Search results for ""Author Rebecca F. John""

London, 1926: Henry Twist's heavily pregnant wife leaves home to meet a friend. On the way, she is hit by a bus and killed, though miraculously the baby survives. Henry is left with nothing but his new daughter - a single father in a world without single fathers. He hurries the baby home, terrified that she'll be taken from him. Racked with guilt and fear, he stays away from prying eyes, walking her through the streets at night, under cover of darkness. But one evening, a strange man steps out of the shadows and addresses Henry by name. The man says that he has lost his memory, but that his name is Jack. Henry is both afraid of and drawn to Jack, and the more time they spend together, the more Henry sees that this man has echoes of his dead wife. His mannerisms, some things he says ... And so Henry wonders, has his wife returned to him? Has he conjured Jack himself from thin air? Or is he in the grip of a sophisticated con man? Who really sent him? Set in a postwar London where the Bright Young Things dance into dawn at garden parties hosted by generous old Monty, The Haunting of Henry Twist is a novel about the limits and potential of love and of grief. It is about the lengths we will go to hold on to what is precious to us, what we will forgive of those we love, and what we will sacrifice for the sake of our own happiness.

Read more less

Winner of the PEN International/New Voices Award 2015 Shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award 2015 Onstage again, you stare down at your feet, imagining you see the bright, painted curves of a pair of clown's shoes...It helps to pretend you are a clown, hidden inside baggy trousers, your true face invisible behind splashes of red lipstick and pale powder...A dazzling, ambitious debut collection from a young talent (shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award and longlisted for the PEN International/New Voices Award), these critically acclaimed stories dip into the shadows and spotlights of life. From the pale waking hours to the darkling places, Clown's Shoes introduces a cast of lost characters trying to find their way, and asking whether everyone really does come salting home in the end? Since the Devil visited the glove maker, she has found herself in the asylum counting out days instead of stitches. At the dog track, hidden amongst the rowdy punters, a woman bets on underdogs, life, and love. Onstage, a desperate mother performs a nightly striptease, whilst, in a small Welsh town, a young Korean immigrant tells her secrets to the sway of the sea.The people who populate the exciting and intriguing world of Clown's Shoes have stories that enthrall the imagination.

Read more less

One year on from the day the shadows shifted – showing people their truest selves rather than just their shapes – best friends Teddy, Betsy and Effie plan to risk all and watch the winter sun rise over Copperwell, in defiance of the Shadow Order. But from their hidden vantage point the three shocked friends witness a mysterious woman shouting a dire warning, before she is arrested, beaten, and dragged away in handcuffs. The event leads them on an extraordinary series of dangerous adventures to save their city as they begin to learn the truth about the Shadow Order, the world surrounding Copperwell, and themselves.

Read more less