Search results for ""pushkin press""

New paperback of the acclaimed, sharply immediate diary written from the heart of Occupied Paris by a classic German writer 'Delicately drawn, inventive and unmistakably Parisian' Financial Times The writer Felix Hartlaub died in obscurity at just 31, vanishing from Berlin in 1945. He left behind a small oeuvre of private writings from the Second World War: fragments and observations of life from the midst of catastrophe that, with their evocative power and precision, would make a permanent place for him in German letters. Posted to Paris in 1940 to conduct archival research, Hartlaub recorded his impressions of the unfamiliar city in notebooks that document with unparalleled immediacy the daily realities of occupation. With a painter's eye for detail, Hartlaub writes of the bustle of civilians and soldiers in cafés, of half-seen trysts during blackout hours and the sublime light of Paris in spring. Clouds Over Paris is a unique testament to the persistence of ordinary life through disaster.

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In the eleventh century, the rulers of the lands surrounding the North Sea are all hungry for power. To get power they need soldiers, to get soldiers they need silver, and to get silver there is no better way than war and plunder. This vicious cycle draws all the lands of the north into a brutal struggle for supremacy and survival that will shatter kingdoms and forge an empire. The Wolf Age takes the reader on a thrilling journey through the bloody shared history of England and Scandinavia, and on across early medieval Europe, from the wild Norwegian fjords to the wealthy cities of Muslim Andalusia. Warfare, plotting, backstabbing and bribery abound as Tore Skeie weaves sagas and skaldic poetry with breathless dramatization to bring the world of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons to vivid life.

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'Meet Sweden's Sally Rooney' The Times 'A wry bestseller that reads like the effortlessly chic European cousin of Fleishman is in Trouble'Telegraph 'Thrilling, brilliant and immense in the best possible way... teeming with ideas and digressions on literature, art, history and love' Francesca Reece, author of Voyeur 'Compelling, tense and moving - I loved this smart and subtle exploration of modern motherhood and womanhood' Daisy Buchanan, author of Insatiable 'Vibrating with intelligence and style' Emily Temple, author of The Lightness ________________ In the long run, it was impossible to hide the fact that Cecilia had one day decided to leave her children and her husband, to take off and never come back. Martin Berg is slowly falling into crisis. Decades ago, he was an aspiring writer who'd almost finished his novel, his girlfriend was the wildly intelligent and beautiful Cecilia Wickner, and his best friend was the up-and-coming artist Gustav Becker. But Martin's manuscript has long been languishing in a desk drawer, Gustav has stopped answering his calls, and Cecilia has been missing for years - ever since she vanished from his life, leaving him to raise their two young children alone. So who was Cecilia? Martin's eccentric wife, Gustav's enigmatic muse, an absent mother - a woman who was perhaps only true to herself. When Martin's daughter Rakel stumbles across a clue about what happened to her mother, she becomes determined to fill in the gaps in her family's story. But she can't escape the simple question at the heart of it all: How can anyone leave someone they love? ________________ '[Collected Works] will suck you in and refuse to let go' LitHub 'A richly evocative work from a major new talent' Kirkus Reviews 'A sweeping and complex drama of family, art and sacrifice... Readers will be captivated' Publishers Weekly '[A] warm, engaging and funny novel about the inebriation of youth and the sobriety of middle age... a thoroughly enjoyable book' Aysegül Savas, author of White on White

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Ludwig Bemelmans came to the California home of famed interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl, for cocktails. By the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as 'Mother'. With hilarity and mischief, Bemelmans lifts the curtain on a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by ravishing movie stars. To the One I Love the Best is a luminous painting of life's oddities and a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman.

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A building full of secrets. A key that will unleash them all The K Apartments for Ladies in Tokyo conceals a sinister past behind each door; a woman who has buried a child; a scavenger driven mad by ill-health; a wife mysteriously guarding her late husband's manuscripts; a talented violinist tortured by her own guilt. The master key, which opens the door to all 150 rooms, links their tangled stories. But now it has been stolen, and dirty tricks are afoot. For a deadly secret lies buried beneath the building. And when it is revealed, there will be murder.

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SECRETS Seasoned detective Harith Athreya is back, this time to investigate suspicious incidences on a riverside dig in the heart of remote Bundelkhand. SUPERSTITION In this place, rich in myth and history, the legend goes that anyone who sets foot on nearby island Naaz Tapu would be cursed forever. SLAUGHTER When an archaeologist defies local folklore, the fallout is swift and deadly. Is the death a result of the ancient curse, or is it a more down-to-earth case of murder? Athreya needs to unravel the truth from legend before the curse strikes again...

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This new collection brings together four of Orwell's short sketches of English life with his masterful analysis of a crumbling English society. They range from an expedition down a coal mine to a chastening experience of colonial rule in Burma, and from a witty study of murder reportage in the British tabloids to a grim account of life inside a workhouse. Culminating with Orwell's masterpiece on English socialism, 'The Lion and the Unicorn', the essays in this collection are a testament to the fascinating peculiarities of English culture. Together, they say as much about what England could aspire to be as the state that it has found itself in.

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On the eve of the Second World War a public attorney, devastated because his Jewish lover has fled without him, runs over a young girl. He is torn by grief at the loss of his girlfriend and guilt about the accident - which is shrouded in a mystery that he attempts to unravel while the world around him collapses. In the meantime, he is watched over by a guardian angel, who whispers him warnings, and by a devil, who does the same... A Guardian Angel Recalls is a thrilling and provocative war novel, from one of the greatest Dutch authors of the twentieth century.

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A young geologist hungry for fame journeys to the mountains of Norway's Arctic north on a research expedition, but soon realizes he's more likely be eaten alive by mosquitoes than win glory. Freezing, wet and plagued by insomnia, Alfred becomes increasingly desperate and paranoid under the midnight sun, until he takes a catastrophic decision. This dazzlingly dark classic is at once a gripping survival story, a mordant farce and a peerless evocation of mental disintegration.

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In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her ailing father for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest - the beautiful Carmilla. So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her mysterious, entrancing companion. But as Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day... Pre-dating Dracula by twenty-six years, Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in sexual tension and gothic romance.

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These stories conjure a vanished Russia, where Orthodox Christianity coexists with the shapeshifters and house spirits of ancient folk belief. Celebrated for her sublime wit and graceful style, Teffi here plumbs the darker aspects of psychology, infusing tales of domestic conflict with the occult spirituality that thrived in the country of her youth. A young girl, haunted by the sinister sound of a church bell, resolves to become first a brigand, then a saint. A reluctant participant in a pilgrimage to the Solovetsky Islands has a shatteringly profound experience. A recently married couple's relationship becomes strained as they each silently nurse the fear that their maid is a witch. By turns playful and profound, solemn and drily sceptical, these tales of other worlds precisely illuminate human desires, fears and failings.

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When 20-year-old student J. S. Margot took a tutoring job in 1987, little did she know it would open up an entire world. In the family's Orthodox Jewish household she would encounter endless rules - 'never come on a Friday, never shake hands with a man' - and quirks she had not seen before: tiny tubes on the doorposts, separate fridges for meat and dairy products. Her initial response was puzzlement and occasionally anger, but as she taught the children and fiercely debated with the family, she also began to learn from them. Full of funny misunderstandings and unexpected connections, Mazel Tov is a heartwarming, provocative and disarmingly honest memoir of clashing cultures and unusual friendships - and of how, where adults build walls, sometimes only children can dissolve them.

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Old schoolpublisher meets e-reader: chaos ensues There's a lotof good to be said about publishing, mainly about the food. The books, though -Robert Dubois feels as if he's read the books, but still they keep coming backto him, the same old books just by new authors. Maybe he's ready to settle intothe end of his career, like it's a tipsy afternoon after a working lunch. Butthen he is confronted with a gift: a piece of technology, a gizmo, areader... Dear Reader takes a wry,affectionate look at the world of publishing, books and authors, and is a veryfunny, moving story about the passing of the old and the excitement of the new.

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'Madeleine Bourdouxhe is one of the more remarkable literary discoveries of the last few years' Jonathan Coe These are stories of longing and dissatisfaction, of daily life ruptured by strange currents of feeling. A woman, wandering alone and heartbroken, is first attacked and then romantically pursued by a stranger. A maid wears her mistress's expensive coat to meet her lover, but finds herself more preoccupied by fantasies of intimacy with 'Madame'. A woman gives birth on the day foreign troops invade the city, and must flee with her newborn on the back of a truck. Written in the aftermath of the Nazi occupation of Europe, and admired by the Existentialists and the Surrealists alike, these stories are now translated with extraordinary clarity by Faith Evans. With piercing insight and candour, Madeleine Bourdouxhe illuminates the conflicted hearts of the housewife, the mother, and the maid. These unforgettable tales of ordinary women are suffused with desire and melancholy, memory and fantasy, and lit by the furnace burning just beneath the surface of everyday life.

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"Crossing will devour you; this is some fierce, dazzling, and heartbreaking s**t" NoViolet Bulawayo "A novel that dazzles and mesmerizes, and the reader, upon finishing, may have the extraordinary sensation that his or her own dreams have been scattered along the journey, beckoning for rereading" Yiyun Li Bujar's world is collapsing. His father is dying and his homeland, Albania, bristles with hunger and unrest. When his fearless friend Agim is discovered wearing his mother's red dress and beaten with his father's belt, he persuades Bujar that there is no place for them in their country. Desperate for a chance to shape their own lives, they flee. This is the beginning of a journey across cities, borders and identities, from the bazaars of Tirana to the monuments of Rome and the drag bars of New York. It is also a search through shifting gender and social personae, for acceptance and love. But faced with marginalization at home and only precarious means of escape and survival, what chance do the young pair have of forging a new life? Pursued by memories of home and echoes of folk tales, they risk losing themselves in the struggle to leave their pasts behind.

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Virginia Barkeley is a nice, well brought-up girl. So what is she doing wandering through a snow storm in the middle of the night, blind drunk and covered in someone else's blood? When Claude Margolis' body is found a quarter of a mile away with half-a-dozen stab wounds to the neck, suddenly Virginia doesn't seem such a nice girl after all. Her only hope is Meecham, the cynical small-town lawyer hired as her defence. But how can he believe in Virginia's innocence when even she can't be sure what happened that night? And when the answer seems to fall into his lap, why won't he just walk away?

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A SILENT SCREAM The woman can only sign two words: help... family. And then she is gone-a body lying dead in the street. A TOWN READY TO BURN Caleb's search for her killer takes him back to his hometown of Resurrection Bay. Centuries of racism have left it simmering with violent tensions, and this summer the bush is as dry as tinder. All it will take is one spark. WHAT CAN CALEB SAVE FROM THE FIRE? He is determined to pursue justice at all costs. But everything he loves is in this town. And what if the truth means his world going up in flames?

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'I was just a regular idiot, a nutcase, a show-off and all that. Nothing to cry about. Seriously' Edgar W., teenage dropout, unrequited lover, unrecognized genius - and dead - tells the story of his brief, spectacular life. It is the story of how he rebels against the petty rules of communist East Germany to live in an abandoned summer house, with just a tape recorder and a battered copy of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther for company. Of his passionate love for the dark-eyed, unattainable kindergarten teacher Charlie. And of how, in a series of calamitous events (involving electricity and a spray paint machine), he meets his untimely end. Absurd, funny and touching, this cult German bestseller is both a satire on life in the GDR and a hymn to youthful freedom.

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Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, three dream-like tales of memory and war Visiting a friend in the French countryside, a man finds himself cast into the quandaries of historical whim, religious identity, and seeing without sight; a walk along the seashore, upon the anniversary of a death, becomes a reverie on building sandcastles; and an innocent break-in at the ruins of an archbishop's residence takes a turn towards disaster. In three stories that prove the unavoidable connections of our past, Toshiyuki Horie creates a haunting world of dreams and memories where everyone ends up where they began - whether they want to or not.

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Two brilliant,multi-layered stories from the winner of the Kenzaburo Oe Prize: the best contemporary Japanese writing 'Nothing short of superb... This book gives me hope for the future of Japanese literature' Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature In two stunning tales by novelist-playwright Toshiki Okada, characters stagger and thrash, bound by a generational hunger for human connection. On the eve of the Iraq War a couple find unexpected deliverance - fleeting and anonymous - at a love hotel. And wheels spin as a woman aches for something more from her husband, even as she knows she has enough. Snapshots of moments high and low, these stories introduce us to an unsettlingly honest voice in contemporary Japanese fiction.

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An uneasy peace reigns in France, but behind the scenes Catholics, Protestants and the agents of foreign powers are still locked in secretive, bloody combat. As his country's future hangs in the balance, Pierre de Siorac's apparent employment as a doctor masks a more deadly occupation-as a spy working for King Henry IV and his ally Elizabeth I of England, using fair means and foul to protect the peace of two realms. As the plots against his king thicken and the Spanish Armada prepares to sail, Pierre finds himself struggling to save not only his country, but the lives of his entire family. With his back to the wall, he will need a keen wit and a steady sword arm to fight his way to safety.

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A respected professor is dead - shot in a crowded Zurich restaurant, in front of dozens of witnesses. The murderer calmly turned himself in to the police. So why has he now hired a lawyer to clear his name? And why has he chosen the drink-soaked, disreputable Spät to defend him? As he investigates, Spät finds himself obsessed, drawn ever deeper into a case of baffling complexity until he reaches a deadly conclusion: justice can be restored only by a crime. This is a captivating neo-noir classic from the master of the genre. The Execution of Justice is a dark, wicked satire on the legal system and a disturbing, if ambivalent, allegory on guilt, justice, violence and morality.

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This exquisite anthology collects together the very best fiction from across the Nordic region. Travelling from cosmopolitan Stockholm to the remote Faroe Islands, and from Denmark to Greenland, this unique and compelling volume displays the thrilling diversity of writing from these northern nations. Selected and introduced by Sjon, The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat includes both notable authors and exciting new discoveries. As well as an essential selection of the best contemporary storytelling from the Nordic countries, it's also a fascinating portrait of contemporary life across the region. The perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter's evening. Naja Marie Aidt (Denmark), Per Olov Enquist (Sweden), Dorthe Nors (Denmark), Linda Boström Knausgård (Sweden), Madame Nielsen (Denmark), Rosa Liksom (Finland), Johan Bargum (Finland), Kristín Ómarsdóttir (Iceland), Kjell Askildsen (Norway), Ulla-Lena Lundberg (Finland/Sweden), Hassan Blasim (Finland), Sørine Steenholdt (Greenland, Guðbergur Bergsson (Iceland), Sólrún Michelsen (Faroe Islands), Frode Grytten (Norway), Carl Jóhan Jensen (Faroe Islands), Niviaq Korneliussen (Greenland)

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A stunning classic set in Italy's most vibrant and turbulent metropolis - Naples - in the immediate aftermath of World War Two. These lively and superbly written stories helped inspire Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. Ortese's work was also championed by Italo Calvino, who was her Italian editor. The stories and reportage collected in this volume form a powerful portrait of ordinary lives, both high and low, family dramas, love affairs, and struggles to pay the rent, set against the crumbling courtyards of the city itself, and the dramatic landscape of Naples Bay. This classic is exquisitely rendered in English by Ann Goldstein and Jenny McPhee, two of the leading translators working from Italian today. Included in the collection is 'A Pair of Eyeglasses', one of the most widely praised Italian short stories of the last century.

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'Tremendous' Geoff Dyer 'A pitch-perfect account of boxing, blue-collar bewilderment and the battle of the sexes' San Francisco Chronicle A major cult film directed by John Huston Stockton, California: a town of dark bars and lunchrooms, cheap hotels and farm labourers scratching a living. When two men meet in the Lido Gym - the ex-boxer Billy Tully and the novice Ernie Munger - their brief sparring session sets a fateful story in motion, initiating young Munger into the "company of men" and luring Tully back into training. Fat City is a vivid novel of defiance and struggle, of the potent promise of the good life and the desperation and drink that waylay those whom it eludes. This acclaimed American classic tells of their anxieties and hopes, their loves and losses, and the ephemeral glory of the fight.

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'An epic of noble proportions' Spectator A thrilling journey in search of the legendary malambo dance of Argentina, and one Gaucho who faces the biggest contest of his life Every year, at the height of summer, the remote Argentinian village of Laborde holds the prestigious national malambo contest. Little known outside the Argentinian pampas, the malambo is a centuries-old gaucho dance, governed by the most rigid rules and shatteringly physically demanding. It is the object of obsession for thousands of young working-class men, who sacrifice their spare time, their bodies and what little money they have to try to win the title of Malambo Champion. The twist is that a Malambo Champion may never compete again. In 2011, Leila Guerriero travelled to Laborde for what was supposed to be a brief investigation into this intriguing contest. But on the second night, one dancer's towering performance takes her breath away - he doesn't win, but Guerriero, irresistibly drawn, spends the next year following him in his preparations for the 2012 festival. In this remarkable work of reportage Guerriero proves herself to be as sharp-eyed as Gay Talese, as lyrical as Norman Mailer.

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A young secular writer's journey along ancient religious pilgrimage routes in Spain, Japan and Ukraine leads to a surprise family reconciliation in this literary memoir Gideon Lewis-Kraus arrived in free-spirited Berlin from San Francisco as a young writer in search of a place to enjoy life to the fullest, and to forget the pain his father, a gay rabbi, had caused his family when he came out in middle age and emotionally abandoned his sons. But Berlin offers only unfocused dissipation, frustration and anxiety; to find what he is looking for (though he's not quite sure what it is), Gideon undertakes three separate ancient pilgrimages, travelling hundreds of miles: the thousand-year old Camino de Santiago in Spain with a friend, a solo circuit of eighty-eight Buddhist temples on the Japanese island of Shikoku, and finally, with his father and brother, a migration to the tomb of a famous Hassidic mystic in the Ukraine. It is on this last pilgrimage that Gideon reconnects with his father, and discovers that the most difficult and meaningful quest of all was the journey of his heart. A beautifully written, throught-provoking, and very moving meditation on what gives our lives a sense of purpose, and how we travel between past and present in search of hope for our future. "Beautiful, often very funny... a story that is both searching and purposeful, one that forces the reader, like the pilgrim, to value the journey as much as the destination." New Yorker "If David Foster Wallace had written Eat, Pray, Love it might have come close to approximating the adventures of Gideon Lewis-Kraus" Gary Shteyngart "Gideon Lewis-Kraus has written a very honest, very smart, very moving book about being young and rootless and even wayward. With great compassion and zeal he gets at the question: why search the world to solve the riddle of your own heart?" Dave Eggers Gideon Lewis-Kraus has written for numerous US publications, including Harper's, The Believer, The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Slate and others. A 2007-08 Fulbright scholarship brought him to Berlin, a hotbed of contemporary restlessness where he conceived this book. He now lives in New York, but continues to find himself frequently on the road to other places.

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'Terrific... Highly recommended' Adrian McKinty, author of The ChainEven in the vast outback, the past can't stay buried for everDeath follows Tommy McBride everywhere. Five years ago his family was murdered, now a freak accident sends him fleeing into the wilderness of the Australian outback with a man lying dead in his wake. But Tommy is haunted by even worse - as children, he and his brother Billy witnessed the state-sanctioned massacre of the Kurrong people, and they haven't seen each other since. When an official enquiry is launched into the massacre, the successful life that Billy has built for himself comes under threat. He desperately needs to find Tommy, long disappeared into the bush. And he's not the only one - ruthless Inspector Noone, the man with perhaps the most to hide, is on Tommy's trail as well. From the author of Only Killers and Thieves

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Kate has taught herself to be careful, to be meticulous. To mark the anniversary of a death in the family, she plans a dinner party - from the fancy table settings to the perfect Baked Alaska waiting in the freezer. Yet by the end of the night, old tensions have flared, the guests have fled, and Kate is spinning out of control. But all we have is ourselves, her father once said, all we have is family. Set between the 1990s and the present day, from a farmhouse in Carlow to Trinity College, Dublin, Dinner Party is a dark, sharply observed debut that thrillingly unravels into family secrets and tragedy. As the past catches up with the present, Kate learns why, despite everything, we can't help returning home.

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Assigned to the same suite during their freshman year at Quincy-Hawthorne College, Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret quickly become inseparable. But their bonds must weather threats that come from the dark forests of their childhoods, and beyond - from institutions, from one another, and ultimately, from within themselves. As they move through their wild college days to their more feral days as new parents, each of the four friends will make a terrible mistake. With one part of the novel devoted to each mistake - the Accident, the Accusation, the Kiss, and the Bite -The Other's Gold reveals the achingly familiar ways our life-defining turning points prompt our relationships to unravel and re-knit, as the women discover what they and their loved ones are capable of, and capable of forgiving.

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Shiori knows that she was destined to sing - even if she is completely tone-deaf. Forced to give up her dream of becoming a travelling troubadour, she moves to Tokyo at eighteen to forge a career in music, whatever the cost. But she quickly becomes isolated in this vast new city, and even the people she calls friends take advantage of her naivety. Then one day, she is entrusted with a secret of enormous power. If she chooses to, she can take revenge on the world. Shot through with dark irony and a playful sense of the absurd, Mysterious Setting is a propulsive and gloriously strange story of innocence and experience.

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From the author of When We Cease to Understand the World: a thrilling, kaleidoscopic book about the destructive chaos lurking in the history of computing and AI'Monstrously good... Reads like a dark foundation myth about modern technology but told with the pace of a thriller' Mark HaddonIn a scintillating mix of fact and fiction, The MANIAC tells of the dark foundations of our modern world and the nascent era of AI.At its core is John von Neumann, a titan of science who revolutionised fields from game theory to computer systems and helped develop the atomic bomb. As illness unmoored his mind, his work pushed further into areas beyond human comprehension and control.With dazzling mastery, Benjamín Labatut weaves von Neumann's story together with the crises in physics at the beginning of the twentieth century and humanity's showdown with artificial intelligence a hundred years later. Innovative and disquieting, this book plunges

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Matsuo is born to be a samurai, but as he is being trained in the art of war he realises he was meant for a different art altogether. Turning his back on his future as a warrior of the sword, he decides instead to do battle with words, as a poet. Thus begins a story of romance and adventure, love and betrayal, that takes Matsuo across medieval Japan, through bloody battlefields and burning cities, culminating in his ultimate test at the uta awase - where Japan's greatest poets engage in fierce verbal combat for the honour of victory.

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'One of the greatest Japanese writers... his work explores the destructive power of erotic obsessions' Guardian 'Outstanding... rich and mysterious' New York Times Book Review A new selection and translation of short stories by a hugely prominent classic Japanese writer, filled with eroticism and fantasy The rich and mysterious short stories of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki pulse with a restless eroticism. Visiting a kingdom ruled by a weak-willed duke, the sage Confucius finds himself drawn into a battle of wills. A naïve servant boy is compelled down a path of vice and sin by his master's daughter. A young prince finds himself enraptured by his newest possession: a beguiling, enchanting mermaid. These three stories, two of which are here translated for the first time by Bryan Karetnyk, capture the essence of Tanizaki's shorter writings. Drawing on tales from both Japanese and Chinese mythology, combined with poignant psychological realism, Tanizaki reveals and revels in the paper-thin line between the sublime and the depraved.

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It has been twenty years since Polly Burton last saw the Teahouse Detective, but one foggy afternoon she stumbles into a Fleet Street café and chances upon the cantankerous sleuth again. The years have not softened his manner, nor dulled his appetite for unravelling the most tortuous of conspiracies, shedding light on mysteries that have confounded the finest minds of the police. How did Prince Orsoff disappear from his railway carriage in-between stations? How could the Ingres masterpiece be seen in two places at once? And what is the truth behind the story of the blood-stained tunic that exonerated its owner? From the comfort of his seat by the fire, the Teahouse Detective sets his brilliant mind to work once more.

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'A delight' Stephen Fry BLUNDER To mistake, grossly, to err very widely. 'Someone has blundered'(Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 'Charge of the Brexit Brigade') EUTHANASIA An easy death. Strangulation by EU regulations, according to Brexiters. 'Brexit' seems to mean many things, but none of them is clear. Fortunately, help is at hand from Harry Eyres and George Myerson, who offer us pithy and incisive definitions of the key terms associated with this momentous process. From 'COCK-UP' to 'WRETCHED' via 'BUFOON' and 'MAY', Johnson's Brexit Dictionary is a delightful, witty and essential compendium inspired by Dr Johnson's original, and updated for our turbulent times.

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AN ENTERTAINING AND STYLISH EXPLORATION OF FOOD AND NATIONALITY, FROM AWARD-WINNING WRITER ANYA VON BREMZEN 'This voyage into culinary myth-making is essential reading... I couldn't love it more!' Nigella Lawson 'A truly captivating and evocative book. National Dish takes you on a food journey written with real warmth, wit and perception' Dan Saladino 'A sparklingly intelligent examination of, and a meditation on, the interplay of cooking and identity' Spectator ________ In National Dish, award-winning food writer Anya von Bremzen sets out to investigate the eternal cliché that "we are what we eat". Her journey takes her from Paris to Tokyo, from Seville, Oaxaca and Naples to Istanbul. She probes the decline of France's pot-au-feu in the age of globalisation, the stratospheric rise of ramen, the legend of pizza, the postcolonial paradoxes of Mexico's mole, the community essence of tapas, and the complex legacy of multiculturalism in a meze feast. Finally she returns to her home in Queens, New York, for a bowl of Ukrainian borscht -a dish which has never felt more loaded, or more precious. As each nation's social and political identity is explored, so too is its palate. Rich in research, colourful? characters and lively wit, National Dish peels back the layers of myth and misunderstanding around world cuisines, reassessing the pivotal role of food in our cultural heritage and identity. Featuring an epilogue on Ukrainian borscht, recently granted World Heritage status by UNESCO ________ FURTHER PRAISE FOR NATIONAL DISH 'So enlightening - as well as well so much fun to read... Von Bremzen is a superb describer of flavours and textures' Bee Wilson Financial Times A fast-paced, entertaining travelogue, peppered with compact history lessons that reveal the surprising ways dishes become iconic' New York Times 'Enchanting, fascinating, thought provoking and humorous' Claudia Roden 'A playful, erudite and mouthwatering exploration of ideas around food and identity. With the help of a diverse group of characters and dishes, Anya von Bremzen highlights the intricacies and contradictions of our relationship with what we eat' Fuschia Dunlop 'Anya von Bremzen's new book reads like an engrossing unputdownable novel about the perpetual soup of humanity' Oli Hercules 'An evocative, gorgeously layered exercise in place-making and cultural exploration...'Boston Globe 'Von Bremzen's knowledge is staggering and her writing witty, urgent and personal. I couldn't put it down' Diana Henry

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'A cyberpunk coming-of-age tale' Japan Times Two babies are left in a Tokyo station coin locker and survive against the odds, but their lives are forever tainted by this inauspicious start. Raised amidst the outcasts and misfits of Toxitown, they carve out vastly different paths: one as a bisexual rock star on a desperate search for his mother, the other as an athlete consumed by revenge against the woman who left him behind. When their twisted journeys start to intertwine, this savage and stunning story plunges headlong into a surrealistic whirl of violence. 'Encapsulates the fin de siècle cultural detonation of Japanese youth' Kirkus

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No writer has captured the absurdity of the human condition as acutely as Nikolai Gogol. In a lively new translation by Oliver Ready, this collection contains his great classic stories - 'The Overcoat', 'The Nose' and 'Diary of a Madman' - alongside lesser known gems depicting life in the Russian and Ukrainian countryside. Together, they reveal Gogol's marvelously skewed perspective, moving between the urban and the rural with painfully sharp humour and scorching satire. Strikingly modern in his depictions of society's shambolic structures, Gogol plunders the depths of bureaucratic and domestic banalities to unearth moments of dark comedy and outrageous corruption. Defying categorisation, the stories in this collection range from the surreal to the satirical to the grotesque, united in their exquisite psychological acuteness and tender insights into the bizarre irrationalities of the human soul.

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A clever mystery classic from one of Britain's greatest and most original crime writers, the author of The Daughter of Time In 1920s London, the packed queue for the city's most popular musical comedy is growing impatient. When the theatre doors open at last and the crowd surges forward, a man falls to the ground, dead-silently stabbed with a stiletto. Who killed him before melting away unseen into the night? As Inspector Alan Grant investigates, the mystery turns into a breathless manhunt leading from London all the way to the Scottish highlands and back, before at last a truth is revealed that shocks even the canny detective himself. This is an unforgettable classic from crime writing's golden age

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WINNER OF THE McILVANNEY PRIZE for SCOTTISH CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR FEATURES AN EXTRACT FROM THE NEXT ALISON MCCOIST THRILLER, PAPERBOY 'Amazingly accomplished' The Times, Crime Book of the Month 'Loved it'Kevin Bridges 'A talent to watch'Chris Brookmyre 'Very funny'Scotsman 'Pitch dark yet dripping with warmth'Caz Frear __________ Half the Glasgow copshop think DI Alison McCoistis bent. The other half just think she's a fuck-up. No one thinks much at all about carwash employee Davey Burnet, until one day he takes the wrong customer's motor for a ride. One kidnapping later, he's officially part of Glasgow's criminal underworld, working for a psychopath who enjoys playing games like 'Keep Yer Kneecaps' with any poor bastard who crosses him. Can Davey escape from the gang's clutches with his kneecaps and life intact? Perhaps this polis Ally McCoist who keeps nosing around the carwash could help. That's if she doesn't get herself killed first.

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Can you solve the puzzle of the Noh Mask Murder?Death and madness have haunted the Chizui family for years. Now a strange figure has been seen wandering their mansion at night, wearing a sinister Noh mask that is said to bear a centuries-old curse.Budding crime writer and sleuth Akimitsu Takagi receives a desperate plea for help from the head of the family but arrives too late to find the man dead in a locked room, with the mask at his feet. Takagi begins to investigate, but it seems the curse of the mask is not finished with the Chizuis yet...From one of Japan's most renowned mystery writers-who appears in the novel as a detective!-The Noh Mask Murder is an ingeniously constructed masterpiece with a breathtaking ending.

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Reissue of a profound exploration of the concept of human need by the esteemed author of On Consolation What does a person need, not just to survive, but to flourish? In this profound, searching book, Michael Ignatieff explores the many human needs that go beyond basic sustenance: for love, for respect, for community and consolation. In a society of strangers, how might we find a common language to express such needs? Ignatieff's lucid, penetrating enquiry takes him back to great works of philosophy, literature and art, from St. Augustine to Hieronymus Bosch to Shakespeare. Reissued with a new preface, The Needs of Strangers builds to a moving meditation on the possibility of accommodating claims of difference within a politics based on common need.

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'Part thriller, part telenovela, a well-wrought tango noir' The Times 'Vivid and unforgiving' Guardian 'A breathless procedural' ____________ A devastating train crash in the suburbs of Buenos Aires leaves forty-three people dead, but not Hugo Lamadrid, a criminal wanted for murder. He seizes his change to disappear, abandoning his possessions - and, he hopes, his identity - among bodies mangled beyond all recognition. As the police descend of the scene, only grizzled Detective Domínguez sees a link between the crash and his murder case. Soon, he's on Hugo's tail. But he hasn't banked on everything from the media to Hugo's mother-in-law getting in his way. This crackling, pacy noir shines a light on urgent social issues - if you loved The Khan by Saima Mir or Lightseekers by Femi Kayode then you'll love Urgent Matters! ____________ READERS LOVE URGENT MATTERS! 'If this novel by Paula Rodriguez is anything to go by Argentinian noir may be the next big thing' 'It is a perfect slice of Argentine Noir with a current of dark humour running through it and I would highly recommend picking this up if you are looking for a sharp, energetic and compelling read' 'The stand out element of the story was the fabulous character development. All the key players feel like they are pushing their way out of the book into my world' FURTHER PRAISE FOR URGENT MATTERS 'Written in the taut, clean style of the classic pulp noir' Irish Times 'Evokes the teeming metropolis of Buenos Aires in a vibrant fashion' Crime Time 'Frenetic pace and a hypnotic, disturbing plot... An essential read' Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender is the Flesh

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Lucinda has lived her whole life in the shadow of her glamorous and outgoing high-end model sister Viviana. But when Viviana suddenly disappears on a trip to São Paulo, Lucinda drops everything to track her down. Met with indifference from the police, Lucinda joins forces with Viviana's girlfriend Graziane to launch her own investigation. When she discovers that her sister had a thriving career as a sex worker, the list of possible suspects widens. Then a cryptic text suggests that Viviana is still alive but being held hostage. With the minutes ticking by, Lucinda and Graziane must track down the men from Viviana's past to discover who might want to do her harm. A furiously contemporary and vibrant thriller that crackles with danger.

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'Gundar-Goshen is adept at instilling emotional depth into a thriller plot' New York Times Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, the award-winning author of Waking Lions and Liar, returns with a powerfully compelling novel about a mother who begins to suspect her teenage son of committing a terrible crime Lilach seems to have it all: a beautiful home in the heart of Silicon Valley, a community of other Israeli immigrants, a happy marriage and a close relationship with her teenage son, Adam. But when aa local synagogue is brutally attacked, her shy, reclusive son is compelled to join a self-defense class taught by a former Israeli Special Forces officer. Then a Black teenager dies at a house party, and rumours begin to circulate that Adam and his new friends might have been involved. As scrutiny begins to invade Lilach's peaceful home, and her family's stability is threatened, will are her own fears be the greatest danger of all? This psychologically astute, timely and page-turning literary novel is perfect for fans of Leïla Slimani, Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha, and We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver PRAISE FOR AYELET GUNDAR-GOSHEN 'It's not every day a writer like this comes our way' Guardian 'Gundar-Goshen is interested in examining the messy grey areas between right and wrong, good and bad, victim and perpetrator' Financial Times 'Deliciously enticing... a plot that thrills at every twist and turn' Irish Times on Liar 'A classy, suspenseful tale... shine[s] a penetrating light into the dark corners of our safe lives' The Times on Waking Lines 'This is storytelling that feels instinctive... both moving and satisfying' Guardian on One Night, Markovitch

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'Beautifully-written, and highly evocative of the remote Lincolnshire landscape, the Second World War and the two people whose loneliness brings them together for a life-changing time... Full of quiet drama and sorrow at loss, cruelty and mortality' Amanda Craig 'Compelling and beautifully intimate. A classic piece of storytelling' Toby Litt 'A haunting and lyrical novel' Maggie Brookes, author of The Prisoner's Wife In the depths of wartime, a friendship takes wing Freda is a twelve-year-old evacuee from the East End, sent to live with a farming family deep in the lonely landscape of the Fens. Philip is an artist and a conscientious objector, living in a remote lighthouse on the shores of the Wash. The two outcasts come together amid the wild beauty of the wetlands, beneath skies filled with migrating birds and crisscrossed by Nazi bombers. As the world is consumed by war, they form a friendship that will change the course of both their lives.

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Travelling from Paris to Tokyo, from Seville, Oaxaca and Naples to Istanbul, she investigates the rapid decline of France's pot-au-feu, the misconstrued beginnings of pizza, the meeting of indigenous and European lineages in mole, and the complex legacy of multi-culturalism in a meze potluck."Never have we been more cosmopolitan about what we eat - and yet more essentialist, locavore, and particularist." With a witty mix of anecdote and research, Anya von Bremzen reassess the fascinating role that food can play in our cultural heritage, and uncovers how as a nation's political and social identity are called into question, so too is its palate.'A fast-paced, entertaining travelogue, peppered with compact history lessons that reveal the surprising ways dishes become iconic' -New York Times'This dazzlingly intelligent examination of how foods become national symbols . . . so enlightening - as well as so much fun to read . . . Von Bremzen is a superb describer of flavours and textures - but she also understands that food is never just about food' -Bee Wilson in Financial Times

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