cowardice * Independent *Magnificent * The Times *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe intense, caustically funny first novel from the bestselling author of Bad Behaviour''Dark, menacing and original'' Joanna Briscoe, GuardianDorothy Never - fat - lives alone in New York, eats and works the night shift as a proofreader. Justine Shade - thin - is a freelance journalist who sleeps with unsuitable men. Both are isolated. Both are damaged by their pasts. When Justine interviews Dorothy about her involvement with an infamous and charismatic philosophical guru, the two women are drawn together with an intense magnetism that throws their lives off balance. Mary Gaitskill''s first novel is an intense, darkly funny and caustic portrayal of loneliness and the search for intimacy.''What makes her scary, and what makes her exciting, is her ability to evoke the hidden life, the life unseen, the life we don''t even know we are living'' Parul Sehgal, The New York Times

Read more less

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 *

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 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

Book Synopsis''Quite simply a masterpiece'' John Banville''I''ve just found a stranger in my house. In a bed on the second floor. He was dying when I got there. You''re going to have to deal with it''Hector Loursat has been a drunken recluse since his wife left him eighteen years ago. Shut away in his dilapidated mansion in the small town of Moulins, he barely speaks to his daughter. But when the sound of a gunshot penetrates the padded walls of his study one night, and he discovers a body, Loursat is forced to act. No longer able to ignore the world, he determines to get to the truth of what happened, and save an innocent life.Trade ReviewQuite simply a masterpiece -- John BanvilleMore philosophically profound than any of the fiction of Camus or Sartre, and far less self-conscious. This is existentialism with a backbone of tempered steel * New Republic *

Read more less

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 *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''So clear is Ditlevsen''s eye that it is impossible to tear yourself away'' John Self, GuardianAn unforgettable collection of stories from the author of The Copenhagen Trilogy''The most important thing is probably always precisely the thing you can''t have. That''s where all the happiness is''In these brief, acid-sharp stories of love, marriage and family from one of Denmark''s most celebrated writers, the ordinary events of everyday life - a wife anxious not to wake her husband, a little boy losing his father''s beloved knife, a woman''s obsessive longing for a yellow silk umbrella - become dark and disconcerting. Here Tove Ditlevsen explores yearning, fear and the elusiveness of that strange thing called happiness.''The purity and dazzling insight of Ditlevsen''s writing speaks for itself'' Daily Telegraph''Authentic, unforced and utterly lucid'' Sunday Times''Ditlevsen''s wonderful and devastatingly bleak short stories simmer with melancholy and despair'' Daily MailTranslated by Michael Favala GoldmanTrade ReviewSplendid short stories... the purity and dazzling insight of Ditlevsen's writing speaks for itself -- Lucy Scholes * The Telegraph *An intense reading experience... so clear is Ditlevsen's eye that it's impossible to tear yourself away from the fates of her characters, however grim -- John Self * Guardian *These short stories show off her astonishingly precise prose -- New Statesman * Ellen Peirson-Hagger *A bracingly bleak selection of stories by the celebrated Danish writer Tove Ditlevsen... These are perfectly judged pieces: authentic, unforced and utterly lucid -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *Ditlevsen's wonderful and devastatingly bleak short stories simmer with melancholy and despair ... Her prose is clear and spare, pared back to the essential task of describing the struggle for an unwon freedom from domestic despair and unsatisfactory marriages * Daily Mail *The depths of desire and despair are Ditlevsen's subjects and illuminating them is her talent * Monocle *Ditlevsen's writing is crystal clear and vividly, painfully raw * The Paris Review *A terrifying talent * The New York Times *Her writing is incredible, so focused and clear. Not a word that doesn't need to be there -- Tracey Thorn

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewEverybody knows now that Ulysses is the greatest novel of the century -- Anthony Burgess * Observer *The most important expression which the present age has found; it is a book to which we are all indebted, and from which none of us can escape -- T.S. EliotIntoxicating ... a towering work, in its word play surpassing even Shakespeare * Guardian *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''L-d! said my mother, what is all this story about? - A COCK and a BULL, said Yorick - And one of the best of its kind, I ever heard''One of the greatest novels ever written, now in a wonderful new clothbound edition Laurence Sterne''s great masterpiece of bawdy humour and rich satire defies any attempt to categorize it, with a rich metafictional narrative that might classify it as the first ''postmodern'' novel. Part novel, part digression, its gloriously disordered narrative interweaves the birth and life of the unfortunate ''hero'' Tristram Shandy, the eccentric philosophy of his father Walter, the amours and military obsessions of Uncle Toby, and a host of other characters, including Dr Slop, Corporal Trim and the parson Yorick. A joyful celebration of the endless possibilities of the art of fiction, Tristram Shandy is also a wry demonstration of its limitations.The text and notes of this volume are based on the acclaimed Florida E

Read more less

Book Synopsis''For me life hasn''t got dreams, success and all that damn nonsense. Life is full of shadows: some of them soft and others conceal a hammer.''Galton Flood is a lonely man, restless and ill at ease with his family. He leaves his home in Guyana''s capital, Georgetown, for a remote township, and the first of a string of precarious jobs. Meeting Gemma, his landlord''s daughter, appears to offer a first chance of meaningful connection - maybe even happiness. But there is a darkness inside Galton, and soon jealousy and paranoia lead him to fatally, violently unravel.With this haunting portrait of a mind undone, celebrated Guyanese writer Roy Heath evocatively recreates the country of his youth: its rivers, townships and tenement yards, and the tensions shimmering below the surface of a community.Trade ReviewA beautiful writer and an unforgettable book. -- Salman RushdieThe Murderer, Roy Heath's masterpiece, is written with immediacy and precision. In a few sentences, Heath creates a psychological tension that is totally convincing and gripping. Slowly, as the main character grows more obsessed and distant from others, he also becomes more complex and fascinating and memorable. -- Colm TóibínA literary thriller ... The Murderer is a strange, luminous, and beguiling work by a writer with a mysterious and captivating Caribbean voice, who shied away from publicity and is now resurrected. -- Colin Grant * New York Review of Books *A character who might have been created by Dostoevsky. * Spectator *A picture of a lost soul emerges that is mysteriously authentic and unique as a work of art. * Observer *A hauntingly powerful story. * New York Times *A notable study of paranoia, remarkable for its psychological insight and the restraint of its climax. * The Guardian *Guyanese authors are a radiant constellation, and Roy Heath stands rightfully among them. His unique style stands out from others of his time, and ours. -- Lemn SissayThe prose style is graceful, old-fashioned, almost Latinate. The dialogue on the other hand, is pure Guyanese vernacular, and the gap between the two, between the sense of distance in the prose and intimacy in the dialogue, makes the novel chilling and tense and deeply original. -- Colm Tóibín and Carmen Callil, ‘200 Best Novels in English since 1950’, The Modern LibraryThis enthralling novel plunges the reader into a painting by Van Gogh, a swirl of emotion unhinged from a verifiable reality. Or is it a portrait of a mind seen through a glass darkly? Heath takes his time to distinguish fantasy from delusion, play from mental decay... The Murderer is numbered among the Caribbean's leading psychological novels, a nuanced portrait of the disintegrating individual psyche. -- Fred D’Aguiar

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 SynopsisTrade ReviewHe is the greatest German writer of our time. Such poets as Rilke or such novelists as Thomas Mann are dwarfs or plaster saints in comparison to him -- Vladimir NabokovKafka described with wonderful imaginative power the future concentration camps, the future instability of the law, the future absolutism of the state, the paralysed, inadequately motivated, floundering lives of the many individual people; everything appeared as a nightmare and with the confusion and inadequacy of a nightmare -- Bertolt Brecht

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.Dmitry Andreich Olenin, in the hope of escaping the hollowness of his privilege, joins the army and heads to the Caucasus. There among the foothills he will meet the Cossacks: a people he considers to be at one with the land. In their company he will hunt, he will drink, he will fall in love and, slowly, he will begin to understand that between people, between cultures, there is often a space that cannot be traversed...''It is the richness of Tolstoy''s genius that strikes us most in this story'' Virginia Woolf

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 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

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book Synopsis

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-SmithThis candid portrayal of a woman who refuses to accept her allotted role as wife and mother caused an outcry when it was published in 1899.It is the story of Edna Pontellier, who spends the summer on the Gulf of Mexico with her businessman husband and her two sons. When an illicit romance awakens unfamiliar ideas and longings in Edna, she discovers a new identity for herself, but cannot hope for understanding in the stifling attitudes of Louisiana society.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-SmithCelebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. 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 the past.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIntroducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-SmithCelebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.Thirteen ingeniously crafted stories make up Vladimir Nabokov''s baker''s dozen. In some of these stories shadowy people pass through, cooped up by life, with nowhere to escape. In others, elusive glimpses of fleeting happiness, which flutter away before they can be snatched, waylay their victims. Like the shimmer of the sea, the gleam of a glass caught by the sun, these stories sparkle brilliantly only to dissolve

Read more less

Book SynopsisVladimir Nabakov''s shocking masterpiece, now in a beautifully designed clothbound edition''Lolita is comedy, subversive yet divine'' Martin AmisPoet and pervert, Humbert Humbert becomes obsessed by twelve-year-old Lolita and seeks to possess her, first carnally and then artistically, out of love, ''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 seduction 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 starring James Mason and Peter Sellers, and again in 1997 by Adrian Lyne starring Jeremy Irons and Melanie Griffith, Lolita has lost none of its power to shock and awe.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMARIE CLAIRE BEST BOOKS OF 2023''Funny, clever and unexpectedly profound - I couldn''t put it down'' Helena Attlee''It is remarkable how much information she can convey about Kitty's life . . . solely using wall labels'' IndependentPrized, collected, critiqued. One Woman Show revolves around the life of Kitty Whitaker as she is defined by her potential for display and moved from collection to collection through multiple marriages. Christine Coulson, who has written hundreds of exhibition wall labels for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, precisely distils each stage of Kitty''s sprawling life into that distinct format, every brief snapshot in time a wry reflection on womanhood, ownership, value and power.Described with wit, poignancy and humour over the course of the twentieth century, Kitty emerges as an eccentric heroine who disrupts her privileged, porcelain life with both major force and minor transgressions. As human foibles propel each delicately crafted text, Coulson playfully asks: who really gets to tell our stories?''Heartbreaking and funny . . . truly masterful and patient and insane, in the best way'' Leanne Shapton''Wry, humorous, poignant'' SpectatorTrade ReviewFunny, clever and unexpectedly profound - I couldn't put it down -- Helena Attlee * author of The Land Where Lemons Grow *Arch and wholly original, this is a pocket rocket of a novel. The economy with which Coulson manages to capture a life with equal amounts of both vigour and heartbreak is a stunning achievement. An irrepressible and timeless reflection on art, self and female objectification. -- Wiz WhartonA wonderfully clever concept, and a book that lends itself to being read in a single sitting, during which you’ll feel the corners of your lips curl upwards again and again . . . Coulson’s wry, often humorous, occasionally poignant commentary are moments of transgression and longing that show there’s more to our neoclassical heroine than her fine finish -- Chloe Ashby * The Spectator *Brilliant. Christine Coulson's tragicomedy of manners is an immense delight. Condensed into its witty format is the story of a life, a life like some I have known and others about which I have read. Coulson captures her character's gentle decline with the precision of Edith Wharton and evokes the eras she traverses with such clarity, even wisdom, describing a woman's changing (or unchanging) role in the world with an acuity that left this reader astonished time and again. -- Andrew Solomon * author of Far From the Tree *Short, clever . . . it is remarkable how much information she can convey about Kitty’s life . . . solely using wall labels -- Ann Levin * Independent *Heartbreaking and funny . . . Coulson's language is perfection . . . I love the pages of voices, like voices in the galleries, and so many moments made me laugh. Truly masterful and patient and insane, in the best way -- Leanne Shapton * author of Swimming Studies *A delight! This novel's formal audacity is an impressive feat of imagination. One Woman Show is a moving story of privilege, womanhood, and the sweep of the twentieth century told through a single American life. I loved this book -- Rumaan Alam * author of Leave the World Behind *Wildly original…[A] tiny but powerful novel… It’s sometimes snarky, sometimes sad, with enough poignant moments to make me wish it could go on and on. … You can sit down and read it in less time than it takes to drive to the art museum, but you’ll be thinking about it for far longer. If you appreciate truly original structure and storytelling, put this modern masterwork on your reading list. * NPR *Strange, biting, tender, and heartbreaking in turns. AND all at once . . . I read it in one fell swoop. It is brilliant -- Maira Kalman * author of Women Holding Things *A funny and clever take on the interchangeability of women and works of arts as possessions -- Philip Hook * author of Breakfast at Sotheby's *Beautiful, beautiful book . . . the cover is absolutely gorgeous, it would make a delicious Christmas gift * Art Juice Podcast *Coulson tells us Kitty Whitaker’s story stylishly and succinctly through label-length entries * Harper's Bazaar *Compulsive and spry -- Hephzibah Anderson * the Observer *Coulson’s formally inventive, witty novel uses gallery captions to capture Kitty’s journey through the 20th century. At once terse and expansive, this is a literary experiment that intrigues -- Francesca Peacock * the Mail on Sunday *A highly original and imaginative work that captivates and intrigues . . . so brief that it can be read straight through in an hour, but that is not to say it is slight . . . Coulson’s unusual command of language rewards multiple readings * The Irish Times *the writing is clever, witty and deftly – and at times poignantly–executed, and that more than earns One Woman Show its coveted red dot (aka sales sticker) from us’ * Marie Claire Best Books of 2023 *Unconventional… non-narrative paragraphs somehow add up to create mounting tension, with wry social commentary, feminist barbs and psychological insight bursting through the lacquered surface * The Lady *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''One of Japan''s most venerated writers'' David MitchellIn this unnerving fable from one of Japan''s greatest novelists, a recluse known as ''Mole'' retreats to a vast underground bunker, only to find that strange guests, booby traps and a giant toilet may prove even greater obstacles than nuclear disaster.''As is true of Poe and Kafka, Abe creates an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on'' New Yorker''Abe''s depiction of the deadly game of survival is hilarious but at the same time leaves us with a chilling sense of apprehension about the brave new world that awaits us'' Los Angeles TimesTranslated by Juliet Winters CarpenterTrade ReviewA large, ambitious work about the lives of outcasts in modern Japan and such troubling themes as ecological destruction, old age, violence and nuclear war * The New York Times Book Review *Abe's depiction of the deadly game of survival is hilarious but at the same time leaves us with a chilling sense of apprehension about the brave new world that awaits us * Los Angeles Times *As is true of Poe and Kafka - two writers whose influence does seem apparent - Abe creates on the page an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on * New Yorker *

Read more less

Book SynopsisVladimir Nabokov''s Lolita is one of the best-known novels of the 20th century: the controversial story of Humbert Humbert who falls in love with twelve year old Lolita, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.''Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of my tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.''Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged, frustrated college professor. In love with his landlady''s twelve-year-old daughter Lolita, he''ll do anything to possess her. Unable and unwilling to stop himself, he is prepared to commit any crime to get what he wants.Is he in love or insane? A silver-tongued poet or a pervert? A tortured soul or a monster? Or is he all of these?Trade ReviewA masterpiece. One of the great works of art of our age * Independent *There's no funnier monster in modern literature than poor, doomed Humbert Humbert. Going to hell in his company would always be worth the ride * Independent *A great novel . . . It widens our own humanity * Guardian *You read Lolita sprawling limply in your chair, ravished, overcome, nodding scandalized assent -- Martin Amis * Observer *Nabokov's command of words, his joy in them, his comic and ecstatic use of them, makes reading his work such an intense joy * Daily Telegraph *Lolita is more the shocking because it is both intensely lyrical and wildly funny ... a Medusa's head with trick paper snakes * Time *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewUnsettling, challenging and gloriously written, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy is the multi-generational story of a hallucinatory sort of summer * Juliet Nicolson, Evening Standard *Leaves the reader enraptured and unnerved * Jackie Annesley, Evening Standard *Publisher's description. Shortlisted for the Man Booker and Goldsmiths prizes, a hypnotic tale of female sexuality and power under the scorching midday sun. Sofia and her mother arrive on the Spanish coast looking for answers - what they find there will be strange, seductive and fearsome beyond their wildest dreams. * Penguin *

Read more less

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 *

Read more less

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

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe brilliant debut novel from Emilie Pine, author of the international bestseller Notes to SelfDublin, 7 October 2019One day, one city, two women: Ruth and Pen. Neither knows the other, but both are asking the same questions: how to be with others and how, when the world won''t make space for you, to be with yourself?Ruth''s marriage to Aidan is in crisis. Today she needs to make a choice - to stay or not to stay, to take the risk of reaching out, or to pull up the drawbridge. For teenage Pen, today is the day the words will flow, and she will speak her truth to Alice, to ask for what she so desperately wants.Deeply involving, poignant and radiantly intelligent, it is a portrait of the limits of grief and love, of how we navigate our inner and outer landscapes, and the tender courage demanded by the simple, daily quest of living.''Emilie Pine is one of the most important new voices in Irish Literature. Everything she writes is imbued with wisdom'' David Park''Emilie Pine''s debut novel is ambitious, poignant and playful, with a feminist nod to Joyce . . . it is as surprising and playful as it is ambitious and relevant'' Irish Independent''This is an exciting, warm and engaging debut that signals, one hopes, even greater things to come'' The Business PostWINNER OF THE KATE O''BRIEN AWARDTrade ReviewMesmerising . . . I became completely immersed in this emotional, intimate read * Good Housekeeping *[An] uplifting debut novel . . . joy is a vital ingredient in Ruth & Pen * The Observer *The debut novel from the author of the personal essay collection Notes to Self is a poignant, raw exploration of the courage needed to find your space in the world * i *Impressive . . . Pine explores with great acuity and tenderness the restorative, capacious nature of love. A wise and lovely book * Daily Mail *Pine makes her chapters playful, writing with a friendly curiousness that brings to mind Ali Smith . . . Pine's measured yet tender juxtaposition of the women's days doesn't draw overly neat parallels so much as prove that one needs the other - younger needs older, optimist needs pessimist, introvert needs extrovert. And our opposites might help us find clarity * i *[Ruth & Pen] finds heartbreaking beauty in our everyday lives . . . There is a real tenderness in the way in which Pine writes about the teenage girls in the novel * The Irish Times *Pine reinforces her reputation as one of the most empathetic writers in the country * The Irish Examiner *There's no doubting the novel's basic integrity; its warmth, its undogmatic interest in ordinary lives, and the impressive range of its imaginative sympathies -- Kevin Power * The Irish Times *Moving and raw . . . Pine's ability to enter the heads of two such different characters is a sure sign of literary promise * The Sunday Times (Ireland) *This book is an intimate portrait of love and grief, and the tender, fragile courage required just to live each day * Irish Country Magazine *A confident walk through the lives of others, two women seeking their place in the world and a peace in themselves * RTE Guide *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA beautiful, shattering novel about desire and shame, about passionate youth and the regrets of age. -- Olivia Laing, bestselling author of 'Crudo' and 'The Lonely City'A stunning and heart-gripping tale -- André Aciman, author of 'Call Me by Your Name'An intense, unforgettable novel, alive with the ache of longing and loss. -- Sarah Waters, bestselling, award-winning author of 'The Little Stranger'It has been years since anything moved me as much as Lie With Me. It will become a classic -- Jonathan Coe, bestselling author of 'Middle England'A deeply moving depiction of first love, both tender and elegiac. -- John Boyne, bestselling author of 'A Ladder to the Sky'A timeless love story. Molly Ringwald's translation is as clear and beautiful as the story it depicts. You'll read it in a night, but its exquisite heartbreak will linger. -- David Ebershoff, author of 'The Danish Girl'The uncanny thrill of Philippe Besson's Lie With Me rises up from Molly Ringwald's elegant translation with the intensity of meeting a stranger on a train who tells you a single unforgettable story and then leaves. And his voice haunts me still -- Alexander Chee, author of 'How to Write an Autobiographical Novel' and 'The Queen of the Night'An elegiac tale of first, hidden love between two teenage boys who have no chance of a shared future, "Lie with Me" sold more than a hundred thousand copies in France, where it won several prizes and is being made into a movie. -- Lauren Collins * New Yorker *Lie With Me is an exquisite whisper that lingers long after you've finished reading it -- Kevin Kwan, author of 'Crazy Rich Asians'Devastating and tender; this is the book I wish I'd read when I was 15, and a book I'm glad to have as a companion now -- Andrew McMillan, award-winning author of 'Physical'A lovely novel, a painful story of love and loss. . . Lie with Me succeeds as a novel because of Besson's graceful writing, beautifully translated by Ringwald. Besson is a gifted stylist, and he infuses Philippe's story with the right notes of sadness and longing. * NPR *This gorgeous, aching novel captures all of the fear and freedom of young desire. . . may well be the best gay love story in contemporary fiction. I dare you to read it without crying. -- Christopher Bollen, author of 'The Destroyers'This is a gorgeous fever dream of a book. Ringwald's translation does elegant justice to Besson's balance of beauty and despair, and to his interrogations of memory and longing. Lie With Me positively glows in the dark. -- Rebecca Makkai, author of 'The Great Believers'A bittersweet love story, told from the perspective of a gay man remembering his first romantic affair as a teenager in a small town in the south of France in 1984. * Wall Street Journal *At first erotic and joyous, ultimately elegiac and haunting, Lie With Me is a deceptively slender book as big as life itself -- Rumaan Alam, author of 'That Kind of Mother' and 'Rich and Pretty'In spare yet evocative prose, elegantly translated by Molly Ringwald, Philippe Besson relates the erotic awakening of two adolescent boys in a small French town in the 1980s. Lie With Me captures their world with the grainy poignancy of an old high school yearbook, while movingly conveying the quintessential human dramas of longing, love, and letting go. -- Caroline Weber, author of 'Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-siècle Paris'The French Brokeback Mountain * Elle *A man looks back at his first love, a forbidden homosexual affair during his last year of high school in a small French town in the 1980s. Though a screenwriter and playwright, Mr. Besson does not rely on direct dialogue but reconstructs conversations from a fog of memories in this coming-of-age story. A French best seller likened to "Call Me By Your Name" and "Brokeback Mountain," the novel marks the first English translation by the actress and writer Ms. Ringwald, a longtime Francophile. * Wall Street Journal, The 10 Books You’ll Want to Read This Spring *Molly Ringwald translated this French Call Me By Your Name-esque novel about two teenagers in 1984 Bordeaux as they fall in love in the shadows, leaving one of them to reflect on the relationship many years later * OprahMag.com, 30 of the Best LGBTQ Books in 2019 *There's much book-to-filmstar appeal in this moving, well-plotted tale: Elle dubbed it "the French Brokeback Mountain"; there's something of Call Me by Your Name's Elio in Philippe, who lives in the books he reads and writes; and actress and writer Ringwald ably translates. * Booklist *Moving ... Besson's writing and Ringwald's smooth translation provide emotional impact. * Publishers Weekly *Universally touching * Le Parisien *Besson is a thoughtful writer who can strike home with vivid imagery. . . [and] deftly translated [by Ringwald]. * Booklist *This Year's Call Me by Your Name... While the starring peach of Call Me by Your Name was the perfect metanym for that lush and gauzy tale, Lie With Me unpeels like a springy orange. The boys' relationship is bare but segmented, each encounter entirely isolated from the others, with only a thin membrane to keep all that tart juice from bursting out. . . [A] moving and graceful novel * Vulture *A story of queer adolescence in rural France in the 1980s, Besson's "Lie With Me" is a primer on the tenacity of desire... Molly Ringwald, by delightful coincidence an icon of '80s John Hughes films, provides a limpid translation that preserves all the earnest mystery of teenage sex... Besson keeps his study in intimacy fresh through nimble plot twists, in which the present disturbs a certain version of the past, creating repercussions for the future. Equal parts André Aciman and Marguerite Duras, "Lie With Me" poignantly reflects on why some memories fade and others do not. * New York Times *A slender, sad, acute novel... absolutely excellent -- Sarah Perry, bestselling author of THE ESSEX SERPENT and MELMOTHFull of Proustian echoes, this story of gay adolescence deals with complex issues of class, shame and secrecy * Guardian *A poignant tale that captures the intensity of first love with all its sadness, longing and regret * Daily Mail *A clear-sighted and passionate coming-of-age narrative. Detailing in elegant and plain prose the anxious and intense first falling-in-love between two schoolboys, Lie With Me has a tenderness and insight that is reminiscent of the writings of Garth Greenwell. This novel can be read in a matter of hours, but its impact, like the love affair it details, will echo in the mind * Irish Times *Moving, intense, sad and sensuous * Attitude *

Read more less

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 *

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 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 SynopsisThe most celebrated and controversial French novelist of our time delivers a riveting masterpiece about art and money, love and friendship, and fathers and sons. Jed Martin is an artist. His first photographs feature Michelin road maps, and global success arrives with his series on professions: portraits of various personalities, including a writer named Houellebecq. Not long afterward, Jed helps a police inspector solve a heinous crime that leaves lasting marks on everyone involved. But after burying his father and growing old himself, Jed also discovers serenity, a deeply moving conclusion to a life of lovers, friends, and family, and filled with hopes, losses, and dreams.

Read more less