Narrative theme: sense of place

Book SynopsisA farmer in India is watching the sun set over his village one quiet evening when a mysterious stranger, a giant man who seems more than human, appears on the horizon. He offers the farmer a black goat kid who is the runt of the litter, surely too frail to survive. The farmer and his wife take care of the young she-goat, whom they name Poonachi, and soon the little goat is bounding with joy and growing at a rate they think miraculous. But Poonachi's life is not destined to be a rural idyll: dangers lurk around every corner, and may sometimes come from surprising places, including a government that is supposed to protect the weak and needy. Is this little goat too humble a creature to survive such a hostile world? With allegorical resonance for contemporary society and examining hierarchies of caste and colour, The Story of a Goat is a provocative but heartwarming fable from a world-class storyteller who is finally achieving recognition outside his home country.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPerhaps no other European city has so captured the poetic imagination as Paris. Poems of Paris spans the centuries from the Renaissance to the present, and includes a pantheon of French (and Francophone) poets - Ronsard, Deschamps, Villon, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Apollinaire, Paul Eluard, Robert Desnos, Jacques Prévert, Aimé Césaire, Hédi Kaddour, to name but a few. Added to this are poems by the many visitors who have been mesmerized by Paris, some of whom made it their home - Rilke, Wilde, Cummings, Pound, Neruda, Beckett, Mandelstam, Nabokov, Rilke, Gertrude Stein, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, James Fenton... All the famous sights of Paris are touched on here, from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower, as are such classic Parisian themes as food and drink, art and love, and famous events from the Revolution to the Resistance.

Read more less

Book Synopsis‘I absolutely adored this… You could almost feel the warmth of the sun, smell the roses and hear the birdsong… I was sorry when I came to the end!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nina Elliot is tired of her life. She’s not sure how it happened but, somewhere along the way, she lost track of where it was all going. So one fateful day, she makes a brave decision: she’s going to leave it all behind. Taking a job deep in the English countryside, Nina does just that. Ensconced at the Old Mill, she settles into daily life with the Milton family, where she works as a researcher for author Dudley. With endless summer days stretching out ahead of her, Nina couldn’t be happier. But her quiet life is soon interrupted when the handsome Milton boys return home – for they plan to make sure this really is a summer to remember… Relax and enjoy a breath of warm summer air with every turn of the page in the delightful new novel from Victoria Connelly – bestselling author of Wish You Were Here. Fans of Alexandra Potter and Katie Fforde won’t be able to resist. What readers are saying about One Summer to Remember: ‘Had me gripped from the start… easy reading for summer abroad or sat in a garden in Devon!!! :-)’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Such a sweet book about the romance of summer months spent in the beautiful Norfolk coastline, makes me wish to be there now… The story unfolds thick and fast and made me want more… wonderful.’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Brilliant, from the first page to the last. Well written and have devoured it in two days as couldn't wait to see what happens next. Highly recommend as a great romantic read to get lost in.’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I just loved reading this book. It was so light hearted and in fact I didn't want to put it down until I'd finished it!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Trade ReviewPraise for ‘A Summer to Remember’: ‘A perfect holiday read.’ Hello! Praise for Victoria Connelly: 'Sunshine on a rainy day.' Lisa Jewell ‘Witty and original.’ The Romantic Novelists' Association 'Victoria writes with a deliciously light touch and joyous enthusiasm.' Fiona Walker

Read more less

Book SynopsisPerfect for fans of Maeve Binchy' – Candis Debbie Macomber sweeps you away to a place where dreams come true A fresh spirit of hope has entered the small town of Buffalo Valley. New businesses are opening, new people are moving into the town and locals are taking risks on lifelong dreams. People like Margaret Clemens. While Margaret has inherited her father’s prosperous ranch and is doing really well for herself, her dream is to fall in love. But when Matt Eilers catches her eye, everyone in town is quick to tell her that Matt’s bad news. Her friends are trying to protect her but soon the gossips whisper that Matt’s only with her for her money. And maybe he is? Or maybe there’s something more… Certainly, nobody has ever believed in him the way Margaret does.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe best and most humorous lines in all John B. Keane's writings, selected by himself and presented in convenient small format. The book includes the classics:'A play about sex in Ireland is always ahead of its time.''He thought felo de se was a chap from Ballybunion.''The secret of sex is not to take it seriously.''Marriage is a long, difficult confrontation with short outbreaks of peace.'

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Columbia space shuttle and its contents rain down on the people of Kiser, Texas, in Kathryn Schwille’s imaginative debut novel set six weeks before the invasion of Iraq. What Luck, This Life begins in the aftermath of the space shuttle’s break-up, as the people of Piney Woods watch their pastures swarm with searchers and reporters bluster at their doors. A shop owner defends herself against a sexual predator who is pushed to new boldness after he is disinvited to his family reunion. A closeted father facing a divorce that will leave his gifted boy adrift retrieves an astronaut’s remains. An engineer who dreams of orbiting earth joins a search for debris and instead uncovers an old neighbor’s buried longing. In a chorus of voices spanning places and years, What Luck, This Life explores the Columbia disaster’s surprising fallout for a town beset by the tensions of class, race, and missed opportunity. Evoking Sherwood Anderson’s classic Winesburg, Ohio and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, the novel’s unforgettable characters struggle with family upheaval and mortality’s grip and a luminous book emerges—filled with heartache, beauty and warmth.Trade Review“A century after the publication of Winesburg, Ohio, Kathryn Schwille has created a similarly unexpected, and unexpectedly moving, portrait of a small town: this one in East Texas, in the wake of a tragedy. Her characters speak from the heart; their troubles and small triumphs speak to all of us.” * Andrea Barrett, author of Ship Fever and Archangel *"Kaleidoscopic and incredibly moving, What Luck, This Life is the story of a hardscrabble town and the people who call it home. This is a book full of heart and wisdom." * Thomas Pierce, author of The Afterlives *What Luck, This Life is an astonishing work of literary talent, surprising at every turn. The novel takes the catastrophe of a space shuttle blowing its fragments across the uninspired landscape of an East Texas town and in the search for remains uncovers a second set of catastrophes and secrets in the lives of the people on the ground. The characters are wild and desperate, but they are also us. For we are all cast out, looking for a return. From the tattered remains of disaster, Schwille creates a glimmering constellation of humanity, a flash of heavenly light. Just thinking about this book makes me feel more alive. * Elaine Neill Orr, author of Swimming Between Worlds *A modern day Winesburg, Ohio. * Kirkus *With this novel, Schwille has given us a landscape of longings, passions, and heartaches so real and deep we can almost walk around in it. The pieces of the Columbia fall on and bring into relief the whole rich array of lives and dramas that exist in Kiser, Texas--every one of them rendered with remarkable feeling. The result is a powerful portrait of Kiser and of the human condition. * Clare Beams, author of We Show What We Have Learned *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIt''s been three years since LUTHER KHADAFI FULLER did the unthinkable by testifying in court against ANTONIO AMEEN FELDER. Now Khadafi is back on the streets that made him who he once was. Filled with hot anger, Khadafi wants nothing more than to repay those who betrayed, hurt or abandoned him. Especially the woman he loved.After making the decision to go against Khadafi and help Ameen during trial, MARNIE has moved on with her life. But with Khadafi free again, Marnie''s past threatens her future. Every breath she takes could be her last. Meanwhile, having been acquitted of multiple murders, Ameen decides to leave D.C. But an old secret forces him to return to face it head-on. Back in the city, Ameen''s protege-turned-enemy, has orchestrated a deadly game that just might call for someone to make THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE in order to survive. In this final chapter, everything will come full circle.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe instant New York Times bestseller!“Sublime…Colgan infuses her latest book with humor, wit, suspense and a perfectly cast love triangle.”--USA TodayThe Christmas Bookshop is literary hot chocolate with a bourbon shot: hot, sweet but with a surprising emotional kick.--The Times (UK)Perfect for the holidays! A brand-new heartwarming Christmas novel from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner and Christmas at the Island Hotel. Laid off from her department store job, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. The prospect of spending Christmas with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered yuppie life does not appeal.Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want her prickly sister Carmen there either. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs help revitalizing his shabby old bookshop. So Carmen moves in and takes the job.Thrown rather suddenly into the inner workings of Mr. McCredie’s ancient bookshop on the picturesque streets of historic Edinburgh, Carmen is intrigued despite herself. The store is dusty and disorganized but undeniably charming. Can she breathe some new life into it in time for Christmas shopping? What will happen when a famous and charismatic author takes a sudden interest in the bookshop—and Carmen? And will the Christmas spirit be enough to help heal her fractured family?

Read more less