Search results for ""author caroline waight""
Yale University Press Astrid Lindgren: The Woman Behind Pippi Longstocking
A powerful biography of the internationally renowned writer who created one of the most enduring characters in children’s literature, Pippi Longstocking“[An] Insightful, elegantly written biography of the beloved author of the Pippi Longstocking tales, a complex woman of parts. . . Readers who grew up on Lindgren's stories will find this excellent book irresistible—and often surprising.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review The first English-language biography of Astrid Lindgren provides a moving and revealing portrait of the beloved Scandinavian literary icon whose adventures of Pippi Longstocking have influenced generations of young readers all over the world. Lindgren’s sometimes turbulent life as an unwed teenage mother, outspoken advocate for the rights of women and children, and celebrated editor and author is chronicled in fascinating detail by Jens Andersen, one of Denmark’s most popular biographers. Based on extensive research and access to primary sources and letters, this highly readable account describes Lindgren’s battles with depression and her personal struggles through war, poverty, motherhood, and fame. Andersen examines the writer’s oeuvre as well to uncover the secrets to the books’ universal appeal and why they have resonated so strongly with young readers for more than seventy years.
£27.50
Pushkin Press A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast
Me, my notebook and my love of the wild and desolate. I wanted to do the opposite of what was expected of me. It's a recurring pattern in my life. An instinct. There is a line that stretches from the northernmost tip of Denmark to where the Wadden Sea meets Holland in the south-west. Dorthe Nors, one of Denmark's most acclaimed writers, is a descendant of this line; for generations, her family lived among the storm-battered trees and wind-blasted beaches of the North Sea coast. Returning after decades of inhabiting cities, she chronicles a year spent travelling up and down the coast, tracing the history and geography of the places she visits and untangling her relationship with the landscape she calls home. This is the story of the violent collisions between the people who live in these wild places and the vagaries of the natural world. It is a story of shipwrecks and storm surges, of cold-water surfers, sun-creased beach mums and resolute sailor's wives. In spellbinding prose, Nors invites the reader on a journey through history and memory - the landscape's as well as her own.
£16.99
Parthian Books Death Drives an Audi
Translated by Caroline Waight Kristian Bang Foss’ darkly comic, prize-winning road-novel satire sees two unlikely friends set out to defy the Danish welfare state – and Death himself – with both hilarious and tragic consequences. Life is looking pretty bleak for Asger. After a fiasco at work finds him unceremoniously booted from both his advertising job and his family home, he finds himself the carer of Waldemar, arguably Denmark’s sickest man. Their initial days together in a Copenhagen ghetto only serve to pile on the hopelessness. But then Waldemar hatches a plan: fabled healer Torbi el Mekki offers a miracle cure to all who seek an audience. Only thing is, he’s in Morocco – over two thousand miles and another continent away. Piling into a beaten-up Volkswagen, the two set off on a zany road trip across Europe towards a dubious salvation. But it soon seems they may have unwanted company, for on their tail is a pitch-black Audi... “Tender and indignant, satiric and apocalyptic, wildly, flamingly funny.” - Weekendavisen “With Kristian Bang Foss, the devil created the world, both nature and culture, both the desert and the local authorities. This creates devilish humor and poetry. It is hopelessly sad and it is damn funny.” - Politiken
£10.00
Hodder & Stoughton Agatha: The International Bestseller
Set in 1940s Paris, this bittersweet international bestseller this is the perfect novel for fans of A Man Called Ove, My Name is Lucy Barton and The Guest CatA psychiatrist is counting down towards his upcoming retirement. He lives alone in his childhood home and has neither friends nor family.Often, he resorts to drawing bird caricatures of his patients instead of taking notes. His social life consists of brief conversations with his meticulous secretary Madame Surrugue, who has reigned over the clinic for more than thirty years. The two of them have no relationship outside the office, where everything runs smoothly and uneventfully.Until one day, that is, when a young German woman called Agatha arrives and demands to see the doctor and he soon realizes that underneath her fragile exterior is a strong and fascinating woman. The doctor and Agatha embark upon a course of therapy together, a process that forces the doctor to confront his fear of true intimacy outside the clinic. But is it too late to reconsider your existence as a 71-year-old?'A shrewd, skilful tale of loneliness, the search for meaning and a place in the world, and the problems of truly relating to another human being.' Independent
£9.99
Pushkin Press A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING AND THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY New in paperback: an exhilarating, moving account of life on the wild Danish coast, from one of Denmark's most acclaimed writers 'A beautiful, melancholy account of finding home on a restless coast' Katherine May, author of Wintering This is the story of the windswept coastline that stretches from the northernmost tip of Denmark to the Netherlands, a world of shipwrecks and storm surges, of cold-water surfers and resolute sailors' wives. In spellbinding prose, award-winning writer Dorthe Nors invites the reader to travel through the landscape where her family lived for generations and which she now calls home. It is an extraordinarily powerful and beautiful journey through history and memory - the landscape's as well as her own. ________ FURTHER PRAISE FOR A LINE IN THE WORLD 'A place brimming with memories and strangeness, where storms surge and lighthouses blink... fascinating' Financial Times'A singular prose stylist... Nors is such a great companion, honest and curious and surprising' Max Porter, author of Lanny 'Brilliant... a personal, poetic meditation on this remote edge of windswept landscapes and wildwaters' New York Times 'The perfect winter read, making a virtue of dark nights and frost-bitten winds on the author's native North Sea coast' Observer 'A deep dive into a coastal landscape, both breathtaking and hypnotic' Natasha Carthew, author of Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience
£10.99
Hodder & Stoughton The Art of Thinking Clearly: The Secrets of Perfect Decision-Making
*OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD*This book will change the way you think about decision-making. If you want to lead a happier, more prosperous life, you don't need shiny gadgets, complicated ideas or frantic activity. You just need to make better choices. From why you should not accept a free drink to why you should keep a diary, from dealing with a personal problem to negotiating at work, The Art of Thinking Clearly is a simple, straightforward and always surprising guide to a better, smarter you. Making better choices will transform your life at work, at home, forever. 'A treat - highly relevant, scientifically grounded and beautifully written' Claudio Feser, Senior Partner, McKinsey'Intelligent, informative and witty'Christoph Franz, former Lufthansa CEOPRAISE FOR ROLF DOBELLI'Dobelli has a gift for identifying the best ideas in the world'Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind'One of Europe's finest minds'Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything'A virtuosic synthesizer of ideas'Joshua Greene, author of Moral Tribes
£10.99
Hodder & Stoughton Stop Reading the News: A Manifesto for a Happier, Calmer and Wiser Life
STOP READING THE NEWS is a vital toolkit for managing the upsetting coronavirus news cycle and finding equilibrium and calm at a time of chaos and uncertaintyIn 2013 Rolf Dobelli stood in front of a roomful of journalists and proclaimed that he did not read the news. It caused a riot. Now the author of the bestselling The Art of Thinking Clearly finally sets down his philosophy in detail. And he practises what he preaches: he hasn't read the news for a decade.Stop Reading the News is Dobelli's manifesto about the dangers of the most toxic form of information - news. He shows the damage it does to our concentration and well-being, and how a misplaced sense of duty can misdirect our behaviour. Most importantly, he offers the reader the guidance on how to live without news, and the many potential gains to be had: less disruption, more time, less anxiety, more insights. In a world of increasing disruption and division, Stop Reading the News is a welcome voice of calm and wisdom.
£9.99
Granta Books The Lobster's Shell
'Minor's acute, elliptical observations and silky prose are a delight to read, as the misunderstandings, machinations and mysteries of past and present knit together, fall apart, and re-establish themselves in an uneven, bright weave in Caroline Wright's distinctive, unforced translation' - Irish Times From a rising star on the European literary scene: a sharp-eyed, witty novel of budding desires, persistent ghosts and frayed family ties Over the decades since their parents died, siblings Sidsel, Ea and Niels have drifted apart, retreating in order to protect their most vulnerable parts. But single mother Sidsel's last-minute work trip to London, site of past transgressions, and Ea's chance visit to a San Francisco clairvoyant - seeking contact with their late mother - force the trio to reckon with their shared history and complicated inheritance.
£12.99
Heloise Press What Concerns Us
Rahel and Fenna grew up in an all-female household with their mother and her female partner. Now Rahel strives to reproduce the traditional family unit but she is haunted by an unsettling pregnancy, postnatal depression, while having mixed feelings about her singing career. Meanwhile, Fenna wonders whether she consented to the intercourse with Luc which left her pregnant. What Concerns Us is a punchy contemporary read that scrutinises gender roles within our society, examining what it means to be a mother and the nature of femininity, as well as how to remain independent in a variety of different types of relationship.
£12.95
Penguin Books Ltd The Chestnut Man: The chilling and suspenseful thriller now a Top 10 Netflix series
NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES 'A full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson, drenched in atmosphere and charged with adrenaline. I loved this book' A. J. Finn, author of The Woman In The Window'A cracking ending that left me STUNNED' 5***** Reader Review THE CHILLING DEBUT NOVEL FROM THE CREATOR AND WRITER OF HIT TV SHOW THE KILLING, perfect for fans of THE FALL and DES________ As the leaves fall, he's coming for you . . . One October morning in a quiet suburb, the police make a terrible discovery. A young woman is found brutally murdered with one of her hands missing. Above her hangs a small doll made of chestnuts. Examining the doll, Forensics are shocked to find a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, kidnapped and murdered a year ago. Can a new killer be the key to an old crime? And will his spree be over when winter arrives - or is he only just getting started? . . . ________ 'The Stieg Larsson comparisons seem unfair - on Sveistrup. He is quite simply in another league' Metro 'If you're pining for a dose of Jo Nesbo-style Scandi noir, The Chestnut Man should hit the spot' The Times 'Has success written all over it' Daily Express 'Creepy, clever and packed with tension' Sun 'If you are one of the millions who enjoyed The Killing, you'll want to read the first novel by its creator' Guardian The Times Best Paperbacks of the Month ___________ Praise for The Killing 'TV of the absolute finest quality . . . the writing shines' Guardian 'Excellent . . . A shrewd mix of police procedural, political thriller and domestic drama' New York Times
£10.99
Ebury Publishing A Short History of Humanity: How Migration Made Us Who We Are
Humanity has often found itself on the precipice. We've survived and thrived because we've never stopped moving...In this eye-opening book, Johannes Krause, Chair of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Humanity, offers a new way of understanding our past, present and future.Marshalling unique insights from archaeogenetics, an emerging new discipline that allows us to read our ancestors' DNA like journals chronicling personal stories of migration, Krause charts two millennia of adaption, movement and survival, culminating in the triumph of Homo Sapiens as we swept through Europe and beyond in successive waves of migration - developing everything from language, the patriarchy, disease, art and a love of pets as we did so.We also meet our ancestors, from those many of us have heard of - such as Homo Erectus and the Neanderthals - to the wildly unfamiliar but no less real: the recently discovered Denisovans, who ranged across Asia and, like humans, interbred with Neanderthals; the Aurignacians, skilled artists who, 40,000 years ago, brought about an extraordinary transformation in what our species could invent and create; the Varna, who buried their loved ones with gold long before the Pharaohs of Egypt did; and the Gravettians, big game hunters who were Europe's most successful early settlers until they perished in the face of the toughest opponent humanity had ever faced: the ice age.As well as being a radical new telling of our shared story, this book is a reminder that the global problems that keep us awake at night - climate catastrophe; the sudden emergence of deadly epidemics; refugee crises; ethnic conflict; over-population - are all things we've faced, and overcome, before.
£14.99
Scribe Publications The Chief Witness: escape from China’s modern-day concentration camps
A shocking depiction of one of the world’s most ruthless regimes — and the story of one woman’s fight to survive. I will never forget the camp. I cannot forget the eyes of the prisoners, expecting me to do something for them. They are innocent. I have to tell their story, to tell about the darkness they are in. It is so easy to suffocate us with the demons of powerlessness, shame, and guilt. But we aren’t the ones who should feel ashamed. Born in China’s north-western province, Sayragul Sauytbay trained as a doctor before being appointed a senior civil servant. But her life was upended when the Chinese authorities incarcerated her. Her crime: being Kazakh, one of China’s ethnic minorities. The north-western province borders the largest number of foreign nations and is the point in China that is the closest to Europe. In recent years it has become home to over 1,200 penal camps — modern-day gulags that are estimated to house three million members of the Kazakh and Uyghur minorities. Imprisoned solely due to their ethnicity, inmates are subjected to relentless punishment and torture, including being beaten, raped, and used as subjects for medical experiments. The camps represent the greatest systematic incarceration of an entire people since the Third Reich. In prison, Sauytbay was put to work teaching Chinese language, culture, and politics, in the course of which she gained access to secret information that revealed Beijing’s long-term plans to undermine not only its minorities, but democracies around the world. Upon her escape to Europe she was reunited with her family, but still lives under the constant threat of reprisal. This rare testimony from the biggest surveillance state in the world reveals not only the full, frightening scope of China’s tyrannical ambitions, but also the resilience and courage of its author.
£16.99
Profile Books Ltd The Gravediggers: 1932, The Last Winter of the Weimar Republic
November 1932. With the German economy in ruins and street battles raging between political factions, the Weimar Republic is in its death throes. Its elderly president Paul von Hindenburg floats above the fray, inscrutably haunting the halls of the Reichstag. In the shadows, would-be saviours of the nation vie for control. The great rivals are the chancellors Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher. Both are tarnished by the republic's all-too-evident failures. Each man believes he can steal a march on the other by harnessing the increasingly popular National Socialists - while reining in their most alarming elements, naturally. Adolf Hitler has ideas of his own. But if he can't impose discipline on his own rebellious foot-soldiers, what chance does he have of seizing power?
£10.99