{"title":"Novella (Short Novel)","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"no-one-writes-to-the-colonel-9780241968734","title":"No One Writes to the Colonel","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eNobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, author of \u003ci\u003eOne Hundred Years of Solitude \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eLove in the Time of Cholera\u003c\/i\u003e, tells a powerful tale of poverty and undying hope in his moving novel \u003ci\u003eNo One Writes to the Colonel\u003c\/i\u003e.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''The Colonel took the top off the coffee can and saw that there was only one spoonful left''\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFridays are different. Every other day of the week, the Colonel and his ailing wife fight a constant battle against poverty and monotony, scraping together the dregs of their savings for the food and medicine that keeps them alive. 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As she navigates the final weeks of her life, and takes charge of the manner of her death, she is flooded with childhood memories, and returns to the present with a renewed appreciation for the brilliance of life around her: the autumn has never been so beautiful, her daughters never as radiant. Brave, incredibly strong and deeply loved, Cheri makes one last nerve-wracking journey across the country with her girls and her friends, knowing relief waits welcoming as a frozen lake on the other side.   A masterpiece of fiction and memory, Cheri is a heart-breaking but glorious celebration of all the moments of beauty and pain that make an individual life, right up until its very last moments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCheri is richly packed. The details are laid before the reader with a simplicity that feels like grace. Beard's vocabulary is luminous ... Beard combines the lapidary chill of Joan Didion with the sense of a proper, lived humanity that you get from a writer like Grace Paley or Sigrid Nunez. She is good company. She connects. You should read her and not look away -- Anne Enright * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eBeard's writing is majestic and ultimately offers some hope, because the book is essentially less about death and more about what it is to be alive ... In the hands of a maestro, less can be so much more * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eBeard's wry voice and her clear-eyed compassion make her the best sort of company -- Jonathan Franzen * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eCheri is a masterpiece -- John Self * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eAs controlled and convincing as art * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eProfoundly sad, poignant, and filled with the flabbergasting abundance of life ... an extraordinary achievement -- Mary Gaitskill\u003cbr\u003eExtraordinary and powerful -- Mia Levitin * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eA gem of a book ... Beard communicates, quietly and almost plainly, a breathless desperation for life and all its terrible beauty -- Lizzy Stewart * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eI was shocked by my emotional response to it. It's beautiful \u0026amp; sad \u0026amp; dignified -- Amy Key, author of Arrangements in Blue\u003cbr\u003eBeard honours the beautiful, the sacred, and the comic in life, and for life's inescapable cruelites and woes she offers the wisdom of a sage -- Sigrid Nuñez\u003cbr\u003eJo Ann Beard is a formidable talent. Her writing is darkly moving, full of audacious narrative surprises, and, at times, unexpectedly - almost unbearably - suspenseful -- Geoff Dyer\u003cbr\u003eA rare talent, and a magnificent writer ... She is extraordinary -- Francesca Segal, author of Mother Ship\u003cbr\u003eTaut and troubling ... rendered with exquisite restraint and precision ... as powerful as the close of The Death of Ivan Ilyich * Literary Review *","brand":"Profile Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47850978640215,"sku":"9781800817852","price":9.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781800817852.jpg?v=1710626118"},{"product_id":"the-enchanted-april-9780141191829","title":"The Enchanted April","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e''This delicious confection will work its magic on all''  \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe discreet advertisement in \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e, addressed ''To Those who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine'', offers a small medieval castle for rent, above a bay on the Italian Riviera. Four very different women - the dishevelled and downtrodden Mrs Wilkins, the sad, sweet-faced Mrs Arbuthnot, the formidable widow Mrs Fisher and the ravishing socialite Lady Caroline Dester - are drawn to the shores of the Mediterranean that April. As each, in turn, blossoms in the warmth of the Italian spring and finds their spirits stirring, quite unexpected changes occur.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Enchanted April\u003c\/i\u003e, published in 1922, is a witty and delightful depiction of what it is like to rediscover joy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Brims with magic and laughter''  Amanda Craig, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eIncludes a new introduction by Salley Vickers, author of \u003ci\u003eMiss Garnet''s Angel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48732433449303,"sku":"9780141191829","price":8.54,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780141191829.jpg?v=1719996860"},{"product_id":"the-enchanted-april-9780241619742","title":"The Enchanted April","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroducing 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-Smith.   Celebrating 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.   The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim's brilliant, irrepressible novella, tells the tale of four very different women who, on answering an advertisement in The Times, find themselves far away from the drizzle of London and instead in the warmth of an Italian sun. There, alongside the lapping of the Mediterranean, the women's spirits begin to shift, and quite unexpected changes take place.","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733317857623,"sku":"9780241619742","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241619742.jpg?v=1719999870"},{"product_id":"the-porridge-of-the-countess-berthe-9781739663735","title":"The Porridge of the Countess Berthe","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst-ever translation in English of a unique goblin tale from Alexandre Dumas, the famous author of The Three Musketeers and The Comte of Monte Cristo.  On the bank of the Old Medieval Rhine, there was a kind, compassionate, determinate and noble human being; the Countess Berthe. She founded a rather unusual tradition, an annual feast set on the first of May of each year, The Porridge of the Countess Berthe.  To ensure the future of this newfound tradition and in spite of Nature's forces as well as greed of the living, the Countess Berthe resorted to unite with the Cobolds, the good spirits which were known to live, work and prosper in the foundation of the castle.  \"I must first tell you that in Germany there was once a race of good little spirits, who have unfortunately since disappeared, the tallest of them was barely six inches high. They were called Cobolds.\"  A hidden gem from the past that has been uncovered with this translation for the interest, comfort and amusement of readers whatever their age and wherever they are.","brand":"Cybirdy Publishing Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48740936810839,"sku":"9781739663735","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"la-bouillie-de-la-comtesse-berthe-9781739663742","title":"La bouillie de la comtesse Berthe","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLa Bouillie de la Comtesse Berthe est un conte  du petit peuple écrit par Alexandre Dumas, le célèbre auteur des Trois Mousquetaires et du Comte de Monte-Cristo.  Sur les rives du Rhin médiéval, vivait jadis une femme au grand coeur, charitable, une personne aimable, compatissante, déterminée et noble : la comtesse Berthe. Celle-ci instaura une tradition plutôt inhabituelle, une fête annuelle qui devait se tenir le premier mai de chaque année, la bouillie de la comtesse Berthe.   \" Je dois d'abord vous dire qu'il y avait autrefois en Allemagne une race de bons petits esprits, malheureusement disparus depuis, dont le plus grand mesurait à peine six pouces. On les appelait les Cobolds. \"  La Bouillie de la Comtesse Berthe est une perle rare du passé remise au goût du jour par cette nouvelle édition dans l'intérêt mais aussi pour l'amusement des lecteurs, petits et grands, où qu'ils se trouvent sur la planète Terre.","brand":"Cybirdy Publishing Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48740936843607,"sku":"9781739663742","price":11.7,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781739663742.jpg?v=1720056076"},{"product_id":"two-summers-9781848408982","title":"Two Summers","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA pair of novellas, set over two pivotal summers in the lives of two young men from Belfast, recall the constraints of the place where they were born and the times in which they are living.   Summer on the RoadIt's 1980 and in the last summer before his A levels Mark lands a job he didn't even know he had applied for, sweeping streets for Belfast City Council. Called binman' by his schoolfriends, snooty' by his workmates, he can't imagine anything less like a holiday. Day by day, though, navigating bomb scares, punishing hangovers, broken television sets and a loving but chaotic home life, he begins to glimpse a path all his own, even if he can't see yet where exactly it is going to lead.   Last Summer of the Shangri-LasThree years earlier Gem has driven his mother to the brink. She packs him off to stay with his aunt in New York during the infernal heat of the summer of 1977. It's the summer too of disco, of punk, the summer of Sam, and Elvis dead on the bathroom floor. For Gem though it will forever after be the summer he met Vivien  as rooted in the city as he is adrift; the summer he stumbled on Mary, Liz and Margie, three-quarters of the greatest New York group of all (and they'd fight anyone who said otherwise); the summer he learned how to go home.   Capturing the innocence of adolescent boys, their passion, confusion and yearning, Two Summers is for anyone who has ever been young.","brand":"New Island Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48742244188503,"sku":"9781848408982","price":12.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781848408982.jpg?v=1723812511"},{"product_id":"seanairgead-airgead-nua-9781848408944","title":"Seanairgead, Airgead Nua","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eBaile Átha Cliath, sa bhliain 1972. Déagóirí is ea Ruaidí agus Pancho, a rugadh is a tógadh i gceantar an Phoirt Thuaidh. Tá Ruaidí ag barr an ranga, agus tá sé sármhaith ag an mata. Bua eile ar fad atá ag Pancho – suimeanna airgid a aimsiú, seachas suimeanna a dhéanamh. Tá tuismitheoirí Ruaidí i mbun an Chomhair Chreidmheasa áitiúil. Bíonn athair Pancho i mbun drabhláis i dtithe tábhairne na cathrach gach lá pá. Tá difear lá agus oíche idir saol na mbuachaillí, ach is dlúthchairde iad mar sin féin. Lá, agus é ag seachadadh nuachtán mar is gnách, siúlann Ruaidí isteach san áit a ndearnadh robáil. Is amhlaidh a bhris gadaithe isteach i dteach ‘chailleacha an Phoirt Thoir’, beirt deirfiúracha aosta. Ach d’fhág na gadaithe airgead ina ndiaidh. Tá rogha mhór le déanamh ag Ruaidí agus Pancho...\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe city is Dublin, the year is 1972. Redser and Pancho are two teenagers from the North Wall. Redser is top of the class, especially good at maths. Pancho's knack is for finding money, not adding or subtracting it. Redser's parents run the local credit union. Pancho's dad runs riot in the city pubs on pay day. The boys' worlds could not be further apart. Yet the pair are the best of friends. One day, on his regular paper round, Redser stumbles upon the aftermath of a crime. Two elderly sisters, 'the East Wall witches', have been burgled. But the robbers haven't taken all the money. Redser and Pancho are about to face their biggest dilemma ever...\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New Island Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48742244352343,"sku":"9781848408944","price":8.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781848408944.jpg?v=1720060610"},{"product_id":"in-love-9781805331070","title":"In Love","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn exquisite depiction of a doomed love affair, set in noirish 1950s New York  In a hotel bar, a disenchanted writer tells a beautiful stranger the story of his latest doomed love affair. Sipping cocktails, the man reveals how he became transfixed by a lonely divorcée living in a cluttered apartment across the city.  When they first met, he had been aloof, uncommitted. But this changed irrevocably when a millionaire waltzed into his lover's life, offering her a thousand dollars to spend the night. With betrayal lurking in the shadows and proclamations of feeling arriving too late, In Love is an exquisite examination of heartbreak set in 1950s New York.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A little masterpiece' - Elizabeth Bowen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Moving and convincing ... a lyrical, intelligent book' - Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'My favorite of the Hayes novels... I have read and reread this small book as though it were a poem rather than a fiction: not a description of experience but the thing itself' - Vivian Gornick\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A small masterpiece ... Compelling and flawless ... A gem' - Frederic Raphael\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Hayes has done for bruised men what Jean Rhys does for bruised women, and they both write heartbreakingly beautiful sentences' - Paul Bailey","brand":"Pushkin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48868581146967,"sku":"9781805331070","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781805331070.jpg?v=1722288725"},{"product_id":"ghostwritten-9781789099591","title":"Ghostwritten","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFour brand-new horror novellas from \"a modern-day Algernon Blackwood\" all about books, stories, manuscripts - the written word has never had sharper teeth...  BOOKS CAN BE DEADLY  From the bestselling author of Come with Me, four standalone horror novellas set in a shared universe!  In The Skin of Her Teeth, a cursed novel drives people to their deaths.   A delivery job turns deadly in The Dark Brothers' Last Ride.  In This Book Belongs to Olo, a lonely child has dangerous control over an usual pop-up book.  A choose-your-own adventure game spirals into an uncanny reality in The Story.  Full of creepy, page-turning suspense, these collected novellas are perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay, Stephen King and Joe Hill.   .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's no coincidence that there are four chambers to the human heart and Ronald Malfi's 'Ghostwritten', both bound by muscle and full of blood, but once this quartet of nightmarish novellas gets pumping, your own ticker is sure to stop.\" Clay McLeod Chapman, author of 'Whisper Down the Lane'  Praise for Come with Me:  \"Malfi is a modern-day Algernon Blackwood... I'm gonna be talking about this book for years\" JOSH MALERMAN, author of Bird Box  \"This is what it is to be transported: you might think you're on solid ground, but Come with Me is a story that will carry you, inescapably, into the uncanny, the horrific.\" Andrew Pyper, author of The Residence   \"Part mystery, part ghost story, Come with Me chimes with rare beauty and page-turning brilliance. I surrendered to it completely.\" Rio Youers, author of Lola on Fire  \"A must-read for fans of Stephen King. Come with Me is so damn good, truly chilling and suspenseful, yet also hauntingly nuanced\" Christopher Golden, author of Ararat  \"Come with Me is Malfi's masterwork - a haunting, heart-breaking novel about grief and secrets. Utterly engrossing and terrifying. Highly recommended!\" Brian Keene, author of The Rising  \"Shines as both a nightmare journey of shadows and secrets, and a poignant testimony to love and loss. I read it in a single day because I had no other choice: it's that damn good.\" Richard Chizmar, author of Gwendy's Button Box  \"Malfi impresses in this taut, supernaturally tinged mystery... and sticks the landing with a powerful denouement. There's plenty here to enjoy.\" Publishers Weekly   Praise for Black Mouth:  \"Stunningly good, with echoes of King, Bradbury, Straub, and McCammon, but somehow purely Malfi. Full of malevolence and dread, and peopled by truly compelling characters, the book locks in Malfi's place as one of the best writers in the genre.\" Christopher Golden, 'New York Times' bestselling author of Road of BONES and Ararat   \"'Black Mouth' is good magic about dark magic: a powerful meeting between adulthood and childhood, the people we pretend to be and the people we have to be. Smart, character-driven horror.\" Andrew Pyper, author of The Residence and The Demonologist   \"Malfi has established himself as one of the all-time great horror writers, and 'Black Mouth' shows him working at the peak of his dark powers. Equally terrifying and heartbreaking, 'Black Mouth' is a book filled with terror, ghosts, and murder, but also hauntings of the heart, and the soul. Riveting, bloody, and cosmic, this novel will tear you apart in all the best ways.\"  Philip Fracassi, author of Beneath a Pale Sky   \"Malfi, like Stephen King and Stephen Graham Jones, tells horror stories that are anchored in the real world. His characters, like theirs, are ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. He earns his screams and shudders honestly, through good writing and careful plotting: there are no B-movie jump scares here, just an increasing sense of dread that erupts into blood-chilling horror. Don't miss this one.\" Booklist   \"The well-done cosmic horror and mix of mundane and magical scares make this a standout.\"  Publishers Weekly   \"From one of horror's best storytellers... If you're looking for a good, unsettling, smart and well-written horror novel, 'Black Mouth' should certainly be on your short list. This is doubly true if you enjoyed Stephen King's 'IT'.\" Eggplante   \"Expertly crafted and thoroughly engrossing, Black Mouth is a sure-fire contender for the book of 2022.\" Bloody Flicks","brand":"Titan Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48887877632343,"sku":"9781789099591","price":8.54,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781789099591.jpg?v=1722546709"},{"product_id":"resurgence-defying-ai-tyranny-9781738420001","title":"Resurgence: Defying AI Tyranny","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Astrid overhears a threatening phone call, he dives headfirst into a world of government secrets and digital intrigue. Can he purge the system of lies in time to save his mother? Resurgence is a high-stakes thriller of courage, friendship, and a race against time.","brand":"Author In Me","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49372443312471,"sku":"9781738420001","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781738420001.jpg?v=1730163089"},{"product_id":"the-mystery-of-missing-mothers-9781738420025","title":"The Mystery of Missing Mothers","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYoung and fearless, Helen and Eliza race against time to unmask their mothers' murderer. With death close on their heels, can they outsmart their foe? Gripping suspense awaits in this thrilling pursuit of justice.","brand":"Author In Me","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49372443378007,"sku":"9781738420025","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781738420025.jpg?v=1782119014"},{"product_id":"the-metamorphosis-and-other-stories-9781435172302","title":"The Metamorphosis and Other Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnly yesterday, Gregor Samsa was a meek salesman, browbeaten by his unappreciative employer and depended on fiercely by his ungrateful family. This morning, Gregor awakens to discover that, overnight, he has been transformed into a monstrous insect. As Gregor frantically tries to conceal his predicament, neither his family nor his unsympathetic employer accept that a terrible metamorphosis has upended his existence. Is Gregor's condition only temporary? Will he eventually revert back to the person he was and resume his normal life? Or might he have to accept that his transformation is only an outward expression of how heand those in his lifeactually see him? First published in 1915, Kafka's best-known tale has inspired numerous interpretations for more than a century and helped to establish the term Kafkaesque as a reference to a bizarre and nightmarish experience. This collection of his short fiction, in a new translation, includes more than 30 of his short stories and sketches, inclu","brand":"Union Square \u0026 Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408286884183,"sku":"9781435172302","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781435172302.jpg?v=1730502284"},{"product_id":"birth-canal-9781914484681","title":"Birth Canal","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA dazzling novella from a rising star of Indonesian literature that explores what it means to be a woman — whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever it is in history and time.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn today’s Jakarta, an unnamed man tells the story of his lifelong friend Nastiti, and what happened on the day she vanished. In the Dutch East Indies’ Semarang, a young Indo-Dutch girl, Rukmini, is captured by the Japanese military and is forced into prostitution. Years later, Arini travels to the Netherlands to share her mother’s dark past with a researcher.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAfter the American occupation of Japan in WWII ends, a former war photographer revisits his memories of Hanako, the wife of a traumatised ex-Imperial soldier, but can’t escape his own darkness. And in present-day Osaka, a young Indonesian woman, Dara, haunted by her past and struggling to conceive, becomes obsessed with a Japanese porn star.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThrough these interconnected narratives, in stunning prose, Dias Novita Wuri explores generational legacies, lost loves, the damage that war does to men, and the damage that men do to women.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘The ground beneath the reader is constantly shifting … \u003cem\u003eBirth Canal\u003c\/em\u003e jumps in time and moves between places of security and insecurity, hiding and transit, literal and metaphorical light and dark … In the end, this extraordinarily accomplished and profound novel, translated from Indonesian by the author, is about how difficult love can be, and how precious.’\u003c\/p\u003e -- Linda Jaivin * The Saturday Paper *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Indonesian author Dias Novita Wuri is a rising literary star. Her novella \u003cem\u003eBirth Canal\u003c\/em\u003e writhes with talent compressed into a forceful and beguiling suite of interconnected stories … Wuri’s gift for metaphor is matched by a supple and sidewinding narrative construction that follows women across time and place.’\u003c\/p\u003e * The Sydney Morning Herald *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eBirth Canal\u003c\/i\u003e was written with a dripping golden pen. Captivating and devastating, the stories of these women are told with truth and love.’\u003c\/p\u003e -- Laura McPhee-Browne, author of \u003ci\u003eCherry Beach\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLittle Plum\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘[Dias Novita Wuri] confronts the reader with the realisation that often it’s too easy for us to simply look away. [\u003ci\u003eBirth Canal\u003c\/i\u003e] consists of expertly and beautifully crafted interconnected stories, its narrative jumping back and forward in time as echoes in a chamber where no trauma ever goes away entirely, but rather returns in another configuration … the spare dialogue allows stillness and solidarity to seep in through the violence.’\u003c\/p\u003e -- Angelique Kasmara * Listener *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Impressive.’\u003c\/p\u003e * Tony's Reading List *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘[N]othing short of genius … For such a short work, it contains multitudes. Expertly translated by the author \u003ci\u003eBirth Canal\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the triumphs and tribulations of several generations of Indonesian women, each dealing with their own personal struggles with their lovers, humanity, and the course of world events.’\u003c\/p\u003e * Driftless Area Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Crossing multiple timelines and cities in Indonesia and Japan to establish the links among its six female protagonists, this compact yet far-reaching novel endeavours to make visible both the female body and the structure of storytelling by using the idea of the birth canal as a site of conflicts and thwarted possibilities. Failed conception — stillbirth, miscarriage, filicide, abortion and suicide — thus represents both an acknowledgment of female trauma and a form of political protest. In exploring women’s sexuality, mental health, reproductive choice, and domestic violence, this gifted Indonesian author deftly explores topics that impact women in a Muslim-majority country.’\u003c\/p\u003e -- Thúy Ðinh, book critic and editor-at-large of \u003cem\u003eAsymptote\u003c\/em\u003e","brand":"Scribe Publications","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49414634832215,"sku":"9781914484681","price":9.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781914484681.jpg?v=1730524350"},{"product_id":"mema-9781035900701","title":"Mema","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn this debut novella, Daniel Mengara captures the incredible story of a Gabonese mother who resists the unjust pressures of her village. 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It quickly becomes clear that she must fight to be believed or she risks losing custody over her children for good. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this profound and touching tale, Daniel Mengara brings to life the changing customs and beliefs of a rural Gabonese village, interweaving prose with traditional oral storytelling.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51019346084183,"sku":"9781035900701","price":999.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781035900701.jpg?v=1750779967"},{"product_id":"man-and-his-surroundings-9798887191041","title":"Man and His Surroundings","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMan and His Surroundings\u003c\/i\u003e irreverently explores Soviet and post-Soviet identity, politics, and history. In what Iskander himself calls the book’s seminal novella, the narrator meets a man who believes himself to be Lenin, thawed out after decades of cryogenic storage. The narrator endures a phantasmagorical account of what “Lenin” thought and did during the October Revolution of 1917 and how another revolution is imminent. In another novella, the narrator tells of a nationally renowned fencer as the fencer sits at a neighboring table, discussing the impossibility of equality on earth, while his son pesters him for ice cream. The novellas enrapture the reader with their humor and impart a better intuitive understanding of the Soviet cultural heritage and mindset.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This new translation of Fazil Iskander’s \u003ci\u003eMan and His Surroundings\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of nine novellas set in the writer’s native Abkhazia, is a much-needed addition to Iskander’s oeuvre available in English. 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